‘Friendly Rivalry’ Review: When Suspense Turns Into Subplot Overload
A story of drugs, deception, and academic pressure that never quite figures out what it’s about.
Korean Drama Name: 선의의 경쟁 (Friendly Competition)
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime, Viki, Netflix ← *Click for direct link*
Average Rating: 7.6/10 (Mydramalist)
My Rating: 4.0/10
One Sentence Description: Friendly Rivalry promised obsession, betrayal, and high-stakes drama; Instead, we got random childhood flashbacks, drug deals, and a hospital with no staff.
Trailer:
Disclaimer: This review is 100% my opinion — I’m not here to hate, just to share my thoughts! Also, SPOILERS AHEAD, so proceed with caution if you haven’t watched yet. Watch it, come back and let’s see if you agree. Let’s keep the discussion respectful and fun! 💕
CONTENT WARNING: I hope you’ve already seen this show and know what the deal is. But in case you don’t, I felt like I should add in a little warning. This show has slight mentions of an eating disorder and suicide. And since this is a review, I do also talk about this (in relation to the show only). Please be aware of that before you continue and be mindful of it. Stay safe ❤️
Simple Description
Friendly Rivalry follows Woo Seul Gi, a transfer student with top university dreams, who quickly finds herself tangled in a web of her father’s mysterious death, her best friend’s suspicious father, drugs, and lies.
⚠️Length Note: This post includes a detailed (and long) story breakdown. Want to skip straight to the review? Jump to the Review
The story opens with Seul Gi’s tragic past: abandoned on a school trip when she wore a dress instead of the uniform. She’s left behind, literally and emotionally, and ends up in an orphanage. Years pass, and Seul Gi, still in an orphanage, begins collecting drugs for Nam Byeong Jin. Eventually, she starts using them herself to boost her academic performance, convinced that success is the only way to gain control in a world that’s treated her with nothing but coldness.
Seul Gi eventually transfers to one of Seoul’s most prestigious girls’ schools, hoping to reconnect with her father. Instead, she finds him already dead. She soon meets Yoo Je Yi, the most popular and influential student at the school. While most girls fight for Je Yi’s attention, Je Yi zeroes in on Seul Gi. But why?
Seul Gi attends her father’s funeral with her stepmother and secretly keeps his phone. Meanwhile, Je Yi’s own family dynamics are revealed: she sees her older sister more as a rival than a sibling. Things escalate when Seul Gi visits Je Yi’s father’s hospital and learns he operated on her father. A sleepover at Je Yi’s house turns into a revelation, Seul Gi finds messages and documents linking Je Yi’s father to a medical negligence case involving her own dad. Turns out Je Yi knew exactly who Seul Gi was before their friendship began.
Seul Gi demands answers, but Je Yi deflects, trying to maintain their fragile bond. Seul Gi digs deeper, confirming the case through her stepmother’s belongings. Meanwhile, her drug supply runs dry, and desperation sets in. She discovers a shady SNS account selling drugs and arranges a pickup… only to find Je Yi is behind the operation. It makes twisted sense: her father owns a hospital.
Je Yi offers Seul Gi a deal — a new, more potent drug, a cram school book, and a challenge: if Seul Gi scores higher than her on the upcoming exams, she’ll reveal everything. Seul Gi accepts. During the exams, Seul Gi is stunned to find that every question matches the cram book exactly. Both she and Je Yi tie for the top score.
But the victory is short-lived. Byeong Jin resurfaces, demanding the return of the stolen drugs within a week. And Je Yi? She finally admits she got the documents from her father’s office.
Time passes, and the school festival becomes the backdrop for a new storm. Remember Seul Gi’s father’s phone? Turns out it holds more than memories, it’s a ticking time bomb. Je Yi’s father wants it, and recruits Seul Gi’s classmate, Ye Ri, to steal it. Ye Ri succeeds, but the phone is dead. She sets it to charge and leaves it unattended.
Je Yi, ever the strategist, has another student tail Ye Ri. The phone is found, unlocked, and reveals shocking footage: Je Na, Je Yi’s older sister, in an intimate relationship with Seul Gi’s father. A teacher and a student. The night spirals into chaos. Seul Gi is sliced with a knife, and Je Yi stumbles upon her long-lost sister in a classroom. Later, Je Yi and Je Na meet to discuss the phone’s contents. Je Na suspects their father murdered Seul Gi’s dad after discovering the illicit relationship.
The slicing incident triggers a police investigation. The attacker was high, and suspicion falls on Seul Gi. She blames Je Yi. Seul Gi meets Byeong Jin and hands over drugs she’s been collecting. Byeong Jin, now hungry for control, wants to take over the student-run drug business.
Meanwhile, Je Yi learns her own business partner plans to frame Seul Gi by planting drugs in her bag and a public locker, then tipping off the police. Byeong Jin, desperate to take control, accidentally sets the entire setup in motion, forcing Seul Gi into a trap. Je Yi refuses to let her take the fall. In a bold move, she convinces Je Na to meet at the station and betrays her, making it look like Je Na is the one seeking drugs. Je Yi’s father arrives, kidnaps Je Na, and drives off, while Je Yi helps Seul Gi escape.
Despite betraying her sister, Je Yi becomes desperate to find her. She receives a message offering Je Na’s location in exchange for pills. The meetup happens at a club. Seul Gi and Je Yi follow someone suspicious, it’s Byeong Jin. Meanwhile, Choi Gyeong, another classmate, discovers Ye Ri was behind the message. She just needed the money.
Then comes the twist: Je Na is declared dead, supposedly by suicide after jumping off a mountain. But Seul Gi isn’t convinced; things aren’t adding up. Her investigation reveals the body wasn’t Je Na’s, it was Su Jin, an old classmate also involved in drugs. Seul Gi tracks down Je Na’s hideout and finds her diary.
Inside the diary lies the truth: Seul Gi’s father was blackmailed into writing the most difficult CSAT questions, hiding them inside a pill, and swallowing it. He faked an illness so Je Yi’s father could retrieve the pill with Je Na present during the operation.
Later, Seul Gi and her stepmother are in a car accident, one deliberately orchestrated by Je Yi’s father, while Je Yi watches via a hidden camera. He then takes Je Yi to a remote location where Je Na has been staying, and she’s in bad shape. It’s here we learn the shocking truth: Je Na killed Seul Gi’s father in that hospital room—not their father. Fed up with covering up her crimes, Je Yi’s father erased her memories and hid her away from society.
The next day, Je Yi vanishes from school. Seul Gi tracks her down at her father’s hospital, only to be met with cold indifference. Je Yi tells her they were never friends and to stop searching for Je Na. Seul Gi is shattered.
But something’s off. After Je Yi gives her dog to Choi Gyeong, Seul Gi senses danger. She finds Je Yi, and the two decide to team up to expose Je Yi’s father. In a twist, it’s revealed that the drugs Je Yi gave Seul Gi earlier were actually vitamins; a calculated move to protect her.
Meanwhile, Seul Gi recruits Byeong Jin for a new scheme: selling the hardest CSAT questions to elite families. The questions are hidden inside pills, and Byeong Jin begins collecting payments. Je Yi’s father takes the pills and boards an ambulance to return to his hospital but Seul Gi and Byeong Jin hijack it. Je Yi arrives just in time, and Seul Gi swallows all the pills. In response, Je Yi injects her with something, and Seul Gi passes out.
In the operating room, Je Yi extracts the pills and hands them to Byeong Jin. He thinks he’s won… until it’s revealed that all the questions were fake. The real question was given only to Je Yi. Seul Gi misses her exam due to the surgery and drops out of school, Byeong Jin faces the wrath of his clients, and Je Yi aces the exam.
Je Yi’s father goes on a talk show to celebrate her success, but Je Yi has other plans. She sets up a live stream and, with Je Na by her side, jumps off a balcony into the river. Je Na is found. Je Yi isn’t.
The livestream helps expose their father’s web of crimes, leading to his arrest. Time passes. Je Yi’s body remains missing. Ye-ri is scouted for a big opportunity, Choi Gyeong studies law, and Seul Gi lives with her stepmother while preparing for the college entrance exams.
In the final scene, a girl skates by the seaside, hat pulled low. She takes it off — it’s Je Yi, alive.
The End.
The Review
The Good
The Plot Twist Actually Twisted
For all its flaws, I did appreciate the late-game twist of the sister being behind the father’s death. The “why” was still fuzzy and a bit undercooked, but it added a layer of shock value the story desperately needed. I liked how she shifted blame onto her father. It gave the family drama some real teeth, even if it was rushed.
The Acting Was the Lifeline
If this drama had one consistent strength, it was the cast. Every actor felt perfectly matched to their role, from Seul Gi’s quiet intensity to Je Yi’s cold calculation. Even the side characters brought nuance to scenes that could’ve easily fallen flat. The performances carried the weight of a story that didn’t always know where it was going. And honestly, they deserved better material.
The Bad
It Didn’t Give What It Wanted to Give
This drama clearly wanted to be a high-stakes slow-burn thriller where scattered plot points eventually connect in a satisfying full-circle moment. We were supposed to root for Seul Gi, feel the tension, and stay hooked. But what it gave was mess. It wasn’t gripping. It wasn’t cohesive. It was just a jumble of ideas that never quite knew what they were building toward.
The central mystery around Seul Gi’s father had potential, but the show didn’t treat it like the core plot. Instead, it veered into character biographies, school drug rings, and a friendship that was more aggravating than obsessive. The title Friendly Rivalry doesn’t even fit; there was no rivalry. Just two toxic besties helping each other out. And the description claiming their friendship spirals into obsession? Also false. If anything, it spiraled into confusion.
The biggest issue was the lack of direction. The small, underdeveloped details snowballed into major distractions. It felt like the writers threw everything at the wall and hoped something would stick. It didn’t.
Too Many Random Subplots
Piggybacking off that, this show had way too many subplots for its short runtime. With episodes clocking in under 30 minutes (or a little over), there was no room for fluff. And yet, we got Ye Ri’s child star arc, her mom’s manipulative tactics, hints at an eating disorder, the drugs, and Choi Gyeong’s sexual awakening. None of it added to the main story. None of it mattered.
And the result? A show that was hard to invest in. If the central plot is about uncovering the truth behind Seul Gi’s father’s death, then everything should feed into that. When it doesn’t, the audience checks out before they even get a chance to care.
Je Yi’s Obsession Made No Sense
Why did Je Yi even like Seul Gi? From the start, she was oddly invested in a girl she barely knew. I thought it was all a ploy to uncover the truth about her sister, but nope; she barely cared about Je Na and even betrayed her for Seul Gi. Je Yi was known for being calculated and self-serving, yet she suddenly became a tutor, emotional sponge, and exam saboteur for someone she just met. Helping Seul Gi study, getting flustered when she got mad, tying on the exams (which were her thing), none of it tracked. It would’ve made way more sense if she were using Seul Gi to dig into her sister’s past. Instead, we got a confusing loyalty to a girl who barely reciprocated.
Seul Gi, Pick a Mood
Seul Gi’s emotional whiplash was exhausting. One minute she’s acting like Je Yi is her ride-or-die, the next she’s hating her over something minor. And don’t get me started on the funeral scene. Seul Gi finds out about Ye Ji’s dad’s records and suddenly she’s ready to stab him in the middle of the service. Ma’am, please. If you can’t keep your emotions in check, maybe don’t try to take down a powerful man who may or may not have killed your father. Sit down, breathe, think of the bigger picture.
The “Vitamins” Scam
This one’s small, but I couldn’t buy Je Yi slipping Seul Gi vitamins instead of pills. I don’t know what magical vitamins those were, but I take mine daily and I’ve never felt like the world was spinning with water rushing around me. How did Seul Gi have such an extreme reaction to something you can get over-the-counter at your local pharmacy?
And wasn’t she supposed to be an addict? Shouldn’t she have noticed when the “pills” weren’t hitting the same anymore? Placebo effect or not, this was a stretch.
The Case of the Missing Extras
This one’s small but glaring: where were the adults? The hospital was always mysteriously empty during major events. The school’s CCTV system was apparently wide open for teenage girls to browse and delete at will. No locks, no guards, no accountability. Everyone got away with everything because everyone else was conveniently missing. It was like the show forgot that institutions have staff.
What I Would Do
Goodbye, Subplots
Instead of wasting time on every character’s childhood trauma and side quests, the focus would stay tight: Je Yi, Seul Gi, and sometimes Je Na. Each episode would peel back layers — Je Yi’s manipulations, Seul Gi’s desperate need to trust someone, and Je Na’s tragic need for approval. Every scene would feed the central mystery, not distract from it.
And if we really wanted to crank up the suspense? Tie the fathers together. What if Je Yi’s dad had been pulling strings long before the “incident”? What if Seul Gi’s life was orchestrated from the start—her dad, Je Na’s relationship with him, even Je Yi’s sudden friendship? Maybe her father’s “death” was staged as part of the plan, and he’s still alive, watching helplessly as his daughter gets swallowed by the Yoo family’s schemes.
That’s the kind of show this should’ve been. Tight. Suspenseful. The kind that keeps you on edge, second-guessing every smile, every word, every motive. The kind of show Friendly Rivalry wanted to be — but never quite became.
Je Yi Would Have an Ulterior Motive
Je Yi was introduced as clever, calculating, and always two steps ahead — so her sudden friendship with Seul Gi should’ve been part of a larger plan. In this version, she would actually care about her sister and use Seul Gi as a tool to uncover the truth, assuming Seul Gi knew something she didn’t. From there, it could go one of two ways:
- She either gradually becomes a real friend.
- Or, she never felt anything at all and was just manipulating her from the start. (I prefer this one)
Her help in unraveling the mystery wouldn’t be about loyalty — it’d be about strategy. Everyone would warn Seul Gi that the Yoo family only looks out for themselves, but she wouldn’t believe it… until it’s too late.
And the ending? Forget the random fake death plot. Seul Gi uncovers the truth about her father and the Yoo family, only to be betrayed by Je Yi, who buries it to protect her family. The final scene: Seul Gi watching Je Yi’s family celebrate her perfect CSAT score, eyes burning with rage. She scribbles “Yoo Je Yi” over and over on her practice exam until the pencil snaps. Fade to black. That’s how you end a show — with tension, ambiguity, and a promise of unfinished business.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, I could keep going with my “What I Would Do” section, but at that point, I’d basically be writing an entirely different drama. And maybe that’s the problem. Friendly Rivalry never really knew what it wanted to be. Instead of a sharp, suspenseful story, it stuffed itself with half-baked subplots just to fill time.
Like most of the dramas I’ve rated low, this one had potential. Real potential. But it needed more voices in the room, people with different perspectives and sharper ideas. Instead, it felt like the writers were so excited about the cast that they tried to give everyone their moment, even when it didn’t serve the story. The result? A scattered story with flashes of brilliance buried under too much noise.
And that’s a wrap! This one was one the shorter side because this drama didn’t interest me enough for me to have loads to say. I will say that this did have the potential to be a really good show. It had all the right bits but it was just missing someone who would be able to put it together in a meaningful away. Anyways, I’m just glad that it’s done and I can move on to a new review!
The next review is an underrated drama that I actually really enjoyed. It’s a fated love story and the ML is one of my celebrity crushes 🤭🤭
See you next week!💕
Find Your Next Watch!
Main Cast
Lee Hye Ri as Yoo Je Yi
Chung Su Bin as Woo Seul Gi
Kang Hye Won as Ju Ye Ri
Oh Woo Ri as Choi Gyeong
Choi Young Jae as Nam Byeong Jin
Choo Ye Jin as Yoo Je Na
Themes/ Genres
Power dynamics and manipulation, Friendship vs. betrayal, The cost of ambition, Secrets, lies, and moral ambiguity
Teen Drama, Mystery Thriller, Psychological Drama