There seems to be a rule when it comes to drama friendships. Two people is too few, four is too many. Three is the perfect number for a friend group. There’s just something about a group of 3 that seems to work perfectly for a drama. The friendship in the new drama How to be Thirty reminded me of how many times I have loved a group of three friends in a drama. There’s just something about a group of three girlfriends. Two is fine, four is always just really two sets of two, but 3? That’s a magic number baby!
One of the things that’s great about a group of three girls is that there is always one who I can identify with. It gives a writer the opportunity to explore a lot of different tropes and put them together in different ways without turning the female lead into a total Mary Sue. In a kdrama, this usually looks like one friend already in a committed relationship, while another one is playing the field and the third (usually the lead) is just starting out in a new flirtation. Physically, one will be the slob, or the short one, or the “regular” girl. One will be the tall supermodel friend, or maybe the tomboy, or maybe both. The third friend will usually be the ‘fat friend’ who isn’t actually fat and is just played by an actress with a round face but we know she’s the “fat one” because they keep talking about how much she eats and how fat she is ALL THE TIME (please kill this trop with fire. Hire actual plus sized actresses to play plus size characters and don’t make ‘likes to eat’ their defining character trait 🙄) In a workplace setting, one will have a career that is going great, one will be starting a new job, and one will still be trying to figure out what they want to do in life.
No matter which combination the writer decides to go with, the best part of of the three girl friendship is the way the friends always have each other’s backs. The way that even when two of them have a falling out, the third one stays true to both of them, and ultimately they will all come back together in a time of crisis. The following are a few of my favourite three girl friendships in dramas.
20th Century Boy and Girl
One of my very favourite friendships is in this incredibly sweet and low key drama. The story of the girlfriends who have been besties since childhood is an easy watch. 20th Century Boy and Girl tells the story of a famous actress who lives in an apartment above her parents and who has never dated. Controversy threatens her career and her pristine image when a fake sex video of her is leaked. At the same time, her childhood sweetheart returns from overseas to live in his parent’s old apartment in her building. Technically, he’s the fourth member of this friendship, but the girls are the real focus friend-wise.
These three women have such a tight and wonderful friendship. They support each other through everything. They have a sort of clubhouse hang out behind the family’s chicken shop where they hideout for chimaek and chat. If you’re in the mood for a very chill story about friends and romance, I highly recommend checking it out.
Just One Bite
Just One Bite is a delightful little web drama available on YouTube on the Playlist Global channel. There are two seasons of short episodes to follow the story of three girls who bond over food. The focus is very much on the girls’ relationships with each other and their boyfriends. One of them is in a new relationship, one is in the same relationship since high school, and the third one might have a thing for her friend’s brother.
The show is cute and quirky. The friends are wonderful together and even the boys get in on the three friend action getting their own scenes hanging out together. The second season gives a little more turmoil to the relationships. One couple is broken up, one friendship is on the rocks, and we get a little LGTBQ+ representation too. I’ve watched a few different dramas from Playlist Global. This is probably my favourite so far, but I’ve never watched a bad one. I highly recommend checking out their channel.
Because This Is My First Life
BTIMFL is a contract marriage drama that looks at the lives of three very different friends with very different lives and relationships. When this drama was airing, I watched each episode 3 times at least. I’d watch them before there were subs, and then with the full subs, and then again later in the week while I was waiting for the new episodes to air. Few people were 100% satisfied with the ending, but the people who were frustrated were frustrated by different things and very few of those who were frustrated found that the show was ruined for them. I didn’t watch the final 3 episodes 3 times each… but I did watch them and I still rated the drama an 8.5 on MDL so make of that what you will.
The story looks at the lives and loves of three very different women as they sort out their life goals. I liked that they didn’t pretend as if each of the girls fully understood why their friends wanted what they wanted in life. They loved and supported each other despite not understanding everything. I liked that there was a character who’s life goal was to get married and have kids. There was a character who didn’t want marriage because she was focused on finding out what she wanted career-wise. There was a character who didn’t know exactly what she wanted, but she knew that there were trappings of married life that she wasn’t interested in. The show told a number of different stories in a fresh way that I really enjoyed.
Search:WWW
Search: WWW is a little different from the other dramas listed here. The 3 friends are only all together on the same side for a few brief moments. It’s a workplace drama set between two rival internet companies and the women compete with each other for most of the drama. For most of the drama, one of the friendships is completely broken. One of the friendships is strained by working at competing companies. The third friendship starts as a competitive frenemy scenario that quickly becomes frenemies who have each other’s backs.
The dynamics between the three women, and between them and the men in their lives, are very complicated. Nothing is easy for any of them and the reasons why they make the choices they do is a big part of the story. The romances are sexy, and flirty, and heartbreaking. The friendships are angry, and funny, and confusing. It is a well-written drama with a lot of story and some beautiful moments. When we say more strong female leads, this is what we’re talking about… more of them all in one drama together.
How To Be Thirty
How To Be Thirty is currently airing on Viki. It’s a shorter webdrama with only 15 episodes about 20 minutes apiece. With five episodes left to go, I’m a little leery of fully recommending it in case it tanks the ending, but the friendship between the three female leads is so solid that I can’t keep it off the list.
The friendship between these three women in written and acted so realistically. It comes across as effortless and real. I believe in their relationship. Their ease and familiarity with each other is so on point. The way that they can tease each other and call each other out, but also support each other and come running when needed has really drawn me in to this show. The romantic relationships are not going at all as I expected, but so far that made the drama even more interesting for me.
Final Thoughts:
These are just a few of my favourite kdrama three girl friendships. I’m sure there are more of them. College set cdramas often have great female friend groups too. I just love seeing women in healthy relationships that don’t revolve around men. What are some of your favourite female friendships in dramaland? Let me know!
Natalia