not gonna hold my breath
Without comparing this to the novel Little Women, here is my apparently unpopular opinion:T꙯H꙯E꙯ G꙯O꙯O꙯D꙯:
• Wi Ha Joon character was written to perfection! Now if this drama gets rewritten from his point of view as the main lead, this whole circus would’ve taken a turn towards something I would be invested in. Uncovering his story and the way he kept making me question his intentions is the sole reason that kept me watching.
T꙯H꙯E꙯ B꙯A꙯D꙯:
• The writer adapted the 3 main characters from a book and focused on ONE FREAKING personality trait for each sister and ran the whole show with it.
> InJoo: naive and money driven.
> InKyung: righteous and stubborn.
> InHye: ungrateful little brat.
Me: “Ever heard of character development?”
Writer: “Yes! I’ll just add some changes in the end and you interpret it as growth ;)”
Me: “Clever..”
• The mystery about the secret flower society was interesting but the investigation process lacked excitement & the progression was slowww. 2 sisters were too busy with their lives and our reporter was not good at being discreet or discovering shit, which made me pull my hair out and use it as a rope to hang myself. Did anyone else sleep during the majority of ep11, or was it only me? & for anyone who watched this, did the blue flower have hallucination effect or that wasn’t explained?
T꙯H꙯E꙯ M꙯E꙯H꙯:
• Unoriginal to the core. The writer binged Series of Unfortunate Events, Penthouse and then read Little Women & Cinderella.
Writer: *lightbulb* *writes script*
Producer: “You came up with all that! Let me contact typecasted actors (Uhm Ki Joon) with popular kids and we are all set! Just add some spicy scenes & substance with suicide, cause we are aiming for Netflix.”
• ACTING! Or the lack of it. Easily forgettable performances by ALL (except HaJoon).
> I love Nam Ji Hyun but I have never seen her deliver lines so flat and emotionless like her portrayal of this role. It was painful to watch her suck the life out of everything around here in this drama.
> Kim Go Eun plays the same character in everything I’ve watched so far. I dunno if I’m biased against her but she never impressed me since GoBlin days.
R꙯A꙯T꙯I꙯N꙯G꙯:
1/10. Woot! The only joy from this experience is rating this low :p
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Forget about the book this is not your typical slice of life drama.
Before I begin...Is there someone else who also thought Jang Ho (neighbour friend) was kinda SUS throughout the series? I mean he was giving me this weird feeling haha...well maybe it's just me.To sum up this show- Spoonfuls of penthouse, little bit of Alcott's novel and pinch of squid games= perfect mixture of Little women ready.
This show is everything what Penthouse should be with less screaming, less over the top and unnecessary twists. The way people were coming back alive I was literally taken aback sometimes to see how similar it was to Penthouse and I still blame Joo Dan Tae... hahaha no he was not that crazy here. (Maybe a little). Please give him some good roles for god's sake but he is really good with his antagonist characters. His wife in the show however was really amazing actor I must say its been a while when I liked a negative character this much. She was the real definition of crazy. This show is star studded for sure and you know that they just cannot disappoint you. Special mention for Wa Hi Joon...this guy was like everywhere, helping everyone, rescuing everyone with a swag. He was just slaying every scene. All three female leads were amazing in their roles. You end up praying for them, cry with them, sympathize with them and annoyed with them and enjoyed with them. That was the sort of connection they build with the viewers. While one was naive the second was upright and third ambitious they remained true to their characters till the end.
Out of all three I believe third sister had it the best throughout the show. She was adored by her sisters who tried their best to make all sort of sacrifice just for her. She was even treated in the best way by the antagonists. She never looked back to see the condition of her sisters even in their worst times. So yes, she had the least character growth among them. But the ending will surely make it up to some extent. I loved the grandma the way she made everyone nervous around her. She was the definition of Domineering. I loved her.
The twists will definitely make you doubt people again and again and you will be at the edge of your seat thinking who is friend or not or when will there come a new betrayal...this show did a great job in keeping the attention of the viewers. In the end its been a while when I truly enjoyed a kdrama.
So don't be misled by the name of the show this is not what Louisa May Alcott had written. Its not the slice of life drama you will expect with the name. So go watch it you will definitely enjoy it.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Flawed and Twisted Tale of Dumb, Dumber and Ingrate
First of all, this kdrama has next to no connection to the classical American novel of the same name. It only loosely based its characters on it, namely - the three poor sisters, their rich great aunt and a male friend of the family who simps over one of the sisters. The rest is pure fiction with popular contrived tropes used in kdramas:-evil chaebols;
-corruption;
-secret organization with unlimited power;
-off their rockers villains;
-makjang.
PLOT:
The first half of the show is great and promises a potential masterpiece. It starts fresh, with relevant topics raised about poverty, social issues and is mixed with murder mystery. Every episode manages to rile up new emotions in the audience with unexpected plot twists and sympathy for the characters suffering injustice. Small niggle starts to appear with the introduction of the conspiracy theory trope - the powerful secret society (#Illuminati), and fantastical properties of blue orchids.
And after a shocking finale of superb episode 8 it rapidly starts to go downhill with reveal that the main villain is just a deeply deranged person who likes to play with the victims before killing them. Absurdity, increased usage of makjang tropes, dumb circus and public shows are introduced in the next episodes until it all culminates in a cringey finale where none of the villains get what they deserve (they all die instead of rotting in prison for their crimes) and little women get what they deserve (money!) but at the cost of other people's fortune.
The tale of the ill gotten money, that is the catalyst of this whole plot, is a long winded one, but in the end the three sisters get their hands on it with the help of ML, even though originally it belonged to the victims of the bank made bankrupt by the villains.
The final message was supposed to be that ill gotten money is evil, it's not worth chasing if it costs someone's life, better live in honest poverty than dead or rotting in jail. But that message is completely negated by giving said money to the sisters anyway in the end. The hypocricy is apparently lost on everybody in the end, because that's where the show conveniently ends.
CHARACTERS:
First of all, lead female characters here are deliberately made dumb, flawed and reckless. It was script writer's conscious decision as was reported in the interview with her.
The dumbest of them all is the bookkeeper eldest sister, who throughout the whole drama made only 1 smart decision (to swap the cash with bricks), the rest was sheer luck or help from other characters. But what her character lacks in intelligence, is compensated by her love of her friends and family. She manages to forgive and save her friend, who basically set her up big time and put her in great danger, from certain death. And she'd do absolutely anything for her sisters. Being poor through all her life though, her next greatest love understandably is money and she makes a lot of stupid mistakes after a very large ill gotten sum of it is suddenly left to her as a gift. But stupidity must be punished, so in the end her character does suffer a bit to reflect on what she did wrong according to law. She's rewarded with her material dream by the end of the show.
The reporter middle-sister is a bit smarter than her elder sister. She is self righteous and claims to have unbending integrity and high morals, but they are heavily tested as her sisters get themselves in trouble and lawless methods that villains use make her fail to expose them again and again. In the end she succeeds in her investigation and gets together with a male long time family friend who helped/followed her throughout the episodes. However their romance from friends to lovers is very weak and that male character is one of the most useless in the whole drama.
The youngest sister is the epitome of a teenager during "a phase" - an ungrateful little brat who throughout the whole drama never once said a grateful word to her sisters who'd do absolutely anything for her. Instead, her grand plan was to get away from her poor family and get rich and comfy life quick by befriending the villains daughter. And she did succeed in that in the end without too much of a hassle, so I guess she was the smartest of them all. Some people claim that she did thank her sisters in the end by getting each of them a share of that ill gotten money. But she didn't actually, it was all ML who just accidentaly met them running away and decided to use her friend's account for a while (though he could have as easily have done it by himself). In the end her role was downsized to a minimum, a pretty selfish and consistently ungrateful character, who just had to be there because there had to be 3 sisters.
The villains of the evil secret society were several, but in the end only the main one is worthy of note. The society itself turned out to be not as powerful and omniprescient as was advertised. It's a drama about women, from women's perspective and so the main villain is also a woman. Her character development from a prim and proper house wife, that stands in support of her brilliant husband, to a crazy deranged psycho was entertaining to watch, but in the end, after her husband died for the cause, her house of cards crumbled easily and the final showdown with her was a total cringefest on par to the cringiest of the makjang dramas out there. Guess her character wasn't smart either without outside help.
And lastly whom I'd call the real main hero of this whole drama, the male lead, the guy who will give you major trust issues trauma throughout the episodes, the mysterious, the most confident and smartest of them all, the man with the plan - Choi Do-Il. He was a real safe haven of rationality and smart decisions in this drama plot's sea of random dumbassery and craziness. Probably the most favorite character of them all in this drama.
Of course, there was also his cool and badass commando father, but he was conveniently swept under the rug and forgotten about in the craziness of the last episode.
PRODUCTION VALUE:
It was excellent and just screamed quality. Cinematography was one of the best I've seen in kdramas, very well made.
Music was also very good and catchy.
Actors work overall was great as well. Kim Go Eun finally landed a role she was not a miscast for. The villains actors were absolutely infuriating to watch, they did really great, loved to hate them.
The only one who I think could have done better was the youngest sister's actress - Park Ji Hoo. She was too stiff and had samey facial expressions all the time. But since she's an underage noob I'll give her some slack.
Overall, it's an exciting and flashy drama, that reveals one shocking and unexpected twist after another at a breakneck speed, hoping you won't notice plot holes, dumbassery and shallowness under the surface. And introduction of certain badly chosen cringey tropes in later episodes ruined its twisted mess of a plot in the end. Could have been a true masterpiece otherwise, a shame. I give it a generous 8 out 10 overall.
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Brilliant Writing
This show deserves a great amount of love for its many things, but primarily for its innovative, suspenseful and beautifully crafted plot line. Very few kdramas pull of the intricacy of such a complex story (especially in a mere 12 episodes). There’s too much to praise so I’m just going to list my top 5 favourite things about the show:1. Completely original, women-centric story which is mainly concerned with socio-economic issues and the desire to be wealthy. It is an age-old tale of poor people wanting more, but because of the female perspective, you can see it in an entirely new light
2. The flawed characters: Some people might dislike the 3 FL’s but that’s kind of the point. How many people in the real world read every contract thoroughly, or wouldn’t take a chance to drastically better their lives?! The sisters are relatable in their imperfections and most people irl aren’t very different. We all have our individual set of values, they can be realistic like In-Joo’s or selfish like In-Hye, and sometimes stupidly brave like In-Kyung’s. The beauty here is that they represent real women, who should be allowed to make mistakes and grow cause that’s only natural
3. The ML’s: Opposite to the FL’s with obvious issues, the ML’s are perfect and won’t ever disappoint you which creates a really nice balance between the characters
4. The villains get applause of their own, of course! I wanted to constantly murder all of them, especially the main antagonist. And that really speaks to her acting skills and how amazingly she portrayed a character so completely evil. Great work from all the negative characters
5. The eerie sound-track and the flower symbolism gets an honourable mention cause it truly tied the direction with the script and enhanced the final product very well.
(Bonus: This needs a sismance tag for all the lasting and heartfelt friendships they portrayed. Female characters supporting and truly ‘loving’ each other is a big part of the show and that’s a nice change from the stereotypes).
Lastly, this show is criminally underrated, I’m guessing because of its lack of cheesy romance and the lesser role of ML’s. People looking for that stuff will undoubtedly be disappointed. But, if someone is looking for a more adult suspense/thriller with very prominent class struggle themes, then this show is certainly worth a watch!
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Psychological thriller with a hell lot of money problems...
Little Women (by Louisa May Alcott) is by far one of my favourite classic literary novels and although this cannot be considered an "adaptation" or "remake" of any sort because of the vast differential cleft between the two plotlines, but I very much enjoyed the constant thrill I engaged with, while watching this concise yet fulfilling dramaThe story in itself was portrayed beautifully, in my opinion by showing the very evident discrepancy between the two different money classes, statuses and families. It was interesting how they showed that while poor people dream of becoming rich, rich people dream of becoming richer and going even higher in the hierarchy of society. The innocence of the 'kids' (hyorin and inhye), and how only the people with wealth (Mr. Park and his wife) would have been able to fabricate their way towards their goals.. along with how every single scene in the drama happened for a purpose/ was a part of someone's VERY meticulous plan (will not be spoiling so do go watch it!) Every single episode left me on the edge of my seat and every shocking revelation had me pausing the episode and either screaming or gasping really loud LMFAO!! You can also literally not trust ANYONE in the show, it's traumatic.
Let's talk about how throughout the drama, Injoo thinks that other people favour her and "toy" with her because she believes she's slow-witted but she's actually undeniably one of the smartest people in the drama. Being an older sister AND without any support from her parents, she's handled her sisters and herself throughout and her decision making skills are top-notch and she really doesn't need to be book-smart for that. The chemistry with Choi Do Il was OVERFLOWING though and I was really sad because I thought they liked each other (I still think they do LOL considering he still wants to see her again but that's for our interpretation). Inkyung's character is super brash but overall, it was definitely for the better holistic cause for the plot.
The funniest thing was though.. how did Injoo take out and put in 2 WHOLE BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF BILLS IN THE LOCKER WITHOUT ANYONE SEEING? Like literally did no one suspect her? I was SO glad that Inhye and Hyorin (I actually didn't like her at the start but I sympathised with her towards the end) left the horrible corrupted mess left by the adults and I'm happy they're living a happy life together! So satisfactory that I even shed a tear towards the end! I did despise Inhye a lot because her actions always came off as rude and ungrateful towards her sisters' love towards her though.
I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys a bit of a psychological-crime-thriller rollercoaster ride!! The casting was absolutely PERFECT and they played their roles better than I thought they would!!
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Incredible!
(Disclaimer, I never read the novel). So incredibly good. I felt frustrated in the beginning by different characters but by the end I felt content with how they grew. Uhm Jiwon did an amazing job portraying Sangah in such a way I couldn't hate her. I found Inkyungs character to be a little stiff at points but that was just her character and by the end she was much more likable. I absolutely hate Mari but I wish she was brought up again at the end and had some sort of consequence for her actions. I found it so frustrating how the sisters just blocked other when they're upset in the beginning. I've really never watched anything that was as good as this. Kind of sad nothing ended up happening with two leads but it would've been rushed so maybe it's better nothing happened. I think Little Women definitely could've benefited with at least one more episode so much happened at the last 20 minutes that it felt rushed. I'm quite happy with the ending, maybe there will be a season 2 and that's why it ends that way. Kim Goeun did a fantastic job portraying a naive happy wants best for her sisters type character to the point of it seeming like it really is her. Very good drama, I'm glad I watched this.Was this review helpful to you?
A complex political thriller with family drama and personal growth
While the show is dark and serious, it's really engaging. There are numerous plot threads weaving through this series, centering around three sisters characters. The eldest sister who is an outcast at her company because she's poor, lacks a higher education, is divorced, and is also attractive. She forms a unique friendship with another outcast who hides her luxurious alter ego. This relationship leads to our eldest sister gaining possession of a significant sum of money, tainted by corruption. The middle sister is a passionate reporter investigating the background and family connections of a politician running for Seoul's mayor. However, she struggles with alcoholism and often becomes emotional on camera. The youngest sister is an exceptionally talented artist who won a scholarship to a prestigious art school in South Korea. She forms a close friendship with a wealthy girl from the school, essentially becoming part of the rich family. This doesn't sit well with her elder sisters, who suspect that the rich family has ulterior motives. Furthermore, the rich family connected to the youngest sister is the very same family that our second sister, the reporter, is investigating. The connections become increasingly messy as the story unfolds.Now, this show has an exceptional cast. They delivered outstanding performances, with the eldest sister standing out due to her character's development and screen time. The cinematography is a masterpiece, the set design and overall color grading are meticulously crafted, with subtle clues woven into the details. Also the music is as beautiful as the visuals.
What I don't like are the characters and the story all throughout. The sisters seem so unlikeable and dim, they keep making choices that put them in jeopardy. It was painful to watch them being played over and over again by people around them, it feels that the plot just keep happening around them just for performances. While plot twist after plot twist keep happening, the last 4 episodes do not round the story very well.
-Oct 2023, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge
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Dirt wrapped in facy bow
there are 2 categories that's missing from the above rating system, cinematography which was a 100/10 and plot development which was a meh 5.so like, the shots were so extravagant, so beautiful, so well though tout, so well balanced, but the story? the backstory for the evil organization was trash. the "twists" eventhough they were shocking were stupid, basically the villains were so smart yet gave away their own lives and worse make a stupid revenge scheme that compromised herself more than her victims..
like sure, sangah was a psychopath, but an elaborate acid water scheme, that obviously put herself at more risk? and the tree bottom becoming an acid pool and boom one push and it's over?
here's how I'd have done it differently. poisoned gas, and she wears a protective mask but it gets cut off by accident and boom we see her suffering chocking on her own plans. (don't judge me, I'm writing this with a writer mindset xD)
her whole persona was "conducting plays", a puppet master if you like, she planned and played everyone, we as viewers needed to see her plans fail and her seeing the wires cut off, that was the real suffering, she had no real power
and suddenly everyone was rich, when her friend got 12 years in prison.. so it was that simple? there was no death mystery cuz she never died. they didn't need to piss sangah off when they could've laundered the money that easily?
some people would look at this as a fancy metaphor for "the top 1% and people exposing their true colors infront of money" or whatever else one likes and they are not wrong
but to me it wasn't that deep. it was just 1 psychopath that married another, and her father conveniently had an organization of psychos that liked to kill to reach their goal, for what? petty angst, why? cuz that's how shallow the writer is
squid games is not a metaphor of rich and poor, it's entertainment. you can ofc see any metaphor you like, it's not wrong. we can all look at the ink on the page and see a flower, a monster, or just a splash of ink.
one and two aren't crazy, and 3 isn't a cynic that lacks creativity. I can look at a literature piece like little women the book, and say it wasn't a rich vs poor, it was just a love story. or personally I think it was more about a woman's position in society, regardless of background, women are forced with 2 options, marry rich or marry love, and the 3rd variable is the rebel's "if I don't want to be either I'll be neither"
I did not compare little womens cuz besides the basic, 3 sisters, poor, artist, material world, nothing is similar. others can see more similarities but no one is wrong
sooo, long story short, as an entertainment piece, ep8 was the best. the psycho's Truman Show was a great touch, the manipulation, the step by step puppet show and everything just being for sangah's enjoyment watching injoo's reaction was a better story choice than the veitnam, sad mommy issues, money, Vietnam and 99% of the show thinking Do Il would betray her. or being over involved in his feelings for injoo when like literally 7m is a great reason for someone to help cuz 70b is way too much to want to escape with
the songs were great, Uhm Ji Won as a calm psychopath is a great addition to makjangs and their recent love for screaming women. Kim Go Eun also rocks heavily emotinal scenes. for me, her meltdown in prison, and sangah's scheme in ep8 deserve to be in the "acting" hall of fame
going to compare this to eve, both are makjang, both wanted to go crazy, and tbh I'm sick of romance dramas breaking up the best couples and say "sad endings are realistic", it's not sad to beautiful people didn't end up together, real sad endings come from death, and the ones that need a sad ending are makjangs, a happily ever after makjang isn't worth all the pain and angst
killing the villain is not a satisfying ending. they get caught? they kill themselves. they go crazier? they fall and accidentally die
real suffering comes from detaching the villain from their power. let their world crumble. and thus, in Eve the ML saw the amount of destruction they caused and what did he do? suicide but with murder. and that's they point, muurrrrder (again don't judge I'm a writer xD) but how to make murder worse? one dies and one lives but loses everything, her memory, her sanity, her personality, her life, and she lives in a state she doesn't know what's real or not, she's just a shell
but I guess Eve got there 1st so this couldn't copy it. and psych ward is the 3rd option for villains anyway
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loved this drama... full of twist and turns... every ep. is mind blowing...
Every actor is suitable according to their roles... plotting and story is very attractive and amazing... my fav. roles are choi do il and In joo... their chemistry hits differently... the role of In kyung is very strong... overall i really loved this drama.. now it is one of my fav. dramas... the ost are amazing... everything seems to be perfect.... i wanted choi do il and In joo to be together but they can't.... each ep. contain lots of secrets you can't skip 1 second of this drama... i watched this while airing and i sometimes feel like my heart was going to be explode while waiting for the next episode... i got anxious when i can't watch ep. on the same day of airing... i hope you can understand my state at that time...?Was this review helpful to you?
Everything was perfect until E08 after that......
For me Little Women was just a decent Watchable drama. Everything look so interesting and gripping in the start, too many Mysteries with a very good story telling, plot twists, and more. But all are for nothing actually from E09. Slowness is ok. Because i already knew this probably a slow poison in the start but i was completely wrong to be honest. Because after E08 everything is predictable or i predicted almost everything.So for me, i lost all the excitement. E08 ending was lit. But it all spoiled in the starting of E09. Politics is also unbearable. Too many unwanted story complications for nothing actually. If you think there will be a grand twist coming after all this, then don't fool yourself. Nothing was there. Actually if you can easily predict everything...
I thought this would be a good mystery serial murders kind of a story telling and unfold a large mystery with an unbelievable twist or something like this. But if you just look back after all 12 episodes you will probably get what i mean infact there was nothing but too many complication ?
Stunning cast and performance. And some characterisation, oh sister's are brilliant, even a simple detailing of their behaviour is superbly narrated. But it doesn't support the story.
Overall it's not a bad drama or must watch drama, it was a simple and decent drama to watch. Too many dragging after E08. Some point i thought even for just a 12 episodes they took so many time to conclude that story and what happen if they took 16.. ?
It's only my personal view.
#N45Views
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Thrilling and Chilling All The Way Through
At first I expected this drama to follow closely to the American Little Women. At least it would be that kind of a drama. This turn out to have very little resemblance to the American version, except that there are four sisters.But while I love the American version, I dare say this Korean version is very gripping and makes me want to see more. While the previous is all about warm hearted sibling love and some romance, the later is fully crime thriller with the romance as a small part only. Well I'm still currently in ep 9 and I still have no idea if the first sister's suitor is actually a good guy or a bad guy!! But I love all those uncertainties.
If any, I feel that the second sister often does things without thinking of the consequences. But again, she's an alcoholic so it's part of the character written for her I suppose. Also, the first sister carrying that bag with 2billion won on the street ?. So I won't say there are no silly bits here and there. Just saying the storyline is so good I am willing to let those random silliness go.
As usual, Kim Go Eun doesn't disappoint.
I highly recommend this drama. Gripping all the way through.
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Dramatic at times but meh
I went into watching Little Women blind with only the idea that it's based on a book that I hadn't read but had heard was quite good. I don't find this Korean adaptation to be special. It left me questioning many things that didn't quite make sense.Yes, Little Women has wonderful cinematography and the director knows how to build suspense and anxiety but at times I felt like the motivation behind everything lacked any kind of logic and the end folded so neatly, it was actually both a relief and disappointing.
I wish I could make sense of why the society functioned the way it did. Felt meaningless and unbelievable that no one questioned a thing.
Although the Oh sisters irked me in many instances, I was genuinely rooting for In Joo and In Kyung. Oh In Hye will go down as 2022's most annoying main character. So selfish and ungrateful! I prefer any of the villains over her because at least you understand them to a degree.
Loved the mysterious Choi Do Il and it was fun reading viewers speculate. It's unfortunate that the other male character is nothing to write home about.
If you enjoy suspense, then you might enjoy the rollercoaster ride this show takes you on. However, the ending is not very dramatic. If romance draws you in then you might want to give this one a skip.
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