A Virtuous Business (2024)

WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN

I went into this expecting a quirky little comedy about women selling lingerie in conservative 1990s Korea and what I got instead was a full on emotional gut punch disguised as a workplace drama. They really said "lol here's a funny premise" and then proceeded to make me ugly cry??? The audacity. The NERVE. I was not prepared and I will not be forgiving anyone involved anytime soon.

Tropes: female friendship, found family, workplace ensemble, slow burn romance, underdog story


Likes:

Jeong-suk had me completely hooked from her very first scene. You don't even need them to tell you how hard her life is. The way she hesitates buying basic necessities for herself while making sure her child has everything says it all without a single line of dialogue. That kind of quiet, understated storytelling hits so much harder than any dramatic monologue ever could and I have so much respect for a drama that trusts its audience enough to pick up on those small details. She is selfless and disciplined and quietly resilient in a way that made me want to reach through the screen and protect her from everything.

And then there's Seung-soo. Her husband. Who is genuinely one of the most frustrating characters I have encountered in recent memory. The infidelity, the selfishness, the recklessness, the complete and utter lack of appreciation for the woman holding his entire household together... I was personally offended on Jeong-suk's behalf every single episode. He is the human embodiment of a walking red flag and I have said what I said. Every scene with him made me want to flip a table and I think that means the writing did its job perfectly.

BUT this drama is not really about him and that is exactly why it works so well.

The moment Yeong-bok, Ju-ri and Geum-hui entered the picture and this became a proper ensemble story I knew I was in serious trouble. Their chemistry together is genuinely off the charts and I mean that without any exaggeration whatsoever. Whether they are fumbling through the most embarrassing product demonstrations imaginable, navigating the chaos of their personal lives, or simply sitting together having honest conversations about things women rarely get to discuss openly on screen, these four feel so real and so genuinely connected that you forget you are watching actors perform a script. That is really, genuinely rare and I refuse to take it for granted.

What I love most about this drama is that it understands empowerment is not a solo journey. So many shows will give you one strong woman finding herself and frame it as this individual triumph. A Virtuous Business looks at that formula and says actually, what if she found herself because the women around her refused to let her disappear? The collective is the point. The friendship is the point. And it delivers on that premise so beautifully that I found myself getting emotional during scenes that were not even supposed to be emotional, just women being kind to each other and showing up and I was a complete wreck.

Let me break down the individual storylines because they all deserve their own moment:

Yeong-bok starts out looking like pure comic relief. A chaotic, overwhelmed working mother who is always three steps behind on everything. And then her arc quietly becomes one of the most emotionally layered and genuinely moving storylines in the entire drama. Her relationship with Jong-seon is portrayed with such warmth and sincerity that I was completely blindsided by how deeply I ended up caring about her. The show does this thing where you think you know exactly what a character is going to be and then it just pulls the rug out from under you and suddenly you are reconsidering everything.

Geum-hui's internal conflict between the modern independent woman she desperately wants to be versus the housewife existence she has been confined to was handled with so much sensitivity and care. There is something really painful about watching someone highly educated and deeply capable feel entirely trapped and unfulfilled by the life they are supposed to want. The drama explores that with empathy and never once makes her feel like a cautionary tale or a punchline.

And then Ju-ri. Funny, confident, loud, perpetually judged for her lifestyle and her choices. So many dramas would make a character like her into the one-dimensional comedic sidekick and leave it there. This drama refused. Beneath all that bravado is a woman who has spent a long time being seen as a certain type of person and decided to own it rather than let it break her. Her romantic storyline adds both genuine humor and real emotional complexity and I thought she was wonderful from start to finish.

Can we talk about the dynamic of Do-hyeon and Jeong-suk for a second because their relationship had me smiling at my screen like an absolute fool every single time they shared a scene. What I appreciate most is that their romance develops so naturally and without any of the usual manufactured drama or forced misunderstandings that plague so many kdrama romances. It grows through genuine shared experiences and emotional understanding and mutual respect and it feels earned in a way that a lot of dramas just... don't bother with. Their scenes together are genuinely some of the most enjoyable in the series and the charm between them is completely effortless.

The mystery subplot surrounding Do-hyeon's search for his biological mother adds an interesting layer of intrigue and momentum to the narrative without ever completely overtaking the emotional core of the story. It stays in its lane. I appreciated that.

The 1990s setting is recreated beautifully without ever becoming distracting. The town itself develops a really strong sense of identity and place across the run of the episodes. The soundtrack does exactly what a good soundtrack should do, the upbeat playful tracks and the more emotional melodies each know when to show up and when to step back. Flashbacks are integrated smoothly. The costume design hits the era without going into caricature territory.

Visually and atmospherically this drama really delivers. It feels lived in and specific and that specificity is part of what makes it so memorable.


Dislikes:

The tonal balance gets genuinely uneven at certain points, particularly when the darker storylines collide with the lighter comedic material in the same episode. There were moments where I felt slightly whiplashed going from something quite heavy to something quite silly and I think a little more care in the editing and pacing of those transitions would have helped a lot.

There are also some subplots that frankly overstay their welcome and could have been trimmed without losing anything important. Some episodes get a little lost in side stories that don't contribute meaningfully to the overall narrative and you can feel the pacing drag when that happens.

My biggest complaint is that as the drama progresses the actual lingerie business gradually fades into the background. The early episodes derive so much of their identity and their comedic energy from the challenges and genuine absurdities of selling adult products in an incredibly conservative environment and that setup is so specific and so fun that I found myself genuinely missing it as the show shifted increasingly toward personal drama. I understand why it evolved the way it did and the personal stories are often compelling but I do feel like the original premise got somewhat abandoned and that felt like a missed opportunity.

I have to be real with you about the finale because I think honesty is important and also I have feelings that need to be expressed.

The time jump frustrated me more than I expected. I understand completely what they were going for: Jeong-suk's growth, her independence, her full transformation into a woman who finally belongs to herself. And on a thematic level it works. It really does. She earned that ending and watching her stand in her own confidence and agency after everything she went through is genuinely satisfying.

But it comes at the direct expense of narrative closure for so many supporting characters that I had spent episodes becoming deeply invested in. Yeong-bok's story. Geum-hui's story. Ju-ri's story. All three of these women go on significant emotional journeys throughout this drama and in the final stretch they are left without the definitive and satisfying conclusions their arcs deserved. Questions about relationships and futures and the aftermath of major events just hang there unanswered. For a show that made its ensemble cast its greatest strength, that felt like a genuine betrayal of what made it special.

I sat with the finale feeling simultaneously moved and disappointed and I think that tension is the most honest way I can describe it. It is an ending that succeeds thematically but stumbles practically and that gap is frustrating because by that point you care so much about all of them.


FINAL THOUGHTS:

Despite its uneven pacing, the occasional draggy subplot and most significantly its frustrating finale, A Virtuous Business absolutely earns its place. It is funny and heartfelt and surprisingly thoughtful and it is willing to have real conversations about female sexuality, infidelity, economic dependence and social expectation in ways that feel genuinely meaningful rather than performative.

The chemistry between the four leads carries this show through every single one of its weaker moments. Some of the most powerful scenes in the entire drama are the quiet moments of women showing up for each other during vulnerability. Women rallying. Women refusing to let each other disappear. That image is the defining image of this series and it moved me more than I expected it to.

What begins as a comedy about selling lingerie ultimately becomes a warm, sincere and genuinely memorable celebration of women reclaiming their confidence and their sense of self in a world that spent a very long time telling them to expect less. It is not perfect. But it has so much heart that the imperfections are easy to forgive.

I give it an 8/10 and I stand by every point.

If you have been sleeping on this one please wake up immediately.

Thanks for reading! ♡

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A Virtuous Business truly feels like an underrated gem amongst all the k-dramas that have come out this year, but it was never really on my radar until I stumbled upon it on Netflix once it started airing, but I was truly enthralled by every single episode and had a great time from start to finish. And it’s always wonderful when stories manage to surprise you like that.

There was something just so effortless and charming about the setting and the main characters, but they all seemed to be those moms who would usually never get to be in the lead role in most other stories, but here they got the spotlight. This variety of women who live in this small community inside this small town where nothing really happens. Until it does.

It is wonderful to see how they gradually started to bond and form friendships through their unusual business and the circumstances they face because of it, but also gain a certain sexual liberation and ways to show and express their desires, even if society does not want to admit that women over a certain age can have any sorts of desires.

But it was that aspect of the story that made many kdrama viewers did not notice this drama or pay much attention to it. It’s not a romcom, it doesn’t have the typical romance or characters, and it certainly did not feature a young heartthrob in the lead role. And the kdrama space, just like our society tends to put men at the center and their roles in the lives of women which is often why romance is such a focal point in our lives. We are all meant to be in love (with men).

There was plenty of fun to be had since the humor was good and with a heartwarming little romance as a side story which fitted a story such as this But the true love story here is the love between these women and how they grow with each other, and the drama seemed to understand that.

One thing this drama did very well was to show how the image and sense of self of these women within the society was often tied to their husbands and children. The men around them shaped their lives and the narrative that not only the story told, but also the people around them did, through the gossip that spread and how the actions of those men sometimes had greater consequences on the woman, which was something that most of them did not think or care about. So many things became a burden for the woman. And she is admired or pitied because of their behavior. Or their lack of a man, even.

The drama may have shied away a bit or hesitate to go all the way with the sex toy storyline, but it does fit the time and the characters who are the main protagonists of the story. And while the business around sexy lingerie and sex toys certainly liberated them to a certain extent, they were still allowed to be a little prudish despite being allowed to express their desires. But the real liberation within the story was their friendship. Because without it, they were quite isolated.

The romance or love within the story was, again, the love between these women and themselves, even though that story also brought out some rekindled emotions and the fun little flings and flirting. All of them got a man in their lives, for better or for worse, in the end. Because no woman in society is complete without a man. And I felt like the drama understood how that is how society sees the purpose of women. The main romance was very slow, which suited the story very well and never took too much time away from the main plot.

My biggest fail mark within the story is the investigation and the lost child-cold case that was a side story there dragged on a bit and sometimes I felt like that part of the story was hardly more than an excuse to give the main male character (and the only man there who was decent) more to do and fill in some dead time. It all came together in the end, which I was sure it would, and it was done in a kind of predictable way, and I’m still not sure if it added anything to the story or if the drama wouldn’t have worked perfectly without it.

Overall, it was a fun, lighthearted and easy watch where the hours flew by and the screenwriters did a good job of cramming all the character development and the slow-burning romance and wonderful friendship and everything else you could want from a drama like this in 12 episodes – but I will continue to insist that it’s a little too short for a traditional kdrama storyline and the pacing they’re used to having. But neither the character development nor the plot seemed too rushed here and the focus to tell a very funny and heartfelt little story about small town women, their quirky neighbors that make up their community and friendship never truly wavered.

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