This review may contain spoilers
Phenomenal Acting, Great Story, and a Finale That Fell Just Short
Little Women, although contrary to the 1868 novel, is an incredible story. Here are my pros & cons. There are some spoilers so please don't read if you haven't watched already.
Pros:
- The acting is phenomenal. In the scene where the oldest sister slept with the flower, she truly felt like a different person. All the actors and their emotions felt so realistic. The acting was probably my favorite part of the entire show. The oldest sister's actress has amazing acting talent
- They even acted correctly with their respective personalities. Although very poor, the second oldest sister wanted the oldest sister to turn in the money because it wasn't hers. She even kept that "fight for justice" trait throughout the series and did everything in her power to have justice served. Also, I liked how in the beginning we knew the mother was lwk crazy, and they continued to keep her that level of crazy. Like yes, I crazy person who is dedicated to their society would let their husband die because they failed even though they love him. And yes, a crazy person would kidnap people and do all this stuff. In other words, I liked how she didn't "become crazy" like how most villains do in shows once it is known that they are the villain. She was crazy from the start.
- The story was very intriguing. Personally, I love shows & movies with murder mysteries. If you like those too, this is peak. Lots of deaths and lots of mysteries. I also liked how they didn't make the show demonic or anything. They could have with people seeing visions when smelling the flowers, but they chose not to which I really appreciate. Also, the completed story of the flower was very good. From the start to finish, I was very interested in how the show would thaw out the flower society's storyline.
- The side stories were very interesting. I loved the side story with the In-hye and her best friend. To me, that was a phenomenal story that fit their characters perfectly.
- The twist were pretty good. My favorite has to be the one where Hwa-young in Singapore was actually In-hye's best friend's mother (I don't really remember names well). It was well planned out where we, as the audience, could really expect it to be Hwa-young. But again, we saw her body, we knew she was dead, and we never saw "her" face when she was running away. Also, the twist where the mother was the real villain was very well planned out due to her line where she used the word "man servant (or at least something similar)" to her husband in the first few episodes. It showed that writers already had planned out she was the real villain as she had power over her husband, but they chose to just give a few snippets of hints to who the real villain was.
- The character development was good but not great. The oldest sister seemed to be the only one with REAL character development. Even with hoping Hwa-young was still alive, she never brought the money with her nor did she give away her gun. In the earlier episodes, the oldest sister- who is very naive -would absolutely bring the money with her for Hwa-young. But throughout the story she learned her lesson. I also liked for her that she still had some "naive-ness" with her at the end showing people just don't change a large portion of their personality over night but they improve on their lower qualities over time. Also, I liked the small character development of In-hye. She throughout the story started to become a real friend to her "best friend" and starting being more caring with her older sisters who did EVERYTHING they could for her. I also liked how they explained her reasoning on why she acting the way she did.
- I LOVED that the brought back stuff discussed in the earlier episodes instead of just forgetting about them like how most shows or movies do. For me, I loved that they brought back the apartment that the main girl wanted to get for her and her family. When she was first in the apartment, she could finally imagine a life where her and her sisters wouldn't be punished for being poor, but could live in a clean, beautiful place peacefully. When she came back to the apartment, it showed that she now could have that life even if it wasn't with her living with her sisters.
- The ending was satisfying. It wasn't the best ending I could think of though. The best ending of any show doesn't have to be just a "good ending" but it has to fit the story the best. I liked how everyone got a happy ending, so I wasn't crying in my bed over how sad it could be. The heroes got what the needed and the villains were dead.
Cons:
- I disliked a few of their remaining connections. Like what happened with Ma-ri? Why would they STILL be in contact with their mother after everything that she did? Why did In-hye's best friend have no reaction to BOTH of her parent's dying when earlier she was fine with her father being a killer because at least he wasn't poor? Why was the father shown at Hwa-young's place both in the dashcam AND in the oldest sister's flower infected dream when he wasn't the killer? How did Choi not get in any trouble after lwk lying to the court saying it is all his fault when Hwa-young later says it is all her fault? How can the main girl forgive Hwa-young so easily even though she was using her in the mother's game? Why was the mother's game about the main girl mentioned like once then dropped?
- I didn't care for Hwa-young's reasoning for why she was still alive. "It was this girl who wanted to khs. So, we decided to switch lives" ?? I'm sure websites like that do, in fact, exist. That isn't the problem. It is the problem that it took TWO YEARS for the switch to start happening. "She had to grow out her hair" was one of the reasons it took so long. JUST CUT YOUR HAIR OMG. I thought it was stupid and could've been explained better.
- The climax was boring and VERY anticlimactic. It had a lot of potential with the mother being very crazy and the hydrochloric acid replacing the water, but the main girl got Hwa-young out of their so fast and her fight with the mother didn't even last a minute. Worst of all, she came out unscathed.
- The ending was a little too happy. Although I really like the ending because it was happy, I just feel like it went too smoothly. A bit unrealistic. Also, only the last two episodes was I a TAD bit bored with the whole court case and everything.
- Although not a technically con, I really hoped for a romance between the main girl and Choi. They had fantastic chemistry and proved on many different occasions that they liked or at least cared for each other. For the main girl (although she kept questioning his trust because he is morally grey), she showed she liked him a bit at least when she was with her sister and the one guy when they first found out about the deeper connection of the flower. For Choi, he LITERALLY risked his life on multiple occasions for her. The main reasoning behind that one is in the climax. He already knew where all the money was while she didn't. But, he still chose to save her life. Also, do I need to mention the little "I'll see you soon" smirk in his last scene? I had hoped that the main girl's final scene would be leaving for Greece with all her money since the reason she didn't originally was because she didn't have that money. Also, he literally was setting himself up to go to jail for her in the court scene, just saying. No way he cared for money more than her at the end.
Overall:
- Solid show. 8.5/10 imp. Great mystery with great actors just needs a bit of a touch up on some loose threads and a better climax.
Pros:
- The acting is phenomenal. In the scene where the oldest sister slept with the flower, she truly felt like a different person. All the actors and their emotions felt so realistic. The acting was probably my favorite part of the entire show. The oldest sister's actress has amazing acting talent
- They even acted correctly with their respective personalities. Although very poor, the second oldest sister wanted the oldest sister to turn in the money because it wasn't hers. She even kept that "fight for justice" trait throughout the series and did everything in her power to have justice served. Also, I liked how in the beginning we knew the mother was lwk crazy, and they continued to keep her that level of crazy. Like yes, I crazy person who is dedicated to their society would let their husband die because they failed even though they love him. And yes, a crazy person would kidnap people and do all this stuff. In other words, I liked how she didn't "become crazy" like how most villains do in shows once it is known that they are the villain. She was crazy from the start.
- The story was very intriguing. Personally, I love shows & movies with murder mysteries. If you like those too, this is peak. Lots of deaths and lots of mysteries. I also liked how they didn't make the show demonic or anything. They could have with people seeing visions when smelling the flowers, but they chose not to which I really appreciate. Also, the completed story of the flower was very good. From the start to finish, I was very interested in how the show would thaw out the flower society's storyline.
- The side stories were very interesting. I loved the side story with the In-hye and her best friend. To me, that was a phenomenal story that fit their characters perfectly.
- The twist were pretty good. My favorite has to be the one where Hwa-young in Singapore was actually In-hye's best friend's mother (I don't really remember names well). It was well planned out where we, as the audience, could really expect it to be Hwa-young. But again, we saw her body, we knew she was dead, and we never saw "her" face when she was running away. Also, the twist where the mother was the real villain was very well planned out due to her line where she used the word "man servant (or at least something similar)" to her husband in the first few episodes. It showed that writers already had planned out she was the real villain as she had power over her husband, but they chose to just give a few snippets of hints to who the real villain was.
- The character development was good but not great. The oldest sister seemed to be the only one with REAL character development. Even with hoping Hwa-young was still alive, she never brought the money with her nor did she give away her gun. In the earlier episodes, the oldest sister- who is very naive -would absolutely bring the money with her for Hwa-young. But throughout the story she learned her lesson. I also liked for her that she still had some "naive-ness" with her at the end showing people just don't change a large portion of their personality over night but they improve on their lower qualities over time. Also, I liked the small character development of In-hye. She throughout the story started to become a real friend to her "best friend" and starting being more caring with her older sisters who did EVERYTHING they could for her. I also liked how they explained her reasoning on why she acting the way she did.
- I LOVED that the brought back stuff discussed in the earlier episodes instead of just forgetting about them like how most shows or movies do. For me, I loved that they brought back the apartment that the main girl wanted to get for her and her family. When she was first in the apartment, she could finally imagine a life where her and her sisters wouldn't be punished for being poor, but could live in a clean, beautiful place peacefully. When she came back to the apartment, it showed that she now could have that life even if it wasn't with her living with her sisters.
- The ending was satisfying. It wasn't the best ending I could think of though. The best ending of any show doesn't have to be just a "good ending" but it has to fit the story the best. I liked how everyone got a happy ending, so I wasn't crying in my bed over how sad it could be. The heroes got what the needed and the villains were dead.
Cons:
- I disliked a few of their remaining connections. Like what happened with Ma-ri? Why would they STILL be in contact with their mother after everything that she did? Why did In-hye's best friend have no reaction to BOTH of her parent's dying when earlier she was fine with her father being a killer because at least he wasn't poor? Why was the father shown at Hwa-young's place both in the dashcam AND in the oldest sister's flower infected dream when he wasn't the killer? How did Choi not get in any trouble after lwk lying to the court saying it is all his fault when Hwa-young later says it is all her fault? How can the main girl forgive Hwa-young so easily even though she was using her in the mother's game? Why was the mother's game about the main girl mentioned like once then dropped?
- I didn't care for Hwa-young's reasoning for why she was still alive. "It was this girl who wanted to khs. So, we decided to switch lives" ?? I'm sure websites like that do, in fact, exist. That isn't the problem. It is the problem that it took TWO YEARS for the switch to start happening. "She had to grow out her hair" was one of the reasons it took so long. JUST CUT YOUR HAIR OMG. I thought it was stupid and could've been explained better.
- The climax was boring and VERY anticlimactic. It had a lot of potential with the mother being very crazy and the hydrochloric acid replacing the water, but the main girl got Hwa-young out of their so fast and her fight with the mother didn't even last a minute. Worst of all, she came out unscathed.
- The ending was a little too happy. Although I really like the ending because it was happy, I just feel like it went too smoothly. A bit unrealistic. Also, only the last two episodes was I a TAD bit bored with the whole court case and everything.
- Although not a technically con, I really hoped for a romance between the main girl and Choi. They had fantastic chemistry and proved on many different occasions that they liked or at least cared for each other. For the main girl (although she kept questioning his trust because he is morally grey), she showed she liked him a bit at least when she was with her sister and the one guy when they first found out about the deeper connection of the flower. For Choi, he LITERALLY risked his life on multiple occasions for her. The main reasoning behind that one is in the climax. He already knew where all the money was while she didn't. But, he still chose to save her life. Also, do I need to mention the little "I'll see you soon" smirk in his last scene? I had hoped that the main girl's final scene would be leaving for Greece with all her money since the reason she didn't originally was because she didn't have that money. Also, he literally was setting himself up to go to jail for her in the court scene, just saying. No way he cared for money more than her at the end.
Overall:
- Solid show. 8.5/10 imp. Great mystery with great actors just needs a bit of a touch up on some loose threads and a better climax.
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