“Little Women” (작은 아씨들)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
October 16, 2022

☆☆☆☆
Oh In-ju (played by Kim Go-eun)
Oh In-kyung (played by Nam Ji-hyun)
Oh In-hye (played by Park Ji-hu)
Choi Do-il (played by Wi Ha-joon)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

This female-led K-drama is a loose adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel of the same name. And I mean really loose. The central characters share some of the personality traits as the book’s sisters. And a primary theme in both revolves around the class distinctions between the wealthy and the poor. But this Korean version has its own tale to tell. The show doesn’t vilify the rich so much as it presents scenarios where good people are tempted to commit a crime, because they have nothing left to lose. (We already know the rich  — especially those with generational wealth — here are evil.)

Though In-ju, In-kyung and In-hye technically have parents, their mother and father are out of the picture, except to wreak financial havoc. When the older sisters scrimped to save money for In-hye to go on a class trip overseas, their mother absconds with it. The matriarch’s theory is that In-hye is young and can travel later, while she herself never had the opportunity to see the world.

In-hye is less disappointed that her siblings. She’s always carried around guilt that her sisters sacrificed so that they could provide her the life they believed she should have — one without worrying about money. When In-ju gives her cash to buy snacks at school, she tells her baby sister to get enough to share with her friends as well, which only makes In-hye feel even worse.

When a wealthy friend at her high school befriends In-hye, and her seemingly too-good-to-be-true parents (played by the scenery-chewing Um Ki-joon and Uhm Ji-won) invite the girl to live with them, the teenager agrees. While she’s not completely naive about their motives, In-hye also enjoys pretending to have a normal family life with one of the richest and most powerful families in South Korea. But it quickly becomes clear that there is nothing even vaguely normal about this dysfunctional sadistic family.

There’s a lot going on here, with In-ju becoming the beneficiary of about 50 million embezzled dollars (USD) after her only friend dies by suicide. (Both had been ostracized at work, because they were from poor families and hadn’t gone to college.) While In-ju thinks about how this money can save her family, In-kyung doesn’t want it. She uses her journalistic sleuthing skills to uncover the kind of corruption that wealth buys and that the recipients rationalize as ultimately benefitting Korean society. And that stolen money is a key.

Do-il is there the whole time helping In-ju, though it’s never clear which side this mysterious man is working for, and who he will double-cross to get what he wants. Is he In-ju’s ally? Or someone who will lead to her downfall?

“Little Women” is many things, including a beautifully-paced suspenseful murder mystery. Why are so many people dying? Why are they leaving a rare orchid behind as their deadly calling card? And, just as importantly, who will die next?

Controversy: Vietnam’s Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information asked Netflix Vietnam to remove the series from its lineup, based on the series’ misrepresentation of the Vietnam War (which included glorifying South Korea’s role in the war).

Airdates: Twelve episodes — each between 70- and 80-minutes long  — aired on tvN from September 3 to October 9, 2022.

Spoiler Alert: In-ju’s deceased friend Hwa-young (Choo Ja-hyun) isn’t really dead. She wanted people to think she had died so that she could start a new life with the stolen money. Hwa-young met a woman on a forum for those who wanted to end their own lives. The two worked for over a year to grow their hair out, get the same tattoo on their ankle and look as similar as possible. But the double didn’t have time to die by suicide, because she was murdered.

Both Park Jae-sang (Um Ki-joon) and his wife Sang-ah (Uhm Ji-won) are immoral. But Sang-ah is also a cray-cray serial killer with serious mental issues.

As for the orchid left behind at each murder, it’s all part of a clandestine organization, where members are sentenced to die when called upon. When Jae-sang has outlived his usefulness, Sang-ah orders him to die (which he does).

This fictional blue orchid is said to thrive in the forests in Vietnam. Sang-ah has cultivated them in her secret hidden basement, where she attaches them to a tree. (As an epiphyte, orchids don’t organically originate from trees.)

Throughout the series, In-ju (and us viewers) are never clear about Do-il’s intentions. Is he going to help the sisters as he says? Or is he making a patsy out of In-ju in order to steal her money? By Episode 10, I was confident (and correct) that he was on their side. The writers made it seem that he set up his own father to prove his loyalty to the corrupt chaebol he works for. He sends In-ju off to meet with his dad’s Vietnam War buddy. She sees a photo of the buddy self-immolating but, as the man says, it was all for show and that he had protected himself. A few seconds later, Do-il’s father’s truck pulls up and blows up, and you see the elder Choi on fire. I knew here that Do-il had put on an act to trick Jae-sang. And while Do-il had a complicated relationship with his dad, he never betrayed his father.

Do-il also doesn’t double-cross In-ju, as everyone had suspected he would. In the finale, he helps In-hye and her rich friend, Hyo-rin (played by Jeon Chae-eun), recover the stolen money, which they then split between the sisters. Fans had hoped he and In-ju would have a romantic relationship, but that didn’t happen. The chemistry was there, though, so here’s hoping Kim Go-eun and Wi Ha-joon star together again in the future.

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