8.5/10 – what a wild ride!! It’s been so long since I enjoyed a DRAMA where there are so many exciting twists and turns, with every episode ending with a screech-worthy cliffhanger that left me aching for more. Little Women was so entertaining!!
[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]
From the sparse research I did, the title of the drama has almost nothing to do with the famous classic novel of the same name. I never read it, and I probably never will, lolol. I think the only similarity is that it tells the story of three sisters who live in poverty, and there is a theme of rising above class and status? Maybe? Someone fact check me. Anyways, the drama follows the story of three sisters – Oh In-joo, Oh In-kyung, and Oh In-hye, three sisters with vastly different personalities and goals, struggling to live as a lower middle-class family. The eldest, Oh In-Joo is, perhaps on paper, the least accomplished, with the least potential. She is not particularly clever, hard-working, or extraordinary, but she has a very innocent and good-natured spirit. Despite growing up poor and underprivileged, she never loses her hopes and dreams, as unrealistic as they are. And it’s possibly even because she’s not that bright and doesn’t assess the plausibility of success LOL, but her tenacity and resilience throughout the drama is very endearing. She also almost acts as the mother to her two siblings, because honestly their real mom is a piece of shit (straight up, the mom just steals the sisters’ money and gtfo’s to the Philippians to “find their father”, wtf?!).
Oh In-kyung was definitely the WORKHORSE of this drama. She is portrayed as being a very hard-working, high functioning alcoholic that is a dedicated news reporter. Throughout the drama, she drives the conspiracy plot a lot by sleuthing out a lot of the craziness going on, and never giving in or backing down. I really admired how she stayed true to her morals and didn’t allow fear or career prospects to motivate her actions. This drama very much so, had the vibes of “three against the world”, with all three sisters fighting their own battles, in a greater war that eventually all comes together.
The third and youngest sister, Oh In-hye, is a bit of a dark horse in the show for me, because I’ll be honest, for about 80% of the run time, I really couldn’t stand her. Yes, I know she’s only a high school student, and it’s basically her job to be ungrateful for her sisters’ love, but that really doesn’t excuse her being so aloof and so desperate to escape her family situation that she low-key disowns her siblings numerous times…eventually there is some redemption for her character as she grows to understand her sisters’ perspectives and sacrifices. And she did provide an important POV from a story-telling standpoint, because she by far had the closest encounters with the main antagonists of the drama and revealed their true natures (because she straight up joined their side for a large portion!! >_<) But man oh man, she was such a little twit sometimes, and definitely could have benefited from a slap every now and then, lol.
Shit hits the wall really fast in the show, as all three sisters get entangled in a huge intergenerational embezzlement and corruption scheme with a powerful war general’s family, that all starts with the mysterious “suicide” of Oh In-joo’s close friend, Hwa-young. As Oh In-joo begins trying to unravel the suspicious death, Oh In-kyung starts digging into a network of corruption and a secret society, and Oh In-hye finds herself being sucked into the world of the elite and being tempted to stay there.
The patriarch of the powerful family, Park Jae-sang, is the son of the general’s personal assistant, and Won Sang-ah is the wife and daughter of the general himself, and technically the heiress to the whole legacy. And there’s their poor hapless daughter Park Hyo-rin, whom I felt sorry for the whole time and definitely needs years of therapy to recover from growing up in with such toxic and messed up parents. Let’s just say, there’s a lot of murders and “suicides”, if you know what I mean, as well as a very mysterious orchid club that seems to be the key to it all. Where do I even begin? Park Jae-sang was definitely cold, ruthless, and calculating. But ultimately, he was still subservient to his wife, who was, honest to God, just batshit crazy. The way she was utterly unhinged and a loose cannon the whole time was terrifying, but also perfectly executed, because there was always a traceable cause and effect, even in her complete insanity. I am intentionally keeping things fairly vague, because first of all this drama really needs to be enjoyed without prior knowledge of any of the intense twists and turns, and secondly, there were just so many layers, that if I start to get into it, I will literally have to mention everything and this review will turn into a long rambling recap of the entire show. Overall, the villains in this show were superbly written, which is uncommon in many Korean dramas. They were multi-faceted, unpredictable, but operated in a context that was relatable and honestly made the audience sympathetic in some ways. After all, human nature is always capable of evil, if brought up in the “right” set of circumstances and suffering.
As much as this show was definitely a “girl power” drama, with all the main characters, good and bad, being female, there were many very strong male characters as well. Namely… CHOI DO-IL, A MAN WITH MANY RED FLAGS BUT STILL ENOUGH INTEGRITY AND GOOD LOOKS FOR US TO BELIEVE AND TRUST HIM UNCONDITIONALLY. I really liked how despite the progression of potential relationship between him and Oh In-joo, his character remained consistent with his ideals. He often acted unscrupulously, was definitely conniving and money-driven, but he was never evil or selfish. Ultimately everything he does to the very end of the show benefited himself, but he also made sure to keep those he cared about out of harm’s way. Let’s just say he was reliable, haha. He was always reliably thinking ten steps ahead for his own gain, but also always reliably there to save the day whenever Oh In-joo found herself in over her head.
One thing about this drama that really made it addicting and fun was how well the plot-twists and cliffhangers were executed. Each episode ended in a way that made me screeching for more, haha. Again, I don’t really want to get into too many details, but let’s just say, there were A LOT of instances were things were discovered, bodies were discovered, secrets were discovered, etc, that just continued to beautifully serve the plot and challenge the main characters. I would definitely recommend this drama for anyone looking for an exciting thriller that has you looking for clues, speculating wildly after each episode, and keeps your butt cheeks clenched with stress, haha. Thanks for reading, and happy watching!
Thought Bubbles 