Little Women (2022)

The Clickbait

Little Women is a Korean Thriller Drama adapted from the novel "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, until it wasn’t.

Before reviewing the drama itself, I will try to define this matter without spoiling anything from the novel and the drama.

~Novel & Drama Comparison~

The novel revolves around the life of 4 sisters from a poor family. Each of them has her own personality, flaws, charms, worries and dreams, creating her own path in life. All of them together create a chaotic & dynamic companionship filled with many happy, sad, comforting but above all, sisterhood moments. The novel is set in the 1860s, but the core of its story is timeless. Thus, whatever changes plot wise, as long as the adaptation stays true to the original story’s vibes, it will successfully deliver the original message.

But this particular adaptation, despite having Little Women’s family tree (kind of), has nothing else in common with the novel. It’s a pure Makjang with a completely independent story, which is not even slightly inspired from the novel as its conflict between poor and rich is the most common theme in Makjang. It looks like the writers had a story already planned in mind and used the novel as a reference in order to promote it.

The Drama production should have mentioned the novel only for copyright purposes and of course, they should have used a different title. The fact that they didn’t, was a foul move which makes the drama a clickbait, something I personally can’t ignore.

I’d advise you to not start the drama thinking it is a modern retelling of Little Women. Think of the drama as another Makjang and don’t get scammed by the drama’s sly marketing. This way, you will enjoy the drama, or not, but at least the reason of deciding to watch Little Women will be sincere.

~The Story~

So where to start and where to finish with that chaotic mess which is called "story"? Ι have many issues with it and to set the record straight, the drama not being actually a modern adaptation of Little Women didn’t affect the story’s rating more than 1 point in my books.

~Main theme & escalation

Little Women consists of 12 episodes and its story is actually very fast paced as a lot of things are happening in a very short amount of time. The first 2 episodes gave the drama a very promising start while they set a thrillery and mysterious aura around the main characters. Also, the sisters were presented having different personalities and problems, that could be explored through the story. But unfortunately all these didn't last long.

As the story escalated, it turned into a vendetta between the poor sisters and the wealthiest family in the nation. And that’s all folks, nothing else is going to happen except from a series of unfortunate plot twists alongside stupid actions (and some plot holes, because why not?).

In the name of suspense and uprediction the writer made a story with more ups and downs than a harmonic oscillation diagram. The result of it was two, 1) to make an unfocused story with an unclear goal from the writer's perspective which couldn't lead to any conclusion 2) to make the story complicated and confusing without any specific reason. In addition, the story consisted of some fiction elements which made it even more unrealistic and far-fetched.

The climax of the above was the final act, the last 2 episodes. As the story was processing it got messier and messier to the point that there wasn't any way for the story to reach an epilogue. So, what happened? A plot twist coming straight from the Neverland worked as Deus ex machina and saved the day with the most simple and canceling way possible.

~The Characters

Even though at first it seemed that the Sisters were well written characters, they weren't. Generally, the drama was very plot driven (not that it had a certain plot as I said but anyway) so actually none of the characters had any space to grow and develop. Oh In Joo, the main character from the sisters, was bound to be naive girl who loves money, her sisters and making stupid decitions. Oh In Kyung was supposed to be the cleverest sister but oh well, at least she tried. The little sister Oh In Hye could draw, that's it, she was a moving puppet during the whole drama.

The flatness of the main heroines didn't bother me so much though. What frustrated me most was the poor reference to the phenomenon of alcoholism which is a very serious matter that can't be portrayed in a drama as lightly as it was portrayed in Little Women. The story had the easiest solution to alcohol addiction: just to forget that it was ever mentioned in the previous episodes. This just proves how much the writer cared about giving the drama a decent story and an ending that would respect the time which viewers had spent on it.

~The Production~

Production wise, Little Women is masterfully made. From visuals to music, to styling, to framing and directing, Little Women is one of the most exceptional Korean productions I have ever witnessed till now. Thus the drama was very captivating and putting aside the plot, very enjoyable to watch. But if you care the slightest about the plot, the drama felt like a present with extraordinarily beautiful wrapping which was empty inside.

~Conclusion~

Well, Little Women is not a drama that I would recommend in general as I believe the story doesn't have anything to offer. I tend to ignore things that bother me in the stories, trying to find the meaning behind everything the writer wanted to do and tell through their story, but Little Women hit me under the belt countless times, so in the end, I couldn't ignore any of these triggers.

On the other hand, if you are willing to turn off your brain and enjoy the view, maybe Little Women can be an enjoyable and visually beautiful ride for you, as it was from the eyes of many other people who watched it.

Lire davantage

Very simple review cause i don't have time to write a longer one

My friend asked me for a kdrama recommendation, and the first one that popped into my mind was little women, and that reminded me that i didn’t watch the last two episodes, so i watched them and i’m glad i did. I remember being confused and losing patience as a lot of things that happened didn’t have answers yet, and everything was tragic not a single good thing happened, that’s why i felt discouraged and stopped watching it, but it seems like the last two eps had all the answers. I loved the action and the new story, the acting is amazing and the way everything happened in a steady pace is good, they didn’t leave a single thing unanswered thank god, i wouldn’t rewatch it though, one time is enough.

Overall 9/10

Lire davantage

Another Vincenzo but not as good.

I had this drama in my list for a while now, but it wasn't a priority because I had a long list to finish before this.

That being said, I dived into this show without seeing and details like synopsis, cast or production team. I was aware of the main cast tho(Who isn't?).
However, it took me just 30 minutes in the first episode to realise that it's a drama directed by Director Kim Hee Won(the brilliant mind behind Vincenzo).

Despite the fact that Vincenzo was a masterpiece, I wasn't expecting a show that was produced exactly the same. Identical meaning - the same dynamics between the leads(less chemistry here tho), the same music vibes(not as catchy as Vincenzo), the same deaths and drama sequences and most of all, an unexpected villian (but I could predict that early on in the show, so that didn't come as a surprise to me). My suspicion of Kim Hee Won was solidified when the end credits rolled after each episode - the dramatic music with name of the drama banging on the screen(ALL VINCENZO FGS).

In my opinion, the show was pretty good, it was entertaining and had a well defined story. The cast did a good job with their characters as well. Not much re-watch value but it's a pretty good watch one time for sure.

I know I keep saying this but - IT FELT LIKE WATCHING VINCENZO WITH A DIFFERENT STORYLINE. Because of that, I kept making comparisons at each step and that took away ALOT from my watching experience.

Lire davantage

Dragging suspense

Personally, one thing about kdrama they do right is they want us to keep guessing, but there is also a downside to that because how long do you drag on the suspense to make the audiences want more? I am so glad I watched this with friends because I would have never finished it. I stayed because of the amazing cast, I love their acting and their characters but the way how the story unfolded, the dragging suspense, and adding unnecessary problems one after another was a typical kdrama move that I absolutely find dull and boring. Nothing made sense and some of the issues just didn't seem real enough to convince me.

I recommend it for the cast and if this is your type of suspense but forget about it if you're there for the storyline.

Lire davantage

An American Classic with a Korean twist

Maybe the thought of reading a story about three sisters living in poverty bored me. I never bothered reading the novel. To be completely honest, I never even knew the the basic plot of the novel. I just thought it would be about women, like the title suggested.

When the news came out that there would be a Korean remake, it didn’t interest me. I just thought it would be another boring kdrama.

Then I saw the casting, i was taken aback. "such great actors" I thought. But that wasn't enough to get me started on this show. Then I tried reading the reviews here on Mdl and most of them were positive, saying it was a 10/10. So I decided to give this a try.

And I loved it....Its one of my favourite shows now. The plot, the casting, all the crazy plot twists that I never expected. Thanks to this show I've discovered that I love thrillers and even tho I haven't finished it yet (if the ending is bad I'll come back and edit this review) but I have great expectations for this show. Its just so so so so good.

If you haven't tried it yet, please do.

Edit:
okay so I JUST finished the show and WOW. I thought that they might end up ruining it but they ending was so well wrapped!

One of the best shows of 22 without a doubt!

Lire davantage

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

Lire davantage

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

Lire davantage

i like all flawed sister and other character this drama showcases

All three sister are very different from each other which doesn't mean one is right or other is wrong
all have there pro and cons

Gong Min Jung role was what impressed me the most....
Jang Ma Ri
A shameless corrupt reporter which you can't prove corrupt because she believes in her own lies very honestly.
That story was my version of the truth, you have your own version of the truth and I have my Own,
Your truth was pitted again mine, and mine ended up winning today, I love that scene ( ep 11) when our Lead protagonist left speechless by a side character because, not always you win everywhere, some people will out match you, no matter what

Oh In Joo( Kim Go Eun )
she shows hidden desires of every Average working person, they all want to become rich and live a comfortable life but are not able to, when get opportunity most of them will act just like Oh In Joo did. but viewer wanted to call her greedy, are you one who will give up 2Million USD when you found it, NO if you say yes, your Lier.

Oh In Kyung ( Nam Ji Hyun )
she has her own principle and think they are above other but she is no better then anyone else when it come to her own family her younger sister she will abandoned her own principle and will do anything to protect what she love most just like all others, but she like to blame others for there selfishness while she give her self a privilege
she believe herself of something that is one and only pure journalist but she isn't , she is same as all others.

Oh In Hye
Most of people disliked her but i don't dislike her neither i like her fondly, she is there to make people see that not all rich are bad and all poor are victim which she said
that is just poor mentality to blame rich people for all there problems,
she was not great as sister, she doesn't care about those sister who she never choose, but she was loyal to her only friend she choose herself, she was rude to her sister but there was love even in her, which she was not able to show toward her sisters but was able to love her only friend,

i hated Oh In Kyung and Ha Jong Ho couple it was really wrong of them to make those two ending up together and leave
Oh In joo and choi do Il just at flirting, at least a kiss to conform there feelings toward each other

Choi Do Il ( Wi Ha Joon )
Good this man was so nice here and the unspoken chemistry between him and In Jo was amazing to watch
sub-- flirting between those two between that tens situation was a reliving wind
at airport i was waiting for them to KISS but no director did not have budget to include kissing scene.......

Lire davantage

⑅

“People believe that they have free will. But the truth is that we are controlled by money. If we were cut in half, we’d find ourselves infested by a money-hungry centipede.” – Hwa Young

“When it rains, I’ll get wet. When the wind blows, I’ll feel the breeze. That’s how I intend to live. As an artist.” – Hyorin

“Didn’t you know that death was something that the living could experience, too? Not everyone is actually alive.” – Hwa Young

“Flowers have personalities, too. If you mix too many types together, they’ll get annoyed with each other and wilt.” – Hwa Young

Lire davantage

Good show, interesting story, but hopes too much you like its characters

First off, Oh In-Hye is insufferable. I hated each second I had to watch her.
Second, while Oh In-Ju wasn't nearly as bad, in the last few episodes her character became, honestly, very dumb.
While I can understand why the characters acted the way they did, I don't agree that it was well executed.
And the OST kinda sucked.
Otherwise, Oh In-Kyung was a delight and her partner in crime had really nice chemistry with her so their segments were very fun.
I had a bit more hope about the last twists but they were still nice and I liked most character endings (except In-Hye but it might be personal lol).

Lire davantage

one of the best dramas out there

it's not often you see a drama with three women as the main leads solving a mystery so i was super excited for this when the trailers came out, and it did not disappoint :heart_eyes: most of the actors were amazing, though i will say that park ji-hye's acting in this series was not great. she rarely showed any form of emotion, which worked well in the other dramas she acted in [all of us are dead] because of the concept but as the youngest sister we needed more emotion. also i felt like as the younger sister she wasn't really necessary and she didnt seem like a main character, more like a side character or a support role. i also felt like some of the relationships were a bit rushed, and also the ending was a bit sudden. other than that though, i loved the plot and it kept me well entertained with constant twists - although some plot holes were apparent. definitely recommend and i would like to rewatch it in the future sometime as well!

Lire davantage

UTTER PERFECTION

Everything is perfection in this one! Mindblown by the intricate and tight plot and the relatable as well as diverse set of characters+personalities. Superb acting. The cinematography and color palettes are extremely detailed and en point, making for a beautiful visual experience. I especially appreciate that the ending is not rushed. Adding to the rewatchables list.

The bond between the sisters is especially applaudable; the male characters supporting them are also extremely competent and respectively likable. (And, let's be honest, that chemistry between Oh In Joo and Choi Do Il? OFF THE CHARTS.) The villains are developed and complex as well with their respective backstories. Simply perfection: a must-watch!

Lire davantage