Cleaning Up (2022)

A decent remake for sure…

Produced by ‘Drama House’ and ‘SLL’, “Cleaning Up (클리닝)” is the Korean adaptation of the 2019 British TV show of the same title. Written by Choi Kyung Mi and directed by Yoon Seung Sik, the show was broadcasted on JTBC.

The story revolves around Eo Young Mi (Yeom Jung Ah) who works as a cleaning lady at a brokerage company and a single mother to two daughters, while she struggles to meet the ends. As she learns about a possible insider-trading happening at the company, in secret, she joins hands with her closest colleague An In Kyung (Jein So Min) to spy on those involved and acquire informations in order to be able to invest and make big.

Catching up with their plan, later joins the team Maeng Soo Ja (Kim Jae Hwa) who has bears her toxic family despite living miserably. As the three work together, they get into contact with Lee Young Shin (Lee Moo Saeng), a lawyer and Geum Jan Di (Jang Shin Young), the Audit team chief at the company, who lead them to this influential person known as captain. Eventually they find themselves in a mess that might ruin their lives and do every possible thing get out of it. Amidst all of this Lee Do Yeong (Na In Woo) is the cutest and most charming in the drama.

Other familiar faces in major roles are: Young Gyung Ho, Kil Hae Yeon, Song Young Chang, Kim Tae Woo, Song Jae Hee, Go In Beom, etc. The two child actresses, Kim Si Ha and Gal So Won, playing the two daughters of Young Mi also did great.

Plot development is upto par. The start was smooth with a gradual buildup of seriousness and with the furtherance, it keeps getting excited. The more the ladies put their steps fowrad, the more thrilling and entertaining it was become. There were, admittedly, few instances where I was on edge. Also, probably it was the 7th episode or 8th where there were rough points that I didn’t like and the screenplay felt a lil boring, but it went back to track very soon with a major incident, that changed things for everyone.

As a rookie writer, Choi K yung Mi jakka-nim does a good job in translating and screenwriting the English show while including things according to the Korean environment and adding the taste of Kdramas to it. I’d say the portrayal of the characters and their complexions have been done better here. There is definitely a bit of dragging of the original show to make it a 16 ep drama but I guess it was still enjoyable and not really boring.

Master Director Yoon Seung Sik PDnim surely manages to bring a decent show out of an average script with no extraordinary feature to look out for. The set-up, the editing, the sound production and screenplay execution have been well-handled. The urban-office backdrop and suburb housing scenes were aptly utilized.

There are 5 OSTs in total…
# ”For You” by Sam Kim
# ”Hug” by Sondia
# ”The Queen” by SURAN
# ”Faith” by Lee Joon Hwa
# ”Times Like This” by Josh Daniel

The performance by Yeom Jung Ah is fantastic as always, the lady can literally do anything. Worth watching on screen acting every time. She as a mother, being rich or poor, has been a fierce character and she is so gorgeous I swear. Jeon So Min did a decent delivery in the drama and I am happy that she is trying out different roles. Kim Jae Hwa is also a favourite. Lee Moo Saeng is undoubtedly a very good actor.

The drama had 2 spectrums of romance: one that bloomed subtly and turned crazy for a cute couple, i. e. Doo Yeong and In Kyung and Young Mi and Young Shin whose development was angsty and serious. The latter shared an amazing chemistry on screen and this is the kind of adult romance I’d like to see often I was looking forward to some more uwu.

The writer has done a good job in portraying various social issues related to poverty and family issues through the three central character. Be it Young Mi’s struggle to give her daughters a good life or Soo Ja’s efforts to get acknowledged by her family or In Kyung’s dreams to get a coffee truck of her own; we witnessed relatable characters and their happiness & sadness together.

The show was super thrilling, ngl. The scenes involving the ladies trying to steal information or the long chases or their efforts to escape from situations or the serious scenes with the antagonists, it was fun to watch.

Final Remarks… Well, in overall, this is a good remake I would say. Even though it’s not something grand, it’s pretty enjoyable and entertaining with a decent production value and satisfying delivery I could not really find any visible flaws and I would say it was a casual and light watch for me.

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Cleaning Up One's Life After Making the Wrong Choices

Invisibility powers possible in real life? Yes!
Yeong Mi, In Kyung and Soo Ja actually did it.

Three cleaning ladies in a heist like no other is a plot that intrigued me since the news of this drama came out. I've seen all three main actresses in their respective previous dramas and they did not disappoint so I was sure this was worth a watch. Based on my standards, I can say I'm right.

Just to let you know, I haven't seen the original British version of this drama so if you're looking for comparisons between the two versions, you won't find any here.

STORY
Since I've already mentioned the gist of the drama's plot, let me tell you what you can find beyond the synopsis. Cleaning Up is a story of courage to get back on track after being deeply lost; a story of stepping out of toxic relationships, stepping up to overcome the hurdles that keep one's dreams from coming true. A story that teaches that sometimes helping others is the best way to help oneself.
Being not a perfect drama, it has some loopholes. But I think these loopholes are the type that you can let slide since all else are done so well.

ACTING / CAST
All actors from the main, to the support, and even the guest roles have done a really good job in portraying their characters. But the ones who stood out for me are Yeom Jung Ah, Na In Woo, Kim Jae Hwa and Lee Moo Saeng. Seeing the behind the scenes videos, it's amazing how YJA could get into her character so quickly and get immersed into consistently even when the camera isn't focused on her. Her chemistry with LMS overflows each time they're together in a scene. NIW is sooo adorable as Doo Young, it would be nice to have him in spin-off drama with In Kyung (Jeon So Min). KJH made Maeng Soo Ja her own through her vibrant acting.

MUSIC
Cleaning Up's OST is worth adding to your playlist. I especially recommend "For You" by Sam Kim and "The Queen" by SURAN.

RECOMMENDATION
I recommend this drama first to fans of the actors involved. They are definitely the ones who would truly enjoy it.
I also recommend this drama to all who are into plots full of smarts and suspense.
If you're looking for all-out romance, you won't find much here but if romantic tension is your thing then this one's worth watching.
I also recommend this drama to those who enjoy stories of persons who are able to get their life together after being such a mess for a long time.

SOME TAKEAWAYS
• Being invisible to eyes of other people can be helpful when committing crimes, but how worthy is committing that crime if you stay invisible to the ones for whom you are doing it?
• It's never too late to clean up your life after messing it up by making the wrong choices. There is always somebody ready to help if you let them.

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