I am glad this is the first K-Drama I watched. It has set high standards for others though. My friend, Mridula, is a big fan of Korean drama. Whenever she spoke of any, I wondered how people watch shows and films in other languages. How do they understand or connect with the characters and the story? I mean, half of your time goes in reading the subtitles.
Do subtitles do justice to the original dialogues? I never thought so until I watched Little Women on Netflix. Let’s keep the show aside for a while and speak of subtitles first. At the end of every episode, the subtitles credit flashes on the screen which means every episode has a dedicated writer for subtitles. Now that makes so much sense because these subtitles are not mere, poor-quality translations. They narrate the story. And they narrate the story pretty well. Another good thing about these subtitles is that they are not chunky sentences. Hence, you don’t simply waste your time reading the captions. You also simultaneously watch the series. So, a big round of applause to every writer who worked on telling a Korean story in English.
Coming to the Little Women series now, it’s undoubtedly gripping. It’s direction is outstanding. And the performances are so fine that you are left with no choice but to stay hooked to the show. Both Kim Go-eun and Nam Ji-hyun have played their parts so well that they have actually become their characters, Oh In-ju and Oh In-kyung. The bonding and love between these two sisters feel and look so real that when they talk about parting ways, your heart sinks. Their affection for the youngest sister, Oh In-hye is also heart-warming to watch. These two actresses are truly the cherry on the cake.
Little Women being the first K-drama I watched, I must say that these two ladies have set the standard so high that I might not easily fall for other performances now.
What’s the Story of Little Women 2022 Netflix Series?
Why did I mention the 2022 Netflix series here? Because this series is loosely based on a novel written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868 and this isn’t the first adaptation of the story. So if you Google Little Women, you will also find a 2019 film with the same name.
Now, let’s get back to our series and its story. Little Women is about three sisters who have seen only poverty all their lives. The family, in the past, had also lost a sick infant as they couldn’t afford the treatment. As the time passes and their financial condition refuses to change, their mother decides to leave the daughters behind to have a life of her own.
These three sisters are now left to deal with it all alone. While the eldest and the middle sister should now pay their father’s debts while making sure the younger one gets the best education, the younger one, like their mother, wants to run away from the family, as she believes that that’s the only way to better her life.
As the two elder sisters try their best to bring their little sister back home who now prefers to live with her wealthy friend and her family, a crime involving the same family comes to light. Oh In-kyung, the middle sister, being the reporter, decides to expose the family but Oh In-ju is still in two minds. She doesn’t know whether to chase the family for her bestie’s murder or take a huge amount of money which would solve all their financial issues and settle down in Singapore to live a life of her dreams. Both these sisters have two men supporting them. While Oh In-kyung has an old friend who has a soft corner for her, Oh In-ju puts her faith in one of the wealthy family’s staff members who doesn’t have a good history. As the story unfolds, it’s going to be interesting to watch whether the guys really had the girls’ best interest at heart or they have simply been weaving a web of deceit and lies. While Ha Jong-ho, Oh In-kyung’s childhood friend, looks genuine; Choi Do-il is someone you as a viewer cannot trust. Though he looks sweet, he is dangerous and merciless. If you go back and try to join a few points of this yet incomplete puzzle, you will start questioning this guy’s intentions. Somewhere I believe that he is the mastermind of all the crime that has been happening in the series.
For now, only 6 episodes out of 12 are out on Netflix. Every weekend, two episodes are released – one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. So, I won’t reveal much because to be honest, there isn’t much to reveal. The mystery is so tightly woven that I am sure till the very last episode, viewers will keep guessing a lot of things. The suspects will change and so will the victims. I simply hope that none of our plot guesses are right and the makers manage to shock and surprise us at the end.
I have high hopes for the Little Women series.
Let’s wait and watch what they have in store for us. Fingers crossed.
Streaming On: Netflix