The thread is open if you want to discuss the show, @Welmaris, @Cleopatra, @GB, and @Fern.
I’m a bit behind, but I saw that Song Joong Ki had a cameo.
gifs from kimgoeun’s tumblr.
Let’s enjoy the show.
27 Comments On “Little Women: Eps 1 & 2 Open Thread”
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Thanks for opening a thread @pkml3. I’m leaving a comment here, so that I know who’s watching or when anyone who comments starts watching. 🧐 🤓 😎 😉
Good idea, @GB.
It looks like I’m spamming the blog now with new threads. I’m trying to catch up with items I missed last week.
Thank you @Packmule3 !
I am watching this as well! Although, I am quite busy atm, I will try to comment as well! Anneyong @GB Unnie!
@pkml3, if anyone can and should spam this blog, it would be you!!! I feel that I spam it way too much LOL.
@Cleo, Καλό απόγευμα / Kaló apógevma to you! Have you started watching Little Women already?
Hey @GB Unnie!
I have watched Episode 1 and hopefully I will watch Episode 2 this Friday.
My programme is a bit hectic these days and I don’t have much time to watch many shows at their airing time, so I am trying to cover up those that I like the best…LOL
Same here, @Cleo. I only watch what I feel like watching, and am not trying to keep up with airing shows. Less stress all round. 🙂
True Unnie! I want to watch lighter things, like the “Good Job” and the “Law Cafe” that started this past Monday. I have stayed one episode behind in “If You Wish Upon Me” and I am okay with it. 🙄😁
Thank you for the new thread, @pm3! I already watched the first two episodes twice. I call the mood of the show “Rooftop Gothic.” The PD also did “Money Flower” and “The Crowned Clown.” Both are some of my favorites. Family, power struggle, and explosive secrets are themes that the 3 dramas share. If anyone has orchid care tips, I will appreciate the advice.
Hi everyone! Thank you @pm3 for this thread! 🙂
I am watching this series too and will try to comment and join the discussions in the next few weeks. It’s been a while since I last joined here (Hospital Playlist days and have been an AoS lurker, sorry about that hehe).
I haven’t watched/read Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women yet so I can’t compare or put any references related to it. But the Korean version(?) has some kind of dark comedy/mystery to it. And I’d totally agree with @Snow Flower, its themes are mostly on money, family, and the rich/ the poor plot. It gives me similar vibes (cinematography/bgm/color grading) to the “Parasite” movie.
Ofcourse, ep2 ended with a cliffhanger and I can’t help but analyze the info and characters presented to answer the big question(s): *Where is the missing 70 Billion? *And did HwaYoung really take her own life?
But I have a hunch that it was actually transferred to InJoo’s name because the document she signed (ep1) was a bank application and not a software dev start up application. As for HY, I have to wait for the next eps to unravel more of the characters’ relations and back story.
Also, I’ve been googling the name of the blue orchid used in the drama (I have this weird interest in learning about flowers’ names for my calligraphy and painting practice lol) but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Lemme know if you know it or if it was actually fictional.
Oh, sorry! I might have commented too long here. *peace!
Annyeong BOD’z
Thanks for this thread @ PM3. Can’t wait to read you guys. When i have time 🙂 I wonder if you will share your quick takes or long takes on this show as well 🙂
I do like the gif you shared here. Can’t believe SJK did a cameo here – so vincenzo like haha. that was a nice surprise.
I’ve read the book and the diff movie versions of it. I can see similarities. But i like the modern Korean take on this show. @snowflower, never heard of “rooftop gothic” before. i guess good way to describe the feels this show gives me. i remember my niece loving the gargoyles when they visited Paris.
so yea, this show is gonna be good. i’m so intrigued 🖤 what? murder? that beautiful orchid. i feel for the girls. the sisters. Wow. they each have their own thing going on. pretty heartbreaking **spoiler alert** with their mom leaving. and all the reveals after her “castaway” friend died. and those shoes!👠.
@HK_Lady, “Rooftop Gothic” is the phrase I came up to describe the mood and visual style of the drama. I like the deep colors (red, green, blue) in the dark rooftop room.
@packmule3, Song Joong Ki had a cameo because the director, I think, was the same as the one who directed Vincenzo. I’d like to see Kim Go Eun paired with him in something. They physically look good together. I also think that she is the superior actor given the breadth of her work but she adjusts well to her leads. She ups their game (e.g.,Lee Minho who delivered in Pachinko where he had to play younger and older versions of his character and be charismatic).
I have given up comparing this K Drama to the Alcott book. There is no Beth and I wonder how Laurie will be although we seem to have been introduced to him. So many K Dramas use titles that have little to no resemblance to the originals. I loved the Novel when I was a teen and loved that Louisa Mae Alcott was part of the literary group in Massachusetts (although being a woman had it’s drawbacks). So I view this as a whole other piece and as more of a mystery/intrigue/social commentary drama. We have a suicide, theft and lots of unexplained stuff. Our TV reporter runs into trouble as does our accountant. Our Amy character is a ghost painter(as likened to a ghost writer)
What is apparent is how unfair life can be for those without money or connections ( except for the rich aunt who will probably favor the youngest sister in the end as in the book). I honestly was not a fan of the professor in the original. I thought he was kind of sterile and couldn’t figure out the attraction. In one of the movies they cast Gabriel Byrne in the role(so he became attractive) but even the intellectual attraction seemed forced. I know this post is a mishmash because the drama is so far removed from the original so I’m viewing this drama as a sort of hybrid with echoes of some original characters but will look at the story as something new and completely K Drama.
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From what little I saw, @OAL, I expect this kdrama adaptation to be the antithesis or subversion of the original novel.
In the original novel, family loyalty/love was everything. The girls didn’t mind being poor as long as they were together, and it was their mother who instilled that moral value in them. In contrast, in this kdrama, money is everything, and their mother is trash.
Hahaha. Maybe @nrllee and I will have our happy ending for Jo and Laurie. Hmmm…looking back now, that’s probably the first time I had a “2nd male lead” syndrome. I was so disappointed that Jo turned down Laurie and Laurie ended up with that sister Amy, and Jo married that old dour professor.
Eeek! Yes, I remember Gabriel Bryne as the professor in one movie, but it was still off-putting to watch such a pretty young thing married off to that geezer.
I didn’t mind Fred Astaire being partnered with Audrey Hepburn in “Funny Face” because with Fred Astaire dancing and prancing around, he looked like he was a young man at heart.
And I didn’t mind Judy Abbott in “Daddy Long Legs” marrying her Mr. Pendleton because Mr. Pendleton sounded like he was fun-loving and mischievous. He was naughty when he made Judy stay at the farm to prevent her from spending time with Sally McBride and her brother who showed signs of falling in love with Judy.
But Jo’s Professor made the worst OTP ever because not only was he ancient, he was penniless! lol.
@OAL, before the mother disappeared with the money in Episode 1, she looked at two photographs: one of the three sisters and their parents, the other of a baby. I wonder if there was a fourth sister who died in infancy.
@packmule3, Count me in for a Jo/Laurie March up. I was no Amy fan in the original work.She was definitely as deep as a thimble (lol) and got into Aunt March’s good graces making her mercenary at that. And Aunt March could not appreciate Jo’s miral superiority. And speaking of Laurie, his choice if Amy was so disappointing that it lowered my regard for him. I’m also glad that we agree on the subject of the prifrssir-yuck!
@PM2 and @AOL
Thanks for briefly going over the movies and book. I completely forgot the book and I remember the movies but havent seen them in so long. I must say that I remember being disappointed in 2 characters not being together. I wonder if they are the same as the ones you mentioned.
I have lots of questions after Ep 2: Who is leaving the blue orchid behind? How are the cases related? Why did CEO get scared after seeing the blue orchid?
@Jhans I have the same hunch as you regarding the money transfer because FL signed something but we have yet to see what it is. It could also be the new software that her friend designed.
Lots of questions which is one reason for me sticking to this drama.
I believe the writer steered away from following the Alcott books. This is what was said in the Press Conference.
https://kdramadiary.com/feature/press-conference-little-women/
I don’t remember the March sisters striving to move up in society (except for Amy – I guess that’s why she ended up with rich Laurie 🙄). Why Jo turned Laurie down and settled for Prof Baer (?) is beyond me. I will try to find time to watch this – short and sharp 12 eps I think? 👍
That article quoted the writers as saying,
“We want to REINTERPRET [the emphasis is mine] the novel on the premise of what if those women are in Korea.”
Like I’ve said, the writer is going for the ANTITHESIS or the subversion of the original novel. The writer obviously read the novel but instead of doing a strict adaptation, she reverses, inverts, negates, and contradicts what’s in the novel. She wants to give it a new spin.
The American sisters (except for Amy, that is) had fun despite their “genteel” poverty. They didn’t resent their situation because they knew some people had it even worse. There was the civil war going on. If I remember correctly, they even donated their Christmas dinner (or shared it) with the less fortunate.
And their mother was very prim and proper. Although their father was away for a long time, she didn’t flirt with anybody. Their father was wounded in the war (or became ill??) and she rushed off to visit and nurse him. Jo shocked everybody by getting a her hair cut and selling her hair so she could give extra money to their mother.
In contrast, the Korean sisters felt their poverty keenly.
And their mother? Something tells me that she was being too friendly with that gentleman who brought home the box of scallion/leeks/whatever it was. She wanted to visit their dad in the Philippines after his accident, and she resented that her daughters refused to give her the money. InJoo pointedly listed the times their dad gambled away money and accrued debts because of dumb deals.
🙂 Don’t worry about NOT remembering the book, @Carolina. I think the book was popular during @AOL’s and my generation??
The latest movie adaptation was before Covid, in 2019. It was probably the last movie I watched in the movie theaters. It starred Saoirse Ronan as Jo and Timothee Chalamet as Laurie.
I remember the Professor looked Middle Eastern to me and that bugged me because in the book, he was poor German immigrant.
The Little Women movie adaptation that @OAL mentioned with Gabriel Byrne as the Professor had Christian Bale (aka Batman) as Laurie. The actor playing Laurie was typically handsomer than the actor playing the Professor.
@pm3 yeah I read in another interview that the writer didn’t like the movie as much when she watched it again. So I guess she’s decided to subvert the values and messages delivered in Alcott’s novels. You are right in the March sisters donating their Christmas dinner to the poor. Amy was VERY reluctant to donate her share. Amongst the sisters, Amy was the most materialistic and the one who wanted to move up in society. Beth was sickly. Meg had a foray into the high society life early on and she “enjoyed” it whilst it lasted but she quickly came to her senses and in the end married Laurie’s less affluent tutor instead. I guess we should just put the Alcott comparisons aside and just watch the KDrama on its own merits.
Hey everyone! I ADORED these two episodes because I wasn’t looking for another movie depicting Little Women (been there, done that). I want something new and creative. What I am especially intrigued about is InHye. She definitely sold her painting to her friend, but her furious scribbling as her friend won an award for the painting InHye did shows that InHye is unhappy about something. InHye is so reserved, but there are clearly secrets she’s hiding from her sisters. She is a loose cannon. I am so excited to see where this show will go. As long as the show ends with the three sisters safe, out of jail, and alive, I will be a happy viewer.
Okay, watched Ep1 and writer has used the characters in Alcott’s novels as a base.
Amy was also hung up about her nose. She would wear a clothes peg on it to make it sharper. InHye also wanted a nose job. Amy went to study art overseas. And it looks like InHye is the same.
Great Aunt March was rich too. She had Jo visit to read to her as well. She was the one who sent Amy overseas.
The story is obviously different with the slush fund and the friend from the 14th floor who loved orchids. Ordinarily I would just skip the intro but the garish artwork caught my eye.
https://i.ibb.co/CnX86bb/1-B52-C741-2965-4-B74-9-F2-C-DF8-AA6-B7-A1-B3.jpg
There’s the special orchid that was mentioned. Princess of Thieves. Is that tattoo on IJ’s friend ankle the same orchid? 1022 was the number on her ankle. She claimed it was the date of the death of her mother?
https://i.ibb.co/WchQ6RC/BD0-CD339-B08-F-4559-81-EE-F2400-AC092-B5.jpg
The cage containing certain items. There’s the flower again.
https://i.ibb.co/DC2hK9W/07033-DB2-6459-4266-A44-D-180944762-DC7.jpg
Alcoholic IK is portrayed here.
https://i.ibb.co/JBH0fRq/4746-DA2-D-1057-498-B-979-B-B042545062-A9.jpg
Amy the artist. Painting what looks like the Last Supper? Is that kimchi on the table? The special kimchi that their mother made them before she did a runner in them?
https://i.ibb.co/WGr8tmv/E69485-F4-41-B8-4435-8-A3-A-C22-A8-BCFE1-F1.jpg
Close up of the painting. The 3 sisters. With IJ at the centre. Where Christ sat in DaVinci’s painting.
https://i.ibb.co/LpNTst6/FC2-EC646-3-BB9-485-E-AE18-3-EF3902-B6-E43.jpg
The final image of the hands placed over a house (?). With the orchid looming in the backdrop. I assume the hand(s) is depicting the woman that died leaving them the money?
Thank you for this thread! Haven’t watched any kdramas for a while but this one seems promising so I’m adding my name here to get updates on comments. Will add more when I get a chance to watch the two episodes that are already out.
This one seems to be only 12 episodes – is that a new trend? 🙂
I remember reading the book and hating Amy, being mad Jo and Laurie weren’t together, and annoyed that Jo ended up with the old fuddy dud. I think Meg was my favorite and the do-gooder mom might have grated on my nerves. The only movie adaption I saw had Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst which was perfect casting because I find Kirsten to be annoying in everything. Anyway, I say this because I was in no hurry to get to this on my watch list.
I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two episodes. Maybe because of the trope subversion??
I think there’s much that can be dissected and discussed and I can’t wait to hear everyone’s takes.
After the second episode ended I kept thinking of the scenario where the book characters gave their Christmas meal away and in turn received and even better meal from the rich family. How is this going to be subverted? Did the unni babe good intentions by leaving her the money or did she intend to implicate (Kim go run’s character). Did she really like and appreciate her or secretly resent her?
I actually like Nam Ji Hun playing the darker role with the alcohol addiction storyline but if you’re drinking up to 1 bottle of tequila a day, I imagine she should be dealing with more withdrawal issues???
I am most pleasantly surprised by the youngest sister and how much she DIDNT annoy me. I can see where she would feel burdened by her elder sister’s sacrifices, put out by her mother dismissing her talents and attributing her school admission to her being a charity case, and pride in earning money on her own. Unfortunately she’s still to immature and doesn’t realize that although she’s making money, she’s making a deal with the devil. Hopefully once’s she realizes she was duped and used for her painting she’ll use her wits and smarten up and be an important player in this game instead of wallowing and self-pitying.
I have zero read on the coworker. Is he a good guy? Bad guy? Undercover agent? Vigilante?
The boss seems dumb and the foot fetish is actually funny gross to me.
Two of my favorite lines:
The eldest sister saying incompetence IS bad and the discussion of middle sister with great and about the brooding female housekeeper and why the aunt switched to the brooding male butler? “Men are better when they’re brooding. Cheerful men are boring”
Whoops. Thanks for the reminder, @birdie007. I’ve to open a thread for y’all.
I’ll respond to you in a bit.
@birdie007,
The aunt’s comment about the brooding male butler should have made me laugh but the thing is…she reminded me of my mother.
She too didn’t have female attendant. She preferred a butler instead of a housekeeper. He was also her chauffer, gofer and purse-carrier. I’m sure people who met my mother for the first time (e.g., at the bank, restaurant or city hall) thought that she re-married a younger man. But as time went on, they assumed he was a cousin or one of my brothers. I can’t speak for my siblings, but I didn’t correct the misunderstanding. I thought it was comically scandalous, and it added to my mother’s aura.
There were a couple of times when, arriving late for a luncheon with her, I was informed by the maitre d’ that my “father” went outside. Since he was neither my father nor my mother’s husband, of course, he’d wait outside, in the car, in the lounge, or wherever it is that drivers disappear to, until my tête-à-tête with my mother was done.
Would you classify him as cheerful or brooding…or neutral?
Perhaps the line struck me because we are just coming off my great aunts funeral and I remembered musing over how although muted, her housekeeper/companion for over 50 years still had her cheerful countenance. I had always known they weren’t necessarily friends, but there seemed to be fondness and respect between the two and seeing her cheeriness on the sad occasion made me wonder/ponder/ruminate about the realness of her cheeriness all these years. Was it all a facade or only false cheeriness on this particular sad day. Probably not what I was supposed to be thinking about during the scripture reading. Oops.