Using only the vaguest starting points from Louisa May Alcott’s novel of the same name on which it is based, writer Chung Seo-Kyung forged a bold path with her tale of dizzying adventure and hair-raising suspense.
Given the series’ huge reception, one hopes that it will serve as a wake-up call for a conservative industry that still sticks to outdated gender norms.
Adventure and suspense are words that are typically reserved for male-led stories in the Korean market, but Little Women gave us a story dominated by strong, inspiring, and richly characterized women, the likes of which have seldom been seen before.
Following the tribulations of the poor Oh sisters, In-Joo (Kim Go-Eun), In-Kyung (Nam Ji-Hyun), and In-hye (Park Ji-hu), the series ultimately gave viewers exactly what they wanted, but the journey to get there was never predictable and often rousing.
Writer Chung took advantage of the structure of Korean soap opera dramas (also known as makjang), which move at breakneck speed and are peppered with shocking reveals, to give us a story stacked with emotional highlights.
Knowing what we want and how to subvert our expectations, Chung plays us like a fiddle.