I haven't watched the drama this was based on, so this review is solely on the kdrama.

I was surprised to see a drama with this kind of subject matter being made into a kdrama. Seeing that Netflix was presenting it in the U.S. made it more plausible because the Netflix kdramas have always been riskier than the dramas I've seen from other platforms. Surprisingly, I think the topic was handled pretty well in this drama (though the drama takes a pretty big shift in story about halfway through and is mostly about interpersonal drama). There were some genuine laughs in the beginning when the women first start selling the products and, while some jokes were cheesy, I enjoyed it.

The cast is 100% the reason I gave this a chance because the main actresses have majorly impressed me in other dramas. There's even brief appearances from Ra Mi-ran, one of my all time faves. Also, the guys were all great. The kids did a good job, too!

This drama worked the best when it was centered on the women's individual growth. I enjoyed Jung-sook's story the most when she was getting rid of the crappy husband who was just dragging her down and making peace with her mother's treatment of her. I felt like Ju-ri was primarily a woman that supported her friends when they struggled with confidence, especially when it was something they'd been shamed for. Young-bok was also a really loyal friend and her family situation was so sad. Geum-hee was actually my favorite character and I loved every single scene she was in. The actress was phenomenal and I loved that this show subverted the assumption that the oldest woman in the friend group would be the most conservative. Her story is partially why I kind of felt like the business aspect could've been stronger.

I'd wished, for all that she suffered in continuing it, that Jung-sook had a more personal reason for joining the business. Geum-hee has this storyline revolving around her husband initially shaming her for wanting anything sold by that kind of company and she basically ignores him and wears the lingerie anyway. It was about her overcoming that desire to just do whatever her husband wanted. For Jung-sook, it was just a cash grab, yet she suffers more than anyone else for the job. I don't know if the original drama gave the MC more of a personal reason to keep doing it, but it was just a bit of a missing piece to me.

The story of the detective looking for his mother was interesting. For such a small town, I didn't expect 2 random plots of people in the town being sociopathic monsters. That joke on tiktok about kdramas being (kinda) sunny/happy until they insert a random kidnapping/murder plot came to mind with the random man trying to kidnap Jung-sook. I wished they hadn't laid the "reveal" on quite so thick, but it was nice that the detective had a happy conclusion to his story.

The storyline I was most moved by was Young-bok's and her husband's trouble with the law. It was actually heartbreaking with how clear it was her husband loved his family but couldn't do anything to support them. It was a bit of a sad ending for them overall (unless I missed something?) because, as I understand it, he still didn't have a job? Maybe he became a stay at home dad?

Overall, I enjoyed this show for the most part. Admittedly, it was still a bit hard for me to see So Yeon Kim in this kind of role. I don't expect her to just play a villain in everything, but I also felt like this character wasn't given a ton for the actress to really dig into. Her character's motivations start with trying to make money to take care of her son and shift halfway through to trying to take care of and help the detective. I thought she did a great job in the scenes where she was bonding with the other women.

The scenes centering the friendship between the women were my favorite part of this drama. Its a recommend and the second most enjoyable Netflix kdrama I've seen.