Little Women, the coming-of-age novel by Louisa May Alcott, has seen perennial popularity since its publication in 1868. The novel has been adapted multiple times into stage plays, movies, and television shows since the early 20th century.
The latest film adaptation, directed by Greta Gerwig, saw massive success in 2019, even winning an Oscar. In 2022, the latest adaptation will be a TV series but not a Hollywood version; it's a K-drama. This version isn't true to the novel's timeline; it's a modern adaptation set in South Korea.
Though the original novel had four sisters, the Korean Little Women has three - In-Joo, In-Kyung, and In-Hye. They have been poor since childhood, and their parents are not very supportive.
An ambitious and selfish mother who doesn’t care about her daughter's future and an estranged father staying in the Philippines. Older and middle sisters In-Joo and In-Kyung made a pact to look for their youngest sister In-Hye in their teens.
They save up money for her to study in Europe, but the past gambling debts of their father and selfish mother come between In-Hye's dream and reality.
However, things start to get interesting when In-Joo stumbles upon a wad of money. Her mysterious friend Hwa-young secretly deposited 2 billion won into her account.
Suspicions start to grow when In-Joo finds out her friend is dead. Her company suspects Hwa-young stole money from them, and the 2 billion won was part of the 70 billion won Hwa-young got.
In-Joo smells escape from poverty with that money, but the other sisters aren't too enthusiastic about it. Middle sister In-Kyung, an honest journalist, finds out this embezzlement involves her investigation.
The money comes with a heavy cost, so she deep dives into the corruption of the corporation where In-Joo works. The sisters' investigation ends up locking horns with Korea's most powerful and wealthy families.
Can the sisters get away with the money they need? Can In-Kyung expose the corrupted families? The 12 episodes of this show have the answers.
This K-drama version of Little Women has an interesting take. Instead of showing the plot of four sisters struggling to be solvent in 19th-century America, this is a display of three sisters in South Korea looking for an opportunity to escape crippling debt and poverty.
The show depicts the dark side of Korean capitalism, where poor people struggle to make ends meet. It doesn't beat around the bush; the audience will get the idea of this show within the first two episodes.
This show is more like a 'who did the murder' trope than the original period drama framework. But that doesn’t make the show boring; new findings in each episode incite curiosity and might feel like cliffhangers to the audience.
Nevertheless, this adaptation is certainly a game-changer in the famous novel's portrayals.
