Little Women - The Ending
What a wild ride this drama was! When you watch too many KDramas there is a constant cynic in you wondering if the drama with a solid start will derail after it hits the mid way mark - or will the finale be a disappointment. Every episode of Little Women upped the level of mystery, thrill, sinister plots, character twists and you kept wondering if the writer and director would be able to tie all the loose ends or will it make no sense at all and leave us infuriated.
The plot twists were largely unexpected, to maintain such consistency over 12 episodes is near impossible, getting 1-2 plot twists right amongst 20 odd is a big win for the writer. It means she had us glued, she had us guessing, she had us theorising and she kept blowing our mind and surprising us. Jung Seo Kyung deserves a standing ovation.
Before I jump into the main characters and their ending - just wanted to put it out there that every single actor/actress in this drama - whether the role was big or small, brought their A game to this drama. This is what great direction and writing can do!
However it left me baffled that people are actually lamenting and disappointed that InJoo and DoIl didn’t get their ‘happy ending’ - are you effing kidding me? Did we even watch the same drama? The romance is a side plot - it didn’t even exist or even if it had , it would have no bearing on the story. Please stop obsessing over this non existent plot point. DoIl was a side plot. Let it be that - don’t make the drama about him.
I will re-emphasise this - a drama made by women for women. The story was about the 3 sisters who loved each other immensely and would go to any lengths to protect each other, the story was about the heiress who went rogue after being denied her right by patriarchy, the story was about a friendship between two young girls wanting to free themselves of their family burdens, the story was about a woman’s revenge to avenge her mom’s death. The story was about these women fighting their battles - winning some and losing some and the men were a side plot, they were mere pawns and let them be at that. Don’t make a woman’s life about the men in her life.
The ending was poetic in many ways - Won Sang A bringing about her own destruction. Her guilt over her mom’s death, her anger at being discriminated channeled in the wrong way. Uhm Ji Won was brilliant, simply brilliant in shifting those expressions and her cold calculated behaviour sent chills down my spine.
In Kyung was the smart, principled one, but was equally reckless and impulsive; however she realised in quick time the importance of holding back the important cards to play at the right time. I’m also glad she realised that brain producing alpha waves is the right choice over her heart racing. Nam Ji Hyun was stellar and I haven’t seen her look this gorgeous in any drama of hers. She slayed the pants look in this one.
InHye - everyone hated on her and her selfishness but she turned out to be equally selfless - never ever forgetting her sisters’ love and sacrifices. Once she found her path, she made sure her sisters were in a comfortable place just like she was. She was a great friend to HyoRin and helped her escape a life that would have been pure hell, and who knows might have tipped her to the dark side. How valuable is their friendship to each other.
InJoo being in the apartment alone - this scene was the most poignant one in the finale for me. How often do we define our happiness by the people in our lives? How often do we forget to place ourselves ahead of others? The grand-aunt did deliver some wisdom nuggets to InJoo. InJoo who loved her sisters and her life was only about them, was now by herself; still loved by her sisters, but free of the responsibility to take care of them, free to live her life. She wasn’t lonely, she was just relieved. Despite all she was put through, her innocence and naivety were not damaged. As @kdramaplaybook on twitter said she grew but she stayed the same.
The consistency in the characters throughout the drama was impressive. DoIl loved his money and he probably liked InJoo too l, but if he had left it all for her - it would be so cliched and inconsistent and hence I liked where it ended. Maybe they will meet, maybe they won’t , there are other fish in the sea. InJoo needs to finally live her life, happiness is not always being with your loved ones, sometimes it also lies in letting them go to pursue their happiness and putting your own happiness first. InJoo can do whatever she wants to be happy - even if that means spending all her money on buying truckloads of lipglosses and icecream.
I may need to write another long post in praise of Kim Go Eun’s performance as InJoo in this drama - she nailed every expression, but most of all I loved her expressions when they changed in split second from ‘There I got you’ to ‘holy shit did I mess up again’. I love Nam Ji Hyun, but Kim Go Eun had the meatier role and she did full justice. Having watched quite a few dramas of hers, this is by far her best one.
The background score and the cinematography were two equally powerful characters in this drama and I can write pages on every shot , frame and scene where they took the story ahead or warned us of the upcoming twist or shocked us to the core. They elevated every frame of this drama. As my friend @KdramasSlump on twitter said - this drama was pure art.
The drama praises would be incomplete without praising the director Kim Hee Won ( also directed Vincenzo) and writer Jung Seo Kyung of this drama. Sure men write good thrilling plots, but women write thrilling plots with equal emphasis on emotions , life’s lessons and well etched characters. Kingdom was a case in point and now it is Little Women.
This drama has so much to be spoken and written about - the social commentary in it, life’s hard hitting truths in so many dialogues, it could well be another long post. It will be a long , long time before I get over this drama and multiple rewatches will happen to discover more hidden meanings behind every dialogue and scene. When a drama sucks you in and engulfs your mind like this - you know the team has delivered a masterpiece, what’s more wonderful is that an all women team delivered it and I will forever be rooting for more of this to happen!
If this drama doesn’t get all the awards - I’m staging a revolt!
