“Little Women” synopsis by episode (Eps. 1-12, no spoilers) with in-depth analysis of its cinematography

Jump to synopsis of Episode 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12 (Finale); How I wrote these episode summaries without spoilers; Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information; Lessons in photography from “Little Women” with in-depth analysis of its visuals, cinematography, and editing

From Wikipedia: “Little Women” is a South Korean television series directed by Kim Hee-won, and starring Kim Go-eun, Nam Ji-hyun, and Park Ji-hu. Set in the modern day, it is loosely based on the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott. It premiered on tvN on September 3, 2022, and aired every Saturday and Sunday at 21:10 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Netflix.

Genre: mystery, family drama.

The drama was written by Chung Seo-kyung, whose credits include “Mother,” “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,” and “The Handmaiden.” It was directed by Kim Hee-won, whose credits include “The Crowned Clown” and “Vincenzo.”

“Little Women” ranked first in its time slot from start to finish, averaging 1.8 million viewership per episode, with Ep. 12 (Finale) garnering 2.618 million viewers.

How I wrote these episode summaries with no spoilers

1. I assumed that you will be reading these summaries and watching the videos chronologically.

2. I narrated some of the main actions in each episode without revealing the plot’s twists and turns.

3. At the beginning of each summary starting with Episode 2, I placed in a table a recap of the major twists and turns of the previous episode. But because you have already watched the video of the previous episode, they aren’t spoilers anymore.

4. I followed this structure all throughout, except for Ep. 12 (Finale) where I included spoilers. Reason — most people want to know if the drama has a good/happy ending or a sad ending before they invest the time in watching it.

Episode 1

Oh In-joo is the eldest of three sisters. She works as a bookkeeper in Orchid E&C (a company under Wonryeong Group) where she’s an outcast because she’s poor; her fellow employees come from well-to-do families and are graduates of elite universities. Since childhood, she has wanted to have money in order to protect her family.

Oh In-kyung, the middle sister, works as a journalist in OBN; unlike In-joo, money doesn’t rule her life. Because of her parents’ problems, she had to endure growing up in the care of her rich great aunt, Hye-suk.

Oh In-hye, the youngest among the sisters, is enrolled in the best high school for the arts in Korea. Moody and reserved, she takes pride in getting accepted at the arts school — with a full scholarship — solely because of her talent.

The day after In-hye’s birthday, their mother abandons them, saying in a letter that she now wants to live for herself. She also takes the 2.5 million won [around 1,800 US dollars] that In-joo and In-kyung saved for In-hye’s Europe school trip. In-joo and In-kyung promise to each raise 1.25 million won before the weekend to enable In-hye to go on the trip.

In-joo meets her friend Hwa-young, a fellow bookkeeper, at a 14th floor office filled with all kinds of orchids; like her, Hwa-young is also an outcast. Finding out about In-joo’s financial need for In-hye’s trip, Hwa-young says that she’ll lend her the 1.25 million won.

On their way to a fancy restaurant, Hwa-young lends In-joo her expensive stiletto heels. As they have dinner, she transfers the 1.25 million won to In-joo’s account. After reminding In-joo about the accounting software ("Bookkeeper from the Future") that she has been working on, she asks her to sign some documents. Despite the documents being in English which she can’t read, In-joo signs them out of gratitude.

After getting scolded by her boss at OBN, In-kyung gets a call from Great Aunt Hye-suk, who says that she’ll now be taking care of her and her sisters upon their mother’s instructions. Later, while they’re having dinner, Great Aunt Hye-suk offers to lend her the 1.25 million won for In-hye’s trip on one condition. On her way out of Great Aunt Hye-suk’s house, In-kyung meets her childhood friend Jong-ho, who has just returned to Korea.

At OBN, In-kyung, her boss Jo Wan-gyu, and her “sunbae” (senior) Jang Ma-ri talk about a news report showing Seoul mayoral candidate Park Jae-sang apologizing to a victim of Korea’s military government. While Ma-ri says that Park Jae-sang is credible and has a good reputation despite his father-in-law’s background, In-kyung wants to investigate him. After her boss gives her the go-signal, she digs into the cases that Park Jae-sang handled as a lawyer. She finds out that in the Bobae Savings Bank case, several people who Park Jae-sang represented committed suicide.

After refusing to accept from In-joo the 2.5 million won for her Europe trip, In-hye leaves in anger and gets into a waiting car. But In-joo follows her and sees her going into a wealthy family’s house.

While tending to the orchids in the 14th floor office, In-joo meets Choi Do-il, who worked with Hwa-young on a project in Europe. Before asking In-joo to leave because he will have an important meeting in the office, Do-il asks for her phone number. Later on, In-joo sees Do-il talking with Park Jae-sang.

Note: The video clip below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 2

Ep. 1 recap: Great Aunt Hye-suk tells In-kyung that she will lend her the money for In-hye’s trip on the condition that In-kyung will have to read the newspaper to her every weekend for a month. In-joo finds out that In-hye spends time with her rich classmate Hyo-rin and gets paid for it by Hyo-rin’s mother. On their way home, she scolds In-hye, saying that she shouldn’t live the way she and In-kyung lived, being pitied and treated like beggars. In-kyung finds out that from the 400 billion won belonging to the 30,000 Bobae Savings Bank depositors, some 140 billion won [around 100 million US dollars] went into the account of the CEO of Wonryeong Group, who’s the brother of Park Jae-sang’s wife. During the press conference, she questions Park Jae-sang about the death by suicide of the Bobae Savings Bank case officials. In-kyung gets suspended from her job at OBN after the video of her being confronted by Park Jae-sang becomes trending and her sunbae Ma-ri exposes that she drinks tequila while she’s working. While having lunch with Do-il ("the Londonite from Wharton") at the cafeteria, In-joo sees her snooty co-employees gossiping about her; she reveals to him that she’s divorced. In turn, Do-il says that he knows she’s the 13th floor outcast. After Hwa-young’s suicide, In-joo uses the dossier of information that Hwa-young collected against the people who treated them as outcasts and who spread the rumor that Hwa-young was having an affair with her boss Director Shin Hyun-min. Later, she finds out from Do-il and Director Shin Hyun-min that Hwa-young stole 70 billion won [around 51 million US dollars] from the company. She refuses to help them find the money because it’s part of the company’s illegal slush fund; she also hands in her resignation letter. In Hwa-young’s locker at the yoga club, In-joo is shocked to find a large backpack stuffed full of money.

After In-kyung confesses that she has been suspended from OBN for drinking on the job, In-joo promises to help her not become an alcoholic like their father. Later, after hiding the two billion won, she takes one million won and goes to the convenience store. On her way back home, she begins thinking that Hwa-young didn’t have a reason to kill herself.

Great Aunt Hye-suk tells In-kyung that she should quit her job at OBN and work for her, investing in stocks. Later, while spending time with Jong-ho and his grandfather, In-kyung gets a call from a nephew of a Bobae Savings Bank officer who committed suicide, telling her to meet him at the fish market early the next day.

After agreeing to work with Director Shin Hyun-min and Do-il in finding the 70 billion won slush fund and the slush fund ledgers, In-joo starts tallying Hwa-young’s receipts and purchases. She finds out that, despite protestations of being poor, Hwa-young bought a lot of luxury goods. From Hwa-young’s phone and burner Skygram account, she finds out that Hwa-young led an alternate life, as a glamorous Singaporean socialite, that’s not compatible with her salary as a bookkeeper.

Alone with In-joo in Hwa-young’s apartment, Director Shin Hyun-min tells her that she can keep Hwa-young’s luxury goods for herself; he also says that she must be presentable and wear expensive heels.

Together with Jong-ho, In-kyung goes to the fish market to meet the nephew. But after trying to call him, she gets no answer. Meanwhile, after confirming that Director Shin Hyun-min bought the expensive heels for Hwa-young, In-joo tells Do-il about her suspicion that Director Shin Hyun-min and Hwa-young had an affair. They begin thinking that Director Shin Hyun-min killed Hwa-young so that he can keep the 70 billion won slush fund for himself. But Do-il becomes concerned because Director Shin Hyun-min took charge of the forensic investigation into Hwa-young’s laptop and phone.

Note: The video clip below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 3

Ep. 2 recap: Director Shin Hyun-min stops sexually harassing In-kyung and leaves the apartment in haste after he sees a blue orchid on a desk. The nephew of the Bobae Savings Bank officer dies in a car accident; at the scene, In-joo finds his cellphone, while Jong-ho finds a blue orchid on the sidewalk. In-joo goes back to the apartment complex to look at the owner’s CCTV footage, but the footage is missing. Meanwhile, at the police station, based on the dashboard video, In-kyung finds out that the nephew lost control of his car, possibly due to "sudden unintended acceleration." In-joo and Do-il find out that because of Hwa-young, the prosecutors’ office imposed a travel ban on Director Shin Hyun-min; that’s why it was Hwa-young who went to Switzerland to take care of the transfer of the 70 billion won slush fund. They also find out that the previous bookkeeper died by suicide just like Hwa-young. When In-joo says that they should report everything to the police, Do-il refuses, saying that he cannot allow the 70 billion won slush fund to become government property. He stuns Injoo by saying that just like Hwa-young, he considers money as sacred. In-kyung becomes confused when she finds out that In-hye’s painting was used by her classmate, who wins a prestigious competition with it. That classmate is Park Hyo-rin, the daughter of mayoral candidate Park Jae-sang. In-joo confronts Director Shin Hyun-min after he sends her a pair of red heels. Denying that he was involved in the deaths of Hwa-young and the previous bookkeeper, he tells In-joo that someone higher than any of them is involved. Intending to give himself up to the prosecutors’ office, he tells her to warn Do-il not to dig any further, or else he will expose everything through the ledger that he has been keeping. He drives away, but his car suddenly accelerates and loses its brakes. As he sees a blue orchid on the dashboard, his car crashes against the wall of the multi-story parking garage and plunges to the ground below.

As the paramedics arrive, In-joo sees a blue orchid on the ground near Director Shin Hyun-min’s car.

At the hospital, Do-il gives In-joo an alibi so that she wouldn’t be blamed for Director Shin Hyun-min’s accident. In-joo becomes suspicious that Do-il had something to do with what happened, but she also becomes worried when he mentions that Hwa-young withdrew two billion won and probably gave it to her accomplice.

In-kyung finds out that In-hye allowed her classmate Hyo-rin to claim the painting as her own and use it in the competition because Hyo-rin’s mother promised to support her studies in a Boston art school. Later, she gets into the house of mayoral candidate Park Jae-sang during the party for Hyo-rin’s victory. She creates a scene as she tries to get In-hye and bring her home; unknown to her, her “sunbae” Ma-ri in OBN is also at the party, taking videos of her.

At OBN, In-kyung confronts Ma-ri on why she was at Park Jae-sang’s party; she also asks her boss to fire her, saying that she doesn’t deserve being a reporter. Meanwhile, based on Hwa-young’s request, In-joo goes to visit CEO Won Sang-woo in a psychiatric hospital; she brings with her the blooming blue orchid that Hwa-young called “Princess” and the two billion won.

While venting with Jong-ho about her fight with In-hye, In-kyung gets a call from the brother of the man whom she was supposed to meet at the fish market and who died in a car accident. Later, based on the CCTV footage provided by the brother, she and Jong-ho find out that, after Park Jae-sang left the hospital, the Bobae Savings Bank officer sniffed something before locking himself up in the bathroom and taking his own life.

After finding out that In-hye is leaving for Boston the next month, In-joo goes to see Sang-a (Hyo-rin’s mother) and offers to give her 70 million won for In-hye’s expenses in Boston. But Sang-a refuses, saying that In-hye has qualified for a scholarship from her husband’s foundation. She also tells In-joo about the dark subtext in In-hye’s paintings, one of which supposedly speaks about her dying sister. Later, she orders her assistant Soo-im to investigate why In-joo suddenly has a lot of money and can afford expensive heels.

Note: The video clip below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 4

Ep. 3 recap: CEO Won Sang-woo tells In-joo that he was confined to the psychiatric hospital because he dared to expose the company’s slush funds and sue his father for embezzlement. After telling In-joo to spend the two billion won as she pleases, he also gives her the slush fund ledgers. When Do-il and his men suddenly arrive at the psychiatric hospital, In-joo escapes through a rope hanging out of the window. After telling CEO Won Sang-woo that a sample of the slush fund ledgers was found in Director Shin Hyun-min’s car, Do-il finds In-joo’s cellphone on the floor. Do-il tells In-joo that CEO Won Sang-woo is the son of former general Won Gi-seon and the brother-in-law of Park Jae-sang. He also says that he knows that CEO Won Sang-woo gave her the slush fund ledgers for his revenge and that Hwa-young gave her the two billion won. He says that he’s not interested in the small amount of two billion won and makes a deal with her on exposing the ledgers at the right time during the mayoral campaign, with the money to be split between them. He tells In-joo to rent a safety deposit box and keep the ledgers there. In-joo agrees to a 60-40 split in her favor, plus she keeps the two billion won. While preparing for dinner with Jong-ho, In-kyung notices that the blue orchid that Jong-ho found near the scene of the car accident looks similar to what the Bobae Savings Bank officer sniffed before he committed suicide. Later, they find out through the Internet that the blue orchid is known as the “Ghost of Vietnam.” In-kyung is shocked to find the two billion won inside the kimchi boxes and tells In-kyung to give it up. But In-joo tells her that In-hye knows about their baby sister who died, an event that even In-kyung doesn’t remember. Later on, she asks Great Aunt Hye-suk to use the money to buy a three-bedroom apartment for her and her sisters; when Great Aunt Hye-suk hesitates, she tells her that helping them out will lessen her guilt about not having helped their baby sister. Park Jae-sang sees In-hye take the “Ariadne” doll from Hyo-rin’s doll house. After telling her that he rose to his present position after growing as the son of General Won Gi-seon’s driver by backstabbing Won Sang-woo (Hyo-rin’s uncle), he asks her if she’s willing to betray someone who loves her the most in the world to get what she wants.

When In-hye asks him what he sacrificed in order to get what he wanted, Park Jae-sang answers that it was his father’s death.

Hyo-rin goes along with In-hye, who has to get something from her house. Meanwhile, Great Aunt Hye-suk takes In-joo on a tour of an apartment with a nice view of the Han River. She lectures In-joo that “capitalism is a psychological game; there’s only an emotion that the rich can overcome while the poor cannot.”

After arguing with In-joo about using the two billion won to buy an apartment instead of turning in it over to the authorities, In-kyung meets the nurse who found the body of the Bobae Savings Bank officer inside the bathroom. The nurse says that he heard Park Jae-sang ask the man to repeat the words, "The war is not over. The General is waiting." When Park Jae-sang asks, “How high do you think that someone from rock bottom can rise up to?,” the man answers, “To the highest and the brightest place.” The nurse also confirms that Park Jae-sang gave the man a blue orchid.

In-kyung and Jong-ho dig deeper into the mysterious blue orchid from Vietnam and its sedative effects. Meanwhile, in an ornate room in the basement in her house, Sang-a asks In-hye to secretly do a portrait of her. As In-hye begins sketching out the portrait, she begins to hallucinate; she hears voices urging her to run because if she doesn’t escape, she will die.

Afrer rushing to the hospital where Sang-a brought In-hye, In-joo finds out that In-hye is suffering from “Luigi’s Disease,” a hereditary heart condition; without immediate surgery, she could die.

After calling her mother, In-joo confirms that her baby sister (“In-seon”) who died also had the similar heart condition. She tells In-kyung that despite what she might think, she will use the two billion won for In-hye’s surgery.

On their way to see Park Jae-sang, Do-il warns Soo-im about watching In-joo’s every move. But Soo-im gets back at Do-il by telling Park Jae-sang that while he’s a close second in the approval ratings among the voters, they really need the 70 billion won for his campaign. She says that for his upcoming TV documentary, they need a touching story to boost his approval ratings, especially among the younger voters.

Despite Do-il’s warning, In-joo goes to the yoga club to get the money for In-hye’s surgery.

Note: The video clips below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 5

Ep. 4 recap: Great Aunt Hye-suk offers to sell her apartment with a good view of the Han River to In-joo and her sisters. Sang-a takes In-hye to a secret, ornate basement where numerous blue orchids grow on a tree; the orchids were collected by her father General Won Gi-seon. She lets In-hye sniff the orchid, after which In-hye begins to hallucinate. After Soo-im and her men take the money from her, In-joo begs for 100 million won that she can use for In-hye’s surgery. Soo-im agrees to give her the 100 million won if In-joo agrees to be hit ten times. While she threatens to hit In-joo on the head with a wooden sword, Do-il and Sang-a arrive and stop her. Sang-a stuns In-joo by taking her to the same restaurant where Hwa-young took her and saying that Hwa-young’s heels and other luxury goods came from her. In-joo accepts Sang-a’s offer for her to become her personal assistant as long as they don’t have to be friends. After In-hye’s surgery, In-joo and In-kyung find out that In-hye’s subconscious mind retained what their mother told her at a very young age about what happened to their sister In-seon. With the TV crew recording everything, Park Jae-sang and his foundation take care of In-hye’s hospital expenses. But despite In-joo’s pleas, In-kyung acts and speaks rudely towards Park Jae-sang. Alerted by In-kyung, Great Aunt Hye-suk arrives at the hospital and refuses to let Park Jae-sang’s foundation pay for In-hye’s surgery; she also throws off Park Jae-sang, Sang-a, and In-kyung by saying that she knew Park Jae-sang’s father. After In-hye says that she’ll stay with Hyo-rin to recuperate before they leave for Boston, In-joo and In-kyung argue about what to do with the slush fund ledgers — In-joo wants to make money off them and use it for In-hye’s studies, but In-kyung wants to write an exposé of Park Jae-sang’s illicit activities. The American author and expert on blue orchids gives In-kyung the address of the Korean man who gave him the blue orchid. To In-kyung’s surprise, the address is the same as the address given to her by the nephew of the Bobae Savings Bank officer. Do-il reveals to In-joo that for the last three years, Hwa-young lived in Singapore under the name “Oh In-joo.” Besides buying a plush apartment and a luxury car, she also deposited the 70 billion won in several banks under the name “Oh In-joo.” After remembering all the documents in English that Hwa-young asked her to sign, In-joo tells Do-il that she must immediately go to Singapore.

Do-il discourages In-joo from going to Singapore to claim the plush apartment, the luxury car, and the 70 billion won because a lot of people are watching her. He says that she should work for Sang-a, gain her confidence, and try to come along with her the next time she goes to Singapore for the orchid festival. He says that Sang-a uses the orchid festival as a cover for her money laundering activities.

In-kyung finds out from Jong-ho that Do-il was a well-known student in the University of Pennsylvania, who later became involved in money laundering activities.

When Sang-a goes to Singapore without informing him, Park Jae-sang orders Do-il to bring her back to Korea the next day. Later, after helping Hyo-rin to calm down because of an anxiety attack, In-joo asks Do-il if Director Shin Hyun-min was referring to Park Jae-sang as the person who’s higher than any of them.

Great Aunt Hye-suk brings In-kyung to her real estate company and introduces her to the staff as the company’s new director. In-kyung protests, saying that she’s still employed with OBN, but Great Aunt Hye-suk reminds her that she begged for help regarding In-hye’s surgery and promised to do anything in return.

Unable to sleep because of the commotion in the house, Hyo-rin takes In-hye’s advice and paints about her deepest fears and anxieties — a woman who has been hanged, wearing red heels.

Along with Jong-ho, In-kyung tracks down the address that was given to her by the American expert on orchids and by the nephew of the Bobae Savings Bank officer; it turns out to be the 40-year old Wonryeong school. The school principal leads them to a greenhouse where they see the blue orchid in bloom. To In-kyung’s surprise, the principal says that the orchid was a gift to him from General Won Gi-seon, the school’s founder.

Note: The video clips below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 6

Ep. 5 recap: Before leaving for Singapore, Sang-a gives In-joo the numerous pills that Hyo-rin needs to take. Park Jae-sang becomes enraged after finding out that Sang-a went to Singapore without telling him; as he smashes the large screen TV with a golf club, Hyo-rin becomes hysterical. In-kyung and Jong-ho find out that General Won Gi-seon is considered as the unknown Korean hero of the Vietnam War and that he established six schools, including Wonryeong School. From the wall of pictures of the school’s prominent alumni, In-kyung finds out that her “sunbae” Ma-ri graduated from the school. After escaping from the man sent by Park Jae-sang to tail her, Sang-a asks In-joo to take her to Hwa-young’s apartment. Later, when In-joo tells Do-il that she thinks she’s empathizing with Sang-a who has to endure living in a make-believe world of a glamorous wife who’s devoted to her husband, Do-il smirks, saying that Sang-a is really a good actress. In-kyung warns In-joo that Do-il was involved in a car accident in Mexico where his female companion was killed; when he was 12 years old and after his mother killed someone over a redevelopment project dispute, he was sent to the USA to study by General Won Gi-seon’s foundation. After arguing with In-kyung that she’s not falling for Do-il, In-joo notices that the blue orchid hanging in Jong-ho’s dining room is the same as the blue orchid that she saw in Hwa-young’s apartment and found near Director Shin Hyun-min’s car. On her way to see her boss, In-kyung meets her Great Aunt Hye-suk, who walks dazed out of the OBN building. In-kyung tells his boss that the rare blue orchid was found in the scenes of various accidents and that such accidents were related in some way to Park Jae-sang. When she finds out that she was fired from OBN that morning, she confronts Great Aunt Hye-suk, who denies having to do anything with her firing. In-joo finds Hyo-rin’s painting of a woman who has been hanged, wearing red heels. When she asks Hyo-rin about the painting, In-hye says that she was the one who encouraged Hyo-rin to paint whatever it was that she feared the most. In-joo tells Hyo-rin that she painted exactly how she found Hwa-young’s body in her apartment. In-kyung interrupts Park Jae-sang’s press conference that’s attended by dozens upon dozens of reporters. When Ma-ri orders someone to cut off In-kyung’s microphone, In-kyung shouts out the numerous real estate properties, amounting to around eight billion won, that belonged to Park Jae-sang’s father. In-joo and In-hye find Hyo-rin slumped and almost unconscious in the front seat of a car in the garage. Attached to Hyo-rin’s smartphone is a USB drive with the dashcam video of Park Jae-sang going into Hwa-young’s apartment.

Hyo-rin tells In-joo that she saw her father drive off in her grandfather’s car, something that he has never done before; her mother also drove off afterwards. Fearful that her parents would never come back, she cut cut her wrists and had to be rushed to the hospital.

Hyo-rin also says that the image in her painting of a woman who was hanged and wearing red heels had been recurring in her mind and became clear only on the night Hwa-young died. On the other hand, In-hye says that she has also been seeing visions (such as her sister In-seon’s death) after spending time with Sang-a in the ornate basement room filled with the blue orchids.

Hyo-rin defends her father, saying that the dashcam video of her father entering Hwa-young’s apartment does not prove that he killed her; thus, she tells In-joo that she will not give her the video.

The reporters swarm around Park Jae-sang, demanding to know about In-kyung’s allegations of corruption against his father. Meanwhile, In-kyung shows the reporters the official documents that authenticate her allegations against Park Jae-sang.

In-joo fails to find Hyo-rin’s dashcam video. Afterwards, she goes to Hwa-young’s apartment, but Soo-im and her men follow her.

Great Aunt Hye-suk meets and negotiates with Park Jae-sang that he forgive and forget In-kyung’s actions against him; she says that they both need to live. When Park Jae-sang wonders why he doesn’t know anything about her and how she’s still alive despite her association with General Won Gi-seon, she says that General Won Gi-seon wanted it that way because she saved his life.

Do-il warns In-joo that the Park family will get rid of her if she doesn’t stop looking into Hwa-young’s death; in turn, In-joo asks Do-il about his girlfriend who died during his car accident in Mexico.

After the press conference called by Park Jae-sang and Sang-a, Great Aunt Hye-suk asks In-kyung to let go of her investigation. When In-kyung asks if she was involved in the illicit activities of General Won Gi-seon and his group, she refuses to answer except by saying that they’re up against people who can ruin her company in an instant and make her, In-joo, and In-hye disappear without a trace.

The next day in a meeting with Do-il, Sang-a, and Soo-im, Park Jae-sang orders Do-il to go to Singapore and get the funds for his campaign. When he says that it’s time to eliminate In-kyung, Soo-im says that they must also eliminate In-joo.

Sang-a offers to give a huge commission to In-joo if she goes to the orchid festival in Singapore on her behalf; she also enthralls In-joo about how she can become part of the powerful “Jeongran Society” (The International Orchid Society).

In Great Aunt Hye-suk’s real estate office, In-kyung tapes together the shredded pieces of a photograph. Together with Jong-ho, she finds out that her Great Aunt Hye-suk was among the original owners of Wonryeong School. Meanwhile, In-joo tells her Great Aunt Hye-suk about the dashcam video, the slush fund ledgers, and the blue orchids.

Episode 7

Ep. 6 recap: Hyo-rin and In-hye dig a small hole in the ornate basement room with the blue orchids and hide the dashcam video there. Do-il tells In-joo that his supposed girlfriend who died in Mexico was actually his first client and is still alive, in hiding. During the press conference, Park Jae-sang blames General Won Gi-seon for the properties that were secretly registered under his father’s name. He and Sang-a say that they are paying for her father’s sins by giving scholarships to thousands of deserving students through their four foundations that have 38 billion won in total assets. Afterwards, despite In-kyung’s plea, In-hye leaves with Park Jae-sang, Sang-a, and Hyo-rin. After giving In-joo the blue orchid, Sang-a tells her that if she goes to Singapore on her behalf, her orchid will be placed in the “Father Tree” and that she’ll become part of Jeongran Society with all its benefits. Do-il becomes alarmed when he sees the blue orchid that Sang-a gave to In-joo. Later on, despite his warning, In-joo sniffs the orchid, believing Sang-a’s words that it will help her find out what she really wants with her life. At the real estate company office, In-kyung and Jong-ho find out that the picture she taped together shows a group of people; written on the back are the date and the name “March 5th, 1973, Jeongran Society.” They also find out that all other original owners of Wonryeong School have died, except for General Won Gi-seon, the principal, one other person who’s missing, and Great Aunt Hye-suk. After sniffing the blue orchid, In-joo tells Great Aunt Hye-suk how she plans to use the slush fund ledgers to bring down Park Jae-sang. Meanwhile, Sang-a stops Hyo-rin and In-hye from climbing the staircasee that Hyo-rin saw in her nightmare. In-kyung finds In-joo dazed, with bloody hands, and cradling the dead body of Great Aunt Hye-suk.

Sang-a explains her presence at the internment by telling In-joo about the Won family’s connection to Great Aunt Hye-suk. When In-joo asks if Great Aunt Hye-suk died because of the blue orchid, she says that it was a token of their friendship; she repeats to In-joo the advice that Great Aunt Hye-suk gave her about “closing the door” that helped her deal with her mother’s death.

At the reading of Great Aunt Hye-suk’s will, her relatives and In-kyung find out that she bequeathed the house and her stocks to In-kyung, with all other assets divided equally among the heirs. When her relatives find out that her liabilities exceed her assets by eight billion won, they waive their share of the inheritance, leaving In-kyung alone to sort out the assets and liabilities.

While In-kyung is going through Great Aunt Hye-suk’s personal belongings, which include a mysterious key card, In-joo calls her up: Great Aunt Hye-suk’s personal chef has confessed to killing her, saying that her advice on investing in the real estate market ruined him financially.

In-kyung can’t believe that someone who prepared Great Aunt Hye-suk’s meals for the past several years could have killed her. In-joo says, however, that someone must have hired the chef to kill Great Aunt Hye-suk. Together with Jong-ho, they find the secret room, which they’re able to open with the key card.

In-joo tells In-kyung that they can use the 70 billion won slush fund that’s deposited in several Singapore banks to expose the truth about the Jeongran Society, reveal who killed Great Aunt Hye-suk, and keep their family safe afterwards. She promises to hand over the ledgers to In-kyung so that she can publish her story.

During Park Jae-sang’s speech after winning his party’s primary for the Seoul mayoral election, In-kyung notices that he’s echoing General Won Gi-seon’s Vietnam War speech; she also notices that in the video (which she took in Wonryeong School), Great Aunt Hye-suk was one of the on-duty nurses. Later on, as In-joo and In-kyung dig deeper into Great Aunt Hye-suk’s background, they find out that the Jeongran Society was founded when its members were in the same hospital. Out of the 13 original members, the only ones still alive are General Won Gi-seon and a certain “Choi Hee-jae” who has been missing since 1998.

After visiting General Won Gi-seon in the hospital, Park Jae-sang and Sang-a get into a terrible fight; as Sang-a tries to flee, Park Jae-sang and his men drag her back to the house.

After seeing and hearing her parents fight again, Hyo-rin, with In-hye, seeks refuge in the hidden room above the staircase. In the room, they find an old dollhouse called “Closed Room” that’s exactly identical to Hwa-young’s apartment. Inside the dollhouse is a doll wearing red heels, hanging inside the closet.

Note: The video clip below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 8

Ep. 7 recap: In-kyung, In-joo, and Jong-ho find out out that everything has been taken from Great Aunt Hye-suk’s safe in the secret room; the only thing remaining is a blue orchid. In the hidden room above the staircase, In-hye and Hyo-rin find a photo album in which the face of a woman was cut out from all the photos. After finding out from Jong-ho that Choi Hee-jae is Do-il’s father, In-kyung and In-joo visit Do-il’s mother in prison. In-kyung infuriates Do-il’s mother by saying that she killed someone in order to send Do-il to school abroad. When In-joo proves to Do-il’s mother that she knows Do-il and tells her that Do-il is in danger because of the ledgers, Do-il’s mother gives her directions to a place where Do-il can find the evidence for the answer to his question 20 years ago. Do-il becomes angry over In-joo digging into his personal life. But In-joo tells him that his mother’s answer to his question 20 years ago is “No.” Before giving him the directions from his mother on where he can find the evidence, she says that based on what Great Aunt Hye-suk told her, Park Il-bok (the father of Park Jae-sang) killed the man who was supposedly killed by his mother. Saying that he’s no longer concerned about her safety, Do-il gives In-joo a USB drive and tells her that the chef’s family will be moved to a new apartment next month. The next day, In-kyung and Jong-ho tail Do-il into the mountains and see him meeting his father. In-hye and Hyo-rin find out that the “Closed Room” dollhouse was Sang-a’s graduation exhibit at the New York School of Theater in 1995. Through In-hye, Sang-a tells In-joo to go to Singapore on her behalf and to prepare some money so that she can leave Park Jae-sang with Hyo-rin and In-hye. On the other hand, Park Jae-sang takes In-hye to the rooftop of a soon to be demolished building and tells her to abandon her family and join his family; he says that the next few days will be crucial. Inside Choi Hee-jae’s house, Jong-ho secretly takes pictures of the documents through the spy camera on his eyeglasses. But when In-kyung mentions General Won Gi-seon and Jeongran Society, Choi Hee-jae kicks them out. Before leaving for Singapore, In-joo visits In-hye at the academy, giving her some money and telling her to go to Singpaore with In-kyung once she has settled there. In return, In-hye gives her Hyo-rin’s dashcam video as a birthday gift. After Do-il reveals his father’s location, Park Jae-sang orders him to kill In-joo. Later on, his men die when a bomb explodes as they enter Choi Hee-jae’s house. Do-il places in a bank vault the hammer that was used as the weapon in the murder for which his mother was imprisoned. To celebrate her birthday, In-joo buys a new dress, wears her expensive heels, and goes to the fancy restaurant where she and Hwa-young went. When Do-il arrives, he shows her an email that he got from Singapore, telling him about a woman from Korea named “Oh In-joo” who’s attending the orchid festival. When he shows her the woman’s photo, In-joo recognizes from the orchid tattooed on the woman’s ankle that it’s Hwa-young.

Flashback ... When Park Jae-sang orders him to kill In-joo, Do-il promises to do it the next day but says that he will kill her while they’re in Singapore. Park Jae-sang warns him that if he fails, he will die.

The Vietnam War veteran tells In-kyung that, after returning from a special operation in 1967, Choi Hee-jae and several soldiers acted as if they were possessed by the “orchid ghost.” As they’re talking, In-kyung gets a call from In-joo, saying that she’s on the way to Singapore and asking her to prepare herself and In-hye to immediately join her there.

After explaining the CCTV setup in the house to In-hye, Hyo-rin takes out from a safe several passbooks to international accounts in banks from around the world; all the passbooks are in her name. Later, she sneaks into her mother Sang-a’s bedroom. But to her shock, Sang-a says she won’t leave because she has reconciled with Park Jae-sang.

In Singapore, In-joo gets the VIP treatment after the hotel receptionist sees her passport. She’s stunned when the hotel manager says that she has won the gold medal for the last three years of the orchid auction.

Choi Hee-jae sneaks into Great Aunt Hye-suk’s house. When In-kyung confronts him, he reveals Great Aunt Hye-suk’s connection with the Jeongran Society. He also says that to protect Do-il, he must kill Park Jae-sang.

In-joo goes to all the places that Hwa-young went to in Singapore. While she and Do-il are in a café, the barista becomes confused after seeing In-joo and wonders if she has a twin. When she and Do-il arrive at the plush apartment that Hwa-young bought under the name "Oh In-joo," several people recognize her and greet her as "Ms. Oh."

At the orchid auction, Do-il encourages In-joo that she can bid confidently because she’s using Sang-a’s money anyway. In-joo thinks that if Hwa-young is alive, she will show up at the auction. For the rare orchid named “The Princess of Thieves,” her competitor bids through the phone.

After the auction, a woman tells In-joo that she just saw her in the bathroom wearing a yellow dress. In-joo rushes there but doesn’t see the woman who looks just like her. Later, the person who handled the phone bid shares with In-joo her client’s message — it’s what CEO Won Sang-woo said Hwa-young told him about what In-joo would look like if she bloomed. In-joo becomes sure that Hwa-young is alive, but Do-il says it could be CEO Won Sang-woo who sent the message. He says he’s not sure if Hwa-young is alive but warns In-joo that her impersonator is intent on taking the 70 billion won.

In Korea, after finding out that In-hye helped Hyo-rin to see her mother Sang-a, Park Jae-sang warns her not to betray him; he also says his men are moving right now in Singapore. Later, In-hye calls up In-kyung, worried because she can’t contact In-joo.

Note: The video clips below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 9

Ep. 8 recap: Choi Hee-jae tells In-kyung that Great Aunt Hye-suk wasn’t strictly a part of the Jeongran Society and had a falling out after General Won Gi-seon’s wife died. After In-kyung gets her boss at OBN to promise that she’ll be able to air an exclusive about the orchid-related deaths, he shows her his cache of firearms and explosives, which he intends to use in killing Park Jae-sang. When In-kyung disagrees and says that they can bring down Park Jae-sang through the slush fund ledgers and his testimony, he says that if her plan doesn’t work, he will kill Park Jae-sang in full view of the public and in front of news cameras. While withdrawing with Do-il the 70 billion won in cash from the Singapore banks, In-joo gets text messages from In-kyung warning her about Do-il and Park Jae-sang. To assure that In-joo that he won’t betray her, Do-il gives her a .38 caliber revolver; he tells her not to trust anyone or anything, except the gun and her money. Hyo-rin ends up in the hospital after her mother Sang-a escapes from the house without taking her along. While thinking about how Park Jae-sang found out that Hyo-rin sneaked into her mother’s bedroom, In-hye realizes that there’s a CCTV camera inside Sang-a’s bedroom. She goes to Park Jae-sang’s study in the house and checks the CCTV footages on the night Hwa-young died. When Hyo-rin comes home from the hospital, she reveals to her that her mother Sang-a killed Hwa-young. At a bank lobby, In-joo gets a message from Hwa-young, saying that Do-il is dangerous and that she must run away from him immediately. In-joo gets into the car that Hwa-young provided, but after being chased by another car, her car gets hit by a truck. In the hospital, she hallucinates about Hwa-young, who tells her to take the large suitcase of money and go to her apartment. There, after drinking the blue-colored drink on the table and waiting for awhile, she meets not Hwa-young but Sang-a. Sang-a reveals to In-joo that she has been directing a secret play where In-joo plays the lead role; she chose her from the time she applied for work in Orchid E&C. The hotel manager, the barista, the women at the auction, and others were all hired actors who were secretly filming her; even her fellow employees who bullied her and Hwa-young acted according to her directions. She mocks In-joo for thinking that Hwa-young is still alive. After Sang-a says that she will push her off from the apartment and make it look like that she committed suicide, In-joo asks if she could at least see her 70 billion won. Sang-a is stunned when she finds out that the large suitcase contains bricks instead of the 70 billion won. When she turns around, she sees In-joo pointing the .38 caliber revolver at her.

Through Do-il’s smartphone, Park Jae-sang tells Sang-a that In-kyung wants to bargain with them — she’s giving up the slush fund ledgers in exchange for In-joo’s safety. Before burning the ledgers in the fireplace, Park Jae-sang mocks In-kyung by saying that he and Jeongran Society have manipulated her career as a journalist.

Before losing consciousness, In-joo tells Do-il what she did with the 70 billion won and asks him to give In-kyung and In-hye her share if she dies. In Korea, In-kyung confronts her boss in OBN.

Hyo-rin and In-hye decide to run away from home and go to Russia (and Europe) via Japan by using the various bank accounts in Hyo-rin’s name. They plan to do so the next day by using their school play rehearsal of “Macbeth” as an excuse to be absent from their academy classes.

In-kyung calls up Choi Hee-jae and tells him that her plan to bring down Park Jae-sang through the ledgers has failed; she asks him if she can join him in killing Park Jae-sang. She also gets an email from someone named "Dantès" telling her that she’s asking the wrong questions in her investigation.

Do-il invests the 70 billion won in a company in Greece; his plan is for him and In-joo to liquidate the company’s assets once they’re in Greece, split up the money, and go on their separate ways.

The next day, Hyo-rin and In-hye pretend with Park Jae-sang and Sang-a as if they know nothing about what happened in Singapore or that Sang-a killed Hwa-young. As they leave for school, Hyo-rin entrusts to In-hye her cash, bonds, and bank passbooks. Meanwhile, Sang-a manipulates Park Jae-sang into sending Soo-im and her men to kill In-kyung immediately.

At the airport, In-joo finds out from Jong-ho that In-kyung is missing. After telling Do-il that she trusts him with his plan of liquidating the company in Greece, she flies back to Korea.

At the school play rehearsal, Hyo-rin collapses after finding out that In-hye is missing. When she wakes up, her mother Sang-a tells her that In-hye has run away to Japan with her money, bonds, and bank passbooks.

Note: The first video clip below from “The Swoon“ features highlights from Eps. 1-8. The 2nd clip is from Ep. 9 and might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 10

Ep. 9 recap: In-kyung’s boss in OBN tells her that he became part of Jeongran Society because of financial difficulties and to continue his career as a journalist. He warns her that if she doesn’t join them, she will die. Locked up by Sang-a in a room that has a closet similar to Hwa-young’s closet, In-hye finds out that Sang-a’s mother died there after being locked up for nearly 3,000 days. Through Choi Hee-jae’s inside information about the psychiatric hospital’s layout, vents, and tunnels, In-kyung gets to see CEO Won Sang-woo. After finding out the details of the Bobae Savings Bank case, she makes him promise to testify against Park Jae-sang. In-joo and Jong-ho distract Soo-im and her men, giving In-kyung and CEO Won Sang-woo the chance to escape from the psychiatric hospital. Later on, Do-il rescues In-joo and Jong-ho. At Choi Hee-jae’s safehouse, In-kyung says that CEO Won Sang-woo’s testimony can bring Park Jae-sang down. But Choi Hee-jae and Do-il insists that Park Jae-sang must be killed. As In-joo and Do-il search for In-hye, CEO Won Sang-woo calls up Park Jae-sang, asking for money so that he can go far away and live in freedom; he also asks to meet him for one last drink together in the food stall by the sea. Park Jae-sang doublecrosses CEO Won Sang-woo and watches from afar as Soo-im and her men arrive at the food stall. But to his surprise, CEO Won Sang-woo appears behind him, with a gun pointed at him.

In a video call, CEO Won Sang-woo threatens to kill Park Jae-sang if Soo-im doesn’t immediately arrange a bank transfer of one billion dollars to his Panama account and 3,000 US dollars that he needs to leave Korea. But Park Jae-sang manages to grapple the gun away from him.

After sneaking into the house and talking with Hyo-rin, In-joo and Do-il follow Sang-a as she goes to the "Closed Room" where she has locked up In-hye.

After a rally, Park Jae-sang learns from Soo-im that Do-il is working with the Oh sisters; he orders her to have Do-il’s mother released on parole and confined in a hospital room.

While In-kyung continues to try getting a news station to broadcast her exposé on Park Jae-sang, Choi Hee-jae and Do-il scout the area where Park Jae-sang will be holding his massive rally. Choi Hee-jae gives Do-il a list of his weapons, telling him what to do with them if he does not survive after assassinating Park Jae-sang. But Do-il calls him a stranger and leaves after getting a message from Soo-im about his mother.

To save his mother, Do-il strikes a deal with Park Jae-sang. Later on, as Soo-im’s men listen through a bug in his watch, he asks In-joo to sign in his favor a power of attorney over the 70 billion won. After In-kyung and Jong-ho read the power of attorney, In-joo signs it.

Do-il sends In-joo to talk to the military veteran who In-kyung talked to before. After the veteran agrees to buy the weapons, Choi Hee-jae goes to deliver his weapons cache, but Soo-im’s men have planted a bomb in his truck. It explodes just as he arrives at the veteran’s house.

Note: The video clip below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 11

Ep. 10 recap: Park Jae-sang kills CEO Won Sang-woo by smashing in his head several times with a big rock. When Sang-a was nine years old, her mother threatened to expose General Won Gi-seon’s involvement in murders to her church members; consequently, her mother was locked up in the “Closed Room.” In-hye and Hyo-rin escape from the house and leave for Japan. In-kyung appears in a live interview on TV with Do-il’s mother, who accuses Park Jae-sang’s father of killing a man for which she was accused and later imprisoned. In-kyung says that the DNA evidence supports her claim of innocence; she also explains how Wonryeong Construction earned two trillion won [about 1.4 billion US dollars] after the murder and the approval of the redevelopment. Choi Hee-jae survives the bomb explosion. Later, Do-il helps him and In-joo escape from the hospital. Along the way, he explains to In-joo how he, Choi Hee-jae, Jong-ho, and In-kyung planned everything. Later, however, police detectives arrest Choi Hee-jae for illegal possession of firearms and attempted murder of Park Jae-sang. During Park Jae-sang’s massive rally, Do-il hacks into the computer system twice and shows on the large screen the video of how Park Jae-sang killed CEO Won Sang-woo. In-kyung also appears on a TV program to explain how she got hold of CEO Won Sang-woo’s video of being murdered by Park Jae-sang. But after Park Jae-sang’s PR team manages to convince the public that the video is a deep fake and because of his big lead, he still gets elected as mayor of Seoul. While In-kyung is on a live broadcast, the news explodes that Park Jae-sang committed suicide by jumping off a roof. In the morgue, Sang-a sees in Park Jae-sang’s hand a blue orchid. In-joo gets a call from Sang-a, who warns her of what’s going to happen to her in the next several days. When she fails to reach Do-il, she checks the balance in the international bank account and finds out that the 70 billion won has been withdrawn.

Flashback ... Sang-a gives Park Jae-sang a blue orchid.

While police detectives are breaking down the door, In-kyung frantically calls up and warns In-kyung that Do-il betrayed her; she’s arrested for stealing the 70 billion won, despite the balance on her international bank account being zero.

Sang-a gives Soo-im the full freedom to eliminate In-joo and In-kyung but tells her to make them suffer first. Later on, she also orders Ma-ri to frame In-joo and In-kyung for using CEO Won Sang-woo to steal the 70 billion won and for plotting Park Jae-sang’s death.

In-joo’s public defender tells her that the evidence is stacked up against her and that, in embezzlement for which she’s charged, her penalty could be 20 years imprisonment; her only recourse is to admit her guilt and plead for a lighter sentence. Later, when In-joo asks her public defender to contact Do-il to be her witness, he says that Do-il is scheduled to testify against her.

During the “perp walk,” as numerous reporters swarm around In-joo, somebody tries to pass on to her a note but fails.

In-kyung finds out that Hwa-young’s mother was one of the victims in the Bobae Savings Bank scandal. After she tells her that Hwa-young was seeking justice for her mother, instead of simply being greedy by stealing the 70 billion won, In-joo remembers that she mentioned to Hwa-young that her sister was a crusading journalist. She asks for In-kyung’s help in seeking justice for her and vengeance against Sang-a for Hwa-young’s death; she tells her about Sang-a’s “Closed Room” and the pictures she took of the room.

Ma-ri fabricates a story that CEO Won Sang-woo was a mentally ill patient who escaped from the psychiatric hospital through the help of In-joo and In-kyung. Through an edited dashcam video, she claims that Park Jae-sang killed CEO Won Sang-woo in self-defense.

Sang-a asks Jang Sa-pyeong (the principal of Wonryeong School) to take charge of a new foundation that will be established in Park Jae-sang’s name. Citing his training with the CIA in various forms of torture, she also asks him to take care of In-kyung in the ways of the Jeongran Society. His eyes beam with pride as Sang-a places his blue orchid on the “Father Tree.”

Jeongran Society’s men kidnap In-kyung and bring her to Jang Sa-pyeong. Later, Sang-a visits In-joo in jail and shows her In-kyung’s notebook; after she threatens to kill her parents and In-hye, In-joo becomes hysterical.

Note: The video clips below from “The Swoon“ might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full episode.

Episode 12, Finale (with spoilers)

Ep. 11 recap: Flashback ... Park Jae-sang commits suicide to fulfill his childhood promise of protecting Sang-a and as an example to other members of the Jeongran Society. During the cross-examination, Do-il betrays Sang-a by testifying that In-joo was only a pawn and that the 70 billion won was eventually transferred to a company in Panama under Sang-a’s name; the company has been used for laundering money for the last ten years. Jang Sa-pyeong also betrays Sang-a and helps In-kyung to expose in a TV news program how Sang-a killed Hwa-young and the previous bookkeeper of Wonryeong Construction. After In-kyung says that rare blue orchids were found on the crime scenes, he reveals that in Sang-a’s house, there's a “Father Tree” that’s full of blue orchids. During the final hearing, Sang-a, Jong-ho, In-kyung, and In-joo are shocked when a woman walks into the court — it’s Hwa-young!

Hwa-young confesses in court that she and Sang-a embezzled the 70 billion won (and the 2 billion won that she gave to In-joo), with In-joo not knowing anything about it; when the prosecutor asks her how her death was staged, she says that it will be revealed later on.

For keeping the two billion won, the court imposes on In-joo the penalty of one year and six months in prison but with two years probation.

At Great Aunt Hye-suk’s house, Hwa-young explains how she wanted In-joo to live out her dreams through the two billion won that she gave her. In Singapore, she saved In-joo by driving her car in between In-joo’s car and the truck.

At a press conference, Hwa-young explains how Sang-a staged her death by suicide. She also launches her “Bookkeeper from the Future” software; people who download the software can see copies of the ledgers that prove how Sang-a and her family embezzled much more than the 70 billion won for the last 20 years.

In General Won Gi-seon’s hospital room, Sang-a knocks Jang Sa-pyeong unconscious through a syringe that’s laced with the blue orchid. After ordering Soo-im to hang Jang Sa-pyeong’s body in public to serve as an example, she kidnaps Hwa-young. Meanwhile, concerned about Hwa-young’s safety, In-joo leaves her flight to the Netherlands.

In Wonryeong School, In-kyung and Jong-ho find Jang Sa-pyeong’s body. Soo-im’s men arrive and kidnap In-kyung; Jong-ho escapes and calls In-joo, but it’s Do-il who answers his call.

In-joo takes a grenade that Choi Hee-jae gave to her and goes to Sang-a’s house where she sees that Sang-a has tied up Hwa-young to a chair. Sang-a warns In-joo that she has replaced the water in the vents with hydrochloric acid, intending to kill Hwa-young and the “Father Tree.”

In-joo helps Hwa-young to escape; she pushes Sang-a into the pool of hydrochloric acid where she burns to death.

The court imposes a penalty of twelve years on Hwa-young for her part in the embezzlement of the 70 billion won. Meanwhile, In-joo finds out that Great Aunt Hye-suk had gifted to her the apartment with a nice view of the Han River.

While on a bus, In-joo is shocked to find out that she has 23 million US dollars in her bank account.

Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information

1. Set in the modern day, “Little Women” is loosely based on the 1868 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott.



2. K-Drama “Little Women” Removed From Vietnam Due To “Distortion Of History” (Koreaboo): “In episode 8, a war veteran from South Korea was seen bragging about the “kill-to-death” ratio between South Korean troops and the Viet Cong (the communist army). In the scene, the veteran claimed that Korean troops could kill between 20 to 100 Vietnamese troops each. The character also stated that ‘Korean troops were the heroes of the Vietnam War,’ sparking a huge uproar.”

‘Little Women’ producers respond after K-drama is removed from Netflix in Vietnam (NME): “According to Vietnamese newspaper Truoi Tre, per Bloomberg, it was determined that Little Women broke Clause 4, Article 9 of the Vietnamese Press Law, which prohibits the broadcast of information that may incite war, infringe upon Vietnam’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, distort history, deny revolutionary achievements or insult the nation.”

3. From “South Koreans in Vietnam: A Force to Be Reckoned With” (ehistorynetwork):

Why Were there South Koreans in the Vietnam War?

In 1964, as the communist effort in Vietnam grew more intense, the South Vietnamese government made a formal request to the Republic of Korea for military assistance. Actually, the ROK government had offered to send help as early as 1954 but was turned down. The first Korean units arrived in Vietnam in February 1965 in a brigade group called Dove Force. These included engineers, a MASH unit, military police, a navy LST, liaison staff, and other support personnel. Dove Force was deployed to the Bien Hoa region of South Vietnam, where it engaged in counterinsurgency activities. Engineering units built schools, roads and bridges. Medical teams treated over 30,000 South Vietnamese civilians.

4. In several scenes, Korean soldiers under General Won Gi-seon in Vietnam are said to be suffering from the effects of “Agent Orange.”

From Wikipedia: “Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the “tactical use” Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It is a mixture of equal parts of two herbicides, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. In addition to its damaging environmental effects, traces of dioxin (mainly TCDD, the most toxic of its type) found in the mixture have caused major health problems for many individuals who were exposed, and their offspring.”

For more information, surf to “The Dark Shadow of Agent Orange” (The New York Times).



5. In Ep. 9, Jong-ho tells In-joo that CEO Won Sang-woo is confined in a psychiatric hospital which was previously the Seonjin Welfare Center during the 1980s. Based on his Internet search, he says that Seonjin Welfare Center illegally confined and enslaved vagrants, street vendors, alcoholics, and even ordinary people.

While the name “Seonjin Welfare Center” seems to be fictional, it’s probably based on the notorious “Brothers Home.”

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Korean the military government ordered the police to round up the vagrants in the streets of Seoul; the most known cases of people being rounded up took place in 1988 because of the Summer Olympics. Among the various facilities where these vagrants were confined was the Brothers Home.

From “Decades After a ‘Living Hell,’ Korean Victims Win a Step Toward Redress”:

Brothers Home was supposed to help get people off the streets, but a government commission has confirmed its role in detentions and other abuses was a “grave human rights violation by the state.”

From 1976 to 1987, military dictators in South Korea swept roughly 38,000 people off the streets, corralling them into a welfare center called Brothers Home. The facility was supposed to feed and teach what the government called vagrants — many of them minors — and train them for jobs.

Instead, Brothers Home turned out to be a house of nightmares.

Many were beaten, raped and used for slave labor. More than 650 people died while being held there illegally and unbeknown to their families, according to survivors and investigators.

From “South Korea Apologizes for Brothers Home Atrocities” (Washington Post, 2018): “From the 1960s to the 1980s, South Korean military dictators rounded up thousands of homeless and disabled people and children, sending them to facilities where they were detained and forced to work. Brothers Home was the largest of them all with nearly 4,000 inmates.”

The Korean remake of “Life on Mars” (2018) dealt with this same issue in Ep. 12.

6. In some scenes, In-hye and Hyo-rin are still attending classes late at night; in Ep. 9, for example, Hyo-rin tells In-hye that they can be absent from their academy up to 11 PM by using their school play rehearsal as an excuse. The subtitles say "academy," but if you listen closely to the Korean dialogue, you will hear the word “hagwon.”

From Wikipedia: “Hagwon is the Korean language word for a for-profit private institute, academy or cram school prevalent in South Korea. Although most widely known for their role as “cram schools,” where children can study to improve scores, hagwons actually perform several educational functions.”

The blockbuster drama “SKY Castle” (2018) features the “hagwon” prominently.

7. In this drama, the “Closed Room” refers to the:

• dollhouse which Sang-a designed for her graduation exhibit at the New York School of Theater in 1995, and which In-hye and Hyo-rin found in the attic


• the full sized room where Sang-a locked up In-hye in Eps. 9-10; it is this same room where Sang-a’s mother was locked up for nearly 3,000 days.

In both the dollhouse and the full sized room, there’s a closet that’s eerily similar to Hwa-young’s closet.

These scenes and incidents of Sang-a’s mother and In-hye being locked up in the “Closed Room” may have been inspired by “The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination,” a 1979 book by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, in which they examine Victorian literature from a feminist perspective. Gilbert and Gubar draw their title from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, in which Rochester’s wife (née Bertha Mason) is kept secretly locked in an attic apartment by her husband.

From “Madwoman in the Attic” (Encyclopedia):

The title of the book refers to the character Bertha Rochester in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), who not only suffers from madness but also serves as a double for the character of Jane. Gilbert and Gubar contend that Jane’s central confrontation of the text is not with Mr. Rochester but with Bertha and her manifestation of Jane’s emotions. In Jane’s coming-of-age journey, she must face oppression, starvation, madness, and coldness at each of the estates in which she lives and works. At Thornfield, Jane meets her “dark double” Bertha, who acts out Jane’s feelings of “rebellion and rage.” Bertha is the only true “madwoman in the attic” in Gilbert and Gubar’s critical study.

8. In Ep. 1, Hwa-young lends In-joo her rare and expensive pair of heels from the “Bruno Zumino” brand. There is no brand of shoes with the name “Bruno Zumino,” and the heels are actually the “Jimmy Choo Bee 100 Embellished Leather Pump.”

There was, however, a real life “Bruno Zumino” (1923-2014). He was a theoretical physicist and faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley; among other achievements, Zumino was a proponent in proving the CPT theorem. For more information about this theorem, please surf to “Understanding Antimatter: CPT Symmetry” (YouTube).

Lessons in photography from ”Little Women” with in-depth analysis of its visuals, cinematography, and editing

Index: A. PD Kim Hee-won and her love of 90-degree Dutch angle shots in “Vincenzo” and ”Little Women”; B. Reflected or mirror images; C. Stairs (or inclines) as visual symbols mainly of the Oh sisters’ struggles to rise above their lowly circumstances and the economic class conflicts in Korean society (Bong Joon-ho’s influence on “Little Women”); D. Push in and pull out camera movements to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension; E. Extreme closeup shots; F. Visual cues; G. Rack focus; H. Miscellaneous observations: (1) Out of focus shots to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension; (2) Almost like “breaking the 180-degree rule” or ”crossing the line” in scenes from Ep. 11 and Ep. 4 (similar shot in “Alchemy of Souls”; (3) Wes Anderson’s and Christopher Nolan’s influences on the visual style of ”Little Women”

A. PD Kim Hee-won and her love of 90-degree Dutch angle shots in “Vincenzo” and “Little Women”

In my analysis of the visuals, cinematography, and editing of “Vincenzo,” I pointed out its numerous uses of 90-degree Dutch angle shots. In “Little Women,” PD Kim Hee-won and her cinematographer again use a lot of 90-degree Dutch angle shots.

Examples of 90-degree Dutch angle shots from “Little Women”

Briefly stated, a Dutch angle shot is created when the camera is tilted or canted on one side. For examples of how shots can be tilted or canted at various degrees, please watch “The Dutch Angle” (Vimeo) by Jacob T. Swinney.

From “The Dutch Angle: A Cinematic Technique That Makes Viewers Anxious”:

Want to convey tension, anxiety, uneasiness, confusion or similar feelings of disorientation in a composition? Tilting your camera angle to one side — essentially, the camera equivalent of tilting one’s head to look at something — can achieve this.

Also known as the Dutch Tilt, German Angle, canted angle, canted camera, or oblique angle, the technique consists of an angled camera shot where the horizon line isn’t parallel with the bottom of the frame, and vertical lines are at an angle to the side of the frame.

Relevant resources:

“The Origins of the Dutch Angle” (YouTube)

“Dutch Angle in film for better storytelling – Dutch angle shot examples in movies”

B. Reflections or mirror images; theoretical physicist Bruno Zumino, the CPT theorem, and symmetry

In the drama, “Bruno Zumino” is the brand name of Hwa-young’s expensive and rare heels. We know that there’s no actual Italian brand of footwear named “Bruno Zumino”; Hwa-young’s heels are actually the “Jimmy Choo Bee 100 Embellished Leather Pump.”

I don’t know why or how writer Jung Seo-kyoung chose the name “Bruno Zumino.” I haven’t found anything in English-language websites about this matter; the answer may be in Naver, but I can’t read Korean. Anyway, there was a real life “Bruno Zumino” who was a theoretical physicist and faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley; among other achievements, Zumino was a proponent in proving the CPT theorem.

(I’m by no means an expert in Physics. When I was a freshman in the University of the Philippines, Dillman, I lost my NSDB engineering scholarship because I failed Physics 41, an introductory class for engineering students.)

For more information about the CPT, please see the following resources: “Understanding Antimatter: CPT Symmetry” and “How Physicists Proved The Universe Isn’t Locally Real - Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 Explained”

At the terrible risk of oversimplifying what the CPT Theorem means, we might say that it speaks of “symmetry” and “mirror images.”

Ethan Siegel in his article “This Is The One Symmetry That The Universe Must Never Violate” begins his discussion of CPT Theorem by saying:

For most of us, when we hear the word symmetry, we think about reflecting things in a mirror. Some of the letters of our alphabet exhibit this type of symmetry: “A” and “T” are vertically symmetric, while “B” and “E” are horizontally symmetric. “O” is symmetric about any line that you draw, as well as rotational symmetry: no matter how you rotate it, its appearance is unchanged.

“There are many letters of the alphabet that exhibit particular symmetries. Note that the capital letters shown here have one and only one line of symmetry; letters like ’I’ or ’O’ have more than one.”

Siegel then provides a graphic showing that capital letters B, C, D, E, K exhibit symmetry if we cut them in the middle with a horizontal line. The capital letters A, M, T, U, V, W, and Y exhibit symmetry when we cut them in the middle with a vertical line.

I stand to be corrected, but I think that PD Kim Hee-won and her cinematographer took writer Jung Seo-kyoung’s reference to “Bruno Zumino” and used it to enrich this drama’s visuals through reflected or mirrored images that exhibit symmetry. The very first example of this symmetry through a reflected image is in Ep. 1 when In-joo looks for the right time and opportunity to ask her immediate boss for an advance on her salary (which she needs for In-hye’s Europe school trip).

Examples of vertical symmetry from this drama

Examples of horizontal symmetry from this drama

Two transitions that I like (which also depict horizontal and vertical symmetry):

(1) Ep. 9, horizontal symmetry: Hyo-rin and In-hye plan to escape to Japan and then to Russia; Hyo-rin entrusts to In-hye her bonds and bank passbooks. During the play rehearsal, Hyo-rin collapses after she finds out that In-hye has disappeared. As she’s lying on the floor, the screen gets split: she’s on the upper half of the screen while a snowy landscape is on the lower half. That composite image then cross dissolves into a shot of a train moving across the snowy landscape (with a voice-over of In-hye speaking about their plans to go to Hokkaido). That shot then cross dissolves into the image of Hyo-rin lying on a hospital bed. (These images may be an homage to Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 movie “Snowpiercer.”

Notice that (in the 2nd image of the moving train) the train bisects the snowy landscape (horizontal symmetry); when the image of the moving train and the snowy landscape cross dissolves into the image of Hyo-rin lying on a hospital bed, it bisects Hyo-rin's image (again, horizontal symmetry).

(2) Ep. 8, vertical symmetry: Through the CCTV footage of her mother leaving the house wearing a fur coat and the black doll from the “Closed Room,” In-hye reveals to Hyo-rin that her mother killed Hwa-young; the black doll is right side up as Hyo-rin stares at it. Then, the upside down image of the black doll cross dissolves into In-joo (in Singapore) as she’s stunned to see Sang-a, instead of Hwa-young. The doll is frame left while In-joo is frame right (vertical symmetry).

C. Stairs (or inclines) as visual symbols mainly of the Oh sisters’ struggles to rise above their lowly circumstances and the economic class conflicts in Korean society; Bong Joon-ho’s influence on “Little Women”

The very first time we see stairs in this drama is in Ep. 1 with In-hye climbing (1) a steep cement staircase on her way home and (2 a winding staircase that leads up to her family’s house on the rooftop. The last time we see stairs in the drama is when In-joo goes home after visiting Hwa-young in jail; she climbs up the staircase that leads to her family’s apartment.

In his Oscar-winning movie “Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho depicts the class conflict and wealth inequality in Korean society. He uses stairs or upward and downward movements of the characters to symbolize how the Kim family tries (but fails) to rise above their circumstances. The YouTube video “Exploring Visual Language and Symbolism in "Parasite” illustrates this symbolism through various scenes in the movie.

Related resource: “Parasite power of symbols” (YouTube)

Examples of characters in “Little Women” climbing stairs or going up inclines:

Other symbolisms for stairs in this drama:

In Ep. 11, Park Jae-sang commits suicide by jumping off from the rooftop of the building where in Ep. 7 he brought In-hye and tried to allure her with his grandiose plans. His choice of taking his life from that place ironically echoes the motto of Jeongran Society: “How high do you think that someone from rock bottom can rise up to? To the highest and the brightest place.”

In Ep. 4, Sang-a leads In-hye down to the basement where in the middle of an ornate room stood the “Father Tree” that nourishes the blue orchids. That physical descent is a metaphor of Sang-a’s depravity.

In Ep. 7, Hyo-rin remembers that as a child, she climbed up a staircase that led to a hidden room; that staircase and hidden room were a place of refuge for her.

Some films where stairs have been used physically or symbolically:

(1) Shootout scene in the 1987 film “The Untouchables” directed by Brian de Palma and starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Andy Garcia

(2) Odessa Steps scene from Sergei Eisentein’s 1925 silent film “Battleship Potemkin”: Full scene (3:00 mark); The Odessa Steps and Its Descendants

Relevant resources:

“Learn How Stairs Can Be Used as Visual Metaphors in Your Films”

“Stairs in cinema: a formal and thematic investigation” by Dan Babineau (2003), Masters thesis, Concordia University

“39 Staircases in the cinema”

D. Push in and pull out camera movements to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension

Explanation of the terms “push in” and “push out”:

The article “Types of Camera Movements in Film Explained: Definitive Guide” (Studio Binder) defines what a push-in shot is:

“A push-in moves the camera closer to a subject typically with a dolly camera movement or Steadicam. Pushins can draw the audience’s attention toward a specific detail.

Filmmakers also push-in toward characters to try and infer what is occurring internally. This can be a reaction, thought process, or internal conflict.”

Push in shots are used to “create subtle intimacy, tension rising, and importance.” From “The Push-in” (YouTube video):

“The Push-In, sometimes called the Character Dolly, is a camera move where the camera dollies forward toward the subject of the shot. A short push-in is like an exclamation mark. A long, slow push-in builds drama and heightens the emotional meaning of the scene. The push-in is a powerful cinematic tool for heightening tension and dramatizing a revelation, and it’s one of the fundamental techniques of the cinematographer and layout artist.”

From “The Effects of a Push in vs. Pull out” (Cinematography): “When the camera pulls out from a character to show empty space around them, it creates a feeling of isolation and loneliness, abandonment, or rejection.”

Resources on push in and pull out:

“The Push - Camera Move”

“The Push-in (character dolly)”

“The Pullback”

Examples of push in shots in "Little Women":

Ep. 3: Do-il catches up with In-joo after she escapes from the psychiatric hospital. The camera pushes in on them as Do-il tells her that she’s a small storm.

Ep. 9 (pedestal down, push in, rack focus): After In-kyung surrenders the slush fund ledgers in order to save In-joo, Park Jae-sang tears them up and throws them into the fire. The camera pedestals down and then pushes in on In-kyung (who’s out of focus) and Park Jae-sang (who’s in focus). As in-kyung becomes in focus, Park Jae-sang becomes out of focus.

Ep. 9: In-kyung becomes disillusioned as Park Jae-sang reveals that Jeongran Society has manipulated her career as a journalist.

Ep. 4: At the hospital, In-kyung reassures In-hye by telling her about the things she has loved about her since she was a baby.

Ep. 8 (cross dissolve, push in, 90-degree Dutch angle shot): After the sunlit leaves of a tree cross dissolve into a 90-degree Dutch angle shot of In-joo lying on a hospital bed, the camera pushes in on her, and she becomes in focus.

Ep. 6: The camera pushes in on In-joo as she’s stunned while viewing the dashcam video from Hyo-rin.

Ep. 8: After escaping from the hospital, In-joo brings the suitcase with the 70 billion won into Hwa-young’s plush apartment in Singapore. The camera pushes in her as she sits exhausted, looking out the window.

Ep. 9 (push in, visual cue): With In-kyung planning how to bring down Park Jae-sang and with In-hye missing, the camera pushes in on CEO Won Sang-woo as he contemplates on what to do; the next shot shows him boxed in by the window frame.

Ep. 9 (push in, rack focus, visual cue): Do-il arrives at Choi Hee-jae’s safehouse. After In-kyung, Jong-ho, and Choi Hee-jae turn to look at him, the camera pushes in on him. In the next shot, the camera pushes in as In-kyung becomes out of focus while Choi Hee-jae becomes in focus; the shot ends with Choi Hee-jae boxed in by the wooden posts.

Ep. 3 (tracking shot, arc shot, rack focus): After arguing with In-kyung, In-joo takes the backpack filled with the two billion won. The camera tracks her as she walks on the street. When she stops, the camera arcs clockwise around her to reveal a display window of pretty dresses; she becomes out of focus as the dresses in the display window become in focus.

Examples of pull out shots in “Little Women”:

Ep. 12 (pull out and visual cue): After Park Jae-sang’s burial, Sang-a breaks down and collapses to the floor. The camera slowly pulls out, and the last part of the shot shows her boxed in by the door posts.

Ep. 8 (pull out and push in): Do-il arrives at the hospital where In-joo was taken after the crash. The camera pulls out as he moves aside the curtain, only to see that In-joo isn’t there. In the next shot, the camera moves in on him as he tries to understand what’s happening.

E. Extreme closeup shots and choker shots (big closeups) in “Little Women”

The following graphics from Studio Binder illustrate the different camera levels and shot sizes.

Some examples of extreme closeup shots from this drama:

Some examples of big closeups (some sources use the term “choker shots”):

From “Film 101: What Is a Close-Up Shot? How to Creatively Use a Close-Up Camera Angle to Convey Emotion”: “A close-up shot is a type of camera shot size in film and television that adds emotion to a scene. It tightly frames an actor’s face, making their reaction the main focus in the frame. The director of photography films a close-up with a long lens at a close range. This allows the actor to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience, and the audience to intimately see details in the subject’s face they wouldn’t see otherwise in a wide shot, long shot, or full shot.”

The article discusses topics such as:

• The History of Close-up Shots


• How the Close-up Shot Changed Film and Television Forever


• 4 Different Types of Close-up Shots


• 5 Reasons a Director Should Use a Close-Up Shot


• 3 Things Every Actor Should Know Before Filming A Close-up Shot


• Technical Considerations for Using Close-up Shots


• Why Are Camera Shot Sizes Important?

The article “Extreme Close-Up Shots: Creative Examples That Work” (Studio Binder) defines what an extreme closeup is:

An extreme close-up shot frames a subject very closely, often so much so that the outer portions of the subject are cut off by the edges of the frame. On an actor, this is commonly used to show specific portions of the body, like the face or hip, but it can go closer to show only an actor’s mouth, or even a single eye.

Inanimate objects can also be framed in an extreme close-up shot, but everything is based on the scale and size of the object. If you were to frame a steaming tea-pot in an extreme close-up, you might focus on the spout or base. The idea is that you cannot see the entire subject, but rather are forced to focus on a particular portion, hopefully, for the desired effect.

From “Choker Shot” (Media College):

The choker shot is very similar to the extreme closeup (ECU), and the two terms are often used interchangeably. A typical choker shows the subject’s face from just above the eyebrows to just below the mouth, as pictured left. Other common variations are illustrated below. Our preferred definition for the choker is a shot half way between a closeup and an extreme closeup.

As with all shots that are this tight (i.e. zoomed in this much), you really need a good reason to use it. Chokers should be used judiciously as not everyone will be flattered in such a revealing view.

The article “Close-Up Shots: a Guide for Filmmakers and Actors” differentiates between types of close-up shots, including choker shots:

A choker shot lands closer than the typical close-up, but it’s wider than an extreme close-up. It begins just below the subject’s mouth and ends at or around the hairline. The choker puts all the emphasis on an actor’s expressions—it’s all eyes and mouth, spotlighting every choice a performer makes with their face. 

One of the most famous choker shots in cinema history is Jack Nicholson’s “Heeeere’s Johnny!” moment in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” Because both the hole in the door and the camerawork isolate Nicholson’s expressive visage, you could watch the scene on mute and still understand how Kubrick wants you to feel.

The article “Extreme Close Up: Everything You Need to Know” states the reasons why directors use close-up shots:

• Change the pace of storytelling


• Convey emotion


• Play up the subtleties of a character


• Relate the story back to viewers


• Signal to the audience that something or someone is important

F. “Visual cues” are explained in an excellent series of articles from “My Drama List” by someone with the username “3GGG.”

“Popular Visual Cues found in K-Dramas, Part 1: visual ways to establish a conflict, division, or fight between two or more characters”

“Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 2: boxing to establish a character’s vulnerability, solitude, or fear; comfort and respite; change; danger; showdown”

“Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 3: Dutch angle”

“Popular Visual Cues in K-Dramas, Part 4 Interpersonal cues (using cues simultaneously or one after another)”

The YT video “The Brilliant Cinematography of Parasite” by Thomas Flight (5:04 mark) shows how director Bong Joon-ho used lines to depict the division between the social classes, between the rich family and the poor family.

Ep. 12: After Park Jae-sang’s burial, Sang-a breaks down and collapses to the floor. Notice that she’s boxed in by the wooden posts.

Ep. 12: Unknown to In-joo, Hwa-young is in Singapore, trying to help her out without being discovered by Sang-a or by Park Jae-sang’s men. Notice that she’s boxed in by the window.

Ep. 12: Everything seems hopeless for In-joo as her lawyer explains to her that she’s facing a penalty of 20 years imprisonment. Notice that she’s boxed in by the door’s small window.

Ep. 9: After In-kyung and the others discuss how to best bring down Park Jae-sang, CEO Won Sang-woo deliberates on what he should do. Notice that he’s boxed in by the window frame.

Ep. 4: Great Aunt Hye-suk shows In-joo her apartment with a great view of the Han River. Notice that they’re boxed in within the same frame; if two or more characters are within the same frame, it could signify either unity or conflict depending on the context.

Ep. 4: In-joo and In-kyung stand anxiously at the corridor after In-hye is wheeled into the operating room. Notice that they’re framed by the glass window or by the door.

Ep. 4: In-kyung argues with In-joo about accepting help from Park Jae-sang for In-hye’s medical expenses. Notice that they’re boxed in within the same frame; if two or more characters are within the same frame, it could signify either unity or conflict depending on the context.

Ep. 4: Do-il receives some bad news from his contact person in Singapore; notice that he’s boxed in by the window.

Ep. 5: Do-il urges In-joo to hide while he’s negotiating with Park Jae-sang over the slush fund ledgers; notice that they’re boxed in by the window.

Ep. 5: In-kyung warns In-joo not to trust Do-il because his girlfriend died mysteriously in a car crash in Mexico. Notice that they’re boxed in within the same frame.

Ep. 5: In-joo presses Hyo-rin about her painting that depicts a woman wearing red heels and hanging inside a closet.

Ep. 6: Great Aunt Hye-suk leaves Park Jae-sang’s house after pleading with him to forgive and forget what In-kyung has said and done to him. Notice that she’s boxed in by the branches of the tree.

Ep. 6: In-joo confronts Do-il about the woman who died in the car crash in Mexico. Notice that they’re boxed in by the edges of the cement walls around them.

Ep. 6: As In-kyung climbs the stairs, she’s boxed in by the posts and the floor as foreshadowing of the grim event involving In-joo and Great Aunt Hye-suk.

Ep. 10: In-joo and Do-il find In-hye inside the "Closed Room." Notice that as In-joo stares into the closet that’s eerily similar to Hwa-young’s closet, she’s boxed in by the frame created by the clothes in the closet.

Ep. 10: Choi Hee-jae is boxed in by the posts inside his safehouse.

Ep. 10: Hyo-rin writes a farewell letter to her mother Sang-a as she and In-hye are about to escape to Japan; notice that she’s boxed in by the wooden posts.

Ep. 10: In-joo sits across In-kyung, worried as she starts to try to convince In-kyung to leave her investigation into Park Jae-sang for a while and go with her to Singapore. Notice that they’re boxed within separate frames created by the posts inside the safehouse.

Ep. 10: In-kyung is boxed in by the posts in the safehouse as she finds out about CEO Won Sang-woo’s death.

Ep. 1: In-joo is boxed in within the frame of the wooden divider as she eats lunch with Do-il, with her co-employees sitting nearby and gossiping about her.

Ep. 1: In-joo is boxed in by the locker door as she finds the backpack stuffed with two billion won.

Ep. 1 (same scene as above): In-joo’s shock at finding the backpack stuffed with money is heightened by how small she is because of the frame that boxes her in.

G. Rack focus or focus pull (a K-drama isn’t a K-drama if it doesn’t have rack focus shots)

In a rack focus or focus pull, one element (for example, a character or an object) is in the background while another element is in the foreground. The background element is out of focus (blurred), and the foreground element is in focus. (Or vice-versa). Then, as the foreground element becomes out of focus, the background element becomes in focus. (Or vice-versa.) Posted below are some examples of rack focuus or focus pull from this drama.

Double rack focus from Ep. 1: As In-joo, In-kyung, and In-hye prepare the table and the food during In-hye’s birthday, their mother comes homes with one of her co-employees. In-joo and In-hye are in the foreground while In-kyung is in the background.

In-kyung is in focus while both In-joo and In-hye are out of focus. As she becomes out of focus, In-hye becomes in focus. As In-hye becomes out of focus, In-joo becomes in focus. (I’ve slowed down the GIF so that you can see the rack focus better.)

Double rack focus from Ep. 1: In Hwa-young’s apartment, In-joo is facing the mirror; she’s in focus while the reflected image of the closet is out of focus. As she becomes out of focus, the closet becomes in focus. When she turns around to face the closet, she becomes in focus as the reflected image becomes in focus. (She becomes shocked upon seeing someone wearing red heels and hanging inside the closet.)

Rack focus from Ep. 9 (with visual cue): Choi Hee-jae wants to use his cache of weapons to kill Park Jae-sang, but In-kyung says that they can bring him down through an exposé. She calls up the various TV news programs, hoping that at least one news program would be interested in her exposé on Park Jae-sang. But the news programs turn her down. As the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the right, she becomes out of focus as Choi Hee-jae appears in the frame and becomes in focus.

Notice that In-kyung is boxed in by the frame created by the wooden posts to depict or reinforce her dilemma; the next shot shows Choi Hee-jae checking his gun as he hears In-kyung being turned down by another news program.

Double rack focus from Ep. 10: In-joo is stunned to see that her account balance is zero (when before it had 70 billion won); she checks to see if it’s really true or if she just made a mistake. Her smartphone is in the foreground, her left hand is in the medium ground, and her right hand is in the background. The smartphone is in focus while both her hands are out of focus. As the smartphone becomes out of focus, her left hand becomes in focus (with her right hand still put of focus). As her right hand becomes in focus, the smartphone and her left hand become out of focus).

Rack focus in In-joo’s eyes from Ep. 6: In-joo (in an extreme closeup) is stunned as she views the dashcam video of Park Jae-sang going into Hwa-young’s apartment on the night Hwa-young died. Notice that her right eye is in focus while her left eye is out of focus. As her right eye becomes out of focus, her left eye becomes in focus.

I don’t think this was done in-camera; probably, this was done during the post production stage, with the editor using Gaussian blur to achieve this effect. Why? From my experience as a photographer, In-joo’s eyes (from the camera’s vantage point) are almost on the same plane. With even the biggest aperture (lens opening) of f/1.8 or f/1.4 in a photographic lens for a shallow depth of field, both her eyes would be in focus.

The person responsible for rack focus shots isn’t the cinematographer; it’s the focus puller or the “1st assistant camera.” Please read my discussion titled “Our Blues” (this drama’s cinematography is a masterclass in the art of rack focus or “focus pull” and the important work of the focus puller) in reddit.

From “Three Must-Have Skills for Pulling Focus and How You Can Improve Them”: “Pulling focus is hard. Really hard. It’s certainly no walk in the park. In fact, it’s one of the most stressful, pressure-filled, ridiculously tough tasks that you can shoulder on a set and the consequences are as simple as they are brutal: miss the focus, ruin the take.”

H. Miscellaneous observations: (1) Out of focus shots to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension; (2) Almost like “breaking the 180-degree rule” or ”crossing the line” in scenes from Ep. 11 and Ep. 4 (similar shot in “Alchemy of Souls”); (3) Wes Anderson’s and Christopher Nolan’s influences on the visual style of ”Little Women”

(1) Out of focus shots to depict or reinforce emotional or psychological tension

Ep. 9: Sang-a manipulates Park Jae-sang into ordering the killing of In-kyung. She and Park Jae-sang come in focus or out of focus several times as the scene unfolds; the tension is further reinforced through a 90-degree Dutch angle shot.

Ep. 12: In General Won Gi-seon’s hospital room, Sang-a confronts Principal Jang Sa-pyeong. As she stands up from her chair, she becomes out of focus. In the next shot, as she begins to walk towards Jang Sa-pyeong, she’s still out of focus. She only becomes in focus after she stabs Jang Sa-pyeong I the neck with the blue orchid-laced syringe.

The video “Out of Focus Shots in Hollywood Films” (YouTube) explains the lack of focus due to digital cameras, focus pullers, etc.

The article “Conveying Emotion Through Cinematography? Here’s How” explains how to convey emotion through light, film sound, camera movements, camera angles and frame.

(2) Almost like “breaking the 180-degree rule” or “crossing the line” in scenes from Ep. 11 and Ep. 4

Ep. 11 scene with In-kyung and Hwa-young: A leader of the Bobae Savings Bank scandal victims explains to In-kyung how Hwa-young was different from other victims who merely wanted their money back. In-kyung is frame left and facing the camera, while the leader is frame right. As the camera trucks (moves parallel) to the right, In-kyung disappears from view as she’s obscured by the leader. When the camera completely passes the leader, we see Hwa-young instead of In-kyung and hear her saying that people don’t have free will because they’re controlled by money.

Notice that in the shot with In-kyung (present timeline) and with Hwa-young (flashback), both shots have the same location and the same two people in the background. These two shots may have been “stitched” together (or the camera stopped moving; with Hwa-young then sitting in for In-kyung, the camera started moving again).

Similar shot in “Alchemy of Souls” (Ep. 6):

Ep. 4 scene with In-joo and Soo-im: In-joo agrees to be hit by Soo-im ten times in exchange for the the money that she needs for In-hye’s operation; she’s frame right while Soo-im is frame left. The camera pedestals up (as she stands up); as she moves to her right, the camera tracks her (by arcing counterclockwise). At the end of the shot, she’s now frame left while Soo-im is now frame right.

From “What is the 180 Degree Rule in Film? Crossing the Line with Purpose” by Studio Binder:

“The 180 degree rule is a filmmaking guideline for spatial relations between two characters on screen. The 180 rule sets an imaginary axis, or eye line, between two characters or between a character and an object. By keeping the camera on one side of this imaginary axis, the characters maintain the same left/right relationship to each other, keeping the space of the scene orderly and easy to follow.”

“When the camera jumps over the invisible axis, this is known as crossing the line or breaking the line, and it can produce a disorienting and distracting effect on a viewer.”

The Studio Binder article also discusses the uses of the 180 degree rule:

• Following the rule will establish orientation.


• Breaking the rule will disorient and signal unease.


• Bending the rule signals a gradual change in your scene.

Notice that the Studio Binder article speaks about “bending” the 180- degree rule. Examples of “bending” the 180-degree rule are these shots from “Heat” (blockbuster 1995 action movie starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro) and from “Parasite” by Bong Joon-ho.

“Heat” Oscar-winning movie by Michael Mann:

The character played by Robert De Niro (a big-time bank robber) is in a bar when a woman starts making small talk with him. He is frame left while the woman is frame right. He becomes suspicious about the woman but lightens up a bit later when the woman explains that she has been seeing him in the bookstore. To signify that change in the scene’s mood (aka “beat”), the camera breaks the 180-degree rule or “crosses the line” such that Robert De Niro’s character becomes frame right while the woman becomes frame left.

“Parasite” Oscar-winning movie by Bong Joon-ho: Mrs. Park is frame left while Jessica is frame right. Jessica tells (deceives) Mrs. Park that her son has artistic talent. The camera moves to show Mrs. Park’s shocked reaction such that Jessica is now frame left while Mrs. Park is now frame right.

Relevant resource: “Breaking the 180 Degree Rule for BETTER Storytelling – Crossing the 180° Line Examples in Movies” (YouTube)

(3) Wes Anderson’s influence on the visual style of "Little Women" (bird’s eye view shots and color palette)

Anderson is famous for directing movies such as “Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” and “Royal Tenenbaums.” As you can see in the YT video “7 Wes Anderson Style Shots in 3 Minutes,” two aspects of his visual style that have influenced “Little Women” are bird’s eye view shots and his color palette (earth colors such as brown, orange, and reds).

Examples of bird's eye view shots from “Little Women”:

Color palette from “Little Women”:

Christopher Nolan’s influence on visual style of “Little Women”:

Nolan is famous for directing movies such as “Inception,” “Tenet,” “Interstellar,” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” As you can see even in the thumbnail of the YT video “Amazing shots of Christopher Nolan,” one aspect of his visual style is the so-called "back to the camera" shots.

Posted below are some "back to the camera" shots from "Little Women":