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A Virtuous Business: Episodes 1-2
by quirkycase
With an interesting concept, lovable characters, 90s vibes, and lots of humor, A Virtuous Business kicks off right. We’ve got a strong ensemble cast and great chemistry among our leading ladies as they become unlikely business partners and scandalize their little town. It’s an uphill battle for our new saleswomen who face criticism on all fronts for their unique choice of wares, but these are not women who give up easily. 
EPISODES 1-2
What a fun start! I expected humor, but there’s also a depth to the storytelling that pulled me in. The drama strikes a great tone that allows both the humor and the serious moments to shine without feeling dissonant. It’s surprisingly cute, watching these women find confidence in such an unlikely way. At its heart, this is a story about a group of struggling women finding their autonomy and taking charge of their own lives through a controversial and decidedly female business.
Our story is set in 1992 in the rural village of Geumje where everybody knows everybody and not much new happens. Women in the town are expected to be good wives and mothers, not doing anything to upset the status quo. Enter our four leading ladies who are about to shake things up.
First up, we have HAN JUNG-SOOK (Kim So-yeon). She’s beautiful, upbeat, and demure. She’s the vision of a good wife and mother to her young son. The one stain on her life? Her troublemaking husband KWON SUNG-SOO (Choi Jae-rim) who can’t be relied upon to hold down a job. It’s up to Jung-sook to clean up his messes and pay the bills through her side hustles.
One of those side hustles is being a part-time housekeeper for rich madam OH GEUM-HEE (Kim Sung-ryung) who spends her days listlessly around the house, lonely and incredibly bored. Her husband is barely ever home and berates her for being too uptight and in need of hobbies like those newfangled modern women have.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is SEO YOUNG-BOK (Kim Sun-young). She’s a mother of four with little time to spare. Young-bok is boisterous, funny, and speaks her mind. While her husband is a bit goofy, he’s supportive and loving. Despite being poor, they seem pretty happy.
Finally, we’ve got the maknae of the group LEE JU-RI (Lee Se-hee), a confident single mom who runs a hair salon. She refuses to put up with anyone telling her how she should dress or behave or belittling her for not having a husband. When a ridiculous man condemns her for looking too sexy, she doesn’t hesitate to give him an entertaining and effective dressing down that leaves him sputtering.
The unlikely partnership of these four very different women begins out of Jung-sook’s desperation when her husband yet again is fired from his factory job and then “invests” their rent money. She spies an ad in the paper for Fantasy Lingerie which offers high pay for being a product saleswoman. However, the wares are a little sexier than expected – not only are they to sell revealing lingerie but also sex toys. Only two women are desperate enough to consider it: Jung-sook and Young-bok. After some convincing from the charismatic CEO (cameo by the wonderful Ra Mi-ran), they’ve each signed a contract.
Elegant Geum-hee is perhaps the last woman anyone would expect to get involved in this business, but after being briefly scandalized by it all, she agrees to let Jung-sook host a home lingerie party at her house. (Oh, the 90s nostalgia of home parties for ladies.) Ju-ri learns of the party while doing Geum-hee’s hair and begs to come. Our quartet is complete.
The first party is not exactly a success. Only Ju-ri is excited by the products, while the ajummas are horrified and confused. Watching Jung-sook and Young-bok try to tactfully explain the purpose of the various items while the ajummas attempt to wear a bedazzled thong as a necklace and speculate that the vibrator must be some newfangled garlic grinding pestle is hilarious.
The night gets even more exciting after one of the scandalized women CALLS THE COPS to report the place as a brothel. The women try to look nonchalant while the police do a mild raid. (Ju-ri thinks fast enough to hide the vibrators to make things look more on the up and up.)
To say Jung-sook’s and Geum-hee’s husbands are not pleased when they find out about this endeavor is an understatement. The insecure, selfish men berate their wives, Sung-soo even going so far as to call what they’re doing prostitution and leaving to stay at their married friends’ house. Soon after, Jung-sook catches him red handed having sex with the wife. She’s put up with a lot from this man, but this is a step too far. She hasn’t brought up divorce yet, but I have a feeling they aren’t going to get past this.
The ladies’ business venture is not the only new, exciting thing happening in quiet Geumje of late. Handsome newcomer KIM DO-HYUN (Yeon Woo-jin) arrives in town as the newest police detective and has all the ajummas abuzz. He says he left the big city for a peaceful countryside life, but it’s clear there’s a lot more to his story. Do-hyun surveys the town like he’s looking for something on the down low.
Jung-sook keeps running into him, often in less than ideal circumstances, including their first encounter when her bag of sexy wares spills open in the street. Later, he was one of the cops to show up to the raid of their lingerie party, and then he came across her when she tried to drink away her sorrows after her husband’s infidelity. All these coincidental meetings have the makings of a romance, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s on the horizon after she (hopefully) splits with her cheating husband.
Meanwhile, Jung-sook and Young-bok get down to business and strategize on how to get these conservative ladies to buy their products. They find eager allies in Ju-ri and Geum-hee who bring their own skillsets to the table. Ju-ri’s frankness about and comfort with sex makes her a perfect addition to the team, as well as the fact that she’s experienced running a business. Geum-hee finds an unexpected use for her English degree by translating sex toy descriptions and manuals (all the toys are imported from the U.S.).
The women are determined to succeed and go as far as testing out all their items – to great satisfaction – and working on their sales pitch. They model the items, offer special drinks, and give their parties a classier feel. It works, and their second party is a massive success. They’re finally making money and having fun to boot.
Geum-hee is having so much fun, she musters up the courage to officially join as a saleswoman, shocking her husband when she stands up to him and declares she’s done being bored and feeling useless. He’s adamantly opposed but becomes more amendable to the idea after seeing her in the lingerie and acknowledging it might have its uses.
Jung-sook, Geum-hee, and Young-bok grow more confident by the day, empowered by their sense of autonomy and sexuality. Along with Ju-ri, the women are becoming true friends, a united front as the whole neighborhood calls their choices into question. Someone has even graffitied Jung-sook’s house with the word “sex,” suggesting these women have a hard fight ahead of them in this conservative village.
Meanwhile, in the epilogue, we get a taste of what Do-hyun is up to as he sets up his basement mystery-solving room complete with his evidence board full of photos and red string. On the phone, he tells someone in English that he’s going to find “him.”
I am all in on this. The women are great, and I’m already rooting for each of them to find what they need in life. I love stories of female friendship, especially between women of different ages and walks of life, so I’m ready to watch these women bond and find themselves together. They’re facing a lot of misogyny and closed-mindedness surrounding women’s needs and desires – not only regarding sex but life in general – but they’ve already proven they’re each tough in their own ways. Together, they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.
I’m not sure what to think yet of the mystery element where Do-hyun is concerned, but I hope it doesn’t drag the show down by being too serious or taking up too much time. As of now, it’s a minor subplot that isn’t affecting much, but I have a feeling it will get bigger as we go. If done right, it could be entertaining alongside our main story, so we’ll see how it shapes up.
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