"Why can't people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has the wrong thing."
- Ford Madox Ford

Anyone who has seen this drama, will recognize it is like walking down a dark hallway. You can't be certain exactly where you are at any given moment, and whenever there is any light, it gets obscured again by another piece of the puzzle. I have no doubt that the scriptwriter's work was sabotaged by the production crew, backstage politics, censorship, and other such soul destroying production elements. At its heart, this drama was meant to be about how women can't have everything they want, no matter what kind of person they are. It's a grim idea, which I don't personally subscribe to, but it is the overarching theme here.

This series couldn't decide if it wanted to be a comedic satire, or a grim and serious drama. It followed "parasite" in its unfounded disdain of the wealthy. The comic relief came in the form of an eccentric rapist character, a social climber, and an informer "agent/ pimp". All extremely dark characters, made lighter by their comedic aspects, much like in "Parasite".

Our FL is introduced to us as an antagonist. She is a successful business woman who has never been in love. Her business is her baby. A baby she is forced to give up because she doesn't own the company, and she doesn't own the company because she is a woman. We are meant to equally dislike her because of her propensity for manipulation, and feel empathy for her on account of her traumatic life experiences and lack of love.

The SFL has everything that the FL wants, or feels she is missing in life. The SFL wants what the FL has. The ML, will side with whatever woman he feels sorry for, as he is only attracted to women in distress, and as soon as a woman doesn't seem like a victim, he loses all interest in them. The ML has power, but is missing love, the SML has love, but wants power. The SML is made out to be a victim of the showbiz pimp character, even though he plainly agreed to and sought the help of the showbiz pimp in the first place.

Therein lies the real problem with this drama. It doesn't know what it wants to say.

It wants to be another "Parasite", about the rich being just as toxic as the poor, but in Parasite, the rich didn't do anything innately evil or wrong, whereas the poor were absolutely morally bankrupt, and blamed the rich for being so!

The most boring characters are the static "good" victims. The rape victim/ crazy girlfriend, the little boy whose parents become too busy to be with him all day (fuck off, little boy), and the sister of the SML who needs to stop getting involved with her brother's life, and doesn't have a life if her own. The meek victim characters were so obnoxious, and the FL was the only one with enough backbone to tell them to fuck off, as she should. She even tells her younger brother, another victim character to fuck off by the end of the series.

Through flashbacks, it is slowly revealed that all the main characters are victims of something. Some are victims of their own choices (like the SML and SFL), and some are victims of circumstances (like the FL and ML). Within the last two episodes, the story comes right off the rails entirely, so that it becomes absolutely ridiculous, in its "ambiguous" finale. Was the FL equal parts a victim and a perpetrator? Well, that seems to be the suggestion. She is revealed to be a Lady Macbeth character in relation to her brother. What a great character, wasted in a confused and rushed storyline. I hope to see more of this actress, and the actress that played the comic side character (David's ex-wife).

I hope this isn't too strange of a comment, but, I couldn't take my eyes off the FL's mouth. I started to suspect she was wearing dentures, because she talks through her teeth. She doesn't open her mouth when she speaks, which, I'm just not used to seeing that, so it was very strange to me. It suited her character, with that closed armour, afraid of letting human emotion in or out. Anyway, I just couldn't help but make a comment about it. She's a beautiful woman, who was absolutely great in this!