[Drama 2019-2020] Woman of 9.9 Billion, 99억의 여자

[imgreatgal]

SY didn't take any of the money HIP left her so i'm guessing her trip to Tahiti is financed by Ms Jang's money lending business. And I believe TW went back to the police force because he felt he owed it to TH, after all he died trying to clear his name and have him reinstated. 

[nat_phoenix88]

IMHO until the end, the drama is too cliche and shallow. For me, everything is just too easy. The hacking things, tracking someone, bugging devices, In Pyo the almighty who can do everything including come to Daniel Kim apartment with a bomb without any difficulties, even the problem solving seems too easy for this really big case and big amount of money. 

[larus]

9.9 Billion Won Woman: Episodes 29-32 Open Thread (Final)

by missvictrix

I knew I needed to prepare myself for the finale week of 9.9 Billion Won Woman, but I don’t think I was ready for the full heart-pounding extent of these final episodes. Both our hero and our heroine are presented with the thing they desire most, be it wealth or revenge, and how they respond to this temptation truly determines each of their fates.

 

 
EPISODES 29-32 WEECAP

Leon’s been playing Jae-hoon, but the game is finally up when Jae-hoon discovers the Caza del Zorro wine — actually a terrifying signifier of Daniel Kim’s real identity (Leon), and his real motive (cruel revenge on Hee-joo). I know Jae-hoon was kind of a jerk, but the drama is not kind to him: he’s slaughtered on Leon’s command.

In a wonderful and moving bit of redemption, though, Jae-hoon is able to tell his wife how much he loves her — and he’s also able to tip off Seo-yeon to the fact that Daniel Kim = Leon. It’s a HUGE piece of intel that wraps all our plots and people together for the final act in our drama.

 

more http://www.dramabeans.com/2020/01/9-9-billion-won-woman-episodes-29-32-open-thread-final/

[gladys57]

I'm completely dumbfounded!

 

How on earth did HJ get away from the law? She got her henchmen to kill off the guy whom her hubby LJH paid to murder YMR at the hospital. 

Simply RIDICULOUS!

And I was expecting SY and TW to be "temporary parents" for her daughter while she's in jail for the ending!

[larus]

36 minutes ago, gladys57 said:

How on earth did HJ get away from the law? She got her henchmen to kill off the guy whom her hubby LJH paid to murder YMR at the hospital. 

 And how do you think the police knew that she was something to do with that murder? They did not realise that that poor woman was murdered anyway.

[40somethingahjumma]

10 hours ago, imgreatgal said:

 And I believe TW went back to the police force because he felt he owed it to TH, after all he died trying to clear his name and have him reinstated. 

 

Good answer. But you give the show far too much credit.

 

If so, why not say so? It doesn't take much for the show to put it in somewhere. Whether in the conversation between TW and Mr Oh or between TW and SY at the airport. Even a photo would do it.

Overall I think the ambiguity is part of the show's general schizophrenia due in large part to a lack of decisiveness. 

 

If so, what about what SY did for him? Without her, he would never have even found out about Leon or been able to take him down. She stood between him and a bullet. I'm rambling now.

 

10 hours ago, larus said:

 

I have a problem with dramas/ writers who let characters kill so easier other characters. I know that I don`t have to take serious fictional dramas but I expect to not do a willing suspension of disbelief so much when I watch a drama. If they are not gansters (who chose a life of violence and breaking the law), even the morally shady characters can`t kill another person without the emotionally repercussions on their decisisions. Usual the writers portay them in various degree of craziness (to little crazy to phychopaths) and skip the problem. The crazy ride is important to keep the audience hooked and that`s all.  With so many grey characters, who are breaking the law all the time, the writer made the best she could do to resolve her own mess. In that context, I am alright that the writer decided to let Hee Joo living well with her daughter. I lowered the moral expectation as well. As I predicted already, Hee Joo received the punishment when she lost her dear husband. Plus, the people she sent to be murdered, were scumbags anyway (they had to receive the pushiment too, right?)

Lee Jae-Hun and Hong In-Pyo were already doomed from early stages of the drama. I knew they won`t be well in the end of the drama. Because Lee Jae Hun, an innocent woman died and her young son became orphan. The small consolation in the end was that the young boy would grow up without financial problems.

 

See I am fine with gray characters getting away scot free if that's the nature of this universe. If the world building is good, I can be convinced that in this scenario, life is cheap and people do bad things out of expediency and get away with it. The best one can hope for in such situations is that the less bad people can move on. My mind goes to the US drama Justified which was populated by a motley crew of morally dubious characters including the male protagonist who is supposed to be a US Marshall. Then there's Leverage where you have ex-thieves and a mercenary banding together to use their skills to circumvent legal means to take down "baddies".

 

If the world building were good... people wouldn't be questioning the moral consistency of the show. They'd get it. Even accept it to some degree.

 

Besides HJ is not someone who pretends to take the moral high ground on anything. She closed one eye to her husband's indiscretions and picked up after his messes. She's always used her wealth to throw her weight around and she's not past making SY feel her place by needling her. With JH's death, one could say that the biggest headache of her life has been taken out.

 

I would've been fine too with HIP going on a round-the-world cruise with his newfound wealth. That would have made much more sense than his sudden nostalgic turn around that he was really in lurve with SY all this time.  What about the fact that he was a psychopath and an abusive spouse? It's almost as if the first half of the drama never existed. Of course I wouldn't have objected if on that cruise, Leon sends one of his thugs to kill HIP off in his cabin.

 

Moreover TW did a whole lot of illegal/morally dubious things as well throughout the show. Impersonating a cop, breaking and entering. Aiding and abetting SY's obsession. Hacking by proxy, just to name a few. Okay he didn't kill anyone but still... So I'm thinking that his reinstatement is largely about separation. Probably some kind of purgatory for SY while she waits for TW.

 

Look, let's face it... the finale was pretty amateurish stuff. Maybe they ran out of money. The show chose to reward and punish characters ad hoc. It's as if someone pulled bits of paper out of a hat to draw lots about who should do what and when in the last couple of episodes. All that stuff that transpired in Leon's office at the end was scarcely better than a high school production. The show paid a huge price in wanting all the leading players in the same space at the end. It broke its own rules and everything felt contrived. 

 

Better stop ranting...  Admittedly I could be getting some perverse pleasure in bagging the ending.

[Fabbo]

@larus 

Yeah. It is just a bad idea to reach the climax and have them go completely crazy by ~episode 4. It's more interesting to see slowly descend into madness. There isn't any way to follow that up in this case. And especially when you even have them kill that mother and shackle your wife to a chair. There is no redemption possible and i am going to see every scene where they try to explore their characters with that in mind. "Oh Jaehoon get put down by his wife? Sorry but I dont care."

Tone it down, remove his ridiculous crazy eyes in the early episodes. Don't make him kill that woman, the pushing would have been enough. And maybe then there would have been a way to do something with that character. Oh and get into all the exploration of his character before he does all that stuff so are invested.

 

Similar things could be said about Hong In Pyo. But in that case i appreciated that they went to a pretty drastic portrayal and didn't downplay the abuse in that perspective. And i just enjoyed the performances.

But they could have made him a more complex character. Show more of his false pretend to care for her and her falling for it again and again. Don't make him into this crazy person. After the abuse for me there isn't any redemption possible anyway. But that's not what i am talking about. They could even make him into this completely great guy who only has this one flaw.

In a way it does downplay the abuse a bit because he is just the "crazy guy" instead of depicting it as a pretty common issue that even "normal" people do.

 

 

9 hours ago, larus said:

 I remember being bored with this show in the end but it is a decent show. Maybe I felt that way because I expected a better role for Wang Ji won in the dama and never got it. Another reason could be that I have a problem with rom coms in general. I need extra motivation ( a favorite actor/ actress, really good chemistry of the protagonists). 

About Cho Yeo‑jeong in a romcom,  I liked more I Need Romance. I haven`t watched Haeundae Lovers but it sounds good too.

 

It's super fun and cute so far.

I usually have my problems with kdramas where you have the arrogant boss/ceo male lead (but he has a warm heart) who orders the assistant female lead around in ridiculous and ofputting manners. That kind of trope. But that doesn't apply to the male lead here. And the way they set it up is good. She was his boss before and didnt exactly treat him the best. And now she has to work under him who gets back at her.  Somehow they manage to keep that dynamic light, fun and cute.

It even has some fun meta elements like her colleague who couldn't believe she comes from a poor family because in kdramas it's always the rich ones who are obnoxious while the poor ones are nice and sweet  : D  

So far i like the Wang Ji won role better than in I Need Romance 3 and Fated to Love you where i've seen her before. But it's sad to hear that they dont make much out of it.

Btw what has she been up to? I Need Romance 3 and Fated to Love you were some of my first kdramas i've watched so it felt like she was everywhere. But when i looked her up it turns out she didn't land that many roles.

 

 

[Fabbo]

 

30 minutes ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

Besides HJ is not someone who pretends to take the moral high ground on anything. She closed one eye to her husband's indiscretions and picked up after his messes. She's always used her wealth to throw her weight around and she's not past making SY feel her place by needling her. With JH's death, one could say that the biggest headache of her life has been taken out.

 

Hm i think you can say she feels morally superior. And at least the shows put her on a pedestral. 

As you said Jaehoon in prison would have hurt her a lot more. It would have tainted her image, the image of her foundation. And it would have forever changed the way her daughter sees her father. Those things are the ones which are most important to her.

 

God i would have loved for them to explore their friendship more early on to up the stakes later on. Everytime when there were those seemingly ambigious scenes i didn't really buy it. Like when HJ wants to send SY away. To get rid of her but also to protect her. Or when SY invested in the foundation. A powerplay but also to help her.  

 

HJ even says to SY that she can't forgive her ergo taking the moral highground. Ok SY slept with her husband so there is that. But they make it seem like everything wrong in the drama was all her fault. Uhm what exactly? And she always talks about how she needs to atone for what she did. I mean i am happy that her conscious grew. But from everyone involved she probably has the cleanest sheet lol. As you said even TW might have done more crimes even though he had better moral incentives.

 

And i don't even want to start about the ecconomical ideology in this drama. It's similar to a lot of kdramas though.

[imgreatgal]

1 hour ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

If so, why not say so? It doesn't take much for the show to put it in somewhere. Whether in the conversation between TW and Mr Oh or between TW and SY at the airport. Even a photo would do it.

Overall I think the ambiguity is part of the show's general schizophrenia due in large part to a lack of decisiveness. 

 

If so, what about what SY did for him? Without her, he would never have even found out about Leon or been able to take him down. She stood between him and a bullet. I'm rambling now.

They made TW that way right from the start. I felt he was nothing much other than a muscle guy who threw punches around and being a detective TW didn't even have a plan to take down Leon when he confronted him at his apartment. And like somebody here said he was just picking crumbs that others left behind. Without the key to his brother's locker he wouldn't have known what TH was up to  and without the lead from SMG he wouldn't have find out Leon's secret funds and not to mention he took the bomb from HIP which help to stall Leon.  I felt that this writer is teasing us with these characters. The supporting cast like HIP and HJ shines above the FL and ML. 

 

6 hours ago, gladys57 said:

How on earth did HJ get away from the law? She got her henchmen to kill off the guy whom her hubby LJH paid to murder YMR at the hospital. 

Simply RIDICULOUS!

The henchmen were just chinese nationals who entered SK illegally even if the police found their bodies they wouldn't have been bothered unless a report was made by the locals. 

 

SY used YMR's apartment to stash her stolen cash then invites her lover to the apartment. If you asked me she was the catalyst to the wrongdoing.  SY's redemption in this was giving the money to the foundation for YMR's son? I don't know if that absolved her of being an accomplice.

[larus]

6 hours ago, Fabbo said:

Btw what has she been up to? I Need Romance 3 and Fated to Love you were some of my first kdramas i've watched so it felt like she was everywhere. But when i looked her up it turns out she didn't land that many roles.

 

Now she is dancing. She has returned to her passion (the ballet). She appeared in another two dramas (Hospital Ship and Still 17) but I did not watch those dramas. I hope she gets more roles. I don`t know why they won`t give her work. That`s the part of this industry that it is hard for any actors/ actresses. Some of them want to play even in a not so good production but to break the unluck/hiatus. It is hard. It is a tough job/competition (many actors on the market).

Knowing that, it makes me be grateful even for makjang crazy dramas that I dislike so much.

 

 

4 hours ago, imgreatgal said:

SY used YMR's apartment to stash her stolen cash then invites her lover to the apartment. If you asked me she was the catalyst to the wrongdoing.  SY's redemption in this was giving the money to the foundation for YMR's son? I don't know if that absolved her of being an accomplice.

 Yeah and she called for an ambulance for Yoo Mira. She was willing to share the money with her but she wanted her to recover from the accident. Seo Yeon`s greed was the catalyst for almost all the actions in the drama. Intersecting with the gangsters, she made possible to get down bigger baddies. She took the bullet to save Tae Woo. She was alive at the end of the show, but she learn some lessons. She grew up as a character. In the end, she chose to do the right thing and don`t be consume by greed. She gave up the money (Leon`s money) and she gave them all to Yoo Mi Ra`s son.

She was a grey heroine but I like that.  Maybe that`s why the writer did not allow her to be completly happy in the end. She found true love but she could not be with the man she loved. But she went to Tahiti, her long time dream.

 

Thinking of kdrama style endings,  it could have been worst. How many kdramas have the right or satisfying ending?

[Guest]

On 1/25/2020 at 12:39 PM, Katrina Abdul Talib said:

This drama drew our attention how money and greed affects families and changed people.. not so much on romance.

 

TW and SY wr drawn together due to very similar misfortunes in their life, injustices n abuse and lost of loved ones due to the common factor.. Leon.

True true. I believe that was what the writer was going for ...but they teased my poor heart with all those stares . I wanted more but I felt a little cheated with a somewhat open ending.

-----------------------------

I had wanted to comment when I finished this last Thursday but Lunar New Year is a busy time for me. 

Would it kill it them to give me a fairy tale like ending after 16 hours of torturing me? . 

The writer was already going for that sort of trajectory with the other characters that I honestly didn't care for - Jae Hoon and In Pyo.  She / he seemed to try and redeem their characters towards the end. For what? Jae hoon should have rot in jail. In Pyo , i didn't want him to be saving the woman whom he abused...I hated that they made two of the characters that I detested a hero in their dying hour. This is actually my biggest grouse about the story. 

 

It wasn't all bad of course. Like @40somethingahjumma I was happy to see my bias KKW as a good guy. I found the attraction between the OTP believable. I thought Leon was an interesting villain and even thought the way he died was fitting in an ironic way.  And I liked Hee Ju , probably my favourite character - her character was the one where I understood the most . She was always the most honest person in the room , she never pretended to be nice. I liked that . Maybe the writer killing off the husband was a favour to her - that man is a liability if you ask me . 

 

@imgreatgal at times I did think that the writer did not make TW's character proactive enough. He tended to react rather think ahead . In fact In Pyo stole the limelight when it came to coming up with crazy ingenious ideas! 

[Fabbo]

I think it would have been way better and at least way more satisfying to watch if SY was in more control of the situation. But she was always the one not knowing what's going on.

 Some kind of empowerment and a bit more "badass". But of course that comes at the cost of the people around her and she has to make a choice. That would also up the stakes for her choices. Here she returned the money that Leon guy offered to her, whatever. It would have been different if she had successfully executed a plan to secure that money, launder it and then has to make a choice at the end.

Maybe even have her manipulating everyone. They all underestimate her and go after each other. And she gets caught up in the feeling of power and we have to ask ourselves if she can still turn around. You also have the ambiguity in the relationship with TW.. Is she just using him? Is it genuine? All that good stuff.

 

TW as well. Make him more than a punching guy. In the sense that he was pretty dumb and useless in many moments although he should know better with his job experience. But also his characterization. Show how his grief and desire for justice and revenge gets him into some dark places. Maybe he does something to one of the gangster where the viewers thinks ok this was a bit much. Is he blinded by his desire to revenge?

But how this drama played out there never was that ambiguity. And even if he killed Leon at the end. Would it really have changed that much? I don't think we would have been that upset that he had become someone who killed someone.

Then you have the conflict from SY who sees him changing and become more ruthless and clouded. And she is torn because she feels responsible for it. Maybe she even uses him for her plans (in my SY is the kingpin story draft) Meanwhile you have the sparkling romantic tension. Delicious!!

 

 

Sigh. Give us a few days and i feel like we would put together a great outline for the script in this topic

 

 

[lebeaucouple]

On 1/25/2020 at 4:13 PM, Fabbo said:

I've started A Divorce Lawyer in Love. It's pretty conventional and I usually like dramas that subvert and are a bit more unconventional. But i can enjoy a well executed good formula as well. 

It's so fun to see in a Cho Yeo‑jeong in a romcom. And she is so cute with bangs. I even like the male lead who i didn't really like in Marriage Not Dating and the bit i've seen of My Shy Boss and I Wanna Hear Your Song.

Can recommend it so far.

 

I am glad that you enjoyed this drama too, A Divorce Lawyer in Love. I had the same opinions as yours. I love the OTP song, I love this couple chemistry..... I love Cho Yeo‑jeong's hairstyle with unique bangs, she carried it so well, very suitable for her as this hairstyle does not suit all people . This couple chemistry,  with funny interaction and comedic twist made this divorce drama so lively and comical.

 

I love the ending part quote :

Do you know why most romance drama all end well with a kiss because they want to show you a fantasy that everything will go well after married....but we all know too well that marriage is not a fantasy...the couple will do their best and will at least live with 1% fantasy --- (something like that) --- it may spoil the fantasy mood at the end but I personally found it practical and realistic which sync up with the title, divorce lawyer in love...

[lumibear]

I wasn't in the mood to the watch the finale on Thursday, but I got through it anyway. It certainly didn't improve it. I felt really meh about it. I guess I wasn't the only one. It wasn't the worse finale, but it wasn't great. Didn't leave a strong impact.

 

Tae Woo was too good of a person. I couldn't muster any feelings when he was aiming the gun at Leon. I knew he wouldn't shoot. It would have been more satisfying if he had punched him a few times before being pulled away. And for being the main male lead, he didn't do much.

 

In Pyo's scenes were just ridiculous. I didn't care to see him to come back and try to redeem himself.

[gladys57]

On 1/26/2020 at 3:11 AM, larus said:

 And how do you think the police knew that she was something to do with that murder? They did not realise that that poor woman was murdered anyway.

 

TW in his newly reinstated and promoted position in the police force will definitely make further investgations into every crime comitted not only by Leon but LJH too. He already knew that LJH had YMR murdered but will probe further for the actual murderer and who had him killed. 

[larus]

2 hours ago, gladys57 said:

TW in his newly reinstated and promoted position in the police force will definitely make further investgations into every crime comitted not only by Leon but LJH too. He already knew that LJH had YMR murdered but will probe further for the actual murderer and who had him killed. 

 

 Both Leon and Lee Jae Hun are dead. I doubt someone will open the case to investigate a supposed crime of those two, knowing that the perpetrators are buried six feet under the ground.

Even if he knew that Jae hun had something to do with Yoo Mo Ra`s death, it will be hard to prove anything now. One thing is to suspect someone and another to prove the crime, to find evidence.

Is Tae Woo`s friend on legit business now? Because If  Tae Woo is so zealous, like you portrayed him, I wonder how he will treat him from now on, in case he is not that "innocent".