Green Mothers Club

The series is about a group of mothers some of who have a past with each other trying to make sure their gifted children shine in the local school. As the story unfolds it becomes darker, as all is not what it seems, and the unsavoury back story of some of the characters come to light. It is a well acted drama and the development of the characters was interesting but it seemed to fall short overall. I think because it had so many side stories it was difficult to become engaged as their was no real depth to individual cases and the plot often felt hurried to conclude a storyline.

The main lead in this story is Eun-Pyo, a woman with two sons (8 and 4) married to a detective inspector. She is an educated woman, a professor of arts with a lackadaisical approach to her children's education, believing that they should have a happy and carefree childhood without any interference from her. Her stance is: if they're clever, then they will do well regardless. Her mother in law is concerned that the grand kids are going to miss out on a decent education, so she buys them an apartment in an Uber competitive borough and bullies her into moving.

The parents of the primary school her older son attends each have their own dark secrets and they all live in the same catchment area, ie a group of tall apartment blocks.

All the mums conspire against each other ditto the children, to get into elite study groups and "gifted child programs" via endless competitions and tests.

Jealousy, envy, greed, infidelity, backstabbing, harmful gossip, domestic violence, murder, pathological liars, child abuse, bullying, just about every nasty thing you can think of is woven into the story.

Reminded me so much of Desperate Housewives.

My only beef is with the Eun-Pyo character ( IMO undiagnosed ASD) who is eternally resentful and sullen. She is capable of just staring at someone for minutes at a time without saying a word or responding. Throughout the series, we never see her smile. Her behaviour was extremely irrational and irritating (to me and every other character on the show) especially during the last 4 episodes when I was wishing someone would give her a resounding kick up the backside or just kill her.

Main takeaway: Aside from having to fast forward every time I saw Eun-Pyo's ugly mug mooning and staring, I found the storyline quite entertaining.

So I watched episode 10 and if the series continues like this the rating of 10 stands.

I rank it right behind sky castle .

About korean series. I watched a ton for a westerner and at this point squid game is the worst I have seen.

There is 1 issue and that is the french speaking. That is unnecessary. But other than there is little to fault it.

Well the character Eun-pyo sometimes her acting is subdued. She looks pale according to where she is in the story. I personally don't like this choice but otherwise there is not a single thing I find distracting

The relationships between the women change constantly and we the viewer are confronted with their personal struggles and successes.

For me the series is about finding happiness. Real happiness and not the superfluous one that they chase.

Joo ye-rim (violinist) and Park ye-rin ( the girl that got accepted) do deliver great natural performances and while the focus isn't on them they do an excellent job at delivering the story in such a gripping way.

I would give too much away if I said more as the twists and the way they are delivered raises this from an average series to one of the best.

The director did an excellent job. And because of this it is a 10 and not an 8 or a 9.

Anyway check this out. It should get more attention than it does.

Maybe one more thing korean series are often darker ( both in color and the general story ) than western series so it might take some time to get used to. But when you do you will get rewarded.

EDIT: the french of the father got to me.... I had a hard time finishing episode 13 because of it... it also started to drag.... so ATM an 8.

Two things first : Eunpyo doesn't know how to speak or what? Half of the conversations with her are just the other moms talking and asking her and she just doesn't answer it frustrates me so much Also the French in this kdrama is traumatizing, the louis guy mentions that he knows how to speak Korean his wife does as well then why speak French with them in such a horrible accent gave me the ick multiple times Other than that this kdrama had a lot of potentioal, it could have reached sky castle leveling the dialogue wasn't that bad.

This is a good series, some people with children can definitely relate. It showed how mothers go all out for their children altho it can also backfire as is it really for the kid or for her own feeling to be on top of the other mothers that are struggling.