Episode 1 of A Virtuous Business begins in Geumje, 1992. The neighbourhood ladies are pretty set in their ways but the focus here is on Han Jeong-sook. She works hard and does the best she can for her son Min-ho and her husband. We’ll have more on him shortly!
Jeong-sook is struggling to scrape by with the rent payments, given they’re falling behind and with Min-ho’s schooling starting to get more expensive, they need to think about what they’re going to do. However, her husband is not able to hold down a job, as evidenced later in the episode when he’s fired from his role for lashing out at his boss.
At school, Jeong-sook runs into Seo Young-bok, played by the ever-impeccable Kim Sun-Young. Honestly, this woman is in absolutely everything! She brings up how the teacher is sexually frustrated, especially as she acts coy with her husband but she’s completely stuck up when it comes to her.
Another no-nonsense female here comes from Ju-ri. She works at the salon and she doesn’t care what anybody else thinks of her. She cleans the windows outside, and distracts one of the men who crashes into the handcart. He has the audacity to claim it’s her fault for dressing that way, but she soon puts him in his place.
This directly contrasts one of the more interesting characters in the series so far, Oh Geum-hui. She and her husband Choi Won-bong don’t exactly have a loving relationship. She wants to do something romantic with him, watching Silence of the Lambs in the cinema, but he shrugs it off, claiming he doesn’t like baby animals. Now, their maid here happens to be Jeong-sook.
It’s immediately clear that she’s working round the clock to do everything she can, but Geum-hui also seems pretty lonely. She invites Jeong-sook to stay for tea but as it’s the first day of school, she’s got errands to run.
Jeong-sook does end up seeing an ad for lingerie sales which pays pretty well, and eventually she decides to go for it after her husband spends all the money they have left on alcohol. That’s their rent money, and it’s even more of a bitter pill to swallow given she restrained earlier on from buying Min-ho a new bag.
Funnily enough, Jeong-sook isn’t the only one here for the job, it’s also Young-bok, and the pair head inside together. As soon as they see the array of products, half the group immediately walk out. Jung-sook almost does the same thing when the sex toys are revealed, until she’s convinced to stick around when the pitch involves home sales making her rich.
The saleswoman has a store in Seoul and she’s been in the game for decades. She thinks they have potential and after giving them a box of adult gear, she and Young-bok are in business. All they need to do is sell the gear and bring back the money, and they’ll get their salary paid.
Jeong-sook decides to try and use Geum-hui’s place as the refuge for selling these adult goodies. When she explains what the products are, Geum-hui is shocked and points out she’s not that openminded and won’t let her use her house.
However, she does find herself thinking over the proposition, especially when her husband shows up late and misses dinner, claiming that it’s all her fault and she should be more of a modern liberal woman with hobbies.
This is enough to sway Geum-hui and she decides to go ahead with joining Jeong-sook in her home sales. She even shows up at the salon and gets a new haircut too. Ju-ri is there and she’s excited about joining in for the home sales.
Funnily enough, Geum-hui finds herself face to face with Young-ja. Now, this is the wife to the Chairman of the Royal Club, somewhere Geum-hui’s husband is a member of. They have a bit of a stand-off here over their hair but eventually things do come to a tenuous end.
A new face in the form of Kim Do-hyun arrives in town through all of this, looking to shake things up. The ladies swarm him while the guys are shocked that he’s overqualified for the role of officer at a small country station like Geumje. Given he’s a bigtime deal in a place like Seoul, why is he in this countryside village?
Not everyone is happy to see him, like Detective Na who brings up how a small town like this is a very different experience. Jeong-sook is eternally grateful to see him when he helps her out, chasing a bus up the road after she initially left her bag on there.
When Jeong-Sook rushes over to thank him, he holds her up but the bag spills all the adult content on the ground, including handcuffs and a whip. It’s a pretty funny moment and after apologies and tenuous goodbyes, Jeong-sook races off to Geum-hui’s.
Jeong-sook shows up late and there’s a ton of people here, including the Chairman’s wife too. Jeong-sook is not alone, as she has Young-bok to do the presentation as well. Jeong-sook fumbles her words while explaining the different products, and it’s, funnily enough Geum-hui who comes to the rescue. When Jeong-sook shows off the vibrators, things go off the rails but they do make a couple of sales, all things considered. Well, until the police show up of course.
They’ve had reports that the house is being used as a brothel and who should show up? Yep, it’s Do-hyun who already knows that Jeong-sook has a bag full of adult gear. Do-hyun covers for them, as they manage to hide the adult toys… but then Geum-hui’s husband returns home and sees Ju-ri in her underwear holding sex toys.
News of the lingerie spreads across town, including to Jeong-suk’s husband who confronts her when she heads home that night. He’s disgusted in her business venture, and believes it’s akin to prostitution and demands she not do it. He cites his reputation and she brings up how she had to do something given he pushed her to the edge. The guy is stinking drunk, and he grabs his stuff and decides to leave that night, leaving Jeong-sook to cry in silence.
However, things do look up a little the next day when she heads back to Geum-hui’s place. She’s also bought something, allowing Jeong-sook to make some money. Unfortunately, her entire world comes crashing down when she walks in on her husband sleeping with someone else.
The Episode Review
Ugh, Jeong-sook’s husband is an absolute scumbag, especially after the hell that he’s put his wife through. The scene with Jeong-sook holding back from buying her son a new schoolbag is such a great character moment because it tells us a lot without a single word. We know that she’s got good discipline, she puts her family first and she doesn’t give in to materialistic desires.
By comparison, her husband is reckless, not very intelligent and quick-tempered. He also drinks heavily too and doesn’t appreciate Jeong-sook. I hope that the show really sees Jeong-sook become a fiercely independent and strong woman because this could be a super empowering message for women everywhere – and this first episode sets the foundations beautifully for that.
The presentation with the underwear was hilariously awkward to watch, but hearing the residents in Geumje talk about sex so openly in joking conversations really shows that there is a market for this in the area.
I’m still not sure on this whole Fantasy Lingerie business with the saleswoman. I hope this isn’t a big scam and Jeong-sook is being played but for now, at surface level, the juxtaposition of conservative South Korea and the taboo topic of sex and selling lingerie definitely gives this one a comedic edge.
Whether the show can keep this up across 12 episodes is another matter, but with a compelling cast, a decent narrative and lots to whet the appetite, it’s certainly making all the right moves to do that.
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