Summary
A Virtuous Business sags a little in Episode 6, allowing the drama to chafe against the comedy. There’s a bit too much focus on Jeong-sook and Da-hyun, but still lots to like.
After I spent a while going on about how the previous episode’s thematic and character depth, I’m forced to backpedal slightly with Episode 6 of A Virtuous Business. Are the themes still there? Sure! Are the characters still likable? Yep. But we’re forced to examine them here in the absence of virtually anything else, with the pace drooping and nothing really coming to the fore to offset that.
With a more languid approach, you can see the show’s comedic and dramatic elements chafing against each other a bit. You can see the cliches more clearly, their mechanics more obvious. I’m not worried – at least not yet – but we’re only around the midpoint, so it’s not ideal for these kinds of cracks to be showing already.
In the previous episode, Jeong-sook decided to file for divorce, so Episode 6 opens with a flashback exploring her relationship with Seong-su to highlight how much of a big deal this is. They’ve been together for a long time, and Seong-su has undeniably been there for her. That, though, doesn’t give him carte blanche to act however he feels in the present day.
Of course, Jeong-sook’s marital woes don’t just affect her, but the women around her too, who have to wonder how best to make her feel better. One of the suggestions is a trip, which is fair enough since there’s another sale sorted that involves an overnight trip to a small island.
The second coping mechanism suggested, by the way, was finding a new man, which might be happening all on its own. Da-hyun is still primarily concerned with tracing his family history, but he does spend some time with Jeong-sook’s mon and Min-ho and Dong-u. He slots right into the fatherly role in the way all K-Drama MLs necessarily must.
Going off-base is a good bonding opportunity for the leading ladies, and while they try to sell amidst a complex-seeming family dispute and a later, pretty funny discussion of their respective fantasies, you can feel the group getting closer and becoming more easy-going around each other. That’s just what they were hoping for in terms of Jeong-sook’s state of mind, but it’s good for all of them.
Is it good for the audience, though? Sure, it’s entertaining enough, but it is pretty light fare, and there’s little to really chew on drama-wise. The same can be said even of Jeong-sook and Da-hyun giving voice to the obvious connection between them, even though they barely know each other, but the show has bent over backward to make this happen, so it doesn’t feel as organic as it might otherwise.
Da-hyun also tells Jeong-sook about his search for his birth parents, which I still think is the weaker side of the story compared to the empowerment tale it’s most interested in telling. That’s why it’s a bit dismaying when Jeong-sook and Da-hyun get foregrounded too much, especially later in A Virtuous Business Episode 6, when Jeong-sook is invited by a former schoolmate named Gyeong-sik to meet his wife, who has apparently heard about the sales.
Something’s clearly amiss here from the off, since Gyeong-sik doesn’t have a wife, and things end with Da-hyun once again racing to the rescue and with Jeong-sook in a bit of distress. Again, I’m not sure this is more interesting than the subtler and more organic drama surrounding the main foursome and their personal journeys, but what can you do? Every show is allowed a slightly duff episode, and I think this was the one for A Virtuous Business. Hopefully, it doesn’t start a trend.
