I’ve been watching a fair bit of Kdrama (as usual), but I’ve not been posting a lot of reviews because although I’ve been watching a lot, I haven’t been finishing a lot.
The reasons for that are varied and somewhat longwinded–and briefly touched upon in my 10 Things I Love/Hate About Kdrama posts (Love Pt 1/Pt 2 and Hate Pt 1/Pt 2). But they basically boil down to the fact that when I get bogged down in certain hated tropes, I go on to a new Kdrama by way of a palate cleanser while I wait to be ready to go back to the previous one.
미스 마: 복수의 여신 (officially translated as “Miss Ma: Nemesis” but literally as “Miss Ma: Goddess of Revenge) is one of those palate-cleansing Kdramas, though not for the usual reasons. Technically speaking, it’s not as well written as the one I was taking a break from, but it really appealed to me and I ended up finishing it before the technically better drama (which, by the way, is 죽어도 좋아: roughly, “It’d be great if you’d just die”–though translated as “Feel Good to Die”–and you should definitely watch it).
Miss Ma: Nemesis features an older-than-usual heroine (love it!), who has been imprisoned for murdering her daughter. Obviously she’s not guilty, so obviously she needs to escape. It also features a middle-aged cop with a very cool face and an obstinate chin, and a slightly chubby gangster with dimples who is my one and only squishy in the entire drama. Alongside the usual village suspects, there is also a slightly suspicious young lady who saves Miss Ma’s bacon for her own reasons.
The storyline is slightly convoluted, but not deterringly so. At the beginning of the drama, Miss Ma is already in prison, and gearing up to escape. We’re given some backstory, but not too much. We know that she is clever, resourceful, and has only recently begun to pay attention to the world again. We also know that she has been working out a lot. Miss Ma, in fact, has revenge on her mind.
After the inevitable escape, Miss Ma finds herself in a small village town, seeking information from a recluse who lives there. Through the progress of several episodes, she somehow becomes a part of that odd little town, bit by bit. It helps that she’s just about as unusual as anyone else in the town.
Add to the mix many deaths, a slightly suspicious husband, a self-serving writer who looks exactly like Miss Ma, a perhaps dodgy young lady pretending to be Miss Ma’s niece, and the adorable gangster who is NOT used to being garrotted by a woman with circular knitting needles, and you have a delectable mix of drama, humour, and murder.
Fascinatingly, some of the episodes directly mirror cases from Miss Marple (the drama writers/directors worked directly with an official Agatha Christie organisation), but Miss Ma always feels like its own thing. The nods to Christie are a fun extra.
If you possibly can, check this one out. There are many reasons to enjoy it, and I may yet end up buying it–I’m certainly hoping for another season, at least!
Have you ever watched Healer? It’s by far my favorite KDrama (at least by character wise – plot is good, but the characters are my favorite!) It’s also definitely unique from most of the usual stereotypes within KDramas.
Yes! I really love it, but I’m currently stuck in the slightly-too-stickily-romantic middle and went on to some others. SO MUCH love the fact that the main female lead is legit terrified but keeps on going in spite of that: it’s delightful!
I’ll certainly come back to it some time soon =)
YAY! 🙂 That’s what I love about the show too – the female lead is actually a solid, brave lead… one of my favorite lines is when Healer say that she’s brave not because she doesn’t know any better, but she’s brave in spite of knowing how scary it can be. I also just love how well the two mains are so good for each other. They balance each other’s personalities and eccentricities really well 🙂
As a side note – will the City Between series come out in paperback eventually? (The series thus far is nothing I would ever imagined picking up to read (thank you KM Shea for doing your summer read along!), but I’m now completely hooked and dying to know what happens next. It’s quickly becoming part of my favorite books list that I want to have on my physical book shelf.)
Oh! The CB books already all have paperbacks—Amazon may not show them based on what country you live in, unless you look for the paperback button on the buy page, tho. You can also get them on Barnes & Noble (often cheaper than Amazon) and the Book Depositary (not sure of the price)