Little Women season 1 episode 4 recap & review

In episode 4 of Little Women, In-joo is adamant about spending the money that Hwa-young gave her but In-kyung isn’t too happy with that. In-hye has a medical episode that forces her older sisters to make some drastic decisions. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

Hae-seok takes In-joo to see an apartment like she promised. She owns that apartment and bought it when she first returned from America after her divorce and now she wishes to sell it to In-joo. She gives In-joo a day to decide.

In-hye takes Hyo-rin to her tiny flat for a visit and Hyo-rin gets to see the tepid conditions that In-hye lives in. In-kyung is not happy with In-joo’s decision to buy the apartment with stolen money and blocks her.

She meets with the nurse who was there when Mr Park met with the suicide victim. She tells In-kyung what Mr Park told the patient and how he had this cold look in his eyes even in such a stressful situation.

In-kyung and Jong-ho read up on the blue orchid using a book written by an American. They learn that the flower is also known as the orchid of death. The read up on the effects the flower can have on a person that sniffs it.

Sang-ah takes In-hye down to a room where a giant tree filled with blue orchids is growing. She tells In-hye that it’s a secret because it is illegal to grow that orchid. She has In-hye sniff one and then asks In-hye to draw a portrait of her.

The book on the orchid talks about the hallucinogenic effects of the flower and how if infused in a tea, could lead to the death of a person. In-kyung and Jong-ho conclude that the victim must have used it as a sedative before killing themselves.

In-hye collapses while drawing the portrait and is immediately taken to the hospital. When In-joo gets there, the doctor tells her that In-hye has a hereditary heart defect which requires surgery to correct. In-joo confirms that they had a younger sibling that died as a baby, possibly because of the same defect.

In-joo tells In-kyung that she will use the stolen money to pay for In-hye’s operation and In-kyung reluctantly accepts that fact. In-joo goes to the yoga studio to get the money but Park Jae-sang’s right-hand woman, Go Soo-im arrives and tells In-joo that she’s there for the money.

In-kyung tries to make peace with In-hye but In-hye still has a problem accepting the love shown to her by her older sisters.

Go Soo-im and some other men count the money and In-joo watches on. In-joo begs for a small amount to pay for In-hye’s surgery but Ms Go tells her that she’ll give her the money if she’s allowed to hit her 10 times.

She gets to five but is stopped when Mr Choi and Sang-ah arrive over there. Sang-ah takes In-joo to the fancy restaurant that Hwa-young took her to and tells her that she was close to Hwa-young and was with her during her trips to Singapore.

She asks In-joo to work for her as an assistant and In-joo agrees because she needs the money. She also says that Park Jae-sang has a request regarding In-hye’s treatment.

In-joo gets a call saying that In-hye has had another episode and needs to go to surgery immediately. The two sisters stay with In-hye right uptil she has to go in and then later when In-kyung asks In-joo where the money is, her sister tells her that she just needs to wait for some time but she won’t be too happy.

In-hye comes out of a successful surgery and wants to talk to their mother so In-kyung video calls her. Their mother says that she can’t visit because she’s too busy harvesting mangoes for the season but then In-hye asks her if she died once before.

In-joo and In-kyung leave the room and ask their mother why she told In-hye about the death of their sibling band she replies that she told her when she was just a baby because she didn’t have anyone else to talk to. They also find out that she’s stuck there because their father has been gambling again.

When they go back to the room, Park Jae-sang is there with his family and the documentary crew to talk about In-hye’s bravery and how he has chosen to cover the costs of her surgery. In-hye says that she’s lucky for meeting Hyo-rin’s parents.

In-kyung is not happy to let Park Jae-sang have something over her head so she informs their great aunt who arrives just before Park Jae-sang is about to make the payment and offers to make the payment herself so that it stays in the family.

In-kyung and Jong-ho video call the author of the book on the blue orchid and he gives them the address of the person who gave him one, and In-kyung realises that it’s the same address her old contact told her to investigate first.

Mr Choi tells In-joo that they will not be using the ledger for a while and that In-joo has to go work for Won Sang-ah. He then shows her several high ticket items abroad that are in her name as well as bank statements. In-joo then realises that the papers she signed with Hwa-young were bank documents and that Hwa-young was living under her name in Singapore for the last three years.

Review

• The background score during this episode is a particular standout. There are certain scenes that are elevated by the accompanying music.
• In fact, the scene where Ms Go is beating up In-joo is a very intense and brilliant scene all around. The score, the way it is captured and the performance of the people involved is of the highest quality.
• The mystery of the blue orchid is moving along at a slow pace and does feel a little dragged out already. Meanwhile, the reveal that the 70 billion is in In-joo’s name was slightly predictable but not the part about Hwa-young living under her name for years.
• Certain episodes suffer due to the hourlong runtime and this is one of those episodes that feels a little heavy to watch.

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Also Read: Little Women season 1 episode 3 recap & review