Binge-worthy: K-drama A Virtuous Business talks about sex and sisterhood

A Virtuous Business (NC16)

Netflix
★★★★☆

Most K-dramas tend to shy away from explicit discussions of sex. But in the new series A Virtuous Business, sex and self-pleasure are front and centre.

The 12-part comedy-drama – set in 1992 in a conservative rural South Korean town, where sex is considered a taboo topic – follows four women who take on the business of selling racy lingerie and adult toys door to door amid much societal disapproval. Two episodes have been released so far, with two new episodes streaming every week until November.

While the series – which does not (so far) have any explicit sexual scenes – lures viewers in with its candid and sometimes raunchy discussions of sex, its true focus is on the women and their journeys to joy, growth and fulfilment.

Here are three reasons to tune in.

1. A protagonist to root for

In just two episodes, this series has managed to craft a female lead audiences will want to see succeed. Actress Kim So-yeon plays the protagonist Jeong-suk, a renowned beauty of the town who, unfortunately, married an inept man.

Despite her husband’s constant complaints, Jeong-suk remains loyal and picks up the side hustle of selling adult goods in the hope of saving enough to buy her son a new school bag.

But after her husband squanders her savings, calls her a prostitute for selling adult wares and cheats on her, a broken-hearted Jeong-suk is determined to pick herself up and get her risque business off the ground.

Kim’s performance brings out both the light and dark in Jeong-suk. Faced with her husband’s unfaithfulness and money woes, Jeong-suk is stressed and pained. But viewers also see the way her eyes sparkle with every successful sale she closes, as she gains confidence in herself.

One simply cannot help but root for her to hold on to that spark.

2. “Ajumma” Avengers

Aside from Jeong-suk, the other three women who round out the series also make for an interesting watch.

There is mother-of-four Yeong-bok (Kim Sun-young), who has an active sex life with her loving husband but little in the way of money; the elegant Geum-hee (Kim Sung-ryung), a housewife who is bored by the mundanity of her life; and the feisty Ju-ri (Lee Se-hee), a hip single mother who is not afraid to stand up for herself.

The four form an Avengers-esque line-up of door-to-door saleswomen.

Jeong-suk researches the products by testing them; Yeong-bok talks about spicing up sex lives unabashedly with the neighbourhood women; Geum-hee, armed with an English literature degree, translates the English instructions and slogans on the made-in-America adult toys; and Ju-ri, with her svelte figure, models the sexy lingerie for potential customers.

The dynamic is reminiscent of heist movies like Ocean’s Eleven (2001), in which every member of the crew brings her own gift to the table, but with a refreshing “ajumma” (Korean for auntie) twist to it.

3. Mature women embracing sex

Older women and mothers are often invisible in stories and media about sex, desire and romance. But that is not the case in A Virtuous Business.

The women of the town, who are all middle-aged and saddled with household chores, rediscover their sensual sides as the central quartet introduces, among other things, sexy negligees to them.

Despite some initial discomfort and shyness, they warm up to the idea of being sexy in silky slips and get coyly excited by the idea of exploring pleasure on their own terms.

There is even a scene in which a widow with greying hair reminisces about the passionate times she shared with her late husband, showing that even women well into their middle age and beyond can be sexual beings, with desires and wants.

It is a rare depiction of mature women, especially from a conservative East Asian country.