Netflix K-drama Thirty-Nine: Son Ye-jin leads Korean spin on Sex and the City, a series more frank about sex than earlier Korean dramas

This article contains mild spoilers. Two years after Crash Landing on You, Son Ye-jin returns to the screen in the drama Thirty-Nine, the story of three women whose lifelong friendship gets put to the test on the eve of the big 4-0. Son’s co-stars are Hospital Playlist’s Jeon Mi-do and Kim Ji-hyun, who just appeared in Artificial City. This slice-of-life drama from Korean broadcaster JTBC comes off as a Korean spin on Sex and the City, as thirty-something and single women professionals navigate their complicated personal lives in the fashionable heart of a global metropolis. Like Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw, Son’s character, Cha Mi-jo, narrates the series with a combination of levity and wistful nostalgia for a period of their lives that is still in progress but could end at any moment. What separates this Gangnam-set story from the Manhattan-set one is a heavier emphasis on melodrama and the creature comforts of Korean dramas. Thirty-Nine begins with its lead trio sharing a late-night order of tteokbokki, the famous Korean spicy rice cake snack. As Cha explains in voice-over, it was and is their soul food; the only difference between chowing down on it as teenagers and now is that they’ve swapped out the cola for the alcoholic drink soju. In the very same opening voice-over, things take a dark turn as Cha foreshadows the funeral that is awaiting them and which we will likely reach near the end of the season. The rest of the opening episode proceeds in a very frothy manner, but by the end of episode two the show takes a more melodramatic turn. Seven new Korean drama series to look out for in February 2022 Cha runs a dermatology clinic but she’s about to take a one-year sabbatical, during which she plans to live in Palm Springs in California. But right up until she leaves she will likely continue to hector her friend Jeong Chan-young (Jeon), an acting coach who has been carrying on with a married man (though she met him first and they haven’t slept together during his marriage). Rounding out the trio is Jang Joo-hee (Kim), who works in cosmetic sales at a department store. Cha runs the clinic with her sister Cha Mi-hyun (Kang Mal-geum), although they’re not blood-related, since she was adopted from an orphanage as a young child. Cha continues to volunteer at that orphanage and one day, while there with her friends, she meets the kindly Kim Sun-u (Yeon Woo-jin), who teaches English to the children. She forgets her phone and Kim, who also lives in Seoul, is tasked with returning it to her. By the time he arrives, Cha is quite drunk after another session with her friends, and while she waits for him outside, she buys some peonies. The pair meet again by chance at a Rachmaninoff concert and go out for drinks. Things go well and Kim brazenly asks her if she wants to come over to see the blooming peonies in his flat. “You’re saying you want to sleep with me now?” she asks, which he admits. She accepts his invitation and they share a romantic and passionate night together. For Cha this is a one-time thing before she leaves on her trip, but Kim wants to see her again. Before long he gets his chance. Cha goes to a dinner appointment where she’s due to meet the doctor who will replace her while she’s away. Gliding into the establishment to the sounds of Claire de Lune with the camera shadowing behind him, that doctor turns out to be Kim. They try to remain professional, but now that they work at such close quarters, even if only temporarily, surely things won’t stay quiet for long. Meanwhile, Chan-young decides it’s time for her to quit smoking and her confusing entanglement with Kim Jin-seok (Lee Moo-saeng), while Jang finds herself attracted to Park Hyun-joon (Lee Tae-hwan), a new chef in her neighbourhood. It wasn’t all that long ago that Korean dramas shied away from sex, but these days characters are a lot more frank about their desires and have an easier time of giving in to their urges. Thirty-Nine follows recent shows like Nevertheless and Now, We Are Breaking Up that present relationships that begin with characters falling into bed with each other, rather than slowly building up to it. Speaking of adult behaviour, Thirty-Nine also features its trio of protagonists repeatedly visiting police stations and carousing almost every night. The characters drink often and do so heavily, with soju, beer, wine, rice wine or whiskey being broken out every other scene. Cheeks grow flushed and inhibitions weaken, leading to awkward and amusing encounters. Rather than drinking for the pleasure of it, the booze is shown as a way of coping with difficult situations and perhaps the aimlessness of their singlehood. Are we to infer that marriage might rein in their habitual binge drinking? Led by its compelling lead trio, Thirty-Nine knows its audience and endears itself to those viewers by delivering soothing and consoling comfort food. Thirty-Nine is streaming on Netflix.