Little Mom Scandal (2008)

No matter how I look at it, it was disappointing for the wasted potential it had. Thanks to its higher content rating, the drama had less than PG themes and more provocative ones, such as, as stated in the synopsis, teen pregnancy, as well as prostitution and sex. However, it handled each very loosely and didn't stick to any of them for more than a couple of episodes, especially the main selling point, the 'mom scandal,' but all of that didn't measure up to how outrageous and maniacal the ending of part 1 was. My theory is, they had issues in the production and had to split it into 2 parts, as well as giving an exit to Jung Hee Jung from the cast for one reason or another. They gave her character a very extreme resolution. Not only that, but the other characters had little to no reaction despite being friends and roommates for the whole series. She didn't even get a single mention in part 2. Moving on to part 2, things got worse and made me question, was part 2 even planned in the first place? I think the screenwriter must've been changed as well. They pretty much changed the content rating to 15, as close as possible, while neglecting the previous themes. There was no longer a consistent story but rather whatever events each episode would have, mostly a slice of life and a hint of storylines to follow loosely. They had the opportunity to craft something properly like the daddy issues, teen mom, and sex worker finding love, but, obviously, the drama did the bare minimum throughout the entire thing. I still can't believe they let Ha Na exist maniacally without doing anything with her after what she had done. The ending wasn't as bad as part 1 but it's still a bad ending for part 2 as well. Looking into the whole series, it was somewhat serviceable with a decent cast but with glaring wasted potential. It's unfortunate because we rarely get such shows nowadays. Even shows like LTNS (2024) are weak with their delivery and themes. I guess such ones are reserved for the movie space to avoid the higher-ups parental control, not drama shows where they have to kneel down to broadcast and streaming bigwigs.