Little Girl K is a Korean TV series about a young female assassin that aired in 2011. It goes by so many different names that it's hard to keep track of (it's aka "Girl K", "Killer K", "Sonyeo K"). It's worth checking out if you're into this sort of thing.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
This show is similarly themed to "Le Femme Nikita", "Leon the Professional", etc. So, you basically know what you're getting here (i.e. young discarded girl trains to become a killer). There's nothing really new or groundbreaking involved, but it is executed & paced quite well, and is packed with lots of typical South Korean cinematic goodness.
The lead character (Yeon Jin) is played by Han Groo. She is more than capable enough throughout the show in accomplishing what's asked of her (which is quite a lot actually). She plays a cute & likable, albeit tough, high school girl who lives alone with her single mother. She can't seem to stay out of trouble though, and one day she gets tossed into a series of events that culminate in her & her friends being sought after by some very bad people. Eventually, she gets tracked down by the bad guys and as result, her mother and many of her friends are killed, and she is left for dead.
She miraculously survives the onslaught however, and is taken in by an older female assassin who nurses her back to life and then trains her as a protégé. Yeon Jin looks to her newfound mentor as somewhat of a surrogate mother that can provide her both guidance and direction in life, and with her back ground in martial arts and desire to seek vengeance, Yeon Jin eagerly & quickly absorbs all the killing knowledge & training she can from this woman.
After recovering from her near death experience, and receiving her combat/assassin training, Yeon Jin sets out on the most difficult task imaginable; going back to high school as a new transfer student. I found this part of the show to be highly amusing; it's not meant to be funny per se, but the juxtaposition of the two opposite worlds she now inhabits and has to juggle is sufficiently entertaining. During the course of the school day, she reluctantly becomes more and more concerned with fitting in at school, making new girl friends, experiences angst over her feelings for a boy classmate that likes her, etc (i.e. typical high school girl stuff). And, at lunch, she's on the roof of a building with a high powered rifle trying to assassinate someone per her mentor's orders.
Everything is moving along swimmingly to begin with, but Yeon Jin eventually discovers that her mentor is not quite who she appears to be and has ulterior motives that simply can't be abided. Even though Yeon Jin has long since become a cold hearted killer, she still knows right from wrong, and is soon pitted against her mentor and the "evil organization" she belongs to in a fight to death.
This show is a little bit unusual in the way it continually tries to straddle the line from sometimes being a simple & cute high school girl drama, and then at the flick of a switch, suddenly devolves into a remorseless & seedy bloodbath. For what is essentially a "made for TV" Korean melodrama, this show is often INCREDIBLY VIOLENT; you'll find more violent stuff in various movies of course, but I can't recall any previously made Korean TV show that is as delightfully & frequently vicious as this show often is. The producers and director of this show obviously have no problem letting the blood flow here at will, and there's a fair amount of nudity as well if I recall correctly (but not from any of the lead characters). For a TV show that essentially revolves around the dramatic life of a high school girl, it's as "down & dirty" as can possibly be.
Now, this show is only 3 episodes long, but I don't know why this is; I can't imagine this show was canceled in such a short time for lack of ratings, and the story seems to be purposely made to be completed at the end of the 3rd episode. Three episodes is very short and highly unusual for KTV, and I can't help but wonder why this wasn't just cut down to a 2 hour movie format, or wasn't fleshed out into a longer TV show. I'm not even sure if the short run time is actually a benefit or detriment to this show though; on the one hand, everything is tightly paced & compacted by the sheer nature of needing to get everything wrapped up within the 3 episodes. On the other hand, I enjoyed it quite a bit; so much so, that I would have most certainly watched some more episodes if there were any to be had. This show ultimately ended with a scene that left open the opportunity for some type of follow up show/series, or what have you, but I've not heard of anything that might indicate as much as of the writing of this review.
As is the case with any action-drama TV show, "Little Girl K" can get a tad over the top and a slight bit corny at times, but it doesn't do so very often. And, with such a short run time, you can easily forgive & forget any such flaws you might find with it in contrast with the overall scheme of things.
Bottom Line: I enjoyed this show, A LOT!...If you're looking for a quick fix to quench some blood thirst, and satisfy your need for Korean action melodrama, then this might be right up your alley. And if it turns out not to be your thing once it concludes, at least you didn't have to devote weeks upon weeks of your life watching it.
8 out of 10 stars!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
This show is similarly themed to "Le Femme Nikita", "Leon the Professional", etc. So, you basically know what you're getting here (i.e. young discarded girl trains to become a killer). There's nothing really new or groundbreaking involved, but it is executed & paced quite well, and is packed with lots of typical South Korean cinematic goodness.
The lead character (Yeon Jin) is played by Han Groo. She is more than capable enough throughout the show in accomplishing what's asked of her (which is quite a lot actually). She plays a cute & likable, albeit tough, high school girl who lives alone with her single mother. She can't seem to stay out of trouble though, and one day she gets tossed into a series of events that culminate in her & her friends being sought after by some very bad people. Eventually, she gets tracked down by the bad guys and as result, her mother and many of her friends are killed, and she is left for dead.
She miraculously survives the onslaught however, and is taken in by an older female assassin who nurses her back to life and then trains her as a protégé. Yeon Jin looks to her newfound mentor as somewhat of a surrogate mother that can provide her both guidance and direction in life, and with her back ground in martial arts and desire to seek vengeance, Yeon Jin eagerly & quickly absorbs all the killing knowledge & training she can from this woman.
After recovering from her near death experience, and receiving her combat/assassin training, Yeon Jin sets out on the most difficult task imaginable; going back to high school as a new transfer student. I found this part of the show to be highly amusing; it's not meant to be funny per se, but the juxtaposition of the two opposite worlds she now inhabits and has to juggle is sufficiently entertaining. During the course of the school day, she reluctantly becomes more and more concerned with fitting in at school, making new girl friends, experiences angst over her feelings for a boy classmate that likes her, etc (i.e. typical high school girl stuff). And, at lunch, she's on the roof of a building with a high powered rifle trying to assassinate someone per her mentor's orders.
Everything is moving along swimmingly to begin with, but Yeon Jin eventually discovers that her mentor is not quite who she appears to be and has ulterior motives that simply can't be abided. Even though Yeon Jin has long since become a cold hearted killer, she still knows right from wrong, and is soon pitted against her mentor and the "evil organization" she belongs to in a fight to death.
This show is a little bit unusual in the way it continually tries to straddle the line from sometimes being a simple & cute high school girl drama, and then at the flick of a switch, suddenly devolves into a remorseless & seedy bloodbath. For what is essentially a "made for TV" Korean melodrama, this show is often INCREDIBLY VIOLENT; you'll find more violent stuff in various movies of course, but I can't recall any previously made Korean TV show that is as delightfully & frequently vicious as this show often is. The producers and director of this show obviously have no problem letting the blood flow here at will, and there's a fair amount of nudity as well if I recall correctly (but not from any of the lead characters). For a TV show that essentially revolves around the dramatic life of a high school girl, it's as "down & dirty" as can possibly be.
Now, this show is only 3 episodes long, but I don't know why this is; I can't imagine this show was canceled in such a short time for lack of ratings, and the story seems to be purposely made to be completed at the end of the 3rd episode. Three episodes is very short and highly unusual for KTV, and I can't help but wonder why this wasn't just cut down to a 2 hour movie format, or wasn't fleshed out into a longer TV show. I'm not even sure if the short run time is actually a benefit or detriment to this show though; on the one hand, everything is tightly paced & compacted by the sheer nature of needing to get everything wrapped up within the 3 episodes. On the other hand, I enjoyed it quite a bit; so much so, that I would have most certainly watched some more episodes if there were any to be had. This show ultimately ended with a scene that left open the opportunity for some type of follow up show/series, or what have you, but I've not heard of anything that might indicate as much as of the writing of this review.
As is the case with any action-drama TV show, "Little Girl K" can get a tad over the top and a slight bit corny at times, but it doesn't do so very often. And, with such a short run time, you can easily forgive & forget any such flaws you might find with it in contrast with the overall scheme of things.
Bottom Line: I enjoyed this show, A LOT!...If you're looking for a quick fix to quench some blood thirst, and satisfy your need for Korean action melodrama, then this might be right up your alley. And if it turns out not to be your thing once it concludes, at least you didn't have to devote weeks upon weeks of your life watching it.
8 out of 10 stars!
