Woman of 9.9 Billion is about a woman (Jo Yeo Jung) living a terrible life who discovers 9.9 billion won and decides to change her life with the money. She gets involved with a former cop (Kim Kang Woo) looking for the truth about how his brother died.
Jo Yeo Jung plays Jung Seo Yeon. With an abusive husband and an all around awful life, she has no reason to live. But when she happens upon 9.9 billion won, she seizes the opportunity to turn things around. Nothing is ever easy though, and things quickly spiral out of control.
Kim Kang Woo is Kang Tae Woo. He is an ex-detective who is devastated by the loss of his younger brother. He becomes determined to find out how and why he died which gets him entangled with Seo Yeon and the fight for her newly found money.
Hong In Pyo (Jung Woong In) is Seo Yeon’s husband. He’s basically a psychopath who is manipulative and abusive. He’s quite entertaining to watch though as he is pretty crazy and you just don’t know what to expect from this guy.
Then we have Lee Jae Hoon (Lee Ji Hoon) who is Seo Yeon’s lover. He’s a sweet talker with a temper who is a bit of a player. He quickly gets caught up in wanting the money, and his greed causes him to do some bad things.
Finally, there is Yoon Hee Joo (Oh Na Ra) who is Jae Hoon’s wife. She is a smart and savvy business woman with plenty of money, and it doesn’t take her long to catch on to her husband’s games.
Woman of 9.9 Billion is a drama that I initially had no interest in watching. The plot didn’t really grab me and the promo materials didn’t sell me either. It wasn’t until well into its run that I learned that it was actually a crazy, over-the-top makjang style crime melo. Well then, now you have my attention!
I jumped in, and the descriptions were very accurate. This drama is all kinds of crazy! Which means it’s just my style! I would really compare it to dramas like Return which also had a similar style. Even something like The Last Empress shares a similar flare for crazy. If you liked either of those, Woman of 9.9 Billion might be a good fit for you.
It’s a story where one incident sets off a chain reaction of events. Seo Yeon taking the 9.9 billion won snowballs into a wild fight with multiple people trying to get the money. This is a show where there are a couple of decent characters mixed in with many shades of bad characters who are very greedy.
Everyone wants the money, it just depends how far each character will go to get it. A few have some morals, but they still do some bad things while others have practically none and will do anything, even kill, to get the money.
The pacing for the drama was good with plenty of new plot developments happening along with some fun twists and turns. Things get pretty intense! I really liked how they started small with just a couple people interested in the money, and then things balloon and more and more people want it. It kept things exciting and added new layers to the plot.
There are some interesting character stories too. Seo Yeon is miserable, but when she finally sees a glimmer of hope to escape her awful life, she takes it. Watching her grow and take control of her situation was fun.
Tae Woo is probably the best person of the bunch. He just wants to find out what happened to his brother. He’s a good guy who gets mixed up with some terrible people on his mission.
Jae Hoon and Hee Joo have quite the complicated marriage as well as very interesting individual stories. This dysfunctional marriage had a lot of layers to and was something to watch for sure.
Surprisingly though, my favorite character ended up being Seo Yeon’s scum bucket husband, In Pyo. This guy is just awful, but his crazy factor is high, and he was just a lot of fun to watch. He is impossible to keep down and just keeps popping up in weird ways. You really just never knew what to expect from him, and that kept things very interesting.
Woman of 9.9 Billion is a drama that is far from perfect though. There are some logic stretches and quite a few convenient plot devices used. You kind of just have to go with it. The drama’s first half is also better than the second.
The first half just felt bonkers in a crazy fun way while the second half settles down a bit into more of a catch the bad guy situation. It loses some of the crazy factor and a bit of steam as a whole. Even then, it was still a good watch and took some interesting turns. So as a whole, Woman of 9.9 Billion was a decent watch overall.
My Rating: 7/10
Check out more Korean Drama Reviews.
Kdrama Kisses 
It never ceases to amuse me how much you like these crazy makjang dramas. 😀 Especially as I tend to avoid them like the proverbial plague. I did watch a few when I didn’t know better and that was quite enough for me, he. I wouldn’t mind a parody though, that could be fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, yep, I definitely love me some makjang 🙂 I have a long history of watching soap operas since I was a teenager, many many years before I even knew what a kdrama was, so that probably cultivated the love early on. Still watch them too, hehe.
I know it’s a genre that’s definitely not for everyone though. I just love the crazy! But like you, there’s stuff I don’t see the appeal in, like I’m someone who doesn’t understand the love of the horror genre and avoid it pretty actively. I guess we just like what we like. I actually love parodies, so I wouldn’t mind a bit of that too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was fascinated enough to want to watch from the start. Besides, with such a stellar cast I couldn’t resist it. It was the ending though that kind of spoilt it for me ): When they introduced that Leon character, the story went awry me thinks & in the end it was kinda rushed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was definitely a fun watch for sure 🙂 And yes, such a fantastic cast! I agree with you that it really was when Leon became more prominent that drama lost its steam and kind of went a different direction. The first and second half of the series have very different feelings. Still a good watch for the most part though 🙂
LikeLike
I don’t know if you remember but there was a show (waaayy back in late 70’s), that parodied American soap operas, called… *a dum roll* – Soap! 😀 I loved that show! It was so funny and accurate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I so need to see that! I’m very familiar with it but just never got around to actually watching it. I bet I would get a real kick out of it. Would love to see more of Katherine Helmond too. She’s great 🙂
LikeLike
Oh, the cast of Soap was pretty amazing. Soap was also where Billy Crystal made his name.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh that is interesting! I wasn’t aware of that little tidbit 🙂
LikeLike
Yup, and he played “one of the first unambiguously gay characters in the cast of an American television series”, as it says in his Wiki page. 🙂 That was pretty ground breaking at that time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That definitely was! Good old wiki has all the info 😉
LikeLike
Well I loved the makjang in The Last Empress, so now I’m intrigued.. but.. it does sound like Show falters on the makjang in the second half, which is disappointing. 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
It definitely has a similar crazy factor with the over dramatics. The Last Empress was pretty unique in tone though, so that made them feel a bit different. And Woman of 9.9 Billion does lose steam in the second half. It felt like more of a typical catch the bad guy drama for that portion. So that was a bit of a let down.
LikeLike
Hrm.. I think I’ll give it a pass for now.. I think there might be more makjang options coming up. Kim Hee Ae’s upcoming drama looks like it might have Drama with a capital D. 😋
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think that’s probably a good decision. I’m pretty sure there are other dramas you would enjoy a whole lot more. It’ll always be there if you suddenly get the urge, but like you said, I think we have some more makjang options on the horizon 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’;ve been keeping an eye to this drama’s female lead, since Divorce Lawyer in Love (8.5/10), one of the first batches of my K-Dramas. It’s just that I’m not into the dramas she’s having a lead on. But I believe it’s time to see this woman again. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
She’s really good here. Have you seen her in the movie Parasite? Everyone was great there. I haven’t seen Divorce Lawyer in Love. Just looked it up, and it looks cute 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Korean Drama Update for February 2020 | Kdrama Kisses
Pingback: Best Korean Dramas of 2020 | Kdrama Kisses