Bachelor's Vegetable Store

Title: 총각네 야채가게 / Chonggakne Yachaegage
Genre: Melodrama, comedy, romance
Episodes: 24
Broadcast network: Channel A
Broadcast period: Dec-2011 to Mar-2012

Disappointing, really.

Still adore Ji Chang wook, though :D He did a terrific job holding this one up despite its numerous flaws and fails.

It is supposed to be based (even loosely) on a real-life scenario about a man who ended up owning a chain of vegetable stores -- but that never turns out to be the case.

What it IS about is a young guy, his younger sister, and an orphan girl who befriend one another, and then the orphan girl befriends some snobby girl with a crazy omanee.

The crazy omanee is biding her time in a lesser-valued neighborhood until her Chaebol lover ditches his arranged-marriage wife and returns to her and their daughter.

The orphan girl is so desperate for 'family' that she allows herself to be degraded and cheapens herself by dissing her two good friends in order to be able to hang out with the rich girl.

And then one day something really awful happens to that wealthier girl with the crazy omanee, so for all of the episodes thereafter, it gets really Korean stupid.

The woman ends up passing off the orphan as her real daughter to the Chaebol dude who does, in fact, leave his arranged-marriage wife for her and his daughter.

This was far, too many episodes of we've seen this one before for my liking or taste.

The boy who is supposed to be the main character (the man who ends up owning a lot of vegetable stores) grows up with this sole purpose in life and runs into some guys who seem misplaced in society but who faithfully follow the leader throughout this 24-episode *sigh.

Insurmountable odds, unbelievable twists, inevitable turns, and too much Korean-style angst tossed in the mix to make this an enjoyable or believable story about a real-life situation. There was zero reality to this and zero reference to the man who seemingly made it all possible.

If you liked King of Baking, then you'll probably like Bachelor's Vegetable Store.