So Not Worth is Netflix’s first Korean sitcom, revolving around a group of students with different multicultural backgrounds, all residing in a college dormitory in Seoul, South Korea.
Admittedly, I started watching the 12-part series because I am a fan of both Minnie, a K-Pop idol of (G)I-DLE, an epic 4th Generation girl group, and Youngjae who is also a K-Pop idol and from the legendary 3rd Generation boy group, GOT7. I initially expected something dramatic and mushy, but what I ended up witnessing was a hilarious, nonsensical and fun TV show that made me question why it had taken so long for a Korean sitcom to be made accessible on Netflix.
Every single member of the cast breathes a sense of realness into their characters, to the point that you do find them all believable, relatable, familiar and funny as hell.
Park Se-wan plays the character Se-wan, conveniently named the same as her real name, a Korean student on a scholarship who also is the advisor in charge of management at the dormitory. Se-wan is hardworking, simple, shy and a little cunning, although she does have a heart of gold. We see her sneakiness unfold straight off the bat when she cons the Korean-American newcomer Jamie, played by Shin Hyeon-seung that he has broken the screen of her phone. Jamie does the honourable thing, he tries so hard to work and help pay Se-wan back for the damage, even though we, the audience, all know that he didn’t do it. I loved both Park Se-wan and Shin Hyeon-seung’s performances as Se-wan and Jamie respectively. Not only were they both strong on screen, but they chemistry felt very natural.
The same could be said for (G)I-DLE’s Minnie (her real name is Nicha Yontararak) and GOT7’s Choi Youngjae. Young-jae plays Sam, the Korean-Australian son of the president of a tteokbokki global food chain, who is very aloof, loud mouthed and annoyingly adorable, whereas Minnie plays a character also named Minnie who is also very loud, boy crazy and is obsessed with Korean drama TV shows. I think my favourite part of the show was their chemistry together, always bickering and playfully fighting. It was always a joy seeing the exchanges of these two on-screen.
Other cast members include; Carson Allen as Carson, an American student who loves Korean food and is a bit rough around the edges, Joakim Soresen as Hans, the Swedish graduate student that is hellbent on following the rules and Terris Brown as Terris, a Trinbagonian graduate student who is apparently a bit of a ladies man. I found Allen, Soresen and Brown all hilarious and delightful to watch as well, especially when an episode focused on their individual storylines.
However, the highlight of the show would surprisingly be Han Hyun-min as character Hyun-min. Despite looking like an international student, Hyun-min is of mixed ethnicity, but of Korean nationality. To avoid making the 5-hour travel to go to university, Hyun-min manages to convince his friends in the international dorm to let him stay, even though it’s against the rules. Considering that Hans is one that is determined to follow the rules completely, there is definitely some conflict with letting Hyun-min stay. Just the small battles his character has to endure makes you want to cringe and cover your eyes sometimes. You really feel for his character and even though his situations tend to be so hopeless, Hyun-min is just so insanely likeable to the point that it is hard not to love him.
There’s even a cameo from K-Pop girl group CLC’s Yujin, and surprisingly she fits right in, only adding to the already fun, light-hearted and vibrant comedy of this show.
Overall, I loved So Not Worth It. It’s exactly what we needed on Netflix and I really hope that not only does the streaming service provide more Korean sitcoms to watch, but I am also aching for a sequel. The show ends open ended, leaving room for a second season, however, for some odd reason So Not Worth It hasn’t been renewed yet. So, Netflix, when are we getting So Not Worth It Season 2?