Not Others ~ Mother-Daughter Chaos With Amusing Chemistry

“Not Others” is a 2023 Korean drama series, with 12 episodes, categorized as Romance and Comedy-Drama; based on a webtoon of the same name, and streaming on Viki (free) and Hulu. (Per Wikipedia: A second season is scheduled for release in 2025.)

SUMMARY: A teenager got pregnant and had to shoulder the full responsibility for child-rearing. She wasn’t bitter. However, when her daughter grew up, mother and daughter did constantly butt heads about LIFE!

♦ Never Say Never

In “Not Others”, when Kim Eun-Mi was a teenager, she got pregnant. When she told her boyfriend, he walked away. She decided not to terminate the pregnancy, and even though it would be hard, she would raise the child on her own. When her daughter, Kim Jin-Hee, was a toddler, her mom took her to the beach. She was kind of hoping she might attract a man.

But every guy who saw her would immediately walk away as soon as they saw the small child sitting next to her. Bummer? Maybe. Maybe not. At any rate, Kim Eun-Mi gave up on manhunting and devoted all of her time and effort to raising Kim Jin-Hee. Did her daughter appreciate it? Maybe. Maybe not.

As an adult, Kim Jin-Hee joined the police force, and her mom worked as a masseuse. They were close. But they disagreed more than they agreed.  Even so, they would always end up getting closer. Because no matter what happened, they loved each other and supported each other. One night, together, she and her mother caught a child abuser. The matter was handled by the police, or rather … mishandled (?)

The facts kind of got distorted by the news media. You would think that since Kim Jin-Hee did a good thing, she would be commended or even promoted. To the contrary, she got demoted. The police were being berated for incompetence, and someone needed to be sacrificed to calm the public. Kim Jin-Hee was chosen as the sacrificial lamb. Knowing how volatile their relationship is, she decided not to tell her mom.

Meanwhile, her boss told her the best he could do for her was to transfer her to a unit that was close to her home. He was standing outside the unit where she was going to be transferred and saw a fellow police officer, Eun Jae-Won. They butted heads whenever they interacted so when she saw him, she assumed he was working at that unit. She wanted to avoid him, so she asked her boss to send her to another unit. He said she would regret it. But she said NEVER! So he sent her to a different unit.

It turns out she was mistaken. Although she saw Eun Jae-Won at the other unit, he’s the chief of the unit where she will be working. It gets worse. All the people assigned to that unit had been demoted because Kim Jin-Hee had filed an anonymous complaint saying they had not done their job properly. Anonymous? Yet everybody knew it was her! (O.o)

Never Say Never. She was not greeted warmly or welcomed as a team member.  Especially not by Eun Jae-Won, her new boss. He told her that once again, she always thinks she’s right and doesn’t get the full story before taking action. As a result, everybody on his team, including him, got demoted. Kim Jin-Hee wanted to defend her actions and insist that she was right. But Eun Jae-Won made her begin to doubt herself. Maybe as time passed and they worked together … IF the team ever decided to work with her … maybe she would change her mind. But for starters, she had to work with Eun Jae-Won because none of the other team members wanted to be her partner.

Meanwhile, her mother accidentally found out that she had been demoted. WHAT? Her daughter had not told her something about her job that was important? Yep. There were FIREWORKS! Kim Jin-Hee accused her mom of stealing her panties. Wait ’til you hear the rest of that story.

Main Characters:

• Kim Eun-Mi (played by Jeon Hye-Jin, “Mission: Cross”, “Revolver”, “Ashfall”, “Hit-and-Run Squad”, “RV: Resurrected Victims”, “Misty”, “Search: WWW”)
• Kim Jin-Hee (played by Sooyoung, “Second Shot at Love”, “Tell Me What You Saw”, “Move To Heaven”, “Squad 38”)
• Eun Jae-Won (played by Park Sung-Hoon, “Psychopath Diary”, “The Distributors”, “Queen of Tears”, “The Glory 1 and 2”, “The Kidnapping Day”, “The Bequeathed”, “Squid Game 2 and 3”)
• Park Jin-Hong (played by Ahn Jae-Wook, “For Eagle Brothers”, “Mouse”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.4 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.1 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9 out of 10 stars
• Letterboxd: 3.5 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same as the Viki viewers.

“Not Others” is an interesting look at a mother-daughter relationship. A teen pregnancy can completely change the life of the mother. In most cases, the father just walks away from his responsibility. The young mother must take care of everything about raising the child. This situation could cause anger, and the mother might take it out on the child. OR … the mother and daughter could become everything to each other and stick together through thick and thin. In many Korean dramas, the relationship between mother and daughter is often intense. This series shone a light on a beautiful mother-daughter relationship.  A second season should be fun!

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Worth the Watch: “Not Others” K-drama Review | Gwencha Noona

DRAMA REVIEW | Not Others (2023) | my drama fix

“Not Others” Ends On Its Highest Ratings Yet | Soompi

ENA’s “Not Others” Review- Hilarious And Refreshing | JazmineMedia

Netflix Reveals Full 2025 Korean Lineup of Films, Series | The Hollywood Reporter

TRAILER/TEASER:

SYEINA Drama & Film. “Not Others (남남) Trailer.” YouTube, 16 July 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjIik4VW5v8.

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