The film that depicted Mozart, the greatest composer of music, as an unrefined drunken thug who enjoyed a pinch and a tickle with the local whores? Do you recall Salieri from the movie? F. Murray Abraham’s Oscar-winning portrayal as Salieri, a man who committed his life to God and heavenly music but was unable to create music as divine as Mozart’s.
What does this have to do with a Netflix K-drama about elementary school kids?
The Enlightened Women Club in Seoul is a chat room where moms whose children attend a top elementary school may get all kinds of information. You’d assume that moms of first-graders would just require a chat group to plan playdates and picnics, as well as to discuss their children’s colds and vaccinations. But these women leave the Kota Factory kids (a programme about IIT applicants and their trials) in the dust, and you’ll watch because, like these Seoul moms, you want the best for your children.
The Green Mothers’ Club is named after the green vests that mothers wear when working at the school, with their yellow flags directing traffic as children cross the street. However, the green jacket becomes a symbol of a different role they play, as they transform into greedy monsters determined to guarantee that their child outperforms other children. It’s hilarious at first to watch the moms act like mother hens, herding their children to school and encouraging them to be the greatest by saying, “Hwaiting!” (It’s like ‘Fighting!’) You quickly notice the differences between the mothers. And, as I watched the slow-to-start spectacle, I picked sides.
Lee Eun-spouse pyo’s is a police officer who works evenings. She believes that children should be allowed to discover their own feet at school. Someone has left her a message at her new address. The message warns, ‘Be aware with Yu-mother.’ Bin’s Yu Bin is a bright youngster, a violinist and math prodigy, and her mother is regarded as the ringleader of the chat group’s mothers. Eun-cousin pyo’s also lives in the neighbourhood, and she’s on the fence, leaning toward the majority position. The other moms help to keep the group in check. The resident of the building’s Penthouse is a lovely artist with a French-speaking husband and a brilliant child.
I thought it may evolve into a humorous movie like Irrfan Khan’s Hindi Medium (2017), where his wife insists on changing homes to get their child into a luxury school, and how real estate values go up because of the school and coaching academies being the greatest of all communities. But when a youngster says, “I don’t want to disappoint you,” and another apologizes to his mother for not being good enough, it’s clear that these are first graders. My heart has simply stopped beating.
That’s when I realised that, despite the delayed start, I had already completed 10 episodes. As the darkness of some life is exposed, the following few became a little darker and menacing. And now I’ve gotten more Kleenex because I want to meet Yu-mother bin’s again, I want a happy ending for Henry, and yes, I want the evil people apprehended and detained.
