Lead cast: Kim Nam-joo, Cha Eun-woo, Kim Kang-woo, Im Se-mi
Latest Nielsen rating: 6.4 per cent
For professor Eun Soo-hyun (Kim), it certainly is a wonderful world as the story kicks off. She is the beloved author of a bestselling novel and lives in a grand home with her doting husband, television announcer Kang Su-ho (Kim Kang-woo), and their cute-as-a-button son Gun-woo (Lee Joon).
One day, she heads to the airport to attend a conference, but after hearing from her husband that Gun-woo has developed a mild fever her maternal instincts are fired and she returns home. Gun-woo has already recovered but her instincts were not far off base: minutes after her return, Gun-woo disappears.
Soo-hyun and Su-ho search desperately for him; Gun-woo is only found hours later, the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Beside herself with grief, Soo-hyun spends days by his bedside, but her son does not make it.
7 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in March 2024
7 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in March 2024
Following an emotional funeral, the couple next find themselves in court, where the hit-and-run driver is being charged with manslaughter for not having brought Gun-woo to a hospital earlier, when he could have been saved. But the man has high-society connections, including a congressman, and he gets off scot free.
Soo-hyun later confronts the man, demanding an apology which never comes. She steps into her car and, as the man walks away, she mows him down without a second thought. Now it is her turn to be tried in the same courtroom, where she does not ask for leniency. She is sentenced to seven years in jail.
The beginning of Wonderful World chronicles Soo-hyun’s fall from grace and her time behind bars, but the bulk of the series will focus on what she will do following her release.
Revenge has not fulfilled her and her grief has not abated. This period of her life begins as she meets Cha’s character.
There is also a mystery involving her husband, who has left to become a foreign correspondent in America during her time behind bars, and the show suggests that there is more than meets the eye to Gun-woo’s death.
How did he get out of the yard, and who was the mysterious woman taking pictures outside the gate when Soo-hyun came back from the airport?
Those seeking an original storyline would best be served by looking elsewhere – Wonderful World is a show that purposely leans into genre clichés. However, it does so with aplomb and makes up for its lack of originality with confident style and performances and by serving up its common drama tropes with a knowing wink.
There is the obligatory nighttime flash forward with which the series begins, in which Cha’s character, driving a car, makes a beeline for a wide-eyed Soo-hyun, mirroring the incident that lands her in jail.
The sequence is even intercut with flashbacks of Cha holding an umbrella over Soo-hyun on a rainy day – as classic a K-drama image as can be.
We know nothing about these characters, but these very familiar images hint at the roller coaster of emotions they are surely about to strap in for.
He is also a car mechanic unafraid of getting his hands dirty, as well as a secret operative who steals things for other people.
The only concrete thing we know about him by the end of episode two is that he, too, has lost someone dear to him.
Conveniently, his loved one’s grave is right beside Gun-woo’s and he is paying his respects there at the same time as Soo-hyun, who goes there immediately after being released from jail.
Whether Sun-yool can live up to all the tantalising build-up remains to be seen, but he is a compelling mystery man in whom resides the show’s mystique early on.
Assuming that Soo-hyun and Sun-yool team up in the coming episodes, Wonderful World promises a journey of retributive justice as grieving characters take on the powerful figures who have taken something precious from them.
Wonderful World is streaming on Disney+