Korean Drama Review: Search: WWW

Search: WWW (2019)

Status: Completed
Episodes: 16

Synopsis from MyDramaList

This drama is about the conflicts, the wins, and losses one experiences when working. It will follow the story of 21st century women, who chose to not be a wife or a mother and successfully work without discrimination or impediments.
Bae Ta Mi works as a director for a big web portal company. She is in her late 30's and is quite competitive. With her competitiveness, Ta Mi enjoys success. The methods she uses to win has her wondering if she is doing the right thing with her life. Has she sacrificed too much of her personal life for success?

Park Mo Gun is a man in his 20's and is a gifted composer. He creates music for video games. Mo Gun meets Ta Mi at an arcade. He falls in love with her due to her competitive spirit.

9/10

* * *

It's no secret that in the last year I have fully immersed myself in the world of Asian Dramas. And I am hoping to lure some of you down the rabbit hole with this particular gem.


More often than not, Asian dramas surprise me with reversed gender stereotypes and the absolute kickassery of the female leads; in this, Search: WWW is one of the best I've seen in awhile.


It follows three strong, successful women at the peak of their careers in rival search engines in South Korea. In fact, most of the badass characters in this drama be that heroines or vilainesses have been women. The three male love interests had subdued secondary roles as pretty ornaments to flesh out the female leads. *grins*


Bae Ta Mi "Tammy" get thrown under a bus by her friend and boss to take the blame for manipulating keywords in the search engine during a presidential election campaign. She manages to twist the situation and shift the blame to someone else, but she resignes from her beloved company devastated and gets picked up by the rival search engine in order to get it to the top. While she is going through the turmoil, she meets Park Mo Geon, who is 10 years younger and owns a company creating music for the video games. He is smitten and pursues her relentlessly, while she suffers from guilt from being attracted to him and constantly tries to push him away. Tammy is not interested in kids and marriage, and that's some serious issues considering that Park Mo Geon intends to have both sometime in the future. The chemistry between them is off the charts, and there are many poignant and touching moments.

Song Ga Kyung, Tammy's ex-boss is forced  to betray her because her search engine is being manupulated by the head of the powerful conglomerate, who is also her mother-in-law in an arranged marriage. The whole series she is not only trying to outmaneuver and prevail against all odds, she wants to take that b*tch down! Her and her husband have a bittersweet relationship, both caught up in the scheme and both trying to help each other to win.

Finally, Cha Hyun "Scarlett", is a fiery executive in the rival engine, Tammy starts working in. She is very talented and has an explosive temper, and she is also a very old friend of Song Ga Kyung. While she learns to work with Tammy towards success, the two bond and help each other through various troubles. Scarlett falls for a younger kdrama actor, a gentle and thoughtful guy, her complete opposite. The situations between them are hilarious.


Overall, this drama is a tightly run ship with a fantastic finale. It satisfied me on so many levels, it showed true friendship between women, and none of these three had any need at any point to rely on men. Extremely refreshing, great soundtrack as well and I can't recommend it highly enough. Watch it!