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The Suspicious Housekeeper

The Suspicious Housekeeper
Promotional poster
Also known asThe Mysterious Housekeeper
The Mystery Housemaid
The Strange Housekeeper
GenreFamily drama
Black comedy
Based onKaseifu no Mita
by Kazuhiko Yukawa
Written byBaek Woon-chul
Directed byKim Hyung-shik
StarringChoi Ji-woo
Lee Sung-jae
Wang Ji-hye
Kim So-hyun
Country of originSouth Korea
Original languageKorean
No. of episodes20
Production
Executive producerLee Hyun Jik SBS
ProducersKim Jin Geun, Lee Sang Min , Seo Joo Wan
Production locationKorea
Production companyEveryshow
Original release
NetworkSBS TV
Release23 September (2013-09-23) –
26 November 2013 (2013-11-26)
Related
Kaseifu no Mita

The Suspicious Housekeeper (Korean수상한 가정부; RRSusanghan Gajeongbu) is a 2013 South Korean television series starring Choi Ji-woo, Lee Sung-jae, Wang Ji-hye and Kim So-hyun. It aired on SBS TV from 23 September to 26 November 2013 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.[1]

It is a remake of Kaseifu no Mita (家政婦のミタ, "I am Mita, Your Housekeeper"), a hit Japanese drama that aired on NTV in 2011.[2]

Cast

Plot

Park Bok-nyeo is a mysterious housekeeper who will do whatever is asked of her, even, so the rumor goes, if that means murder. Her latest stint involves caring for a recently widowed father, and his four troubled children, all of whom are grappling with the aftermath of their mother's sudden death. The stoic new arrival, who shows barely any trace of emotion, acts as a catalyst for the family members to understand each other better and reconcile their relationships.

Episode Synopsis
Episode Summary
1 Father Sang-chul employs a housekeeper when his wife died. And an employment agency manager gives him a warning that he should be careful about Bok-nyeo who obeys everything she's told. Meanwhile, when Hye-kyul said that she wants to see her mom as a birthday gift, her aunt Na-young promises her she will show her, her mom...
2 Han-kyul found out that her mom committed suicide because of her father's adultery. She visits Song-hwa, the adulterous woman, and showed her mom's last will to her. Meanwhile, Sang-chul is displeased with Bok-nyeo and asks the employment agency manager to send them another housekeeper instead of Bok-nyeo...
3 Han-kyul shows her mom's will to her younger brothers and sister and said that she couldn't live with her father anymore. And she leaves the house and goes to her mother's parents' home. Meanwhile, to make her family reconciled, Hye-kyul asks Bok-nyeo to kidnap her...
4 The 4 children ask their father, Sang-chul, to leave the house. And they ask their father to allow Bok-nyeo to work again with the role of being their mom. Meanwhile, Bok-nyeo saw when Sang-chul meets with Song-hwa. Sang-chul tries to clear up the misunderstanding. However, Geum-chi, Sang-chul's father-in-law, who sees Bok-nyeo and Sang-chul together begins to question their relationship...
5 When Han-kyul goes to meet Sang-chul in his room to discuss Bok-nyeo, she sees Sang-chul's couple ring. She becomes enraged. Meanwhile, Doo-gyul looks up Bok-nyeo on the internet and stumbles upon obscene material by accident and this was discovered by Bok-nyeo...
6 Han-kyul makes up her mind to get revenge on Sang-chul. And Bok-nyeo says to her that the most fearful thing to parents is when their children become destroyed. Meanwhile, rumors begin to swirl about Han-kyul and her sexual relationship with others. Because of that, Han-kyul decides to run away from home...
7 Soo-hyuk has resolved Han-kyul's misunderstanding about having sexual relationships with others, and asked her to forgive his former mistakes. And Han-kyul said she will leave the band. Meanwhile, 4 children asked about Bok-nyeo's family and she said, she had killed her family...

Ratings

Episode # Original broadcast date Average audience share
TNmS Ratings[8] AGB Nielsen[9]
Nationwide Seoul National Capital Area Nationwide Seoul National Capital Area
1 23 September 2013 7.4% 8.8% 8.9% 10.3%
2 24 September 2013 8.2% 9.3% 8.8% 9.7%
3 30 September 2013 8.3% 9.7% 9.9% 7.8%
4 1 October 2013 8.3% 8.9% 9.5% 9.8%
5 7 October 2013 8.1% 10.0% 7.0% 9.0%
6 8 October 2013 9.7% 8.3% 8.4% 9.3%
7 14 October 2013 9.5% 10.7% 10.6% 12.2%
8 15 October 2013 10.3% 12.6% 11.1% 12.0%
9 21 October 2013 9.8% 10.7% 10.7% 11.0%
10 22 October 2013 10.2% 11.9% 10.5% 12.4%
11 28 October 2013 9.1% 11.1% 9.3% 10.4%
12 29 October 2013 7.9% 8.3% 10.0% 9.0%
13 4 November 2013 9.2% 9.7% 9.8% 10.4%
14 5 November 2013 9.8% 10.8% 10.3% 11.7%
15 11 November 2013 9.9% 9.1% 9.6% 9.8%
16 12 November 2013 9.5% 9.8% 10.4% 10.6%
17 18 November 2013 8.7% 8.9% 9.5% 10.7%
18 19 November 2013 8.0% 9.3% 9.0% 10.2%
19 25 November 2013 8.0% 9.3% 10.0% 10.2%
20 26 November 2013 9.6% 10.5% 10.3% 11.9%
Average 8.0% - 9.0% 10.2%

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Recipient Result
2013 21st SBS Drama Awards[10] Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special Choi Ji-woo Nominated
Excellence Award, Actor in a Drama Special Lee Sung-jae Nominated
Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special Wang Ji-hye Nominated
New Star Award Kim So-hyun Won
2014 7th Korea Drama Awards Top Excellence Award, Actress Choi Ji-woo Nominated

Title controversy

On 6 September 2013, the Korean Women Workers Association and the National House Management Cooperative held a press conference in front of SBS and denounced the use of the word gajeongbu (which literally translates to "a house woman") in the title, saying it belittles housekeepers. They asked that the production change the title to gajeong-gwanlisa ("house manager"), while the National Institute of the Korean Language recommended using gasa-doumi ("housework helper"). An official from the network said that they are retaining the word gajeongbu because it is the Korean word equivalent for the Japanese source material's kaseifu. Instead, they compromised by refraining from using the controversial word in the script, and added a scene that explains what to call people who clean and cook at the homes of others, and what the appropriate title is for them.[11][12]

International broadcast

  • It aired in Japan on cable channel KNTV from 23 September to 1 October 2014.[13]
  • It aired in Vietnam on VTC9 - Let's Viet from 13 February 2015, under the title Quản gia bí ẩn.[citation needed]
  • It aired in Thailand on PPTV from 9 February to 14 April 2015.[14]

References

  1. ^ Oh, Jean (16 September 2013). "Choi Ji-woo to play modern-day Mary Poppins". The Korea Herald. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  2. ^ Lee, Hye-ji (20 August 2013). "Choi Ji-woo, Lee Sung-jae Mark a Beginning of New Drama". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  3. ^ Kang, Jung-yeon (31 July 2013). "Choi Ji-woo to Play Housekeeper in Upcoming Drama". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  4. ^ Hong, Grace Danbi (31 July 2013). "Choi Ji Woo Cast as Lead in Korean Version of Kaseifu no Mita". enewsWorld. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Choi Ji-woo to Play Housemaid in New Drama". The Chosun Ilbo. 10 August 2013. Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  6. ^ Won, Ho-yeon (5 December 2013). "Suspicious role challenged Choi". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  7. ^ "수상한 가정부 은상철 : 네이버 통합검색". m.search.naver.com (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  8. ^ "TNMS Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". TNMS Ratings (in Korean). Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  9. ^ "AGB Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". AGB Nielsen Media Research (in Korean). Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  10. ^ Lee, Cory (2 January 2014). "Lee Bo-young Grabs 1st Top Prize at the 2013 SBS Drama Awards". TenAsia. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Dispute hits 'housekeeper' drama". The Korea Herald. 11 September 2013. Archived from the original on 11 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  12. ^ Lee, Sun-min (12 September 2013). "SBS refuses to budge over drama title controversy". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 12 September 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  13. ^ "Kntv ドラマ 怪しい家政婦". Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  14. ^ "The Suspicious Housekeeper แม่บ้านปริศนา – ซีรีย์เกาหลี". korea.tlcthai.com (in Thai). 2 September 2015. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.