Formidable and coolly ambitious, the sisters all seem as if cut from the same cloth, yet they stand in stark contrast to one another, eyeing different goals and aiming to achieve them in markedly different ways.

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Reporter In-kyung is the most ferocious of the bunch. Undaunted by danger or protocol, she always places herself in the eye of the storm, whether as a young journalist battling a typhoon or standing up to powerful figures who could destroy her.

Her belligerence eventually gets her fired from the news network she initially works at, but undeterred, she marches into an election debate, rips the microphone off another reporter, and hits mayoral candidate Park Jae-sang (Uhm Ki-joon) with savage allegations. When her mic is cut she speaks louder, commanding the room.

As the runt of the litter, In-hye is the quietest sister, but she’s no less determined. Bristling at her family’s suffocating attention and affection, she tries to break free, first through her art and then by abandoning her family for Park Jae-sang’s, whose daughter, Hyo-rin (Jeon Chae-eun), she has befriended.

Jae-sang brings In-hye to the roof of an abandoned building one day and explains how it will be torn down to make way for something better, in a metaphor for her own life and brighter future, should she stick with his family.

As the eldest sister, In-joo’s dream is to keep the family together. Once she’s had a taste of the good life she no longer fears coveting what isn’t hers. Since she seeks to provide for her sisters, her moral scruples fall away.

Despite being the eldest, In-joo comes off as the least capable and certainly the most naive among the siblings. Yet people who come across her tend to see something special in her.

Back in episode three, In-joo discovered that her colleague and friend Jin Hwa-young (Choo Ja-hyun) had secret conversations with Won Sang-woo (Lee Min-woo), the CEO of the corporation they both work for. In these conversations, they had compared In-joo to a rare “Princess” orchid that outshines all others when it finally blooms.

This sentiment returns in heart-stopping fashion in episode eight, after In-joo wins an orchid at auction in Singapore with an extravagant bid.

In-joo receives a message from someone who has been impersonating her; In-joo and Choi Do-il (Wi Ha-joon) have gone to Singapore in the hopes of tracking this person down. The message reads: “You look like a real princess today. I was always curious, how much you would shine when you bloom.”

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Sometimes we have to decide between the ties that we’re born with and those that we choose. In-joo is utterly devoted to her sisters, but her feelings for Hwa-young – who has since died – remain the strongest.

She saw in the cool and capable Hwa-young a kindred soul, so when we see flashes of the fake In-joo in Singapore, running in slow motion in a resplendent yellow cocktail dress – somewhat resembling an exotic orchid – we dare to dream along with her: could this be Hwa-young returned to life?

Meanwhile, In-kyung ploughs on with her investigation, but in the face of the sheer power and twisted tactics of her opponents, her rectitude shows signs of wavering.

Faced with her own shocking discoveries, In-hye also begins to wonder if she’s made the right choice. Jae-sang is a monster, and his wife, Won Sang-a (Uhm Ji-won), proves to be a far more complex character than anyone could have imagined.

In the end, the only people the sisters can count on is each other. They have lied to and hidden things from one another, but in a do-or-die situation, will they be able to ignore a sister in need?

Abandoned by their parents and held down by a cruel, top-down society, it’s them against the world.

Little Women is streaming on Netflix.