Jane The Virgin Fans Will Love This K-Drama Remake Of The Show

The popular show "Jane the Virgin" lovingly satirizes telenovelas, with its appeal widely crossing cultures and borders. The series has since been remade into localized versions in India and the Middle East, as well as a South Korean version in 2022 titled "Woori the Virgin." While the premise is broadly faithful to "Jane the Virgin," the K-drama, a term for South Korean scripted television of any genre, does take creative liberties with the source material. Moreover, any fans of good K-dramas or the original "Jane the Virgin" should definitely check "Woori the Virgin" out.

Like "Jane the Virgin," "Woori the Virgin" has a young woman saving her virginity for marriage accidentally inseminated during a routine medical visit. Both Jane Gloriana Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) and Oh Woo-ri (Im Soo-hyang) work in the television industry on the very types of shows their respective shows satirize. Like Jane, Woo-ri is dating police officer Lee Kang-jae (Shin Dong-wook) at the start of the story, while the biological father of her child is businessman Raphael (Sung Hoon). This unexpected pregnancy not only complicates Woo-ri and Kang-jae's relationship but also the messy divorce proceedings Raphael is embroiled in.

With these broad similarities in place, "Woori the Virgin" proceeds quite differently than "Jane the Virgin," particularly with its ending.

"Jane the Virgin" told its story in 100 episodes across five seasons, while "Woori the Virgin" tells its story in exactly 14 episodes. That means a lot of the more ridiculous elements in "Jane the Virgin" are streamlined out of "Woori the Virgin" to keep its story moving steadily along. Though Korean soap operas can get as melodramatic as telenovelas, evidenced by Netflix's growing library of K-dramas, the self-aware humor is also toned down. "Woori the Virgin" is still very much a satire, but the bulk of its comedy is instead derived from the more conventional romantic comedy elements of its premise.

What will surprise "Jane the Virgin" fans the most when watching "Woori the Virgin" is how it ultimately handles its core love triangle. A common element in K-dramas, especially modernized Cinderella stories, is that the Prince Charming is a corporate heir, who often wins out over the working class love interest. "Woori the Virgin" plays with that expectation, keeping both "Jane the Virgin" fans and K-drama aficionados on their toes just when they think they know where the story is going. That subversion is the masterstroke behind "Woori the Virgin," though it wasn't without controversy when it first aired in South Korea.

K-dramas get their inspirations from a variety of sources, be it Zac Efron comedies or even Agatha Christie whodunits. "Jane the Virgin" feels like a more natural influence but for those who think they know how this story plays out are in for a K-drama surprise.