New poster and teaser for tvN’s Birthcare Center
by tineybeanie
A powerful female-centric cast, dark social commentary, and macarons—where do I sign up? tvN’s latest 8-episode miniseries Birthcare Center stars Eom Ji-won (The Cursed), Park Ha-sun (Weekday Afternoon Lovers), Jang Hye-jin (Memorials), and Choi Ri (My First First Love) in a story about an incredibly successful businesswoman who becomes pregnant later in life and enters the intense world of high-risk pregnancy and motherhood.
In noir drama Birthcare Center, Eom Ji-won plays the main character who manages to rise in her company to become its youngest board member ever. Although she’s the youngest at work, she’s the oldest woman at the birthcare center.
Birthcare centers are a big thing in Korea, and it’s common for women and their babies to go straight from the hospital to a birthcare center. It’s sort of a maternity ward and hotel in one, with nurses and staff taking care of babies and mothers’ needs. (Length of stay and luxuriousness vary depending on the amount families are able to part with.)
In the poster above, Eom Ji-won enjoys a lavish tea party that’s also littered with a variety of baby toys. Park Ha-sun, Choi Ri and Jang Hye-jin stare at Eom Ji-won from the corner of their eyes, almost smirking sinisterly at her clueless state. The copy reads: “Is this really heaven?”
At the top of the birthcare center’s social hierarchy, we have Park Ha-sun playing the queen bee. Then, there’s Choi Ri playing a twentysomething pregnant woman. Finally, Jang Hye-jin rounds out the main cast, playing the director of the postpartum care center. It’ll be interesting to see how these characters form relationships within the microcosm of the postpartum care center, given their different backgrounds.
The teaser begins with dramatic music highlighting the same scene as the poster. Then, it transitions into a tour of the luxurious birthcare facilities. From indoor gardens to fancy brunch rooms to high-tech glass nurseries, the birthcare center looks like something out of a Tiffany and Co. home decor catalogue. Text flashes on the screen inviting viewers: “You have entered the world of birthcare.” As she enters the room, a knock and Jang Hye-jin’s voice can be heard: “Madam?”
Monday-Tuesday tvN drama Birthcare Center, directed by Park Soo-won (Big Forest) and written by Kim Ji-soo (Surplus Princess), will begin airing in November.
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Tags: Birthcare Center, Eom Ji-won, Jang Hye-jin, Park Ha-sun
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1 Kafiyah Bello
September 23, 2020 at 10:40 AM
I'm really excited for this, I hope it is good.
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Eazal
September 23, 2020 at 11:19 AM
Me too!! I want it so badly to be good!
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2 callie
September 23, 2020 at 10:50 AM
Wow, this is very different from what I was expecting from the title alone. Sounds interesting, none the less!
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3 Ayalynn
September 23, 2020 at 11:03 AM
I was expecting a completely different show from the title too.
I was thinking like a British show Call the Midwife (on Netflix) type thing...
Is this kind of drama a recent trend since Sky Castle was such a big hit?
A drama about people with the highest levels of wealth and social status...
Upcoming drama The Penthouse on SBS is like that too.
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Kairoskat 💐
September 23, 2020 at 4:31 PM
Not really a new trend but SC definitely made it trendier. Return in 2017 was about rich dudes getting away with anything because of their status and wealth, fyi Penthouse was directed by Return PD, even the statue in the teaser was in Return too (it's from a greek myth).
Anyways...I suppose viewers (me included) like to watch rich people in dramas as they dress more fancy, have beautiful houses, and can basicly do anything they want because they are rich. It's an escape from reality. Hahahahaha
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4 halofan68
September 23, 2020 at 12:30 PM
Lol, this premise says SO much about modern South Korea: emphasis on motherhood and family illustrated by creation of birth centers in the first place, monetize the sh*t out of the system, and then a sinister drama with a backdrop of a clique-y hierarchy is subsequently produced for entertainment.
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amara
September 23, 2020 at 12:58 PM
i don't know much about birth centers and esp not one in SK but in theory if i just think about it nebulously it's a great idea. however, the emphasis on motherhood surely is a problem and the idea of the center is for? what? bonding? why only a mother? what about adoptees? why not family centers? and how much care and support depending on status matters (a lot, i know this.)
i think satire is affective if it is satire but the contrasts need to be more evident. a huge issue with sky castle is that it focuses on the consequences of the families sxistence within their community instead of the outside world. so it' slike very insular commentary with no consequence.
hierarchy is inherent to these places (and ofc encouraged and esp where women would congregate) and although mainstream media can fail with realizing its potential outside of capital things can still be said. people learn through what they see. it just depends on what they want to say and how they want to see it.
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5 Kurama
September 23, 2020 at 12:31 PM
I was expecting more a slice of life drama than a dark social drama...
I'm already scared for the futur of these babies.
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6 amara
September 23, 2020 at 12:51 PM
the premise makes me excited though i wonder about execution.
also in terms of birth care centers the ratio of women who can go to "good" ones v. how much they help if a mother is a worker and the decline of birth rates (for multiple reasons up to and including racism) would be an interesting factor to explore. we don't have them here (US) afaik and our healthcare sucks as everyone knows but knowing the class disparities worldwide and how unsupportive governments are towards working mothers and the idea of paternity leave.....i wonder if it will go where it needs to go.
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windsun33
September 24, 2020 at 10:43 AM
Such a themed show is interesting in light of the fact that Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and also one of the highest emigration rates.
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amara
September 24, 2020 at 4:14 PM
google multiculturalism and birthrates for SK and you'll see why that dichotomy exists. fascinating isnt it!
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7 Lulu
September 23, 2020 at 1:14 PM
Jeez, korea is a playground for the rich
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8 sal
September 23, 2020 at 2:49 PM
hm, interesting. This was originally gonna air in August, but read there was some huge rewriting on the scrip. So this really make me a wonder how this gonna affect the final product.
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9 strawberry
September 23, 2020 at 3:25 PM
Wow! This is a really interesting premise. I didn't know about birth centers before, but it seems like a rich backdrop for dark social commentary. This makes me curious and wants to look into why and how these birth centers came to be since we don't have them here in the US (that I know of?). Also, we always need more female-centric dramas!!
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amara
September 23, 2020 at 8:15 PM
considering we have the "best medical system" yet have the highest natal death for women, particularly black ones, lots of people don't live long enough to even get there :')
all that aside i have the same questions as you. i am kinda guessing it's cos of how small it is but also valuing a mother's life in its own way? but i don't know bc it also reinforces the mom as a nucleus type thing. it could also be to encourage reproduction in general. i should google this.....................brb
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windsun33
September 24, 2020 at 10:44 AM
Going by the drama this is something available only to the top 2% or so.
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amara
September 23, 2020 at 8:19 PM
ignore me. i chuckle at my own naivete. ....
so there's hospital run ones and independent ones. guess which is better. it certainly should be built in everywhere with a focus on like....quality of life for the family and child. and they talk about the smaller builds of korean women which is interesting but ultimately the answer? capitalism. :)
http://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=333
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strawberry
September 23, 2020 at 8:32 PM
that's an interesting read. First, I agreed - race factors in so much to the healthcare quality in the states (probs elsewhere) and all the baggage that comes with that. Second, Idk what SK's maternity leave policy is like but in the states, it varies but generally is shitty so you have a kid? great but good luck recovering and settling in as a parent and keep your job~ bye~ Capitalism is ultimately the answer/motivation, but there's a need that these centers are fulfilling and I think that's great. The way these centers evolved and operate now really makes a great backdrop for an interesting social commentary drama.
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10 Jezz
September 23, 2020 at 7:24 PM
Wow, as what I saw on this teaser, I loved this beautiful place. Also in this teaser, I saw a similar costumes with different movements as what we seen from the poster above in this post. It's really one of the rare type where both-same-costumes-on-poster-and-teaser had knew it.
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11 lackingfive
September 23, 2020 at 7:51 PM
not gonna lie but this has sky castle vibe.. looks like black comedy
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12 WishfulToki
September 24, 2020 at 8:31 AM
Hey @katakwasabi, do you think the pregnant lady from THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH was hanging out at one of these places?
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Kairoskat 💐
September 24, 2020 at 11:49 AM
She probably did! Before she was transported to Korea and then back to Corea...only to crash a car. Did she even deliver her baby at the end? Huhuhu
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13 gem28
September 24, 2020 at 4:54 PM
This reminds me of this article that I read a long ago which stated that high end super luxurious hotels go as far as to arrange breast feeding ladies for high profile mothers who don't want to be bogged down with that while visiting UK. This would be interesting to see.
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14 rochinipark
September 24, 2020 at 9:03 PM
Birthcare centre or known more as confinement centres is fairly common is some Chinese diaspora like in my country Malaysia. It is mostly used by new mothers who one reason or another unable to have their mothers or mother in laws or any other help needed to care for themselves during the 1st few months of delivery. Some stay in these centres with their husbands or only with their baby for periods 1months to more with total package prices ranging about USD1,000 and above on monthly rate. It is not for all, but yes, that is the price of having a child.
I am not Chinese but I do know of some friends who utilized these centres, which help the mother to learn to attend to their babies while keeping them in a nurturing environment.
Not all Asian cultures have these, even my own do not. From what I know, Asian cultures I am exposed to place a lot of cultural recovery to new mothers, many dos and don'ts needed to be followed. And ladies who specialized in caring for them can earn amounts of money. Some are even hired to solely to bath the baby.
this is why to me it is pricey to have a child.
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