‘Hommage’ is a column that recommends online video service (OTT) content worth watching on weekends. It arrives every Saturday morning.

It is truly the age of ‘remake content’. As a culture reporter these days, whenever I come across new works, phrases like ‘webtoon·novel original’ and ‘remake’ frequently stand out. The recently released Netflix film <Pavane> is based on the novel <A Pavane for a Dead Princess> by Park Min-gyu, and the ENA drama <Honor> is adapted from the Swedish drama of the same title that aired in 2019. While works with source material are often satisfying, as a viewer I also find myself wishing to see content that feels newer and more entertaining.

Amid this trend, a work with a distinctive original story and craftsmanship has captured the attention of many viewers: the Netflix series <Lady Dua>. This marks the debut of writer Chu Song-yeon, written during an internship after winning a script competition. With a well-knit structure and superb direction, it is spreading by word of mouth. Given the traits of the mystery·thriller genre, in which the focus is on finding the culprit, the fact that it has no source material is seen as further heightening immersion.

The story begins at the 2024 SS season new-product launch party of the luxury brand ‘Budua’. Amid a glamorous venue crowded with designer bags, celebrities, and reporters, ‘Sara Kim’ (Shin Hye-sun) appears. The scene then shifts to the luxury street of Cheongdam-dong, staked out by resellers. In a storm drain there, a body wearing the same clothes is discovered. The face is damaged almost beyond recognition, the cause of death is exposure, and even fingerprint comparison does not produce an identification. The police try to trace the purchaser of the luxury bag found beside the body, the only clue, to get a lead on the case.

The owner of the luxury bag was ‘Jeong Yeo-jin’ (Park Bo-gyeong), CEO of the cosmetics brand ‘Nox’. She says the deceased was Sara Kim, the Asia branch head of the luxury brand ‘Budua’, and that she had given the bag as a present to her close friend. In front of police officer ‘Park Mu-gyeong’ (Lee Jun-hyuk), who is directing the investigation, Jeong Yeo-jin heaps praise on Sara Kim. Yet the morgue CCTV later shows something entirely different: Jeong Yeo-jin spat on the body of Sara Kim. Sensing a hostility that is hard to describe, Mu-gyeong suspects there is more to the case.

Mu-gyeong strives to grasp the true identity of Sara Kim, but the deeper he digs, the more labyrinthine the case becomes. Nothing is clear, from the very name Sara Kim that had been circulating to her age, education, and background. As the investigation proceeds, a new name linked to Sara Kim, ‘Mok Ga-hee’, is discovered, and the hidden truth begins to surface one by one.

Comprising eight episodes, the series advances from episodes 1 through 4 via testimonies from those who had been with Sara Kim. They include her closest friend ‘Jeong Yeo-jin’, who was pursuing a 15 billion won investment in Budua; former Budua employee ‘Woo Hyo-eun’ (Jung Da-bin); host bar player ‘Kang Ji-hwon’ (Kim Jae-won); and loan company head ‘Hong Seong-sin’ (Jung Jin-young), each recalling the ‘Sara Kim’ they remember. No one truly knows who Sara Kim is, but everyone loved her.

“Truth, like light, can blind the eyes, while falsehood makes everything look splendid like a beautiful sunsetonly until it is found out.” As that in-episode narration suggests, Sara Kim is a magnetic figure who makes you want to believe a lie as if it were the truth. She has an extraordinary ability to fill the voids people feel and to bring them over to her side. What gives this distinctive character depth is the performance by actor Shin Hye-sun. As Mok Ga-hee, a low-ranking department store employee; ‘Dua’, a bar worker; ‘Kim Eun-jae’, after completing identity laundering; and even Sara Kimeach time the name and identity change, she seems to become a truly different person.

Beginning as a mystery, <Lady Dua> goes on to describe the circumstances that gave birth to the luxury bag brand ‘Budua’, skewering money worship and classism. Some have reacted that it brings to mind the luxury-brand fraud case ‘Vincent & Co’ that occurred in Korea in 2006.

To mark the release of <Lady Dua>, Shin Hye-sun met with reporters and explained why she chose the project, saying, “I chose it because I was curious about the ending.” What, then, is Sara Kim's true identity? Who is the person who died beneath that storm drain, and who is the culprit who caused the death? As it becomes harder to look away with each episode, I recommend setting aside time and comfortably binge-watching it.