Salon de Holmes: Episode 1 (First Impressions) » Dramabeans

KDramaHQ AdminJune 19, 2025

Salon de Holmes: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by mistyisles

Salon de Holmes kicks off with a plucky, mystery-loving heroine, a mystery rolled up in a crisis that requires quick thinking and de-escalation skills, and a whole crew of ajummas ready to help save the day. They may not be your typical investigation team, but that won’t stop them from putting their heads together and cracking whatever case comes their way.

EPISODE 1

This first episode of Salon de Holmes is mostly setup, but it gives us an idea of the wacky antics, women-led sleuthing, and colorful personalities we can expect in the coming episodes. The story begins on moving day for our heroine, GONG MI-RI (Lee Shi-young), as she and her family move out of their rented apartment and into one they own. This is an absolute dream come true for Mi-ri, and nothing can knock her rose-colored glasses off her proverbial face. The new neighbors are friendly (they’re gossiping mercilessly behind their smiles), the parking lot is spacious (a man barely squeezes out of his car), and the weather is perfect (storm clouds gather overhead). Mi-ri hustles the moving crew along, keeping her sunny smile firmly in place even as she haggles for a discount because her table and dishes sustained a few bumps and cracks during the trip across town.

But then… the in-laws descend. Mi-ri’s husband has three sisters, and all of them — plus his mother — snipe at Mi-ri from the moment they cross the threshold. Her husband does defend her (feebly), but his mother and sisters continue to criticize every decision Mi-ri has ever made until she’s quietly pulverizing crab meat into paste and fantasizing about spraying them all with a fire extinguisher. So much for her perfect day.

But things are about to get even worse, because when Mi-ri excuses herself to grab some last-minute groceries at the neighborhood supermarket, she finds herself caught up in an active hostage situation. A woman name CHOI HYANG-HEE (Kim Geum-soon) marches into the supermarket with a loaded gun and orders all the men to leave and the women to stay put. Her husband, it seems, is having an affair with someone in this building, and Hyang-hee demands the mistress identify herself.

As for the cheating husband, he’s here too — the only man who didn’t heed the order to clear out. He tries to talk Hyang-hee down, but only makes things worse for himself and everyone else by trying to claim Hyang-hee is out of her mind and imagined the whole affair. Ex-cop CHOO KYUNG-JA (Jung Young-joo) has to knock him to the floor with a loaf of bread to save him from being shot, which only serves to agitate Hyang-hee more, and that’s when Mi-ri speaks up. Reasoning that it’s better to identify the mistress first and then kill the unfaithful man, she offers to help solve the mystery right here and now.

Hyang-hee agrees, reluctantly, so Mi-ri starts narrowing down suspects in a scene that’s a weird (but wildly entertaining) mixture of Sherlock Holmes-esque deduction and chaotic happenstance. Mi-ri fields a call from her impatient in-laws, who won’t let her speak long enough to drop effective hints that she’s in danger. The police surround the building, interrupting the “investigation” and upsetting Hyang-hee all over again, so Kyung-ja pushes a huge refrigerator in front of the door to buy Mi-ri more time. Meanwhile, the other women take Hyang-hee’s side against her husband (he abandoned their son at an amusement park to sneak off with his mistress, and the kid wound up horribly injured in an accident!), which means the whole crowd fluctuates between shouting support for her and pleading with her not to kill them.

Finally, Mi-ri points to one of the supermarket employees and starts listing out evidence that she’s the culprit. Delivery driver PARK SO-HEE (Dasom) corroborates Mi-ri’s observations (namely a particular scent of shampoo) that suggest the cheaters spent the night at a local hotel, and Mi-ri finds miniscule hints in their social media posts that indicate they’ve been celebrating each other’s birthdays with expensive gifts. Mi-ri saves her strongest evidence for last: she saw them exchanging secret smiles and messages in this very supermarket just before Hyang-hee stormed in.

Knowing they’ve been caught, the pair beg Hyang-hee for forgiveness. The police finally converge, just in time to stop Hyang-hee from murdering them both, and then have to stop her from killing herself out of shame for making her son grow up with a criminal for a mother. But, in the end, everyone makes it out alive, and the women urge Hyang-hee to keep her chin up. Rival supermarket owner JEON JI-HYUN (Nam Ki-ae) even swipes the cheating husband’s phone and transfers all his money to Hyang-hee’s account so she can afford a fresh start.

By now, the whole neighborhood has been informed about the situation, and Mi-ri’s husband, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law all swarm her with hugs and — believe it or not — praise. But a much sadder news report about a kidnapping and murder distresses Mi-ri so much that she retreats to her room to pore over photos of her high school best friend. (Do I smell a tragic backstory?)

Later, Mi-ri crosses paths with some of the other ladies from the supermarket, and they all agree they make quite the investigative team. They’ve got an amateur detective (Mi-ri), a strongwoman with police experience (Kyung-ja, who’s also married to an active cop), an ace negotiator with connections galore (Ji-hyun), and an information gatherer extraordinaire (So-hee). The Ajumma Avengers — A.K.A. Zoom-vengers for short — are ready to tackle their next case!

Overall, the tone of Salon de Holmes is a tad over-the-top for my taste, but it was a fun episode and the hour just flew by. The Zoom-vengers make for a fabulous team, and the premise leaves lots of room for both exploring their personal lives and cranking up the hijinks as they protect their community from threats both small and large.