This was more about females being pitted against men, rather than lawyer versus lawyer, and about going beyond the bar of what is acceptable and logical.
Females versus males
It was obvious that boss Kwon Na-yeon (Kim Yeo-jin), lawyer Heo (Jeon Hye-bin) and Kang Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) were written to be outstanding women who operated beyond just holding their own against the men in the company.
Except for Yoon (Lee Jin-wook) and Jin-woo (Lee Hak-joo), and their two supporters, boss Kim (Hong Seo-jun) and lawyer Jung (Lee Jae-woo), every one of the other guys is a joke. The other senior lawyers are either corrupt, lazy or plotting poorly against Yoon and Kwon. Why is it that in a high-profile law firm, no one can come up with a proper manoeuvre? The attempt to get that nervy paralegal to entrap Kwon is incredibly childish and all their other plans are doomed to fail at the point of conception. No way can they compete with the three ladies!
Some of the male perpetrators are downright awful, such as the animal abuser, child abuser and artist who copied.
But no, this wasn’t a feminist sort of show either because there are some unlikeable and questionable women as well, such as Hyo-min’s mum (Yoon Yoo-sun) and Yoon’s ex-wife (Ji Yi-soo).
Heo’s story is at least interesting. Hyo-min is generally unengaging as a main character. She may have been top of her class and all but I don’t know why the others in her newbies group have to be portrayed as clueless, immature and unintelligent. Giving her all the attention and opportunities is too boring.
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| sometimes, the other newbies didn't even seem to have gone to law school |
Cases
Many cases were between the same team from Yullim and Lee & Seo, or the same prosecutors.
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| why are they always up against the ex-boyfriend and his assistant?! |
Conflict of interest was simply glossed over. Hyo-min should not represent her bestie’s sister and later, the schoolmate to whom she owes one. Then, there is Jin-woo representing Yoon in the Hash, with Hyo-min wanting a part in it as well. What is this??
People easily closed both eyes to ethics. For example, the husband assault case is ruled in favour of the wife, who did assault him (how she managed to do it is a mystery!) because everyone is on the wife's side. All the people who handled one part or another in the child assault case is guilty of unethical decisions (why the guy’s family shows no recognition of his crime and is so firmly resolved to fight his case is another mystery!). Sure, we sympathise with the wife and the child and we hate the guys in these cases but this is no excuse to manipulate or steer the cases in what we think is the 'right' way.
Relationships
The only relationship worth investing in is Heo and Jin-woo’s, who were kind of cute in spite of their ages. Nice to see Lee Hak-joo in a substantial role, and being funny and earnest.
Yoon, ex-wife and her new husband (formerly his best friend!) have a weird relationship, to say the least. It was clear that Yoon cared deeply, even though he declared that he didn’t miss her. I don’t know why she couldn’t have brought up her pregnancy to him. He is right to say that she is selfish. She wasn’t really thinking as much about how the child might suffer if born than she was thinking about how hard it would be to have this baby. Indeed, it would have been hard, and he might have wanted to keep the baby, but shouldn’t they at least talk about it? The whole episode was beyond whether to keep the baby; it was about their relationship and because she unilaterally decided and went ahead with the abortion, their marriage couldn’t survive. The cheek she has to say that now, she is ready to have a child. Very, very hurtful. And what kind of offer is this – that Yoon can have Hash if he has a partner or gets married? I also don’t like how she treats her new husband like he’s a child.
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| it wasn't lost on me that they have scenes when they're separated by a physical barrier |
Hyo-min’s mum made the same mistake. She was thinking less about how Hyo-min was being shortchanged than about how tough it was going to be with the twins and practically unilaterally decided to give up Hyo-joo (weakly portrayed by Chae-yeon; no differentiation from Hyo-min). Why couldn’t she and the dad explore options? Then, she did not bother to make amends to Hyo-joo. Instead, it is the daughter who comes seeking to mend the relationship, and why is the dad just going upstairs when she there?! Ajusshi, this is your daughter! Aren’t you going to welcome her and talk to her?
Yoon and Hyo-min being matched by the AI matchmaker was the most ridiculous. It’s rubbish that they’re a perfect match, and how can anyone trust that company run by the lady boss with the most dubious ideas about marriage? Among the few ladies available in the show, Ho-yeon (Lee Joo-yeon) is more suitable for Yoon, though there is that same age gap problem. He needs to care for someone, and she is a magnet for issues and accidents, so he can do lots of protecting and solve all the problems; plus, he loves her twin sisters already.
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| and look, Hyo-min gets the huge table treatment as well! |
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| physical distance even when deliberating the idea of 'love' |
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| go on, be nice to this other girl! 😊 |
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| the girls will love Hash! 😍😍 |
Yoon
Yoon is a worthy main character, with his different aspects handled well by Jin-wook. He is interesting, he has a life outside of his law work, he loves dogs and children. Overall, he turns out to be someone completely different from the Yoon we are introduced to at the start, when he is harsh, dismissive and unkind. In the rest of the show, he is none of these! He is a supportive and understanding boss, I would say probably a nice person to work for. He’s only extremely harsh to abusers of the helpless, who trigger his violent streak. I don’t know how he can just get away with punching the day and night lights out of the child abuser (who also too easily entrusted Yoon with his child) and the animal abuser.
Unanswered questions:
- how was the corrupt boss ousted in the end?
- did Hash come to Singapore?
Ending the show with Yoon in mid-sentence, “Love is…” is silly.
As some elders here would say, “no head, no tail”.
JTBC, 12 episodes
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