This isn’t a romcom, but it does have both relationships /romance and comedy as basic ingredients. It’s something that you need to have some good and bad relationship experience to really accept and appreciate. There are no Cinderella and Prince Charming moments here, it is not love conquers all, let’s get married and live HEA. It’s about messy human beings struggling with self preservation and self awareness.

A constant theme is that life is a mixed bag of good and bad, happy and painful, and that you have to accept and negotiate it. Set in the world of divorce lawyers, it examines the fragility of relationships in the wider context of family and also the compromises to be made in the face of difficulties. In general it doesn’t over-sentimentalise but allows the imperfections full display and counts the cost of them.

The first episode is funny, vicious and finally vulnerable, and it sets the scene for what is to come quite well. Divorce and relationship strife is a lose-lose situation and it brings out the worst as people fight to salvage what they can from the wreck. The stories highlight the pressure from all sides that causes the inevitable hardening of attitudes .

The drama is not profound and doesn’t set out to preach. There is also a healthy dose of compassion along the way. It manages to take on some very difficult themes and work with them, not always entirely convincingly, but with enough sincerity to carry you through.

However, there are some great one liners, and it showcases how humour is always the fallback mode for survival. It periodically utilises some of the darker shades of comedy to keep the mood lighter. Sometimes it flirts with the line of acceptability and credibility but on the whole stays on the right side of it and draws back when necessary to keep the integrity intact.

It’s a difficult balance to strike and I think they did quite a good job initially in meshing it all together but the further in you get, the higher the stakes, and the more it fails to gel properly. The full-on melo in the final episode was not to my taste, ‘cause I’m a less is more sort of gal, but the final outcome was right for the characters imo.

The performances were good but not outstanding. There was some great observation and enough character development to make it interesting and real, but at times the comedy elements did disrupt that and some scenes were not adequately prepared for.

This is the only writing credit on MDL for Park Jin Ri. If it’s a first attempt at being a main scriptwriter then I think this is definitely someone to watch out for in the future. She has the ability to create interesting characters and the insight to give them depth.

Overall I liked this drama, but then I’ve got a whole bunch of life-experience to empathise, smile knowingly and appreciate the ironies. It isn’t brilliant but I think it’s better than average so I was in two minds about the rating. However, in the end I chose the lesser as I couldn't really justify the higher. If you’re into wish fulfilment you won’t find much of that here and I recommend you to flick channels and go for “Crash Course in Romance” instead.

What my rating means: 7+ A watchable drama, but nothing exceptional. Good enough to qualify for the race, but finished with the pack. The sort of thing that promises more than it delivers.