onceiwaskingofspain
Timeless Legal Thriller with a Memorable Cast of Characters and a Top Tier Slow-Burn Romance
Good Things:
• No one is effortlessly good or irredeemably evil. Everyone gets a story that examines their motivations and allows them the chance to grow and change; even the villains. FL's journey is central, but all the leads share the spotlight.
• If you like slow-burns with a focus on daily life domesticity, tsundere!FLs/steadfast!MLs, witty bickering, role reversals, healing from shared trauma, cohabitation, hurt/comfort, a protective ML with an equally protective FL and helplessly devoted longing, it's top tier.
• Parallelism is used to great effect, both as a rhetorical and narrative device to explore the themes of justice, the cycle of revenge, personal vs professional integrity and the limits of the law from different vantage points.
• Unlike most legal thrillers it doesn't involve chaebol/political corruption, genius lawyers or an episodic case-of-the-week format. Instead it's an arching narrative about how the legal system fails to hear the people that it represents and several people in particular who have to live with the consequences.
• It's an excellent example of the cross-genre complex plots that were hallmarks of Kdrama in the mid-2010s and have been dumbed down ever since: all the niggling details have a purpose and it sticks it's landing at the end. There's also a balanced mix of comedy/tragedy/plot/romance so no one aspect becomes overwhelming.
Either-Or Things
• The age gap. ML is 18/19, FL is 26/27 (int'l). May be deal-breaker for some, though it's more of a 'I would set myself on fire to keep you warm' romance than an overtly sexy one.
Bad Things:
• The cinematography. It has a simple style and high frame rate that looks plain compared to modern Kdramas.
• The pacing. It received a two-episode extension due to high ratings, so the story stretches EP14-18.
Interesting Things:
• Lee Bo Young won the 2014 Best Actress Baeksang for her role as FL.
• The story is loosely based on the fairytale 'The Happy Prince' by Oscar Wilde.
Recommended if you enjoy slow-burn romances with domestic/daily life relationships, idealistic legal dramas, anti-revenge revenge cycles and sweeping, panoramic stories.
• No one is effortlessly good or irredeemably evil. Everyone gets a story that examines their motivations and allows them the chance to grow and change; even the villains. FL's journey is central, but all the leads share the spotlight.
• If you like slow-burns with a focus on daily life domesticity, tsundere!FLs/steadfast!MLs, witty bickering, role reversals, healing from shared trauma, cohabitation, hurt/comfort, a protective ML with an equally protective FL and helplessly devoted longing, it's top tier.
• Parallelism is used to great effect, both as a rhetorical and narrative device to explore the themes of justice, the cycle of revenge, personal vs professional integrity and the limits of the law from different vantage points.
• Unlike most legal thrillers it doesn't involve chaebol/political corruption, genius lawyers or an episodic case-of-the-week format. Instead it's an arching narrative about how the legal system fails to hear the people that it represents and several people in particular who have to live with the consequences.
• It's an excellent example of the cross-genre complex plots that were hallmarks of Kdrama in the mid-2010s and have been dumbed down ever since: all the niggling details have a purpose and it sticks it's landing at the end. There's also a balanced mix of comedy/tragedy/plot/romance so no one aspect becomes overwhelming.
Either-Or Things
• The age gap. ML is 18/19, FL is 26/27 (int'l). May be deal-breaker for some, though it's more of a 'I would set myself on fire to keep you warm' romance than an overtly sexy one.
Bad Things:
• The cinematography. It has a simple style and high frame rate that looks plain compared to modern Kdramas.
• The pacing. It received a two-episode extension due to high ratings, so the story stretches EP14-18.
Interesting Things:
• Lee Bo Young won the 2014 Best Actress Baeksang for her role as FL.
• The story is loosely based on the fairytale 'The Happy Prince' by Oscar Wilde.
Recommended if you enjoy slow-burn romances with domestic/daily life relationships, idealistic legal dramas, anti-revenge revenge cycles and sweeping, panoramic stories.
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