Hello dear readers! I am back to talk about tvN’s latest weekend drama offering Law and The City that just ended its run about a fortnight ago, also streaming on Disney+’s platform. At first sight, the premise sounds pretty mundane – about five friends navigating life in a legal industry setting. But after the overwhelming success of Hospital Playlist in 2020 and 2021 (disclaimer: the dramas are not related, just similar in premise), I can see why kdramaland is bringing back a story of this nature since it was such a hit back then. The scriptwriter Lee Seung-hyun also happens to be an actual practicing lawyer in real life, and that is a win for me considering how much I’d enjoyed Good Partner, whereby writer-nim Choi Yu-na is also a real-life divorce attorney. The director Park Seung-woo had also worked with actor Lee Jong-suk back in 2016 for W: Two Worlds and this is his first outing in a drama of this genre (his more recent works were Adamas and Kairos).

I am also more appreciative of the fact that kdramas nowadays have a lower total episode count, i.e. 12 twelve as compared to the usual 16 or 20 episodes like in its heydays because I feel that it gives our drama gods the right time and space to be concise and showing ‘just enough’. This reduces the chance for fillers or unnecessary scenes that could possibly make or break the watching experience. But perhaps the overall shorter dramas also have something to do with the filming schedule, or the filming duration is almost the same as it was in the past but more scenes are being cut out or edited to fit the accorded screen-time, I’m not really sure how it works in South Korea though. At the same time, I do acknowledge that as drama fans sometimes when you are watching something and while being very in the moment you may tend to ask for more or want more. This time round, Law and The City did not have the 1.5hour episode lengths like in Hospital Playlist but I did find myself hoping to see more of the group’s interactions as a quintet. As the drama progressed, I guess there was lesser screentime for lunch gatherings as the focus shifted towards the individual characters’ development arcs and legal cases of the day. Not that it was a bad thing, I do like a bunch of well-written characters charting a fruitful journey of growth and learning; just that the group meetings were mostly when all the hijinks happened and they were each able to show a more personal side of themselves. Overall, I enjoyed the realistic portrayals of the various case scenarios as well as characters. To me, that was what the drama did its best at – showing the reality of the world we live in and it isn’t always black or white. Your perspective will change depending on the position you are in, or in the case of our 5 attorneys fighting to get the best outcome for the particular client they are defending.

Now it’s time to spotlight our five main characters as individual persons before I move on to the group, followed by some supporting characters and arcs. First up would be our leading man Lee Jong-suk, starring as senior associate Ahn Ju-hyeong in Kyungmin Law Firm. This is the actor’s long-awaited drama comeback after 3 years – his last project on the small screen was 2022’s Big Mouth. His co-star Ryu Hye-young, who played lawyer Bae Mun-jeong teased during an interview with Viki that one charm of the drama is that you could meet actor Lee Jong-suk, and that viewers could only meet him in kdramas, LOL 😆 I wouldn’t say that I am his biggest fan but I’m pretty sure it is a pleasure for many to see him on screen.

Ju-hyeong is unlike any other character that Lee Jong-suk has played in the past, so I think you could see a new side of him here. Through his matter-of-fact and rather emotionless portrayal, it makes sense that after staying 9 years in the firm and legal industry Ju-hyeong is quite jaded about his job as I see it. To him, work is just doing what his boss asks him to do and going through the motions – basically work is work. As such, he chooses to emotionally detach from his clients and their sometimes unfortunate circumstances and plights. On the flipside, I noticed quite early on that he is professional and doesn’t take things personally. This was evident in the eviction lawsuit where Ju-hyeong acted as attorney for the bank side. He acknowledged that the opposing side client just did whatever he needed to do and it was nothing personal. Through this case, we also had a look at where his longer working experience translated to the ability to look at issues a few steps ahead – in what banks would do if more people were not required to repay their housing debts owed. It begs the question between the outcome of one case, one client and its related long-term effects on public interest.

It also appears that Ju-hyeong has no intentions of climbing the corporate ladder despite almost a decade on the job – he seems contented to maintain his current position as associate. This is also understandable – after some time working in the same place I guess it is more or less inevitable that you come to appreciate the stability that the said job offers. Or perhaps it is just a matter of getting accustomed to things and at the same time allows him to stay in his comfort zone. Things start to change when he has to act as the lawyer for a divorce case of the husband who has allegedly been abusive – and to make matters worse, the wife claiming to be abused is Park Su-jeong (Lee Yoo-young) who happens to be Ju-hyeong’s ex-girlfriend. Initially, he’d tried his utmost to not be the solicitor in-charge of the case, even going to his colleague Mun-jeong (Ryu Hye-young) to ask for a swop but it didn’t work out as the client Mr Cha specifically asked for him to be on the case. It was obvious that Ju-hyeong was bothered and clearly affected in both the personal and moral sense, but professional boundaries had restricted him. This further escalated during the claims case between an insurance company and their ex-employee, and it was then that Ju-hyeong became hyper-aware of the fact that his boss CEO Na’s (Park Hyung-soo) firm’s values and his own didn’t really align. For a while, Ju-hyeong was going through a phase of self-reflection and possibly some influence from his four friends, which I will elaborate more on later.

As someone who is pretty unfamiliar with Mun Ka-young, I’ll consider her outing as newbie lawyer Kang Hui-ji my first time seeing her in a lead role. While watching Law & The City, I briefly recalled that she was in sageuk Live Up To Your Name as Dongmakgae which was like 8 years ago… I do think the actress’ portrayal of Hui-ji was quite genuine and true to life for someone who is new to the industry and just starting out. To a certain extent, as a newcomer you would have the tendency to have an idealistic view of things on the job and I guess being a lawyer does give one some empowerment to use your expertise to help others. From taking the time as well as effort to greet everyone around the office building, and even being kind to the security guard, Hui-ji is very passionate and more than willing to extend a helping hand to anyone in need. The downside is that she initially doesn’t realise that there are limitations to her job and because you want to do everything possible, it’s easy to become emotional when things are not as simple as you’d thought or seen in your own mindset. Hui-ji is a stark contrast to Ju-hyeong, so from the get-go viewers were getting insights into two opposite ends of the spectrum. I thought that was really interesting and well done by the show.

There is no doubt that Hui-ji hits a rock in her new career in doubly quick time, granted that she’s only going into the job with legal knowledge, passion and lots of emotion. The assets seizure case turned out to be a whole other drama of its own, and for Hui-ji it was definitely a lot to take in. And it was evident that while Hui-ji was still upset trying to process everything that went down, the four others especially Ju-hyeong felt that she didn’t need to feel so affected since it was nothing new. Her boss CEO Kang also wasn’t too supportive of Hui-ji taking on cases pro-bono, but she did it anyway to unofficially help client Jang Hyeon-seok (Jeon Suk-chan) out of goodwill and ended up clashing with Ju-hyeong’s client. As the drama progresses, Hui-ji takes on a good variety of cases and she slowly realises that things may not be as clear-cut as they seem initially – for instance the theft case outside the convenience store was one. If Hui-ji were to be highly empathetic towards all the clients she meets, it would eventually take a toll on her.

Given that she was so invested in her cases even with the average clientele, it only worsened when things became personal – her adoptive father was arrested by the police. In a bid to protect Hui-ji, her foster parents did not want her on the case so she sought Ju-hyeong’s help. The whole story arc on how the five friends worked together to get to the bottom of the truth was really heartening to see. After all, teamwork makes the dream work 😉 Having more than one or two minds on a case also helps everyone including the parties involved consider varying angles and possibilities on the issue at hand. I would say Hui-ji learnt that working as a lawyer was probably not what she has envisioned in law school and it was equally important to consider the differing viewpoints and contexts apart from feelings. In the same way, it also amplified her desire to help others and hear each of them out. I’m not sure I have the patience to listen to so many unfair, sob stories people have about their respective lives so I find it admirable and am encouraged by the fact that there could be many like Hui-ji in the world we live in.

Ryu Hye-young is such a girl crush – not only is she witty in real life, her portrayal of Bae Mun-jeong made her character so likeable. Mun-jeong is such a lovely person – so warm, welcoming and positive. She sees the good in the people around her, and tends to be the “ice-breaker” in awkward or tense situations. It is a very fortunate thing to have someone like Mun-jeong as your friend – she has your back no matter what. Even if her own situation isn’t so ideal, she is considerate and I absolutely loved the fact that she works in the same office as Ju-hyeong. They have a friendly yet sparkly chemistry as colleagues and as friends – not to mention that Mun-jeong’s husband Kim Ji-seok (Yun Kyun-sang) is Ju-hyeong’s good friend from his school days. Well, there might have been too many coincidences at once but I’ll roll with it for the show’s sake.

Mun-jeong embarks on a life journey of her own – apart from being the “people person” and main ‘coordinator’ of the quintet (purely my personal opinion), she has to navigate social and workplace pressures upon finding out that she’s a few weeks pregnant. It’s such a big thing, and thus totally understandable when she suddenly has an endless amount of concerns in her head, coupled with feelings of being at a loss and possibly some confusion about how she could maintain her job with the new life that was growing inside of her. Thankfully, she’s got a supportive group of friends AND most importantly, husband in Ji-seok that in some ways, helped her tide through this difficult time (I’ll write a bit more about Ji-seok in another section below).

I am really glad that the pregnancy was a stepping stone as well as opportunity for Mun-jeong to sit back and really think about what she wanted career-wise and at the same time have an all-rounded and fulfilling family life. It’s all very real – being a first-time parent she wonders whether she would do a good job as a mother, and contemplates switching to being an in-house counsel. This means a less tiring work environment as you wouldn’t be required to do ‘field work’ out of the office, which could be better for the sake of her baby. Through these experiences, Mun-jeong figures out what she truly enjoys doing: litigation work which includes going out to fact check and prepare her statements for the court, rather than being restricted to a 9-to-5 desk job drafting memos and just typing away at the computer. I love her ❤️

Next up we have Im Sung-jae, who plays lawyer Ha Sang-gi and works at the sixth floor office of the building. I would say that Sang-gi is the most introverted out of the five friends, personality wise. That was partly why Sang-gi was silent the whole time when the article about a certain lawyer with the same surname being the eldest son of conglomerate Hanguk Group working at a Seocho-dong law firm blew up. Everyone thought the person the news referred to was him, but Sang-gi chose not to say anything. When his boss CEO Kim and ex-boss asked, he also didn’t bother to elaborate further. Not even to his four friends – to me it wouldn’t matter as much if you are being judged by strangers or people who don’t really care about you but it would be extra hurtful if these individuals are ones you care deeply about. I think that was very telling of Sang-gi’s maturity and sensibility when it came to handling this issue. Not everyone would think like him, and ultimately his response was also considerate and respectful towards the attorney Ha in question. I do think that the trigger point to publish the post on his blog “Lawyer’s Table” (which he had only used to post about food and fun things) was when Sang-gi saw his friends in particular Chang-won (Kang You-seok) and Mun-jeong getting implicated, after reporters camped at his workplace to harass him in wanting to get an exclusive news scoop. Sang-gi is such a good-hearted man, I felt for him when he was misunderstood. 😢

The internship arc was another part of Law & The City where I felt Sang-gi really shone. It wasn’t just his passion for teaching, I do think that his background played a part as well. He couldn’t afford his college fees and had to take breaks to work odd jobs to pool the funds, and could only attend law school with financial support from the school and scholarships. With a soft spot for the interns, he did his best in teaching and guiding them through the internship. A part of it was probably to shower them with the kindness and guidance he’d received as a law student. After the internship ended, they continued to show appreciation by gifting him a pen – the experience probably meant as much to them as it meant to Sang-gi.

What I thought was one of the most impactful cases in the drama was the affair and drunk-driving traffic accident case that Sang-gi was handling. On the surface, it was just a case of claiming for damages but the complexities of the emotions and implications arising from it was sobering. The circumstances were very unfortunate but I thought that Sang-gi was just doing his best for the client – negotiating the best possible outcome for the husband, whose wife became the victim of the claims case because she was in the passenger seat and died instantly as a result of the accident. On the other hand, the surviving wife was unable to give up her dead husband’s inheritance because she wouldn’t be able to survive and feed her two kids without the inheritance. It might have felt iffy to include the children’s names in the statement of claim, but that was the most professional decision Sang-gi had to make in terms of obtaining the highest possible claim amount, and his client had the right to know what the legally best way for him was. It’s a case of just doing what had to be done – the judge asked for a mediation/settlement hearing in a bid to reduce harm but to the clients of both sides, the damage had been done and was irreplaceable; no amount of money or payment was going to help. During the court scene, the anguish on everyone’s faces was clear – you could just imagine the pain of being put in such a position of having to pay money for something you aren’t even responsible for. When the wife said to just let the law take all the assets forcefully from her, it was really ouch 😫 The case featured in this particular episode really made me wonder what the right way forward was, or whether there was even one in such a situation. And whilst all this is happening, you have Ju-hyeong’s client Mr Cha Jeong-ho who does not want to pay a single cent of alimony for divorce after allegedly being abusive to his wife. Really?

Lastly but definitely not the least, this section will be about the role of lawyer Cho Chang-won played by Kang You-seok. The actor has a charisma that he imbues Chang-won with, and despite always putting on a strong front, Chang-won actually has a lot of insecurities inside. He has never wanted to be associated with his family’s business, though his father has been wanting him to go and work with him. I guess he has always wanted to prove his own capabilities and self-worth, perhaps not to others but more to himself. It’s worse because his boss is quite under-appreciative of his lawyer abilities, and seems to be only doing things for profit. Being asked to go on regular prison visitations without representing the client is kinda overkill? And CEO Seong (Lee Seo-hwan) even justifies it by saying this visitation task is much easier for Chang-won anyway.. like does taking the easy way out make it right? Jeez. No wonder Chang-won feels like his time is wasted on the job since he’s not doing anything meaningful or anything he likes for that matter. If I were Chang-won, I wouldn’t feel committed doing something like this day in day out either.

Without his friends, I think Chang-won would have an even harder time at work. It’s the same for the others as well, but Chang-won admitted that he doesn’t enjoy the work as an attorney so being with any of the other four would have been a respite for the mundane work that he has to do. The turning point for Chang-won would be handling the case for the poor lady, Do Mi-kyung (starring actress Hwang Jung-min) who got scammed into taking up a loan via voice phishing and got charged by the prosecution for being an accomplice. It was just unfortunate as I think people tend to make the wrong decisions out of desperation. Although it does not justify their actions, I do think the intent and circumstances matter. In his defense, Chang-won claimed innocence for his client but at the final verdict she was still found guilty sentenced to a 10 million won fine. It’s relatively light in the grand scheme of things but obviously she wouldn’t be able to pay it and thus has to work it off by doing community work in prison. Gosh, I felt so bad for her so I understood Chang-won’s urge of wanting to pay it off on her behalf. It would be a hard pill to swallow for him too given that he was not able to achieve the most ideal outcome for his client’s situation. It led on to the next bullying/attempted murder case where he felt that pleading guilty and arguing for a sentence reduction would be better as opposed to claiming innocence and risking a heavier sentence. It was interesting to see this play out in different contexts – in Do Mi-kyung’s case, she did not have the intention to abet fraud, however in Moon Chan-yeong’s case he said that he had bad intentions to hurt the bully as he’d gotten tired of trying so hard to run away from it.

With the whole series of unfortunate cases that came Chang-won’s way, it was more troubling when the client he’d visited in prison Jang Su-gil (Kim Tae-jung) was released. He also had to defend a perpetrator of school bullying, thanks to CEO Seong. All of these factors deepened his resolve to quit being a lawyer and become a prosecutor instead – I was just glad he didn’t have to work under CEO Seong anymore, such a waste of talent.

Certainly, how could I not talk about our OT5? Probably one of the greatest things about the show. Sorry, I know Ju-hyeong is cut off in the picture but you all get the drift. From the meal scenes and gatherings, I could just tell how much all the actors enjoyed the filming process. The close-ups of the food, boiling stews, and etc was also a great way to promote Korean culture in my opinion (not that their local food needed more promotion, but I liked the way this made the drama uniquely set in South Korea, you wouldn’t have it the same elsewhere). It was heartwarming to see all of them rally together and help one another during respective difficult times: when Mun-jeong was undergoing a stressful slump at work and they all took turns to send her messages out of concern and Ju-hyeong got her coffee, when Sang-gi had to deal with the false rumours about him and the rest confessed about their recent personal and work issues meaning to say his wasn’t that much of a big deal, when Hui-ji’s dad was imprisoned they all worked overnight to review the documents in preparation of the trial (just to name a few). It’s like no matter what, you’d know that they all have each other’s backs. The individual friendships were precious too – instances include each of them helping out Hui-ji with her different cases, Sang-gi lending a helping hand to clear work for Hui-ji during her dad’s trial period, Ju-hyeong working on cases with Mun-jeong and Hui-ji. One of my personal favourites would be Chang-won and Sang-gi – loved it when Sang-gi brought Chang-won to the gukbap store his mother works part-time at. It was super endearing, since it showed how much Chang-won means to Sang-gi. So precious ❤️

Alright I think this section on the OTP is going to be an unpopular opinion but I’ll say it anyway… while romance was never meant to be the main focus of Law & The City, I was very frankly not quite sold by the love-line and at times it even felt unnecessary. A significant number of scenes, particularly the Hongkong arc where Ju-hyeong and Hui-ji first met in the past as a law student and piano major respectively took up a good amount of screentime. I understand that the drama was trying to go for the nostalgia and reminiscing angle but I also felt that they could very well fall in love in present day since they do spend time both as a group and pair pretty regularly. It would have been believable and natural as well. In the past they also only met briefly, so meeting after a long time has lapsed would mean getting to know each other all over again anyway. Nonetheless, I liked seeing them work together on the club assault case as requested by the law group advisor Kim Hyung-min (Yeom Hye-ran, more on her shortly!) and bond over meals. Ju-hyeong would also plate food for Hui-ji during their group gatherings as well, which was nice.

While planning this post I was still considering left and right whether to mention Yeom Hye-ran’s character, Kim Hyung-min but I decided that she deserves a mention so this section is dedicated to her. The way that the drama introduced Hyung-min felt very suspicious though, lol. It felt like some secret society meeting with the CEOs of the building’s four law firms – I think they were trying to create a mystery angle regarding her possibly hidden agenda or motivations behind pushing for the merger of all the firms at the building she owns. Honestly if the show went the typical kdrama route, this would have been the start of some shady business dealings. But thankfully it wasn’t and befitting of the show’s overall theme – it was just Hyung-min living her dream of starting her own law firm vicariously, without being a lawyer herself. No wonder she was exhilarated after her advisor office was set up and all the signages were replaced to state “Law Group Hyungmin”. We later find out that she was actually a law school graduate but failed to pass the bar, which explains her great interest in joining the interns to learn about the law under Sang-gi. The foundation she owns also offers financial assistance and legal support to youngsters in need, like a charity; I felt bad for doubting her, hah. This supporting arc probably wasn’t intended to be a major plot point, but I appreciated some of the insights we got for the business side of things; like the pros and cons of a merger or a law office versus firm (in terms of scale). We wouldn’t know how much of it was dramatised, however given that the script was penned by a real-life lawyer I think some of it would be a rather accurate reflection of real law firms in South Korea.

Adding on to Mun-jeong’s story I would like to give a shoutout to Ji-seok, starring Yun Kyun-sang. I haven’t seen him in anything much since 2017’s The Rebel, yet it’s hard to forget his very tall frame and after all these years he still looks pretty much the same. Ji-seok was really a role model husband, what a gentleman. He understands Mun-jeong so well, knows exactly what she’s thinking without her saying it out. When Mun-jeong was struggling to break the news of her pregnancy to Ji-seok, he’d rushed down to her office after his phone battery died, worried that he scared her. I would be so touched if I were Mun-jeong. After hearing the great news, he also took the liberty of preparing nutritious meals at home for his wife, personally delivering fruits to her office midday and had nice colleagues at the hospital gifting him baby stuff in preparation of their newborn’s arrival. So many heart eyes 😍 Then it was extra cute when Ji-seok dejectedly asked Mun-jeong how her interview for the in-house counsel job went and was overjoyed upon hearing that she wasn’t going to do it. From the beginning he knows how much Mun-jeong likes her job, but also did not pressure her into making the decision so fast since he was also aware that she was thinking of their baby. Ji-seok is like that silent mountain of support in the background, seeing their couple scenes was very moving and an amazing bonus for me. Much love!

Law and The City proved to be so much more than just a legal drama set in the corporate world – it was a story of navigating life, relationships, friendships, love and dreams; basically everything you could ask for beyond the workplace setting. The show is somewhat like Hospital Playlist but set in a law firm setting and without the band music – the choice of cases featured was also interesting, it was a good look at what lawyers have to deal with; the variety and the angles explored were powerful and effective at telling the stories, sometimes tugging at the heartstrings as well. Though the local television ratings were quite average, there was a steady increase from the pilot to the finale. Notwithstanding that, it just became the fourth most streamed drama on Disney+ platform and ranked third in Korea itself. Quite a feat, isn’t it? 😉 Do try it out if you haven’t!