Strangers Again (2023)

A wasted premise

[UPDATED] As a Jang Seung-jo fan, I was desperate for "Strangers Again" to work. I ignored all the misfires and the lapses in logic and stayed with it until the 12th episode. But when the ending rolled in, I realized that there was a basic flaw in the character development of the leads.

I don't mind flawed characters. I especially love flawed characters who grow stronger in the broken places. The male lead started out well enough as a divorced divorce lawyer whose life is a mess. His ex-wife is also a divorce lawyer who seems to have come out feistier and richer. All the ironies were in place.

But no, after laying a solid foundation for what could have been a smart commentary on life, love and career, "Strangers Again" proceeds to self-destruct.

Jang Seung-jo's Eun-beom is so badly drawn, I suspect he was written as a plot device for Ha-ra's journey. His characterization is utterly illogical: a formidable intellect in court, he doesn't make sense in everyday life. He loves Ha-ra but concocts a hare-brained scheme to break-up his marriage, sets up his ex with his best friend so he stops paying alimony, never told her about his childhood traumas while she was his wife, and turns out to be a serial relationship killer. His redemption is a short footnote in the last episode via a Google search and a trip to the therapist's office. The writer was not interested in his evolution – only the havoc he creates.

Kang So-ra's character Ha-ra is better fleshed-out and is obviously the real center of the series: she may be cut-throat in court but she's not unscrupulous, she genuinely wants to help her clients, and in turn learns life's valuable lessons from them. She not only gets the best lines in terms of self-discovery, she also gets the best meltdowns.

The second leads' story trajectory is hands down the better romance in this series. From irritating characters, the liberated noona and the political conservative blossom into relatable characters as they learn to own up to their mistakes, communicate, and compromise.

Hyperrealism is no excuse for bad storytelling. I want characters with depth whose motivations are well-established. I want a plot that makes sense, even if it is imitating life.

Law practice, love, and divorce are potent ingredients that could've given us an unforgettable series – that's the wasted premise. I was expecting a Matryoshka doll with layers of meanings. Instead I got Barbie and Ken in power suits who are trapped in their own drama.

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Life, love, relationships, and how we handle it.

Again, warning, spoilers.

There are spoilers because it is what this show is about.

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Final warning. Spoilers.

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As the title says, “Strangers Again”, so you shouldn't be surprised what the story is about: break-up.

This is a very rare topic in TV series, after all, who wants to be reminded of their painful memories? Thus, I applaud the entire team for taking on this project even though there is risk it may, or may not, become a success, maybe forgotten after a few months.

However, it is important to note that there are lessons in this story, and here are some of it:

1. Love is not as simple as we assume it to be.

2. People are unique.

3. Relationships are not easy to handle.

4. Yes, break-ups are painful, but how you handle it defines if you are a mature adult.

5. Moving on is not about hating each other, not wanting to see each other's shadows, rather it is about if you can become “Strangers Again”.

Another winning aspect of this show. It is rare to see the Second Leads end up happy and the Main Leads go on their separate ways. In many stories, not only K-dramas but in other countries as well, the title points to one thing then still end up with “they happily live ever after”.

This show? The title is what it is about, “Strangers Again”. Huge plus for me.

If you want to learn something about life, love, relationships, breaking-up, and moving on, then put this show in your list. However, if you are looking for a fantasy, this is not it.

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Takeaway? None.

There were plot holes right from the beginning, but I was stubborn on setting aside my prejudices and waiting it out until the final episode to reach a conclusion on my perspective of the drama. There were moments in between when I was ready to drop it, but since I was almost there I decided to tell myself to not give up and stick through for the final couple of episodes. Don't get me wrong, this is not a crappy drama or anything, but is it a great drama? Is it a must watch? Will I recommend it? Nope.

I don't really feel like there was a takeaway from this drama at all. I don't think every drama needs to have one, but when they don't I would expect that they compensate in some other aspect. The absence of a message could have been overlooked then, but here the lacking was too evident that it left the viewer unsettled. At the end of the drama I found myself questioning whether I wasted 12hrs of my life on nothing. Personally I hope they never get back together because they don't open up to each other. It was ridiculous how they had been in a relationship for so long, even got married AND divorced and yet she didn't know about the sister. Eunbeom is a character who loves to keep things in (even the part where he overheard Hara's and her mom's phonecall and misunderstood it the way he wanted) and would never try to resolve it. This would only create more miscommunication between them and lead to more fights. I am a person who loves open endings. But with this drama the opening ending felt so unsatisfying. I would rather have preferred for them to give us a proper closing with some clarity. Overall, I am disappointed.

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The clue is in the title

Depending on what you are expecting in a romance drama, you might like it or hate it. I enjoyed the series over all. I was a bit frustrated with the ending and felt like there was an opportunity to be a positive impact and that was foregone in exchange for a more realistic take. Let's break down what I enjoyed and what I didn't. Spoilers for 'The Bad'.

The Good:
- The chemistry between the leads is excellent.
- Both the lead characters are great on their own.
- The revelation of the issues they both had as people was quite realistic and eye-opening on how you could be perceived.
- The second couple were great too. Also very realistic because they were complete opposites but they made positive changes in order to be together.
- Realistic issues that are common in real life but not usually depicted in dramas.

The Bad:
- Both the leads had annoying mothers and long-standing issues with them which was resolved ridiculously fast but the main leads couldn't resolve theirs?
- The fact that a misunderstanding led to the problem and it was never discussed. Is that realistic? Yes. But it is frustrating nonetheless.
- The male lead was taking positive steps but they still left it as is.

I wouldn't mind if the show ended with them separating because they were at an impasse but not when there was a misunderstanding that caused the break-up and the male lead was making positive strides in order to overcome his avoidant presonality. It felt like a disservice towards a loving couple.

It's still entertaining. It's a different kind of an ending than the usual. It's watchable if you are willing to have an open mind and accept in not all endings are happy.

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Basic and Borderline Sexist Writing

The story of this drama is literally a lose-lose situation for every character, but in the most sexist way possible? The man is simply excused for any possible wrongdoing he could do. For example, he's a cheater until he reveals he actually didn't cheat and it was because his wife was too scary for him to communicate to. His ending is to start therapy to finally learn communication but he breaks up based on a miscommunication so what is even the point.

Then we have our main character. No woman would want to work with her ex-husband who supposedly cheated on her. That makes sense until the writer keeps making her make all the wrong choices encouraged by her "bitch" friend. She goes through all this effort to find closure, from dating a blind date to getting back with her ex husband. Just for her ex husband to end it with another miscommunication. But this time she is asked to leave the workplace for the sake of her ex husband.

Then you have a character whose name is simply because the writer wanted to make a "bitch" pun, not once but TWICE (even made the character say the joke was so good he should be a writer, way to pat yourself on the back). Her entire character is about men. All she talks about is men. We don't learn anything about her character until she is pregnant and the father of her child explains to the audience that this whole time she was apparently aspiring to open up her own law firm. Heaven forbid we learn that about her character before she slept with a man and got pregnant, right? But it's fine because the father will become a stay at home father while she will become the breadwinner.

There you have it. A workplace drama about how women can't be successful unless they have children. Why else would the main character get fired from her law firm? Her ex husband doesn't want kids so obviously she's the one who has to leave. On the other hand, her friend gets to stay because she's pregnant and will even one day have her own law firm.

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Relationships laid bare with honesty, comedy and a splash of melo

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.

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Really disappointed

I really didn't want to watch it after the union but I still watched it, thinking we might get a decent ending but no it was bad, at this point, I don't even know what was the purpose of this drama. The actors acted so well, but the writer's just too bad at writing.
The music and the actor choices were very well done. I was very impressed with the amount of jokes and they really pulled off. Like hara and Eun beom's acting of when they were apart and together were really good.
I really enjoyed the drama in the beginning but obviously it went down hill but I guess the last episode was the worst. Like I thought broken things which aren't beyond repair, could heal.

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'Realistic, tells that different people have different perspectives about life'

This drama might feel meaningless drama for some people but if you are an adult and see it from our real life perspective then this would be little fun but if you want another drama with full of cheesy dialogues and beautiful dates scenes then no this is not that kind of series. I think this is different from other dramas and represents how different people have different perspectives about life, what hardships partners face in marriage. I would say it is too realistic just like in real life some relationships end with unsaid and unresolved things, just like people sulk in real and don't communicate well or aren't able to express till the end, this series shows same things.
Yes This drama has definitely comedy, adult jokes, romance but still I feel writers could make it more better by giving more details to cases and it could be better if protagonists had atleast communicate their misunderstandings I mean yes it is hard for some people to say what is in their head afterall i am one of them but when the other person created that environment already and asking you directly then its not right to keep things inside and talk in Circles, if one do so then they need to grow as a person.
Now if we talk about leads then female lead is ambitious and family oriented and i would say immature of her age but I'm glad that we witnessed her progess in last episodes while male lead don't understand or like the concept of marriage and thinks marriage is not for him, also don't want to have kids(I felt he is my alter ego , I relate with him the most), he is also flawed character and I'm glad that writers didn't make him believe in marriage or wanting to have kids in the last episodes but this belief is something that changes with time and not overnight or because of some incident. Then We have second main leads where second female lead is feminist and second male lead was conservative or we can say man having patriarchal mindset. I didn't understand their love story or maybe because i wasn't interested much as i didn't want them to end up together because as a person i am highly against such pairs where there are so much thinking differences and the change in second male lead felt unrealistic and i saw no chemistry between them. I didn't understand how bichwi fall in love with him.
this drama shows that Even if we love a person, don't want to breakup or stay away from eachother and miss or despise eachother everyday...regardless of all these things we have to take tough decisions and have to choose our own ways.
Here both leads have different perspectives about life, their personality is different, both of them want to live their life in completely opposite way and in such situation love is not enough. Partners must be good at communicating their feelings, should be able to show their vulnerable sides, should accept eachother flaws and one can't keep themselves priority always you have to be considerate about your partner too,their likes dislikes preference also matters. Here we witnessed how only one person was going through most of the things like doing all the house chores, not getting alone time, not getting proper sleep because other person can't see what you prefer but then it was because he never speak it up and kept on sulking.
I wanted them not to end up together till ep 10 because of their different perspective towards life but still low-key i was hoping them to date again. it somewhere hurts to see them going their own ways but that's how our life is. It's good actually that they didn't end up together otherwise the whole series would have become meaningless... Afterall that's what the series is about, "from lovers to strangers again".

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“What’s a trebuchet?” asks the screenwriter…

“It’s like a medieval catapult only with a fancier French-sounding name and that makes me think it would hurl you much further out to the frigid waters of the East Sea than a regular catapult if you ever bring me a script that has a pedestrian hit by a motor vehicle again,” says the producer.

Yes, “Strangers Again” can’t help itself from using this beaten to death and then cremated and the ashes buried beneath the deepest depths of the ocean terrible trope. Not just once but twice in critical plot junctures near the end of its run, the show reverts to the pedestrian accident to advance the story. It’s a capsulized version of The Issue with the show - lots of the little things work well and there’s some promising ingredients but when it has to set aside the less important storylines and supporting characters, attempts to advance the central story of the drama is an undercooked and awkward mess.

The show is part legal drama set in a smaller firm that mostly handles divorces and custody disputes. Kang So Ra’s Oh Ha Ra is the young star litigator who has a side gig on television. Her ex-husband, Jang Seung Jo’s Goo Eun Beom, has fallen on hard times since their divorce and is dodging landlords and other creditors. Before long, the two are back in the same office and reigniting (or rehashing?) their feelings, both warm and rage-fueled.

Also in the firm are the usual support staff that occasionally appear to have some side-plot about to emerge but it never does. And the co-ceos, the terrific Jeon Bae Soo and fantastic Kil Hae Yeon, were nice additions to the cast but their characters don’t allow them many opportunities to flex their considerable acting prowess. There’s also regular sideplots that last 1-3 episodes. Some thread together with the primary Ha Ra - Eun Beom storyline, others tend to provide no entertainment or other value other than to fill runtime, particularly one with Jeon Bae Soo’s ex-wife, an American and a dog.

Where “Strangers Again” shines is with the secondary couple of Jo Eun Ji’s Bi Chwi and Lee Jae Won’s Si Wook. Both are colleagues in the small firm, but begin as absolute opposites. Bi Chwi is a liberated, opinionated and adventuresome modern woman. Si Wook is buttoned-up and formal. What begins as an inebriated hotel hookup becomes a poignantly realistic portrait of two people who seemingly have no future as a romantic couple that find themselves unable to let go of each other. It’s marvelous work from both the writers that conceived of these multidimensional characters to the actors who bring them to the screen so vividly.

It seems like an entirely different crew was at work, however, with the Ha Ra - Eun Beom main couple. Neither character is coherently written - Eun Beom swings wildly and inexplicably back and forth with his feelings for Ha Ra while she is marketed as the “Goddess of Litigation” but she misfires at her job more than an Imperial Stormtrooper for the entire first half of the drama. The second half almost entirely drops the legal portions of the story for some standard family intergenerational trauma. Meanwhile, with neither a novel narrative nor mesmerizing characters to play, neither lead actor proves capable of rising above the mediocre material given to them. There are short sequences where the two leads are given better scripts so their more comic-sided talents can shine. And these happen often enough to emphatically crystallize what the show could have been with a tighter, more fun-focused script.

Some other minor issues - not strong work from the hair team. Kang So Ra, in particular, did not look like either a well-heeled professional attorney or desirable woman. The wardrobe people consistently put cast in clothing that was several sizes too large. And while there should be merit points for attempting an unconventional ending, it also warrants barbs for botching the execution. The destination it arrives at is a choice (whether it is THE choice a viewer wants or not is up to that individual) but it gets there by meandering through half an episode seeming to set up something much different, then plods through long sequences of unneeded redirects through minor storylines then with a perfunctory exchange, it simply ends.

Overall, it’s not something that can be recommended.

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Love and Hate are two sides of the same coin

I had low expectations going into this. This is not a stereotypical light romantic KDrama. I would consider it an adult comedy, a story about what happens to a couple in the real world after the youth romantic stage of the relationship ends. It is a mature comedy about immature people. The ML and FL were college sweethearts who were together for more than 10 years before the ML supposedly commits the big I (Infidelity) word and they divorce. They end up working together in the same law firm specializing in divorce law. As expected, their testy working relationship is muddled with the emotional baggage of their divorce and how it all went down with his infidelity. At times they reluctantly work together because winning the case trumps their personal grievances, other times the FL is so stirred up for revenge; she takes the opposing side. To make matters even more questionable, the ML sets up his ex-wife on a blind date with his good friend with the intention she may marry and he can get out of paying alimony to her. Expect some comedy, adult like jokes, and conflicting messages between the ML and FL on where they stand with each other and with other romantic interests.

The ML character does not fit into the box of the typical KDrama romantic ML:

- At times he is weak, wimpy, emotionally conflicted, lacks direction and conviction in his life.
- He's no rich chaebol heir, his career is in the crap can, he's broke and desperate to the point it leaves you wondering if he'll join the Squid Game.
- He is a divorcee
- While he is slim and seems fit, he looks to be about middle age (there is nothing wrong with that). He doesn't look like a Kpop idol turned Kdrama star. No pale pink lips and airbrushed flawless youthful dewy skin. He's got bags under his eyes and he looks real for his part. In the episodes so far, don't expect scenes of him showing off his chest and six pack abs.

The FL is the opposite of the ML, she's the standard KDrama pretty FL and is at the ascent of her law career. She's a feisty strong willed woman who wants what she wants, so please get the hell out of her way. After two years, the FL is still stunted relationship wise by the divorce and seems to have more trouble getting over the ML compared to the ML with her.

The first episode was so-so, it really picks up by the second episode and I found myself drawn into the relationship of the characters and each divorce case they take on. There's a level of realism they add to the complexity of marriages and human beings, what leads up to their failure, and the aftermath that ensues for everyone involved. There are some pretty good dialog and moments such as the scene between the senior CEO female mentor who gives the FL advice when the FL throws a pity party for herself in her meeting with her mentor. While the story shows the selfishness and not so good sides of the main leads, they do humanize them and you develop a level of compassion for how they got to the point they did in their relationship. I felt conflicted; at times a small part of me wanted them to end up together again or at least want the ML to have some re-ignited passion for the FL instead of his nonchalant manner towards her. Other times I want to slam my fists on the table and shout DAMMIT you guys need to cut this crap out and get the hell out of each other's lives completely.

So far it has defied my expectations, I may update the rating as I watch more episodes.

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Strangers in the Dark

I have a theory about this show. While I never thought that I was watching a garden variety rom com, I laboured under the belief that belying all the absurd coincidences that this was a serious show that had serious things to say about marriage and divorce. Fast forward six weeks later, I question my own judgment wondering what I’d been privy to. I begin by trying to grapple with the question of why for 11.75 episodes nobody ever thinks to go for some kind of relationship counselling. Not a single soul. I wonder if it’s deliberate. Moreover while everyone is decent at diagnosing other people’s problem, they are terrible at perceiving their own hang-ups. Apparently the cult of experts don’t exist in this world where Eun-beom and Ha-ra, two supposed grown-ups stumble around avoiding answers. It may be that hardly anyone reads books anymore but in their world there’s not even an app or a website that people go to for advice. How odd. It’s straight to lawyers and courts we go. Learning takes place accidentally rather than purposefully. And the results speak for themselves.

The people behind this, it occurs to me, aren’t interested in any other solutions except divorce. Except that divorce itself is problematic — a convenient exit strategy for two people who haven’t learnt the art of communication or accommodation. And they never have to because there’s divorce to put an end to everything once things turn sour. A get-out-of-jail card as it were. Because they sidestep the fundamentals, the characters default to the same behaviour over and over again expecting a different result.

Realistic? Perhaps. It’s arguable how realistic the show is. But from the point of view of the audience, frustrating.

So I’m inclined to think that the entire project is a storytelling experiment. Whether in earnest or for laughs — I’m still puzzling over that one. The experiment starts with “what if”. What if we were to tell a story about two divorce lawyers who are divorced from one another working cases in the same firm? It would be a hoot, right? A couple of ex-spouses who haven’t been schooled in the art of relationship, who haven’t even learnt to communicate, handling relationships that have “inevitably” reached their endpoint. The result is sheer chaos. All the wisdom of the ages cast aside for this narcissistic introspective trial and error approach to the most foundational of relationships. As if the present generations will be the first to discover something the previous ones haven’t. Underpinning all of this is a materialistic, consumerist impulse as seen in an ex-wife who hops from lover to lover with impunity leaving her ex-husband lawyer to clean up her messes.

Therefore the entire project only makes sense when I think of it as satire. Again I can only speculate because divorced individuals here are mercilessly mocked. Or it’s just modern “love” marriages that’s under fire. So much heartache could be prevented if people actually opened their mouths and uttered coherent words. For a world of actions so dominated by feelings, the people in it are so poor in articulating them. I am left wondering if the moral of the story might be that a world where human agents are driven by emotions unchecked by discernment only leads to chaos. Feelings of goodwill towards another just aren’t enough for marriage. Indeed feelings aren’t substantial enough of a foundation to build any kind of future on.

As a reviewer of dramas there’s a part of me inclined to think of this entire project as a critique of the romantic comedy popularized by Hollywood first and whose mantle has been picked up by K dramas in the past decade. The genre is waning. Cynicism is on the rise. Building paradise on earth is no longer feasible when narcissism has a grip on the culture. No one is willing to change or feel the need to. That’s the troubling part in all the push and pull.

There’s no happily-ever-after her. For the leads that is. Just a tired cycle of withdrawal, miscommunication and conflict. There’s plenty of baggage. The ending seems to be a logical one amidst all the illogical antics that ends in sabotage. Yet one is left feeling dissatisfied because the two people at the centre of the story don’t really get it until it’s too late. Or do they? That’s left open to individual interpretation. But I repeat. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

There’s nothing progressive about that.

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Let's come up with who can write the worst script for a divorced couple !! *DRUM ROLE*

(JUST WATCH THE FIRST 5 EPISODES AND LEAVE IT, YOU'LL BE HAPPY, THE DRAMA ENDS )




SPOILERS AHEAD :





Imagine as a writer who was struggling you come up with a VOILA idea of a divorced couple! And then suddenly you don't know what to do after the initial start and you fking struggle to finish the story.

Welcome to strangers again!

It's a flawed script at the end of the day, ex meets ex and separates again ??
What's the logic, to f88k up with viewers' minds?
With zero sense?
And they had the audacity to showcase romance in the middle of it which ends up pretty much null and void at the end.
It's a joke.
I have plenty of US and brits series If I wanna watch something so sloppy.


Too bad the acting was so good, even the direction was amazing but the script and the plot development were sh8t and for nothing.

And the side characters were clearly forced, zero chemistry!
Oh god! As much as I liked the MC and FMC's acting, I disliked pretty much everything else in the drama.
Kang So Ra and Jang Seung Jo's acting potential was wasted, everything from the classy direction, the cinematography and the BGM, all for nothing.
I feel like sl99ping this writer right now but anyway !

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