Okay, I liked this drama. I honestly did. It's not exactly different from other dramas, it doesn't really bring anything new, but it's enjoyable and just overall a nice watch. However, there was one thing which was constantly grating on my nerves, and that was the character of Na Doo Rim. She was fine in the first half, relatable, kinda quirky, all that cliched stuff that you'd expect. I honestly liked the way the relationship developed in the beginning, and even though it's pretty by the mold and cookie cutter, I wasn't mad at it. However...what infuriated me was the way she acted after they had "broken up". It was the typical "I like you but I have to pretent I don't because we can't be together" which always, always gets on my nerves, but honestly, what was keeping her from simply being honest with him, and maybe apologizing? She didn't apologize to him, not even once, for what she did, and instead was at times really nasty to him, for no reason whatsoever. It is probably the way her character needed to behave so that the drama and the tension would last longer, but that doesn't mean it wasn't annoying. Also, it's not like Kang Ju is blameless in this - he keeps basically stalking her and annoying her and is being really petty and childish. I get it, you're hurt, but please, do try to keep some of your dignity.
In the end, the reason why she left was just complete bogus. Again, the drama simply needed to be longer, so they had her leave for stupid, dumb, very dumb reasons. And the way she did it, too. Just infuriated me. And can we talk about how she literally kept his son from him for, like, several YEARS? I mean, if he hadn't looked for her, he would never get to know his own son, or even realize he existed. When he finally found her, her grandmother was like, thank you for finding Doo Rim, and I was like, shouldn't she have gone to HIM? Because unlike him, she knew where he'd been all this time, and was content to just stare longingly at the sky, because....why? WHY CAN'T YOU BE TOGETHER AT THIS POINT? YOU CAN!!!! THERE IS NOTHING AND NOBODY IN YOUR WAY!!!! NA DOO RIM! WHAT THE FRICK!?

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Refreshing

Maybe I've been watching way too many historical dramas about kings in disguise and ladies in disguise who are smart and read books and stuff, but I found this drama a genuine breath of fresh air. It is very fast-paced and there is virtually no romance and the main leads are generally likeable and they have a dog so it's all great. In all seriousness though, there are many tropes that are so often found in law dramas - the heroine is a petite boss lady who beats up gangs of cartoonish villains in her spare time and there is revenge for dead fathers and dead mothers and good always prevails against insurmountable odds - long story short, it's cliché-studded. It's almost a miracle that among all that there is a moving story with two-dimensional villans and a friendship and some truly profound moments, and yet here they are.
The ending is stupidly rushed, that's true. I took half a star away for that.

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The thing about this drama is that it's sligtly...imbalanced. It deals with a serious subject - sexual abuse cases - in a way that could almost be called lighthearted. Not that the two can't go together, even the most serious of stories, perhaps especially those, need moments of levity to balance things out. However, the main issue of this drama is not that there is a silly moment here and there, but the lack of consequences. That is a thing that can be seen all througout the drama; characters (read: Ma Yi Dum) make mistakes and then they bounce back the same as before, not having learned a thing. Ma Yi Dum for example silently witnesses the sexual harassment of somebody and speaks out only when it becomes advantageous to her to do so. Certainly, she does undergo a certain amout of character development over the course of the drama, but it seems...like it does not come organically. She is never truly forced to examine her own actions, admit that she was wrong about something, she is never actually pushed to reevaluate her priorities or her morals.
I see a lot of people here complaining about her character, that she is a horrible person and a horrible character. In my opinion, only one of these is true. She truly isn't a good person, especially towards the beginning. But I don't see a problem with that by itself. Just because she's the lead in a drama doesn't mean that she has to be a good person, she simply needs to be a good character. She can have questionable morals and make questionable decisions, there is not a problem with that. However, the problem is that in the context of this drama, she is rewarded for that sort of behaviour. Her superior scolds her, but she makes nothing of it. She loses her job, but gets it back eventually, and she is the same as ever. She waltzes in at the end of every episode with crucial evidence, she is always, in the end, the winner. And that is a problem. In my opinion, what this drama should have done was to feed Ma Yi Dum a nice big slice of humble pie, and that would have been enough.
The plot is not original (isn't it though?), everything is kind of fleeting, but I liked the cases, I liked that the drama didn't try to make some big political statement, i liked the chemistry between the two main leads, I even liked the storyline about Ma Yi Dum's mother, I actually even kind of liked the main villain. There is a lot to like about the drama, in short. Maybe give it a shot?

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This drama is honestly infuriating. I can guess where the creators were trying to take it, unfortunately it just falls short. The best way I can think of to describe this drama is 'agenda driven'. The message the show is trying to convey is too heavy-handed, and it doesn't feel natural.
First of all, what I noticed right from the start is that the show deals too much with cases concerning sexual assault and harassment. It gets very, very repetitive and the motiff of harrassment is also brought up outside of the courtoom. Not only does it seem like every other case they deal with concerns sexual misconduct, the very first scene of the first episode is the main heroine confronting a groper on the subway. One of the earlier episodes has a scene where a female court employee is harrassed by a group of men late at night. The main protagonist, portrayed by Go Ara, has also been the victim of sexual harassment in the past, not just once, but twice. The fact that sexual misconduct seems to be a heavy focus of the show really gets tiring, especially considering the fact that the show takes a very biased approach. They seem to portray this problematic matter in a very one-sided manner, that seems extremely condescending not only to the victims, because they are allways shown as weak, frail and unable to stand up for themselves, but also for us as viewers. Go Ara's characters takes these cases very personally, and is eventually able to draw the male protagoninsts onto her side, and none of them seem to take a level-headed approach. The show seems hell-bent on portraying all men as sexual predators, and every woman as a poor victim, oppresed both by society and the men around her.
Go Ara's character is very nosy, can't seem to mind her own business and is extremely emotionally invested in the wellbeing of every single one of her female co-workers. She seems to think that they all need her help, speaks of them as "weak" and "underprivileged" and this behaviour, while it may seem like the right thing to do at first, is extremely condescending. Im Ba Reun is completely unable to confront her on any of her foolish ideas, and just goes along with them, even though he should know better. He never scolds her for being too emotionally invested, and for this extreme hero complex of hers.
In conclusion, this show clearly has an agenda, and it's making it almost unwatchable for me. However, when it takes a break from that and takes a more light-hearted approach, when it deals with cases of different nature (not concerning sexual misconduct) then it becomes very enjoyable. I'm just not sure whether the good parts weigh out the bad parts. I most certainly do not recommend it. If you're looking for a great court drama, I suggest Remember with Yoo Seung Ho. That one is much, much better.

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WE DO WHAT WE WANT AROUND HERE

This show could be best summed up like this: if the plot needs it to happen, it happens. A detective who cannot grasp that a person can't be accused of murder without evidence. A prosecutor who acts like a thirteen year old girl because it a part of his disguise. I can only assume that he's trying to fool the audience. Hacking hackers who hack. How? Doesn't matter! They have computers and phones that can turn electricity on and off, isn't it cool?
All the characters seem to able to sniff out important events like bloodhounds - they are drawn to any place where the plot is happening, even if it doesn't make any sense for them to be there. Horrible dialogue that makes you laugh.
"Who are you?"
"Somebody who catches bad guys like you."
Don't waste your time. It's not worth it - maybe watch paint dry instead. It's bound to be less infuriating.

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Messy Romance Alert

Don't watch if you don't like love triangles, confusing romance, or romance-driven stories. This drama indeed has all of the above. The majority of the plot is focused on the two male leads tugging at the woman between them, and everything is set up so that the annoying tug-of-war lasts as long as possible. It's not uninteresting, but these types of stories require a more romantic soul to enjoy them, I suppose. Somebody with a lot more patience, who can watch the female lead running from one man's arms into the embrace of the other, while both of the male leads proclaim to anybody who'd listen their desire to "protect her".
I watched it mainly to drool over Lee Soo Hyuk, but even that wasn't enough in the end.

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Boring ML and obnoxious FL

I thought I'd give it a go but the first episode just couldn't keep my attention. Nothing about the story or the male lead made me want to keep watching. The FL, on the other hand, was obnoxious and annoying. I get that she's going through something, but with every word that came out of her mouth my desire to strangle her just kept rising. On top of that, the ML was basically a wet rag come to life, who didn't stand up for himself no matter how nasty she was to him. Say what you want but her shoving her feet on her lap for him to put her socks on like a spoiled princess while she's staring into her phone is not a great basis for a relationship. I'm sure she gets better and the writers would have certainly made sure to give her a tragic enough backstory for us all to pity her later on, but getting through that episode was - for all those reasons - an impossible task for me. The 8,0 rating this show has has convinced me that this site has lost its mind.

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