Started off with a Bang, Ended in Disappointment

I had high hopes for this drama, I really did, for starters I am a fan of Park Min Young and her acting is as always, top tier.

Let me start with what went well:
-Acting. All 3 leads as well as the support characters were strong in their performances. Special shout out to Go Kyung Pyo (Jung Ji Ho), his physical comedy was hilarious, and you can really see his background at Saturday Night Live Korea shine through. He's a natural comedic actor.
-Premise. The story is unique and I liked the thought of an independent woman taking something as traditional as marriage and making a profitable business out of it. I am also a sucker for love triangles so the fact that you have 2 good looking guys that represent her past and present fighting for her attention....perfection to me.
-Queer representation. So this one I'm a little torn about because on one hand I loved the character of Gwang Nam, and his family struggles as well as discrimination he faces in society are real problems. But his sole purpose in this drama was to just be Sang Eun's bestie, which is fine, but I wanted more. **Potential Support Characters Spoilers** And I will never forgive them for not making Gwang Nam and Jung Kwan a thing, especially at the end. We were robbed a mini BL storyline. In my mind, they are end game.

Now here is what did not go so well:
-Plot. The first 8 episodes were solid, I was truly engaged and there was an air of mystery over some of the characters and it was fun to try and guess what would happen next. But then it all fell flat. Literally, fell flat. There wasn't a conflict after episode 8, they could've ended the series at like episode 10.
-The "Second Male Lead" curse. Now I know what you all are going to say, this is standard practice for a K-Drama. But this one really bothered me, don't get me wrong, Kim Jae Young did a great job portraying Kang Hae Jin, but the writers wrote his character like some weak lovesick puppy, or should I say kitten. Normally most second leads are persistent for their love, and get rejected closer to the end. Not this one, thats all I'm going to say before giving away a spoiler. His character could've been stronger.
-Jamie (the cat). What happened to her after episode 9? lol This one is a joke but the cat was such a recurring character to just be forgotten later is funny.
-Antagonists. They were cringe. Like literally cringe. All the way down to their laughs and "intense stares". Wow another group of corporate greedy men who are afraid their "a**hole" behavior will be revealed. Also, out of the 3, only 1 got "justice" and it wasn't even a bad punishment. Unoriginal and uninspiring honestly.
-Gwang Nam's Family. Ok, I'm back to talking about him because he is my favorite character but I could not STAND his family. I also was not a huge fan of how the show "fixed their homophobia". The potential of making Gwang Nam famous....thats it folks, Fame. As soon as the possibility of fame and money came into play they were ok with his queerness. Be so f***ing for real. So we are going to ignore how horrible they treated him the whole series. OK.

In conclusion, "Love in Contract" had its moments. It was cute at times, it was funny at times, it was heartbreaking at times. But if you are looking for something with substance, don't watch this. But if you're bored and like Park Min Young dramas then this is for you.

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