9.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 South Korean romantic legal drama with 16, 60 minute episodes.

First I will provide a synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Some events in life shape us dramatically. Kim Yu-ri (Lee Se-young) lost her father in a tragic accident as a high school student. The fact that the accident was preventable had the company followed better safety standards made her determined to become a lawyer and focus on improving the safety and work quality for workers in Korea. It becomes her life's mission. She went to high school and college with Kim Jeong-ho (Lee Seung-gi) and they were romantically involved until he discovered that his family was involved in the corruption behind Yu-ri's father's accident. With strong sense of ancestry and responsibility for family actions, Jeong-ho decides that he and Yu-ri cannot be a couple and, with little indication, disappears from her life. Both were star students who became legal geniuses but Yu-ri has since pursued her passion to fight the underdog while Jeong-ho become so disillusioned he retreated to investigating the case in private while managing some buildings he owns. When Yu-ri is encouraged to retire from her current legal position because she is taking on two many money losing cases, she decides to open a cafe where she not only serves coffee but also legal advice. The location she picks just happens to be in a building Jeong-ho owns and the two are reunited. Yu-ri does not understand why Jeong-ho ended their relationship all those years ago and still harbors feeling for him not realizing he also maintains feelings for her. Can the two bring the corrupt perpetrators to justice? Will the cafe be successful in helping those who desperately need it and sustain Yu-ri enough she can afford to maintain it? Can Yu-ri convince Jeong-ho that the tragedy is not his fault?

Review

The cases were interesting and the friendships and romances were heart warming. It is a very good legal drama and I recommend it for anyone that likes romantic legal dramas.

Spoilers* Jeong-ho's reluctance to start a romance with Yu-ri was hard to understand as the series wore on. I understood, at first, the whole sins of my father angle and while that is not so much a thing in American culture I could understand it from what I know of Korean culture. But, with that, you either let it go or pursue it. As is so often the case I felt like he should just tell her what his father had done and let her decide if it was too much for her. I loved her unshakable sense of justice. How she would fight for the underdog even knowing it might cause her hardship. I did not feel the loop on Jeong-ho's father was completely closed. An honest discussion between him and his son explaining why he did some of the things he did might have mended their relationship sooner. I liked that they had reunited in the end. To me it was not in character for Yu-ri to be so reluctant to marry. Those that are reluctant usually experience bad relationships all around them. But her mother had a good relationship with her father up until his accidental death and then re-married and had a good relationship with her step-father so her fear of commitment did not make sense. It was also a little frustrating to have Jeong-ho come around and she is now the one, in the latter half of the series, who isn't sure if they can be together long term. I loved that it ended with a wedding. I am a fan of the "happily ever after" and I love all the wardrobe and seeing them all dressed up like that. There was just enough after story after the wedding to know what direction their lives were headed without going overboard and restarting the story.

#lawcafe
#Leeseyoung
#Leeseunggi