MaryMeKpop

It’s been a busy week for me as I focused all my attention on finale week for ‘Our Blooming Youth.’ This caused poor ‘Taxi Driver 2’ and ‘Joseon Attorney’ to be unfortunately neglected and placed in the back burner and I fell behind in watching these two dramas. But now that ‘Our Blooming Youth’ has finished (the withdrawals are strong and reeeeeeal, people!), I went back to focus on ‘Taxi Driver 2’ and ‘Joseon Attorney.’ And with ‘Taxi Driver 2’ done as well, ‘Joseon Attorney’ will be my primary drama going into this week.

It doesn’t seem as if that will be a hard thing for me to accept and do though as I’m quite enjoying ‘Joseon Attorney.’ It’s a lot darker and grueling than I thought it would be and than how the drama presented itself. There were characters who died and who got hung, but there was a death in episode 5 that was probably the most disturbing, eerie, and terrifying yet. There was lots of blood involved, a weapon, and witnesses along with the murder. I was surprised and shocked at how direct and in-your-face the death was. It even felt a little cinematic at times as if you were watching a psychological thriller or horror movie. This was not what I was expecting going into this drama!

But there were also other things I was not expecting from this drama such as its pace and how fast-paced things are moving along. 6 episodes into the drama and there are already 3 deaths who are all correlated and involved somehow with Han-soo’s parents’ deaths. There’s been pretty much a death per week so I’m curious as to how the drama plans on keeping up the pace or keeping the story busy with the upcoming episodes. At the same time, I appreciate the quick pace. The deaths of the 3 characters just proved that they weren’t all that major or crucial to the story in the first place and that there are more powerful higher-ups who Han-soo should worry about and go after. Though the 3 characters who died had something to do with the death of his parents, they were merely just pawns following the orders of their bosses and higher-ups. It’ll be up to Han-soo to put it all together and get revenge knowing that his enemies are much more powerful than he is. It definitely won’t be easy.

But as intimidating and daunting as it may sound, Han-soo is a determined and confident character whose quite creative and intelligent in his own ways. Combine that with his hilarious teamwork with his best friend Dong-chi as well as with our Princess, Yeon-joo, and they definitely got something going. It was fun to watch Yeon-joo and Han-soo’s relationship develop. After she proposed the idea of working under Han-soo as his assistant, he didn’t give into her so easily and assigned her the task of creating a pouch similar to the one that he kept from his mom. And once again, Yeon-joo won over my heart and proved to me again why she’s my favorite character so far in the drama: she does everything with sincerity and good intentions. She’s not afraid or ashamed to wear her heart on her sleeves. She made her pouch using the sleeve of their client from episodes 3-4 who she assumed probably cried into that sleeve many times before. With the pouch, Yeon-joo hoped to be able to seal people’s tears into there and give them a smile in return. I love and appreciate Yeon-joo’s character so much and she definitely is the bright spot in the drama.

Our second male lead, judge Yoo Ji-sun, also got some more screen time in the most recent episodes. He served as the judge in the case for episodes 3 and 4 and unlike his father, Executive Minister Yoo, Ji-sun is fair and has a sense of justice. He isn’t influenced or affected by power or money and he also doesn’t give into bribes given his powerful position. Ji-sun is also Yeon-joo’s fiancee, but it doesn’t seem as if there’s much love or affection between the two. When they met and interacted in the beginning of episode 5, Yeon-joo reminded him again of why they got married in the first place and why she doesn’t feel anything towards him. She’s cautious and wary of him due to the corrupted figure that is his father and doesn’t seem to trust him. It also doesn’t help that Yeon-joo is slowly falling for Han-soo. The two now work together for their own reasons, but they also have moments where their hearts skip a beat or where they get a little nervous around each other (hehe). The romance is slowly but surely heating up between Yeon-joo and Han-soo and I’m quite liking it.

Some people might not be as impressed with the court scenes given that it’s really our only time where we get to watch Han-soo do his thing as an attorney. And so far, based off of what the drama has showed us, the court scenes aren’t actually all that deep and doesn’t go into as much details as one might think or like. I might be in the minority where I don’t mind the court scenes as much. Though it’s fun to watch Han-soo defend his clients and trick the people he’s going up against in court, I find his outside adventures to be much more interesting and exciting. I think there is a way where you can balance both and devote just as much time into the court scenes as you do with all the other scenes but it doesn’t bother me as much. I like to watch Han-soo mess around with Dong-chi and then get rescued by Yeon-joo during the most crucial and critical moments in his life than watching him in the court (though both are enjoyable). I also thought it was cool how the drama switched things up and offered a refreshing new perspective in episode 6 by having Han-soo defend his client in the village right then and there.

In the most recent episodes, Han-soo also returned to his hometown where he and his family once lived. The drama showed us flashbacks of his family growing up at their house together and the happy, peaceful moments they all shared before tragedy struck. We learned that Han-soo also has a younger sister, but she’s yet to make an appearance in the drama. All we’ve gotten so far are flashbacks of when she and Han-soo were younger and were still together. She got married off which lead to her separation from her family and it’s still to be seen what happened to her or how she grew up.

With the hometown visit, I have to say that episodes 5 and 6 were probably the best episodes so far from the drama. I was honestly pretty impressed with how strong and powerful and impactful the 2 recent episodes were. I was amazed and in awe at how beautiful and heartbreaking and painful and bittersweet the ending to episode 6 was. Both episodes were intense and interesting because we received more information about what happened to Han-soo’s father. But the ending to episode 6 was what made me really appreciate and trust this drama so much more. Han-soo reflected on his relationship with his father and a special memory in particular. It was obvious that the two had a special and healthy bond with each other and that his father was a positive role model in his life (yay to healthy parental relationships!).

I’m always weak for parental and familial stories in dramas so my eyes definitely teared up at the scenes of young Han-soo with his father. My heart also broke when young Eun-soo bid farewell with young Han-soo and Dong-chi (these child actors are so talented I swear!!). I also wanted to cry when present Han-soo mistakened Yeon-joo for his sister and hugged her while in tears. I imagine that Han-soo has been lonely in this journey for revenge and he misses the only family member who he (and we) assume is still alive. Han-soo has gone through a lot but he’s done a pretty good job so far in putting up walls and holding it all together. Therefore, it was such a heartbreaking and raw moment to watch him let it all out (especially to Yeon-joo who he didn’t know was Yeon-joo since he was intoxicated). So far, we’ve witnessed the witty, silly, and smart sides to Han-soo but there’s also other sides to him that we finally got a glimpse into in episode 6. I appreciate the drama’s preview and insight into this side of Han-soo because while he is an attorney who’s good at his job and will do whatever he has to do to survive and get revenge for the death of his parents, we are reminded that he is also human at the end of the day.

I’ll be honest – I was cautiously optimistic about this drama after finishing episode 5. I liked what I saw but I also was afraid that it would turn out to be like a ‘Jinxed at First’ where the first half was fun and interesting only for it to completely collapse and turn all makjang in the second half. I’m so incredibly traumatized from watching dramas do this but episode 6 of ‘Joseon Attorney’ (especially the ending) made me feel so much better and confident about it. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still going to hold my breath and hold onto the hope that ‘Joseon Attorney’ won’t suffer a mid-drama collapse like other dramas often do but things definitely seem to be getting stronger with each passing episode. There’s reasons for me to stay optimistic.