Already the preferred present on Korean TV in its time slot, SBS’s One Greenback Lawyer is a humorous but humanitarian drama filled with coronary heart and a healthful want to remind its viewers that every one corners of society deserve a serving to hand.
Distributed by Disney+ (the newest in a number of Korean reveals the platform now hosts), this authorized drama brings The Veil’s Namkoong Min (Scorching Range League) and Kim Jieun (Strangers From Hell) collectively as soon as once more, this time as main co-stars who play Cheon Jihun and Baek Mari respectively. The pair make for a tantalising duo who begin off rocky however start to construct promise as a power for good by the third episode.
Although it definitely cements itself as a comedy from the get-go, One Greenback Lawyer touches upon some severe societal points inside opening scenes of episode one alone. Backdropped towards South Korea’s thriving capital, Seoul, the drama does properly to starkly spotlight the inequalities decrease lessons face there and in main cities internationally.
Cheon Jihun is a extremely esteemed lawyer who affords his companies to these in dire want for only a greenback and is to date obtained as a type of saviour to the lots. His drive to struggle for the “little folks” as they arrive up towards the wealthy and privileged seems to come back solely from his ardour for justice and giving a voice to these with out one, although the motivations that led him down this path will not be but clear.
With a swaggering look and top-to-toe Savile Row-style tailoring, Namkoong Min’s portrayal of Cheon is immaculate. A proficient lawyer taking up the higher echelons of society, Cheon is a power – however he’s nonetheless oddly endearing. He runs a humble backstreet legislation workplace together with his admin supervisor, Sa Majang (Jinwoo Park), the place each are often chased for the hire by their landlady. Regardless of this, Cheon retains his charges the identical, which provides testomony to his character. By the third episode, you’re wanting to study extra about Cheon and his beginnings; hopefully there’s extra in retailer on that entrance.
At one level, One Greenback Lawyer appears liable to falling to the identical ‘male vs feminine’ tropes that many dramas are vulnerable to. The lead actress of the present, Kim’s character, Baek Mari, is introduced as considerably superficial – akin to a Imply Ladies model of a profession lady with a restricted view of the world.
However by the second episode, simply when Cheon and Baek’s skilled sparring within the circumstances they go head-to-head on (which to date has consisted of, Cheon slam-dunking on Baek) begins to develop into tedious, there’s a welcome growth. Baek, by the route of her much-respected lawyer grandfather, finds herself pressured to unite with Cheon and his supervisor at their hole-in-the-wall workplace in an effort to additional her profession. It’s an thrilling development that hopefully means her character will develop additional and we’ll get to see extra of her empathetic facet.
An simply digestible drama to this point, One Greenback Lawyer reveals promise. Flanked by a stable forged of established actors (Choi Daehoon of Extraordinary Legal professional Woo and Crash Touchdown On You fame additionally seems), it definitely has the chops to develop into into one in every of this 12 months’s stand-out dramas. The important thing lies in whether or not it has the power to maintain issues contemporary and enjoyable within the comedic sense, and the way it navigates typical and at instances irritating Okay-drama clichés, particularly if romance is included into the storyline sooner or later. To date, although, so good.
