Ambition and hidden agendas build tension amongst the employees of a law firm in the 16 episode Korean drama, Lawyers.
When a fatal car accident leaves Kim Joo Hee (Jung Hye-Young) orphaned and her younger sister in a coma, her boyfriend law student Yoon Suk Ki (Kim Sung-Soo) suspects foul play is at work. Suddenly, without warning he abruptly ends his relationship with Joo Hee leaving her to fend for herself. She finds herself working years later as a legal secretary under a former DA Suh Jung-Ho (Kim Sang-Kyung) and finds herself falling for her very married boss.
The situation gets complicated when Suk Ki joins the law firm to fight a high profile case. Joo Hee's closest friend, the office vamp Ha-Young (Han Go Eun) is entrusted to keep an eye on Suk Ki by being his personal secretary and leak information to the top boss and slimeball Mr. Koh. The only thing is, she also has an agenda and becomes a double agent while lustfully pursuing Suk Ki in the process.
Tension mounts between the former DA and the young new attorney creating suspicion and paranoia among the staff with Joo Hee caught in the middle.
There was something about Lawyers that I found much more appealing than the first Korean mini series I reviewed, Sweet Spy. Part of it reminded me of the sleek sophisticated storytelling with the weaving of motives and agendas as seen on shows like Battlestar Galactica or 24. At the same time, it was David E. Kelley-esque ... and that may be because it was set amongst the lawyers in a stylish law firm. But overall, the big thing I liked was that it got really messy without going overboard with its characters and the relationships they have with each other.
This gave the series the dose of reality that seems to be missing from most US television which tends to be very high-concept and stylized. When looking at a show like Lawyers while the cinematography isn't as lush, gritty or dark as its US counterparts, it's perhaps because of its this that everything just seems more 'real'. One thing I really noted was the use of lighting. It's as if, they just turned on all the lights and didn't really care about how lighting would affect the look or mood of the series or which way the shadow hits anyone. It was more like the lighting was used just so the actors could be seen.
Hye-Young plays Joo Hee with a delicate mix of strength and vulneralbility that you kinda wish she would just snap and lose her cool ... but she doesn't ... ever. That frustrates and worries her boss Jung-Ho played by Sang Kyung who walks around carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, unwilling to let it slip. Sung-Soo's Suk Ki comes across as such a fantastic bastard with so many compromised morals, you're never quite sure what strings he's pulling for whom while Go Eun played Ha-Young with such fire and wit, she became my new favorite actress to watch.
Apart from the numerous melodramatic crying scenes, I enjoyed it from beginning to end and still go back to watch favorite scenes.
YA Entertainment distributes the 6 disc DVD box set (available on YesAsia or Amazon) and includes 20 mins from other K Dramas Damo, Phoenix and My Lovely Sam-Soon.
