NOT a typical sweet and fluffy romantic comedy
I think some viewers like me who just watched the trailer, read the synopsis and saw the poster would have thought this is a romantic comedy with many sweet and fluffy scenes while FL gets to choose between two great guys. Well, “Love in Contract” definitely has comedic moments, but it’s not really a romantic comedy. Aside from romance, there are childhood traumas, tragic family background stories and conglomerate marriages & business battles. I personally enjoy the first half of the drama more than the second half. This is not quite a solid 8.5 drama but a rounded up 8.5.What I Like:
Jung Ji Ho (ML) - Ji Ho is the kind of male lead that I like. Awkward and adorable, sweet and caring, but doesn’t have much experience in the romance department. Of course, he changes after he meets FL. Ji Ho has great character development in the drama. He learns to interact and socialize with his co-workers, recognize and communicate his feelings. I also enjoy watching how his wardrobe changes with his personality. Go Kyung Pyo plays the character well. I enjoy his facial expressions when he’s embarrassed, confused and awkward. This might be my second favorite character that Go Kyung Pyo plays, after his role in “Chicago Typewriter”.
Contract Marriage - One of my favorite tropes ever. The concept of a single life helper is interesting to me, and I enjoy the short stories of the marriages shown in this drama. I would have loved the drama to focus on these marriages a little more, but I came to the conclusion that “Love in Contract” is a lot more than just about love in contracts.
Main Characters - Choi Sang Eun (FL) is an interesting heroine. She’s independent and strong in her own ways. She seems so perfect and perfectly put-together all the time, yet when she’s home you can see how messy and child-like she could be. Park Min Young, of course, can play this role well. It’s a combination of her roles in “What’s Wrong with Secretary Skim” and “Her Private Life”. I’ve read comments about how many viewers do not like the second male lead, Kang Hae Jin, especially in the earlier episodes. I don’t find him annoying and think his clinginess is justifiable because he reunited with his first love after 13 years. I don’t blame him for wanting to get close to her and wanting to sign a contract. Hae Jin also undergoes good character development as well.
Supporting Characters - We have quite an interesting bunch of supporting characters. Woo Gang Nam, FL’s BFF, is a fan favorite and I like him as well. I want good things to happen to him and always look forward to his scenes with Sang Eun. When Sang Eun is with Gang Nam, that’s when she can let loose and act silly. Madam Yoo is a scene stealer. Veteran Jin Kyung plays the elegant and snobbish Madam Yoo so well. Every time she shows up, my focus goes straight to her and I want to see what’s going to come out of her mouth. We have comedic relief in the Chief Judge and ML’s co-worker Kim Yu Mi. Both characters are over-the-top but because their screen time is kept to a minimum, I don’t find them too annoying but funny.
Wardrobe - This drama must have a big budget or sponsor for clothes. Park Min Young looks beautiful, as always, and her clothes are fabulous. Same goes to Madame Yoo’s high class fashion. The two male leads also look dashing in their suits and casual wear.
What I have Mixed Feelings about:
Main Romance - For me the romance and chemistry are just good and not great. Although the three main characters are good-looking people, I feel that the chemistry is not sizzling enough for me. If I compare the chemistry of Park Min Young with her other co-stars, hers with Go Kyung Pyo her pales in comparison to Seo Kang Joon (When The Weather is Fine), Kim Jae Wook (Her Private Life) and and Park Seo Joon (What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim). Is the chemistry with Go Kyung Pyo bad? No it’s not. But I wanted more and I am not feeling it. Maybe also because most of their scenes are in the apartment, facing each other at dinner and they really did not have many normal dating scenes. I probably go into this drama expecting a lot more kisses because, you know, it’s Park Min Young. There are dramas without much skinship and I can feel the unspoken sizzling romance, but not in this drama, unfortunately. But I do like the proposals in the last episode and how they fit the character's personality so well.
Cartoonish villain - I don’t even know if he qualifies to be a real villain. He is just not very smart, but maybe he is not supposed to? Because I feel that “Love in Contract” is not a typical funny romantic comedy, nor is it a serious business drama, it makes it hard to see a cartoonish dumb villain fit nicely in the the story. I have to say the casting is done right, as the actor has the face that I want to punch. LOL.
PPL - I don’t remember a recent Korean modern drama I watch that has sooooo many product placements. So many different products and so in-your-face! As a drama watcher, it is very annoying. But if I am the advertiser, this is a gold mine because I have bought Kopiko coffee candies at a Korean supermarket before, and I want to go back and buy more after watching “Love in Contract”. And yes, those candies are tasty! 😋
Pacing - I enjoy the first half of the drama a lot more and the pacing is good. This is when they focus more on FL’s occupation and the contracts she has with the leads. The second half starts to mix the family background and conglomerate battles and this slows down the pace. I feel like they go back-and-forth about the conglomerate marriage.
End of crisis - After spending so many episodes on how to resolve the crisis and putting everyone at risk in the last few episodes, it seems quite anti-climatic to have FL come out and take care of it. It sure is effective but why spend so many episodes dragging down the pace of the plot in the last few episodes when the solution is so simple? I was expecting higher stakes, a more complicated plan to resolve the issue.
Completed: 11/12/2022
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Why make it so complicated?
I will never understand why Korean writers are so obsessed over adding so many external conflicts to every drama ever, while also making them so over the top and not relatable for the majority of their audience. Love in Contract is a rom-com, not a business politics drama, we do not need this much focus, or even any focus on the shenanigans of the chaebols.I honestly think removing the whole aspect of the “rich elites” from this show and making it at best 12 episodes long would vastly improve the quality. The whole second half was just a dramatic mess. All the important bits about learning how to rely on others, trust them, move on from past traumas, heal, find your own dreams and goals - drowned in the pool of misogynist powerful men and overprotective mothers.
That said, the first half of the drama was a blast to watch. Choi Sang Eun is a great female lead with a strong personality, clear views that impact her behavior, but also a solid dose of insecurities that we get to explore as the drama progresses. Jung Ji Ho, being one of the most unique male leads in dramaland, had some of the most solid character developments - improving his communication skills, creating social connections, improving his understanding of other people’s views and perspectives, while still keeping the core of his persona true.
Out of all the supporting characters, I for sure enjoyed Jung Ji Eun the most. Appreciated her understanding nature and willingness to improve and not just be a menace to the main couple. And it would be a crime not to mention Woo Gwang Nam. I have to say, that’s honestly a solid representation - a character that is gay, but his whole existence, personality, internal and external conflict do not only resolve around his sexuality. He was neither comedic relief, nor the typical tortured soul. Easily the most complex and well established supporting character this drama had to offer.
Would be lying if I said I was impressed by any of the performances, since I feel I have seen similar characters from these actors in their previous roles. I’d even say it’s impressive how type-cast the drama was.
I have little to nothing to say about the production value. There was nothing bad, nor outstanding about the directing, editing, soundtrack, set design. Sure, the female lead’s outfits were amazing, but that’s not enough for me to praise the overall quality.
Overall, the show was simply basic. It had great moments, nice supporting characters, but when it’s surrounded by mediocrity, I question if it’s worth watching the whole show for scraps.
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Clichés in Contract with a sweet scent of broken flowers
The opening scen of this dram draws us in a we hear the narrative of a girl who was raised to become a commodity to be sold by entering the contract of marriage . Dark and orange red lights accompany us to the view of Go Kyung Pyo stepping in to the shower while she steps out though the dark apartments door in to a light hallway... Giving us a feel of high end dark and a bit naughty... However viewers are then thrown int to the light bubbly sweetness which is basically Park Min Young. Giving us a story of love, geometry, corporate politics and human relationships viewed from a bunch of angles.The budget for this drama seems to be pretty big, not only seen by the star studded amazing cast but also bu the amount of PPL to pay for it. As there is so much PPL in this that it is impossible to miss out on it, even though you may be shocked by the missing Subs from Subway and face masks you get cars, Kopiko and the ever folding Samsungs instead.
Go Kyung Pyos character is wonderfully portrayed, awkward, straight forward, introverted to the core, a sweet little puppy and as usual the king of back hugs, there is no doubt that this guy is good at his job making great use of his eyes and slow mo it is hard not to fall for this guy.... Especially when put next to a fluffy cat.. Kim Jae Young also delivered a memorable performance, with captivating flirty smiles, playfulness this guy is the warm bubbly, emotional, perfect contrast to the other guy. Having both the cat an girl between these two was a lot of fun to watch in this highly contracted and respectful (most of the time) love triangle. The addition of Lee Joo Bins character in to the love geometry was the cherry on top for this geometry lover (yes I admit it I love em).
The ex husband/roommate played by Kang Hyung Suk may not have added to the geometry but was amazingly casted, well preformed and made me wish for a spinn off (I rarely want spinn offs) where he gets to be the star of a rising star rom com of his own.
There where a few annoying side characters who got a bit more screen time than I would have wished for taking down the score a bit, however they are manageable and though they did make me reach for the mute button I did not feel the need to skip the scenes with them all together. There are a few decisions that seemed to be there only to prolong the plot without actually giving it any substance, most of the twists were highly predictable but I do not really mind predictability so it did not really bother me.
The umbrellas in this drama are top of the hill... Red warning umbrella was so well used I could not help but laugh at the sight of her. There are also a bunch of good poetic lines here and there, which come off as oddly funny when delivered by the cold male lead. " Broken flowers smell the sweetes" (or something like that) would have felt like a way to slick buttery line if not delivered with a stone cold face.
The story really is nothing new, had I seen this a year or two ago I would probably have rated it higher as it does indeed hava a bunch of cliches and stuff I love but since there is some meeh moments, a few draggy parts , highly mutable parts and other parts that could have been explored a bit more I realised that no matter how much I love the cast and found most of this drama enjoyable I could not ignore them completely and thus settled for 8,5.
So to sum it up, if you like the cast, enjoy geometry and do not mind a bunch of cliches go for it this is a good choice for you.
If you want something new and exiting and hate PPL pick something else.
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Cliché en contrato
Si estás buscando algo relajado y facíl de ver, este es el k-drama correcto. Una historia simple y, hasta cierto punto, facíl de entender. Un k-drama con muchos clíches disfrutables.Ahora bien, quiero comenzar este review con una crítica no tan favorecedora: era una historia simple, pero por no sé que razón, la quisieron hacer algo más compleja y con subtramas que al principio iban bien pero al final... quedarón al aire, sin importancia y por lo tanto, mal manejadas.
Este es el principal problema de este k-drama. Era una historia simple, bastante clíche, que debío mantenerse de esa manera. Pero se fue por el camino en que vieron/forzaron la necesidad de crear tensión, que en lo personal, no funcionó. Todo iba bien los primeros ¿10-12? capítulos, la comedia romántica iba bastante bien, algo relajado, ligero y divertido para tomarse una pausa de los k-dramas intensos y con mucho drama. Sin embargo, los últimos cuatro capítulos, destacandos los últimos dos, no funcionaron bastante bien por este hecho de que quiesieron meter esta "tensión" que no iba al caso. O bueno, si la querían meter, por lo menos la hubieran metido desde antes y no en los últimos dos capítulos que se vieron apresurados y sin dar a entender, del todo bien, la resolución del problema.
Con lo anterior me refiero a cuando ella decide alejarse de el protagonista y tiempo después ya estaban organizando su boda cuando ya estaban casados y luego que ya no porque no sé que. También, el amor secundario que dejó su trabajo de actor para "protegerla" (no entendí cómo), pero que gracias a su mamá (que al principio no estaba de acuerdo pero ahora sí) volvió a retomar su carrera. Así como estas hay muchas cosas, que para mí, al final, no tuvieron mucho sentido.
Del lado de la actuación... estuvo bien, pero en algunas ocasiones las sentí algo sozas y sobre actuadas por algunos personajes. Son un gran elenco, no lo voy a negar, pero no considero que haya alguna la cual destacar y si tuviera que hacerlo, solo sería la del amor secundario, Kang Hae-Jin (Kim Jae-young).
Lo que más disfruté de este k-drama es el OST y las escenas de comedia, las cuales lograron su objetivo y me sacaron bastantes risas. También el hecho de que es un SUPER clíche lo hace agradable y digerible porque no esperas mucho de él.
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So many stories badly blended...
I love romances.I even try to endure the absurd length of this show, the boring pace and shallow characters.
So… here I go…
STORY – the premise could lead to a great story… Lots of stories badly condensed in a show. Maybe some could be developed or not even included… Maybe there will be a time without movie actors or singers… Really try hard to like the idea of that couple or even imagining 5 years of silent dinner…
Most of the characters are envolved in a masochist relationship, fighting to see who suffers more to protect others…
ACTING
Choi Sang Eun (Park Min Young) – I like her shows. I think this one is one of the worst I saw from her, specially because of the story and her character…
Jung Ji Ho (Go Kyung Pyo) – lacking any social skills became a judge. His love for Sang-Eun is sweet, he even showed power and competence taking care of her…With him I learn that in Korea a broken arm leads to spending days in the Hospital…
His team was good entertainment…
Kim Jae Young (Kang Hae Jin) – of course, the actor. Very likable. A little naïve with his feelings and actions that put all in risk. His team was ok.
Lee Joo Bin (Jung Ji Eun) – a good alpinist, climbing the ladder of the rich and powerful… thought that her end would be different.
Jin Kyung (Yoo Mi Ho) – Badass woman. Mixed feelings about her. Deserves most of the interest in the drama for me. Could her story be more explored…
MUSIC – I do not follow much k-pop and that kind of music. Some are great, but in this show, I cannot remember any…
REWATCH VALUE – maybe one or two scenes, but I doubt. In every aspect in a show, I can recall better shows than this.
OVERALL – sometimes I had to watch in 1,5x because it was a little boring, especially the boomerang story in the second half. I enjoyed enough not to think that I completely wasted my time.
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Park Min Young is picking some stinkers lately… SMH. This was such a snooze.
I love Park Min Young and have enjoyed several of her dramas, but lately, she is really picking some stinkers. It started with Forecasting Love & Weather, and continues here.The ML is such a snore, and I was not feeling the chemistry between the 2 leads. The second ML was better, but of course, she doesn’t choose him because he actually seems to have a pulse.
The story was a little rough, the “professional bride for hire” angle had potential, but the execution fell a little short. The family dynamics were a train wreck leaving carnage all over this show. The ML judge character’s office life was so cringy at times I had secondhand embarrassment.
Honestly, the best parts about this show are the gay roommate and the second male lead. I can’t count the number of times I fell asleep while watching this show, and in the end, I had to fast forward through 80% of the last 5 eps just to finish it.
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One time watchable
I personally LOVE park min young... She's the reason why I'm watching this kdrama to the end in the first place. Casting is the only thing justified in this drama. Everything else is.... meh.FL and ML shines throughout the episodes. One thing I loved in this is that communication between the people are not dramatic. Everyone speaks their mind to the other person. The method of conveying the thoughts of characters are straight forward, thus decreasing the unnecessary dramatic scenes. It is waay too rare to see in kdramas.
ML/FL, second leads and even supporting actors are way too good for the characters given.
Production quality is 🔥. That is not at all compromised here.
Story, OST, script, director, editing are all only mid.
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Not worth it
Started watching the drama because of a tiktok i saw abt the first scenes where she was eating with a client's have highschool friends and she said she studied in Cornell, thought it was funny and decided to start watching it.The first half of the drama was amazing, absolutely love it, mostly the part where she gets hurt by that one motorcycle guy and Haejin saves her. But then as Jiho starts demonstrating his feeling for her it kept getting worse, personally i was hoping Sangeun would choose Haejin, they had way more chemistry and Jiho and her. Then when Sangeun and Haejin finally kissed i thought this was it and she would finally fall in love with him, but it only showed her that she wanted to be with jiho. Jiho and Sangeun had no chemistry at all, every scene with them was so underwhelming i almost wanted to skip every single one of them.
Now onto Sangeun's best friend, i appreciate the LGBTQ+ representation but i think it's the worst representation i've seen, we got the first scenes of him with a guy and then he just went telling everyone he was gay, until the ep i saw (10) he never really had a love story or something, besides they also showed how he fought with his family, but i don't think his story was deepen enough.
The story behind every character was very much null, they would tell you this and that but wouldn't be specific about it.
After all the drama gets very boring after the 8-9 episode, since you can just start predicting what's gonna happen.
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Good
It's nice, you can give it a try. Story is kinda new and interesting, you may feel bored at start but you will start liking with the flow! I am still confused with the ML but we'll get to know by the future episodes! As always pmy❤️ is great..............................................❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️
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Had me feeling many things—and not in a good way
Was initially interested in this one because I expected a fun and very light-hearted romcom where I'd be laughing and falling in love over and over (and I did get it for about 8 episodes???). Instead, I got a plot-heavy drama with a deus ex machina to solve all their problems in the end, some plot device established early then was forgotten for many episodes then somehow just came back again to add more drama, and not to mention a selfish second male lead whom I blame for quite a lot of the problems that happened in the show (though I do end up forgiving him in the end).At one point, I considered just skipping to the end because everyone and everything was just so frustrating to watch. I didn't sign up for this. Not to mention how the ending—for the leads and the side characters—wasn't as satisfying as it could've been for quite a lot of reasons (for me).
All in all, it was good but I'm not sure if it's one I'd recommend nor one I'd rewatch so soon. The actors were amazing though! I love them all.
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Done!
Finally finally finally finished this!I was actually following this story while it was airing, but I had to go offline for a while.
I know the last 5 episodes felt quite rushed, but I am happy to watch the episodes where I resumed better than I expected.
I was actually bracing my self for the worst of Jung Ji Eun (Ji Ho's ex-wife), but her character quite floated well.
As for Hae Jin, from the most annoying 2ML to the Saint of all Saints. Lol. I know I hated the character so much, but they gave him a super anti-climactic ending.
Same with Gwang Nam's. Gosh he did not deserve that ending. My very kind boy Gwang Nam.
On Madam Yoo's, it was quite expected, but at least it still gave me a little, tiny, bit of surprise there. Well the revelation on Sang Eun's part was for convenience, I guess.
Anyway, I didn't really expect this to be over the top drama, I just like this kind to pass time, or to entertain, cause I admit, the main leads' chemistry was second to none!
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Should've focused more on the main couple
This was a really average series. Some things were the worst while others were good. The things is, these good things were very little and not enough to forgive all the negative points in narrative. As I usually write my reviews, I will tell my favorite and least favorite parts.Things I liked:
- The main couple, that is jiho and sangeun, they have great chemistry, I loved every scene with them.
- Jiho is so cute, he's my favorite character, no doubt. I just love him!!!
Things I didn't like:
- The actor haejin is so annoying. The writers tried to create a love triangle to make the audience discuss who she should end up with, but it's clear who is her love interest. And bc of that, haejin keeps forcing situations with sangeun. It's so embarassing and annoying really. Honestly, it's so unnecessary that the series tries to build sangeun's story with him when we know, from the beginning, that she's gonna really end up with jiho.
- Where's the development of jiho's background story? I kept waiting for when they were going to talk about his story whith his family and why he is so closed and antisocial. I think it would be really good to see more about his past with his family. This could actually be a way for him overcoming his social problems since I thought he developed them bc of some childhood trauma.
- That scene of her bff with his family and telling them he was gay was too rushed and undeveloped. Did his parents accept his sexuality? It was not clear, and that's so sad bc I really wanted his story to be told.
- And that leads me to the main problem of the show: it should have developed and talked more about these characters' stories and families instead of wasting time on that eena group plot which was going round in circles at some point. There was a moment, close to the ending, when her nanny and the eena group guy were talking for like the hundredth time of marrying her to haejin. It was so tiring. And while the series was going in circles with this plot, it could have been showing jiho's backstory or her gay friend's problems with his family or whatever.
- And why she left him in the end? It didn't made sense to me. I didn't understand if it was because she was embarassed of him (for some reason which I can't quite grasp) or because he was trying to do smth wrong for her wellbeing and she wanted to prevent him. Either way, I don't think these were reasons for doing that to him.
To conclude, it was not the worst show I've ever watched but it was way way far from being the best. It had a lot of problems regarding narrative, but the couple was good and if they had focused more on them maybe it would've been a better experience.
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