"Love in Contract" takes the basic relationship contract trope to the extreme with Park Min Young as the ideal bride for hire to dozens of men over the years. There's a wide range of reasons these men need a wife and much like her role as Secretary Kim (which I loved) here she plays Choi Sang Eun, a practically perfect and always-prepared companion who's avoided love in her own life while focusing on her work.
I think the concept could've easily just been cheesy and is played up to be exaggerated and not very realistic, but I think Sang Eun is an interesting character, and her backstory and her desire to change her life was a way more unique and engaging story than I expected it to be. However, the true star of this drama for me is Go Kyung Pyo as Jung Ji Ho, her Monday-Wednesday-Friday client, and the one she plans to be her last contract husband. I loved them together, but it's his performance that kept me caring.

Like Park Min Young, Go Kyung Pyo is in a few of my favorite dramas ever BUT in those dramas, he was always the 2nd lead. I finally get to see him as the main love interest and even with such a socially awkward and often blank-faced character he did not disappoint. Ji Ho is clearly depressed and at times close to robotic but his charisma shines through making it hard not to empathize with him. The leads have a straight-talking banter similar to what was so great in "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim" but instead of the classic arrogant male lead Ji Ho's softspoken low voice is more reminiscent of Eeyore from Winne the Pooh. There is an initial mystery to his character's social awkwardness and cold directness so I won't reveal too much but he made me laugh, brought me to tears, and gave me butterflies while always staying true to his character. I love actually getting to see a character's growth and he delivers that.

As for the true 2nd lead, we have Kim Jae Young as Heartthrob Actor Kang Hae Jin. Anyone who hates love triangles will certainly be annoyed by his character but I found him to actually be likable and empathetic as well. I also found his rivalry with Go Kyung Pyo pretty hilarious. Sang Eun is the classic woman caught between two great men, but her real plan is just to go off on her own and live her own life. I thought it was nice to have a female lead whose ultimate goal isn't falling in love but instead finding herself but know that this is still 100% a romance drama. There are melodrama elements too, and a convoluted conglomerate families war plot, but it's the relationships in this drama that made me like it as much as I did. There are so many great performances including Kang Hyung Suk as BFF Gwang Nam, Ji Ho's boss, and his wife (#goals), as well as his quirky coworkers. Then there's Jin Kyung as the classy and calculated Svengali Ajumma from hell Yoo Mi Ho! This is a drama where the cast makes the story work!

Would I watch this drama again? Yes! The greedy family scenes repeated ad nauseam are definitely skippable, and those characters are pretty cartoonishly bad, but thankfully they don't take up too much time. The story is all over the place, changing focus several times throughout, but I liked how things resolved for most of the characters by the end. I would probably want to skip to scenes with the main couple but I liked most of the other characters enough to rewatch some of their antics again too.

Overall, "Love in Contract" is a modern open-minded version of an old-school cliché rom-com. One where marriage is a little less idealized. Watching two people eat dinner may seem pretty boring but I think it was a nice benchmark for their journey together. Shout out to Tiffany for finding a great way to do product placement for so many rings, but the Kopiko candy scenes were too much! If you want a love story with some light drama and laughs then I would give this a chance. This may not be a favorite of mine but it was different and I absolutely loved Go Kyung Pyo as Jung Ji Ho. He is enough of a reason to make me recommend this drama. There's a line that says "petals with many wounds smell sweetest" which is a perfect analogy for this drama. This drama is also imperfect but the sweetness shines through.