This drama is not The Good Wife, luckily it’s not pretending to be that, either. I can’t help cringing though, remembering some of them.
I usually watch dramas for the characters and relationships but sometimes I end up thinking what was the point? What did I watch for 18 hours? It doesn’t have to be bad, there’s nothing wrong with just simply enjoying oneself, but occasionally I just have a feeling that something is missing.
The serial killer added suspense and plot, in my opinion.I’m also so tired of traditional love stories I need something to spice things up! I also love that the age difference adds a little of (maybe manufactured) uncertainty of whether or not Hye-sung and Soo-ha will end up together. He needs to prove to her that they are equal and that she doesn’t need to go on a blind date with a man with muscles (I love how that’s her requirement), he can protect her. The age difference is just a romantic obstacle – Soo-ha has to convince Hye-sung to see him as a man and not a little brother. Park Soo-ha isn’t a child: he has been taking care of himself for years and he is emotionally mature (sometimes more mature than Hye-sung). I love noona-romances if they are done well, and I really think this one was done well.He holds onto his promise to protect her from ten years ago but he is protecting the adult, self-preserving Lawyer Jang, not the young brave witness. BUT it takes him only a few moments to realise the grown up Hye-sung isn’t what he was expecting and even better – he falls in love with the real Hye-sung, not the fantasy version. This is the best use of the romanticisation of “first love” I have ever experienced in a drama! Soo-ha has this completely unrealistic fantasy of who Hye-sung is, based on his experience as a nine-year-old (not uncommon in dramaland), which he holds on to for ten years, not letting anyone else into his heart (also not uncommon in dramaland).Park Soo-ha’s memory loss isn’t just for ~drama, it’s intimately connected to Hye-sung’s character growth and to one of the drama’s central questions – what does it mean, morally, to be a defence attorney? Is it more important to acquit the innocent or to incarcerate the guilty?.This drama mixes a lot of genres (some of which I hate) and tropes (some of which I also hate) but somehow manages to use all of them effectively. I maintain that it is quite difficult to classify but I think courtroom drama, even though it’s an aspect, is the least of it. And other love interests.ĭiscussion: I hesitated to watch this drama for a long time because of one summary that I read which said the lawyers and Park Soo-ha would “team up to find the justice in the courtroom and solve the toughest cases with less than 1% chance of winning” which made me picture some kind of “top team” court drama procedural and not, eh, whatever this drama really is. She turns out to be not quite how he remembered her but Soo-ha still decides to stick around and to protect her, and together they fight crime. The two meet when one of Hye-sung’s cases brings her to Soo-ha’s high school and Soo-ha immediately realises Hye-sung is the woman he has been searching for for the last ten years – the woman who bravely testified against the murderer who killed Park Soo-ha’s father. He keeps to himself, not because he doesn’t like people but because he can’t help hearing their thoughts. Park Soo-ha is a young man in high school. Plot: Jang Hye-sung is a cynical young lawyer in her late twenties who seemingly cares more about money than her clients – in fact, she is known for using the same 30 second defence regardless of client. MVP was naturally Lee Bo-young and her Jang Hye-sung (or Lawyer Jjang as I will always think of her) but Lee Jong-suk has received a lot of attention after this role and I think there are few that can argue that he doesn’t deserve it. I think a lot of the drama’s success (I wasn’t the only one who fell for it, ratings were on average around 20%, and more than that the last eight episodes) can be attributed to the amazing characters and the actors who played them. Why not throw in a supernatural aspect as well, that will seamlessly blend in with everything else.Īnd it does! I really don’t understand how, but everything does work together and this drama ended up being my favourite in 2013 and in my top 10 of all time. Parts: legal drama, noona-romance, SERIAL KILLERS, first love, AMNESIA, love triangles, TRAUMA, humour.
I Hear Your Voice (or I Can Hear Your Voice – I prefer the first so that’s what I’m going to refer to the drama as) is the perfect example of when the sum is greater than the parts.