Season 1 |
Episode Guide
Episode 1 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 2 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 3 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 4 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 5 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 6 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 7 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 8 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 9 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 10 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 11 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 12 – | Review Score – 3/5
Strangers Again is a legal romance drama that tells the story of divorce lawyers struggling to understand the meaning of love. These lawyers understand the reasons for divorce and are excellent at representing their clients in divorce litigations. However, understanding love is a rocky climb for our characters.
The drama tells the story of ex-lovers Oh Ha-ra and Goo Eun-beom. They both are excellent lawyers who met in college and married after ten years of dating. However, they got divorced three years into the marriage due to Eun-beom’s alleged cheating. The couple is estranged until fate brings Eun-beom back into Ha-ra’s life, where they become colleagues.
Their interactions prove that they still have strong feelings for each other but will they get their opportunity a second chance at love or will their working together re-ignite past grievances making them even more of strangers?
The second couple comprises of Attorney Kang Bi-chwi and Attorney Kwon Si-wook, who have extremely different personalities. While Bi-chwi has a progressive belief in equal rights and equal sharing of duties and chores in marriage, Si-wook is a traditional conservative who believes the man is the head of the house and the woman is the submissive assistant. Although they are constantly at loggerheads, they define the literal meaning of opposites attract. Will they be able to transcend the extreme differences and have a chance at love?
The script had the potential to awaken strong emotions with the foundation of flawed characters mirroring everyday marriage struggles. The characters included successful lawyers whose love life was a mess bringing together the complexities of love, life, and career resonating with the audience. However, the story of the lead couple is underdeveloped and unnatural. Who in their right mind would introduce their ex-wife, whom they still have feelings for to their friends and act as the intermediary in their love quarrels?
Although the mental struggles Eun-beom was struggling with are revealed in the later episodes, his characterization comes out as illogical and makes no sense in the everyday life.
The first leads are poorly written without experiencing considerable developments throughout the series. In contrast, the trajectory of the second lead story is intriguing, thought-provoking, thrilling, challenging, and effortlessly the better romance to follow in the series. Their characters develop from the irritating traditional conservative “oppa” and extremely progressive “noona” to characters the audience can relate with as their love blossoms through improved communication, understanding compromise in relationships, and owning up to mistakes.
The hyperrealism, especially in Oh Ha-ra’s and Eun-beom’s stories, do little to improve their story. However, their story ending is satisfactory, which is at least something.
The extremely talented cast, armed with amazing office chemistry, alleviated the otherwise messy plotlines. All the casts, including the supporting players, come together to illustrate the real-life challenges experienced by married couples and how difficult it is for a couple to decide on divorce rather than staying to work out their differences.
Sometimes it is difficult to stay together no matter how much a couple is in love while other times love is strong enough to navigate diverse personality differences and have a successful marriage. Whichever the case, leaving or staying is a personal choice as illustrated in the many divorce cases the team handled and from the lenses of the character’s personal lives.
Strangers Again is an enjoyable show and an eye-opener for some of the issues people are facing in marriage. If you want a light, legal K-drama with a touch of romance be sure to check this one out.
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10