This review may contain spoilers
A Complete Hit or Miss- Not Worth Exploring!
This show was a mixed bag of emotions for me!The reason why I waited for the show to get over before publishing this review is that I was unsure of how I felt about it. The legal drama could be very well described as a slice of life, with lovable characters who share meals and their problems closely. Boasting an ensemble casting that includes Lee Jong Suk, Mun Ka Young, Kang You Seok, Ryu Hye Young, Im Sung Jae; the show focused on their individual growth as attorneys. Each of them have their own paths to follow and discover; the only point of countenance being that their law firms are housed in the same building. As acquaintances, these five lawyers share weal & woe during their lunch breaks, no matter how busy they are. Things begin to change when all the four law firms in the building are merged and a new attorney joins them as a replacement of their old friend.
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https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/law-and-the-city-series-review/#more-2028
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Heartwarming workplace friends bonding over their shared lunch breaks
This drama was made for me. It's got all the goods:1. Slice of Life with grounded characters that feel like real people.
2. Case of the Week pacing to give the story structure.
3. A workplace friend group that FEELS like a real workplace friend group. They're not besties who've known each other for decades. They're peers who met at work, and they balance their professionalism with their personal relationships.
4. Because they work in the same building, but not the same firm, they bond during lunch breaks. So we see lots of delicious food bringing them together.
5. They are all at the point in their careers where they've either seen the cracks in the system or they're just starting to, so we get to watch them grow and become better versions of themselves.
6. A low drama romance side plot that's just plain comfortable.
7. Mature. Misunderstandings get resolved within an episode and people act their age!
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Playbook/Playlist Series Knockoff
I usually don’t write reviews before I finish any show, but I had to write this because this drama just frustrates me lol.I get the feeling that this drama is trying to emulate the vibe of the Playbook/Playlist series (Prison Playbook, Resident Playbook, Hospital Playlist)—from the friend group dynamic, to the mukbangs, and the episodic plots featuring different cases. That said, it wasn’t done very well.
The entire friend group is very bland, and none of the characters are particularly interesting. Heck, I find the building owner more interesting than any of the leads. The mukbangs just look like they were added simply to copy the Playlist/Playbook series. And the different cases aren’t really moving or anything—they’re just boring.
I also have an issue with the main couple. I absolutely love LJS, but his acting isn’t doing it for me in this drama. Maybe it’s just his character? Maybe it’s the bad directing? But really, his character has the personality of a rock. MGY’s character, on the other hand, is quite annoying for being extremely nosy (also, this might sound like a personal attack but for someone who plays a lawyer, she speaks like a child). Their backstory feels out of place, and not to mention, they have zero chemistry.
While I’m at it, I might as well critique the OSTs. ‘In the End’ by 정인 and ‘Can I Love You’ by DOKO don’t match the show at all. They feel a little too heavy? ‘In the End’ sounds like it could be an OST for The Devil Judge, while ‘Can I Love You’ feels like something that would be played in DP or Weak Hero Class.
Overall, this drama is painfully boring. I’m usually into law dramas, and I think this could’ve had potential if it had the right director and writer.
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This review may contain spoilers
They're Serving Us Lawyer's Mukbang Show
I don't know but I feel something's off with this show. Normally calming shows like this have something emotionally hooking to keep the audience interested, but apart from the final two episodes this show feels so empty. The show was promoted as calm and heartwarming series. However when I went through the first episode the first cases are really dark. Luckily, the cases are all resolved safe and sound. The problem is, the writer does this pattern repeatedly until we fed up, no matter how easy or difficult, big or small, malicious or petty the cases are. It looks like the writer is trying to put cases as many as possible so they can bring a lot of "life messages". But as they slip away quickly, the audience may not be able to be emotionally attached to the case before they decide to close the case and bring the other one. I even think more effort shown on screen on the Watch Theft case compared to Hui Ji father's case. Also on the Student Attempted Murder case, Chang Won is a bit distrubed when defending an opposing party on a similar case, but they never show how he overcomes it.Lunch and dinner maybe the two key events in this show. Somehow I can't find this "friendship" to be categorized as healthy. Apart from Ju Hyeong and Hui Ji, they rarely share any personal thought and burden between them. Their responses when Mun Jeong says her boss rejected her maternal leave request aren't convincing either. I thought after Ju Hyeong reveals his story of taking a case against his ex, everything will be better. Everyone begins to help each other, even on Hui Ji's father case, but I was wrong. Sang Gi hides his desire to enroll in a PhD program, Chang Won hides the pressure coming from his father. To me, they just look like lunch partners, not friends. The writer should highlight the original reason about how they end up together because they aren't coming from the same company and they don't seem really close enough.
The story about Kim Hyeung Min also remains unclear. It doesn't show about her backstory apart from she failed to become a lawyer, especially why does she has a lot of enemies? Alos the love line in this story comes up pretty early. But personally, I think it has been brought up too often for a slow show like this. To make it worse, this plot is probably the best part of the show.
Looks like the main leads are carrying hard this show. Lee Jong Suk plays a logic-oriented attorney, Mun Ka Young plays a more opposite trait, emotional-oriented attorney. They both play their character excellently, and their romance serves well. Kang You Seok has been really busy this year, but it is still a waste of talent because his character isn't very special.
This show has a weird pace, quick on the case but slow on everything else. Yes the final two episodes are excellent, but the path to it doesn't seem encouraging enough. I don't think it's worth for rewatch given the story is calming but feels hollow.
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until now it's a 10/10
LJS comback finally!!!! I've been waitinghonestly it's going good do far i mean i understand why people wouldn't like it
but for me it's a summer kdrama that's refreshing and i really wanted a soft kdrama after all the traumas that i have been watching so far
i mean i really love these silly love tropes it makes me super nostalgic and especially if it's from lee jung seok i mean oh my god look at his charisma
and the cast oh my god i ADMIRE kdramas that has friend groups and these typa things they kill boredom
and last but not least this kdrama deserves to be sat for while eating popcorn or a snack
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This review may contain spoilers
An Absolute Slog to Get Through
Law and the City took everything that people like about legal dramas and threw it all out the door. The leads have no personality, the romance was boring, and they chose the blandest cases. I really thought this show would be more of a commentary on the Korean legal system and while there is a little bit of that, they largely picked incredibly dull civil cases to focus on. This choice was baffling and created such boring episodes with almost no stakes. Spending entire episodes on building materials, real estate contracts, or a watch that maybe was stolen was bizarre and they could’ve gone in a much more interesting direction.Lee Jong Suk’s character didn’t have a personality at all. They gave him nothing to do and he brought nothing to the role. The romance might as well not have existed, for how little impact it had on the show. Two incredibly beautiful actors with zero chemistry did not make for a compelling romance. Their romance was mostly shown in flashbacks and it never really made sense when they had fallen in love again. Once they get together, almost nothing is shown of their relationship. It felt like the show kept almost making a commentary on aspects of the legal system or workplace, but they never quite covered them enough, so everything felt very surface level.
The main reason I kept watching was that I did enjoy the friendships and the friends were much more interesting than the leads. Their friendship felt very deep when they were working on more personal cases and I think the fact that they all worked for different partners gave them too much separation and didn’t allow us to get enough of their relationships. I found the legal advisor to be such an afterthought and a character that had no purpose. I know that she is a great actress, so I’m not sure why they gave her nothing to do. I kept expecting the show to tackle her backstory to give more insight into her motivations and personal life, but there was just nothing.
This is such a nitpick, but the fact that they didn’t release this show at the end of the year is crazy. Everyone is bundled up in a wool coats for the whole show and that combined with the slow pace made this such an odd choice to be released in the heart of summer.
I would have rated this a lot lower except there were a few episodes in the middle I did really enjoy. Overall this just felt like such a missed opportunity and I really struggled to finish it.
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I was expecting a kinda hospital playlist vibe, but there was no chemlstry between them. The characters stories as there are 5 of them, was not something to look forward to.
For me it was not boring but i was looking forward to loving each character but i only root for LJS as he was handsome but there was no character to like. I like munyeong and her husband looking forward for more but i guess that was it.
Should i recommend this... Im sorry LJS but no.
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Idk how I kept up with it
Honestly I have watched all the episodes but now the last one feels like unbearable to watch it, so I won't. Most of the time I was using my phone while it's playing that's so bad the cast is amazing but the story is boring all they do is eat food and the cases are not that interesting. Next time will do my best to drop earlier because I really took my time lol. but it's just because of LJSWas this review helpful to you?
A breath of fresh air
'Law and the City' is a slow-paced/slow burn drama, and that is what I find refreshing about it. While in other dramas there is always a main villain who tries to do everything in their power to see the main leads suffer (always keeping the watcher on the edge), there is no such trope in this drama.The story revolves around five lawyers who got to know each other while working in the same industry. They go through various cases (be it alone or togheter), while their friendship becomes more and more genuine with each passing day.
I am always looking forward to my favourite actors' new dramas/movies, and for this one I've been waiting for a while. I find the cast to be perfectly chosen, by which I mean that all the main characters can act. I've been following Lee Jong Suk and Mun Ka Young's dramas for a while, and all I can say is that I'm happy to see them play the main leads togheter. Their chemistry is definitely there.
Although I've read a lot of negative reviews, the only conclusion I came to was that "it's not everyone's cup of tea", and that's fine. I, personally, dropped a lot of dramas, and I can certainly say that there is someone's favourite in that list as well. It may seem like a boring drama at first, and I can't say for sure that it isn't. A reason as to why some may find it boring is because the main leads aren't struggling to keep their relationships alive, nobody is trying to separate them, and most certainly there aren't any misunderstandings that drag on for more than 1 episode.
The main characters all have a mature side to them, and know how to rely on each other, knowing that keeping everything to themselves wouldn't do any good to any of the parties involved.
Despite the relaxed vibe it might try to show on the surface, daily struggles are not neglected. Everyone goes through a rough patch or unexpected situations during their lives. The important thing is that we should try and deal with it/come to terms with what is happening, and make the most of our limited time in this world.
To sum it all up, 'Law and the City' is a slow-paced, relaxing and what you may call a "slice of life" show. While it may appeal as boring to some, it is also a drama to which most people can relate. I look forward to the one hour of daily relaxation provided by this drama's episodes every weekend.
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Disappointing story and wasted potential
I started watching this show because of Lee Jong Suk as he is one of the better actors in Korea. However, I think the show did him dirty because his character development is severely underdeveloped and cliche. The premise of his character is he was jaded by his own career which makes him kind of cold and I feel like there’s so much potential in there. However, they chose the most cliche development, which was how he was changed because of his idealistic girl friend. I also expected more dilemmas and challenges that he has to faced in the different cases but the only one that I felt was testing his belief was the ex girlfriend case. Plus, his change from a cold to a passionate lawyer was so abrupt that it makes it hard for me to believe in his change.Another issue I had with this drama was how the FL was so unnecessary in this show. She was the typical idealistic lawyer and because of main character syndrome, she always gets her way, which is so unrealistic. Her loveline with ML is also extra as I felt that without the love part, the drama would still work.
Personally, I feel that the drama has too many main leads which cause a lot of characters to be underdeveloped. I feel that taking out the FL makes sense as she barely did anything for the drama. Sanggi was another character which I felt didn’t do anything for me. His scandal doesn’t seem big enough for me to feel his character and can be omitted in the series.
The one that really surprised me was Chang Won as I really felt his struggles and humiliation from different challenges he faced. All in all, wasted potential in the casts and too ambitious in having five leads
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This review may contain spoilers
its not what i expected
normally, i would actually enjoy this type of dramas, where we can see different stories through the character's work, empathize with the cases but they dont actually focus on them. i could understand some of them, like the kids case but i dont think they explained what happened with the surgeon ??i've watched a few like these but law in the city makes me feel like something's missing. i'm almost at the end of the 5th ep, and i like the friendship the main cast have, it's cute and a group of friends like them would be really good but there's some kind of mistery in their personal lives in each one of them, like one of them apparently was a nepobaby, heeji's parents are dead and was raised by her uncle and aunt, the other girl i forgot her name sorry is married and it's juhyeong friend and he got to work in a case where he had to see his ex which heeji KNEW i dont know if there was something i missed but, how did heeji know about her? yeah, they "know" each other for 10 years but i dont think he told her about his ex or if that even happened at that time, is there something i missed? i dont get it
and btw, i wanna add the fact that since ep 4, juhyeong is being quite nosy in heeji's and changwon's business and that was out of nowhere ??? who wrote this i wanna talk with them
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why you should watch the first 2 #LawAndTheCity episodes ⚖️
1. A Slice of Life Law Drama 🧑⚖️💼🖇️
#LATC focuses on civil law cases rather than our usual criminal ones, giving more freedom and less on the investigative side. We see more of the characters' lives both in and out of the office. It's also a different case per episode!
2. Foodie Content 🥘🥗🍲
literally thought this was a tastefully yours revamp! and one of the best highlights/unique points of this drama yet !! the leads are from different law firms in the same building so they created a "lunch group" where they eat together everyday!
3. Easygoing Romance 💗💬🍃
so far, we’ve seen an “i knew you once” trope, but thankfully it’s not rushed or overly secretive about their past. It’s also clear that the characters are mature about their rs, and that the drama doesn’t only revolve around their love story.
4. Found Family 👯👨👩👧👦🤝
proud to say "lunch group family for life" already !! their group is made up of lawyers, so it’s safe to say they’re smart and good people. they have principles and morals and a great dynamic that makes them whole. i'm alr excited to see more!
2 eps in and im loving the relaxing theme of this drama. If your a slice of life girlie who likes chill and relaxing dramas then #LATC is definitely for u!! I do think it lives up to its title "Law And The City" because it not only focuses on their professions as attorneys but also their outside lives in the city. Excited for next week!
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