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No narrative cohesion
Beyond the bar was Kdrama that has so much potential to be better. I was quite disappointed for the way the story of the main characters went by. The cases were sometime interesting, and how they explained the law was not always interesting. Compared to other law dramas, this was average and the drama felt messy and full of detached endings and plot holes.
So let me explain why I think it felt incomplete.
So first of all, we have the main female lead who is a prodigy kid who becomes an intern at Yullim. Okay, she is the main female lead, but she is put together with other interns, and the drama had no involvement of them. As side characters, they really stayed on the side, while they could have had an opportunity to do more. Even in other dramas, side characters do way more than they do in this drama. As the drama progressed, the whole attention was only on the female lead, making her unrealistically central. Even as prodigy kid, that was unrealistic. If she was working in the firm, it is understandable, but still, they could have integrated the other three interns into the stories to make the power balance smoother.
Then her personal story, with her twin deaf sister who had been given up to her aunt for addoption, I felt like her sister's story was quickly brushed off; there was so much material to use from her point of view, maybe merging with a case, and she could have appeared in these scenes way earlier than coming at the very end to meet her parents.
Also, her feelings, and her crushing over her boss was weird; it felt off and not fitting the story and no chemistry between the two. It felt like they decided last minute to add this idea because it didn't really fit well, like "we need romance because it’s a K-drama" and there is not always a need for romance.
Another point is; she was doing too much, getting involved in personal business and felt unnatural because she was an intern, but she was hanging around with older lawyers. If she was a new employee, as an associate lawyer, then yes, the story would be more natural, but when you take an intern who is 27ish and you put her at the same table with 42-44-year-olds, it feels unrealistic.
The main male lead felt forcefully pushed to look at an 11-year younger intern as if she could be a potential partner. That was confusing because, in the story, he shows no interest in her, but the plot pushed them in a weird uncomfortable way. Clearly, there was no need to try to make a love story with boss and employee.
Also, the couple who just started dating, their story just started, and the drama just ended like that. We didn’t get enough time to digest. The story felt like they were going to go with one plot, and at the last minute, they added things. The drama in my opinion lacked a narrative cohesion and had underdeveloped character arcs.
They had so many details to use and create a powerful series; most of the time it felt like the characters were just there so the cases could be shown. If you know what I mean, it felt messy and incomplete; the plot was going here and there with so many plot holes.
So let me explain why I think it felt incomplete.
So first of all, we have the main female lead who is a prodigy kid who becomes an intern at Yullim. Okay, she is the main female lead, but she is put together with other interns, and the drama had no involvement of them. As side characters, they really stayed on the side, while they could have had an opportunity to do more. Even in other dramas, side characters do way more than they do in this drama. As the drama progressed, the whole attention was only on the female lead, making her unrealistically central. Even as prodigy kid, that was unrealistic. If she was working in the firm, it is understandable, but still, they could have integrated the other three interns into the stories to make the power balance smoother.
Then her personal story, with her twin deaf sister who had been given up to her aunt for addoption, I felt like her sister's story was quickly brushed off; there was so much material to use from her point of view, maybe merging with a case, and she could have appeared in these scenes way earlier than coming at the very end to meet her parents.
Also, her feelings, and her crushing over her boss was weird; it felt off and not fitting the story and no chemistry between the two. It felt like they decided last minute to add this idea because it didn't really fit well, like "we need romance because it’s a K-drama" and there is not always a need for romance.
Another point is; she was doing too much, getting involved in personal business and felt unnatural because she was an intern, but she was hanging around with older lawyers. If she was a new employee, as an associate lawyer, then yes, the story would be more natural, but when you take an intern who is 27ish and you put her at the same table with 42-44-year-olds, it feels unrealistic.
The main male lead felt forcefully pushed to look at an 11-year younger intern as if she could be a potential partner. That was confusing because, in the story, he shows no interest in her, but the plot pushed them in a weird uncomfortable way. Clearly, there was no need to try to make a love story with boss and employee.
Also, the couple who just started dating, their story just started, and the drama just ended like that. We didn’t get enough time to digest. The story felt like they were going to go with one plot, and at the last minute, they added things. The drama in my opinion lacked a narrative cohesion and had underdeveloped character arcs.
They had so many details to use and create a powerful series; most of the time it felt like the characters were just there so the cases could be shown. If you know what I mean, it felt messy and incomplete; the plot was going here and there with so many plot holes.
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