When it comes to Korean dramas, procedural and medical dramas are usually a hit or a miss for me. Often, I feel as if the drama uses the setting of a hospital, police department, or a court room as the background for the main love line. And that sucks especially for viewers like me who would rather have episodes focused on the cases than episodes focused on the love lines between the two leads. When I first saw teasers for 'Miss Hammurabi', I didn't have high expectations. Although Sung Dong Il is one of my favorite actors I can trust to watch, I had mixed feelings about Go Ara and Kim Myung Soo (L). Go Ara isn't a bad actor but she does have the tendency where her acting seems the same in every drama she comes out in and her acting sometimes seems exaggerated, especially during her crying scenes. With Kim Myung Soo, all I knew him was for being L from the boy group Infinite. I remember seeing him in 'The Master's Sun' and 'My Lovely Girl' but his acting wasn't memorable in either dramas. So with 'Miss Hammurabi', I expected Sung Dong Il to pull most of the weight and expected the typical procedural drama. But what I ended up getting was one of the best Korean legal dramas I've ever watched.
The reason I believe 'Miss Hammurabi' worked out so well was because it's written by an actual judge. The cases and situations presented in the drama did a really good job at portraying how Korean society currently is. Some of the most memorable topics for me were: sexism in the workplace, chaebols pulling strings and being stronger than the judges, and the characters going through their own moral issues. With the cases in this drama, I think it did a really good job at presenting both sides of the victim's perspective and the perpetrator's perspectives. With the issue regarding sexism in the workplace, the viewer would obviously root for the female employee who experiences a miscarriage after being worked too hard. The drama talks about how female employees are now cautious about marrying and becoming pregnant because they don't want to be seen as a burden to their coworkers. The obvious "villain" in this situation is the chief who overworks the female employee but then at the end, you realize that he's so hungry for success because that's his form of validation. The final scene of that episode also gave me chills because we see the female bailiff (portrayed by Lee Yea Eun) feeling threatened by a group of men although a few minutes ago, she was showing off her martial arts skills to the friends she was drinking with and showing how tough she was. This scene just made me really sad because I think it perfectly depicted how at times women can feel really vulnerable around men no matter how strong we think we are...
I was also shocked by how the drama showed their characters experiencing their own moral issues. The most memorable for me was Im Ba Reun (portrayed by Kim Myung Soo) using personal connections and his status as a judge to have his school friend pull some strings at the hospital so that his mother could get a check up faster. In that moment, all Ba Reun cared about was his mom, he didn't care if other patients waited longer than him. He realizes what he did when the doctor who examines his mother points out the fact that the patients that came before him are in extreme pain and they waited even longer than he did. Im Ba Reun is left feeling disgusted by himself and cries while apologizing to the people he cut in front of.
I believe this is why the drama worked so well as a legal drama. Its main focus wasn't on the love line between Im Ba Reun and Park Cha Oh Reum (portrayed by Go Ara), instead it was focused on their dedication to their careers and to bring justice to the people who deserve it. In my opinion, the love line present in this drama felt trivial and I really appreciated how it wasn't the main focus because it had the viewers rooting for justice to be brought in the cases rather than rooting for two characters to end up together. Many times when I was translating comments regarding this drama, many commenters pointed out how the world would be so much better if there were many judges like the main characters. Judges who actually take time to listen to both sides of the case and aren't being swayed by other factors. I also appreciated how the drama didn't drag out one case throughout multiple episodes but would resolve them in a timely manner.
'Miss Hammurabi' ended up being one of my favorite Korean dramas for this year. The drama did an amazing job on being an actual legal drama instead of being another romance k-drama trying to pass off as a legal drama. The acting all felt natural and not overreacted and I think that's because the actors aren't playing stereotypical roles. Kim Myung Soo isn't playing another chic flower boy, Go Ara isn't playing a tomboy or a girl trying to act tough, and Sung Dong Il isn't just another angry ahjussi. These characters in this drama all have a purpose and they're all characters we can relate with.
I would definitely recommend this drama to any viewer who isn't a huge fan on the stereotypical romance k-drama and is interested in watching dramas that are actually focused on legal issues. And for people who think Kim Myung Soo can't act (I used to be one of them), you need to do watch this because he'll change your opinion.
Hehehehe
Here's my review/final thoughts on the drama 'Miss Hammurabi'!
I hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I did~
This summer has been really busy for me so this is like the only drama I kept up with ㅠㅠ
I'm so sad it's over, I'm going to miss all the characters and the always perfect timing of 'IT'S ALRIGHTTTTTT' LOL
Hope everyone is having a good summer!
Talk to you soon!
♡
