5 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in February 2024
5 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in February 2024
Given what we have seen in the first two episodes, Sa-ra is specifically a champion of single mothers unfairly treated by their male counterparts, herself included.
After giving us a taste of action in its opening, the show hops back in time two years to fill us in on how Sa-ra turned into this divorce justice fighter.
She was a divorce lawyer at the powerful Chayul Law Firm, which is owned by the odious family she married into.
Her husband, and father of their young son, is the despicable Noh Yul-seong (Oh Min-suk), who we first meet in bed with another woman. Even worse is her domineering mother-in-law, chairwoman Cha Hui-won (Na Young-hee).
Hui-won despises her prim and obedient daughter-in-law, who she forces to address her as chairwoman. Among the many injustices she is forced to endure, Sa-ra has to wash off the smell of her mother’s restaurant whenever she returns from visiting her.
When a big case comes along, Sa-ra is promised a seat on the board if she wins, and the right to call Hui-won mother. The case involves representing a reprehensible man who beats his wife, Son Jang-mi (Kim Sun-young).
Unsurprisingly, the seat is given to someone else even as Sa-ra appears poised to win the case. More shockingly, Sa-ra discovers that her in-laws have broken the law to get her son into a prestigious international school, and left her holding the bag.
Their plan involves secretly divorcing Sa-ra and Yul-seong, which also frees Yul-seong up to marry someone that Hui-won finds more appropriate. Suddenly, Sa-ra finds herself divorced, in prison and without custody of her son.
She stews behind bars and begins to channel her anger into physical training. Before long she is doing high kicks and getting into brawls with other inmates.
Sa-ra is also visited by Jang-mi, who she secretly helped to win the divorce case after Chayul betrayed her. Jang-mi wants to set up a divorce counselling service and, after a few visits, Sa-ra agrees to join after her release.
Meanwhile, Dong Ki-jun (Kang) is a by-the-book prosecutor who shares some very personal history with Sa-ra. After standing up to his corrupt superiors one day, Ki-jun leaves the prosecutor’s office and before long finds his way to Sa-ra’s Solution Divorce Services, which needs another legal adviser.
The opening sets up the kind of structure we have seen many times before. Solution Divorce Services will tackle various cases, defending clients who can no longer rely on official means, most of whom will presumably be women.
These cases will likely be increasingly connected to the Chayul Group, until Sa-ra can resolve her problems and retrieve her stolen son.
It is a decent set-up but how watchable viewers find Queen of Divorce will depend on how much tackiness they can stomach. There is also the show’s discordant clash between its progressive female empowerment themes and some of its more conservative elements, including the homophobia exhibited in the opening episode.
Queen of Divorce is streaming on Viu.
