By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
September 10, 2025
☆☆☆ (out of ☆☆☆☆)
Yoon Seok-hoon (played by Lee Jin-wook)
Kang Hyo-min (played by Jung Chae-yeon)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
This show was included in my Teen Vogue round-up of the best K-dramas of 2025:
Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) is a recent law school graduate who is almost unbeatable in court. In this legal procedural, she is mentored by uber-attorney Seok-hoon (Lee Jin-wook), who longs for the family he never had with his ex-wife. The cases they take include a model suing her ex boyfriend for branding her body, and a housekeeper trying to prove that her wealthy boss abuses his daughter. One of Beyond the Bar’s most compelling episodes revolves around a developmentally disabled artist who is accused of plagiarizing a famous artist’s work. As for the will-they-or-won’t-they-get-together element of the series, it almost doesn’t matter. The K-drama does such a great job of creating complete characters who don’t need a partner to be whole, leaving viewers satisfied with either choice, because we’re confident they will all be OK. (Netflix)
More in the Spoiler Alert below …
Airdates: Twelve 70-minute episodes aired on JTBC from August 2 through September 7, 2025. (I watched this on Netflix.)
Spoiler Alert: Hyo-min’s boyfriend broke up with her because her sister is deaf. He didn’t want to risk marrying a woman whose family has a genetic “flaw.” Her sister is being raised by her deaf aunt and uncle, which adds another layer of how disabilities are dealt with, and the guilt Hyo-min feels in being the “normal” child.
The cases that the lawyers tackle are compelling. A famous male artist sues a developmentally-handicapped young woman for plagiarizing his painting. The housekeeper of a wealthy man sues him for abusing his young daughter. A model sues her sadistic exboyfiriend for literally branding her body, which all but ends her career.
In each of these cases, Hyo-min figures out that the law firm’s clients are innocent. One of the best episodes centered on the plagiarizing lawsuit. She uncovers the younger painter’s trademark, which the elder artist had copied without knowing the context. The young artist had secretly placed her father’s likeness as an homage into all of her work. When the older artist copied her painting, he included her father’s likeness as well, not knowing its relevance.
© 2025 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved
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