We are almost at the end of "The Good Wife", which looks like it will be a typical fight against an antagonist we have been expecting to take on the part for a long time. Tae-joon is determined to destroy Joong-won and while Hye-kyeong is happy with her decision, she faces problems at work in addition to Tae-joon's wrath. As we approach the final hour, the show's good and bad points become more pronounced.
Hye-kyeong's (Jeon Do-yeon) decision was not an easy one, but we can clearly see it was the right one. She looks more confident, happy and relieved. Making decisions for oneself is an important freedom to have and it does affect our performance in all facets of life. Her decision to defend Joong-won (Yoon Kye-sang) against Tae-joon (Yoo Ji-tae) is another point indicating growth, as it is now a conscious decision rather than a passive acceptance of orders, which is what her sacrifices for Tae-joon have been.
Tae-joon on the other hand has not grown and he has not learned a single lesson. This makes his fatherly advice to Ji-hoon (Seong Yoo-bin) even more callous and Ji-hoon's counter argument quite the nice punishment for it. Ji-hoon knows that abuse of power is wrong, I just wish Tae-joon had a sliver of guilt and awareness in order to receive that message. Even his joon's own lawyer, who is not above dirty work finds Tae-joon's current actions too wicked.
Which brings us to the other side of things and that is Joong-won. Joong-won has had some nice development throughout the series and it really shows during these hard times. The development of its three main characters has been a success of the drama. Joong-won takes the moral high road more often these days and Dan's (Nana) praise for it is earned. Sang-il (Kim Tae-woo) might be planning his big return, but it is satisfying to see Joong-won play fairly.
His reappearance kind of brings memories of the show back and reveals its shortcomings. For one, Joon-ho's (Lee Won-geun) character seems to be kind of lost since he left the firm and I mean in terms of his use to the plot. Sang-il as well makes a return only as a force against Tae-joon. Characters like Kang Seok-beom (Han Gap-soo), who looked important for conflict have not really been used well.
More importantly, the lack of time means that relationships and characters with potential will never flourish, unless another season is planned down the road. Myeong-hee (Kim Seo-hyeong) and Joong-won's conversation was a great moment of sibling love foiled by their inability to communicate. Dan and Hye-kyeong's friendship could have been so much more. Regardless, the series is a really good one and so I enter its final hour a satisfied viewer.
"The Good Wife" is directed by Lee Jeong-hyo, written by Han Sang-woon and features Jeon Do-yeon, Yoo Ji-tae, Yoon Kye-sang and Kim Seo-hyeong.
Source:HanCinema
