No Gain, No Love

A calculating female lead gets married to a younger puppy-dog boy who works at a convenience store. Although very tropey, the humor is unique and unabashedly laughable. Each episode just gets better.

Filled with humorous cat-and-dog antics, the main characters and the supporting leads get into endless conflicts. The comedic timing is excellent and mixes wonderfully with the not-so-subtle romantic undertones the main characters conveniently overlook.

It's on the mature side for viewers used to a more conservative kdrama, but so far has maintained it's dignity and lightheartedness while still being able to discuss mature and difficult topics.

"Is this a wedding invitation or an invoice?" Her friend muses as she holds the paper up to the light. Hae has always felt like she was getting cheated. She still does. Son "Hae" Yeong is a girl who had to share love with all the stray kids her mother always had a habit of taking in. She's at her ex's wedding, now. She would look weak if she didn't show. Cro-chi? The slide show celebrates the pair's 1 year anniversary of being a couple... Um, Hae broke up with him a mere 6 MONTHS ago. There he is: Happy, carefree, adored, getting the company's marriage benefits of cash, free vacation, & the honeymoon suite. All she does is transfer her hard earned money to coworkers for their weddings & babies. They are generally living more successfully than she. Hae HATES being cheated and her ex is a devil. She blows up the group photo - in her imagination. Pssshhh. She didn't like him anyway. Dating him was just killing time.

NGNL is a 2024 release that is rated 89 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 12 65-minute episodes. It's got it all. Spice Up Our Love is a follow up 2-episode short that dives into one of Bora's novels and examines the 2ndary couple's romance further. That's pretty cute. NGNL is a trope salad: Fake marriage, lost son of the chairman, enemies to lovers (× 2), and total validation. It's a fairytale. It's not serious. It's simply fun escapism. And fun, it is.

It seems to Hae that everyone is wedding obsessed, right now. She can't get near the company president because she's single. The owners won't let any temptation around their son. All the secretaries and high level execs are MEN. If she was married (AKA, NOT a threat to the family bloodline) she would already have been promoted. She begins to wish she was married. On a night when she's feeling desperate, she asks the 7-11 clerk to be her groom. Hae's goals are purely financial. She has no interest in messy emotions. It's about what's in it for her - Cash envelopes, company stipend, and honeymoon time... she's gonna get what she has due.

The wonderful Shin Min Ah (Our Blues-8.5, Oh My Venus-7.4, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2,Tomorrow with You-7, born in 1984) is our FL. She is competitive. She hated the attention that her mother gave to the constant masses of foster children that flowed through their home when she was growing up. She despises unfairness (when she's subjected to it) and she's not above cutting corners. She doesn't value love or intimacy. Her relationships have been mostly shallow. Her BFF (Nam Ja Yeon / Yeon Bo Ra, played by Han Ji Hyun of the Penthouse Series) writes spicy romance novels. Joo Min Kyung (One Spring Night-7.8, Something in the Rain-8.6, Green Mothers' Club) is Cha Hui Seong, Hae Yeong's other friend. Both of Hae's BFFs "did time" in her home when she was growing up. If her mom hadn't taken in foster kids, Hae would be completely and utterly alone. She fails to recognize that.

Kim Young Dae (Penthouse Series, born in 1995) is Kim Ji Uk. He's an orphan, he works at a convenience store (he needs a better job) and he's a perpetual do-gooder - a saint. His halo stays polished. He's gentle and conscientious. He's looking for a nice, modest, respectful, quiet girl to marry. That ain't Hae. He's been watching her for 6 years. She's had alot of interactions with MEN in that mini mart. She's bought alot of condoms. But 'the head is the domain of knowledge and our heart is where love resides, after all. He's actually more mature than she, despite the age diff.

Lee Sang Yi (Han RiverPolice-7.4, Youth of May, Bloodhounds, born in 1991) is the trust fund baby, Bok Gyu Hyun. Things are stiff at home, and he's doing his best to keep his parents happy and the company afloat. His mom loves Bora's novels. One day, the men in the family find out what's in /those novels/. Gyu Hyun decides he's going to destroy this author, this purveyor of smut. He's declared war on Yeon Bo Ra. I have become a fan of this actor. He has tremendous skill.

Lee Yoo Jin is Yeo HaJun, Gyu Hyun's secretary. I've seen him in Be Melodramatic-8.7 and Familiar Wife-8.5 - exceptional shows, both. His face is completely different now. It is much fuller. He looks good. Kim Hae Sook (Mr. Plankton, Under the Queen's Umbrella, Inspector Koo-8.4, Start-up-8, Hospital Playlist-9, Saimdang, Light's Diary-8.5) makes an appearance as a grandmother. She's always fantastic. The screenwriter is Kim Hye Young who also gifted us with Her Private Life-8. Kim Jung Shik directed NGNL, Work Later, Drink Now, & So Not Worth it, among others.

Temporary physical satisfaction vs committed love is the theme. "My body and heart come together as a set," our ML says to a h0rny and disappointed Hae. One of Hae's friends has been dating her boyfriend in a lackluster fashion for over 10 years. He mentions marriage and she realizes that she doesn't feel like marrying him. They decide to have an open relationship. Hae, not in the "know," almost takes his head off one day when she sees him with another woman, which leads to an argument with her friend. ("You're a s!u+!" "/You're/ a prude!") Life is complicated and it can be difficult to know the best course. We all chafe under too many rules. People have a habit of looking at short term gratification while ignoring long-term satisfaction. I don't know how many open relationships work out in the long-term, but I've heard lots of stories about them not working out. Jealousy plus feelings of betrayal and abandonment often take hold. The evidence is there that most of us crave an intimate relationship - one where we are the most important person in someone's life. Throwing that idea out for sex with multiple partners seems like a cheap exchange to me. If a person dates someone for years but doesn't want to marry, there simply isn't enough love there. There isn't a deep enough connection. I'm for cutting the cord and moving on. Why do people continue to date a person they will never commit to? Loneliness has to be the main reason. Casual sex, more often than not, ends up making a person feel lonelier and emptied out, though it's a slow process that may go unnoticed for a long time. As problematic as marriage can be, married people are less lonely and have more sex - more money, too. The high divorce rates are driven by 2nd and 3rd marriages. The majority of first marriages still don't end in divorce. I guess it comes down to whether sex actually means something or not. According to human history and most world religions it does. It seems to be a conjunction the emotional and physical at the very least, and in its highest form it is the union of the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Cheapening it down to a mere physical act could be robbing ourselves. The show's plot reinforces that concept, in the end.

Another theme is living free and not being enslaved by others' expectations. "{My father} wanted me to live the same life that he had and I thought it was my duty as his son to honor him. Now that he's gone, and I followed his will to the letter, you know what I've come to find out? It's pointless. It was a huge waste of time... I don't feel accomplished in the least. If I had disappointed him a long time ago and lived how I wanted to live then I would have been much happier... don't hand over your reins to someone else," we hear from another character. People are by nature controlling. While parents and elders have lived longer and have seen more, so their advice can be valuable, no one has the right to rule your life. Always evaluate your presuppositions and what is spurring you on. Make sure you are doing /some/ things that make YOU happy and fulfilled. Never stop improving. Never stop working on yourself.

Craft and art-wise, the show is competent. The theme song is kitschy but cute. Miracle, by HEMIAN, is very nice. There is plenty of levity and some genuine laughs. 'You really have to love someone to do all of this,' Hae muses as she reviews a wedding checklist online. In ep6 people with a multitude of convoluted cross sections and undercurrents sit down to a meal - it's big fun. The primary romance is nice, but the 2ndary couple's story might even be better. That's why they get their own follow-up special. There's no pain in this gain, and there's a fair amount of spice, which is nice!

QUOTE📢

The nation's strength relies on integrity at home.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.5 📝7.3 🎭7.8 💓7 🦋6.8 🎨7 🎵/🔊7 🔚7 ▪ 🌞6 ⚡2.5 😅4 😭2.5 😱3 😯2 🤢2 🤔4 💤0

Age 15+ Language : R-rated w/ F💣s; The international peace sign is waived (middle finger salute) Sexual content 4/10; Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned.

Re-📺? Unlikely, but not impossible

In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

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🌐Modern Day - 🇰🇷K: A Witch's Love 7.8, Love to Hate You 8.9, Her Private Life 8, Touch your heart 8.2, Oh My Ghost 10, It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9, Love Struck in the City 7.3, Be Melodramatic-8.7 Hospital Playlist 9, My Liberation Diary-8.9, My Mister-9.5, I'll See You When the Weather is Fine 9

💘Romance junkies only - 🇰🇷K: My Secret Romance-7 (if you ff thru overdone flashbacks), Boys Over Flowers-8 ~ melodrama to the max, The Bride of Habaek-7, Heirs-7.3, That Winter, The Wind Blows-7, Something in them Rain-9, C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine, but the ML pulls an offensive stunt When I Fly Towards You-7.8, You are my destiny-6.8 - cute and sweet and 1/2 padding, Find Yourself-8.9, Hidden Love-7.8, Wait, My Youth-8.4, A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5, Tw🇹🇼: The Fierce Wife-8 - worth sticking with.

So first of all I love the FL. She is one of my fav k actress. I love love her personality in the show. Acting is superb. Best thing about this drama is the joy I feel while watching it. There are some k dramas which get toooo sappy and I really don't like it and some are just over hyped because of the ads. But this is genuinely worth watching. The comedy, the chemistry and the chaos all are wonderfully blended. I just wait for Mondays and Tuesdays for the show to release. Im disappointed by the ratings though. I think it would have been more popular if Netflix had released it. Anyway it's definitely worth a watch.

I really enjoyed the story and the characters development in this movie, despite a bit shallow the development was light and interesting enough to be remembered as a good watch in a cloudy day.

For me Shin Min-a is a great artist and one of the few human beings capable of portrait a young version of herself despite being 42 years old. She have a great capability of making the romance and others emotional part echoes in the viewers, this genre of storytelling it's definitely told much better and with much depth when is done by her.

Kim Young-dae was amazing too, that was the first time I watched him in a kdrama but the feelings and emotions were on point and the chemistry with Min-a works very well.

Han Ji-hyun, Lee Sang-yi and Lee- Yoo-Jin, were a great addition to the plot, specially for Sang-yi, after watch him in Bloodhound, which he did a amazing job, I got mesmerized to see it the great actor he is despite being in so different genres.

I definitely recommend this series and hope other people like it as much as I did.

I wasn't expecting to get so engaged and immersed in this kdrama, I liked the characters, the chemistry between the main and second lead couples and the unfolding story. The female lead isn't afraid to show weakness, regret or break the good-girl-stereotype that many other kdramas portray. The characters all show a decent amount of realism in their behaviors.

Definitely worth the watch! And the comic relief moments were also a 9/10 for me!

If you are thinking about watching it, just give it a shot! Your time will be well spent! Although it is not your typical boy-meets-girl kind of drama.

I would re-watch it!