Work Later, Drink Now Season 2 (2022)

Fun, exciting, engaging and entertaining - just a bit diluted.

I would be lying if I said I did not have a fun time watching. So Hee was as unique as always, Ji Yeon as crazy and Ji Gu as grumpy. Their friendship was still the best and strongest part of the whole show (till one specific scene). Compared to season one, it also focused on them outside of their friendship, so we’ve got less group drinking moments, but instead could see them interact with other people more.

One thing I liked was the fact Kang Buk Gu did not really feel like the main character. I don’t think he had more scenes or importance than for example Kim Sun Jong, which I don’t complain about since he was never a character I looked for while watching the episodes even in season 1. It might be something that others dislike though.

The issue I had with this season is how disjointed it felt. First two episodes don’t fit into the timeline at all and while I understand they had to give a proper closure to the events from season 1, I am not sure they handled it in the best way storytelling wise. And the similar “individual stories not quite connecting together” feeling lasted for the whole duration of the show.

Some episodes were truly great, some were nice, some were not memorable at all. The quality fluctuated a lot. As a whole it was less funny, less moving and less entertaining. It’s still a great drama though, far above the majority of comedy shows. It just pales in comparison to season 1.

The arc this time was them as individual people learning how dependable they are on each other, and how it does not always have positive effects. I understand it on paper, but I think it was not quite well presented in the show itself.

Then, there was one side plotline that was the biggest issue for me. Without giving any spoilers of what happened, the events just made me question why these 3 girls are even friends and how did this friendship last so long. We got an unsatisfying conclusion to an extremely complex problem. The writing of this one side plot was so bad, I actually lost any interest in ever rewatching season 1 and 2. I just cannot see the friendship in the same light anymore (more about it in a comment below).

Performances were amazing - great continuation of the phenomenal deliveries from previous season. It truly feels as if the actresses were born to take these roles.

Overall, you can sense that this season is different and I think the change of the director is obvious. Personally I preferred how Kim Jung Shik handled the story. Season 1 was my first 10 in 2 years. While season 2, while I don’t regret watching, I would not exactly recommend others to check out.

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