Suspicious Partner (also translated as Love in Trouble), is a drama that successfully blends the two opposing genres of romance and crime, unlike maybe a Strong Woman Do Bong Soo, which felt like we were watching two separate dramas. The show follows the story of two lawyers, No Ji Wook (played by the charming Ji Chang Wook) and Eun Bong Hee (played by the delightful Nam Ji Hyun), and the subsequent cases that they solve together, including the core central plot of proving Bong Hee’s innocence, when she is falsely accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend (played by Chansung).

I classify Suspicious Partner into the ‘typical Korean drama’ genre that is filled with clichés such as the girl getting cheated on in the first episode(just like in Fight My Way), then, the female lead having no choice but to move in with the male lead, or working together in the same office. It becomes a bit too convenient at times, but you know what, as long as the whole drama is enjoyable, I honestly don’t mind. These type of dramas are also as important as the serious ones. As much as I loved Signal, Misaeng, and Something in the Rain, I don’t mind a She was Pretty, a School 2015 and this, once in a while. This show was my stress breaker when I was finishing off my architectural thesis, and it was perfect to take my mind off for a few minutes.

Talking about a few minutes, the half an hour episode format did not suit this show at all. Crime shows require time to explain the crime, the motive, the victims, the suspects, and this show already had a love story in place, so the short episodes ended up breaking the continuity. To combat this, the screenplay alternates between scenes of rom-com, followed by a few scenes of the crime thriller, and then back to the rom-com, and so on. At times, the romance does overshadow the crime plot of the show, especially with multiple cases lining up in the second half of the show, as well as the underdeveloped past of both of our lead characters.

Ji Chang Wook is in top form, especially in scenes involving the courtrooms, or his conversations with Jung Hyun Soo (played by Dong Ha). He is impressive, and he holds theses scenes together. Unfortunately, these scenes are far and few in between, and as much as I love seeing him romance Nam Ji Hyun’s character, these scenes showcase another range as an actor, and I really enjoyed watching him in this mode.

Choi Tae Hoon is amusing as Ji Eun Hyuk, and his chemistry and rapport with No Ji Wook were hilarious, but I wish there was more for him to do, especially the whole part of why he almost slept with Cha Yoo Jung (Hello Venus’s Nara), No Ji Wook’s girlfriend at the time, which totally went unexplained.
Is there any drama where a character doesn’t have amnesia and the lead couple doesn’t break up at least once? Yes there are, but this drama isn’t one of them.

It was both smart and dumb to suddenly put Jung Hyun Soo into a coma; smart because our characters get some time to delve into their past (whose reveal was a sheer disappointment), but dumb, because once Hyun Soo is out of coma, we are back to where we started, right at the beginning of the show. A few episodes are then wasted to get the confession out of Hyun Soo, which could have been saved to give more details onto the lead characters past, which was being teased from the beginning of the show.

The drama does pack a lot for its twenty episode run, and at times does drag, but the reveals are so unexpected, that it hooks you back into the show.