#how do lawful good characters struggle knowing that the laws they uphold are unjust!

[the-faultofdaedalus]

I so get the feeling with writing the chaotic neutral. Basically I go around being like “what they are not allowed to be made out of marshmallow and love at their core? This is BULLSHIT”

im not neccecarily saying that all characters -- even chaotic neutral ones -- have to be secretly soft! sometimes it’s fun to write Absolute Assholes (for example: theseus), my problem is mostly that

i create a character, in my head, he’s a asshole kid who’s got a shine in his eye for treasure hunting but has never actually done the deed, has a VASTLY incomplete and incorrect view on what that kind of work actually entails, is very much a kind of.... selfish cowardly asshole. i WANT him to work well with the rest of the PCS, but i also want him to not be a good person, or someone who is brave and defensive.

session one, the party discusses making booze out of forbidden apples, cheers eachother on as we leap over a trap pit, and fight large rats together. my character steals a kill from another by doing a badass jump-stab, promises to give that character the next kill, does so.

i dont think my problem is writing these characters that are dicks, i think it’s that i, at my core, am not someone who could approach a team-based game and be a problem, in any way. i need to be Helpful and that translates into my characters.

solo writing? sure, everyone’s a dick. a game like DND? i am.... not going to be that.

(there’s also the way i see the alignment grid, where being “evil” doesn’t neccecarily make someone a bad person. for me, the lawful-chaotic line is how much a character trusts/follows society’s rules, unspoken or otherwise, where good-evil is just selfless-selfish. if you’re evil, you put yourself first. if you’re good, you put everyone else first. hence, chaotic neutral rogues, who put themselves first because no one else will, who do not follow society’s rules because they do not trust that society will protect them. you could make a lawful good character a BBEG, just because they are so hung-up on the Rules, on following them, on punishing those who break them, who would hurt other people for the sake of Rules, because they believe that Rules is the way to help everyone else. very much a “dispicable acts for your own good” person. i’ve played in a campaign where one chaotic neutral character was basically my favorite character in the game, with a really really good complex characterization, not selfless but still good, and a different chaotic neutral was the textbook def of “murderhobo.” people see the alignment grid different, and that’s fine.)

[thekoreanlass]

‘Miss Hammurabi‘ came as a really huge surprise to me this year, in a great way of course. I wasn’t Go Ah Ra’s biggest fan, so I almost skipped this. She just seems overrated when she and her character always don’t match up. She had great projects, but it always felt like something was amiss her acting. But then, putting INFINITE’s L (Kim Myung Soo) alongside her and the fact that this is a legal drama convinced me to try and I was not even a bit disappointed.

In fact, the drama delivers something more than just drama. It tells stories about the lives of ordinary people, their real life struggles and social issues in modern day Korea.

The Story:

To put it simply the series tells the story of the life of judges and the various disputes that they have to settle (from wikipedia).

Park Cha Oh Reum (Go Ah Ra) is a rookie judge that is very passionate with her job and firmly stands for her beliefs and fair justice especially for the powerless. As she enters the court office as an associate judge, she unknowingly reunites with a person from her past, Im Ba Reun (Infinite’s L or Kim Myung Soo), a young judge who is popular for his firm principles and adherence to the rules. The two of them will together work hand in hand with Presiding Judge Han Se Sang (Sung Dong Il) to solve the civil cases of their department while facing their own personal battles as judges and as individuals.

Review:

What sets ‘Miss Hammurabi’ apart and above other legal dramas is how it attacked its challenges. Instead of going the usual route of talking about criminality in the court and the mystery surrounding the lead characters, this drama has shown a more human side to these judges.

They are seen as the powerful omniscients in most legal dramas, sometimes influenced by connection and bribery but nonetheless capable of deciding which life the characters or their clients shall lead. But here, we see the struggles of these judges in and out of the courtroom. We are presented an inside look to their real thoughts and how their everyday life went in comparison to their glorious roles as respectable men of law.

We are also unabashedly presented with the flawed truths about societal norms like gender discrimination in the workplace, power struggle, the clash between the unconventional new and the old traditional, the problems about following the inflexible hierarchy in the organization, the unjust treatment towards the oppressed poor and the special treatment towards the rich and people they are connected to and many others that are much closer to the truth. That are real and which are recreated in a fictional sphere to deliver sad but inspiring lessons that are realistic and often practical while keeping a pinch of idealism.

‘Miss Hammurabi’ is so good in delivering such a kind of story that is able to straightforwardly and strategically start slow burning kind of subplots that are able to challenge our characters and mold them and their relationships to something even more. These subplots are equally gripping and simply gratifying as it touches you in the most humanistic way at the end of every episode. I have in fact cried during every episode. They are just sad, like really sad, but nonetheless a fruitful journey filled with practical lessons about the everyday man. This reminds me so much of how ‘Misaeng‘ attacked its plot in almost the similar way.

Perhaps these dramas became so popular because of how it thrived to be about ordinary people and not about some grand scheme about chaebols or lead characters being on the run because of mysterious killers and whatnot. We surely love the sometimes scarring melodramas and heart-pounding romances, but it’s good to also have stories with a slice of life in it every once in a while, because that’s super relatable. It makes us realize how easily touched we are by these dramas because of how close it is to reality. A true gem in the rough.

Additional to the line of praises I’ve already given to this drama is its superb cast. Let’s give it that the storytelling is really solid and that character development has been evident all throughout the series and that consistency is wonderfully and carefully executed for each character, but of course not all of that ain’t possible if it isn’t because of its capable cast.

I had the strongest doubt that again Go Ah Ra won’t be able to pull off her role in the drama and she’s going to be an accessory once more to the male lead, but I can say that she made the right decision to pick this drama. Finally. She chose something that would definitely suit her and will make her shine. I didn’t think it would take one legal drama for me to believe in her.

Nonetheless, she made a very fine job of transitioning from a shy and naive teen to a strong judge with a lot of spunk and upright morals and compassion for the powerless. I was not one bit annoyed at how she portrayed the very idealistic and passionate judge that Park Cha Oh Reum is, even if Oh Reum’s character often had to exaggerate at how she does things, especially when trying to make the people realize her point. Oh Reum may be sometimes over the top, but Ah Ra’s acting has never been displaced. I think this is so far Go Ah Ra’s best performance as of yet.

On the other hand, I think that Kim Myung Soo is the ultimate revelation to me in this drama. I know already  that Myung Soo has the potential in acting. He has proven he has graduated from the campus crush or boy next door roles through the drama ‘Emperor: The Owner of the Mask‘ and it indeed showed, but I think his best performance yet is with ‘Miss Hammurabi’ as the introverted associate judge Im Ba Reun who became even more distant from other people after he took it to himself to become an objective judge who unflinchingly follows what the law says. He is often seen as an arrogant young judge with overflowing pride. Well, he tries his best to be an honourable judge like he once dreamt off but somehow in the process of doing his job, it seems that Ba Reun forgot why he was a judge. The burnout made him hate what used to be his dream, but then Oh Reum came back into his life without notice and he is exposed to a world full of hope and positivity because of her.

The characterization of the two main characters complement so much that while Oh Reum acts through her feelings, Ba Reun is the levelheaded buffer to guide her out from overthinking too much. That’s also why I think their team up worked. Because of how their relationship grew from merely nothing but acquaintances, to colleagues, to friends until they realized how much each has affected their lives in a patient, slow burn romance, which albeit not the main point of the story, still made a great side story because of its solid foundation.

Alongside these two great young actors is one of my favorite seasoned actors, Sung Dong Il. This guy is often part of the dramas I typically end up liking, so there’s no doubt he has great contribution with its success. And just like in those dramas, Sung Dong Il made his character Han Se Sang very fun to watch. Se Sang is the type of judge who is rough on the edges–with anger issues in the courtroom–but is very compassionate towards his fellow judges. He’s independent in the sense that he doesn’t strive for power and unabashedly criticizes his organization that seemed unyielding for years while upholding its old , unbending norms.

Se Sang may often clash with Oh Reum for her unconventional, idealistic opinions and may get into a silent battle with Ba Reun for the pride he is upholding, that is never to bend to hierarchy, but their love-hate relationship has been the perfect ice breaker in between watching heavy scenes that are rather always heart-wrenching.

Other minor characters like Jung Bo Wang (Ryu Deok Hwan) and Lee Do Yeon (Lee Elijah) adds more life to the series as they make perfect distraction away from the more serious topics. Bo Wang is the absolute gossiper that loves to barge inside Department 44’s office because of the beautiful stenographer Do Yeon who is his complete opposite.

Whereas Bo Wang is often clumsy and unthinking, Do Yeon is quiet but precise and reliable. There’s so much mystery surrounding Do Yeon at first that many people pass down false rumors about her and she doesn’t like to correct them, because she believes that people will believe what they want to so she doesn’t have to explain herself. She believes she doesn’t have to be friends with everybody, an extraordinary trait from a brave woman hiding behind a sweet looking face.

I must emphasize that aside from the characters that I have listed above, all of the other minor characters took on very significant roles that added more spice to the drama. We have seen how each of them are different from each character and that if viewed from different perspectives we are definitely going to see different sides of them that doesn’t really just make them bad guys alone or good guys alone. Of course, in one way or another, the people around you and how you are nurtured also indirectly affect what kind of person you are now, just like with them.

‘Miss Hammurabi’ has deeply explored humanity and their conscious effort to attack every struggle in a positive manner made everything in it every single bit that I am looking for in a drama. It has the right balance of melodramatic moments, cute and funny moments, friendship and romance. I think that the courtroom dramas are far from what I normally see from past legal dramas, but unraveling the sad stories of each victims and accused are an interesting thesis while trying to guess what decision will they rule out. These civil issues also opens our eyes to what we have closed our ears to, because of the standard facts.

Oh Reum’s independent actions are like little eye openers that also make us realize it isn’t so bad to be different, to not conform to the norm like everyone else, because like the saying ‘one person can make a change’–which we have stopped believing–goes, we see that no matter how minuscule or insignificant the change was, it’s still definitely a change that can make something become better.

On an ending note, though the ending became a bit hasty, I think that ending it with Oh Reum and Ba Reun finding comfort with each other is one of the best ways to close their own separate romance. Bo Wang’s and Do Yeon’s crazy romance is as much appreciated how playfully it was told. It’s also good to see that Oh Reum reunites with her mom outside the hospital with her mom remembering her and the whole gang meeting in Oh Reum’s home like a real family. Not tied by blood but by how they truly care for each other.

The show could have possibly extended to more civil cases, but I think adding more of it could have made this drama really tiring. So, it’s perfect that it’s only 16 episodes.

Plus, I super love how they concluded the series by tying each character’s fate into that one fateful memory in the library. We all think, based from Oh Reum and Ba Reun’s perspective, that they were the only ones there in the library when Oh Reum was vouching for a seat that she had saved and yet was invaded by a hopeless law student who was reviewing for the bar exam, but at the ending we are shown a glimpse of a younger Do Yeon and Bo Wang’s first meeting in the same library and Han Se Sang coincidentally being the hopeless law student who Oh Reum ousted from her seat that day. Se Sang always failed his past exams, but that day he had a really good feeling about it and perhaps that’s where it really all started. Fate, which is really sweet and nostalgic after all that court drama.

Rating:

Over all performance of the cast is really great, story is well written, the character development is very progressive and the drama as a whole is really fun to watch. So, I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 grade.

A piece of advise, though, is to make sure not to binge watch it in one go and instead give it ample time to grow in your heart one episode at a time.

Completed: Review on ‘Miss Hammurabi’ 'Miss Hammurabi' came as a really huge surprise to me this year, in a great way of course.