“Queen of Divorce” (끝내주는 해결사)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
March 9, 2024

☆☆☆☆
Kim Sa-ra (played by Lee Ji-ah)
Dong Ki-joon (played by Kang Ki-young)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

Equal parts comedy and revenge, Queen of Divorce tackles the dirty deeds that occur during divorce proceedings. Sa-ra (Lee Ji-ah) is a brilliant attorney, whose husband and monster-in-law set her up for a crime she never committed. After being sentenced to prison, her manipulative husband divorces her. While she loses her license to practice law, she gains a will to fight. Literally. Since she can’t resume her legal career, Sa-ra opens a divorce resolution business, where her newfound martial arts skills are put to use. The team’s unorthodox methods may not be one hundred percent legal, but they get the job done. Throughout it all, Sa-ra works diligently to get back custody of her own child, while simultaneously meting out punishment on those who set her up. (Kocowa)

The excerpt above is from my Teen Vogue review. But the major beef I had with K-drama is that it set up the heroine to be a strong fighter who can more than hold her own against men trained in martial arts. And yet, she’s unable to free herself when confronted by her not-particularly powerful ex-husband. We’ve already seen that she is amazing at hand-to-hand combat. So why can’t she break free from his grip?

This trope repeats itself in shows like “Cinderella and the Four Knights” and “Boys Over Flowers,” and I’m honestly tired of it. For this to be believable, I need a more plausible reason. One woman against a group of men? OK, I get it. But not this.

Airdates: Sixteen hour-long episodes aired on JTBC from January 31 to March 7, 2024. (I watched this on KOCOWA.)

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