No Gain No Love will make you laugh (and cry)
I am unsure if I was supposed to laugh or cry while watching this drama but anyway, I still did both and I have the feeling you will do so too.
WHAT IS NO GAIN NO LOVE
No Gain No Love is a K-drama that I believe you will enjoy from the first second. It follows our main couple Hae-Yeong and Ji-Wook in a marriage for convenience in an attempt to let Hae-Yeong obtain a vantagious promotion. Ji-Wook, on the side, is a convenience store employee who seems to have many more connections with Hae-Yeong that what people would expect. But would their fake marriage blossom in a real relationship, or would they inevitably fall in a trap of lies?
WHO IS IN THE CAST
- Shin Min-Ha (Oh My Venus, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) as Son Hae-Yeong
- Kim Young-Dae (Shooting Star) as Kim Ji-Wook
- Han Ji-Hyun (Cheer Up) as Nam Ja-Yeon
- Lee Sang-Yi (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) as Bok Gyu-Hyeon
- Joo Min Kyung (The Trunk) as Cha Hui Seong
ALL ABOUT THE DRAMA
Please note, it may contain spoilers. I try to avoid them, but I am a terrible yapper and even worst in writing.
Hae-Yeong has always lived with a mother fostering children who needed her help, and because of that she struggles to hold on people the same way she struggled to hold onto her mum. She always had to divide her attention with different people, only creating a hole with her daughter. After losing her father and with her mum in an elderly house, Hae-Yeong is surviving alone in her childhood house and with her two friends – who for a while were fostered by her family – while struggling to obtain a promotion as an unmarried woman. After witnessing her ex marrying another colleague, Hae-Yeong has the brilliant idea to marry a random man and secure herself a promotion. The “victim”, in this case, is Ji-Wook a convenience store employee and also someone who always seems to have a new discussion ready to pop up with Hae-Yeong.
Now, what she doesn’t know – and spoiler alert on this part! – is that Ji-Wook was also one of the many kids fostered by her mother (Yoon Bok In, which you might also know for her many dramas). And it’s also her character that I am sure will let you shred not one but many more tears while watching the drama. Despite losing her husband, another mystery that will be revealed by watching the drama, Lee Eun Ok – this is her name in the drama – is everything but alone. Something that made me tear, being it in the beginning or end of the drama, was how much she was surrounded by love. And something that Hae-Yeong has somewhat and in a way forgotten or overlook, until the end of the drama. This enlarged family, while surely quite gigantic, was also one of my favourite elements of the entire drama.
Of course, one of the many reasons that brought me to love the drama – writing aside, which should never be forgotten – is also the cast and all of the characters that created this amazing story. While in fact quite emotional in all of its delivery, there were still funny moments that might have broken the otherwise far too serious mood of the drama. Nam Ja-Yeon and Bok Gyu-Hyeon’s story, for instance, was surely one of the highlights from the drama. Gyu-Hyeon’s mother, nonetheless, made everything even more entertaining. Her husband, while present, didn’t really have a voice at the end of the story. And the last part of the drama itself demonstrated, with a decision from Gyu-Hyeon’s mother (played by Lee Il Hwa) that I feel might have orchestrated everything without even leaving a trace.
HAVE I ENJOYED THE DRAMA?
I Feel that the answer is quite clear: absolutely yes and I feel you will too. I feel, in fact, that you shouldn’t waste time and if you can, just watch it everything with no skipping, cause it’s worth it.
Do let me know what your thoughts are, and if you like me have mixed tears to laugh to the point that you weren’t sure what were you even supposed to do.