Air Date: August 26 – October 1, 2024

Episodes: 12

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Starring: Shin Min Ah and Kim Young Dae

An empolyee for an education business has the perfect idea for a company-wide contest that comes with a nice cash bonus and a promotion.  But her hopes are dashed when she finds out the leadership have an unwritten rule that they never hire unmarried women.  Desperate to win, she hires a part-time cashier at her local convenience store to pose as her groom at an upcoming wedding.  And luckily for her, he has his own reasons for needing a “fake” marriage.

But things veer from her plan when her “husband” suddenly shows up as an intern at her office.  And as they are  forced to continue their marriage charade, they find themselves becoming much closer.  But a secret from his past threatens to split them apart.

Hae Yeong grew up as an only child who should have had all her parents’ attention.  But instead her mother poured herself into serving as a foster parent for children in need. The pain of her perceived neglect has made her unemotional and calculating in her life choices.  But when she meets the kind and generous Ji Uk, her heart begins to open for the first time, and she blossoms under his careful care. 

But when she finds out Ji Uk was actually her mother’s last foster kid, and that he was there, taking care of her mother right before her death, Hae Yeong feels betrayed.  Shin Min Ah starred in the very first kdrama I ever watched, and I definitely have a soft spot for her.  I liked her in this role, and while it isn’t her strongest or deepest character, the role fit Shin Min Ah perfectly.  

Kim Ji Uk is kind and generous, but he never had the love and support of a family until he found himself living with Hae Yeong’s mother afterHae Young’s father’s death.  And although Hae Yeong doesn’t remember him, their one short encounter left a lasting impression.  I have really loved watching Kim Young Dae go from playing a young high school student to a handsome leading man.  I enjoy his gentle spirit and emotional expressions.  I look forward to watching him continue to grow and tap into his talent.  

Yeo Ha Jun is Gyu Hyun’s personal secretary, but his desire is to be able to work in web design.  He and Ja Yeon were friends in school before she mysteriously disappeared one day.  So he is thrilled to run into her and reconnect.  But he has no idea that she writes online fiction or that her lead character is actually modeled after him.  

I thought it was interesting that this drama talked about Ha Yeong’s family as a foster family.  While I sometimes see dramas where a family will take a needy child in, I very seldom see any reference to the idea of foster care.  The difference may be subtle, but it’s the transparency of the foster concept that seems noteworthy.  It’s nice to see Korea moving beyond the days of birth secrets and hidden adoptions.  

I thought this drama did a nice job with the way they wrapped up the story of Ja Yeon and her dad’s role in Hae Yeong’s dad’s death.  For someone as angry about the kids her mom took in, the fact that she knew about it all along and still loved and accepted Ja Yeon as her sister is huge.  I liked their relationship and while finding out didn’t change anything between them, it was important for Ja Yeon to know she didn’t have to hide it or worry about it anymore.

This is a minor complaint, but it annoys me that in the end U Jae managed to benefit professionally from the hard work of his ex-girlfriend and current wife.  The fact that he unabashedly stole Hae Yeong’s idea and then let his wife get him a promotion seems absolutely unfair.  And while his wife may be a lot less easy to please than he first thought, I would have liked to have seen him get some kind of deeper karmic retribution.  

I felt like both Ha Joon and Hui Seong were thrown by the wayside without much development or closure to their storied.  It seemed like Hui Seong’s storyline was so cutting edge that the writers weren’t really sure what to do with it after they introduced it.  It was as if saying, what if a character was polyamorous and got pregnant was a story in itself with nowhere to go from there. 

As For Ha Joon, he is presented as Ja Yeon’s perfect hero, but we never get a chance to know what it was that really made him so charming or what he was really like as a character.  Did he really just friendzone Ja Yeon from the beginning or was there ever a moment when the sparks were more than Ja Yeon’s imagination?

‘No Gain No Love’ takes us on an emotional journey before bringing it all in for happy endings all around.  First, Ja Yeon’s father attacks her and Gyu Hyun rushes in to save the day.  With that, her father is arrested again, and later in the hospital Gyu Hyun and Ja Yeon finally share a kiss. 

Hae Yeong’s mom passes away, bringing a whole slew of grown foster children who sing her praises.  And Hae Jeong finally finds out that Ji Uk is also one of those children.  She breaks up with him, convinced its for his own good.  And Ji Uk leaves the country as he had promised Gyu Hyun.

6 months later, Hui Eung is doing well in her voice acting and she and Tae Hyung have decided to raise the baby together.  Ja Yeon is still writing, but she is also giving lectures and making public appearances.  She seems confident and happy, and she is still happily dating Gyu Hyun.  Hae Yeong has started her own start up company and hired Ha Joon to be her coder.

Ji Uk comes back to Korea for a wedding and Hae Yeong sees him and thinks he is the one getting married.  Luckily they meet face to face and Ji Uk tells her that the woman he was with is actually his step sister, and he is there to act as her big brother.  With that, the couple finally share a romantic reunion.

‘No Gain No Love’ is a light-hearted rom-com with plenty of fun humor.  At 12 episodes, the story never has time to get dull and there is enough emotional depth to keep it on track.   I find Shin Min Ah enchanting in everything she does, and this drama did not disappoint.  And I have to give a special shout-out to any second-lead couple who is so popular with fans, they decide to give them their own 2 episode “mini-drama”.

I feel like I’m saying this a lot these days, but this drama does have a 12 year age gap between its leads.  I also felt like a couple of the side stories fizzled out disappointingly and the ending seemed a bit rushed.    But it is a nice, breezy watch with some nice, touching moments.   I give “No Gain No Love’ an 8 out of 10 ramen.

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