Law and the City Episodes 1-2 Review
Director: Park Seung-woo
Date Created: 2025-07-07 01:55
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Law and the City Episodes 1-2 Review: Seocho-dong (서초동), is a Disney+ legal Kdrama by Park Seung-woo. This is Lee Jong-suk’s long-awaited return to the small screen since Big Mouth, and he stars as Ahn Ju-hyeong, a genius, emotionally numb senior associate lawyer. He is accompanied by Mun Ka-young as Kang Hee-ji, the benevolent and justice-minded lawyer. The rest of the main cast includes Kang You-seok as Cho Chang-won, Ryu Hye-young as Bae Mun-jeong, and Im Sung-jae as Ha Sang-gi.
The series centres on the professional and personal lives of five lawyers in the Johwa Law Firm. The drama blends the legal genre with slice-of-life, putting aside not only courtroom cases but also friendship, office camaraderie, and moral dilemmas that define a lawyer’s life.
Law and the City Episodes 1 Recap
The episode 1 of Law and the City begins with establishing Ahn Ju-hyeong (Lee Jong-suk), a seasoned associate lawyer with a reputation for calm, calculated composure. From morning wake-up time to the manner he conducts himself in court, Ju-hyeong’s life is efficient and orderly. He does not have time for feelings or niceties. He sees law not as a vocation but as a job, one grounded in reason, not ideals.
As he heads to court, Ju-hyeong sees a young junior lawyer rehearsing courtroom monologues from a legal drama on his phone. This triggers a subdued flashback, when he himself used to think in melodramatic rhetoric and emotional appeals. Experience has hardened him up emotionally now. He does not invest in other people’s emotions anymore. He wins his case on points of fact alone, and if he loses, he does not sulk over it. In court, he pleads his case with utmost clarity, catching the junior’s eye.
Later, in the Johwa Law Firm office, things are in full action. New case files accumulate, lawyers dash about, and still, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle, one thing is sacred: the daily lunch debate in the firm group chat on where to have lunch. Ju-hyeong has a tight lunch circle with Cho Chang-won, Bae Mun-jeong, Ha Sang-gi, and Dong-wook. The lunch is flavoured with a bitter-sweet taste. Dong-wook is departing the firm for a better opportunity. Ju-hyeong casually says he has a blind date that night while they are talking. The group mocks him, knowing he will not survive the entire night and will show up at the farewell dinner anyway.
During this period, Ju-hyeong is given a tough case, a blind accountant who is accused of assault. The client explains that the victim is lying and that there was a personal background. Ju-hyeong is intrigued and takes on the case. The blind date that night is as expected—dull and uninteresting. He erases the number halfway through dinner and proceeds straight to Dong-wook’s farewell dinner, as his colleagues had advised.
The next day, the team discovers that Dong-wook has quietly exited their lunch group chat. Ju-hyeong admits that he had suggested that it would be less awkward if he left. In the meantime, a new interviewee shows up, Kang Hee-ji (Mun Ka-young), who impresses the interview panel with her confidence and fresh outlook. She’s hired on the spot.
As Hee-ji walks around the office and looks over the team’s lunch group chat, she pauses when she sees the name and photo of Ju-hyeong. Her reaction—a soft, knowing smile—indicates that they have met before. Meanwhile, Ju-hyeong visits his client’s house to observe his surroundings and behaviour. As he browses through housing records in the course of his inquiry, Ju-hyeong discovers that the accused and the victim were both once residents in the same place. Before the court hearing, he tactfully drops the bombshell on his client: he knows the truth: the alleged victim is more than an acquaintance—they were once in a relationship.
The client finally comes clean and admits the truth. They had recently broken up, and the case was an act of revenge. Ju-hyeong does not judge or react emotionally. In court, he only cares about facts. He logically describes how a visually impaired individual could not have struck so precisely. He also shrewdly refers to their shared address. The judge accepts Ju-hyeong’s version that it was an ex-roommate misunderstanding and not an outing and scandal. The client later thanks Ju-hyeong, but he simply says he accepted the logic, not the person.
The show closes on a team dinner. Mun-jeong nonchalantly reveals that they will be acquiring a new member to join their lunchtime debate. At this point, Hee-ji enters the room. When she and Ju-hyeong meet eyes, the room is filled with a charged, wordless silence. It is obvious that something has happened between them. The Law and the City kdrama ep 1, ends with their wordless, charged stare.
Law and the City Episodes 2 Recap
In episode 2 of Law and the City, Ju-hyeong pretends not to know Hee-ji, while we all know he does not. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to another sub-plot with Kim Hyeong-min, the CEO of the Hyungmin Building, who suggests that some of the law firms be merged into a single long-term office. The merger could change the dynamics and force the smaller firms to adjust.
In the law office, Hee-ji remembers Ju-hyeong’s cold response. In the meantime, a seizure case is in the spotlight. A creditor comes to seek legal assistance but is rejected at once. Hee-ji quietly watches the incident and is cautioned by senior attorneys not to go to seizure locations personally, as the cases become violent and hostile.
Subsequently, the creditor and the debtor go to Johwa Law Firm to represent them in the same case, and this creates internal conflicts. In spite of the restraint, Hee-ji participates in another seizure of assets, seeing firsthand how disorganised and unjust the process is. This makes her want to practice law with greater sympathy than is commonly practised in the firm.
As Ju-hyeong is acting as the creditor in a case of eviction, the courtroom scene illustrates how stringent legal systems can be. The debtor, having been late with only one payment, is being taken to court. There is no scope for negotiation in the contract unless the entire amount is paid. At home, Hee-ji learns there is a Supreme Court ruling that creditors cannot arbitrarily cancel the lease of tenants of public housing.
Although Ju-hyeong is certain the judge is unaware of the decision and does not think it should be talked about, Hee-ji secretly shows the decision to the debtor. During the following court hearing, the debtor produces the document, and the judge dismisses the case of eviction in their favour.
During lunch, the team finds out what happened. There is a fierce argument between Ju-hyeong and Hee-ji on legal limits—he keeps to the rules of process, whereas she thinks the law has to allow for people’s dignity as well. Their ideological gap comes into sharper relief.
Law and the City episode 2 concludes with Hee-ji alone on a basketball court, daydreaming. Ju-hyeong, out walking, notices her in the distance. Flashback, Hee-ji and Ju-hyeong had a quick kiss, and we learn of their past relationship and glimpse possibilities for rekindled feelings in the future.
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Law and the City Episodes 1-2 Review
The Law and the City is a drama that avoids over-the-top plot turns and cliffhangers in favour of understated realism and emotional reserve. Lee Jong-suk returns to the small screen for a role all about control, timing, and understated emotion. As Ahn Ju-hyeong he portrays a man who’s been tempered by years inside the system, measured, rational, and emotionally shut down. What makes him so formidable is not what he says, but what he doesn’t say. It’s in the silence, the pauses, the way he looks away too long at Hee-ji.
Mun Ka-young is a great foil. Kang Hee-ji, brings warmth and fresh energy to the firm. Her idealism regarding justice is never contrived. Especially in Law and the City Kdrama Ep 2, when she quietly helps a beleaguered tenant fight an unfair eviction, it’s clear that she sees law as a force to protect, not a chore to perform. This clash of philosophies between her and Ju-hyeong sets the emotional and thematic tone of the series
To be sure, this drama will not suit all tastes. Viewers of fast-paced legal dramas may find Law and the City too slow or uninteresting. There are no melodramatic courtroom meltdown episodes, no larger-than-life antagonists. The show, instead, provides a realistic picture of lawyers working on mundane issues, moral grey areas, emotional dilemmas, and even something as mundane as deciding where to have lunch. These mundane scenes are shot in an observational fashion, as if you’re sitting at the back table, listening in on the conversation.
Even the romance is subdued. The premise of two old lovers meeting up after ten years sounds like a K-drama cliché, but it’s done here in a mature way. There’s something deeply compelling about the fact that Ju-hyeong feigns not knowing Hee-ji when clearly their history meant something. The last flashback in episode 2 of Law and the City—a tender kiss from the past—doesn’t just build intrigue; it infuses the entire story with a heartbeat. You need to know what that was about and if they will confront it.
