Work Later, Drink Now focuses on three ladies, Ahn Sohee (Lee Sunbin), Kang Jigoo (Eunji of Apink) and Han Jiyeon (Sunhwa of Secret), their lives and the role drinking plays in their lives.
When I heard that there was a drama focused on a female trio and it was getting rave reviews, I knew I had to watch it. Shows focusing on female friendships like Age Of Youth, Be Melodramatic and Search WWW are some of my all time favourite dramas. I also have a soft spot for Eunji because she has such a wonderful voice, and I actually watched Reply 1997 when it first came out (back when tvN was still trying to establish itself - what a long way it has come) and loved the show.
And I have to say, the show did not disappoint. Like many others, I didn't love the beginning. The first episode was rather weird, with the audience being introduced to each character through a "blind date". We have Jigoo who is kinda stoic and fierce, Jiyeon who is gorgeous but seems to be an airhead, and Sohee who seems normal at first but has some incredibly traits when drunk. Our female trio drink daily (or rather, nightly), and their excessive alcohol consumption does have its consequences. Initially, I thought it was just a fun, breezy watch. But the middle stretch of episodes really starts to peel back the layers of each character, showing the beginning of their friendships, and how they ended up in their current careers. The latter episodes went a bit too extreme in my opinion, what with a funeral and a cancer diagnosis, but luckily, the show never played into tropes. The scene where they were sending Jiyeon into surgery was laugh out loud hilarious.
Episode 5 owns my heart. I'm a sucker for female friendships, and the way this episode unfolded to show that these girls always had each other's backs made me really fall in love with the show. Add in some 2nd gen goodness and it was a winner. That iconic cursing scene also went viral lol!
Episode 7 hit me like a truck. The way the story progressed - from Sejin's confession, to the first failed attempt, to the phone call where the show didn't have to explicitly tell us for us to know. Top notch writing right there, and Eunji managed to convey the whole range of emotions of her complex character, Jigu. Wonderfully done, show.
The whole main cast is idol actors (I was surprised Lee Sunbin was in an idol group previously!), which may have led to some preconceived notions. For myself, I've watched 3 of them in previous dramas, and really only had a good impression of Eunji. But they were all solid here, with Sunhwa surprising me the most. Jiyeon was quite a polarising character, and could easily become annoying, but Sunhwa played her so endearingly, with flashes of maturity underneath. It's my first time watching Lee Sunbin, and previously only knew her as Kwangsoo's girlfriend, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked her as Sohee, who looks normal on the surface but is as eccentric as the other 2.
I don't have much opinion about the romance (or not) between Sohee and Kang PD. The only time it was interesting for me was in Ep 9 when Kang PD secretly did a whole slew of kind things for Sohee through her most difficult period, but otherwise they were pretty meh. I thought that the writers were setting up Jigu to be an LGBT character, but with the introduction of Mr Nice Paper, I guess not. Oh well. As for Jiyeon's romances - they just crack me up haha.
I also really liked the soundtrack - appropriate and never intrusive. Even better that the songs are sang by the leads!
What a gem of a show. I cannot wait for Season 2 to see the trio getting up to more shenanigans.
Bonus! The trio guesting on Amazing Saturday and dancing to old kpop songs is the best.