Currently Watching: Work Later, Drink Now

Do you love dramas about amazing female friendship like Age of Youth? Are dramas about food and alcohol like Drinking Solo your thing? Or are you perhaps a connoisseur of bizarre comedy as seen in Pegasus Market? I have a great drama for you!

= General Information =

Country: South Korea

Episodes: 12 episodes per 35 minutes

Genres: Friendship, Food, Sismance, Life, Comedy

Work Later, Drink Now revolves around the lives of 3 ladies in their early 30s who have been friends since their university days. Every evening after work, they meet together in their favourite pub and drink lots of alcohol to forget or celebrate their day. All three main leads are sort of losers but they are trying to live their best life as they bicker, make up and always have each other’s backs.

This drama is a somewhat big-budget webrama and so spending more time on sharing details about the story would, in my opinion, ruin most of the fun for the potential viewer. That’s why I will try to make this CW short and sweet. What you need to know the most is that this drama is excellently character-based and impressively well-acted, so let’s jump right into the next part of the article!

= Characters and Cast =

Lee Sun Bin as Ahn So Hee So Hee is the glue of the group and probably the most ordinary one. She works as a writer in a TV station and, as this job demands, she is somewhat workaholic and quite goal oriented. When she gets drunk, she falls for the most disgusting and pitiful man she meets.

Han Sun Hwa as Han Ji Yeon Ji Yeon is as beautiful as she is stupid. And she is extremely beautiful! She works as a yoga instructor and her genius lies mostly within her charming personality.

Jung Eun Ji as Kang Ji Gu Ji Gu is the woman every woman has a crush on. She has a dark and mysterious aura but has an incredibly big heart. She is a youtuber – folds origami on stream, to be more precise – and has many other hidden skills.

(gif source)

Choi Si Won as Kang Buk Gu Kang PD is a producer in the TV station where So Hee works. He’s kinda… nasty and definitely not a man of one’s dreams. Actually, he is the most disgusting and pitiful man a woman might meet. As opposed to our leads, Kang PD can’t hold a drink at all.

= Reasons to Watch =

I am writing this article right after episode 8, and there are so many reasons to watch this drama. So far, the story dynamics is perfect – the episodes are just the right length, so there are no boring moments (only 35 minutes!).

Although this drama covers themes we have already seen in many slice-of-life dramas (e.g. workplace harassment, cheating boyfriends, blind dates, everyday hardships, etc.) it manages to deliver them in a very refreshing way. Aside from drinking alcohol, the drama also doesn’t shy away from other aspects of adult life and contains some profanity and mature talk. 

The dialogues are super fun – I am pretty sure many of you have already heard of the scene where Ji Gu (Eun Ji) and Ji Yeon (Sun Hwa) have a ruthless cursing fight – and this drama is full of it (now I mean great dialogues, not really/only cursing fights :)). It also helps that all three main actresses are showing a stellar performance. And as all three (actually, all four) main characters are quite quirky, they get into bizarre situations which are perfect build up for great comedic moments.

As is usual for Korean dramas, the story gets a bit more serious after initial episodes so if you are a fan of some deep quotable lines about life that will make you think for a while, you will have your moments as well. Moreover, what initially started as a sort of episodic storytelling has now uncovered some underlying storyline, and I am looking forward to see how/if the plot will develop further!

The staple point of this drama is definitely the friendship of the 3 main leads. It is heartwarming and wholesome, and I dare to say that thanks to the way all these themes are skillfully intertwined this drama can potentially become the next iconic female driven/sismance drama.

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Overall, so far this is a perfect drama I fell in love with on the first episode (hence the article!). It has really nice camerawork, pleasing visuals and great acting chemistry, and I am really hoping the following episodes won’t disappoint me and I will keep having a great time watching this show!

Are you watching this drama, too? Who is so far your favourite character?
What would you order: soju, beer, or some other drink?

Thank you for reading,
see you in the comment section of Work Later, Drink Now!

~ Salty_bae

Image/gif sources: 1, 2, 3.

^{Edited by: Tine (1st editor) & Azyjtevol (2nd editor)}

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