‘No Gain No Love’ K-Drama review: Shin Min-a, Kim Young-dae shine in a show that gets sisterhood and romance right

Shin Min-a and Kim Young-dae in a still from the show

In No Gain No Love, we see Son Hae-young (Shin Min-a) grimace, and wear a tight smile as she listens to an older woman tell her about how important it is to make a hot breakfast, and take care of her husband. We see her soul literally leave her body, glaring at the whole conversation about having to cook for her husband no matter how busy she is. 

This one scene is indicative of the fact that No Gain No Love might be billed as a romantic comedy, but there’s so much more to this show, that focuses a lot on its women:  Hae-young, her friends and foster siblings Nam Ja-yeon (Han Ji-hyun) and  Cha Hui-seung (Jo Min-kyung), and the fractured relationship Hae-young shares with her mother Lee Eun-ok(Yoon Bok-in). 

An ambitious, career driven Hae-young finds herself in a fix at work when an elevated role she has been eyeing comes with a ridiculous caveat; only married women can join this team that will directly work with the CEO Bok Gyu-hyun (Lee Sang-yi). The reasons behind this condition are obviously, as rage-inducing and sexist as it comes. To add to this, the company she works for offers a host of monetary benefits for those who chose to tie the knot. Soon, she seeks out a convenience store worker from her neighbourhood, Kim Ji-uk (Kim Young-dae) to enter into a marriage of convenience. The show does away with long meet-cutes, and the pace is as businesslike as Hae-young is… it isn’t long before they are married.

Much of the smart writing in No Gain No Love is dedicated to Hae-young having to deal with the aftermath of a breakup and being a part of a regressive workforce, where her marriage and she being older than her husband is hearty conversation fodder. The other women on the show make for compelling characters as well; Ja-yeon writes steamy web novels, and Min-kyung is a voice over artist who makes an interesting revelation about her relationships later on in the show. A found family of sorts, the sisterhood between the three is warm, funny, and relatable. Kim Hye-young, the show’s writer, previously worked on the immensely charming Her Private Life, which had a compelling female lead as well.

This is not to say that the show lacks in the romance department, with not one but two couples contributing to some standout chemistry. Young-dae and Min-ah — a pairing I didn’t expect to work — are charming, funny and endearing. Of course, there are some life-changing hurdles involving an illegitimate heir and some domestic discord from the past, but the show’s writing handles it well.

As for the other couple — whose chemistry clearly was so good that they have their own, well-deserved spin-off show now with Spice Up Our Love — the characters are a study in contrast. Ji-hyun embodies the sweet, endearing persona of writer Ja-yeon who falls for a chaebol who wrote her hate messages online, and Sang-yi’s Gyu-Hyeon starts off as immensely unlikable, brash and spoilt, only to have a quick and convenient transformation. It was quite an ingenious casting decision to get the immensely likeable Sang-yi to play a spoilt chaebol that has you tempted more than once to overlook the character’s glaring red flags. 

Despite the parallel storylines and its many characters, the show belongs to Shin Min-a who embodies Hae-young with ease. Watch her reacting to the everyday misogynistic and infuriating micro-aggressions thrown her way or being vulnerable in love and grief; it helps that she gets a well-conceived character to work with. In a departure from his hyper, star persona role in Shooting Stars, Young-dae here is  brooding, charming and a lot more likeable. 

While No Gain No Love makes a largely positive case for 12 episode shows, it would have been good to see more time dedicated to Hae-young’s fractured relationship with her mother, or even a little more insight into Hae-young’s mother choosing to foster children while overlooking her daughter’s protests of neglect and abandonment. Thanks to the length however, we do away with the proverbial episode 10 slump that we’ve come to dread in the longer shows this year. 

K-Dramas with three female friends have always had a lot going for them; similar to Because this is my first life or Be Melodramatic, No Gain No Love joins this growing list. The tropes of friendship and sisterhood work superbly, and the romantic sparks (courtesy the men) thankfully only elevates the proceedings. 

No Gain No Love is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video