The most fascinating aspect of K-dramas is their ability to
take a silly premise and transform it into watchable, compelling television. Marry
My Husband could have been an unwatchable mess – with its different
timelines and various subplots – but manages to be consistently entertaining
thanks to its sincere cast and interesting plot twists. The show’s premise is
insane – Kang Ji-won is a middle-aged woman who has been diagnosed with cancer
and walks in on her husband, Min-hwan, having an affair with her best friend,
Su-min. There is a physical altercation
that ends with Min-hwan killing Ji-won (he pushes her into a glass coffee table
– her head hits the edge and shatters the table). However, this is not the end for Ji-won – she
wakes up ten years in the past (2013) and is given a second chance at life. She
is determined to change her future, but there is a catch – her initial fate gets passed onto someone else. The unintended consequence of this is that her co-worker/friend,
Yang Ju-ran, ends up getting her stomach cancer. Ji-won is determined to change her fate (and
save Ju-ran) by passing her fate onto Su-min and Min-hwan. She also finds a
sympathetic ear in Yoo Ji-hyuk, who is the marketing manager at her job
(U&K Food) and the grandson of the company’s founder. He helps Ji-won plot
her revenge against Su-min and Min-hwan.
The biggest assets of Marry My Husband are its
likable cast and interesting characters:
Kang Ji-won (Park Min-young)
When we first meet Ji-won, the gastric cancer has taken its toll on her – she has an ashen complexion and is in the hospital. If the cancer wasn’t bad enough, she is married to Min-hwan, who is an overgrown child and offers no support, and she must deal with an overbearing mother-in-law (when Ji-won announces she has cancer, her mother-in-law can only think about how it will impact her son). The only support she gets is from her best friend Su-min, who is the only one that visits Ji-won at the hospital. However, Ji-won’s world comes crashing down when she catches her best friend having an affair with her husband about; even worse its Su-min’s cavalier attitude about the whole thing – she doesn’t show any remorse but rather scolds Jo-win for being selfish. When Min-hwan suggests killing Ji-won for the insurance, Su-min coldly laughs about it. The old Ji-won was the kind of person who would rather be in a bad relationship than be alone. In her case, the two people she was dependant on were Min-hwan and Su-min, despite his abusive behavior and Su-min constantly gaslighting her. That is why their betrayal is so hurtful – they were supposed to be her support system, and they are casually talking about killing her (on top of sleeping with each other).
After her rebirth, Ji-won is not going to squander the second
chance that has been given to her and she goes through a radical change. The
old Ji-won was an introverted pushover, but the new version of her is assertive
and outgoing. In the past, she would
excuse Su-min’s backstabbing, but now she is no longer going to let it slide. She
not only has a personality change but a financial one, as well – one of the
first things she does in the new timeline is invest in stock (she puts her
money in a company she knows will be successful in the future). Before she
falls in love with Ji-hyuk, she is already on stable financial ground. It is a remarkable performance by the appealing
Park Min-young – she manages to give two distinct performances. In the scenes
where she is playing the old Ji-won, she slouches, never makes eye contact, and
talks with a slight stammer. This is a
woman devoid of any confidence and agency – she is willing to tolerate the
abuse that his heaped upon her. When she is playing the new, and improved,
Ji-won, she can look her nemesis in the eye, walks with perfect posture, and
speaks in a clear, confident manner.
When Su-min starts throwing a temper tantrum, Ji-won takes on an ice-cold
demeanor – she is no longer moved by Su-min’s crocodile tears.
In her previous life, Ji-won was dependent on Min-hwan and
Su-min – even though she was married and had a “best friend,” she was still
very much alone. When Ji-won is in the hospital for her cancer treatment,
Min-hwan doesn’t even have the courtesy to visit her. In her new life, she
forms a bond with two of her co-workers, Ju-ran and Hui-yeon. She finds a
powerful ally in Ji-hyuk and buries the hatchet with her high school crush, Baek
Eun-ho, who is also a successful chef. This irritates Su-min, who used to hold on monopoly on Ji-won's friendship. It isn’t just her own fate that Ji-won alters,
but her co-workers as well, but I will get to that later.
Yoo Ji-hyuk (Na In-woo)
Ji-hyuk is the Marketing Manager of U&K Food (and the grandson of the company’s founder), he is also Ji-won’s biggest supporter. It is revealed that, like Ji-won, Ji-hyuk has been given a second chance at life. In 2023, he was killed in a car crash and then found himself back in 2013. It is heavily implied that Ji-hyuk was sent back in time by Ji-won’s deceased father to help her out. In his previous life, his biggest regret was that he never acted on his feelings towards Ji-won. The two of them met in college; Ji-hyuk bumped into a drunken Ji-won on the streets and, out of concern for her safety, kept her company the entire night. Years later, when she showed up for her first day of work at U&K, Ji-hyuk recognized her but her memories of that night were hazy, and she doesn’t remember him. They are also connected in another way – they both took turns taking care of a stray cat; eventually Ji-hyuk took in the cat. It wasn’t until he attended Ji-won’s funeral that he realized the feelings had for her and, before his death, he takes a cab (driven by the ghost of Ji-won’s father) and wished for a second chance.
In his previous life, Ji-hyuk was cold and distant. He
always kept his emotions in check and all his relationships were business in
nature. He rarely ever smiles – when Ji-won sees him smile for the first time,
she is surprised and suggests that he needs to smile more.
He was also in an arranged marriage with Oh Yu-ra, who runs a subsidiary of
U&K Food. He called off the
engagement (with Yu-ra’s blessing) because it was devoid of any passion. Yet,
despite his cold demeanor, he did look after his stepsister, Hui-yeon.
In his new life, due to Ji-won’s influence, Ji-hyuk becomes a more
compassionate and outgoing man. Their relationship is complicated – he is in love with her, but is hesitant to get
romantically involved with her, out of fear that his time on earth is
limited. He doesn’t always agree with
her methods, but he is always supportive of her. Ji-won had wasted her previous life in a one-sided
relationship with Min-hwan; therefore, it is a relief when she finds someone
who is willing to support her through thick and thin. Even when Ji-won briefly
calls off the relationship (after learning about Yu-ra) he still looks after
her. Ji-hyuk doesn’t want a weak and
submissive woman, he wants one that can stand up for herself, which is why he gives
her lessons in self-defense (which pay off big time in the series finale).
Park Min-hwan (Lee Yi-kyung)
Min-hwan was Ji-won’s philandering husband in her previous life. In the new timeline, he is still her co-worker at U&K (they are both on the same marketing team). He is a violent individual, when Ji-won suggests they break up, he makes a scene and threatens to use physical violence against her. This is when Ji-won realizes she can’t just simply break up with Min-hwan, she is going to have to come up with a plan to push Su-min on him.
Min-hwan is an overgrown child – he spends most of his free
time playing video games, and trying to hook up with random women, and is still
depends on his mother to run his life (after he proposes to Su-min, it is his
mother who makes all the decisions regarding the wedding). When his mother was
constantly scolding Ji-won during their marriage, he never came to his beleaguered
wife’s defense – he was more focused on his video games. This is really a great
performance by Lee Yi-kyung – the first time we meet Min-hwan we can sense that
he is a slimeball. You instantly hate the guy and wonder why a sweet woman like
Ji-won would marry a scumbag like Min-hwan.
He is also incredibly stupid - throughout the series,
various people (Ji-won, Su-min, and Yu-ra) manipulate Min-hwan into doing their
bidding. He is physically intimidating but is small mentally. He also constantly plays the victim card –
when he gets called out on his bullshit, he constantly makes excuses (though,
he is not as bad as Su-min). He is at
home bullying weaker people like the old Ji-won but is in over his head when it
comes to people like Yu-ra, Ji-hyuk, and the new Ji-won.
Jeong Su-min (Son Ha-yoon)
In the original timeline, Su-min was Ji-won’ s best friend, who was having an affair with Min-hwan. When Ji-won walks in on the two of them in bed together, Su-min’s shows no remorse for her action and even tries to pin the blame on Ji-won for “being selfish.” Ji-won and Su-min have been best friends since they were fifteen, which makes this act of betrayal even worse. It is slowly revealed that Su-min always resented Ji-won; she has spent her entire adult life coveting everyone and everything that was Ji-won’s. Her motto is “If I’m not happy, then Ji-won can’t be happy, either.”
She was the reason that Ji-won was bullied throughout high school – Su-min was a master manipulator and would project her actions onto Ji-won; she told their classmates that Ji-won was trying to steal away her crush (Baek Eun-ho) and that Ji-won kept leeching off her generosity (in reality it was the opposite). She was also responsible for coming between Ji-won and her first love, Eun-ho, by writing a dismissive, mean spirted letter and signing it in Ji-won’s name. When he told Ji-won he never wanted to speak to her again, this left her flabbergasted.
Son Ha-yoon gives my favorite performance in the show;
despite all the terrible things Su-min does throughout the series, Son manages
to give the character a human face and there were even a few times where I felt
genuine sympathy for the character. Sure,
Su-min is a psychopath, but neither of her parents really passed down on values
onto their daughter (her father ran out on her when she fifteen) – she was
thrown to the wolves at a young age and being a manipulative, lying bitch was how
she survived high school. It turned into
a habit for her that she just couldn’t stop. It doesn’t justify her treatment
of Ji-won, but it’s credit to the writers and Son Ha-yoon that the character
isn’t a one-dimensional baddie. Ji-won had a similar upbringing, but the
difference is that her father was there to instill values into her. If her father had been a deadbeat, Ji-won could have
easily grown up to be like Su-min.
In her new timeline, Ji-won knows all Su-min’s tricks and counters
all of them. Ji-won and Su-min attend their high school reunion and Ji-won uses
it as an opportunity to clear the air with all her classmates. She explains her
side of the story and has proof to back it up; her classmates feel terrible and
turn on Su-min. The nice thing about this plotline is that while her classmates try to make up for their mistreatment of Ji-won (they crash Min-hwan and Su-min’s wedding later in the
series), she doesn’t entirely forgive them.
These girls were genuinely awful to Ji-won throughout high school, and
it would be nearly impossible to forgive such a harsh treatment. At the
reunion, after the cat has been let out of the bag, Su-min tries to justify her
lies and when that doesn’t work, she plays the victim card.
The biggest irony about Su-min is she dislikes Ji-won, but
she also can’t live without her. Ji-won has been the bane of Su-min’s existence
since they were fifteen, so she has never developed her own personality. Everything about her is a façade – when she
is about get trouble for screwing up a marketing assignment and trying to pin
the blame on Ji-won, she falls to the ground and screams that she is
pregnant. Ji-won knows this story is
bullshit (Min-hwan is impotent), but it suits her purpose (Min-hwan proposes to
Su-min afterwards) and she keeps her mouth shut.
Baek Eun-ho (Lee Gik-wang)
Eun-ho was Ji-won’s first love, who went onto become a successful chef. He reconnects with Ji-won at the high school reunion and, once she clears the air, he apologizes for his rash judgment and wants to start over again with her. In the first half of the series, Ji-hyuk attempts to play matchmaker for Ji-won and Eun-ho – it was Ji-hyuk who informed Eun-ho about the high school reunion (and told him that Ji-won would be attending). He is a constant patron at Eun-ho’s restaurant, because he wants to gauge whether Eun-ho is trustworthy or not. However, while Ji-won likes Eun-ho, her heart belongs to Ji-hyuk, and she does her best to let Eun-ho down in the nicest way possible. Eun-ho is, naturally, heartbroken but he doesn’t let bring him down too long. Plus, he is a given a happy ending - he becomes romantically involved with Hui-yeon and a business partner with Ji-won.
Lee Gik-wang has the most difficult job in entire series,
Baek Eun-ho is the least interesting character in the series, but he has a
pleasant personality that it is easy enough to root for him. He also shows a lot of character – when Yu-ra
buys out his restaurant and fires the staff, she gives him the choice of either
getting paid or being unemployed. Bear in mind, if he refuses her offer, she
will use her connections to have him blackballed in the restaurant business. He
remains firm in his convictions and refuses her offer. He is later rewarded for
his convictions when Ji-won asks him to endorse U&K’s meal boxes. He agrees
and is saved from being unemployed.
Yang Ju-ran (Gong Min-jeung)
Yang Ju-ran is the assistant manager of Ji-won’s marketing team. In her previous life, Ji-won rarely interacted with Ju-ran – their entire relationship was all business. In her new life, she befriends Ju-ran and the two of them become inseparable. Ju-ran is a mirror image of Ji-won’s old self – she is quiet and a total pushover. She is also married to a deadbeat husband, who is more concerned with playing video games than taking care of their son. Her parents offer him a job at their restaurant, and he starts having an affair with one of the waitresses. One of the unintended consequences of Ji-won changing her life is that her original fate gets passed off to Ju-ran. She is diagnosed with stomach cancer; luckily the doctors are able to catch it early and can save her life with surgery (Ji-hyuk pays for the doctors and the surgery). When Ji-won finds out about Ju-ran’s two-timing husband; she is convinced he is going murder Ju-ran. She is determined to prevent Ju-ran from suffering the same fate as her old self.
Ju-ran has a similar character arc as Ji-won – she goes from
being shy, insecure woman to being assertive and brimming with confidence,
thanks to the support she receives from Ji-won, Ji-hyuk, and Hui-yeon. She even
gets a massive upgrade in her love life – she divorces her deadbeat husband and
becomes romantically involved with Lee Suk-jun, who works in U&K Human
Resources and is the right-hand man of Ji-hyuk’s grandfather; he is also a first-rate lawyer. He is an interesting character
in his own right, so I will get to him later.
Yoo Hui-yeon (Choi Gyu-ri)
Hui-yeon is Ji-won’s co-worker and, more importantly, Ji-hyuk’s younger stepsister. She is the first new friend that Ji-won makes in her new life. She is a one-dimensional character – she has a perky personality and is loyal to all her friends. Ji-hyuk and her constantly bicker, but deep down they genuinely care about one another. She is elated when she finds out that Ji-hyuk is dating Ji-won; her brother’s ex-fiancée, Yu-ra, was a cold and distant woman who made everyone around her miserable. Ji-won is a breath of fresh air. Hui-yeon later becomes romantically involved with Eun-ho. It is happy ending for everyone…. well except for Min-hwan, Su-min, and Yu-ra (who deserve their fates).
Kim Gyeong-uk (Kim Joong-he)
Kim Gyeong-uk is, initially, the manager of Ji-won’s marketing team. He is a misogynist, who constantly scolds his female employees and is too lazy to read their proposals. He also takes credit for Ji-won’s meal box idea, but after he botches the roll out (thanks to Min-hwan and Su-min), he is demoted, and Ju-ran is promoted to manager. At first, he is disrespectful towards Ju-ran; he scolds her for being a few minutes later (even though he was never on time when he was manager) and is unsympathetic towards her problems at home (her stomach cancer and cheating husband), but Ju-ran eventually grows a spine and puts Gyeong-uk in his place (thanks to the support of Ji-won and Hui-yeon). Despite being a misogynist, Gyeong-uk is madly in love with Su-min. He always gives her preferential treatment and overlooks all her flaws. When Su-min marries Min-hwan, Gyeong-uk’s world is shattered. The writers deserve a lot of credit with this character – they manage to give him a character arc. He isn’t an entirely different person at the show’s end, but he is a humbler man. In a lesser show, this kind of character often comes to an untimely end. I know this isn’t a popular opinion – but being a misogynist is not worthy of the death sentence (despite what modern Hollywood tells you).
Oh Yu-ra (BoA)
The interesting thing about Oh Yu-ra is that, even though
she is the main villain, she doesn’t appear until the series midway points. She is Ji-hyuk’s ex-fiancée – it was a
mutual break up, neither of them genuinely loved one another. However, Yu-ra
beings to sing a different tune when she notices the change in Ji-hyuk’s personality,
and the fact that he is in love with another woman genuinely pisses her off. When
Ji-won learns about Yu-ra, out of respect, she breaks up with Ji-hyuk (without
hearing his full side of the story). However,
this isn't good enough for Yu-ra and she wants to completely remove Ji-won from
the picture; she offers Min-hwan and Su-min an ungodly sum of money to murder
Ji-won. What makes Yu-ra a frightening
villain is not only her lack of conscience, but she has the money and
connections to carry out her revenge. She also makes sure that the attempt on Ji-won’s
life can’t be traced back to her – she pays her co-conspirators in cash and even attempts to
murder the two would be assassins (Su-min’s father and Ji-won’s estranged
mother), out of fear that they might talk too much. Ji-hyuk’s grandfather, Yoo
Han-il, is blinded by Yu-ra’s charms and keeps insisting that Ji-hyuk get back
together with her (it would be sound business decision). Yu-ra has a violent history – in jealous rage,
she often assaulted any woman who get “too close” to Ji-hyuk – and the company
would cover up these incidents by buying the silence of her victims.
Lee Suk-jun (Ha Do-kwon)
Lee Suk-jun is Han-il’s right hand man and the head of U&K’s Strategic Planning. His main job, initially, is to keep an eye on Ji-hyuk and report all his moves to Han-il. Our initial impression of the character is a negative one – he has a cold demeanor and is off putting at times. However, we soon realize that his bark is worse than his bite, and despite his cold exterior, he is a softy at heart. This is first hinted at when discovers Ju-ran crying in the stock room and, while he mildly scolds her, he allows her to air out her grievances. He later helps Ju-ran with her divorce from her two-timing husband – he is a top-notch lawyer and offers up his services. By the series end, Ju-ran and he are a couple – we are shown his more lighthearted side when he cracks a joke at the dinner table.
Yoo Han-il (Mong Sung-keun)
Yoo Han-il is the Ji-hyuk and Hui-yeon’s grandfather and the founder of U&K Group. His relationship with Ji-hyuk is a contentious one – he constantly scolds Ji-hyuk for his business decisions and love life. Han-il initially objects to Ji-hyuk’s romance with Ji-won, but he has a change of heart once he meets her (and after Yu-ra is exposed as a complete psychopath).
Marry My Husband shares similar themes with our
K-dramas; the most obvious is the tendency of the characters to jump the wrong
conclusions (even our heroine isn’t immune to this) – when Yu-ra comes back
into Ji-hyuk’s life, Ji-won doesn’t allow him to explain his side of his story,
she assumes that he was two-timing Yu-ra and that she was the reason Ji-hyuk
broke off his engagement to Yu-ra.
In high school, Eun-ho receives a rejection letter, and assumes it is from
Ji-won, and publicly tells her that he doesn’t ever want to see her again. It
never occurs to him to get confirmation from Ji-won and ask her if the letter
is from her. The girls who bullied
Ji-won only did so because they believed Su-min’s lies, they never bothered to
hear Ji-won’s side of the story. This
theme even extends to characters like Ju-ran and Suk-jun they both misread
one another. She believes he is a cold and distant person, and he is annoyed by
her timid demeanor. As the series progresses, she becomes more assertive and opens
himself up to her. Ju-ran is a lot
stronger than he (and, for matter, she) assumed and he proves to be more
compassionate than she initially believed.
They are both good people, who occasionally make mistakes.
After Su-min and
Min-hwan get married, they both make false assumptions about one another – she
believes that she will be walking into financial stable situation, and he
thinks she will be a more traditional wife (who also works a full-time job). Instead,
Su-mins finds out that Min-hwan is drowning in debt and Su-min is too outspoken in her opinions to be a traditional wife. While Ji-won, in her previous life,
always bent the knee to Min-hwan’s overbearing mother, Su-min doesn’t tolerate
being scolded and takes control of the situation. She completely blindsides
Min-hwan’s mother – before the marriage, Su-min is cooperative and says all the
right things, afterwards the gloves come off and Su-min emerges the victor.
This brings me to the next interesting aspect of Marry My Husband – the characters are constantly putting up an act (often to the point where we get a performance within a performance). After Ji-won is given her second chance, she sees through Su-min’s act but will wear a false face of sympathy to throw off Su-min. There is even a point in the series, where to enact her revenge (and to prevent her initial fate being passed onto Ju-ran) she flirts with Min-hwan and asks if they can get back together. The theory behind this plan is that Su-min will find out about this, confront Min-hwan, and he will end up murdering her. Su-min plays the role of Ji-won’s best friend, but then constantly talks behind her back and attempts to derail Ji-won’s life. Min-hwan is the biggest pretender of them all – he plays the role of the Alpha Male, but he is a weakling who is still beholden to his domineering mother. Like most bullies, Min-hwan picks on those weaker than him, but completely folds when he encounters an opponent of equal or greater strength. Ju-ran will often put on a brave face and play the role of the loyal wife, despite being married to a two-timing manchild. In Ju-ran’s case, she is a woman who always sells herself short and is willing to go along to get along. When Gyeong-uk takes Ji-won’s name off the meal box project, Ju-ran is troubled by this, but she doesn’t say anything out of fear that it might get her fired. Later in the series, Ji-won’s estranged mother comes back into her life, and it initially seems she wants to have a genuine relationship with her daughter; the two of them have a mother-daughter outing. However, it is revealed that Ji-won's mother is only interested in her daughter's money and only approached Ji-won at the behest of Su-min.
Interesting, the three straight shooters in the cast are
Ji-hyuk, Eun-ho, and Hui-yeon. Ji-hyuk willingly goes along with Ji-won’s
schemes, but he can’t hide his contempt for Min-hwan and Su-min. Ji-hyuk doesn’t set out to mislead people –
the only reason he doesn’t tell Ji-won about Yu-ra is because the two of them
haven’t spoken to each other in years (there is really nothing to tell).
Eun-ho wants to have a genuine relationship with Ji-won and when she turns him
down, he is, of course, heartbroken but he doesn’t dwell on it. Hui-yeon is a good-natured woman who just
wants to be everyone’s friend – there is not a mean spirted bone in her body.
The writing in Marry My Husband is consistently clever; one of the show’s better moments is when Ji-won and Ji-hyuk betray each other’s secret – they are having a conversation about the K-pop group, BTS, and they both reference a song that has not yet been released. It takes them a few seconds to realizes their faux pas and then they both clean about being from the future. This is a very believable and, more importantly, naturalistic moment that overcomes the stumbling block of exposition. Instead of giving us an awkward scene where the two characters reveal their secret to one another, they reveal themselves accidentally and, after the initial shock, recognize they are kindred spirits. It also doesn’t disrupt the show’s breezy pace. In the past few months, I have watched a bunch of K-dramas and, so far, Marry My Husband is my favorite one out of the whole lot (with The Kidnapping Day is a close second). You have my permission to skip My Unfortunate Boyfriend (I was tempted to write a review but it’s not worth my time).
Cast: Park Min-young (Kang Ji-won), Na In-woo (Yoo Ji-hyuk), Lee Yi-kyung (Park Min-hwan), Son Ha-yoon (Jeong Su-min), Lee Gi-kwang (Baek Eun-ho), Gong Min-jeung (Yang Ju-ran), Choi Gyu-ri (Yoo Hui-yeon), Kim Joong-hee (Kim Gyeong-uk), Ha Do-kwon (Lee Suk-jun), BoA (Oh Yu-ra), Moon Sung – keun (Yoo Han-il), Jung Kyung-soon (Kim Ja-ok), Jung Suk-young (Kang Hyun-mo), Cho Jin-se (Cho Dong-seok), Moon Soo-young (Kim Shin-woo), Bae Geu-rin (Ha Ye-ji), Jang Jae-ho (Lee Jae-won), Jung Jae-seong (Mang Heung-in), Kang Sang-jun (Yoo Sang-jong – Min-hwan’s friend), Lee Jeong-eun (Hee-sook – Ji-won’s estranged mother).
Directors: Park Won-guk, Han Jin-seon
Writer: Shin Yoo-dam
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes
