A Story of Second Chances and Changing Destinies: Marry My Husband (2024) - Kdrama Review

 -May contain major spoilers-

Photo source: TvN

Marry My Husband (내 남편과 결혼해줘) is a 16-episode TvN revenge, romance and fantasy Kdrama based on a web novel and also a webtoon of the same name. Starring Park Min-Young, Na In-Woo, Lee Yi-Kyung and Song Ha-Yoon.

Summary

In 2023, Kang Ji-Won (Park Min-Young) is married to her incompetent husband, Park Min-Hwan (Lee Yi-Kyung), who quit his job to live off the stock market but instead lives off Ji-Won's hard work. Ji-Won is diagnosed with stomach cancer after getting overworked by her job, her husband and her in-laws, but thankfully, she still has her other half, Jung Soo-Min (Song Ha-Yoon), who has been her best (and only) friend since childhood. That's what Ji-Won thought because when she left the hospital after not being able to pay for her treatment, she finds out that Min-Hwan and Soo-Min are having an affair and plan to use Ji-Won's cancer insurance after she passes away to buy a house together. 

Ji-Won reasonably goes mad when she discovers the truth and fights with them. During the fight, Min-Hwan pushes Ji-Won towards a glass table, leading to her demise.

When Ji-Won opens her eyes again, she suddenly finds herself in her office with Min-Hwan asking her why she was spacing out and as soon as he tries to touch her, Ji-Won screams and starts hitting him, the team manager Yoo Ji-Hyuk (Na In-Woo) intervenes and stops the fight. When she tries to get away, Ji-Won falls but gets saved by Ji-Hyuk from getting burned by a falling electric kettle (Ji-Hyuk gets hurt, though). Ji-Won runs off and gets saved from falling by Ji-Hyuk (again); while outside, she discovers that now the year is 2013.

Thanks to the falling electric kettle that in her previous life burned her, she realizes that the only way to escape her destiny is to give it to someone else. 

Ji-Won decides to live her best life, make up for her past mistakes and get revenge on Min-Hwan and Soo-Min...

Thoughts

When I read the synopsis of Marry My Husband my first thought was that it sounded similar to Perfect Marriage Revenge (Review) and although on the surface they might seem similar, the approach is totally different, but I think Marry My Husband would have been a lot better with less episodes.

The cinematography is really good, especially in the first episode, the last shot of Ji-Won before "waking up" in 2013 is fantastic. Another great scene in the first episode is her last taxi ride SPOILERS I teared up when Ji-Won noticed it was her father driving the taxi SPOILER ENDS

In the acting department, Park Min-Young really shines, especially since Ji-Won is a more complex character than someone like Mi-So from What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. I really liked Na In-Woo in this drama. I'd only seen him before on Jinxed at First (which I dropped in episode 4), and he actually took me by surprise as Ji-Hyuk (he was better than what I thought). Lee Yi-Kyung and Song Ha-Yoon did a fantastic job as the villains of the story and I think they were the best actors in all the drama, especially Ha-Yoon (Edit: Allegedly, Ha-Yoon was not that great of an actress, welp). Yi-Kyung plays Min-Hwan as sort of a goofball and does a great job being the comic relief, but when he's scary, he gets really scary. Ha-Yoon's portrayal of Soo-Min is filled with micro-mannerisms and I love how the look in her eyes changes while she talks (I don't know how to explain it). At first, I thought that Soo-Min was not that bad but she became worse. 

I think that Lee Gi-Kwang as Baek Eun-Ho and BoA as Oh Yu-Ra left a lot to be desired, especially BoA. 

As a side note, episode 12 made me angry and I don't understand Ji-Won's train of thought in that episode. I think the things Ji-Won said were out of character. After that the plot feels like a see-saw, I mean SPOILER In episode 15 our protagonists plot a murder. Soo-Min and Min-Hwan are evil, but that is still morally wrong SPOILER ENDS

The soundtrack is good, my favorite songs are "Wounds of Time" (시간의 상처) by Kim So-Yeon and "Bad Liar" (연국) by the iconic Lyn.

I recommend this Kdrama if you like revenge dramas and also like things with characters that have to live their lives again.

Rating 

Acting - 9/10

Plot - 7/10

Romance - 10/10

Soundtrack - 10/10

Cinematography - 10/10

Cute Cat - 10/10

Overall Rating - 9/10

Extended Drama Info.

Quantity of Episodes: 16.

Run Time: 70min/each.

Release Date: January 1, 2024.

Network: TvN.

Based on: Marry My Husband by Sung So-Jak.

Directed by: Park Won-Guk and Han Jin-Seon.

Cinematography by: Moon Myung-Hwan, Choi Young-Gi, Kim Gi-Hoon and Lee Do-Hyun.

Written by: Shin Yoo-Dam.

Edited by: Kim Soo-Jin and Jeon Hyun-Jung.

Music by: Park Sung-Il.

Starring: Park Min-Young, Na In-Woo, Song Ha-Yoon and Lee Yi-Kyung.

Although I gave Marry My Husband a better rating than Perfect Marriage Revenge, I found Perfect Marriage Revenge to be more captivating(?)