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Marry My Husband: Episodes 1-2
by solstices
When a terminally-ill patient has her entire world crash down in a single day, she’s given a miraculous second chance at life — and she’s determined to make the most of it. Zippy, fun, and empowering, this is a premiere with a good deal of potential.
EPISODES 1-2
We’re introduced to our browbeaten heroine KANG JI-WON (Park Min-young) in the hospital — having been diagnosed with stage four gastric cancer, she only has six to twelve months left to live. With both her parents out of the picture, it’s all she can do to quietly bear the abuse of her nasty mother-in-law.
Her husband PARK MIN-HWAN (Lee Yi-kyung) isn’t much better. Min-hwan is a mama’s boy who expects his wife to wait on him like a maid, and his reaction to Ji-won’s cancer diagnosis is to whine about who will make his meals for him if she’s sick. Ugh.
Just in case you might think Ji-won has her best friend JUNG SOO-MIN (Song Ha-yoon) in her corner, the show quickly establishes that isn’t the case. Soo-min may be sweet and supportive in front of Ji-won, but in her free time she’s jumping on Min-hwan and sharing some steamy sessions.
Ji-won’s unpaid hospital bills — courtesy of the two moochers who are supposed to be her family — leave her with no choice but to take a taxi home. When she opens up to the driver about her long-suffering life, he veers off course and takes her on a detour down a beautiful cherry blossom road. “Only when you follow a road to its end can you know its outcome for sure,” he tells her. There are other paths, and maybe even better ones. Ji-won tries to pay for the ride, but he returns the cash, telling her to think of it as an allowance from her father.
Arriving home, Ji-won is faced with an ugly truth — her husband and her best friend are cuddling in bed, gleefully snickering about how Min-hwan had the foresight to take out cancer insurance and discussing what they’ll do with the money after Ji-won dies. Utterly heartbroken, Ji-won confronts the canoodling lovers, which escalates to a fight that ends with Min-hwan shoving Ji-won away from Soo-min and into their glass table. It shatters, and the frail Ji-won bleeds out to her death.
The next thing Ji-won knows, she’s back in her office, faced with her cheating husband. His betrayal still fresh in her mind, she instinctively attacks Min-hwan in a fury, until the general manager YOO JI-HYUK (Na In-woo in adorably nerdy glasses) intervenes. He saves Ji-won twice more, pushing away a falling jug and pulling her back from tripping down the stairs, and he even retrieves her lost shoes like her very own Prince Charming.
We don’t spend a lot of time with Ji-hyuk this week — he’s mostly hovering in the background, watching over Ji-won with furrowed brows and an inscrutable look on his face — but he’s already equal parts likable and intriguing. For one, he’s always showing up at just the right moment for Ji-won, almost as if he already knows all her troubles. Hmm, could he be a time traveler too?
Ji-hyuk is also thoughtful and considerate, which already sets him miles apart from anyone else in Ji-won’s life. He doesn’t hesitate to reaffirm her capabilities and reassure her in times of need, which is already nudging her towards rebuilding her self-esteem. (Bonus: In 2021, Ji-hyuk succeeds his father’s company and becomes the CEO!)
Ji-won may have been dropped headfirst into her second chance, but she’s quick on the uptake. Realizing that she’s time-slipped back to 2013 — which means she has a decade to change the awful fate she still remembers all too vividly — Ji-won decides to use her knowledge from the future to invest wisely and grow her meager savings. She hasn’t yet married Min-hwan, and a hospital checkup reveals that she’s still cancer-free, which means she still has a chance to avoid being chained down.
Before all that, though, there’s just one burning question — how did Ji-won even resurrect in the first place? She finds her answer when she digs through her pocket and discovers a note with a heart drawn on it. It’s the bill the taxi driver had given her, and it sparks a memory of her late father doodling on a note in the exact same way. We see the taxi scene again, and this time, it’s her father in the driver’s seat, as if he’s giving her one last gift.
Resolving to live her life to the fullest this time around, Ji-won puts her thinking cap on. The wound that Ji-hyuk had sustained when protecting her from the jug is exactly the same as the burn scar she had back in the original timeline. Furthermore, Ji-won circumvents a knee scrape she’d gotten, only to incur that same wound in a different way. However, when Ji-won evades the path of Soo-min’s “accidental” food spill, she successfully keeps herself clean, and Min-hwan’s designer shirt ends up ruined instead. (Ha, serves him right!)
It all becomes clear — events will always play out as they’re supposed to, but the involved parties can differ. With that, Ji-won cooks up a plan. She’ll foist her horrid fate upon Soo-min, to kill two birds with one stone.
When both moochers try to crash at her apartment, Ji-won sees the perfect opportunity to engineer some alone time. Whiskey? Check. Hubby who’s been mooning over her best friend? Check. Said best friend? Check — uh, scratch that, Soo-min’s decided to throw a tantrum and not come over after all. Whoops.
Min-hwan’s gotten home earlier than expected, since Ji-won had previously acted cute and coy in order to throw off his unfounded suspicions about her and Ji-hyuk having a burgeoning affair. (The projection is strong with this one, eh?) Under the impression that Ji-won is in the mood for some sexy times, Min-hwan flings his towel off with a dramatic flourish, grinning with anticipation. Cornered by the eager Min-hwan, Ji-won shrieks in horror.
Ha, I like the drama so far! It’s moving satisfyingly fast, especially with how Ji-won is throwing herself into her self-improvement mission with gusto. I cheered when Ji-won immediately recognized Min-hwan and Soo-min’s true colors; if not for the need to keep up appearances (for now at least), she’d be dropping them like hot potatoes. Ji-won may have been demeaned and discredited, but she still has a spine, and she’s slowly rediscovering the self-worth she’d lost sight of.
It’s why I love that the drama is spotlighting female solidarity, demonstrating the positive influence that Ji-won has on others and the support she receives in return. There’s her professional partnership with the meek assistant manager YANG JOO-RAN (Gong Min-jung), who’s constantly dismissed by the arrogant, embodiment-of-a-boomer-uncle team manager. Then there’s her friendship with the adorably enthusiastic coworker YOO HEE-YEON (Choi Gyu-ri), who has both the lively optimism to brush off barbed comments and the forthright confidence to put Soo-min in her place.
As much as the drama is leaning into the entertaining cheesiness of the campy premise, it’s also doing a remarkably realistic job of depicting the struggles that women face. Sometimes, it’s uncomfortably so; I couldn’t help but shrink away from my screen when Min-hwan grew violently forceful in the face of Ji-won’s rejection. (Kudos to Lee Yi-kyung for deftly balancing Min-hwan’s pathetic loser qualities and his terrifyingly aggressive side.)
So far, the drama is consistently and directly calling out the rampant misogyny in society. It’s evident in how the police victim-blame Ji-won and commiserate with Min-hwan, or how Ji-won’s mother-in-law berates her for the lack of progeny when that had been Min-hwan’s decision, or even something as simple yet as pervasive as Soo-min’s pretty privilege.
Speaking of Soo-min, she clings onto Ji-won because she needs someone to put down in order to elevate herself, resulting in a possessive sort of affection that borders on obsessive. Ji-hyuk seems to have cottoned on to this, and if his brief meeting with the celebrity chef BAEK EUN-HO (Lee Ki-kwang) is any indication, he may be pulling some strings to ensure the high school reunion dinner goes in Ji-won’s favor. (No fake earrings and public embarrassment this time!)
The show’s social commentary is uncomfortably true-to-life while simultaneously ramping up the zany antics, and so far I think it’s doing a pretty decent job of balancing the tone. I’m rooting for Ji-won to steer her life in the direction that she wants, I’m curious what Ji-hyuk’s deal is, and I can’t wait for Min-hwan and Soo-min to get their much-deserved comeuppance. In other words — I’m cautiously optimistic, but for now, I’m all in for the ride!
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