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The Matchmakers: Episodes 1-2
by Unit
Ro-woon is back in a gat! Hooray! With its pretty color scheme, fun characters, and a generally light-hearted tone, The Matchmakers is off to a great start. An uptight scholar and a happy-go-lucky lady walk into a bar and are served with a royal decree that is bound to change their lives forever. Ready or not, let our matchmaking tale begin!
EPISODES 1-2
We start off with an introduction to our leading man, SHIM JUNG-WOO (Kim Ro-woon, squee!!!). A Confucian scholar to the core, faux-humility is not his strongest suit. But Jung-woo is not all mouth — in fact, he’s the youngest man to ever place first in the state exam since Joseon was established! (Of course he is.) Best of all, he lands a juicy government position as a result of this feat.
Jung-woo’s dream is to rise the ministerial ranks, but that dream is cut short when he catches the eye of the princess. The left state councilor, LORD JO (Lee Hae-young) — who leads the political faction Jung-woo’s family belongs to — dubs the royal betrothal as a “good opportunity” for the Shim family. But to Jung-woo, this is more like clipping his wings because the king’s son-in-law cannot hold a government position. “I will not marry the princess!” Jung-woo declares.
Cut to: Jung-woo as a groom — the sacrificial lamb for his family’s success and the faction’s benefit. The wedding ceremony proceeds with the couple bowing to each other. Sadly, the princess never rises from her bow, and Jung-woo becomes a widower on his wedding day. Damn! To make matters worse, in addition to not holding a government position, the kings’ sons-in-law cannot remarry or have a concubine. Hah! What a waste of Jung-woo’s brain and youth.
Eight years pass like that, and soon, the royal family readies for another marriage: the crown prince’s. But rather than issue a marriage ban in preparation, the ministers in Lord Jo’s faction urge the king (Jo Han-chul) to postpone the wedding. They claim that a spinster killed herself because she couldn’t get married, and a marriage ban will make things worse for other spinsters. But really, their anti-marriage stance is because if the crown prince gets married and has a son, it makes it harder for them to eventually enthrone their prince of choice as the next king. Awwwn, palace politics. How much I have missed thee!
Whether a vengeful spinster’s ghost is haunting the capital or not, the king is determined to marry off the crown prince in time to send envoys to Ming to bring back the Letter of Investiture. And to assist in this endeavor, the queen advises the king to seek out the most angry man in Joseon — who is none other than Jung-woo, the “walking lump of pent-up frustration” due to the imposed celibacy after his wife’s death. Loool.
Jung-woo has spent the last eight years submitting appeals to annul his marriage to the princess. And in his words, “There’s nothing I do not know about marriage.” He’d be the perfect person to come up with a pretext to marry off the crown prince — if he wasn’t also a member of Lord Jo’s faction. The king is reluctant to bring Jung-woo onboard, but his right-hand man explains that the crown prince will get married if Jung-woo succeeds. And if he fails, the king can hold Lord Jo responsible for his faction member’s dereliction of duty. It’s a win-win situation, and the king agrees to the plan.
But if there is anyone more knowledgeable about marriages in Joseon, it is the famed “Lady Yeo-ju,” the Master of Matchmaking for the rich and famous — and this is the borrowed identity under which our heroine, JUNG SOON-DEOK (Jo Yi-hyun), operates. As the young widow of Lord Jo’s late son, Soon-deok is supposed to quietly live out the rest of her days at her in-laws’ house. But with the help of her sister-in-law, JO YE-JIN (Oh Ye-ju), she frequently sneaks out to offer her matchmaking services, and peddle goods on the side.
Despite the fear of being caught by the in-laws, Soon-deok works as a matchmaker because matching lovely couples together makes her widowed heart flutter. Plus she gets to earn money! But no matter how much she’s paid, she doesn’t match ill-fitting couples. Soon-deok is my type of heroine. She’s got a bubbly personality, and I love that she doesn’t allow her widowed status to define her. She’s industrious, quick on her feet, and I respect her sense of professionalism.
I might be speaking too soon, but I appreciate that the women in this show push the boundaries of societal restrictions in their own little way. We’ve got a spunky and enterprising Soon-deok. There’s Ye-jin who knows that she will have an arranged marriage — but she wants to at least have a say in who the groom is. And then there’s a female writer who hides behind a man’s identity to get her stories out (more on her real soon). Yaay for women having as much agency as they can in those stifling times!
Back to our matchmaking tale, you know that we’re in for an unconventional romance when our OTP meets for the first time at an inn and she’s the one who pulls him out of harm’s way. “Did this woman just rescue me?” Jung-woo wonders, and yep! He just fell in love into Soon-deok’s arms. Hehe. Finally, romance is on the horizon for Jung-woo — who is very much allergic to the sight of happy young couples. And I mean the “chest-clutching in pain” kinda allergic. Poor guy.
When Jung-woo stumbles on an erotic romance novel at the inn’s bookshop, his imagination runs wild. But years of celibacy have him picturing the scene in the shoes of the peeping Tom rather than as a participant in the fun lol. “Do you like [the novel]?” the innkeeper asks, and Jung-woo clutches his pearls. How dare the innkeeper suggest that he is a hot-blooded man with needs? No, Jung-woo’s interest in the novel is totally based on the illustration of the male character as a senior rank officer who neglects his duty to visit a woman first thing in the morning. Clearly, the author wrote the story to ridicule the scholar officials, and is deserving of punishment. Pfft. Have I mentioned how much I love him?
Soon-deok insists that the novel is fiction — and she would know this since she knows the author. (Remember the female writer I talked about earlier? She’s the one behind the erotic novels under the pen name “Hwa-rok.”) But Jung-woo argues that fiction is inspired by true events, and he needs to investigate — that is, finish reading the novel — to find out the author’s true intentions. Their back and forth banter culminates in Soon-deok asking if Jung-woo is hitting on her. “Have you fallen for me?” she quips, and Jung-woo replies with hiccups. Ha! My man has been betrayed by his naiveté in the matters of the heart.
Jung-woo can no longer function without having chest pains induced by his constant thoughts about Soon-deok, so he returns to the inn to correct her impression on his supposed feelings for her. “I have fallen for you,” he declares, taking Soon-deok by surprise. Then his brain boots, and he backtracks. “I misspoke because I am unwell. What I want to say is that I have not fallen for you.” Jang Shin-yu, is that you? Lol. Naturally, Soon-deok thinks Jung-woo is a freak. But little does she know that a matchmaking-related alliance is in her future with him.
The genesis of this alliance is the king’s plan to marry off the crown prince with Jung-woo’s help. And to do that, the king has Jung-woo arrested for “contempt against the throne” — yunno, since he has been writing those endless annulment appeals. Between drinking poison as punishment and coming up with a plan for the crown prince’s marriage, Jung-woo’s choice is clear.
Since Lord Jo’s faction referenced the problem of spinsters in the capital as an excuse to postpone the crown prince’s marriage, Jung-woo suggests that the king marries off a few “exemplary” spinsters to bachelors. That way, the king can show that the royal court is concerned about the issue of single people, and no one will be able to stop him from proceeding with the crown prince’s wedding.
The exemplary spinsters in question are the three daughters of Master Maeng — the king’s childhood friend. The king tasks Jung-woo with marrying them off within two months, and success means a favorable consideration of his annulment appeal while failure means punishment for deceiving the royal family. But failure is not a word in Jung-woo’s dictionary. Not when this is his chance to finally get that annulment and work his way into a government position.
Jung-woo gets to work immediately, but the consensus of the Joseon Association of Matchmakers is that the Maeng sisters cannot be matched. According to them, the second daughter is notorious for her temper (she’s just very vocal about defending herself from false accusations), the first daughter is possessed (she scares off peeping Toms at the stream), and the last daughter is androgynous (she just dresses like a man — yep, this is Hwa-rok). In the end, there’s only one matchmaker who is capable of matching the ladies: Lady Yeo-ju.
There’s a noticeable skip in Jung-woo’s steps as he seeks Soon-deok out amidst huffs and puffs. He meets her daydreaming about her late husband, and he’s only too happy to play along. Dude wears a smitten smile as he curls up on the bench to lay his head on her lap, and I just can’t deal! But of course, Soon-deok kicks him away when she comes to full consciousness. Lol!
Soon-deok is excited about the prospects of matching the Maeng sisters, but she’s wary that Jung-woo is the one requesting the match, so she turns him down. She’s even more upset when he flashes his badge and harps on the royal order to “abolish” spinsters like they’re some sort of bandits. Spinsters are women, too. And marriage is just as important to them as it is to younger ladies. “You cannot approach them as subjects to abolish!” Soon-deok chides him. But Jung-woo refuses to be discouraged, so he heads to the government office to seek assistance — which he obviously doesn’t get because the officials have “more important” tasks to do than matchmaking.
Anyway, while at the office, Jung-woo sneaks a copy of Hwa-rok’s novel and this time, he is the male lead in his imagination. Lol. The female lead, of course, is Soon-deok. But the story ends with a cliffhanger. Ha! As to why there is a stack of erotic novels in a government office, it’s because they are evidence in the case of the spinster who killed herself. Apparently, she was an avid reader of Hwa-rok’s novels, and she avoided marriage due to her high standards gotten from fictional men. Sounds like me and my dozen webtoon and K-drama boyfriends.
Jung-woo finds it ridiculous that Hwa-rok is blamed for driving the spinster to an unlawful death, and he takes a look at the investigation records — which is totally fishy. The lady didn’t die from suicide, she was stabbed to death before being thrown into the river. (Ha! Not the writer sneaking a murder-mystery into this matchmaking drama.)
Left with no other option, Jung-woo personally visits the Maeng sisters with glad tidings of marriage arrangements. But the eldest sister straight up tells him that, “It’s not that we could not wed but rather we decided not to. We don’t need help.” We? Oui? Nah, the youngest sister (Hwa-rok), does not speak French, and unlike her unnies, she doesn’t want to die as a virgin. Lol. Her older sisters have to get married before she does, so she begs Soon-deok to set them up.
Jung-woo, on the other hand, has received a fresh order from the king to cooperate with Lady Yeo-ju. But they parted ways on unsavory terms and his ego won’t let him apologize to her — not until he sees her face, and the apology falls out of his mouth unprovoked. Lol. Jung-woo is completely whipped for Soon-deok, and I love it. Soon-deok is also willing to set up the Maeng sisters, and thus, the matchmaking alliance is sealed.
It’s going to be interesting to watch these two aligning for different reasons, and with a difference in matchmaking principles. Soon-deok approaches marriage from a place of empathy, and she understands the importance of compatibility and love in the institution. Unlike Jung-woo who has a “marriage is to support the nation and produce the next generation” approach. I look forward to their partnership, and I can tell that they will rub off on each other in the best of ways — of course, after they must have clashed multiple times due to their varying principles. Heh.
The premiere week was as fun as I expected it to be, and it looks like we’re in for a good time. As a fan of second-chance-at-love stories, I’m curious to see how the drama will handle our OTP’s romance — considering that unlike Jung-woo who barely knew his late wife, Soon-deok had such a loving relationship with her late husband that she still misses him. And she has a son, too! Soon-deok as a mom was quite unexpected, but I like it.
And speaking of “unexpected,” I did not think I would like a Joseon king as much as I like the king here. I don’t know if it’s the actor, or the character, but the king is so fun! He gives off this modern-day “my subordinates are stressing the hell out of me” vibes, and he’s the most free-spirited king I’ve seen in recent times. Plus he actually cares about Jung-woo in a roundabout fatherly way. For all Jung-woo’s scholarly bragging, he is actually right. His inability to take public office as the royal son-in-law is a waste of Joseon’s resources, and I can’t wait for the king to annul the marriage and mentor him as he enters the political world. I’m sure he’ll be a good asset to the nation with his many skills.
One of the skills Jung-woo picked up during his less busy days as a widower is in medical practice, and he seems to be using this to look into the cause of his wife’s death. Hmmm. There’s also his inquiry at the bookshop about a certain type of poison. Hmmm, again. Add that to the spinster’s suicide case and you have me slightly worried here. Dear Show, can we have less politicking and murder mysteries, and more matchmaking shenanigans and interactions with Jung-woo’s faithful servant and the donkey? Yours truly, everyone watching this drama.
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