Marry My Husband centers around an ill woman who receives the final blow when she learns her bestie and husband are having an affair. She dies soon after, but is given a second chance at life.

Marry My Husband makes it easy to fall in love with protagonist Kang Ji-won – and that’s already half the battle won for this K-drama. Park Min-young effortlessly portrays her as smart and kind, though not in a superficial way, but a little too naive and trusting. Yet, she’s learning from her past (or, in this case, future) mistakes and evolving as a person. Thankfully, it’s a gradual process that allows the audience space to root for Ji-won as the show progresses, while acknowledging that she can’t possibly handle it all on her own.

To that end, Ji-won is surrounded by a cast of equally charming, if fairly one-dimensional, characters. There’s her bubbly co-worker Yu Hee-yeon (Choi Gyu-ri), who gives Ji-won a makeover, well-meaning but meek assistant manager Yang Joo-ran (Gong Min-jung) and her stoic but secretly soft-hearted boss and love interest Yu Ji-hyuk (Na In-woo). They are as tropey and archetypal as K-drama characters come, but in a way that’s also their job, to not detract from who we’re all here for: Kang Ji-won. It may not be the most groundbreaking of shows, but that’s not what it’s trying to be either. This Korean drama knows it’s a guilty pleasure through and through, and embraces that wholeheartedly. There is something immensely satisfying about seeing a carefully drawn-out, deliciously manipulative revenge plan slowly but steadily unfold onscreen. It satisfies by giving the audience exactly what they want by letting Ji-won get her payback, with a handful of unexpected twists that are just enough to keep viewers running back for more.

My Rating : 8.4/10