Perfect Marriage Revenge (2023)

Binge it if you can

I’ve never read the webtoon so this is based off this show as a standalone drama and not as an adaptation. I started watching this 4 episodes were out because I saw that hair-tying scene on my Twitter/X timeline and it completely convinced me. And the show proved me right — I binged all the released and couldn’t wait for next week. The main leads had amazing chemistry, the antagonists felt like actual threats, and I couldn’t wait to see how the revenge would play out.

As the weeks came around, I still enjoyed the episodes, but I did feel like the show started losing steam.

First, the main leads’ screentime dwindled and we got more and more scenes of our antagonists (of which there were many). It added good tension to see things from their perspective, but it also added frustration. The leads had so much chemistry and tension and we only got to see a few minutes of that every week.

And as more episodes went on, we ran into a different issue: we did get screentime for our leads, but it didn’t necessarily feel like they were progressing. We’d get the same hugs and conversations where they talked about being there for each other and fighting together against the bad guys. These scenes were cute but it felt got sort of repetitive, especially now that we’d gotten all the tension-filled conversations out of the way earlier and it seemed like the next plot development wasn’t happening anytime soon. I still really enjoyed scenes where they cared for each other, but all the stakes felt a little lower by this point, and I started to feel like the revenge was almost too easy. Sides had been chosen, secrets were already revealed, and most importantly, the main antagonists had stayed quiet or had lost too many battles in a row.

Honestly, I was pretty lukewarm on the entire plot by then. Looking back, I don’t remember a singular satisfying moment where our main female lead got to face off against her mother in a moment where I felt like they were on equal footing, where the stakes were high and I truly didn’t know who was going to win. The revenge plot seemed to delve into smaller moments where they would address this one thing first and then that other thing, and I wasn’t sure there was a climax. Even the build-up to some other reveals and to the ML’s perspective felt overdue and a little underwhelming.

Episode 11 was a turning point. Things that needed to be revealed had been revealed, it felt like the revenge had been finished, and the antagonists had been out of the picture — most of which was off-screen, I might add, which made the story feel somewhat incomplete — long enough for The Time Jump to happen. Yes, the dreaded time jump. I’ve never been a fan of the time jump. It’s fine as an epilogue but I’ve never once enjoyed it done in the middle of the story and this was no different. It just felt kind of…weird. Like they didn’t know what to do after all the villains were put away, so they had to bring them back, but had to wait some time for them to be able to. Story-wise, it was a bit confusing to have it happen after everything was seemingly over, but ultimately I don’t think it was blown out of proportion, which was good.

I think part of the plot simmering down also had to do with the female lead, who was really proactive in the first half and then started being more aimless in the second half. Still, I liked the message the drama left us with — that the best revenge for her was having a happy marriage, a healthy family, and a good life. Despite the slowdown, I think this drama had a really good finale episode.

Overall, it was still a pretty good watch — this was my second favorite watch behind Castaway Diva during its runtime, but if I were to recommend it to someone I would suggest binging it rather than watching it slowly. You might be able to retain more momentum that way.

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Perfect balance of ups and downs.

Honestly speaking, I’m not that into makjangs. A full on makjangs is a trip to ruined mood and constant annoyance. What I do enjoy is a "soft" makjang, where the shenanigans are still ridiculous and over the top, but there are some breathers incorporated to make you actually enjoy the plot. Perfect Marriage Revenge is like that - perfect balance of ups and downs.

We get all the evil mothers and stepmothers, neglect, abuse, attempted murder, secrets and betrayal, cheating, crime - all the entertaining twists known. But we also have a healthy relationship of the leads, nice and smart supporting characters, some fluff and comedy. The leads are not exactly complete underdogs who are beaten to the ground to raise in the last episode and win the prize. It’s rather an even fight between them and the bad guys, and that’s what makes it fun to watch!

The show is beyond unrealistic, but if that’s anyone's complaint, you picked the wrong genre. Makjang is not supposed to be realistic. There were many scenes where I laughed out loud with how detached from reality they were - that’s the beauty of dramas like that.

For the romance - the chemistry was chemistrying. Sung Hoon ain’t a good actor, but he knows about romance, that’s for sure. What’s strange - his lack of skill was actually a perfect match for the drama. I honestly don’t think I would enjoy it as much with a “better” actor.

Jung Yoo Min won my heart with her performance as Yi Joo. I bought both the naive and good hearted, and cunning and strong. The emotional scenes tug at my heartstrings, the badass scenes made me clap like an excited kid.

Big props to Jin Ji Hee too. Han Yoo Ra might ended up as my favorite character. Amazing performance, and surprise nuance in how the character was written.

Overall, I binge watched it in 2 days. Once I started I could not stop. Addicting is a perfect word to describe it. I planned to just skip the scenes and watch the romance, but I ended up being glued to the screen and seated for 12 hours with hands away from that right arrow on the keyboard.

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