Han Seung-joo, played by Uee, is not just single - she's alone. Her family are judgemental, abusive parasites and her friends have their own lives. She inherits a mountain from her Aunt that her family is intent on developing into a resort. But when she feels threatened in her own home, she decides to hire a man to be her husband. Oh Jak-doo (Kim Kang-woo) is seemingly a lowly herb-gatherer from the mountain she now owns and he accepts the role in exchange for her leaving his mountain home undeveloped.
At the beginning, this drama had an intelligent script that seemed to be at war with the Makjang direction. It doesn't matter how strong or independent you are, it was saying, you still need somebody to be on your side. In essence, everybody needs a mountain. Seung-joo's mountain was both figurative and literal: when things got too difficult for her, she now had somewhere solid and unchanging to rest.
From the start, the Makjang direction was extremely jarring. Full of intense close-ups, overwrought - almost screeching - line deliveries, and long scenes devoted to the bumbling slapstick antics of three mountain Halmeonis, the direction was a sour note in a otherwise enjoyable show.
Unfortunately, by about episode 14 it became obvious the director knew something we didn't. The show veered sharply into Makjang and never recovered. At a daunting 24 episodes, this meant almost half the drama was full of contrived conflict, opaque character motivations and general audience confusion. And screeching. There's a lot of screeching.
While Kim Kang-woo's Oh Jak-doo is often swoonworthy, the show is stolen repeatedly by the affectatious and pretentious Eric Cho as a second male lead, played with a lot of heart and self-awareness by Jung Sang-hoon. Uee also gives her character a lot of strength and vulnerability but both she and Kim Kong-woo struggle with their characters once their motivations get murky.
The performances are not enough to save what is, in the end, a poorly-written and badly-paced soap opera that has little overall point to make about anything.
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A drama with a modern take on marriage and married life in general
Watching this was not as frustrating as other dramas with contract-marriage themes, mainly because the main characters were created as mature adults who are just at the right age to settle down. Contrary to the usually shy and innocent heroine, the drama featured a naive country guy named Jak Doo having to agree to a fake marriage to a materialistic Seoulite to save his cabin. It does have some twists, but as mentioned, it's not frustrating to watch. There are no cheesy moments. Heck, only four kiss scenes were done during the entire drama. There was no deep hatred between the main characters, unlike in some Korean rom-com and melodramas, partly because the characters were written as mature adults. It also featured women in today's era taking over their careers (and personal lives) without much help from men. Lastly, it gave viewers a glance at the ups and downs of long-distance relationships and compromise in marriage in terms of the career and personal lives of the two lovers. It's pretty much straight to the point, which makes it more interesting.Props to the production team for casting a team of actors to portray the characters in this project. This was not the first time for Uee to star in a contract marriage-themed drama, but compared to Hye Soo who made me cry a lot in 'Marriage Contract', Seung Joo reminded me of PD Tak Ye Jin in 'The Producers'- strong, stubborn, passionate woman. And Uee, as always did an astounding job. On the other hand, Jung Sang Hoon is quite a revelation to me. I've always seen him as a funny guy in SNL Korea, so seeing him in this drama was interesting. The character Eric Cho is a funny and genuine person, yet savage when it comes to his business dealings. Jung Sang Hoon did really well. I'm looking forward to seeing his other works.
Also, the songs are one of the very few drama OSTs that I really really love.
Overall, My Contracted Husband Mr. Oh is a drama with a modern take on marriage and married life in general. Their love story did not have a good start, but there are lots of heartwarming moments that will definitely make you smile until the end.
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Forget about the bad reviews and just start watching.
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I got the opportunity to binge watch the first 8 episodes and I was totally hooked because I liked the funny, light-hearted story of Seung Joo and her fake husband, Oh Jak Doo. I also enjoyed the side stories/sub plots within the the big plot of the 3 grandmas, serial killer, Seung Joo's friends and annoying boss (Eric Cho Bong Sik) and her coworkers.
However it ended up being kind of being a story with too many cooks and it just became a drama for me that I could watch while eating breakfast on the weekends.
The characters in this show are kind of over the top ones- they scream, are dramatic and usually leave you with a laugh due to the dumb situations each character is put in.
I would say my favorite character on this show has to be Eric Cho because he's delusional (as someone said on this forum) and he is also a great guy who is kind of stuck in his dad's wrong deeds and wants to get something out of it. The pairing of Seung Joo and Oh Jak Doo is okay and cute but I liked them much more better as friends (till Episode 9 I believe) but they're an ideal couple for Kdramas. However, I would love to have a Oh Jak Doo in my life who is rich, good-looking, and is great at housework and also has a professional life.
As for acting- Uee has improved alot (I've seen her first in Marriage Contract-her crying scenes weren't the best for her there), but I believe she has a long way to go. I would love to see her in a much more darker role. Kim Kang Woo is great here-his dialect is perfect, his crying scenes are too cute and I would love to see him again in another show!
Other characters on this show are kind of annoying but they act all great- according to their parts. I would say Han Sunhwa is given great outfits but she doesn't have much to work with. Jung Sang Hoon is great as I mentioned earlier in my review, his English has to be one of the highlighted moments of this show ;).
I give this show a 7.0/10 and I would watch it again maybe when I need a laugh or need to get my mind off of things. OSTs are okay- OST Part 5 of this show is cute.
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This show is surprisingly sweet and gave me the feelings which are real deep. If you are expecting for a romantic show with more skinship and fast pace this isn't for you.
Their smiles and stares are pure love. This deals with many real issues. It broke the gender stereotypes. This covered almost all the types of people. I so love this drama.
Regarding acting everyone did their job well. I love Uee since Marriage Contract. She did well. This is my first drama of Kim Kang Woo. He's awesome. Surely I'm going to check out his other works. Their chemistry is so good. Jung Sang Hoon deserves a special mention. Music is a plus to their beautiful chemistry. I'm going to rewatch this if I'm in a bad mood. This show gives me happy vibes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Cute Drama
A cute rewatchable drama. It does have a different feel when comparing the beginning of the show to the end. You are bouncing from murder, to mistaken identity, hidden identity, terrible family members (I've never seen people so selfish), and a love story. Mom A large portion of the plot surrounds around a murder that happens in the main characters house (he was trying to kill her but in the end finds out that she wasn't the one that lead his girlfriend to suicide) which leads to her fake marriage with a man who will protect her. At its core the it is a mess, but it's still a fun watch. Heads up, the main characters chemistry does not translate to kissing, it's horrible to watch, luckily they do not do it often.Was this review helpful to you?
I wish the drama series was a bit longer and they had a second season to see how each character's career path resulted in.
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The drama itself started of as a story about a career driven woman who had to support her mother and brother who are basically just freeloaders, and an incident which leads to her having to get a fake husband.
I really enjoyed how they introduced the romance into it, and I think it was one of the reasons why I actually liked the drama. I felt that it depicted love and life changes at an age where people think you should have everything figured out and all the hardships that come with getting to know someone new when you had no intention to.
I appreciated the relationship between Oh Jak Doo and Han Seung Joo, especially how it blossomed into something that was pure and beautiful. If not for anything else, I would definitely replay my favorite parts of these two from the drama whenever I need a sweet romance. There were a few kisses (cute ones not intense) and a bunch of hugs, but apart from that there were moments where they were just in each others' company and were portraying that intimacy doesn't only come from physical connection but from being the person that the other could count on and be secure about. It's the kind of affection and security I'm sure many would love to have.
Not going to lie, I absolutely abhorred Seung Joo's mother and there were times when I disliked Jang Eun Joo as well as. The brother and his girlfriend were annoying as well, but I didn't hate them too much. I loved the friendship between Han Seung Joo and her friends... how they kept each other together and didn't let their husbands in between, and how they supported each other; it was really fun to watch. One of the best characters though, was Eric Cho.
All the actors did a good job and the OST is stuck in my head after every episode because it would blend so well with the scenes.
If I was asked if I would recommend this drama, I would honestly just tell the other party to watch a few episodes to get a feel of it, as it is somewhat slow paced and sometimes angering.
TLDR: The drama is a slice of life with good acting and tolerable side characters. Watch at your own risk! :)
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FINALLY A CUTE ROMANCE
I freaking love this drama! The past dramas I have watched have had a basic and dull romance, but this one is different!I'll start my review with what I loved the most about this show, and the second is what I hate.
What do I like about this drama? The main leads, of course! They have a cute and lovely chemistry, and I live for their every interaction. Their need for each other is so endearing. Although some of it is cringe-worthy, it is surprising that it is not awkward. I love that they still keep Han Seung Joo (Uee) a strong woman instead of relying on her husband. I like the female lead's friendship and how she handles the men around her who think she's weak. It is so sad that women in Korea actually face these kinds of problems.
Now let's start with what I don't like about this show. Even though I like a lot of the characters in this drama, I also hate a lot of them. The family of the female lead is too much; I get annoyed every time they are on screen. And when will K-drama producers stop giving and putting a random man who always wants to kill the main lead in a romance show? Also, I love Uee, but the way they style her here is so ugly. Her clothes don't give her justice! She's the main lead, but the other female characters have better fashion and clothing than her.
I also agree with some reviews that 24 episodes are too much. I like this show, but let's be real, there are just too many filler and unnecessary scenes. This could have ended in the 16th or 18th episode without the dragging.
Overall, I still liked it, and I believe that this is recommendable. I rate this show a 9/10! Hoping to see Kim Kang Woo more in dramas!
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama started off really nice, and the sweet chemistry between Seung-Joo (FL) and Dak Ju (ML) was warming up nicely. But by episode 14, when the FL's useless brother and ungrateful mother were endlessly using FL's undying family duty and generosity too much, up to the point that the ML has to leave his beloved mountain and revealed his true identity just to save the FL, I just decided to give up watching and just skip to the ending. This TV drama has lost its plot and it was getting more painful to watch the FL and ML hurting each other for no reasons and also being used by others for their own agenda. Plus there is so much screaming, shouting, screeching by the FL. She kept saying she is strong and independent but she ended up looking like a bitch or female cat in heat. The writers could have written the story better. Was this review helpful to you?
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