Perfect Marriage Revenge – Full Review
Welcome to Perfect Marriage Revenge – Full Review. A talented painter travels back in time and gets a second chance to find love and happiness. If you haven’t watched this drama yet, I recommend checking out my unspoiled review here.
Perfect Marriage Revenge
♥ Aired: October 28 – December 3, 2023
♥# of Episodes: 12
♥Where to Watch: Viki
♥Genre: Fantasy Romance
♥Starring: Sung Hoon and Jung Yoo Min
The Story
A talented painter has lived her whole life being neglected and taken advantage of. From an adopted family who has always treated her as an outside to a husband who only married her because he was in love with her sister, everyone she has ever cared about has treated her cruelly. But when she is suddenly killed in a car accident, she wakes up 1 year in the past. Now she has a second chance to make different decisions and find true happiness. And that happiness starts with a man she barely knew before going back in time. Unfortunately, according to the timer on her wrist, she only has 1 year to live out this happier life. But she is determined to make the best of it.
The Leads
Sung Hoon as Seo Do Guk
Seo Do Guk was set up with Yi Joo’s sister, Yoo Ra. But while Yoo Ra fell for him completely and dreamed of gaining his family’s wealth, Do Guk never took her seriously. But Do Guk was strangely drawn to her quiet sister, Yi Joo. So when Do Guk sees Yoo Ra run out of the gallery event clearly upset, he follows her. And when Yi Joo’s suddenly turns the car around to head the other way, it is Do Guk’s car that hits hers and causes the accident. When he wakes up, he is thrown back 1 year and has a glowing time stamp on his arm that is counting back to the original day of the accident. Wracked with guilt about causing her death, he decides to approach Yi Joo first and help her get revenge on her terrible family. And when he sees a chance to gain some personal happiness along the way by marrying her, Do Guk jumps at the opportunity. But his most important mission is not marriage or revenge, but to find a way to save Yi Joo from the accident in the first place.
Seo Do Guk is a successful business man set on making his own way in the world, rather than using his family’s wealth. But he gives up his company for the chance to marry Yi Joo. After seeing all the pain that Yi Joo has faced in her life, Do Guk is generous and affectionate with her and his attentions never waver. I really love Sung Hoon, but unfortunately a string of bad drama choices and an even worse public image have never let him get the recognition I think he deserves. I felt like this role was perfect for him and he played it just right. I hope it is a taste of greater roles to come for this charming actor.
Jung Yoo Min as Han Yi Joo
Han Yi Joo had her whole life blow up around her on the day she found out that her husband had never loved her and her family had been using her to create and sell forgeries of famous art pieces. Distraught and heartbroken about the true intention of those she cared about, she runs from the gallery event she is attending. But her reckless driving leads to a serious car accident. And her luck goes from bad to worst when she survives the accident, only to be killed by someone hired by her adopted mother. Strangely, when she wakes up, she finds herself 1 year in the past, before her disastrous marriage and with the knowledge of all the things her mother and sister have done to take advantage of her. And when Yi Joo gets the chance to marry the man her sister is chasing, she sees an opportunity for revenge and a partner who just might be willing to help her. But the marriage that started out as a business proposal soon turns into something much more real. Yi Joo can’t help but believe that her marriage this time around will have a happy ending, but a glowing time stamp on her wrist seems to be counting down to her eminent death.
In the beginning of this drama, Yi Joo is a naive and eager to please daughter, wife, and sister. But after finding out the truth about the people in her life, she comes back stronger and determined to live life on her own terms. Sure, at times, she still has a long way to go, but it is fulfilling to see her character blossom and develop. Jung Yoo Min played this wide-eyed innocent well and her portrayal was believable. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for her horrible luck in life and root for her to finally find true love and happiness.
Supporting Characters
Jin Ji Hee as Han Yoo Ra
Han Yoo Ra is Yi Joo’s adopted sister. She is her parent’s favorite child and she has lived her life as a spoiled brat. She manages her family’s art gallery, even though, unlike Yi Joo, Yoo Ra has no knowledge of the art world. Yoo Ra wants to marry Do Guk, and is outraged when he proposes to Yi Joo instead. From that time on, Yoo Ra, with the help of her mom, is actively trying to find ways to hurt Yi Joo. But when their mom’s crimes are finally exposed, Yoo Ra is quick to abandon her to protect herself.
Kang Shin Hyo as Seo Jung Wook
Seo Jung Wook is Do Guk’s half brother. When they were younger, Jung Wook was involved in a boating accident with left him with a permanent limp that requires him to use a cane. He hates Do Guk because he claims that Do Guk caused his accident on purpose. But his emotional struggles are actually rooted in the fact that he was abandoned as a young boy. Jung Wook teams up with Yoo Ra to try to make trouble for Do Guk and Yi Joo, and later he is arrested for illegal business practices. He escapes from prison and kidnaps Yi Joo, which is how she ends up back at the accident site at the appropriate time.
Oh Seung Yun as Yoo Se Hyeok
Yoo Se Hyeok was Yi Joo’s husband before she travels back to before their marriage. The pair were childhood friends. But although Yi Joo’s feelings for Se Hyeok were sincere, Se Hyeok was always in love with Yoo Ra. Eventually he agreed to marry Yi Joo because he thinks it is the only way he can stay by Yoo Ra’s side. When Yi Joo travels back in time after finding out the truth about his feelings, she immediately calls him on it and dumps him. But his family isn’t happy that he let such a rich fiance get away.
Things I Liked
♥ Pacing
This drama is 12 nicely paced episodes that keep the story moving along smoothly. There are no wasted episodes or drawn out side plots. I wouldn’t have minded some development of some of the side characters, but I also appreciate the single-minded development of the plot and the lead characters. They did a nice job of keeping the revenge story fairly simple while also giving the audience enough twists and turns to hold our intrest.
♥ Yi Joo’s Mom
I loved the story of Yi Joo finding her mom after thinking she was dead all these years. There is this cool understated idea that some times what we want is in front of us the whole time but we aren’t asking the right questions. By going back in time and making different choices, Yi Joo’s mom surfaces so easily. And they played thier relationship well by not rushing their genetic connection. While they were already friends, it still took them both some time of adjustment to change from that to mother and daughter.
♥ Do Guk’s Family
This is a chaebol family with real heart. First off, how can you not love Do Guk’s mom and grandmother. They comes off all stiff and stuck-up, but they quickly fall for Yi Joo’s innocent charm. I love how outraged Do Guk’s mom gets on Yi Joo’s account when she learns what she went through growing up. And even though Jung Wook is mean and ill-tempered, their father tries his best to not take it out on Do Guk. It’s true he could have done better by just listening to Do Guk’s side of the story, but at least he was never unfairly cruel to either of his sons. And because of this, their reconciliation after the truth comes to light is not so difficult.
Things I Didn’t Like
Yoo Se Hyeok
Yoo Se Hyeok’s storyline felt a bit incosistent for me. First of all, the obvious. Like on what planet do you think you can win back the fiance who has just found out you were in love with her sister instead of her the whole time. But if you were going to make him such a pitiful excuse for a human being and punish him in the end by saddling him with a miserable, pregnant Yoo Ra, then maybe there should have been a bit more of his story in between. And how exactly did he manage to be dumped by a fiance, start and end a romance with Yoo Ra (at least from his opinion), and get another fiance all within a year? That is a pretty eventful year for anyone!
Yi Joo’s Father
While the reunion with Yi Joo’s mother was handled very well, I’m not sure I have the same feeling about her reconciliation with her father. They seem to want us as an audience to like her father. But I’m not sure that his neglect of Yi Joo should just be swept under the rug. Even if he didn’t know she was his real daughter, he let his wife adopt her. What did the poor child ever do to experience such complete disregard? There was this feeling from the writers that once he found out Yi Joo was his real daughter, his acknowledgement of her should be enough. But I feel like he owes her a lot more than the crumbs of his affection.
More Lead Love Story
The leads of this drama has some great chemistry, which left me wishing we could have seen a bit more of them together on screen. I love that Do Guk has seen Yi Joo at her worst and weakest, but he loves her anyway and works to help her get the revenge she deserves. But I would have loved to see more of Do Guk falling in love with her from afar in the beginning. And as their marriage transformed from a fake business arrangement to a real loving relationship, I wish we had gotten to watch them interact more. Obvioiusly it is to their credit that they left me wanting to see more of them, but still it’s sad we didn’t get it.
The Ending
Well, this wild ride finally gave us the happy ending we were hoping for. And some pretty satisfying retribution for our villains. Yi Joo’s adopted mom goes to prison for her crimes and even Yoo Ra turns her back on her, now that she is of no use to her. With Jung Wook in prison, a pregnant Yoo Ra finally gets kicked out of the hotel room she’s been living in. She tries to push her way into Jung Wook’s family home, but they send her packing. With no other option, she crashes the engagement celebration of Se Hyeok and a new mystery fiance to announce that she is pregnant with Se Hyeok’s baby and intends to move in immediately. And she isn’t the only one expecting, as Yi Joo happily tells Do Guk that they are also expecting a baby. Jung Wook escapes from prison where we find out he never actually needed a cane at all, kidnaps Yi Joo and ends up stabbing Do Guk. Obviously this is the last straw for his family, who disown him. A couple months pass and Do Guk has been in a coma but he finally wakes up to see Yi Joo’s worried face. The ending shows Yi Joo and Do Guk living as a happy couple with an adorable daughter who they both adore. Yi Joo is still painting and she has finally found the love and happiness that she always dreamed of with Do Guk at her side.
Should I Watch
“Perfect Marriage Revenge” is a time travel romantic drama. This series was a pleasant surprise, and I really enjoyed it. The 12 episode format keeps the plot moving and the story is well told. The revenge side of things definitely gives this a bit of the intense melodrama you would expect in a series about betrayal and family secrets. But the retribution is so gratifying. I loved the chemistry between the leads. And amazingly this drama manages to bring all the questions and pieces together for a satisfying ending. I give “Perfect Marriage Revenge” a 9 out of 10 ramen.
🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜