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Genre: Melodrama
Country of production: South Korea
Platform: Netflix
Year: 2022
Original title: 블랙의 신부 (The Black Bride)
Screenwriter: Lee Geun-young
PD: Kim Jung-min (Love Affairs in the Afternoon)
Number of episodes: 8
Approximate duration per episode: 60 minutes
Main cast:
- Kim Hee-sun (Hye-seung)
- Jung Eu-gene (Yoo-hee)
- Cha Ji-yeon (AD Choi)
- Lee Hyun-wook (Hyung-ju)
- Park Hoon ( Seok-jin)
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Plot
Left widowed after her husband's suicide, Hye-seung is unknowingly enrolled by her mother into the prestigious AD Choi's agency, REX, which specializes in arranging marriages among the most elite members of society. When Hye-seung goes to cancel her enrollment, she encounters Yoo-hee, the lawyer who seduced and ruined her husband, right there. She decides to seek revenge...
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Notes:
In an attempt to break out of my long slump, I've been jumping from one drama to another, and Remarriage & Desires is the only one I managed to finish so far, perhaps due to the 'novelty' of the theme, which I had only encountered before in Eve. However, one thing is more or less certain: revenge stories will never be among my favorites.
- What I liked:
- the story really grabbed me, as I mentioned before, perhaps due to the relatively 'new' theme for me, and the amusement I felt towards the REX agency, whose clients, categorized as wealthy, super-wealthy, and whatnot, use money to attain what they lack time and desire to pursue - a good marriage - which is at the heart of the social satire presented in the drama.
- The CEO of REX, Choi Yoo-sun, is the best character in the story and one of the most interesting 'villains' I have ever encountered in Korean dramas. She has much more depth than the protagonists, and we can sense the sacrifices and humiliations she has chosen to endure for the very things that REX members obstinately seek: power, money, and social status. These same objectives drive her to unscrupulously manipulate her own clients, pulling their strings while pretending to be at their service.
- The scene on the boat with the main characters and their respective children is quite lovely; it manages to create a familial atmosphere and gives us a glimpse into the future of the four. However, it is too short and isolated, resulting in a loss of the sense of connection.
- The reduced number of episodes, precisely half of the 'traditional' 16, prevents the drama from dragging on, from exposing the frailty of its own plot too much, and saves the viewer from getting bored and switching to something else.
- The cinematography isn't outstanding, but it is still beautiful, especially during the landscape shots.
- What I didn't like:
- there is no chemistry between the two main characters at all. Hye-seung and Hyung-ju don't seem to be in love, there's no tension, no love, no desire to be together. Their bond is told but not felt. It's hard to become attached to them, both as a couple and as individual characters. It doesn't help that Kim Hee-sun's portrayal of Hye-seung doesn't convey the same level of affection for Hyung-ju as the plot wants us to believe.
- Certainly, that church scene in episode 8 was one of the most poorly executed 'romantic' scenes I have ever seen.
- Yoo-hee is a great 'villain' in the early episodes. I don't believe every negative character has to redeem themselves, and I liked that the lawyer had no scruples and was driven by greed and ambition (and also, as we discover as the story progresses, by a unresolved incident of rejection and abandonment). But that final laugh ruined everything. Why does an antagonist - especially a woman - have to be afflicted with a - always vague - form of madness if they can't or won't redeem themselves? Why not just let them be bad?
- The 'revenge' that Hye-seung wants to carry out against Yoo-hee is more talked about than actually implemented. I lost count of how many countless times the protagonist repeats that she will seek revenge, without having a shred of a defined plan and constantly mentioning scattered actions she intends to take.
Even the hardships that Hye-seung goes through and the way Yoo-hee ruined her family and life are repeated to the point of tedium, told to this or that character without skipping the scene and sparing us the annoyance of hearing it over and over again.- The last two episodes seemed boring and disappointing, significantly lowering my opinion of the drama. In the end, the much-touted revenge turns out to be rather feeble. I would have liked it if Hye-seung had herself entered the perverse game of marriage as a business and had her own revenge by successfully outsmarting Yoo-hee within that elitist world that the lawyer so coveted.
- The elements I enjoyed the most in the early episodes, such as the low profile, social criticism, and satire, unfortunately give way to the more melodramatic vein of the story, with its (real, attempted, and staged) murders, corrupt politicians, and secret paternities...
- Usually, I tend to overlook the often heavy makeup on male characters in dramas and TV series, but this time the fuchsia - fuchsia! - lipstick on Lee Hyun-wook and other men really distracted me.
- The OST:
- I really like the only original track (if there are others, I didn't notice and couldn't find any trace of them), Wicked, . It has a rather catchy sound.
Trailer:
