If I had a time machine, I would go back in time and hang out with Leonardo da Vinci for a while. Once I was done, I would go warn the writers of Marry Him If You Dare (aka Mirae's Choice) not to ruin their show. This thing was so promising at first. I gave it a lot of leeway because hey, at least it wasn't the train wreck that Heirs was, right? Well, while Heirs has gradually been improving, Marry Him If You Dare gradually got worse. And worse. And worse. And then the finale felt like someone vomited into a paper sack, lit it on fire, and put it on my pillow. But more on that later.
Positives
The first few episodes of Marry Him If You Dare were really great. Yoon Eun Hye's ridiculous styling was kind of distracting, but otherwise, it had all of the pieces of an engaging romcom.
Most time travel dramas involve someone from the distant past coming to the future, so I liked the switch-up with the traveler coming from the future. It was kind of like A Christmas Carol--if, instead of telling Scrooge what would happen to him over the course of one night, the ghosts kept dropping vague hints for weeks on end for maximum dramatic impact.
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| Where does one even find a train conductor's hat for casual use? |
The cast was really strong as well. Yoon Eun Hye and Lee Dong Gun created some solid chemistry in the initial stages of the relationship that made me anticipate the progression into passionate love.
I also liked the initial characterization of the second leads. Park Se Joo was kind and thoughtful like a typical male lead, but he wasn't afraid to voice his feelings. He wasn't a complete emotional doormat like other second male leads, which was really refreshing.
The breakout star of the whole thing, though, was Han Chae Ah as Seo Yoo Kyung. In the first few episodes, I thought I would despise her, but then she became delightfully funny and complex. Even when the rest of the show became a gigantic mess, she continued to shine in her scenes.
The other character who went from hatred to love was the brother. He seemed overly overbearing at first, but by the end I was begging for more of his love/hate relationships with both Kim Shin and future Mirae.
The breakout star of the whole thing, though, was Han Chae Ah as Seo Yoo Kyung. In the first few episodes, I thought I would despise her, but then she became delightfully funny and complex. Even when the rest of the show became a gigantic mess, she continued to shine in her scenes.
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| Let's just make a show about her and skip everyone else. |
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| Awwww, oppa surrounded by his two sisters (or, to be more accurate, his one sister twice)! So heartwarming! |
Where It All Went Wrong
As I said, those first few episodes bought Marry Him If You Dare a lot of time before I suddenly came to the realization that I wasn't enjoying it anymore and that I hadn't been enjoying it for a while. The sad reality is that Marry Him If You Dare is boring. Not typical kdrama draggy middle episodes boring, either. It's stab-yourself-in-the-arm-just-to-make-sure-you-can-still-feel boring. Thinking back, I can remember maybe three scenes from roughly episode 7 to episode 15. It all blends together into a hazy mush that you could feed to people as a tranquilizer.
As if being boring wasn't bad enough, the writers completely tanked 3/4 of the main love square. Seo Yoo Kyung was consistent, but the other three leads were infuriating. What began as a backbone in Se Joo turned into relentless nagging as he wouldn't let Mirae go even after it became clear that she would never love him. Kim Shin did all kinds of logical contortions to make his consistent noble idiocy seem like it made sense. Instead of building his relationship with Mirae, we watched them run away from each other episode after episode (after episode after episode after episode...).
And then, stuck between these two men who inexplicably loved her, we have Mirae. The alternative title of Mirae's Choice suggests that the entire premise focuses on the balance between fate and choice. At several times throughout the show, I applauded when Mirae announced that she wanted to take control of her own life and make decisions independent of other people. That kind of talk struck me as good ground for a strong kdrama heroine. But even as Mirae's words said one thing, her actions consistently said something else. Every time someone offered a reason why she shouldn't date the man she wanted, it put her totally out of emotional commission for the rest of the episode.
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| Your mouth says "strong female," but your face says, "I have a bad case of motion sickness." |
By the end of the series, we are supposed to believe that Mirae has made the right choice to lead her into a future of happiness that her original path wouldn't have held. The big problem, however, is that I'm not convinced that Mirae actually changed in significant ways from the beginning of the series to the end. Yes, she became more confident and found fulfillment in her job, but that wasn't the part of her life that led to the tragic future in the first place. The debt was the outside stressor, but it was Mirae's building resentment over their hardships that caused her to lash out at Kim Shin in the end. In the final few episodes of the altered reality, that stressor is gone, but Mirae still doesn't know how to cope with her trials. She cries over things like office gossip, she strings Park Se Joo along because she doesn't have the communication skills to make her feelings clear, and she becomes tearful and irate when things don't go her way. That doesn't sound like resilient character development, does it?
Ultimately, I didn't like or empathize with Mirae, and that was one of the biggest weaknesses in this show. She was upbeat, positive, and strong in her professional life, but in her personal life, she came off as self-centered and petulant.
The Ending (MAJOR SPOILERS)
If I still cared about Mirae by the end of the series, this is how I would have felt about the finale:
It's like the writers realized that they had squandered the last ten episodes, so they had a contest to see who could make the most disastrous choices for the finale. Let's have a heart-to-heart about that pile of pig excrement they called a last episode, shall we?
- If we're talking about "selfless" moves gone wrong, Mirae's breakup with Se Joo takes the cake. Your "gift" to him is doing what you want and telling him to try again later? You're not fooling anyone, Mirae.
- The ONLY good thing here is that Yoo Kyung didn't end up with Se Joo. This whole time, I've been wondering why switching one event changed his entire love fate, but apparently nothing can change Mirae's fate to love Kim Shin. Weird, right? Well, Yoo Kyung deserves someone better than this guy anyway. Why did he have to turn into such an obsessive crazypants?
- So Mirae only wants to date Kim Shin if he's not in debt anymore? What kind of life lesson is that?
- Remember how it was an ENORMOUS deal that future Mirae's timeline couldn't change, regardless of what past Mirae did? And then, in the very next episode, past Mirae is like, "I'm gonna put stuff in a box for you to dig up in the future!" AND IT WORKS? I know that narrative logic isn't your strength, dear drama writers, but this just feels lazy.
- Speaking of lazy writing, future Kim Shin is suddenly alive? How did his wife not know this? No takesies backsies on suicide, guys!
- Aaaaaaaaaaaand then that freeze frame at the end. I'm not always opposed to ambiguity, but again, this feels like random laziness more than purposeful writing. In a show called Mirae's Choice, MIRAE NEVER ACTUALLY MAKES A CHOICE. Then again, the way the show developed over the last few episodes undermined either choice anyway. The obvious pick would be Kim Shin, but even that option felt sour by the end of episode 16. Poor Kim Shin. He deserves better, too.
- Yoon Eun Hye didn't kiss a single person in this entire series. What a waste.
Overall
This series is just a pity. It could (and should) have been so much better, but it just wasn't.
If you want to watch Marry Him If You Dare (but seriously, why would you?), you can see it here:
