The female lead gets into a contractual relationship with her ex-boyfriend’s best buddy. Contract relationships are a plot that I don’t really like because they are filled with misunderstandings. But no trope is ever bad if appropriately executed. But is this a well-executed drama? I am not sure about that, but this drama was definitely popular when it was released.
Marriage, not dating is a 2014 Korean comedy series by Song Hyun-Wook and Lee Jong-Jae. This TvN drama stars actors like Yeon Woo-jin, Han Groo, Jeong Jin-woon, Han Sun-Hwa, Heo Jung-min, and Yoon So-hee.
The drama also has our favorite mother and grandmother, Kim Hae-sook and Kim Young-ok. They are playing the mother and grandmother of our main lead, played by Yeon Woo-jin.
Review and Recap of Marriage, Not Dating.
The series begins with Jang-mi expecting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, who is obviously a player. Her boyfriend, Lee Hong Dong, takes help from his friend Gong Gi-tae to ‘escape.’ Later, Hong Dong hides from her to let her know they are over, but Jang-mi is too much in love with him to understand.
She is humiliated by Gi-tae and Hong Dong’s mother. Gi Tae humiliates her for not taking the hint and because she thinks he is a gold digger. Meanwhile, Hong Dong’s mother is rude to her when Jang-mi visits her house.
Jang-mi went to Hoon Kong’s house because she misunderstood Gi-Tae’s mother as Hoon Dong’s mother. Gi-tae’s mother invited her over to her house because she thought Jang-mi was Gi-tae’s girlfriend. Anyway, this misunderstanding is what leads to a fake relationship between Gi-Tae and Jang-mi.
If a romance starts to bud, so will trouble. There are love triangles in this drama; the waiter at Hoon Dong’s restaurant is actually the second male lead. After a particular incident, Hoon Dong starts pursuing Jang-mi too.
Meanwhile, Hyun-hee (Jang-mi’s colleague and friend) tries to woo Hoon Dong. And Gi-Tae’s ex-girlfriend (Kang Se-ah) is a potential threat to the romance between the main leads. To make matters worse, Gi-Tae’s mom dislikes Jang-mi and favors Se-Ah.
Coming to the plot of the story, looking at it from 2023, it is a very predictable story with a lot of cliches. Love triangles, betrayal, rich man-poor women trope, misunderstandings this show has everything.
I really appreciate how the main leads did not fall in love immediately; they fell in love slowly and at pace. And I really appreciated some of the jokes that they wrote; the actors are all really good at being funny. But the problem is that it became too much for me. Soon the plot got predictable and cheesy for me.
But, I think the reason the plot didn’t work for me is that I watched this drama in 2023 when it was released in 2014. I have watched plenty of dramas with similar plots.
The characters of Marriage, Not Dating.
I am not a fan of any of the characters, neither the main leads nor supporting characters. They all have flaws that make me dislike them all, but I dislike some of them a bit more. The overwhelming and cheesy humor should have hidden the absolutely horrific behaviors of some of the characters, but it didn’t.
One thing I still can’t digest is the character development of Hoon Dong, and worse is his relationship with Nam Hyun-hee. He was pining for Jang-mi after she saved him from embarrassment.
He is the character I disliked the most in this series; he is immature, irresponsible, and a player. I did not like how he was humiliated at the party, but he needed a lesson. I wished the lesson wasn’t what happened at the party.
But, his immediately agreeing to be a father and marry Hyun hee seemed very out of character. Coming to Hyun-hee, she was giving off bad vibes from the beginning. To be fair, she did take advantage of Hoon Dong when he was drunk, and that, by default, made her a bad person in my moral dictionary. Her disappearance while on a trip was a plan she made, or atleast that was what I felt; like Gi-tae mentioned, she left too many clues for someone who wanted to disappear.
The ex-girlfriend who barges into the male leads life to fuck up his ongoing relationship is my least favorite trope. Thankfully, the ex-girlfriend in this series couldn’t create much damage to the progression of the main couple’s relationship.
I couldn’t find any solid reason as to why she wanted to be with Gi-tae so badly. And why they remained friends even though he knew she was pursuing him. Usually, the second female leads have some solid reason, but here I was not satisfied with the second female lead’s reason.
Also, you can check out the actress’s (who plays the second female lead) recent drama, ‘Drink Now Work Later.’ If you hate her character here, you can watch her there because her character in ‘Drink Now Work Later’ is quite different.
The second lead in this drama did give me a little bit of Second lead syndrome. But, to be honest, I was rooting for Jang-mi to end up alone. He was a jerk in the beginning, but then he apparently fell for Jang-mi’s innocence and genuineness.
Jang-mi is the main character; I will say the actress did a pretty good job of portraying the character. Her kindness and genuineness cross the limit and make her character seem annoying and unrealistic, but we all know people like her exist, and they are too good for this not-so-good world.
A slight warning, a lot of people really hated Jang-mi in the first few episodes because they felt she was too clingy. I believed that she had every reason to act the way she did; she wanted to hear from the man she had dated for a year the reason for their breakup rather than through his mom or friend.
I did hope she would use her brain a bit; even though she is kind and caring, she should learn to draw lines and respect other people’s boundaries. I was actually annoyed by the Male lead.
I was annoyed by his comments on how Jang-mi could change her face to exact revenge; I understand he is a Plastic Surgeon and wanted to help her, but she did not ask him to help her get surgery. I also felt he was rude to Jang-mi in the first few episodes.
The main characters stayed true to their character outline until the end while simultaneously undergoing a much-needed change. The drama’s ending was cringy, but it was on brand with the whole drama.
It was disappointing to know that the lead actress is not active now, though her character could get on your nerves at times, you will enjoy watching her. You can catch the main lead, Yeon Woo-jin, in his other dramas like Queen for Seven Days, Thirty-Nine, etc.
Also Read: Get To Know The Splendid Thirty-Nine K-Drama Cast!
Our Verdict
Based on my personal opinion, Marriage, Not Dating is an enjoyable drama that you can enjoy during your leisure time. It does have a plotline, unlike many rom-com. I really enjoyed the drama till episode 10; after that, it went downhill for me.
Our Rating: ⭐ (3.4/5).
