“Would You Marry Me” Episodes 1 And 2 Review- Way More Typical Than I Expected

“Would You Marry Me,” the newest SBS drama, has premiered recently. Lets talk about it!

Naturally, like any K-drama fan, I was super excited for the combination of Jung So Min and Choi Woo Shik. It seemed natural and quite honestly, I thought they’d done something together before, but apparently, this is their first drama project together.

So here we are. And the premiere was…. Ok, but…

I know the plot is very typical. I know this will be a point many will bring out, however, the stereotypes and the tropes used are just… so much more than I would have anticipated or expected. Its wayyyy too much. It borders on a parody in the most absurd way possible.

The drama is penned by Lee Ha-Na, who has very few writing credits to her name. Her last drama being a 2015 drama. There is a solid 10 year gap in which so much had changed in the industry, for better and worse.

While I did enjoy the drama, the amount of typical and expected tropes that would come with such premise are so much, each time a plot point was brought up, I genuinely let out a chuckle.

Where do I begin?

Firstly, I will pay Kdrama writers at this point to not use the ‘past connection’ trope. Its so overused. I’ve even been seeing so many more kdrama fans complain online. Its almost as if a Kdrama is illegal if the leads have no past connection. Is someone forcing these writers to do this? Genuinely want to know. Its gotten ridiculous at this point.

Like one dude on Twitter said, ‘how on earth would most remember the face of a person they’d met when they were like 5 or 6?’ Even if its a traumatic or a life altering event, someone in their 30s will likely not remember the face of another child they met 25 years ago if not more.

The drama follows very expected beats, if I was asked to write down how I’d think such a script would go, me and the screenwriter would actually match. I mean, you have amazing talented actors on the project, take a little risk, why not take a little detour? There is so much you could do with this to subvert expectations, but instead, the screenwriter follows every beat you’d expect they would.

The concept of two people moving in together and lying about being a couple is a very used premise, to begin with. In fact, So Min has actually done a very similar drama in the past. In “Because This Is My First Life,” she also moves in with a man and they fall in love. It seems she likes such types of scripts.

So, the woman’s boyfriend cheats on her. She begs and begs and gets humiliated and he retreats✓. He’s so audaciously horrible its astounding and eventually will likely be a source of contention and an issue for her✓. She wins a massive life altering 5 billion won home and begs another man whom she had the most embarrassing encounter with to help her out who also piles on her because she’s being so ridiculous ✓. Her family doesn’t know✓. This will lead to a very shocking, unfortunate confrontation with everyone involved ✓.

And the male lead has a past trauma of losing his rich family. He has nightmares about it✓. He’s a bit rough but has a heart of gold deep inside ✓. His grandma is pressuring him to join the business and his extended family, with an incompetent son, is sabotaging him ✓. A past connection with the woman he’s currently with gets brought up so randomly ✓.

Like… ma’am…. Why?

I am curious to know why So Min and Woo Shik chose this project. Could there be more to it? Ya, its possible but for an introduction, its not up to parr with how good of actors they are, is all I am saying.

Also, in the posters, it seems they share so much chemistry but in the drama, I feel awkwardness. At this point, this isn’t a complaint but rather an observation, it could well be intentional and will improve, but ya, I thought I’d point this out.

Despite this, I enjoyed the premiere because I like So Min. Do I have a bias with this? Probably. Would I have been harsher if So Min wasn’t in it? Likely, but that doesn’t mean I won’t talk about it.

I can already see how this will play out, and will be very surprised if its any different. I will treat this as a typical kdrama I watch to unwind and won’t think about it too much.

Overall, its fine.

What about you guys? Did you like the premiere?