Underwhelming
It's understandable to have expectations from a drama when it's highly hyped by others. However, in this case, the show didn't quite live up to its expectations. While the storyline was decent, it left some questions unanswered, such as the ML's previous connection with the FL, which could have been explored more. Additionally, the father's character wasn't punished, despite being just as bad as the mother, which could have been addressed better.Regarding the acting, there were some areas that could have been improved. Sung Hoon's acting felt a bit stiff and lacked emotions, particularly when he tried to use a stern tone. However, the FL's acting did get better as the series progressed. Despite this, her character felt somewhat weak, which was disappointing, considering it's a revenge-based storyline. The acting by the evil mother and daughter felt too dramatic and over-the-top, like a soap opera.
Overall, the show was simple and straightforward, and the romance was not particularly strong. However, it still managed to work, and if you're looking for something to pass the time, this show could be a good option. There is still plenty to enjoy, but some aspects could have been polished better.
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A Makjang That's Nothing Special
My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.This one is pretty tame for a Makjang. It's not bad but very forgettable.
By the way, I am not familiar with the webtoon this drama is based on.
Acting/Cast: Most of the casting was fine. Even the male lead grew on me. He always plays these types of characters though. I'd say the worst character is the 2nd female lead (the female lead's sister). I felt like she was unrealistic and over-the-top. Her acting is probably the worst. The female lead's acting isn't great in the beginning either but I think she improved through the course of the drama. No interesting characters really... The villains are lame. My favorite character was the male lead's mother played by Lee Mi Sook (이미숙). 4/10
Writing: The plot is interesting and the writing isn't terrible. I was just expecting more craziness than what I was given. Not much for twists. Nothing super unexpected happened. No real roadblocks for the female lead. The villains are boring and unthreatening. It made for a stress-free watch though. The romance is surprisingly good (I say that because I normally don't like Sung Hoon's characters (방성훈). I felt the leads had chemistry and I like how the romance develops between them. I also liked that the female lead has an impressive talent. She kind of reminded my of the female lead in Love In Sadness (now that's a memorable drama). 3/10
Direction/SFX/Music: It has good pacing. The music is ok. One thing, that I'll mention here, that bugged me while watching was the styling of the male lead. They kept putting him in really baggy clothes that just makes it look like he's not wearing the right size...as though he just recently lost a lot of weight and hasn't had time to buy new clothes. But that was just a small personal gripe. 5.5/10
Entertainment Value: I stayed fairly entertained throughout the drama. I think I started to lose some interest toward the end when I realized nothing too crazy is ever going to happen. So, it was entertaining enough to get me through the drama once and fairly quickly. However, it's no where near entertaining enough to remember this drama let alone to want to watch it again. I actually forgot that I had finished this drama, which is why I'm writing this review a little late. 4/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 4/10. It's not bad, not good...just meh.
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This review may contain spoilers
Just another typical Cinderella story
I want to start off saying that this was a VERY pleasant and satisfying watch. I finished it in just 2 days, binged all the episodes at once. It was fast paced and easy to watch.Warning: if you are looking for something that has much depth to it, deeper themes, relatable characters and makes you emotionally invested in it, sorry it's not for you, better move on. It is purely revenge, with lots of things constantly happening solely to harm the fl and ml, like a battlefield, with a side dish of romance. Also it is highly predictable so it won't keep you on your toes. It is entirely a simple, easy to watch modern day fairytale.
If all you want is a simple and satisfying fairytale story, don't mind cliches, with a lovely ml and strong fl, here you go.
About the story, it was a classic typical Cinderella story, with a prince charming, evil criminal stepmother and stepbrother, evil stupid stepsister, superior level trash ex boyfriend and his family. It was filled with the usual Cinderella story tropes, with a rebirth plot. At least here Cinderella wants revenge for being treated poorly, sorry murdered, unlike dear original Cinderella.
It had its fair share of twists to the real identities of the fls family, but most of them were very predictable, if you catch the subtle hints early on in the episodes. It was nothing mind blowing. But i liked the fl for being resolute and strong and not the typical spineless whiny weak pathetic little girl who swallows all that is thrown her way.
Best parts were the satisfying ends to ALL the villains, a beautiful happy ending to the main couple, absolutely no filler scenes, everything was resolved perfectly. And everyone absolutely got what they deserved, be it her ex husband or his brother.
The mls family was very nice, except his brother. And the ml, he was a green flag greener than spinach. There were no useless misunderstandings, jealousy, irritating love triangle, evil ex gf etc coming in the way of the main couple. His love for her ran deep and i liked their clear communication. They had healthy relationship. He wasn't the cold, immature, stoic, domineering, narcissistic, over possessive, jealous CEO, typical of kdramas. He was a mature and normal man, the star of the show.
P.s- in some scenes, the editing felt choppy and scenes felt too rushed. I think a lot of scenes had been cut down.
Overall i liked this one and had a good time binging it. It never felt draggy or annoying. It was my first time watching both the mains, and i liked the ml especially. I definitely recommend watching it.
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Don’t drop on the 1st episode..
great twist & play on the average trope.I love the revenge plot with the light fantasy aspect added.
it was a very easy & enjoyable overall.
a good watch for 12 episodes that weren’t over an hour. && it kind of kept me on my toes but you know just barely..
If I am being honest the first episode had me so damn annoyed!!! I really just had to push through and because I was so annoyed I MISSED KEY MOMENTS !! So although the FL & her “family” are irritating pay attention to the relevance in what the main characters say & do.
This show left no loose ends, everything comes to light & tied up nicely.
There were also a few scenes I skipped like just a few “slides” because the sister, the step mother & the “fiancé” were getting on my nerves. I didn’t care to hear them plot & scheme being that I know what the outcome was going to be and wanted to see how the ML & FL would deal with it.
I enjoyed the romance although!!! after the first “romance scene/episode” which was so passionate and enjoyable, they FELL OFF SO HARD & you don’t get that physical chemistry as much. They went from hot & steamy to dry & dull. The ambiance of the romance & the emotional connection was there just lacking the physical for quite some time only to get a glimpse later. this is one thing that makes me lean more towards j dramas because they aren’t afraid to push the intimacy, however we can’t deny k dramas put more effort in budgeting, actors, and sets.
sorry for the side notes but yes I do recommend at least watching the first two episodes to decide if it’s a trope worth watching.
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The male lead is such a green flag!!!!!?
Let’s start with the good partThe male lead!!!Ive watched him in a few dramas but I absolutely loved him here..He played the role so perfectly.The female lead is such a great actress.
The acting was good,the display of emotions were so real.
We definitely knew they would get their revenge,we knew how they would get their revenge..The drama was predictable.But still a good watch.
Now the not so good part
The begining of this drama made me so angry,I almost dropped it after the first 2 episodes..The main leads kept me going.I don’t know who this sound engineer is but ,they could have done better..The drama is just so noisy.From noisy footsteps to thoughts that have sounds..
The show is worth a try.The storyline isn’t anything we haven’t seen before .But the acting was great .
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Bad first impression, but they managed to turn it around
Based on my experience watching episode 1, I really thought I would drop Perfect Marriage Revenge early on. The acting underwhelmed me, the scene-to-scene pacing felt off and slow, and a lot of my pet peeves were hit in the plot early on.I can’t stand protagonists, especially heroines, who are presented as the ultimate victim of the world’s cruelty, a flawless do-gooder who only suffers due to external, black-and-white circumstances. I just find that boring and irritating. And this is essentially how the FL, Han Yi Joo, is introduced. All of ep 1 is just tragedy after tragedy being committed against our hapless heroine.
HOWEVER. I’m glad I stuck it out for a few more episodes because the writers really turned things around. The characters were rounded out and got more depth. The acting seemed to improve as the actors settled into their roles. Basically, the show turned from a badly produced makjang to a stronger, more nuanced but still guilty-pleasure-entertaining drama.
I loved how we got to explore all the main characters’ inner lives.
FL: Once Han Yi Joo time travels back in her life, she resolves to no longer be a victim. She plans her cold-blooded revenge, but she doesn’t easily take on that role. In stressful times, she reverts to that timid, helpless girl she was, and the writers give her appropriate time to grieve for everything she lost by not standing up for herself sooner.
ML: Sung Hoon as Seo Do Guk did a wonderful job playing Simp of the Year. He was so madly sweetly in love with the FL, he would just glow on the screen whenever he was looking at her. I’m usually not a fan of Sung Joon but this might be the first role I’ve ever seen him in that I loved.
SFL: The heroine’s adoptive sister, Han Yoo Ra, was to me the most interesting character in the drama. She begins as the classic makjang minor villain — a spoiled, hateful brat who lords her power over others and throws tantrums when she doesn’t get her way. Over the course of the plot, we see other sides of her, as well as the effect that being raised by her awful, evil mother has had. I love a mean girl character, and while the PMR writers don’t try to redeem her, they do try to make the audience empathize with her, which was brilliant.
They pulled off a similar arc with the SML, the FL’s original husband who betrays her, though I found him less interesting.
The only completely unapologetic, black-and-white character is the villain mother, Yoo Se Hyeok. And wow, was she evil. Whenever she was around, the makjang vibes returned in full force.
So, I’m glad I stuck it out and gave this surprisingly well-rounded drama a chance to hook me.
TROPES (light spoilers):
- ML falls first, fast, and hard
- transmigration: time travel, return to one’s own past
- contract marriage
- domestic abuse, emotional and physical
- chaebols, succession politics, business drama
- fast burn, good intimacy and great kisses between the leads
- third act breakup (but it’s brief and not a big part of the plot)
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Everything You Wanted Marry My Husband To Be
Or atleast, everything *I* wanted Marry My Husband to be.The revenge was beautiful, the romance was exquisite and do you hear that? No? That's the silence of an FMC who feels zero regret while screwing over family.
After the pitiful nonsense that was MMH, I had few expectations for PMR. I watched it for a gag, after all, inspired by one too many Tiktoks I came across from the show. Little did I know I was the palate cleanser I needed to restore my faith in rebirth revenge dramas.
Yeah, it wasn't perfect. The absentee father got off a little too scot free and it (technically) wasn't the spoiled sister's fault that she was such a desperate clown. Nonetheless, their fall from grace was glorious and satisfying, with no tears shed and no love lost.
If you're looking for a romance drama with great chemistry, solid writing, pitch-perfect revenge, and some genuine male lead devotion, run, don't walk, to watch PMR!
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Should have dropped this after 2 episodes
Sorry for the fans, I finished this because the reviews were so great, but it felt like forever to go through only 12 Ep, and I still do not get the enthousiasm...From my point of view, every character is one dimension, their relationship not even remotely believable, the scenario and dialogues are almost always so un-interesting that they have to go for the most over-the-top twist to hide that their storyline is actually quite thin with tons of plot holes...
If you are interested in revenge or time-travel stories, there are certainly much better dramas available... All in all, drama is a good candidate for the worst drama I have ever seen.
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This review may contain spoilers
LOVED THE COUPLE AND CHEMISTRY! not so much everything else ?
WOOHOO finally finished this drama! found this from a tiktok of their first meeting… so cute lol. i felt like i liked their relationship better in the beginning stages… like when she was driven by revenge and he was just head over heels in love with her. EEK! that was cute. however like it was hard to see any development in their relationship. like han yijoo was like “i could never love you” (then sexy scene but lol side bar) then the next ep she loves him??? i wish u could see more of doguk chasing her… that would’ve been cute. like they’re SUCH a cute couple together. the chemistry was there 100%. but their screen time was so short :( i get this is a revenge drama but PLZ just a few more cute scenes here and there. i love them! anyways, the revenge was satisfying. but soooo angsty. also MORE OF DOGUKS LOVE FOR YIJOO BEFORE THEY MET!!!!!! ong they skipped over that wayyyy too fast. i wanted to see clips of him like in love with her from afar :( oh well. good story tho. I LOVE THE GUY LIKES GIRL BEFORE SHE WVEN KNOWS HIM TROPE AND HIDES IT EHEHEBEHHEEHEHHWas this review helpful to you?
I'm so disappointed
When I started watching this I was so excited because it seemed promising.But some of the casts acting felt flat, the plot had such huge plot holes, no character development or show of growth.
The 'revenge' theme feels secondary to the 'romance' tag ( though it not like it was in any sense developed) I would not recommend unless you need something for background noises
Something to note is that the antogonists are not protracted in a real way. Even though it's fiction, one cannot be entirely bad, stupid or crazy. In my opinion there must be that one factor that makes the antogonists seem human.
-P.S it isn't worth (the) hype.
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Dont think and watch it. This is the best kdrama mixing romance and revenge trust me.
The perfect marriage revenge is in my opinion the best mix of romance and revenge trope .The storyline is insane, I’ve closed my laptop SOO many time because sometimes I was raging pretty hard but still the best kdrama actually one of my favorite kdrama ever. Btw the actress is GORGEOUS, and the protagonists are really cute, their chemistry is really chemistring TRUST ME. I watched this drama over 3 times. Please watch it you would not be disappointed. The acting is pretty impressive, the mother and sister made me mad so many times, but I loved everyone elseWas this review helpful to you?
Good Enough
Korean Drama '' Perfect Marriage Revenge '' is a fantasy melodrama with a nice start.The drama indeed starts off strongly, with the makjang vibes really rocking it, as the main female lead was being bitten down again and again by her evil adopted mother and her daughter. The love story that started to bloom was quite interesting as well.
And sure, there were some really idiotic things happening to the characters, but the melodrama allowed the story to be excused from them. The ending, however, and the episodes towards it, were all something that the makjang genre didn't support. The drama started focusing more on the romance, hence, it didn't have enough time to wrap up nicely the rest of the storylines. And, the fantasy element that was used in the first episodes and was forgotten in the middle ones, was brought out again, and wasn't handled smoothly, rather, it was quite rushedly concluded.
So, overall, four out of ten.
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