"She Gets Married Thrice" Episode 1

There's a cynical bite to "She Gets Married Thrice" that's rather surprising. Normally characters start out the story at least somewhat happy or satisfied and are only forced into chaos by the encroaching conflict. But the ones in this drama are just really crabby. Much ado is made over the big wedding scene that shows up in the middle of the episode- but lead character Hyeon-soo (played byEom Ji-won) won't acknowledge any joy or happiness in these moments, choosing instead to behave rather indifferently.

Unfolding events seem to bear out Hyeon-soo's cynicism rather well. I found myself wondering whether, in the universe of "She Gets Married Thrice" there's anyone anywhere who can maintain a loving romantic relationship without it being ruined by...you know, I'm not sure. This episode has lots of events, flashback and present, that clearly do long-lasting damage to the relationships involved. But there's no clearly defined theme just yet.

Except, naturally, the soul-crushing cynicism. Even the drama's token child Seul-gi (played byKim Ji-yeong-III) is very surly and mean. Even though her parents' divorce happened some time ago she clearly resents the entire event. Seul-gi seems to be deliberately trying to make her mom Eun-soo (played byLee Ji-ah) feel depressed and miserable. What makes this really unsettling, though, is that in flashbacks Seul-gi just looks like a normal universally happy child- so what happened?

As of yet I'm still not sure whether this drama wants to focus on current events or what disintegrated these relationships in the past. Certainly, there's all sorts of wacky antics in the present, as adults viciously lash out at each other when more idealistic notions of loving romances clearly go awry, the result being that everyone is inconvenienced, beaten down, and in a generally bad mood. But none of this feels necessary- people can and do recover from divorce, and it doesn't have to mean the end of the world.

I suspect that in any event "She Gets Married Thrice" is aiming to be a drama about the dark side of divorce- more specifically the way it ruptures families and relationships. What's really curious is that at the same time the concept of divorce appears to be defined as being a necessary one here- certainly, it's not like the characters in this drama have any better alternatives. Better to rupture familial relationships, after all, than be trapped in a rather unpleasant marriage. As of yet the drama has offered no answers- but so far the questions too are pretty vaguely defined so all that can be done is to just wait and see.

Review by William Schwartz

"She Gets Married Thrice" is directed bySon Jeong-hyeonand written byKim Su-hyunand featuresLee Ji-ah,Eom Ji-won,Song Chang-eeandHa Seok-jin.