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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Woman who Married Three Times" Episode 23

Joon-goo spends most of this episode trying to be considerate of Eun-soo in really unhelpful ways. He still doesn't grasp the fact that Eun-soo doesn't trust him. More problematically, he's not really giving her any reason to trust him. Joon-goo is very aggressive in the way he shows affection- he does almost no long term thinking of the way Eun-soo actually feels. Their relationship remains horribly stalled- this pregnancy looking more worrisome all the time.

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Chae Rin isn't doing much better. She's continuously isolated in her new home, not really having made much of a connection with anyone. The progress she makes toward decent familial relationships is slow and mixed. She's doing better with Seul-gi, finally, but Lady Choi is in a giant snit and is even more unpleasant to be around than usual. Tae-won is, for the most part, absent this episode, so there's not much optimism to be had.

I've written this before, but it bears repeating. "The Woman who Married Three Times" can get really depressing. The worst of it is I can't really criticize or get annoyed, because unfortunately all the problems the characters have are very true to life. This is what problematic marriages look like. Yes, Eun-soo should not have gotten pregnant and Chae Rin should not have married Tae-won. But now that these things have happened, well, now what?

The drama does get some redemption from this continual catharsis at the end, when an actual direct crisis comes up. Given that this event was clearly telegraphed in the last episode's preview, it's really not much of a surprise. Honestly I was just impatiently waiting for it just so I could watch something aside from depressing married life. But then it finally happens. The crisis Hyeon-soo has been trying so hard to avoid finally comes to a head and it's just so...sisterly.

Yes, as hard as it is to imagine, given the way this drama deals with extreme passive-aggressive behavior over the most minor slights, Hyeon-soo's major mistake actually turns out to be a relatively minor one. What really sells it here Uhm Ji-won's performance. Hyeon-soo really does feel terrible, she really does value her friend more than anything, even a love interest. And this means a lot. It's actually a very sweet cathartic moment, especially coming after the drama's more typical setpieces. I want to ask for more scenes like this, but maybe this emotional revelation works so well because I was used to the more depressing stuff. It's hard to tell. In any event, it's nice to end on an optimistic note, even on the eve of another crisis.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Woman who Married Three Times" is directed by Son Jeong-hyeon and written by Kim Su-hyun and features Lee Ji-ah, Uhm Ji-won, Song Chang-eui and Ha Seok-jin.

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