[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Woman who Married Three Times" Episode 29

Poor Tae-won. He goes to work for one day, just one day, and comes back to find the entire household in crisis. It's a pretty ridiculous crisis too- the terrible secret of what Seul-gi's been doing behind locked doors. Although in all fairness Seul-gi's door really shouldn't be locked in the first place. What if there was a fire? How would anybody be able to get her out if she's conked out asleep behind a locked door?

Advertisement

That's the question a sensible responsible parent would be asking. Unfortunately Chae Rin is not a sensible responsible parent. She is, herself, in many ways a child, completely terrified at the idea that Seul-gi still feels emotionally connected to her mother, like this is some kind of indictment of personal failing against Chae Rin. There's a lot of horrible ideas regarding what it means to be a family in this episode, and it looks like Tae-won has finally lost his patience.

This is the main entertaining setpiece of the episode, and it's a strong one. These people are quite simply incapable of communicating with each other. I've often mentioned Seul-gi's relationship with her father, but even more significant is the trust she has with her aunt, Tae-hee. When Seul-gi's in trouble and her father's not around, that's who she turns to. Tae-hee's role in this family unit only makes it all too clear how ridiculous Lady Choi's demands for a perfect household are. Tae-hee is already fulfilling the role of stepmother much better than Chae Rin ever could. The entire conflict with Chae Rin is quite literally pointless- she only ever makes things worse. However, that's more because of the situation she's been put in than because Chae Rin herself is an awful person.

The other storylines moves along steadily, with no big dramatic movements. This is for the better, since the blow-up regarding Seul-gi deserves every bit of attention it gets. There's still interesting stuff otherwise, though. Note how Eun-soo reacts upon receiving the phone message, and pay attention to the contents. There's no attached date, and the sender is a person of dubious reputation. And yet Eun-soo immediately believes the implications.

It's another solid indicator that trust does not actually exist in the Eun-soo / Joon-goo relationship. And as for Hyeon-soo's adventures, all I can really write is that her romantic adventures have come at exactly the right moment. Time and time again she is aggravated by Gwang-mo. But he keeps coming back and she never stays mad at him. It's the complete opposite of every other relationship we see here- and as usual the contrast is a marked one.

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.