REVIEW: ‘Marry My Husband’ Episodes 5-6

General Manager Yoo Ji-Hyeok (Na In-Woo) is on his second chance at life. He knows what will happen in the future. But what we don’t know going into Marry My Husband Episodes 5-6 is how he fell in love with Kang Ji-Won (Park Min-Young). Thankfully, we get a glimpse at the past and, throughout the course of Episodes 5-6, we see how both Ji-Hyeok and Ji-Won try to influence events to make future outcomes go their way.

Marry My Husband Episode 5 takes us back into Ji-Hyeok’s past. Ji-Hyeok’s first meeting with Ji-Won is embarrassing for both parties. Ji-Won is drunk as a skunk and has no control over herself. Ji-Hyeok is a gentleman and whisks her away to a public park where she can sober up. In the process, we get more insight into Jung Soo-Min (Song Ha-Yoon) and how far her actions have influenced Ji-Won’s self-perception.

As for Ji-Hyeok, he still maintains boundaries. He never crosses the line. This character trait is a defining one regardless of his age. He always ensures Ji-Won’s boundaries are never crossed either, even when they’re strangers. While they both leave the park unscathed the next day, Ji-Won has no recollection of Ji-Hyeok’s face. Instead, she laments to a familiar-looking orange kitten having woken up next to an old man. Ji-Hyeon accidentally overhears this and soon realizes Ji-Won has been feeding this cat. Needless to say, a cute montage of both the lovebirds taking care of the cat ensues.

Ji-Hyeuk comments on how many chances he had to try to help Ji-Won. Jumping forward into the present, it’s abundantly clear he’s doing everything he can to right the wrongs of his first chance at life. Since most of these wrongs center around Ji-Won, Ji-Hyeuk has his work cut out for him. Why? Soo-Min keeps trying to muck things up.

Since Episode 2, Ji-Won has been working on this meal kit project. However, Soo-Min has been working to manipulate Manager Kim Kyung-Wook (Kim Joong-Hee) to take credit for Ji-Won’s hard work. In Episode 5, we see how the tables turn against our leading lady when Kyung-Wook says he’s taking Ji-Won’s name off the project. But he’s going to want her to provide all the data and marketing materials for him, and that’ll come back to bite him in the butt in Episode 6.

Soo-Min also works on convincing Park Min-Hwan (Lee Yi-Kyung) that Ji-Won is cheating on him. While Ji-Won is trying to investigate the letter that was sent to her high school crush, Baek Eun-Ho (Lee Gi-Kwang), Soo-Min brings up Ji-Won’s mother and her cheating ways. When Min-Hwan confronts Ji-Won violently later in Episode 5, we can see how well Soo-Min has worked the insecure man. As if Soo-Min couldn’t get any worse, she’s also nearby, waiting for Min-Hwan to tear Ji-Won apart. She easily wins the worst best friend award.

Unfortunately for Soo-Min, Ji-Hyeok saves the day. He easily puts Min-Hwan in his place and forces him to do the walk of shame. Left alone with Ji-Won, he takes her home. Ji-Hyeok admits his feelings to her but she won’t have it. Ji-Won still thinks he is dating Yoo Hee-Yeon (Choi Gyu-Ri). Just as things are winding down, our workaholic male lead passes out on Ji-Won. Because we needed just a bit more drama!

Marry My Husband Episode 6 is finally where we start to see Ji-Won’s efforts pay off. Her knowledge of the future enables her to get revenge on Kyung-Wook and Soo-Min for their part in stealing her meal kit idea. Watching Ji-Won put the pieces in place to facilitate the viral airplane video shown in Episode 3 is gold. The audience knows what will inevitably happen with the higher-up Wang Heun-In (Jung Jae-Sung) in this viral moment, but seeing how Ji-Won manipulates Kyung-Wook’s nature to craft a marketing strategy that puts Heun-In front and center makes the pay-off delicious. We’ll likely see the aftereffects of this blow-up against Soo-Min in the next episode.

Aiding her in his own way is Ji-Hyeok. After he recovers from passing out at the beginning of the episode, he finds ways to try to keep Min-Hwan in line. Ji-Hyeok also uses a judo lesson to pass on some important lessons to Ji-Won. Not only can she use it in a literal fight, but through what he tells her, she can apply some of the judo philosophy against Kyung-Wook.

Soo-Min’s focus in Marry My Husband Episode 6 is toying around with Min-Hwan. Ji-Won has spent time planting the seeds between the two future cheaters, and now we’re seeing Soo-Min’s attention start to linger on Min-Hwan. Min-Hwan tries to at least be a little loyal to Ji-Won, but he’s starting to fail. Due to Soo-Min’s mastery of the art of seduction, Min-Hwan starts to follow her around like a puppy dog. If we didn’t already know what the future held, it’d be easy to feel bad for Min-Hwan. Alas, they both deserve each other.

After Heun-In goes viral and the meal kit project plummets down the drain, Ji-Won takes a moment on the rooftop to celebrate listening to our favorite K-pop group, BTS. It’s 2013, though, so they are in their early days. Ji-Hyeok joins her, and, at first, it doesn’t seem like much will happen. That is until the most brilliant yet simple time travel reveal occurs. They both start to talk about BTS, and they each share their favorite songs. The problem? The songs “Dynamite” and “Spring Day” haven’t been released yet. With our two leads creating that cliffhanger, Marry My Husband Episode 6 ends.

Marry My Husband Episodes 5-6 continue building on the character work and storylines that have been in place. Seeing how Ji-Hyeok developed feelings for Ji-Won—as well as his repetitious reassurance to Ji-Won that he’ll respect her boundaries—will make any romantic kick their feet. Seriously, respecting boundaries is a lesson we all can take away. Speaking of lack of boundaries, actress Song Ha-Yoon continues to be completely deplorable as Soo-Min. Everyone is acting their socks off, but it takes a lot of skill to play a character that blurs the lines between immaturity and deviousness. Ha-Yoon does this and more with Soo-Min.

Marry My Husband Episodes 5-6 will easily have viewers punching the air. The continued character development across the board keeps us hooked still, but the pacing does suffer a bit this go-round. While Episode 5’s blast to the past slows down the flow of things, Episode 6 gets us back on track. With the bomb dropped at the end of Episode 6, it’ll be interesting to see how the future changes now that Ji-Won and Ji-Hyeuk are in the know.

Marry My Husband Episodes 1-6 are now available on Prime Video, with new episodes premiering on Mondays and Tuesdays.