REVIEW: ‘Marry My Husband’ Episodes 11-12

Things look like they are going up for Kang Ji-Won (Park Min-Young) and General Manager Yoo Ji-Hyeok (Na In-Woo). Their revenge is mostly complete. All that is left is to see Jung Soo-Min (Song Ha-Yoon) and Park Min-Hwan (Lee Yi-Kyung) marry. At least, that’s what we think. More drama comes barrelling down for our leading couple. Unfortunately, drama for the sake of drama rarely lands. The stark difference between organic and forced drama becomes clear in Marry My Husband Episodes 11-12. Regardless of whether or not it’s pulled from the webtoon itself.

Marry My Husband Episode 11 is the calm before the storm, even with its bumpy start. Things pick up after the previous episode. Ji-Hyeok, in his self-defeating way, panics when he recalls his death and pushes Ji-Won away. He only wants her to be happy, and he doesn’t want his death to be responsible for her unhappiness. The argument is understandable, but one can’t avoid unhappiness forever. This moment, while full of care, reveals a bit of immaturity in Ji-Hyeok’s logic. Either way, he pushes Ji-Won out of his apartment, marking a bump in the new couple’s relationship.

The two eventually reconcile and stay the course throughout this episode, but it takes Ji-Hyeok on drugs to get him to actually communicate with Ji-Won. Rule of thumb for all couples: Communication can be terrifying, but a lot of problems are solved by communicating. Unfortunately, this is not the last time Ji-Won and Ji-Hyeok will have this problem.

Much of the drama of Episode 11 focuses on the wedding between Soo-Min and Min-Hwan and, on a lesser note, on Yang Ju-Ran (Gong Min-Jung) and her struggles. Marry My Husband Episodes 11-12 confirm Ju-Ran’s the placeholder for Ji-Won’s original fate, so the pivot makes sense here. Soo-Min learns how awful both Min-Hwan and his mother (Jung Kyung-Soon) are during the wedding planning process. It evokes an eerie sense of deja vu, but for Soo-Min, it’s like a bucket of cold water. Not even her faked pregnancy can protect her completely.

What’s keeping Soo-Min going is the idea that she’s triumphed over Ji-Won. When sending out her own wedding invitations backfires, Soo-Min keeps her chin up. Why? She’s marrying someone Ji-Won wanted. Even when Min-Hwan lashes out at her, she perseveres. That is, until the wedding day. Soo-Min’s wedding day is a disaster once Ji-Won steps foot inside the venue. From Ji-Won’s petty congratulations to their mutual classmates crashing the wedding to embarrass Soo-Min in an act of misguided revenge, Soo-Min is unable to save face. It’s only a matter of time until the bubble bursts for her.

As for Ju-Ran, the writing has been on the wall for the past few episodes. Her personality is similar to the old Ji-Won. She has a deadbeat husband who is shown to be cheating on her in Episode 11. Ju-Ran also has been receiving abuse from the ever-persistent former manager, Kim Gyeong-Uk (Kim Joong-Hee). Since his fall from grace, he has gone out of his way to try to undermine Ju-Ran’s authority. While she puts him in his place in Episode 11, a giant bomb is dropped at the end of the episode. Ju-Ran has stomach cancer, taking at least part of Ji-Won’s original fate.

Ju-Ran’s startling news marks a turning point for Marry My Husband. Fates are being re-written, which means new paths are being forged. And, per the standard Kdrama format, if an episode is mostly happy for our main couple, the storm is about to hit. This storm shows up in the form of Ji-Hyeok’s former fiance, Oh Yu-ra (Kwon Bo-A). Her sudden appearance shakes things up heading into Marry My Husband Episode 12. Unfortunately, due more to poor writing than performance, Yu-ra’s inclusion feels shoehorned in rather than something natural.

In Marry My Husband Episode 12, Yu-ra shows up on Ji-Hyeok’s doorstep. Ji-Won is naturally uncomfortable. She feels Ji-Hyeok hasn’t been honest with her, and she refuses to be the other woman. Yu-ra’s arrival, Ji-hyeok’s response, and Ji-Won’s past trauma in association with her mother lead to the couple inevitably splitting up in this episode. But a breakup is not good enough for Yu-ra. She’s psychotic and doesn’t like it when people touch her “things.” So, of course, she has to target Ji-Won.

Where Marry My Husband Episode 12 struggles is that it’s doing far too much with its drama. The inclusion of Yu-ra is a byproduct of the webtoon, but after spending so much time getting us to the point of Soo-Min’s and Min-Hwan’s wedding, her arrival feels forced for drama. Her manipulations of Soo-Min and Min-Hwan to lash out at Ji-Won in their own way also force a moment that should have otherwise been its own episode: Ji-Won meeting her mother. It’s still a heartbreaking moment because Ji-Won’s mother is truly awful and selfish. But the path to get there reads as inorganic.

Marry My Husband Episode 12 wraps with one of Yu-ra’s manipulations. The moment is hinted at in a flashback sequence, so by the time we watch a truck barrelling down on Ji-Won, the lightbulb goes on. But Ji-Hyeok zooms on by in his car, taking his fate into his own hands and protecting Ji-Won in one go. Compared to the rest of the series, this moment is honestly the least shocking. Whether due to melodrama fatigue or not, who is to say?

Marry My Husband Episodes 11-12 are an oddly paired set-up of episodes. Marry My Husband Episode 11 represents the culmination of everything we’ve been waiting for. It’s satisfying, well-executed, and gives an emotional payoff to the audience in one fell swoop. Marry My Husband Episode 12 is the opposite. While it is sticking to the webtoon, the writing in this episode doesn’t finesse the drama naturally. Instead, it reads like a marked-off checklist of how much they could cram into one episode. It shows in its execution.

As a character, Yu-ra is interesting on paper. She’s petty enough to eliminate targets and is well-respected by Ji-Hyeok’s grandfather. There’s an element of crazy to her that should work, but the character lacks charm. This is likely due to a combination of the writing and Kwon Bo-A’s performance. Bo-A’s performance stands on its own, but there’s a lack of depth to the character on-screen. It’s the standard, selfish chaebol heiress we’ve come to expect in these dramas, but Yu-ra’s arrival and impact aren’t subtle.

There’s not enough time left in Marry My Husband. Sensing the finish line ahead, more unhappiness is heading Ji-Won’s way as well as Ji-Hyeok’s. After Marry My Husband Episodes 11-12, there’s a chance that this highly successful drama will fumble the ending. If future episodes aren’t handled with better finesse to sell the drama, the fans will likely draw divorce papers.

Marry My Husband Episodes 1-12 are now available on Prime Video.