REVIEW: ‘I Am Married But’ Is Oddly Satisfying

On its face, I Am Married But is an odd series to stream for any romantic. The premise follows a dissatisfied couple navigating the ups and downs of a marriage long past its honeymoon period. It’s not the typical love story that romance viewers would immediately seek out on the most romantic holiday of the year. And yet, by the end of its twelfth episode, this Taiwanese Netflix rom-com series manages to remind us marriage may not be easy, but a person who sticks with you through thick and thin will love all parts of you, even the ugly ones.

Lin I-ling (Alice Ko) despises marriage. This much is clear in the opening moments of I Am Married But. She waxes on about her independence, how gross children are, etc., until it is revealed at a wedding that she’s actually married to Zeng Xue-you (Jasper Liu). Their initial introduction to one another is straight out of a rom-com meet-cute. They literally ran into each other in a crosswalk, where Xue-you then accidentally seduces her with a free hard drive to replace the one that was destroyed. It’s a match made in heaven. Nearly four years into marriage? Not so much.

I-ling is up against several obstacles. There’s the little things. Xue-you snores, cannot do tasks without direction and tells some really bad dad jokes. The bigger things are harder to ignore. They live with their parents, and her mother-in-law won’t let her son go. That and she’s non-stop pressuring I-ling to get pregnant, even arranging monthly exorcisms to make sure her soul is pure for conception. Xue-you also refuses to stand his ground, forcing I-ling to pressure him to be more assertive. Four years in, and she’s hit her limit.

I Am Married But navigates the troubles of marriage once the glow wears off. Using an app aptly titled ‘Soulmate’ at the behest of a client, I-ling is introduced to the possibility of more. But more isn’t always enough when life doesn’t go how we expect. Pursuing “more” can’t address the issues we have in ourselves or what makes us unhappy in a marriage. But the path to addressing what’s actually bothering a couple in a marriage isn’t linear, and it’s rife with drama.

Marriage can be rocky, but I Am Married But shows that it’s not all bad.

Infidelity looms heavily across the series thanks to the ‘Soulmate’ app and the people within I-ling’s and Xue-you’s respective circles. If she wasn’t already engaging in conversations with the mysterious ‘Rain’ on the app, I-ling also has to contend with her crush on the charming and handsome pharmacist, Liu Wen-chieh (Tseng Jing-hua), and her college boyfriend turned colleague, Zhang Ren-wei (Fu Meng-po), who still has feelings for her.

As for Xue-you, the newest colleague in his company is a single mother, Chen Hsiao-lu, who has a crush on him as big as Texas. And ever oblivious, Xue-you doesn’t catch on to her feelings until the final hour. While the focus is more on I-ling than Xue-you, it becomes a guessing game as to whether or not either will cross the line. This, again, makes I Am Married But an odd choice in viewing romantically.

Because the reality is that most romance viewers don’t come to series like this to deal with topics like unhappy marriages and infidelity. Yet, the dissection of the topics the series brings up is the reality of marriage and navigating relationships as an adult. From divorce to infertility to trying to hash things out, topics like these are ugly and unavoidable. But they are real, and sometimes, it’s okay to pull back the curtain and acknowledge reality.

The comedic tone struck in the scenes helps keep things from getting too serious. Alice Ko’s and Jasper Liu’s performances accomplish some of this. Both play characters that are extreme polar opposites, with Ko’s I-ling taking on a more volatile, assertive personality type and Liu’s Xue-you being a more timid, awkward type. It’s particularly fascinating watching Liu play someone so incredibly uncool, but it highlights his range.

Samantha Ko is lowkey the scene stealer of the series.

Another standout and the source of many of I-ling’s frustrations is Samantha Ko‘s mother-in-law character, Ma. As the hovering mother-in-law, she makes it clear that I-ling’s purpose is to be there for her son and produce an heir to the family line. The plotlines surrounding her, I-ling, and Xue-yo, prove to be some of the best sources of comedy and annoyance, if only because none of Ma’s actions will pay off in the end.

Ultimately, without Alice Ko’s dynamic and intensely relatable I-ling, the series likely couldn’t have worked. For all of us who are older sisters who were forced into independence long before we were ready, it can be easy to bristle when things go wrong, and there is no easy fix. While some of her actions aren’t condonable, it’s easy to understand I-ling’s frustrations because I’ve been there. Many of us likely have, and her journey to finding a state of acceptance and peace in her situation is one that speaks volumes.

I Am Married But runs a little longer than necessary. An episode or two could have been cut out to give a tighter finish, but it also could have helped make some of the ups and downs experienced on-screen less redundant from a viewing standpoint. That’s not to say that the payoff still doesn’t land. It does, but the inevitable confrontation to reach the series’ thesis statement could have been reached sooner.

I Am Married But isn’t for those in need of escapism. This series doesn’t hesitate to dive into the all-too-real gripes that come with a marriage on the rocks. In its final moments, its messaging is clear. The journey to get there hammers its point all the way home. And that’s how it succeeds. If romance movies are meant to encourage relationships, it’s also important to highlight what people are getting into once they reach the symbolic finish line. I Am Married But does that and more.

I Am Married But is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.