What to Watch after "Perfect Marriage Revenge"

Perfect Marriage Revenge stars Jung Yoo-min and Sung Hoon, in a drama that uses the premise of the contract marriage as a means to gain revenge on a family. Is it worth the watch? Read our spoiler-free review and some recommendations if you've finished the show.

The Plot

Han Yi-joo (Jung Yoo-min) is an adopted child of a wealthy family who alternately ignores her and uses her artistic talent for dubious means. She spends most of the time trying to be inconspicuous and not rubbing her adoptive family the wrong way. Things take a turn for the worse, however, when she realizes her husband Yoo Se-hyuk (Oh Seung-yoon) is secretly in love with her younger sister and her adoptive mother (Lee Jung-hye) tries to frame her for a crime. Faced with a near-death (full death?—it’s not quite clear) experience, she gets a second chance at life when she wakes up from a coma, one year earlier. Now that she’s no longer in the dark about the extent of her family’s betrayal, she vows to take revenge. Enter Seo Do-guk (Sung Hoon) whom Yi-joo’s younger sister is hell-bent on snagging. Now with a chance at a re-do of her life, Yi-joo convinces Do-guk to a contract marriage with her. And what ensues is wonderful mayhem in the lives of those around them.

The Short Review

Full disclosure: I am a fan of revenge dramas and contract marriages, so when I found out a 12-episode drama about a contract marriage being used as a means for revenge, I was psyched from the get-go. Being very familiar with both genres however, I kept my expectations low. And it paid off: I was thoroughly entertained.

Think of this drama as makjang-lite—a quick walk into the well-trod path of birth secrets, scandalous reactions, and very little background research. The plot was loose, the writing passable, and the acting so-so and I’ve never been happier. Sometimes, you don’t want a deep, soulful drama. Sometimes, you just want a soap opera—that ends. And that was exactly what I got. So if you want to enjoy this, throw your skeptical brain out the window and enjoy the lovely ride of beautiful people doing stupid things, all the while making us all grateful we’re not part of the drama.

If you enjoy contract marriages…

Dong-hyun and Seo-jun sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes… marriage??? That can’t be right. It might seem strange to think of arranged marriages and contract relationships as something of a reality in today’s world. But in some parts of the world, it’s still very much a thing. And up until the late 18th century, marriage wasn’t really so much a matter of love as it was a social and economic contract… Read the rest of the article for a deep dive into contract marriages in k-drama with many recos here.

If you want more of Sung Hoon…

My Secret Romance (2017)

Through My Secret Romance, Sung Hoon earned the distinction of starring in the first rom-com of OCN, the cable network best known for its crime thrillers. Perhaps because his looks are so well-suited to chaebol roles, he again plays a spoiled heir who falls in love with a “regular” girl. As Cha Jin-wook, he must face the consequences of his one night stand with Lee Yoo-mi (Song Ji-eun) who later turns out to be an employee of his family’s company.

Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) (2021-22)

For two seasons, Sung Hoon starred as Pan Sa-hyun, a hotshot lawyer who cheats on his wife in the extremely popular Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce). The drama depicts the unraveling of the supposedly happy marriages of three couples at different stages in life, with Sung Hoon and Lee Ga-ryeong playing the couple in their 30s. The drama is one of the most successful series of TV Chosun and one of the highest-rated in cable history.

Noble My Love (2015)

Sung Hoon in another contract marriage? Why, yes please! In the 2015 web drama Noble My Love, Sung Hoon plays Lee Kang-hoon, the egotistic CEO of a large company, who gets rescued by a kind, small-town veterinarian (Kim Jae-kyung). The chance encounter leads to a contract relationship and of course, love.

For more of Sung Hoon’s shows, read his profile here.

If you want more revenge dramas...

2022 saw a rise in revenge k-dramas. In fact, we had at least two new revenge shows a month! That’s hardly surprising though; violence and retribution make for fascinating watches that attract many different kinds of audiences all across the globe. But what exactly makes the ones from k-drama so binge-able? In this article, we take a deep dive into revenge k-dramas, what makes them tick, and why we love them so much. Read the rest of the article here.

If you want more makjang dramas...

Kimchi slaps, insane cruelty, and bizarre plot twists—there is merit in understanding the makjang drama, and its special brand of crazy. Read the rest of the article here.