Marriage Contract- First Impression

Marriage Contract (결혼계약)
Airs: Saturdays & Sundays
Episodes: 16

Marriage Contract Episode 1-4 Overview By Ninja

Heroine: Kang Hye Sol (Uee)

A widow since her husband died seven years ago, Hye Sol had been raising her young daughter by herself. On the constant run from the thugs that has been chasing her for the enormous amount of debt her husband left, Hye Sol is desperate as the thug starts to eye her precious little daughter for money.

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Hero: Han Ji Hoon (Lee Seo Jin)

Once a popular singer, our hero Ji Hoon is now content to work as a restaurant operator, a subsidiary of his father’s large corporation. Perhaps influence by the fact that his mother has lead an extremely pathetic life as his father’s ex-mistress, Ji Hoon seems to have no intention of getting married and is determined to live his life as a playboy.

Despite having some serious resentment issues towards his mother (Mama Oh), Ji Hoon is unable to ignore the fact that his mother is dying from liver disease and works tirelessly to find a donor to save his mother’s life.

Raised in his father’s house since he was young, Ji Hoon is used to putting on a harmless mask whenever he receives thinly veiled jabs from his father’s wife and half (older) brother. Trying to drag his drunk mother out of his father’s house, Ji Hoon paused uncomfortably when he finds out that his half brother’s fiancee is none other than his ex-girlfriend.

At first willing to put up with her family’s order to marry a man she doesn’t love, Na Yoon’s (the ex-girlfriend, female second lead) heart starts to beat again when she realizes the ex-boyfriend who had introduced himself as an orphan then disappeared on her is her fiancee’s younger brother.

Things in Hye Soo’s life is quickly going from bad to hopeless as the thugs show up at her work to chase her for money and she finds out from her doctor that she has a brain tumor that will surly kill her soon.

Desperate to ensure her daughter, Eun Sung’s life would be okay when she dies, Hye Soo decides to accept Ji Hoon’s offer to enter into a fake marriage in order to be legally allowed to donate her liver to Mama Oh.

Unfortunately, as much as Ji Hoon would like to get everything over in a blink of an eye so he can divorce Hye Soon ASAP, things promises to be quite challenging.

On top of trying to convince the hospital that his marriage to Hye Soon is real and not some liver donor scam, Ji Hoon has to convince Hye Soon’s very grumpy daughter to accept him and his own mother to not spoil the whole thing.

Ninja’s First Impression

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The pacing of this show feels quite slow. At least slow enough that it feels like a 50 episode family drama instead of a 16 episode one. Still, for some strange reason I am somehow finding Marriage Contract cute enough to follow. The big age difference between Lee So Jin and Uee does make the pairing feel a bit awkward but since Uee’s heroine is so pitiful at this point the hero’s maturity does make him seem like a natural protector…even if he sure act like a kid most of the time.

As far as the plot goes, the story feels pretty predicable at this point but I guess it would be kinda silly to not expect that when the show is called Marriage Contract. Wait, there is one thing I definitely didn’t expect and that’s the heroine’s brain tumor. Frankly, Hye Soo’s life seems desperate enough already it felt a bit over the top to add the brain tumor part but I suspect it could be a hospital mistake since the show already hinted several times that Hye Soo is not experiencing any of the symptom.

All in all, I am holding out some hope that Marriage Contract might get better now that the backstory is more or less set up. I don’t think it will become an addicting show but I do hope the cute will increase as the heroine’s life gets less pitiful.

By the way, Lee Seo Jin sure looks mighty fine. You got to give the man brownie points for being able to look so right as the love interest of a girl that is 17 years younger than him.

 

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