There's a lot to love about "The World of the Married" . The acting is brilliant , The directing is solid with some at times really nice environmental storytelling , The tension each episode builds and the inevitable twists were consistently breathtaking , The music is fantastic and perhaps above all else and for the most part it does an excellent job at exploring the themes of Obsession , The effects of cheating , The stigma of being a divorced woman , How kids end up getting hurt the most , The cost of revenge , Hypocrisy among many other things
The two things that stopped this show from being excellent are
I very rarely if ever watch Korean dramas or cinema because their stuff is very often either disturbingly dark or way too lighthearted and cheesy but on occasion I'll read a premise that will pick my interest and that's what happened with "The World of the Married" . Despite my grievances I still believe that it is a show worth watching as when it's good it's bloody brilliant . Too bad that the final 4 episodes or so butchered what could have been a masterpiece.
The two things that stopped this show from being excellent are
- The pacing . The second half dragged on FOREVER and it pulled so many bait and switches that it actually start to get annoying and even redundant near the end . Characters started making illogical choices and out of nowhere "face turns" simply because the plot called for it which made me believe that beyond the initial premise they had no idea where they wanted the story to go . This wouldn't have been so bad though if it wasn't for...
- The ending . There were many MANY times where they could have ended the show and they would have gotten their point across but they kept going and going all for an ending that was woefully unsatisfying and not in the way they intended . The show constantly teases you with a dark ending but it never truly happens which is disappointing because even as someone that typically hates dark endings this story REALLY called for it . It was like watching a Greek tragedy that is too afraid to be an actual tragedy
I very rarely if ever watch Korean dramas or cinema because their stuff is very often either disturbingly dark or way too lighthearted and cheesy but on occasion I'll read a premise that will pick my interest and that's what happened with "The World of the Married" . Despite my grievances I still believe that it is a show worth watching as when it's good it's bloody brilliant . Too bad that the final 4 episodes or so butchered what could have been a masterpiece.