Virtual Bride

Virtual Bride

5.5/10

Virtual Bride 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 12                                   Year: 2015

Romance

Comedy

Family

Synopsis:

Oh In Young is a pop-idol whose popularity is plummeting. To boost her image and gain attention, she reluctantly joins a variety show called “The Daughter-in-Law Experience”. She is paired up with the eldest son of a very traditional Korean family, who has an extremely strict mother.

Cast:

Dasom (Oh In Young)

Ryu Soo Young (Cha Myeong Seok)

Ko Du Shim (Yang Choon Ja)

Kim Yun Seo (Kim Se Mi)

Kwak Hee Sung (Cha Dong Seok)

Son Eun Seo (Cha Young Ah)

Kim Bo Yeon (Jang Mi Hee)

Ki Tae Young (Kang Joon Soo)

General Thoughts:

The show is exactly what was promised- a short, goofy drama without much depth. I didn’t expect anything out of this drama, so I wasn’t disappointed, but I wasn’t surprised either.

Fun, but not spectacular

Dasom does a good job as the rising star- not afraid to embarrass herself in the least, which ensures some hilarity for sure. Ryu Soo Young is believable enough as the dorky math professor- though it did seem like the writers forgot about who his character was supposed to be. He had waaaaay too many smooth moves and romantic (if not horrendously cheesy) lines.

All things an awkward math-man should not be

There were enough secondary characters that we were never bored with what was going on in the main pairing- it quite often took a backseat to other family happenings. The drama really should be called ‘Mother-in-Law’s from Hell’ though. Like seriously, that CEO’s mum is just bat-shit-crazy. There’s no other way to put it. At least our main Mother-in-Law had enough redeeming qualities that she was pretty likeable towards the end. While all (but one) of our characters were likeable enough, and avoided becoming irritating, spiteful ghouls, they also didn’t have enough personality to connect with emotionally.

Watched for the cute, not the story

Rather than watching out of undying love for a character, it’s more like watching in trifling amusement during free time to see how everything will tie up. The plot is, uh… not riveting. There’s always something happening so it’s not exactly boring, but there’s not enough going on that you’d actually care what happens. The main couple’s differences were touched on in the first episode or two, before promptly being ignored. Because love. Apparently. Obviously being in love overshadows any issues differences may cause. Duh. How did they fall in love? Hmm, well looks like we’ll just ignore that one. They just did okay, they just did. Things happen between both families, but basically all problems are solved when someone decides to stop being a giant d*ck. It’s a cute, fluffy drama that manages to avoid being bad, but also hasn’t got enough in it to warrant being good either- but it’s enjoyable as a simplistic watch, and a break from more mentally-draining, emotionally-invested dramas.

What Was Great:

Variety Show Style:

The fact that large portions of the beginning of the drama were shot as if watching a variety show was delightful. It was fun, comical and in-tune with the drama’s light-hearted nature. Much of its humour came from this choice of filming style as it was able to add in effects and jokes that wouldn’t be possible had it been shot like a regular drama.

Successfully different style

I was a little disappointed when the variety show segment of the drama ended, as this meant we were back to more conventional ways of filming, and a lot of the quirky humour faded.

All That Cute:

Because we don't like to be serious all the time

While there wasn’t a lot of plot, there sure was a lot of cuteness going on between the two leads. While I wouldn’t exactly say the relationship was sold believably, it was simple and whimsical- much like the rest of the drama. The overused love-triangle was avoided in favour of the slightly less-overused controlling mother’s disapproval- but it was never made a huge issue out of anyway. The fact is, the writers didn’t try too hard to create problems for our main couple- some stuff crops up which they overcome with cheesy lines and snogging. Rather than focusing on all the negatives of a having a crazy mother-in-law, the plot regarding the main couple focuses more on cute side-effects. Like trying to sneak peeks at each other in front of the whole family with no one catching on. Or hiding in ridiculous places when Mum unexpectedly swans in. All the ‘drama’ in the household involves other family members, leaving our main couple to be as naïvely adorable as they wish.

They just chucked in the cute whenever, wherever

What Wasn’t:

Spineless Men:

Okay, this was a bit of a downer. Literally none of the guys in this series have any balls. It may just be a major culture difference, but you’d think that if it got to the point where your wife was ready to up and leave you because of your psycho mother, you’d stick up for her, right? Apparently not. The whole drama is basically clueless, idiotic men being completely bewildered at their wives’ growing dissent. This may have been saved by the crazy mother-in-law’s finally getting their comeuppance, but somehow they manage to make it away mostly unscathed. CEO Kang Joon Soo is a whipped little puppet. His rather sickening adoration of his completely dislikeable witch of a mother does him no favours, and when he finally snaps it’s super unbelievable because we’ve spent the whole drama watching him throw his gorgeous wife under the bus in unashamed attempts to please his mother.

2 men, 0 balls

And then there’s Cha Deong Seok. Ohhh good lord. Dumbest man ever. Despite being repeatedly told by his wife that she hates living with his family and that his mother is making her life miserable, he does nothing. No attempts to help his wife with the mother-in-law relationship, and no attempts to get a job. I was in total agreement with Kim Se Mi when she wanted a divorce, because Deong Seok is basically the most useless thing ever.

Be free you strong, independent woman

The only thing that kept him from being unbearable to watch was his nice face and bumbling attempts to help our main lady, In Young. Our main man Cha Myeong Seok was surprisingly spared from this ‘useless man’ label, as he mysteriously disappeared off-screen whenever Mum went on a psychotic rampage.

Lack of Focus:

The show basically doesn’t have any direction. The main couple get together pretty fast and don’t encounter too much believable resistance. The short fiascos between different family members are short-lived and carry no real continuing developments. Right up until the end, the writers didn’t focus specifically on either the lover relationship or the daughter/mother-in-law relationship, leaving both storylines feeling a little halfassed.

This B*tch:

This woman is unbearable. She’s basically the fakest, most manipulative being that ever existed. She does all these insufferable acts- and then makes it out unharmed. The whole drama I was waiting for her glorious downfall…but it never came. Instead we are given a very short, unbelievable, last-ditch attempt to redeem her miserable character.

Nobody wanted to be at this poorly planned pity party

Honestly, no one cares that her husband left her. That happens to lots of people and THEY don’t turn into Satan-incarnate. All I wanted was for her to reap what she sowed- and have her son and in-laws ditch her and leave her crying in her soup of well-deserved isolation. Which she probably didn’t even cook herself. Lazy ass woman.

This Other B*tch:

I don't even know

Who even is this? I thought that she was another sister until she confessed to Myeong Seok. I get that she was adopted(?) into the family or something, but why? Our main mother-in-law doesn’t really seem like the type of person to take in a random kid. The character herself I don’t have a problem with- she had her moments in the story, it’s the ridiculously vague explanation of why the hell she lives with this family that was the issue.

Re-watch?

No. It’s nice enough as a fluffy, unsubstantial watch, but it’s definitely a one-off. The characters are cute (if unrealistic and underdeveloped), and despite the practically non-existent plot, the drama somehow manages to make it to the end without turning into the total shemozzle it was highly likely to become.

Randomly cute-free end to a cute-filled drama