Photo credits: Studio DAUN
When Seo Hye-sung’s (Kim Hee-sun) husband suddenly dies after falling from a skyscraper in Seoul, the mother and her daughter are suddenly left alone. She does have an idea how to explain her husband’s sudden death: a dating company called Rex played a crucial role in this. There, high-ranking married and divorced yuppies can look for an even better and lasting marital bond. The grass is always greener with the neighbors. So Seo focused on her child, and her husband on his career, and tried to fish for a better love partner (Seo is ‘just’ a teacher).
The tone is immediately set in Remarriage & Desires. This South Korean drama revolves around class differences and the way in which women can just be sidelined. Seo therefore seeks revenge and soon settles in with Rex. It looks like she wants to demolish this patriarchal nightmare inside. She quickly set her sights on a young entrepreneur, whose mother is looking for the ideal woman for him – one who comes from a perfect family; without a blemish; an unadulterated jack-of-all-trades. The best man doesn’t know what he’s getting with Seo.
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Many South Korean drama series emphatically tap into pregnant themes and showrunners Lee Geun-young bets Remarriage & Desires there are also questions about the perverse jet-set life that many South Koreans are diligently trying to maintain by marrying like-minded wealthy partners. That makes for an interesting series that – and that is inherent in South Korean television – feels a bit too melodramatic at times.
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