Mini Review: What is so Great about the Greatest Marriage (최고의 결혼)?

Well, definitely not its male leads.

For one who loves romance it’s almost impossible for me to fall in love with a drama with unlikable/hateful leads. But how I love this little gem.

This is one of the dramas where I think shipping wars could occur. Not that I’m hoping for it to happen because for the first time ever in kdrama history there’s nothing to fight over.

Let’s talk about its despicable and annoying male leads, Park Tae Yun (노민우) and Jo Eun Cha (배수빈) and be prepared to get your blood pressure raised.

If you read my previous post you’ll know that I’m rooting for Jo Eun Cha and didn’t find Park Tae Yun cute at all.

Park Tae Yun who first seems like a harmless boy just doing whatever he likes by episode 6 shows us that he is actually a time bomb that no women should ever have misfortune to encounter.

I who don’t love him in the first 5 episodes totally loath him by the sixth.

I tolerated his childish actions and accepted them as part of his immaturity. Telling myself that he’s just a silly boy. A spoiled child who is so used to getting whatever he wants with his looks and money.

But enough is enough.

If you’re a regular on this blog you’ll know how much I hate a sleeping together scene when it happens between the wrong couple. I only love the kissing and sleeping together scenes when they happen between the right people (the ones I approve of).

But I felt absolutely nothing watching the kissing scenes between Cha Ki Young and Park Tae Yun. I watched their sex scene with even more detachment. It’s like: okay, let’s move it. Next.

And there is no surprise either that the sleeping together scene between Park Tae Yun and Hyun Myung Ki doesn’t drive me nuts.

It doesn’t generate the hate reaction that I normally get when watching a cheating scene – not that it could be called cheating when Cha Ki Young already told him to get lost (and mind you she really means it) and she thinks that he is already sleeping with Hyun Myung Ki thanks to that gold digger lie, but it’s because Park Tae Yun loves Cha Ki Young.

So, from his perspective, he cheats on her. Intentionally.

No decent man would do that to the woman he loves. Particularly not when she’s pregnant with his baby. Even without him sleeping with another woman her life has already turned into hell.  

I watched that scene with a new understanding of how worthless this guy really is. His nice package is just that a package that hides a rotten good inside. He is no longer just a childish useless guy.

His true colors have been revealed. And they are not pretty.

I feel sorry for Cha Ki Young. She won’t blame him for all the hardships that she has to experience for the rest of her life because she’s the one who makes all the hard choices.

She is the one who doesn’t want to marry him. She is the one who tells him to get lost. She’s the one who decides to keep the baby. She’s the one who decides to protect him knowing how useless and weak he is.

However, although she doesn’t love him nor she wants him in her life, all his flaws will hurt her nonetheless. Because like it or not he’s the father of her child.

All his indecency, irresponsibility and weaknesses will be a glaring reminder of her mistake. Of her failure in judging his character and for liking him enough to have a relationship with him.

With his every despicable action she’ll get a slap in her face. Another stab in the heart. A bitter pill to swallow. A life time punishment for her mistake.

I don’t care whether Hyun Myung Ki is really pregnant or not. I hope this time the gold digger doesn’t lie. She and Park Tae Yun deserve each other. If only these two could leave Cha Ki Young to live her already miserable life alone. Sigh.

One of the reasons why Cha Ki Young doesn’t want a marriage is because she doesn’t believe that the feelings between the marriage couple will last forever. That the husband won’t cheat.

How right she is.

It doesn’t take long for Park Tae Yun to cheat on her. And he’s cheating on her while he’s still in love with her. Just imagine what he would do when he no longer loves her. Shudder.

Another reason why she doesn’t find marriage appealing is because the woman is the one who has to do all the sacrificing. She’s right again. Park Tae Yun is a perfect example of that.

Even knowing how difficult it must be for her to be a single mother, he doesn’t want to experience any inconveniences that come with being a father. To restore his life back he told her to get rid of the baby. Or to get married and lives as a slave for his parents.

And when she doesn’t want to obey his orders he decides to hurt her by flaunting a new girlfriend in her face and who knows perhaps if he could have arranged for her to see him making love to his new girlfriend he would also do that.

Cha Ki Young is the one who has to suffer all the scorns from other people. She is the one who has to lost her position and status. She is the one who has to swallow her tears and stay strong. She is the one who is sacrificing everything to keep her baby and pride intact.

What right does Park Tae Yun have to demand her to sacrifice even more for the worthless him?

He is weak. He is not admirable. He is not trustworthy. Yet, he expects her to marry him? Really?

Now, let’s have a look at the other male lead Jo Eun Cha.

I think the perfect word to describe him is that he is an ass. But unlike Park Tae Yun who looks good on the outside but rotten inside, Jo Eun Cha really looks bad.

He is the kind of a colleague that you wish would disappear the next day you come into the office. Or you might wish for a day that they would miraculously find somebody else to torture.  

Cha Ki Young is not the type to be bullied for she is more than capable to slay a dragon herself but being a pregnant famous anchor without a husband put her at disadvantage.

Society, offices, and the world are unkind to unmarried but pregnant women.  Working places are never a friendly place for working women, let alone unmarried women who got themselves pregnant.

Things wouldn’t have been that bad for Cha Ki Young without Jo Eun Cha as her opponent. An ass he might be but not a stupid one. Too bad he uses his brains to trample on a pregnant woman.

But, despite being an ass I don’t find him as repugnant as Park Tae Yun. It’s true that he treats Cha Ki Young horribly but it’s nothing personal.

I think he considers her as a worthy opponent. Not a woman. Never that. Not even once.

He tells her that despite being cleverer than practically everyone else in their station and being able to predict things ahead of time, he is never able to predict her moves. That in itself is a compliment.

It is an admission that as a person he respects and admires her capability. Unlike Park Tae Yun he doesn’t hurt her on purpose for him it’s just business. A competition that he has to win.

And that’s why I long for a day when he starts to see Cha Ki Young as a woman.

I want him to fall in love with her and unlike Park Tae Yun who sulks and goes on a shooting rampage when he is rejected I think Jo Eun Cha will regrets all the things that he has done to Cha Ki Young, things that make her life hell.

Unlike Park Tae Yun who finds a woman to sleep with whenever he is upset and displeased, I think Jo Eun Cha will mend his way once he falls in love with Cha Ki Young.

Although he acts childishly Jo Eun Cha isn’t childish.

He perfectly understands the cost that Cha Ki Young has to pay for keeping her baby. He would also understand what it would cost him if he wants to win her over once he falls in love with her.

And unlike Park Tae Yun who resorts to hurting Cha Ki Young when she says no I think Jo Eun Cha will treat her as the most precious thing on earth regardless of the fact whether she accepts him or not.

Marriage doesn’t have an appeal to a woman who can take care of herself. It completely lost its attraction to one who already has an adorable child to keep her company.  

The only thing that would make that woman changes her mind is when she falls head over heel in love with a man. So much so that she’s willing to give up all her happiness and risk unhappiness with him.

But for some women even that is not enough. They need to know that the man they are going to marry is willing to sacrifice everything for them. They need to know for sure that to him nothing is more important than her.

Not his career, not his parents, not his pride. Nothing.

I don’t know where this drama is going. But, having a greatest marriage for a woman who doesn’t want one is a tough call. It’s a mission impossible for the men in this drama to make her want to marry them being what they are.

If I were Cha Ki Young nothing can make me marry Park Tae Yun, not even the fact that he is my child’s father.

She is far too good for him. She deserves a much better man. Someone as good and strong as she is. Someone who appreciates her and loves her just for her.

This is why I think Jo Eun Cha has the potential to be that someone. When he isn’t busy with office intrigues this is how he looks. 

I love the genuine happiness that he feels when he sees the picture of her baby.

ps. It’s a pure torture having to wait a week just for an episode. But so far the waiting is worth it.