Marry him if you dare (2013)

Also known as: Future Choice; Mi Rae's Choice
Country: South-Korea
Format: drama in 16
Genre: romance, time-slip
Cast: Yoon Eun Hye, Lee Dong Gun, Jung Yong Hwa, Han Chae Ah,Choi Myoung Gil, Oh Jung Se, Lee Mi Do, An Se Ha, Ko Du Shin, Kim Ji Ho, Jang Eun Ah,
Synopsis: 32-year old Na Mi Rae pities herself every day as her life consists of singing songs to unknown men because of her work in a call-center and living with her older brother. That is until the day her future self from the year 2038 visits her. Why? To prevent her from marrying Kim Shin, a famous news anchor she is bound to meet. In order to have her happy ending Mi Rae gives her best to fulfill her dream as a broadcast writer and marry the man who won't make her sad.
Rating: 2/5
This was one drama what I definitely wanted to see as soon as possible, because look at the plot and the cast! It looked so great, but sadly I made a total fool out of myself while watching it.

The leading lady is Na Mi Rae, played by Yoon Eun Hye. I think she literally might be the weakest female character of this year dramas I have seen, because gyoza how annoying can one character be? She is 32 years old, but she lacks of everything. She wasted her 20ties with playing around (I have no idea what she did when she even did not have many friends, men or money. Ok, in the last episode it comes out that she did at least something useful then). She does not have much self-confidence, intelligence and sadly for her she looks is horrible. Yoon Eun Hye can look so pretty, but why they had to make her so hideous? These clothes, hair and everything - I just wanted to take a torch and lit it on fire.

Well, the hair at least gets better at one point and the clothes a bit - when they are bought by some man, but I just could not bring myself to like her or feel sorry for her. She is the type of person who literally lives for one day and does not think about future. I do not understand that if she said that "becoming screenwriter is her dream", then how did she not know a single thing about it? I think it is logical that if you are interested in something, then you learn about it before! I hate these kind of whiny women who always must be helped. It is a mystery for me what did Park Se Joo and Kim Shin see in her. Until the end I did not like her, because even though they tried to show that she has matured and etc, she actually was still the same Na Mi Rae!! I laughed so much every time she said that "I am pretty" or "I should stop worrying about future" - she is not pretty and she never worried or thought about the future! and I only had to agree when she said that she is so pathetic.

The first male lead is Kim Shin, an news anchor who is actually really hot tempered and uses a lot of vulgar words when he gets angry. Of course his complicated personality makes him difficult to work with, but he is the one character who really changes with the drama. At first, it is only mentioned how bad person he is and that all made me think that he cannot be that bad! It turns out that he just likes to live according to his principles and he thinks that the truth by facts is the most important. I did not find a single thing to hate about him, other than why the heck he fell for Na Mi Rae.

It is Lee Dong Gun's comeback to entertainment business after 5 years. He did a really great job and if my country had that handsome anchors I would watch more news (except the fact that I do not have a TV) , though I just said to myself while watching the drama that anchor's appearance has nothing to do with viewer ratings. He plays perfect Kim Shin and I loved when he got into goofy situation. But to steal my heart totally, I have to see him in a bit different role - somewhere where he can show more of his comedy side, because well, Kim Shin was made a bit depressive in many scenes. I understand  why everyone made him into bad person and he did not do anything to give them the right. I was really annoyed every time they talked like they were together or they had something ultimate special between them! I never once saw a spark between them. Through out the drama I felt that Mi Rae reads more into it than there really is, if we leave out some scenes where Kim Shin obviously gives the signals of "I like you really much". Every situation they had were just plainly awkward. But I really loved the future memories of their times together, because there they looked so great together.

Park Se Joo is younger than Na Mi Rae, but he is really mature for his age. It is important for him to be acknowledged as an individual person and not for his background as he is the heir and the grandson of present CEO of YBS production station. It is nice to see Jung Yong Hwa in a really mature role and he acts really well in it, but I feel sad that Se Joo is a bit similar to Hyung from "You're beautiful" - always helping and being beside the girl, while she has her eyes on another man. I did not like that at some times he was too pushy and even though he said he does not want to be influenced my his grandmother, then many times he is still acting like a cute little grandson. I would like to know one thing, which does not seem logical to me.

Park Se Joo is the only character who has different feelings from the future-version. Everyone else stay the same by their feelings, yet he is totally different. There was a rumor that Jung Yong Hwa was actually offered a role in "The Heirs", but declined it due to different opinions between companies. At first I thought it would have been Lee Hyo Shin's role, because after he dropped out, Kang Ha Neul was confirmed to this role, but actually it was Young Do's character. I have had long discussions with Yanne whether it would have been better decision than "Marry him if you dare" or not. On one hand, in "Marry him if you dare" he is the second lead, not a high school student (which as one of the biggest reason he decided for "Marry him if you dare"), on the other hand, "The Heirs" is more popular and better, but I do not imagine him in Young Do's role, he definitely would have been great as Lee Hyo Shin, but as Young Do? But even in "Marry him if you dare" most of his screen time I was just drooling over his manly handsomeness, despite the fact that many people say that it was his worst drama choice.

I saw more love between Mi Rae and Se Joo, maybe because they shared more cute scenes together or well it is natural too. Sadly with time passing on, Mi Rae turns into "I feel so awkward in this situation" and ruins most of the scenes. I liked that Se Joo is really honest and sometimes too obvious, which some times makes things even more complicated than they should be. If the scriptwriter would have added more cute scenes between all characters instead of hundreds of depressive ones, then it might have gotten higher rating.

I feel more positive about future's Mi Rae or Ahjumma, because she is a woman of actions. She is a bit different from the present Mi Rae, of course that is due to the life experience, but then some times she does something that makes you see that she is still the same person. At times she seems a bit bitchy - messing up everything, telling lies and doing everything in order for her happiness, but the truth is that I did not hate her. She actually became my third favorite character in the drama, because no matter what at least she felt sincere to me. It is funny that when she has to say something really important then she starts her sentence with "I... *long pause* and the point of story".

My second favorite character was Seo Yoo Kyung. Another character who I thought would be bitchy, but no - she actually is sweet and does things just to create a better possibilities for herself. If you get to know her more then you see how much she actually suffers. The biggest reason why I started to like her is due to the fact that I pity her. She is right about her great future being stolen and sadly she has no power to fight alone against it either. There is so much more under her pretty face and rich behavior. I would have given an extra star if things would have gone differently for her in the end.

And the most favorite character was Na Joo Hyun aka Oppa. He seemed really arrogant and stubborn at some times, but in reality he was really sweet and cared a lot about other people, especially about his sister, who was nothing than just a pain in the a**. My favorite thing about the drama was Future Mi Rae and brother's relationship. Maybe it is due to the fact that family relations are really important to me, but they looked so good together. You should never take siblings for granted. It is funny how they were on better terms with each other than with present Mi Rae, who basically was left out of important things most of the time. I loved every scene that was between two of them, because it brought out what kind of person he really was.

At first the drama had so much potential, but it got ruined and I think that at one point even the scriptwriter, Hong Jin Ah forgot what she actually wanted to tell with this drama. It is sad because she is actually a brilliant scriptwriter, but this time the script really just ran all over the place. The drama is a bit like TopShop commercial with its "But wait, there is more!" just to keep viewers watching, but sadly with every single episode they went farther from the original idea - that explains the ending too. To watch it or not to watch it? I cannot give you direct answer, but I think that there might be better dramas with similar themes too.

SPOILER-review: I was afraid that the future would not change and she will just create a new parallel time. When it finally ended I seriously felt that I have been pranked - I was not disappointed about how it turned out, but I felt that I had been made into total fool for watching all 16 episodes! I have no idea of who she might have chosen in the end, but I just think that actually i96n the end she was already 35, so her biological clock was telling her to rush in any way. Other thing that I noticed was that in future they paid more than 20 years for the penalty fees, but in present Kim Shin was able to pay it all with 3 years. But now when I think of the drama.. I would have wanted that Se Joo would have met Yoo Kyung while studying aboard and had fallen for her instead, though she deserves better man than him. I do not care the least what would have happened to Mi Rae and Kim Shin.