The Story Of Park’s Marriage Contract starts really strongly where at first, it looks like a perfect cocktail of romance, comedy and fantasy. It delivers on fun and romance until the end but the quality of its fantasy elements keeps plummeting — resulting in an overall delightful but flawed ride. On the bright side, Lee Se Young proves again that she is such a winsome actor!

ABOUT

The husband of a woman in the Joseon Dynasty dies on their wedding night. She mysteriously travels through time and arrives in the modern era. She somehow ends up having a contract marriage with a man who looks exactly like the husband from the past.

REVIEW

As mentioned, the drama starts out compellingly with its period storyline. Female lead Park Yeon Woo (Lee Se Young) is instantly likeable — she is sassy, confident and caring. Making her ahead of her times in her thinking helps in later showing her adapting to modern times quite easily. Kang Tae Ha in the past is so thoughtful, understanding and mature. Their meeting and interactions make you root for them. Alas, the love story is not exactly between them.

Kang Tae Ha of the modern times is also interesting and fun. There are obvious differences from the past incarnation because of different timelines but the characters are given somewhat different shades too.

I loved the main couple — their story starts out as bickering duo but gradually they fall in love with each other; their scenes are funny, cute and buzzy. They gave me a perfect “butterflies in my stomach” romance.

I also did a “yay” when I saw that the heroine’s best friend Sa Wol (Joo Hyun Young) also travelled through time. She is another very funny character. Her love story with Tae Ha’s secretary, Hong Sung Pyo (Jo Bok Rae) — is so funny and adorable. I enjoyed their moments so much! I do think both Yeon Woo and Sa Wol adapted way too easily and quickly to the modern era.

The bromance between Tae Ha and Sung Pyo and the friendship between Yeon Woo and Sa Wol is another highlight of the drama. So well done!

Second lead Kang Tae Min is weakly written and doesn’t add a lot to the plot.

The plot involving Yeon Woo’s time travel, the connection between past and present characters and families is intriguing in the first half. Sometimes even creepy.

THE MINUS POINTS

As we move forward in the show, its fantasy plotline becomes more and more messy. It feels all over the place and going around in circles. The bad guys don’t get any satisfying comeuppance. A good guy gets a bad fate instead. Some people were surprised that Yeon Woo did not treat Joseon Tae Ha as her love — but it was made clear early on that she saw both incarnations as separate people. Not to mention that she cannot suddenly start a relationship with another guy after going back in time. I do think the drama should not have brought past Tae Ha back only to give him misery in the end — he was such a good and kind person. Else, they should have treated both characters as one. So much bad writing in regards to this scenario!

PERFORMANCES

Lee Se Young is effortlessly charming. She plays her role with winning confidence, perfect in comedy as well as emotional moments. Bae In Hyuk brings an endearing likeability to both the roles — Joseon noble as well as modern Tae Ha. The leads have a winning, charming chemistry. One of the drama’s winning performances comes from Jo Bok Rae with his perfect comic timing. Joo Hyun Young delivers a spirited performance.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Story Of Park’s Marriage Contract guarantees plenty of laughs and romantic feels, but it fails in the time travel/fantasy department. But the good outweighs the bad!

MY RATING: 8 out of 10