Marry Him if You Dare is a 16 episode KTV drama that aired in late 2013. Be advised, this show has several different English titles; it's aka Mi-Rae's Choice, The Future Choice, etc.
This show is primarily a rom-com drama with a fantasy element to it. These fantasy K-drama shows never get old; but, ONLY if it's done right!...This show gets it right for the most part, and it's pretty good overall.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Our story begins by introducing the main character (Mi Rae) as a struggling 30-something year old woman trying to find her way in the world; she's had zero luck in both her personal & professional affairs to date, and her directionless approach to life isn't helping matters any. Enter Mi Rae # 2; this is the elder version of our younger Mi Rae. The elder Mi Rae has traveled back in time to stop her younger self from being an aimless loser who continually makes the wrong decisions (the results of which will ultimately be their mutual downfall).
Other than the addition of the time travel premise, this show is basically a standard K-drama tale involving the relationships between 2 girls and 2 guys. Yoon Eun Hye takes the lead as the younger Mi Rae; Eun Hye often plays this type of part, and she is very good in her role as usual. Veteran actress Choi Myung Gil nicely portrays the elder Mi Rae. Together, these two actresses strike a nice balance between older and younger versions of the same woman (although you will have to discount the fact that they look absolutely nothing like each other). Joining the two Mi Raes in their adventures to change the future are your 3 stereotypical love interest counterparts; they consist of the 2 hunky male leads, along with the "gorgeous other girl". These 3 are quite good in their roles, and they're about what you'd expect from a show like this. Here's your summary of them:
1. TV anchorman (Lee Dong Gun): The primary male lead who the younger Mi Rae must not get involved with at all costs. He's a bit older and polished, and he quickly takes a liking to Mi Rae when she joins his broadcast team. He can be a little temperamental and stubborn at times, but is mostly appealing enough as a suitable love interest for our heroine.
2. Rich young business heir (Jung Yong Hwa): He's pretending to be an anonymous VJ at his family's broadcasting company while he learns the business from the ground up. He's a good looking charmer that's very reasonable despite some occasional immaturity. He represents the younger potential love interest available to Mi Rae, and, he falls for her right away too.
3. Reporter Girl aka the "gorgeous other girl" (Han Chae Ah). She just can't seem to find someone, anyone, to love her no matter how hard she tries. Suitable partners should be lining up around the block to catch this woman; alas, such is the life of being the "gorgeous other girl" in these K-dramas. She's a bit of a sly fox when it comes to trying to land herself an appropriate guy of course, but she's far from being overly loathsome.
This show gets off to a pretty decent start. The entire cast interacts really well with each other right from the get go, and no one is made out to be a true antagonist; nobody's perfect by any means, but they're all fairly amiable and well-meaning for the most part. The story is fairly interesting and economically paced as well, and there's little to no time wasted on irrelevant &/or pointless side plots. There's also loads of amusing extras deftly sprinkled in that provide some nice touches to the entire proceedings (from bleeped out cursing, to post production screen visuals & sound effects, to voice overs & first person camera angles, etc). Everything is kept light and tight from the beginning, and as a result, this show had all the makings of huge winner (ratings notwithstanding).
Unfortunately (and, perhaps, inevitably), this show slowly begins to go in a different direction as it subtly changes its tone from mostly rom-com to mainly drama. The transition is actually handled pretty well here, but the show does become a lot less charming as it progresses. It never gets terrible or overwrought with too much melodrama, but the nuances that made it incredibly appealing from the outset get stripped away one by one; gone are the comedic aspects, the catchy tunes to whistle along to, the general camaraderie and playfulness that permeated the early part of the show, and so forth. After a while, the elder Mi Rae becomes somewhat of a 5th wheel as the 'future implications' story line is deemed less important, and, the Reporter Girl is soon rendered irrelevant to the plot as well. Eventually, even the romantic appeal to the show disappears, and, all that's left is to watch the M & F leads slog through their regular routines for a while as the story winds down.
All in all, I did rather like this show, and I will recommend it. However, I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't committed to staying its original course. I sat down and started watching a witty romantic comedy with a time travel sub-plot, and ended up watching a rather mundane drama about the daily lives of everyday people. The odd thing is the drama part was pretty good; it's not over the top and much closer to reality than most K-dramas, and I absolutely loved how the relationships & lives of everyone involved were ultimately resolved (in the" life goes on" sense). I really don't have any practical complaints to levy at this show, but, it did somewhat ruin all the fun I was having (and was further expecting) when I started watching it in the first place.
Bottom Line: 7.5 out of 10 stars.
