Review | K-drama review: The World of the Married – Kim Hee-ae shines in masterfully scripted story of infidelity and revenge
- This engrossing series had record viewership in South Korea, and it’s not hard to see why – the characters are vividly drawn and the plot is devilish
- If 21-plus hours seems too much to commit to, the first six episodes offer a self-contained saga of betrayal and revenge. But it’s hard to stop there
This review contains major spoilers of early episodes.
4.5/5 stars
In The World of the Married, the marriage of a middle-class couple in South Korea unravels in utterly spectacular fashion, the implosion of their relationship sweeping across the small town they call home. The bleak, yet engrossing drama series recorded the largest audience yet for a cable channel show in the country when its final episode aired on May 16 – despite its dwelling on the nastiest aspects of relationships.
Adapted from the BBC television series Doctor Foster (predominantly its first season), and featuring vividly caustic dialogue, melancholic plot twists and some wonderfully convincing performances, the JTBC show is one of the best Korean dramas in years. It is essential viewing for fans of visceral break-up dramas and twisty revenge epics. Viewers looking for a lighthearted, fun tale will be disappointed.
When we first see her, Ji Sun-woo (Kim Hee-ae) appears to have it all. A proud woman and a popular family doctor with a lucrative director position at the local hospital in Gosan, in Ulsan city, she lives in a beautifully decorated house with her younger-looking husband, Lee Tae-oh (Park Hae-joon), a promising filmmaker, and their teenage son, Joon-young (Jeon Jin-seo). But everything has changed by the end of the first of 16 episodes (each over an hour long).