[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Woman who Married Three Times" Episode 15

It looks like Eun-soo has a stronger sense of pride and self-respect than her constant crying lets on. Rather than let herself be bullied into a bad situation again, she forcefully moves against Joon-goo and manages to reverse the power dynamic. I like the way the storyline is moving into deliberate action and reaction territory here. There's been plenty of mopiness to establish how the characters feel, so it's refreshing to see these emotions finally take center stage.

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There's still plenty of crying this episode, though. And it also tends to be poorly timed. Jumping from one tear-ridden character to another can be exhausting, not to mention frustrating since we only just saw a bunch of sobbing. And the episode even manages to get a bit repetitive, with Eun-soo looking mournfully at the pictures of Seul-gi in her phone multiple times. It's a bit of an awkward situation, because there's not really a whole lot Eun-soo can do when she's isolated herself from the characters that could fight her. This is the right decision to make as a person, but it does present problems for the storytelling.

The give-and-take with Hyeon-soo's relationship problems are more effective simply because she's actually face to face with her conflict. But they also benefit from her story being treated more like a subplot, so the various elements tend to feel more interesting and novel than if we'd spent a whole lot of time dwelling on them. I do like her dogs, though. They're a fun contrast to the people problems- too bad we don't see more of them.

Underexposure also does us favors when Joon-goo ends up having to have a mediated talk with Da-mi. I enjoy how nearly all of Joon-goo's problems are basically caused by his assumption that people will just do whatever he says owing to Joon-goo's handsome charisma. The notion that they might have their own ideas about what the future will hold is a difficult stumbling block, and the meeting as a whole inspires little faith.

Likewise, too, is the choice that Eun-soo is presented with. The essential question here is who she's willing to trust, and to what extent. It's obvious that she can't go on isolated much longer. Eun-soo needs clear, direct emotional affection in order to function, and for whatever reason she doesn't seem to be getting it from her family. Which answers a lot of questions about her psyche, come to think of it- "The Woman who Married Three Times" tends to work best when it focuses on the greater interconnectedness of the situation rather than the individual weepy bits.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Woman who Married Three Times" is directed by Son Jeong-hyeon and written by Kim Su-hyun and features Lee Ji-ah, Uhm Ji-won, Song Chang-eui and Ha Seok-jin.