The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract is about a woman (Lee Se Young) from the Joseon era whose husband dies on the first night of her marriage, and she is then transported to the modern day where she gets involved in a contract marriage with a man (Bae In Hyuk) who looks like her husband.
Lee Se Young is Park Yeon Woo. She is from the Joseon era and is devastated when her husband dies on their wedding night. But she soon finds herself in the future in Seoul where she meets a man who looks like her husband.
Bae In Hyuk plays Kang Tae Ha. He is the heir to his family’s corporation. He comes off very cold due to hiding a heart condition as well as trauma from his childhood. In order to fulfill his grandfather’s wish for him to get married, he enters into a contract marriage with Yeon Woo.
The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract was a solid watch. Of course, I love time travel stories as well as really enjoy Lee Se Young. That’s a good way to start things off. There is an interesting back story concerning why Yeon Woo is transported to the future and why she meets a man who looks like her husband.
We get some fun hi-jinks as Yeon Woo adapts to life in the modern day. I always enjoy that sort of thing. She does adjust a little too well and too fast for my tastes, but that is common in these kinds of dramas.
The romance between Yeon Woo and Tae Ha was sweet. They do start out by bickering a lot, and he is very cold towards her. It takes quite a while for him to soften up, but when he finally does, they have a very nice relationship of deep caring for each other.
Yeon Woo goes on a nice individual journey as she finds a way to use her talents in the modern world and deal with some difficult issues in her past. Tae Ha also learns to let people in and connect with both Yeon Woo as well as his family.
There’s a cute secondary couple involving Yeon’s Woo’s servant, Sa Wol (Joo Hyun Young), and Tae Ha’s right-hand man, Sung Pyo (Jo Bok Rae). They are a lot of fun and add in some nice comic relief throughout the series.
There are several different villains and antagonists throughout the show. They all play their roles quite well when it comes to causing trouble for our main duo. Although some of their motivations and back stories are explored, I did struggle to feel a lot of sympathy for them.
The drama felt like it wanted to be very grand in its story telling at times, particularly when tying things back to the past. It has some lovely moments for sure, but it kind of fell short for me in that department.
I definitely enjoyed the story, but I never felt very emotionally invested. Tae Ha’s heart condition was overused to create drama, and the reasons for Yeon Woo time traveling were so-so. There are definitely some loopholes and questionable plot points too.
So overall, The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract was a good watch. I liked the main story and how the romance developed. It felt a bit flat at times, but it was mostly fun with a bit of mystery and dramatics to spice things up. Despite its issues, if you like time travel romances, this one has enough going for to make for a good time.
My Rating: 7/10
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