First Impressions: “Wedding Impossible” Brings Fun, Great Queer Representation, And Hijinks A Plenty

“Wedding Impossible” is here! Jeon Jong Seo makes a much-anticipated return to the small screen in her first show since “Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area,” and it’s her first rom-com drama. We’ve an array of new faces in this cast, with it also being Moon Sang Min’s first lead role. So how does the show hold up? Pretty well. Here’s everything we loved about the premiere episodes!

Note: spoilers for episodes 1-2 of below.

1. Lee Do Han

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What if your younger brother was a controlling parent, a mother-in-law, and a matchmaker rolled into one? That’s the issue currently plaguing Lee Do Han (Kim Do Wan), one of the many heirs of LJ Group. The chaebol family is rife with successors that have proven themselves to be corrupt time and time again, leaving LJ’s Chairman and their grandfather Hyun Dae Ho (Kwon Hae Hyo) down to two options for when it comes to choosing his successor: Do Han or our male lead Lee Ji Han (Moon Sang Min).

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The trouble is that Ji Han doesn’t want anything to do with the position. Rather, he’s been grooming his older brother for it for years. Only, Do Han doesn’t want it. And he most certainly doesn’t want to marry Yoon Chae Won (Bae Yoon Kyung) in order to hold onto his title. Representation of diverse identities is rare in K-dramas, but when a gay male character is included, their character tends to be a source of humor. That’s why it’s so refreshing to have Do Han take his life in hand and struggle through the fact that his very identity is stigmatized. He doesn’t even know if he can ever have boyfriend without it becoming media fodder or a weapon used by his cruel relations. Now, that’s a great character in a tough situation, and Kim Do Wan is playing out this conflict to the hilt.

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Do Han’s aware that he lacks the qualifications and social backing for the position as his mother had him and Ji Han out of wedlock. He can’t get married and live a lie, and the sad thing is that he doesn’t even trust his own brother with the truth that he’s gay. And why would he when Ji Han and his grandfather are both determined to see him crowned? But that’s where his best friend Na Ah Jung (Jeon Jong Seo) comes in.

2. Na Ah Jung

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Jeon Jong Seo is carrying the show so far as the down-on-her-luck actress with a backbone of steel and who has her life upended in the course of a few days. Ah Jung’s no Candy, even though parts of her situation seem to fit the bill. She’s an overworked, underpaid, and underused bit-part actress taken for granted by everyone in the industry. She’s been trying to break out for years and certainly has the talent for it but is always shafted. Casting directors want her to be able to drop everything and run to fill a part within seconds, but she has to juggle numerous jobs owing to the fact they pay her peanuts. Still, Ah Jung has a backbone of steel, and Jeon Jeong Seo brings enough conflict and desperation to the character that she feels organic.

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On the other hand, Do Han, her best friend of over 15 years, is extremely well off. So when he returns to Korea after five years, she can’t bring to show him that she’s doing poorly and borrows (with permission) her friend’s car and clothing to appear more well off than she is. But the facade comes crumbling down pretty quickly when Ji Han approaches her. Why? Because Do Han’s announced that he’s dating her.

3. The premise behind the fake marriage

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This dating business is news to Ah Jung, but she knows that he’s gay and is happy to pretend to be his girlfriend. She’s much less happy, however, when she finds out who he is. The great thing about Ah Jung is that her response feels organic. This is someone she’s seen many highs and lows with for 15 years. Sure, the fact that he’s a secret chaebol is a surprise, but what’s worse is his offer: that she play the role of a lifetime as an heir’s wife for three years, after which he’ll divorce her. She gets exposure. He gets to hide that he’s gay. Heck, he’ll even pay her 2 million dollars. Easy, right? Nope, Ah Jung is rightfully offended. It’s bad enough that he’s been lying to her all these years, but to see her friend throw his money around as though it can buy her feels gross. She immediately turns him down and does so again when he tries to convince her the next day. If things had continued as they had, Ah Jung would likely have stuck to her guns to the end. But a certain man leaves her with no choice but to accept it.

4. Lee Ji Han

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When it come to manipulation, Ji Han and Ah Jung are on equal footing as great actors. The difference is that Ah Jung saves her work for work, and Ji Han’s doing it every day. As a child, he recognized that he and his brother were the outcasts in the family, brought in as children when their parents died in a car accident that Ji Han feels strangely responsible for. The other heirs of LJ Group made their distaste of Ji Han and his brother clear, so Ji Han, at the tender age of eight, vowed to do everything he could to ensure that his brother reaches the top.

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He’s kept his nose clean his entire life, while the other heirs got themselves in their grandfather’s bad books via bribery, drunk driving, and the full array of illegal work that chaebols tend to stick their thumbs in. Yet, while Hyun Dae Ho remains strangely cool with Ji Han, it’s clear that he values Do Han. Which is exactly what Ji Han wants. Do Han’s inches from having all of LJ Group in the palm of his hand. He just needs to get married and assume the throne, so him insisting that he can’t because of his supposed love for Ah Jung infuriates Ji Han. Cue, an orchestrated campaign to break them up. The neat thing is that there’s no spite involved. For all his meddling, Ji Han’s a relatively green flag. He actually enjoys hanging out with Ah Jung and sees himself as doing what he has to in order to safeguard his brother’s future.

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So what does he do? He offers money. Ah Jung takes it and promptly returns it after further thought (we love a realistic, conflicted girl!). He gets her a second lead role in a drama. Her biggest yet! She’s excited and over the moon, until she finds out that Ji Han pulled strings to get her the role, resulting in the actress who was actually cast being thrown out of it. Despite wanting to continue in the role so, so badly, she can’t do to others what was done to her and leaves the production. None of this bodes well for her reputation in the industry because people talk. And leaving set halfway through your first day of shooting is a bad look. She knows it, which is why she lashes out at Ji Han for forcing her into such an ugly position. People would mock her for getting the role via connections if she stayed, and they’ll mock her for being unprofessional and hard to work with once she left. Ji Han’s torpedoed her career. She has no good choices left.

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So she calls up Do Han and accepts his offer. From now on, she isn’t Ah Jung the struggling actress. She’s going to be the wife of the country’s most famous corporate heir.

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“Wedding Impossible” does a great job of getting you to feel for the characters in their introductory week. Surprisingly, it’s Do Han and Ah Jung that really jump off the page, while Ji Han feels weaker and more of a cookie cutter character by comparison. Do Han, especially, is a wonderfully realized character thus far. The LJ family dynamic is backstabby as heck, but grandfather Dae Ho seems to have a stable head on his shoulders and, once aware of Ah Jung’s existence, seemed prepared to at least consider her marriage to Do Han. Let’s just hope that he isn’t evil or behind the car crash of Do Han and Ji Han’s parents or anything. With a reduced episode count, we’ll be sprinting to the finish line with this romance, so it should be interesting to see how it shapes up. Ah Jung and Ji Han get along pretty well when they’re not bickering over Do Han’s future. Whether that’ll translate well to romantic chemistry is something we’ll find out this week!

 

cr: Soompi