The title of "My Beautiful Bride" might incline a drama viewer to think that it was going to be a romantic comedy complete with sparkling engagement rings and weddings under a flowery bower.
And while there is a sparkling engagement ring, the drama is a far cry from a romantic comedy. It's a dark, engaging thriller about a bride who disappears just after she accepts her lover's proposal.
On the surface, Yoon Joo Young, played by Go Sung Hee, seems like the perfect woman. That's why Kim Moo Yul's character Kim Do Hyung proposes to her. And he seems like Mr. Right. He is sweet, conscientious, and devoted. He has a good job at a bank.
But what Kim Do Hyung does not know about his bride-to-be is that she was involved with a merciless loan shark Song Hak So, played by Lee Jae Yong.
She was not only involved with him, but she was involved in ratting him out to the police. He's been looking for her ever since.
The loan sharks he is associated with are evil, the k-drama equivalent of Voldemort. If you can't pay up, they sell you into sexual slavery or put you to work in a drug-making factory. Then they kill you and sell your organs to the highest bidder.
Lee Si Young plays Detective Cha Yoon Mi. When Yoon Joo Young goes missing, she recognizes her as the girl that helped her put Song Hak So in prison. Back when she did that she thought she had ended his loan shark ring but it continues while he is in jail.
She becomes involved in the case to find Yoon Joo Young. It's a good role for Lee Si Young who is an amateur boxer, as she gets to demonstrate her action skills.
Kim Moo Yul's character may yet turn out to surprise us. It's obvious that he is in good shape and all the bike riding his character does may pay off when it comes time to pursue the criminals.
Another interesting thing about this drama is that the bad guys are loan sharks and the good guy works for a bank. While the good guys don't sell anyone's organs when it comes time to collect their money, the first episode of the drama show legitimate financial lenders as part of the same system that the poor and struggling often cannot survive with their lives.
Hopefully this drama will have a happy ending that includes some wedding bells. But meanwhile it is a neat, gritty little thriller that should attract some attention.
