In our ongoing series of dramas you may have missed, we can't forget to mention the offbeat romantic comedy, "Mary Stayed Out All Night."
"Mary Stayed Out All Night" stars Moon Geun Young as Wi Ma Ri, a young girl whose life has been shaped by the debts her father incurs and his attempts to avoid his debtors. She falls for indie musician Kang Mu Gyul, played by Jang Geun Suk but then finds out that a marriage has been arranged for her with wealthy heir Jung In, played by Kim Jae Wook.
The reasons her father wants this marriage are obvious. He needs money. The reason Jung In's father is so eager is that he once loved Ma Ri's look-alike mother. Jung In agrees to the marriage because he is afraid of his father and needs his financial support.
Although the wrongheaded reasons for creating the arrangement are serious, the results are often convoluted and hilarious.
To try and escape the arrangement, Ma Ri asks Mu Gyul to pretend to be her husband. Somehow she winds up in a 100-day trial period where she has to divide her time equally between the husband she pretends to have and the one she is supposed to marry.
At the end of the 100-day trial period, Ma Ri must decide which one of the two men she will really marry. Complicating this decision is the fact that Mu Gyul is not the best boyfriend. He has an ex-girlfriend hanging around, And Jung In turns out to be a nicer guy than Ma Ri first imagined. He also starts to like her.
Some critics of this drama said they could not buy the premise of a young girl agreeing to fulfill a contractually obligated marriage when she was already in love with someone else. But even if that idea bothers you, you may want to keep watching anyway. It's just the set up for the fun that follows.
The comedy has quite a few great moments and quirky plot twists. There's music too. Jang Geun Suk performs a few songs as his character's musical dreams come true.
The drama's message is a good one. It's important to remain true to your dreams, even if they seem illogical. Doing anything else could make your life complicated. And the drama's end is satisfyingly sweet, while ringing a lot truer than many dramas.
