Series / Perfect Marriage Revenge

What would you do with a second chance?

Perfect Marriage Revenge (완벽한 결혼의 정석, literally "The Standard of a Perfect Marriage") is a 12-episode live-action adaptation of the webnovel and webtoon of the same name.

Han Yi-joo, a talented artist and the eldest daughter of a rich family, strives to earn their love and approval even though they treat her in a cold, apathetic manner, and please her obnoxious, money-hungry in-laws. During an event at her mother Lee Jung-hye's gallery, Yi-joo is framed for said mother's activities defrauding wealthy clients. In the process, she also discovers that her husband Yoo Se-hyuk has always been in love with her younger sister Han Yoo-ra, has quit his job, and filed for divorce.

Yi-joo flees the gallery and is seriously wounded in a car accident. She dies in her hospital bed... and awakens on a 2022 morning, a year before the crash, the day she was supposed to choose her wedding dress. Using this second chance at life, Yi-joo proceeds to enact vengeance on her family and her would-be husband, including seeking out Seo Do-guk, the man Yoo-ra was supposed to marry, and propose to him in a marriage of convenience.

The cast of Perfect Marriage Revenge:

• Jung Yoo-min as Han Yi-joo
• Sung Hoon as Seo Do-guk
• Lee Min-young as Lee Jung-hye
• Jin Ji-hee as Han Yoo-ra
• Kang Shin-hyo as Seo Jong-wook
• Oh Seung-yoon as Yoo Se-hyuk

Perfect Marriage Revenge contains examples of these tropes:

• 12-Episode Anime: The series runs for 12 episodes (compared to the webtoon's 110+ chapters) and has to speedrun many, many things.
• Abusive Parents: Yi-joo has a Wicked Stepmother and an emotionally neglectful father.
• Adaptation Inspiration: The story retains most of the beats from the webnovel and webtoon, but massive changes have been made. For example, Yi-joo being framed for Jung-hye's crimes, finding out about Se-hyuk and Yoo-ra, and meeting Do-guk at the gallery are all original to the show. In the source material, she finds out about the two on her birthday and is never seen speaking with Do-guk face to face before her death.
• Arranged Marriage: Yoo-ra and Do-guk were being pushed (more him than her) into an arranged marriage after a few blind dates. Yoo-ra and Jung-hye have developed an Entitled to Have You mentality from this and wasn't best pleased when Yi-joo makes a play for Do-guk.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Do-guk and Yi-joo return from their honeymoon, Madam Cha approaches them with her arms open. Do-guk does the same, preparing to hug his mother, but it's a surprised Yi-joo that Yeon-hwa goes for.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Han Yoo-ra and Seo Jong-wook. The former pretends to be a sweet, lovable girl, and the latter a kind-hearted older brother who never lets his "slight disability" hamper him. In fact, both are vicious, scheming, selfish, and cold.
• Bitch Slap: Yoo-ra gets slapped by Jung-hye for asking if she should do what her mother did and baby-trap Do-guk.
• Cool Big Sis: Seo Do-na serves as this to her actual younger brother Do-guk and her sister-in-law Yi-joo: she's spirited, outspoken, and supportive.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Yi-joo and Se-hyuk were childhood friends, owing to his family working for hers. It crashes and burns in episode 1 because of Yi-joo returning from the dead.
• Desk Sweep of Rage: Yoo-ra sweeps the contents of her vanity to the ground in fury at Yi-joo and Do-guk's marriage.
• Don't Call Me "Sir":
  • In episode 5, Tae-ja scolds Yi-joo for calling her "Chairwoman Lee" as she has been doing, and allows her to call the older woman "Grandmother", accepting her as a part of the Seo family.
  • Inverted: Yeon-hwa visibly recoils when Yoo-ra calls her "Mother" (as befitting Yoo-ra's status as a potential daughter-in-law) and tells Yoo-ra to stop.
• Driven to Suicide: Yoo-ra overdoses on sleeping pills after a verbal beatdown from Do-guk. Luckily (for her), she survives.
• Face Your Fears: Throughout the course of the series, Yi-joo and Do-guk overcome her toxiphobia and his thalassophobia.
• Gender-Blender Name: Chairwoman Lee Tae-ja's name meant "the son who will be great" because her parents, after four daughters in a row, had hoped for a son. They gave up when the fifth was a daughter after all, but kept the name. Doubles as a Mythology Gag, because her counterpart in the original webtoon/webnovel was Seo In-gyu, Do-guk's grandfather - who had a relatively minor role compared to the Chairwoman.
• Henpecked Husband: Byun Jae-ho has a hell of a time keeping up with/trying to do damage control for his spirited wife Seo Do-na every time she says something incendiary.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Attempting to cross running water and board a ship, Do-guk has a PTSD flashback. He sees a vision of his younger self reaching towards him and screaming for help for his brother. The trauma overwhelms him and he faints in Yi-joo's arms.
  • After finding out her adoptive father is actually her biological father, Yi-joo became catatonic. The police found her barefoot and not speaking, upon which Do-guk takes her home, cares for her wounded feet, and tucks her into bed.
• Manly Tears: Run strong in the Seo family.
  • Yi-joo's brother-in-law cries to the point of needing a handkerchief (and getting elbowed by his wife) at Yi-joo and Do-guk's wedding. Do-guk's father likewise dabs at his eyes as the bride and groom pay respect to the groom's parents.
  • As he breaks down from the PTSD flashback caused by trying to cross running water and board a ship, Do-guk audibly and brokenly sobs.
• Meaningful Name: Lee Tae-ja's name means "the son who will be great", or "great person". She is a feminist trailblazer who built a conglomerate from the ground up, during a time when women were expected to Stay in the Kitchen.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Jung-hye tells Yi-joo not to be so good in her next life. Yi-joo follows up by returning to life, trying her best to drop her "Well Done, Son" Guy tendencies, and exacting revenge on Jung-hye, as well as everyone who wronged her.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Averted. Even though they take some time warming up to her (Yeon-hwa in particular), the Seo family treats Yi-joo better than her adoptive one does.
• Parental Abandonment: Jong-wook's mother abandoned him. He only has a phone as a memento of her.
• Peggy Sue: Yi-joo's death from a car accident enables her to go back and re-do her life, taking revenge on everyone who had wronged her in the past timeline. Do-guk dying in the same car accident enables him to go back and be her supportive husband as she enacts said Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Shotgun Wedding: As the Seo family is discussing expediting Do-guk and Yi-joo's wedding, Jong-wook snidely implies that it's possibly because Yi-joo is pregnant.
• Surprise Car Crash: Fans have joked that "Truck-nim" was extra motivated for this series, as trucks crashing into people often serve as the inciting incident for Peggy Sue media. This chain of accidents took out not one but two people, female lead Yi-joo and male lead Do-guk, sending them into the past together.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Do-guk receives professional treatment that works for his panic disorder, even though his therapist/friend has questionable ideas about patient confidentiality.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: As part of her Heroic BSoD after finding out she is her father's biological daughter, not just adoptive, Do-guk finds Yi-joo at the police station staring into space.
• Trauma Button: For Do-guk, it's the incident where Jong-wook went overboard. He developed a panic disorder from it, and when Jong-wook pressed on the button in public by saying Do-guk had better push him in and kill him this time, Do-guk snaps and pushes Jong-wook to the ground, then has to be pulled off his stepbrother by the cafe waitstaff.
• The Undead: The shaman perceives Yi-joo as being neither dead nor alive. Chairman Lee thinks it's bunk and regrets bringing Yi-joo to see the shaman, but Yi-joo is shaken by this assessment.
• Uptown Girl: Yi-joo, adopted into a rich household, married her family chauffeur's son Se-hyuk. Later, she marries the much richer Do-guk, making him the uptown boy.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Pre-death Yi-joo was an inveterate people pleaser, as it was what she needed to survive as an orphan. She sought approval and love from both her adopted family and her in-laws (Se-hyuk's mother and sister) to no avail. In fact, Jung-hye deliberately gamed this: she fanned herself when she arrived at the orphanage, and Yi-joo, desperate to be good to a potential parent, brought her a glass of water.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Yi-joo has a phobia of eating food that's not packaged, or that she didn't cook herself, because she was poisoned as a child. Do-guk hates the sea (and running water + ships) because he accidentally pushed his stepbrother overboard when they were children.
• Wicked Stepmother:
  • Played straight with Lee Jung-hye, Yi-joo's adoptive mother (and stepmother in the original material), who dresses for the part (from her first appearance) and acts like it. She's willing to frame Yi-joo for her crimes, have her murdered, and sabotage everything Yi-joo does.
  • Averted with Cha Yeon-hwa, who is a stepmother (to Jong-wook), and initially acts frosty and rude to Yi-joo (her prospective daughter-in-law), but warms up to her. She also doesn't treat stepson Jong-wook and birth son Do-guk any differently.