KDrama Review: Mary Stayed Out All Night

The Gist: Wi Mae-Ri (Moon Geun Young), energetic college student, is trying to keep a positive outlook as her father deals with massive debt, often sending loan sharks after her. He thinks he's solved their family problems when he runs into a wealthy old friend and decides to marry Mae-Ri into their family. The groom in question, Jung In (Kim Jae Wook), agrees at first to keep his father's investment in his drama production. When Mae-Ri finds out she's being sold off against her will, she pretends to marry a guy she just met, front man and rocker Moo-Kyul (Jang Geun Suk). Moo-Kyul and Jung In quickly get protective over Mae-Ri as their parents are trying to force the marriage with Jung In and force out Moo-Kyul. The situation becomes ever complicated as real feelings begin to develop out of the lies.

Love:

1. Kang Moo-Kyul

I must admit that I was not a huge fan of Geun Suk in You're Beautiful, but I love his character in MSOAN! He has a genuine warmth that makes it endearing when he's on screen. Now, let's not forget that voice. Holy cow, the intro scene with him on stage singing My Bus! immediately hooked me on him. I grew to love Jung In too, but at first, all of the scenes with Mae-Ri and Moo-Kyul were by far my favorite. Love him. He adds a lot of talent to the show and steals most of the scenes.

2. Wi Mae-Ri

At first, I thought Geun Young was totally annoying. It takes a while to get accustomed to her voice, but I found it adorable by the end of the show. Also, I am totally in love with her hair. It's long and beautiful. Mae-Ri and Moo-Kyul are like good hair partners. As bizarre and complicated as the plot gets, I found Mae-Ri to be a drama heroine who's actions I actually understood. For instance, when Moo-Kyul is kissed by Seo-Jun that would have turned into this whole thing in any other drama, but Mae-Ri gets upset but moves on quickly. She's reasonable in a fairly unreasonable situation. Love her!

3. Poignant Scenes

MSOAN does a good job of expressing a lot of things in a concise scene. For example, there's one scene where Moo-Kyul's mother comes to him, distressed over a recent break up. When they go for ice cream, her boyfriend calls her to make up and she ditches Moo-Kyul without saying anything. That sets the groundwork for their complicated relationship and does so seamlessly. Another good example of this is when Moo-Kyul and Mae-Ri go to the place where Mae-Ri was kidnapped. So sweet and short. Excellent writing!

4. The Music

I am obsessed with this OST. I have listened to it over and over. My Bus! is my favorite, but all the music is well done, ranging from rock to pop and back again. It fits the tone of the show perfectly.

5. The Love Triangle

Let me start off by saying I am not a huge fan of love triangles, but I found this one to be totally awesome. It goes from no one wanting to be involved with anyone to everyone loving everyone. I thought it was a smart choice to make Jung In likeable, instead of someone it would terrible for Mae-Ri to marry. It really meant that her bond with Moo-Kyul needed to be way strong. This show is really all about the romance and I loved every scene. It was a fantastic love story that was a bit different.

6. The Ending

***SPOILERS*** I was going to be so disappointed if we didn't actually get to the wedding after all this build up and I was not disappointed. I thought it finished perfectly. Jung In is such a good person to let her go, even when it gets him in trouble. I love that the three of them can sort of be friends at the end. It was a nice touch. I worried that they were going to break up Moo-Kyul and Mae-Ri, but I loved that it didn't end in a perfect marriage. When she said "we broke up twelve times, we're dating for the thirteenth," I thought it rang so true. Smart ending!

Meh:

1. The Parents

 OH MY GOD! Who tortures their children like that? I get that you don't want them to suffer, but if you just let them alone, I'm sure it'd be fine. When Mae-Ri seems to miserable and her dad just insists on moving things along, I was mortified. I did get good insight when I realized that Jung In's dad was totally hot for Mae-Ri's mom. When Jung In said Mae-Ri would turn out just like his dad, pining for someone he wasn't married too, I thought OH SNAP! but that still didn't change his mind. Bad parenting all around.

2. Seo-Jun and Mae-Ri

Seo-Jun, played by Kim Hyo Jin, is Moo-Kyul's ex girlfriend and an actress in Jung In's drama. I thought for how intertwined their lives were, Mae-Ri and Seo-Jun would end up friends. I really wanted that, but they didn't quite get there. Close, but not quite. Seo-Jun ended up being pretty harsh and bitter for most of the show. I wished they let up on her obsession with Moo-Kyul a bit sooner.

Hate:

You can't hate this show. It's just not possible. It's all so good!

So:

So...I'm almost considering knocking something out of my top five, this drama was that good. Moo-Kyul and Mae-Ri are amazing protagonists and I thought the story would get to complicated, but the plot was perfect. I powered through this show and can't wait to watch it again. Everyone's saying Secret Garden was better. THOSE PEOPLE ARE LIARS. This show is amazing.

Final Grade: A+

Picture Credit: Dramacrazy