I posted the six-minute longer trailer for Marry Me, Mary! (M3) yesterday, and today I’ve recapped/translated the segment. No, please don’t thank me. I needed to do it for myself, because I’ve been watching this trailer non-stop, only taking a break to watch and recap Playful Kiss episode 3. I’m just going to call dibs now, okay? The Geun-Geun couple is MINE. Thank you. I want to pet them for days on end.

As for the picture above, I think that wedding sequence is (1) a dream of Mae Ri’s, and (2) reminds me that M3 is going to be What Happened in Bali as a rom-com. Mwahahaha, oh god, let me starting crying tears of happiness now.

Jang Geun Seok is even more awesome than usual because I just realized that his back can act, too. Must be taking pointers from Lee Byung Hun (Lee Min Chul FTW!). How dashing does Kim Jae Wook look in a classic tux? On a scale of 1-10 he is a 20. That is all.

M3 Long Preview Recap:

Mae Ri waves at a moving truck leaving her apartment, likely debt collectors who’ve come to take away their furniture. She goes to a neighbor’s house and retrieves a huge suitcase, likely her belongings which she secreted away beforehand knowing that debt collectors could come at any time.

The neighbor hurts for Mae Ri, so young but already living such a difficult life. Mae Ri responds that her dad has it even harder. The neighbor calls Mae Ri a filial daughter. On a bridge, Mae Ri’s dad tries to commit suicide, first by walking in front of a car, next by jumping off the bridge. Both times he chickens out. Dad voiceovers that he can’t die until he sees his Mae Ri married off.

Mae Ri’s friends are asking her not to take on so many odd-jobs, even offering to pay her rent. She says she has to if she wants to return to college next year and afford tuition. Mae Ri accidentally runs into Mu Gyul in the world’s least impactful accident. She watches him perform, and is mesmerized and takes a picture with her camera phone.

Later, she asks him for his signature by saying that she’s a fan. Mae Ri is writing on a piece of paper – a confirmation note about something that happened that was very very exciting (running into Mu Gyul, perhaps?). Mu Gyul grabs her paper and she jumps around him to get it back. He rips it into pieces and walks away. Mae Ri yells at him to come back and talk to her.

A bunch of female fans surround Mu Gyul, calling him oppa, as he signs autographs and even hugs a girl. He clearly is quite free with his affections, but in a I can care less way. His other band mates get jealous that the girls only have eyes for Mu Gyul. An altercation happens outside on the streets.

Mae Ri asks Mu Gyul to do something, but he declines by saying that he doesn’t like to get involved, he likes peace (when I understood this dialogue, I snorted out my coffee because the screen shows an avatar of Mu Gyul and a pigeon, and I swear they must mean to show a DOVE, unless Koreans think pigeons symbolize peace?).

Mu Gyul’s been drinking, and he renames Mae Ri, calling her Merry Christmas. He laughs at his own wit. I laugh at how much of a lazy lout he is. Mae Ri is offended and calls him childish, her name is not Merry Christmas, its MAE Ri! Mu Gyul says, isn’t that a typical dog’s name.

The cops come, and Mu Gyul grabs Mae Ri and they run for it. Squee. Mae Ri wakes up and is disoriented, then jumps up and runs off, clearly late for somewhere. In her empty apartment, a rolled up blanket log twitches, then rolls over to reveal a content and sleeping Mu Gyul. Hee.

Mae Ri shows up at a fancy hotel, where she is on the phone with her dad, who is also there but lurking away from her sight. Dad tells her to sit down, and then keeps correcting her behavior, telling her to be more ladylike. She finds out that she is there for a set-up meeting with a guy.

Mae Ri yells at her dad inside a bridal salon – why does she have to get married? She wonders if dad is selling her to pay his debts. He reassures her that he’s not, this is just too good of an opportunity to pass up. Mae Ri will be rolling in the dough if she marries this guy, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for her! Mae Ri’s dad tells her that he’s looking out for her best interest, whereas Mae Ri is suspicious about what kind of guy would agree to pay off her dad’s debts.

We see Mae Ri walking past Jung In at the hotel lobby. Jung In is approached by Seo Jun who calls him manager and tells him to enjoy the matchmaking date. She says that Jung In appears to be a rather modern man. She wonders what type of woman would agree to be matched, clearly not someone attractive to men.

Mae Ri yells – how can I get a divorce from someone I’m not even married to! She approaches Mu Gyul to ask him for a favor. She shows him a piece of paper, and he reads it and realizes that she’s a married woman. They end up taking wedding pictures, where Mae Ri is uncomfortable and Mu Gyul is bored and annoyed.

My Two Cents:

Finally! We finally get a clue about how two fake marriages can take place even in fantasy drama land. During the press conference, it was revealed that:

In the drama, Mary has to marry to a son from a rich family named Jung In (Kim Jae Wook) on paper by her father’s urging simply to get out of debt, but Mary goes through a fake wedding with Mu Gyul (Jang Geun Seok), who is a leader of an indie band, to dissuade her father.

Monday cannot come early enough. Seriously, I’m getting the shakes. I don’t think this concept would be nearly as accessible if it weren’t for the awesome cast holding down the fort.

Let me reinforce the fact that this drama doesn’t just use the fake-relationship K-drama trope, it completely takes it up like 500 notches. Mae Ri isn’t just in one fake relationship, she’s in two! And both relationships aren’t just pretending to date, they are pretending to be married!

[Credit: translation for preview from Korean into Chinese done by Baidu Moon Geun Young bar]