Marry Me or Not Ends on a Storybook Ending for an Unconventional Romance
TW-drama Marry Me or Not wrapped up its compact 15-episode run last Sunday with a nice flourish. A tidy bow if you will, for the OTP at least, and really that’s all I cared about. Roy Qiu made a triumphant return to drama land with this drama and role, his lawyer Justin was hilarious and ever evolving, a man who was not afraid to admit his flaws and willing to embrace emotional maturation. Alice Ke‘s prickly “bitchy” Huan Huan was anything but that inside, a super soft romantic at heart. I loved their interactions and chemistry, not a redo of the cute innocent Office Girls era but a sexy and smart upgrade to adult fare. The last few episodes were not as fun as the start but nothing was dragged out for too long and the conflicts made sense even if some made certain characters come across as selfish and immature. At least my OTP was satisfying to the last drop, with a proposal and wedding that fit their romance perfectly. Thanks MMoN!
I loved how he mention they were destined to be. He liked her since the beginning.
A fantastic drama!
One of the better Taiwanese idol dramas I’ve watched recently! They had great chemistry and the pairing was very comfortable and interesting to watch. I enjoyed reading all your posts of MMON as well! I’m enjoying back to 1989 too so far.
I enjoyed it…
but for me, somehow the OTP romance lost steam towards the end.
I felt that the conflict and angst between them at the end was somewhat tropish and wish she could have tried to overcome the hurdles within herself and together with HM.
I was much more satisfied with how SN made all the effort to turn her relationship with Huan around and call Huan out on hiding her insecurities behind her arrogant front.
I like this comment! The girls reconciling was nice. Even though SN never actually said “sorry” like I had hoped I thought she showed it in her actions later on which I was glad to see.
The conflict betweeen the pair made me think heavily of Marriage of Not Dating. I think the mothers i these two shows were motivated by similar interests except in this one I’m glad the husband wasn’t a sleaze and that they managed to start anew.
I felt for Huan Huan. I get it, she’s been so beaten down over the years frankly it’d be weird if she did a full 360 and began to trust so easily and openly and not hide away. I appreciated the little changes I saw in her. I felt like she was at least more open with her feelings when it counted and think all she really wanted at the end was the hope of things not going awry down the line of her and HM being together for the long haul. I like that HM gave that to her with his speech and in such a fairytale way which was a nice throw back to their break-up in Busan. So while I could see people being annoyed at the sudden dance and song number I quite appreciated it, lol.
Does anyone know the song played during the dance number? The chorus said “Come and show me love.”
It’s the second best taiwanese drama i have ever watched after “Dolphin Bay”. It may not be perfect production-wise but i highly recommend this series as a “must-watch”. Kudos to the writer. There are a lot of interesting lines that are worth remembering. Congratulations to the two main leads. I hope both stars succeed in their respective careers as well as in their personal life. This series made me consider watching previously produced taiwanese dramas i must have missed and i look forward to watching more taiwanese series in the future. More power to taiwanese dramas!
Thank you for the recaps! Unfortunately, I was late to join the party – I started watching the show online only after it had already finished its run, and I finished it today. Nobody I know has watched this drama so I have nobody to share my thoughts with, thus I’d like to post a comment here!
I wasn’t satisfied with the final episode with regards to the leads… The flash mob proposal was certainly grand and impressive. Yet, it seemed out of place and overly flamboyant, given that Hao Meng was previously portrayed as a somewhat low profile person not liking to take photographs, while Huan Zhen was no longer a show-off like she had been in the beginning of the show. Such a grand and public proposal made it seem like the proposal was a performance a love rather than a heartfelt moment shared by the two leads. Moreover, the fact that Huan Zhen was suddenly willing to reunite with Hao Meng after this grand proposal made her seem somewhat shallow, which took away from her complex and deep character we had seen in the show.
Huan Zhen’s main worry as seen in previous episodes was that she was an obstacle hindering Hao Meng from pursuing his dream of protecting the environment. Yet, this concern was quickly dismissed with Hao Meng’s remarks that Huan Zhen was his new dream. I found it hard to believe, and certainly not ideal, that Hao Meng could so readily give up his lifelong passion, which was not only a goal but also an integral part of his character. I would have preferred the ending to address this concern in a more in-depth manner instead, such as having Hao Meng reassure Huan Zhen that he could protect the environment through other means, and that far from pulling him down, their love actually helped both of them to improve and become better people. For instance, Huan Zhen could start introducing eco-tourism travel packages at work. This would have been an expansion of a point in an earlier episode, in which Huan Zhen picked up litter with Hao Meng and said that she could protect the environment with him. It would also resolve a problem raised earlier on, that Huan Zhen joined the travel industry in the past not out of any meaningful passion, but only because she had wanted to compete with Sheng Nan.
The marriage proposal could have been beautiful in another way, particularly one to do with nature, such as taking a river boat ride or forest trail. They could also have taken part in more symbolic actions like planting a sapling, which could allude to the amount of care, patience and understanding required for a relationship to blossom and flourish – an important message not just for our two leads, but also other characters like Hao Meng’s parents.
Ultimately, what I’m saying is that I found the ending grand but unsatisfactory, since it diluted the deeper meanings in the show.
Does anyone know the song played during the dance number? The chorus said “Come and show me love.”