Marriage, not Dating is a fun show that knows itself really well. It's sweet, hilarious, and slightly over the top for most of its run. The cast and directing really gave it a heart even when the story bordered on frustrating, and it was an ultimately satisfying watch, though I think I might have loved it more under different circumstances.

Overall Story:
Marriage, not Dating starts with a bang and a really fun premise. It centers on two characters with vastly different views on marriage and dating that fake a relationship. But ultimately it was drawn out too long to really stay with me. There was a lot of back and forth. At least once an episode, the female lead would decide that she needed to tell the truth only for a change of heart to occur minutes later. I would have loved if she had fully committed to it, without it seeming like she was dragged along for the ride.

Our main characters are my favorites, largely due to the cast (more on that later), but some of the side characters are incredibly frustrating and occasionally nuts. This story is rooted in the real world and feels realistic in some ways, but a lot of the conflict was contrived. Romantic angst is unavoidable in dramas, and didn’t last very long, but it still frustrated me.

Family is a big theme here, and I think this show does a good job of fleshing out the stories of our main characters’ families and how neither is exactly what they seem. The scenes with them weren’t always my favorite, but they led to some tear inducing moments, and everything came full circle.

Episode Format:
Each episode starts out with an event happening, and then the episode backtracks to tell you how we got there, often subverting expectations. I really liked this device, especially early on, where the anticipation was on screen in the form of a countdown to disaster. Although, some of them were fake-outs and that was annoying. A lot of the later episodes continue subverting expectations in this way, but the anticipation leading up to the event was a lot less emphasized, which I thought was sad. Some of the starting scenes also weren’t very impactful and it felt like the writer just chose one because she had to.

Production:
One of the things I loved about this show was that it was a rom-com that was both romantic and funny. The comedy landed really well, and that was in part due to the directing and the sound effects.

Cast:
In my opinion, Marriage, not Dating is worth watching for the cast alone. Even if it was frustrating at times and I felt disconnected, these leads always won me over, and they’re part of the reason I’ll remember this fondly.

Han Groo is hilarious and pretty great at physical comedy, but she also brought a lot of emotion when she needed to. She was so believable, and she made me love what could have been an annoying character.

Yeon Woo-jin is my new favorite person, and I’ll probably watch everything he’s done after this. I’m pretty sure this was his first lead role, and he was great. His character, the rich jerk, has been done before, but the writing and his delivery made him lovable from the first time he showed up on-screen.

The rest of the main cast was fine, but my favorite of them was Heo Jung-min as Lee Hoon-dong, the female lead’s ex. He was so dumb and hate-able, but I really liked watching him. To be honest, his character in Another Miss Oh was basically the same guy (if my memory is right), but he’s good in these roles, and with this director.