So I Married An Anti-fan Rant and How My Drama Taste Has Changed Through the Years
Disclaimer: I know some people love the show and that's absolutely okay. This is just my perspective after watching dramas for years. You do you. :)
It's been 11 years since I got hooked on watching Korean dramas. Dubbed ones in my native language aired on television when I was in elementary school but it was not until 2010 that I started watching them religiously in Korean with subtitles. I can say that my taste has changed throughout the years and shows I would have enjoyed in my younger years don't appeal to me anymore. Dramas have changed too and have become more aware of different ideologies and biases. Still, there are a lot of things to work on when it comes to social sensitivity in dramas.
During one of my lunch breaks, I was so bored that I wanted to watch something short and fun like one of those shows you can watch without thinking much. I went to viki and they had this drama featured called So I Married An Anti-fan. I've been seeing it for a while but was not interested. Thinking it was a web drama with short episodes and knowing most of the leads, I decided to watch it. Whoa. What a crazy ride that was.
So I Married An Anti-fan (2021)
So I Married An Anti-fan is based on a novel with the same name by Kim Eun-jung. The story revolves around four characters. Hoo-joon (Choi Tae-joon) is a top idol who used to train with Choi Jae-joon (Hwang Chan-sung) and Oh In-hyung (Han Ji-an). Lee Geun-young (Choi Soo-young) is a reporter who crosses paths with Hoo-joon in the worst situation possible and ends up being his anti. Jae-joon and In-hyung can't get over Hoo-joon and Hoo-joon can't get over himself. Geun-young gets entangled in their crap. By a twist of fate, they get "married".
It's the usual over-the-top trope we've been watching year after year and to be honest, I still eat it up. Crazy writing can be fun sometimes (see The Last Empress) but it still has to be done right. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for Anti-fan. It's so frustrating to know that the whole thing could have been avoided if the leads talked like mature adults when they had a misunderstanding. I tried to cut them some slack because you know, people can be drunk and emotional. It happens, I get it. But then, they proceed to make more assumptions of each other instead of communicating. Why?! At the point of writing this, eight episodes have passed and they still haven't learned their lesson. It's funny because each episode is a copy of the other with a slightly different situation. It's hard to believe that they can function in society. Though really, Jae-joon looks like a mess as a CEO anyway.
Choi Soo-young and Choi Tae-joon
The 15-year-old me probably would have loved this show. It has the swoon moments like the girl tripping and the guy catching her trope or the girl crying and the guy comes to save the day trope. When I was just a k-drama newbie, all these stuff seemed so magical. It's as if a knight in shining armor will come and sweep me off my feet! A guy grabbing me by the wrist to stop me from going? Oh, swoon worthy! A forced kiss? Kyaaaaaa, sign me up! My perspective on falling in love was so distorted that I thought it was okay to be treated like that.
Hoo-joon misunderstood Geun-young when they first met (of course, she was at fault as well and she even threw her shoe at him) and has been hot and cold with her since then. He would say mean things to her and treat her coldly when they are on camera. Then, he will have moments when he's kind and considerate. What I find manipulative is that when he does something bare minimum kind, the music shifts to a soft tune as if telling the viewers "Okay, this is where you go kyaaaa and root for this guy". I can't help but laugh whenever this happens and I have been laughing my head off while watching Episode 8.
I found it so hard to like the male lead because of this. He has his problems and I know those can affect you and how you interact with other people. However, I hate it when characters take it as a free pass to be an asshole to others. It's possible to lash out or say hurtful words but you have to take responsibility for it later on. Characters in this drama rarely apologize and they never communicate! They talk but nothing comes out of it. Sigh. Maybe it is the writer's fault for not having much of a story for the characters to work on. Literally, everything will be resolved if they talk maturely.
Hwang Chan-sung
Speaking of being mature, Jae-joon takes the cake for being stuck in the past and acting like a messed up teen. I still don't get what his deal is. He seemed to be extremely jealous of what Hoo-joon has achieved and has vowed to take him down as his life goal. From what we've seen of his flashbacks, he asked Hoo-joon to sign with the agency that his dad set up for him. Hoo-joon declined and that left him butthurt for years. He's now dating Hoo-joon's ex whom it's vague if he really likes or not. What we know is that he's so paranoid about her having contact with Hoo-joon. On the outside, he looks like he has everything but he chooses to focus on what he doesn't have. Interestingly, I was more invested in his character arc than the main lead. Maybe I just like villains more? Or I like Chan-sung? We will never know.
Jae-joon's paranoia isn't really baseless when his girlfriend In-hyung obviously still has feelings for her ex. There are a number of tropes that I dislike but the #1 on the list is the Clingy Ex-girlfriend Trope. Oh my gosh. I hate this trope with a passion. We don't know for sure how the two broke up before so I'm cutting In-hyung some slack though. Still, she's so clingy and acts all innocent when she's with Jae-joon. Her relationship with Hoo-joon is over. She's now dating Jae-joon so why is she still going around seeking Hoo-joon every chance she gets? Then she pretends like a victim in front of Jae-joon AND Hoo-joon. Girl! I don't even know what to tell you at this point. I wish she can just call it a day and leave the industry for good. I don't think she was made for it and I can see her flourishing more in a different career.
Han Ji-an
Thankfully, the female lead is quite relatable! It could be because she's the only non-celeb in the line-up so I can understand her a bit more. Being a salaried worker myself, looking at Geun-young struggle to make ends meet makes my heart ache. Sometimes, I want to tell characters to just stand up for themselves. Don't let them step on you like this! The reality is, there are so many things to consider before doing it. What if I get fired? What if my boss targets me because I acted up? That one scene of her walking to the bus stop then her box gave out and dropped her strawberry juice all over her stuff makes me tear up just by thinking about it. That's why I don't blame her for going crazy and eventually getting herself entangled in all this mess.
Geun-young does act ditzy at times and there are situations she could have avoided if she thought hard before doing things. Still, she knew when she did wrong and apologized for it. Despite the criticism and nonsense she's been getting from Hoo-joon's fans, she pushes through and keeps her dignity. Soo-young really did a good job playing her. The moments when I felt emotionally invested were scenes with her in it.
Choi Soo-young
Despite all this, I know I will keep watching this drama. I want to know how it ends, at least. I don't have much expectations considering we are at the halfway point now. So far, I don't see how characters can be redeemed especially after Hoo-joon ditched Geun-young when he's the one who took her there in the first place. Dude had the audacity to be mad when he's the one asking the favor and misunderstood the situation. I can't believe they plastered a kiss after that. I've reached the point when I don't get giddy about such kiss scenes anymore. Quite proud of myself.
We've only ever gotten bad boys for leads who are always mean to the girl. They will then do something sweet later on and all their past mistakes get forgiven. (Lee Min-ho dramas flash in my mind) Years later, I can now see past the pretty boy image and see the characters as people. In real life, would I tolerate this kind of behavior? No way. Drama characters shouldn't either. This is why we get second-lead syndrome. Second leads are usually so nice but the female lead always goes for the mean one.
WOOT! SPOILERS FOR YOU WHO FORGOT POETRY AHEAD
Because of this, I started greatly appreciating male leads who are kind and considerate from the get go, rare as they are. Characters who come to mind are Ye Jae-wook from You Who Forgot Poetry, Im Eun-seob from When the Weather is Fine, and Ki Seon-gyeom from Run On. No fancy confessions, no wrist-grab-forced-kiss I love you's. I personally love how confrontations with Jae-wook and Min-ho went in You Who Forgot Poetry. Min-ho was the standard kdrama male lead while Jae-wook was the second lead type. Just the way Doctor Ye handled the conversations between them with firmness and maturity while still being considerate was such a breath of fresh air to me.
Choi Tae-joon
In conclusion, I believe that So I Married An Anti-fan could have been better if the characters were more mature adults (or they could have been teenagers and I'd believe it more) and had better communication skills. I'll be watching to see if Manager-nim gets a happy ending but yeah, that's about it.
Here's an Abracadabra Parody Chan-sung did with 2AM and 2PM back in the days to wish you a nice day.
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