[PREVIEW] MBC TV series "Woman Who Still Wants To Marry"

"Woman Who Still Wants To Marry"
- Premiere episode, MBC TV (Wed/Thu, 10 p.m.)

"What is precious leaves you, what I'm waiting for doesn't come and what I didn't hope for finds me," said Lee Shin-young (played by Myung Se-bin), the main character in the original TV series "Woman Who Wants To Marry", which aired six years ago. Now in 2010, the same circumstances are facing Lee Shin-young, who at 34 has aged two more years in the story. Her boyfriend has left her because he could not handle a woman who still had big career ambitions, the new love that she is waiting for does not come and her career is not working out the way she had planned.

In such situations, the only source of comfort she can turn to -- both now and back then -- is her girlfriends. Boogie (played by Wang Bit-na), who seems cooler than Shin-young when it comes to love, is always there for her no matter how busy she may be. It is Shin-young's responsibility to prevent heartbreaking situations for her schoolmate Da-jeong (played by Uhm Ji-won), who keeps falling and failing in love. Lee Shin-young is still Lee Shin-young, just a tad older. It is nice that Lee Shin-young has remained the same person she has always been, but it is disappointing to see that "Woman Who Still Wants To Marry" has not moved on from where it was six years ago. Most of the incidents surrounding Lee Shin-young in the first episode was no different from all the cruel events directed toward older single women -- the so-called "Gold Misses" -- in many similar dramas that aired after "Woman Who Wants To Marry". Why do all former boyfriends of the Lonely Old Misses always send a wedding invitation to their former girlfriends? Especially at a time where she already has more than enough to worry about and is writhing in loneliness?

In order to re-tell a story that seems to have been told many times before, there has to be "a certain something else" in the plot but that "something" cannot be found yet in "Woman Who Still Wants To Marry". Could it be because the show has only just started? One can relate to the character Shin-young but even the typical comedic elements feel out of place -- as if they have not melted into the drama yet. If the producers cannot convince viewers why they are re-telling Lee Shin-young's story that they did not finish telling six years ago, viewers may end up asking Lee Shin-young, "You're still not married?"