Overview of Remarriage & Desires

‘Remarriage & Desires’ is a 2022 South Korean television series directed by Kim Jeong-min and starring Kim Hee-sun, Lee Hyun-wook, Cha Ji-yeon, Jung Yoo-jin, and Park Hoon.

‘Remarriage & Desires’ is a satire on Korean society that tells that depicts the market for second marriages, which is centred on upper-class marriage matching services.

It narrates the story of Seo Hye-seung, a middle-class woman and teacher in Gangnam who lost everything in a second and meets up with the lady who upended her life at Rex, an upper-class marriage bureau, where she joins the race of her desire for revenge.

The 8-episode series ‘Remarriage & Desires’ premiered on 15 July 2022, on Netflix.

Profile

• Drama: ‘Remarriage & Desires’
• Director: Kim Jeong-min
• Writer: Lee Geun-yeong
• Network: Netflix
• Episodes: 8
• Release date: 15 July 2022
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

Main

• Kim Hee-sun as Seo Hye-seung, a teacher in Gangnam.
  A school teacher in Gangnam, whose life is turned upside down with the unexpected passing away of her husband. Left with nothing, Seo Hye-seung tries to rebuild her life with her daughter. However, she takes a twisted road to revenge once she encounters the mastermind who was responsible for her husband’s suicide at the upper-class marriage matchmaking organization ‘Rex’.
• Lee Hyun-wook as Lee Hyeong-joo, a venture company executive.
  A self-made entrepreneur, is the chairman of his own company. In Rex’s matching business, he is categorised as being in the black because he has assets worth billions of won. As a result, he attracts competitive ladies. But Hyung Ju merely wants to move on from the breakup of his first marriage and find a new, better-suited spouse.
• Jung Yoo-jin as Jin Yoo-hee, a lawyer at a large corporation with a desire to become the top class.
  A narcissistic, self-serving, and entirely unconcerned with the bodies she leaves behind as she rises to the top. She manipulates every tool and man at her disposal. Yoo-Hui rises from the pit created for her and hits harder every time Hye-Seung attempts to draw ahead. While her thoughts are on marrying the man who has fallen in love with Hye-Seung, it is not for love or petty greed, nor is it even to be a trophy wife; it is to have her trophy spouse and consolidate the plan she has had to thrive in society.
• Cha Ji-yeon as Choi Yoo-seon
  A representative of Rex, the country’s most prestigious professional marriage agency. Despite her opinion that marriage is a business and that material items offer joy, she is seen as a success in the marriage market. She will exploit the needs of others when it serves her purposes.
• Park Hoon as Cha Seok-jin
  A professor who is at odds with his stepmother Choi Yoo-seon over his father’s enormous wealth. He joins Rex at the urging of his father is a ‘black’ grade groom over there. At Rex, he runs into Hye-seung, his first love whom he had previously broken up with and is now willing to go to any length for her.

Supporting

• Park Sang-hoon as Lee Jun-ho, son of Lee Hyeong-joo.
• Kim Sa-kwon as Joo Ho-chan, Lee Hyeong-joo’s friends
• Lady Jane as station announcer
• Kim Mi-kyung as Lee Hyeong-joo’s mother
• Kim Young-hoon as Choi Seong-jae, President of a leading game company.
• Kim So-ra as Prof. Jung Mi-jin, University professor
• Kim Yoon-seo as Heo Jung-in, Lee Hyung-ju’s ex wife
• Kim Seon-kyung as Sec. Go Ae-ran, secretary of the Blue House
• Lee Doo-seok as Prof. Park Jin-hwan
• Baek Joo-hee as Ha Yeong-seo
• Baek Seung-hee as Han Jung-ok
• Jung Woo-hyuk as Engr. Ryu Won-ho
• Yang Mal-bok as Min Na-rae

Special appearance

• Park Ji-hoon as Choi Yoo-seon’s customers

Synopsis

The series ‘Remarriage & Desires’ begins with a man standing on the top of a high-rise building, prepared to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Seo Hye-seung is heading to the spot, desperately hoping to reach the man who happens to be her husband, Nam-sik. Nam-sik dies after jumping off that building right in front of his shocked wife. It turns out crooked scheming peeped into these ordinary people’s lives, and Nam-sik was driven into this by a ruthless, cold lawyer named Yoo-hui.

Yoo-hui was Nam-sik’s colleague and the woman with whom he had an affair. Blinded by his love for Yoo-hui, Nam-sik, even asked for a divorce from his wife. However, Nam-sik and Yoo-hui get separated somehow, and what follows are some unexpected twists and turns in his life. During the company’s audit, Yoo-hui scams Nam-sik into embezzling and on top of that, falsely accuses Nam-sik of blackmailing and raping her. Unable to bear the betrayal of his love and losing everything he had in life, Nam-sik takes this extreme step.

Shell-shocked Hye-seung holds Yoo-hui responsible for everything, yet she attempts to go on with her life. When Hye-seung returns home, her mother arranges for her to obtain a membership pass for Rex, an elite matchmaking service that helps the wealthiest and most important men find ideal companions. They regard marriage as a business and choose partners based on the magnitude of benefits (profit) available to both parties.

The members(men) of the company are ranked from silver and diamond to the top black class (which includes the ultra-rich) Hye-seung plainly does not want to remarry after her 15-year marriage was ruined beyond belief. Hye-seung had first gone to Rex to cancel her membership, but after witnessing Yoo-hui living a good life and looking for another rich person to play with, something ignited in her and she vowed to exact revenge. Hye-seung is determined to bring Yoo-hui to her knees by revealing her affair with her husband and stealing the partners who grabbed her eye.

The need for vengeance or the desire to seduce and marry a nice catch seems to be the primary motivation behind all the characters in the story. Despite the title and the fact that they are all hoping for remarriage, there are few marriage or romance-like events in the series ‘Remarriage & Desires’. When it comes to desires, everyone wants to gain the upper hand or kill someone in order to acquire what they want.

Theme

Being truthful in life is a personal choice. The transparency and ambiguity of a person’s life are indeed affected by what they have gone through, what they have, and what they plan. What we see in front of us may not be entirely accurate. We may only know a chapter of their lives, and that with a gap between the lines.

‘Remarriage & Desires’ confronts us with the theme of people’s masked lives in all of its utmost complexity and ferocity. With its emphasis on political scandals, blackmail, deceit and lies dominating the series, ‘ Remarriage & Desires ‘ truly takes us to a makjang territory. We see different shades of people, mostly in dark hues. The majority of the characters are consumed by the desire for vengeance.

Even the series’ central conflict is motivated by the main character’s desire for retribution against the mastermind who snatched everything from her life in an instant. While a member of the Rex, Hyeon-seung’s ulterior motives were hidden and she worked frequently with her back against the wall since she was determined to make her game strike the mark.

The severe tragedy Hye-seung experienced in her life—caused by even more cunning people—was what propelled her into this. In the centre of the series, there is an elite matchmaking agency called Rex, which itself is the most notable illustration of the ‘masked lives of people’.In the ideas of that agency, our intentions in marriage are of the least importance. Marriage is judged on the basis of potential profit, just like any other economic transaction.

Mrs Choi believes that selecting a spouse should be carefully considered before making a final decision, just like with any other business transaction. Throughout the season, we observe her imparting this belief to her clients and staff. The ladies in the series  ‘Remarriage & Desires’, including Rex’s Mrs. Choi, all share the same objective: to increase their social position and riches by wise business decisions or by being married to someone from the black class. Morals and personalities are entirely ignored in this situation, and the relationships that formerly held so much worth now serve solely as a means of achieving selfish ends.

Interesting Facts about ‘Remarriage & Desires’

1. Writing in Butwhythopodcast, Sarah Musnicky(author) rated the series ‘Remarriage & Desires’ 8.5/10 and wrote, “It’s a delightful dramatic mess of a show.” Musnicky further stated, “Full of melodrama akin to a soap opera, viewers will be taken along for the ride and, with any luck, perhaps we might get a second season.
2. The literal meaning of the title of the series ‘Remarriage & Desires’ is ‘Black Bride’.
3. The K-Drama ‘Remarriage & Desires’ is an 8-episode series.

FAQs

1. Who is the director of the K-Drama ‘Remarriage & Desires’?
   Kim Jeong-min
2. Who is the writer of the K-Drama ‘Remarriage & Desires’?
   Lee Geun-yeong
3. How many episodes are there in the K-Drama ‘Remarriage & Desires’?
   8 episodes
4. What is the Instagram ID of Lee Hyun-wook?
   @wook0617.