Cliché, that’s the word that comes to mind when I think about this drama. Cliché and not taking itself seriously enough, Virtual Bride takes you on an interesting ride as you observe the world where mother-in-law’s are horrible human beings who really need to relax a little and the people around them seriously need a reality check on how they deal with them. Needless to say this drama poked a few sore spots as it exaggerated some points and I’m guessing a bit of cultural differences also comes into play here but we’ll get to that in a minute.
The drama follows an idol seemingly at the end of her career that is given an ultimatum by her boss to join a new program - which other idols seem to be avoiding- or get kicked out the company. Obviously she chooses the program which is the daughter-in-law’ program and is set around a family who specializes in making soy sauce and kimchi.
Our idol sets off to meet her new family that she has ‘married’ into and soon the fun begins as she learns that being a daughter-in-law in their household is much harder than assumed. The other members take to her kindly enough as they observe her strange antics and it isn’t long before they all start to get along pretty well….most of the time.
But what is a kdrama without a little romance? Enter the eldest son of the family who technically has ‘married’ our idol without his knowledge. Our idol dubs him aptly as the ‘math pervert’ as he so loves his numbers and figures, but of course being a professor at a university this doesn’t seem too strange.
The two kick it off interestingly enough and their relationship blossoms quite sweetly, though admittedly a bit quickly. Obviously things don’t go smoothly and lots of situations occur throughout the course of the drama, but overall the pairing is sweet and fairly innocent.
The other members of the family also each have their own situations that make the drama interesting to watch. From scandalous affairs, to being scammed and having to deal with other unreasonable mother-in-law’s, the drama delivers quite a group of intriguing individuals that keep you interested in more than just the blossoming love story.
As far as kdramas go, this was a fairly short drama to watch and I guess that explains the various ‘rushed’ elements of certain things. But given more time the drama would have fallen flat and boring so I’m glad it was cut short. The acting could have also been slightly better, but at least there was chemistry between the characters and the family was enjoyable to watch. As for the cultural differences that have me questioning if all mother-in-law’s are the spawn of dark things best left unsaid, I’ll have to raincheck on that as I realize that Korean family culture is far more close-knit and complex as opposed to western family culture and to speak of it requires many words and wine, lots and lots of wine.
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