Marriage not Dating (DVD) (Ep. 1-16) (End) (Multi-audio) (English Subtitled) (tvN TV Drama) (Singapore Version) DVD Region All

Marriage Not Dating may not have any flashy concepts or big name actors to catch attention, but it retains attention easily once you start watching thanks to its snappy script and sizzling chemistry. Yeon Woo Jin is surprisingly hilarious and appropriately swoony as crabby, marriage-averse plastic surgeon Gong Ki Tae who just wants to be left alone. Han Groo absolutely steals the show in a delightful turn as earnest everywoman Joo Jang Mi, who gets her heart broken and pride trampled but emerges all the stronger – or drunken, one or the other. Her penchant to say the wrong things and get into pathetic, embarrassing and awkward situations makes the audience both laugh and cringe, but in a painfully relatable way.

The protagonists entering a fake relationship in order to spite his family and her ex-boyfriend is, of course, a standard narrative device only possible in dramaland, but the process in which they fight, bond, angst and fall in love is as entertaining and romantic as you can expect from the genre. More could have been done for Jung Jin Woon and Han Sun Hwa's characters, however, as their conflicting roles as the protagonists' close friends and romantic rivals remain rather opaque and confusing to the end. Kudos are in order, though, for the overall development of the female characters – not just Jang Mi, but also Kim Hae Suk as Ki Tae's mother who silently endures her husband's philandering and Yoon So Hee as the girly-girl who snags Jang Mi's ex – who may at first appear weak or irrational but over time reveal themselves to be stronger and more level-headed than the men around them.

Notably, Marriage Not Dating is often very funny and has a knack for turning ridiculous situations and altercations into both laugh-out-loud moments and heartfelt epiphanies. The smart script, zippy pacing and clever editing come together with aplomb into an energetic and unpretentious relationship drama that continues tvN's streak of quality series.