Welcome to Wedding Hell – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

First Pitch

Episode 1 of Welcome to Wedding Hell starts with a night-time stroll by the river. Kim Na-eun and her boyfriend of two years, Seo Jun-hyeong, are cuter than cute. Na-eun notices an elderly couple doting on each other and then another couple heading to their apartment together. Marriage fever starts catching.

Attending a wedding with her two colleagues/friends the next day, Na-eun brings up her growing desire for marriage. The more cynical of the two, Choi Hui-seon, who’s already been married and divorced, warns that marriage only happens when the man wants it to.

Na-eun comments on the ridiculousness of this notion to Jun-hyeong later that day. He starts to squirm and cuts the conversation off abruptly.

Troubled by his behaviour, Na-eun tries to bring up marriage again while they dine at a restaurant that night. Jun-hyeong dodges the topic (with precisely zero tact) again. Frustrated, Na-eun chants ‘marriage’ three times like it’s a spell, sending Jun-hyeong into a coughing fit.

Excusing herself to the bathroom, Na-eun calls Hui-seon, who tells her not to read into it and move on. Na-eun is not so inclined to follow this advice. She thought she had the upper hand in the relationship, and we get a montage of Jun-hyeong’s puppy-like pursual of her during their early days.

Returning to the table, Na-eun wants to call it a night. Jun-hyeong, rather annoyingly, insists on finishing his dinner. Na-eun is stunned and then stunned some more when he accepts a waiter’s offer to scratch a ticket as part of the restaurant’s special promotion. Jun-hyeong is ecstatic when the ticket reveals a free yacht ride and meal. Na-eun… not so much.

They later board the yacht, where the captain refuses to let Na-eun sit inside the cabin, directing her to the top deck. It’s freezing cold. Deciding she’s had enough, Na-eun shoves her way past Jun-hyeong into the cabin and finds it set up for a proposal.

It takes her a moment to realise that it’s for her, but she’s overjoyed when she does. Jun-hyeong thinks that he’s never loved anyone the way he loves her and slides a diamond engagement ring onto her finger.

The next day, Hui-seon warns that this is when the hardship really begins. At a pub, Jun-hyeong and his friend watch the celebrity first pitch of a baseball game on TV, toasting to the war it signals.

The Episode Review

And with that amusingly heavy-handed foreshadowing, we’re heralding an onslaught of wedding bliss hell. Na-eun and Jun-hyeong’s relationship is sugary sweet enough to rot your teeth off, and I’m excited to see how strong it holds (or doesn’t) under the inevitable pressure.

Lee Jin-wook (Sweet Home, Bulgasal: Immortal Souls) and Lee Yeon-hee (The Game: Towards Zero, The Package) bounce off each other well, and while they’ve mostly been over-the-top-fluffy, a flashback to their first kiss showed that they can bring out the sincerity when they need to.

With a light and fun first episode like this, I’m more than ready to see what the next few weeks have in store.