In defence of Mary Stayed Out All Night
I have been seeing a lot of criticism (and often outright bashing) against Mary Stayed Out All Night lately.
It doesn't really bother me - this is not the first time I liked a drama fandom didn't, and it won't be the last. But what really puzzles me is that there seems to be a huge overlap between people who hate MSOAN and people who adored You're Beautiful to bits. I find that confusing as all the criticisms applicable to Mary are doubly so to YAB and Mary has virtues YAB lacks.
So, let's take criticisms point by point.
Nonsensical plot - I will not argue Mary's plot is in any way realistic, even by kdrama standards. However, I'll take your "average girl ends in two fake marriages - one with icy chaebol heir and one with hippie musician" and raise you "trainee nun crossdresses as a man and joins a famous boyband." Seriously. In terms of insanity of plot, YAB takes the kdrama cake (even if it has to work hard to beat some jdrama examples of insanity).
Lack of strong story/narrative drive - Boy, do I have news for you! If you love complex plots, you really should not be watching romcoms, even ones much better made than Mary. There is this little revenge drama I want to introduce you to known as Mawang. It shall satisfy all your cravings and then some. This said, I won't be disingenuous and lie that Mary is the most tightly-written romcom out there (compare it with e.g. Secret Garden and the difference becomes obvious). BUT. That criticism is doubly applicable to YAB which was utterly plotless, completely fluffy and had no forward momentum or character development whatsoever and abysmally little conflict. Mary has had more plot, conflict and character development in its 9 eps so far than YAB did in its entire run.
Every character except for the OTP is poorly-written/not realistic - Hey, I'll be the first to agree it's fully a Maeri and Mugyul show. But let's look at YAB - the same is true for it as well, more so. Have you ever seen a person like Jeremy outside a manga? Or a nasty hungover nightmare at 2am? I thought so. The secondary guy in YAB is more like an outline of a character than an actual person. The edge definitely belongs to Mary's Jung In simply because Kim Jae Wook is a much better actor than Jung Yong Hwa and doing his darndest to make the character work. Joon is a lot more nuanced than one-note caricature that was Uee's character and I can't even remember the rest of the characters in YAB.
What Mary has that YAB did not is an amazing leading couple. Tae Kyung and Minam really did not work for me - in fact they raised every hackle I did not know I had. Their dynamic was off-putting - she worshipped him and he kindly allowed it. And this did not change until the end - nobody grew, nobody learned anything, not really. This is not the case in Mary. Maeri (who is not a helpless dishrag like Minam) and Mugyul are equals. They change and learn from one another.
I enjoyed the first half of YAB immensely but got fed up with it when I realized that was it - that was all it was ever going to be - it was never going to have conflict or plot or character growth. Park Shin Hye barely escaped my permanent dislike due to my loving her in other dramas, and I thought I was done with Jang Geun Seok for life, until Mary changed my opinion. MSOAN, on the other hand, has been a wonderful wonderful ride so far.
But ultimately, we could be here all day, with me proclaiming Mary's excellence and you claiming it's the worst drama you've seen. Rational arguments, after all, mask the true realization for me - it's about emotional connection, that switch that flips on and transforms you into someone invested in these fictional people, involved in their world. The best-written drama will not work for me if this switch does not flip. But I will love an admittedly-flawed one like Mary forever, once that switch goes on and the connection is made.
It doesn't really bother me - this is not the first time I liked a drama fandom didn't, and it won't be the last. But what really puzzles me is that there seems to be a huge overlap between people who hate MSOAN and people who adored You're Beautiful to bits. I find that confusing as all the criticisms applicable to Mary are doubly so to YAB and Mary has virtues YAB lacks.
So, let's take criticisms point by point.
Nonsensical plot - I will not argue Mary's plot is in any way realistic, even by kdrama standards. However, I'll take your "average girl ends in two fake marriages - one with icy chaebol heir and one with hippie musician" and raise you "trainee nun crossdresses as a man and joins a famous boyband." Seriously. In terms of insanity of plot, YAB takes the kdrama cake (even if it has to work hard to beat some jdrama examples of insanity).
Lack of strong story/narrative drive - Boy, do I have news for you! If you love complex plots, you really should not be watching romcoms, even ones much better made than Mary. There is this little revenge drama I want to introduce you to known as Mawang. It shall satisfy all your cravings and then some. This said, I won't be disingenuous and lie that Mary is the most tightly-written romcom out there (compare it with e.g. Secret Garden and the difference becomes obvious). BUT. That criticism is doubly applicable to YAB which was utterly plotless, completely fluffy and had no forward momentum or character development whatsoever and abysmally little conflict. Mary has had more plot, conflict and character development in its 9 eps so far than YAB did in its entire run.
Every character except for the OTP is poorly-written/not realistic - Hey, I'll be the first to agree it's fully a Maeri and Mugyul show. But let's look at YAB - the same is true for it as well, more so. Have you ever seen a person like Jeremy outside a manga? Or a nasty hungover nightmare at 2am? I thought so. The secondary guy in YAB is more like an outline of a character than an actual person. The edge definitely belongs to Mary's Jung In simply because Kim Jae Wook is a much better actor than Jung Yong Hwa and doing his darndest to make the character work. Joon is a lot more nuanced than one-note caricature that was Uee's character and I can't even remember the rest of the characters in YAB.
What Mary has that YAB did not is an amazing leading couple. Tae Kyung and Minam really did not work for me - in fact they raised every hackle I did not know I had. Their dynamic was off-putting - she worshipped him and he kindly allowed it. And this did not change until the end - nobody grew, nobody learned anything, not really. This is not the case in Mary. Maeri (who is not a helpless dishrag like Minam) and Mugyul are equals. They change and learn from one another.
I enjoyed the first half of YAB immensely but got fed up with it when I realized that was it - that was all it was ever going to be - it was never going to have conflict or plot or character growth. Park Shin Hye barely escaped my permanent dislike due to my loving her in other dramas, and I thought I was done with Jang Geun Seok for life, until Mary changed my opinion. MSOAN, on the other hand, has been a wonderful wonderful ride so far.
But ultimately, we could be here all day, with me proclaiming Mary's excellence and you claiming it's the worst drama you've seen. Rational arguments, after all, mask the true realization for me - it's about emotional connection, that switch that flips on and transforms you into someone invested in these fictional people, involved in their world. The best-written drama will not work for me if this switch does not flip. But I will love an admittedly-flawed one like Mary forever, once that switch goes on and the connection is made.