It’s not easy to find the perfect match. That’s why throughout history people have consulted matchmakers to find a life partner. Matchmakers were frequently asked to interpret which threads of fate should intertwine during the Joseon era, which is when the Korean drama The Matchmakers is set. In this fantasy historical romantic comedy, actor-singer Rowoon plays Sim Jung-woo, a brilliant, but not very humble scholar whose handsome appearance attracts the attention of the nation’s princess.
It’s not his idea of a good match since he wants to become politically influential and princes—even by marriage—can’t hold public office. However, it’s impossible to refuse a princess. In an even worst stroke of luck, the unfortunate marriage ceremony is not successfully concluded before the princess suddenly dies. Jung-woo is left without access to power and unable to remarry or even take a concubine, living alone in his fancy Bukchon hanok.
He becomes known as the kingdom’s most resentful man and someone to avoid because he’s obviously cursed with bad luck. For eight years he tries to annul his unfortunate marriage, using his knowledge of the law to argue that it wasn’t a legal marriage because the ceremony wasn’t completed. This eventually lands him face-to-face with his father-in-law, the king, who is not pleased by these efforts at annulment.
Meanwhile the widow, Jung Soon-deok, seems to be able to come and go as she pleases. Soon-deok, played by Choi Yi-hyun, wins praise and makes a profit from her career as an insightful matchmaker, enabling a network of other women to earn their livelihood. But she actually has to sneak out of her in-laws’ house to do that. These two characters meet when she—in a k-drama trope reversal—saves him from an accident and he falls into her arms.
They meet a second time while discussing a steamy novel that the lonely Jung-woo was perhaps better off not reading. It’s the second time this year that actor/former k-pop singer Rowoon had played an arrogant character in need of comeuppance. His last role was playing a lawyer in the fantasy drama Destined With You, where his present day character was controlled by an ancient curse and he got a much-needed personality check from Jo Bo-ah. This time the person dealing out the comeuppance is Soon-deok. The smart resourceful matchmaker is not at all awed by his arrogance. Rowoon also appeared in the 2021 historical romance The King’s Affection.
Choi Yi-hyun previously appeared in both seasons of the Netflix
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Pairing likely marriage candidates is serious business, but the characters in this drama deal with their own love life to great comic effect—and of course it’s inevitable that they will fall in love with each other. To be together they will have to circumnavigate laws that would keep them apart and miserable, but both characters are smart enough to figure that out—once they figure out their feelings.
The fantasy rom-com airs on Viki.com in the US.
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