The Story of Park's Marriage Contract (2023) Episode 1

Episode 1 of The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract starts with our first look at Jo Heob. She’s a master at thread and she’s well known throughout Hanyang for being prolific at making clothes. In fact, she’s renowned as a God in these parts by some people!

It turns out out Jo Heob is an alias for Park Yeon-woo, who happens to have snuck out late at night. When she heads back to the palace, her mother is not happy. She’s distraught and pleads with her daughter to get married. However, she continues to chase out every matchmaker her mum has brought in. Now though, is the final straw.

When she leaves, Yeon-woo speaks to her best friend and maid, Sa-wol, about their futures together. A shooting star slivers over as she wishes for a better life, but she’s not the only one who sees this. In fact, her prospective wedding match also sees and he’s just as apprehensive at getting married as Yeon-woo is.

Things take a turn for the worst that night when the Princess happens to be sporting a short skirt and some of the garments that “Jo Heob” has created.

When the King sees, he’s livid. He speaks to the council and reminds them there’s a dress code and if that’s violated then the culprit is going to be punished badly.

When Yeon-woo goes hunting for her “old bachelor” to find out who she’s marrying, she stumbles upon the very guy whom she’s going to marry without realizing. This happens to be Kang Tae-ha.

He notices her royal garments under the servant clothes and she’s forced into pretending she’s the hired help. Tae-ha knows her game but plays along, eventually asking what she’s doing. When she mentions the “old bachelor”, he turns his eyebrows up in surprise.

Their conversation is distracted by Yeon-woo’s mum though, who passes with some of the other courtesans. She grabs Tae-ha and holds his mouth, but although the women pass, a broom falls on the ground. Tae-ha decides to stick up for her, and it does the trick.

When Sa-wol arrives to save her, the pair of women take their leave. However, it turns out Yeon-woo and Tae-ha have history, dating all the way back to when they were kids. He hasn’t forgotten her all this time either.

However, all of this is interrupted by the King’s soldiers throwing their weight around. They find the tailor and burn all the clothes outside, including all the beautiful fabrics that Yeon-woo has been using. She’s distraught when she sees and tries to interfere, but her stopping is enough for her to avoid being spotted as Jo Heob.

The soldiers give chase and she’s forced to flee but Tae-ha manage to stop her. However, he notices her beauty first-hand and is taken aback. Still, he manages to save the pair and in fact, they’re stashed inside a palanquin and saved by a strange lady in red. She has ties to the Chief of the Royal Investigation Bureau, and it’s enough to save the pair.

When the soldiers leave, they part ways but the strange woman tells her that they’re fated to meet again one day and when they do, she’ll accept the debt owed. Yeon-woo’s mum is not in the mood for bargaining though and after all of this, she’s brought before her mum and told that she needs to prepare for her marriage.

Yeon-woo is not happy and points out that she should be allowed to dream and do the things she wants to. However, her mum hits back, telling her that women are not allowed to want for things like this. When Yeon-woo sneaks out late at night, Tae-ha happens to be there waiting in an amusing little segment.

Tae-ha hands back her watch she dropped and the pair discuss marriage. It’s rather awkward, but thankfully an absolutely beautiful display of fireworks over the water is enough to spark the pangs of romance between them during this scene. Well, until Yeon-woo’s stomach growls that is.

When Tae-ha returns with food following a short absence, he finds Yeon-woo gone. It turns out the King has found her and taken the girl back home. She’s told to prepare for her marriage and be happy with this decision, whether she likes it or not.

After getting herself all dressed up, Yeon-woo is shocked to find out that Tae-ha is the “ugly man” of his house and the one destined to marry her. However, he believes they should separate their ribbons and not be together.

Tae-ha explains that his family have deceived her. It turns out he has a severe heart problem and has done from a young age. He didn’t consider marriage before but his dying grandfather’s wishes decided to change his mind. He believes that she’s too good for him, who is foolish and lacking.

Yeon-woo has seen and heart enough. She doesn’t want him to feel guilty or conflicted and wants him as her husband. She chases him around the room until she takes the lead and writes her name on his palm. Yeon means to connect. She promises to beat even the god of the Underworld should he suffer with his heart ailment.

She locks the door and stubbornly refuses to let him go and break this contract. In fact, she falls asleep in front of the door! Unfortunately, Tae-ha starts spitting up blood after running his hand over her face. “I’m sorry,” He says, as he spits up blood and says her name. “Do not cry and just like back then…” And he passes away.

Some nights later, Yeon-woo heads outside and sees a blood red moon. It’s an ominous sign and it’s similarly strange because Yeon-wo notices a butterfly brooch covered in blood on the ground and wonders why she’s got this.

Remember the strange woman from before? Well, she seems to have something to do with Yeon-woo’s current predicament, where she’s tied up and taken outside. A masked man grabs Yeon-woo and throws her down the well. As she does, time freezes and this strange woman is the only one who can move.

When time unfreezes, Yeon-woo is thrown in the well and a strange whirlpool throws her out to the other side, where she’s saved by a man who looks exactly like her husband, Tae-ha.

The Episode Review

The first episode of The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract gets off to a great start with a whimsical chapter introducing all of our main characters and their drama. There’s a decent blend of comedy and romance here, and seeing Yeon-woo and Tae-ha’s love story blossom before it’s ripped apart is a nice way of showing her confliction – especially when Yeon-woo is whisked across to the present.

Now that she’s down the well and into present day Korea, I’d imagine we’re going to get a lot more comedy shenanigans here, not to mention a slowly growing love story too. The supporting characters are just as interesting though, especially Sa-wol who’s great in her role. Hopefully we’ll see more of her going forward.

While there’s nothing particularly outstanding here, there’s a good foundation to build on and it’ll be interesting to see where this one goes next.