I Am Married... But! Review
Director: Li Nien-hsiu
Date Created: 2025-02-16 23:45
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I Am Married… But! Review: You ever sit down to watch a show thinking it’s going to go one way, only to have it totally blindside you by how it ends up? That’s what happened to me with this Taiwanese drama (童話故事下集). Directed by director Li Nien-hsiu, this series stars Ko Chia Yen and Jasper Liu as a married couple stuck in the mess of living with in-laws, dealing with expectations, and trying to determine if their love is strong enough to last.
With twelve episodes, it follows the life of I-ling, who’s tired of living under her controlling mother-in-law’s roof, and Xue-you, a husband who just can’t seem to find the strength to put his foot down. But just when things seem to be stuck in some kind of perpetual loop, new characters come along and make them question if they should even be together at all.
I Am Married… But! Review
I’ll be honest—I went into this show thinking it was going to be one of those dramas that glorifies women sacrificing everything for the sake of marriage. And while parts of it did get on my nerves, I was pleasantly surprised by how much it actually subverted some traditions.
Okay, I won’t beat around the bush, the story isn’t really that original. If you’ve seen dramas about marriages that fail, nosy in-laws, and partners growing apart, you can probably take a pretty good guess at least 80% of this plot. But the thing is, just because a story’s familiar doesn’t mean it can’t be effective. And that’s exactly what Netflix’s I Am Married… But! does well—it takes a straightforward, realistic premise and brings out strong feelings.
What I loved most is how the show never makes I-ling the bad guy for simply needing some space. Come on, why can’t some people realize that a married couple may need some privacy? The way the show transmits the frustration of being constantly watched, judged, and forced to conform to old traditions felt so real that I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards I-ling.
Simultaneously, Xue-you’s conflict is understandable too. He’s not the bad guy, just a man who’s been socialized to put his mother first above all else to the point where he really does not know how much he’s hurting his wife. And that’s what makes their conflict interesting—they love each other, but love is not always enough if one person is being smothered.
Now, let’s talk about pacing. Oh boy. The first several episodes? Slow. The middle episodes? Repetitively slightly. I really felt like this show could have been shorter, perhaps six episodes long instead of eight. There were times when I felt we were watching different iterations of the same argument repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly, and I found myself getting annoyed. But—big but—the final several episodes really pick up steam. Just when I was about to lose interest, the show pulled me back in with some really heartwarming scenes and a good character arc.
If there’s one reason to watch I Am Married. But!, it’s Ko Chia Yen. She’s amazing as I-ling. Her frustration, her desperation, her little moments of joy—she brings them all so naturally that you actually feel what she feels. One of my favorite moments is when she finally lets out all her pent-up rage—it’s such a raw, emotional scene that it hit me hard.
Jasper Liu, meanwhile, plays Xue-you in a way that’s… well, infuriating. And I don’t mean that as a negative thing—it’s just that his character is so passive at times that I wanted to shake him and tell him to wake up. But the thing is, that’s the point. He’s playing a man who’s been conditioned to be this way, and watching him slowly realize his mistakes is what makes his arc worth it.
The supporting cast, too, deserves a shout-out. The mother-in-law? Infuriating, but multi-dimensional. The best friend? Supportive, but also flawed. The “other people” who come into their lives? Not just plot devices, but actual fully-fleshed-out characters. I liked that everyone in this show felt like real people rather than just filler characters.
Visually, it’s not flashy, but really, that’s sort of working in its favor. It’s filmed in such a way that you can focus on the characters and the emotional beats and not get distracted by over-the-top cinematography. That being said, there are some really nice stylistic touches, like changes in aspect ratio to match I-ling’s state of mind, that I thought were fantastic.
Here’s the thing—if you’re the type of person who enjoys slow-burn relationship dramas with a lot of emotional subtlety, I Am Married. But! is worth your time. It’s realistic, it’s well-acted, and it’s thoughtful, especially if you’ve ever had to deal with family pressure in a relationship.
Summing Up
I like this show, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s great. It’s got some really fantastic moments, especially towards the end, but I do wish that it had been a tighter execution. That being said, I love that it subverts some of these old-fashioned conventions, and I think it’s an important show for that reason alone.
So if you’re in the mood for a drama that’s willing to get real about the harsh realities of marriage, give this one a shot. And if you do end up watching it, let me know—did you find Xue-you as infuriating as I did?
I Am Married But is now streaming on Netflix.
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