Hey! Hallie here!
With everything going on concerning the strike, I’ve been consuming a lot more media made outside of the US. That includes K-Dramas! A friend introduced me to this one with the promise that it has a much more mature approach to adult romances and relationships. As someone who can get frustrated with some of the more immature relationship issues that cause breakups and miscommunication in dramas, I was immediately interested in checking this one out. After watching it I was definitely surprised by ‘Because This is My First Life’. While not every trope in this drama necessarily appealed to me, the characters, their relationships, and even the way they express their emotions pulled me into the show. But was all the romance really as healthy as promised? SPOILERS AHEAD!
Summary
Jiho has always dreamed of being a writer, but she finds herself disillusioned with her work as a writer for the sponsored product segments of lower-quality morning dramas. To add insult to injury, she also has to do all the housework around the house she owns and shares with her younger brother and his girlfriend. When she discovers her brother and his girlfriend actually married and are expecting a baby, she decides to move out of the house to avoid a lifetime of serving the couple. After a search for new living conditions her friend puts her in contact with Sehee, an introverted man who works as a developer of a popular dating app and is searching for a roommate. The problem? Both are under the impression that they are living with someone of the same gender as them. Once they discover the truth, the two decide to marry under a two year contract in order to avoid scandal and appease their families who wish to see both of them married.
The Good:
The Female Lead: Jiho is a more unassuming female lead, which isn’t something I generally enjoy, but I still liked Jiho quite a bit. She’s very practical and organized, initially catching Sehee’s interest because she does her half of the housework with almost robotic precision and even cleans to get writing inspiration. She’s also very strong, never allowing anyone to pressure her into a decision she doesn’t agree with. At one point she gives up her writing because one of her coworkers attempts to sexually assault her, but she doesn’t let anyone pressure her into that decision. In fact, her coworkers attempt to pressure her into brushing off the assault, but she yells at her coworkers and quits her job. And even when she later gets an offer to come back to writing in a better company with more freedom and a good paycheck, she hesitates so that she can return the way she wants to. Often times we see characters like this written as if they’re cold and unfeeling, but Jiho isn’t. In fact, she’s the first to fall in love between herself and Sehee, at one point going so far as to rename his pet cat to something she feels is meaningful to their relationship. When he makes deliberate moves to push her away she gets angry enough to retaliate, forming friendships he doesn’t approve of and letting him know he can’t have her and push her away at the same time. There were things I didn’t like, which I’ll get into below, but overall I enjoyed this character.
The Male Lead: Sehee’s just adorable. Like Jiho, he plans out tasks and executes them with almost robotic precision. That’s initially the reason they get along so well. But unlike Jiho, he is painfully introverted. His only friends are his coworkers, his best friend being his boss who he, fortunately, became friends with long before he became his boss. His coworkers don’t even know him that well. Most of their experiences with him involve him glaring at them when they interrupt his work. But his introvertedness really does endear you to the character. He doesn’t really know how to interact with people, but in many ways he does try to reach out. And in moments where characters like Jiho reach out to find similarities with him, you see the cold exterior melt away into a quiet softness. I especially liked the scenes where Jiho and Sehee would sit down together to watch soccer, one of the only situations where we see Sehee fully unwind. And although Sehee is the last to admit he’s fallen for Jiho, he falls so much harder and it’s so cute. At one point, while Jiho is mad at him, she tells him he has to repay her by going to make kimchi with her mother. She fully expects her mom to let him sit out the kimchi making, and sure enough her mom encourages him to sit it out, but Sehee’s so concerned about pleasing Jiho that he won’t do anything less than the amount of work her mother is doing. I also liked the added drama of the reveal that he tries to push Jiho away not because of awkwardness, but because of a relationship his father ruined from when he was in college. It added so many more layers and made it even more heartbreaking when he broke down crying once Jiho tried to leave him. He’s just so soft.
The Side Couples: No hate to the main couple, but the side characters completely steal this show. I honestly like their relationships better too. First there’s Jiho’s high school friend Sooji and Sehee’s best friend and boss Sanggoo. Sooji’s a badass woman who can make men cower with a glance and never lets anyone insult her without fearing she might just murder them. But at work she smiles and laughs at inappropriate jokes or comments thrown her way without complaint. The reason is that she has a disabled mother she wants to take care of and she feels standing up for herself will hinder her ability to rise in her career, but it’s incredibly horrifying how she feels she needs to let men dehumanize her in order to do so. Sooji meets Sanggoo during a work meeting, where it’s revealed the two had a one-night-stand that Sanggoo fondly remembers but Sooji claims to have forgotten. But despite that awkwardness, Sanggoo feels uncomfortable on Sooji’s behalf with the way her coworkers treat her. And he doesn’t just stand aside either. He takes every opportunity to redirect attention away from Sooji and make the men making gross comments feel awkward. Sooji immediately respects him for doing this, but simultaneously brushes it off as him trying to get her to agree to date him. At one point she even tells him that they can’t date unless he sells his company, expecting him to admit he cares more about his work. But when she sees him next he breaks down sobbing, telling her he really considered it but couldn’t choose between his dream and her. Not only is this an amazing display of emotion for Sanggoo, but it kickstarts their extremely supportive relationship which consists of Sanggoo encouraging Sooji to stand up for herself, yelling in joy when she finally punches her boss in the face, and bragging about his girlfriend to said boss while getting on the back of Sooji’s motorcycle. I love this relationship so much. It’s my favorite part of the whole show.
The other couple in this show is Jiho’s other high school friend Horang and her boyfriend of seven years Wonseok. These two are the most adorable characters on the show, Horang being an upbeat waitress obsessed with getting married while Wonseok is a much less successful app developer who keeps a cheery exterior for his girlfriend. The two fight and break up a lot, but at the beginning of the show we’re shown that the fights are mostly petty and they always get back together. But when Jiho gets married Horang expects Wonseok to finally propose. And Wonseok not only misreads her hints that she wants him to propose, but fully resists them. This leads to the most angsty relationship in the entire drama. These two even have a full-blown screaming match in an empty theater. But you understand it. Horang has been wanting to get married ever since she was little, she even convinced Wonseok to start saving up for wedding expenses at one point for that purpose, and she really can’t see her relationship continuing on without marriage. But Wonseok has fallen behind on sending money into wedding savings because he isn’t making money as an app developer, and though he does at one point give up his dream in order to make more money for her, he finds himself miserable and still not completely stable enough to fork over the amount of money needed to marry Horang. Their relationship is absolutely heartbreaking, and when they do break up, you can’t help but feel it’s for the best. Luckily, this drama is all about the happy endings and the two find a compromise that works for them both, but this relationship is absolutely a tearjerker in a really realistic way.
Crying: All of the lead men cry in this drama. More than once. All of the women do too. It’s a healthy expression of emotions on all sides and I loved it.
What I Disliked:
Jiho at the End of the Show: Towards the end of the drama Jiho decides to leave Sehee and seek out a divorce without really consulting him, mostly because he didn’t give her the details about his first relationship. This despite the fact that their marriage was fake and she hadn’t even confessed her feelings for him, so why he should feel obligated to reveal past trauma to her is beyond me. And the way she goes about the whole situation is wrong too. She tells him to figure out telling his parents that he’s getting a divorce knowing that he doesn’t have a good relationship with them, ditches him, and then tries to make him a cake as if they’re still friends. At least when she figures out they’re accidentally sharing a living space again she decides not to leave him, but seriously. I couldn’t sympathize with her at all, especially with the amount of pain and trauma she left him to deal with.
That’s it! I really liked this drama! Marriage of convenience tropes aren’t really my thing, but it did really work for this couple and their strange non-romantic romance. But like I said before, the other couples stole the show for me. While I did like seeing the practical ways the main couple found to ease themselves into a happy marriage, I enjoyed even more the amount of support and care that came from the two side couples. Sanggoo isn’t even my type and I nearly swooned at the way Sanggoo tore down an old man for being creepy to Sooji. Clearly, I highly recommend this drama. While there are late-in-the-game breakups and a few misunderstandings, they all make sense and they never feel immature. It has the healthiest relationships I’ve ever seen in a drama and that alone makes it worth it to check out.
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 