The brand new thriller series made a fierce entrance. It surely didn’t feel like a slow-burning marital drama because the first episode created the perfect tension with a couple that hate each other and a kidnapper who got in the way to make things worse.
The Husband Episode 1 has a runtime of 70 minutes.
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The Husband Cast
Namkoong Min, Lee Seol, Kim Dae-myung, Lee Sang-hee, Park Byung-hun, Woo Ji-hyun, Jo Yun-seo
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The Husband Kdrama Director
Kim Jung-hyun
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The Husband Series Screenwriter
Jung Jae-ha
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Original Title
결혼의 완성 / The Completion of Marriage
The Husband Episode 1 Review
A Marriage That Fell Apart
The first scene showing the couple climbing the summit together and having the best time of their lives made me think that the male lead is going to lose his wife, and a revenge story is coming, but that’s where everything changed. The scene abruptly cuts to them sitting apart with a dim face, and it is understood right away: they hate each other now.
Saving Lives vs Saving the Hospital
Tae-ju and Se-yun both have a huge play at the hospital. Se-yun’s father owns the hospital, she’s the board director, and Tae-ju is the famous and senior doctor. Tae-ju is exactly the kind of doctor every patient would want. When faced with an emergency surgery and an important VIP operation, he chooses the patient. However, it isn’t easy for him as the hospital rules mess him up.
Se-yun understands the corporate politics and how VIPs are very important. Watching her witness the emergency patient’s wife crying shows that she does sympathise, but her responsibility forces her to act professionally and prioritise the VIP client. However, Tae-ju focuses on lives only.
There Is Clearly More to Se-yun’s Story
If Episode 1 belongs to anyone emotionally, it’s Se-yun. One day, when she goes to an off-site visit, something that she sees collapses her. Seeing a happy family with a child triggers an immediate emotional response, hinting that something devastating happened in her past.
The drama doesn’t go much into the details, but it explains why her marriage is crumbling. It also makes us understand why Se-yun seems cold and rude. She’s carrying wounds that have made her turn into stone.
The Divorce Was Only the Beginning
By the halfway point, we understand what’s going to happen. Tae-ju asks for a divorce, and Se-yun immediately refuses. Not because she wants to save the marriage, but because she refuses to give Tae-ju what he wants. This immediately shows that Tae-ju has done something in the past that makes Se-yun take revenge for.
Then comes the success party, where Se-yun publicly asks whether Tae-ju is refusing to make a toast because he wants to divorce her. This pisses Tae-ju, and he walks away.
Now Comes the Thriller
So far, everything was going well. We got the main leads hating on each other, and we understand that a flashback is pending. But the marital drama completely shifts genre when Tae-ju does something stupid. After a drunk Tae-ju wakes up and drives to work, a driver contacts him the next morning claiming that “the job is done,” and before Tae-ju can even process what’s going on, he learns that Se-yun has been kidnapped.
Then comes the big twist. The driver sends a video of an intoxicated Tae-ju offering 50 million won to have Se-yun get rid of. Whether Tae-ju genuinely said those words or it’s an AI video, we don’t know. Either way, he’s become the prime suspect in his own wife’s disappearance.
From there, the episode becomes hectic. With a ransom of 1 billion won to leave his wife alive, Tae-ju goes crazy as he keeps getting videos of Se-yun enduring torture. When he finally reaches the destination with the money, somebody tases him, and the episode ends. How cruel.
Final Thoughts
Episode 1 really opened great. From a hospital scene with a doctor so good and a professional so rude, we immediately switch to family drama. Right after that, we see a genre shift and a whole new kidnapping mystery comes in. Now that’s a thriller series for sure.
More importantly, the premiere leaves us with plenty of questions. Who kidnapped Se-yun? Was Tae-ju framed? What exactly happened to destroy their marriage? And what traumatic event continues to haunt Se-yun? Given this is the first episode, of course, we’re not going to get the answers. But the series has me hooked, and hopefully it keeps getting better and not worse.
The Husband is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
