After the incredible success of Sky Castle , JTBC is back with another phenomenal ratings powerhouse – The World of The Married – starring Kim Hee Ae and Park Hae Joon.
This remake of BBC’s Doctor Foster is proving to be a complete hit in the whole of Asia, and at the time of writing, is less than 1% away from breaking Sky Castle’s ratings record to become the best rated drama in cable drama history in Korea!
The World of the Married is about how a woman embarks on a journey to take revenge on her cheating husband and adulteress.
Chronicling the complicated feelings of the cheated wife, this drama has many moments that make viewers seeth in anger as we witness the injustices the wife suffered, and root together to see the wife destroy the ex-husband.
As I couldn’t resist the temptation of seeing how the story would unfold in The World of The Married, I binge-watched the 2 seasons of BBC’s Doctor Foster over a weekend.
Below is how the English and Korean version compare against each other.
The World of the Married is more conservative compared to the more sexually explicit Doctor Foster
BBC’s Doctor Foster is quite sexually explicit with racy in-your-face sex scenes and more explosive dialogues.
Even though JTBC’s The World of The Married was also rated R in Korea and gained quite a lot of hype even before its premiere due to its R rating and talks of the bed scenes, it is still at the end of the day, rather tame.
As Korea is a more conservative Asian society, naturally all these sexually explicit parts have been toned down. And hence I feel that The World of The Married is still a watch that will not make you blush even if you were to watch it with your parents.
Ji Sun Woo was a more likeable jilted wife in The World of The Married than Gemma Foster
Even though The World of The Married is a remake of BBC’s Doctor Foster, and I feel that Korea did follow all the scenes quite closely, there is still a subtle difference in how they characterised the characters.
I know we are all supposed to root for the jilted wife who was faced with a cheating husband, however there were times when I couldn’t help wondering if the wife Gemma Foster in Doctor Foster had it coming.
Gemma Foster often came across as being really distracted, rude and even condescending to her patients.
I mean she would drop her patients whenever she is distracted over her husband.
I do understand that she is naturally having a hard time curbing her emotions but she really does come across as being rather unprofessional and arrogant. In fact I couldn’t quite understand why she was deemed a good doctor as I couldn’t tell in her portrayal of the role.
Also, Gemma Foster appeared to be a rather hard and unyielding woman.
However Ji Sun Woo in The World of The Married was a lot more mild-mannered and professional in her dealings with her patients.
She appeared to be a working mum who is trying hard to be both of good doctor and a mother and wife, though of course sometimes something’s gotta give as it is hard to juggle all.
However, Gemma Foster gives off the impression that she doesn’t even really try hard to be a good mother or wife at times.
In fact, I could even sort of understand why Gemma Foster has no friends because she just seems quite unsympathetic and hard.
Ji Sun Woo appeared more rational in her revenge while Gemma Foster seemed crazy at times
At least from Ep 1 to Ep 6 (which is where I have watched until in The World of The Married), Ji Sun Woo gave off the feeling that she is trying very hard to keep all together and remain calm while she tries to take revenge on her husband.
Even while embarking on her revenge plan, she seemed like an angry woman hoping to serve justice to the wrongs done to her by her husband.
Therefore while some of the actions may be wrong, like how she went to the hotel with her friend’s husband, to also take revenge on her friend while also trying to dig her husband’s dirt through his friend, it was still understandable to many woman viewers.
In the case of Gemma Foster, there were times where it feels like she is going berserk and very emotionally imbalanced. Ji Sun Woo still feels like she is rational, but just extremely angry.
The Adulteress Yeo Da Kyung was more aggressive in The World of The Married than Kate Parks in Doctor Foster
In The World of The Married, Yeo Da Kyung acted by Han So Hee, was intent on officially becoming Lee Tae Oh’s woman. She intentionally drop her lipstick into his pocket, with the hope that his wife would discover.
She also intentionally sought out Ji Sun Woo when she was seeking medical treatment, and even made statements meant to provoke her at Lee Tae Oh’s party.
However in the case of Doctor Foster, Kate Parks was more passive and does not seem to have such a strong desire to pit against Gemma Foster. Rather Kate Parks was sought out by Gemma Foster when she went to see a doctor, her appointment was switched by Gemma Foster so that she could see her for herself.
I prefer Korea’s The World of The Married to original Doctor Foster.
How about you?
Chasing Carefree 