Woo-ri the Virgin is one of those k-dramas that is probably going to have a lot of hate, as it features a religious protagonist caught in a love triangle after becoming accidentally pregnant via a rather stupid artificial insemination mix-up. This while she's keeping a lifelong vow of chastity until marriage, no less. While Woori was at times pretty clueless, and some of the drama's complicated plot lines got annoying, I thought it was pretty charming. The ending also startled me, which is very difficult to do.
Im Soo-hyang plays Oh Woo-ri, an assistant drama writer who is dating police detective Lee Kang-jae (Shin Dong-wook). Both are faithful and in a nice relationship (always doomed in Korean romances) when a mix-up at a hospital leaves Woo-ri pregnant with the baby of Raphael (Sung Hoon), the handsome chaebol son of the hospital's rich and powerful conglomerate owner. As it happens Raphael, who has just beaten stomach cancer, can't father any other children, either. Woo-ri is his last chance to have kids. At this point I was glad to see virtually everyone around Woo-ri supporting her right to have an abortion (just don't move to the U.S., honey.)
After a realistic struggle with deciding what to do, Woo-ri agrees to have the baby and hand it over to Raphael and his wife Lee Ma-Ri (very well-played by Hong Ji-yoon). What follows is the expected romantic conflict this causes between her and her cop boyfriend, but also the impact it has on her single mother, grandmother and the very surprising guy who turns out to be Woo-ri's father. Raphael has his own problems, which include his lying, cheating, scheming wife, and a murderer using his father's hospital to perform illegal operations on criminals to alter their appearance. Add to that regular threats that come close to terminating the pregnancy, and that's the story.
Sung Hoon does a great job with a tricky role, but the actor who impressed me the most was Shin Dong-wook, who had the most realistic portrayal of a man whose life is turned upside down by a twist of fate. The medical mix-up that leads to Woo-ri becoming pregnant is completely implausible (wouldn't you know the difference if you came in for a standard GYN exam and someone attempted to artificially inseminate you? I know I would.) Some of the religious and pro-life messages of the drama are offensive, frankly, to women who don't believe in God, vows of chastity or being forced to have a child they don't want. I'm on the fence about that; I try to see both sides but lately it's been a lot more difficult. As far as the US is concerned the timing of this drama could not be worse.
I won't spoil the ending, but I didn't guess the drama would end the way it did, so there you go. Available to watch on Viki.com.
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