Welcome to the story of one couple - Tae-Kyung and Jisu. This is absolutely a hilarious story about an unequal marital status between a man and a woman that will make you roll on your belly with non-stop laughter. Jisu (Shim Hae-Jin) is a successful career woman divorce lawyer who comes from a well to do family. Tae-Kyung (Kang Nam-Kil), on the other hand..well..I'll explain. In this story, the traditional roles of wife and husband are reversed. The main breadwinner is the wife, while the husband follows in the shadows of his much more successful wife. All kinds of funny situations arise, when the bumbling husband tries to become financially successful as his wife, by exploiting his wife's fine reputation.
Natural comic Kang's previous works included such as "One Roof, Three Family", and "Dalsu Series". But this was the first time I had the chance to see him with my own eyes. I'm wondering aloud, does he really look like that in real life? His thick Coke bottle glasses perfectly accentuated by gleaming buckteeth, his easy-going demeanor often punctuated by fits of anger that reminds you of a puppy growling, and his constant inability to get away from the shadows of his wife, transforms him into your lovable cute teddy bear. Clearly, the spotlight of the show is Kang. He will make you giggle even just by looking at his face.
"The Last War" (Maji-mak Jeon-jeng) reminds me of the movie, "An Alimony Demand of a Widow", starring Shim Hae-Jin and Ahn Song-Ki. In that movie, actress Shim Hae-Jin also plays a similar comedic role of a tough-cookie woman divorce lawyer, fighting for the rights of women. She seems to be well suited for tough girl parts, mainly because of her cold tough looking face. She kind of reminds me of my mother when I was young, at times when I brought home bad report cards. Of course, some perverts might fantasize Shim with leather lace and chains. That works too. Shim and Kang's presence in the series gives you an impression that they are really having fun playing their roles. It could be just my imagination but sometimes you can see them trying hard to keep a straight face. I wonder how many takes it took to film the scene where Jisu pulls down Tae-Kyung's panty while they are arguing and fighting to see who will sleep in the bed. I'm guessing that it was an accident but they decided to keep the scene because it was so funny.
The writer of Maji-mak Jeon-Jeng is Park Ae-Rang, who herself is a career woman. She did a brilliant piece of writing to portray Jisu's defiant attitude toward traditional subserviant expectations of women, at the same time trying to maintain and presenting to others, the illusion of conformity by submitting to her husband in public. Is this the real face of Korean households? Are the men bosses in appearance only, while in reality, the real bosses are the women? We may think this kind of portrayal is good for a few laughs, but I think this show is dead accurate on a number of things. The marriage problems of arguing over money, clashes between mother-in-laws and daughter/son-in-laws, and how men and women think differently, are all real life experiences that many people are well familiar and can relate to. We just have to guess how much of the story is a reflection on Park's own experiences. Park's creation will certainly strike a chord with women who will agree that men are just big grown kids.
Due to the demand for more Maji-mak Jeon-Jeng episodes from fans smitten with the series, Park extended the series length by adding two more episodes on top of the original 16 episodes. It just gives you an ideal how entertaining this series has been for many viewers. My final verdict is - two thumbs up1x
