Letter #94: The Matchmakers

Good morning, Erin.

…because it has So-e from Single’s Inferno 2 in it, that’s why!


Yes, this unlikely historical romance comedy came to my attention solely because I looked up So-e on My Drama List and saw that she’d be in it. So, with some hesitation (both because of the quick synopsis that was available and because of the leads) but also with no small supply of being in love with So-e, I gave it a shot.


And it was one of my favorite shows of 2023—and possibly ever. 


No, seriously: I absolutely loved this series. It’s comedy, it’s romance, it’s family drama, it’s complex political intrigue—it’s all somehow effortlessly interconnected, and ALL OF IT WORKS. In a period of time when I was watching a handful of different K-dramas week to week, the one I found myself most excited to watch—to my great surprise—was The Matchmakers. 


If you haven’t already tracked it down or used your VPN to get it on Netflix from…I don’t know where, but America is locked out, it seems, which is criminal…but if you haven’t seen it, I cannot stress enough that you should. 


So, with that in mind, let’s get into our mostly non-spoiler-y discussion of The Matchmakers!


1. A caveat, though, before we begin: while I am about to heap a TON of praise—all very well deserved—on this series, I want to make clear that it isn’t excellent from the start. It’s certainly good (or, as my Episode 1 notes say, “not bad”), but it takes a few episodes for the various threads to coalesce into what the show ultimately becomes. Which is, again, probably my second-favorite show of 2023, right after Behind Your Touch.


2. …also, the acting isn’t, y’know, great. This isn’t much of an issue, though, because every performance is at least good enough to service the script—and the script is excellent. So, if there’s any eye rolling over, for example, Rowoon not quite being up to snuff, it absolutely doesn’t much matter by the time the show solidifies. (Though, I’m going to talk specifically about that in a moment.) 


3. Before we go on, though, I’d like to jump right into the list of people I recognized:

  • Ha-ru from Extraordinary You as the Angry Man (our male lead)

  • the class president from All of Us are Dead as Lady Matchmaker (our female lead)

  • Glasses Lawyer from Vincenzo as the King

  • Min-ji (the third friend) from Be My Boyfriend as the Youngest “Old Maid” Sister

  • our girl So-e from Single’s Inferno 2 as the Youngest Gossipy Matchmaker

  • the corrupt book reviewer from It’s Okay to Not be Okay as the bookshop owner


3A. I know I said the acting isn’t great, but…Glasses Lawyer is kind of great as the king, bringing just the right balance of good-natured humor and deadly seriousness to his performance. I was worried to see him in this role, at first, because I remember how miscast he seemed as the king in 100 Days My Prince, being far too serious for his much more natural comedic talents. But he was really, really good. 


3B. And you know what? Rowoon kind of nails it, here, too. He starts out feeling a bit too stiff, and I listed a series of actors I would have much rather seen playing the Angry Man…but a couple of episodes in, and I realized that he suited the material really well, particularly once the character becomes much less rigid. I mean, he’s even got this annoying throat-clearing affectation that I said he needed to stop doing—until it became an emotionally grounding part of his performance. I’m not saying he should win any awards for this, but I think he does a genuinely good job.


3C. Which is not to say that everyone else does a bad job, but the cast isn’t what’s carrying things. It’s very much the script. And I’m sure, in no small part, the director’s grasp on both the script and the actors. But that script is tight, and everything else flows out from there. 


3D. That said, the dude playing the Angry Man’s valet was hilarious. I didn’t think I was going to like him, but he’s great: very subdued, very aware of how to land a joke without going overboard. The character is employed perfectly in the script, and the actor really seems to recognize what he’s there to be. 


3E. Actually, everyone nails the comic beats. I don’t know if it’s the editing or the directing or the actors themselves, but their timing is always perfect. Ugh, I love this show. Please watch it. 


4. Not related to acting, but definitely related to actors: the girl from Be My Boyfriend who plays the Youngest “Old Maid” Sister is the very embodiment of “protect that smile.” I defy anyone to not melt the moment her smile spreads across her face. I mean, if memory serves, it took me about a second to fall in love with her in Be My Boyfriend because of that smile, and it’s the same thing here. She is absolutely #bestgirl, and I refuse to believe anyone would disagree—no matter how much the story insists that everyone thinks she’s unattractive. 


5. …with the obvious caveat that So-e, of course, is always going to be best girl in everything she’s ever going to be in ever. I love her so much. 


5A. Now, our girl doesn’t really have a lot to do, here, except be the “young person” in her group of four matchmaker ladies—but she’s actually in almost every episode of the show, often as a member of the crowd of onlookers at any given moment. (Like, far more so than the other women in her clique.) And I have a “SO-E!!!” note every time she popped up on screen.


5B. I love her so much!!!


5C. There’s actually a really fun moment where the plot requires one of the tertiary characters to fight in a ssireum match, and I thought to myself, “Wait, this is the ‘Korean wrestling’ that the ladies did on Single’s Inferno 2! This guy should get tips from So-e!” And then, guess what, it turns out So-e was in the crowd watching the match with a critical eye. And I choose to believe this was an intentional reference. 


6. Angry Man has a daegeum solo, at one point, and it is f***ing rad.


7. I so want to list off all the moments on the show that absolutely grabbed me by the heart, but I don’t want to spoil a single one of them for you. Just know that I spent a lot of this show wordlessly waving my arms at the screen and clutching a pillow to my chest.


7A. Actually…it just occurred to me that one of the scenes I’m trying not to talk about is roughly the same as my absolute favorite moment in My Mister—and for roughly the same reason. Huh. How about that?


8. If nothing else, I can say that this is the show that solidified for me that ladies walking around with their heads covered by their shawls or capes or whatever they’re called is actually a totally normal piece of etiquette and not at all sketchy, which is what I thought it was for the longest time (since everyone who I’d see doing it was sneaking around). 


9. This show is frequently a compilation of all the silly things we do to indulge our feelings when in the grips of unrequited (or seemingly unrequited) love. And I love it. 


10. YOU DID NOT JUST DO A COVER OF MY FAVORITE HANNAH MONTANA SONG.


11. I feel pretty confident in saying that every episode of the series is better than the one that came before it. (Okay, this might not be literally true, because Episode 11 was STELLAR, so there’s no way the handful of episodes afterwards topped it, but…in principle, this series really does just keep building up in how good it is. Like, before I knew it, I was centering my whole TV-watching week around it.)


12. This show really knows how to frame a profile shot of the actors so that we understand the emotional situation between their characters. 


13. …sorry, I’m still hung up on the “If We Were a Movie” cover. I love that song. And now I’ve heard the best version of it. 


14. The romantic symbolism of the series involves ducks, which…as if I didn’t have enough reasons to love this series. 


15. Okay, admittedly, the show’s not perfect: they use a similar “flashback to explain a plan you didn’t know they had!” tactic as Vincenzo—and with a similar frequency. It’s not the worst thing, but, by the end, it feels like they’ve gone to it as a storytelling technique once or twice too often, feeling more convenient than clever in a key moment or two. (Whereas Vincenzo had become suitably absurd, in my opinion, by the time it should have been a cheap move to keep doing it.)


15A. Also, the big kiss is kind of underwhelming. 


15B. …and maybe the finale has a pretty big flaw in the resolution, but, whatever, I forgive it—because…


16. The finale broadcast on Christmas, so the outro credit sequence was played over a mashup of the show’s main theme and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Which was amazing. 


17. Also, I think there’s a Shakespeare reference in the finale, but I can’t be sure. But I’m going to choose to believe that it was an intentional reference. 


And…I’m going to have to leave it there. Because I can’t talk about anything else without getting into specifics and spoilers—and the last thing I want to do is undermine a single moment of goodness this show can give you. It was just so very, very good, Erin. I really think you’ll like it. 


Now, I know you’re probably itching to get to Single’s Inferno 3, but we’ve still got a few shows to get through before we get there, much as it pains me to keep you in suspense. But I’m hoping it will be worth the wait. (And maybe I need a little time to decompress after that season. Or maybe everything is fine. Who’s to say.)


Though…now that I’m thinking about it, I have been looking to get back into my John Titor reading. So maybe if I really go for it I’ll be able to—


Well. We’ll see. 


—Daryl

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