Because there weren’t many heart-fluttering moments in this week’s episodes, I’ll go over some dialogues which I found interesting.
Like this one:
Dad: But are you not seeing that young lady at all?
WY: Yes.
Dad: Have you completely broken up?
WY: (doesn’t answer) What do you think of her, Father?
Dad: Well…(stuttering)… I like her if you like her.
WY: I don’t know. There are too many things for me to try to resolve first. (Now, he answers the question)
YJ arrives and peeks through window.
Dad: Woohyun…
She’s bewildered to see her Dad’s company “Woohyun?!”
Dad: You should be with someone that you can protect until the end. No matter what.
WY: Yes.
Outside she’s still flummoxed, “Why’s Woohyun here?” and she leaves.
*****
There are a few things I’d like to point out here.
First, to me, his answer to his YH’s Dad explains why he took off his ring in Episode 10.
He had been working on the lawsuit against his dad when he noticed his ring. Then he recalled their last argument. In his flashback, she was saying, “What dumbfounded me and made me angry isn’t that you hid that you were a chaebol. It’s not also because of your engagement announcement to another woman. I hate the fact that I found out about them this way, and it makes me angry. I thought that I’d be okay with losing everything.”
After this, WH took off his ring and stored it away.
Why did he do that? To me, it’s a combination of all these reasons.
1. He knows that she was angry with him. But he doesn’t know that she changed her mind (at the end of Episode 10), wore her couple ring again and looked for him.
2. He heard her clearly say that she wasn’t okay with losing “EVERYTHING” for him. But he doesn’t know that she spent her time (practically the whole of Episode 10, lol) AGONIZING over her choice. When she wore her couple ring again, she made a very difficult but deliberate decision that he was worth everything to her.
3. He thinks she wants to end their relationship. But he doesn’t know that she searched and waited for him to come.
4. He realizes that he has many things to first resolve in order to properly protect her. But he doesn’t know if she even wants him because he’s nothing but a burden to her. He didn’t need any reminders after her Unnie/CEO repeatedly warned him that EVERYTHING YJ worked for could be destroyed by their relationship.
Thus, he took off his ring and stored it away.
Look: if this kdrama were a medieval chivalric romance, he’d be the knight setting off on a battle. He could hardly ask his fair maiden, YooJung, to stay at his side while he was fighting the dragon. She would have to stay within the walls of castle and wait for him…. If she wanted to, of course. WooHyun wouldn’t compel or demand her to stay and wait if she didn’t want to.
To me, that’s the reason he told YJ’s dad that he didn’t know whether they have completely broken up or not.
It’s NOT that he wanted to break up with her. It’s because he’s uncertain of her wishes, and at the same time, he doesn’t want to hurt her any further until he’s resolved his situation.
We must remember that he promised her one thing, that he wouldn’t change. So if it was entirely up to him, he wouldn’t let her go.
Second, YJ’s dad’s request is the same as his mother’s request in Episode 8.
The dad told him, “You should be with someone that you can protect until the end. No matter what.” And his mom told him, “You should stay by her side, keep everything from harming her, and protect her. Okay?”
While this notion of him protecting her certainly warms my heart, the feminist part in me wants HER to protect HIM.
While WH is trying to protect her from Wannabe Wife’s attacks, I would like her to take proactive measures in protecting her own career and company from Wannabe Wife’s manipulation. She can’t be forever sheltered by her Unnie/CEO and now, WH. By learning to fend for herself, she makes WH less vulnerable to Wannabe’s marriage coercion.
Moreover, in the same way that she stepped in when she discovered the estrangement between mother and son, she can help WH reconcile with his dad too. I would like to see her go on a charm offensive aimed at winning over WH’s dad and settling the “bad blood” between father and son.
Even if he was swayed by this Modigliani forgery,
he isn’t yet blind or senile not to recognize a real work of art when he sees one. lol.
WooHyun hasn’t learned to ask for help from her and his continued self-reliance may become a barrier in their relationship. He needs to stop internalizing his pain and saying, “everything’s okay” when nothing is at all okay, especially to YJ of all people.
Last, this.
As much as I’m frustrated with WooHyun’s hesitation to do the macho He-Man thing and grab YooJung by the hair, I’m 100x MORE frustrated with his lack of aggression towards Wannabe Wife.
Come on, WooHyun. Just stab her with that sword, please?
However, I’m keenly aware that from the beginning, that’s been WooHyun’s appeal.
Other heroes would’ve dealt with Wannabe harshly. They would’ve probably shaken her senseless, taunted her with hurtful words or thrown her mother’s past back at her (like his Stepmother did).
An aside: that’s one of my complaints with the hero Hyun Bin is playing in the kdrama “Memories of the Alhambra.” There was no excuse for the way he berated the heroine who ran the unkempt hostel he was staying in. To me, he violated my “Waiter Rule”. The way a person treats the waiter tells a lot about his character. An ill-bred person will rudely treat the server attending to his needs.
As trying as Wannabe Wife is, WooHyun manages to come out of all their encounter with his dignity intact because he doesn’t stoop to her level. He takes the high road whenever dealing with her and other unpleasant situations.
This reminds me of his mother’s rebuke, “Shake of your cleanliness. Live your live on the edge, like everyone else.” And he replied, “I’ve lived like this ever since I was born. How could I suddenly change?”
WooHyun’s essentially a He-Man good man. That’s why he searches for a good woman to marry. Unless Wannabe Wife bleaches her soul or die and be reincarnated as an saint, there’s no way she’ll present herself as attractive to him in this lifetime.
Gotta run. Will pick my next dialogue to focus on later.
Very good, @packmule3. As frustrating as Woo-Hyun’s quiet approach is, his cautious and methodical behavior is consistent, even in the way he makes mistakes. And It’s a more accurate reflection of the real world. I have those urges to let loose a Network (1976) level outburst against injustices in my workplace but … such outbursts will forever remain in my fantasies.
Ah, you also observe the Waiter Rule? It’s actually one of my guiding principles! As a college student, I worked in retail and restaurants; those years have forever shaped my behavior towards workers in the service industry.
Did you study art history? Your Modigliani forgery is priceless.
Random thoughts or questions
I had to laugh at the quantify of flashbacks generated by the past three episodes. When uri Yoo-Jung puzzled over WH’s relationship with her father in Ep. 11, the one flashback we didn’t get was of WH explaining that the “Abeoji” he spoke to on the phone was the fireman who rescued him.
The Chaego Group Madam is more screwed up than I could’ve imagined. Given her history of hurting WH, it’s all the more astonishing that he asked her for help.
Woo-Hyun’s step-brother Ahn Jung-Suk deserves props for his discretion and loyalty. His story (Ep. 11, 10:42) about the The Chaego Group Madam destroying the first medical practice he shared with WH was shocking. Now I finally grasp why WH could just saunter into his Hyung’s practice and anoint himself Director.
Who knew Kang Hye-Joo could make an observation grounded in truth? I barked with laughter when she uttered this line about CEO Unnie: “She’s only running a hole-in-the-wall shop. Why is she so chic?” Answer: Because she’s a goddess! (Ep. 11, 23:25)
I was wrong! Everyone who surmised WH’s and YJ’s fire were connected is correct! Why the lawyer keeps the info about YJ’s mom (Seo Yeong-Hee) to himself is beyond me. More drama logic? (Ep. 11, 39:17)
😀 I still don’t understand how WH’s and YJ’s conflagration are connected so I’ve been ignoring that Lawyer and kdrama logic,
Unless there’s a plot twist there somewhere, WH’s brother started the fire with a lighter and paper. It was an incidental fire not an arson fire. Brother can’t be prosecuted. Had no intention of setting a fire and killing himself, and he didn’t act recklessly. He reasonably thought paper would stay inside the empty can. (I’m more interested on the contents of the paper. Instructions on how to be an arsonist?? lol)
Also, YJ’s fire was started by a power surge. I’m not an electrical engineer but I don’t see how his fire could connect to her fire…unless …. hmmm…they were living in the same area (a chaebol family and a firefighter’s family???) and a down electrical line caused the power surge. But even then, fire was an accident and criminal intent will have to be proved.
Can’t — and won’t even try to — understand drama logic here. I’m turning a blind eye as long as I can see more heart-fluttering scenes. lol.
WH saw that daughter of the firefighter, too. To me, that’s THE more interesting revelation.
My relationship to this show’s drama logic —> 🙉
Really that WH is sinning by omission or lack of action against the stupid Wannabe Wife, it really bothered me that he took off the ring.
Thank you and as always it’s a pleasure to read you.
P.S; This is a question that was formulated in another post about the initials M & M of the breakfast dishes and I think M means milk in English because they are the milk couple
ooooh! I like that!!! M & M for Milk Couple!!
Okay, let’s go with that explanation.
M for milk and there are 2 Ms because they’re a couple.
I love reading your opinion on this episode, it just to depressed to me, so I couldn’t find interesting because the story took a long road rather than a simple way out. As much people blame and hate YJ on episode 10, to me it was the same with WH attitude on this episode.
“You should be with someone that you can protect until the end. No matter what.”
I thought the father is talking about his guilt in not protecting his wife. That’s the trauma of his life so that’s his advice.
In episode 12 when WH came to the hospital and YJ saw him I could see a connection between the guilt his father felt toward her for not saving her mother and the guilt WH felt towards her for not only causing her financial or career related losses but also, possibly, the life of people she loved. That didn’t happen but it came close and I’m sure both realized it. Obviously YJ, when she agreed to losing “everything”, didn’t think of that.
Anyway “causing her” is a bad phrasing because it’s not really his fault (as it wasn’t really her father’s fault that his wife died) but they both feel guilty either way.
I felt it was that guilt that kept them both away.
Shall we call this week’s episodes as the GUILT TRIP? 🙂 Seems like everybody is feeling guilty about something.
You’re absolutely correct! Thanks!!The father is passing on advice that he personally learned from his tragic experience. He thinks he should have been there with wife in the fire to protect her “until the end.”
And that must have resonated with WH because with the attack on the life of YH’s Unnie (he thought it was Wannabe’s plan), he’s again “responsible” for hurting YH and he failed to protect her till the end.
Good point, Oli!!
Lol. Even the writer should be feeling guilt and shame for not giving us more OTP moment. But I’ll forgive her as long as I can understand the purpose behind this. If it’s to give us time to understand the characters and motivation, then okay, I’ll go along with that.
Will go watch Ep 12 fully subbed now.