Group hug!

I think what makes watching this kdrama fun is that we ALL try to observe things differently and bring in well-thought-out perspectives. It’s really tiresome to read comments that are big on emotions, either upset or angry with the characters and the latest plot development, BUT scanty in observation and scrutiny.

If you put all these similarly agitated posts in one forum, you get one clusterfuck of Chicken Littles clucking that the sky’s falling on our OTP.

And it ain’t fun.

I’ll respond to your comments here, ok? Excerpts of posts by @Anna_Tan, @tsutsuloo and @agdr03 will be in blue italics. Mine’s in black.

1. @Anna_Tan’s comment

I agree with @packmule3 that we might have misunderstood Chairman Cha. We were made to think that he is the unreasonable parent who just wants to protect his legacy. I am so glad you highlighted those moments which showed glimpses of the softer side to Chairman Cha (e.g. the rascal, without a greeting first). I am wondering if Chairman Cha was using WW to push WH to a corner so he could come to his senses. As you said, WH is extremely obtuse and there is no amount to cajoling will bring WH back so probably some drastic means would do the trick. That is why he did not stop WW for doing what she is doing.

I think Chairman Cha chose Wannabe Wife because he thought she could help WooHyun should there be a fight, be it a corporate take-over or a personal attack. Chairman Cha expected her to defend WooHyun from the Stepmother.

From Episode 9:

WW: WooHyun keeps looking at someone else. The Chief Director dislikes me. It’s difficult and I feel uneasy, Chairman.
Dad: Chief Director Go Yung Eun is Choego Group’s madam and SeHyuns’ mother. It looks like WooHyun is stealing SeHyun’s spot. You’re like the wings that I put on WooHyun. Do you think that she would like you?

“Wings” here signifies somebody, like a guardian angel, that will help or support WH so he can “soar” above the fray. Wannabe Wife is expected to handle all the controversies and headaches in getting WH the leadership of the foundation so WH won’t be directly involved in the struggle.

WW: That’s…
Dad: That person is going to use her charisma, be wary of you, and try to push you out. Because that’s how WooHyun’s path will be stopped.

For WH’s dad, the biggest hurdle in WooHyun’s path is his Stepmother. He knows that she terrorizes WH and that’s why when WH stormed in to complain, he presumed that his wife had done something bad again.

The fact is WH’s stepmother was known to create an uproar and mess him up.

WH’s StepHyung too suspected that WH’s stepmother is the reason he was moving in his clinic. Remember this in Episode 2? It only made sense when we heard StepHyung’s back story in Episode 12. 

And remember this? In Episode 3 we saw a flashback of how Wannabe first noticed WooHyun. He had been on the phone talking about his Stepmother causing a scene at the clinic.

And now the Stepmother is messing around with Wannabe Wife, too, and she asks for the Chairman’s help.

WW: Please help me, Chairman.
Dad: I’m sorry but I can’t interfere in that fight.
WW: Chairman!
Dad: It’s a fight that you’ll have to fight for the rest of your life, the moment you become part of this household. If you’re having such a hard time from the very beginning, then you won’t survive in this family. Then I won’t be able to acknowledge you either.

To me, he chose Wannabe Wife because he saw that the similarities between her personality and his wife’s. They both fight dirty and tenaciously. They won’t let anything get in their way.

Therefore, if Wannabe doesn’t have the stamina to fight off the wife, then she won’t have the strength to block her off from WooHyun, too. WH’s dad won’t acknowledge or accept her as WooHyun’s wife if she can’t fend off the Stepmother. She would be no use to the dad in his goal to install WH as his successor … and to be more specific, to WooHyun’s life as a partner and helpmate.

However, I’m not sure that Chairman Cha is fully aware of the actions Wannabe’s taking to “acquire” WooHyun. He certainly didn’t know that she had WH followed by a paparazzi. He wouldn’t have approved of her “rumor-mongering” if he found out. And he also didn’t know until afterwards that she was the one who got WH kicked out of his hospital.

From Episode 2:

Dad: HyeJoo, did you do that to WooHyun’s hospital?
WW: Yes. WooHyun said if he comes to want something, there’s a possibility to negotiate for our marriage.
Dad: (laughing) Great job. I got framed for it anyway. You must worry about pacifying him.

When he laughed and said “great job!” I think he meant it rhetorically. It doesn’t mean that he approved of her actions. It meant that he found the whole situation hilarious. To him, it was extremely funny that HE was the one being blamed by WooHyun for something he didn’t do but thank goodness! HE didn’t have to placate WooHyun. That was her task because she caused the kerfuffle.

Noteworthy: He was “worried” about appeasing WooHyun. If he was really a mean and uncaring parent, he would have dismissed WooHyun’s anger as inconsequential to his goal of installing him as the leader.

Note, too. Wannabe Wife and Stepmother both used the same method to get back at WooHyun — interfere with his medical practice.  Ironic, isn’t it?

2. @tsutsuloo’s comment

Chairman Cha Tae-Soo and Fireman Yoon Cheol-Soo share one odd characteristic. They’re strangely passive when it comes to handling their children’s rage towards them. The Chairman is absolutely hands-off when it comes to his legal wife’s shenanigans and Papa Yoon accepted his daughter’s blame for his wife’s death. It was painful seeing how he cowered in YJ’s presence.
Following their traumas, 10-year-old Woo-Hyun and 8-year-old Yoo-Jung desperately needed their fathers. It seems both men failed to comfort, to reassure, to protect. As a parent, I can imagine the difficulty of helping children who’ve survived violent trauma or lost a parent. This is why we have therapists …
Woo-Hyun and Yoo-Jung might be unreliable narrators as well; I’m uncertain whether the new fire-related flashbacks are from an omniscient POV. Remember how Woo-Hyun told the medical team treating Yoo-Joon that she had fire-related PTSD? Back atcha, bro.

Yes. I totally agree with you, @tsutsuloo! Both WH and YJ are unreliable narrators indeed. Despite their flashbacks (or maybe BECAUSE of their flashbacks, lol), I’m still confused as to how their fire accidents were connected. YJ’s fire was caused by an overloaded electrical outlet while WH’s fire was caused by his older stepbrother lighting a paper on fire. Did the fires occur in the same building? lol.Is there another piece of info about the fire that the kdrama hasn’t revealed yet?

For NOW, the way I understood their tenuous link is that WH listed Seo Yeong Hee as a victim of the “same” fire because, as a child suffering from PTSD, he saw his rescuer crying at his wife’s funeral and overheard the daughter blaming him for not being there. “Why did you just here? If you would have come sooner, then Mom…Why did you only come now?”

I agree about the therapists and grief counselors. We need them when we’re paralyzed with our own emotions and can’t cope well with our children’s emotions.

For YooJung, I think there’s a sense of SURVIVOR’S GUILT that hasn’t been dealt with. That’s why she can’t forgive her dad until now. She’s fixated on her father not being there to rescue them because a PART of her blames HERSELF for causing her mom’s death.

Her mom died because she was saving her from the fire. She lives because her mom died. But since she can hardly blame herself for being alive, she projects this survivor’s guilt onto her father. That is, her mother would have been alive with her, had HE been there to save them.

As a child, she couldn’t handle all her bad, sad, and guilty emotions, so her anger at her dad is more like a PLEA for him to take away all these negative emotions away from her. The more he PASSIVELY accepted her anger with him, the more frustrated she grew with him. She’s lashing out at him because she’s unconsciously protecting herself from the guilt of being the reason of her mom’s death. “He did it, not me!”

I so agree. It was distressing to watch her father cower then retreat like that.

As for the Chairman, he’s still a mixed bag for me. Sometimes he’s proud of his son for defying him. Example, in Episode 4.

Dad: (laying hand on his shoulder) WooHyun, I can’t give you up now. You change your mind. You can never beat me.
WH: (removing his hand) No. I have nothing to lose and so nothing to fear. More so than the leader of the Choego Group, I can be scarier and stronger.
Dad: This is why I’m starting to like you even more.

Sometimes he’s indulgent, like when he said, “That rascal. He didn’t even greet me.”

And sometimes he’s confused. In Episode 4, after he encountered WH and YJ after their rushed announcement, he didn’t embarrass WH and he walked away.

At the elevator, he told WH, “That seems like something created in a rush and I’m concerned as to what kind of deal you made with Yoon YooJung.” WH pretended, “She’s a person I really love. Don’t talk about her like that.” He answered, “Life is long, and love is short.” He was probably scoffing at the idea that WH found love so quickly…if it was indeed love and not just “attraction.”

Dad continued, “I’ll gather a meeting again so let’s finish this properly then.” WH responded, “Whatever that is. The day everything about me is revealed to the world, I will expose how cruel and shameless the leader and the people of Choego Group really are. So beware of that before you start anything. Don’t brush off my warning off lightly and stop blocking my path.”
Dad replied, “Giving you something others would die to get is blocking your path?”

See that again. All those insults of WH, he ignored. He focused on one thing: WH’s accusation that he was “blocking” his path. He didn’t get that.

But that scene in Episode 11, as I said, made me reassess how I viewed him as a cold dad.

@agdr03

I thought Dad’s offer to give him the medical foundation to manage however he wants, and to accept YJ and get rid of WW didn’t sound bad at all.

A lot of us thought his dad’s offer was reasonable. lol.

Gotta run!! Happy Sunday (or Monday)!