Now that I understand where the writer and director intend to go with this narrative  (the trophy vs stuffed toy metaphor I explained earlier), it’s easier for me to focus on the good things, and to forgive the irritating things that the lead characters are doing to sabotage their relationships.

We could easily catalog the stupid in JoonYoung. Let me see,

1. Taking out his bad mood on his colleagues
2. Listening to his colleagues instead of talking to YJ
3. Stalking the doc and abusing his badge
4. Not telling YJ that he found her portfolio (but there’s flip-side here too)
5. Ignoring her texts (My! how times have changed. I remember when he was the one texting her)
6. Sulking and not telling YJ right away that he had been upset with HoChul.
7. Arriving late at the fashion show.

Ugh! I’m like JY; I’m also a stickler when it comes to parking. I would’ve realigned the car if that had been me, too. However, my guess is he was unnecessarily being down on himself for being late. He probably thought that if he hadn’t been late then maybe he could have been the one to help YJ up on her feet instead of HoChul. But life doesn’t work that way.

But here were his lovable things:

1. Walking on the other side of the road

He understood her physical fatigue and was willing to walk alongside her even without her knowing it. This is a common trope in kdramas but here, I like it. It showed me that even when he was angry with her, he still cared for her.

2. Making sure YJ got a seat on the crowded train by detaining a man who was about to sit down
3. Noticing that YJ left her portfolio behind at the station and quickly retrieving it
4. Not telling YJ that he found her portfolio.

I understood why he did this, too. Although part of me thought he should have texted her that he was sending it, I understood why he didn’t. He did it because he cared for her, but he didn’t want her to feel “obligated” to him. His help had “no strings attached.”

5. Being kind to YJ’s brother
6. Driving her to the beach at night because she casually mentioned that the seascape would have helped her de-stress

FAN SERVICE ALERT! His biceps showing under the sleeves were distracting. And so was that macho trick that he did of opening the soda can with just one hand. Swoon!

As for Young-Jae, my biggest problem with her was her lack of validation. I think she could have done more to reassure JY not to be jealous off HoChul. When she tried to cajole him out of his bad mood and treated his jealousy as if it was ridiculous thing (well, it was but….), she was signalling that his feelings were a trifling matter.

Here was there conversation.

YJ: Yah! Yah! What are you so upset about?
JY: I’m not upset.
YJ: You can’t lie. Your face shows everything.
JY: Right, I’m upset. Why did you lie to me?
YJ: Lie?

He tells her.

YJ: Was it because of that?
JY: Who’s that punk?
YJ: He’s just one of my customers. All the workers went home, and I was alone there, so I had no choice.
JY: But still you promised me that you wouldn’t wash male customers’ hair. What’s so special about that darn punk to make you wash his hair.

YJ: You know how to swear, too?

Like what the heck? He’s telling her something that bugs him but she isn’t paying attention. She’s distracted by his cuteness here.

YJ: (continuing) He works at the hospital in front of the hair salon.
JY: Right. He’s a doctor. He’s a rich plastic doctor.
YJ: How did you know that?
JY: I did a background search on him. He drooled and tried to hit on you like crazy so how could I not do anything?
YJ: What are you talking about? He didn’t try to hit on me.
JY: What do you mean? Every guy that can see you would like you.

Her reaction.

HA

HA

HA

YJ: Don’t laugh.

She kisses him.

Then she says, “You’re so cute.”

She shakes his neck like he’s some adorable stuffed toy.

Then, she said this to him, “You’re the only one I have even if another man hits on me.”

But she could have been saying this to him…

See that? No guy (and no girl, for that matter) wants to be called “cute” when he’s in the middle of talking about his feelings.

JoonYoung was owning up to his insecurity. The least she could have done was to pay attention.

To give you a rough idea, just imagine telling your husband about the rough day you had in court (or at surgery), and your husband replies, “Good job, sweetie! But you sure look cute in that suit (or scrubs).”

To me, it would have been better if she listened to him and told him that she understood. He needed to have his emotions validated, too. Reassuring him with a kiss was a quick fix but it wouldn’t be sufficient enough in the  long run.

She’d always known that JY felt that he wasn’t attractive enough for her. Remember drunken confession? He asked if he looked ugly to her. And remember, too, that she gave him that ugly-ass perm. His buddy told him that she couldn’t have liked him that much if she gave him that haircut.

Whether or not there’s basis for his insecurity, the fact is JY felt vulnerable in this relationship. He felt like he loved her more than she loved him.

Hence, the lyrics of the OST. It’s appropriate given the situation at hand. “How do you think about me? How do you think about me… I do think about you.”

 

Moving on.

If the director and writer meant the dating woes of YJ’s friend to be fillers in the show, then I’m going to call them out. This secondary plot wasn’t funny. This is a subset of slut-shaming but this time, it was the single women they were shaming. Stop it, show! I think the approach used in The Beauty Inside is more imaginative and comical. In the Beauty Inside, the mean, rich sister thinks she’s being stalked by the second lead because he’s always popping up when, in fact, he’s only going about his 1001 parttime job. Lol.

As for the second male lead, I think he’s shady. He reminds me of that secondary male lead JeYoon in 100 Days My Prince. I think he would need to be told, sooner or later, to back off.