I like this episode because it’s zippy. Having seen all the kdrama tropes and their variations, I appreciate that the director didn’t slow-mo the soulful looks and silent pauses and bore us with details on how JiWon captured the flag during office field trip or managed to get SuMin and herself out of the water. He avoided unnecessary exposition to keep the pacing quick and move the story along.

1. The birthday/proposal event, our besotted JiHyuk convinced MinHwan (MH) to allow him to organize the fete for her.

I don’t know about you all, but the point here is to compare the sincerity of MH and JiHyuk

If MH had been in sincerely in love with JiWon, the tawdry balloon décor, the inedible Nutella- sandwich-and-egg-sandwich combo masquerading as a cake, and even the misspelled placard, “Will You Mearry Me?” would have been remembered as a clumsy but sweet attempt at proposal. But in hindsight, JiWon missed the red flag that MH’s heart was never in the game.

However, for me, MH’s second proposal was worse. Sure, the drones and the fireworks were impressive. But they were clearly JiHyuk’s handiwork since the display emblazoned in the sky featured a cat face and “Spring Day.” These gave away that MH didn’t even bother to check and personalize the sky message. MH let another man do all the work and he merely took credit. Not only was his lack of effort in full view, but his dishonesty was also. At least with the misspelled placard, he made it with his own hands.

I agree with JiWon when she said that she would have still been happy with a cheaper event.

Obviously, JiHyuk put on the show to compensate for MH’s poor proposal in the previous life. Making SuMin feel jealousy and desperation seemed secondary.

2. JiWon realized that she didn’t know SuMin at all.

JiWon: She jumped in. She didn’t slip. She jumped in. Right in front of me. Maybe I didn’t know Sumin at all. I thought it’d be easy. That MinHwan is trash and Sumin coverts my things, so I just need them to marry to become happy. But I was wrong. She dragged me down. She grabbed my arm and dragged me down deeper. Also, she was smiling. Did I imagine it? I wish that were true. But no. She tried to die for real. As if dying in the water was nothing and she didn’t care about anything as long as I died with her.

I’m going to call it: Sumin is a terrorist and this was her suicide attack. She was prepared to die as long as she dragged JiWon with her to death.

3. JH brought JiWon to the middle of the lake.

JH: When I felt confused and unsure of what I was doing, I always came here. Once I cleared my head here, I felt I could take another step.

I like that he always taught her to fight her battles through unconventional means. He used judo as a metaphor on how to fight her enemies at the workplace. Now, he was teaching her how to regain composure and recover from fatigue.

For her, he was better than reading Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War.”

JH: No one knows the future. However, we know more than other people. So don’t be scared. You’ve gotten so much better. You’ve learned something new about a friend of 26 years. If SuMin showed you a side she never had before, it means you’re not an easy target to her anymore. I truly wish you a happy birthday.
JiWon: Thanks for the proposal. It was the best first birthday.

Now, this was the kind of birthday celebration I would want for myself. No fanfare. No event. Just a quiet moment to acknowledge that she had grown stronger and wiser than she was a year ago — or a lifetime ago, to be exact. I like JH’s positive spin on night swim.

Technically, too, it was her “first” birthday because she died and was reborn.

4. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

Literally, MH fell hard when JiWon flipped him over his head at the end of this episode.

It had been fun watching JiWon set up MinHwan and SuMin for a spectacular fall.

She made sure that her coworkers gawked at her big engagement ring made of cubic zirconia. (Lol. That’s how I feel about those Swarovski crystal pendants and earrings.) She splurged on luxury items at the department store to waste MH’s money. She even had SuMin spend money on a pair of shoes and cooking class for her. Coincidence or not, she made sure MH’s mother had a bad impression of her so MH would be chewed out for picking a “wrong” wife and daughter-in-law.

At the dinner with his parents, she made sure that MH’s mother knew that MH spent more money on her than his own mother.

MH: (speaking to JiWon about her outfit) What’s with the eagle wings? What about the clothes I bought?
Mom: You bought her clothes?
MH: Well, no. Not these. No.
JiWon: I’ll wear those clothes on a more special day. But I brought the bag.
Mom: (stabbing MH with her eyes)
JiWon: (adding fuel to the fire) Mother, thank you for raising him so well. To celebrate joining his family, he bought me everything from shoes to clothes. He’s so sweet.
Mom: He only ever bought me red long johns with his first paycheck.

Hahaha.

Seriously, I don’t get that culture of buying presents with the first paycheck. I would rather that a portion of the salary went directly into a savings/investment fund and an emergency fund, and the rest went to living expenses. To me, one of the best gifts a son (or daughter) could give to his parents is his financial independence. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about their adult children’s financial health.

Also, speaking as a mom of two grown-up sons, I wouldn’t be irritated if they bought their fiancées a Porsche while I was tooling around in a non-Porsche. It’s their money and their father and I (thankfully!) could buy our own car should we want one. But I’d mind very much and dock their inheritance accordingly if they didn’t pick me up at the airport, attend a family gathering, call me on my birthday, or visit me at the hospital because they were out shopping with their girlfriends.

For JiWon, the non-negotiable was her father. She would have gone easier on MH’s mother had she not spoke ill of JiWon’s father.

JiWon: I did an ancestral rite for my father every year on my own. I have no objections [to doing ancestral rite for MH’s family] either.
Mom: This is why home discipline is important. That’s not the case with customs. Daughters aren’t supposed to do that. Your father probably thinks it’s his fault to have a daughter and understands. That is why everybody wants a son.

That ruffled JiWon’s feathers, and she called off the wedding after giving the mother a piece of her mind.

5. While JiWon was breaking up with MH and his family, JiHyuk was repairing his relationship with his grandpa.

I like this scene. It showed that JiWon cared for the old man despite their current differences.

Grandpa: Your one and only grandfather was admitted, and you came so late. If I was more impatient, I would’ve died waiting.
JH: You live to see ten more years.
Grandpa: What?

Of course, he wouldn’t understand JiHyuk’s reference to his death in the future. JiHyuk then explained that he had gone to Japan earlier that day to call off the marriage arrangement made by his grandpa and the girl’s father. I’m glad that the director just glossed over this sideplot. I didn’t really care to know about this girl.

Grandpa: You foolish boy! You’re in love with someone who’s taken. You broke the promise between families. You used the villa and yacht, and lit fireworks. I heard you even had the staff fly drones! How is that just your feelings.
JH: Do you hear about everything I do?
Grandpa: Of course! You’re not free. Since your dad’s no longer with us. (sigh) You are the one who will lead and take care of over 600,000 employees at UK for the next 30 or 40 years. You poor boy. Such a fool Just a fool in love. Goodness.

That’s when it dawned on JH that his Grandpa would also grieve immensely at his death.

JH: (thinking to himself) There were a lot of things I missed out on. Grandpa must have cried a lot.

He held his Grandpa’s hand and hugged him.

JH: I’ll do better. Don’t worry. I’m sorry, Grandpa.

6. Holding hands with JiWon

About time, too!

In Episode 8, to comfort JiWon after she witnessed MH and SuMin together, he patted her hand. She commented that no one had touched her hand that affectionately in a long while. That comment made him feel awkward and he removed his hand.

Early in this episode, she felt the urge to hold his hand in the elevator.

Then, after his visit to Japan and his visit to the hospital, he waited for her outside her apartment building till she arrived home. She asked him again what he would like to be. When he said that wasn’t an option for him, she suggested that they should start with something simple. She asked him what he would like to do that very moment.

He replied that he wanted to hold her hand.

source: dramashii’s tumblr

I swear. Only in kdramas is such a small step treated like a big milestone. But it ties in perfectly with what JiWon said at her birthday party that a “cheaper event” would have been just as fine with her. In the end, it’s not the trappings of wealth that swoon-worthy but simple moments of “connectedness.”

Next up, Ep 10. Lol. I have an excuse to go on the treadmill lately. It’s the time I designated for watching this kdrama.