This week we learn more about the circumstances that pulled our Romeo and Juliet apart in their youth. It’s as sad as it is infuriating — and so is the fact that we see the same dynamics beginning to repeat themselves in the present day. Everyone is trying to pull these two apart, but there’s never been a couple so perfect for each other.
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP
When My Love Blooms is such a gentle, romantic show that when you watch it you’re just lost in the emotions without being able to say what really happened — or is that just me? The drama is more about what it evokes than any huge plot swings, and that’s one of the things I’m enjoying most about it. The other? Jae-hyun.
It’s hard not to swoon when the man of your dreams returns when you need him most — and that’s what’s happening for Ji-soo, now that Jae-hyun is back in her life again.
What Jae-hyun is for Ji-soo is solid ground, in so many senses of that word. This week, we learn more about how he encouraged her sense of self-worth, and even stood up to her father in order to protect her.
But just as I hoped would not be the case, Ji-soo’s father is more terrible than we might have realized. He investigates Jae-hyun and sticks him on the wanted list in an attempt to tear our Romeo and Juliet apart. And it’s not that he thinks Jae-hyun will be bad for his daughter. Instead, he recognizes that Jae-hyun is “warm and gentle” and says that “the good have a certain power” that makes them harder to get rid of. Sheesh.
Ji-soo’s father might have pulled them apart in the past with his “choose one or the other” rhetoric, but in the present day, the forces against our lovers are even worse. We still know very little about Ji-soo’s ex-husband LEE SE-HOON (Kim Young-hoon), but we know enough to be mighty wary of him. And this week he really outdoes himself by spying on Ji-soo, conspiring with Seo-kyung to “get back” their spouses, and using his adorable son as nothing more than leverage.
Yeah, Se-hoon is pretty horrible. By the end of this week’s episodes, he winds up blackmailing Ji-soo and pinning her into making a choice not very different from the one her father did when she was young: cling to Jae-hyun and ruin his life, or renounce him in order to save him. We watch young Ji-soo break up with Jae-hyun for this very reason, and it’s sad as hell, because they’re both just so precious and perfect for each other.
In the present day, though, there seems to be so much more at stake in the conflict. Ji-soo has a son to protect (from a man she clearly loathes), and Jae-hyun has his reputation and a possible future as a criminal on the line. But what if the two situations/choices are not so different after all? At their core they are the same: Ji-soo must make a choice based on avoiding what she fears the most. And she tells us that fear is Jae-hyun falling because of her.
We learn a lot about what is in Ji-soo’s heart this week — I mean, what a decision to make! To go back to the man she hates just to protect the one she loves. It seems like for Ji-soo, sacrificing herself and her happiness are something she does almost out of habit. We’ve seen Jae-hyun (of past and present) trying to teach her to value herself more, though, and I’m really interested to see if Ji-soo’s martyr mentality will shift as this story plays out.
We learn a little less of Jae-hyun this week, but what we do learn is great. His love for Ji-soo might be a beacon in his own heart, but his mother knows about it too, and I just looooved that. There’s some complicated history between them, I think, but the scene with present-day Jae-hyun visiting his mother was quite sweet. From the singing to the talking of Ji-soo, this interaction was just what we (and Jae-hyun) needed to ground the hardships to come.
The other development around Jae-hyun this week is the fact that he might be lobbying for control of his father-in-law’s company — or maybe just trying to take down the corruption? We’re not given many details, but instead we watch it play out in pieces: Jae-hyun talking to shareholders, his father-in-law suspicious of him, and the hint that Jae-hyun might not be the chaebol puppet after all.
The entire cast is fabulous in this drama, but no one is impressing me quite as much as Jinyoung. His energy on screen is so different than we’re used to seeing from him, and he’s channeling the gravity and decisiveness of Yoo Ji-tae’s performance so well. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I’ve never met a drama that has done such a fine job matching up young/adult cast members. And I don’t mean their looks, but what each actor is able to capture in their individual performance, and then tie into a single character.
The end of this week’s episodes feel like a bit of a crossroads for Ji-soo. She’s hit the same ugly decision she’s had to make in the past. Her desire to keep Jae-hyun safe and sheltered didn’t really work the first time, despite her giving him up. I wonder if we’ll see the same repeated “mistake,” or if she and Jae-hyun have lived enough, and endured enough, to bring a new perspective to their second chance.
