We hit the halfway mark with a pair of lovely episodes that tear into the meat of this drama. There’s a focus on Mom this week, as we learn more about her past — and then watch things go haywire when that past comes back to greet her. As our little family unit is faced with upset, our mother-daughter duo finally argue in earnest, showing their real feelings.
EPISODES 5-6
We left off last week when Jin-hee had a man up against a wall after spotting him in the street staring up at her apartment window. It’s the second time she’s seen him doing something strange, but she’s forced to let him go yet again. We’ll come to learn later, long before Jin-hee does, that this man is actually her father, PARK JIN-HONG (Ahn Jae-wook), and it’s complicated because he never knew Jin-hee existed.
To back up and explain, we get another glimpse of Eun-mi in high school (played by Park Yi-hyun). This time we see things aren’t as cut and dry as they originally seemed. All we knew before was that Jin-hee’s father had transferred to another school and Eun-mi had never seen him again — making him sound kinda terrible. But what we see now is that he never knew she was pregnant, and his family forced him to transfer schools simply because he was dating Eun-mi and the rumors it caused.
Eun-mi’s “friend” back then, who was Jin-hong’s sister, says Eun-mi ruined their family and beats her up quite badly with her crew of bullies. And then we meet Jin-hong as a high school student (Kwon Yong-hyun) as he comes to tend to her wounds and tell her how much he likes her, no matter what anyone says. He is freaking adorable — sweet and attentive and shy — and it’s no wonder she fell for him. Ironically, it’s their impending forced separation that brings these two to seal the deal — and that’s when Eun-mi gets pregnant.
I just love, love, love this flashback and the direction the show is taking with this story. Not only is their first love shot beautifully with low light and heart-gripping nostalgia, but it’s excruciating to see that Jin-hong is not at all how we were led to believe. From this minute on I am rooting for these two in the present timeline, where they inevitably meet again.
Before Jin-hee learns about her father, Eun-mi runs into Jin-hong at her physical therapy office, which is the first time she’s seen him in thirty years. They recognize each other instantly and, in fact, Jin-hong recognized her the other day at the police station — when Jin-hee had hauled him in as a potential pervert and Eun-mi happened to be there visiting her daughter’s work. This is the reason he’s been skulking around their apartment trying to get another glimpse of her.
Jin-hong is immediately happy to reunite with Eun-mi and we find out he’s never really gotten over her. He was banned from seeing her when they were young and then he heard she moved and met someone else, so he gave up and just spent his life studying and working to become a doctor (all this is to say: he’s single). Now, he wants to be near her again in any capacity, even if it means being friends. He’s as sweet as he was thirty years ago and I can’t help but want him and Eun-mi to get together and give it a real shot this time.
But Eun-mi is super conflicted. She’s still got feelings for him too, clearly, but she doesn’t want to. She wants to be as angry as she thinks she should be for having to raise Jin-hee on her own. She struggled, while he was off making a ton of money as a doctor (so, single and rich), and her head is telling her not to get involved with him again.
But her heart is not following what her mouth is saying. She keeps ending up at dinners with him, until somehow he’s carting her to and from work every day — which, as she explains, is just practical because he has a car and the neighborhood is dangerous with a killer on the loose. Haha. Well played, Drama. I’m almost convinced the killer makes sense just for this bit.
At their first dinner “date,” Eun-mi angrily tells Jin-hong that he has a daughter. She wasn’t planning to but seeing him there, doing well, makes her want to “be mean.” At first he’s too shocked to respond, but later he wants to compensate in some way and, not knowing how, he offers her money. Eun-mi responds, “You think you can make up for my lost time with money?” This is her back and forth: she sees how sweet and genuine he still is, but is bitter about her life.
And this is the core conflict between Eun-mi and Jin-hee, once Jin-hee finds out a) who her father is and b) that her mother is sort of dating him again. Neither of these women is sure how to feel about this man that’s just reappeared in their lives — but his absence has caused them hurt in very different ways.
We see Jin-hee as a child, always second in line to her mother’s boyfriends (of which there were a string). We learn that Eun-mi almost married once, but the fiancé’s family didn’t want him to marry someone who already had a child. At the time, Mi-jung and her mother offered to take Jin-hee and raise her so that Eun-mi could get married, but ultimately, Eun-mi called off the wedding so she wouldn’t be separated from her daughter.
From Jin-hee’s perspective, she has always been a burden in her mother’s life. Episode 6 is entitled “Goldfish Poop,” referring to a statement someone made about Jin-hee when she was very young — but she still remembers — that Eun-mi was like a pretty goldfish, but having a kid was like having poop hanging off the side. It’s a gross metaphor for multiple reasons, and the effect it’s had on Jin-hee is very real.
In an explosive (and extremely well-written) argument, Jin-hee finally tells Eun-mi how hard her life has been. Jin-hee has always been good at everything she does, feeling like she had to be perfect. Eun-mi wonders if this is because she thought she’d be abandoned (by her mother, just like her father), but Jin-hee says it’s because she felt like it was her fault how her mother’s life turned out. “Do you know how guilty I’ve felt for being me?” Both actresses carry off this scene in a way that tore my heart out as one cries and the other holds back tears, both with equal pain.
While they bicker all the time, this is their first real argument. Jin-hee spouts off a few hurtful things to Eun-mi and leaves the apartment, only to find Jin-hong at the door — and he’s heard every word. Later, Jin-hee feels terrible and guilty over what happened and, as always, she’s the one who apologizes (not the other way around).
To try to make amends, Jin-hee invites Eun-mi on a trip with her and Jin-soo, which Eun-mi accepts. As the three of them get off the plane and make their way to their destination, Jin-hong appears. He’s already there waiting — because Eun-mi invited him without telling Jin-hee.
This last moment makes me so angry. I loved these episodes and I hope the show does not play Eun-mi’s behavior for humor next week. I want to see these two healed! Jin-hee already told her mother why she’s uncomfortable with her dating Jin-hong — because she doesn’t want to be “goldfish poop” when the man in question is her father. The poor thing was already abandoned once, and Eun-mi didn’t (and doesn’t) have the emotional maturity to take care of Jin-hee like she should have. The last thing Jin-hee needs is to feel abandoned a second time when she’s left out by her mother and father dating.
I get it. I really get it. The pain is deep here. But I’m learning to trust the show as it improves each week and I think these are things that can be resolved (for the story, at least) as Jin-hong proves himself as a character. We’ve gotten to know Jin-hong better (and I’m totally smitten), but Jin-hee still knows nothing about him. It makes sense that she doesn’t trust Eun-mi but, at the same time, if Eun-mi were actually in a stable relationship things might be different between her and her daughter. They’ve lived completely enmeshed with each other and a good-hearted third party could be just what they need to neutralize them.
Wow, I can’t believe how much I like where the story is going right now. I’m just hoping next week the drama keeps doing exactly what it’s doing.