As our couple deals with the pain of their breakup and the repercussions that follow, they’re forced to look at their decision to part ways. Was it really for the best? While their relationship takes the foreground, in the background we learn much about what happened at the orphanage, and where it all started to go wrong for the twins.
EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP
Are Da-jung and Young-do better apart, so they can’t cause each other any possible future hurt? Or are they better together in a partnership where they can support each other with whatever comes their way? I know the answer, and you know the answer, and luckily for our couple, so does their group of friends. And they get an A+ for meddling and intervening.
The more the drama goes on, the more I just love all these side characters. From Young-do’s goofy pals that act half their age, to Da-jung’s deep friendship with Eun-ha, her new one with Ga-young, and heck, even the coffee shop part-timer and the nurse at Young-do’s clinic — each character brings so much color to the story. Even when we only see fragments of their story, or they serve a tangential and comedic purpose, the story wouldn’t feel complete without them.
You Are My Spring has always been a bit of tonal ping-pong, going from the more cute and sweet side of the romance and relationships, to the darker current of murder and disturbed minds. But it’s also handled its side characters in a really beautiful way, and in its own time, given each of them a chance to shine.
Eun-ha had her moment were we learned about her wounded heart (which makes the reveal of her dating Da-jung’s little brother even more squee). Ga-young had her moment where we got her backstory, and saw into her soul a little. And this week, it was time to learn about NURSE OH (Baek Hyun-joo).
I have long appreciated her as a character in the drama for her general goofiness and awesome comedic timing, but it’s a testament to this drama’s strength how in the space of a short flashback, they can hit us in the heart. We learn how Nurse Oh met Young-do, how he was able to counsel her in her grief, and with that, their bond in the present becomes even more meaningful.
So between Nurse Oh, Ga-young, and all the other friends, everyone is equally horrified about Young-do and Da-jung’s breakup (especially since half of them were hiding on the roof and heard most of that horrible scene play out). Each character lets their opinion be heard loud and clear, whether it’s chewing Young-do out (Ga-young for the win!), videotaping Young-do expressing his true feelings, or sharing that video with Da-jung — each friend plays a part in their getting back together.
From here on out, it’s just pure unadulterated sweetness for Da-jung and Young-do. These two have such an innocence about them, and are so in love. It’s precious to watch them all giddy together, but it’s even better to watch the immediate support they now provide each other. For instance, when the Choi Jung-min/Ian Chase case is on the news (yet again), Young-do is there for Da-jung almost instantaneously.
If I could venture one complaint this week, it’s that I do crave more of this Choi Jung-min/Ian Chase story. I like what we get, but it’s always so suspenseful and interesting that when we do get it, I just want more! The drama switches to this storyline pretty suddenly, and always has, but something about the quick shifts works for me.
A great example of this is the scene in the hotel when Da-jung is talking to Park Ho. All of a sudden he jumps up and takes off… because Ian Chase has been lingering nearby and heard their conversation. It’s that drop in your stomach the drama captures so well. Da-jung went from feeling safe and confident to being alone and scared in the blink of an eye, and the drama expresses this so well over and over again.
We also get some important questions answered this week, though some details are still vague. Our creepy “homeless” guy is now known as HWANG JAE-SHIK (Park Ki-deok), and upon raiding his home, our detectives are able to confirm lots of creepy things, from evidence that it was Jae-shik that drugged Ian, to finding his murder diary and a lot of details that help us figure out what happened in the past.
Some flashbacks also help with that. We see Choi Jung-min and Ian Chase as boys at the orphanage, and later together as 18-year-olds. I’m not sure how or when the two got together again, but in the scene we see, Ian Chase is already deeply entangled with Jae-shik, and the two have been “cooperating” on this murder spree that is really a bunch of revenge killings. What we saw made sense, but I still have questions, so I’m looking forward to more of this storyline in our final week.
Overall, I’ve enjoyed the pacing of this drama quite a lot, and going into our final week, it feels like we have solid ground on which to land, but also enough plot points and questions to warrant more show — because we need a few more things answered.
One thing that was answered this week, though, was this tiny detail about Da-jung. I noticed two or three times in early episodes that when she was sitting, she absentmindedly kicked leaves or detritus around her into a little circle. It was symbolic of something for sure, but we never quite addressed it, or saw it again, until this week.
Present-day Da-jung makes a little rock circle around a flower that’s coming up in the grass, and it triggers a memory for Young-do. They remember back to their brief time at the “orphanage,” where we learn Da-jung had done the same thing with cigarette butts around a blooming weed. It serves as much as a deeper recognition between them as it does a metaphor, and I was glad to see this wrapped up so nicely.
I can’t close without a word on Ga-young and her drama, though — both real and fictional. I’m surprisingly invested in her relationship with Patrick and I want them to be happy as much as I want Da-jung and Young-do to be happy. Will she be able to trust his love for her? Will they go public with their relationship? Can I love that earnest puppy face of Patrick any more than I already do?
But then there’s Ga-young’s fictional drama, which might be even better than the real one. A princess that makes it back to our world by coming through the plumbing? This show needs to be real, because we all need the bathos of an other worldly princess who travels worlds via water pipes and turns up in a bathroom sitting on a toilet, sopping wet.