This Valentine’s Day, our time-traveling couple demonstrates the importance of trust and communication in a relationship. Love is on full display this week — the staunch loyalty of friendship, the self-corrosive poison of obsession, and the unwavering support of sincerity.
EPISODES 13-14
Six days prior, Yoo-ra had tempted Min-hwan with money, seduction, and the revelation that Ji-won has millions of assets to her name (courtesy of Ji-hyuk’s investments). Yoo-ra’s arrogant pride won’t allow her to accept handouts from Ji-hyuk, even if those subsidiaries are worth billions; she has to trample everyone in her path and snatch him back.
Through Yoo-ra’s scheme, we finally learn what twisted Soo-min’s psyche into the vengeful manipulator that she is today. Remember how Ji-won’s mother had run away from home? She’d done so with Soo-min’s father, leaving the young Soo-min with her harsh mother and a broken home. Embittered and envious of Ji-won’s loving father, Soo-min vowed to befriend Ji-won and destroy her life from within.
She’s still doing so now, since she contacts her estranged father and offers up Yoo-ra’s hefty duffel bag of cash to pay off the cheating couple’s outstanding debts. Though they’re not as slick as they’d like to think, given how quickly the reliable Seok-joon catches on to their murder plan. In any case, it’s darkly amusing how Soo-min’s description of her father also matches Min-hwan to a tee — pretentious, hapless, and full of lofty promises that are never kept.
Having overheard Seok-joon’s hospital stairwell conversation, Ji-won learns that Soo-min was involved in orchestrating the accident, guided by a more powerful figure. She wastes no time in calling Soo-min out for a confrontation, and as usual, Soo-min plays up the innocent woe-is-me act. It’s scarily convincing, until she realizes Ji-won isn’t having it, and the plaintive expression slides right off Soo-min’s face.
Cruelly revealing the truth of their parents’ infidelity, Soo-min blames Ji-won for being the root of her suffering and scheming. What gives Ji-won the right to be happy, when she’s knee-deep in misery? Soo-min’s soliloquy is equal parts sympathetic and damning, because it’s clear how her traumatic childhood shaped her fear of abandonment and her maladaptive coping mechanisms, yet it doesn’t excuse her cruel vindictiveness one bit.
Then Ji-won reveals that she’d known all along, yet kept it to herself so as to not hurt Soo-min. Now that Soo-min’s mask is well and truly off, there’s no reason for Ji-won to hold back, either.
In the minutes before the truck accident, Ji-hyuk had recorded a voice message for Ji-won, believing that he’d been sent back in time to protect her in this very moment. He died in vain before, but at least this time he’ll die for Ji-won. At long last, Ji-hyuk confesses the truth of his original death, expressing his regrets about not being able to be with her. When she listens to the voice message, the magnitude of Ji-hyuk’s close brush with death finally pushes Ji-won to admit that she loves him. To her relief, he regains consciousness, and they promise to overcome fate together.
Cuteness ensues in the following days of recovery, with Ji-hyuk using his arm sling as an excuse to wheedle Ji-won into feeding him and staying the night. Coming face to face with his own mortality has given Ji-hyuk a new perspective; he’s going to treasure the time he has with his beloved. Now, his smile is radiant and unfettered, and he tenderly holds Ji-won with his love imbued in every touch.
While things are looking up for Ji-won, circumstances are spiraling rapidly downhill for Joo-ran. In his usual straightforward manner, Seok-joon tells Joo-ran to deliver a well-deserved lashing out to her cheating husband instead of running away. (He even offers his golf club as a weapon, ha.) Seok-joon’s deliberately pushing her buttons, trying to rile her up into getting angry in her own defense for once, but Joo-ran bursts into tears instead. “If someone’s kind to you,” Joo-ran sobs, “shouldn’t you reciprocate with kindness?”
With the proof of her husband’s infidelity, Joo-ran eventually decides to report her husband to the police, since the year they’re currently in is prior to the abolition of the adultery law. The confrontation plays out like Ji-won’s death day — a broken door lock, red heels in the doorway, and hard candy scattered over the floor.
The shameless husband comes up with a flimsy excuse and demands that everyone leave, but upon seeing the glass table in the living room, Ji-won knows what she must do. Snatching a nearby golf club, she smashes it down onto the table, shattering it into shards. When Joo-ran winds up shoved to the floor by her incorrigible spouse, she falls onto the table’s remnants, narrowly avoiding death.
Not only does this incident trigger Ji-won’s trauma, but it also instills in her the realization that the destined event isn’t merely the marriage. Instead, the husband must cheat and want his wife dead for the insurance money. With that, Ji-won resolves to seduce Min-hwan in order to truly swap her original fate with Soo-min’s. She catches Ji-hyuk up to speed, and despite his initial reluctance, he agrees to help her protect Joo-ran.
Their plan starts with staging a hilariously overwrought post-breakup argument in the office stairwell for Min-hwan to overhear. Afterwards, Ji-won coyly flirts with Min-hwan over a round of drinks, tantalizing him with the news of her recently-acquired wealth. Then she spins a story of Ji-hyuk betraying her trust by putting a tail on her, mixing in the truth of Soo-min conspiring to kill her, and Min-hwan falls hook, line, and sinker.
Meanwhile, Ji-hyuk’s making moves of his own. Unbeknownst to Yoo-ra, he approaches her secretary — will he go down with Yoo-ra, or will he jump ship over to Ji-hyuk? That’s how Ji-hyuk and Ji-won learn that Min-hwan’s already halfway to adultery with Yoo-ra. Through the double agent secretary, Ji-hyuk sends a pair of red high heels and a tin of hard candy to Yoo-ra, symbolically passing over Ji-won’s fate.
Since she no longer needs to playact at seduction, Ji-won gives Min-hwan a much-deserved earful before dropping him like a hot potato. Unfortunately, her hasty rashness has its consequences. Angered that Ji-won made a mockery of him, Min-hwan plays a cruel prank to frighten her after hours. Strangling her in the deserted office, Min-hwan tears into her for deceiving him, but Ji-won refuses to back down, boldly daring him to kill her. Just as she loses consciousness, Ji-hyuk rushes to the rescue.
Oof, that scene was actually terrifying. It’s a testament to Lee Yi-kyung’s acting that he manages to sell the palpable danger of Min-hwan’s menacing cruelty, while simultaneously embodying his pathetic sniveling and physical comedy. Song Ha-yoon flipped the switch in an equally sinister manner while accusing Ji-won, and it really goes to show how insidious abuse can be. It creeps up on you, shrouded in facades and falsehoods, until you’re in too deep and don’t know how to escape.
I’m not sure where Ji-won is going with such a reckless provocation — or if this attack was even necessary to the plot at all, given how we’ve already seen multiple heroic rescues from Ji-hyuk — but hopefully it’s a sign that our leads need to be collaborating more, not acting on their own. This is ultimately Ji-won’s battle, but in the same way that she’s always supporting others around her, she has to let them help her too.
I really like how sensible some of our characters are, effectively truncating the weeks of miscommunication angst that might have transpired otherwise. I heaved a sigh of relief when Eun-ho immediately came clean to Ji-won about Yoo-ra’s attempted coercion, staying loyal despite losing his job. Plus, he earned himself a chef spot on the meal kit project, thanks to Hee-yeon!
On the other hand, our villains are immature and impulsive. Just the slightest bit of temptation from Ji-won, and Min-hwan’s immediately demanding a divorce from Soo-min. He hasn’t even bothered to change her contact name after months of marriage! It goes without saying that our antagonists exploit their connections for ulterior motives, but it’s precisely this calculative manipulation that renders their bonds flimsy and fragile.
Yoo-ra’s much the same, but frankly, the less said about her, the better. With this week’s events, I’m finally seeing why she’s been included in the story — so that the villains can drag one another down without Ji-won dirtying her hands — but just because I’ve come round regarding her role doesn’t mean I particularly enjoy watching her brand of haughty self-importance. Onwards with the villain takedown, please!