Old and new relationships bring surprises and complex feelings for our characters this week as our Jeju residents all deal with their own personal struggles. Our heroine is set on finding herself, but it’s not quite as easy as she’d hoped. Our two hopefuls for her affection have an awkward conversation that doesn’t leave either feeling satisfied. Meanwhile, our sisters deal with unexpected romantic and familial complications.
EPISODES 7-8
With both Sam-dal and Yong-pil being confronted with their feelings, only one of them answers the question. And yes, it’s obviously Yong-pil. Sang-do poses the question to Yong-pil and boldly confesses his own feelings for Sam-dal, only to have Yong-pil look incredibly unsurprised. Apparently, Sang-do has spilled this “secret” over a dozen times in the past whenever he got drunk. Proving he’s a good friend, Yong-pil encourages Sang-do to follow his heart and not to feel guilty for his feelings. Just because Yong-pil chose to never get over Sam-dal doesn’t mean Sang-do needs to ask his permission or avoid his own feelings.
The real issue for Sang-do is that for their whole lives, Sam-dal has protected and looked out for him. She treats him like a proud big sister, and that dynamic is hard to shift. On the other hand, whenever she’s sad or needs help, she leans on Yong-pil for support and advice.
Now, she’s taken Yong-pil’s advice to find herself a little too literally and goes on a hiking adventure to find Cho Sam-dal, which Yong-pil finds hilarious. It’s a beautiful hike, though, with gorgeous fields, forests, views, and even baby goats. And a ton of other people all also hoping to find themselves on this annual program that’s famous around those parts. Needless to say, it’s not much help.
But Yong-pil comes through again, this time with a photo contest by the Jeju weather service. Photography has always been a part of Sam-dal’s life, so it stands to reason that’s a part of who Sam-dal is at her core. It takes a fair bit of convincing by Yong-pil and the rest of the squad, but Sam-dal does finally cave and apply.
Everyone notices how much time Yong-pil and Sam-dal are spending together. For most, it’s just a source of neighborhood gossip. But two people are decidedly worried about this new development. Mom doesn’t say anything to discourage it, but it’s clear she’s concerned. Then, there’s Yong-pil’s dad. Somehow, he’s been entirely out of the loop and had no idea Sam-dal was even back. Now that he knows, he’s pushing for Yong-pil to take that job transfer to Seoul.
Yong-pil’s dad and Sam-dal’s parents, once best friends, are no longer on speaking terms. For whatever reason, he blames Sam-dal for something major (his wife’s death?). He resents her so much that he ordered her to break up with Yong-pil eight years ago. Aha. The details are still a mystery, but that sheds some light on why there’s so much confusion and feelings over The Breakup.
Our sisters’ drama kicks up this week. Jin-dal gets a surprise visit from Da-young’s secretary who is on very friendly terms with her. All the staff of AS Group are huge Jin-dal fans because she advocated for them and improved their work lives. Jin-dal is much less happy to get a surprise visit from Da-young that same day. He, however, is so smitten he can barely form a sentence when he sees her.
Da-young is the laughingstock of his family, especially after Jin-dal divorced him and publicly accused the family of power abuse. Now when he’s being berated by his relatives, he dreams of Jin-dal coming to save him and give his bullies what they deserve. He’s delightfully ridiculous and does not seem like the rest of his family. Even Hae-dal and Sam-dal note that he wasn’t the problem and seemed alright. (I’m rooting for Da-young to leave his chaebol family and take up island life with Jin-dal.)
As for Hae-dal, she runs into Ji-chan again, who is the president of a dolphin organization, but they get off on the wrong foot. Still, he saves her from an oncoming car, cementing their status as a couple-to-be. Ha-yul watches this with a thoughtful look, and then she calls her mom “auntie” in front of Ji-chan. Oof. She brushes it off when Hae-dal asks about it later, but she does it again when they run into Ji-chan a second time (who she really seems to like now). I have a feeling she’s trying to give her mom a chance to date and sees herself as a burden, which is heartbreaking.
Meanwhile, Mom’s health secret is getting harder to hide since her pain is getting worse. It gets so bad she almost drowns twice while diving. The first time, another haenyeo is there to pull her up, but she’s not so lucky the second time. It’s the rainy season which often brings dangerous weather, but the women still go diving. Everyone looks for Mom frantically, but the other divers can’t find her. At the weather forecasting station, Yong-pil sees the situation on the cameras and calls for a search.
Sam-dal happens to be touring the station after turning in her photo contest application, so she sees all of this go down. She also hears Yong-pil convey to the search team that Mom has a heart condition, something he kept from Sam-dal when she asked about her mom’s health earlier. While Yong-pil continues helping on his end, he sends Sam-dal to the beach with the rest of her family.
We flash back to 2002, also during the rainy season. A similar scene plays out, but it’s Yong-pil’s mom who is missing. He and his father sob by the water when his mother’s body is found. In the present, Sam-dal, her sisters, and her father scream for Mom by the ocean as the whole town watches in horror of a possible repeat tragedy.
Mom better not die like this. If she’d just told people about her heart condition, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Diving with a heart condition seems dangerous anyway, but if her colleagues knew, they could keep a closer eye on her. As it stands, only Dad and Yong-pil seem to know about her health. So now not only has Yong-pil lost one mom in the water, but he might lose his second. No wonder he was adamant that Mom cover her buoy in a brightly patterned, very visible cloth so she’s easy to find.
Maybe this will get Yong-pil’s dad to start speaking to the family again. I’m not sure what exactly he blames Sam-dal for, but it’s clear that whatever it is, Yong-pil doesn’t feel the same (nor does anyone else). My assumption is that it has something to do with Yong-pil’s mom’s death, but I don’t know how Sam-dal could be blamed for her drowning. Things are getting pretty heavy, so let’s hope next week isn’t too tragic.