This week is all about backstories, backstories, and more backstories. As the truth gets unveiled piece by piece, our characters must choose how to handle the consequences of their actions. While our hero still remains stuck in the past, his future relies on moving forward, but whether that means finding his old self or forging a new path remains to be seen.
EPISODES 9-10
The show finally reveals Kang-ho’s story pre-accident, and if it was not evident before, they certainly make it clear now that our prosecutor sought revenge from the very beginning. After unlocking the memory card, Young-soon finds journal entries dating back to 2008, and the show recounts Kang-ho’s journey from law school to the day of his accident.
In order to understand why he needed to become a prosecutor, Kang-ho dug into his dad’s case but was met with opposition. The only way for him to obtain those files was to gain power, and thus, Kang-ho graduated as the top of his class. From that moment forward, his hunt for the truth began.
Even from a glance, Kang-ho found something off about his dad’s death, and the more he investigated, the more he learned about Tae-soo and Woo-byeok’s corruptness. Fully committed to his cause, Kang-ho cut ties with Mi-joo to shield her from his machinations, and turned his attention to wooing Ha-young as a means to get closer to Tae-soo.
One by one, the show discloses Kang-ho’s true motivations, and while on the outside he played the part of the evil prosecutor, in reality, he was always setting up the long con. The murder case involving Woo-byeok’s grandson turned out to be a ploy to keep the innocent man “safe” (a.k.a. out of Woo-byeok’s clutches), and the secretary who had an affair with Tae-soo actually fled to the Philippines thanks to Kang-ho.
In his last entry, Kang-ho writes that the statute of limitations expired for his dad’s case, but his revenge was never about his dad; it has always been for his mom. Despite all the terrible things Young-soon did, Kang-ho knew that she also stayed up at night to care for him, ate his leftovers as her meal, and kept all the drawings she ripped apart. This revenge is for both him and her against the men who destroyed their lives.
As Young-soon reads her son’s final words, the danger surrounding his plan dawns on her, and she springs into action. Ignoring Kang-ho’s protests, she gathers his old files, including the memory card, and sets them ablaze. She tells her son to stop and says that true revenge means forgetting and letting go.
To make sure Kang-ho never returns to his former life, Young-soon gets the idea to marry him off. (The logic is flawed, but she did drown her son to make him walk so…) As expected, none of the eligible ladies in town want to marry him, which works for Kang-ho since he only has eyes for Mi-joo.
While dressed up, Kang-ho visits Mi-joo at her shop and stumbles across a lecherous man fighting her. He jumps in to protect her, and the sight of Kang-ho wearing the tie she got him makes her heart flutter. In her attempt to scare the man away, Mi-joo tells the others that Kang-ho is a prosecutor, and poor Kang-ho struggles to reconcile his past and present selves.
Right then, a motorcycle comes near them, and Kang-ho instinctively pulls Mi-joo away. His past memories flood back to him, and for a moment, Kang-ho relives the time she got hurt on his exam day. He gives her a sweet kiss, and swept up in her emotions, Mi-joo leans in for another.
After getting Kang-ho’s backstory, the show presents Mi-joo’s side of the tale, and in an unsurprising twist, the twins’ father is Kang-ho. The day he broke up with her was the day she planned to tell him about her pregnancy, but she withheld the truth from him as to not deter his plans. Believing in their love, Mi-joo thought he would return once he accomplished his goals, but that dream died when she saw him going out with Ha-young.
In the present, Mi-joo wrestles with her feelings for Kang-ho over some drinks, and the object of her woes jogs by in the most inopportune time. He casually addresses her, which peeves Mi-joo, so Kang-ho blurts out that he likes her. He runs away after that, and Mi-joo watches him leave with even more questions swirling in her head.
Complicating Mi-joo’s already convoluted life is Young-soon who approaches her one evening with a request: help her get Kang-ho married. Mi-joo sees through her smile and recognizes that something must be troubling her. She refuses to help without knowing the truth, so Young-soon admits that she is dying. That night, Mi-joo tells her mom about her relationship with Kang-ho, and the next day, she dresses up the twins and takes them to his house.
A couple of other things happen in these episodes (some Sam-shik moments, bad guys being bad guys, the annoying singer, etc.), but most of it feels tangential to the crux of the show: Young-soon, Kang-ho, and Mi-joo. We finally get the full story behind our past lovers, and I understand why she kept the twins a secret from him for so long. That does not mean I think her choice was correct, but I am empathetic to her plight, both past and present. It makes sense that Mi-joo was understanding towards Kang-ho during the breakup even though it hurt because she knew his character. She never once doubted his love, so it must have been devastating to see him dating a rich, politician’s daughter because it shattered her dreams as well as her self-esteem. She must have felt so foolish in believing him especially since she was struggling to make ends meet while he rode around in fancy cars. As a result, I don’t fault her for wanting to keep the twins’ father a secret, but if the ending was any indication, I hope he learns the truth soon.
Though I find most of the scenes that don’t revolve around the main trio tedious, I did think Sam-shik’s moment in the police station was touching. While everyone else scratched their heads over Kang-ho calling Sam-shik his fiancé, only Sam-shik knew that he meant friend. It’s also a nice juxtaposition from the last time Sam-shik was detained and at Kang-ho’s mercy, but I wish the show built these scenes up better. The drinking scene and then the police station scene felt abrupt, and while Sam-shik has the potential for growth, he’s mostly used for laughs and mischief. My complaints about his character, though, are indicative of a larger criticism I have about the show: there’s too much going on in the background. Even the thugs who I found funny in the beginning have become recycled jokes, and I can’t believe the singer is still relevant to the story. While I like the actors playing the villagers, I have not warmed up to their characters, and I doubt the show will do anything meaningful with them this late into its run.
My grievances with Young-soon have not changed, unfortunately, and though there were moments this week that made me think she would reflect and repent, nothing happened. She repeatedly sticks to her selfish behavior under the pretense of love, and her actions feel more controlling and suffocating with each passing episode. Kang-ho’s backstory was all right in the sense that I got a better picture of our hero, but the last message about his mom felt like a bandage covering a festering, untreated wound. She is more than a “bad” mother at this point, and I hate the message that her actions are forgivable because she did them out of love. I’m happy that Kang-ho confronted her about her mistreatment, but I worry that his pleas fell on deaf ears. I understand that she has trauma from her past as well, but it does not justify her behavior. It may somewhat explain the contrast found in her character, but no matter how many drawings she hides away in the attic, it cannot undo the damage she caused.
Kang-ho’s backstory made me realize that he is much more similar to his mom than he thinks. Both Young-soon and Kang-ho end up hurting the ones they love because they believe good intentions outweigh bad behavior. As long as the results are favorable, any emotional damage that occurs along the way is inconsequential in their eyes. Both characters act like martyrs, but no one asked them to play this role. Kang-ho didn’t want to be a prosecutor; he wanted to do art and was good at it. Young-soon didn’t ask for revenge, yet Kang-ho took it upon himself to seek it out for the both of them. Mi-joo didn’t want to leave his side, but he thought she would be happier without him. They deny the other person agency, and ultimately, their actions stem from selfishness rather than love. It’s about what they want and what they assume is best for their loved ones. If they gave the other person a choice, I’m sure their lives would have panned out very differently, but then again, maybe that’s why Kang-ho was so hellbent on revenge to the point of self-destruction.