There’s more than cohabitation hijinks on the table for our suave gumiho and his new housemate. As our heroine tries to keep up her end of their agreement, her gumiho pal finds himself more and more invested in her health, safety, and happiness.
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP
After such a fun premiere week, I was curious how My Roommate Is a Gumiho would keep up after setting the bar. And yay, week two is just as fun — the same amount of ridiculous, some carefully-measured swoons, and a huge helping of plot points you saw coming a mile away that still manage to be fun.
Interestingly, though, things take a decidedly campus-y turn this week. We spend a lot of time with Dam at school. She deals with everything from being the subject of campus gossip (the group of popular boys grading her on her looks within her hearing), to continued pursuit by campus playboy GYE SUN-WOO, and the dreaded group project, which is the bane of every diligent student on earth (amirite?).
Even though we feel for Dam as she’s dealing with these hardships, her guileless ways and very genuine reactions keep these storylines fun. Whether she’s confronted for lying to her little brother, or complaining about her period to Woo-yeo, we learn a lot about Dam and who she is. But mostly, these hardships exist to ruffle the feathers fur of Woo-yeo.
This 999-year-old mythical beast is strangely sympathetic towards his latest bead-holding female. He might look at her like she’s crazy, but he’s also completely intrigued by her, as if she is the mythical beast that defies his imagination.
The budding relationship between these two is fun, and I’m buying it so far, with a few reservations. Well, a single reservation really, which is that I never really buy (or enjoy) the story of a mature, polished man who for some reason falls for the sloppy and sweet-hearted young girl.
It’s a storytelling trope for a reason, and I’m not against it, but it’s just not one that I particularly enjoy. I understand the draw of Dam’s artless ways, but there’s a childishness about her that makes their dynamic a bit odd at times. Throw in the very respectful way in which she addresses Woo-yeo, and I wonder how we’ll ever really see them as a couple. However, since this relationship is the basis of the entire drama, I’m going to press pause on my doubts for now and just accept the fact that Woo-yeo finds Dam’s personality adorable, and her shortcomings charming.
As Sun-woo continues to pursue Dam, she teams up with Woo-yeo to find ways to discourage his attention. It would be far easier just to tell him no, but there would be no drama if this happened. So instead, Woo-yeo and Dam go on a test date, and he shares all the annoying things she does and should replicate when she’s with Sun-woo to turn him off.
Of course we know the opposite will occur. Of course we know that Sun-woo, despite Dam’s efforts, will only like her more, and despite his bet to win her over, will find himself falling for her genuinely. But it’s still fun somehow. Is it the fun tone of the drama that keeps this thing so alive? Or is it just the fact that I love Bae In-hyuk and could watch him puzzling over Dam and helping her unclog toilets for several more episodes.
Though her living situation and campus life seem complicated enough, Dam also has a new layer of complication added to her life: our recently-turned-human Hye-sun has joined her class as a fellow college student. Tired of being mocked for her low IQ, Hye-sun throws our gumiho a deal: she’ll attend university and not only increase her knowledge, but keep an eye on Dam and the fox bead.
This means more hijinks, especially since Hye-sun turns heads every second, and is paired up with Dam’s bestie DO JAE-JIN. But there’s more to this than meets the eye — or so we’re led to believe — because Hye-sun seems to have a little more up her sleeve. She might be ditzy, but it seems she can also scheme.
And speaking of hijinks, to help Dam out of a sticky situation, Woo-yeo shape shifts into her for a date with Sun-woo. In addition to being hilarious, it makes Woo-yeo realize how deeply invested he’s become in Dam’s life.
Woo-yeo is no stranger to his own heart, and he realizes he’s getting overly attached to Dam. Hye-sun reminds him that being fond of humans has never been very successful for them, and to save himself pain (and maybe Dam too), he starts icing her out. We also get more foreshadowing of Woo-yeo’s love back in ye olde Joseon days (I won’t be surprised when we find out this woman is a Dam lookalike), and the fact that the bead is behaving strangely inside of Dam, and this could become a problem.
In the meantime, Woo-yeo’s best tactic is the ice-out — but it doesn’t last long. Dam is bothered, and because she’s as frank as she is, she calls him out on it very soon.
At this point I have to admit the show quite took my breath away. I wasn’t expecting a gush of romance and philosophy to be injected a drama such as this, but as Woo-yeo and Dam have their final conversation of the episode, that’s exactly what we get.
Dam opens up about Sun-woo, saying that she doesn’t know why he likes her, and worries what will happen if his expectations or impressions of her are unrealistic. This moment of honesty from Dam — and more generally from a young girl’s heart — was so genuine and lovely that it caught me off guard.
But then Woo-yeo’s answer is even better. He explains to Dam that when you love someone you do see them in a different light, and from a different angle than others. He proceeds to quote a beautiful passage from Love in the Time of Cholera about the magic and madness of being in love, and of wondering why the rest of the world can’t see in that person what you yourself do (such gorgeous writing!).
Woo-yeo is speaking from experience, that we can tell. And Dam? She is clearly affected.
As for me, I’ve suddenly forgiven the show the mystical elder/college girl romance I just complained about at great length. This scene positions it all so well that I am now ready for whatever next week brings. (And in the meantime, I know what to add to my summer reading list.)