Our cohabitating actress and screenwriter might squabble over little things like eating habits and unshut doors, but they’re actually quite considerate of each other. Whether that means being understanding about artistic needs, kind towards an ill mother, or wary of a possible stalker, our leads are getting close pretty darn fast! And I’m not complaining.
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP
Peach butt scandal aside, the second week of this drama really cemented why I’m enjoying it so much: its old school vibes, its heart, and its unabashed use of rom-com tropes. These tropes, in particular, range from the very best (forced to cohabitate, forced to enact skinship, and a heroine that needs rescuing), to the very worst (a terminally ill mother who refuses to tell her child). But of course, everyone responds differently to storytelling tropes, and whether they feel like rat poison or catnip, so YMMV.
For me, I found these tropes enjoyable — mostly because they’re well-balanced with the old school feels and the heart-warming parts of the story — so much that by the time we reached our archetypal rescue moment at the end of Episode 4, I might have uttered a very loud fangirl squeal.
Contract signed and in place, Bi-soo and Joo-in continue with their everyday lives, except they’re under the same roof of their favorite hanok. Little squabbles come up, and are humorous, but overall these two are pretty communicative.
For instance, though they might disagree on a practical (and ideological) level whether doors exist to be closed or opened, Joo-in is not above closing doors completely to be considerate of Bi-soo. Likewise, Bi-soo is willing to pack up and spend the night away from the house when Joo-in’s mother comes for a visit. So as much as Oh! Master is about squabbling celeb-artists, it’s also about parent/child relationships — and just like during our premiere week, this adds a really nice dimension to an otherwise lightweight story.
In terms of plot, we don’t have a whole lot going on in Episode 3 and about 86% of it takes place within the hanok — if I had to sum it up, I’d say this episode was solely for our leads to get to know each other a little bit more. And for us to take in those moments where Bi-soo looks at Joo-in for just a beat too long. It’s not just me right?! I’m already mini-swooning.
If Bi-soo is attracted by Joo-in’s looks and personality, who can blame him? She’s pretty amazing, and only more so when we (and Bi-soo) see her tenderness when it comes to her mother and her Alzheimer’s.
Then, that same dynamic holds when we see the inverse: when Bi-soo is incredibly kind and understanding of Joo-in’s mother, it is Joo-in’s turn to see something special in Bi-soo. It’s one thing to agree to leave the house to avoid a misunderstanding, but it’s another entirely to play along when Joo-in’s mother thinks that Bi-soo is her deceased husband.
I had mixed feelings on this confusion of persons and generations, at first, as it hit a little close to home with my own grandmother, who in her last days refused to believe she had a daughter and insisted my mom was her sister.
If Oh! Master had played this angle up only for the hijinks between Joo-in and Bi-soo, I might have been a little disappointed. But take the hijinks, and add in all that tenderness and understanding, and this plot arc actually becomes quite touching. So, even though Bi-soo was already growing on Joo-in, seeing him treat her mother so well brings them even closer.