The Third Charm: Episode 7

by SailorJumun

The big shot doctor has been a bit of a question mark the past few episodes. While his initial role in our lead couple’s lovers’ quarrel was unintentional, he starts trying to take advantage of what could possibly be an open window. However, our two lovebirds finally put some effort into fixing their mistakes and closing that window.

 
EPISODE 7 RECAP

Ho-chul steps into Joon-young and Young-jae’s argument, suggesting that Joon-young let them finish their meal. Seeing Joon-young’s expression, Young-jae thanks Ho-chul for joining her, giving him his cue to leave. After taking one last look at Joon-young, he does.

A little calmer now, Joon-young turns back to Young-jae and continues where he left off: “Young-jae, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I do. I know that you didn’t have dinner with [Ho-chul] because you like him, and I know that you have zero interest in him.” What he doesn’t know is why she would do this on her birthday, an important event.

Young-jae replies that she did it out of anger. She’d made this restaurant reservation with him in mind, but she couldn’t understand why he couldn’t even call on a day he thinks is so “important.” He doesn’t know what to say to that.

They go their separate ways, the conversation still heavy on their minds. When Joon-young arrives home, Ri-won sees right through him and notes that those in love are always asking for more when they should just appreciate the love they have.

Meanwhile, Soo-jae can tell Young-jae is upset too, and he tries to explain that all men can be this way. She needs to know that when men get petty or jealous, sometimes they may need a reassuring hug and sometimes they may need their space.

The next day, Joon-young’s team notices that he’s in his serious mode again. Officer Jung is worried that he might’ve been dumped, and the other two officers are worried that their celebratory dinner will never happen.

Joon-young stands up, looking determined, and gives his team the money to go out. He then leaves, saying he has personal matters to attend to.

At the hair salon, a gangster is creating a ruckus because his stylist got his expensive shirt all wet. Young-jae steps up to apologize and offer compensation, but the gangster and his buddy dismiss her and start knocking things over.

Joon-young drives to the salon, arriving just as Ho-chul is leaving his office. They’re exchanging wary glances when they hear the commotion in the salon and run towards it. Joon-young announces that he’s an officer, which only peeves the gangster even more. He shoves Joon-young back, making Young-jae panic. However, Joon-young easily kicks the guy down and handcuffs him, while Ho-chul holds the other gangster back. Crisis averted.

To thank them, Joo-ran and Young-jae take the boys out for dinner. Sensing the tension at the table, Joo-ran drags Young-jae to the bathroom. Umm, I’m not sure if leaving the boys alone is a good idea…

Ho-chul, ever respectful, apologizes for the misunderstanding last night, but Joon-young doesn’t think it was a misunderstanding at all. He wants to know what Ho-chul’s motive is. Ho-chul drops the smile and chugs a glass of beer before declaring that he likes Young-jae.

He also says that it’s a one-sided thing, as if that will lessen the blow. Joon-young is stunned that Ho-chul would say such a thing to someone’s boyfriend, and Ho-chul responds that it’s his way of not being cowardly.

Speechless, Joon-young chugs his own glass of beer. Then, as if trying to one-up each other, they go back and forth with their drinks. Young-jae and Joo-ran watch from afar, with Joo-ran admiring the handsome plastic surgeon.

Young-jae chides her friend for assuming she’s playing the field and defends Joon-young. “If you love him that much,” Joo-ran says, “why aren’t you making up? You just have to apologize first.” Young-jae nods in agreement.

Joo-ran leaves Young-jae alone with the boys, who are totally wasted at this point. Ho-chul rambles on about the health benefits of chili peppers, making Joon-young chomp one down to prove a point.

Young-jae freaks out and asks if he’s okay, to which he slurs that he’s fine. But just seconds later, his face turns red and he passes out right there, lol. They take him to the hospital, where the doctor is shocked that such a reaction came from a pepper.

Joon-young wakes up to Young-jae’s worried face, and he’s embarrassed to learn that he fainted. Ho-chul is there too, though Joon-young ignores him and his diagnosis and turns the other way.

Though Young-jae looks like she has more to say, Joon-young says that he has to leave and walks past her.

It’s a busy day at the station, and a female police officer looks intimidated as she enters the violent crimes unit. This is MIN SE-EUN (Kim Yoon-hye) from the public service unit, and she’s here to see Joon-young.

Se-eun timidly tells Joon-young that she’s here to deliver a hit-and-run case, and she notices that his desk is decorated with neatly-arranged sticky notes and succulents. When she returns to her station, we see that her desk is decorated the same way.

Later, Joon-young tries to catch Young-jae at home, with Soo-jae opening the door before he can ring the bell. Since Young-jae isn’t home yet, Soo-jae treats Joon-young to some soju and asks for advice on his screenplay.

Soo-jae explains that his protagonist “Cop A” didn’t call his girlfriend on her birthday and as a result, she ended up with another man. He looks at Joon-young expectantly, saying that he’s stuck on why the protagonist won’t apologize to his girlfriend.

Joon-young can see where this is leading, but he just downs glass after glass of soju until he’s even drunker than he was last night.

Since it’s nearing the time for Young-jae to come home, Joon-young slurs that he best be on his way. He waves off Soo-jae’s offer to stay and stumbles on out the door.

The next thing he knows, he’s waking up with a killer headache, no memory whatsoever, and right back on Young-jae’s couch. Ha, this is a familiar sight.

Soo-jae wheels over, equally confused as to how Joon-young ended up here again. He offers Joon-young his special coffee, saying that something must’ve happened for Joon-young to want to forget.

As Young-jae is working, she remembers what happened when she got home that night. Joon-young had wobbled out of the apartment, grumbling that he’d never forgive Young-jae. But when he saw her, he immediately cried her name and hugged her.

He said that he wasn’t going to apologize, but he wanted to tell her how much he loves her. He’d been declaring his love so loudly that Young-jae had to bring him inside and get him settled on the couch.

Joon-young mumbled an apology in his sleep, and in return, Young-jae had said, “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry for the mix-up, I’m sorry for not being understanding, and I’m sorry for not apologizing sooner.” Young-jae smiles now at the memory.

At his office, Ho-chul is surprised to get a visit from his ex-wife Eun-soo. She acts casual and friendly, while he still seems pretty awkward in her presence. But the reason she came was to let him know that she’s attending their friend’s wedding with “that person.” She asks if he’s seeing anyone, and he shakily replies that he is. She’s glad to hear that, hoping he can introduce her at the wedding.

Sang-hyun goes shopping with his (sort of) girlfriend, though he reacts badly when she reveals that her parents know about them and want to meet him. When she wanders off, he sighs that he’ll have to break it off. And later, he starts ignoring her calls.

Young-jae and Joo-ran have their students go through a styling test, but one student named Noo-ri ends up failing. Young-jae is strict in lecturing her, saying she’ll have to work hard to compensate for not attending college.

When Young-jae gets home, she finds a gift waiting for her on her bed, with an apology note signed “Your petty boyfriend.” Young-jae opens the late birthday present, a necklace, and sends a bunch of pictures of her modeling it to Joon-young.

Seeing how they then talk on the phone all giggly, I’d say all is forgiven. After hanging up, Young-jae gets another call and answers thinking that it’s Joon-young. But it’s Ho-chul, who correctly guesses that the couple made up.

Even knowing that, Ho-chul asks if she’s free tomorrow. Young-jae tells him that she already has plans, and she also doesn’t want to upset Joon-young any further. Atta girl.

So Ho-chul attends his friend’s wedding alone, bummed over Young-jae’s rejection. But, as it turns out, Young-jae’s plans were business at the wedding. The two bump into each other right before the ex-wife Eun-soo shows up with her new boyfriend.

They all greet each other, Young-jae politely going along with it. Afterwards, Young-jae realizes that Ho-chul had meant to use her to avoid his ex-wife’s pity. He explains that when he’d gotten married, his work got in the way of him being a proper husband. Young-jae understands, and she’s glad to hear that he recognizes his mistakes from the marriage.

They stop to watch a street performer, and Ho-chul says that the song is “Come What May” from Moulin Rouge. He knows the song because Eun-soo had wanted him to sing it at their wedding. He’d been too embarrassed to sing, but he now regrets it. He sits down, and Young-jae follows suit, swaying to the music and clapping along. Ho-chul watches her with a smile.

The next morning, Young-jae wakes up late and panics since today is her big interview with Cosmo Magazine. She gets a call from Joon-young as she hurries to get ready, declining his offer for a ride since the subway is faster.

She rushes out the door, nearly colliding with a guy on a motorbike. It’s Joon-young, who borrowed Officer Lee’s bike to get her in on time. She’s delighted he did this and straps in for the ride.

As they take off, Young-jae holding Joon-young close, she narrates, “I may be nothing, but when I’m with Joon-young, I become a special person. That’s why I’m the happiest person right now.”

They get caught in traffic and notice other motorbikes zigzagging their way through. Young-jae urges him to do the same, but he’s more worried about the possible penalties. He kisses her hand and promises they’ll still be on time.

They finally get to the studio and say their goodbyes and I love you’s, with a few more kisses. Damn, I keep forgetting how freaking cute they can be.

At home, Soo-jae is calling every movie production company he can, asking what they thought about his screenplay. He receives excuse after excuse until one person says that they never got the story. Lighting up with hope, he offers to bring another copy.

Once at the company, the person Soo-jae talked to promises he’ll consider the screenplay. However, Soo-jae notices that there is a copy of the screenplay already on his desk, covered in cup ramen stains. Feeling defeated, Soo-jae takes both copies with him and heads on home.

Young-jae gets all dolled up for her photoshoot, which she quickly learns has a “sexy” concept. She’s feeling pretty awkward in her sexy attire, and it takes her a while to feel comfortable in front of the camera, but she eventually loosens up and starts having fun with it.

Meanwhile, Joon-young is back in his good mood, naturally changing his attitude at the station. His teammates assume that everything’s good in his love life now, though they wonder how long these mood swings will last.

The public service unit joins them at lunch, and Officer Jung notices that both Joon-young and timid Se-eun pour water into their soup to make it less salty. Jung says that marriages are better when the couples have similar tastes, and Officer Gong (who’s been flirting with Se-eun) huffs that it’s no big deal.

Joon-young finds their similar tastes amusing and merely laughs it off, but Se-eun is looking at him in a very admiring way.

Back at the magazine shoot, Young-jae is nearing the end of her interview. The reporter asks her about hair trends, and she responds that she believes in people doing what’s best for them rather than following trends.

The reporter thinks this correlates to dating and asks if she and her boyfriend match each other well. Young-jae laughs that they don’t.

After a long day, Young-jae returns to her dressing room and checks her phone. She finds a string of encouraging texts from Joon-young, making her smile.

Joon-young then calls to ask how today went, and she tells him all about it. They’re both smiling like fools in love as Young-jae once again narrates that she feels more special with Joon-young.

The narration is wistful as she wonders why she wasn’t able to express her gratitude for all of these comfortable, everyday things.

 
COMMENTS

Not gonna lie; I was totally expecting a breakup this episode, followed by a time jump. But I’m more than pleased with the actual outcome. The way Joon-young and Young-jae eventually came to forgive each other felt real and organic. No matter how angry they were, it didn’t change the way they feel about each other. And that simple fact is what helped them take the small steps forward to reconcile.

That last bit of Young-jae’s narration was pretty foreboding, though. I wonder if all of the narration thus far has been from present-day Young-jae and Joon-young, because up until now, I’ve been assuming it was the 2013 versions of them. Even though they were able to patch things up this time around, there’s still this dark cloud over their heads warning them that this won’t last. It could be their friends and everyone else around them saying that similarities keep couples together, or the universe itself providing two perfectly compatible alternatives (Ho-chul and Se-eun). That kind of weight is a lot to handle, even if Young-jae and Joon-young do have confidence in their relationship.

I’m not crazy about the show adding the Se-eun character this late in the game (I guess So-hee is just gone now?), but I do like that she evens things out by making this love triangle a love square. And she seems completely harmless compared to Ho-chul. I don’t think Ho-chul is some evil manipulator, but the way he’s acting still gets under my skin. The wedding invite was clearly about his ex-wife and not Young-jae, which makes me wonder if all of this is actually about the ex-wife and how the divorce affected him. He talked about the mistakes he’d made while married, about the regret he’d felt since then, and it all ended with that last look at Young-jae. Like he was thinking that he wouldn’t let embarrassment, or whatever, stop him from getting the girl. Even if the “whatever” is, ahem, her boyfriend.

On paper, yes, Young-jae and Ho-chul would be a good match and Joon-young and Se-eun would be a good match. But, at the end of the day, the heart wants what it wants. Young-jae and Joon-young aren’t necessarily in love because of how many of their traits match up. They’re in love with each other’s charms, the things that make them special, like her being outspoken and him being a goody-two-shoes. We’ve seen that their charms can annoy each other, but in this episode, we’ve seen that they can, in fact, work things out peacefully. For Joon-young’s sake, I hope this continues, because I don’t know how long he can hold his Beer King title.

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