When the Camellia Blooms: Episodes 3-4

by quirkycase

Our poor male lead continues to make a terrible impression on his new crush, but his loyalty and almost child-like transparency may yet turn things around. Our heroine is very closed-off right now, but I have no doubt that perseverance will pay off in the end.

 
EPISODE 3: “The Good, the Bad, and the Cheap”

We open on the crime scene, as Yong-shik cries and drops to the ground in grief after seeing the victim’s face. The police find a note in the woman’s pocket that reads, “I already told you five years ago not to act up.”

Onto lighter things. After giving her the money, Yong-shik manages to follow Dong-baek around by handily claiming, when she politely tries to ditch him, that he’s patrolling and can’t let her walk alone at night with her being so pretty and all.

“By chance, are you drunk?” she asks, smelling his breath. To add insult to injury, she wonders if Yong-shik extorted Kyu-tae out of his wallet. HA.

At the police station the next day, Yong-shik unconcernedly eats lunch while Captain Byun attempts to placate Kyu-tae, who is threatening to sue over Yong-shik’s behavior last night. Yong-shik’s flippant demeaner and pointed warning that stealing food can send you to jail does nothing to ease tensions.

Meanwhile, at the bar, The Return of Superman is on again. Hyang-mi watches Jong-ryeol take his daughter to see dolphins before suddenly grilling Dong-baek about Pil-gu’s dad. She doesn’t seem to mind, although she doesn’t give any straight answers. Dong-baek just says vaguely that she could see him every day if she wanted to.

Chief Byun tries to get Yong-shik to take pity on Kyu-tae by explaining how he lends money to anyone who compliments him, and he loves a good power trip and a clique, but he hates not getting special treatment. Plus, his wife being smarter than him makes him insecure. To illustrate, we flashback to dinner the previous night where his wife corrects his speech errors in real time to “save him future embarrassment.” Even Chief Byun’s superhero analogy (Be like Iron Man, who’s flexible, not the Hulk, who walks around half-naked!) does nothing to dissuade Yong-shik from thinking it’s better to just punch Kyu-tae if necessary.

As they walk home, Dong-baek asks Pil-gu if he wants to go see dolphins, but he thinks that’s childish and wants a video game console like the one his friend’s dad sent. Dong-baek asks if Pil-gu is curious about his dad, but he says not really. It’s like never owning a game console versus getting yours taken away—it’s hard to miss what you’ve never had.

Captain Byun gets Yong-shik to apologize to Kyu-tae, although it takes some prompting. When Yong-shik says the magic words “future governor,” Kyu-tae is immediately appeased, and they go eat. The peace is short-lived, however, when Kyu-tae starts talking about “girls like” Dong-baek who are just trying to get attention (ugh). Yong-shik can’t hold back and says men who insult a woman for turning them down are the worst. He storms out.

While playing an arcade game, Pil-gu’s friend Joon-gi tells him Jong-ryeol is shooting his show in Ongsan the next day. (It’s his hometown.) Deok-soon catches Pil-gu playing games and takes him to her restaurant. Apparently, she does this whenever she catches him at the arcade. He complains, but sits and eats.

When Deok-soon catches Seung-yeob harassing her employee Helena outside, she tells him to stop chasing girls and help Yong-shik up his dating game instead. To her shock, he says Yong-shik is already seeing a lawyer. Right on cue, Yong-shik storms up and yells at his mom to make him food. (Better watch that tone, mister.) Deok-soon pries into his love life but gets nothing out of him. Yong-shik notices Pil-gu eating alone (and for free), and Deok-soon claims he’s a special guest.

Per usual, the neighborhood ajummas are busy badmouthing Dong-baek, with one even blaming her for her son’s delinquency. Another seems to think bars are gateways to red-light districts, which signals impending neighborhood doom.

Thankfully, there seems to be one ajumma who tries to infuse the conversation with some rationality. Seung-yeob and his friend Heung-shik actively defend Dong-baek. While everyone’s chatting, Chan-sook’s going over her credit card statement and scoffs when she sees a charge for the Camellia.

Deok-soon brags to the rational ajumma, Jae-young, about her son dating a lawyer, even though he’s dumb (heh). Meanwhile, Chan-sook is busy yelling at Dong-baek for doing her job. She demands a refund for the alcohol Dong-baek sold her husband and almost gets it, but Deok-soon shows up and puts a stop to the proceedings. She tells Chan-sook to blame her husband for flirting instead of blaming Dong-baek and tells everyone to stop bothering Dong-baek.

Deok-soon chides Dong-baek for being a pushover, but Dong-baek just smiles sweetly and says she’s never had a powerful friend before. Deok-soon sends her home with some kimchi and encourages her to be strong; she experienced something similar after she was widowed. Dong-baek wishes she had a mom like Deok-soon and jokes that she heard her youngest was single.

Said son is currently pacing outside of Dong-baek’s bar and sees Pil-gu chasing two boys down the street. Pil-gu yells at them for calling his mom by her given name (which is disrespectful) just because she runs a bar. Yong-shik watches, reminded of his own childhood when kids would insult his mom. He steps in when one of the boys kicks Pil-gu, but his reprimands work a little too well and he ends up buying consolation snacks when the kids start crying.

Pil-gu is dejected after “basically winning” the fight against the older bully. To cheer him up, Yong-shik entices the kid to play in the arcade with him rather than going to his academy classes. Pil-gu watches in awe as Yong-shik nonchalantly exchanges bill after bill for a mound of coins. Welp, this is going to backfire.

As they play, Yong-shik muses that he’s probably old enough to be Pil-gu’s father and starts asking about him. When Pil-gu says his dad probably doesn’t know his age or even his name, Yong-shik bluntly asks if Pil-gu has a dad. Yong-shik says there’s no shame if he doesn’t; he didn’t have one either. As for those who pity him for not having a dad—pity them instead.

EPISODE 4

Pil-gu tells him to come by his mom’s shop, but before he can tell him the name, Dong-baek shows up after getting a call from Pil-gu’s academy. She is not amused. Yong-shik stands, shocked to realize his crush is Pil-gu’s mom. When she finds out Yong-shik gave her kid 10,000 won to play games, she is even less amused. She ushers her son away from the “weird man,” leaving Yong-shik dumbfounded (again). It’s almost impressive how bad of an impression he’s managed to make in two days’ time.

On their way home, Pil-gu stands up for Yong-shik, saying he’s not a weird man. He even took his side in the fight. Dong-baek frustratedly asks why he keeps getting into fights, but he just tells her she doesn’t need to know.

Chief Byun is prepping for his interview about his old case: the Joker killings. Yong-shik wonders why they’re interviewing the detective “who couldn’t even catch Joker,” to which the Chief counters he’s not interested in the opinion of the “soon-to-be former police officer.” HA. He yells after Yong-shik that Kyu-tae filed a formal complaint. In light of this news, while with his partner in the squad car, Yong-shik fidgets and sighs as he nervously starts to look up the sentence for mugging but thinks better of it.

As Dong-baek shops, Jae-young worries to Chan-sook about her husband’s excessive, unexplained spending. Chan-sook thinks he has a mistress. Dong-baek asks the price of rice cakes, which Chan-sook promptly inflates, but Jae-young jumps in and gives her a discounted price.

Another ajumma runs up to tell them about the Return of Superman shoot happening in town. When she mentions Jong-ryeol’s name, Dong-baek looks alarmed and literally runs away.

At his old elementary school, Jong-ryeol is finding it a bit hard to concentrate on filming with the whole baseball team glaring from across the field. Pil-gu is particularly put out at the disruption to their practice. He approaches Jong-ryeol, angrily asking if he’ll take responsibility if they lose tomorrow’s game. Dong-baek shows up as it starts to get more heated, which makes for the second time someone stares in shock as they realize who Pil-gu’s mom is.

Dong-baek and Jong-ryeol relocate to a café where he hesitantly starts to ask about Pil-gu’s age, and she cuts him off. “That’s right, he’s your son.” Wow. No prelude or anything for that bomb.

Unaware he’s in Kyu-tae’s wife’s office, Yong-shik solicits legal advice about the complaint. He’s worried about the repercussions of convincing Dong-baek to countersue, so he explains Kyu-tae’s (convoluted) chain of influence. It now dawns on Ja-young that this is about her husband. She asks if this dine-and-dash was at the Camellia and assures him her husband won’t be suing if he wants to stay married. Ha.

Back at the café, Jong-ryeol is panicking and asks if Pil-gu is for sure his kid. He asks how, since she said she wasn’t pregnant back then. But he knows she wanted a family, so it’s no surprise she kept and raised the baby.

We flash back to when they were dating and she lamented not having any family, saying she wants five kids. She claimed she won’t be like her mom and abandon her kid because it’s hard. He wins her the germanium bracelet she currently wears from a game machine.

He wants to know why she settled in Ongsan. Is it because it’s his hometown? Dong-baek claims, just like Pil-gu did, that he doesn’t own it. She tells him not to be a coward and lies that her husband treats her so well she almost forgot about him, so he shouldn’t be scared. Him being her first love isn’t even a big deal. To herself, she admits she loved him so much she’d hoped not to see him again.

Walking home in a daze, Yong-shik spots Dong-baek as she heads toward Chan-sook, leader of the ajummas, who’s now harassing Hyang-mi for borrowing money from Jae-young’s husband. Dong-baek tries to get them to hear Hyang-mi out, but Jae-young won’t listen: “She’s the hostess and you’re the Madam. You’re probably just alike. Hey, do you think you’re equal to us just because you work every day?”

Poor Yong-shik fails to maintain order, and Dong-baek is on the verge of tears as Jae-young says she was only nice because she felt sorry for her, “and this is how you repay me?” Dong-baek quietly says she did nothing wrong and owes nothing. She starts crying in earnest, asking why she always gets blamed just for working hard. And now they harass her about crying. *Sigh*

Pil-gu comes charging in and shoves Chan-sook, screaming “Why are you hitting my mom?!” Dong-baek pulls him back as he threatens to hit Chan-sook’s son everyday if she hits his mom. Damn, kid. Chan-sook flips out, but Yong-shik looks impressed to see the kid fearlessly standing up for his mom.

Dong-baek chides Pil-gu for disrespecting his elders and getting into fights, but he says it’s because of her. He’s too young to be protecting her – she should be protecting him — but he has no choice since he’s the only person who likes her. Aww. Now they’re both crying as he says he gets tired and angry about it. Yong-shik watches, getting emotional himself.

While Jong-ryeol helps pick up baseballs in the field with Seung-yeob (the coach), he covertly tries to ask about Pil-gu’s family situation, but Seung-yeob wants to know why he cares so much. Jong-ryeol thinks he knows, so he almost spills the tea about Pil-gu. In fact, Seung-yeob just thinks he’s trying to get into politics since his batting average is lower now. Ha.

At the bar, Dong-baek gives Yong-shik peanuts on the house (wait ’til Kyu-tae finds out). She says it’s for standing up for Pil-gu, since no other adult does. But she does ask Yong-shik not to take him to the arcade.

When he follows her out, she asks if he’s on patrol again, but he says he’s just worried. His constant attention bothers her, and she wonders if he pities her. She tells him it’s uncomfortable and to stop worrying about her, since it embarrasses her that he keeps finding her in humiliating situations. He doesn’t stop following her, so she asks, “Do you think I’ll leave my kid behind and jump in the lake or something?” He says he’s just worried she’ll cry alone, which upsets him. She walks away with another, “What a weird guy.”

She ends up at the train station, Yong-shik in tow. He thinks she’s leaving without her son, but Dong-baek says she’s just going to sit inside. “It’s my gas station. Let me fill up my tank.” (Yong-shik: “The train station doesn’t sell gas.” Oh, honey.) She says she’s thinking of changing jobs.

Dong-baek sits on the platform, studiously ignoring Yong-shik as he tries to guess her dream job. After making her laugh by guessing she wants to be a train driver, he finally wears her down.

She admits she wants to work in the lost and found center here at the station. People apologize to her or even tell her they love her but never thank her. Here, she would be thanked regularly.

Yong-shik wants her to stop getting hurt by others’ words. She should be mean back. To his confusion, she’d rather ignore them, since they’re exhausted and frustrated in life too. People should be nice to each other, which includes the neighbors who go too far with her. Yong-shik looks like he’s so frustrated he’s about to explode. In the pouring rain, they argue about getting another umbrella, with him saying not to waste her “peanut money” (8,000 won) on it, so they share his.

On their way home, Yong-shik says he read somewhere that you should eat sashimi with soju if you feel upset, but Dong-baek doesn’t drink with strangers. He tries to convince her to at least bring him along when she feels like going to the train station and awkwardly suggests they become friends. She laughs that it’s the first time someone has asked her that. He says if they’re friends, he can side with her and Pil-gu whenever. He’s not asking to date or anything, just be friends…for now.

Seung-yeob takes Jong-ryeol to the happening place in Ongsan: The Camellia. He sighs over the name, getting another reminder of Dong-baek (dong-baek=camellia in Korean). Jong-ryeol asks Seung-yeob about Pil-gu again and is surprised to hear Pil-gu has baseball talent.

When Jong-ryeol goes outside to smoke, he overhears Yong-shik casually talking about Pil-gu with Dong-baek and assumes he’s the husband. Dong-baek notices him and grabs Yong-shik’s hand to sell the lie, while Jong-ryeol looks upset.

And, of course, Kyu-tae pulls up (with the expensive eye cream) and sees the handholding. “Are you guys dating?” Now Jong-ryeol is confused, as is Yong-shik, who happily asks, “Are we dating now?”

Flashback to Yong-shik changing the messages on the wall at Dong-baek’s bar in banmal (casual language) to polite language. He doesn’t notice the note that reads, “Dong-baek, don’t act up.”

 
COMMENTS

Thanks to the small-town setting, the show has a more slice-of-life vibe than is typical in most rom-coms. The neighborhood gossip and confrontations add a different dimension to the story. Nobody is wearing the latest fashions with perfect, shiny hair and crazy expensive accessories they likely shouldn’t be able to afford. The realistic setting along with its warm color palette gives the show an understated appeal that I’m here for. But is it a requirement these days that all romances have a dash of murder? Serial killers are seriously in vogue right now. I like the vibe of the show so far, so I hope the murder-y aspects don’t take over as we go.

Dong-baek is an interesting character. I find her equal parts sweet and frustrating. We’ve seen that she is capable of standing up for herself but only if pushed to a breaking point. That emotional scene between her and Pil-gu was telling. He’s right—he shouldn’t have to be the protector. If for no other reason than to relieve her son of the burden, she really needs to try to step up and be more assertive. If she had a more self-confident demeanor, others would be less likely to pick on her. Every time she cowers, she gives them more ammunition.

But those ajummas need to calm down (a la Taylor Swift). Chan-sook, in particular, needs to take a seat. After six years of this nonsense, how has Dong-baek not blown up at them yet? Thank goodness for Deok-soon, who is steadfastly on Dong-baek’s side. I had thought Jae-young was okay, but she showed her true colors when it involved her husband. Yeesh. Well, at least she’s gaining another ally in Yong-shik.

Speaking of Yong-shik, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a hero quite so doofus-y before. There’s certainly no geeenius cop here, which is a nice change of pace. He does need to respect boundaries though. If she says to stop following her, then stop following her! No means no, sir. One of my pet peeves in dramas (or life) is when someone doesn’t respect someone else’s decision. It’s not cute just because we know he lurves her. In Yong-shik’s case, I feel like it’s less of an intentional I’m-ignoring-your-wishes-because-I-know-better and more of a childlike lack of self-restraint. We’ve seen that he’s incredibly impulsive and transparent, so he comes across as harmless. But still—boundaries, dude.

I don’t have strong feelings on their relationship yet. I don’t dislike them as a potential couple, but I’m not yet rooting for them either. Right now, I just want Dong-baek to have a good friend she can relax around. I think Yong-shik realized that’s what she needs too, after everything he’s seen her go through. I’m not sure where this fake-relationship aspect will go, but I’m really hoping they get to be friends first rather than rushing into a romantic relationship.

At this point, I think I’m more a fan of Yong-shik and Pil-gu’s relationship than I am the main couple (And Pil-gu and Dong-baek. Maybe I’m just a fan of Pil-gu.). I love that Yong-shik bonded with Pil-gu before he even knew he was Dong-baek’s son. Poor little Pil-gu needs someone who understands him. Plus, I think that’ll go a long way toward undoing the…unfortunate impression Yong-shik has made on Dong-baek so far.

I was not expecting to learn who Pil-gu’s dad is so quickly! I don’t know how to feel about Jong-ryeol yet, but he still seems very affected by Dong-baek. I wonder why she didn’t tell him about Pil-gu? Based on how he’s trying to find out more about the kid, it seems like he’d be willing to be a part of his life. Dong-baek and Jong-ryeol don’t seem to harbor animosity towards each other, so I can’t figure out why she didn’t tell him sooner. Pil-gu is a bright kid, which means it’s only a matter of time before he learns who Jong-ryeol is. Things are going to get interesting.

 
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