People with Flaws: Episodes 25-26

by LollyPip

The cute is back! People with Flaws regains its comedic footing, but in a way that adds to the story and endears the characters to us, avoiding the broad humor the show’s utilized in the past. The show is growing emotionally just like its characters, who are learning some difficult life lessons, but finding happiness along the way.

 
EPISODE 25

After breaking up with Kang-woo for real, Seo-yeon lets herself cry as it begins to rain. Min-hyuk covers her with an umbrella and she sobs that she’ll have to like Kang-woo all alone now, and he says in sympathy that he’s been liking her all alone, too.

Min-hyuk reaches up to touch Seo-yeon’s face, but Kang-woo bursts between them, demanding to know why Seo-yeon is crying when she’s the one who broke up with him. To get away, Seo-yeon bites Kang-woo’s hand, and Min-hyuk gives her the umbrella and tells her to go while he stays to hold Kang-woo back.

Kang-woo is so frantic to follow Seo-yeon that Min-hyuk punches him, knocking him to the ground. The doctor in him comes out when Kang-woo stays down, but Kang-woo just keeps asking why Seo-yeon is the one who’s crying.

As she walks home, Seo-yeon encounters Won-seok’s car, and he’s alarmed to see her sobbing. She’s still crying after he takes her home and tucks her into bed, and she asks him not to upset Won-jae by telling him about this.

Min-hyuk also gets Kang-woo home, who lies on the floor like a limp dishrag, and he growls at Kang-woo that it hurts his pride that his rival isn’t sane, ha. He tries to leave, but Kang-woo latches onto his ankle and refuses to let go until Min-hyuk reluctantly agrees to stay the night.

In bed, Min-hyuk asks what Kang-woo likes so much about Seo-yeon. Kang-woo asks him the same question, Min-hyuk grins, “Because she’s Seo-yeon,” and Kang-woo kicks him under the covers for calling an older woman by name. Min-hyuk says that he still has a chance with her because she broke up with Kang-woo for a different reason than his mother telling her to.

This makes Kang-woo think, because he’d already had that same suspicion before, but Seo-yeon told him that she was breaking up with him because she doesn’t love him. He hears her voice echoing in his head, so he steals the covers and screams into them over and over again that it’s not true.

Hyun-soo takes Mi-kyung home after taking her to see her mother, after her mother got some potential bad medical news. He assures Mi-kyung that her mom will be fine and forbids her to cry, because when she cries, it makes him cry, too. He makes her some rice porridge (because there’s nothing in her fridge but beauty products, hee), nearly making her cry again from how sweetly he’s treating her.

In the morning, Seo-yeon serves the family dry cereal while wearing her sunglasses to hide her swollen eyes (from crying all night). They stare in confusion until her glasses fall off, and they all gasp in horror, hee.

Mi-kyung shows up to work in similar sunglasses for similar reasons, and the two friends reconnect over the rough night they had. They apologize for not being there for each other, confirming that they’re the best friends who ever existed, falling into each other’s arms and wailing all over again.

Later Seo-yeon finds Min-hyuk in the infirmary trying to put a pain patch on his back. She does it for him despite his discomfort, and he admits that he pulled a muscle punching Kang-woo. He notes that Seo-yeon doesn’t ask how Kang-woo is doing and assumes she’s being considerate of him.

But she just politely thanks him and returns his umbrella. He asks if she’s drawing a line between them because of Kang-woo, and asks her not to do that.

Kang-woo has Doctor Kim come to his house for their counseling session, saying that he’s not fit to go out today. Doctor Kim recoils when he sees Kang-woo’s face, so startled by the result of Min-hyuk’s punch that he can barely concentrate. Kang-woo says that he’s refusing to give up on Seo-yeon and asks Doctor Kim how to win her back, and he lets loose a laugh so insane that Doctor Kim gets scared of what he’ll do if he learns that Doctor Kim is a fraud.

Elsewhere, Doctor Kim’s doppelganger finds a book on psychology written by Kim Dong-gu, a professor at Stanford University. Flipping through it, he stops at the author’s portrait — it’s him, down to the small mole under his left eye.

When Mi-kyung visits the infirmary for a snack, she finds Min-hyuk sitting under the umbrella that Seo-yeon returned and looking semi-catatonic. He intones that it’s raining in his heart, and Mi-kyung briefly considers quitting her job, lol. Her mother calls, and what she says sends Mi-kyung storming off to Hyun-soo’s office.

She confronts him for transferring her mother to a different hospital, so he says that it’s the best for treating stomach cancer. Mi-kyung snaps at him, asking who he thinks he is to get in her business, and he asks what she thinks. He says he knows she doesn’t like it when he does these things, but it’s her mother.

Mi-kyung calls him a jerk then throws herself at Hyun-soo for a hug. He’s so surprised that he freezes, then slowly raises his arms to hug her back. Just before he touches her, Mi-kyung steps back and says she’s leaving, stranding Hyun-soo without a hug but grinning like a fool, with a perfect imprint of her makeup on his white shirt, hee.

Meanwhile, Kang-woo’s dad tells Kang-hee that he’s done a background check on Seo-yeon, but he wants her to find out what kind of person Seo-yeon is. He confesses that he’s fine with her as long as she’s nice, so Kang-hee asks if he feels the same way about her potential partner. Dad snaps that he’s going to be really picky about her husband, because dads are like that about their daughters.

Kang-woo’s mom is walking down the street when she gets her heel caught in a manhole cover. Seo-yeon is nearby and pulls her heel from the hole, and they’re both shocked when they recognize each other, then Seo-yeon literally sprints away, ha.

After school, Min-hyuk takes Kang-woo some ointment for his black eye — yikes, he really did a number on him. He also brought some beers, joking that he’s there to make sure Kang-woo doesn’t tattle to his mommy on him. Min-hyuk refuses to give Kang-woo any information about Seo-yeon, so when he asks for something sweet to eat, Kang-woo snarkily passes him the sugar bowl, and Min-hyuk is just annoyed enough to dig in with a spoon.

Seo-yeon lies in bed crying again, this time from regret that she didn’t ask Min-hyuk if Kang-woo is okay. She hopes he’s not crying as much as she is over their break-up… but she shouldn’t worry, because he ate that entire bowl of sugar and is currently jumping on his bed like a hyperactive toddler.

In the morning, Kang-woo wakes up Min-hyuk to work out, but Min-hyuk stops after only a few reps. He starts to leave, but Kang-woo says dejectedly that he needs something to focus on or he’ll go crazy. Annoyed, Min-hyuk relents and lets Kang-woo boss him around the weight room.

Seo-yeon is at Mi-kyung’s apartment when Mi-kyung gets the news that her mother is just fine… she just ate spicy food before her check-up so they were worried about her stomach. Seo-yeon says that she thinks Hyun-soo is a good guy, and Mi-kyung shyly agrees.

Mi-kyung sees through Seo-yeon’s smile and decides to do something, so she wrangles Seo-yeon into one of her cute outfits and takes her outside. She starts snapping pictures of Seo-yeon, until Seo-yeon gets fed up and runs away. She stops when she runs into a vendor who sells the same Mr. Potatoes that she gave to Kang-woo, and they make her start crying again.

EPISODE 26

Mi-kyung leads Seo-yeon home and orders Seo-joon not to ask about Seo-yeon’s armful of Mr. Potatoes. Seo-joon heads to the agency, where his friend Jung-ho still isn’t coming to practice or answering his phone. His friend says that Jung-ho stopped showing up after the hateful netizen comments about his dancing. He’s not home when Seo-joon checks, either.

On his way out, Seo-joon sees Joo-hee entering a karaoke bar wearing another skimpy dress. He drags her back outside and yells at her for working at such a place, but Joo-hee says that living together doesn’t give him the right to tell her what to do. From across the street, Jung-ho videos their conversation, particularly noting that Seo-joon is living with a girl — something that could destroy his idol career before it even starts.

Ho-dol runs into Won-seok’s bar, excited to tell him that Jung-shik apologized for outing him. Instead of being happy, Won-seok gets all huffy and walks away to talk to some customers. Seok-min is there and recognizes Ho-dol from the video, and he asks if Ho-dol wants to go somewhere and have a drink together.

The next time Won-seok looks up, Ho-dol and Seok-min are gone. He rushes to Seok-min’s place and gets even more upset when Seok-min answers the door in a robe. He finds Ho-dol inside, fully dressed and loaded down with fan merchandise, HA.

The emotional reaction from the normally cool Won-seok entertains Seok-min, who makes kissyfaces at Ho-dol just to watch Won-seok get jealous. Won-seok smacks Seok-min away from Ho-dol and drags the kid out to his car to fuss at home for going home with a stranger. Ho-dol says he’s a celebrity, and that he went with him because he promised him the merchandise.

A short flashback shows that Ho-dol declined Seok-min’s invitation for drinks, saying that he’s not a fan. He’d said he’s a fan of Hi-Seven, the idol group from Seok-min’s agency, so he went to Seok-min’s place because Seok-min had a lot of their merchandise. Oh, that is so cute.

Mi-kyung puts Seo-yeon to bed beside her new army of Mr. Potatoes. She decides to do something, so she sends Kang-woo a picture of Seo-yeon dressed all feminine. Minutes later, he shows up at Seo-yeon’s house and finds Mi-kyung waiting for him. She doesn’t break the friend code and tell him anything other than that Seo-yeon is sleeping, but just that much relieves Kang-woo’s mind.

Kang-hee sends some papers to Won-jae claiming damages for his breaking their contract. He goes to see her, and she reminds him that she told him to read the contract, but he must not have seen the clause that states he owes her a penalty fee if he breaks it.

She tears up the contract and offers to call it even if Won-jae takes her on a date. She says she’s jealous of the other women he’s dated, and a little ashamed that she’s almost forty and has never been in a real relationship. Won-jae insists that he’s never thought that means something is wrong with her, and Kang-hee says that’s why she’s falling for him.

Kang-woo’s mother comes to see Seo-yeon at school again, to thank her for helping her on the street and saving her a lot of embarrassment. She gives Seo-yeon an outfit to wear when she goes on a date with Kang-woo, and Seo-yeon guesses that Kang-woo hasn’t told her what happened. Mom is upset that to think that she broke things off too soon, so Seo-yeon says she didn’t. Oh noooo, this won’t be awkward at all.

Won-jae comes home to find Min-hyuk petting Antoinette the Invisible Stray Cat outside the house. Min-hyuk wins him over by saying that he and Seo-yeon have the same eyes (Won-jae hates it when people say they don’t look like siblings), and he invites Min-hyuk inside.

When Seo-yeon arrives home, Min-hyuk says he came because she keeps avoiding him at school again. Seo-yeon says she doesn’t hate him, which is all he needs to know to feel better. Seo-yeon invites him to have dinner with her but he declines, saying that he’s hungry and wants to spend time with her, but he has a feeling she plans to end things forever with him.

Feeling like a terrible person, Seo-yeon calls Mi-kyung and admits that she’s been considering dating Min-hyuk, but that she keeps comparing him to Kang-woo. Seeing how much Seo-yeon misses Kang-woo, Mi-kyung goes to Kang-woo’s house to talk to him. After learning the truth about the accident from Mi-kyung, Kang-woo goes to Won-seok’s bar to confirm that it’s all true.

Meanwhile, Jang-mi pushes photographs through the crack in Seo-yeon’s door, and she says she thought Seo-yeon would want to see them. They’re all pictures of Kang-woo waiting for Seo-yeon outside the gate, looking terribly sad and lonely without her.

Won-jae hears a loud crash and finds Seo-yeon lying at the foot of the stairs. He helps her up, and she says she finally noticed that he paid her the wrong amount for the monthly expenses. Won-jae says he did it on purpose because she’s been acting strange, crying constantly when before, she couldn’t cry at all.

He suspects that her tears are related to their parents’ accident. Seo-yeon wonders what would have happened if their dad had made a different decision that night instead of saving her. Won-jae tells her something he’s never revealed before — that a police officer told him that all three of them could have died in that accident.

He’d told Won-jae that the driver (Seo-yeon’s mother), instead of turning the car to protect herself like most people would do, had turned the car and sacrificed herself in order to protect the two people in the back seat. She had died instantly, and her husband and daughter had lived through the accident, then Dad had given his life to save Seo-yeon.

He tells Seo-yeon that their parents instinctively gave their lives to save hers, because she was their only beloved daughter. He says they wouldn’t have wanted to stand in the way of her future, and that he hopes the life they saved has a happy ending.

Looking at the pictures of Kang-woo again, Seo-yeon remembers her father’s last words: “Seo-yeon-ah, don’t look at me. Don’t look at us, and go. Mom and Dad will be fine. Never look back.” Seo-yeon gets up and runs towards her life, as her father’s words echo, “Well done, our daughter.”

Kang-woo visits the site of the long-ago accident and imagines the car there, and he apologizes to Seo-yeon’s parents for selfishly wanting to be with her. On his way home, there’s a bright light and loud honking, then sirens as Kang-woo’s phone lies on the road, Seo-yeon’s call going unanswered.

When she gets to his house, someone finally answers Kang-woo’s phone and tells her that the phone was found at the scene of a car accident. Seo-yeon goes into shock, unable to process the idea. She looks over to see Kang-woo hanging over her shoulder, and it scares her half to death, HAHA.

Confused, Kang-woo just now realizes that he lost his phone. He explains that he witnessed an accident and dropped the phone while making a report. WHEW! Shaken, Seo-yeon blurts out, “I like you, Kang-woo. I love you.”

Kang-woo stares at her in disbelief for a long moment. Finally, he steps forward and kisses her. This time, Seo-yeon feels something, and she imagines fireworks going off all around them.

 
COMMENTS

Well, it didn’t happen like I’d hoped — with Seo-yeon and Kang-woo getting some distance and professional help before coming back together — but Seo-yeon still learned the lesson that she needed to learn. She’s been feeling as though she weren’t worth the lives of two wonderful people like her parents, until she discovered that they instinctively and willingly gave their lives to save hers. Seo-yeon finally realized that they wouldn’t want her to waste that life by giving up on love, and it made me cry the way her father’s last words not to look back and to go live her own life came back with new, deeper meaning. Kang-woo’s tangential involvement in the accident is even further proof that they would have wanted Seo-yeon and Kang-woo to be together, because they gave up everything for their daughter’s happiness with a boy they hadn’t even met, and I think they would have loved the man he’s growing into.

Min-hyuk hasn’t been my favorite second lead ever (despite my early Second Lead Syndrome), but his behavior in this episode won me back over a little bit. He says he’s a bad guy, and no doubt he wishes he could be selfish and steal Seo-yeon from Kang-woo. But whenever it comes down to it, he’s there for Kang-woo when he needs support and company, and it’s sweet to see him taking care of his heartsick cousin even when it annoys him to do so. Min-hyuk is still very angry and jealous, but I think he’s finally seeing how much Kang-woo and Seo-yeon love each other, and I’m sure he’ll eventually back off and let them be together.

I got my wish! We got significant forward movements in almost all of our side romances in this episode, which makes me very happy. As I knew she would, Kang-hee is taking charge and letting Won-jae know that she likes him just the way he is, and that who he is is valuable and worthy. Won-seok is this close to admitting that he has feelings for Ho-dol (his face when Seok-min busted him was so perfectly annoyed, lol). And Hyun-soo is finally being the guy that Mi-kyung wants him to be — supportive, loving, and rich, but in a way that helps others and makes Mi-kyung feel cared-for and understood. I think Seo-yeon’s love confession is only the first of many to come, and that soon we’ll see everyone floating on clouds of happiness with their wonderful significant others.

Of course, Seo-yeon and Kang-woo still have a major hurdle to jump before they can relax… Kang-woo’s mother. I don’t think she’ll take much convincing, because it’s pretty clear that she already likes Seo-yeon as a person, she just doesn’t care for her family background. Dad likes the idea of Seo-yeon (what he’s heard of her) enough to have Kang-hee find out more about her, and Kang-hee is inclined to approve of Seo-yeon just because she likes Jang-mi, and is impressed by how much Jang-mi cares for Seo-yeon. I’m pretty sure that once Mom sees how much Kang-woo loves Seo-yeon, and how much everyone else likes and admires her, she’ll be an easy sell. And Chairwoman Han strikes me as a practical woman who will object at first, but will quickly cave when she sees that the rest of the family approves of Seo-yeon.

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