Sly and Single Again: Episode 6

by purplecow

Oh, Sly and Single Again, what shall we do with you? When you want to, you depict relationships with so much realism and sweetness… and then you turn around and make decisions that leave me scratching my head. Episode 6 is a mixture of highs and lows, with most of the highs centering on our four leads. Ae-ra and Jung-woo finally clear the air about their failed marriage, and our second leads continue to fall for the oblivious divorcees. The satisfying development of the central relationships grounds this show, while obnoxious family members and unnecessarily maudlin backstories threaten to derail any traction we manage to gain.

 
EPISODE 6 RECAP

The chemistry between Yeo-jin and Jung-woo during their noraebang duet is obvious to Ae-ra, and her subsequent dejection is just as obvious to us from her facial expressions, not to mention the increased speed with which she starts throwing back beers. Afterward, the office workers settle down for a round of drinks and gossip. Catty sunbae Song-hee asks Jung-woo if it’s true that his ex-wife really treated him horribly. His response avoids details while implying that it’s true, which really drives Ae-ra up the wall.

She bursts out that when talking about a marriage, it’s necessary to hear both sides of the story. Then she ups the ante by claiming that she heard the CEO’s ex-wife feels wronged after supporting him for years. The employees are understandably a little taken aback by Ae-ra’s aggression, and Jung-woo replies that his ex-wife doesn’t have any right to feel that way.

She marches up to him to give him a piece of her mind… and then vomits on his shoes. That puts an end to the night, understandably enough, and Jung-woo drives away with Secretary L.

Secretary L asks whether Jung-woo is concerned about Ae-ra, which prompts a flashback to the two of them in a taxi late at night, back when they were married. As the sober spouse, Jung-woo was responsible for guiding a drunk Ae-ra to vomit into his bag rather than on the taxi seat. In the present, it is Seung-hyun who takes Ae-ra home, and he makes the same call to offer his bag for vomit duty. Thankfully, she doesn’t need it.

Best friend Min-young is overjoyed to find that Ae-ra has a flower-boy colleague, and asks him to stay for tea. Seung-hyun politely refuses, but I’m guessing he’s pretty happy to have secured a standing invitation.

In the Na family restaurant, business is booming thanks to the extra publicity from Ae-ra’s company. Soo-cheol is already filming the customers, and pesters his father to have an interview. Dad shirks work to primp a bit, unplugging what I’m guessing is an important piece of equipment in order to power his hairdryer.

A while later we see Mom chew out Dad for unplugging the refrigerator, running the risk of spoiling ingredients. He scoffs at the possibility, but we know this is going to end up making trouble for Ae-ra.

Sure enough, the dreaded call comes in to Ae-ra’s office, and it comes out that a customer was hospitalized after getting food poisoning from the restaurant. Song-hee suggests to Team Leader Wang that she might be blamed for this accident, especially since it’s come out that the restaurant belongs to the family of an employee.

Ae-ra goes to the hospital to talk with the patient just moments before her family arrives, ready to do what they do best — ruin everything. She drags them out before they can say anything, and lays into them for coming here only to make things worse. She threatens to break ties if they keep making such trouble.

Her mother hits her full in the face, scolding her for talking so lightly of breaking ties. She really lays into Ae-ra, calling her an ungrateful bitch. As if this weren’t bad enough, Jung-woo and Secretary L arrive just in time to see her get chewed out by her mom.

Things just keep getting worse for Ae-ra, as Team Leader Wang arrives immediately after Ae-ra’s family leaves, and orders her to prepare her resignation letter. The advertising team pleads with the patient, and Ae-ra goes so far as to beg on her knees, but he remains firm in his desire to speak with the CEO. Ae-ra grabs his arm to plead further, causing him to pull away and fling a glass of water, just in time to soak Jung-woo.

It turns out that today is Yeo-jin’s birthday, and she’s gotten all dolled up for a cozy candlelit dinner. The only non-family guest invited is Jung-woo, but he fails to show up because of the hassle at the hospital. Yeo-jin brushes aside her father’s disgruntlement and lies that Jung-woo had an important meeting, but she can’t hide her disappointment.

Back in the hospital, Jung-woo tells the patient that he will take care of everything and barks at Ae-ra to leave the room. Her father later apologizes to Jung-woo, taking all the blame and saying that the problem has nothing to do with Ae-ra — it’s the first halfway decent thing he’s done so far, but it doesn’t make me want to punch him any less.

Secretary L complains to Jung-woo that the patient asked for a lot of money. Jung-woo is suspicious enough to make sure that they look closer into his background, which gives me hope that this depressing situation will be resolved sooner rather than later. Then Jung-woo races to Yeo-jin’s house, determined not to miss out on her birthday. She visibly lights up when she receives his call, and the family gathers later that night for a belated birthday celebration.

In Ae-ra’s apartment, Min-young expresses surprise that Jung-woo was so willing to take care of the hospital matter personally. For all he’s been squabbling with Ae-ra at work, he’s pretty quick to swoop in and take care of business. Ae-ra agrees that he helped out, and is even moved to express regret about sabotaging him with the lilies he’s allergic to.

The birthday dinner wraps up with Seung-hyun taking a picture of Jung-woo and Yeo-jin together. He’s a fairly obvious fairy godmother, but it’s probably fair to say that Yeo-jin needs the helping hand. Jung-woo is every bit as awkward as she is, but instead of making them seem perfect for each other, it just reinforces that Jung-woo doesn’t feel the same connection that Yeo-jin does.

Later, when the two are alone in Yeo-jin’s room, Jung-woo presents her with a necklace. He inquires about a picture of Yeo-jin which was taken by Seung-hyun, and it startles Yeo-jin into a flashback to her accident. She wakes up in the hospital and falls out of the bed, only to find… that she lost a leg in the accident? WHAT?! Was I the only one who didn’t pick up on this during the last five episodes?

Secretary L has done his research on the food poisoning patient, and in a plot twist that surprises absolutely no one, it turns out that this isn’t the first time our victim has won money from food-related negligence. They need more proof, though — if only someone had been filming in the restaurant that day…

So in the end, the video camera that started this mess is also the key to its resolution, as the video Soo-cheol took shows that the food poisoning patient actually left the restaurant without touching his food.

Ae-ra and Seung-hyun confront the schemer with the videotape, and this time he’s the one begging. Ae-ra is back to her confident self, complete with scornful upper lip curl, and as always it’s refreshing to see her bounce back so quickly. Seung-hyun and Ae-ra look very cute together, as they read the riot act to the would-be swindler.

Jung-woo eats dinner alone when Secretary L comes in. He briefs Jung-woo on the resolution of the food poisoning issue, but it appears that Jung-woo already knows the details.

Secretary L needles him for tracking the problem so closely — he laughs slyly, implying that Jung-woo is concerned because the problem involves Ae-ra. Jung-woo’s bright laughter and hasty denial aren’t fooling anyone.

Ae-ra’s family holds a celebratory dinner at the restaurant, with Seung-hyun tagging along. Mom and Ae-ra are still a little bristly, but Mom suggests they break out the expensive liquor, her first step in mending the bridge. Both mom and daughter are too proud to budge easily, but Ae-ra pours her mother a glass, and they share rueful smiles. Ae-ra’s father quotes a Chinese proverb and suggests that families become stronger after a fight like the one they had. Soo-cheol chimes in that they must be a really strong family, since they fight all the time.

This launches a good-natured flurry of punches aimed at the irrepressible older brother, and Seung-hyun gets points for the most charming awkward moment ever as he stands up to try and whack Ae-ra’s brother playfully on the head.

Apparently it’s time for more Manly Bonding between Jung-woo and Seung-hyun, as they meet in the gym for some one-on-one basketball. Seung-hyun reveals that it was actually Jung-woo who told him to inquire about the video. Seung-hyun also reminisces about the lively atmosphere at Ae-ra’s family’s restaurant, which is so different from the strained relations in his own home.

Later that night, Ae-ra lies awake and remembers moments from her marriage. She and Jung-woo take a trip in a paddle boat and fight about soccer. They had a bickering relationship even then, with Ae-ra taking offense when Jung-woo says she takes sports too seriously, only to forgive him when he makes a peace offering of fried chicken (there’s some real-life wisdom there, folks).

The next day at work, Ae-ra runs into Jung-woo riding the Big Glass Elevator, and struggles with her new feelings of gratitude towards her ex-husband. She forgets herself and brushes some lint off his suit, startling the other passengers. Realizing belatedly that the gesture was wifely, she blurts the excuse that she didn’t want the lint marring the CEO’s immaculate image.

As Jung-woo leaves, a folded-up piece of paper falls out of his sleeve. Ae-ra picks it up, thinking he left her a note, only to find that it’s a receipt for an Americano — pfft.

Team Leader Wang tries to bad-mouth Ae-ra to Yeo-jin, while praising Seung-hyun — no hypocrisy is overlooked in the all-important mission to cover her own ass. However, Yeo-jin makes it clear that Ae-ra is important to her, which forces the poor team leader to do some back-tracking. Team Leader Wang plays it safe by buying coffee for both Seung-hyun and Ae-ra, telling them they did a good job with the hospital incident.

Ae-ra’s mother prepares several large containers of soup to give to Jung-woo as thanks for helping them. Soo-cheol prepares to make the delivery, when his father says that they should have Ae-ra present the soup to Jung-woo. That way she can thank him personally, and they’ll have an opportunity to become closer.

Soo-cheol accordingly goes to hand off the soup, and urges Ae-ra to be kind to Jung-woo. He reveals that without the CEO’s help, they wouldn’t have thought to check the video footage to catch the culprit.

Meanwhile, Jung-woo is working diligently at his computer — he programs in Java, by the way, which made the former programming geek in me squee a little (it was a very manly squee, of course…). Keep rocking that nested for-loop, Jung-woo!

His programming minions literally stand around watching him fix their code, marveling that he can comprehend and correct someone else’s code so easily. Ae-ra overhears two programmers praising the CEO, but also complaining about the need to work overnight since the boss is staying late.

Ae-ra calls Jung-woo up to the roof to talk, since she knows he’ll be at the company for a while. He wastes no time heading out to answer her summons, and is so preoccupied that he doesn’t notice Yeo-jin trying to catch his attention, wearing the necklace that he bought her.

Jung-woo and Ae-ra begin their usual rooftop routine, talking on their phones and facing away from each other. Struggling to swallow her pride, Ae-ra thanks Jung-woo for fixing the situation with the restaurant, and apologizes for all the things she’s done to annoy him at the company. She even apologizes for fantasizing about drowning him that one time, which cracks me up.

He accepts her apology and rushes off, provoking Ae-ra considerably. “HEY!” she yells into the night air… and Jung-woo comes running back out immediately, afraid someone will hear. He looks around and tries to shush her, but Ae-ra isn’t going to put off this confrontation any more.

“Hey, CEO Cha!” she calls out, as he fumbles with his phone. “Is that all you can say to someone who’s sorry?”

She declares that she will leave the company after her internship is over, even if he begs her to stay. That’s not what Jung-woo is really concerned about, however. Everything finally comes out into the open as Jung-woo accuses Ae-ra of lying when she said she loved him, when she only liked his qualifications and stability.

Ae-ra fires back that he lied too — he said he wouldn’t start a business, only to resign from his job without consulting her. As for not loving him, she demands to know if there is any love that exists without conditions.

Marching across the roof to continue this confrontation in close quarters, Ae-ra declares that she had many reasons for liking Jung-woo: He was smart, humble, had a good job, and more than any of that, she liked the Jung-woo who only looked at her.

Ae-ra: Those were my conditions for loving you. So what?!

Jung-woo’s rejoinder is that they made a promise, which Ae-ra broke when she left him. Ae-ra counters that a promise should be kept by both sides.

Ae-ra: When we were together it wasn’t double the happiness — it was double the poverty, double the sadness.

Jung-woo has gotten his revenge for her actions by becoming successful, Ae-ra points out. Does he have to resent her, as well?

With tears in his eyes, Jung-woo asks if she knows how hard it was for him, and how badly she hurt him. Ae-ra is tearing up as well when she agrees that it must have hurt. She offers no excuses, just an apology, and leaves after giving him the soup her mother made.

Neither Jung-woo nor Ae-ra notice Yeo-jin, who listens incredulously from around a corner.

COMMENTS:

This show is at its best when it restricts itself to our first and second leads and the entangled relationships developing between them. It drops off quickly with the side plots, most noticeably anything related to Ae-ra’s family and Yeo-jin’s tragic past.

The restaurant controversy really bugged me this episode, and almost led me to write off Ae-ra’s family completely — just as she is tempted to do, in fact, during the hospital scene. I don’t think I’ve ever come closer to despairing of this show than when Ae-ra’s mother hits her and starts cursing her out. I saw absolutely no reason for Mom to act that way, especially when she seems to have already forgotten that Ae-ra created a wonderful opportunity for the family, which her husband ruined because of his ridiculous vanity.

That said, I like that in the grand scheme of things, the whole sordid affair was wrapped up fairly quickly. The video that started the whole thing also resolved it, which was a neat little symmetry, even if I would have preferred that it hadn’t been necessary in the first place. And although it took me a little while to get over my visceral reaction to the slap, I found myself a little mollified by the scene in which Ae-ra makes up with her mother. They have too much pride to admit they both said and did things they regret, so they sort of tacitly agree to let bygones be bygones — it’s actually a fairly realistic model of how families get over squabbles in real life. That doesn’t mean I’m happy to have spent so much time watching Ae-ra’s obnoxious family this episode, but I’m willing to cut them some slack as being intended to come across as endlessly frustrating, rather than seeing them as the products of bad or lazy writing.

Not only that, but I recognized another parallel with Persuasion this episode that made me like the writer more: in the Austen novel, the heroine’s father is also incredibly vain. Sir Walter Elliot spends most of his time primping and preening, and his extravagance ends up bankrupting his family — sounds a lot like Ae-ra’s dear old dad, right?

While I’m willing to cut Ae-ra’s family some slack (from a distance, preferably), I am still almost speechless regarding the details of Yeo-jin’s past love. When it was revealed that the car crash happened after she made out with the driver in a moving car during a high-speed chase, I kind of lost my ability to give a rat’s ass about anything related to that subplot. Not to be heartless or anything, but it might even be a good thing if that kind of stupidity is removed from the gene pool — the show didn’t tell us what happened to the trucker who hit them, but he or she probably sustained some serious injuries as a result of that idiotic kiss. If you’re going to drive, keep your eyes on the road!

It makes me sad to see a show that does impress me with its quiet moments come so close to becoming a parody of itself. At this point, I’m basically ignoring every flashback related to Yeo-jin’s past, in an effort to remain interested in the way she’s handling her growing attraction to Jung-woo. It’s nice to have a second lead who isn’t hateful (yet), and damn it writers you will not take that away from me with stupid backstories!

That said, there were several moments of this episode that shone brightly for me. First was the drunken confrontation in the beginning of the episode, when Ae-ra comes close to airing her grievances, but is cut short by her upchuck reflex. That moment felt real to me, and Ae-ra’s drunken pronouncement that one needs to hear from both sides in a marriage foreshadows the closing scene when our estranged divorcees finally put their cards on the table. Without any tricks, wounded pride, or defense mechanisms, Ae-ra and Jung-woo basically say: “You hurt me, and this is why.” That is how couples should resolve serious differences, married or not, and it gives me hope for the future of their relationship.

I really loved the structure of the final scene, which begins with them talking on the phone with backs turned, changes to shouting at each other across the roof, and ends in a charged face-to-face conversation – this, for me, perfectly symbolizes the gradual improvement in their communication, which started out hindered by so many obstacles, but looks to be getting clearer with each day.

I hope that with this episode, we come to an end of the Blame Game regarding their past relationship. In the final scene, Ae-ra and Jung-woo lay out their grievances and hear for the first time what it was they did that hurt their former spouse the most. Ae-ra is the one who steps back first, acknowledging the pain she caused Jung-woo and apologizing to him. Now it’s up to Jung-woo to see past his own pain, or risk losing what little sympathy certain kind-hearted people might still feel for him.

Anyway, I look forward to next week and what it brings for our increasingly tangled love square. The next two episodes bring us to the halfway point of Sly, and I think they will go a long way towards determining if this drama is a heartwarming tale with some rough patches, or a plothole-riddled car wreck just waiting to spin off the road.

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