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My Unfamiliar Family: Episode 8

Things aren’t going so well for our misunderstood mom. Now that she’s finally vocal about the life she wants, she gets pushback from her kids. But she’s unwilling to bend this time, even if she’s perceived as the bad guy. She’s regained her sense of personhood and will no longer give up herself to serve her family. Whether her family will come to understand her newfound independence is another matter.

 
EPISODE 8

Eun-hee waits outside Chan-hyuk’s office. He chuckles at her persistence and asks what she wants. She thinks he’s a warm person from a warm family, and it doesn’t suit him to act cold. Her only reason for asking him to help Eun-joo is his caring nature – she had no ulterior motive.

She asks him to tell Eun-joo not to be mean and say things she doesn’t mean just because she’s hurt. Eun-hee vows that she’s going to be “real friends” with Chan-hyuk and jumps up to perform a brief musical number before dramatically making her exit. Chan-hyuk gapes and laughs at her silly antics.

Eun-hee narrates that she’s been here before, “When my heart beat for you. When I used all my strength to laugh so I wouldn’t get caught.” Then and now, she convinces herself she’s done well to protect her heart. Ooh, so she liked him back then?

Chan-hyuk turns to find Seo-young and Ji-woo watching him. They bet on whether Eun-hee was there, and Ji-woo lost, so he pays up. Ji-woo doesn’t like the overly casual way Seo-young refers to Eun-hee, but he understands she’s doing it because she likes Chan-hyuk.

Chan-hyuk sighs that she doesn’t really; she’s just convincing herself she does. That’s why she’s so loud about it. When Ji-woo gets weirdly defensive about Seo-young, Chan-hyuk assumes he likes her. Ji-woo insists he has a girlfriend, but it’s a secret from his family.

We’re back to the closing scene of last episode where Eun-hee realizes something is off about Eun-joo’s birthdate. She wonders if her dad’s memory is still functioning improperly, but her musings are cut short by Ha-ra. They’re both there to meet Kyung-ok.

Kyung-ok officially introduces the two of them, calling Ha-ra her personal stylist. She’s the one responsible for Kyung-ok’s new style that Eun-hee liked so much. Ha-ra is giving off a weird vibe that makes Eun-hee uncomfortable.

At home, Eun-joo passes a bankbook to her mom. It’s the money her dad saved for seven years (about $40,000) and gave to her before her marriage as repayment for when she supported the family financially. Now, she wants Jin-sook to return it to him so he doesn’t have to sleep in his truck.

Eun-joo accuses her mom of being cruel by springing this “marriage graduation” she’s long been planning on her unsuspecting dad. Jin-sook tells Eun-joo she wants to rest and locks herself in her room to cry, thinking her life isn’t even worth as much as that single bankbook.

At the café, Ha-ra is noticeably passive aggressive toward Eun-hee. Kyung-ok mentions that Ha-ra hates change and has even been dating the same guy for nine years. When Kyung-ok announces Ha-ra is Geon-joo’s girlfriend, Eun-hee can’t hide her shock.

Kyung-ok attributes it to her “nine-year-relationship trauma” and changes the topic. They talk about changing Eun-hee’s style, and Ha-ra assesses her as someone who’s feminine and coy and likes to appear intelligent while pretending not to care. Kyung-ok casts confused, nervous glances between them as she senses the tension.

Ha-ra suggests going shopping, but Eun-hee declines. She wonders to herself if she has changed since when she was ambushed by Jong-min’s other girlfriend. Eun-hee changes her mind and agrees to go.

At Chan-hyuk’s office, Seo-young is angered by her assaulter leaving a comment on her social media that he’s “glad she looks good.” To make matters worse, she finds out he’s social media friends with her mom. Chan-hyuk calms her down and tells her she’s doing better lately.

Seo-young admits she can even forget about it sometimes now. Chan-hyuk says the memory will always stay with her, but she should try to make the moments she forgets about it longer and longer. She annoys Chan-hyuk when she quips he should try the same tactic for seeing her romantically.

After shopping, the girls head to a restaurant where they run into Geon-joo waiting outside. Ha-ra told him they were going to dinner, but Eun-hee says she’s not comfortable eating all together. Geon-joo makes a point to state he’s not eating with Ha-ra; he just wants to talk.

As Kyung-ok and Eun-hee head inside to eat by themselves, Ha-ra loudly tells Geon-joo they should go to his place. Ha-ra tells Geon-joo that Eun-hee didn’t rise to the bait no matter what she said. Ah, so she does know. Inside, Kyung-ok shares that Ha-ra was really curious about the women in the office.

Sang-shik and Man-ho check out a construction site Young-shik supposedly works on, but the foreman says he’s gone. Young-shik ducks around a corner, avoiding Sang-shik. A child’s drawing on siding catches Sang-shik’s eye, and he grabs his head in pain.

Tae-hyung returns home to find Eun-joo crying in the dark. She assures him it’s about her mom, not him. Eun-joo was mean to her because she hates the “marriage graduation” thing and how cold her mom is to Sang-shik.

She muses that, like her mom, she pushes her family away. Tae-hyung is adamant she didn’t push him away – it’s all his fault. Eun-joo’s biggest regret is Eun-hee finding out. Otherwise, she could’ve kept up the façade. He must think she’s just like his parents.

Tae-hyung argues she needs time to adjust, but Eun-joo claims she’d rather keep up appearances. They can live together as friends. He’s not willing to pretend anymore, though.

Eun-joo is frustrated at his poor timing since she’s already dealing with her parents’ separation. Tae-hyung says he couldn’t handle how well her family treated him. Eun-joo tells him to break the news to them himself, then. She can’t do it.

Jin-sook eats alone and cries as she flips through the bankbook. “Good for you that your life can be calculated monthly, line by line.”

Ji-woo sits uncomfortably while Seo-young demonstrates how to affix artificial nails on him for a video. He takes a call from his mom, but gets frustrated when she asks him to tell his dad to stop by the house. He’s tired of relaying messages and curtly tells her to do it herself.

Elsewhere, Man-ho encourages Sang-shik to rent a place with Young-shik, but Sang-shik isn’t comfortable doing that since he has no memories of him. In the course of their conversation, Sang-shik is surprised to learn he can play guitar when Man-ho suggests he bring his guitar from the truck.

When Jin-sook calls, Man-ho urges Sang-shik to answer, but Sang-shik lets it ring. He doesn’t want to be a hinderance to her anymore.

Meanwhile, Eun-hee works (or, more accurately, distractedly plays with paperclips) late. At Geon-joo’s, Ha-ra is passed out drunk on his couch. She wakes and calls Eun-hee using Geon-joo’s phone. Guess she wants a direct confrontation now.

“Did you think he was going to call you when he’s with me right now?” Geon-joo hears her yell into the phone, asking Eun-hee if she thinks this is about lingering feelings. She’s just giving back what she got. She was the one who wanted to break up three years ago.

Geon-joo snatches the phone away from her, and Eun-hee listens as Ha-ra shouts angrily and steps on a piece of glass. Eun-hee hangs up. Ha-ra haughtily rants about how Eun-hee is nothing special while Geon-joo treats her cut. If this is revenge for three years ago, then find someone who matches her level. Wow.

At her desk, Eun-hee reads through old email conversations between her and Geon-joo. She’d even talked about her falling out with Chan-hyuk and how she was afraid to apologize in case he wouldn’t accept it.

The following day, Tae-hyung’s mother comes to see Eun-joo and Tae-hyung. She’ll handle the alimony if they divorce. Tae-hyung scoffs that of course she’s here about money. Eun-joo narrates that her mother-in-law’s opinion of her as a “wise and simple child from a poor family” will never change.

His mother wonders if Eun-joo truly didn’t know and acts disappointed in her for not being able to handle the marriage. “I chose you. Did you forget?” What a lovely person she is.

Tae-hyung cuts in, so she starts in on him for exacerbating the problem. Eun-joo could’ve lived pretending if he hadn’t made a big deal. Tae-young insists Eun-joo isn’t like her and did her best. He couldn’t sit back and watch anymore. Tae-hyung tells his mother to leave.

Ji-woo stops by Eun-hee’s place with food. He doesn’t think it was appropriate for her to stop by his workplace when Chan-hyuk didn’t answer her calls. He finds it even more problematic since Chan-hyuk and Seo-young seem to have something between them.

Eun-hee doesn’t see the issue since she and Chan-hyuk are just friends. Either way, Ji-woo argues that Chan-hyuk’s avoiding her calls was a signal she ignored. Doesn’t she feel bad for acting all friendly with Chan-hyuk after cutting him out like that?

Ji-woo reminds her Chan-hyuk is his boss. Eun-hee assures him there was a reason she needed to talk to him, but she won’t stop by his work again. Ji-woo has known Chan-hyuk most of his life, so he sees him as family. Eun-hee proclaims that she’s his family, and they sibling fight.

Chan-hyuk comes into the office wearing a suit which Seo-young thinks is outdated. Who wears suits on arranged dates? She asks if Eun-hee knows and flaunts that she knows him better. Chan-hyuk comments he liked Eun-hee because she didn’t know everything.

With a look like he just got caught, he amends his statement to mean he liked her as a friend. Outside, they run into Eun-hee who is dropping Ji-woo off. She leaves with a wave before Chan-hyuk can talk to her. As she drives off, she thinks he and Seo-young look good together.

Upset, Chan-hyuk immediately calls her to ask if something’s up. She and Ji-woo aren’t so close that she’d just drop him off for no reason. Seo-young watches as he chats comfortably with Eun-hee.

Eun-joo thinks back to her early encounters with her mother-in-law when she worked on a patent case for her. She’d set up the unsuspecting Eun-joo and Tae-hyung on a date. Tae-hyung had appreciated Eun-joo’s straightforward nature and spot-on analysis of his overbearing mother.

Now, she tells Tae-hyung that her family’s good treatment of him isn’t the problem. He’s burdened by the fact that she likes him. It happened so slowly she didn’t even realize it, but it must’ve been why she tried so hard. Tears in her eyes, she calls it a “worthless and lonely” confession.

Meanwhile, Eun-hee feels like a thief as she slips the photo of her parents into her bag for Sang-shik. Ha. She ponders the date on the picture again, thinking of Eun-joo.

Since Sang-shik didn’t pick up Jin-sook’s calls, she goes to see him in person. She finds him playing guitar and singing, and we get a montage of their happy dating days and Sang-shik’s sweet moments of late. She texts that she’s at his worksite, and he literally goes running.

He’s upset she came all this way and tells her not to worry about him anymore. She packed a bag for him so he doesn’t spend money needlessly. Jin-sook tells him to come home – she’ll move out.

The kids are mad at her, thinking she kicked Sang-shik out, so it’s better for her to leave. She slaps the bankbook in his hand and sarcastically says he’s the good father who worked hard for the family. How many more secrets is he hiding? Why does he make her look like the bad guy?

Sang-shik scolds her for taking money from Eun-joo, not recognizing the bankbook. He tries to cover his mistake, but Jin-sook suspects he’s lying about his memory. Sang-shik (forcefully) borrows Man-ho’s car so he can drive her home.

At her parents’, Eun-hee finds some pictures stashed in the pages of a book. One is of Eun-joo and Tae-hyung at their wedding. We’re treated to some ominous background music and a shocked face as Eun-hee sees the second picture of … some man whose face we don’t get to see. Oh, come on! She hurriedly replaces the book on the shelf.

Jin-sook is surprised to find Eun-hee home when she returns and wonders if she’s there to scold her too. Eun-hee playfully demands to know who scolded their “Miss Sook.” Eun-hee mentions that Eun-joo’s birthday is coming up and haltingly asks if Eun-joo was premature.

Startled, Jin-sook avoids answering directly. Eun-hee admits she was going to take the photo to her dad, but she couldn’t. It’s “grown roots” where it is, and it should stay there. Jin-sook’s hands shake as Eun-hee says her dad told her that day was the first time he and her mom held hands.

Her dad misremembered, right? Jin-sook said she was already pregnant in that photo and that Eun-joo was born late. Eun-hee’s eyes fill with tears as she desperately wishes for her mom to tell her she’s wrong. Eun-joo can’t handle anything more right now.

Sang-shik sits parked outside Seon-il’s fruit shop and recalls reading about the bankbook in his journal. Everything still feels like a dream. The only thing he knows is that his family is all he has.

A car comes speeding down the street toward Sang-shik. He’s blinded by the headlights and has a flashback to Eun-joo’s wedding. He had seen Eun-joo’s biological father there, although we don’t see his face.

The car swerves just in time, but Sang-shik’s ears ring and his vision goes wonky. His memories begin returning – the accident in the mountains, fights with Jin-sook (including one where he’d apologized for not being suitable as Eun-joo’s father), Eun-joo’s wedding. Sang-shik dazedly notes, “I’m back.”

 
COMMENTS

So it looks like Eun-hee saw Eun-joo’s birth father in that wedding photo. The fact that she was so surprised means she recognized him. The only man of the right age is Seon-il, so I’m guessing he could be the birth father. Of course, it could be a red herring, and the picture wasn’t of Eun-joo’s birth father at all. This show likes its red herrings and fake outs. Either way, now that Eun-hee has figured out there’s a secret surrounding Eun-joo, it’s bound to all come out soon. Even if Jin-sook is able to come up with a reasonable excuse, which is doubtful, Eun-hee isn’t one to give up or just take things at face value. Unlike Ji-woo, I can’t imagine Eun-hee would be content to pretend like she never heard anything.

Eun-joo’s know-it-all attitude is really bugging me. I’m sure her issues with her mom are making her side more staunchly with her father, but she never even tried to understand Jin-sook. Regardless of how she perceives them as parents, she doesn’t know anything about their marriage. I wonder if she’s extra harsh on her mom because, as she admitted to Tae-hyung, she knows she takes after her. I knew Eun-joo was concerned with keeping up appearances, but I was a little surprised she wanted to continue their marriage charade even now. I would’ve thought it would hurt her pride to stay in that situation, but it seems she prioritizes maintaining her perfect-looking life. I have to say, it’s nice to see a female character like her who isn’t portrayed as the villain. Usually, women who are as harsh or cold as a male lead chaebol aren’t the protagonists. Yay for diversifying!

If we’re to believe the hints, it seems like Eun-hee and Chan-hyuk both liked each other back in the day but weren’t brave enough to admit it. Assuming that’s true, I wonder what made them keep quiet. Were they afraid of jeopardizing their friendship, or did they each think the other wasn’t interested? And now we’re getting hints that they both may like each other currently. Is Chan-hyuk’s assessment of Seo-young convincing herself she likes him reminiscent of his own experience? It’s possible his crush on Eun-joo is a way of redirecting his feelings for Eun-hee, but I think it could go either way at this point; his feelings for Eun-joo could be real. Regardless, the drama is clearly pushing them together, so I’m pretty sure Chan-hyuk and Eun-hee are endgame.

Given Eun-hee’s questionable taste in men, that might be for the best. Her dalliance with Geon-joo is already causing problems. Not only is Ha-ra unpleasant, but she’s ready for a fight. Since her and Geon-joo’s relationship status has been murky for a while, it’s hard to say how much of a right she has to be angry. Either way, I can’t stand when people play games, and her looking down on Eun-hee was not okay. As if we hadn’t met our unpleasantness quota, we also were treated to Eun-joo’s mother-in-law. There’s a woman who likes her power trips. I imagine growing up under her had to be a nightmare for Tae-hyung. No wonder he was willing to marry Eun-joo to escape. We haven’t heard anything about Tae-hyung’s father, though, which makes me wonder where he is in all this.

On the topic of fathers, there’s got to be more to this Young-shik situation. Why is he hiding from Sang-shik all of a sudden? He happily approached him earlier, and he agreed to meet with Sang-shik over the phone. Now he’s running off and skulking behind buildings. Since Sang-shik’s memory has returned, maybe we’ll get some answers. I’m curious how Sang-shik will approach things now. A lot has changed in the brief time he’s been gone, so to speak. Will he be more accommodating to Jin-sook or try to explain now that she’s confronted him about his secrets? His relationships have mostly improved, but I don’t know if he’ll be able or willing to maintain them as his old self. Or his newer self, I guess. He’ll need to do some soul searching and figure out what matters to him and who he wants to be going forward.

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I will tell you what is wrong with Eun Joo....both her parents were so guilty for having to rely on her during their financial hardship that they never bothered to correct her, say hey girl..you know what you are being nasty and cruel and you don't know everything just because you had a hard time...see, her vitriol comes out especially around her mom, occassionally Eun Hee, never around her mother-in-law..she has a sense of superiority around both and a sense of inferiority around the other set deep inside...I have maintained before and I will say it again...Eun Joo...her vanity, excessive misplaced sense of rightgeousness is reason why she can't connect to people or drives them away...she is emotionally exhausting..she knows nothing about her parents marriage, nothing....yet there she was being judge, jury and executioner...How long does an adult like her get a pass for being horrible like that...because I have run out of patience with her.

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Don't forget that she had long thought that her mother had actually wanted to kill her until she just found out otherwise.

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This happened after she found out the truth though, not before....her mother may not be perfect but she is being unreasonable.

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Talking back to your MIL is a no no in Asian culture and I’d think EJ considers that to be a pointless exercise. Getting the MIL’s approval might be what she’d do previously but not now anymore in a practical sense.

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I agree with you. The conversation was hard to see, and she has lot of resentment inside of her. These two women are very much alike and need to talk to each other about their problems and the way they feel.
In fact, during their conversation, EunJoo tells mum that she had always been cold to dad and her while she was always warm to EunHee and JiWoo. She's grown not feeling loved by her mum, something no child should feel.
I wonder if JiSook was colder to them both (probably unintentionally at first) because she blames them two for her situation, as EunJoo is the reason she got married in the first place.

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I actually like Eun-joo a lot - better than Eun-hee who is too self-centred and also sees things from her own perspective.

We are what we were. EJ grows up feeling not being loved by her mom especially and having to be the breadwinner during her golden twenties without again a word of appreciation from the mom (and that’s why the two conversations between mom and daughter in Ep 7 and 8 are so devastating). She survives on her own and is becoming so self-sufficient to the point of her becoming the judge and executioner - which I believe she considered an ‘earned’ right. While she’s cold to almost everyone but the very warm look she gives her father gets me every time - and what a great actress Choo JA-Hyun is.

This is the character I care most, together with mom and dad. I want her to find her own path for happiness by the end of this drama, which might be a big call.

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I share your same thoughts.
I really like Eun Joo and want her to find a way of healing her wounds.

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I like both sisters and love that they both have shades of grey. Now both EH and EJ in different ways go against the common play book of virtuous heroines but that's what makes them both interesting.Many things have been said about EJ's POV, so lemme chime in on behalf of EH here.
*She treats CH as her personal safe(it's a position he first actively encouraged her to seem him as) and is fumbling the ball on giving him space and time apart. As she mentioned this episode, even though it's not ok, her clinginess comes from her regrets over their last seperation. And no that he verbally asked her to stay away, she's trying
EH is a classic middle child who wants attention. She's open about her emotions inspire of her family's close lipped MO and is adult enough to understand her past follies and isn't above apologizing for them.
IMO, EH has been the most forgiving person in the entire drama
* She forgave her mother for (seemingly) abandoning her.
*Even when her father openly favoured EJ, she has had a good relationship with him and to her credit,the comments on the (seeming) favoritism are done to the face and are nowhere as barbed as EJ's
*She apologized to both CH and EJ and expected no apology (she really should get one) in return
*Since returning to her sister's life, she has endured EJ's many belittlements unflinchingly and doesn't hold the bitterness of their interactions against her sister as she knows EJ is hurting.
*She easily forgives her colleague for inviting their boss's gf to their weekend 'date' without consulting her
*She's civil to the cheating BF when they meet years later
*She's wayyy too forgiving of her current flame
*She's even being civil to his classist (ex?) GF when she was being all passive aggro on that shopping trip.

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@ashes2ashes
I agree with you about EH. It’s impossible not to like her, although she can be energy draining.
I have a friend that’s so similar to her... and annoying as it can be to have a friend that drains your energy away, she’s so full of life and positive energy I consider her a blessing.
I also love the way the two sisters are shown to us; they are not perfect, they have so many different layers, they have flaws, they are human.

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She did not utter a word to her mother-in-law, not a single word. Did her mother-in-law do her less dirty than her family, where was her judgment there, please don't tell me it was out of respect? Eun Joo is not a child. She is a grown adult who selectively dishes out bitterness knowing it is not right to people she considers unworthy. Her mother-in-law, she wants her approval more than she wants to understand the mother herself. I am sorry all of this combined is leaving a bad taste. Eun Hee has her flaws. But at least she can own up to them. She has stuck by Eun Joo, given her space, given her no judgement when she had a break down. I wonder what would be the situation if it Eun Hee at the receiving end. Would she listen or would she judge?

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@eazal i agree that EH can be exhausting, that’s what i thought in this week’s episode. But i still like her cos despite her clinginess she has a good heart and we know her actions come from wanting to do right and good for the people she loves. I guess that’s why CH can patiently tolerate her 😬

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That Ji-sook (subconsciously) blames her husband and Ji-woo for the way that her life went has been my thought all along. She resents them.

That Ji-woo spent her twenties supporting her family is actually yet further cause for resentment. Her claim that she could not speak because words would not have been enough has to have been one of the hollowest claims of all time. Words can be powerful things- and even if they were not enough those words would have meant a great deal to Eun-joo.

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I don't understand with the mom, I know she's being hurt by the husband, but why she seems like she gives different affection for eunjoo and the other two siblings? I don't know how to interpret this but their relationship is strange from the start, if seon il really being eunjoo's biological father, she can act friendly with him but not her daughter? But still I hate it when eunjoo being harsh and judge her mom like that.

and Ha Ra, sigh, I still don't understand her intention, she just want a revenge because he didn't want break up with her 3 years ago? Their relationship is a mess.

Chan hyuk and eun hee yaa~ they like each other until now, but seems they're still in denial state, even seo young can see that from the start

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You are right about how different it seems to be mum with EunJoo and her siblings. And that's something EunJoo always noticed. Add to that the fact that she grew up thinking mum wanted to kill her, and I can understand her bitterness.
Yet, the way she behave was too harsh, as if she only wanted to hurt her mother and that way release some of her pain. And that is really wrong, because it's the exact thing TaeHyeong did to her.

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This show is a steady string of small heartbreaks punctuated by moments of lacerating acid. I would have to ask myself if I was truly enjoying the series if I did not find all of it so damn compelling.

I do not know what to make of developments in the on-going secrets. Clearly, if truck driver Sang-shik saved $40K by holding back his earnings, he could not realistically been supporting Young-shik (and his mother?) at the same time, even if Eunjoo was subsidizing her family's expenses with her pay as a junior attorney. And if Sang-shik's memory is too be trusted, Eun-joo's birth father essentially abandoned and equally clearly did not secretly pay any support, WTF
is Jin-Sook not only inviting him the wedding, but amiably accepting congratulations? Nothing about her shown character suggests that kind of emotional resilience.

An then there is Eunjoo, who I find so sadly magnetic. A entire life being distant with her mother for no discernible reason, including believing her mother came close to murdering her, then manipulated/fleeing into a quick marriage to yet another distant personality and no romantic experiences/callouses to shield her from the heartache. She is so smart she can still suss out other people's true emotions (as long as those emotions do not directly impact her) yet is utterly ill-equipped to deal with her own.

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Do not forget that Eunjoo was angry with her mother in part because she had to spend her twenties supporting her family INSTEAD OF having a normal social life. So she had no experiences to help her judge her marriage prospects- and made a bad mistake. .We are told that her mother has always treated her coldly- so her distance from her mother has a reason. I initially disliked Eun-joo but now I am inclined to want to know more of her story. Still, you are clearly correct in noting that she is not equipped to deal with her own emotions

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I have a question....say Sang Shik is that benovalent guy who helped people at the expense of making his family suffer, driving a permanent wedge in his marriage, but still its not common for a stranger,'s son to call you father now, is it? People change, what makes you guys so sure he did not change and cheat...he may have fathered a child that way...just the money??

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I never believed from the beginning that he cheated.
When we were shown the flash backs, JinSook k¡just assumed the had an affair because of the phone calls and the fact that he began to be distant, so that moment she decided he was cheating.
When SS was in the truck and found the notebook, the note JS had written was there. He kept it for 40 years so he cherishes it.
And as JS was always cold, even in the past, while SS was a warm smiling guy that was head over hills about being accepted by the woman he liked, so it's such a terrible contrast from the grumpy man he became...
In my case it's not based on nothing specific but the fact that I don't buy the cheating. I only buy the total lack of communication leading to terrible misunderstandings.

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In Korea you even call your friends dad, abeonim. Abuji/abuchi is colloquial or rather used by close people but I won't be surprised if he calls him that and they aren't even related.

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Yeah but its weird and his name too, also she said it wasn't just the money, he would spend time away, he wouldn't answer, calls that woudn't talk to her....why the secrecy....I want to see....like I said a warm guy could change over time

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Regarding the scene of JS and EJ's bio dad being smiley-- that hit me as out of characater for JS. But we are seeing that scene from SS's perspective. The show has done thi before..showing the two sisters memories being contradictory and each seeing the other in happy state Vs themselves as the victim. Wonder if the pattern's being repeated here? SS sees JS being glad to see that man coz that has always been his worst fear. Knowing that JS 'settled' for him and always wondering if she'd leave him when an opportune moment presented itself?
Wonderful analysis of EJ's character btw.

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So, who do I dislike more- Geon-joo or Ha-ra? Can Eun-hee run away from this situation fast enough? For the second time she has been ambushed (Quirkcase got the term exactly right) by her boyfriend’s girlfriend. What is sick is that Ha-ra does not even want Geon-joo- she is engaged in a twisted game of revenge. Eun-hee needs to quirkly step away from this dysfunction- and perhaps start seriously wooing Chan-hyuk.

I have an idea for a fund raising contest: Sell raffle tickets for a trip to Korea to slap Tae-hyung’s mother. What do you think?

This show certainly knows how to throw curve balls- Did anyone see Eun-joo’s confession to Tae-hyung coming? It was straight out of left field for me. It seems that her desire to continue the marriage is NOT founded on a desire to keep up appearances.

And one thing we learned this episode is that Eun-joo specializes in pharmaceutical patent work. Let me translate this for you: She is even more learned and brilliant than the average patent attorney. So, yes she is someone who would be offered a partnership up front.

So, it seems as if Eun-joo’s natural father went to her wedding?

I would note that there is a hypothesis that Young-shik is not in fact Sang-shik’s son- and that there was no “second family” but rather Sang-shik seeking to look after a family damaged by his accident. If so, given Sang-shik’s occupation, then most likely it was the (way under-insured) deceased other driver who was primarily at fault because Sang-shik would have been fully insured (and note that Eun-joo had to support her family afterwards BUT I do not recall that she had to pay her father’s medical bills- household expenses would not have been covered). This leads to the conclusion that her parents problems are really rooted in a lack of communication which created distrust which lead to their relationship spiraling out of control. If this drama has a moral it is the need for communication. In any case we shall see what the truth really is.

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Re Tae Hyung's Mom: when I was in junior high. my academic rival and I debated in front of parents for a civics class, similar to a spelling bee competition (we were the only Korean-Americans competing). She kicked my ass up and down the stage that night, except for one memorable point. Afterwards, I heard her Mom berating her for letting "a peddler's son" (my dad was a jewelry wholesaler) get the best of her. That woman the same facial expression, cruelly monotone delivery and overall awfulness of the character -- it's been nearly forty years and still vividly remember pitying the girl who had just wiped the floor with butt.

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"my butt" -- I wish we could edits these posts

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So you would probably buy the tickets (just kidding)? I have a feeling that your rival has not had a happy life.

Also- being a jewelry wholesaler would surely require considerable intelligence and a disciplined work habit, in addition to good people skills. You probably learned a great deal from your father's example.

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Thank you for that -- my dad remains the smartest, toughest person I have ever known except for the decision to prioritize working non-stop over learning English. I think his life would have been more fulfilling to him he had gone the other way.

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Wow... just when you think this scenes only appear in dramas... thanks for sharing.
My family backgrounds are very humble (my sister and I are the very first members to go to college, in both branches of my family) and I'm so proud of who I am because how hard my parents and grandparents fought to bring me here and be the person I am.
Whenever people tries to despise my family because "we're not good enough" I get prouder. Sort of when EunHee proudly stated that her father was a truck driver. Nothing to be ashamed when money is earned honestly.

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Even hough I think drama wants to redeem GeonJoo, and even I want him to be redeemed because at least he's openly telling anyone who can listen that he's not in a relation with HaRa, I just want him to go away. He's a dangerous guy who doesn't respect boundaries. And above all he's EunHee's boss. I can only see a tragedy coming that way unless he goes back to the US.

And regarding those tickets, please save some for me.

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That confession - certainly a curve ball that I can’t see at all. And it does explain her flirtatious behaviour towards the barista which is out of character. It’s really a ‘worthless and lonely’ confession that I’ve ever seen.

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A fund raiser,eh?? Tempting 🤔. I can't get behind slaps but count me in for a verbal smack down..Worst part is that lady's a doctor who has 'studied all her life' but can't even seem to muster enough compassion for her own child. Wouldn't want her making any decisions for me,medical or otherwise.
@halofan68 and @eazal ...sorry to hear you had to encounter some narrow minded people on your journies..but props to you for dustin' off those haters and forging ahead.

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Also if we are at it, can we include SY's mom to the 'hit' list? I was trying to think may be she was trying to protect her daughter from some harm by preventing her from reporting her assault. But to be 'friends' with your daughter's assaulter in SNS... Don't know where to begin with that

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What SY's mom did was inexcusable. It made me sick to my stomach.

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Mom thinking her life isn’t even worth as much as the bank book is just heartbreaking 😭😭😭

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It was. I don't really like JinSook, not because of the marriage graduation as her kids do, but because she's such an hermetic person, that assumes things to be real without actually checkin if their not, that has been living a miserable life because she couldn't have a conversation with her husband...
But even if I don't like her, I can understand her wish to end the situation because she wants to be free and stop being miserable.
Won Mi Kyung sis making an extraordinary performance.

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*actually checking if they’re not*
I wish we had an editing button 😤

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I actually had a hard time understanding how she arrived at that thought. Who was weighing her life against the $40,000? It seemed like she is so used to pitying herself (not without reason, but perhaps not as much reason as she thought), that she had to turn the bank book into another pity party. I really expected that she might instead say: "Omo, that's where the money was going! Maybe I misjudged my husband!"

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EJ had just asked her why JS never acknowledged her hardworking 20s. The bank book was her way off throwing it on her mother's face that dad cared about her sacrifices and saved up to 'repay' her. This is probably what provoked JS's line that her life(aka her labor for all those years on behalf of the family) seemed to have less value than a bank book.
I think there was also the uncomfortable realization that there may have been more to SS than she had come to believe.

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Jinsook in part reminds me of my mum. My mum was a homemaker to 4 kids. She has only recently found a career after her youngest graduated high school, after 28 years. For the longest time, she deemed herself “less worthy” because her labour (physically and emotionally) were considered “free”, with no monetary value, unlike my dad whose job allowed him promotions and pay raises.
She always said that she felt she was valued less because her job is invisible. This, she felt invisible and was very sensitive during all the money talk. She had no control over where the money went and completely dependent on what was given to her. In a patriarchal family, she didn’t have a voice. She could only push her thoughts inwards and manifested into her “truth”.

JS arrived at her “truth” even before Eunjoo turned 20, before Eunjoo became the breadwinner,
so a realisation that Sangshik was saving for his daughter would not have occurred to her- her mind’s made up.
What Eunjoo did was hurtful because she was pitting her dad’s sacrifice, which was very well defined, over her mum’s quiet emotional suffering. Eunjoo was hurting her where it hurts most, the one wound Jinsook tried to nursed over the years.

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Its because she is part of a society that does not equate home making to an actual meaniful contribution....Eun Joo did not raise herself, her mother made a home for them...she had limitations...she wants thank you for helping out during her 20s while she disregards anything and everything her mother did to raise her as not enough because she was financially not solvent enough to gift her 40k at her wedding....she directly equated money as the thank you she craved for her lost youth. So, that is why her mother felt that her hard work as a homemaker meant nothing. And Eun Joo does look down on her mother, cooked meals, clean clothe, well managed house on limited income is not a good enough contribution to Eun Joo and doesn't make her mother worthy of kindness.

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I can totally understand the mom. She had just told her daughter she felt like she could never pay her back, and therefore couldn't say sorry. Her husband instead saved money, which only he could do, because he is earning and secretly gifted it to his daughter.
I could understand her anger. This effectively made him the good guy, and her the bad one (for not doing the same). It's not like she has been doing nothing for the family, she has also worked hard.

I also understand why Eun Joo was so angry at her mom. They are also very alike, and usually fighting with your mom is not logical, in fact she felt regret afterwords.

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Talking about being a drama queen- Eunjoo acts all high and mighty while she berated Eunhee for being emotional and pushed her away while she was railing from her cheating ex, and blamed her for “not seeing it coming.”
I get it, Eunjoo. You felt unloved, depreciated, so you equate your current lifestyle as your “redemption”. You love living in your current neighbourhood. You prefer to keep up appearances just to prove you’re better and that you’re always right. You felt the world owes you a huge favour. But that does not give you rights to judge how your mum lived her life as a wife and a mum.

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I also understand Eun-joo. Being the eldest child myself in a family the mother of which is a housewife, I once told my mom out of anger that she should have been working as a working mom instead of being just a housewife when I was so young. My mother told me so many years later on that that sentence broke her heart.

Kids assume things. Without proper conversation between family members, they can only think from their own perspectives without knowing other relevant information from the other sides.

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Talking about a messy breakup- Eunhee is in the thick of it! Poor girl. But good for her for not rising to the bait. That Hara is one nasty girl, and judged Eunhee as some third-rated! How dare she!
As much as I find Geonjoo annoying af, charming as he is (fell for one like him before), I can kinda see why he’s attracted to Eunhee, but boy, he’s toxic! I know it coz I’ve been there before! So Eunhee, you’d better blow this right up with Geonjoo because you deserve better than being part of a nasty threesome!
Just hope she won’t go burdening Chan-hyuk with it.... but you know what, she so will.

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Same here. As much as I know he’s dangerous, I can’t understand she doesn’t want to read the signs. I didn’t either.

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Talking about sibling cuteness, the way Eunhee and Jiwoo share their croissants is just too real! Eunhee only eats the crust and Jiwoo the fluffy insides!

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Lol, right. That was my favorite bit from this episode.

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It was such a sibling moment!

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Totally..that was so cute and real. Was also proud of maknae for having an honest convo with noona about how her relationship with his boss could affect his work life and kudos to EH for listening (erm we'll see how long her promise lasts, though 😅)

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EH needs to stop whatever she’s doing/trying with GJ. Though HaRa was/is very unpleasant, GJ and her relationship seems to be very dysfunctional/problematic. GJ is a guy
- who wouldn’t breakup cleanly with his gf,
- had harassed his gf,
- possibly cheated on his gf ( I suspect the show will try to spin it that the cheating is the email exchange with EH and not really an affair but to me it is),
- had a year long email exchange with EH pretending to be someone else,
- shows up in Korea and sleeps with EH under false pretense when he was still with his gf.

The list of red flags is just too long. If the show tries to redeem him or make whatever is going on between EH and GJ look like an epic love story I would be very disappointed.

EJ confession to TH was heartbreaking. The whole scene with TH’s mother telling EJ that she selected her and EJ’s flashback was painful to watch. Essentially the marriage always had (at least) three people which TH’s mother and her expectations/presence always being there because I’m sure he married EJ to keep his mother happy. Even if TH wasn’t gay this marriage had no chance of being a success no matter how hard EJ tried. What was even more heartbreaking was that if EJ had not made her feelings towards TH obvious he might have let her keep trying thinking she could make the relationship work. I feel very bad for her. Soon she will have the birth secret to deal with too. This poor woman cannot catch a break.

CH and EH might be the endgame but she needs to grow up quiet a bit if not she will just drain him dry!

I want to know more about JiWoo’s secret girlfriend.

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I agree with you on every point.
I only have doubts about the moment GJ broke up with his girlfriend. I think when he came back to Korea, he had already broken up with her, but she didn't accept it (it reminds me of the One Spring night situation with the boyfriend). Even so, this small detail doesn't change the fact that EH should end things with him. To me the main point would be that he's her boss. Gigantic NO here.

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Even if she ends it now -- and definitely if she waits any longer -- it will be hard for her to go on working in the same office. And if she does get together with CH, it would be really hard on him knowing that she still worked with GJ. So I have to think that either EH has got to get a new job or GJ has to leave the office by the end of the drama.

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I also thought that he going back to US could be the only way EH is safe in her job. That or, as you point, that she changes her job.

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If only this family had openly spoken about their problems... so many hard times would have been avoided.

JinSook and EunJoo conversation was heartbreaking, for both of them and for me as a viewer. Their personalities are so similar, so much. They hide their feelings and assume the meaning of others behaviour: mum asuming dad cheated on her and never openly confronted him; EunJoo assuming mum didn't love her and wanted to kill her... how can a child grow having that feeling? My heart aches for both of them. The worst part is that right now they are still not ready to talk to each other and heal their wounds. I hope the drama gets us to that point.

SangShik is finally got his memories back (is this the kiss of episode 8?) so things will move a bit faster maybe, and we'll learn more about his relation with YoungShik. I've already talked about my theory and a possible accident (that would explain his limp) and maybe someone else involved (the person who draw dragons and stars and put the stickers on the cabin truck) and how SS took responsibility on them. I never thought SS cheated on JS, and I don't believe YS is his biological son.

Regarding EunHee and ChanHyuk, well... it seems at some point they had romantic feelings for each other, but they decided to leave them aside (without having a conversation about it). Are those feelings still there? I really don't know. I also think that they are endgame, but I would rather they kept their relation as friends, really. The reason it that I don't really like the way EH treats him. Maknae was right: ever since they retook their friendship, she's been draining his energy from him, telling him all what happened with his boss, all her family problems, dragging him to the island, "lending" him to her sister, not letting him ignore her calls, imposing her presence at his workplace... EH needs someone and just uses CH. Sure, he could say no. He has some issues saying no, but I just don't like the way EH don't respect his space.

And our maknae... at first I thought his outburst saying he had a girlfriend was just out of panic because he likes SeoYoung, but in this episode he really seemed serious about it. So now I believe there's a girlfriend and that there's something going on with her... could she be daughter of the fruit shop?

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I also liked that when Maknae told her to back off, EH did. She got what he was saying, realised what she was doing, and stopped it. Sure, leaving Chan Hyuk even more confused lol

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Personaly, I didn't like it because he didn't it for Eun-hee or Chan-hyuk but for Seo-young. It's not his place to meddle with that. Chan-hyuk was clear about the fact he doesn't have feelings for Seo-young.

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Oh, I didn't like that he did it. What I liked was that EH thought about his words and acted accordingly. Her sister keeps saying she's rash and impulsive, but moments like these show that she's anything but

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It was nice from her to try to be a better friend to Chan-hyuk because she gave him a big burden to handle. If she only knew that Ji-woo did the same 🤣

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Hehe..I too like appreciated that atleast two of the Kim's were having an honest conversation face to face. I didn't like JW dragging SY into it and also didn't love the way he lay all the responsibility of that 5 year estrangement on EH's door (Sigh, is no one in the drama gonna admit the fact that she wasn't the only responsible party in the separation with CH and EJ??, Argh)
But he did have a legit point that Noona can't be barging in on his workplace and also that she needs to chill with calls/texts when EH doesn't respond.

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I hated the way he told EH to back off. First off, he's the maknae so where does he get off, secondly he first said that she needed to back off because CH is his boss, (OK, although CH was her friend first) and THEN he says she needs to back off because CH is like family. Well, which is it then?

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I liked it when Eun-hee said to Chan-hyuk: 'stop my sister from saying hurtful stuff she doesn't mean.' His reaction - that surely she would never do anything like that - made me laugh. Dude, she so does.

But more importantly, it was such a sisterly moment. It was quite touching that she said it kindly, not judgemental, and did her best to stop it. Eun-hee knows her sister so well that she knows she'll lash out but also knows that whatever Eun-joo says, it's not what's in her heart. And of course she does lash out, against her mother in this case.

I'm guessing Eun-hee has been at the receiving end of that plenty of times.

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I LOL'd at his comment about EJ too ..Now am dead sure he definitely hasn't had any 'real' moments with EJ and just has her up in a pedestal coz of few moments of interactions where she came of this tragically cool Noona. I'd say no conversation EJ-EH had is complete without EJ cutting EJ down to bite sized pieces. So it's definitely a mark of their sibling bond that she asks him to essentially protect EJ from herself.

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I'm surprised all the family believe that the father found back his memories. It's sad he felt he had to say it because he felt guilty for his wife. The poor guy is living in his truck alone without memories and trying to get his life back.

I understand the mother and the fact she wants a separation and have no issue with that. She's not happy like this. But I don't really like how she acts as a victim in the marriage. The both of them are responsible for what happened, the "I'm a greater person because I bare the situation without complaining" is really not an excuse.

Eun-joo is a very proud person who wants her life to perfect and now it failed, she wants it to look perfect. She needs to learn that she can't control everything and it's not a big deal. But with her mother, I can totally understang her coldness. For 20 years, she thought her mother took her to kill her and let her little sister with her father. Even if she knows, it was not case, this feeling hurt her during a long time. When she overworked herself to help her family, her mother said nothing about it and looked that she took as granted when the father thanked his daughter by giving her money. Again, words and acts are important. The mother has still a big secret...

But none of the children should judge the mum for the separation, it's not their place to do it.

Chan.Hyuk and Eun-hee have feelings for each other since always... I guess they were to scared to lose their friendship but they did for 5 years. So they should be honest for once.

Ji-woo, what an idiot! Chan-hyuk doesn't have feelings for Seo-young, he can help her but not dating her. So Ji-woo didn't have the right to ask his sister to get away from Chan-hyuk to let Seo-young to have a chance. It doesn't work like this!

I hope Eun-hee won't accept the situation with her boyfriend longer. She shouln't have to handle a crazy ex.

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I totally share your thoughts about EunJoo and mum, every point.
I think they both need to heal their wounds and that would begin by having all the conversations they didn't have along the years. I don't think they are ready for this right now, but I hope they will be when this drama is over. Both actress are doing a remarkable job here. It's my first time watching any of them and I'm totally in love with their acting, letting aside how unlikeable their characters are.
I also agree that Jin Sook can do whatever she likes with her life. She's been feeling miserable for almost 30 years and I don't care why (because she assumed things that were not or because she coped with a cheating husband), but right now she's decided to live on her own, retake her life and be happy. Every single person in this world deserves happiness and her kids should by no mean judge her.

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I only started this drama a few days ago and all caught up. We are lucky to have all these wonderful dramas this year while I only managed to finish about four last year.

What impressed me most is finally we have a Korean drama that explores ‘’marriage graduation” seriously. This topic is nothing new and in fact has been the theme of several wildly popular weekend family dramas in the past decade with some up to 30-40% viewer rating. They are however focused on the comedic side of the issue and other family dynamics.

Here, the unpeeling of past and present events from the different POVs is rightly handled and deeply affecting. The acting is top notch through and through - Jung Ji-young’s portrayal of the father is in particular Daesang worthy.

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The acting of everyone is top notch in this show. I mean I've never understood the deal of Kim Ji Suk but he's bringing his A game here too. I especially like Mom, Dad and EJ's acting. JJY is so believably 22 and when he switches you can see how vastly different the 22 year old SS and the present SS is and he switches easily like it's no big deal.

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Moms! Our Oh so underappreciated Moms. It hurt me so bad when Jin sook said that it's so good for Sang Shik that his life can be measured by money. The emtional and physical labor of stay at home moms and housewives is mostly overlooked because it cannot be quantified. But I believe that the fact that it is immeasurable is how grand it is and how we can never attach a price to it. EJ is not the first, neither the last child who has preferred her father over her mother because the father's love and care could be measured.
I do like the 22 years old SS but whenever there are flashbacks of the real SS, I totally get why JS wants a marriage graduation and why it is so conflicting rn because it seems like he is no longer the person she hated. However, regarding the second wife aspect, I think as everyone else that it is a huge misunderstanding.

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As far as Eun Joo goes, I really LOVE the writing and effort that has gone to make this character. She is so deliciously complex. K dramaland rarely goes for gray characters that too who are so layered and even writing them is difficult compared to writing straightforward characters. You know seeing this comment section, I think the writer has succeeded. Some people dislike EJ, some totally understand her so can't dislike her. It's quite hard to have an audience divided on one single character in this way. I am part of the latter, I understand her, I get her. Hence, I can't come to dislike her. After every harsh cold remark, I look for what made her say this rather than this is just how she is. Even the show hints at that when TH pointed out that she behaved this way with her mom because she was directing her anger on him somewhere else. She is SO real. EH and JW are kind of straightforward charaacters, they are what we see them to be, not EJ. She is layered, gray and complex and the audience sees that too. Well done writer.

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I shouldn't be surprised of EJ choosing to ignore everything and continue their marriage life considering her advice to EH but I was. Expected her to take revenge on Mom and get as much compensation as she can and start a new life.

Looks like Kyung-ok has an idea of EH and GJ's relationship. Ha-ra was condescending and nasty during that encounter. Which I hope served as a wake up moment for EH to completely stop her relationship with GJ.

I feel bad for Jin-sook for all the blame she's getting in this graduation. But I do feel like this all came because she was not openly communicating everything or just the important parts. Now everyone seems to misunderstand each other.

The acting continues to be superb in this drama which is a delight to watch.

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Ooh yes..I also got a sense that Kyung ok knew about EH-GJ when she momentarily looked mockingly at EH but then tag quicklh went away and am not sure if that was a glitch. I hope for EH's sake that it was a mistake and she won't be loosing her office unnie over this messed up relationship.

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I don't think it was a glitch. That moment was short but unnie had that look.

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Omo. Now my suspicion is confirmed. I don't quite believe that a person like her -Kyung Ok- would have missed such a relationship. It's especially the case when it involves someone very close to her.

I HATE that look. It confirmed my suspicion and everything. The only good thing about this is that it should be a wake-up call for EH. I hope she realizes before it's too late that these three are just too messed up to hang around with in her life.

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I actually didn't buy Kyung Ok not being aware of EH and GJ's relationship. So that look confirmed it for me. Though the drama has not revealed it yet, we'll know if we're right or not.

EH's reaction to the whole meeting made an impression on her and I hope she will not brush it off like when she knew that GJ pretended to be someone and basically stalked her.

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Unnie is quite smart, even I thought that it's hard for her to not know this. Considering how much she knows about office gossip and all, she must know.

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Yeap, and that meeting with Ha-ra was intentional for her own entertainment. Though I hope not but -

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Remember she said Ha-ra came to see her unexpectedly? And then she got a makeover from Ha-ra. What if the makeover was in exchange for setting up a date with Eun-hee? She may have said just enough to get KO on her side.

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@lindag I'm hoping for that but the look she gave made an impression. I guess we'll know in the next few eps.

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She totally knows about the relationship and put this lovely little get-together in place so that she could put EH in her place. I was shocked to discover what a horrible friend she really is; I feel sorry for EH. What a terrible position those three put her in! I'd kick them all to the curb.

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I was hoping it wasn't but looks like it was intentional. EH should cut these three out of her life.

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Thanks for another wonderful recap @quirkycase
*CH had my ♥️ this week with the way he helps SY in dealing with her trauma. Had suspected this ugly truth given her strong reaction to an unexpected touch few eps back and interactions with her mother, but it was still hard to hear what she went through. It's a credit to her inner strength that she has risen above the trauma and is not letting anything stopping her from living her life. I soo root for her.
* May be maknae and SY can get a place together & split the rent to put some well deserved distance between them and their messed up families?
*Had thought EJ's offer to be friends with TH came wayy too soon and the show did call her out on it this EP. It was nice to see these two had a positive relationship before the marriage. Even suspect they were each other's first 'real' friends(?) But TH is right that they can't keep up the facade anymore. He redeemed himself a teensy bit by shielding EJ against his mother. Although she wouldn't have needed my shielding if he had just been honest with her from the get go. We all agree TH's Omoni is the worst,yeh?
*EJ is hurting and lashing out all over the place. I had hoped her heart had stayed safe in this sham of a marriage but it was sad to hear that wasn't the case. HS's accusation that she has never loved hits harder in light of her confession. She's doubly wounded coz she's been betrayed in her one sided love with her husband and friend.
Her confrontation with mom was intentionally hurtful and self flagellatory. These two are just gonna get worse with the final blow, aren't they?
*I wasn't expecting EH to actually have been aware of her feelings for CH.Why didn't she try to pursue a relationship with him in their 20s then? Did she read CH's detached facade as disinterest and settled for the other dude or was she unwilling to risk the relationship that clearly meant more to her?

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I thought maybe JW had lied about having a girlfriend but I guess maybe he really does.

EJ’s confession really was a lonely and worthless one. I wasn’t surprised that she had grown to have feelings for TH. I feel like there were hints.

I thought it was interesting that the book EH found the wedding pictures in was The Bridges of Madison County. Dad had that book in his truck too, if I remember correctly.

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Yeah that's definitely the book from Dad's car. I'm confused about who the second picture could be because it looked like someone in a suit which doesn't match my first guess of Young shik.

I wonder if it being bridges of madison county is meaningful. It's definitely not my genre so I had long forgotten any summary of it I had read but looking it up again I guess you can draw parallels? (Only read the summary but) It's about a woman whose husband/children are away so she has an affair with a photographer but then she decides that she has to devote herself to her responsibilities to her family so she chooses to stay.

I think it would immediately make sense for me if this was a book owned by Jin Sook. She (as far as we know) is a woman who feels like she had given up her life as someone who can love and only focused on her responsibilities but now wants to change that. But with Dad owning the book I feel like it takes on a different meaning because it's not just something that he would read and relate with but maybe it's not actually his book. I really want to know where this book plot point goes. ><

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I had wondered if Angry Adult Dad knew it was Jin Sook's favorite book and read it himself to try to understand her. It would tie back in a way to 22 year old Dad's Doctor Zhivago story.

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I love this drama it shows us that if we keep our thoughts to ourselves and suffer on our own it will pile up into a mess like this family in.
JS she never confronted SS about anything, she just swallowed and let the love turn into bitterness. I think the same happened with SS he probably had his own misunderstandings about JS and EJ's birth father.
They both loved each other but communication and trust are most important in any relationship. Seriously though if JS invited EJ father to the wedding that must have hurt SS. He doesn't seem like a cheater to me.
EJ also kept her feelings to herself the same as her mother she let it pile up and her feelings of betrayal finally tipped her over the edge. She said hurtful things to her mother, I would be devastated if my daughters would talk to me like that. We always say the most hurtful things to the people we love and care about. Children need honest communication with their parents they need praise when they have done well and at the same time need criticism when they are not. It helps them learn and grow and tell right from wrong. JS staying quiet had a bad influence on her daughter she didn't feel appreciated by her family which is really sad. I like how EH didn't walk away upset she went back to clarify why she chose CH to look after her sister. When she said that she had no ulterior motive it made me think that she is aware of his feelings too.
It felt like an, as long as we stay in this bubble and not admit it out loud the friendship can survive kind of situation.

It was clear to me from the start that CH had feelings for EH and I had a feeling she too had feelings for him. The ways she was angry at him and not her ex when she found out about the cheating seemed to be the first sign, however, I didn't think she was aware of it. Her fling (that's what we should call it) with the boss is her safe relationship option. I personally think she probably wasn't in love with her ex and only started this relationship with her boss because there isn't much to lose. That is why she never acts on her feelings for CH.
I think CH cares about EHs family because of her.

For the next episodes, I hope the fling will end and we get to focus on building an equal relationship with CH where he can rely on her as much as she relies on him.

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Hm. Color me confused. If CH liked EH from the start, why is he still mooning over wedding pictures of EJ? If he liked her from the start, why did he makes that terrible "bros before hos" decision and never tell her about her cheating bf?

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I can only speak from my perspective, I am a photographer and I would have never taken pictures at a wedding of someone I was in love with. As a wedding photographer, you are capturing some of the most loving moments of the beginning of someone's marriage which is quite difficult, if you love one of them. Also he looked ad EH pictures and they were quite different as a photographer if you compare the two types EH pictures were warm and loving while EJ wedding pictures look quite cold to me. The way he had given the pictures to the sisters is different too. He advised EJ to look at them when she is feeling bad I think he saw her feeling for her husband before she did. The way he reacted when EH asked him why he kept the pictures for so long was like someone who was caught red-handed. About the reason for why he didn't tell her about the cheating. I can only assume it might look like he was after her from the start and he probably would have been seen as the reason to break them up. As many people thought when he didn't go to her ex-boyfriends' wedding. We don't know the full story from back then.
These are all assumptions I am probably creating a whole new drama in my head. :D

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