Emergency Couple: Episode 13

by LollyPip

What do you do when the person you want to be with isn’t on your wavelength? Do you fight for your own happiness, or sit back and watch as she gets closer to another man? Our hero comes to some long-overdue realizations about his behavior both in the past and the present, but as in real life, sometimes realizing what you want only leads to more uncertainty.

EPISODE 13 RECAP

We rejoin Chang-min and Jin-hee mid-kiss, and Jin-hee manages to break away just as Chang-min’s mother is stepping off the elevator, prepared to give him a piece of her mind about his rudeness at dinner. Jin-hee finally breaks Chang-min’s hold on her and starts to leave, but Chang-min’s mother walks in the door and sees them together.

Mom is speechless (for once) but she manages to squeak out a question to Chang-min: “Why is she here?” He says that he brought her here and asks his mother to leave, but Jin-hee says she’ll leave first. Chang-min stops her, and tells her to leave later–that he’ll send Mom off first.

Finally, finally, Chang-min tells his mother that she needs to leave, and asks her not to just come walking in without calling him first. He pulls Jin-hee out to take her home, leaving Mom standing there in shock.

On the drive to Jin-hee’s house, Chang-min’s phone rings, but it’s Mom so he doesn’t answer. He takes Jin-hee’s hand and promises that he’ll never let his mother yell at her again, and never let her get hurt. Touched, she calls him “Chang-min-ah…” but he keeps talking, saying that he’ll pay her back for all the hardship she’s gone through in the past.

Jin-hee says it doesn’t matter anymore–she’s forgotten it all, but he says he didn’t even know everything she’d endured when they were living together. He admits that he didn’t care enough back then, to really see into her heart. She insists that it’s all in the past, and Chang-min just sighs, “Okay, I’ll go slow. I’ll go at your pace.” But when he drops Jin-hee off at home, she’s got more to say: “Don’t be nice to me. Don’t think of going slowly. Don’t think about starting again. I like my life as it is now.”

Chang-min says he knows how hard it must have been for her after their divorce, even harder than for him, and he sees how far she’s come to be where she is now. But he assures her that his renewed feelings aren’t because she’s changed, but that he didn’t see her hardship then, and he does now. Or maybe he did know and he just forgot, because he’s an idiot. Well huzzah for some self-reflection at last.

Jin-hee sneaks in the house like a teenager after curfew, and she and Mom both get the daylights scared out of them when Mom comes out of her bedroom in the dark. Mom cuts to the chase and asks Jin-hee if she’s dating someone, and Jin-hee denies it saying that she slept at a friend’s house, but smart Mom ain’t buying it.

Jin-hee swears it will be a looooong time before Mom gets any happy news like that, but Mom just says a little sadly that she wishes Jin-hee would find someone and start over, after all she’s been through.

When Chang-min gets home, his mother wastes no time confronting him about Jin-hee, asking how he could go back to “square one” when there are so many other women out there? Is that why he was cold to Ah-reum? He tells her that he does like Jin-hee again, and wants to date her again, and asks for Mom to please not be mean to her. Even a minister’s daughter isn’t as good as Jin-hee in his eyes, and he has zero interest in anyone else.

Of course Mom is horrified, and notes that he has the same expression as the first time she forbade him to be with Jin-hee, and look how that turned out! Doesn’t he remember that? Chang-min retorts that he remembers quite clearly how Jin-hee was hurt by a mother-in-law who never accepted her, so much that she had heart trouble.

Mom says it was bad enough she let him do what he wanted once (let him?), but she won’t let it happen twice. Chang-min tells her that twice, three times, four times, or however many, he’ll be with whomever he wants because it’s his life. And I let loose another mighty huzzah.

Jin-hee sits home thinking about what Chang-min said in the car about how it must have been harder for her than for him after the divorce. She flashes back to him packing his things to leave, and how he nagged at her even then, telling her to not just eat and sleep, but to actually experience life. It sounds like good advice, but it’s delivered in this nasty tone, like he can’t leave without criticizing her just one more time.

Then Chang-min’s mother shows up to tell her “I told you so,” and says that she ruined Chang-min’s life. She continues blaming her for the fact that Chang-min isn’t a doctor, and says that he does everything for her and she does nothing for him. Chang-min comes and tries to stop her, but she doesn’t stop and even grabs the bags that Jin-hee was cleaning out and throws them all over the sidewalk before Chang-min manages to drag her away. Jin-hee just collapses on the steps, having not said a word during either exchange.

Then we see Jin-hee eating dinner alone in their empty apartment, and she picks up a mug that has their wedding picture printed on it. Finally she breaks down and cries.

Jin-ae and Mom see Jin-hee off to work, talking about how Kwang-soo is picking up a job to earn some extra money. Mom notices that Jin-hee seems listless, and asks if she should take a few more days off, but Jin-hee just says she’s fine. Kwang-soo drives up in a nice car, but says it belongs to his friend and he’s using it to deliver instruments.

Kwang-soo offers Jin-hee a ride to work, and she takes the opportunity during the drive to thank Kwang-soo for getting a job so Jin-ae can follow her musical dream. He waves it off as natural, since Jin-ae is better than him, but Jin-hee tells him not to forget his dream either. He tells her that once Baby Gook turns one year old, he’ll take up music again.

Kwang-soo asks (this time with some tact) why she and Chang-min got divorced, because they seemed so comfortable together the other night. She says it just happened that way…they were young, and didn’t understand much about life. She wonders if that’s really all it was, and admits that she wasn’t strong enough so she failed.

But Kwang-soo doesn’t think the divorce means it was a failure–maybe the divorce was a mistake? He compares marriage to music…if you practice a lot, you do well, but if you don’t practice, you won’t do well. And marriage is like being thrown into a live show with no practice, so you have to practice after the fact. Well, look who turned out to be pretty darn insightful.

When Jin-hee gets to work, there’s an emergency right away. A roof collapsed onto a man’s head, he’s injured and in shock. A look into the patient’s records show that he might have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative and fatal brain disorder.

Sang-hyuk and Yong-gyu rush to warn Jin-hee about the possible infection, but she’s already in a room treating the patient. She yells at them to come help her, but they stand outside the door, too scared to go in. Chang-min shows up and asks what’s happening, and they tell him, but when Jin-hee calls for help again he shakes them off and goes into the room anyway.

As they treat the patient Jin-hee is splashed in the face with blood, and Chang-min rushes to clean her face and orders her out of the room. He tells her about the disease, but she insists she can’t leave a patient, so Chang-min satisfies himself by putting safety goggles on her (which she should have been wearing in the first place but I digress).

Chun-soo asks the cowards outside the door what’s going on, and after they tell him, he also barges into the room. He orders Chang-min to put on a mask, but it doesn’t stop him from getting splashed in the face with blood next. Once they get the patient stabilized, Chun-soo washes Chang-min’s face with alcohol, and tells them they did a good job, unlike the interns standing uselessly out in the hall.

Another doctor brings in current test results on the patient, and whew, he doesn’t have Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease after all. Chun-soo orders the hall-lurkers into the room to prep the patient for surgery, as Chang-min and Jin-hee exchange relieved smiles.

Ji-hye brings Chun-soo coffee in his office, and gently chides him for being reckless with a disease that even terrifies doctors. He muses that Chang-min surprised him today: he expects Jin-hee to charge into a situation without thinking of herself, but Chang-min is normally a guy that would have hidden behind the door with the others. Ji-hye attributes Chang-min’s change to Chun-soo’s teaching, but Chun-soo disagrees. He doesn’t think it has anything to do with him.

In another part of the hospital, Jin-hee wearily sits to rest. She thinks on how Chang-min came charging into the room to help her, even though he knew about the patient’s possible infection. Chang-min finds her and reminds her to wash up, because even if the patient wasn’t infected it’s best not to take chances, and she reminds him to wash up too. He does, and has a broody shower moment while he’s there, thinking how the Chief’s taking care of him made him feel weird.

Ah-reum is studying in the break room when Chang-min enters, and she asks pointedly if he had a good dinner last night with his mother. He says he did, but she calls him out that his mother said she didn’t even get to eat. Chang-min flat-out tells her that he’s divorced, but she brushes it off as unimportant and says that there are lots of things she doesn’t know about him, like his favorite movies and sports.

Chang-min counters that those aren’t the same at all, but Ah-reum disagrees. She guesses that maybe some people think being divorced is a bad thing, but it doesn’t bother her.

Two doctors in the ER are discussing a patient with a burned hand, and Jin-hee asks a nurse who is injured. The nurse says “Chef,” but Jin-hee mishears her and thinks she said “Chief,” and goes running into the treatment area, obviously upset. It seems like everyone in the ER gives her the “whut?” face, just as she notices that it’s a chef who’s been burned, not the Chief, and Jin-hee looks like she wants to crawl under the table in shame. The actual Chief comes to check on things, and Jin-hee dies a little more inside.

Later Chang-min sits by himself, whining about Jin-hee’s public concern for the Chief. Ji-hye sits with him and says she knows he meant Jin-hee when he said he had a girlfriend. She says it looks like Jin-hee likes Chun-soo, and advises him to step aside and support her. He says he can’t do that because it was so hard to even get this far, and asks if Chun-soo really does like Jin-hee, which Ji-hye confirms.

Chang-min admits that he and Jin-hee used to be married, which surprises Ji-hye. She tells him not to tell Chun-soo because it will make Jin-hee uncomfortable. Public relationships are hard that way–if one person tells everyone before the other is ready, it puts the first person in a difficult position. So if he truly wants Jin-hee back, he should restrain himself, and let her decide what she wants.

Chang-min gets a call from Jin-ae, who’s waiting for him outside the hospital, and he immediately guesses she wants a favor. Of course she needs money, but she can’t ask Jin-hee, because of the whole stealing-her-wedding-ring issue. Jin-ae takes Chang-min to the pawn shop where he buys the ring back, and he lends her money after making her promise not to tell her sister.

Chun-soo asks Jin-hee where Chang-min went, but he’s gone home for the day. The kidney patient needs a transplant, and has to be transferred to another hospital, so Jin-hee offers to do it. She shyly thanks him for the text (the one telling her not to be sick) and does a happy little squee as she leaves. So cute.

Jin-hee introduces herself to the kidney patient’s wife and thanks her for coming. Chang-min calls her, and she tells him that she’s escorting the patient to the other hospital, so he goes to meet them there. As he signs in at the ICU nurses’ station, he sees a patient list with his father’s name on it. Oh no.

Chang-min finds Jin-hee and she notices that something seems wrong. He tells her that he saw his father’s name on the patient list, and that he knows he recently collapsed because of his diabetes, but that they thought he was better now. He offers to take her home, but she says that she’d feel more comfortable taking a cab.

As they part, Jin-hee gets a call from Chun-soo, which Chang-min overhears. On the surface, he’s just checking that the patient got to the hospital safely, but Chang-min is still bothered.

Chang-min’s father is in his office, and notes on his calendar that Chang-min’s birthday is coming up soon. Chang-min’s mother comes in wanting to talk, and complains that she’s been in bed all day “because of your son,” haha. She tells him that Chang-min is seeing Jin-hee again, but Dad doesn’t look very upset at that news, and tells her to just live her own life instead of living through her son.

Mom counters that she doesn’t have anything else but her son, and says that it’s easy for him to say to live her own life but she never gets what she wants; Chang-min married a woman she didn’t like, and now she’s even getting divorced. She doesn’t want to give Jin-hee money to leave Chang-min alone, and demands that Dad think of something.

Chang-min drives home and thinks about Ji-hye’s advice to sit tight and wait for Jin-hee to decide what she wants. He starts to call her, but instead goes to a spot on the Han River where he and Jin-hee once left a lover’s lock on a lit tree sculpture. He remembers a time when he met Jin-hee here, but she was annoyed because he’d forgotten what day it was.

Chang-min just laughs at her, and suddenly a man appears from nowhere, holding a small box. Without a word, the man opens the box and shows Jin-hee a tiny white dress. He places the box behind a screen, and we see the shadow of the small box grow into a large box, which the man hands to Chang-min. He opens the box, and inside is Jin-hee’s wedding dress. Sweetest proposal ever ~sniffle~.

Jin-hee stops by the bar on her way home, but soon Ji-hye and Chun-soo also arrive and sit down at the bar near her. Jin-hee starts to leave, but Ji-hye invites her to sit and talk, while Chun-soo looks like he wants to slink away for fear of what Ji-hye will say.

His fears are well-founded, because Ji-hye gets right to the point: “Jin-hee, what kind of man do you like? Do you like someone who makes your heart flutter, or someone more familiar?” Wow, the lady doesn’t beat around the bush, does she?

Jin-hee gives it right back though, and asks, “What’s going on between the two of you?” Ji-hye says they’re just colleagues, and they all sit in the Most Uncomfortable Silence Ever.

Outside the bar, Ji-hye says she’ll take a cab and offers Chun-soo to take Jin-hee home, over Jin-hee’s protests. She runs to a cab, giving them no choice but to get in his car together. In the cab, Ji-hye looks at a picture of her daughter and tells her that her mom is a fool, but she doesn’t have a choice.

It’s Awkward City in Chun-soo’s car, until Jin-hee breaks the tension by asking about a book he’s got on the dashboard, and he offers to lend it to her. Jin-hee asks him the same question that Ji-hye posed at the bar: “Which do you like better, someone familiar, or someone who makes your heart flutter?” and he admits he likes someone who makes his heart flutter. Then he dorks out with doctor small talk, and Jin-hee smiles at his awkwardness.

Chang-min sits in his car, waiting outside Jin-hee’s house for her to come home. He looks at her old wedding ring and remembers their wedding. He sees Chun-soo’s car drive up, and is dismayed to see that Jin-hee is in the car with him. As it’s still pouring, Chun-soo gets out of the car and comes around to cover her from the rain and walk her to the door. Chang-min watches, noting how close their faces are under Chun-soo’s jacket.

COMMENTS

I’m going to be honest…until this episode, I totally didn’t see any evidence that Chun-soo was interested in Jin-hee in a romantic way. He was kind to her at work, and admired her as an intern with a lot of guts and a great bedside manner, but I didn’t see any personal interest other than his words telling Chang-min that he was interested. Which, as some of you have pointed out, could very well just have been him yanking Chang-min’s chain, in a “what would you do if I was?” sort of way. In my opinion, he’s shown more evidence of still having feelings for Ji-hye, than any new feelings for Jin-hee.

It seems to me that it took Ji-hye pointing it out to make him start actually showing interest. I’m still confused why he told Ji-hye that he feels no flutters when he thinks of Jin-hee, unless I just totally misinterpreted that scene, but I’ve long since stopped trying to figure out Doctor Stone-Face. It feels to me a bit like lazy writing, like he’s just there because we need another man to show interest in the heroine because that’s what you do in dramas, and not because he’s been showing interest all along. I still love the show and think it has more strengths than weaknesses, don’t get me wrong, but I would like to see Chun-soo as a character used for more than a prop to get Jin-hee and Chang-min back together, which is what I feel like he’s been relegated to the last couple of episodes.

I’m glad the show has a character like Ji-hye around, because she serves as a great model for how to treat the person you love. It’s obvious she still loves Chun-soo. She hasn’t tried to hide it, but if he truly wants to be with Jin-hee than she’s willing to support him and even help them be together. It’s refreshing, since her character type’s typical role in dramas is to pout and whine and flounce around because she isn’t getting what she wants. I find Ji-hye to be a breath of healthy fresh air, and I’m glad she’s there to give all the lovelorn woebegones some solid romantic advice, even if it is at the expense of her own happiness.

On the other hand, I was happy to see Chang-min doing some of the things I’ve been saying for two weeks that he needs to do in order for me to feel that he deserves to get Jin-hee back. He told his mother that he wants Jin-hee back, and that he won’t stand for her being mean to Jin-hee anymore. He even confronted Mom about her treatment of Jin-hee back when they were married. He told Ah-reum that he’s divorced, and even told Ji-hye, a superior at work. But best of all, he talked to Jin-hee about it, and was honest and open about it. Admitting that he didn’t care enough when they were married to put effort into understanding her, and that he knows it was hard for her, is huge. He knows now what he did wrong, so he can avoid it going forward, and that’s exactly what I’ve been saying he needed to do in order for this to work. He’s still got a long way to go, because he needs to now understand that he can’t make her want him back just by sheer force of will. Jin-hee is her own, autonomous person, and she gets to decide if she also wants to try again.

Speaking of that, I still don’t blame Jin-hee for asking Chang-min not to try to get her back. The emotional abuse that he and his mother put her through is not something anyone with half a brain would jump back into willingly, and as sweet as he’s been, he hasn’t done enough yet to show her that things could be different this time. And now she has another man, who is accomplished and mature and handsome and interested, so of course she would want to explore that possibility. Even though I’ve never been on the Chun-soo/Jin-hee ship (let’s face it, I have a pretty strong personal bias for Choi Jin Hyuk!), I do think it would be healthy and smart for her to date another man a bit before deciding who she wants to be with.

Mostly, I’m happy to see our two leads finally doing some work that could lead to their reconciliation. They have a lot more work to do, but now after this week’s episodes I am starting to have some faith that they can make it work. Kwang-soo was right…marriage isn’t the happy ending, it’s the start to a lot of hard work, but if you’re willing to do the work then it’s possible to overcome any past or present hardship.

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