Sly and Single Again: Episode 3

by awcoconuts

In this episode, the plot contrives to keep our leads together, Ae-ra’s ego remains larger than life, and Jung-woo exhibits the insecurities that drive his petty behavior. Min-young keeps Ae-ra grounded, while Secretary Gil calls Jung-woo on his inconsistent actions and knows exactly how to handle him. We see more of boyish and charming Seung-hyun, but don’t know yet if his bromance with Jung-woo will turn into a rivalry.

EPISODE 3

We pick back up with Jung-woo walking away from Ae-ra, clearly savoring the moment — he’s flung Ae-ra’s directive to “leave my life quietly” back in her face.

Ae-ra rehashes the conversation as she stalks away, and scoffs at his assertion that everything fell into place for him once she ceased to be a part of his life. She comes across a poster with his smiling mug on it, and asks it, “Did anyone ask you for money? All I wanted was an I’m-sorry and a thank-you.”

Flashback to the snowy day the divorce papers were filed: Jung-woo dejectedly trudges away from the courthouse, and from afar, Ae-ra watches him go as she desperately tries to stifle back her tears. In the present day, she is overcome with sadness at the memory.

Jung-woo stands in his impressive office, reflecting upon the same memories. He wonders resignedly, “Is it all over now?”

Cut to: Ae-ra at home, ranting to Min-young, “Over, my ass!” His lack of regret over the hard times he put her through disgusts her, and she will not take this injustice quietly. She vows to get her revenge by making him fall for her again.

Ae-ra gets lost in a couple of daydream sequences, in a parody of quintessential spousal-revenge makjang melo Wife’s Temptation: in the first, she’s seduced Jung-woo (rawr), who hadn’t recognized Ae-ra because of a faux beauty mark she’d pasted on her face. When the big reveal happens (LOL, meaning, when she dramatically tears off the fake mole), Jung-woo is shocked to discover his ex.

She’s given him some poisoned champagne, and he gags, chokes, and evidently dies a violent death.

In the second, Ae-ra oversees the beating of Jung-woo by thugs in a remote, sketchy fishing pier. She accuses him of deliberately hiding the inflow of investor money from her, and tells him not to resent her, since this all could have been prevented had he just once apologized. Then she casually strolls away, but not before telling the henchmen to throw Jung-woo off the pier.

“Are you shooting a movie?” Min-young asks, cutting into her reverie. She understands how Ae-ra feels, but encourages her to be realistic. How is she going to get revenge when Jung-woo’s success means the chances of her running into him are slim?

Ae-ra declares she’ll find a way to see him everyday, and pulls out the poster ad from earlier. Heh, she’s graffiti-ed all over Jung-woo’s face. Min-young reproaches her for being immature, but Ae-ra says it’s not about Jung-woo’s now-disfigured image, but the information in the ad.

DonTalk is hiring experienced marketing professionals for their mobile shopping team. Ae-ra proclaims, “If I want revenge, I need to go work for the bastard’s company.” Min-young points out that the pool of applicants for these types of jobs have exceptional credentials and that they all come from top national universities.

Ae-ra points to the poster, “But look, it’s an open recruitment, and they’re not looking at education or resumes or age.” Min-young calls her naïve for believing the words, but Ae-ra says she’s an expert in marketing. “Ohhkay, if you can call working retail and selling insurance and water filters ‘marketing.’” Undeterred, Ae-ra says with conviction, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”

Ae-ra starts filling out the work history section of the online application form. She says disdainfully that there aren’t enough blank spots to put down all of her relevant work experience. She pats herself on the back for all of her hard work, and warns, “Cha Jung-woo, just wait.”

Elsewhere, Director Oh is filling out the same work application on Seung-hyun’s behalf. Seung-hyun rushes over in frustration, saying he’ll do it himself, but Director Oh has already gleefully hit the Submit button.

Ae-ra is called for a group interview, and she’s put on the scarf of Seung-hyun’s she found. (Convenient plot mechanism, but who does this in real life?) Seung-hyun makes it into the building just as his name is called for the same interview, and he recognizes his missing scarf on Ae-ra.

There’s no time to inquire though, as they are whisked off to a room to be questioned. Seung-hyun’s big sis, Director Yeo-jin, is one of the interviewers, along with MANAGER WANG (Im Ji-eun).

Ae-ra is asked about her extensive experience with odd jobs. She falters for a moment, but quickly recovers and cheerfully talks herself up. Seung-hyun, sitting next to her, audibly snorts at her deliberate and composed interview answers, which earns him a death stare from Ae-ra. Manager Wang compliments her for being a smooth talker.

Citing Ae-ra’s stint at the boutique, Manager Wang asks Ae-ra to role-play and to sell her an item. Ae-ra focuses on who her customer is, heaping praise on Manager Wang’s fashion sense. The tactic works, and Ae-ra is awarded high marks.

Seung-hyun chimes in next to her with more admiring observations and also receives high marks. Not to be outdone, Ae-ra compliments Manager Wang’s shoes, and Seung-hyun piggybacks on with his appreciative two cents. Manager Wang basks in the flattery, while Yeo-jin just rolls her eyes at the two’s antics.

Yeo-jin says Ae-ra’s work experiences aren’t really relevant to DonTalk, and asks how Ae-ra’s strengths could be applied at the company. Ae-ra comes up with a killer answer: “I was forced to work two to three jobs at a time because I’m not wealthy. I can really relate to the target market, who clip coupons and share them on social networks.” The interviewers nod in approval.

The interview is over, and Ae-ra quickly follows Seung-hyun out and calls him out for being disrespectful during the Q & A session. He says beguilingly that, on the contrary, he was touched by her eloquence, but Ae-ra isn’t having it and blames him for almost messing up the interview.

He stops her short by saying her (his) scarf is pretty. She’s incredulous that he’s hitting on her, asking if getting a job is a joke to him, and stalks off to the glass elevator, only to…

…run smack into Jung-woo, and she is totally busted with her interview badge on. With nowhere to run, she gets into the elevator and the two ride down wordlessly. Seung-hyun is miffed his hyung didn’t even greet him, and wonders if all executives behave that way.

They meet outside, and Ae-ra lies that the potential income from the job meant more to her than her wounded pride. Jung-woo asks, “Of all the companies out there, why did you choose mine?” Ae-ra points out her lack of qualifications, and says she was turned down by the others based on her resumé. She promises to transfer to another company if she gets the opportunity to build up intern experience at DonTalk.

Jung-woo coldly tells her that’s her problem, and he doesn’t want to see her anymore. She tells him not to let personal matters affect his business. Our ever-confident Ae-ra is convinced he’s weak to her powers of persuasion, but Jung-woo shocks her by refusing to give her a chance.

In desperation, Ae-ra offers to kneel and beg, and Jung-woo tells her he’d like to see that. Ae-ra wills her body to do it, but her knees refuse to respond. She slaps the sides of her legs to get them to submit, but to no avail, and Jung-woo smirks, knowing her pride won’t allow her to do it. He turns on his heel and walks away.

Secretary Gil brings a gift of orchids to Jung-woo. It’s from Tae-ho, a founding member of the company who no longer works here. Jung-woo is surprised, and wonders about the gesture. Secretary Gil says Tae-ho is unlucky; if he had just held on a bit longer, he would have been co-CEO at DonTalk, but no, he chose to go back to his stable corporate job.

Secretary Gil speculates that Tae-ho wants to work his way back into the company, but Jung-woo promptly shuts down that idea, saying, “You have to go through the difficult times together to reap the fruits of success together.”

Secretary Gil wholeheartedly agrees, saying Tae-ho knows that Jung-woo values loyalty and trust. He adds that he’s brought up the scores for the potential hires, and Ae-ra is one of the candidates. Jung-woo stops short at the sight of her interview results, then crumples up the paper and tosses it in the trash.

At home, Ae-ra laments her body’s refusal to do her bidding. She tells Min-young that Jung-woo is a completely different person now: Before, he could never say no, but now he’s tough as nails. Min-young gives Ae-ra a pep talk, saying Jung-woo’s company wasn’t a good fit, anyway.

Ae-ra goes on multiple interviews, but gets rejected because of her divorcee status and age (yeah, about that: equal opportunity employment does not exist in Korea). While leaving an exceptionally bad interview, Ae-ra gets the call that she’s hired as a DonTalk intern.

Ae-ra and Min-young celebrate Ae-ra’s new job by clinking beer cans. Min-young wonders if Jung-woo didn’t help Ae-ra out a bit because he felt sorry for her, and Ae-ra starts to wonder, too.

We flash back to the night the interview took place: Jung-woo is resting at home while Secretary Gil watches Jjak on TV in the adjoining room. When Secretary Gil realizes Jung-woo’s ex-wife is on the show, he does his best to cover up the giant TV screen, making it obvious that he’s trying to hide the broadcast.

Jung-woo notices his unusual behavior and says, “You’re watching something erotic again, aren’t you?” He follows up with, “Wait for me, let’s watch together!” Heh.

Jung-woo and Secretary Gil view the show in silence, and Secretary Gil notes that Jung-woo is being surprisingly cool about the whole thing. Jung-woo insists he doesn’t mind, as long as Ae-ra doesn’t talk badly about him.

On the screen, Ae-ra’s interview airs — you know, the one where she earnestly wishes she never meets a man like her ex-husband again. HA.

Jung-woo storms to his office in his pajamas (his living quarters must be in DonTalk HQ), retrieves Ae-ra’s interview results from the trash, and adds it back to the group of approved hires.

Seung-hyun has also been hired, and he complains to Yeo-jin about having to keep his identity a secret. Yeo-jin tells him that if he receives preferential treatment from the get-go, he’ll never learn the job properly.

She instructs Seung-hyun to quietly complete the three-month internship, after which she’ll appoint him team manager. She ignores his requests for a ride to work and is driven off, leaving Seung-hyun murmuring, “I’ll find a way to make them give up on me during the next three months. I’m so not the type to work at an office.”

Ae-ra and Seung-hyun arrive for their first day and get introduced to the team. The sunbaes wonder about Ae-ra’s age, and grumble about having to train a newbie who is probably ten years older than them. Manager Wang wants a team member to train the two, and a sunbae named Song-hee volunteers.

The interns are shown their new desks, and Seung-hyun tells Ae-ra they were destined to be together. Ae-ra doesn’t know what to make of his casual tone, and warns him to mindful of boundaries. To get under her skin, he brazenly replies that maybe they should date.

Elsewhere, Jung-woo paces, knowing Ae-ra started work today. He asks Secretary Gil, who is busy playing a game on his phone (ok, so as long as they are loyal and stay by your side, they don’t actually have to do much work?), when the new hire orientation ends, and Secretary Gil correctly guesses Jung-woo’s true objective.

Jung-woo dramatically exits the building with an entourage of secretaries while employees, including the new hires, stand at attention. Ae-ra mutters, “Show-off!” but when Jung-woo seemingly smiles in her direction (he’s actually smiling at Seung-hyun next to her), Ae-ra puffs up, pleased at his acknowledgment.

Once Jung-woo leaves, his secretaries wonder why he had them see him off, when he typically hates such gestures. In the car, Secretary/Driver Gil wants to know where they are going, and Jung-woo replies gruffly, “To eat!” Jung-woo gets an emergency call, however, and the two make an abrupt U-turn back to the office.

DonTalk’s head of IT security (cameo by Kim Sung-kyun — aww, Samcheonpo, I’ve missed you!) tells Jung-woo their servers are under attack, but he’s not sure if the motive is to shut down the service, or to obtain user information.

While the servers cannot be controlled remotely, Jung-woo orders the team to be on 24-hour alert. IT Director wonders if an insider is involved, but Jung-woo cuts him off, saying he trusts his employees.

Back at home, Ae-ra is convinced Jung-woo is warming to her, but Min-young reminds her of the four-year-long Marriage From Hell; does she really think Jung-woo would waver because he saw Ae-ra shed a few tears?

Ae-ra insists Jung-woo’s demeanor towards her has changed, even citing the (misinterpreted) smile from earlier. Min-young agrees that Jung-woo has a kind heart, and starts to worry that the poor guy will fall for Ae-ra again. Offended, Ae-ra lunges for her friend’s throat.

Seung-hyun and Jung-woo are in a judo battle, and Jung-woo wants to know why he’s been called out in the middle of the night. Seung-hyun answers that since he’s returned home, he’s been reminded of the old days. They reminisce over Jung-woo’s first day tutoring Seung-hyun, when he was quite the young punk.

Ae-ra arrives at work the next morning, and is ordered to do all kinds of menial tasks by Song-hee (basically, it’s new hire hazing). Ae-ra is busy replacing the heavy water cooler bottles when a water delivery man bumps into her, then surreptitiously swipes Ae-ra’s ID badge from her pocket. Oh noes, this cannot bode well for Ae-ra, and I’m anticipating all sorts of misplaced blame plaguing her in future scenes.

Seung-hyun strolls casually into work, and Ae-ra gives him some noona-ly advice, telling him he needs to take the job more seriously. Her advice falls on deaf ears; instead, Seung-hyun uses the opportunity to flirt with Ae-ra, saying that if she keeps showing him this kind of attention, he’ll end up falling for her. She just shakes her head at his shamelessness.

As Ae-ra runs a work errand, she wonders why DonTalk hired her at all if this is how she’ll be treated. Her thoughts turn to Jung-woo, and, naturally, she’s now convinced he had a hand in her hiring. She texts him and asks to meet (always the rooftop in office romances) so they can chat.

Ae-ra sits demurely on a rooftop bench, waiting. Jung-woo calls her cell phone from the other side of the roof; he doesn’t want to run the risk of being seen together. She sees him and advances towards him, but hilariously, he panics and stumbles away.

“Stay there. I think you’ve forgotten, but I’m the CEO of this company, and you’re an intern. We can’t be seen together one-on-one,” Jung-woo says. Ae-ra sits back down, and says sweetly that she just called to thank him for hiring her. He dismisses her thanks, saying (lying) he has nothing to do with the hiring of interns. He’s about to leave, but she asks for his advice on what to say if asked about their former relationship.

Jung-woo says he will never discuss it, so she needn’t fear exposure from his side. He tells her not to let the information become public, otherwise her worklife will become miserable, and Ae-ra promises never to mention the divorce, or that she even knows him. He approves and hangs up.

Back at his office, Jung-woo is irritated with himself for answering his old phone and meeting with Ae-ra, and he orders Secretary Gil to disconnect the number.

Soo-cheol tells Mom and Dad the news that Ae-ra is now employed at Jung-woo’s company. He comes close to mentioning his meeting with his former bro-in-law (oh, you mean the one where you took the alimony meant for your sister and used it to pay off your debt?), but catches himself. Mom rushes off to call Ae-ra, and Dad, to Soo-cheol’s dismay, tries calling Jung-woo to congratulate him on his success. Luckily for Soo-cheol, the number is no longer in service.

The team finishes the workday and heads out for a company dinner. Ae-ra has trouble getting through the secure gate as her badge is missing, but Seung-hyun comes to her rescue.

Dinner, drinks and gossip ensue, and as the night goes on, the looser lips become. Talk turns to the highly eligible CEO’s divorce, and Ae-ra manages to stay quiet as the ex-wife is accused of having an affair, falling into gambling debt, and worst of all, being ugly.

Ae-ra starts throwing back the drinks, and at the end of the night, Seung-hyun finds her outside, drunkenly yelling at a large inflatable person, a pitiable stand-in for Jung-woo. Seung-hyun asks if he knows their CEO well, as he’s overheard a portion of Ae-ra’s banmal-filled rant, but she sloppily denies it and makes her way home.

The next morning, Yeo-jin tells Seung-hyun to hurry and get ready for work, but Seung-hyun reveals his intent to get fired. He only took the job because he was worried some of their father’s anger would spill over to their mother. He’s looking for a way to quietly get cut loose from the internship, but Yeo-jin tells him to make an effort.

The IT Director informs Jung-woo there’s been a breach in security. Jung-woo asks about CCTV footage, but the footage between 1 to 2 AM, when the violation occurred, is missing. IT Director believes the culprit stole the files and deleted the relevant CCTV recordings.

Jung-woo hesitates; the room that houses client data can only be accessed by employees. He asks, “Who was the last person who entered that room?”

In the morning, Ae-ra arrives at work and is stunned to be greeted by the security team, who promptly escort her away.

COMMENTS

Oh, Ae-ra — my opinion has come a long way since the end of the first episode. Episode 2 did more to flesh out character motivation and to show her redeeming qualities, and in this third episode, our leading lady is as stubborn as ever, and certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of confidence. I’m proud of her for staying true to herself and for refusing to kneel in front of Jung-woo, and I admire the determination that won her the intern job (although her intent was flawed). She may have wanted to live a simple life, but the challenges she’s overcome prove that she is able to succeed in the workplace, should she so desire.

As we’ve gotten to know Ae-ra better, the drama title seems misleading. As reiterated throughout the episode, all Ae-ra wants is to hear an apology and some words of thanks for the sacrifices she made during her marriage. It’s not about money for her, and while the initial reasons for wanting the DonTalk internship were based on her desire for vengeance, in future clips, the job seems to morph into more of a viable income stream for her, versus a way to carry out retribution (as well as functioning as a plot device to keep her interacting with Jung-woo and Seung-hyun).

The writing around Ae-ra seems a bit sloppy; I would have thought her pride would never allow her to work under Jung-woo, no matter how revenge-motivated she was. She sought stability and the life of a housewife, and was burned so badly by her marriage, she never wanted to see her ex again. Yet now, we are lead to believe that she is so motivated by her resentment that she’s revamped herself into a business-savvy marketer.

On the other hand, Jung-woo — I’m perfectly happy to eat my words, but writers, did you really have to go so far as to shove them down my throat? The petty behavior exhibited in the last episode, plus the fact that Jung-woo let Ae-ra pay off his debts after their divorce, then failed to proactively seek her out to repay those debts when his business took off, quickly eroded any compassion for his character. Jung-woo seemed flat in this episode — too happy to rub success in Ae-ra’s face, and rather isolated, even from close compadres Secretary Gil and Seung-Hyun. We see throughout the hour that he has been damaged by those who failed to trust or be loyal to him; he’s completely shut himself off to Ae-ra, and to old colleague Tae-ho. He also compensates for a lack of confidence with a childish need to demonstrate power.

I’m loving Min-young as Ae-ra’s BFF, as she keeps Ae-ra’s big head grounded and keeps her from floating away. The relationship between Secretary Gil and Jung-woo still hasn’t entered sweet bromance territory for me; probably because Jung-woo is currently so emotionally damaged that he seems incapable of having any meaningful relationships, including with his student Seung-hyun.

Seung-hyun is sweet and disarming, but his employment at DonTalk doesn’t make sense. His family wants him to work, and he’ll put up with it for three months, just so his father doesn’t harass his mother? Huh? Let’s brush that aside, though, because he conveniently gets to see Ae-ra almost daily. Aside: Seo Kang-joon reminds me of a young Rain in a lot of ways, but, did he always have such light eyes, or did they make him look like one of the Cullens in Twilight on purpose?

By far, my favorite male-male pairing is that of Director Oh and Seung-hyun. We see very little of angst-ridden Yeo-jin, President Kook, and Ae-ra’s wonky family in this hour; thankfully they seem to be giving us those tired characters in small doses.

In terms of overall story, Sly and Single Again doesn’t seem like a rom-com at the moment; instead, it’s more of a character drama focusing on Ae-ra and Jung-woo. The plot keeps forcing the two together when I have little reason to want them to be together — at this point, I’m more interested in seeing how each grows as an individual, and less concerned with the question of Ae-ra and Jung-woo rekindling their love. The writing is a bit unimaginative at times, and struggles to create conflict between the characters. Do we really have to blame Ae-ra for the security breach? The writers also like to reuse the same tricks, as evidenced by Ae-ra having three vivid daydreams within the hour; probably two too many. Here is hoping that for the next few episodes, we cut down on the unnecessary detours and really zero in on our leads.

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