One More Happy Ending: Episode 3

by LollyPip

If you thought Mi-mo couldn’t possibly get her life any more twisted up, then you’d be wrong. She manages to stick her foot in her mouth several more times before an important conversation has her rethinking the way she’s been living, especially when it comes to dating. But just when she decides that it’s time to work on herself for a bit, suitors begin coming out of the woodwork — whatever is a girl to do?

EPISODE 3 RECAP

It’s the Joseon period, and while Dong-mi acts out the scenes, Mi-mo narrates that back then, marriage had very little to do with emotions — it was an agreement between two families. There were matchmakers called maepa that would help the families, and the bride and groom wouldn’t meet until their wedding day.

But sometimes one’s imagination would run away with them, and the reality was much less romantic. We see Dong-mi’s match, who is… not exactly the young handsome man that she pictured, and she tries to run.

But there were romantic souls who took their destinies into their own hands and ran away together. One woman (Mi-mo in royal dress), even gambled her whole life in the name of love. Her name was Deok-joong, and she was King Sejo’s concubine, but she fell in love with the king’s cousin (represented by Hae-joon, of course).

She wrote him a love letter, and King Sejo (Soo-hyuk) was made aware of it. He ordered the arrest and torture of everyone involved, and Deok-joong died for nothing more than loving the wrong man.

In the present, Mi-mo confesses her instant love for Hae-joon, the man who briefly called her “sister-in-law.” Hae-joon responds in his typical eloquent fashion: “Huh?”

He asks if she still feels dizzy, and she rattles off the evening’s events in detail to prove that she’s just fine. Before he can say anything else, Dong-mi shows up and screams Mi-mo’s name, and smacks Mi-mo for worrying her. Her extreme behavior makes Hae-joon giggle.

She tries to take the lab coat off Mi-mo, ignoring both Mi-mo and Hae-joon’s protests, since all Mi-mo has on underneath is a teensy negligee. Dong-mi rips open the coat and goes silent, taking her outfit as further proof that Mi-mo’s gone off the deep end. Mi-mo shushes her and tries to say something to Hae-joon, but he just walks away.

Soo-hyuk heads for the hospital to pick up Mi-mo, complaining the whole way. He’s delayed by a car accident, while at the hospital Mi-mo gets observe Hae-joon treating the accident victim. She’s eventually released and wears Hae-joon’s lab coat home, promising to return it later.

She’s gone by the time Soo-hyuk arrives, and Hae-joon corners him to ask what’s going on with them. Why didn’t Mi-mo call him instead of her friend? He jokingly asks if they’re divorced already, and Soo-hyuk tells him they were never really married. He tells Hae-joon the whole story, and Hae-joon feels a bit less squicky about Mi-mo’s confession to him.

Soo-hyuk sighs with relief that at least he and Mi-mo didn’t sleep together, which makes Hae-joon look at him sharply. He asks if Soo-hyuk didn’t find her attractive then, and Soo-hyuk hotly denies there’s anything at all between them. Hae-joon: “Then why are you here?” Oh. Right.

Mi-mo starts to worry that she’s really gone ’round the bend, getting dumped, almost marrying an old schoolmate, and confessing to a man she just met all in one day. Dong-mi drops her off at home, and she whines to Ppoppo that Hae-joon will think she’s a married woman looking for an affair.

Hae-joon is thinking about Mi-mo, but not about her being crazy. He recalls seeing her in the City Hall, only from his perspective she’s dressed in her old Angels costume and surrounded by soft, fuzzy light. OMG he’s a fanboy. No wonder he was staring at her like that.

Soo-hyuk decides to check on Mi-mo when he gets back to their building, but a memory of her accepting his offer of a passionate night rings in his ears. He remembers more about that night, how they’d broken apart when the elevator dropped them off, and each shuffled to their own door. He smiles, realizing that nothing happened.

Mi-mo can’t sleep for worrying about what Hae-joon could be thinking of her. By morning she’s panda-eyed and exhausted, but she fixes herself up and heads to the hospital. Once she sees him though, she’s twitterpated all over again, and gets out of there without speaking to him.

She meets with Dong-mi and Da-jung and tells them about her latest obsession, and Dong-mi quickly figures out that she’s talking about the doctor that gave her his lab coat. She tells Mi-mo that she should apologize for making him uncomfortable when he was just doing his job. Mi-mo pouts that her friends aren’t encouraging her, but Dong-mi barks that women like her are why women like Dong-mi can’t get married.

We see Dong-mi at a work function, being leered at by a homely coworker while the handsome man she’s eyeing ignores her. A teacher had stood to announce her upcoming marriage, and her intended turned out to be the man Dong-mi was sizing up. Awww. She complains that she’s spent so much energy flirting with him, and that little divorced witch snatched him out from under her nose.

Later Mi-mo interviews another potential client, this time a woman who is gorgeous, rich, and seems to have everything. She’s also extremely jaded after her ex cheated on her, but Mi-mo thinks she’s the perfect client — a successful woman who’s not just looking for a rich man to take care of her.

As the client’s application is processed, Mi-mo tells us that if a client wants to get remarried, they’re graded and divided into classes. Everything about the person is analyzed, and they get a report card that tells them how attractive they are on the dating market.

Mi-mo reluctantly answers a call from the Masspunch reporter, who wants an update on the engagement Mi-mo bragged about. Mi-mo tells the truth, that he’s marrying someone else, and asks the reporter to write a very sympathetic article about it. Judging from the reporter’s face, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Da-jung sits to talk to her husband Geun-hak about the divorce he wants. She says that she hasn’t done anything he can use as grounds for divorce, and instead offers to let him date so they can file for divorce on grounds of cheating. He thinks she’s only saying that so she can claim more assets, and besides, he wouldn’t do that because he still cares for her.

Da-jung is pragmatic about it, and argues that asking her for a divorce every other day is just as scarring as being cheated on. At least if he cheats she can get more money. She lashes out, saying that no woman will want a divorced man with a kid. Geun-hak mutters that he’s got money and assets, but she’s all Not after I take half. This is the saddest conversation ever.

Ae-ran breaks the news to her mother that she’s not getting married, and her mother actually tells her that it’s better to just marry Dong-bae and divorce him, than have to explain to the guests that the wedding is off. That’s pretty sick. Her mother tries threats, cajoling, and insults, but Ae-ran holds her ground.

Dong-bae arrives home to find a silent, subdued Ae-ran, and he kneels to clean up the plate her mother broke without saying a word. He softly says that he thinks Ae-ran is just nervous, and he asks her to give him a chance. He proposes getting married for one year, and if she still feels the same, he’ll let her go. But nothing he says can make Ae-ran feel passionately about him, and it confuses her.

Mi-mo presses Hae-joon’s lab coat, then sprays a bit of her perfume on it. She practices telling him that she’s not married after all, but all of her explanations make her sound pathetic. She calls Soo-hyuk, asking to meet him for a minute.

She drinks a beer before they talk, and offers him one, though he gripes that alcohol is bad for them, ha. She haltingly says that she wronged his friend, and he nods that he already knows. He tells her that he explained everything to Hae-joon, and made it clear that there’s nothing between them.

Thrilled, Mi-mo grabs him in a tipsy hug — now now, this is what got you in trouble in the first place. She’s suddenly chirpy and excited, and Soo-hyuk gives her the side-eye, confused why that should make her so happy.

Dong-mi grudgingly takes a call from the coworker who’s marrying her crush, who called to ask if she wants to catch the bouquet at her wedding. Dong-mi takes offense that she would need the help, and declines. But the woman offers to tell her about a place that guarantees to find you a man in three months if she’ll do it, and Dong-mi perks up.

It turns out to be the weirdest fortune teller ever, a guy dressed like a cross between a rapper and a gangster. He says that he sees a younger man in her future — nearly nine years younger. Dong-mi can hardly hide her glee, but recoils at the amount of money he wants to make her future happen.

Suddenly a woman bursts into the room and screams at the guy, saying that he made a stalker fall for her. He grumbles that he never guaranteed the quality of the man. Dong-mi can’t afford his fees anyway, so she goes with Plan B: a self-administered makeover. The results are hilariously disastrous.

Mi-mo psychs herself up to confront Hae-joon, and this time she manages to talk to him. He calls her “sister-in-law” and she corrects him, and he acts like it’s the first time he’s heard it. Wait, why?

She asks if he’s distancing himself because of what she said, but he says it’s normal for patients to profess love to the doctor who just helped them. He’s saying that to preserve her dignity, which is sweet, but Mi-mo leans in close and asks why he doesn’t believe she meant what she said.

Hae-joon drops the polite doctor act, and lays it out for Mi-mo — he hates complicated relationships. They should be between two people, and when a third gets involved, someone gets hurt. He has no intention of getting into such a situation.

That would be enough, but he then gets a little insulting, and says that she’s not attractive enough to get in the middle of his friendship with Soo-hyuk. Daaamn. Mi-mo says that she wasn’t trying to do that — she only wanted to tell him how she felt.

Mi-mo bravely tells Hae-joon that it was hard for her to get up the courage to come here, but she actually liked the feeling of nervousness at the idea of seeing him again. She apologizes for wasting his time, returns his coat, and leaves.

Hae-joon watches her go, seeming a bit affected by her after all. Yeon-soo recognizes her now as Han Mi-mo from the Angels, and says that she guesses even fairies age.

Soo-hyuk writes his article about Mi-mo’s ex marrying Seul-ah of the Angels, though he doesn’t look happy about having to publish it. The news causes a stir among the citizens, and Mi-mo can’t avoid the reminder that even now, she’s come in second place behind Seul-ah.

Soo-hyuk’s coworkers notice that he’s not as happy about the success of his article as he normally would be, but he just gives a lame excuse. Next up is the article on past idols featuring Mi-mo, and the writer of that article asks Soo-hyuk out to dinner.

He finds Mi-mo drinking beer outside their building again and sits with her, knowing that she saw his article. He apologizes sincerely, looking truly sorry, and says that he wanted to call her to warn her.

She reveals that she suspected her ex-husband was seeing someone before they broke up, but she never tried to find out. She says it’s her habit not to ask too many questions during a breakup, because she’s not sure she can handle the answers. But this time, with Soo-hyuk’s article, she didn’t have that luxury. She hesitantly asks if Jung-hoon looked happy with Seul-ah.

We see a flashback of Mi-mo and her ex-husband, younger and in love, and she narrates that the way he used to look at her wasn’t a lie. They were genuinely happy together.

Soo-hyuk explains that he only looks at his targets’ actions, what they actually do. He doesn’t pay attention to whether they’re happy. He apologizes softly for not being able to answer Mi-mo’s question, and she says she must really be a goldfish like he used to say.

Soo-hyuk remembers calling her a goldfish back in school, referring to her ability to immediately forget she’s been hurt and let it happen all over again. Mi-mo muses that she really should learn to contemplate when something happens to her, instead of quickly looking for something new.

But Soo-hyuk says he’s jealous of how she doesn’t hold her emotions inside, because he holds his so tightly it feels like they rot inside him. They both smile that emotions are weird and annoying. Soo-hyuk almost pats Mi-mo on the shoulder, but he stops himself at the last moment.

Da-jung tells Dong-mi to go comfort Ae-ran, but Dong-mi doesn’t see why she should — after all, she’s the one who broke off the wedding. One of her students gives her some cookies she baked for her boyfriend, who didn’t want them, and Dong-mi snaps that someone so young shouldn’t have a boyfriend. But it gives her an idea.

Oh nooooo… Ae-ran takes a pregnancy test, and the results are positive. She starts to tell Mi-mo about it, but Mi-mo thinks she’s just upset about breaking her engagement.

Dong-mi goes shopping for a used oven for baking cookies, and the oven’s owner turns out to be a total dish (cameo by Kim Min-joon). Dong-mi is much more interested in him than the oven, until he mentions that he and his wife cooked a lot in it, and Dong-mi’s face falls. Then he says they’re divorced now, which is why he’s selling it.

Later Dong-mi asks Mi-mo what she thinks about dating a divorced man. Mi-mo marvels that she’s willing to consider it, and advises her that the quality of divorced men can vary. She tells Dong-mi not to ask questions like why he got divorced, because she’ll start applying those reasons to their dating situation. That’s pretty good advice.

Later Dong-mi asks if Mi-mo is embarrassed about confessing to Hae-joon, which gives Mi-mo the giggles. But admits she is, but figures it’s better than holding it in.

Hae-joon calls Soo-hyuk out to talk, and he tells his friend that he finally met his ideal woman — a pure woman, who’s been through a lot of hardship. Soo-hyuk congratulates him, then spits out his coffee when Hae-joon tells him that it’s Mi-mo.

Hae-joon says he wanted to make sure there really is nothing between the two of them. He clocks Soo-hyuk’s hesitation and figures he should be worried, and when Soo-hyuk finally says it’s fine, his voice squeaks. Hae-joon asks if he needs more time to think about it, but Soo-hyuk insists she’s just an old friend.

It’s an obvious lie but Hae-joon takes him at his word, and says he’s headed over to Brave Wedding right now. If Mi-mo accepts his profile, he wants to start dating her. Soo-hyuk nods, but he looks like he wants to cry.

Mi-mo is startled when Hae-joon walks into her office and announces that he wants to get remarried. It’s news to her that he’s a divorcee, and her hands shake uncontrollably as she serves him coffee. He hands over his profile and describes his ideal woman — small, cute, capable of handling different situations, and with lots of life experience.

Mi-mo expands on his requirements, proving that she understands him… and Hae-joon just stares blankly at her. Why does he keep doing that?!

He asks if it’s frustrating to be stared at, and says that he doesn’t think this is the right place for him. He gets up to leave, telling Mi-mo that he’s not signing up with them as a client, because he doesn’t feel she can be objective. Okay, what is his deal?

Mi-mo promises not to hold a grudge or introduce him to anyone strange, but he’s already made up his mind. He walks out leaving Mi-mo confused, though he smiles a bit to himself in the lobby. If that was his idea of flirting with her, it wasn’t funny.

Sure enough, Mi-mo is furious at the way Hae-joon just spoke to her. She grumbles to herself that she may be weak when it comes to love, but as a CEO, he messed with the wrong person.

Soo-hyuk goes to meet his coworker for dinner, which she obviously sees as a date. But Soo-hyuk barely even registers her presence, as he can’t stop thinking about Mi-mo, and Hae-joon’s declaration of interest in her.

Soo-hyuk’s colleague finally demands he listen to her and makes her confession, that she doesn’t just want to just be his college hoobae anymore. That gets his attention, but he lets her down gently, and she takes it gracefully.

Soo-hyuk drives home, growing more and more upset over Hae-joon’s declaration of interest in Mi-mo, and he finally calls her office to see if Hae-joon is still there. She doesn’t answer because she’s waiting in the lobby of Hae-joon’s apartment building.

He-joon grins to himself when he sees her there, and she says she’s here to convince him to sign up with Brave Wedding. She admits he would be a hot commodity, which is why she’s pursuing this after he declined, and quotes his profile back to him to show that she’s serious.

Hae-joon’s response to that is, “I succeeded.” He admits that he went there to show her who he is, but repeats that he won’t be signing up as a client. Mi-mo’s jaw tightens and she accuses him of messing with her, asking one last time why he won’t sign up.

“If I sign up, I can’t date you.” Gulp.

It slowly dawns on Mi-mo what he means, and she asks him why he’s saying this when he already told her he wasn’t interested. Hae-joon just says that he now knows it wouldn’t be a complicated love triangle.

Dazed, Mi-mo asks Hae-joon to pinch her, but he says he would rather do something else. He pulls her into a hug and asks if she believes him now, and Mi-mo just smiles with wonder.

Soo-hyuk arrives at Hae-joon’s building just then, and sees him talking with Mi-mo in the lobby. He starts to charge in and interrupt, but he stops short when he sees his best friend hugging the woman he likes.

COMMENTS

First I have to say, I really love the little vignettes we get at the open of each episode — they give us a cute little peek into what will happen in the next hour, as well as some insight into Mi-mo’s state of mind. Plus, they’re just plain fun!

I’m glad we got to know Dong-mi a little better in this episode — that girl is pretty messed up, huh? Her frustration at being single at her age is understandable, but she talks as if getting married is something she’s owed, as if she deserves a husband before someone who’s already been married once before. Life doesn’t work that way! As I keep saying, you have to be happy with yourself before anyone will be happy with you, and out of all the friends, Dong-mi seems the least happy with herself. I like that she’s got her own style and doesn’t try to be a sweet little meek thing to get a man, but she needs to let go of the idea that life owes her something. She’s desperate, and that will only drive men away. At least she’s learning to relax her too-high standards, and I almost hope she doesn’t end up with a handsome man. Dong-mi fixates a bit too much on looks, and has probably overlooked many very nice men who were interested, just based purely on the physical. High standards aren’t a bad thing to have, in and of themselves, but when they’re so high that very few people could possibly attain them it’s probably time to readjust your expectations.

I love Ae-ran more and more as we learn more about her, and her situation just pulls at my heartstrings. Anyone who’s ever married the wrong person knows those feelings, and it’s hard to love someone, yet also know they’re not right for you. I do believe she loves Dong-bae, but she wants the fire, the passion, and she just doesn’t feel it for him. Part of me hopes she breaks free of what he and her family are pushing for and goes off to find her own passion, and part of me would like to see her discover a passion for him, and be happy with him, because he’s obviously a sweet, attractive man. And now with the pregnancy complication, there’s no telling what she’ll choose for her life – I just hope that whatever it is, it’ truly her choice. Either way, I’m looking forward very much to watching Ae-ran’s story play out.

Da-jung, on the other hand, just completely breaks my heart. She doesn’t want to get divorced, but she’s so blunt and proud, all she can do is stand firm and refuse. She’s not a romantic woman, or given to flights of emotional fantasy, and she’s got a child to take care of. She can’t afford to hope for grand romance, and she knows the chances of a divorced woman with a kid finding love again are slim. So she just clings to a man who no longer wants to be with her, which is probably a big part of why he wants to leave in the first place. I would love to see Da-jung learn to give herself and others a bit of a break, because her life view seems very rigid and unyielding, and she seems extremely unhappy all the time.

And Mi-mo, bless her, is just a hot mess. I liked the comparison of her to a goldfish, with their famous three-second memory. It perfectly describes her tendency to just flit away from heartbreak and look for the next newest thing, without even examining what went wrong the last time. No wonder she’s had so many failed relationships, if she’s never once stopped to try to figure out why it didn’t work out and how she can be different in the future. I’m hoping that Soo-hyuk, having known Mi-mo since their school days (not to mention his instinctive understanding of her) can help her learn to slow down and take a good look at herself.

Because again, the true magic in this show is when Soo-hyuk and Mi-mo get together. After the first episode we haven’t gotten much of them just one-on-one, so I’m really hoping for more of that soon. I loved their discussion about their emotions — so raw and open, each of them admitting something they’ve probably never admitted to anyone before. I doubt they realize yet how very comfortable they feel together, though it’s becoming pretty obvious to us how they just let down all their walls when they’re together. I absolutely swoon at their dynamic, and the way they relate to each other so comfortably already. Regardless of Hae-joon making his intentions known — and I do appreciate the respectful way he handled things with Soo-hyuk, though his manipulation of Mi-mo herself makes me wary of him — it’s Soo-hyuk and Mi-mo’s relationship that most interests me. Now that Soo-hyuk is starting to have real feelings, I’m ready to see him step up and fight for her, even if his opponent is his best friend.

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