bloomingtide

I would argue that she is a several tools short in her shed and never was the sharpest one to begin with. As her complete lack of awareness of cause and effect/consequences (especially long term) shows alone, tbh.

He is such a well-written character with a lot of facets and hidden depth, and AJH is nailing it bringing him to life just as lively and adorably. Definitely my favorite ML of 2023 thus far and best thing is we have 28 more episodes of this cute dork, aaaaaaw <3

which would be especially amusing given he has equally -1000000000% chance of success with it, lmao. Yeondoo is just gonna chew him out once more IF trashbag even comes so close to her to begin with. Because for this to take place, he would have to get past Taekyung first 😂

Not even a month ago, Yeondoo was cheated on and betrayed by the man she thought she would marry who on top of everything else also blamed his infidelity on her. Like this fuckboi literally told her that he felt insulted that her mother expected them to date for a year first before marrying (which is the worst excuse and lbr was never his intent anyway) and kept blaming and insulting her past being caught red-handed, wrecking her self-esteem. Setting aside her pregnancy resulting from him getting what he wanted from her, only to ditch her for the next “hotter” prize in sight, would you, truly and honestly, throw yourself into the next relationship with a new partner, no matter how dreamy and "green flag" after such an experience? After just a few weeks? And that where through other circumstances happening to you on top of that, you had not even time to fully work through it all? Can you really blame for Yeondoo for being skittish around Taekyung after he confessed his feelings? For not trusting in its sincerity after being betrayed by a romantic partner like she was?

Not to mention the man who confessed his love to her used to hate longterm commitment and never wanted kids, after all. People’s longstanding beliefs do not change in the matter of a few weeks, so of course she thinks it is just sympathy he is feeling, a fleeting phase. As a mother to be she cannot allow herself to be swayed by that, there is too much at stake. And even if he is sincere as he said to be, how can she burden him with raising another man’s child? It is not the life he should live, it is hers. So even if YD were to agree to all this, which is a hell of a lot of faith to give at this point, there would be still the fear that Taekyung would get fed up by this life soon after doing so, and leave her in the dust like that scumbag of an ex did. She already has been relying on him a lot in the past weeks and is scared to let it continue and deepen, to rely and open up to him more and more. Because he could be gone from one moment to the other, just like her ex and she would be alone again, heart broken once more. This is why we see her rushing to get away from him, her insistence to stick to the plan of splitting up, because she does not trust him to stick around in the long run. She has to be self-reliant instead with house-hunting, securing a job etc It is sheer practicability and self-protection (and also to protect Jinjja of course) after being hurt as she was. Trust and rely only (on) yourself and you don’t get hurt or abandoned. Her fighting so hard against her own feelings for him blooming inside, pushing them and thoughts of him down when they flare up, is only the in-line behavior of bad experiences made, then. The guilt of lying toward Inok and her undeserving kindness toward herself and Jinjja is another huge factor not to be discounted in its massive weight on her and reason to quickly leave.

However it is also these feelings she fears to admit to herself that put her between a rock and a hard place. Why she burst into tears in front of Inok (+guilt) and at the camping site and hesitates to actually leave. Taekyung is important to Yeondoo in a way that scares her. And how much she already cares for him, his wellbeing, the injustice he faces in his family. We see her thinking about him, the honest words he told her all along in the last episode. Especially poignant is her thinking back on his cheeky/flirty “Why are you afraid of being swayed by me?” and voicing a “Yes, I am,” while sitting alone in her room. Thus she is effectively admitting to herself and the viewers that she is scared to waver, to believe in his words, his affection. Of the possibility of what ifs and more, a future to actually exist. Admitting these feelings to him would give them form, make them real when there are so many reasons for her to rather leave them in the in-between and denied. Much easier this way too. Except… it is not. Since we see cracks in her shell and resolve to leave due the reassurance, the honesty shown to her by Taekyung throughout the day. It is not enough to change her mind, to fully commit as it is too much and too fast, but we get the admittance and realization of “I, too, can’t live without him.” This is huge, especially in her current situation, after all she has been through and still needs to consider. And along with it the knowledge that he, in fact, cares. It is not just the contract, obligation to keep up appearance, but genuine concern and care, throughout the time of knowing him (the flashback) So why then with being aware of that, she still does not “give in” to him as people here expect her to?

Fear. Easy as.

Yeondoo cannot let go off the contract like TK asked, the time-limit within, her way out. Not yet, anyway. It is asking too much of her and a too large leap of faith needed that she cannot allow herself to take. Too much, too fast. But she cares for him, cannot leave him either and he requested to be given a chance to think about a future, with Jinjja. This is why she ends up suggesting the trial dating with a time limit of eight weeks. Because it is safe, finite and requires less commitment than agreeing to his forever. This in between is as far she allows herself and her feelings to go. For now, anyway. It is a safe-ish environment to actually answer these questions of what if’s burning in her mind, to give it a chance without giving all of herself and being burned again. She can stay at his side, help him and his mother in cleaning the messy, dysfunctional gong house, bring everything in order for them to have a better life, even if she is leaving then.

At least, that is the plan, at this point, but of course eight weeks are double the time knowing him and a lot can happen during it. And will, for sure. Now, however, she needs time to process and heal most, and also reassurance, safety. The former she has given to him and herself now with the contract extension and it is up to Taekyung to provide the latter. So Yeondoo can stop being scared and feel safe enough to open up to him, to her feelings. So that she does not feel the need nor want to leave, when the time for it comes around.

Let's talk about Yeondoo once more, before i actually move on to other kdramas airing this week, okay? (who am i kidding i live in this comment section lmao)

Catching up with the comments, I really think people here are very unfair to her and don't understand where she is coming from, nor attempt to. Either due to over-empathizing with Taekyung being in love with her or the (understandable) wish and impatience to get to the sweet bits of romance. Well as others already said, it would not be realistic for her to jump in Taekyung's arms now and i/we already talked at length about her reasons for her hesitance that start and end with her being a mother first and foremost with her feelings being secondary to the wellbeing of her child. So lets focus today on something else:

Fear. (rest under spoilers)

Yeah, like with manic sasaeng it is more a "he took my toy i want it back" with dirtbag. But he lacks the obsessiveness of course, he just thinks it would/could be fun to mess with them (that bar scene) purely for self-entertainment. i can see him contacting her just to test the water...and be drowned in it, face first, by Taekyung, honestly 😂

Yes. Few survival tips, however.

1) This is basically korean soap opera. Depending on whether or not you have watched family dramas before, you have to expect a different narrative structure and pacing to the regular kdrama shows. However, the writer here does not drag conflicts out and makes characters actually communicate with each other in a sensible fashion. Nonetheless there are over the top situations such as hairpulling, screeching, scheming villains etc all the overt nonsense you find in a makjang. It settles down tonally later on tho.

2) Characters evolve more slowly but realistically, into a good and bad direction than in regular kdrama, due to the screentime and larger amount of eps available. This also means they are all at their worst selves at the start of the drama. The ML now is a fully other person than he was at the start, same for FL's family. You have to have patience with a LOT of them, but the payoff will be worth it.

3) It is day to day storytelling. Meaning little time passes in all the episodes. We accompany the characters through each continuous day/night cycle, see what they are doing each day. Keep this in mind when wondering why the leads act like strangers around each other at times. Because they literally are. From the moment of their cohabitation and start of contract to ML's confession only three weeks have passed in the story, even though these are 20 eps to watch for you. Hence why the romance feels starting late between the leads, but it is actually quite fast. Their romance arc has only started now, with a lot of hindrances still in their way, of course. (if you like the male chasing female first trope, trope oh gosh you are right here, because does TK ever deliver on that, lol)

4) Do not get worked up by asshole characters too much or you will have a very bad time. It is best if you see Joseon Granny and SFL for the clowns they actually are and never take them too seriously. They are cartoonish/over the top mustache-twirling for exactly that reason. But in truth they are just narrative tools to create conflict and in SFL's case bring the leads (closer) together. Without them, the leads would have never met, as FL would have married her then bf and there would be no story. So keep this in mind whenever they are clowning on your screen with their kindergarten lvl of schemes and being shitty ppl, heh.

Hope you enjoy it tho, it is a long haul commitment, but imo the leads are so so worth it. Cute and healthy dynamic af, especially later on with how they defend/help/communicate with each other etc. They are so sweet they give me diabetes while still having enough weight on their dynamic with all the possible angst/conflicts to come.

can't wait for it to happen given how much they hate each other HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

that was jangho tho who sent it after finding out about all the bullshit his hellchild pulled ;)

Nah that witch can buuuuuuuuurn (and hopefully will)

WHY????????? She has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

bless you. I could not have said it better. Pure perfection.

It is much muuuuuch more plausible for it to be Jangho who sent it as he has finally enough of his hellchild's bullshit, after learning she lied about saving YD and that YD is TK's wife. Why would fuckboi warn them even? It is nothing in there for him to gain doing so. Plus this letter was very old-school and screams ahjussi. Like can you picture fboi sitting down with a pile of magazines and cutting out letters to glue them on a piece of paper? Yeah... me neither 😂

Hahaha, yeah. Not him being "It is not easy helping you (finding you a nice place ), now i am hungry. Buy me tteobokki :((((" like a mischievous, whiny boy who knows exactly that he did the opposite of helping, just as planned😂

I love him sm, i swear. TK is shaping up to become one of my most fave ML's for too many reasons to count.

Same, since she seemed a bit shady before that, but yay for honesty. They are actually a cute couple and DS's "nothing happened between them" also makes clear that her kid isn't his. Lots of potential here as a sweet side-story with building up to them becoming a family.

The opposite is valid for sourgrapes she really need to get the head out of her ass and split up, both of them are just miserable together there is no common ground anymore other than the child. Plus she isn't able to hold a single conversation with him without being rude af .. which is why i tend to skip her scenes by now as i cannot deal with this asshole any longer. Since unconventional (for SK) families are the theme it would much better to the story for them to focus on being good parents to their (unborn) child, but romantically go their own way. HW would be much happier with the pharmacist lady (what is her name even lol) and already seems to have a very good connection to her son/enjoys spending time with him. Hopefully this storyline is followed through further, bc why else would they introduce a wholeass new character including kid when it is just to make bittersour wife jealous? Makes no sense in regard of resources/time spent tbh.

And it was obvious that it comes down to sperm donor for the asshole duo to have their child, since it has been hinted at ever since the shaman visit. DS gonna be the second "dad" and i love it for the reason that it will completely disarm these jerks in regard of TK/YD and Jinjja. Not only is the sperm donor then from YD's fam, but high and mighty tattlecow gonna carry a child from another man too and trying to pass it as her husband's kid. So they will have no room nor moral high ground to judge and crucify TK/YD once the truth about Jinjja's parentage is out. They are all in the same damn boat here and i doubt they would want to poke holes in it. HAHAAHAHHAA i call it poetic justice tbh and i love that the writer has set it up for this pairing also out of that reason. I see what you are doing here, writer nim and i approve 😂

I suspected her being weird too but by now I'm thinking she is just lonely and seeking connection with her old love. Plus DS may be being set up to raise her/someone else's child with her which fits perfectly into the theme of the show.

In fact by now all the pairings (will) do that.

YD/TK - Jinjja
DW/YM - Sookyum
The infernal duo - DS's bio child (sperms donation)
DS/Hee- her 10 yrs old kid
HW/pharmacist - her son (fingers crossed he separates w/ JM)
JM maybe gets together with her colleague plus Co parenting with HW.

My crack theory is still paternal half-brothers, yeah. Oh the hilarity. Make it happen, writer 😂

Yeah she needs time and reassurance more than anything. But look how far TK came in one day of flirting and now he has eight full weeks for mission yeondoo 😆😏

Dirtbag may try something regarding YD, but a) she is just gonna chew him out again and b) Taekyung is gonna murder him for even daring to breathe in YD's direction, especially now where he is in love with her😂 So no chance in hell for trashboi to reunite ever lmao. Plus he is an egocentric fuckboi who has already proven wanting nothing of that responsibility and his dialogue in the eps today also spoke volumes how he thinks about becoming a father. Nope. Nope. Nope. He may be trying to mess with them for his lulz, but never go so far to anything legally binding. Way too much of a coward for that, nor want to be tied down to anything not benefiting him.

He kinda seemed to always perk up when her name was dropped, yeah. At the very least dirtbag regrets choosing obsessive harlequin over YD by now. And he might attempt to contact YD sooner or later too, which most likely is gonna lead to be murdered in a ditch by TK 😂

Srsly tho, more than anything i want for these two hilarious enemies for life to meet again. Especially now where Taekyung is such a goner for Yeondoo, the animosity and all will be much more intense even, hahahaahha

The way they celebrated cracked me up sm xD Also his face during/after saying: "Don't worry i'll make sure she is going to fall hard for me." Like making a promise/pact to/with his inlaws, so that they get to be REALLY his (legally binding) inlaws in the end 😂

Omg, this show turns out to be the ultimate "male chases female first" kdrama i did not know i needed 😂😏