Romance within the Home: Episodes 3-4
by Unit
Secrets and techniques, rumors, and accusations characterize this week as we delve additional into the lives of the residents at Household Villa. Our recently-returned dad tries to rebuild his relationship along with his household, however years of absence and an unyielding daughter places a pressure on his efforts. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless the second week of eight, so he’s received loads of time to make it as much as his household. Proper?
EPISODES 3-4
A lot to Mi-rae’s disappointment, Ae-yeon decides that they gained’t transfer out of Household Villa. She causes that it’s higher to capitalize on Moo-jin’s free lease provide and in a while use the gathered saved lease to get a greater place, however Mi-rae accuses her mother of getting swayed by her nouveau riche dad. I don’t like your tone, Mi-rae, and neither does your mother.
Mi-rae goes on to confront her dad, and Moo-jin informs her that he intends to seduce Ae-yeon once more. And to reveal his seriousness, Moo-jin writes — and notarizes — a pledge stating that he’ll give his ex-wife and children the villa if he fails to reconcile with Ae-yeon inside 4 weeks. Ha! Properly, that’s one method to increase the stakes.
Whereas Moo-jin settles into his new function as landlord, the opposite tenants have their reservations about him for varied causes starting from: seeing him with the late landlord the night time earlier than the fireplace to recognizing him leaving the police station and going right into a tofu restaurant afterwards (it’s customary to eat tofu after serving time in jail). They conclude that Moo-jin set the constructing on fireplace and killed the previous landlord, and they comply with preserve their mouths shut till they discover concrete proof in opposition to him.
Moo-jin recruits his son in his plans to seduce Ae-yeon, and Hyun-jae — who is just too glad that his dad is again, and that they’ll bond over his limitless bank card — fortunately agrees to be an ally. Tsk. From Hyun-jae, Moo-jin learns that the household didn’t transfer out of the neighborhood after he left as a result of they wished to point out everybody that they might get again on their ft. However within the strategy of taking up the accountability of “exhibiting the neighbors” — by way of distribution of pricey fruit baskets — Moo-jin runs into Hairdresser Tenant, and from their response, it’s apparent that they’ve historical past. Uh-oh.
The tenants quickly determine that there’s no means Ae-yeon doesn’t find out about her ex-husband’s legal actions — and Grandmother Tenant takes on the mantle of publicly accusing her of being in cahoots with Moo-jin. At her office, no much less! I assumed these guys could be gossipy neighbors who’re largely innocent, and it’s disappointing to see them act out this fashion. However by way of Mi-rae’s flashback, we see that the neighbors’ biting tongues have been energetic since Ae-yeon’s tteokbokki diner went beneath, and it’s no surprise Mi-rae hates Moo-jin’s guts for placing her mother in a state of affairs to be gossiped about.
At house, Ae-yeon confronts the tenants for selecting on her as the simple goal as an alternative of confronting Moo-jin immediately. She finds it laughable that they assume Moo-jin dedicated arson to purchase the constructing. “If he have been that daring, I might have stayed with him,” she says, and Moo-jin overhears the dialog. He’s touched that she stood up for him, and unhappy to have put her within the state of affairs. However Mi-rae neither cares about his feelings, nor the pledge. She simply wants him to get out of their lives.
Moo-jin decides to place an finish to the gossip by going to the police to research him as an individual of curiosity within the fireplace, however he’s thrown out as a result of there’s no proof linking him to crime. Subsequent, he gathers the tenants and appeals to their feelings by stating that he purchased the villa to reunite along with his household. He buys them a spherical of drinks and waives their upkeep charges for 3 months, and everybody’s suspicion dies down — apart from Househusband Tenant who doesn’t purchase Moo-jin’s phrases.
Ae-yeon can also be barely suspicious of Moo-jin’s sudden riches after his “You don’t know what I’ve executed to get this far” assertion the opposite day, however Moo-jin refuses to inform her — and us viewers by extension — what precisely it’s that he did. He goes on to go to the late landlord’s columbarium and says issues like he’ll ask for Landlord’s forgiveness within the afterlife. And now I’m rising curiouser and curiouser concerning the thriller behind all of it.
On a lighter word, our elevator couple runs into one another once more… within the elevator. This time, Mi-rae overhears Tae-pyeong deal with the CEO, NAM CHI-YEOL (Jung Woong-in), as “father,” and that is how we be taught that safety guard Tae-pyeong is definitely the CEO’s son. The best way father and son snatched Mi-rae into the elevator although. Loool!
Mi-rae has zero curiosity within the undercover chaebol enterprise, and he or she assures Tae-pyeong of her silence — but it surely helps to have grime on him since she beforehand swore him to secrecy on her dad’s return after his flying kick the opposite day. If something, Mi-rae is barely embarrassed to have threatened to get Tae-pyeong fired if he ran his mouth about her dad at work. However what’s a bit of risk between buddies? Sure, they’re on pleasant phrases now as a result of there’s nothing like sharing secrets and techniques to convey individuals nearer to one another.
CEO Nam visits Tae-pyeong’s rooftop condo for a style of his son’s flying kick to influence his son to give up cosplaying as a poor feminine lead and return house. CEO Nam wished his son to “cease losing his life with taekwondo,” and be part of the corporate, and Tae-pyeong recommended turning into a safety guard as a joke. He didn’t assume his dad would provide him the job, and Dad didn’t assume he would take the provide both. “I took it as a result of I missed you,” Tae-pyeong replies, and aw. It’s evident that father and son love one another, however for some motive, Tae-pyeong says Dad will get sick of him if he strikes again house. “Why would I? You’re my son,” Dad replies, however there’s a glance in his eyes that means that there’s one thing extra at play right here. Or possibly I’m simply imagining it.
If there’s one upside to residing as a commoner, it’s that it locations Tae-pyeong in the identical neighborhood as Mi-rae. She finally ends up at his taekwondo studio to blow off steam, and so they bond over relieving stress after parental hounding. As a former athlete, Tae-pyeong offers Mi-rae some recommendation on the best way to beat an opponent. In abstract: don’t attempt too laborious to win, simply do as you at all times have, at your individual tempo. However Mi-rae interprets the recommendation to imply “go all out on the opponent,” and this ends in a petty and enjoyable competitors with Moo-jin for Ae-yeon’s consideration. Pfft.
Hyun-jae is all for his dad and mom’ reconciliation, and he places it to Mi-rae that she’s the one standing of their mother or father’s means. However Mi-rae dismisses his issues, anticipating nothing a lot from him however to graduate in peace and get a job. Then we come to be taught that Hyun-jae secretly plans to drop out of faculty and change into an entrepreneur, and I… sigh! No offense, however this boy doesn’t appear to be he has the brains to drag off entrepreneurship. Heck, dramaland must eliminate the immature youthful brother trope in its entirety as a result of it has overstayed its welcome. Forcing feminine characters to drag the useless weight of the lads of their lives isn’t cute, and it’s only a disservice to everybody concerned.
We get a scare when Ae-yeon is snatched from behind on her means house from grocery procuring, however her panicked household is relieved once they get a name that she’s on the police station. Phew! It seems that Ae-yeon was accosted by the owner at their former condo, as a result of Moo-jin beforehand threatened the lecherous landlord after studying that he used to hit on Ae-yeon. Grandmother Tenant and Nail Tech Tenant joined Ae-yeon to beat up the owner, and that’s how all three ladies ended up on the station. Lol.
Moo-jin must be restrained from attacking Lecherous Landlord on the station, and in a flashback to one of many instances the owner harassed her mother, Mi-rae remembers the helplessness she’d felt when she couldn’t do something. Her driving power has at all times been to point out Moo-jin that she may do a greater job at defending her mother, however seeing him step in to defend Ae-yeon when she couldn’t, is nearly like a stab to her coronary heart. Moo-jin acknowledges how laborious it will need to have been for Mi-rae to change into the top of the home, and he apologizes for making her develop up too quickly. He reassures her that she has executed effectively over time, and now it’s time to present herself a break.
Mi-rae’s tone is accusatory as she states that she didn’t wish to be like Moo-jin, and the person chokes on his feelings as he tells her she’s nothing like him. Father and daughter brim with unshed tears, however Mi-rae doesn’t break down till she’s alone within the rain. Tae-pyeong sees Mi-rae crying, however regardless of telling him to depart, he returns with an umbrella to defend her from the rain and the prying eyes of the gossipy neighbors. And on this swoon-worthy word, our second week involves an finish.
The extra we study Mi-rae’s household’s backstory, the extra I perceive her. Think about being compelled to step up as the top of the household, and the previous head simply waltzes again like he by no means left. On the floor, it would seem to be Mi-rae is jealous/scared that Moo-jin will “steal” her mother away from her, however what she’s actually afraid of is that the household will undergo every thing Moo-jin put them by way of another time if they offer him a second probability. Her fears are legitimate, and I can not blame her for that. However on the identical time, Ae-yeon is an grownup — and extra grownup than her daughter appears to present her credit score for.
Sure, Moo-jin may have dealt with Lecherous Landlord from the get-go, but it surely was Ae-yeon who truly beat the person up. That could be a girl who can handle herself, and Mi-rae must belief in her mother’s means to make selections as regards the household, and her relationship with Moo-jin. Then again, the thriller behind Moo-jin’s riches actually doesn’t do him any favors, and I can’t root for him and after I don’t know what he’s hiding. Ae-yeon has been by way of rather a lot, and he or she doesn’t need to be put by way of extra with the secrecy that shrouds Moo-jin’s windfall.
Quite a lot of water has handed beneath the bridge within the time that Moo-jin has been away, and whereas I do know the clock is ticking on his four-week pledge, his strategy to romance isn’t the way in which to go. How about coming clear to Ae-yeon first, and courting her afresh as an alternative of making an attempt to purchase her affection with free lease and designer luggage? Tsk. Jae-geol was proper; the pledge is mindless.
Talking of which, I assumed we’d have a pleasant ahjussi bromance with Moo-jin and Jae-geol, however alas. Jae-geol is supposedly sticking with Moo-jin as a result of he needs to “rating huge,” and it’s worrisome when a tax accountant says stuff like “straightforward cash is cash simply misplaced” a couple of shopper who is meant to be his buddy. Sigh. We actually can’t have good issues.
No less than issues are progressing properly between Mi-rae and Tae-pyeong. I like that their notion of one another didn’t change even with their discovery of the opposite particular person’s household drama, and it’s nice that their arc is beginning out with friendship first. Mi-rae wants a buddy to launch steam with and be susceptible round, and Tae-pyeong is the right gentleman for that. I sit up for understanding extra about them as people, and naturally, to the gradual romance that may blossom between them.
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