Check out our previous episode review here.
Okay so I know a few people may be angry at me for saying this, but Yeon Su is kind of being unreasonable.
Episode 9
I’m not really trying to take sides between the two, but man after everything we’ve been shown regarding Yeon Su… I’m not really sure if I like her all that much.
This has nothing to do with the actress – I quite like Kim Da Mi (I became a fan after seeing her roles in Itaewon Class and The Subversion – where I was also incidentally re-introduced to actor Choi Woo Shik) but I sort of get the vibe that she is emotionally abusive.
I remember reading somebody else mention this on one of the kdrama forums and they were subsequently eaten alive, so I’ll try to tread lightly while making these remarks.
I can understand that Yeon Su (like Ji Woong) suffers from extreme self-esteem issues. Both of those characters gravitate toward Choi Woong, who is the complete opposite of them. While they are both high-strung and “type A” sort of people (who grew up poor), Choi Woong is a chill sort of “live and let live” wealthy kind of guy.
Last episode (or the one before) I believe Yeon Su even said something like this – where Ji Woong was always in the sun, but Choi Woong caught her attention because he was in the shade. Then Yeon Su made a whole point of laying down in the shade with Ji Woong and mentioning how comfortable it was.
This could have just been a literal thing, but it could also be interpreted as an analogy for personality.
Because Choi Woong is not in the sun (or the spotlight) she doesn’t have to pretend so much while around him. Yeon Su can try and be herself, without the pressure of everyone watching her.
We can oppose this to Ji Woong, who always has eyes on him at work – and sort of has a reputation for being an unreasonable asshole (evidenced by no staff wanting to work with him, no consistent interns, the writer basically saying Ji Woong’s reputation precedes him, etc.) who is difficult to work and collaborate with for projects.
At the same time, the one person who attempts to get close to Ji Woong is Chae Ran – someone who is frequently “in the shadows” so to speak.
By being in the shadows, Chae Ran is not a threat to Ji Woong’s shine, or attention garnered by outside forces. This is why Chae Ran can get along with Ji Woong, and why everyone would rather approach her than him when trying to conduct business.
So back to my point about Yeon Su being emotionally abusive – she has no boundaries.
Choi Woong was irrevocably hurt after their breakup. And given the contextual clues, it seems he may not even know the reason why.
After meeting again five years later, Choi Woong is trying to protect himself from being hurt again – which is completely understandable.
Choi Woong tries to tell Yeon Su how she hurt him (feigning sleep to talk to her, grabbing her while he was drunk, the “how have you been” when she was drunk, and at the restaurant, etc.) but…she refuses to listen.
It even goes so far that his parents try to tell her at his debut that he wasn’t quite right after the breakup, and Yeon Su is very avoidant of the situation.
When she finally is dragged to the restaurant again, Yeon Su avoids the conversation about feelings or discussing the breakup, and Choi Woong decides to storm off first before she leaves him “waiting” and feeling stupid again.
After the recreation of the high school last day of filming, Choi Woong kisses Yeon Su in the mountains.
Yeon Su pulls away, and Choi Woong catches a cold and does not contract her.
Instead of just asking what might be wrong or contacting him first, Yeon Su stews for an entire week before barging into his studio unannounced, and demanding an answer from him. When Choi Woong says he just wants to be friends, Yeon Su imposes herself on him by refusing to leave.
All while making him extremely uncomfortable, and crossing the boundary he tried to set.
Although later giving the excuse that she was trying to figure out what was in his head, Yeon Su decides to eat all of his food (while not preparing him a plate), use his shower unannounced, and throw on the t-shirt he held onto for five years that she was wearing during their last breakup.
So not only has Yeon Su selfishly ignored his boundaries, she is also gaslighting Choi Woong by invading his space without consequences and messing with his head by wearing the t-shirt from the breakup five years ago when he most likely doesn’t even know her reason for ending the relationship.
On TOP of all this, she goes through his dark period drawings, takes the drawing he made during the bootleg Disney Land visit (breakup), checks his phone without permission, gets jealous over his (friendly) relationship with NJ, and upon finding out he ditched a work opportunity to hang out with her, does not care and continues to impose.
Knowing it would be bad for his career and health, Yeon Su essentially holds Choi Woong hostage in his own home because she knows he has a non-confrontational nature.
And this is after the conversation with Sol Yi where she reminds Yeon Su that Choi Woong is no longer her boyfriend. So, was she trying to prove to herself that she still knew him best?
Because if so…what the hell?
I’m sorry but…is this supposed to be romantic? It kind of sounds like a nightmare to me.
What is your opinion on Yeon Su’s behavior in this episode?
Episode 10
Okay, what is going on between Ji Woong and his mom?
It was established earlier on in the series that both Woong can’t eat peaches.
Why on earth doesn’t his mother care that she essentially left her son poison on his birthday? Even better question – why did Choi Woong forget his friend’s birthday? While Chae Ran and his parents remembered?
Unless of course, it’s because their friendship is about to end for a few episodes due to Choi Woong catching on that Ji Woong has been lusting after his (ex) girlfriend for years now.
Since he’s looking through all of the smiling Yeon Su footage on Ji Woong’s hard drive and finally putting two and two together. That should be a fun reveal to watch next episode.
Other than that…I don’t know what else to say?
NJ is being bullied online again, and now there is a rumor circulating that she and Go–Oh/Choi Wong are dating. This shouldn’t be surprising, as I’m pretty sure she knew exactly what she was doing.
Same thing with Yeon Su leaving her “super precious” pouch in clear view on Choi Woong’s bathroom sink – she knew what she was doing, as well.
The only difference between these two women is that one is being honest with their feelings, while the other is pretending her feelings don’t even exist – despite her actions denoting something otherwise.
I am happy though that despite sitting there and allowing her ex-boyfriend to be tormented by her grandmother, Yeon Su finally had the courage to speak up and admit that she caused that situation. I mean it would have been nice if she did that in front of Choi Woong while it was happening, but clearly that isn’t how Yeon Su rolls, so… c’est la vie.
I don’t know…am I just in the minority of people who actually don’t want Choi Woong and Yeon Su back together?
Choi Woong has abandonment issues.
Between only drawing buildings because people always leave, to the flashback of his child self being lost on the sidewalk at night, to refusing to draw NJ’s building because he has issues trusting people…wouldn’t being with Yeon Su be more of a crutch than anything?
It’s been what, three weeks since they started filming the documentary?
Honestly…what has changed?
Yeon Su still evades all of Choi Woong’s questions as he tries to seek closure, Yeon Su still gaslights the hell out of Choi Woong and as he literally stated episodes ago “always just does what she wants” so that he can never figure her out (I.e. see above episode review).
Choi Woong can’t sleep at night, and although he uses it as a strategy, still runs away from everything.
Yeon Su is still pretty miserable in her life, and does nothing but drink (work culture aside) and with that liquid courage finally says what’s on her mind, but catches Choi Woong off guard because she can never do it while sober.
Yeon Su waited five years to let her grandmother know that she broke up with him, and didn’t even have the decency to acknowledge Choi Woong’s mother trying to gently tell Yeon Su that she broke her son.
Like…am I supposed to be rooting for these two damaged people to get back together just so that they can be damaged together? Especially when we’ve been shown that Choi Woong is vengeful to the point that he will self-destruct to take down his enemy? (I.e. the peach incident when Ji Woong when they were younger)
What if instead of locking himself in his room for days (or weeks?) and drawing, Choi Woong up and kills himself this time if he and Yeon Su date and she breaks up with him unexpectedly?
Like I’m sorry but, I don’t want any of these people in the drama together.
Sol Yi and Eun Ho would make a terrible match.
Chae Ran deserves better than Ji Woong.
Ji Woong just wants everything Choi Woong has, so of course he lusts to the point of obsession after Yeon Su – which I’m sorry, but is twisted and sick.
I can get wanting to avoid her due to being uncomfortable and not wanting to risk his friendship with Choi Woong, but Ji Woong was purposefully nasty to Yeon Su to the point that both Yeon Su and Choi Woong though Ji Woong hated her.
Then Ji Woong lets the mountain villagers think Yeon Su is his girlfriend, and gives that creepy speech about needing to always control everything and every situation concerning her.
Given that logic, I guess that’s why he let her walk home drunk alone that night? Because he couldn’t control the situation? Or better yet – couldn’t control her?
I’m sorry, maybe I’m going a little too deep with this but…if I was Choi Woong, I wouldn’t trust Ji Woong alone with her. Like…anywhere, haha.
Anyway, I think I’ve ragged on Ji Woong and Yeon Su enough for this week.
So, tell me your thoughts.
Do you think Ji Woong is creepy?
Is Yeon Su to blame for a majority of her past relationship issues with Choi Woong?
Is NJ equally as bad as Yeon Su, but just more upfront about it?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more weekly Our Beloved Summer kdrama recaps and discussion!
다음 에피소드: Romance and Jujube Tea
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