Early Access: Thirty-Nine E2 (Patreon)

E2. Hmm. I'm gonna hafta say that so far, I am liking this show more in concept than in execution.

What I mean is, I like the idea of the friendship among our 3 female leads, and I like the idea of them navigating their way through the messiness of life and love, while supporting one another through it all, and I like the idea of each of them having distinct personalities, and yet having fun when they're together, like they're back in their teens again.

However, in the execution of it, there's something that's landing weirdly for me, right now. I'm not saying that Show won't get over this hump; neither am I saying that I won't be able to get used to it, if Show doesn't course-correct. It's just.. giving me pause, right now.

I'm trying to put my finger on it, and right now, what I can articulate is, that it seems to come down to timing and pitching.

I feel like our characters are being pitched a little larger than life than actually lands naturally, and what this means for me, is that so far, I haven't been able to really think of any of these characters as real people. At this point, they are still very much just characters in a drama, and some of them even land kind of like stereotypes, even. 😬

What I mean by timing, is that the rhythm of the dialogue feels a little off, in terms of timing. It feels as if the actors are waiting a beat too long, for the punchline of other actor's lines, before starting to deliver their own. I feel like the rhythm of the dialogue isn't flowing in smooth enough manner to make it sound natural.

Put together, I can sort of see why some viewers have remarked that this show has an old-fashioned drama feel to it. It does kinda-sorta give me echoes of more stagey-flavored dramas, from years ago.

That said, I'm hopeful that the watch experience will improve, as either I get more used to it and start to get into the groove that Show is serving up, &/or Show gets into a groove and rhythm that lands more naturally to my eyes.

But enough about that; let's talk about the episode developments themselves, shall we?

This episode, we are given a little more information about what went on with both Mi Jo and Seon U, leading up to their sudden tumble into bed.

On Mi Jo's side, we find out that she'd been drawn to him from the moment she'd found out that his sister was adopted, and from the same orphanage where she herself had grown up. And on Seon U's side of things, we find out that he'd been drawn to her, from the moment he'd seen her outside that florist, where she'd bought the peonies.

Another important nugget of information, is that his question to Mi Jo, about whether she wanted to come over to see the peonies, had come out of his mouth before he'd known what he was saying.

All of that helps, in terms of understanding how that one-night stand came to happen, and I appreciate the context. At the same time, I have to say that the execution of the scenes leading up to them sleeping together, feels lacking. What I mean is, while the execution doesn't detract from these pieces of context that we've been given, it doesn't really support it, either.

When I think back on the various scenes of the two of them, I suppose I can accept that Show gives us a small sense that these two people are more aware of each other than average, from the glances that they steal at each other, at the orphanage. And, sure, I'll accept that Seon U being rather taken with tipsy Mi Jo at the florist is reasonably clear as well.

I feel like we should have been able to tell, at least, that Seon U's words had left his mouth without them really registering in his brain. A shot of him looking a little unsettled and flustered, perhaps. Or perhaps the delivery of the line could have been more.. in the manner of him being in a bit of a daze.. something, to indicate that he hadn't meant the words to actually come out like that.

If I had to pick out one missing piece, it would be this one, because even though I'd rationalized it in my head, I hadn't really quite bought in fully, to the logic of their one-night stand.

I also find it an interesting choice, that Seon U's attraction to Mi Jo this episode, is played pretty low-key. Is this the idea, that mature romances among the thirtysomething set, is more blasé, because thirtysomethings are more jaded with life..?

Or maybe it's because Seon U's got other things to worry about in life, and therefore any romantic excitement that he feels, has to be tempered by that? That.. I could buy, though I still say that it's kinda hard to buy the idea that he's sooo smitten with Mi Jo, when he appears so.. lukewarm, in general. 😅

On another note, I find it useful to know that the reason Mi Jo is looking to take a sabbatical, is because she's been having panic attacks, and has been unable to sleep without sleeping pills. This way, her desire for that sabbatical doesn't feel as random, even though, to be fair, she should be allowed to take a sabbatical if she wishes.

I think the idea here, is that we often don't know what people are dealing with, beneath the surface. On the face of it, Mi Jo looks like she's got a great life, with a successful career, good friends, a caring family, and financial security. So it's rather poignant to realize that underneath it all, she's been suffering panic attacks, and is way too dependent on medication to be healthy.

As for Chan Young, I'm glad that she makes the first move, to cut things off with Jin Seok, but.. that doesn't go quite as planned, unfortunately.

Jin Seok is annoyingly persistent in trying to keep Mi Jo in his life, and Mi Jo - sigh - is too soft-hearted when it comes to Jin Seok, to stand her ground for too long. It's tough to watch, but.. I have to say, the situation is not unrealistic.

For comparison, one of my close girlfriends did go through a not too dissimilar phase in her life, where she had found it hard to cut off a boyfriend who just was never going to want to get married (and she definitely did want to get married). He knew she wanted to get married, and he also knew that he didn't want to get married, but he never proactively let her go. And when she did try to cut things off, she was, many times, too softhearted to actually stand her ground and see it through.

She ended up dating him for way longer than she should have, before eventually breaking things off. Happily, she's finally found her happy-ever-after, but as her friend, it really was tough to watch her be in what was essentially a relationship limbo, for so many years.

I absolutely don't think Jin Seok's doing the right thing at all, but I think that in his head, it somehow works out, if he compartmentalizes certain parts of himself, and reserves that for different people. So.. the marriage and commitment thing is reserved for his wife, and the emotional intimacy is reserved for Chan Young.

I think that in his head, it becomes fairer to Chan Young, if he withholds emotional intimacy from his wife. Of course, he just ends up looking like a jerk both ways, to us, but it really feels like he doesn't see this, at all.

..Which just makes me more chagrined, when Chan Young can't say no to him. 😓 At the same time, I'm also rather resigned to the fact that Chan Young can't say no to him.

We get a little more time with Joo Hee this episode, but not that much. At the moment, I'm only mildly interested in her maybe-loveline with the younger restauranteur, who's listed as Hyun Joon.

Their maybe loveline seems harmless enough, in that, as least he doesn't seem married? And he seems like a nice guy, from the small snippets of him that we've seen so far?

I've also been meaning to say that I am really getting a kick out of seeing Kang Mal Geum as Mi Jo's outspoken, quirky sister, after having just seen her as San's very decorous mother, in The Red Sleeve. Just that mental juxtaposition alone, tickles me, and I find myself grinning every time she shows up on my screen. 😁

As for the fact that the results of Chan Young's checkup get told to Mi Jo instead of Chan Young herself, I can't roll my eyes hard enough at the lack of patient confidentiality in kdramas. But then again, it's so normal for there to not be any, in just about every kdrama, that I suppose I shouldn't fault Show too much.

Plus, it's clear that Show wanted Mi Jo to receive the news, so that Mi Jo could have that meltdown - and receive some comfort from Seon U - and probably also, to circumvent any possibility of Chan Young keeping the results to herself.

I don't know how I feel about Show actually taking us to the funeral at this point in our story, to be honest. I'd been ok with being told that Chan Young doesn't have a lot of time to live, but it  does feel rather confronting, to actually see everyone crying at the funeral, when in our story timeline, Chan Young hasn't actually found out her diagnosis yet. 😬

On the upside, Show's ratings have been going up, which does kinda-sorta indicate that we can hope for things to settle and get better in our story world - or so I hope. 😅

Next episode notes will be out on: Friday, 4 Mar 2022!