All signs point to home and facing the monsters that live there. What defines bravery, and who decides what is healthy and unhealthy as our characters face their childhood trauma? It’s not all gloom and doom though, we get to meet Ju Ri’s mom, played by actress Kim Mi Kyung, who happens to be one of the Fangirls’ favorite moms and actresses.
Ghost Stories and Real Ghosts
The lights flicker at the hospital when it rains and the head nurse tells Kang Tae that it’s because it’s haunted. He’s more practical than that, so he just calls maintenance. In walks Moon Young in a fantastic pair of red heels, she’s there to claim her prize, er, chase down Kang Tae. it’s well known that she avoids the hospital because her father is there. I think I’d avoid a place where the person who tried to kill me lives too. Her father has dementia, and the director wants her to spend time with him. She counters by saying that he seems possessed by an evil spirit. The director plays on her vanity and convinces her to hold a literary class for the patients and take her father out for a walk. We know she’s after someone and it’s not her father.
More Boundary Issues
Yes, it’s shallow. I know it’s shallow, but can we really blame Moon Young for being spellbound in the locker room with Kang Tae? I mean, Kim Soo Hyun worked HARD on those abs and they deserve their own listing in the credits. Unwanted physical contact is never acceptable, and she should have kept her hands to herself, but drooling should be okay? Right? She really seems to prescribe to the whole, “I touched it, so it’s mine” narrative. I’m totally digging the little contest between Ju Ri and Moon Young for Kang Tae’s heart. I think that Moon Young needs to keep an eye on Ju Ri, those quiet ones can be deadly.
The Haunted House
Moon Young returns to her childhood home, a desolate mansion at the top of a hill. Her childhood home is beautiful and lonely and full of ghosts, the ghosts of her childhood and of her mother. Kang Tae has taken up residence in the rooftop room of Ju Ri’s home, and Jae Su is renting the basement. Their living arrangements highlight their differences, Moon Young is unloved and alone, but Kang Tae is surrounded by people who care about him. Alone in her castle, Moon Young dreams of her mother. I’m assuming her mother drowned because she dreams of a woman in the water. We’ve all watched enough Korean dramas that we know water ghosts are the scariest, right? She wakes up gasping and afraid, but she uses the hug trick that Kang Tae taught her. She dreams he is beside her and she calms down. I know she is obsessed with him, but he seems to help her find a sense of sanity.
The Raincoat
We have a special guest for the next two episodes, an important councilman’s son has just checked into the hospital. Ladies and Gents, it’s Kwak Dong Yeon, and we have an exhibitionist! When he gets stressed out and overwhelmed, he strips. Yes, there is a comedic aspect, and we have some eye candy, but we also have a real mental illness here too. Head nurse, Park Haeng Ja reminds an orderly that they need not to be biased when dealing with patients because it doesn’t matter who they are; they need help. What stress and trauma is this patient trying to break free from that it makes him crave all of this attention?
Literature Class
Moon Young begins a literature class about fairy tales. She explains that fairy tales aren’t happy stories; the themes are actually quite serious and sometimes sad or scary. She stresses the need to accept your reality to be happy. She’s very unconventional, but she’s not necessarily wrong. She also looks amazing. I want every outfit she has worn so far. When she catches Kang Tae after class, she tells him about dreaming about him. Then she proceeds to proposition him, which causes him to yank her outside and away from prying eyes. Meanwhile, the other patients are in awe of what happened (as am I, her straightforwardness makes me really like her!)
Sang Tae’s Prescription
Sang Tae pays a visit to the hospital. He sees Moon Young and tries to follow her but is redirected by his brother. In his meeting with the director, they discuss Sang Tae’s dinosaur. The dinosaur is a stegosaurus with a big body and small brain, dumb, but very innocent. He has now found something to get Sang Tae talking! Sang Tae shows the director all his treasures and his artwork. He wants Sang Tae to move the view from his office to the blank space at the main staircase. He has just given him a commission, and Sang Tae is interested, but how much will he pay him? Why is Sang Tae so interested in money? Sang Tae is saving up for a car, not just any car, but a van camping car (my area calls it a travel trailer, some people say caravan.) Kang Tae is overwhelmed as his brother explains that he wants the car so they will have a home they don’t have to leave. Sang Tae has a different way of looking at things, but he is trying to take care of his family.
We Have a Runner!
The hospital is thrown into an uproar as their special guest takes off running, wearing nothing but a raincoat. As they search for him, they discover that he met Moon Young. He flashes her, and she takes a good long look and then says he has a teeny-weeny weenie.” Unperturbed, she tells him to get into the car. What better way to provoke Kang Tae? They meet Kang Tae and Ju Ri in the middle of the road, and Moon Young scares everyone, even her passenger who grabs his seat, belt, but she ends up stopping on a dime. Instead of following Kang Tae’s directive to get out of the car, she takes off. Where is she heading? She’s taking Assemblyman Kwon’s son to his father’s campaign site. He runs onto the stage and starts spilling major tea about his family. He finally has the platform to say what is in his heart. In an unexpected twist, Kang Tae sees himself on the stage and he seems almost,t jealous of the other man’s ability to let loose.
My Thoughts
This episode is titled “Sleeping Witch.” Who is the sleeping witch? Is it Moon Young’s mother’s ghost? Is it Moon Young? Is it the deep fears inside all of our characters? The title seems at odds with the storyline, which revolves around someone baring their body because they can’t bare their soul. Mental illness isn’t pretty, and it isn’t always quiet. We have to be able to accept people for who they are, not who we want them to be. For Kang Tae and Moon Young to have a relationship, they will have to accept each other’s flaws. Kang Tae needs to stop being afraid all the time, and Moon Young needs to stop trying to provoke him.
Until the next story,
Clkytta
Dramas With a Side of Kimchi
