Our Blues: Episodes 9-10

by lovepark

At this point, I should not be surprised with the show for making even the most unlikable characters sympathetic because every week I find myself reevaluating my first impressions of people and their relationships. The focus this time around is on the resident hothead and his first love, and we learn more about these two broken individuals and the hurt they carry.

EPISODES 9-10 WEECAP: Dong-suk & Sun-ah

The young couple’s story comes to a conclusion for now, and while they are bound to face more hardships in the future, at least they have their dads on their sides. While the journey here was fraught with heartache, this experience taught In-kwon and Ho-shik to reflect on their actions, and they finally make amends and fulfill their old promise of becoming in-laws.

Closing that chapter, the show returns to Dong-suk and Sun-ah, the childhood friends and first loves. After Sun-ah’s fall into the ocean, the nearby haenyeos save her, and officially, the incident is reported as an accident though everyone in town murmurs about the Seoul lady who tried to commit suicide.

Having witnessed the scene, Dong-suk accompanies Sun-ah to the hospital as her guardian and finds her a place to stay. He checks on her periodically, and one rainy night, the motel owner tells him that Sun-ah has been gone for three days. Dong-suk heads out to search for her, and ends up at her old house.

When Dong-suk was eighteen and Sun-ah was fourteen, the two lonely teenagers found solace in each other. He would give her rides home after they silently played at the arcade until nightfall, and whenever she needed to escape the yelling in her house, Dong-suk welcomed her into his room without hesitation.

Looking back on Dong-suk’s past, it becomes apparent why he harbors such vitriol towards his mom. After his dad and older sister passed away, his mom moved their family into another house where she took care of the bedridden wife and was the mistress to the husband. The husband’s two sons took their anger out on Dong-suk, beating him whenever they pleased, and his mom averted her gaze from the abuse.

To Dong-suk, Sun-ah was his only source of comfort in his otherwise dreary life, so when he found his friend leaving Sun-ah with his pants unbuckled, he flew into a rage and beat him up as well as his two bullies. However, the thing that hurt Dong-suk the most was hearing Sun-ah call him a thug to the police over the phone. That very night, he ran away with all the valuables in the house in hopes of never returning to this terrible place.

Dong-suk finds Sun-ah renovating a rundown building where her dad’s old home used to be, and all the questions he bottled up rise to the surface as their past and present collide. He accuses her of playing with his heart, so Sun-ah tells Dong-suk her side of the events.

She says that he was her first love, too, which is why she could not ask him to defile her. However, she did not end up sleeping with Dong-suk’s friend because he backed out, and when she saw him fighting in the streets, she pretended to call the police to stop him. Like Dong-suk, Sun-ah also left Jeju that fateful day, and her life changed forever.

Her dad picked her up to go see the ocean, and while she went out to buy them food, he drove the car into the water. Sun-ah tells Dong-suk that her depression started then, and all throughout her life, her loved ones have constantly pestered her to stop “being sad.” It makes even more sense now why Sun-ah imagines herself drenched in water, and my heart goes out to her for not having the guidance nor support all these years after witnesses something so traumatic.

Once Dong-suk realizes that he misunderstood Sun-ah, his attitude towards her softens, and he spends all his free time helping her fix the house. As the two spend more time together, Dong-suk opens up a bit, and tells Sun-ah about his sister. He explains how he fought with her over food one evening, but before he could apologize, she died the next day while diving in the ocean. Since then, he learned that tomorrow was never guaranteed and chooses to live in the present instead.

Though Sun-ah’s mood lifts during her stay in Jeju, her overly optimistic outlook about the upcoming custody trial is worrisome, and Dong-suk notices her precarious state. He offers to take her to Seoul in person, and on the boat, he tells her to stop looking at the waves if they make her feel nauseous. He says that his mom is the same way—always staring at the things she lost rather than turning around to see the things she still has.

In Seoul, Dong-suk helps Sun-ah buy a horse doll for her son and drops her off at the school to see him. Though Sun-ah’s ex is unhappy to hear about her sudden visit, she holds her ground since today is their son’s birthday. He reluctantly agrees, but tells her to bring their son back before nine since his family had planned a celebration as well.

Contrary to her worries, Sun-ah’s son is thrilled to see his mom, and they spend the day at the aquarium and sing karaoke. It is nearly eleven by the time Sun-ah returns, and her ex is furious. She pleads with him to let her keep their son for the night, but her ex tells her that he cannot trust her.

Their argument wakes up their son, and Sun-ah instinctively reaches out for him, leading to a rough push and pull between the parents that ends up hurting their child. Her ex rushes him to the hospital, and Sun-ah is denied entry since her son refuses to see her. The timing could not be worse since the trial is in two days, and sadly—though not surprisingly—she loses custody of her son.

The news devastates Sun-ah who cries for hours, and she refuses to eat or drink anything. Frustrated with her self-destructive behavior, Dong-suk berates her for giving up, and she lashes out at him for acting like everyone else in her life. He tells her that her son will grow up miserable at this rate, and Sun-ah crumples up into a ball. Staying by her side as she weeps, Dong-suk tells her that she can be sad but her life would be too unfair if she is only sad the entire time.

After Sun-ah calms down, they walk by the river, and she tells Dong-suk that she will start therapy in addition to her medication. He agrees with her decision, and Sun-ah smiles for the first time in a long while. They settle down on some steps and sit there until sunrise. Looking out towards the water, Sun-ah wishes she could be happy, and Dong-suk repeats the sentiment. As he gets up to leave, she follows him and grabs his hand.

As always, the show manages to humanize every single character, and by the end of their arc, I find myself rooting for their happiness. I was not the biggest fan of Dong-suk in the beginning because I found his temper frightening, but after learning more about him, my heart aches for him as it did for the other characters before him. Every week, the show puts me on an emotional carousel, and the same process repeats itself: I dislike their behavior at first, then I start to understand them, and in the end, I’m wishing they could be happy for once.

Though Dong-suk is an angry man with some unchecked aggression, he is also a sad, little boy who never got over the hurt from his past. The way he describes his mom reveals a son who is more frustrated with her than detached, and I get the impression that he needs a long, overdue apology along with a sincere attempt at reconciliation from his mom. I’m sure when their story comes around, I will get a bigger picture of their situation, but for now, she was the one who failed to protect him and essentially abandoned him when he needed her the most.

Though the age-gap between Dong-suk and Sun-ah as teenagers would hinder my enjoyment of the pair in most scenarios, I think the show did a good job portraying them as two individuals who connected with each other over their shared experience. Both felt abandoned by their families, and the wordless exchange in the arcade depicted the unspoken trust and familiarity between them. Their “attraction” wasn’t about an inappropriate and creepy lust as it was with his friend, but about two lost teenagers being a source of peace for each other in a world filled with hate and rejection. Thus, when Dong-suk sees Sun-ah again, he feels conflicted because she reminds him of the past—the good and bad.

After his sister’s death, Dong-suk seems fixated on living in the present, and as a consequence, he limits his own growth. He is unable to move on because he never gained closure, not with his sister, his mom, or even Sun-ah. He lives day by day, refusing to put down roots anywhere because a part of him is afraid. When he was talking about Sun-ah’s son, he says that her boy could end up like him, and I think this comment says a lot about his character. He grew up without happiness, so as an adult, he cannot envision what a happy future looks like. Dong-suk lives in the moment because he thinks tomorrow is not guaranteed, but at the same time, it’s also because he sees no hope in it. He might proclaim “carpe diem” but I think he’s more scared of the future than anything else.

Buzz Pinay Daily

Subscribe Us

Our Blues: Episodes 9-10