If You Wish Upon Me: Episodes 3-4
by quirkycase
Our lovable grump struggles to resist the charms of Team Genie as he continues his volunteer service at the hospice. Watching him secretly want to join in the fun and grumbling his way into their hearts is delightful. This week, we learn more about our little hospice family and why their work matters so much to them. Of course, they all have a story to tell.
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP
So it looks like I was off with some of my interpretations of our characters’ backstories in week one, which opens up some new questions going forward. But before getting into that, let’s pick up where we left off last week.
Tae-shik manages to get Gyeo-re to move along from the mysteriously locked door by saying it’s haunted. Tough guy Gyeo-re takes him pretty seriously and goes around asking if there’s really a ghost in there, seeming a wee bit scared. Interestingly, everyone is super shifty about this room and won’t give him any real answers.
Meanwhile, after a happy meal where Grandpa Yoon (the elderly dying man) is reunited with his estranged daughter, he passes peacefully in his beloved home. Gyeo-re gives Grandpa Yoon a persimmon from his favorite tree to take with him into the afterlife and is holding his hands when he dies. Gyeo-re is devastated, proving again how sensitive he is underneath all the glaring and tattoos.
We learn a little more about Gyeo-re’s past, and here’s where it seems I misinterpreted the childhood flashback from last week. Gyeo-re tells his friend Jin-gu that he only trusts him because he doesn’t fake smile like everyone else, especially like his father “disgustingly” smiling next to him in this one picture he remembers from childhood. Cut to Tae-shik holding a tiny photo of him smiling next to a little boy who looks like he could be little Gyeo-re. (Honestly, it’s a tiny photo, so I can’t be sure.)
That implies Tae-shik is Gyeo-re’s father, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because Gyeo-re wasn’t that young – why doesn’t he recognize him? He seems to recall his home life from before the orphanage. Are they going to throw some amnesia in here? Whatever the case, if Tae-shik is Gyeo-re’s father, that suggests a different scenario where Gyeo-re wasn’t escaping his father by voluntarily going to the orphanage, but whoever was attacking his father.
Even with that info, I’m still half wondering if it’s a red herring, because Gyeo-re sees the photo in Tae-shik’s car and doesn’t recognize it. So not only doesn’t he recognize his father, but he doesn’t recognize his younger self? For now, I’ll go along with the idea that Tae-shik is his father, which the drama is clearly signaling, but I don’t fully buy it yet.
Moving along, we learn that Tae-shik has been getting sneaky. He has Gyeo-re drive him everywhere due to his injured leg… which we learn has been healed for a while. But he wants to keep Gyeo-re around, so he’s been pretending to still need his crutches. Although Gyeo-re rebuffs Tae-shik’s efforts to get to know him better, he does appear to be growing somewhat attached. He even almost punches someone for knocking Tae-shik down while on his crutches.
Gyeo-re is begrudgingly fitting in with Team Genie, despite continuing to grumble his way through every activity. He pretty much never says no to helping out and particularly takes to assisting COOK YEOM (Yang Hee-kyung) in the kitchen. He gets adorably into garnishing, bragging about his artistic side.
Cook Yeom clearly finds him adorable and starts calling him “Little Supervisor” (to Tae-shik’s “Supervisor”). She’s determined to get Gyeo-re to eat and begins trying to figure out his favorite food. Gyeo-re learns that her daughter passed away in the hospice, and her wish was for Cook Yeom to continue cooking for patients there. His resolve finally weakens, and he starts joining in meals.
We also get more development between Gyeo-re and Yeon-joo in a clear enemies-to-lovers set up. They bicker endlessly but seem to enjoy it. And, of course, they see each other in vulnerable moments, leading them to grow closer. Yeon-joo opens up about how she started working out because, when she was a teenager, she was too weak to carry her dying mother to the hospital. They’re also becoming hyper-aware of each other, which doesn’t escape Team Genie’s notice. Everyone keeps grinning, commenting on how they suit each other.
Elsewhere, Seok-joon is still running around trying to find Gyeo-re and the money. He ends up going to see HA JOON-KYUNG (Won Ji-an), who grew up with Gyeo-re in the orphanage, in prison. She and Gyeo-re were close, maybe even a couple, until she tried to commit murder-suicide by setting fire to a room with them in it. Whoa. That arson sent both her and Gyeo-re to prison.
Meanwhile, Team Genie works on their next, more challenging project for a young woman dying of cancer. IM SE-HEE (guest appearance by Park Jin-ju) wanted to be a stage actress, and her final wish is to sing on stage with her favorite musical theater performer who happens to be a mega star.
Tae-shik is determined to make it happen, doing everything from sneaking backstage to ambush the actor to sending letters to showing up at an audition and playing a recording of Se-hee singing. It’s not until the actor needs a public image lift and sees a picture of Se-hee looking pretty – he’s known for being a playboy – that he agrees.
Se-hee not only wants to perform with him, but she’s written her own play and insists that Team Genie perform with her. They’re all roped into it, but even Gyeo-re starts having fun. He and Yeon-joo gripe about having to play a couple, but they’re clearly not really mad about it.
They’re all miffed when the hotshot actor barely even tries in rehearsals. He does finally start to participate for real and then begins to fall for Se-hee. (He’s apparently the type to fall for someone new every five seconds.)
But then, Se-hee takes a turn for the worst, and Doctor Yang refuses to let her perform. Now, Doctor Yang has been crushing hard on Yeon-joo for a while, but their differing perspectives on how far to go in granting patients’ wishes has made him take a step back. He can tell she’s not into him and that she is into Gyeo-re.
He takes his job and medical ethics very seriously, but he’s not beyond bending the rules a bit for a patient’s good. In fact, it turns out that Tae-shik was once a hospice patient himself. Doctor Yang treated him for free and let him live in a room at the hospice. But Doctor Yang has lines he won’t cross.
So when Yeon-joo pushes back against his decision, he gets angry and yells at her. Gyeo-re steps in, making Doctor Yang even more angry to the point that he tries to kick Gyeo-re out of the hospice for good. Gyeo-re stands his ground and ends the episode with a proclamation: “I’m Team Genie, a wish-granter.”
It looks like Gyeo-re is now all in! I love seeing him all flustered by Team Genie’s (and everyone’s) kindness and unable to resist their pull. He’s so harmless, despite what he tries to project. He fits right in with this team.
Going into this drama, I expected something a little grittier or more angsty, maybe. But it’s actually quite bright and optimistic. In fact, it reminds me a lot stylistically of Japanese healing dramas that tend to take a more idealistic tone. Rather than trying to be realistic, the focus is on finding the good in people and learning life lessons.
I personally really enjoy this uplifting style, but I do worry that it’s not going to mesh well with the darker, more violent side plot involving Seok-joon and Joon-kyung. I kind of wish the gangster stuff, at least, had been left out since it feels unnecessary. So far, it’s a very minor part of the story, but I have a feeling it’s going to get more prominent.
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If You Wish Upon Me: Episodes 3-4
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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