What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

When the Weather is Fine (2020) – Ep 5

As our Hae-won (Park Min-young) continues to navigate the difficulties of living in the tiny city, another complication arrives in the form of her mother. Myung-joo (Jin Hee-kyung) has an imposing presence and her daughter follows her around silently, despite it being clear that she is dying to say something. Even Aunt Myung-yeo (Moon Jeong-hee) is uncharacteristically well-behaved around her sister, while simultaneously being fully willing to throw her niece under the bus if it means she looks good. It absolutely cracked me up when Myung-yeo told Mom that Hae-won is living with a man.

Speaking of said man, Eun-seob (Seo Kang-joon) seemed to have his own things to deal with this episode, and we soon find out that said ‘things’ happen to be a meeting with Bo-young (Lim Se-mi), who seems to be using his closeness to Hae-won to get to her. I really hope she stops trying to impose herself on the people in Hae-won’s life after she was the one who was at fault. I do understand that they’re both adults now and should communicate better, but what Hae-won has been through left a scar on her psyche, and she’s going to need her time with it.

Despite all the difficulties that Hae-won went through as a result of her mother’s actions and resulting incarceration, it seems that the two have a cold relationship. It’s clear that Hae-won craves her mother’s attention, but Mom just doesn’t seem willing to give it, and things reach a boiling point by the end of the episode, where Hae-won spills her guts to her mother about wanting even a smidge of love or affection from her.

Sadly, despite all that, Myung-joo is still a difficult person to read, and when she has a strange encounter with Eun-seob later, it only further solidified this sense of confusion for me. I’m not sure how much more involvement Mom will have in this story, but I feel like she was mostly there for Hae-won to have some catharsis, and then move on. And it seems like we’re moving on into love triangle territory (which I’m not happy about) but our third vertex will be Kim Young-dae (which I am happy about).

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

When the Weather is Fine (2020) – Ep 4

After over a month, I came back to WtWiF, and I was glad to see that this episode picked up where the last one left off. So often in dramaland, the writers and directors choose pretty scenery over proper character development, but this show is like a breath of fresh air, in that it lets us get insights into our characters through their stories.

Mok Hae-won (Park Min-young) shares some of her insecurities with Eun-seob (Seo Kang-joon), however we see Eun-seob more closed off than ever. It seems like there has been a complete reversal of their characters when they are in private, whereas in public Hae-won is usually closed off where Eun-seob seems open-hearted.

It is exactly this generosity that makes Eun-seob the person that the townspeople rely on when a girl goes missing in the mountain forest. With his expansive knowledge of the forest, they ask – almost expect – him to assist in the search, despite the dangers it poses to him as well (and the giant team already looking for her). His mother is absolutely beside herself waiting for her son’s return, and even scolds his friend, Jang-woo (Lee Jae-wook), for sending him off on such a dangerous task. When Eun-seob finally breaks through the trees with the young girl on his back, she only has thought for how he is doing, and his family comforts him and makes him stay the night at their house.

It’s at this point that Hae-won realises that she isn’t in a place to express concern for Eun-seob, and it clearly weighs heavy on her. She finds comfort in him, and as their friendship grows deeper, I’m sure she’ll be more straightforward in telling him her thoughts, which will hopefully prompt him to be more concerned for his own well-being, too.

While the show has its fair share of drama (and the arrival of Hae-won’s mother will only fuel that), I enjoy the moments of humour and levity that are often sprinkled in. These usually come from Hwi (Kim Hwan-hee) and her boy troubles, as well as her constant mischief-making with her family. In general, I enjoy seeing the array of different characters that make up the town, and I’m waiting to see more as the story unfolds.

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

When the Weather is Fine (2020) – Ep 3

Life has been rather busy for me, so I only got through one episode this week, but it was a rather eventful one for Mok Hae-won (Park Min-young) too. After avoiding her childhood friend-turned-enemy, she carried on with business as usual. This has become a defining feature of her character, and she seems to have an ostrich-like tendency of dealing with her problems by pretending they don’t exist. I have a feeling this is going to come to a head really soon.

With the Walnut House in disrepair, Aunt Myung-yeo (Moon Jeong-hee) being more and more concerning (I suspect she’s terminally ill), and her having to find a living space, it’s no wonder that she had a breakdown and realizes that she does want caring people around her. And lucky for her, she runs into the arms of someone willing to take her in.

We also got a slightly more melancholic look at Eun-seop’s (Seo Kang-joon) life. While it is still unclear what sorts of emotional scars he carries, he seems to want to shoulder the burden himself, and only let others see his cheerful side. However, Hae-won clearly picked up on it, and it seems that her finding him in the forest and realizing that he too has a place he wants to escape too made her feel closer to him.

I really enjoyed the stylistic choices of this episode, and I enjoyed how the book club tied the themes of this episode together. The retelling of legends, and their metaphorical application to our characters’ lives was wonderfully done, but I really just enjoyed them for what they were too. Tales like these are often indicative of what values those who tell them hold dear, and it was clear that our book club group are insightful, hopeful and self-reflective.

I’m sure going forward, our characters will only come to learn and grow, but even if they stumble or fall, there are those around them who are willing to help.

What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

When the Weather is Fine (2020) – Ep 1-2

In what has been a rather slow week, I only managed to get through two episodes of WtWiF. However, I found that enjoying this show at a more leisurely pace suits it. There’s a quiet surrealism to the way the show is shot, and I find I need time to sit with an episode after it is done, to let it sink in.

This show has been on my watchlist since it aired, but it passed me by at the time. It recently came across my radar again, and after having a bit of a k-drama – and TV shows, in general – slump, I felt I needed something light to ease me back into it. And so far, that’s exactly what the show has delivered on. The characters are mildly shrouded in mystery, and we get to slowly peel back the layers of their past from their interactions in the present. Mok Hae-won (Park Min-young) in particular seems to have a lot to unpack, as it seems life has not been particularly kind to her, and so far she’s taking the escapist route by running away to the countryside and living with her aunt.

Aunt Myung-yeo (Moon Jeong-hee) is an eccentric character, and I have a feeling that she will be the most tragic of the lot. It seems she has very little will to live well, barely scraping by. However, she’s hiding it behind a veneer of coldness and snaps at Hae-won often when confronted. They both seem to care about one another, but haven’t yet found a way to express it. I’m curious to see how this aunt-niece relationship develops as they both learn about what happened during their time apart.

By contrast, perhaps the most open character is Lim Eun-seop (Seo Kang-joon). Because we get the most insight into his character through his narrations, he makes for a good contrast to Hae-won, and I have a feeling that he will be a driving force in getting her to be more confident in herself. Since his bookshop provides a refuge and a mental stimulus for her, she seems to be turning often towards it as a safe haven. Add to that the various townspeople that treat her with kindness and compassion, as well as allowing her to revert back to her more carefree childhood day. (Lee Jae-wook was a pleasant surprise as one of their classmates.)

The story will have its fair share of drama, but I expect it to be of the day-to-day life variety as opposed to the sweeping kind we’re used to. I’m curious to see how the show continues to pace itself, and I’m hoping it maintains this lazy meander as we get to learn more about our characters.