MaryMeKpop

Another week of “Our Unwritten Seoul”, another week of solid new episodes! This week’s focus was on Mi-rae’s return to work as well as the backstory behind Kim Ro-sa’s life.

For starters, I’m content and satisfied with where the drama went with Kim Ro-sa’s storyline. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure what the drama’s plans for it were and if the pay-off was going to be worth it. I noticed that the drama was spending quite a good amount of time on it each week and it was slowly building up to something. And I’m not going to lie – there were times I felt as if this storyline was taking away from other parts of the drama. I was a bit disappointed at how much time the drama spent on this sub-plot instead of giving us more of Se-jin and his backstory or showing Mi-rae and Mi-ji’s complex relationship with their mom. Heck, I still want to know more about Mom because we still don’t know a whole lot about her backstory. However, episode 10 primarily focused on Kim Ro-sa and gave us the context and insight on her story and how she came about with the false identity. I think the part that was the most telling was the way in which it tied back to the concept of switching identities. Similar to what Mi-rae and Mi-ji did, Ro-sa did the same with her best friend. They only had each other. They were there for each other. They experienced life together. Ro-sa and her best friend’s situation was dangerous and unstable – there was murder and domestic abuse and violence involved but they had to do what they could to survive. And then when Ro-sa’s best friend was going to die, they switched identities and Ro-sa ended up taking her best friend’s name. The drama had been hinting about Ro-sa not really being Kim Ro-sa but it was nice to finally see the backstory behind that and how it all came about. There was just something that was so heartwarming seeing Ro-sa have someone in her life who she could rely on given that she was an orphan and didn’t have any family or friends. It was also heartbreaking to see her lose her best friend, her family member, and basically be alone for the majority of her life.

But perhaps what was the most satisfying part in all of this was Ho-su and Mi-ji’s involvement in Ro-sa’s life. They helped Ro-sa out with her lawsuit and thankfully, things turned out to be just fine. Nothing bad happened to Ro-sa. But I loved that Ro-sa’s best friend’s words about how she would eventually find good people to be around in her life came true. Mi-ji and Ho-su were those good people who entered Ro-sa’s life and brightened her world up. She finally found good people who could read her for her and appreciate her for who she was. We witnessed the evolution of Ro-sa’s relationship with Mi-ji (and Ho-su). From starting off on a bad note with Mi-ji to eventually accepting her and Ho-su’s help to feeling doubtful about their intentions to finally trusting them again and letting them into her world, Ro-sa, Ho-su, and Mi-ji really went through it all. It was so touching to see the three of them together at her restaurant at the end of episode 10 celebrating the good results from the lawsuit. It was also quite an emotional scene seeing Ro-sa remember her best friend’s words while watching Mi-ji and Ho-su at her restaurant. Ro-sa wasn’t alone anymore. At last, she found a new family.

Adding onto Ro-sa’s storyline, I was satisfied with how it tied back to Mi-ji and her uncertainty about her future and job. We saw as she and Ho-su attempted to find answers to the questions about what they wanted to do with their lives professionally. And it wasn’t until we saw them assist Ro-sa with her lawsuit that it made me realize that maybe, just maybe, their passion was helping Ro-sa all along. In a way, them helping her out sort of became their job. They were there every single step of the way the entire time. It came naturally to them. With Ro-sa, Mi-ji was passionate about helping her out. Even when she was disguised as Mi-rae, she still was on Ro-sa’s side. When Ro-sa lost her trust in Mi-ji, Mi-ji reached out to Ro-sa first and put in the effort to regain her trust. Outside of Ro-sa, Mi-ji was puzzled and confused as to what career or profession to take on. But with Ro-sa, she was genuine and cared about her the entire time. She gathered petitions from the winners of Ro-sa’s scholarship to assist her in the lawsuit. She wanted to celebrate Ro-sa’s results from the lawsuit because it was a huge victory for them after all that they went through. This is Mi-ji’s job. This was her passion.

Moving onto Mi-rae, I felt like a proud mom watching her slowly stand up for herself. I could understand why she was so hesitant in speaking up for Su-yeon once again and going up against her large corporation. I could understand why she was so quiet and reserved at work and why she didn’t want to get herself involved. She understood that she was a target; she understood that she was under a microscope at work. She knew that she would always be blamed for everything even if it wasn’t her fault or even if she had nothing to do with it. I also understood why she was pessimistic about battling against a large corporation who has all the money, lawyers, and powers to drain you and make you lose. A part of me wanted Mi-rae to fight for Su-yeon but a part of me also understood where she was coming from. We also got to see more of Mi-rae’s relationship with Mr. Park and the backstory behind what happened between them that fueled all the affair rumors as well as the sexual harassment case. It was so satisfying to see Mi-rae confidently claim that she wanted to go through with suing Mr. Park for sexual harassment and defamation. Back then, the old Mi-rae brushed it off and pretended as if nothing happened, but the new Mi-rae had enough. Enough is enough. Bad people should be punished for their actions and face the proper consequences. It felt so good to not only see Mi-ji beat up Mr. Park but to also see Mi-rae look out for her sister in case there were any passerbys. Haha.

Something that I thought was interesting was Mi-ji’s comments about how she felt like she didn’t belong in Seoul and didn’t have a home there so she wanted to go back home to the countryside. And then when she returned back to the countryside, she didn’t seem all that happy or enthusiastic to be at home. A part of that was because of her mom and not really feeling like she could be herself at home because of her shaky relationship with her mom. But another part of it was also because she would have to return to the mundane and uncertain reality of not knowing what part-time job to take next, being nagged at her mom for not having a stable income or job, and ultimately returning to the life that she dreaded. Mi-ji dug herself into a hole when she lived as Mi-rae in Seoul and things weren’t always great so she felt like she didn’t belong there. But when she returned to the countryside which was what she’s known all her life, she didn’t feel so great there either. So if Mi-ji doesn’t feel like she belonged in either Seoul or the countryside, where is her home? Where does she feel like she belongs? She ended up going back to Seoul after getting into a fight with her mom and so it’s as if she’s caught in between these two worlds of Seoul and the countryside. I’m curious to see where Mi-ji ultimately lands and where she feels at home.

Speaking of Mi-ji and Mom’s fight, it made me realize that I wanted to see more of Mom and her backstory. We still don’t know a whole lot about her and her upbringing. We know little things like how she doesn’t have the greatest relationship with Grandma which then impacted her relationship with her daughters. We learned that she was a single mom who was busy supporting her family to the point where she couldn’t even tell her identical daughters apart. But just like we did with Ho-su’s Mom, I hope the drama will dive deeper into Mom’s story. It’s a little strange we haven’t gotten that side of her story just yet but I’m hoping it’s something the drama will address in the final 2 episodes. Maybe it’s one of the last things that the drama will explore to really bring everything together. Mom comes off as this haughty, naggy, and tough Mom but there are sides to her that she doesn’t want people to see. She’s afraid of being a burden to others as seen during her fight with Mi-ji. She was shocked to find Ho-su’s Mom at the hospital caring for Grandma. She realized that she didn’t know her mom as well as she felt like she should have. Mom and Mi-ji may not get all along that well or always be on the same page but they care for and love each other. They just don’t know how to express that love for each other other than to nag and yell at each other but the love is there. Mom doesn’t want Mi-ji to turn out like her (which is such a discredit to the hard work and effort that Mom put in as a single mother to support her family) and Mi-ji can’t help but just worry about Mom because she loves her. The fight between Mi-ji and Mom was so layered and complicated and complex and that’s also why I’m really hoping the drama will go into more details on Mom’s story. And also, I just have to add that no one does it like Park Bo-young does when it comes to fighting and arguing against your parents. In “Scandalmakers” with Cha Tae-hyun and then now in “Our Unwritten Seoul”, Park Bo-young is seriously the best when it comes to parental relationships and arguing against her parents (in a good way, lol). It’s not easy and there’s so much depth and vulnerability in these types of scenes and yet, she does them so well!! It gets me every single time and I tear up every single time!

It’s hard to believe that there’s only one more week left with our “Our Unwritten Seoul” family. I’m curious to see how things wrap up for our characters and where they go from here. It seems like Ho-su unfortunately lost his hearing at the end of episode 10 so that’ll be something that the drama addresses in the finale. Will Mi-rae take up Se-jin’s offer to work with him in the United States? Will we get to learn more about Mom and her backstory? How will things conclude for Kim Ro-sa’s situation since Mr. Lee isn’t the type to give up so easily? It seems like there are still some unknowns in the complex and beautiful world that is “Our Unwritten Seoul.”