Marry My Husband Ep 2 (A SqueeCap)
Shuk: Here we are, playing catchup with the current episode schedule. Or, really, desperately trying to get past the horribleness of Ji-won’s past to get to the cuteness of Ji-won’s future.
Trotwood: Seriously, the whole first arc is so painful to watch. I lost count of how many times I wanted to hit people.
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| This tiny smile makes it a bit better, though |
EPISODE 2
Baristas are happily brewing cups of morning joyfulness. The clerk calls out orders # 34 and # 35. A woman in red with a big hat grabs one of them, but it turns out she’s snatched-and-grabbed someone’s order. The real customer comes up to the counter and is annoyed even though the barista promised to make another. Does this kind of thing happen often?
I don't know. I don't drink coffee, so the closest I get to these kinds of shops are watching dramas.
Ji-won is bemused looking at the counter, almost unaware that her order is up. She speculates that in her current reincarnation, she will need someone to ‘steal’ her past experience in order to avoid it.
It's the beginning of her recognizing that she can't merely change her fate. Things will still happen; she just needs to make sure they don't happen to her.
In her office lobby, Manager Kim is boasting about his bowling score to our attentive Snake-In-The-Grass Soo-min. Snakey catches sight of Ji-won and calls out to her. In Ji-won’s head, she had the perfect patsy for her bad luck transfer. After all, Snakey wants everything that Ji-won has, she might as well take the ugly parts too!
EXACTLY!! This Scummy Bestie needs to suffer. Karma needs to bite her in the ass big time.
The three are in the elevator together when the door is forced back open. It’s our hottie! Ji-hyuk stares at Ji-won with his brown laser beams for a few moments, then wordlessly gets into the lift.
He is so attractive, but those terrible suits are really distracting. He has enough money to buy suits that fit or to get them tailored to fit. He either doesn't care or it has not occur to him. But we all hate them.
Snakey is still scummy; in a chirpy voice she teases Ji-won about her singles meal proposal and implies that she is slacking off by going off campus to go to the coffee shop. Naturally, this is a perfect opening for Manager Kim to start needling Ji-won. It doesn’t take long, though, before Hot Glasses punches the elevator wall and effectively shuts everyone up.
I feel horrible for Ji-Won because I can't help but think how badly she must have thought of herself, how desperate she was for a friend (any friend) that her past self didn't see how terrible that Scummy Bestie is to her. Scummy Bestie is not in any way subtle. How could she miss that?
When the doors open on the 16th floor, the grubby pair scurry out. Ji-hyuk asks Ji-won to stay for a moment. They end up on the rooftop (is this another Rooftop of Rumination like Heartless City?)
I have NEVER worked in a building or even lived in a city with a building with such great rooftop spaces, so I'm jealous.
However, I also wonder about the level of awkwardness that was that trip up the elevator. The whole "We need to talk" but we must be silent until we get to the space I've chosen we need to talk.
She admits that she skipped breakfast, which is why she snuck out for coffee, but he impatiently interrupts. He orders her to stop skipping breakfast. He also invited her to the rooftop, so she wouldn’t feel awkward drinking alone.
Ji-won gets a little chatty. Maybe she feels comfortable with the boss. She tells him she’s not quitting the company and explains Dad’s heart on the bills she received the day before. He just stares, with this tiny little brow wrinkle as she explains that since Boss says she talented, she should use those talents better.
Throughout her speech, his lips keep twitching until we get a fleeting smile. Show us some teeth next time!
If I had her great teeth, I'd be grinning all the time, especially when looking at him.
Of course, their happy little interlude is disrupted by the annoying snake. Boss haltingly asks Ji-won if she has any plans for the weekend, but Snakey calls out that she’s booked a restaurant for her best friend and her called “Goseuljung”. Ugh. She grabs Ji-won’s arm like they are dating each other.She acts like a sasaeng fan. Ugh. I hate her. She really doesn't want Ji-won to look at anyone but her.
The name seems to strike a chord in Boss, but he just walks away. That stupid clingy noisy person wants Ji-won’s time, her coffee, and her personal space. Just ugh.
Alone in the elevator, Snakey mumbles that it’s no fun to protect Ji-won from Boss if she isn’t going to be grateful. She sneers that her enviable friend is a workaholic. We all know she’s up to something.
Master manipulator so she can make sure that Ji-won is always behaving how she wants and to have Ji-won always looking at her.
Boss heads back to his office, still thinking about the name of the restaurant this weekend. Somehow he determines that there is a high school reunion scheduled for that business. He is in the middle of making a call to someone when Ji-won comes to his office.
She brings in pain medication and a burn ointment; Boss splits the pills to share with her because of her injury that day.
Sweet. He is sweet. We need his sweetness after the bitter taste Scummie Bestie leaves in our mouths.
Weasel is watching this meeting through the glass walls, visibly annoyed. I doubt he’s ever thought about treating her wounds. He sends her an email demanding she talk to him outside.
He is just like Scummie Bestie. Ji-won should only be focusing on him and worshipping him.
Everyone in the office can see his aggressiveness as they leave. He all but yanks her arm dragging her to a storage room, and then accuses her of dumping him for Boss. Nasty little manhoe starts calling her names and talking to her like she’s a toddler.
Time to start Operation 'Dirtbags Together'. Ji-won starts acting coquettishly, swinging her arms childishly. She just followed Boss’ orders to get him some meds, and only told him to break up because she wanted to motivate him to become someone everyone admired.
His ego swells at this and he does a little chest-puffing. Things go downhill, though, when he switches into Horndog Mode and backs Ji-won into the metal shelving. He forces a kiss but the new Ji-won already has a convenient wrench in her hand. Before any blood is spilled, the storage door opens, and Kim Gyeong-uk is there (she is the married coworker).
The useless coward makes and excuse and ducks out, abandoning Ji-won to her colleague. As the two women walk down the corridor, Coworker notices Ji-won rubbing her wrist. It may not be her place, she says, but even when people are in a relationship, hurtful skinship is wrong. Clearly she experienced this as well.
I really like her. I liked her character in the webcomic, too. I'm hoping they become friends. It's also clear that there are other possibilities for friendship in this workplace but that Scummie Bestie has really kept her from making other friends, the stereotypical trait of an abusive lover.
Ji-won smiles at her retreating back, happy that someone is works with is worried about her.
At lunchtime Snakey wants to go out, but Ji-won cries poverty. She tries to get the creepy pair to go have lunch alone, but it didn’t work. Snakey is upset she can’t get Ji-won to pay for a restaurant meal, but saunters with Weasel to the work cafeteria.
While in line, Snakey pushes in front of them and loads up her plate with lots of rice and kimchi. Ji-won knows she pissed they didn’t go out for lunch so she plans to humiliate her. (She is just a petulant child; always looking for ways to bring Jiwon down to make her own trifling self feel better). We get a flashback of Snakey “accidentally” shoving Ji-won so that she ends up on the floor covered in food. But this time our heroine is ready.
Ji-won dodges the moving tray, trips Snakey, and Weasel ends up the person on the floor covered in food. Success!
I watched this multiple times. 😁
In the restroom, Ji-won smiles victoriously at herself in the mirror. She hears a tiny “Jeogiyo?” from one of the stalls. A woman got surprised by her period and needed some help, so Ji-won brought her sanitary pads and gallantly uses her sweater to cover up any accidents. The grateful woman is Hui-yeon, one of the young women in the department. She dramatically promises undying love and loyalty to our heroine, but Ji-won just asks her to share her table as compensation instead.
Someone on twitter called her a golden retriever puppy, and I concur. I love her and want to feed her and find her enthusiasm for living refreshing. I really haven't seen a lot of young female characters with this kind of characteristic.
She is so bright and cheerful and sunny!
So here we are. Min-hwan is angry at his thousand-dollar shirt ruined by kimchi, Soo-min is pissed her plan failed, but successfully baby-talks to get out of paying for the in shirt. (YUCK) The adulterous pair subtly gang up to pick on Ji-won’s eating habits. Even Hui-yeon can tell the dynamics of the trio are very odd.
I am actually surprised that more people at work aren't gossiping about them. They don't really hide the fact that they pick on Ji-won. They don't need to because they don't think they are picking on her because they both think they are right and good people and that Ji-won really does just need to do what they say because they deserve it and she likes it. Double Yuck.
Still, everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) I know at work would be talking about this weird dynamic. And because many of us are trained in supporting people in unhealthy relationships, someone would have reached out to Ji-won or even said something at this table.
Quick scene change to food porn! Beautifully seared steaks, delightfully plated fish, all sorts of yums. At the same time, Hot Glasses strides in and speaks with the head chef, who graduated from that previously mentioned high school.
Second lead in the house!! And he's cute. I'd date him for that steak alone.
#MeatLove
Back at the office cafeteria, Huiyeon is powering back spoons of rice, much to the nasty amusement of our nasty pair. She doesn’t care, though; her grandfather said to eat big is prepare to do big things. (I just love her energy). Her grandfather is described as also in the food business, selling tofu and things that are in banchan. Snakey clearly looks down at the young woman, and also starts making snarky side comments about how delicate her appetite is when compared to the ultra-robust eating habits of Ji-won. Honestly, how could JW not ever notice this horrid behavior in her past life? Weasel smiles like it’s funny, completely focused on Snakey and willing to talk down to his supposed fiancée.
This is a classic example of how bullies pick on the weak. They pick on Ji-won and try to pick on Huiyeon. However, Huiyeon doesn't care, so they move on. Poor, lonely, heart desperate for love Ji-won is easy pickings for them. They're cruel while acting like they are doing her favors. She believes it because their attention is better than no attention. I feel so sorry for past Ji-won.
YES!! Protect Sunshine girl at all costs.
Ji-won suddenly realizes she is too out of character, and tones down her behavior. She quickly picks up the food trays and heads to the back of the cafeteria. Clueless Weasel misses the attitude change, but Snakey clearly sees that her ersatz best friend is acting way different from her usual submissive state.
Because she has studied Ji-won like she's a college entrance test cram book.
By the water dispenser, Ji-won meets back up with Hui-yeon. The young woman apologizes for flouncing away from the lunch table, but she was hot under the collar. It appears that Snakey had come into the bathroom while HY was desperately looking for help, but she couldn’t be bothered to help a fellow female worker in trouble.
Snakey see the new besties chatting happily and has a sudden crisis. Her mincing behavior gets sympathy and almost-skinship from Weasel. They end up crushed together in the elevator, and she takes the moment to play hidden seduction games. Is this when the affair happens? Or the bigger question, do I care?
I only care because the faster she starts this the faster Ji-won can break up with this turd. I want the title of this drama to happen yesterday. These two deserve each other.
The afternoon hours start with a big meeting. The little tin dictator is already throwing things, upset that the staple is in the wrong place for the meeting materials. Snakey uses this moment to endear herself with Manager Kim and flirts with him to show him the singles meal proposal and the two walk away to discuss it.
Ji-won can see that Ms Kim is discouraged and decides to do something about it. She confronts the older woman in the hallway, and tries to explain that Manager Kim is a lazy ineffectual boss who throws his weight around and never looks at any proposals from people he doesn’t like. She shoves the singles meal proposal in Ms Kim’s hand and runs off.
I like Ms Kim. She is the stereotypical person we all know at work who really should be the person in charge because she knows everything and because of this is the person everyone goes to for help and advice--doing the real supervisor work for a third less pay.
Snakey catches up and tries to get Ji-won to skive off, but it doesn’t work. She catches a glimpse of the proposal as Ms. Kim walks down the hallway.
Boss’s Landrover smoothly backs into a parking space without a single squeak of a tire. Inside, Boss frowns for a moment before grabbing the pain meds and taking a couple of pills and texting. I wonder what he is thinking.
Crayon Pop's "Bar Bar Bar" blasts from the speakers of a patisserie. Our sunshine Hui-yeon is in foodie heaven, scarfing down huge forkfuls of delicious desserts as Ji-won watches on. She gets a text message and tells the younger woman she has to go back to the office. Sunny sets a possessive eye over all the desserts she won’t have to share. She offers to take Ji-won out for some fun on Sunday, but JW has that thing with Snakey scheduled.
I would bake her something every weekend. She is exactly the kind of person I love cooking for because she clearly just physically loves eating.
Ji-won explains it’s a school reunion, but that she’s thinking about not going. Hui-yeon insists that she must, so she can see her first love. JW looks pensively out the window and mumbles that no one knows what happen to the boy she liked in high school.
Hmmmm. I think we all have a good guess by now who that person must be. Does he perhaps make a mean steak?
Back at the office, Ji-won offers to work late this weekend. She assumes that Boss talked about Sunday because he wanted her work. He stares at her and says she is more important than any work, and that she should go to the Sunday get together. Then he cryptically tells her that she owes him. She ends up looking puzzled but walks away without further conversation.
Up on the Rooftop of Revelation, Ms. Kim is impressed by the singles meal proposal. Ji-won explains that Manager Kim never ever reads anything, but just shoots it down as a show of power. She will prove it to Ms Kim, so she knows it’s not her work that is substandard. In fact, Manager Kim got the supervisory position by claiming Ms. Kim’s work as he own. She offers a collaboration so they could bring down Manager Kim.
Meanwhile, Snakey pretends to accidentally bump into Manager Kim. She strokes his ego for a moment and they happily chat down the hallway.
Once he is back in the office, Ji-won offers the singles meal proposal again, this time printed in yellow instead of blue. After a moment’s perusal, he flings it into her face and yells that it was a worse proposal than the last one. Ji-won’s loudly outs him to everyone on the floor, apologizing that she gave him the previous proposal and not the new one. More success!
In the middle of all this, a jealous Snakey looks at Ji-won happily chatting with the others. I guess she misses the clingy old Ji-won. She hatches a plan.
She is so jealous of her. It doesn't seem like she really has any other friends herself. Not that I feel sorry for her. Other people, not as lonely as Ji-won, would have noticed how creepy and mean she can be. Or maybe, she doesn't want other friends, only Ji-won. Like I'm not sure she would be interested in Weasel if he weren't connected to ji-won.
Manager Kim is having a great time at a p’macha with Snakey. She tries her best to play the innocent flirtatious employee while avoiding any of the food that he has sneezed or spit on, or touched. She plays up that JW is ambitious and looks down on anyone without a degree. Manager Kim is still upset at losing face over the duplicated proposal. Snakey agrees but convinces Manager Kim that the idea is a good one that she and him could develop together.
He gets some sort of creepy fantasy where they are married and Snakey has his child. Blech.
Yuck times two. I hate Snakey, but I don't even want this for her.
Weasel is bowling with the boys and complaining that Ji-won won’t let him touch her. In fact, he is only marrying her because she is a workaholic that makes money but doesn’t spend it and is good to his mother. She is the perfect boring blah woman that makes a perfect wife.
Thanks for reminding me that we need to keep hate levels high for him, too. When he's not screen, I don't think about him much. He's more a cartoonish villain despite his violent tendencies. Whereas Snakey makes me worried when I can't see her because I know she's plotting something.
At the office, Ji-won sees a gift box with a pair of earrings. They are definitely from Snakey, which is confirmed when that person texts a petulant message.
Flashback time! Ten years ago, Ji-won was completely disgraced at the school reunion, thanks to those knockoff earrings and her casual attire. Soo-min never told her it was a dress-up occasion or that the entire restaurant was booked for the party. (In fact, she tells her both in the past and this time that it's just a meet up with the two of them. I really want to know the motivation behind this cruelty) And, of course, all the bullies showed up, especially the ones that tormented JW previously. The Mean Girls even discovered her hiding in the bathroom, furthering the humiliation of her high school years. 
In the present time, Ji-won promises to not step foot in that restaurant. While at the office entrance, simultaneously gets texts from both Snakey and Weasel inviting themselves to her house. She comes up with a brilliant idea.
On the way to the employee turnstiles, she bumps into Boss. After a comical bit of “who goes into which raceway” they end up looking at each other. Boss points out the box in her hands and mentions that it’s a company famous for poorly-made couture knockoffs.
Ji-won remembers that he said the exact same thing a decade ago. Previously she thought he was rude to tell her not to wear the earrings, but now she thinks he was worried about her back then. And he’s worried now!
This makes me wonder how much he knows about Snakey and her plans. If he does know anything, how?
In the present time, Boss offers to drive her home, but she declines.
Outside her place, Drunken Weasel has showed up and is ready to go, practically throwing off his clothes in the street. Ji-won is at a liquor store looking for the high-proof stuff. Drunken Snakey is at a bus stop and has decided in a fit of pique not to go to Ji-won’s place.
When Ji-won arrives at home, Weasel is in her shower flexing at the mirror. Before she can react, he is ready to drop towel and get it on. She screams in horror. Well, we all do.
This has got to be super freaky for her. She knows he is violent; he killed her. But here he is wanting and expecting sexy times.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We are still stuck in the past and present angst that is Ji-won’s life. But she is beginning to sharpen her claws and assert herself.
I would like to see Boss Ji-hyuk do the same thing. For those who have read the manhwa and know what’s coming (like me), it’s frustrating waiting for the fun times to start. Patience, though, it will get there eventually!
Part of me wishes I hadn't read it because I do not know how much patience or how much understanding I would have for what is happening. But yes, people. It does get better.
