Marry My Husband Episode 3 (A Squeecap)
SHUK: Character development is key to keeping me engrossed into a story, and Ji-won has it in spades. From her original life of meek doormatism, she is now actively trying to break out of that past and forge a new future for herself.
Trotwood: I like being able to see her calculate and re-calculate but not so fast that it's unrealistic. I know some people might be impatient with her because we want her to get revenging faster, but we have to remember that she between 37-41 (can't remember the exact age) in her mind. She is living with over twenty years of trauma from being friends with Snakey and married to Weasel for (how long?) plus the seven years they dated before that.
Also, she died and woke up back in time. Let's not forget that people. I'm not sure I'd be handling that well even if they were only good memories!
Ji-won stares in horror at Weasel’s little weasel as he proudly announces his decision to s**ually assault her in her own home. Just when I think she’s going to sit still and make it happen, the doorbell rings. Thank Goodness!! She madly scrambles to open it, only to find a cheerful delivery guy with lots of chicken: fried, spicey, and soy, plus fries and soda. Weasel, to the relief of all of us, has his clothes back on. He snarls that he didn’t order anything. The chicken guy checks his order information and confirms it’s the correct apartment; Ji-won is puzzled but Weasel is livid. As he argues with Delivery Guy, Ji-won uses the moment to push him out and slam the door shut, leaving Weasel outside.
Quick thinking. I didn't think of that, which is the best choice. Much better than any of the options using the chicken that I was coming up with in my mind.
She sets the chain and hard-bolts the door, so his passcode won’t work. Weasel pounds on the door but Ji-won is holding onto it for deal life. She texts him that she is flustered about their relationship and needs time to think about taking the next step. He’s not happy, but oh well.
He texts her that he’s leaving, and we see her opening the door. No, don’t do it! (I was screaming the same thing!) But it’s only to throw his shoes outside. Hah!
He tells her she’s not much to look at, but he is happy she isn’t easy. Wha…?
He is such a sleazy loser, and every time he opens his mouth he proves what a sleazy loser he is.
As Weasel stumbles out of the building, we see Delivery Guy with Boss. Wait, did Ji-hyuk send him to Ji-won’s apartment specifically to cockblock Weasel? That’s so adorable!
With fried chicken!!😂😂
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| Fried, Spicy, and Salty Soy! |
Once Delivery Guy gets back to his restaurant, he gets in a food-throwing contest with the cook, who was annoyed that he had to hold down the fort. Delivery Guy explains that “he” asked him to fake a misdelivery to Apt 401. He wonders why “he” wants that to be done.
As much as I like the chicken guys, they are an addition that I don't find necessary or at least I don't feel the need for them to have so much screen time. Are they showing us them to prove that Ji-hyuk has other friends?
In another darkened restaurant, the cute chef is sniffing blueberries. Actually he seems to be creating a lovely dessert. The restaurant owner admires his creations, and wonders why the youngster isn’t already a famous celebrity chef.
He is taking a day off that weekend. For a blind date? Nope, it’s for his high school reunion. The owner chuckles that he will probably meet his first love there, and the chef kid doesn’t deny it.
We get a flashback where Boss asks the chef to go to the reunion. Cute Chef wonders how our Hot Glasses knew that it was the chef’s high school. It appears he was turned down by Ji-won back then, and still harbors a bit of a grudge. The owner advises him to dress for success when he goes.
Hmmm. High school drama? Involving Ji-won? Want to take a guess everyone, who is probably behind all of this?
I'm also going to admit that I was embarrassed for finally realizing that our Cute Chef is Lee Gi Kwang from one of my favorite bands Highlight (formerly known as Beast). When I first watched, it kept niggling at me. Why do I know his face? Why do I know his face? And then here it hit me. Do you think it was the blueberries?
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| Maybe it was blueberry hair? |
At Ji-won’s apartment, she is looking through her stuff to come up with the perfect outfit. But her clothes are blah, her makeup is either old or non-existent, and her hair is flat.
She gets a text from Snakey, who is still pouting about not being the current center of Ji-won’s life.
I have to work really really hard not to roll my eyes every time she pouts/plays victim. Otherwise, I'd have a headache that would keep me from watching everything else.
It’s Sunday, THE day of the reunion! Snakey is all giddy with the rest of the mean girls. Rounds of beers, fake cheers, the usual.
Bully Girl wonders aloud why that wimpy boring woman was coming to the reunion. Snakey simps that her BFF is plain and dull, but still deserves to see everyone.
This is what I don't get. How come no one--even at the time--is suspicious of her. I know, because I did this, I would have asked her if she was really her friend since she seems to talk smack about Ji-won all the time behind her back. When I asked a s similar question to a girl in high school, she tried to make it out to be that she was trying to defend her friend, but when I said that none of my friends had even brought up her friend, she shut up.
That "friend," by the way, ended up joining my study group and being friends with us even though she hadn't liked us before. Turns out her fake friend had said we didn't like her when we didn't talk to her because we didn't know her at all. Pfft. Fake people still make me mad!
That's awesome that you turned it around! [applause]
Everyone thinks she is an angel for having such a boyfriend-stealing, copycatting friend. Snakey implies that she got Ji-won her temporary job and U&K and was dating the man Snakey likes (Weasel).
She has probably been able to tell these lies for years because Ji-won never comes. However, I wonder how she thinks she can get away with them if Ji-won shows up? Even if the old Ji-won shows up, does she think the old Ji-won would pretend she was only a part-time worker or lie and say that Snakey got her the job rather than the other way round?!
Snakey is dumb enough to think so, yes. Moreover, I bet that Ji-won kept her mouth shut during high school as well. Snakey just never evolved and figured everybody would be the same. So, she's an idiot.
Ji-won is on her way, walking in like a champ! Long, flowy beige dress, strappy heels, short cute hairstyle.
How did this happen? Well, on Saturday when she thought she couldn’t do a makeover, she gets a happy text from Hui-yeon that practically pops out of her phone, offering to meet up with her. While wandering some shops, Ji-won finds the authentic earrings in a window, and realizes how different the fake ones are.
We get a high school flashback. Ji-won is wearing frumpy clothes bought by Snakey the Fakey. Her supposed best friend put a sloppy beret on her head and demanded candy. Ji-won didn’t buy any, which sends Snakey into a snit. Young Weasel (whose ugly sweater matches his soul) (HAHAHA) pops up, chastises Ji-won, and supplies Snakey with her needed sugar fix. Ji-won then becomes their coolie, lugging all their stuff around campus while the two cavort hand in hand. Geez they were a slimy couple years before the beginning of our story.
Shaking my head. Wishing I was there to befriend Ji-won.
Ji-won is startled out of her flashback reverie by Hui-yeon. Our Sunny New Friend startles her into dropping the knockoff earrings to the ground.
Later, over tteokbukki, they chat and soju-talk. Sunny is surprised Ji-won is drinking, since she had a bad experience years ago. Ji-won thinks for a moment and remembers a day she got sloshed and ended up stumbling into some strange man's arms. 
She has thought of how much she changed because of Weasel and vows to never do that again. These two women are so cute as they celebrate good food and good friends.
Alcohol loosens tongues. Ji-won confide that she was unpopular and bullied in high school. Hui-yeon, that innocent puppy, is surprised that Ji-won had little self-confidence when speaking to her peers. She tell her eonni that she should go to the reunion and confront those bullies to find out why they picked on her. This makes sense to Ji-won, and Sunny proposes they make a day makeover. But only after she sneaks a few dumplings into her Prada purse.😂
She needs to eat!
We now segue into the Makeover Montage! Hair! Nails! Clothes! Shoes! The new Ji-won emerges like a butterfly. Tall, thin, with mile-long legs and pearly skin. She cries as she remembers the jaundiced look of her cancer days.
I usually don't tear up at make-over montages anymore because they happen so much, but I was touched by this one thinking of her alone in hospice.
In the middle of all that, Weasel appears to be camping in…a city park? He’s coughing over a pitiful grill, and I hope all those carcinogens embed themselves deeply into his lung tissue. He is happy to flirt with some young girls nearby.
He is SOOOO confident in his charms. I'm going to enjoy his future pitiful state. Make it happen, Show!
That night, Ji-won wakes up in bed. The past swirled through her head too much; however, Sunny is happily snoring on a blanket pallet on the floor. Ji-won smiles, grateful to have a true friend by her side.
Sunny is so like a giant puppy. Loyal and good natured and happy with a snack.
Oddly, she starts receiving texts. Isn’t it dark o’clock? Anyway, Manager Kim texts that her singles meal proposal with go into research stage, but Snakey will be on the team. She also gets SnakeMail reminding her of their “dinner date” tomorrow.
Such. A. Liar. How can she feel justified setting her up like this?
Snakey also calls directly and is shocked that her ‘bestie’ spent the day with someone else and even allowed that someone to slumber party at her place. After a moment, though, she carefully breaches the meal proposal. We get flashes of the exact same words from Snakey past and present. “Let me tweak things here and there, and I will resubmit it to Manager Kim.” Ji-won gently declines but offers to let her advise on the next proposal. Then Ji-won talks in a stronger tone. She tells the younger woman to stop being chummy at work and to treat her like the senior full-time coworker that she is.
Snakey is surprised when Ji-won hangs up a second later, but blows off the strangeness. She is convinced it’s just a tantrum, and Ji-won will return to being her brainless sycophant soon.
After the phone call, Snakey walks into a restaurant. Squicky Manager Kim is there, tearing into a piece of chicken with Ji-won’s meal proposal on the table. Snakey demurely says she was just talking to her mother. Whut? Disgusting Kim is disgustingly eating with his saliva-covered hands, but still fantasizes that Snakey will make the perfect bride. He carelessly crosses out Ji-won’s name on the proposal.
Wow. He is so gross. Another mediocre man believing that he's a brilliant stud.
Finally, it’s Sunday! Ji-won is looking newly fabulous, and everyone stops and stares for a moment. The big bully sneers at Ji-won, especially those knockoff earrings. Except, they aren’t.
HAHA. Also, how would they know or think they know?
Flashback: Hui-yeon found the fake earrings that Snakey gave Ji-won and stated they are the kind of knockoffs that are given to someone for humiliation purposes. So Sunny lends Ji-won the real deals. And we find out that Snakey’s are actually a slightly better copy but fake all the same.
Later on during the reunion, we get a modern reenactment of the high school bully bathroom scene. Almost down to the same conversation: how sweet Snakey is, how awful Jo-min is, blah blah.
Trying not to roll my eyes here, too. I need to fend off headaches, so I miss nothing of the showdown that I know is coming!
Except this time, Ji-won kicks her stall door open and confronts Bully. She takes control of the conversation like a boss and demands to know why they think so poorly of her, both in high school and now.
It turns out Bully is completely convinced that she covets everything of Snakey, including earrings, job, and boyfriends. Ji-won snarls that it’s pretty stupid to only believe one side of things without giving it proper thought. She shows the Mean Girls the gift card for the earrings and her business card as a fulltime employee at U&K. She even calls Weasel on speaker; he confirms that Ji-won is his girlfriend and Snakey is the only friend Ji-won has. She hangs up mid-sentence once that’s proven.
I love how he's so startled and can barely get anything out and she just uses what she needs of him and shuts the rest down.
With that, Ji-won sails her badazz self out of the bathroom, leaving behind a bevy of bemused biatches.
So satisfying.
She is still upset, though, and is ready to just grab her jacket and leave this hive of scum and villainy. Bully yells across the restaurant, though, and everything grinds to a halt. She insists that Ji-won is still a villainess, stemming from stealing Snakey’s high school sweetheart “Eun-ho”. Snakey jumps up but she is unable to stop the mountain of misinformation from avalanching on her…butt.
I'm glad this happens though. The bathroom confrontation was sweet but too private. We need to get the truth out in front of everyone. Everyone from that high school needs to be corrected.
Ji-won sneers at Bully and the entire class. In fact, she is the one who had feelings for Eun-ho and Snakey never dated him. Snakey tries several times to stop the truth but…nope. There’s no stopping this crazy train.
She started it.
As Bully stutters, a handsome man arrives. It’s the food porn cook, Baek Eun-ho (LEE GI-KWANG)! He puts shame icing on the mortification cake for Snakey by announcing to everyone that he never ever ever dated that nasty girl, and only liked Ji-won. Snakey 0, Ji-won 10,000,000,000,000!
Be honest, Shuk. He didn't say "nasty." It's just us thinking it. Because she is.
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| You can see it in his eyes. |
For Boss, things are not going well. At a pretty pavilion, he is getting yelled at by his grandfather. He doesn’t agreed with Ji-hyuk’s handling of work affairs. He also plays the usual Asian “gotta get married” spiel. Boss admits there is someone he likes, but it’s only one-sided. Grandfather is ready to intervene, but Boss gently and firmly says no. He’s done everything that his grandfather wanted: studying business, going to the US, joining the marketing team, etc. He will make his own decisions on his personal happiness. 
Of course, once Ji-hyuk drives away, Grandpa is ready to get his assistant to start investigating his grandson’s love life. If the woman isn’t appropriate, he may have to intervene. Tropey interloper relative alert.
Boss is in his car, thinking about the previous conversation with Cute Chef (when he told him about the reunion). We hear the rest of the conversation; he tells Eun-ho that it will greatly benefit Ji-won if he goes. Boss checks his GPS and you know he’s thinking about crashing the reunion. But his darn assistant calls and he heads for the office instead.
At the ruinion…reunion (haha), everyone is amazed that Cute Chef is there. Ji-won is gobsmacked at seeing him, and even more embarrassed when he asks her if she really liked him. She ultimately grabs her stuff and bolts out the door.
Ah-hah! Boss didn’t go to work, but is skulking about the restaurant. He is gobsmacked himself when he sees Ji-won in her lovely flowing skirt with her bare shoulders and fabulous shoes. A moment later, he sees Cute Chef also charge out of the restaurant.
Chef manages to catch up with Ji-won and grabs her arm. There’s a moment of awkwardness between the two that Boss sees from a distance. Did he double-park?
I am always surprised in these shows about how easily people park anywhere they want and how they find parking spaces exactly where they want to be.
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| Finding parking in a drama be like.. |
She wants to run. He wants to talk, so he grabs her arm again and yells out in public, “I have a crush on you!!”. There is applause from nearby pedestrians strolling around the Cheonggycheon Stream.
Poor Boss, seeing this…
Sigh. I did feel pained for him, but he set this up, so he needs to be consoled by his success.
ShukNote: The lighted swirly thing in the background is a large whelk shell commemorating the Pyeongchang Olympics of 2018, located at the Cheonggye Plaza.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Poor Ji-hyuk, whose only thought is to see Ji-won happy. He shouldn’t play the beta male, but make a strong push to wow her with his efforts!
I know some viewers are really annoyed by his noble idiocy, but I wonder how many of them would be more forthright. I find that people are never as direct as they expect other people to be. And he sincerely believes that she deserves someone who is going to be her rock for a long time. He's not sure he can be.
I simply loved loved loved the reunion. Ji-won was poised and strong (and gorgeous), standing up for herself and literally leaving Snakey in tatters. She still has to make sure that her previous best friend takes the fall for all the bad things looming on the horizon, but I’m confident it will work out. Snakey is too insipid and greedy to notice the trap door. Still, it might take a little finessing by Ji-won to pull it off after this spectacular smackdown.
I actually don't think Snakey is insipid. I think she is just too focused on her own narrative and how the way for her to be the heroine is to make sure that Ji-won is her forever sidekick.
