So, a lot has happened since the last Homemade Love Story review, the plot has progressed a lot, we’re actually 72% through the show now, and things have gotten spicy. I’ll be breaking things down more or less by plotline and/or character groups, they mostly go together.
Bit Chae-Won & Jae-Hee (Main Plot)
They got engaged! It’s actually really nice how much they continue to just trust each other without reserve, even when they accidentally hurt each other, or get temporarily angry, the relationship never feels in jeopardy, it’s great. Unfortunately for them, Pil-hong, Chae-won’s father, has entered into the picture and is just the worst, you can tell he is torn by a genuine love he has for his daughter, but it hasn’t stopped him from being mostly horrible. In his latest move, after doing something right and not scamming Ra-hoon (more on that later), he follows the Chairwoman’s orders and scoops up Jae-hee’s new big construction contract right before it gets signed. Jae-hee’s partner had secretly taken loans and spent all the money on materials for the job, and the company had already been paying off their debt, so without the job their angry workers who had lost their job wrecked Jae-hee’s office and left him beaten up there to be found by Chae-won.
Chae-won in the meantime, has suffered a lot as well, her father being a terrible person being a piece of the puzzle, but not the whole picture. Jung-won has denied her being her daughter publicly to protect her position in the company, and has given the full time position to the other intern, so that rumors don’t spread further claiming that they have a mother-daughter relationship, and special treatment. Chae-won has also had to move back to Samgwang Villa due to this, and Jung-won doesn’t approve of her marriage to Jae-hee yet, so there’s virtually no support, and in fact active obstruction from her birth mother as well. She has resolved to stay strong regardless of all this, and work from the bottom of the company to prove her worth, even if it means the job is harder.
I guess I’ll mention Seo-ah here as well, she is the reason Jae-hee actually lost the contract, and she begged the Chairwoman to block it, who then hired Pil-hong to do the dirty work. She has decided that if she can’t have Jae-hee, then he wants to burn his entire world down I guess, true love. This character started out interesting and with a lot of room to grow and then she just started sabotaging everybody she cares about to satisfy her bruised ego, despite all signs that the earlier episodes showed of her being quite clever, and smart enough to understand that everything she’s doing hurts herself. Also, Na-ro finally moved out, he really saw Samgwang Villa as his only real home, and feels so bad for making Soon-jung sad at his sudden departure, and has since reached out to Chae-won to help her a bit. I think he may be doing it for himself, but you can see the increasing self doubt he’s feeling, and I think eventually he’ll do the right thing. He made out with Seo-ah too, but even that feels like business, and he really doesn’t care for her in my opinion, they may end up together anyways though.
Soon-Jung, Min-Jae, Jung-Hoo (Old Flames)
This may be my biggest plot disappointment, Jung-hoo was revealed to have always loved Min-jae, breaking the heart of Soon-jung in a flashback when he said so, proving that they were never anything more than close friends. So Min-jae’s jealousy was actually entirely unfounded, he just took her for granted and couldn’t help but feel fighty with her at all times, and, you know, mostly treated her like garbage and walked all over her for the majority of her adult life. So, ultimately, it’s become quite clear that Jung-hoo and Min-jae will settle their differences and get remarried, I don’t really think this sends a great message, although some people deserve second chances and forgiveness, Jung-hoo has literally given Min-jae mental issues through all his abuses, and although I think he can be better, that’s actually been proven, he’s one of the nicest characters away from Min-jae, she still shouldn’t get back with him, it feels like Stockholm Syndrome. She deserves better than that, like a widower also named Jung-hoo that the writers put in as a rival for her love, who I’m sure is going to turn out to be awful now that it’s clear that the main Jung-hoo will win Min-jae’s love back.
Soon-jung has been fairly wishy-washy, especially earlier, but she’s settled into her decisiveness a little better now. She’s the strong supportive mom, the emotional core of the main characters once again, a role that was dispersed among side characters, and we desperately needed back. I like that she’s starting to make moves for herself again, and not just be non-committal and roll over on everything, this is the Soon-jung we needed all along, although, if we had gotten her, the show probably wouldn’t be able to stretch as far out, as most of the misunderstanding would have been cleared much earlier. Also, the reveal of her unrequited love for Jung-hee was pretty sad, she is just left to be alone romantically perhaps, but she’s never without love as long as she’s surrounded by her Samgwang Villa People.
Side Plots (Man-jung & Hawk-se, Ra-hoon & Ba-reun, Hae-deun & Jun-a)
Man-jung and Hwak-se ended the episode revealing that they’re dating to Soon-jung. Given Soon-jung’s generally supportive nature to everybody she cares for, this should go over swimmingly, that seems pretty in character, and she knows they’re both great people. Sadly, the preview implies that Soon-jung will be against it and look down on Hwak-se compared to Man-jung, just as other people have, I’m hoping that’s just preview bait, but I’ll be disappointed if it comes to pass. So, we’ll wait and see on this one, although it’ll work out in the end, I think that’s more or less the case for everything in this show, it’s supposed to be feel-good past all the drama.
Ra-hoon and Ba-reun continue to be the sweetest core of the show, with the actors having far better chemistry than the leads, who always feel awkward and disinterested in each other, despite their lines saying otherwise. They were so excited to buy into a food truck together, all of Ra-hoon’s work was going to pay off in the end… and then it’s Pil-hong working a scam for a friend, who, luckily, had enough grace to tell them the truth before running away. This is still a huge blow to my favorite couple, and despite knowing they’ll bounce back, and that it will all work out, I’m still sad for them, but I can’t wait to see them land back on their feet.
Hae-deun and Jun-a, this couple is easily second place in fun for me. I started watching this show because I’m a big fan of Bona, and I actually think she’s done a pretty good job of becoming this character, and Jun-a’s erratic way of talking and thinking, largely out loud, is a pretty funny character trait to me. This couple also actually feels more natural on screen, and their romance is definitely also the second best written, the way they play off of each other and support each other is really nice, both awkward and comfortable all at once. I’m excited for their character interactions the most now, since Ra-hoon and Ba-reun have settled into a more comfortable position at this point.
Summary
I think most everything is going pretty well with almost every character, and of those that annoyed me: Na-ro’s character having more hesitancy gives him a lot more nuance, and makes him a little less hateable. The Chairwoman, totally hateable, is a character with logic and reason, so I actually think she’s well written and interesting. Soon-jung has really put herself back together, although we’ll see how I feel about that next week. Pil-hong is the same as Na-ro, pretty hateable, but with nuance, we’ll see if I just hate him later though, he and Na-ro can go either way depending on writing. Lastly, Seo-ah is the worst still, her character writing is more or less unforgivable, whatever explanations they give will feel unsatisfying at this point, there is no established reason for her to be this bad, bad yes, but the degree is crazy, in my opinion, no redemption will be redemption enough.
Plot wise, I’m pretty happy with almost every storyline, can’t wait for them to start coming back together again though, it happens too rarely where there is real meaningful plot crossover. That said, don’t know if I’ll review weekly from here on out, if there’s enough to talk about, I will, otherwise, expect bi-weekly.