In-Gwon and Ho-Sik
Episode 7 of Our Blues begins with Seon-A jumping in the water and letting herself fall to the bottom of the sea. After the heart-wrenching video about how Yeol sees her (“she’s sick”) Seon-A decides to end it all. However, divers find her and manage to bring her back to the surface. Yeong-Ok does CPR as Seon-A is rushed to hospital. Dong-Seok hangs about just to make sure Seon-A is okay but claims she’s a stranger when asked by officers about his relationship to her. He also probes the detectives over what’s going on. According to Seon-A’s statement, she slipped so the case is closed. Captain Jun shows up and hands over Seon-A’s bag to Dong-Seok, believing he’s going to hand it over to her. Dong-Seok is nosy and looks inside, where he notices several pictures of Yeol. When Seon-A is discharged, Dong-Seok agrees to take her back, wrapping her in a blanket and promising not to make a move. Dong-Seok takes her to a motel, one with bars on the windows so she can’t jump. He calls her a brat, not believing the story about her slipping on the dock. While this is going on, Yeong-Ju and Hyeon discuss their current situation, including how they’re going to break the news to their fathers. They’re hoping everything goes smoothly but Yeong-Ju has already sorted a plan B in case things turn sour, including moving into a women’s facility in Jeju. Hyeon meanwhile, has done the math on how much he can get paid by working. Seon-Mi shows at school and tells Yeong-Ju that her belly is getting bigger and people have been talking, Hyeon uses this as motivation to head off and tell his dad what’s happening right now. In his absence, Eun-Hui rings and asks Yeong-Ju about what’s happening. She admits she’s uneducated and nosy but knows she’s been off recently. And then, Yeong-Ju breaks the news that she’s pregnant. Eun-Hui is shell-shocked, and suspects the worst when the girl tells her she’s going to talk to her father later on. Hyeon speaks to In-Gwon, breaking the news about the baby. He initially thinks she’s sleeping around but when Hyeon tells In-Gwon that he’s the father, In-Gwon is furious. In fact, when Hyeon mention they’re in love, he slaps his boy several times across the face and promises that he’s going to get a beating. For Yeong-Ju, things aren’t much better. Ho-Sik demands she get dressed so they can head to the hospital to make sure. He’s in denial, believing she needs to see a competent doctor…until she shows him the baby scan picture and her belly. Yeong-Ju tells her father that this is love and not anything against her will. While Ho-Sik calls his son pathetic and an idiot, unwilling to even look at the scan photo and constantly hitting his son, Ho-Sik hits himself and begs his daughter not to give birth and do this. “It’s my body. I’m going to have the baby.” She says. With the boat well and truly rocked, Yeong-Ju and Hyeon exchange messages to one another that night. Both of them are grappling with issues involving their fathers, with Ho-Sik still in denial and wanting to go to the hospital. In-Gwon meanwhile, uses intimidation and anger to try and get his way. Part of his hostility between the fathers stems from the past, where In-Gwon and Ho-Sik had a big rivalry… but it didn’t always start that way. In fact, they actually used to be friends. The next morning though, In-Hwon and Ho-Sik wind up seeing each other at the traffic lights on the way to work and exchange knowing glances. Of course, this leads to the pair honking horns at one another and racing down the street. At school, Hyeon decides to drop out while Yeong-Ju rings her father and tells him he needs to head in for a meeting if she’s to stay in school. At the same time, In-Gwon tries to pay off Ho-Sik, giving him whole stacks of money to make Yeong-Ju get an abortion. Also, just as a side note, In-Gwon just went to the toilet and walked out without washing his hands. Yuck. Anyway, this is partly a throwback to the past, which we see when In-Gwon – acting as a hotshot gangster – drops money in Yeong-Ju’s hands and calls Ho-Sik a dirt-poor loser. In the present, Ho-Sik and In-Gwon both fight in the market, trading punches with one another as their emotions come tumbling out.
The Episode Review
Poor Hyeon and Yeong-Ju are stuck in the middle of this horrible conflict between these two fathers. They partly want what’s best for their kids but the way they’re going about this is tearing both of their children apart. There’s definitely an air of Romeo and Juliet here in the way this story has been presented. Perhaps not in the sense of the lovers losing their lives but more so in the sense that these two kids are caught between two warring families. This baby could actually be the key to severing the bitter rivalry they both have. The preview for the next episode seems to hint that this is going to come to its head sooner rather than later, and I’d imagine the kids may actually go through wit their alternate plan and leave together. We shall see. Ultimately, this whole episode is framed beautifully to show a very raw and intimate issue that’s caused ripples across Jeju island. Now, I’d imagine later on in the show we’re going to start seeing these characters overlapping and intersecting, with the individual romances and subplots starting to weave around one another. For now though, Our Blues continues to deliver great drama and the ending certainly teases that we’ve got lots more drama to come.
