Things are steadily moving towards a close in these penultimate episodes which means we’ve got a lot to discuss but first I’m gonna need a minute… SLS hit me hard as I watched these two episodes and I… I just… my heart… *sniff* Ha… *sniffle* Joooon… *sobs*
Okay, I know Ha Joon’s broken heart is not the major focus of this week’s episodes but I can’t help but talk about him first. He broke my heart this week and I need to talk him out of my system so I can start down the road to recovery. The sad thing is, I knew this moment was coming. It was inevitable. Ha Joon was destined to be the one to break my heart with all his wounded adorableness and forbidden first love. Why he had to fall for the one girl in the world who was already spoken for is beyond me but he did and now I’m suffering. (The drama gods can be so cruel!) I suppose I should take some comfort in knowing that with Ha Joon being the one to find Yeon Doo first, he was able to have that one special “moment” with her but really, we all know that moment will haunt him for the rest of his life. That’s gonna be one of his biggest “what if” moments and he’s going to spend the rest of his life wondering if he should have done something more when Yeon Doo ran into his arms.
I suppose there’s always the possibility Ha Joon and Yeon Doo will end up together, seeing as how Yeon Doo and Kim Yeol’s parents are now engaged. Or sort of engaged? Tentatively engaged? I’m not really sure what to call it but they’re together and they want to stay that way forever so let’s just go with engaged. How is this going to affect Yeon Doo and Kim Yeol’s relationship? How is it going to affect the relationship between mother/daughter and father/son? There are so many lives affected by this one relationship and though I think it’s a good thing from the perspective of the parents, it’s going to be hard for Yeon Doo and Kim Yeol to deal with. Will the children be the ones to dictate the happiness of the parents or will they see their parents have just as much of a right to be happy as they do? Thinking about the parents giving up their happiness for the sake of their children makes me cringe but it’s such a parental thing to do. (And yes, I do know what I’m talking about here because I’ve been a parent for over 12 years now… Jeez, I feel old.) I don’t want to see the parents unhappy just because their kids like each other. Yes, it’s a weird place to be but Yeon Doo and Kim Yeol are so young, they have so much more life to live. Who’s to say they’re going to be together forever? Maybe they will but maybe as they grow up they’ll grow apart. It’s certainly a possibility. Who knows, maybe Ha Joon really is Yeon Doo’s soul-mate, they just need time to grow up before they get together… (Yeah, I know, I need to give up on Yeon Doo and Ha Joon but I prefer to hold on to my dreams…)
Speaking of dreams and parents, I think Soo A’s mom needs a serious overhaul of the dreams she holds for her daughter. I can’t believe that after all Soo A has done to please her mom, nothing has changed. At least not when it comes to the way Soo A’s mom deals with her daughter. Rather than addressing the issues, this woman tries to cover everything up, acting as if it’s perfectly okay to lie, steal, cheat, harass, bully, threaten and hurt people. Because that’s totally what normal people do when they’re dealing with the difficulties of life. Soo A has always had this problem of believing she’s the only one struggling to live up to the ridiculous expectations set by those around her. If she took half a second to look beyond the end of her own nose she’d see that every other kid in that stupid school is struggling. Maybe looking beyond herself would have kept her from going down this self-destructive path… Maybe, but I doubt it. Soo A isn’t the type of person to think of anyone but herself. Good thing she has friends who are able to do what she can’t.
I find myself rather conflicted about Soo A at the moment. She has been awful since the very beginning and I’ve hated her for it. I understand that most of her horrid-ness is due to the tremendous amount of pressure her mother has put on her to be the best, no matter what. I also understand that Soo A has always possessed the ability to use her #2 brain to make decisions but she has a very bad habit of making the wrong decisions. She has an even worse habit of blaming those around her for those decisions; as if they were the ones making all those wrong decisions for her. It’s this lack of owning up to her mistakes that has made me dislike Soo A so much and that hasn’t changed any. However, I’ve come to accept that there are some things about Soo A’s life that she has no control over, which have contributed to her current suffering and that makes me feel very sorry for her. Her mother, for one, is the most horrid person on the face of the planet and her actions throughout have been nothing short of awful. She treats her daughter like a prize or a puppet to be commanded and has never once shown any real affection for Soo A. Growing up in this sort of environment is bound to screw a person up so seeing Soo A suffer from her minuscule conscience means she’s actually grown up better than anyone would have expected. Stemming from this is Soo A’s overwhelming stress and coinciding depression. It makes sense for Soo A to be suffering as she has been as trying to play the role of a monster has to be exhausting, especially when, deep down, you’re really just a hurting kid who wants nothing more than to live, love and be loved in return.
While I can’t condone Soo A’s actions (especially not her murder and suicide attempts), nor support her awfulness in any way (after all, she’s the one who chose to be awful in the first place), I can completely understand what she’s going through and I can empathize with her. I only hope this attempt by her friends, to reach out to her and bring her back from the dangerous ledge she’s been teetering on, succeeds. As much as I’ve whined about how much I can’t stand Soo A, I don’t want to see her dead. She has so much going for her, so many people who love her, I hope she can see that and come away from this dark path she’s started down. I’d much rather see Soo A learn some valuable life lessons, overcome these current obstacles, and someday come back and put her awful mother in her place, than see her end it all here and now.
With two episodes left, there’s still quite a few questions to be answered and I’m a little nervous as to how these answers will come about. Even so, I’m choosing to remain optimistic as this show wraps up so I’ll just cross my fingers and hope for the best. After all, this is DramaLand we’re talking about here… Anything can happen.
So tell me, what did you think of these two drama-filled episodes? Did anything take you by surprise this week? Any scenes make your heart flutter? *cough* hospital kiss *cough* How do you think things will work out between the engaged parents? Will Soo A’s mom ever learn her lesson? How do you see this one wrapping up? You know I always love hearing from you so be sure to let me know what you’re thinking by leaving me a comment below!
Catch up on all of my reviews of Cheer Up! here: