Warm and Cozy: Episode 7

by girlfriday

Oh phew, it’s finally here, the episode where our manchild hero wakes the hell up and realizes that his heart may have other ideas than his brain. In his defense, it’s a very small brain? The romantic development could not have come sooner, because I was so mad at his behavior last week that I needed a big turnaround to get me rooting for him again. We’ve got a ways to go before he’s forgiven, but making hearts go pitter-patter might be a nice place to begin his redemption.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Jaejoo Boys – “머물러줘” (Stay) [ Download ]

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EPISODE 7 RECAP

After ditching Jung-joo for a shopping spree with Ji-won in Seoul (grumble, grumble), Gun-woo gets kicked out as soon as he returns. He follows Jung-joo upstairs to argue, not believing that she really wants him to leave and can run the restaurant without her. She points out that he only set the place up to seduce a girl, so doesn’t the fact that he went to Seoul with Ji-won mean that she’s all but won over? Gun-woo says defensively that he wouldn’t like a girl who was won over so easily, unlike someone who would be seduced by a plate of ddukboki. Ooo, buuurn.

Jung-joo asks what he’s going to seduce Ji-won with next time when he’s already blown an entire credit card on her, and Gun-woo says it’s none of her concern since he’s not trying to seduce her. It devolves into a petty round of, “You’re so childish!” “We’re not speaking!” And Gun-woo finally shouts back, “I’m not EVER going to leave!” Well, I got what I wanted, so you two can stew all you want.

By morning, they’re both back at their respective stations in the restaurant, only they spend the day giving each other the silent treatment and exchanging huffy faces. Poong-san tries to intervene but Gun-woo says he’ll never be the first to speak… until he sees Jung-joo pop another Cancer Mint and starts feeling bad.

Poong-san continues to let him believe that they’re painkillers, but then goes outside to ask Jung-joo if she’s still taking the vitamins he gave her. Heh, you resupplied the bottle? She thanks him for looking out for her health, but he just says cryptically that he’s just giving Warm & Cozy a little medicine to keep the peace.

Jung-joo runs into Mayor Wook and asks if she can’t find out the results of her diving school application a little early, but he makes no exceptions and tells her when the final list will be up. She sighs that she won’t pass anyway because of the ajumma who has a grudge against her, but Wook tells her that Gun-woo apologized and made amends with pizza for her grandkids. Jung-joo is surprised that he did that for her and never even told her, and goes back to Warm & Cozy ready to apologize.

She stalls for a bit and then sort of half-mumbles his name, and Gun-woo lights up at the broken silence. Of course he hides his smile and tries to look nonchalant as he answers, but before they can say anything else, Ji-won comes out of the kitchen. UGH. YOU.

A cloud forms over Jung-joo immediately, and she just says to incorporate sea snails into their menu today. Gun-woo is disappointed and calls after her to ask about the menu, but she just leaves him hanging, and Ji-won smirks to herself like the Grinch who stole happiness.

Then she has the nerve to follow Jung-joo out to complain that she’s making hard work for Gun-woo by insisting on catching their own seafood, and tells her not to make his life difficult. What’s even worse than her presence there is that Jung-joo starts to believe her, and thinks that Gun-woo’s life was easier before she arrived.

The air is still awkward by nightfall, and Gun-woo lingers around Jung-joo, wondering why she’s got a suitcase pulled out but not ready to ask her about it. She asks him if she makes him uncomfortable, then says with resignation, “Don’t try so hard.”

He doesn’t really understand what she’s saying, but when he wakes up and she’s not there, he starts to panic. Poong-san tells him that she was headed to the harbor to catch a boat, and when Gun-woo doesn’t seem to know anything about it, he wonders, “What if noona never comes back?”

Her words last night come back to Gun-woo now, and he runs after her. As soon as he does, Poong-san breaks out into an impish grin.

Gun-woo races to the harbor and finds Jung-joo in line for her boat, and drags her suitcase away to stop her. He yells that she’s acting like an escaping daughter-in-law, leaving home just because they had one fight.

She tells him that she’s headed to Busan for a friend’s wedding, ha, and shows him that her giant suitcase is full of gifts and souvenirs from Jeju. Properly mortified, Gun-woo tells her sheepishly to go, and when she wonders if she shouldn’t return, he tells her that she has to come back.

Jung-joo points out that if anyone would be kicked out, it’d be him, and Gun-woo immediately sits down next to her looking as innocent as possible: “Boss, don’t kick me out! I’ll work really hard while you’re gone!”

She’s appeased at that, and asks if he wants her to buy anything on her way back, then recants and says that he wouldn’t need anything from Busan since he just went on a shopping spree in Seoul. He FINALLY catches on that she’s mad that he went up there without her.

He tells her to let her ponytail down for the wedding because she looks much prettier with her hair down, only to watch and immediately rethink it: “Nah, tie it back up.” She grouses while he smiles, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Both Mayor Wook and diver ajumma Hae-shil rush into the diving school to sneak a peek at the final list of new students, and they’re both elated to find Jung-joo and Jung-geun’s names among the new class.

Jung-geun is distracted through yet another board meeting and barely registers a response when their hotel gets chosen by some important VIPs. But then Hae-shil texts to say that he’s been accepted at the diving school, and he erupts in a loud fist-pumping cheer. Thankfully it just looks like he’s really damn happy about those VIPs.

Gun-woo is out picking greens alongside the ajummas (and blending right in with his giant ajumma visor), when Jung-joo calls after the wedding to say that she might not make it home tonight because the groom’s friends have gotten rooms and plan to party all night.

Gun-woo pouts, and then suddenly asks if she doesn’t see storm clouds where she is, because it’s looking really stormy in Jeju. It is, of course, as sunny and blue as it always is.

He goes on and on about how he really knows Jeju weather, and it looks exactly like a storm might roll in tomorrow, just in time for her not to catch a boat back home, so she should really just come home tonight. Sometimes I hate it that you’re this cute.

Jung-joo catches on and plays coy, leaving him guessing about whether or not she’ll make it home. He throws a tantrum in the field, and Jung-joo tells her friend that she won’t be going with them tonight, opting instead to go to a salon to try letting her hair down.

She returns to Jeju that night with a new look, and Wook happens to see her first as she’s arriving by bus. He’s so smitten with her that he whirls his bike around to start chasing the bus, and pedals furiously after it, until he’s gasping for air and drenched in sweat.

I love that he gets off his bike and starts casually walking in her direction while looking away, trying to look leisurely when he’s dripping in sweat and panting like a dog. She greets him but then just keeps walking past, which is pretty much the worst effort-to-reward ratio ever.

So he calls out to her (barely making sounds between gasps for air) and complains that she was much friendlier when she was in need of his help, and Jung-joo offers some of the rice cakes that she bought in Busan.

Gun-woo lays out a whole set of diving gear that he bought for Jung-joo on her bed, mighty pleased and anticipating her reaction. He holds up the wetsuit’s hand and cheers at it: “Jung-joo, fighting!”

Wook walks Jung-joo home and tells her the good news a day early: She’s been accepted into the diving school. Gun-woo comes out looking for her just in time to see her excited reaction, as she jumps around high-fiving and holding hands with Wook (who looks down at his hands like he’s never going to wash them again), and he frowns jealously.

He walks over and Jung-joo shares her good news, raising up her hands for the same reaction. Gun-woo puts his hands up to meet hers, only instead of clapping, he yanks her close and hugs her. He gives Wook a pointed look as he holds on and says, “Congratulations! Our Jung-joo did well!” Jung-joo pulls out of the awkward hug, but he just throws an arm around her and says they should throw a party to celebrate.

She looks up at him like he’s on drugs and stops to say that she needs her suitcase, and Gun-woo goes to get it while babbling on and on, “Our Jung-joo’s suitcase? Oh, I have to carry Our Jung-joo’s suitcase. Of course I have to carry it. It’s Our Jung-joo’s.” He thinks he’s won and starts to walk ahead, but Jung-joo lingers behind to thank Wook. He asks about her diving equipment and offers to get her a set of goggles from one of the diver ajummas, and Gun-woo pouts thinking about his gift waiting for her back at home.

But when she thanks Wook for helping her get into the school, Gun-woo gets mad and asks if she really got accepted because of Wook: “Ah, he must’ve helped you because of that picture! I saw it too! Hwangto Man.” Oh no you di’n’t.

He even throws up his arm in the pose Wook had in the underwear ad, and poor Wook just stands there feeling exposed and silently covers up his crotch. Gun-woo fakes misunderstanding the situation and Jung-joo tries to explain, but Wook just turns to go.

Gun-woo faux-apologizes for ruining her connections to the not-so-powerful mayor, but she just counters that if word gets out about the underwear ad, she’ll just have to take responsibility for Wook.

Gun-woo scoffs, “What, are you gonna go marry him or something?” Jung-joo: “Why not? Go ahead and spread that rumor around, so I can go be the mayor’s wife.” That slaps the grin right off of Gun-woo’s smug face.

She goes upstairs and discovers the diving gear on her bed, and is dense enough to wonder if it’s hers. At first he says it’s all his, but then angrily shouts that it’s hers and shoves it at her.

He admits to buying her gear when he was up in Seoul, and we see him smiling to himself in flashback as he declared that Our Jung-joo would be Jeju’s top fashionista diver. Jung-joo smiles to hear it, but tells him that it’s too expensive and that he should return them because she picked up some used equipment already.

Gun-woo gets mad all over again, wondering why he ever bothered. But Jung-joo holds onto the goggles, deciding that she wants to keep those.

He heads to bed still pissy over the comment that she’d marry the mayor, but Jung-joo pokes her head in to give him the face cream she bought. She thanks him for making amends with the angry ajumma on her behalf, and he smiles to have his good deed recognized, even adding that he didn’t do it for the credit.

Ever so quick on the uptake, Gun-woo only now notices Jung-joo’s new hair and makeup, and leans in close to stare and smile. She gets flustered at his closeness and blurts that she’s hungry, and he points out that she should’ve eaten lots at the wedding.

She complains that the food wasn’t very good, and he boasts that it’s because he ruined her taste buds for any cooking that isn’t as awesome as his, and offers to make her ddukboki. Is that still code for seduction? Because I can never tell with you.

Jung-geun stares at the text message from Hae-shil all night, wondering what it means that he got accepted at the school. He remembers telling her to fail him if she never wanted to see him again, wondering if passing him means the opposite. Of course, he’s asking romantic advice from his dog, which explains a lot about his methods. He texts Hae-shil in a petulant tone that she’ll have to deal with him now that she went ahead and passed him, and then follows up with a string of texts until he suggests thanking her in person and announces that he’s right outside.

She goes from rolling her eyes to smoothing her hair and rushing to find a sweater to wear, but when she reaches the door, he texts again to say that he’s not there: “I don’t miss you enough to come to your door at this hour! I’m not that crazy!” Uh, well your texts sure say otherwise. She turns and goes back inside thinking he’s crazy, and then we pan up to find Jung-geun standing outside her fence up the hill, watching her and calling himself crazy. He decides that she didn’t know he came all the way here, as if that’s somehow better.

Gun-woo’s noona comes home to find the town’s blogger waiting for her with drinks, and it turns out that they’re old friends. The blogger, Mira, returns the old photograph of Gun-woo’s parents and says that she’s writing a novel based on them, calling it a romantic story, where a first love reappears a millionaire like The Great Gatsby. Noona is flustered that she revealed too much about her mother and Gun-woo’s father while she was drunk, and asks her not to turn her drunk ramblings into a novel. Mira doesn’t look convinced, nor is she about to give up on learning more.

Jung-joo curls up in bed, swooning over her belly full of ddukboki, and her heart races when Gun-woo sleepily calls out her name and comes over to her side of the room. Lol, does she really think he’s coming over to seduce her now that he’s fed her spicy seduction ddukboki?

She tenses up as the soundtrack turns steamy and he comes closer, and when he reaches for her shoulder, she shoots up in bed and asks what he wants at this late hour. He says in a sad little boy voice that he’s ill and he thinks it’s indigestion from the ddukboki, which brings her back to Earth.

She gives him medicine and pats his back, and it’s no surprise that he’s so afraid of needles that he won’t let her prick his finger for the old home remedy. He says that it’s nice to have someone here when he’s sick, and she agrees that being sick on your own is truly lonesome.

That just makes him think about her cancer, and he makes her promise to tell him if she’s sick so that he can be right next to her. He peers at her face in concern as he notes that she’s looking worse lately, and Jung-joo’s heart races again when he leans in close and touches her face.

She has to smack his hand away to get a grip, and asks if he’s really that comfortable around her. He doesn’t hesitate as he answers that he’s completely comfortable around her, and turns around to have her hit his back some more.

Jung-joo asks if he isn’t even just the tiniest bit uncomfortable because he’s a man and she’s a woman, but she deflates when he says that he wouldn’t live here if he saw her as a woman. Ouch. He tells her not to worry because he’s totally comfortable around her. Jung-joo’s hands hover behind his back as she asks shakily, “And what if I’m not? What will you do?” Omo.

She leans down and rests her head on his back, and admits, “If I’m all fluttery and even being with you like this makes my heart race, and I’m worried that you’ll notice… what will you do then?”

He stills at her words, but then when he turns around to face her, she slaps him on the back and laughs, pretending that she said all that stuff to surprise him and make the indigestion go away. Uh, it’s not hiccups. She says it works like a charm and heads upstairs before he can say anything. It leaves him stunned, and he moves his hand from his stomach to his heart.

Ji-won reports to Jung-geun about a proposal from the local diving school to hold a festival at the hotel, and she’s ready to turn it down but he stops her and approves it himself. Hae-shil and Wook are shocked to hear that the fancy hotel wants to do a community event, and all they’re told is that the CEO approved it directly. Jung-geun calls and guesses that Hae-shil has some happy news, bragging that it’s all because of him without explaining how.

He asks to meet, and when she turns him down, he calls her out on being excited to see him last night, running around to do her hair and put on a sweater. He says he can make it so that she waits for him and wants to see him, and she turns around to make sure he’s not lurking around the corner. See, this is what happens when you start doing creepy stalker things.

Okay, this is embarrassing—his idea of making her wait and want to see him is to invite her to the hotel as the CEO for a meeting about the festival. Never mind that she doesn’t know you’re the same guy, but whatever floats your boat.

Jung-geun approaches her and lets her think that he happens to be here on business too, and she rejects his offer to meet tomorrow. He gets huffy and says that he can make it so that they see each other, and walks off and sends his secretary to cancel the meeting and drive her home. Seriously, if this is your idea of wooing a girl, you suck at it.

Jung-joo heads out for her first day of diving school, and Gun-woo avoids her and ignores her requests not to laze around in the hammock because it makes their restaurant look closed for business. But when he hears that it’s her first day of school, he calls after her and tells her to do well, and reminds her of her promise that her very first catch belongs to him.

Wook goes out that morning to buy a new diving mask for Jung-joo, and wonders how to make it look used so that she won’t feel burdened by the present. Aww, that is so cute. She runs up to him outside the school and apologizes profusely for not keeping his Hwangto Man secret, explaining how Gun-woo found the picture on her phone.

Wook is shocked to hear that she has his near-nekkid picture on her phone to take out and look at from time to time, and he suddenly breaks out into this hilarious grin. She swears, “No! It’s definitely not like I’m some pervert who stares at a picture of you in nothing but your underwear!” Well when you put it like that…

He waves off her explanation, calling it an excuse, heh, but she insists on telling him about the co-worker sending the photo. He notices the new googles in her bag, and Jung-joo tells him they were a gift from Gun-woo, and he doesn’t have to bother looking for hand-me-downs for her. Sad, he hides the bag he’s holding behind his back until she’s gone. He sighs as he takes it out, regretting putting all those scratches in it, making it impossible to return.

Jung-joo joins the group photo for the new class of diving students, and she gets put in Hae-shil’s training group, along with Jung-geun, who still hasn’t shown up. Jung-geun spends his day with piles and piles of paperwork, which confuses his secretary since he asked for his Saturdays to be cleared for personal stuff, only to ask for work to fill his day. He explains that he is doing personal stuff right now: “I’m trying not to see something I shouldn’t see, so I’m reading these files!”

Jung-joo does well on her first day, even diving down and catching a conch [sora]. She waves it happily and shouts, “I caught a sora!” and Mayor Wook snaps a photo of her beaming face.

Back at Warm & Cozy, Gun-woo puts away his hammock like Jung-joo asked, and when Wook passes by, he makes a mild but civil attempt to apologize for the Hwangto Man thing, and asks if Wook is going to cancel his plans to hold his staff dinner here. Wook decides not to cancel, and Gun-woo is relieved.He does ask if Gun-woo is going to stick around here now, and notes that he used to seem like a visitor to their town, but now he seems more and more like a resident. Gun-woo just pauses to reflect on that without giving an answer.

Wook tells him to make sure that the food is good or else he’ll never come back, and rides off. Gun-woo sneers at Wook throwing his power around in front of Jung-joo, and declares, “Hwangto Man, I will make you a slave to your taste buds!”

Gun-woo plans an extravagant menu for the dinner, ready to show off his best work, but Jung-joo comes home and sees all the exorbitant menu choices and starts arguing with him about cost.

He takes it personally because he’s so caught up in this pride battle, and he tells her not to harp on money so much. She argues that she isn’t in business for fun, but he says that he is—he always did this for the fun of it. Poong-san figures that Gun-woo got tired of living like regular folk, and asks Jung-joo to be understanding, because Gun-woo isn’t someone who needs money.

Ji-won asks Jung-geun to make some time to go to Warm & Cozy with her, because she’s worried about Gun-woo giving his restaurant over to some woman. But Jung-geun says he’s met Jung-joo and thinks she’s a good person. I love that someone shut her down. Too bad noona isn’t as smart as hyung, because Ji-won runs over to her instead, and in no time she’s charging into the restaurant to turn her nose up at the tiny room that Gun-woo shares with Jung-joo. noona gives Jung-joo a key to her hotel suite and asks her to pass it along to Gun-woo.

Jung-joo puts away the conch shells that she didn’t even get to tell Gun-woo about, and he comes in with two big boxes of seafood, pouting about how it’s hot out and he wants to have this stuff delivered now.

She tells him that he really doesn’t need to stay here anymore, and he quickly retracts, agreeing to go to the market and haggle over prices and everything. He says he has no place to go and that he’d leave right away if he could, and she shocks him by saying that he does have a place to go now. She hands him the key and tells him that his sister came by, and forces a smile as she says it’s great. He echoes her words that it’s great, though they seem really hollow.

In no time his bag is packed and he’s saying goodbye. Jung-joo tells him to have fun now, and says that he must’ve been uncomfortable because she made him live this way, and tells him again to live comfortably from now on. He asks what she’ll do if she gets sick, but she says she won’t, and he deflates again. He tells her not to get sick and stares at her reflection in his rearview mirror as he drives away.

Gun-woo is told to steer clear of hyung while he’s at the hotel, and noona says she’ll look for a buyer for the restaurant. He doesn’t want to sell it anymore because he let Jung-joo borrow it for life, but noona says that Jung-joo agreed to take back her deposit and that she wouldn’t do anything to make him uncomfortable. He grouses, “That damn discomfort…”

He spends his days lazing around the luxurious hotel, doing all the things he’s wanted to do, but he doesn’t look happy and he keeps having to tell himself, “This is great. It’s great.” At one point he finds himself pulling weeds from the grass, like harvesting greens is ingrained in his system.

Poong-san tells Jung-joo that he can’t handle the mayor’s dinner by himself, and suggests that she take some of the things that Gun-woo left behind and ask him to work for that one night.

So she heads to the hotel and sends him a text, only to spot him across the pool laughing over something with Ji-won. UGH. YOU AGAIN. But Gun-woo lights up at her text and calls back, but Jung-joo tells him that she was busy and left his stuff at the front desk. He runs down to try and catch her before she goes, and sighs in disappointment when she isn’t there.

Jung-joo decides to cook and eat her first catch on her own, and sits down to a simple meal. But every bite she takes just makes the tears start to come, and she finally can’t stop them from flowing.

Gun-woo lies in bed lost in thought, and suddenly shoots up when he remembers that he left his sunglasses back at the restaurant. He digs through his suitcase, convinced that he left it behind and elated to have an excuse. Except he finds them sitting right there, and he deflates all over again. You dummy. Just go!

Just then, his phone chimes with an update on Poong-san’s homepage, which includes a picture of Jung-joo with her first catch. Gun-woo looks down at the picture and smiles, “That’s right! That’s mine, and I left it behind!” I’m just going to pretend that you mean her and not the conch shells, because… *squee*

Gun-woo bursts into hyung’s suite and tattles on himself: “Hyung, hyung! Noona let me stay in her room! Can I stay? Right, I can’t, right? Fine, I’ll go!” He zooms right back out with a giant smile, and Jung-geun wonders what the hell just happened.

By the time he returns to Warm & Cozy with his suitcase in tow, the lights are low and the place is quiet. Gun-woo finds the conch shells on the kitchen counter and gets upset that she ate them without him.

He calls out for her and sees that she’s asleep on a row of chairs, and that she drank and ate the conch by herself before passing out. He notices that she’s using his apron as a blanket and says again, “That’s mine.”

Jung-joo stirs and rolls over in her sleep, and he stoops down to catch her just as she falls. He looks down at her, now asleep in his arms, and gulps, “What do I do? It’s uncomfortable.”

 
COMMENTS

That’s right! Because you luuuuurve her! He’s so dim, but it’s also what makes his slow revelation so fun to watch, because he doesn’t know how to interpret his own feelings. He so obviously doesn’t want to leave and is unhappy without her, but can’t figure out the connection until it’s staring him in the face. Even now I’m not quite sure he’s cottoned on to her being the reason he wants to be at Warm & Cozy—for him it’s still just the place he wants to be, and he’s only barely seeing that he’s “uncomfortable” around her. I like the way that concept was used throughout the episode, because at first Jung-joo speaks of it as attraction, and it later becomes a way to refer to Gun-woo living a life outside of his comfort zone. So she sends him away to his former cushy life, only now it’s so comfortable that it’s boring and empty.

And then it comes full circle when he returns to Warm & Cozy, where he’s now uncomfortable around her, because he’s attracted to her. So the end result is that they both have to be uncomfortable to be happy, and in a way it speaks to Gun-woo’s problem with life in general—he was lazing his days away amounting to nothing because he was too comfortable and complacent. He whines and complains about all of Jung-joo’s nagging, but he’s become a person of (slightly) more substance because of her. Obviously he needs to do a lot more growing to become an adult, and to make up for all of the boneheaded things he’s done up until now. But I’m hopeful that this is the beginning of a newer, better Gun-woo.

I love what the short separation gives us (with the added benefit of being gloriously short)—a chance for Gun-woo to feel loneliness and longing, to worry about leaving Jung-joo on her own without him, and to realize where he belongs. My favorite part is his stubborn insistence on needing a reason to go back there, and the fact that he’s too obtuse to see that Jung-joo is the thing he left behind. I’m just glad that Ji-won’s stupid plan backfired on her and drove Gun-woo right into Jung-joo’s arms.

It’s also thanks to Jung-geun, who remains the only stable influence in Gun-woo’s life, despite the fact that he’s currently rivaling his own idiot brother for Jeju’s Biggest Jackass. He’s doing all of the wrong things with Hae-shil, which is frustrating, but I know that he’ll also screw up so badly that he’ll make up for it with mortifying comedy. But really, I want to give Mayor Wook the credit for opening up Gun-woo’s eyes, because he’s inciting jealousy in the cutest of ways. I just want to watch their adorable rivalry all the time, especially now that both guys are aware of their feelings and getting a little more competitive about her, and not just winning.

With all the cute romance hidden under doublespeak today, it started to feel like an old-school Hong sisters drama in a good way, and call me the eternal optimist, but things are looking up for where we’re going from here on out.

 
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