All That We Loved: Episodes 5-6
by Dramaddictally
The deep, dark secret of our transfer student is finally unearthed, leading to consequences in both the past and the present. As our boys react to the news in different ways, one of them is distracted by the sudden changes that his new kidney is causing.
EPISODES 5-6
We get a couple of very short episodes this week, and much of the time is used for repetition and flashbacks to events we’ve already seen. But the big news is that we finally get confirmation about So-yeon’s secret, which is that she can’t stop stealing.
Before we jump into that, let’s pick up where we left off. So-yeon and Joon-hee are stuck face-to-face in an alley and Joon-hee looks like he has something to say. It’s nicely shot, with streetlamps reflecting light in surrounding puddles, but no magic is to come of it. Before any confessions can be uttered, So-yeon suggests they get going.
They rejoin Yoo and Soon-tak, and Yoo can tell just by watching Joon-hee walk that he’s a sucker for So-yeon. Later, he asks Joon-hee outright if he likes So-yeon, but Joon-hee denies his feelings. So, Yoo continues courting her, and the two strut through the school like a couple, as their classmates playfully tease them.
The love doesn’t last long before So-yeon’s sticky fingers get in the way. Yoo witnesses her stealing from a classmate’s desk and is immediately upset. He asks to go through her backpack, finding not only the goods she yanked in front of his eyes, but a necklace belonging to Joon-hee’s grandmother.
It just so happens that Yoo has been running around town all day trying to locate that necklace, since he and Halmeoni are so close. So-yeon found the necklace at the café where she works and pocketed it without looking for the owner. But Yoo doesn’t even hear that much of the story before calling her a thief.
This puts a big dent in the burgeoning relationship between Yoo and So-yeon, but their friends have no idea what happened. Yoo returns the necklace to Joon-hee without spilling So-yeon’s secret and later attempts to talk it out with her. He says he wants to understand her and asks why she steals. She can’t explain herself, and this is where the show (in my view) makes a misstep.
The drama has been dropping clues about So-yeon’s compulsive stealing since Episode 1, so there’s no surprise there. The real revelation this week is that she still has the problem in 2023. When we see her with Dr. Go, she keeps hanging around, asking if he has time for her, until he finally invites her over to his apartment and she comes clean with why she’s really there.
We learn that So-yeon, now a famous actress, is facing public scrutiny because she’s been caught red-handed. Her life-long secret is all over the news (not that Dr. Go was paying attention), and she’s sought him out for help. She cries and says he’s the only one that didn’t know.
The misstep comes when Dr. Go diagnoses it as “menstrual theft: a pathological impulse control disorder due to premenstrual syndrome.” What? He tells her it’s a treatable condition and she says she’s so happy he’s become a psychiatrist, because it’s comforting to have someone finally understand her.
Listen, I’ve got zero problems with a kleptomaniac female lead (everyone’s got their issues, right?). But to offhandedly attach it to PMS feels like a setback to the 19th century — one that’s not even necessary for justifying the storyline, since simple kleptomania would do (it’s already an impulse control disorder).
The reason the story is relying on suspect social science is because they don’t want us to dislike So-yeon. They want us to see that she’s really struggling with this too. It’s painful for her that she can’t control herself and, in order to keep us on her side, the drama gives us some moments when we see her trying to fight the impulse to steal.
In one of these moments, Joon-hee watches her lift something from a convenience store and calls out her name — drawing attention and causing her to run out of the store crying. The aftermath of this is that he appears to be way more understanding about it than Yoo. He doesn’t ask any questions, and says that there are lots of things that can’t be explained in words.
Maybe Joon-hee is less judgmental than Yoo, or maybe he’s just distracted by all the weird occurrences that are happening since his kidney transplant. We’ve already seen him go from left-handed to right, but suddenly his eyesight has improved and he’s ditching his glasses. Then he begins to talk like Yoo and even, gulp, starts liking Sohn Ye-jin more than Lee Hyori! It’s the final straw for him and he knows something is definitely not right.
Finally, when Joon-hee sees the bully who sent him to the hospital beating up another student, he decides to intervene, just like Yoo would. At the time, Yoo is somewhere else, waiting for Joon-hee to show up, and when he doesn’t, Yoo goes to find him — and steps into the fight because Joon-hee is getting the crap kicked out of him again.
I’m not totally sure where this story is going. The lighting and nostalgic feel continue to do their jobs visually — with a few easter eggs of 2006 technologies thrown in — but it stutters in its pacing and the writing is a bit disjointed. One aspect where it succeeds is keeping us on our toes about who Dr. Go is — and the bigger mystery for me, which is why Joon-hee and Yoo lost touch in the 2023 timeline.
Now that So-yeon has a psychological diagnosis, I’m questioning whether or not we’re headed for a romance in 2023 (which is what I initially thought). Instead, the point could be simply that she gains a friend, as well as the help she needs — which would still be a nice conclusion. Dr. Go leads a lonely life and it looks like So-yeon does too despite her fame. If these two can rekindle their former friendship, it might be all they need to feel fulfilled.
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Tags: All That We Loved, Jo Joon-young, Jung Yoo-jin, Sehun, Song Jae-rim
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1 Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
May 20, 2023 at 11:06 PM
Thanks @dramaddictally for the weecap. Looks like it’s just the two of us commenting on this show!
Soyeon’s stealing was witnessed by both boys so why say he was the only one who didn’t know? Unless it was the explanation that was the secret that she wanted him to finally understand. I had to look the condition up to see if it was made up like the hiccup when lying disorder in Pinocchio. Turns out there is a real condition associated with PMS it’s an impulsivity and mood disorder and stealing and aggression are some of the symptoms. Women have chosen operations to remove the cause of the hormonal problems due to the severity of the symptoms. Just like the attitudes towards women going through the menopause it’s under researched so not many professionals know about it, hence she was probably misdiagnosed leading to ineffective treatments. It’s really interesting to see which conditions are used as plot devices in K dramas.
I was thrown by Yoo’s dad claiming Joonhee as his son as I didn’t think the relationship was the same between Yoo’s parents and Joonhee as it was between Yoo and Joonhee’s grandmother. It is lovely to see how close Yoo is with Joonhee’s grandma. I wonder if part of the story is without having to hands on parent Yoo for a few years the Go’s medical careers climbed to a level they could not have achieved otherwise but the cost was detachment within the marriage and as parents. I wonder how they explained the change in Yoo’s living arrangements so he didn’t feel rejected. He seemed to be roaming the hospital unsupervised at a young age while his parents were working.
I definitely think Joonhee’s interest in psychiatry started with the changes in his own physical and emotional state. He noticed the department at the hospital when he had his check up and the medical explanation didn't really reassure him. I wonder about Dr Go’s level of loneliness too as both boys were part of a network of friends including the aggressive marketing tailors who were part of the drinking buddies crew. Even if he lost touch with school friends, university friends are often life long and work colleagues can become friends so his isolation seems self imposed.
I just want to say the same day drop for both episodes is my preferred option as I often wait for the second episode to drop so I can watch them together when it’s a drama I love.
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2 geminirat
May 24, 2023 at 5:20 PM
I've always wanted to watch this and has just finished binge-watching episodes 1 thru 6. Why? Because the last two episodes will be shown this week so I can finish the whole drama this week. I love the bromance between the Go boys and Sun-tak. I like it that Sun-tak doesn't feel hurt that the Go boys prioritize each other and he doesn't feel left out at all.
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
May 24, 2023 at 10:18 PM
Yay, good to see you in here. I am sure others are watching too but choosing not to comment. Isn’t it lovely to see boys comfortable with physical touch in their relationship, talking about important things and showing love and support to their carer both at home and in public. Do you think the separation of the boys was due to something like girl trouble or noble idiocy not wanting to trouble the other one like Joonhee hid his illness for so long. For example, if the fight led to kidney damage in Yoo he wouldn’t want Joonhee to feel bad if he now needs treatment.
I am loving these bingeable shows because of episode length and or series length. We get the best of both worlds; being able to binge is my favourite way to watch and I love to share the experience with a drama hangout or weekly weecap. It’s a shame the comments section with a few of the dramas recently have been so quiet.
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geminirat
May 25, 2023 at 7:06 AM
Actually, I've been commenting in some but usually I read the previous comments first. If what I want to say has been covered, I don't do it anymore. But I usually don't predict what will happen - I just enjoy the reveal and be surprised by whatever it is.
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3 CasualDramaFan
June 8, 2023 at 1:28 PM
The show has completely lost me over explaining Joon-hee's change in behaviour as cellular memory. Why? It could have been very compelling to see it as physiological change rather than some unproven hypothesis.
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