Thank you, @daebakgrits, for the weecap. I loved the part where Yeon-woo kept peeping under the bed to see Tae-ha, then goes lies face down on the bed to stare at him some more. I don't know what Tae-min's agenda is (yes, i know he likes Yeon-woo) with regards to the company but I hope he will be a better half-sibling to Tae-ha.

I just want to say Tae-Ha's post-kiss hairstyle looks so much better than his pre-kiss hair!

I caught up on this series and one of the standouts to me is the modern hanboks. They are so cute and it almost makes me wonder why more folks aren't wearing them. I wonder if this show will lead to an increased interest in younger folks wearing them.

Why did Yeon Woo's father have to die? I assume that will be answered in a future episode but that was one of the things I was curious about at the end of the episode. And was he murdered at her headstone?!

During Perfect Marriage Revenge's airing, someone in the comments here mentioned they didn't see why the contract marriage was a big deal since the gist is the same regardless: company offsprings get together for optics, social standing, and business. Love isn't required.

I was reminded of that here even though it's different here since technically Yeon Woo initially didn't bring anything to the marriage but the fact that their relationship started with a contract = professional scrutiny and worthy of losing his job is just... hypocritical for one but also so frustrating because how does that affect business in ANY WAY?!
Sigh, it's just frustrating on so many levels to me. I get it but I dislike it so much. It also reminds me of saying the quiet part out loud; like EVERYONE knows business marriages are a thing but to actually have the audacity to not have it under the pretense of love or through parents but an actual pragmatic, legal arrangement between the actual parties involved? How scandalous!

Everything you wrote above echoed my thoughts — there isn’t enough time to work out the “time travel” except by “magic (cue the jazz hands” just kills me 😂. I don’t want anything but a happy ending here, and this episode made me worry. I am assuming that our heroine will go to past, reveal the poisoning of hubby #1 and somehow this fixes hubby #2 in the future. Then, she will appear, once again, like the rest of the doppelgängers in the future, to a healthy hearted hubby. Somehow. It is all very confusing.

The romance is cute. I love her spirit and the design work. I love her future mom somehow recognizing and feeling connected to her. I like that the half brother (I can’t think of his name but I love the casting, as these two were half brothers in Under the Queens Umbrella) has become less creepy. I like that we are rid of Ha-na, although I felt she was a good villain since she was a hard worker with a crush on the boss, who got sidelined. I prefer that to the evil step mom.

I hope we can have the next episode focus on why she is here in the future, and what needs to happen for her to fix the past yet also remain here as a dress designer, happily married to her hubby with the healed heart.

Noble idiocy, grrrrrr. Actually, I almost bought it at the start - yes, if Tae-ha genuinely believes that his death would cause Yeon-woo to commit suicide again, there is some defence in him deciding to end things before they get started (and they are talking a looooooong time to get started). But then, 20 minutes later, he's back with her. Does that mean you no longer care about the suicide , sir? And what would be your reasoning for that? Drama, you need to explain. As far as I can see, they have not had an open conversation about her husband, the well (he still thinks she committed suicide rather than was murdered), his illness - so we're left in the dark about why he did a 180 and I am not happy.

Very much agree, @daebakgrits, that this is getting increasingly complicated for a shorter drama and we could end up skimming over a lot of stuff. Butterfly woman: I'm sure she is there so that the time travel can be explained, but actually, do we need it explaining? I think the drama would work with just "time travel happened" and then two Joseon women deciding that their new lives were all that they strove for but could never attain in their old lives, and they were perfectly happy to stay put. This would still allow us a bit of mystery in working out why Grandad has the watch (which I'm sure will be a symbol of his evilness, and he is ultimately behind Tae-ha's poisoning-by-tablets) but we could leave it there and focus on other things.

I think these two are my favorite episodes so far!

1. "Give her your body, heart and presents."
Can we talk about how Tae Had spent the whole episode 7 acting like the most supportive husband in the world??? Till the end, he did EVERYTHING to make Yeon Woo's fashion show work. No matter what happened he never gave up on her and her clothes.

He totally ignored all the warnings from haraboji and all the bs from delulu girl. He was so focused on making Yeon Woo shine and helping her share her clothes with the rest of the world, that he didn't care about anything else. He didn't even care about shaking hands with stepmom! All for Yeon Woo and her clothes!

This guy has all my respect and love for that.

And maybe that why I didn't care about the noble idiocy. Well, I think there's three things that make this trope work for me this time: motivation, shortness, and episode 7.

I totally understand why he didn't want to tell Yeon Woo about his feelings and decided to end the contract.
The guy saw his past life, he saw how Joseon Tae Ha died, which probably made him believe in "fate", "destiny" or wtv, so he probably thinks the story will repeat itself. And according to that story, Yeon Woo tried to end her life after her Tae Ha died. And that didn't happen that long ago, and he also remembers how she acted when they first met and she thought he was her husband.

I mean, his doctor told him his heart is failing again and that his condition is critical, so yeah, I forgive him for thinking breaking up with Yeon Woo is the best option.

Also, the whole thing lasted like 30min (one or two days in kdrama time), he didn't need two episodes to calm down, reflect on his bad decisions and fix them.
In conclusion, after watching him act like the perfect husband in episode 7, I couldn't blame him for making one dumb decision. He can't be perfect, am I right.

2. You will know after time passes that the wounds you cause last longer than the wounds you've received.

We know that the main villain is haraboji. He's the one that killed Tae Ha's mom, he's the one doing all kind of weird stuff to control the people around him. And I don't think he's fixable. He's the worst, that's it. But I feel like stepmom has a different future.

I don't know if I'm getting this signals because stepmom isn't totally bad or because I don't want her to be totally bad, BUT I feel like there's still good in her.

There's something that people love to say in kdramas, "to fight a monster you need to become one", and I think this is what happened to her. I feel like she got hurt so deeply by haraboji and Tae Ha's dad, that now she's lost. Destroying haraboji became her goal in life, and she hurt Tae Ha and Tae Min in that process. Idk, I feel bad for her.

3. My April.
Sa Wol and Secretary Cho are GOLD. I won't stop fangirling about them. Never ever.
They're straightforward and honest, so the...

I made grabby hands at those designs too, especially the ones with all the gold! Haena's audacity truly hit the stratosphere this week, my eye was twitching anytime she was on screen and I wished someone would really put her in her place urgh. In a pleasant surprise though Taemin was much more toned down this week, as was his hair colour, which put him in a much better and more palatable light. I like that he's got a talent and passion of his own that he's starting to reveal more about!

On the OTP front, thought we'd dodged a bullet with the quick noble idiocy from Taeha but the end has me worried we might see Yeonwoo give it a shot next week 😬 Interesting also that haraboji isn't exactly a clear cut good guy, gives some complexity to the chaebol politics going on here!

@daebakgrits Thanks for recapping the drama with the same fun spirit as our OTP. Had a good laugh at your references to batman, Byeon Woo-seok 🤣🤣

The modern hanboks were lovely (I hope the show gave credit to the real designer after her accusation and compensates her well) , but I want that butterfly earrings that Yeon Woo wore at the end 😍😍 It was so pretty and so was Lee Se Young like a real butterfly.

I don't mind the leads tripping and falling multiple times into each others' arms. I will take that over the boring chaebol conflicts. Even the shady grandpa is not able to amp up the audience curiosity around the mystery or inheritance war.

Sa Wol and the secretary are so cute. The ice cream kiss was sweet and I know the camera angle made it look like an ice cream kiss, but let me just dream. Tae min was also likeable until he chose to confess to Yeon Woo. Sigh! Stupid choice of the writer.

"but Ha-na, who must think she has legs as long as Byeon Woo-seok..." made me cackle like a madwoman 🤣🤣🤣

I laughed at how @daebakgrits shoehorned Byeon Wooseok into this recap. Brava!

Thanks for the excellent recap DaebakGrits.
While I still enjoy watching, I'm starting to find things becoming repetitive with the grandfather and evil stepmother. I wish they would stop going around in circles wasting time they don't have for a 12 episode run.
I, too, fear the wheels falling off as there is so much left to cover.
The best thing this show has going for it is the leads chemisrty, Sal wol and the secretary.
Lets get some communication happening as I will be really arrgghhh if we end the show with the usual 5 minutes of happily ever after and I'm left scratching my head thinking about all the crap the show has wasted time on.

It was a funny recap @daebakgrits !

I take back what I said at the beginning of the drama, the grandpa can die... It looks like he was just interested by his grandson to be strong and cold and didn't care about his health and happiness.

He works with Ha-na who is cleary behind every accident of the show, it doesn't make sense. She has the same issue the SFL in My Demon, she thinks she knows him for a longer time so he belongs to her...

The show was beautiful but not very credible. We never really saw Yeon-Woo working, learning about modern style, using a sewing machine, we just have to assume she's a genius and she can do everything.

I know people loves Sa-Wol but I'm exhausted by her. I have nothing against the fact she wants to help Yeo-Woo but by advising her not by acting like a crazy girl who lockes them up, spying on them...

The couple is super cute and I love their scenes together. But I'm not interested by the rest...

More Tae Ha and Yeon Woo but less noble idiocy. I do not care for thw time slip resolution too much as long as Tae Ha and Yeon Woo end up together in the present time.
YW has no reason to return back to the past since her husband is dead and she was "killed" by her in-laws. The future is where it is at!
I do not trust grandpa with what he will do with YW. I do have hope that hebwill have some goodness it his heart. And that the big bad is the stepmom and not him.
On a side note, all the outfits during the launch were very pretty. My fave is the first one, the green and gold outift.

I am kind of struggling to finish Ep 8.
The office politics seem really silly. The number of issues for one event is ridiculous. Her being from the past is enough to show that she has to struggle. I would have rather seen her struggle learning using computers. But instead we got a whole bunch of stealing designs, cutting fabric, missing models etc.
An employee who was an asset is now an angry second lead?? Why??
CEO Min comes across as more lame than smart. So if someone is sick, you just choose to fire them 🙄. Wow. Also frustrating that he thinks not getting himself treated is ok.

And Tae Ha a man who denies a kiss and bed scene scores -2000 points.

Will try to go finish Ep 8. Looks like a noble idiocy is on route.
If I can’t finish, it’s a drop at this point.

The Noble Idiocy may have lasted only 30 minutes, but the main's idiocy is lasting a lot longer. How Tae Ha is treating his heart problem is just dumb in the short and long term. He put off going to the doctor and is just taking pills even though he has massive chest pains regularly. A heart issue isn't just like ignoring a minor ache--umm, you could die and then where do your long term noble plans go? And Tae Ha has the worst doctors in the world for a chaebol. The doctors call him back from Jeju and tell him that his heart is failing and then ??? No treatment or discussions of options, no hospitalization or at least anything to alleviate his condition, but instead, his doctor takes him to a pocha to go drinking and get smashed himself? The curling date was cute, but it was a little discordant because we had been told that his heart was failing and he is stressing his body and falling on the ice. He is also seems dense as an executive. It is clear there is someone sabotaging his wife's designs within the company, but they just let it all play out instead of having extra security. I give him points for realizing that the company would be better off with professional management.

There are a lot of cute moments in this show, but it feels as the writers are throwing everything out there to see what sticks. The editing also seems choppy. I am so puzzled every show that I guess I don't care anymore how this ends, but because of that, I can watch just for the some of the sweet moments they give us every episode and really not care about the rest.

I loved these episodes, I'm glad the noble idiocy only lasted briefly. Also only a kdrama could make curling in anyway look interesting, lol. My heart sings for these two, they are so ADORABLE. Sa Wol will always be my favorite, she really is quite delightful. Also her and her Mr. Hong are so adorable together. I hope they get to stay in New Joseon, but that is unlikely.

What to say...

This drama is not a very good drama, it's trope after trope, but it's not bad, by any means.
I enjoy the comedy and the romance(s). I like the main couple, the secondary couple and other secondary characters (the ones who are good people).

Episodes 7 and 8 highlights:

_ The fashion show! So pretty.
_ Tae-ha being a proud husband.
_ The moon-rabbit keychain.
_ The kisses!
_ The trip to Jeju. It was nice to see all of them having a happy time in the pool.
_ Tae-min drawings. By the way, I didn't like Tae-min at all when the drama started but it happens he is a good boy, and more intelligent than he seemed.

In a single episode, we saw PPL for a seaweed snack, PPL for those huge, bloated, green grapes, and PPL for Korean bell peppers...but the piece de resistance was the clear PPL for curling.

I would be enjoying this series so much more if it were one of my first dramas ever. It feels like a "starter drama," and I don't mean that cruelly or anything: it's simple, tropey and there is so much preety! I just may be a bit bored. I wonder if there's a place I can pick up curling as a hobby around here...😉

Grandpa is just a bad person. It was clear from the beginning, after the fact, how he treated his second grandson. There was no rational reason to always treat the younger grandson worse, since theoretically the grandfather showed himself as a supposedly nice person at the beginning. Everyone has to do what he wants, at the moment he wants, and if they stand in his way, he manipulates or destroys them. He is a dangerous, toxic man. He probably knows the truth about the events from two hundred years ago, that his family killed another family and why those events happened.

Episode 7 gave me nearly everything I wanted, with the full focus on Tae-ha wooing Yeon-woo so that she’d love him fully for who he is in the present, not just the traces of the past him she sees. I only would have teased it out for a bit longer and avoided the noble idiocy completely but that reunion in the rain was really sweet and her calling him an idiot and letting him have it was satisfying. The fashion show was genuinely lovely. More beautiful hanboks and bonding between the mother-daughter business duo next week please!

I found that some comments elsewhere were a bit upset that her confession to Tae-ha seemed to imply she never had feelings for the Tae-ha of the past, but I don’t think that’s really the case. In just a short amount of time, Yeon-woo was so smitten with the Tae-ha of the past that she was willing to propose marriage after their first and only date. She was clearly very drawn to him and poised to fall in love with him. But that’s just it — though it only took a short amount of time for her to begin to fall for him, that was all they got. For her, ultimately, their time was very bittersweet and fleeting and left her bereft and lonely in another time. Still, when she was feeling betrayed by present Tae-ha she imagined past him because he was clearly a comforting person to her in the short time she had with him, one she longed for enough to kiss “him” at the end of ep 3.

I absolutely loved her confession, but I probably would have changed the dialogue from him “merely being a sad and painful person” to her, because while he has become that due to tragic circumstance, it almost implied that she only ever had pity for her husband which could not be further from the case. It is, after all, the original bittersweet connection and fate between them that set her on this course to begin with. While I’m happy she’s aware of the separation between the two, I still don’t think it’s a problem that she falls for the commonalities between the two because it is inevitable that she will fall for Tae-ha no matter what timeline they’re in.

Tae-ha of the past clearly had more behind his feelings that we’ve still yet to explore. So I don’t think this is the end of his story quite yet. I’m not sure whether he is meant to be saved with the time in the future ending as a butterfly’s dream or whether, now that Tae-ha is confident and happy that she loves him as his current self, he will begin to reconnect with the memories from his past life.

I know they’ve had a lot to deal with, heart problems, nobly idiotic tendencies, flirting and kissing to make up for those tendencies, as well as a horde of villains, but can the leads touch base on some things perhaps before jumping to conclusions? Maybe share some of these records of the past with her since it is her life. Why is he assuming she jumped in the well when she was clearly devastated at the prospect of this being the afterlife? Luckily, after the end of this episode, they will...

What I like most in the show — the fun! the gorgeous clothes! the romance! Tae-min’s character rewrite! — is engaged in a fierce battle for supremacy with the succession storyline.

Thank goodness Tae-ha’s noble idiocy lasted less than half an episode. With only four episodes remaining, the show can’t waste time, but it’s busy introducing new complications instead of resolving them.

Looks like Chairman Min’s henchman pushed Yeon-woo into the well in the past and the mask he wore is hanging in the family annex. Her Joseon parents were murdered. Writing is appearing in the ancient journal. Mysterious lady is being as oblique as all her drama predecessors. It’ll be quite an achievement to wrap up all the supernatural elements without neglecting the romance in this romantic comedy. But if I have to choose between narrative time-slip coherence and more squee-worthy scenes, just give me all the cuteness of the OTP and their robot vacuum family.

It hit me with these episodes that this show, which I thought was a light time-travel rom com, is actually serious social commentary, and fits with several other shows this year, in its critique of the accursed legacy of Joseon patriarchy on contemporary Korean women.

Ta-hae started out arrogant and stupid, and even though now he's loving and stupid, he remains self-centered and arrogant enough that to spare himself pain, he decides, without any discussion with the female lead, that he will "nobly" dump her, cruelly insisting he was just using her, (which he was) hurting her emotionally. I wouldn't be surprised if he repeats his idiocy in later episodes.

Even though the female lead is willing, he's afraid of sex. In fact having sex will kill him. But, unlike Rowoon's character in Destined with You, who was in a similar circumstance in a show with a similar theme, he doesn't have the good sense to just sleep on the bed with his love in a heavy sweater. So he offers her no emotional nor physical intimacy.

Why is he the male lead? Here the show's critique comes to light. In the Joseon era a dynamic female lead is forced into an arranged marriage with dying dullard, who at least had the virtue of being nice. She becomes a contemporary woman, still beautiful, charming and talented, but because Korean society cannot free itself from past prejudices, she is again trapped in an arranged marriage with someone who is not as nice, but who still offers nothing in return. Until she can annul this contract marriage with this parasitic, invalid husband who embodies the Joseon curse, she will not be free.

I believe the conclusion of the show will be a happy one-- it will have her walking away from the whole situation, becoming a star fashion designer in Europe, where she can paradoxically draw on the best parts Korean art and culture, free of the historical weight of its misogynist prejudices.

I loved the fashion show!! I literally gasped at the finale with the butterflies projected onto her habok!

Thanks for the laughs, @daebakgrits! Question, though, beanies... Has there been a time travel/time slip drama where they actually had some explanation for the time travel, except magic/jazz hands? Curious.
I am think Mr Queen is the worst offender, no rhyme or reason. Familiar Wife had a how but not a why. Can anyone point me to a drama where it was something other than a setting?

GUYS I just saw this article:
https://mydramalist.com/article/mbc-apologizes-for-unauthorized-usage-of-hanbok-designs-in-the-story-of-park-s-marriage-contract

For real! Real life drama LOL Apparently the show used the hanbok designs without the real designer's authorization. Yikes!

"At this point in our story, I’ve decided that Ha-na is a real witch, and I can only assume she needed those chocolates to start constructing her candy house in the woods." -- LOL! She's just so tropey jealous 2FL when she's not even the 2FL. She's just some rando in the office.

I was pretty mad that Tae-ha ended the contract without really thinking about where Yeon-woo was going to go. Like he knows she came through time travelling and has no real identity in the current world- did he expect her to feel good about staying at his house after he was like "I don't like you anymore"? Did he expect her to just go live in the playground now? Sleep at work? Glad Secretary Hong came through!

I'm warming up to Tae-min a lot. I'm continually surprised at how well-adjusted he is to just working in an office.

Seeing Secretary Hong in his swim suit - I'm with Sa-wol on not preferring the pale, weak dude.

Still, Tae-ha and Yeon-woo are really sweet together and their kiss is butterflies-in-stomach-inducing.

Tae-ha frustrates me by refusing to get his heart condition treated. I sympathized with his doctor friend, who must be busy with other patients but have to spend all this time begging Tae-ha to get treated.

And what really is the Kang's company- SH? I thought it was a mall? But they're getting into high fashion now?

I still don't get what Cheonmyeong role here and why she send Yeon-woo to the future? and how come she got that 'power' and why at the end of latest episode she showed Yeon-woo who kidnaped/killed her? why she didn't show her before, why now?

and Grandpa indeed so fishy.

Thanks a lot @deabakgrits for this recap. I'm so bored by the chaebol family stuff that I missed that the Grandpa was behind a lot.
I'm also at loss at to why the personnal life and health of the CEO matter so much.

It's a bit strange to say that the Jeju escapade and the curling were filler scenes but the the good parts of this drama. Someone take the plot out of the well, please.

While I love the couple moments these past two weeks, I feel like the lack of substantial plot gave way to that, so Idk how this is gonna go