Romance in the House: Episodes 3-4

by Unit

Secrets, rumors, and accusations characterize this week as we delve further into the lives of the residents at Family Villa. Our recently-returned dad tries to rebuild his relationship with his family, but years of absence and an unyielding daughter puts a strain on his efforts. But it’s still the second week of eight, so he’s got plenty of time to make it up to his family. Right?

 
EPISODES 3-4

Much to Mi-rae’s disappointment, Ae-yeon decides that they won’t move out of Family Villa. She reasons that it’s better to capitalize on Moo-jin’s free rent offer and later on use the accumulated saved rent to get a better place, but Mi-rae accuses her mom of getting swayed by her nouveau riche dad. I do not like your tone, Mi-rae, and neither does your mom.

Mi-rae goes on to confront her dad, and Moo-jin informs her that he intends to seduce Ae-yeon again. And to demonstrate his seriousness, Moo-jin writes — and notarizes — a pledge stating that he will give his ex-wife and kids the villa if he fails to reconcile with Ae-yeon within four weeks. Ha! Well, that is one way to raise the stakes.

While Moo-jin settles into his new role as landlord, the other tenants have their reservations about him for various reasons ranging from: seeing him with the late landlord the night before the fire to spotting him leaving the police station and going into a tofu restaurant afterwards (it is customary to eat tofu after serving time in prison). They conclude that Moo-jin set the building on fire and killed the former landlord, and they agree to keep their mouths shut until they find concrete evidence against him.

Moo-jin recruits his son in his plans to seduce Ae-yeon, and Hyun-jae — who is only too happy that his dad is back, and that they can bond over his unlimited credit card — happily agrees to be an ally. Tsk. From Hyun-jae, Moo-jin learns that the family didn’t move out of the neighborhood after he left because they wanted to show everyone that they could get back on their feet. But in the process of taking on the responsibility of “showing the neighbors” — via distribution of expensive fruit baskets — Moo-jin runs into Hairdresser Tenant, and from their reaction, it’s obvious that they have history. Uh-oh.

The tenants soon decide that there’s no way Ae-yeon doesn’t know about her ex-husband’s criminal activities — and Grandmother Tenant takes on the mantle of publicly accusing her of being in cahoots with Moo-jin. At her workplace, no less! I thought these guys would be gossipy neighbors who are mostly harmless, and it’s disappointing to see them act out this way. But via Mi-rae’s flashback, we see that the neighbors’ biting tongues have been active since Ae-yeon’s tteokbokki diner went under, and it’s no wonder Mi-rae hates Moo-jin’s guts for putting her mom in a situation to be gossiped about.

At home, Ae-yeon confronts the tenants for picking on her as the easy target instead of confronting Moo-jin directly. She finds it laughable that they think Moo-jin committed arson to buy the building. “If he were that daring, I would have stayed with him,” she says, and Moo-jin overhears the conversation. He’s touched that she stood up for him, and sad to have put her in the situation. But Mi-rae neither cares about his emotions, nor the pledge. She just needs him to get out of their lives.

Moo-jin decides to put an end to the gossip by going to the police to investigate him as a person of interest in the fire, but he’s thrown out because there’s no evidence linking him to crime. Next, he gathers the tenants and appeals to their emotions by stating that he bought the villa to reunite with his family. He buys them a round of drinks and waives their maintenance fees for three months, and everyone’s suspicion dies down — except for Househusband Tenant who does not buy Moo-jin’s words.

Ae-yeon is also slightly suspicious of Moo-jin’s sudden riches after his “You don’t know what I’ve done to get this far” statement the other day, but Moo-jin refuses to tell her — and us viewers by extension — what exactly it is that he did. He goes on to visit the late landlord’s columbarium and says things like he will ask for Landlord’s forgiveness in the afterlife. And now I’m growing curiouser and curiouser about the mystery behind it all.

On a lighter note, our elevator couple runs into each other again… in the elevator. This time, Mi-rae overhears Tae-pyeong address the CEO, NAM CHI-YEOL (Jung Woong-in), as “father,” and this is how we learn that security guard Tae-pyeong is actually the CEO’s son. The way father and son snatched Mi-rae into the elevator though. Loool!

Mi-rae has zero interest in the undercover chaebol business, and she assures Tae-pyeong of her silence — but it helps to have dirt on him since she previously swore him to secrecy on her dad’s return after his flying kick the other day. If anything, Mi-rae is slightly embarrassed to have threatened to get Tae-pyeong fired if he ran his mouth about her dad at work. But what’s a little threat between friends? Yes, they are on friendly terms now because there’s nothing like sharing secrets to bring people closer to each other.

CEO Nam visits Tae-pyeong’s rooftop apartment for a taste of his son’s flying kick to persuade his son to quit cosplaying as a poor female lead and return home. CEO Nam wanted his son to “stop wasting his life with taekwondo,” and join the company, and Tae-pyeong suggested becoming a security guard as a joke. He didn’t think his dad would offer him the job, and Dad didn’t think he would take the offer either. “I took it because I missed you,” Tae-pyeong replies, and aw. It’s evident that father and son love each other, but for some reason, Tae-pyeong says Dad will get sick of him if he moves back home. “Why would I? You’re my son,” Dad replies, but there’s a look in his eyes that suggests that there’s something more at play here. Or maybe I’m just imagining it.

If there’s one upside to living as a commoner, it’s that it places Tae-pyeong in the same neighborhood as Mi-rae. She ends up at his taekwondo studio to blow off steam, and they bond over relieving stress after parental hounding. As a former athlete, Tae-pyeong gives Mi-rae some advice on how to beat an opponent. In summary: don’t try too hard to win, just do as you always have, at your own pace. But Mi-rae interprets the advice to mean “go all out on the opponent,” and this results in a petty and fun competition with Moo-jin for Ae-yeon’s attention. Pfft.

Hyun-jae is all for his parents’ reconciliation, and he puts it to Mi-rae that she’s the one standing in their parent’s way. But Mi-rae dismisses his concerns, expecting nothing much from him but to graduate in peace and get a job. Then we come to learn that Hyun-jae secretly plans to drop out of school and become an entrepreneur, and I… sigh! No offense, but this boy doesn’t look like he has the brains to pull off entrepreneurship. Heck, dramaland needs to get rid of the immature younger brother trope in its entirety because it has overstayed its welcome. Forcing female characters to pull the dead weight of the men in their lives is not cute, and it’s just a disservice to everyone involved.

We get a scare when Ae-yeon is snatched from behind on her way home from grocery shopping, but her panicked family is relieved when they get a call that she’s at the police station. Phew! It turns out that Ae-yeon was accosted by the landlord at their former apartment, because Moo-jin previously threatened the lecherous landlord after learning that he used to hit on Ae-yeon. Grandmother Tenant and Nail Tech Tenant joined Ae-yeon to beat up the landlord, and that’s how all three women ended up at the station. Lol.

Moo-jin has to be restrained from attacking Lecherous Landlord at the station, and in a flashback to one of the times the landlord harassed her mom, Mi-rae recalls the helplessness she’d felt when she couldn’t do anything. Her driving force has always been to show Moo-jin that she could do a better job at protecting her mom, but seeing him step in to defend Ae-yeon when she couldn’t, is almost like a stab to her heart. Moo-jin acknowledges how hard it must have been for Mi-rae to become the head of the house, and he apologizes for making her grow up too soon. He reassures her that she has done well over the years, and now it’s time to give herself a break.

Mi-rae’s tone is accusatory as she states that she didn’t want to be like Moo-jin, and the man chokes on his emotions as he tells her she’s nothing like him. Father and daughter brim with unshed tears, but Mi-rae doesn’t break down until she’s alone in the rain. Tae-pyeong sees Mi-rae crying, but despite telling him to leave, he returns with an umbrella to shield her from the rain and the prying eyes of the gossipy neighbors. And on this swoon-worthy note, our second week comes to an end.

The more we learn about Mi-rae’s family’s backstory, the more I understand her. Imagine being forced to step up as the head of the family, and the former head just waltzes back like he never left. On the surface, it might seem like Mi-rae is jealous/scared that Moo-jin will “steal” her mom away from her, but what she’s really afraid of is that the family will go through everything Moo-jin put them through all over again if they give him a second chance. Her fears are valid, and I cannot blame her for that. But at the same time, Ae-yeon is an adult — and more adult than her daughter seems to give her credit for.

Yes, Moo-jin could have handled Lecherous Landlord from the get-go, but it was Ae-yeon who actually beat the man up. That is a woman who can take care of herself, and Mi-rae needs to trust in her mom’s ability to make decisions as regards the family, and her relationship with Moo-jin. On the other hand, the mystery behind Moo-jin’s riches really doesn’t do him any favors, and I can’t root for him and when I don’t know what he’s hiding. Ae-yeon has been through a lot, and she doesn’t deserve to be put through more with the secrecy that shrouds Moo-jin’s windfall.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge in the time that Moo-jin has been away, and while I know the clock is ticking on his four-week pledge, his approach to romance is not the way to go. How about coming clean to Ae-yeon first, and courting her afresh instead of trying to buy her affection with free rent and designer bags? Tsk. Jae-geol was right; the pledge makes no sense.

Speaking of which, I thought we’d have a nice ahjussi bromance with Moo-jin and Jae-geol, but alas. Jae-geol is supposedly sticking with Moo-jin because he wants to “score big,” and it is worrisome when a tax accountant says stuff like “easy money is money easily lost” about a client who is supposed to be his friend. Sigh. We really can’t have nice things.

At least things are progressing nicely between Mi-rae and Tae-pyeong. I like that their perception of each other didn’t change even with their discovery of the other person’s family drama, and it’s great that their arc is starting out with friendship first. Mi-rae needs a friend to release steam with and be vulnerable around, and Tae-pyeong is the perfect gentleman for that. I look forward to knowing more about them as individuals, and of course, to the gradual romance that will blossom between them.

 
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