Cinderella at 2AM: Episodes 3-4

by DaebakGrits

Now that our chaebol prince and his pragmatic Cinderella have ended their relationship, they must navigate the awkwardness of working with their ex. Turns out hiding an office romance is difficult — whether you’re still together or navigating the complexities of a breakup.

 
EPISODES 3-4

We begin this week’s episodes with a flashback to when Joo-won first returned from overseas and infiltrated his family’s company as an undercover chaebol. After being picked up at the airport by his brother, we are treated to some playful, good natured banter between the two heirs. Ahhh… it’s so nice to see a drama depicting healthy sibling relationships, especially between two chaebols who are stereotypically competitors for either their parents’ attention or the CEO position of their family’s company — or both. In this case, though, there’s an obvious affection between Joo-won and Shi-won, who are quite amusing together as they discuss the probability of Joo-won passing for a commoner.

Cut to: Joo-won’s confidence being ripped to shreds by his supervisor, Yoon-seo, as she corrects all his mistakes in his latest assignment. Turns out, this couple had a bit of a one-sided enemies to lovers relationship because Joo-won admits he was not initially a fan of his strict perfectionist of a boss. As he commiserates with Jang-hee and Ye-young, he learns that Yoon-seo was a legendary newbie who speedily climbed through the ranks thanks to her exhausting overachieving work ethic. In comparison, Joo-won, who can’t even work a copier, is humbled by his own inadequacies, and Shi-won is delighted — in a totally smug, big brother kind of way — to see Joo-won’s spirit crushed by the harsh realities of the common office worker’s lifestyle.

Joo-won, however, comes around to liking his job and Yoon-seo after a company dinner. It begins with Yoon-seo overhearing his phone conversation with Shi-won, who asked him to play a round of tennis over the weekend. When Joo-won tells his brother that he wants to quit the sport, Yoon-seo misunderstands and assumes Joo-won plans on handing in his resignation. She encourages him to stay, and even though Joo-won had no intention of leaving, her pep talk he’s still moved by her words. Then, when they rejoin everyone at the table, Yoon-seo steps in as Joo-won’s white knight, and deftly intercepts to receive their boss’s generous soju pours. It was in this moment that Joo-won felt his feelings for Yoon-seo shift and set him on the path to loving her.

In the present, we return to the moment that a drunk Joo-won leans in to kiss Yoon-seo, emboldened by her confession that she still likes him. At the last minute, she blocks his lips and pushes him away, reaffirming that they’ve broken up. Joo-won reacts poorly to the rejection — in a publicly embarrassing, extra cringy yup-he’s-definitely-going-to-have-one-sided-conversations-with-himself-in-the-shower-later-when-he-mentally-repeats-every-humiliating-second-in-his-head kind of way. (Spoiler: He does, and I’ve never related to a K-drama shower scene more in my life.)

Yoon-seo is equally appalled by her confession and the near kiss, although I’d argue she has far fewer reasons to feel humiliated. After all, having a moment of weakness and admitting one’s feelings is nothing compared to Joo-won’s public intoxication that drew the attention of passersby. Regardless, both she and Joo-woon spend the following work day awkwardly dodging each other and avoiding eye contact. (This right here, folks, is why office romances are better left to the fictional characters.)

Obviously, Yoon-seo doesn’t need another complication in her life, but the universe decides to send her a bit of a reality check by way of her younger brother, HA JI-SEOK (Kim Tae-jung), who gets into trouble at school. Although Ji-seok did not actively engage in school bullying, he turned a blind eye when his friends beat his classmate and took his money. Yoon-seo, however, does not see his passiveness as a lack of culpability, so while the mothers of the other bullies try to convince the victim’s mother to drop her complaint with the school, Yoon-seo bows, apologizes, and insists that the school proceed with a disciplinary hearing.

Yoon-seo isn’t mad; she’s disappointed, which Ji-seok — and anyone who’s been in his shoes — knows is worse. Yoon-seo explains that his inaction reminds her of the bystanders who didn’t interfere after witnessing her being abused by their father. If Ji-seok had been scared or too weak to overcome the bullies, she could have understood his passiveness, but he’s big, strong, and fully capable of interceding.

Ji-seok is appropriately ashamed of his behavior, especially after being confronted by the full force of his sister’s disappointment. After all, Yoon-seo was the one who shielded him from their father’s beatings and then took him with her when she was accepted into a university and could live independently from their father. Given their childhood, he knows he should have had more sympathy for the victim and defended him.

Meanwhile, Joo-won has a conversation with Shi-won that helps him realize that his post-breakup pursuit of Yoon-seo selfishly ignores her reasons for ending their relationship. Yes, she still loves him, and while having confirmation of her feelings may seem reason enough to keep wooing her in hopes she’ll eventually agree that love conquers all, it also doesn’t take into consideration her other feelings. Like, unbeknownst to him, her desire to build a happy, loving family to make up for the one she didn’t have while growing up. You know, something she can’t obtain when her potential mother-in-law disapproves of her. Best case scenario, Joo-won choses her at the cost of his relationship with his mother, and Yoon-seo doesn’t want to put him in that position.

And so, independent of one another, Joo-won and Yoon-seo come to the conclusion that their 27 dinners idea was — to put it frankly — dumb. They meet up, and Yoon-seo apologizes for sending him mixed signals and tells him that they should stop dragging out the breakup. Joo-won agrees that they should discontinue their meal meetups, but he asks that they meet one last time to properly end their relationship on a less sad note — which is why he asks her to meet him at a theme park.

Their last date — for a lack of a better word — goes through the same motions of a classically romantic K-drama theme park date, but there’s no disguising the fact there’s a lack of permanence to their actions. They ride the merry-go-round, but take no selfies. They try on headbands, but they don’t buy them. This outing is not about making memories; it’s about saying goodbye to them. And as fireworks shoot up into the sky at the end of the night, Yoon-seo and Joo-won announce the end of their relationship and part ways… until they see each other at work, that is.

Yoon-seo and Joo-won do their best to navigate their post-breakup existence while still orbiting one another in the workplace, but — shocker — it doesn’t go well. For starters, it’s nearly impossible for them to avoid one another while working together on such a small team, making team lunches and carpooling for their overnight work trip awkward for both of them. And when they are backed into situations where they cannot avoid one another, echoes of their previous relationship (like the causal dropping of a nickname and the fact Yoon-seo’s phone syncs with Joo-won’s car) crop up and arouse the suspicions of their coworkers. That’s right, even clueless Jang-hee and Ye-young are SLOWLY picking up on the fact there’s more to Yoon-seo and Joo-won’s relationship.

If that isn’t bad enough, Yoon-seo keeps receiving texts from a wrong number. Because the mysterious painter (played by Lee Hyun-woo) on the other end of the line is going through his heartbreak, his lamentations are another unwelcome reminder of Yoon-seo’s own breakup — and disappointment that the texts weren’t actually from Joo-won. Given how difficult it is for her to get over their relationship while having to see Joo-won every day, Yoon-seo decides it’s best for both her and Joo-won if she quits her job.

After wrapping up a big project, she informally tells Joo-won that she plans on handing in her resignation, and immediately his face falls. Obviously, the part of him that’s still in love with her probably clings to a masochistic desire to keep her near, but he also can’t let her quit a position she’s climbed and clawed her way to get. It would also be a tremendous loss for him and his family’s company to lose her as a colleague. At the same time, though, he can’t deny that their personal history is not beneficial for their work environment.

He seemingly accepts the logic of her argument, but after some thought he drives to his mother’s house where he asks that she send him abroad as she’d originally intended. However, Chairman Kim says it’s too late for that. Shi-won’s wife LEE MI-JIN (Sojin) has returned, and she not only stripped Shi-won of his favorite appliances and freedom to comfortably walk around in his boxer shorts. Mi-jin’s presence also expedites Chairman Kim’s long-term plans for the company and her sons, and she tells Joo-won it’s time for him to take over Shi-won’s position. He pleads with her, begging her to be his mother instead of the chairwoman for once, but she remains silent even though she appears affected by her son’s tearful eyes.

Joo-won storms out, and, unsurprisingly, when we next see him, he’s ringing Yoon-seo’s doorbell. With a determined expression on his face, he tells her that he left his family behind, and she’s the only one he has now. He envelopes her in a hug, and the OST swells as he stoops to bury his head in her shoulder, clearly overcome by his need to be with her again.

In short, a very passionate and pivotal moment for our character — or it would have been had Ji-seok not rounded the corner and caught his sister hugging her “weakling” boyfriend. Right behind him are Jang-hee and Ye-young, but just to make sure that they — in their perpetual state of obliviousness — figure it out, the universe sends in Yoon-seo’s best friend, KIM YI-RAE (Hong Bi-ra), who rounds the corner and excitedly asks, “Are you two back together?” So, yeah, in the span of five seconds, Ji-seok learns Joo-won is a third generation chaebol, and Jang-hee and Ye-young realize that Yoon-seo and Joo-won were once a couple.

Talk about a mood killer, but I, for one, welcome the chaos — if only so the story can put to bed the running gag that Jang-hee and Ye-young are too stupid to figure out that Yoon-seo and Joo-won are an item. Aside from the office secondary characters’ cluelessness, though, the comedy of Cinderella at 2AM has tickled my funny bone, especially any scene involving Shi-won. Admittedly, I was anticipating a little more spunk out of his character when his wife showed up. I was hoping for some verbal sparring similar to what he dishes out while around Joo-won, but instead I just felt bad for him — what with him having to put on pants and say goodbye to his beloved Sebastian and Alberto. Here’s hoping the sparks between them are a little more feisty next week.

And speaking of new characters that were introduced this week: we have Lee Hyun-woo’s mysterious heartbroken painter. I don’t know what to make of him yet, especially since this character is giving off the same sus vibes as his previous role in A Good Day to Be a Dog. Given how heavy the story has gone with the breakup plotline in these last two episodes, a part of me almost wonders if our story could pull the rug out from under us and have Hyun-woo’s character be the surprise endgame for Yoon-seo. But yeah, all signs (and promotional content for this drama) point to Joo-won and Yoon-seo eventually finding a way to make their relationship work.

However, one of the things I enjoy most about this trope-filled rom-com is the fact that it hasn’t entirely lost sight of realism. Yoon-seo, for example, is a well-rounded character whose thought processes and actions follow a logical progression given her history as a victim of domestic violence and as the primary caretaker of her younger brother. It makes sense that she would avoid a relationship with guaranteed obstacles, and make decisions based on an instinct to protect herself and her brother. So what if this story really is about Cinderella saying no to the prince and finding happiness with a man a little less fantastical and more compatible? (I mean, it probably won’t happen, but still… that would be one helluva a twist.)

 
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