Se-jin was very careful to frame his visit to Seoul in terms of business: meeting other business owners, calling Mi-rae his business partner, offering her to continue their partnership in the States. Yeah, yeah. But who would bring out that car just to get the attention of a business partner? Why was he so upset that his business partner took off without listening to his plans face-to-face? How much was suggested and left unsaid when he offered for Mi-rae to join him in the States? He's never been direct about his feelings for her, but he let us know at least twice. Once when he said he likes the rumors about them. And again at the end of episode 9 when he said, "Why does it feel like I've run away from home again?" and set out for Seoul. I like Mi-ji and Ho-su, but Mi-rae and Se-jin are so much more interesting right now.

These pair of episodes! It just gets better and better!
The writing is tight yet subtle, the dialogue sparkles and burns, the acting is stellar

Nail the ending, stick the landing -- and OUS will be a keeper for many many Beanies here, not just for 2025 but for years to come ❤❤

p.s. I legit guffaw at the part when the camera pulls into a wide shot, and we can vaguely hear Mi-rae hissing to a furiously pummelling Mi-ji: "Hit him a little bit more! No one is coming!"

p.p.s. I love the epilogue: Park Bo-young corners the market on cute. No one can make *cute* look so natural. Every time I see PBY I wanna put her into my pocket. (the FL over at Our Movie should take notes)

My fave bit of writing this week....
Despite being a big fan of long-awaited kiss scenes😘, I loved how this one was interrupted by some much needed sharing of inner monologues and insecurities... (and that the extended kiss we got afterwards was even better for it)💕

A k-drama device that brings out my panto response (shouting at the TV like it can hear me!) is the 'withheld info' leading to noble idiocy trope - where everything could be fixed if a couple just had a straightforward conversation - so there is something so satisfying in seeing that happen with these two.

As Ho-soo says, Mi-ji's honesty is her best trait, and whilst they both default to the 'noble sacrifice' of not burdening the other person with their news/issues, I love that she always finds a way to break through that in the end.

Hopefully that will continue, since it sure seems like Ho-soo will be going down the withholding info path again re his advancing deafness.

Also, this storyline makes me so sad- I know K-dramas rarely give us any kind of medical verisimilitude but dropping in such an major development with only 1 week to go feels like a bit of a melo choice. Can't we just focus on the kind of lawyer he wants to be and getting him to fix his relationship with his mom? Apparently not. Sigh.

Cried at the end of both episodes. Was proud of Mirae for speaking up and fighting back and was sad to see Hosu's predicament (+ sad song playing in the background= tears).
Slight gripe with the cringey lines the drama inserts here and there: the two broken people together are whole line from last week and this week's you can't love without being loved first. Noooo.
Also not too happy with them not spelling out people's relationships (in the case of Rosa and her friend). I'm assuming they were friends, and it's great to see that in a drama. But mass media does tend to uphold the status quo in many ways and dramas tend to be heteronormative and amatonormative. And people uphold that as well. I've seen lots of comments insisting that Rosa is a lesbian because they had to be MORE than friends because there's no way friends do that. Gross. Well, I'm just happy they're showing the love between women. And any alternative to the pedestaling of the nuclear family is welcomed by me. Also why I would've loved to have seen the twins have friends.
I also hope Mirae doesn't move to another country to follow farmer guy. I mean, unless she wants to go on her own accord. But still. I would like to see Mirae have her own storyline, figure out her own path. Same with Miji. Same with Hosu. Hope they all figure it out.

These episodes were so powerful. I thought we might get only dragging feet by the twins, but instead we got that amazing conversation between Mi-ji and her mom, the twins stepping forward, and the beautiful backstory of the Rosa pair. I loved how Rosa believed eventually her friend would find new people who loved her, and that she was a poem in her own right.
Ho-su’s hearing problems getting worse at least seem very realistic to me as the closing problem before the finale. However, let’s hope the show sticks the landing, and he also gets the chance to think about his future.

I thought the way the Ro Sa lawsuit and media play fell apart was SO satisfying haha. I liked how the original Ro Sa had the foresight to leave that will and handle as many arrangements as she could.

I think this was my first time seeing gay characters featured in a drama like this and it's not a huge emphasis on it. Actually I can't remember if I've seen any dramas with gay characters; I know they exist, I just don't remember if I've watched any. Anywho, there's not much emphasis on it but even with what's been shown, I still find it affecting because we know how conservative the country is and to this day, there is only one really famous gay person in the whole of the country so I can imagine how lonely and alienating that must've been.

Mi Rae's coworkers are just.. why do people have to suck so much?

When the strawberry farm owner said he was considering to The US. Two things came to mind: 1. That is gonna be changed to other countries soon enough and 2. What about his farm? I really thought they were gonna stay with it and make it successful

Mi-ji's "no one messes with my sister" take down of Mr. Park with Mi-rae's "yeah get some more hits in, no one's around" reaction was the best haha

I thought we might be getting another sister switch up and a storyline similar to When the Weather is Fine, but they gave us a beautiful story with Sang-wol and Ro-sa.

I'm not sure where we're headed with the finale, but this show has totally aced it so far with how much the characters have grown and found good people, as Ro-sa said, "who will read you".

I'm a sucker for character-driven stories, and this drama is really holding up so far. The writing is so intimate and thoughtful, it made me look up the writer—and lo and behold, it's the same one who wrote Youth of May. Should we be bracing ourselves for heartbreak again? Maybe. But even if it ends in tears, I know it'll be worth it.

That said, I'm just so happy we got to see the stories of Sang-wol and Ho-su's mom. I love how these women were written full of quiet strength, dignity, and depth.

There was a tsunami of low female self-esteem in Episode 9 that washed us to the deepest despairs and fears of Mi Ji, Mi Rae and even their mother. Mom’s low self-esteem led her to a low value life (in her mind) partly because her mother did not give her attention/encouragement/time. She imparted that same angst, distress, introversion onto her daughters. Adversity equals mental crushing anxiety: Mi Ji lost it all when she broke her ankle; hr worth was shattered; Mi Rae’s career was shattered by three points in the civil service exam. They built hard shells around their emotions; and killed off any big dreams. The Twins found themselves worth nothing special; easily manipulated and gaslit by bad men.

Last week’s cliffhanger was solved simply but unexpectedly. MiRae is back at the office but with a different attitude. She has her resignation letter in her purse. She probably would have left but she sensed something was off. Tae-I brought her back to her dark company moments which assaults her core. When Park ambushes her to get her to effectively quit via transfer, Mi Rae starts to fight back (recording) but is defeated until Mi Ji shows up to pummel doppelganger dad. Bravo with another simple and satisfying solution. My presumption was correct that Park and superiors made up an HR case showing MiRae having an affair when she was actually the victim of harassment. They could not fire her so they demoted her to outcast.

Ho Su shows up at the police station and correctly points out Park is at fault and Mi Ji was rightfully rescuing her sister. These out-of-the-ordinary events gives Mi Rae the courage to fight. She will no longer run away.

Strawberry Fields Forever appears to no longer run away after his talk with Mi Ji. It is interesting that Mi Ji actions catalyzed other characters to change. Se-Jin is on the road to Seoul. (I may be wrong but I think Se-Jin was talking to return to work for Director Yoon . . is he the same guy who is the new KFMC CEO? I hope so because that would put Mi Rae’s strong ally in the wolf’s den.) The director’s final footage appears to confirm another presumption that Evil Mentor would destroy Rosa and her secret swap to get the restaurant for the company but it was shot in the way of spy camera footage from the statue of justice. A sledge hammer foreshadowing? Clearly the other big law firm does not think highly of Mentor.

The expose of Rosa did not go as Mentor had planned. There is a legal maxim that Mentor violates: do not ask a question that you do not already know the answer to. He assumed that Rosa’s identity theft made her not the owner of the land. The writer did get a high mark for having real Rosa take care of her legal estate prior to dying with a will and explanation to protect Sang-Wol. Mi Ji found her legs by running around getting scholarship winner character reference letters. Mi Rae also got her focus by taking her cases slowly with the goal of winning. The only thing that can...

As someone who works with sexual assault survivors, the response to Mi-rae's initial report made me soooo furious. I hope that isn't realistic in Korea. I like how Mi-rae learned that keeping your head down doesn't necessarily keep you safe, so you might as well try fighting back. It was a little hard to root for her before when she was being so passive--granted, people can really be like that, but it's not fun for the viewer, especially contrasted with Mi-ji. I think Mi-ji may be my favorite FL in a long time.

I really hate Mi-rae's company and I want it to burn to the ground. The ex-employee's younger brother and the girl who was questioning if something actually did happen are allowed to remain unscathed and may find other jobs, better jobs. Maybe they can go work for Se-jin. Speaking of Se-jin, I love him so much. He's such a great character. I hope Mi-rae goes to the USA. I think she'd thrive here. I'm not saying that our situation for workers is GREAT, but I feel like she'd have more protection than she did at this other company. Then again, Se-jin would be working with her so I imagine that she'd be fine either way.

The story with Ro-sa struck me as shockingly progressive for a Kdrama, and also made me cry. She is a very interesting character.

Ho-su is kind of annoying me, not gonna lie. He keeps saying he doesn't stand for the little guy, but for justice, but I wish he'd realize that by nature of the system the little guy cannot get justice unless someone stands for them.

I loved Rosa and Sang-wol's story. For me there was no doubt that they had a romantic relationship, although it was portrayed with subtlety. I've seen a lot of gay male characters in dramas but never a lesbian couple, as far as I can remember.

Through the middle episodes of the drama, I thought there was too much plot--every character seemed to have their own tragic backstory--but then it all came together in such a satisfying way in episode 10. Rosa and Sang-wol's decision to give Sang-wol Rosa's name parallels the twins' switch, and maybe that's why Rosa/ Sang-wol was so angry when she found out that "Mi-rae" was really Mi-ji. There were also parallels between the way both pairs of women suffered in a male-dominated society. I enjoyed seeing the women finally starting to win.

Thanks for the excellent recap.

After reading others' comments here, I want to talk about how the Rosa and Sangwol story fits into the rest of the drama. The main story of this drama is about Miji and her twin Mirae figuring out how to be adults after the trauma in their childhoods delayed their maturation. All the parents on the show are trying to figure out how to show their children they love them. All the children are trying not to be a burden to their parents.

In the middle of the action is this love story between two orphaned girls. In a culture where men are better than women, biological connection makes someone your "real" parent or child, and not having a dad for any reason makes people look down on the individual, the screen writers put this couple in the center. Were they lesbians? The show leaves the question open. On some level it's unimportant, since their connection is so deep and meaningful that Sangwol has borrowed all of Rosa's troubles. She serves time for Rosa's manslaughter of her husband, she takes on the disabled child that Rosa can't parent, and she lives with Rosa's absence after her death. Essentially she stands in for Rosa in the same way that Miji stands in for Mirae.

I feel like the reason we need this particular connection is that the story has already worked out how to valorize all the other relationships between women. The twins are only one pairing, but there are also the mother and grandmother, the two moms who live next door to each other, and Mirae and her revered sunbae. The romantic friendship of the two orphans is there to round it all out.

The other thing that I noticed in these episodes was that the screenwriters are opposed to patriarchy, but they see individual men as loving, healing, and human. Both Hosu's and Miji's dads were the people who knew best how to show love. Hosu and Sejin are really great boyfriends, but there is also Miji's "ex" and the sunbae's brother. Hosu's mom even says that she didn't know what it was to be loved until she met Hosu's dad.

A lot of what k-dramas, like other romance content, do for us is help us figure out what marriage is. Between fate, and sensitivity to our own emotions, they map out the possibility that we can find happiness with another person whom we ourselves choose. I see that as part of the message here.

Aaah, so worried! No trauma, no noble idiocy, just land this beautiful thing. Please please please.

I feel so bad for hosu, i don’t want him to get a sad ending )): Also didn’t expect to be so into the strawberry farm duo’s storyline but they are turning out to be such a breath of fresh air tgt, they fit each other so perfectly.

The moms friendship is so wholesome too~

p.s. Was blissfully unaware that this was only going to be 12 eps long, now i’m sad 😞

Oh yeah Mi-rae should go to the US and start a business!!
I think Mi-ji will run the strawberry farm and do the guardianship, and then hopefully figure things out! She'll also have to figure how to help Ho-su live this new life.. in case his loss of hearing is permanent! Too bad for Ho-su!