Our Unwritten Seoul: Episodes 3-4 » Dramabeans Korean drama recaps
Our Unwritten Seoul: Episodes 3-4
by quirkycase
Now that the twins are growing more accustomed to their new roles, they have time for reflection. While our sisters may be vastly different in personality, they are both their own harshest critics and deeply internalize their flaws and mistakes. Seeing themselves through new eyes challenges their perceptions and might just let them discover strengths they didn’t realize they have.
EPISODES 3-4
After Ho-soo questions Mi-ji’s identity, she goes into damage control mode. She harshly snaps at him for daring to think only “Mi-ji” is allowed to show excitement or be happy. As Mi-ji watches him shut down and go quiet at her coldness, she reminisces on all the times she’s been shut out. Everyone’s attention was always on Mi-rae while she felt like a nuisance in the background, even to her own mom. Ho-soo was the one bright spot, a person who saw her and opened up to her – but then he and Mi-rae started hanging out together. Mi-ji’s injury happened when she spotted them hugging off to the side during her race and lost her footing.
While it’s undeniable that people like her mom have always put Mi-rae first, it’s also true that Mi-ji’s insecurities can lead her to push people away. She’s always thought people left her first, but in reality, she pulls back at any sign they might shut her out. She never gave Ho-soo (or anyone else) a chance to explain when something went wrong – she just distanced herself before they could hurt her. When she runs into high school friend PARK JI-YOON (Yoo Yoo-jin), Mi-ji is shocked to hear her wonder why Mi-ji distanced herself since all this time, Mi-ji thought Ji-yoon and her other friends pulled away after Mi-ji could no longer be a popular athlete.
Beyond the obvious difficulty of pretending to be someone else, both twins are finding their new roles more challenging than they expected. For Mi-rae, the work part is easy to figure out. She returns to work at the strawberry farm and starts proving herself. She and Se-jin find a rhythm after he apologizes and shares that he’s the type to make hasty judgments he later regrets. He never liked the farm, but his grandfather loved it; so, after his death, Se-jin has chosen to maintain it. His willingness to apologize and be vulnerable warms Mi-rae to him, and he’s impressed by her strong work ethic and sense of responsibility.
What Mi-rae struggles with is the personal life part. Mi-ji handled everything for their grandmother, never missing a day at the hospital and even personally cutting her hair. Everyone there gushes about how wonderful Mi-ji is and badmouths Mi-rae, the twin who never bothers to visit. Mi-rae finds that she’s only seen is as good as the money she makes. When Mi-rae (as Mi-ji) offers to pay for the hospital fees for the month, Ok-hee tells her to save her money and just use Mi-rae’s. She may be respected for her status as the family provider, but Mi-ji is seen as the approachable, likable one.
Meanwhile, the situation is the reverse for Mi-ji who is struggling in Mi-rae’s job but improving her social life. Mi-ji is still stuck on this impossible task of getting the restaurant owner KIM RO-SA (Won Mi-kyung) to sell. She does, however, win Ro-sa’s respect (and fondness) through her sincerity and tenacity. Ro-sa even agrees to meet with the company so they’ll stop using Mi-ji as a shield. When Mi-rae asks her to come home the day of that meeting to twin swap and cut Wol-soon’s hair, Mi-ji gets a taste of what it’s like being the one who can’t show up because of work.
Mi-ji is not only making new connections in Mi-rae’s life, but also revitalizing old ones. She continues growing closer with Ho-soo, especially after he makes the surprising decision to quit his job. His empathy and inability to ignore injustice put him at odds with boss and mentor LEE CHOONG-GU (Im Chul-soo), especially when Ho-soo’s sympathy causes him to give advice to a victim on the other side of their case. On top of that, Choong-gu feels like his disability is the only reason Ho-soo sticks by him, so he’s done with Ho-soo at this point.
Choong-gu makes it hard for him to get hired anywhere else, which puts Ho-soo in a funk. Chronically job-searching Mi-ji adorably teaches Ho-soo crochet to help him relax and stop spiraling about being unemployed. She reminds him he’s not his job, once again surprising him with “Mi-rae’s” thoughtfulness. Then, she indirectly lands Ho-soo a new job.
It just so happens that Ro-sa is also a famous poet who sponsors students – one of her scholarships put Ho-soo through university. Ho-soo realizes who Ro-sa is when Mi-ji enlists his help with work, and he goes to thank Ro-sa in person. She’s thrilled to have one of her sponsored students show up and treats him like a grandson. Hearing he’s between jobs, she asks him to be her lawyer for the upcoming meeting with Mi-ji’s company.
Spending so much time around Mi-ji is having an impact on Ho-soo. He gets flustered when she’s too close, and when a classmate flirts with her at their class reunion, Ho-soo spends the whole reunion grumpy and jealous. Mi-ji dragged him there in the first place because she didn’t want people gossiping if “Mi-rae” didn’t show. Instead, it’s Mi-ji they gossip about. As they gasp at the fact that the almost-famous athlete is now a janitor, Ho-soo coldly tells them to stop talking behind her back. He even confronts “Mi-rae” later about why she didn’t stand up for her sister.
Mi-ji may be good at standing up for others, but she’s not so great at standing up for herself. She’s hurt easily by others and retreats. After her athlete dreams were crushed in high school, she spent three years hiding in her home with a bad case of agoraphobia. Her family could barely get her to come out of her room. The only reason she managed to graduate is that Mi-rae cut off her hair and went to Mi-ji’s classes when she could.
Wol-soon is the one who finally got Mi-ji to start living again. Where Ok-hee was rough and angry with her, Wol-soon was gentle and supportive. She knew Mi-ji was hiding to survive and called her brave for trying. Mi-ji began to heal, but soon after, Wol-soon had the severe stroke. That’s what finally brought Mi-ji back out into the world, leaving her house for the first time in 3 years despite being so terrified she had to force herself out step by step.
Mi-ji blames herself for not getting her grandmother to the hospital sooner, and we see that guilt in full force when Ro-sa has a fall. Mi-ji goes to check on her since she’s late to the meeting and has a panic attack when she finds Ro-sa on the floor. She’s only hurt her back, but Mi-ji has flashbacks to her grandmother and can barely breathe.
Ho-soo also shows up to check on Ro-sa and helps calm Mi-ji down and get Ro-sa to the hospital. Mi-ji berates herself to Ho-soo, blaming herself for bringing everyone else down with her and living shamelessly. If anyone else had been home with her grandmother that day, she would’ve gotten to the hospital earlier and might’ve fared better. Ho-soo won’t hear of it and argues that if he isn’t to blame for his father’s death – he made him go out the day the accident happened – then Mi-ji isn’t to blame for Wol-soon’s stroke.
At home, Mi-rae is also coming to learn that she may have a skewed perception of herself. Ho-soo’s kind mom YEOM BOON-HONG (Kim Sun-young) invites Mi-rae to make strawberry jam with her. Mi-rae is taken off-guard when Boon-hong references Mi-rae as thoughtful and kind, arguing she hides her soft side behind her stoicism.
We end the week as we cut back to Mi-ji and Ho-soo in Seoul. She asks why he’d take Mi-ji’s side so strongly, and he casually says it’s because he likes her. “You know Mi-ji is my first love,” he declares to a stunned Mi-ji. From the way he looked at her when she was berating “Mi-ji” at the hospital, I thought he knew who she was and was humoring her. Now, I’m not so sure. Maybe he used the situation as an excuse to finally confess to her, or maybe he still genuinely believes she’s Mi-rae.
Speaking of Ho-soo, did the show just forget he’s supposedly not hearing in one ear? In the first two episodes, we were clearly shown he uses strategies like lip reading to communicate, and he referenced not being able to hear to Mi-ji. This week, we see him talk on the phone and seemingly have no issues hearing anyone in any circumstance. I’m not sure there’s a way to make it make sense now, but I would love some clarification and consistency.
Back to the twins, I love how Mi-ji and Mi-rae are starting to see themselves in a new light by hearing the positive and negative ways others perceive them. For all their differences, they both internalize their pain and blame themselves for it. They also struggle to see their own positive qualities. Mi-ji is warm-hearted with a gift for bringing people together, but she doesn’t even realize it. Mi-rae can’t see that she’s not heartless just because she shows her love in an understated way and isn’t the sweet type. So many of their problems could be solved if they both went a little easier on themselves and saw their own value. At least it looks like they’re headed in the right direction.
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