I Need Romance 3 Episode 9 - Boyfriend Material?

All of my readers, think back through your lives and consider that time when your BFF, or Sister, or just a character on a show you were watching (like this one) picked a total complete loser to date.  You know the one, he belches, wears Pitt stained wife beaters, and calls them babe.  You can see the train wreck coming from a mile off but you cant say anything since they are "in love" and oblivious to their significant others faults.  But you see it, you see the selfish scuzzbucket for who he is and feel horrible for your friend and just wait for the fallout with a gallon of Chunky Monkey Ice Cream.  Now switch that image to the Korean version who is a selfish workaholic jerk of a boss in a nice suit with a tie (I am pretty sure that it is illegal to wear anything that a white trash redneck would wear in Korea) and you have our situation.  Poor Joo Wan is the friend waiting for the fallout while he watches everyone around Joo Yeon use and abuse her.

I really feel for Joo Wan in this episode.  The poor boy just gives and gives and is a very nice person to EVERYONE (even his rivals) but he is surrounded by a bunch of emotionally stunted narcissists.  He has finally gotten Joo Yeon to sleep after her horrible date.  When who calls but her jerk of a boss.  Now most people would assume he is calling to apologize, but oh no, he is calling to tell her to work more tonight so he could have some reports for his early meeting.  Joo Wan is enraged (as he should be) and tells Tae Yoon off and informs him that she fell asleep crying and the last thing he is going to do is wake her up to work more.  Again you would think that a descent human being would say sorry and back off.  But nooooooooo not Tae-yoon who again tells him to make sure she wakes up early then and do the work.  Joo Wan snaps back that she already wakes up at 5am every morning so there is no way he is going to wake her up earlier then that and hangs up.

Unfortunately his kindness is not appreciated (Tae Yoon sent her an email about the extra work and mentioned Joo Wan's comments on the phone) and she snarks and complains even when Joo Wan makes her breakfast/lunch (the lunch box is just too cute) and then drives her to work in his Jammies???   (not sure if those were jammies or grubby clothes he wore, but he did leave the house in his house slippers).  And after meeting the suited Tae Yoon in the office's parking lot he is totally cute when he checks out how he looks in the car mirror.  Don't worry Joo Wan, you have that jerk beat even with your cute bed head.

Joo Yeon is feeling slightly awkward at work.  Not only does she now have a bit more of an understanding regarding her feelings for her boss, she also has that extra level of awkward because he knows that she came home upset after their "date".  She blows it off as saying it was just because she felt like a 3rd wheel within his relationship but he says that he asked her because she is "comfortable and dependable and not weakened by emotions which makes her the best to be around."  Needless to say the description he used was not overly flattering and when he goes on to comment on her actually crying (since he thought she was someone who never cried) she told him who doesn't cry.  I just made sure to not cry at work.

Knowing that she is currently "on a break" with Tae Yoon, Se Ryeong is concerned over Joo Yeon's feelings for her ex.  She comes up with a totally horrible and selfish plan in which she is going to become besties with Joo Yeon again and of course Joo Yeon would never steal the man that her best friend loves.  Poor Joo Wan is informed of her evil plan and his looks of disgust and concern are so sincere.  I love that he not only wants the best for his own life, but goes out of the way to try and understand the people around him.  Unfortunately for him he sees them all making bad selfish choices and they tend to ignore his wise advice.  Se Ryeong starts her plan by playing up the BFF angle for a reporter interviewing them about their jobs.  Afterwords she does a whole "lets make up and forget the past" spiel which Joo Yeon seems to swallow hook, line, and sinker.  (The only thing I could focus on during this scene was Se Ryeong's ugly earring?  What is up with the ugly ear jewelry.  Sorry but some of her stylist choices in jewelry make the actress look like a cyborg wannabe.)

YAY there is finally a scene worth mentioning that has the younger boy and girl of the Fashion Squad.  Unfortunately it is not really any plot movement for them but more of a WHAT THE HECK moment in time.  All I can say is that if your male coworker has figured out three female coworkers "cycles" then obviously they have been spending way too much time together.  Not to mention I personally would find it very creepy if a coworker bought my sanitary pads and stocked them for me.  Boundaries people boundaries.  On a more positive note, his new hairstyle (now that he is allowed to romance the whiny girl) is looking good.

 I love the expression that Joo Yeon gets when she is texting Joo Wan.  They way her face lights up anytime she is with Joo Wan, or hears from Joo Wan, or even remembers past events with Joo Wan is just adorable.  Too cute, and a balm to my poor tortured soul as I have to watch her chase after "the jerk".  Luckily the drama is making pretty sure we  know who she is going to end up with in the end.  I was originally worried they were going to pull a B lead hookup on us poor unsuspecting viewers.  However the farther in the show we get the more comfortable I am that she is going to eventually be with her Sweet Potato.  Just look at the following notes I took when watching this segment.

Signs of a Super Soul mate

#1Makes dinner that she is craving before she even says anything.  It was so cute when he was able to send a photo of all the ingredients for the dish that she said she wanted. 

#2Unbuttons her dress with his eyes closed.... Yup because he is that much of a gentleman.  I love how he had to raise his hands when he was done.  Of course everything this guy does is wonderfully adorable/hot.

#3 Makes sure she comes home to a clean and happy home each night.  This for me is the most important.  If I was single and found a hot, gorgeous, successful man who actually cleaned and cooked then I would have him legally bound to me so fast.  I feel like smacking Joo Yeon on the back of the head and telling her that a man who will cook for you is the equivalent of finding oil on your property.  Scoop him up ASAP.

Every scene in this drama is designated to make us love this man and also make him eventually irresistible to Joo Yeon.  But with her lack of romantic insight, he could have twenty flashing signs and arrows pointing his way saying SOUL MATE and she would just stare blankly and say "huh".  I have a feeling that she is only going to appreciate what she has when he gets fed up with her and is gone.

We finally see a crack in his support in the last scene of the episode.  Joo Yeon finally asks out Tae Yoon, which Joo Wan actually supports since he wants her to be happy.  However when he finds out that most of her motivation is because she wants to hurt Se Ryeong (turns out she was not fooled by the fake friendship but decided to play the game and screw her nemesis over) his expression collapses into one of disappointment and anger.  He asks her, which came first?  Wanting to hurt Se Ryeong or liking Kang Tae Yoon?  She says both and starts spouting off that this is helping karma along and it is use or be used.  Joo Wan (finally) looks at her with disgust.  He says that that is not what living is about and tells her that she is just like Oh Se Ryeong.  That she is actually worse since Se Ryeong actually knows how bad she is.  He gets up to leave saying to please not make him regret coming back to her.

My Thoughts:
I really liked this episode.  It had a lot of character development (as much as any of these characters can change) as well as some setbacks when it came to Joo Yeon becoming a "real" human being.  To date she has been making quiet a bit of progress so I enjoyed that they made it more realistic with the two steps forward one step back style of writing.  I am also kind of happy that she finally pushed Joo Wan a bit to far with her selfishness.  I love that he is so supportive of her, but I love it even more when he stands up to her and tells her that she is wrong.  I am just waiting for her to do something  extreme so he will leave her and she can get a dose of what living a Sweet Potatoless life would be like.  I guess I want her to suffer just a tad for her jerking his (and my) emotions all over the place. 
I have decided to add an occasional Throwback Thursday kdrama blog post.  It will have suggestions on what to watch within specific genres/themes.  Be sure to look for my special valentines edition coming this Thursday.  Til then, have an amazing kdrama filled week.

Sincerely,
Kmuse