I feel like they were just learning to see each other better with one wall falling after another as time passes. I even appreciate that it took them forever to acknowledge their feelings despite gitae actually falling for jangmi in like ep4. Its a very mature thing to portray that a relationship takes so long to happen. I totally love how messy, loud and chaotic the wedding scene was. It ended the way it started- everyone being a drama queen.
An upset Jang-mi asks if Ki-tae gave Se-ah a baby, but he’s too offended by the question to even answer. He counters by asking why she gave Yeo-reum money, and she says it’s business and takes offense in turn at his suspicion. The wedding coordinator comes to get them since Hoon-dong has been calling the groom down the aisle for several minutes, https://loveexamined.net/ but Jang-mi cries that she can’t get married feeling this way. Jang-mi pouts that Ki-tae’s proposal isn’t very romantic. Jang-mi finally cracks a smile and counters that you can’t trust men, but nevertheless, she wants to trust Ki-tae. Ki-tae wonders if he should start proposing now that the bet results are in, but Jang-mi stops him again.
Jang-mi wants to know what was in her dad’s postcards to make Ki-tae so sure (he previously told her it was the sweetest love letter he ever read, hee) and grabs them from him. He reclaims them and they adorably tickle-hug-wrestle for possession of the envelope. A passing fisherman picks up the envelope when Ki-tae drops it, and says he knows the man who wrote it, and that he was heading to Seoul today to close his chicken restaurant. Jang-mi asks why Ki-tae went to see her mom in the first place, and he says he was jealous that she was getting so much affection from his mother and he wanted the same from her mom. She’s thankful that he did, since now her mom won’t have to have surgery alone. I totally agree with @missvictrix that movies feel too short now that I have experienced dramaland.
Always wanted to check it out coz the first episode recap sounds really good and am glad I get to marathon it instead. TvN seems to really like wedding scenes in their dramas this year. I just realized that Han Groo, Sun Hwa and So Hee are all in their very early 20’s.
Beanie Awards: Vote for your favorite dramas of the year
She grouches that it’s not much better than chicken and lets him know that she still hates him, but she’s taking him back so as not to burden Jang-mi. She says she’ll use the money from selling the chicken place for Jang-mi’s wedding, asserting that she only objected because Ki-tae’s mother was so rude and whoops, there she is, come to visit. Ki-tae’s mom sits up alone late at night and is joined by Grandma, who also can’t sleep. Grandma says she has something to confess and asks if Mom remembers when she left home with Ki-tae. She tells Mom that Ki-tae thinks of those as his happiest days, but Mom remembers them as lazy days.
She texts him to leave but he says he can’t read it, because he smashed his cell phone in anger and he wants to talk to her face-to-face. It’s another level of slow burn if the characters developed this chemistry earlier on in the story and are on the journey to seeing where it leads them (YAMS! again). A part of what a slow burn romance is for me is its own literal words – slow and burn. When I talk of slow, it doesn’t refer to its pacing. The pacing for the romance can be fast but the development of the burn is slow, as I felt in You Are My Spring (the very first that came to my mind when I saw the topic). I think coming of age dramas usually hit this well.
Jang-mi climbs into bed with her mom and promises to be her life partner and never leave her. Mom says that sounds terrible, but Jang-mi says as long as Mom is against Ki-tae, she’s stuck with her, which makes Mom smile a little. Jang-mi’s insistence that she’s unsure about marriage just makes Dad even angrier and he demands to know what Ki-tae did to make her uncertain.
Mad for Each Other episode 12 recap – “Love That Didn’t Hurt Too Much”
The fact that he did all those things is just his way of showing love and concern to the ones he care for. It may not be super romantic, but that just makes him, him. She’s the only reason i keep watching the show. Just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse, the sky opens up and it starts to pour. All of the wedding guests run for cover, leaving Ki-tae and Jang-mi to stand in the rain at the altar all alone. Jang-mi says in voiceover that in life, the worst things happen during the best times, but you can get through life because the best things also come with the worst.
Ki-tae stammers that he’s dating Jang-mi, which enrages Dad even further, and he shoves Ki-tae against the wall yelling at him for hanging around his daughter but not intending to marry her. I’ve seen a few slow romances, and the pleasure is in seeing all the developments, but I have difficulties to find examples of burn. I might be peculiar in what I consider chemistry, hot gaze, and dolorous longing. Or I do not watch drama with romance as main driver. The best slow burn I have seen is Love like the galaxie. The red sleeves is my kdrama contender.
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I’m also liked it when the Grandma and Aunt commiserated with Ki Tae’s mom and not the dad because they knew how much hurt and suffering she endured over the years. I agree that both leads really gave their best in their roles…and I’m a real fan of them now. Hopefully they will move on to bigger and better projects.
I loved the setup, but it started to drive me nuts the way we felt trapped there. The series was at its best early on, when the humor crackled and the couple was forced to act loving on the surface while antagonism brewed underneath. What a fitting end to a series about marriage and dating—it doesn’t paint marriage as a fantasy, or the end-all-be-all of romance. What I like most about Ki-tae and Jang-mi’s final decision to be married is that they acknowledge that happily ever after is but a fantasy—marriages go bad, spouses cheat, love cools.
Marriage, Not Dating
She’s touched that he sold the place she hated so much, but holds onto her pride and says she’s glad she got sick, because he finally left after she was ill. He yells that he never wanted a divorce, and he’s angry that she didn’t tell him she was sick. Outside, Ki-tae hugs Jang-mi and tells her to go see her mom, and he’ll stay with Dad. She says sadly that their bet is over since her parents will never see eye-to-eye, but Ki-tae still has hope. She tries one more time to see what’s in the envelope, but Ki-tae promises to show her when their bet is really over. Jang-mi tells her dad to go to the hospital but he says that he won’t, since if her mom didn’t tell him she was sick it must mean she really hates him.
Ki-tae’s mom serves tea to Grandma and Mi-jung and says she’s been thinking about what Grandma said. Before she can announce her decision, Dad comes running in to excitedly tell them he’s been promoted to university president. I love how all three of the women’s faces are like, So what, jerkface. When he asks for congratulations, Mom says he ought to congratulate her, so he starts in with the lip service of how he owes it all to her.