While Sa Ran and Da Mo are getting back together, both Ra Ra and her mum have trouble with their relationships. But Dr. Geum and Ms. Han finally get married (ah, cute) and Gong Joo and Son Ja are getting on very well too…
Ra Ra
At first Ra Ra’s future mother-in-law continues to be nice as pie to Ra Ra. So Ra Ra believes she is marrying into a good family. She takes her aunt to meet her new mother-in-law for dinner. But her aunt thinks they should be honest and tell the new mother-in-law that Ra Ra’s real parents are her aunt and uncle, not Dr. Geum and his wife. Ra Ra doesn’t object to this, so over the meal they explain the situation. The news doesn’t go down well – After all, if Dr. Geum is not Ra Ra’s real father, maybe Ra Ra won’t inherit Dr. Geum’s hospital…
Ra Ra’s mother-in-law is becoming less satisfied with Ra Ra and thinks her son can do better. She throws a fit when she discovers that the house the newlyweds will live in is just rented, not bought by Dr. Geum. So she tells her son to start dating other women to find someone wealthier! She has no worries about calling off the wedding even though they have already set the date. She really is a piece of work.
Her son is a mummy’s boy so does exactly what she tells him to do – he tells Ra Ra that he can’t see her because he is meeting his friends and then goes on a blind date instead! He could at least have chosen somewhere where Ra Ra was not likely to go, but he doesn’t. And there’s a brilliant scene when Ra Ra arrives at a restaurant with the girls and then sees her fiancé sitting at the next table flirting with another woman. (Oh boy!) She calmly goes over to the table and questions his date who has no idea what is going on. The young woman is mortified to hear that he is already engaged and storms off. Ra Ra is fuming too. But all her fiancé can do is plead for her not to mention this to her father! He is only thinking about his job. What a wimp.
When Ra Ra’s mother-in-law hears what happened, she thinks that she can easily persuade Ra Ra that she has been mistaken and that her son wasn’t really on a date. So she calls her and gives her a very lame excuse as to why her son is seeing other women. They think Ra Ra accepts this excuse (they think she’s an idiot) as she has led a sheltered life and is quite naive. But she’s not that stupid. She tells her father exactly what happened and that the wedding is off. Dr. Geum agrees that they must accept his resignation!!!!
Ra Ra is shocked and disturbed about what happened and begins to think that she is not meant to find happiness in marriage. So when Ra Ra’s mum reveals to her that she is the owner of the gisaeng house and intends to take it over one day, she asks her mum to give the gisaeng house to her. She also decides to become a gisaeng like Ms. Oh who she admires as a career woman.Nobody is happy to hear this. But Ra Ra thinks after her experiences she is not meant to lead a normal life – She tells Ms. Oh she wants to be a gisaeng since no decent man has ever shown interest in her. (But at the beginning of this drama Ms. Lee did not invite Ra Ra to become a gisaeng – they only wanted Sa Ran! I suppose it’s different now that Ra Ra’s mum is the boss of the gisaeng house!)
Ra Ra’s Mum
Ra Ra’s mum has her dreams of happiness shattered too. She is not satisfied with her new man and tells him she is disappointed because he’s changed – he’s not the same man she loved at university. Now he has got into bad habits and curses and eats in a vulgar way! He says she’s changed too – she has no interesting conversation and just nags him all the time. But when he tells her that he chose to be with her after his wife died despite having the opportunity to date younger women (!) she decides to call it a day.
Sure enough, she apologises and says she made a mistake and wants the family to take her back! This is interesting. She wanted a divorce because they didn’t love each other but now she wants to come back? It’s also interesting that she goes to her mother-in-law to ask this. Surely she should go to her ex-husband? Of course she is shocked to hear about Ms. Han’s relationship with Dr. Geum. She didn’t see that one coming. She obviously thought she could just apologise and everything could go back to what it was. But everything has changed now. We also learn that she broke up with her first love because he was poor. So she must have chosen Dr. Geum because he was wealthy – but she has paid the price in a loveless marriage whilst wasting years yearning for an impossibly idealistic relationship. It seems that she is not quite ready to give up on Dr. Geum though and meets with other members of the family to try to discover how serious he is about Ms. Han.
Then she meets Dr. Geum for coffee. But it’s so obvious what he’s going to say. And I do feel bad for her as now she seems so lost and obviously doesn’t want to be on her own. After their marriage ended, they both went back to their first loves! But because her relationship didn’t work out she thinks his won’t work out either. So she suggests that he just come back to her instead! This is an interesting theory but his relationship with Ms. Han is a lot more genuine and of course they have a child together too..
Ms. Han and Dr. Geum
When Ms. Han hears about Sa Ran’s plans to have a gisaeng marriage she is concerned even though they don’t know each other. Ms. Han is worried about her and wonders if she should say something since Sa Ran’s parents are obviously not concerned about her! But there is nothing she can do and she feels sad when she watches the gisaeng wedding take place. This contrasts dramatically with Sa Ran’s step mum’s attitude towards the wedding – she just thinks about all the nice things the family will have after Sa Ran is married.
Meanwhile, Ra Ra’s grandmother seems to have softened towards Ms. Han. (It must have been the food!) She tells her to hurry up and marry Dr. Geum and go on a honeymoon. She even gives her a necklace because she has noticed that Ms. Han doesn’t wear any jewellery. At first Dr. Geum and Ms. Han are not in a hurry to get married but when the fortune teller tells them that they should marry this month, they set a date. They get hanboks made and have a traditional Korean wedding, followed by a honeymoon in Jejudo.
Ra Ra’s uncle and aunt
Ra Ra’s aunt finally forgives her husband for having the affair years ago. She decides to meet his love child, Son Ja. Son Ja moves in to Ra Ra’s house at first because his dad knows his wife will refuse to let him live with them. (no kidding?) But after she calms down Ra Ra’s aunt suggests that Son Ja should live with them since they don’t have any children at home. Wow. Would this really happen?
Then their future daughter-in-law Michelle arrives for a visit from the States. But Ra Ra’s aunt and uncle are not overly pleased at the prospect of a foreign daughter-in-law…(no that would be terrible!)
Gong Joo and Son Ja
Gong Joo’s mum is not pleased that Gong Joo is still seeing Son Ja even though he has moved out of their house. She is worried that she is jeopardising her chances of finding a rich husband by hanging out with Son Ja. She thinks that Gong Joo can do much better for herself now that Sa Ran has married into a rich family. But Gong Joo and Son Ja still spend time together. Son Ja has realised that he has strong feelings for Gong Joo that go beyong friendship…