The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry Episode 11

Shin-young and Min-jae celebrate the end of their Ten Days and the beginning of the rest of their relationship, sans deadline. Min-jae leans in for the kiss…and is thwarted by…Mom? Oh, crap.Sang-mi freaks out, first at Min-jae’s silver hair (understandably strange for a mother to see), then at his being with Shin-young, a woman she knows to be Bu-ki’s age, and not to her general liking.

Min-jae tries to play the situation as casually as possible, thinking, hey, great, now you can meet my mother. Only that’s not really how Sang-mi wants this interaction to go. She storms out, and even though Min-jae says she’ll be fine, Shin-young insists he go after her. Good girl.

Min-jae runs after Sang-mi, and as expected, he gets an earful and a complete dismissal of his feelings. It’s clear that their relationship is already pretty strained; this is the first time Sang-mi is learning that Min-jae is staying at Ban-seok’s house, and they haven’t cleared the air over the music issue either, so there are more than a few things these two need to iron out.The other important role Sang-mi plays is as a foil to Min-jae, which is crucial in making him more than just a boytoy in the story. At twenty-four, Min-jae’s biggest hurdle in life is asserting himself as an adult and separating his life from his parents and their expectations. These are things that Shin-young has already done, but Min-jae is just now struggling with, and his interactions with Sang-mi make me empathize with him and take him more seriously.Shin-young overhears all this, and although it’s the reaction she and all of us expected, she’s stricken with disappointment. Min-jae returns to the table and white-lies that his mom was just shocked by his hair and that he sent her home amiably.

Shin-young puts on a brave face and doesn’t let on that she knows.Sang-woo, still sick and lovelorn, calls Sang-mi. She’s conflicted, but decides to drop off some herbal tea for his cold. Sang-woo intercepts her at the mailbox, and she ends up cooking him dinner at his apartment. Later that night, Min-jae decides to go to his old apartment, thinking that his mom just changed the lock code to spite him. Sang-mi, who is in the apartment RIGHT NOW, tells him frantically on the phone that she really did rent it out, and not to go back there.

Sang-woo overhears the conversation and asks Sang-mi about her son. She tells him that she got pregnant in college and that her son is twenty-four. Sang-woo in turn tells her about his ex who he was, until very recently, trying to win back. But he explains that her heart is elsewhere now, as is his.

Suddenly they hear a noise at the door. Min-jae has come up to try the lock anyway, hoping that his mom was just bluffing. Sang-woo and Sang-mi panic, but then Sang-woo says he’ll just answer the door as the new tenant. Only he doesn’t know that it’s Ha Min-jae standing on the other side of that door. In a tense moment, Sang-woo reaches for the door handle, and Min-jae waits on the other side. Sang-woo feels the same way, because he hesitates and decides not to open the door. He’s not ready to confront the reality of Sang-mi’s life, and is afraid that meeting her son would push them to part.Bu-ki comes home later that night to decompress from her day, but is bombarded by Shin-young, rattling off questions about Sang-mi. Bu-ki only tells her that Sang-mi is less than ten years older than them, and that she’s a regular customer at the restaurant.Shin-young, riddled with self-doubt about Sang-mi, mopes in bed. Da-jung, still on the outs with Ban-seok since the birthday fiasco, joins her in a rather comical pouting session. They decide that they should just die and hug each other for comfort. It turns out that Ban-seok is sick, not angry, and Da-jung stops by and apologizes to his doorbell, saying that she’ll take back all the clothes (ha) if he just gives her another chance. But Ban-seok is too sick to hear her apology.

At work everyone gives Shin-young knowing looks and snickers behind her back, and it makes her suspicious that her evil sunbae Myung-seok outed her relationship with Min-jae. She confirms the rumor with her staff, as they all make bets on how long it’ll last, right in front of her. Min-jae consoles her as they walk down the hallway holding hands (aw). Shin-young asks if he’s close to his mom, which he confirms, and wonders if they should lie about her age to say that she’s 29. Min-jae says no without hesitation, which is why we love you! He invites her to lunch with his mom and she politely declines, saying that it’s too soon.

Min-jae goes downstairs to meet his mom. Sang-mi’s good mood doesn’t last long, as she lays down the gauntlet at lunch. She tells Min-jae that a “woman like that” would have no trouble seducing a kid like him. To his credit, Min-jae makes several attempts to have a civil conversation with his mom about his new girlfriend. He actually seems surprised when he realizes that his mom isn’t going to jump on the Shin-young bandwagon just because he’s in love with her. Sang-mi doesn’t budge an inch, and Min-jae realizes that convincing his mom is going to take some doing. He puts on his resolve face.

Meanwhile, Shin-young’s news team comes upon the conversation, wondering who Min-jae is with in the cafeteria. One of them muses, “You don’t suppose he’s got an even older girlfriend on the side?” which made me laugh out loud and then feel gross about it.

So they eavesdrop on the entire conversation, then blab about it publicly in the elevator, which Myung-seok overhears. He of course goes straight to Shin-young to rub her nose in her younger boyfriend’s mother flipping her giblet in the cafeteria. Shin-young bites right back, retorting sarcastically with Myung-seok’s own words that she’ll just use Min-jae and leave him. Only that’s when……Sang-mi appears. Dag nab it, universe! It’s like you hired a team of writers to foil her every move! Shin-young runs after her, calling her “mother,” which Sang-mi does NOT like at all. Sang-mi asks Shin-young not to see Min-jae anymore and asks for her business card, saying that she hopes she won’t have to use it. Shin-young tries to gloss over that part and be friendly, but Sang-mi’s not having any of that and she walks away.

Ban-seok is still sick in bed when his dad arrives with a fruit basket that someone left on his doorstep. Ban-seok reads the card, and realizing it’s an apology from Da-jung, rushes over to her apartment. Da-jung is too busy wallowing to answer the door, but her expression when she sees that it’s Ban-seok is priceless:They reconcile their birthday fight and Ban-seok announces happily that his father has agreed to meet Da-jung one more time. Da-jung of course cannot leave anything to so fickle a thing as fate, and decides that they need a plan to win his father over.

Shin-young spends some time alone, reflecting on the age/mother conundrum, and avoids Min-jae, giving an excuse when he asks her to go to a friend’s concert. Sang-mi seeks some dirt on Shin-young from Bu-ki, but Bu-ki not only remains Switzerland, but gives her some sound advice too. She tells Sang-mi that she’s just driving the kids to be together, and that she should just let it be.

Sang-mi admits that she’s less cosmopolitan than she thought; she might be able to understand their relationship as a woman, but as Min-jae’s mother she cannot accept it. Bu-ki, taking the words right out of my mouth, tells her why not be both then? Sang-mi ends up at Sang-woo’s mailbox again with some new tea to drop off. She’s made it a habit of coming here in her emotional distress, only she fails to recognize it. Or she’s lying to herself about what it means. Sang-woo, who has taken to stalking his mailbox for this very reason, takes her out for a date.

Shin-young wallows alone at work that night, and what is with all the pity parties in this episode? I hate being invited to pity parties. No matter how many nice things you say and how much wine you drink, nobody hears you and nobody has a good time.They end up at the club and Min-jae manages to break Shin-young out of her funk. We get back to Sang-woo and Sang-mi’s date as they arrive at…oh my god…it’s the same club. Listen, Show, you’re making Seoul seem like some tiny town with one restaurant and one bar with all the coincidental run-ins in one episode. Both couples are oblivious to each other’s presence, but when Sang-woo leaves to answer a phone call, Sang-mi takes a look around and sees Min-jae and Shin-young, doing a little bit of this…As Sang-mi watches from behind, Min-jae kisses Shin-young on the cheek, then taps his own cheek to solicit a kiss in return.Shin-young looks embarrassed at first, but then leans in to kiss his cheek, as Min-jae turns his head…TOWARD her…omo! And they end up in a liplock.Sang-mi runs out of the club, making excuses to Sang-woo, who thankfully has not witnessed any of the kissage. Sang-woo follows her out of the club. Sang-mi gets recognized by her husband’s colleagues, who make the assumption that she and her husband are of a kind when it comes to philandering. Sang-woo returns with flowers and two cans of beer. You sneaky man, are you trying to win me over this late in the game? The two of them take one step forward, two steps back, as always concerning their will-they-won’t-they affair, and do some kissing of their own.Bu-ki and Da-jung come up with a plan for Ban-seok’s father, and go to recruit Shin-young in their scheme Da-jung and Bu-ki tell her to snap out of it, that she can’t expect everything to be so easy right from the get-go and that she should fight for Min-jae,And now it’s time for sketch comedy hour as the girls stage their Operation: Father-in-law. Ban-seok and Da-jung are having …as Ban-seok’s ex-girlfriend/stalker who is still in love with him. And right behind her comes Bu-ki, looking funktastically hilarious as the older sister who is demanding Ban-seok take responsibility and marry her right away.They overact the whole thing and Ban-seok’s father is so shocked that he hastily approves of a marriage with Da-jung. Bu-ki and Shin-young come out in ridiculous pink bridesmaid dresses, and Shin-young appropriately asks, “Do I have to wear this? Can’t we just skip it?”Min-jae makes another attempt to convince his mom about what a great person Shin-young is, to no avail. Sang-mi tells Min-jae that his father asked for a divorce, but that she’s not granting one until after Min-jae is married, as it may lessen his desirability as a potential marriage partner.Min-jae rightly tells her not to do that, and to live the way she wants to. Sang-mi says it’s because she fears what she will give into if she divorces, and Min-jae picks up on the implication that she’s got a man in her life. He sweetly says that whoever her boyfriend might be, he would treat him well, like a friend. Shin-young hits another homerun at work and is celebrating with her team when she gets a call from Sang-mi asking to meet.They meet at the café downstairs and we commence with a face-off. She asks Shin-young if she’s introduced Min-jae to her own parents yet. Damn. Point, Sang-mi. She asks if Shin-young is dating Min-jae seriously, considering him as a viable marriage partner. Shin-young doesn’t flinch as she answers yes. Point, Shin-young.Then Sang-mi is reduced to threats, as she tells Shin-young that she’s just an unsophisticated mother, and that she’ll drag Shin-young out by the hair and announce to everyone that she’s seducing her 24-year old son. Basically she’s pulling the I’ve-got-nothing-to-lose-while-you-have-a-career-to-save move. Sneaky. Point, Sang-mi.

Shin-young doesn’t back down and asks what Sang-mi will do if she keeps seeing Min-jae, implying that she’s not going to stop. Shin-young goes to see Min-jae, but is interrupted by a call from Sang-woo. He’s drunk and seeking a friendly shoulder to lean on, as he is heartbroken over the woman he loves…who is married…with a son. Shin-young senses the gravity of the situation and offers to come over.Shin-young meets Sang-woo down in the lobby of his apartment building. They head upstairs with Shin-young saying, “Let’s drink all night!” which is of course the very moment that Sang-mi walks in and witnesses the whole thing.