Family Woes
Episode 2 of At A Distance, Spring is Green starts with Soo-Hyun walking away, through the pouring rain and back home. There, he meets Koo-Hyun and offers to buy some food. It doesn’t take long before things become tense, especially when Soo-Hyun notices a book for civil law. Koo-Hyun wants to study and he’s going to move out to do so. Yeo Joon hangs back and talks to So-Bin, agreeing to walk to her dorm room while holing an umbrella. Min-Joo eventually heads back to the dorm too, finding So-Bin and new roommate Young-Ran there. Unfortunately the latter seems to be an alcoholic, and after finding her passed out on the floor that morning, So-Bin eventually agrees to drink with her. Later that day though, Professor Park assigns a group project which sees So-Bin offered a spot on his team by Soo-Hyun, He puts his name forward as the leader and wants people he can trust. Yeo Joon is pretty forward though and immediately takes So-Bin aside, asking for her number. Midway through walking together, Yeo Joon receives a call from his parents. They tell him to be there on time and to sort his appearance out – including his hair. Yeo Joon’s Mother doesn’t even give him a chance to speak before hanging up. Charming. She’s not exactly enthralled about having her son over, who plays second best to his brother. Speaking of second best, Jung-Ho winds up blind drunk with Chun-guk and misses out on precious time working on the project. When the two buffoons do finally stagger in, tensions blow up as Yeo Joon is thrown to the floor and Soo-Hyun is struck in the face. Seeing this immediately sends Yeo Joon into a tail spin, screaming that the pair should stop and just talk things out. Yeo Joon eventually walks away, clearly rattled by this occurrence given his family history. Eventually Yeo Joon runs into his brother, Joon-Wan, who’s parked up outside. He reminds Joon that he needs to tell him when he returns home. Well, they eventually head back together where Joon is forced to dye his hair and listen to the family exhibit disappointment in his choice of university. When the lunch ends and the formalities are over, it doesn’t take long for Yeo Joon’s Father to slap his son in the face. He calls Joon an arrogant brat and forces him out. His Mother, Jung-Joo, blames herself for giving birth to him and offers some backhanded compliments. She eventually rips off his wig to reveal Joon’s true hair underneath. When Yeo Joon leaves, he winds up blind drunk, prompting So-Bin to show up and try to help him. The true Yeo Joon then shines through, as tears begin to fall from his face and he pleads with So-Bin to like him.
The Episode Review
Poor Yeo Joon, what a horrible family. In Korea expectations are obviously high on kids to excel and do their best but Joon’s Mum and Dad are literally the worst. I can’t even imagine speaking to a child like that and now it makes sense why Yeo Joon is so desperate for people to like him. It seems Soo-Hyun and Yeo Joon will eventually become friends but next week’s preview seems to hint that So-Bin and Yeo Joon will wind up together romantically. Whether this will cause a love triangle with Soo-Hyun however, remains to be seen. This second episode is definitely an improvement over the first, deepening the character ties and allowing more of Yeo Joon’s true personality to shine through. There’s lots of unresolved issues here we haven’t yet seen though, but At A Distance Spring Is Green is definitely shaping up to be one of the more intriguing Korean prospects at the moment.
