The Candy Ring
Finally the weekend is here which means two new episodes of Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life! We return this week with Cheong-Ah finally understanding why Joon-Hwi broke up with her and why he has been acting so cold towards her. Another obstacle has been added for both our protagonists as Si-Wol is slowly getting closer to Cheong-Ah. Joon-Hwi is slowly becoming more likable as a character too and all this makes the show that much more enjoyable and refreshing each week. The episode starts as Cheong-Ah arrives at Joon-Hwi’s house where Yu-Ra coldly tells her to come inside. Cheong-Ah tries to apologise for everything but Joon-Hwi comes to her defence, telling her they didn’t do anything wrong. An angry Yu-Ra believes she has hurt them by dating both her sons. This prompts Joon-Hwi to then reveal that she was never Joon-Gyeom’s girlfriend in the first place, which shocks Yu-Ra as she realizes she has been lied to for 10 years. Joon-Hwi takes Cheong-Ah home and tells her that he had to hold back so many times when they were together. She replies that she now understands why he acted the way he did and wants to break up with him this time, knowing that he was a good person all along. She leaves the car and he tries to go after her but she doesn’t turn around and gets in a taxi instead. Cheong-Ah returns home and overhears her mum and sister talking about the situation. She confronts them and tells her sister she should have told her the truth. Seol-Ah apologises and Cheong-Ah tells them she had no choice but to end things for good. Joon-Hwi also returns home to his mum who confronts him about Cheong-Ah not being Joon-Gyeom’s girlfriend. He tells her that he received a letter from him but that it doesn’t matter as she’s a survivor and doesn’t deserve to be criticized by anyone. She agrees but will not stand for it if she sees them together. Tae-Rang decides to take his sister for a jog and leads her to Cheong-Ah’s house. This angers her and she walks away despite Hae Rang telling her that he’s worried about her. Yoong-Woong heads to a restaurant for an interview at the same time as Si-Wol. Both of them fight for the position by using their own talents while we see Cheong-Ah and Joon-Hwi very depressed in their own jobs. Sol-Ah visits her sister at the police station and finds out that Tae-Rang was there not long ago as he brought cake for her to enjoy with her family. This prompts Seol-Ah to find him and asks to go for a walk. They discuss her radio show but he remains cold with her and decides to leave without offering her a lift. As they leave each other, we see that he’s struggling not to go after her but knows he has to be distant. In Intermarket, Joon-Hwi debates over what gestures to do next to impress Seol-Ah while Hwa-Young tells Hae-Rang that Joon-Hwi and Seol-Ah are starting over. Hae-Rang suggests she threatens to kick him out of the company so Hwa-Young decides she will do that if he moves out of the house. After finding out that Joon-Hwi has bought an expensive ring, Hwa-Young decides to go pay a visit to Seol-Ah to remove the ring off her finger. On her way home, Seol-Ah is cornered by Hwa-Young who forcefully removes her gloves to find the ring, demanding she give it to her. She takes out the candy ring which makes Hwa-Young even more angry as she wants to the real one. She then takes Seol-Ah home with her and confronts her son about it. After telling her that Seol-Ah hasn’t accepted the ring yet, Joon-Hwi tells her to back off. Seol-Ah gets the upper-hand for once and suggests going for a nice dinner with Joon-Hwi, which enrages Hwa-Young even more. During dinner, Seol-Ah and Joon-Hwi talk about what went wrong in their relationship. He vows to help her any way he can, including trying to get her on TV. She refuses though and asks him to not get involved or she won’t date him for one month. After asking him what he wants, he tells her that he wants to hold her hand while sleeping with her. This outrages her as she tells him she’ll end the contract if he touches one hair on her head. Cheong-Ah arrives at the station to find Si-Wol asleep as he came to wait for her. She decides to speak to Joon-Ik about him and asks if they have access to the investigation records from 10 years ago as she would like to look into the hit and run incident. After her shift, Cheong-Ah leaves the station with Si-Wol and unbeknownst to her finds Joon-Hwi watching. Si-Wol starts showing his caring side when he offers Cheong-Ah his gloves, but she refuses them and discusses what to eat instead which is where the episode ends. As the weeks tick along, there’s been noticeable changes with some of the characters. The main one here is Jin-Woo who has evolved from selfish and dishonest to a man who would do anything to repent and win back the woman he loves. This drama has managed this transition really smoothly and a few weeks ago, I would have never believed I’d root for him. Yu-Ra has also shown a darker side with how she’s acting towards her son and Cheong-Ah but mainly as we slowly find out that she framed an innocent boy. This could have been one of the reasons her son killed himself and I’m wondering just how she’ll cope when she finds out. The future remains unclear for both sisters but hopefully they’ll get their happy ending. In the meantime, Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life remains consistent and enjoyably soapy drama.
