A Painful Past
After a week’s hiatus, When The Weather Is Fine returns for more characterisation and a dive into Hye-Won’s troubled past. While the rest of the episode continues to plod along at a leisurely, slow pace, the relaxing musical score and interesting characters are enough to keep you invested, even if this is quite a slow-paced Korean drama. Episode 5 of When The Weather Is Fine begins with Myeong-Joo getting off the bus where she bumps into Hye-Won, which is where the previous episode ended. It’s here we cut back in time and see a young Hye-Won walking with her Mother toward her Grandmother, and finally come to the realize that Myeong-Joo is her Mother. During a flashback at the police station, Myeong-Joo admits that she didn’t want to step on the brakes and stop herself running over Hye-Won’s Father, which acts as a confession and causes her to be imprisoned. We then jump forward slightly as a young Hye-Won attempts to meet her Mother in prison but she refuses to see her daughter. This obviously brings a lot of painful memories back as we cut to the present again, with Myeong-Joo walking away from her daughter while she follows close behind. At Hodu House, Myung-Yeo steps out from the building as reservation work is being undertaken and sees Myeong-Joo standing with Hye-Won. After told to speed up the renovation work, Myeong-Joo leaves, but not before shooting a knowing glance Eun-Seob’s way on the path back down to the city. Later that day, Eun-Seob and Hye-Won catch up, with the latter telling him her Mother has never been very attentive. As they talk, she wonders why her Mother has turned up this time. After a brief talk with Myung-Yeo surrounding literature, they learn Myeong-Joo wants to go out for dinner with them. It’s an awkward affair, to say the least, and one that sees them silent for the most part. Meanwhile, Hin-Dol speaks to Eun-Seob surrounding Hye-Won’s Mother and talks about her past. As he leaves the shop, he heads up to the cafe overlooking the flower shop, waiting to be served. While Hye-Won heads in and buys some camellias, Bo Young shows up and starts talking to Eun-Seob. As he sits with him, Hye-Won leaves the shop and sees them through the glass, immediately getting the wrong end of the stick and believing there’s something going on. Back home Hye-Won confronts her Mother, pouring her heart out over how she felt seeing her go to prison and the subsequent years where she failed to keep in touch. She tells her Mother to leave and next time to ring ahead, before walking out of Hodu House. Myeong-Joo heads straight down to the Bookstore and talks to Eun-Seob, handing him letters and requesting he give them to Hin-Dol, as she has no way of bringing them to him herself. As she leaves, Hye-Won spots her leave and confronts Eun-Seob about her Mother, questioning what she wanted. Meanwhile, Myeong-Joo heads up to a familiar spot and reminisces over her past, and in particular remembering the time Hin-Dol came up to her and proposed. As we jump back to the present, Hye-Won’s Mother curses her luck and how this was the day her misfortune started. As the episode continues, Im Whi hits a snag in her hunt to woo her crush at school, while Eun-Seob and Hye-Won share some special time together, with a beautiful segment inside the Bookstore of them both sitting and watching as flashes of them dancing are projected across the room. Not long after however, they’re both distracted by the arrival of a boy from school Hye-Won used to know. As awkwardness ensues, the episode ends. While Hye-Won’s past continues to be explored, we receive a little more characterisation for some of our main cast this time around, with Hin-Wol’s ties to Myeong-Joo and the latter’s background examined a little more closely. It certainly helps add a little more depth to this one but on the whole, the series continues to feel relatively slow-paced. The “misunderstanding” and potential “love triangle” trope during the episode do feel a little formulaic, which hurts the pacing of this one, but on the whole the relaxed vibes make it a more palatable Korean drama. Quite what the next episode has in store for us though, remains to be seen.
