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Marry My Husband: Episodes 7-8
by solstices
A change of environment provides the impetus for significant progress, upending relationship dynamics and spurring candid honesty. Our heroine may have taken several steps closer to her goal, but the path to get there turns out to be thornier than she’d expected.
EPISODES 7-8
Through a brief glimpse of the past, we see how our hero traveled back in time. After placing Ji-won’s ashes in the columbarium, Ji-hyuk’s car had broken down. The grieving, rain-soaked Ji-hyuk was then picked up by a timely taxi driver, who’d clocked Ji-hyuk’s regret and asked whether he’d make the most of a second chance. When Ji-hyuk responds in the affirmative, that’s all the reassurance Dad needs.
In the present, Ji-won catches Ji-hyuk up to speed on the tragic events of her original timeline. Afterwards, they head back to Ji-hyuk’s apartment, where his cat takes an immediate liking to Ji-won (and vice versa). As she explains the principle of equivalent exchange that governs her second chance at life, Ji-hyuk comes to the realization that two people will have to die in their places, but he doesn’t tell Ji-won about his own demise.
There’s a new arrival in the office to fill the absence that the nasty executive left behind, and it’s LEE SEOK-JOON (Ha Do-kwon), who also happens to be the right-hand man of Ji-hyuk’s chairman dad. Seok-joon warns that he’ll raise an HR issue out of the fact that Ji-hyuk took Ji-won home to his apartment the previous night, leaving Ji-hyuk no other choice but to appoint Joo-ran as the meal kit project leader. Still, he keeps Ji-won in the loop with regards to Seok-joon’s interference.
It’s time for the company’s biannual team-building workshop, which sends our marketing team on an outdoor camping trip. The main event is a flag hunt to determine the sleeping arrangements, ranging from a camper trailer to a sleeping bag.
In contrast to Soo-min, who constantly sweet-talks others into doing the heavy lifting for her, Ji-won is determined to rely on her own merit to earn what she deserves. Just as Ji-hyuk has faith in her competence, she wants to live up to her own potential. All she asks from Ji-hyuk is for him to be her listening ear — the one person she can be fully honest with about her struggles.
In response, Ji-hyuk pulls his collar aside to reveal the heart doodle on his chest, making Ji-won tear up in recognition. He asks her to use him however she likes, just like the allowance her dad gave her, but she points out that pocket money doesn’t have to be spent. She’d rather Ji-hyuk seek his own happiness, but when she asks him what he wants to do in this timeline, he can’t quite answer.
As a result of her adamant independence, Ji-won ends up slipping into the lake while trying to retrieve the first place flag. Ji-hyuk rescues her in the nick of time, frantic with worry and panic, and that’s when he finally gives his answer. He wants to be her solid ground, he says, in a sweet callback to her confession of feeling unsteady and adrift like a boat amidst tumultuous waves.
It’s heartbreakingly evident that Ji-won’s been taken advantage of so thoroughly, by those closest to her, that she can’t conceive a middle ground. Accustomed to giving her all at her own expense in order to acquiesce to others’ demands, Ji-won is terrified that she’ll be exploiting others in the same way by asking for their help. What she doesn’t yet understand is that there’s a difference between craving unilateral service and relying on friends for mutual support, and I think that’ll be the second arc of her growth trajectory (the first being the independence that she’s currently reclaiming).
Soo-min blatantly reveals her true colors when she viciously attacks Ji-won to steal the #1 flag, but Ji-won turns the tables by fighting back (with some satisfying hair pulling). When Soo-min snaps at Ji-won afterwards, incensed that she’s not acting like the pushover she used to be, Ji-won can’t hold back any longer. Admitting that she’s grown to dislike Soo-min and her two-faced ways, Ji-won disengages from Soo-min’s temper tantrum and leaves her fuming.
Stung by Ji-won’s rejection, Soo-min plots revenge in exactly the way Ji-won had been hoping for. In a calculated act of pitiful pouting, Soo-min seduces the simpleminded Min-hwan, and they end up heatedly making out. Ji-won watches her success from a distance, but she can’t help the tears that spill over. She hadn’t had the chance to grieve what she’d lost, given her abrupt death and subsequent time travel, and the betrayal is finally sinking in. Thoughtfully, Ji-hyuk covers her eyes, quietly comforting her as she weeps for the relationships she once treasured.
Since Min-hwan is the lowest of the low, he truncates his affair with Soo-min by suggesting that their steamy tryst remain as a one-off dreamlike memory. It’s partially fueled by his opportunistic cowardice, and partially fueled by his poor stocks investment, which prompts him to propose to Ji-won ahead of schedule in an attempt to secure her financial assets.
Cue a flashback to Min-hwan’s original proposal, which had been hilariously low-effort and pathetically insincere. I mean, dollar store balloons, egg and Nutella sandwiches, and “Will you merry me?” The bar is rock-bottom and Min-hwan is still shimmying underneath it. Needless to say, Ji-won is downcast at the thought of reliving that nightmare proposal on her first birthday since returning to the past.
Wanting to give Ji-won the celebration that she deserves, Ji-hyuk swoops in to develop drone technology several years ahead of its time and organize a spectacular light show proposal. While Min-hwan slips the rhinestone ring onto his fiancée’s finger, Soo-min vows to steal him away, and Ji-hyuk promises to do everything he can for Ji-won. As for our heroine, she basks in the moment, anticipating the day Soo-min heralds her own downfall.
This drama continues to strike a surprisingly effective balance between comedy and heartfelt emotional depth, which grounds its premise through deeply relatable character motivations. There’s just something universal about the desire to prove ourselves, or the visceral overwhelm of ingrained fear responses, or the instinctive association of accepting help with weakness (even if our rational brain knows that’s not true).
It’s for this reason that I love the trajectory the show has taken with our main couple — there’s a lot of charged tension, but not once have they acted on it. Instead, they’ve established a shared safe space where they can be vulnerable and honest with each other, which I’d say is one of the most precious gifts one can give.
For all that this show is a fun revenge romp, it’s also taking a realistically measured pace with Ji-won’s recovery. While she still has traumatic flashbacks of Min-hwan’s violence, she also can’t help the fond memories of their loving days that resurface from time to time. Ji-won also struggles with the guilt of speaking ugly truths, to which Ji-hyuk aptly points out the reason — she’s too kind to hurt others, even if the words have to be said.
On that note, I love that Ji-won’s started going for judo practice regularly, and that Ji-hyuk’s told her about how he saved their little kitten Pang (a.k.a. the cutest character of this show). The show carves out little pockets of wholesome moments, like Hee-yeon and Eun-ho’s meet-cute at his restaurant, or Seok-joon’s affirmation of Joo-ran’s capabilities that suggests that he’s not quite a bad egg after all. These scenes may be brief, and they may not be all that vital to the main storyline, but they enrich the drama’s world in a way that fleshes out its characters. It adds even more dimension to the story, and keeps me both invested and entertained.
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