Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! I kinda love this quick little scene, where Secretary Lee helps Bom with her stretches, while giving her an update about Noo Ri, coz it really shows how Bom’s come into her own, and is truly regarded as the young mistress of the house now. 🤩

SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:

ZERO SPOILER POLICY

1. We will be adopting a ZERO SPOILER POLICY for this Open Thread, except for events that have happened in the show, up to this point.

The spoiler tags don’t work in email notifications, therefore, please take note that WE WILL NOT BE USING SPOILER TAGS FOR THIS OPEN THREAD. 

ANY AND ALL SPOILERS WILL BE REDACTED to protect first-time viewers in our midst (although, I’d appreciate it if you would save me the trouble of having to redact spoilers, heh 😅).

This includes, but is not limited to, how characters &/or relationships develop, later in the show.

We need to protect the innocent! 😉

SPOILER ZONE

2. HOWEVER!! If you’d like to discuss spoilers from a rewatcher’s point of view, I’ve created a SPOILER ZONE for you, where you can discuss all the spoilers you’d like, without the need for spoiler warnings. You can find it here!

Without further ado, here are my reactions to this set of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

My thoughts

Episode 15

Bom continues to do great and impress her in-laws, but, as in all things, context is key, and you can’t exist in a vacuum.

This episode, Jung Ho and Yeon Hee learn that it’s not as easy to “clean up” Bom’s family’s image as they’d hoped.

I do enjoy seeing how much favor Bom now enjoys with her in-laws, and this episode, Yeon Hee, specifically, indicates several times, just how pleased she is, with Bom as her daughter-in-law.

Like the way Yeon Hee decides it’s time to introduce Bom to Secretary Yang, who’s quite the family institution.

The whole air of this introduction, with Yeon Hee taking care to brief Bom beforehand, in the most indirect, elegant manner, of how Bom should approach the introduction, is so different from before, when Yeon Hee would be more exasperated than anything, in having to deal with Bom.

Now, Yeon Hee even praises Bom for being so quick and clever, that she understands Yeon Hee’s direction so clearly, even though Yeon Hee only gives her obtuse hints.

And, on top of that, even Secretary Yang is impressed with Bom – and might I say, perhaps even a little intimidated?

Because, Secretary Yang gets right on the implied assignment that she picks up in Bom’s words, and makes sure that Noo Ri is introduced to Yoon Je Hoon as quickly as possible.

Not bad at all, for a few seconds’ worth of work by Bom, in her greeting to Secretary Yang, yes?

Plus, there’s also the way Yeon Hee remarks to Secretary Lee that she would have liked to have Bom accompany her to places, and introduce her as her daughter-in-law. Wow. Those are big words, coming from Yeon Hee.

I think it’s safe to say that Bom has passed with flying colors, and then some, when it comes to Yeon Hee.

I actually appreciate Hyeong Sik and Jin Ae’s reasons for turning down the help that Jung Ho and Yeon Hee are offering, for the repair of the house, and his business proposal.

As far as Jin Ae is concerned, I feel that in turning down Yeon Hee’s offer to repair her house, she’s choosing to be content with what they have, and also, she’s choosing not to be indebted to her in-laws.

And as for Hyeong Sik, I appreciate that he’s being extra careful, and feels extra nervous, because this isn’t his own money that he’s potentially taking a risk with. And with restaurants having a success rate of only 10%, he just doesn’t feel good about going ahead.

All that to say, I don’t believe that Hyeong Sik and Jin Ae are trying to angle for anything, or be strategic in any way, in turning down the help. I feel that they really just don’t feel good about it.

That said, Butler Park might actually have a point, that somewhere down the line, the power dynamics might change, if enough people whisper about the family being cold-hearted, as a result of them not helping the in-laws.

That’s an interesting thought, but one that I doubt would actually show up in our narrative anytime soon (although Show might prove me wrong!).

I’m intrigued by the way Noo Ri and Yoon Je Hoon start dating.

Mainly, I’m curious to know whether Yoon Je Hoon’s heart is in this, or if he’s just playing along, because he’s expected to cooperate with the matchmaking that Secretary Yang has done.

I mean, he seems flippant enough, when talking about it with Hyun Soo and Jae Won. But, later, when we see him and Noo Ri during a date, he actually seems pretty into it.

So.. he’s either had a change of heart, or he’s very good at putting on a convincing act..?

For Noo Ri’s sake, I hope that he’s being sincere. 😅

In the meantime, with Secretary Min confiding in In Sang and telling him the secret, which has been driving her secret mission with Chul Sik, I foresee some trouble for Jung Ho on the horizon, with regards to this.

Because, with In Sang now confiding in Bom, and telling her what appears to be a huge and troubling secret, which is disadvantageous to Jung Ho, and somehow involving Chul Sik, I doubt Bom would sit still without doing anything.

And then there’s the other thing, where Young Ra gets all upset over Hyun Soo losing Yoon Je Hoon to Noo Ri, and decides to retaliate by flirting with Jung Ho.

She seems pretty intent on messing Jung Ho up as well, with her pointed, breathy remarks about how she regrets never having done anything with him, when she’d had the chance.

Yikes. That’s highly inappropriate.

What makes it worse, though, is that Jung Ho seems to be biting on that bait more than a little eagerly.

I am really curious to know exactly what Young Ra has in mind.

I’m pretty sure she doesn’t intend to sleep with Jung Ho; she doesn’t actually like him, and I don’t think she would stoop to that.

Perhaps her plan is to be discovered, before anything significant happens, in order to really, really upset Yeon Hee..?

I wouldn’t put it past her, to be honest.

Episode 16

Oh. My. Gosh.

This episode, Jung Ho spends all his time being obsessed with Young Ra and getting to their furtive dates, and it’s as hilarious as it is secondhand embarrassing to watch.

I mean. The excuse he gives Secretary Kim and the driver, is that he’s having a top secret meeting with the National Intelligence Service?? 😂

Looks like Jung Ho’s got unfulfilled secret agent dreams, on top of unfulfilled romantic dreams involving Young Ra.

The way he slinks through that building, glancing oh-so-furtively over his shoulder, it’s like he fancies himself some kind of NIS agent, the idea of which tickles me tremendously.

And after ALLLL the trouble that Jung Ho goes to, all he gets is a bit of time with Young Ra, sipping on champagne and listening to music.

To be clear, Jung Ho definitely has more on his mind than sitting on the couch with Young Ra, but Young Ra isn’t having any of it, and keeps smoothly diverting his attention to other things.

After observing their other ridiculous date this episode, where Jung Ho literally buys a new outfit, in order to go hiking with Young Ra, I honestly have no idea what Young Ra really wants, out of this.

Did she go flirt with Jung Ho on a whim, because she’d been so provoked by the idea of Hyun Soo losing Yoon Je Hoon to Noo Ri, and now, she doesn’t know what to do with Jung Ho?

Or does she have some other goal in mind? I can’t tell, honestly.

All I know is, Young Ra is looking more and more perplexed, the longer this drags on, and I feel like I’m definitely seeing flirter’s regret written all over her face, ha. 😏

As for the Secretary Min’s secret mission, we get some sense of the details this episode (finally!), when In Sang and Bom talk about it, and when they ask Jung Ho about it.

It sounds like Hansong had engineered stuff during the Daehan case, such that Secretary Min’s brother had been wrongfully laid off – and perhaps also blamed for stuff? That’s the impression I get from something she’d said in passing, in an earlier episode, but I can’t be super sure.

However, that would line up with Secretary Min’s intense desire to clear her brother’s name.

While Jung Ho’s vague, grandiose answer to In Sang and Bom is clearly meant to just be a smokescreen, in principle, he does make some kind of sense, when he says that in situations like these, there’s no pleasing everyone.

I’m sure, however, based on the burning sense of injustice that Secretary Min feels, that when the details come out, Hansong’s not going to come out looking so innocent after all.

In the meantime, it’s rather nice to see Noo Ri’s dates with Yoon Je Hoon progress in what appears to be a happy manner.

I must say, though, that Yoon Je Hoon’s remark, that he’s thankful to Noo Ri, and he’ll tell her why eventually, so she has to keep seeing him until then.

That.. implies that he’ll stop seeing her after he tells her, doesn’t it? Or am I perhaps reading too much into it?

On the other dating front, I’m rather amused by Teacher Park finally trying to win back Secretary Lee’s heart, and failing so hard at it.

Judging by how angry he’s managed to make her in just a few short minutes, I’m gonna say that it’s not going to be at all easy for Teacher Park to undo what he’s done, in causing Secretary Lee to turn away from him.

See, this is why you shouldn’t respond to a marriage proposal by ghosting the other person, no matter how startled you are. 😅

And for our final arc, the way Jung Ho basically loses his mind when he thinks that Young Ra’s changed her number and disappeared, is cringetastically hilarious.

Jung Ho really does think he’s being all smooth and subtle, when he shows up to Jae Won’s penthouse apartment, right after checking with Yeon Hee, that that’s the day that their little group – which includes Young Ra – is due to meet.

Pfft. My goodness.

He’s only a tiny bit more subtle compared to a bull in a china shop, with the way he makes his grand entrance, then proceeds to ask pointed questions about Young Ra. 😅

So of COURSE now Yeon Hee’s fully aware that there’s something going on between Jung Ho and Young Ra, which means that there’s almost sure to be fireworks next episode, right? 😜