Like Flowers in Sand: Episode 2
by missvictrix
With nothing to do all day now that he’s declared himself retired, our hero spends most of his time serious about the arrival of the mysterious younger girl on the town. He’s the one one who’s satisfied of her true identification, however he has nothing to go by besides his coronary heart of gold.
Editor’s be aware: Weekly drama protection will proceed.
EPISODE 2
Is it too quickly to declare my favourite hero of 2024, as a result of if I assumed Baek-du stole my coronary heart in Episode 1, it’s solely worse now. I’m whipped. He’s so easy and candy and completely real. He’s a 32-year-old man who nonetheless will get slapped and scolded by his mother, who talks to himself on a regular basis in a method that’s hilarious and relatable, and who has discovered himself a bit at sea in life, uncertain of his choices and the place they’ve led him.
However there’s one factor Baek-du is positive about, and that’s the undeniable fact that this gorgeous younger woman who simply moved into city is his outdated buddy Doo-shik. We see a beautiful and nostalgic flashback to Baek-du, Doo-shik, and the opposite neighborhood youngsters, and see how tough and tumble Doo-shik was. Along with her masculine identify and tendency to beat the boys to a pulp, it’s no shock that folks assumed she was a boy after they heard her story.
However a boy she’s not. She’s tremendous fairly now, and we see that as a child she was teased over her appears, which is a part of why she turned such a fighter. Additionally, her dad was a well-known ssireum athlete, too.
As we noticed on the finish of Episode 1, Baek-du is satisfied on he spot that she’s Doo-shik, and after he will get up from getting thrown on his again, he tells her as a lot. He’s insisting — lovable, emphatic — why she has to be her, however after the woman denies sufficient, he switches to well mannered speech and aww I really like him much more.
However the woman’s denial doesn’t change Baek-du’s surety, and it’s this thread we observe for a lot of the episode. He has completely nothing to go on besides his instinct. All his buddies that have been additionally pals together with her see no resemblance (as they peek not-so-stealthily over her yard wall lol) and Baek-du’s cop buddy particularly — CHO SEOK-HEE (Lee Joo-seung) — can’t see how an unpleasant child might have grown up so fairly.
A neighborhood assembly creates the right alternative for not-Doo-shik to satisfy her neighbors. Although she sits alone at a desk (in a topknot and white shirt, consuming her makgeolli), Baek-du can’t cease watching her as if he’s making an attempt to pierce a gap in her armor. His mom notices, and fairly quickly the opposite ajummas are needling information out of her of their extremely unsubtle method. We be taught that she’s right here for work as “a civil servant” and that her identify is OH YOO-KYUNG. We don’t get to listen to her reply if she’s married, however we do see how she’s uncomfortably listening to them speak in regards to the man who drowned within the city reservoir.
It is a nice scene on a number of ranges, however I really like how the drama captures Baek-du’s fixation on Yoo-kyung. It’s clearly a lot greater than attraction or romantic curiosity. He’s desperately hoping for little details or tidbits that can show to him his hunch is true. The truth is, he’s so emotionally invested in Yoo-kyung being Doo-shik that he follows her after the assembly and he or she confronts him with precisely that query. He bumbles adorably, as we’ve come to know him, and explains that they have been very very shut pals. “Soulmate,” he sputters, utilizing the English phrase, and completely shattering my coronary heart.
Yoo-kyung denies her identification once more, and Baek-du admits that he’s the one one who thinks she’s Doo-shik — nobody else sees it, or acknowledges her, or the rest, however he can’t shake the sensation that it’s her. It’s not till he offhandedly mentions he retired from ssireum that there’s a little bit glimmer of one thing in Yoo-kyung’s response. She takes it personally and goes on a “How might you do that to Doo-shik if I used to be Doo-shik” rant that causes Baek-du to positively gleam. “You sound similar to her proper now,” he says.
When subsequent we see him, Baek-du is extra satisfied than ever that Yoo-kyung is Doo-shik, a lot that he sadly ignores the screeches of his laundry-folding mother and is quickly despatched to the health club with an ajumma cart to gather his shorts from his locker. I imply, simply watching Baek-du stroll via the neighborhood with the cart to fetch his stuff is sufficient to squeeze your coronary heart, however when he sneaks into the locker room via the again door so he doesn’t must see his teammates? As consistent with Episode 1, we don’t actually know what Baek-du is feeling but, however the lengthy, sluggish take as he appears over his locker images and paraphernalia offers us our first clue.
Baek-du’s about to flee along with his shorts with out attracting consideration, when he’s stopped in his tracks. The crew out of the blue has not solely assist from the mayor, however a brand new supervisor: Yoo-kyung. Baek-du is actually floored and caught to the window watching this complete factor unfold. The wrestling crew dudes are clearly undecided what to do with this skinny woman who’s out of the blue imagined to be telling them how you can struggle, however when she recites the play-by-play of one of many athlete’s current humiliating losses, after which makes use of an advance approach to throw him on his again — nicely, they’re satisfied.
This scene can be nice by itself, but it surely’s much more enjoyable as a result of we’re watching with Baek-du from the sidelines, and we get his stay commentary warning his crew to not let Doo-shik’s mood flare up, and so forth. He’s much more satisfied than ever that Doo-shik has returned.
To date, Baek-du’s well-known wrestling father KIM TAE-BAEK (Choi Moo-sung, yesss) has been a little bit of a thriller. It’s unclear what kind of relationship they’ve, and if his mother and father even nonetheless stay collectively at first. We heard that Dad retired to grow to be a ginseng digger, and we noticed him attend Baek-du’s remaining championship, however now we get a one-on-one interplay between father and son when he drags Baek-du again to the health club.
Dad’s easy “have a match with me earlier than you stop” will not be so simple as it sounds. In fact, Baek-du loses spherical after spherical and there’s solely so many instances you will get slammed to the sand earlier than your feelings come flying out. It’s right here we be taught that Baek-du doesn’t know what he needs or what to do. He threatened to retire, however he anticipated individuals to cease him. When nobody did, he didn’t know what to do. Much more so, when his dad tries to prod him into making an attempt once more and at last proving himself, Baek-du worries: what occurs if I don’t show something even after making an attempt once more. It’s one other nice scene, and we really feel all of the immobility and self-doubt that Baek-du does, caught between what he as soon as dreamed of, and what he’s afraid to hope for now.
The scene is barely made extra vital as a result of Yoo-kyung has been within the workplace and seen the entire thing play out. We additionally bought an vital scene together with her moments earlier than this when she appears on the ssireum roster, giggles at Baek-du’s large smile in his image, and slips into her outdated satoori speaking to herself. Aww, she’s as cute as he’s, goshdarnit.
This night time health club scene results in the ultimate confrontation between Baek-du and Yoo-kyung. Baek-du is laying on his again within the sand sorting via his emotions (which appears to be his MO), and Yoo-kyung comes over, first telling him to depart, however ultimately breaking her cowl totally with banmal, full-on satoori, and telling him, “Because of you, my plans shall be ruined. Since when did you catch onto issues so quick?”
However simply when she’s about to reply his query for the millionth time about whether or not she’s actually Doo-shik or not, a dude that’s been lingering across the health club pops in and calls her with a “Yeobo!” (a.ok.a. there’s a 98% probability they’re a married couple.) Baek-du is as crestfallen as I’m.
What an incredible second episode! Although the plot strikes slowly, it additionally strikes rigorously, and Episode 2 continued weaving in deeper emotional layers to our characters – and likewise hinting on the thriller of Doo-shik’s previous, her reappearance, and regardless of the heck that has to do with the reservoir drowning (now probably extra of a strangling). However for these darker corners of the story, the drama additionally maintains its sweetness, and that’s wholly due to Baek-du. Our pure-hearted and considerably bumbling hero is the flesh and blood of this story, and I’m right here for it.
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