About Romance

Episode Eleven of Thirty Nine begins with Chan-Young and Joo-Hee singing karaoke. After berating her friends for their effort, Mi-Jo ends up wrestling with the others over the microphone. Finally, we return to the present. ..

Mi-Jo visits her mother in prison again. She berates her birthmother for not being there and abandoning her to the orphanage and her heart-breaking fate.

Mi-Jo demands that she not bother contacting her again and to call off the creditors too. Mi-Jo’s birth mother has the audacity to call Mi-Jo cold-hearted but she bites back, claiming that her adoptive parents are her real parents. This is Mi-Jo’s way of gaining closure and it concludes this chapter on a high. At least for her anyway. As she walks with Seon-U, they listen to the latter’s playlist of mellow songs.

Chan-Young’s mother heads in to find a contract for the memorial hall. This brings a realization about her daughter’s upcoming death. Her mum is not happy about Chan-Young wasting time doing this, believing she should be making the most of what she has left in her life.

Mi-Jo’s mother is struggling to cope with her daughter’s decision to end contact with her birth mother. Mi-Jo goes into work to see her sister and promises that this chapter in her life is now over. ..

Mi-jo’s father tells Seon-u that he’s happy for Seon-u and Mi-jo, and that he won’t let his dad’s harsh words interfere with how they feel about each other. They sit together talking, and eventually eat ribs, joking about how Mi-Jo’s mother never wants to cook that at home.

Meanwhile, Chan-Young joins her parents out for food, but things are awkward, especially as Chan-Young realizes her parents are rushing though their food. ..

So-Won, who had stopped playing the piano because she thought it was a waste of time, has decided to join the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Seon-u is delighted when he finds out and rushes over to Mi-Jo’s to hug her tightly, claiming she’s the reason why So-Won has made it. ..

Chan-Young and Mi-Jo are on a drive together when Chan-Young admits that she’s taken her funeral photo, but she’s not happy about it. Mi-Jo is uncomfortable with the direction this chat is going, especially when Chan-Young admits that it’s hard being the happiest terminal ill person.

Chan-Young is starting to feel worse now, and her issues are resulting in her needing painkillers most of the time just to keep going. Chan-Young admits she’s had a good life up until now. “You and Jin-Seok. I’m grateful.” She says, as it’s becoming increasingly clear that Joo-Hee has no part of this friendship, at least not if Chan-Young is anything to go by.

Chan-Young contemplates giving some money to Mi-Jo for her upcoming marriage but after dropping her off, Mi-Jo heads over to see Joo-Hee at her apartment. There, she vents to her about how Chan-Young took a photo of herself for her funeral.

Chan-Young is incredulous over Jin-Seok asking to register their marriage. However, their conversation is broken up by Joo-Hee ringing. ..

Chan-Young and Mi-Jo decide to go out for a night to celebrate their new friendship. Joo-Hee accompanies them and takes photos of the two of them together. After they return home, Joo-Hee contemplates her next career move and decides that she will focus on nail art.

Jeong’s Kitchen is the focus of attention in this episode. Mi-Jo convinces everyone to get involved in order to renovate the kitchen. Hyeon-Jun shows up and is not happy that he was not consulted. ..

Chan-Young and the others get involved in fixing up the place and have a big meal together, but as fate would have it, it begins snowing afterwards. So naturally, the gang all get involved and begin singing karaoke. Mi-Jo stands up and begins singing “About Romance”, she struggles to compose herself and hold back the tears.

The Episode Review

We’re getting mixed reviews for our new show, Thirty Nine. Some people love it, some people don’t. But I’m not one of them. I think it’s flatlining and butchering the characters in the process.

The whole Joo-Hee scene last episode amounted to nothing as, despite making it clear she didn’t want to be a third wheel and left out of this friendship, she’s left out of this friendship.

I was surprised that the writers didn’t give Joo-Hee a bigger role in this story. There’s definitely room for exploration of three-way friendships and Thirty Nine could have been a really deep, thoughtful expression of how hard it is to juggle two best friends.

The episode ends with Thirty Nine brushing off Joo-Hee’s concerns and going right back to square one. The scene later on this episode, with Joo-Hee snapping photos while Mi-Jo and Chan-Young exchange glances and begin whispering, feels so disingenuous and I was actually uncomfortable watching it. Joo-Hee deserves better as her concerns have fallen on deaf ears. ..

Some people may disagree with me, but that’s okay! I’m happy for those who have enjoyed this show, but beyond the star power and decent soundtrack, it has been a bit of a mess. ..