#ku do won

[mrsreidetall]

Ku Dowon, an infamous pushover, teaching Um Jaeil, a budding pushover, how not to be a pushover... Like baby??? The call is coming from inside the house???

[theillusioninspector]

[chaesong-hwa]

Want to sit too?

[rippleintheocean]

I am so loving the pace at which this drama is moving. From the get-go, I knew that despite ShinLee being involved in a supervisory capacity, this isn't a ShinLee drama, so my expectations were on the scale of "this will be good to watch regardless".

My personal headcanon on Yi-young and Do-won is that they have known each other a while. I read on the Yulje site character infographics that Joo-young and Seung-won have been married 7 years, and I am assuming they dated for 2-3 years before that, so Yi-young and Do-won have likely known of each other for those 2-3 years and properly known each other for atleast 5 years, considering their busy lives spanning med school and internship for both of them and additionally, completing residency and military service for Do-won.

Yi-young has also not been living with her sister and brother-in-law for very long, because she likely lived with her father before he got scammed and bankrupted so she started living with Do-won, Seung-won and Joo-young for about a year before March 2023, which is when she starts residency again.

In Ep 5, we get to know that Yi-young and Joo-young's dad is in Busan, working again under a friend to get his life back on track, and that makes sense timeline-wise.

Which also brings to point that Yi-young and Do-won have been sharing a space at home for about a year or maybe less than that. In that span of time, he gets comfortable with her and teases her and is generally kind to her because that is who he is as a person, and she is sulky and withdrawn because she doesn't feel the need to put up barriers in front of people she shares a home with, and that is who she is without needing to put on a mask.

I read a post that said that she started falling for him when he defended her against the fallout from Myeong Eun-won's actions in the OR and she realized they are on the same wavelength, and I agree. They have lots in common, home life included, and it is a great starting point for a romance.

Yi-young is blunt and honest and also upfront about how she feels about someone, and she knows and trusts Do-won in a way she doesn't other people. Her sister has been a mother figure to her since she lost her mom in middle school, so she is a mix of a mom and older sister, so she wouldn't always go to her with all the things that are on her mind, so she compartmentalizes and deals with things by herself. Do-won is a comfort to her in the sense that he is her brother-in-law's brother but they do not have any relationship directly whatsoever, and he is in general non-judgemental and calm, which is a balm to her sometimes-abrasive nature.

It is a gorgeous pairing.

I hope we get to see his POV in the coming episodes. The pace at which the romance is progressing, I feel the episodes this coming weekend will be really special in that a) he will either get some competition and realize more people are interested in Yi-young, even if she doesn't return their affections b) he will realize and act on the way he is feeling about her.

Also, totally understand why he rejected her in Ep 5 because it makes 100% sense. He probably thinks it is a phase she is going through so she will get over it, he is her superior at work and they live together. He doesn't want to get into it at all - he's chief resident, final year of residency, he wants to focus and get his ducks in order and hope that he becomes a fellow next year and complicating his already limited personal life isn't on his mind.

But he can't really get her out of his mind and that's the real kicker here - he's the one who leaves the house at the ass-crack of dawn and avoids her outside of work so that he doesn't have to deal with her non-platonic affection for him, and he is the one pretending to sleep in his lounge while she makes all kinds of noises trying to wake him up and then leaves when he doesn't stir. He tells her she will be uncomfortable around him if she continues liking him and it is so exhilarating to see him unravel bit by bit just because she likes him. Her honest feelings for him scares him.

Ep 6 is probably my favourite till date - very crisply done. The point where he stares at her slack-jawed as she hurls profanities at the patient's husband on the patient's request will remain my favourite bit. Its a side he hasn't seen of her till date - her ability to put her patient first and do what's required of her in order to maximize their care.

Then comes her defense of him, getting an apology for him out of their senior who used him and fucked him over for the paper presentation. There's this moment where he looks at her with barely-concealed affection and awe before asking her in the softest voice for them to go home together.

That ending scene of the two of them sitting and laughing together, him re-confirming that she still likes him - the thought that he may think she doesn't like him anymore making her anxious -, his grin, her taking the chance to tell him she likes him again, and him quietly looking at her and taking her in, the way they are filmed, frame in a frame, absolutely stunning.

My bet is either Ep 8 or Ep 9 we will see them coming together, Ep 10 at the latest. They will likely not leave the relationship up for grabs till Ep 11 like they did with Seok-hyeong and Min-ha and Ik-jun and Song-hwa.

Overall, I really love the pacing, the characterisations, how everyone is flawed to a certain degree because that is human life, and the growth that we see from people acting upon and fixing their own mistakes. I cannot wait for the weekend.