Heat Island Phenomenon
Episode 6 of Forecasting Love and Weather starts with Ha-Kyung and Si-Woo working together to bring Um into a room upstairs. She keeps quiet about Um’s family issues, although Si-Woo questions why she’s brought him to a motel rather than back home. When one of the women from the motel walks past, touching Si-Woo’s shoulder and hoping to see more of him in the future, things are left on an awkward note. Meanwhile, the weather phenomenon this time turns to hot weather and heat rising. That heat also rises in the Um household, as his wife and daughter discuss how Dong-Han is going to stay a the KMA for a while. When Um wakes up in the motel, he realizes how late he is and rushes into the office… only to realize he’s actually on night duty and needn’t have bothered rushing after all. Meanwhile, Si-Woo heads out with Ha-Kyung, who decides they should reconsider what’s going on between them. Ever since the motel incident, she’s been reeling and feels like her past trauma is coming back to her. She’s struggling to trust him and needs some space to make sure she doesn’t get hurt. As Ha-Kyung looks to walk away, Si-Woo stops her with four words: “It was my father.” Apparently, Si-Woo’s reasons for being at the motel were actually linked to his father, Myung-Han. Si-Woo’s dad has a gambling addiction and that’s why he’s been asking for money and phoning him all this time. Last year he took all of Si-Woo’s savings and left him with nothing. Si-Woo is staying at a training center because he’s got no money to put down for a deposit. But Myung-Han doesn’t care. He even asks his son to take out a loan. Unfortunately, Myung-Han overheard Si-Woo and Ha-Kyung talking at the motel entrance, paying specific attention to “Director Jin”. The next day, Ki-Jun starts talking about marriage with Yu-Jin. Only, she’s not exactly happy about it. She hesitates while filling out the forms too, clearly conflicted over whether to follow through with this or not. Meanwhile, Ha-Kyung’s mum takes a turn for the worst. Tae-Kyung messages Ha-Kyung, urging her to come to the hospital, but she ignores the message given she’s on night duty. Ha-Kyung is fixated on work, although it’s pretty quiet in the office, which is a surprise. In the tranquility that follows, Seok-Ho notices that Myung-Joo is distracted and asks her what’s going on. It’s clear that she’s still torn over her partner wanting to take the technical exam. She simply smiles thinly and continues on with work. Ha-Kyung receives a call from Si-Woo’s father, asking to meet and claiming there’s something urgent she needs to know about Si-Woo. Ha-Kyung does meet him, where he essentially blackmails her after pointing out he saw them both at the motel. He’s turned his attention to her and wants Ha-Kyung to cough up funds in exchange for keeping quiet. In her hastiness, Ha-Kyung leaves her phone behind at the desk, where she receives a call from home. Si-Woo picks it up and learns that her mum has been rushed to hospital. Si-Woo hurries downstairs where he finds Ha-Kyung spaced out, clearly reeling from the Myung-Han situation. Ha-Kyung realizes the seriousness of the situation and phones her sister back, claiming that they’ll be okay until morning when she’ll show up. Ha-Kyung wants to stay but Um hands over her bag, pointing out that the weather is stable and won’t change until morning. They know she’s responsible and ask her to do her duties as a daughter and leave. Thankfully Ha-Kyung’s mum is going to be okay and is allowed to go home after being monitored overnight. Si-Woo even shows up to make sure she’s okay. In doing so, he hands over 10 million won, which is his entire life savings. Myung-Han brings up Ha-Kyung and how he met with her. He even asked for 10 million won – which is the exact amount that Si-Woo has handed over. Eventually Si-Woo snaps, holding his father up against the wall and telling him to stop muscling in on his life and to leave him alone. In her absence, Ki-Jun continues to struggle with his themed articles. Given Ha-Kyung has helped him with every single one prior to this, he’s struggling and tries to head down and see her. Of course, Ha-Kyung isn’t there but Myung-Joo is no fool to what’s going on. She informs the others in the department over what Ki-Jun is doing. On her way out, Myung-Joo runs into her husband, who also happens to be working, and is reprimanded by his boss. Myung-Joo decides to let him follow his dreams and encourages him to use the coming year wisely to try and pass the technical exam. She won’t be able to support him longer than that but it’s all smiles as the pair patch up their differences. Meanwhile, Si-Woo heads off to meet Ha-Kyung again, apologizing to her for what happened with his father. The thing is, Ha-Kyung knows all about parenting woes, and specifically in the case of her father. She actually ended up seeing her father hang himself after his business went under, which has obviously affected her deeply. This is one of the past trauma incidents she mentioned at the start of the episode. She also asks Si-Woo not to be like the others. Just to top it all off, she also surprisingly asks him to live with her. Juxtaposing their fate is Ki-Jun and Yu-Jin. Ku-Jin manages to submit his article without Ha-Kyung’s help but Yu-Jin brings him back down to earth with her revelation. She wants to push back on registering their marriage but doesn’t really give a reason why. This sees the episode end on an ominous cliffhanger, ready for next week’s follow-up chapters.
The Episode Review
So Forecasting Love and Weather answers the question about who Si-Woo is on the phone to and also sheds light on his past. It also allows him to connect with Ha-Kyung on a deeper level, who eventually decides they should move in together. Juxtaposing that of course, is Ki-Jun and Yu-Jin’s relationship. It’s clear that she’s getting cold feet about their time together, and Ki-Jun only has himself to blame for that. If he wasn’t so greedy and actually embraced what he had with Ha-Kyung, he wouldn’t be in this mess. However, this incident also allows Ha-Kyung to grow – and not just personally but also professionally too. She realizes this episode that she needs to allow the other workers to have some responsibility, and this works to really show off her credentials as a Director, which is great to see. The ending’s cliffhanger certainly leaves the door wide open for more, and it’ll be interesting to see where this one goes next. One thing’s for sure, we’re bound to be in for some volatile weather going forward!
