Friends
Episode 7 of You Are My Spring begins with Da-Jeong requested to ring Dr Chase. When he fails to pick up, Da-Jeong heads into his room, which coincides with him awakening from that nightmare and strangling her. Eventually Ian snaps out of his entranced state and scurries across the floor. Da-Jeong refuses to report him for physical assault though. Meanwhile, Young-Do is saved from a tricky situation by a returning Da-Jeong, who shows up at the coffee shop and takes over orders. Young-Do is relegated to washing dishes for now. It’s only a flying visit though, as Da-Jeong eventually heads home and sees the quirky and ever-so-slightly crazy routines that Ga-Yeong has going on. Well, Da-Jeong isn’t sticking around to get involved and after encouraging her to eat up, heads back to the coffee shop. There, she decides to help out A-Ri and keep herself busy. In the storeroom, Young-Do notices the bruises and marks over Da-Jeong’s wrists. He laments caring so much, especially given they’re just neighbours, and hurriedly applies some ointment. As he does, A-Mi notices the pair together and decides to leave them in peace. Well, when they head back home awkwardness ensues as Young-Do realizes that Ga-Yeong is staying at Da-Jeong’s place. Ga-Yeong is used to this though, admitting that Young-Do is always like this with her. We then jump back to 2015 as we see the moments of Young-Do and Ga-Yeong first meeting. He refuses to answer a call from someone called “thousand won” but as he leaves the table, she disappears. When she does, Ga-Yeong leaves her phone at the table along with her wallet and other possessions. Young-Do scooped them up and hurried outside, desperate to find her. Well, Ga-Yeong was suicidal at the time and, sensing the worst, Young-Do scrambles in her car and grabs pills stashed there. He throws them out and encourages her to be better. Fast forward through time and the pair end up getting married. There, Seo Ha-Neul attends and berates a trio of men badmouthing the couple. Ga-Yeong overhears and immediately perks up. This set her up to feel better over time, but they broke things off because things had changed. As Ga-Yeong mentions this to Da-Jeong, she asks solemnly whether she’s okay, admitting that she must have been hurt. Da-Jeong’s reassuring tone is enough to cause her to start crying. The next day, Ga-Yeong is pretty forward and encourages Seo Ha-Neul to head out with her in the near-future. Her good vibes continue when she sees her personal trainer too, who berates her for slacking and encourages the girl to keep running. At the hotel, Ian sends a handwritten message to Da-Jeong telling her to meet. There, he apologizes in person for what transpired between them. Da-Jeong understands what it’s like to have nightmares though, retorting that she too suffers from them. We then jump back to 1992. Jeong-Min is given medicine in the middle of the night and eventually wakes up in an orphanage. Only, the owners are pretty awful and don’t look after the kids properly. Not only is he left to live in awful conditions, he’s also told that he’s no longer Jeong-Min and forced to have his own identity. This woman in charge? None other than Kim Myeong-Ha. The same Myeong-ha who was killed. Now it’s starting to make sense. Anyway, back at the police station, Jin-Bok receives a photo from the orphanage of all the kids outside. However, it turns out Young-Do was actually a kid back then and encouraged to join in the group photo, just to make it look like there were more there. Unlike Jeong-Min, Young-Do’s father arrives to pick him up. Back in the present, Young-Do meets up with a patient who sends a pretty distressing text. After helping him out, Young-Do is taken into hospital after registering a high temperature. He’s clearly running himself into the ground and the doctor knows it. He tells Young-Do he needs to cut down on the number of outpatients. Da-Jeong finds out about this and immediately rings. She tells him it’s not fair how uneven their relationship is. Given how much he’s cared for her, she wants to return the favour. Well, Young-Do requests her arrival so they can talk it out in person. She hands over some porridge and invites her in. Well, it turns out Young-Do actually had a heart transplant in the past and seems to know when people are lying. He eventually drops the bombshell that he likes her but decides they can’t be romantically linked and should just be friends. As the episode closes out, Da-Jeong – who had originally left – returns to Da-Jeong’s door and hugs him. He hugs her back as the scene changes to a crossing signal. This seems to symbolize their platonic relationship.
The Episode Review
You Are My Spring returns with more revelations about the past at the same time as starting to push a more platonic relationship between Da-Jeong and Young-Do. It’s certainly a nice change of pace from the usual male/female happily-ever-after story and matches well with the unpredictability of this show. Every episode keeps things interesting, with the different tones jumping across from romcom and healing drama all the way over to murder mystery. While some of these jumps don’t always work that well, on the whole they actually serve the narrative nicely and keep this drama unpredictable. The ending here is pretty heartbreaking too, especially with Young-Do confessing and then realizing that they should only be friends. The entire scene is really well constructed and easily one of the best moments of the whole show so far. With another dose of drama tomorrow, big question marks remain over exactly what will happen next.
