[Drama Recap] Make A Woman Cry: Episode 6

One of the more interesting parts of the relationship between Deok-in and Jin-woo is that she's the heroic figure who gets stuff done, where as he's the dork who has to ask for help. So the ending of the last episode, as we see here, was a bit of a shock to Deok-in. No one ever comes to rescue her. The fact that Jin-woo isn't very good at helping out is really sort of besides the point. It's been awhile since anyone ever actually tried to help Deok-in tangibly.

This takes on further ironic dimensions this episode when Jin-woo decides to get involved in Deok-in's divorce dispute. Jin-woo does mean well, and in all fairness his sister is kind of a jerk. But all the same, we're left with the same moral ambiguity as before. However we try to cut the situation, Deok-in is the one who's being unreasonable here. She knows full well at this point that her marriage is just a formality, and won't let go.

What's especially awkward is that Jin-woo comes to a somewhat reasonable deduction about the situation- that is in fact totally wrong, and really just goes to show how little Jin-woo really understands Deok-in just yet. In a more poorly written drama this would come off as contrived absurdity. The presentation of "Let the Girl Cry/Make A Woman Cry", by contrast, makes it quite clear that the reason these characters can't unravel each other so easily is because they're stuck in emotionally gnarled situations with no apparent hope of recovery.

This is a very real, very intriguing, very emotional conflict. So once again it's a let-down when we get bogged down with the rich family having stupid arguments about nothing. I suppose in broad persective their relentless, unforgiving, and just plain rude attitude does explain how the situation continues to fester. I still remain mostly annoyed, though, as to the extent to which their problems showcase the plot when there are much more intriguing angles to go by.

Take the cliffhanger as an example. Deok-in may be suffering from an inability to withdraw from her marriage, but Jin-woo hs the opposite problem. His generally weak will has proven entirely deficient in raising a son who, as we see here, is perfectly content to just wallow in explicit villainy because he's a bratty teenager who wants to provoke people. It's weird how it seems like he needs a father more than he does a mother- even if, as it happens, Deok-in's temperament definitely skews more toward the former.

Review by William Schwartz