Early Access: Breakup Probation, A Week E3

E3. Given that Ga Ram's supernatural experience is really not the sort of thing you'd expect to encounter in real life, it's believable that she would convince herself that it was all a dream. This episode, however, she's rudely awakened to the realness of that not-a-dream, by our supernatural executor, X.

At the moment, I'm thinking of X as a neutral party who has a job to do, although it's also true that he seems to take some kind of relish in Ga Ram's horror, when she realizes that everything was real after all, and she's living in a nightmare of sorts, where she has to break up with Seon Jae, before she dies. That does make X land more villain-like than I'd expected.

I'm rather surprised by Ga Ram's choice to keep working, even though she knows that she has less than a week to live. I feel like most people would be quick to quit, if they were to suddenly find themselves with that knowledge, that they don't have a lot of time left.

Instead, she takes pains to coach her junior at work, in all the various aspects of running the store, so that things will run smoothly, even after she's gone. She clearly takes a great deal of pride in her work, and has an amazing work ethic. I was going to say that I wish she'd put herself higher on her priority list, but perhaps this is for herself; perhaps it is that important to her, to leave a legacy of credibility.

And perhaps that has links to her past with Mom, come to think of it. In sleeping with another man relatively soon after Dad's death, Mom loses credibility in Ga Ram's eyes, in a manner of speaking. Perhaps that is why Ga Ram now holds herself so strictly to a code of behavior which she's dictated for herself as credible.

There's definitely a lot to unpack in the situation between Mom and Ga Ram. We don't know what really was going on with Mom, when Ga Ram chose to leave. We don't know who that man was, or why Mom was sleeping with him. Also, it has been argued that sex is life-affirming, so it's possible that this was part of Mom picking up the pieces in her life, after losing her husband.

Ga Ram, however, doesn't have the presence of mind to talk things out with Mom, and decides that it is a betrayal and a fundamental difference in values that she won't be able to live with, and then leaves home for good.

On paper, that does sound very impetuous, but I rationalize that Ga Ram was in so much pain from losing her father, and then feeling betrayed by her mother, that she couldn't think straight, and also, didn't have the capacity for empathy. And, it's clear from the way Ga Ram literally pushes Mom out of the apartment, that the emotional wounds are still fresh, after all these years.

I'd half expected Mom to ask Seon Jae for money the minute she meets him, but she doesn't. Instead of asking for money outright, Mom spends more time talking about Ga Ram's relationship with Seon Jae. And, from the looks of things, it appears that Seon Jae is the one who'd picked up on the hints that Mom isn't doing so well, and in need of some financial help. Either Mom has more guile than I'd given her credit for, or I've misunderstood her. I can't decide which it is, just yet, because we don't have enough information.

I do find it rather odd, that there's Mom gives off such a different vibe when she meets Seon Jae alone, versus when she'd bulldozed her way into the apartment, uninvited. Earlier, the way she'd behaved, it kind of feels like she's the one Ga Ram is indebted to, but when she talks with Seon Jae alone, she's in a completely space, and it feels like she thinks that she's the one who's indebted to Ga Ram.

I rationalize that perhaps the thing with Ga Ram is a raw nerve with Mom, and that's why she behaves like that when Ga Ram's around, and that's also why she's calmer and more neutral when she's with Seon Jae. Still, I do find the disconnect kind of weird.

How awkward, though, that Ga Ram now has to break up with Seon Jae, right after he's loaned her mother money.

Perhaps it's because of the sudden unusual circumstances that have interrupted their daily life (like Seon Jae's visit to the hospital, and Mom's sudden appearance at the apartment), this episode, Seon Jae definitely seems more concerned for and focused on Ga Ram than we'd first seen, in episode 1.

The way he crafts texts to Ga Ram while at work, and the way he tries to talk with her about Mom, demonstrate an enduring sense of care, whereas in episode 1, he'd seemed distant and dismissive, to Ga Ram. I guess it's true that sometimes we do need something to jolt us out of our daily stupor.

But what bad timing for Ga Ram, that this turnaround comes, as (or because?) she needs to prepare to break up with Seon Jae, and then die.

Next episode notes will be out on: Wednesday, 22 Sept 2021!