Tropical Night
Episode 10 of Forecasting Love and Weather starts with Ha-Kyung’s mother showing up at her daughter’s place. Only… Si-Woo and Um are both there, with the former calling her “lady”. Uh oh! Si-Woo is shocked when he finds out she’s Ha-Kyung’s mother. However, she asks about the living arrangement and immediately starts playing matchmaker, wondering whether Seok-Ho could be a prospective husband for Ha-Kyung. Thankfully, Ha-Kyung heads home and saves them both, taking her mum away. When Ha-Kyung helps get her mum a taxi home, Um contemplates what Mrs Bae said about marriage. Maybe Seok-Ho could be a good husband for Ha-Kyung? Si-Woo is not happy and immediately perks up, pointing out they have nothing in common. Back inside, Ha-Kyung and Si-Woo tentatively start drinking together, both caught in a difficult position as they avoid talking about marriage. Just to recap here, Si-Woo’s stance is that he doesn’t believe in marriage whereas Ha-Kyung only dates someone if there’s a chance of it leading into a wedding. So as you may expect, there’s a lot of tension to play with. The pair have a lot to think about and that, coupled with the sticky tropical night, mean the pair haven’t got much sleep. At work, Yu-Jin is caught in a rivalry with a fellow writer, and encouraged by her superior too make sure she stays there until she manages to get a good story – and this meddling reporter doesn’t get anything. Yu-Jin takes the reporter from Munmin Daily, Heo Ju-Yeong, into the cafeteria to talk. Yu-Jin gives him a cryptic story…which is really just slang or the current tropical weather. She’s done this to catch him unawares and point out that Ju-Yeong is incompetent. She wants him off her turg. After the morning meeting, Ha-Kyung approaches Ki-Jun and tentatively asks him about married life. He admits that everything is different than what he thought and he feels pressured to try and maintain a happy life. Understanding one another’s flaws and living with that is just part of married life. Back in the main hub, there’s a problem. Information about a heat spike has been uploaded onto the online portal by mistake. Myung-Joo’s in charge of this and she profusely apologizes as they hurriedly work to take it down. Myung-Joo should have been vigilant about this and as our characters explain, she could well face disciplinary action as her MQC mistake may bee considered neglect of duty. Unfortunately, “Butcher Heo” (the nickname given to that reporter) notices it flash up on the portal and inevitably starts writing up a story of his own Um notices that his daughter is on a field-trip to the KMA and excitedly catches up with her. The pair talk about Um’s work, as it becomes clear that Bo-Mi’s motivation stems from curiosity. She wants to know all about the job that her father does, believing she has a right to know more about him. Um has a massive smile on his face the whole way home that night, gushing over how much he loves his girl and the importance of family to Si-Woo. When Um heads home to talk to his wife, courtesy of a text that comes in just prior to this, she drops him back down to earth in a hurry. She’s not happy about Bo-Mi going to the KMA. She wants him to tell their daughter not to go and to call off the whole event. Mrs Bae happens to be over at Ha-Kyung’s, meddling again. She wants to hook his daughter up with Seok-Ho and sends Tae-Kyung up to fetch him. Funnily enough though, Seok-ho happens to have the city crocodile book in his collection and Tae-Kyung immediately softens, asking him what the favourite part of this book is. Tae-Kyung even encourages him to help with her next story which is going to be about penguins – his favourite animal. I think it’s clear these two are going to get together, alleviating the pressure Mrs Bae is putting on her daughter. Downstairs, Ha-Kyung comes to blow with her mother and in the heat of the moment declares she’s not going to get married. She’s decides – thanks in part to Myung-Joo’s influence at work – that she’s not going through with this anymore. Of course, it’s also party because she’s enamored with Si-Woo right now. In the morning, things take an awful turn at the office. News of the incorrect heat spike on the portal has become public and Butcher Heo has run with the story. The Director General is not happy when he finds out and Myung-Joo is distraught. The thing is, Yu-Jin speaking with Heo in the cafeteria is not a good look off the back of this leak and Ki-Jun takes his wife outside to talk, accusing her of leaking the story. Back inside, Ha-Kyung is given the unenviable task of choosing one of her team to leave for two months or so to go on typhoon duty. Out of everyone, she encourages Si-Woo to leave and go to Jeju Island. At the same time, Yu-Jin packs up her things and decides she and Ki-Jun should take some time apart. She wants to evaluate their relationship and is having second thoughts over whether this is the right thing for them or not. With both couples in turmoil, the end of the episode leaves everything wide open for what’s to come next.
The Episode Review
Forecasting Love and Weather bows out its latest episode with a slower bout of drama to go with yesterday’s camping trip. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, and the show has done well so far to keep the idea of marriage central to the series. The themes have been good right the way across this season and episode 10 is no exception. The whole Si-Woo/Ha-Kyung romance has been an interesting experiment in compromise and acceptance, with Yu-Jin and Ki-Jun juxtaposing that by showing exactly what you shouldn’t do in a relationship! The surprise package here though comes from Tae-Kyung and how she’s unexpectedly ended up growing closer to Seok-Ho. This reinforces how natural and unpredictable love actually is and I’d imagine well see these two together more across the course of the season. For now though, the unpredictable weather looks to continue as this week’s episode comes to a close.
