More While You Were Sleeping! I’m so glad we get two episodes a week (four, if you’re counting them the way SBS does).  There is so much in here to make my story snob heart happy. And, y’all, Woo Tak is  my new favorite fictional human EVER. I’ll explain in a bit.

A traumatic injury is avoided

Anyway, this set of episodes opens just as Woo Tak is seeing if his experiment changed the outcome he saw in his dreams. He’s pretty cool about something fairly gory, but his confidence in the change was not misplaced. Instead of Hong Joo’s hand becoming a bloody mess, having Jae Chan at the restaurant changed the course of events entirely, bringing hope to Piano Girl and her poor mother. There were some great cinematic transitions in there, showing the difference between what Woo Tak dreamed and what actually happened.

And Jae Chan totally stepped up to the plate. We saw in the last episode how bluffing Yu Beom freaked him out, as he ran and hid behind an SUV to give his jelly legs a chance to recover. It made his confrontation with Yu Beom in the restaurant a nail-biter, because what if his spine turned into jelly too? But our Jae Chan is AWESOME. And the way he deflated Yu Beom’s character to Piano Girl RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM? Yu Beom couldn’t even say anything. Aw, man. Jae Chan wins mega-points in my book. I also loved how he pointed out that Abusive Dad’s sloughing off skin analogy was off and that only snakes shed their skin. Great, great restructuring of that analogy.

I am so in love with this writing. It’s ridiculous.

So then our three flying dragons meet up in a convenience store to eat more food. Sheesh. That’s a lot of food, boys! Anyway. I’m so glad that they cleared the air quickly, instead of trying to hide the fact that they’re all dreamers. And as they were trying to find a connection, I couldn’t help but wonder if Unni Amber was right, and that they all might have a connection to that AWOL soldier. I wonder if Yu Beom does, too?

Jae Chan does his due diligence

Anyway, despite being sick of everyone’s reassurances that they would support him, Jae Chan heads off to investigate Abusive Dad a little more carefully. And the lotto numbers that came up as he was investigating? Yeah, let’s just say that Hong Joo created her own Cassandra moment there. Jae Chan could have won the lottery and backed out of the whole thing. But to his credit, he didn’t even pursue that avenue. Instead, he put his full effort into examining the case in front of him. Again, like Unni Amber said, a khottie with conviction . . . *swoony sigh* Jae Chan is such a good boy.

I do love the relationship that’s developing between Jae Chan and Hong Joo. Even though she knew there wasn’t anything she could do to help his case to victory, she was at least able to change the outcome of his morning so he wouldn’t be late to work. Her teasing rapport with Jae Chan over their unusual connection, and the push-and-pull between them, is so much fun to watch. I love where things are going.

Someone has a crush on Batman

Also, the contrast between the three flying dragons’ breakfasts was a great insight into their lives. And the reason I love Woo Tak? First, his Batman obsession–the hat, the shirt, and HIS DOG IS NAMED ROBIN AND HAS A BATMAN SYMBOL ON HIS FOOD BOWL. I found that hilarious. And the very frank way that Woo Tak looked at his own breakfast, then stole a piece of his DOG’S breakfast and tried it out to see how it tasted? I laughed and laughed. There’s something about Woo Tak that just makes me like him.

HONG JOO’S MOM! She’s one of us! She’s totally keeping track of points for Jae Chan and Woo Tak in her notebook. I love her very much. Her practicality in the face of tragedy — losing her husband, believing Hong Joo’s dreams, helping her new friend escape her abusive husband — is spectacular. I want to be her when I grow up.

Embarrassing…. so embarrassing

But can we just talk about Jae Chan practicing his interrogation in the one-way mirror and ALL of his colleagues watching him? Oh my goodness — when I realized what was going on, I laughed so hard.

Team Psychic for the win!

These were great light moments before the very serious interrogation began, as well as the difficult decision Jae Chan had before him. I love that Team Psychic is working together and doing it well: Hong Joo and Woo Tak comparing notes on their dreams and filling Jae Chan in on the details, but leaving the decision to him. Jae Chan has been well-rounded enough, showing us his weak side, that I was chanting as I watched, “Make the right choice, make the right choice.”

Such a win when he did! And Investigator Choi (That Guy in That Thing!) has been just chummy enough with the snake Yu Beom that I wasn’t sure if he would be a reliable investigator, if he would look hard enough to see the truth or just take the story that Yu Beom and Abusive Dad were handing him. But he looked hard enough! And that’s when I realized that being associates with Yu Beom does not automatically make a character shady. Not in this drama.

Did I mention that I love the writing in this drama? There are some  fantastically complex characters.

At the same time, the way Jae Chan neatly takes down Investigator Choi in the hallway in front of the Chief, by suggesting he thought Investigator Choi was colluding with Yu Beom, was so fantastic that it reminded me of the time the Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who took down the British Prime Minister with just four words: “Doesn’t she look tired?” All that was needed was to plant some suspicion. *rubs hands together* So well done. Jae Chan is finally proving his worth in the office, and it’s showing in the changed relationships with his coworkers.

Does dream skinship count?

BUT THE ENDING!!! It was hilarious, how Jae Chan rose up on his toes when Hong Joo rose up on hers — I really did giggle out loud — but we were denied the kiss that Hong Joo’s dream had promised. What kind of ripple effect is this gonna have? And why is Jae Chan so afraid of his feelings for her? The weight of expectation can be heavy. I get that. But Hong Joo said she’d be proud of him for succeeding or for trying and he accepted that. So why won’t he accept her feelings?

ARGH.

Anyway, this drama is fantastic. I cannot say it enough. The twists, the complex characters, the perfect pacing, the nail-biting waits to see if the characters will do the right thing, the mystery of the prophetic dreams — all of this is working together to make this as well-constructed as Goblin. I’m so happy I’m watching this in real time and filled with giddy anticipation to see where it will go.

See you next week, drama fans!

Karie the Maknae

Dramas with a Side of Kimchi