Dream to You: Episodes 3-4
by Dramaddictally
Our heroine is in a bind, wanting to live her dream life but unsure of how it’s done. Luckily, she’s got a male lead who’s on her side, shoving an unfinished script under her nose, and telling her to take a shot at it. And while she writes the romance she was born to direct, she might just end up with a love story of her own.
EPISODES 3-4
This drama is exceeding my expectations in both the funny and the flutters. It’s a trope-fest that doesn’t feel had, since we’ve got mature characters who know how to hold back without it being a sign that they’re insecure. Beyond that, the amount of pretty that’s appearing on screen is enough to leave me in smiling stupor.
We left off last week with Yi-jae in the countryside, seeking out Soo-bin, to ask him to come back on her show. She hates her job, but she’s been promised an improvement if she can snag this celebrity for more episodes. Soo-bin still wants her to work on the script with him, but he’ll do the show if it means she’ll have an easier time.
The two spend the day together in their small town, getting along – and also gossiped about – until the spell is broken when Soo-bin mentions the script. He hands it off to her, wanting her to finish it, apologizing for his earlier efforts. He was only thinking about moving forward, not what happened between them in the past, but now he realizes that it’s hard to write an ending for the script when their own story never got a proper conclusion.
As a means of comfort, he tells her what happened during those days she was waiting for him outside. He was getting beat up by his father for failing his exams, and was locked in the house until he agreed to go to the US. Ten days later, when he finally said yes, he felt like he’d given up on himself — and Yi-jae’s belief in him made him feel even more ashamed.
The story doesn’t go over the way he’d hoped, as Yi-jae gets upset that he’s just telling her now, and then grabs the script and leaves. She’s torn over how to handle it until she’s in the street, picking up some dropped belongings, in a scene that mimics the moment she got hit by the car. As a truck zooms toward her, she freezes in fear, and then Soo-bin swoops her out of harm’s way. In a flash, she’s back in high school, remembering how they felt about each other, and the hug that follows says that the wall she’s built between them is now tumbling down.
From there, we see that things haven’t changed in their lives as much as they’d hoped, even though lots of things are different. Fundamentally, Yi-jae’s family is still broke, she’s working to pay down debt, and feels financially burdened all the time. For Soo-bin, while he’s a famous director who seems to have it all, he can’t go home because his father is still the same.
Yi-jae starts to consider the script, reading over the romance they wrote together. The project is calling to her, but the creative life feels like a pipe dream for someone who needs to support her family. That changes when things go very awry with her boss and Yi-jae quits her job, fed up after years of being taken advantage of.
Afterward, she could go out and get a new job, or she could take a stab at that script. And during a drunken night with Soo-bin at a pojangmacha, she admits she wants to do the script — because her biggest regret isn’t him, it’s her. Soo-bin sits next to her as she cries, and he seems to understand that feeling well.
So what does all this add up to? Creative free-time and cohabitation hijinks! Yi-jae wakes from their drunken talk in Soo-bin’s palatial hotel room and tries to immediately sneak out. But as she heads for the door, someone is coming in (more on that someone in a minute). She backtracks, running into the bathroom, where she almost smacks into a shirtless Soo-bin.
Acting coy, she covers her face with her purse, only to peek through the handle and look down at his chest. Still, there’s no time for that because the guest is heading into the bathroom as well. Yi-jae pushes Soo-bin into the shower stall where the water flips on and they’re standing under the freezing spray. He turns off the water, but they’re about to be caught, so Yi-jae backs into the corner, with Soo-bin hovering close, to make it look like there’s only one person in the stall. The guest retreats, they have a breathy moment, and that, my friends, is how a shower scene is done.
Now, the man that was in Soo-bin’s hotel room is his producer, SEO IN-WOOK (Lee Sang-yeob, who I’m over the moon to see in this drama). In-wook is the CEO of the production company and the one who Yi-jae signs a contract with when she officially comes on board with the script. Since she’s recently given up her place to live, In-wook suggests the hotel as a live/work space until he finds her somewhere new. And so, our leads are writing and sleeping in the same space from now on – or, more precisely, watching romance movies together to get inspired. (Love this!)
They’re funny, flirtatious, and hesitant all at once in their ginormous hotel room, where Soo-bin sleeps on the couch. But, Yi-jae is full of conflict. The pressure to write is strong and the pages remain blank. When Soo-bin is out, she ignores his texts and starts distracting by taking side-gigs that pay. Soo-bin understands what’s going on and brings it to Yi-jae straight up: she finally made up her mind to pursue her dream and it’s not going as planned. It’s scary. And that’s normal because they’re trying to do something great. But greatness isn’t about the outcome — it’s about making it to the end, together.
This is a turning point for Yi-jae and when she goes home to stay with her mom, she tells Mom that she’s there to write, not to look for a new job. Mom says that lifestyle is for rich kids and that Soo-bin could do it because of his family – the fact that he cut them off only means he had the courage of someone with resources to fall back on. This upsets Yi-jae and she ends up leaving, going to stay with Soo-bin again.
They decide to start looking at the script from the beginning, sharing a platform to work on a single document as they write. They sit as the same table, on opposite sides, writing their thoughts into the script, interjecting and editing, without looking up or saying a word. (It’s so lovely.) When Yi-jae gets a call about a gig, she says no, and turns off her phone. They’re in the flow. This thing is finally happening.
Except then, as they write a scene where the characters are likely going to kiss, Yi-jae gets stuck. She’s thinking about the scene, and her and Soo-bin, and it’s intensifying her attraction. He’s standing close to her, reading back the slinky scene she wrote, and it’s too much. “This is dangerous!” she yells, as she grabs her laptop and runs out the door. (Lol.)
From another location, she starts working on the document. “Kiss,” she writes, unsure what goes next or how to frame it. But from his location, Soo-bin finishes the sentence, saying simply that they do. She smacks her laptop shut, but he’s out the door to find her in the rain, and by the time they spot each other, they’re running to make that scene they’ve just written happen in real life.
Hoo-wee, there’s no way to convey the buildup of tension that was mounting in the leadup to this last scene. But what bothers me is that they let it die with that running in the rain. We had so many almost-kiss moments that were full of uncertainty, and then when the kiss finally occurs, we see it coming from a mile away. Still, it’s a small complaint in a set of episodes that otherwise hit all the marks.
I didn’t mention the second leads but they’re scenes are drop-dead gorgeous. Last week, I thought that urbane atmosphere created around them was a one-off, but it appears to be their whole vibe. Yoo-geon is still struggling to find acting roles while Hana struggles to make friends in her glitzy show-biz life. They’re attraction to each other is magnetic, but the staging is what makes it work: on set, in wedding attire, they take a break where she sits on his motorcycle, the clash of her fancy dress against the roughness of a road bike. And again, the music is somewhat out of context, creating a strange pull. In short: their getting-to-you-know moments are postcard pretty, and I don’t need much of a story to move me to see more.
Plus, we’ve been teased with a possible third loveline! In-wook has a little flirtation in the hotel lobby that appears to go nowhere, but I was happier for its inclusion. With the way the first two stories are coming along, I trust this drama to take us on the right romantic path.
But really, it’s Yi-jae’s conflict that hit me in the heart this week. We’re used to female leads with money troubles, but they don’t always have to fight hidden beliefs about the kind of people they’re allowed to be. Creative work is tough because you have to finish it before you can sell it. And Yi-jae giving herself permission to take the risk on her own talent, puts her up there among the most courageous of heroines.
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