I wasn’t sure I’d be continuing to cover
Three Dads, One Mom(and I’m still not convinced), but I had time to watch it tonight with
its competition postponing its episodes for the day. (The drama
received a hefty ratings bump as well, nearly tripling from its very
low premiere numbers of approx 5% to somewhere in the 14% vicinity. The
true test will be seeing if the upward bump sticks, or was a mere blip
because of a lack of counterprogramming.)
I think I’ve also narrowed down my issues to the drama. Sorry to
say, his name is Jo Hyun Jae. That’s not the only aspect that gives me
pause, but it is the most prominent. I don’t hate him — I want to like
him, really — and the problem isn’t that he’s a bad actor and incapable
of better. It’s precisely that he IS capable of doing better that makes
it seem more glaring that he’s kinda phoning it in. I know it’s just a
simple romantic comedy, but Jae Hee and Shin Sung Rok are playing
equally simple characters and yet they’re throwing themselves into
their roles with gusto. Jo Hyun Jae seems to be coasting along.
Eugene, on the other hand, may not be the world’s most skilled
actress, but she’s cute as a button and her slight overacting seems to
fit with the drama, so I’m not too bothered. Yet.
SONG OF THE DAYThree Dads, One Mom OST - “Everything” by Eve [
Download ]
EPISODE 3[I guess we should be happy enough that the episode aired tonight
that we have to put up with election-related info taking up the bottom
portion of the picture throughout the episode.]
The three friends argue over whether it’s their place to tell Na
Young about the baby’s parentage. Their stances fall in line with what
we know about their characters: Kwang Hee (Jae Hee) wants to absolve
himself of responsibility and ignore the issue; Kyung Tae (Shin Sung
Rok) wants to tell Na Young and take on full fatherly duties; and Su
Hyun (Jo Hyun Jae) first thinks it’s best to butt out (do you know how
much a baby costs?), then agrees that if someone tells her, it should
be anybody but him. Because he and Na Young don’t get along.
My theory is that Su Hyun has always been attracted to her but
shoved his feelings aside because of the myriad complications that
would pose: (1) She was his friend’s girlfriend, then wife (2) it was
easier to pretend he hated her to avoid her and (3) even if they were
free to date, she doesn’t fit into his ideal of a rich alliance, so he
may have envied Sung Min for his happiness while at the same time
sneering at him for not choosing wealth. I admit that might be
overanalyzing the issue, but it makes sense to me.
Su Hyun instead fixates on the rich daughter of one of his clients,
an art gallery curator whom he’s never actually spoken to, but whom
he’s seen several times at her father’s office.
Meanwhile, the guys try to tell Na Young the truth and plan to use
Sung Min’s DVD message to break the news. But she’s so overwhelmed at
seeing him onscreen that they don’t have much of a chance to broach the
topic. So the guys go home, reverting to their initial stances. While
Kwang Hee and Su Hyun choose to avoid the issue out of fear and
laziness (they argue that a baby would be costly and a bigger headache
than they’re prepared for), Kyung Tae is disgusted at his friends for
their selfish point of view.
Aw, Kyung Tae — you get the sense that he’d really love family life
and be content with anyone who’d be happy to have him. It’s starting to
bug me that he’s the butt of everyone’s comments (e.g., “Oh no, what if
the baby resembles HIM?”) and supposedly the least worthy catch of the
bunch, because frankly he’s the only real man in this drama so far. (
I’lltake you!) To be fair, the other two never asked for this situation,
and Sung Min had promised against exactly this kind of responsibility.
Plus their sperm was used without consent. It’s just that Kyung Tae, in
contrast, is being so lovely about it. Su Hyun and Kwang Hee have
potential, but they’re not there yet.
Na Young goes through her finances and finds that there’s a large
chunk (approx $3,000) that’s unaccounted for. It’s the money Sung Min
had taken to her father to bail him out of trouble when he died in the
accident. Furthermore, she hears from Sung Min’s boss that he didn’t go
on a business trip as he’d told her, but took vacation leave instead.
She doesn’t immediately jump to the “Bastard was cheating on me??!”
conclusion, but she is bothered and asks Kyung Tae about it. But the
guys have no clue.
It also means she needs to start looking for work, which proves
difficult because people are unwilling to hire a six-months-pregnant
woman. She does land a job selling children’s educational books door to
door, although she has to lie at the interview and say she’s not
pregnant, she’s just fat! Because as we all know, pregnancy is
something we can hide
forever.
She makes a new friend, a slightly older woman and another book
saleswoman named Jumi. Jumi’s with Na Young when she collapses from the
strain of lugging around heavy books all day.
The three friends rush to Na Young’s bedside, feeling guilty to
realize their earlier selfishness is responsible for her condition.
Notably (throughout the episode) Su Hyun displays flashes of
uncharacteristic fervor, berating Na Young for putting herself in
danger, insisting she rest, etc., which has the guys trading looks as
if to say, “What’s with him all of a sudden?” But they are boys and
therefore dense to the signs of budding lurve, even the unwanted kind.
The guys watch a recording of baby Ha Sun’s ultrasound, and proceed
to fall in love with the little tyke. All of a sudden the baby seems
very real to them, and they marvel at the heartbeat and moving body.
With newfound determination (and yes, some resignation over what
this is costing them, both in money and effort), the three vow to
collectively become the baby’s daddy. They’ll split the chores and the
costs evenly three ways, and do their best to help raise him/her. But,
they agree, they must not tell Na Young about that tricky sperm issue.
Of course, keeping that a secret makes their decision a little stickier
because in her eyes, the guys have no reason to bear so much
responsibility for her and her baby. (Each time she mentions it, they
nervously laugh, “We’re just like a dad to the baby! Because we’re like
Sung Min’s brothers, that is.”)
And just as they’d systematically undergone that regimen to nurture
their sperm in the previous episodes, now they tackle prenatal care and
baby prep. Kwang Hee sells his beloved motorcycle and asks his
delighted mother about foods good for pregnant women. (The mother
happily misconstrues his meaning and assumes he’s had a little
“accident,” but assures him that’s okay! As long as that means he’s
settling down…) Mama’s-boy Kyung Tae does the same. Kyung Tae’s strange
behavior and recurring pregnancy questions put his female cop colleague
on alert, since she’s got her eye on him. Good eye, says I, even if she
IS a little wacko. (Although the jealous cop girl isn’t as crazy as
Kwang Hee’s cougar-ish manhwa editor — who was just as crazy playing
the hilarious pie-selling psycho ex-wife in
Dal Ja’s Spring.)
The guys finish making the crib and rocking horse that Sung Min had
left incomplete, and prepare a cheerful homecoming for Na Young, who’s
moved to tears at the gesture. There’s a rare moment of genuine emotion
(the drama tends to skew broad and jokey) when the guys find a
recording device — one of those that allows a parent to record a
message and hold it to the pregnant belly for the baby to hear. They
listen to Sung Min singing the beginning of a lullaby on the recorder,
who stops when he’s interrupted by a phone call. Solemnly, the three
dads finish singing the lullaby for him.
They even accompany Na Young to lamaze classes, where each in turn
undergoes the particular torture of performing calisthenics while
encased in a baby-sized faux stomach/shield/armor. Su Hyun is first to
encounter this particular humiliation, and vows irritably not to go
back. Naturally, once one has suffered, he is not satisfied until his
best friends have shared in his torment, so Su Hyun doesn’t warn Kwang
Hee, who goes next. Who doesn’t warn Kyung Tae, who goes last.
Na Young does feel that their constant attention and care is perhaps
excessive, but she’s grateful and doesn’t refuse the help. At one
point, Na Young comments to Su Hyun that they’re going above and beyond
the call of duty, to which Su Hyun replies (echoing her former words,
spoken in annoyance) that this much is a given compared to how much
she’d done for them (cooking, cleaning, laundry). Somewhat abashed to
hear her words repeated back to her, Na Young asks if her comments had
really stuck with him, thus starting to thaw the coldness between them.
The guys get into the hang of things, buying her food and a foot
massager and thinking of new ways to help. Su Hyun grits his teeth at
the cost and buys her expensive pears, although not without reminding
her of how very expensive they are. We know, Su Hyun, we know. Kyung
Tae, bless him, even develops a mild case of
sympathetic pregnancy,
experiencing some unexpected morning sickness. His extreme commitment
to his role leads us to an obvious and silly sequence where he rushes
out of the police station to handle an emergency, prompting his
co-worker to call for backup, only to discover his “emergency” was Na
Young’s food craving. (Which we then learn is actually Kwang Hee’s food
craving. Kwang Hee defends himself: “Would he have bought the food if I
said it was me who wanted to eat it?”)
Na Young’s baby starts kicking, and Kyung Tae bashfully asks if he
can feel her stomach. Su Hyun feigns disinterest (although he totally
wants to feel the kicking too), but Kwang Hee grabs his hand too and
the three dads all feel the kicking in amazement. The baby obliges its
(her? I think) fathers — and cutely refers to them all as “my dads” in
the plural — first in amusement at the dads’ reaction, and then in
annoyance because one of them is copping a feel on her butt.
And then, Na Young goes into labor. (Which nobody handles well.)
RELATED POSTS Tags:
episode recaps,
Eugene,
Jae Hee,
Jo Hyun-jae,
Shin Sung-rok,
Three Dads, One Mom Filed under:
Drama Recaps |
OMG! 
hahaha!, well yeah its really fun talking to you! im also happy to talk with you in full korean! hahah^^ 
