[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Uncontrollably Fond" Episode 14

This episode really touches on the plays of power. Money buys power. Health allows one to wield power. Friendship helps to guide power. Connections manipulate power. These concepts are neither new to the show or to the workings of society, but they are highlighted in ways that force the characters to act. Most of the same ol' shenanigans continue throughout this episode and leave me with little to talk about.

Advertisement

Joon-young waffles between living by his standards of guilt, or by the pull of his love for Eul. He's always been hot tempered and a man with such a devastating disease can vacillate in mood and personality, but the back-and-forth is becoming wearisome. Each episode ends in some sort of confrontation between he and Eul. The last episode had him pressuring her for sex, which is not okay in any book. He doesn't repent of his actions afterwards. Not. Okay. In the same manner, Ji-tae purposefully hurts Jeong-eun to shake her off. It's a vicious cycle of hurt perpetuated by his parents, by hers, and by societal expectations at large. Men are allowed to continue with behavior. The rich are allowed to continue to manipulate the poor. Eul accepts that she is powerless, moneyless, and that she can't make those who deserved to be punished utter an apology. She accepts their handouts against her conscience and pride. And I can't say she is wrong. In the situation she is in, she has been battered down for years. It is not she who has to pick herself up yet again; those who commit wrongs should change. But that rarely happens. She'll probably end up being saved by Joon-young. Even the power plays between Ji-tae and his mother reek of greed and manipulation.

Joon-young's mother starts to warm towards him and I'm glad it's happening before she discovers he's dying. It colors their relationship with a warmth he very much needs. It gives them a closeness that starts to mirror Jik and Eul. Jik is a wonderful character who has been relegated to a secondary romance. He is a voice of reason when Eul is stressed. I'd love to see more of them together and less of the obsessive Ha-ru. If I could, I've have less of Jeong-eun, who is so vapid and one-dimensional a character that talking about her existence would serve viewers as much as seeing her on screen. Perhaps a little too harsh, but Lim Ju-eun deserves better. The feelings that Jeong-eun is developing are because Joon-young doesn't neglect her as Ji-tae does despite his lack of affection for her. Again, this speaks to the horrible male behavior in this show. Not that many females are much better, but the feminist in me cannot let such things stand.

Written by: Lisa Espinosa AKA Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"Uncontrollably Fond" is directed by Park Hyeon-seok, written by Lee Kyeong-hee, and features Kim Woo-bin, Bae Suzy, Lim Ju-hwan, and Lim Ju-eun.