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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Make a Woman Cry" Episode 29

Jin-han (played by Choi Jong-hwan) is the long-lost eldest brother of the Choi family, and the not-exactly-husband of Eun-soo. He's gotten amnesia and now lives a humble existence selling street food with his wife. Strictly speaking "Make a Woman Cry" hasn't actually confirmed that this person is Jin-han, but he's currently listed as such on MBC's official website. And besides, given how much of the conflict lately has been about Jin-han, it would be pretty ridiculous if the snack guy wasn't actually Jin-han after all.

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Honestly this is not a plot point I've ever been too enthralled about. I try to be a good sport about the willing suspension of disbelief but the whole situtation really is a tad ridiculous. The fact that Jin-han showed up outside of Deok-in's shop by dumb coincidence is the most ridiculous part. I know the production had to introduce him in a way that didn't require everyone finding out at once, but still.

Why is that? Well, as far as I can tell to stretch out the drama's runtime. Even though we don't see much of Jin-han here his existence predominates the conflict, as Tae-hwan struggles with a bad day that just keeps getting worse with everything that's going on at the company and at home. Evidently money doesn't solve everything. Of course, that particular lesson comes up pretty much any time we deal with the rich family at all.

Deok-in and Jin-woo fall by the wayside- althogh this is mainly a consequence of there not being any apparent direction for the relationship to go at this point. Even if Jin-woo is totally taking the coward's way out, well, what else is there? The conflict with Deok-in is unreconcilable, and as long as Eun-soo insists on being generally hostile and unpleasant there's not really much going for Jin-woo at the family home either.

But if there aren't any subplots going on to keep Jin-woo involved with the storyline, that just makes it all the more difficult for me to pay much attention to "Make a Woman Cry" at this point. I've always considered the rich family plot to be the least compelling part of this drama, with the most potential to devolve into self-parody should the tropes involved become any more ridiculous. The closest this drama gets to relatable weird is the continued relationship between Deok-in's mother and Bok-rye. While that's certainly interesting material, I really need more than that.

Review by William Schwartz

"Make a Woman Cry" is directed by Kim Geun-hong and Park Sang-hoon-III, written by Ha Cheong-ok and features Kim Jung-eun, Song Chang-eui, Lee Soon-jae, Ha Hee-ra, Oh Dae-gyu and Lee Tae-ran.

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