Because you earned it
In Episode 9 of We Are All Trying Here, Dong-man waits nervously with Hye-jin. She admits she read his screenplay and actually liked it. She wanted him to fail, but now that he is so well written, she is “tempted”.
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Dong-man signs the contract but the wording scares him and he worries he might let people down. Hye-jin doesn’t help matters either, telling him to delete anything incriminating from social media and make sure he’s squeaky clean so the media can’t pry on this before his debut.
There is a lot to be sorted out yet but for now The Eight celebrate Dong-man’s success. But the mood is very different now as Yeong-su and the others continue this charade of talking about the process of making the film.
Hye-jin is a big believer in the “pressure builds diamonds” mantra and thinks they have to push Dong-man to the edge until he either sinks or swims.
It’s a stressful time for our protagonist no doubt, and Dong-man goes to great lengths to remove all the incriminating material on the web. Unfortunately it also applies to money he’s borrowed from loan sharks and even though he’s paid off 5 million won already, he’s still very much in debt.
Jin-man, knowing his brother is in trouble, asks him about it. Dong-man snaps at him and won’t open up, but it’s clearly getting to the guy.
Of course Gyeong-se continues his usual tirade of taunting Dong-man, teasing him about the huge betting pool they have where they are seeing how badly he is going to fail.
But Dong-man seems to not care about any of this and goes to see Eun-a. They celebrate together. Dong-man blows out the candle and wishes for forgiveness. He’s scared, too, but Eun-a says something comforting.
There’s a really sweet moment here where she offers to run away or hide with him if it all gets too much. They hug it out, and on the way home, at the railway crossing no less, Eun-a has Dong-man practice his acceptance speech.
Here, he specifically names Eun-a as the reason he is standing here today.
Meanwhile, there’s the drama with Jeong-hui, who gets wind of the Knock, Knock, Knock screenplay that Choi Film are working on. She wants to see the script, but when she looks, she knows that the dialogue is actually Eun-a’s, and Yeong-sil is just a pseudonym.
But this script is going to have to fight it out with Weather Maker, and Hye-jin is confident that the screenplay is a huge step up from what Dong-man submitted for the contest.
This hits a nerve with Director Choi, especially when he learns Eun-a had a hand in helping to sharpen up that screenplay. He chastises her in front of everyone at work, telling her that it won’t end well if he hears her helping other screenplays in the future.
Eun-a is gone from Jun-hwan’s movie and so Mi-ran rings and decides they must meet. She talks about how things are now and says her mind is all over the place right now.
Mi-ran says she can’t act and that people think she’s cringeworthy. This weakness is making Eun-an more receptive to the girl when she confesses how difficult things have been, especially when her ex boyfriend Hyeong-u says he never loved her.
Back with Dong-man he is still being harassed by his loan shark. This time he confronts the guy, shouting down the phone, knowing he makes his money scaring people. Dong-man calls him a cliché and continues to lash out at him and even ends the call by telling him he better not be wearing a gold chain…which he is.
Dong-man grabs his stuff and takes off, missing the loan sharks as they head for his place. Jin-man is there and he squares up to him, but he just smacks the guy flush in the face.
Later the loan shark texts Dong-man to say he’s sent a message to everyone in his contacts list with details of the money he’s borrowed, picture and all.
Dong-man apologizes to Eun-a about the money, saying that he did this because he needed to pay for emergency surgery for his cat. She’s cool about it, and even gives him a few words of encouragement, giving Dong-man the courage and strength to go right over to see the loan shark in person.
Dong-man realizes he’s not as scary as he thought and confronts him about the abuse. Dong-man responds that he’ll come at him with everything he’s got and drop the guy hard if he keeps it up. Dong-man decides they are well and truly finished, since he has already paid back his loan with interest, and walks out with his head held high.
Episode Review
We Are All Trying Here returns this week with Dong-man facing his past and really starting to get some confidence in his life. “Now he’s definitely coming around and getting his act together.
The character growth in this series for everybody has been so well written and I love the fact we get layers to almost everybody in this ensemble.
This time we also see a bit more of Mi-ran and her plight with Hyeong-u makes her quite the sympathetic character. It’s pretty clear now that she’s going to be in Dong-man’s movie and really prove herself to be a capable and respectable actor.
The show also avoids the tired tropes of misunderstanding and instead has Eun-a and Dong-man growing by talking it out. These little moments really help the show grow and it’s obvious now that we’re gearing up for Knock, Knock, Knock VS Weather Maker.
This also adds an extra dimension to the story because we have Jeong-hui right in the middle of all this and her role is ambiguously left open for the time being.
With less than a handful of episodes left, it will be interesting to see where this one goes next.