'When the Weather is Fine' Episode 2 hints at Hae-won's dysfunctional family with glimpses from the past
The second episode of 'When the weather is Fine' sees Mok Hae-won and Im Eun-seop move beyond the embarrassment of Eun-seop's public confession about his crush on Hae-won as a teenager. The two continue to get to know each other, but mostly at nights when Eun-seop's bookstore stays open. When Hae-won first arrives at his door, he assumes that she wanted to speak to him about his confession. So, he quickly shuts down having any feelings for her in the present and shuts the door on her face. But the moment passes and the two move on as well.
The episode continues to take us back to Hae-won's time in Seoul as a cello teacher and also further back to when she was in high school with Eun-seop. The theme of this episode seems to be about reconnecting with other people after being alone in the city. She worked a job that didn't make her happy and had no one to support her through something like this. Returning to Hyecheon would help, hopes Hae-won because it worked the first time around. She was able to find comfort in Hyecheon when she had arrived at Hyecheon for highschool. On that note, we saw how she arrived at the station by herself and was admitted to the school with her aunt's help. Her mother was not present in the past and neither is she a part of Hye-won in the present.
Each episode feels as if it's poetry in motion because of the tone, the music and even the dialogues in the show. The fact that Eun-seop owns a bookstore and also holds a book club meeting also adds to the mood of the show. For instance, book club members read their favorite verses from different books that remind them of winter and each verse is more wrenching than the other. One describes how loneliness takes root in you and the other is about a lover's hope to forget the memories that she had created with her lover, but he is now not with her. Along with this, the town of Hechyeon in winter adds to the theme of the show. It is not surprising because the literal translation of the show's Hanguk name is, "I'll come to you when the weather is fine."
The episode also sees Hae-won join the book store as a part-timer after her aunt taunts her about being jobless. She also tells Hae-won that Hechyeon is not a place where people would learn to play the cello. So Hae-won settles for the part-time job for the time being. One day, after she finishes, another of her classmates arrives at the bookstore and along with Eun-seop, the three grab a beer together. It is then that we hear about Hae-won's family for the first time. We dive back into the past when one of them mentions another of their classmate -- Kim Bo-young. This brings back bad memories for Hae-won because all she remembers is how she was backstabbed by someone who claimed to be her best friend but instead turned around and spread rumors about Hae-won's mother being a murderer who killed her husband. In the present, her friend tells her that Bo-young claims all of it to be a misunderstanding, but Hae-won vehemently denies it. The friend leaves because things get too awkward, leaving Eun-seop and Hae-won alone. Eun-seop apparently cannot handle alcohol and when he is drunk he says quite affectionately, "I am glad you are here, Irene" and this makes Hae-won happy.
This has her excited enough to get her out of bed early on a rainy day and she even spends time on makeup before she arrives at the bookstore for her part-time job. She sees Eun-seop and tells him he doesn't seem able to drink alcohol and is just pulling his leg about calling out to Irene in his sleep when Bo-young arrives. What does she hope to achieve by befriending Hae-won, this is something we must watch out for in the next episode.
New episodes of 'When the Weather is Fine' will air on Mondays and Tuesdays on JTBC.