Mr. Sunshine (Miseuteo Shunshain) Episode 3 Review

This review of Mr. Sunshine Episode 3 contains spoilers.

Ae-sin and Eugene are pretty much declaring a romance between each other in Mr. Sunshine episode 3, without actually putting their words into actions. At first hand, you witness both cultures collide as Eugene is much more forthcoming whilst Ae-sin withholds any signals, even her body language.

At this point, Mr. Sunshine has willingly left the past of Joseon behind, subjecting itself to the present and only using the flashbacks to remind the audience of the importance of certain acquaintances. Eugene meets the man that ultimately saved him when he was at the end of his days in Joseon; the pottery maker who told Eugene to go to America and make a life there. The show toyed with the idea that the pottery maker doesn’t remember Eugene due to his foreign attire and mannerisms, which is a piece of writing I cannot buy considering that every character appears to remember everyone in this show so far, regardless of differences in age.

Mr. Sunshine episode 3 takes an abrupt halt for the two leading characters, who are slowly but surely getting politically and romantically entangled. Their scenes only develop the tension between them but the progress in the story itself remains dormant, waiting for an event of some sort to happen. The one predictable development that occurred is that Ae-sin and Eugene did openly admit that it was they that resided on the roofs that night to assassinate the American, but all this did is lead to words of an unspoken romance and a lot of nonsense riddles. Both characters act like it is a filler episode, with no suspecting direction taking place.

Mr. Sunshine episode 3 did provide background to a more sinister character roaming the streets of Joseon; the extremely violent Gu Dong-mae who kills people at will. His past is revealed as someone who was a child of a butcher, which is someone that is classed as the remnants of Joseon society, expected to work for their owners and butcher meat. His mother asked him to run away when he was younger in hope that she was doing it for the greater good, so he saved himself from becoming a butcher. Unfortunately, this experience traumatized Gu Dong-mae and now, in the present day, he rules the streets ironically butchering people. He has taken a curious liking to Ae-sin because she saved him when he was a child, which makes me wonder if this will cause exciting implications between him and Eugene.

Mr. Sunshine is still good, it is just unfortunate that episode 3 didn’t exactly progress, apart from some further background for other characters.