Summary
Episode 2 tries to explain the obsession between both lead characters as they try their hardest to come to terms with their feelings in another intense chapter.
This recap of Netflix K-drama series It’s Okay to Not Be Okay episode 2, “The Lady In Red Shoes” contains spoilers.
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How does It’s Okay to Not Be Okay episode 2, “The Lady In Red Shoes” open?
Episode 2 begins with the scene that finished the last chapter with Moon Gang-tae and Ko Mun-yeong in an intense stand-off and Gang-tae describing her as someone he used to know — “I liked her”. He expands and tells her that the memories of this girl aren’t beautiful — a flashback shows this girl ripping a butterfly apart in front of him and the younger him is dismayed. Lee Sang-in arrives at the office and before he leaves, Gang-tae wants Ko Mun-yeong’s autograph for his brother. Ko Mun-yeong believes Gang-tae used that story of bad memories to get her autograph. On the way out, Lee Sang-in tries giving him money for compensation. Ko Mun-yeong tells her assistant to get information on Gang-tae.
When Gang-tae gets home, Sang-tae is overwhelmed that Gang-tae got Ko Mun-yeong’s autograph — inside the autograph, there’s an invite to a book signing event.
A job is available
Nam Ju-ri tells Gang-tae that there is a caregiver position available at the OK Psychiatric Hospital with good perks. A flashback shows that Gang-tae’s mother was killed and the brothers are distraught. Gang-tae heads out with his brother to move towns so that the “butterflies can’t get to them”. Back in the present, Ju-ri offers Gang-tae an empty room in case he decides to leave. Ju-ri speaks to Jae-su afterwards and he states that Gang-tae never forms deep relationships because of that “Damn butterfly”. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay episode 2, “The Lady In Red Shoes”, unfurls Gang-tae’s past, which is clearly giving the characters demons. He’s keeping a lot in.
The book signing
Gang-tae takes his brother Sang-tae to the book signing event and he’s very excited. Gang-tae wants to leave as soon as his brother gets the autograph — the queue is very long. Gang-tae gets a call from Jae-su so has to leave his brother in the queue briefly but he immediately starts causing a commotion; someone starts manhandling him and he freaks out. Gang-tae rushes over to him to call down. Ko Mun-yeong ponders from afar, wondering if she should help.
Ko Mun-yeong comes over and asks the man who manhandled Sang-tae to apologise and grabs him by his hair to make him scream. She calls the man’s partner a crazy b*tch while there are a load of cameras on her. Afterwards, Ko Mun-yeong wants to help more and she tells Gang-tae that his brother has a sensitive part of his head — Gang-tae grabs the author by the wrist and asks her to stop talking about his brother and she’s happy that he’s finally looking in her eyes. Episode 2 continues to show the tension between both lead characters.
An arrogant man
A man approaches Ko Mun-yeong and says how much she reminds him of her mother and mentions how she ended up in a psychiatric hospital — the author gets upset and Gang-tae defends her. As Ko Mun-yeong walks off, Gang-tae tells her not to leave. The author suggests that he cannot tell her what to do and continues to walk off. Ko Mun-yeong finds the man that mentioned her mother and he is extremely arrogant, stating he can ruin her career by revealing she has an antisocial personality disorder. Ko Mun-yeong threatens to attack the man with the tip of her pen and then pushed him down the stairs. Gang-tae arrives and he looks shocked by what he sees. The man has to be carried into an ambulance. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay episode 2, “The Lady In Red Shoes”, confirms in this scene that Gang-tae cares about Ko Mun-yeong, even if he doesn’t show it well.
Gang-tae walks up behind Ko Mun-yeong and gives her breathing techniques and teaches her the butterfly hug method. She turns around and gets right up in his face to make it very intimate.
Be my safety pin
Ko Mun-yeong asks Gang-tae to be her safety pin — “Stop me from exploding”. She offers money. Gang-tae tells her to leave him alone. She reminds him that she isn’t a patient but he tells her drugs and treatment won’t cure her. Ko Mun-yeong calls Gang-tae a coward. Gang-tae experiences that flashback again of the girl who rips apart the butterfly and says “Do you like me now?” and then calls him a coward. Episode 2 sees Gang-tae continuing to compare the author to a bad experience in his past.
I’m the coward
Jae-su can sense that Ko Mun-yeong has an impact on Gang-tae. Gang-tae tells him that he always thought he was running away for his brother due to the “Butterflies” but for the first time today, he realised he is possibly running away for himself when things get hard. When he heads inside, Gang-tae tells his brother that he’s brave while he is a coward. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay episode 2, “The Lady In Red Shoes”, presents a sober moment for the lead character, who constantly has to look after his brother, but has had this realisation that he’s not necessarily the strong one.
Bad PR
At the publisher the next day, the team learn that the footage of Ko Mun-yeong grabbing the fan by his hair has gone nationwide. More footage has been released of Ko Mun-yeong being rude to children in a classroom. Lee Sang-in is frustrated but then it gets worse when a civic group applied for an injunction against selling Ko Mun-yeong’s new book Zombie Kid, stating the storyline is too grotesque for children. Ko Mun-yeong has gone missing and one of the team believes it’s her fault. She sent the author information on Moon Gang-tae. Meanwhile, Gang-tae has taken his new job as a caregiver at OK Pyschciatric Hospital.
How does It’s Okay to Not Be Okay episode 2, “The Lady In Red Shoes” end?
Lee Sang-in rings Ko Mun-yeong and asks where she is. She asks the CEO if he knows The Red Shoes written by Hans Christian Andersen; “The little girl wore her red shoes everywhere she went, even to a God-fearing church. Once you wear those shoes, your feet start dancing on their own. And you can never stop dancing or take off those shoes. But even so, the little girl never gave up on those red shoes. In the end, the executioner had to cut off her feet. But the two feet that cut off still continued to dance in those red shoes. Some things can’t be torn apart no matter how hard you try to do so.”
Ko Mun-yeong then walks towards Gang-tae at his new place of work in red shoes — “That is why obsession is noble and beautiful. I have finally found my red shoes”. He asks her why she is here. She tells Gang-tae that she missed him. Episode 2 tries to explain the obsession between both lead characters as they try their hardest to come to terms with their feelings in another intense chapter.
Additional points
- As Gang-tae walks out of the office, Ko Mun-yeong says to herself that she wants him.
- Lee Sang-in tells Ko Mun-yeong that if these incidents keep happening she will lose her career.
- Nam Ju-ri and Jae-su have a brief chat over a drink.
- At the event, a man suggests to Lee Sang-in that Ko Mun-yeong’s books do well because of her good looks.
- Gang-tae helps his brother get home and on the bus surprises him with The Dinosaur Enclyopedia that he bought him from the Book Signing Event.
