Summary
A Virtuous Business Episode 8 hones in on Da-hyun as he tries to work through his feelings for Jeong-suk.
A Virtuous Business Episode 8 is one of those obligatory K-Drama episodes where after a romance takes another step as it did in the previous episode, at least one of the leads has to really interrogate how they feel and figure out if those feelings are genuine. Of course, we already know the outcome, but it’s about the journey, not the destination (or so I’m told.)
There’s a lot more going on of course, but Da-hyun pushing through his own emotional barriers is definitely the main dramatic throughline, dovetailing nicely with Jeong-suk’s ongoing battle with her insecurities and her growing sense of self-worth and purpose. Elsewhere, we have Young-bok worrying about her pregnancy too, which sparks a newfound sense of inadequacy in her husband.
Episode 8 opens with Da-hyun; he’s still enjoying the sudden comfort he’s feeling in Jeong-suk, but he’s not totally sure if her affections were real or imagined. But she remains determined to help him find his birth mother, which conveniently keeps her around while he gets to grips with his feelings.
Young-bok is in a similar predicament. Her pregnancy gives her a crushing sense of anxiety about how she’s going to be able to afford to raise another child and abortion, sadly, seems like the only viable option. This triggers awful feelings in her husband, as mentioned, who feels guilt for not being able to support his family, with his chequered past limiting his opportunities.
It’s important to understand this feeling since it increases the drama when he’s offered a dodgy deal for quick bucks by an old criminal associate and has to seriously weigh up the offer. Thankfully, he chooses to walk away, but I like this subplot because it highlights how a lot of bad decisions are circumstantial. Most people aren’t inherently lunatics – there’s a lot more at play than that.
With all the women struggling – even Geum-hui has issues with her husband not celebrating their wedding anniversary – it’s a wonder they can sell anything at all, but this seems to be an area in which they all continue to excel. Their latest scheme is to offer free tickets to an adult movie and it’s once again a big success. It makes for a nice dynamic alongside the personal strife – the continued business success gives them a more stable foundation for working through their other issues.
Da-hyun, to be fair, is having less success in A Virtuous Business Episode 8. As well as working through his own complicated internal feelings, he’s also not having much luck trying to find his mother. A promising lead turned up by Jeong-suk turns out to be a dead end despite the resemblance, since Da-hyun had already investigated her, and another lead that Da-hyun and Jeong-suk have to pose as an engaged couple to chase down turns out to be fruitless too.
Or does it? Sure, the woman isn’t Da-hyun’s mother, but her wise words resonate. A mother wouldn’t stop searching for her child, which gives Da-hyun a bit of an uplift. He might not be the only one searching, which along with Jeong-suk’s support is reassuring. And there’s that theme again – support.
You can see this manifest all over the place, such as in Young-bok helping to console her husband when his repeated attempts to find meaningful employment amount to nothing, and when the women all gather to support Jeong-suk in her promotion. There are all different kinds of support, as we know, but in any form it matters.
The problem for Da-hyun here is that Jeong-suk’s support leaves him feeling deeply confused and conflicted. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate it, just that he doesn’t quite understand how he feels about her. So, he does the usual thing and tries to give her the cold shoulder, screening her calls and avoiding her. Jeong-suk naturally assumes that he’s put off by her helping him to investigate, but when she confronts him he clarifies that it isn’t that at all.
To address the issue in his own way, Da-hyun pulls Jeong-suk into an embrace like the one he dreamed of, just to see how he feels. Predictably, he feels exactly the way he thought he did.
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