After I posted the written preview for episode 10 of Mary Stayed Out All Night (Marry Me, Mary!), the onslaught of shrill screams from M3-fans made it feel like an impending drama-pocalypse. I don’t think anyone signed up for M3 expecting a Noh Hee Kyung slice-of-life drama with Kim Soo Hyun dialogue wrapped in Jung Ha Yeon level abs-of-steel plot developments. Even though we know what we’re getting (a fun and warm love story), but we still don’t want the drama to take a turn for the insane and unbelievable. Never fear, I think episode 10 and 11, combined, gives a small reassurance that it might just all work out.

I’m so glad (1) they dumped the old writer, and (2) they chose today to air two episodes of M3. If I had just watched episode 10 by itself, I probably would have written the most scathing recap ever, and then promptly swear off the remaining episodes of M3. No, really, I’m serious. I hated episode 10 as a whole, because it was a pointless episode. Absolutely nothing important happened to move the characters or any of the relationships forward. And everyone behaved in ways I couldn’t fathom they would behave. What’s the point then? If you don’t care to be a completist, I suggest you skip episode 10 and just watch episode 11.

This is such a weird recap to write, because I hated one episode but loved the other. I also have this overarching worry that the new writer may not be able to fully salvage the mess left behind, and the drama will never really regain its momentum and plot progression. I think tomorrow’s episode 12 will definitely indicate where this drama is headed – giving me concrete hope for an awesome conclusion or making me itch for M3 to end so that I can stop recapping it. But if I base it on how awesome episode 11 was alone, I think chances are good the remaining episode will redeem the drama as a whole.

Episode 10 Recap:

Mae Ri sees Seo Jun kissing Mu Gyul. Seo Jun ends the kiss, with Mu Gyul making zero movement either to push her away or pull her close. He is literally a shell of a man she is kissing. He immediately tells her to leave, and she says that she’ll leave after he goes inside. He turns and walks into his apartment, and Seo Jun’s face shows how his indifference really is just one more nail in the coffin of her delusion that he has even a sliver of feeling for her.

I HATE this pointless plot contrivance of Seo Jun kissing Mu Gyul and having it be seen by Mae Ri – it does nothing for any of the characters other than introduce a potential conflict that even a three year old knows will get resolved immediately. While we can fault Mu Gyul for not pushing Seo Jun away, he really doesn’t give a rat’s ass about her, and its part of his casual personality in the past to feel like this is not taking something away from his relationship with Mae Ri. In the entire drama, the character I see changing and growing the most has always been Mu Gyul, and I accept that he’s got more things to learn about how to deal with clingy ex-girlfriends.

Seo Jun turns around and sees Mae Ri, asking her whether she saw the kiss. Mae Ri remains polite, but Seo Jun presses her on how the fake marriage turned into a real relationship, and that she’s involved with both Mu Gyul and Jung In. She’s both incredulous and jealous, it appears. Mae Ri explains that she just wants to treasure her relationship with Mu Gyul. Seo Jun leaves, and Mae Ri picks up the discarded guitar pick.

Mae Ri and Mu Gyul settle down for dinner, and he notices that she seems subdued and isn’t nagging him as usual. She says that nothing is wrong and she’s just tired from cooking is all. He takes a bite and pretends to be upset, only to tell her that the food is delicious like a work of art. She tells him to eat, she likes him when he’s eating more than she likes him when he’s singing. They laugh at that, since it’s what his mom would say to him.

Mae Ri tells Mu Gyul that she wants to stay by his side and they can do things together, stuff that lovers do together. He immediately thinks that she wants skinship (LOL, you are definitely a real boy, Kang Mu Gyul), but she wants to wear couple outfits, wear couple rings, etc. He thinks it’s childish, but she explains that she really wants to do it with him. She tells him that she wants to do something special tonight. They end up at an empty construction site.

They are taking the elevator up to the roof, and Mae Ri starts to get freaked out and ends up grabbing onto Mu Gyul’s pant leg and crying for her daddy. Turns out that she was kidnapped as a kid by debt collectors looking for her dad, and the construction site was where she was taken. She’s still traumatized by memory, and wants to come with Mu Gyul to confront her fears and then let it go.

Mu Gyul grabs her in a tight hug, gives her the softest kiss on the lips, and allows her to let go of the bad memory with him by her side. It starts to snow, and Mu Gyul tells her to let the snow wipe away all her bad memories. This was a lovely lovely couple moment. They leave the roof and make a fire in the construction lot. Mae Ri asks Mu Gyul what he likes to do, and he doesn’t have anything that really makes him happy, except perhaps being happiest when he’s fixing his hair, because he sure does love his hair. I….have no words. I still love you, Mu Gyul, even with your hair fixation!

Mae Ri asks him what are the places he dislikes, and he confesses that he hates the ice skating rink. When he was a kid, he waited there for his mom the entire day, and she never showed up. Mae Ri tells him that she will go to a rink with him, and together they can keep each other warm and keep each other company.

Seo Jun’s latest scandal breaks the next morning – her kiss with Mu Gyul was caught on camera and is all over the news. Lee An and the bitchy manager want Jung In to replace Seo Jun. Loser daddy shows Mae Ri the newspaper rags and tells her that she can’t see this playboy anymore. Mae Ri’s latest work for the writer is well-received, but the writer is concerned about Seo Jun’s scandal affecting the drama production. Jung In convinces Seo Jun to give a press conference and explain all the recent gossip concerning her personal life.

At the press conference, Seo Jun explains that she is just work colleagues with Lee An. When the question is asked about Mu Gyul, Jung In tries to end the press conference, but Seo Jun disregards him and tells the reporters that Kang Mu Gyul is the name she loves. Not only is this a shitty thing to do to the man you profess to love, but I can’t even wrap my mind around the love part for an independent woman towards a man she dated for one month over a year ago.

Mae Ri watches the press conference with tears in her eyes, stumbling away unsure of what’s going to happen. She’s also been dressed like a Sherpa about to scale Mount Everest, and all I can see is a sliver of her face hidden beneath all fur. She refuses to take her friends’ flurry of calls. Mu Gyul is asleep at his recording station in his apartment, blissfully unaware of what shit the screenwriter of M3 decided to throw at him. His mom comes and announces that he’s a celebrity now, having been caught kissing Seo Jun.

Mae Ri is knitting a sweater for Mu Gyul in the park, and sniffling back tears. Her friends find her, and tell her to chuck the sweater and never see Mu Gyul again. Mu Gyul is chased by his student fans telling him to break up with Seo Jun. Mu Gyul is with his band mates, and they wonder if he’s gotten back together with Seo Jun, which he denies. Mu Gyul’s group runs into Mae Ri’s group, and everyone takes off to go carousing while Mu Gyul and Mae Ri leave separately.

Mu Gyul tries to get Mae Ri to talk with him, but he is recognized on the street as the guy Seo Jun loves. Mae Ri asks why Seo Jun would claim to still love him? Mu Gyul is as confused as EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET, and says as much. He takes it even one step further, and tells his girlfriend that even if Seo Jun loves him, he doesn’t love her, and has no intention of re-assessing his emotional relationship with her.

Mae Ri leaves, and gets Seo Jun’s address from the band mates and goes to see her. At her apartment, she sees pictures of Mu Gyul with Seo Jun, including a very intimate portrait of them clowning around in the bathroom brushing their teeth. Mae Ri asks Seo Jun to stop making Mu Gyul’s life so difficult. Seo Jun tells Mae Ri to leave, and go treasure the relationship with Mu Gyul. Yo, beeyotch, it’s hard to do that when you drop stink bombs on everyone behind their backs.

Mu Gyul tries to find Mae Ri, who is walking and crying over seeing the very emotionally intimate pictures of Mu Gyul and Seo Jun’s relationship. Okay, woman, seriously? What did you expect, the two of them held hands and sat three feet apart during their relationship? I know it’s hard to see the proof, but he’s with you now. You gotta be stronger than this to weather the impending evil daddy and loser daddy tsumani of guilt and monetary pressure.

Mu Gyul goes to see Seo Jun, after finding out that Mae Ri might have gone to see her. Seo Jun is unapologetic about her behavior. She tells Mu Gyul that she gave up everything to be with him. I can’t believe she’s pulling the self-sacrifice card. Whatta delusional chick. Jung In is stressed about what Seo Jun’s scandal will do to derail the drama production. He picks up his phone and looks at the engagement outfit modeling picture of him and Mae Ri. Mu Gyul goes to Mae Ri’s house to find her, and her dad is rightfully pissed this time, and shoos in away. He continues to wander in the cold dark city looking for her.

Mae Ri is heading home when she notices Jung In has joined her. He tells her that he was just thinking, and unknowingly he walked to her place. He’s stressed about his business, which was his first professional goal and he desperately wanted to succeed at it. Mae Ri encourages him, telling him that she believes he can succeed in anything he does. She asks about his father, and promises to visit him tomorrow. I really loved this interlude between them, and reinforces my belief that they would make lovely friends.

Mae Ri slips on the icy road and Jung In catches her to break her fall. He cuts his forehead, and she gets medicine and a band aid to patch him up. Jung In reminds her that this was just the opposite of what happened when they were kids. They reminisce, which is when Mu Gyul walks up on them, after having seen Mae Ri come out of the pharmacy earlier. He’s pissed, and grabs Mae Ri to leave. She’s not happy to be dragged away, and it’s Jung In’s turn to step up and tell Mu Gyul that the lady doesn’t want to go.

Mae Ri politely excuses herself, and leaves with Mu Gyul. For once, Mu Gyul is the only glaring person in this two-way staredown, which makes it clear that Jung In has emotionally accepted that he’s the third wheel and doesn’t have any stake in playing the jealousy games with Mu Gyul over Mae Ri.

Mu Gyul tries to discuss the situation with Mae Ri, but she’s not in the mood to talk and asks him to leave. He goes home to find his mom sobbing in his apartment. She can’t go to Paris until she pays off an outstanding debt. Mu Gyul chides her for continuing to get swindled and dumped by a succession of men. She blames it all on being an unlucky person (as opposed to being a slut hoe-bag), which leads Mu Gyul to use Mae Ri’s words on her – how can she be unlucky if she had him?

Which is when his mom FOREVER loses even the tiniest shred of sympathy I may have for her by saying that she wishes she didn’t have him. She should have asked him first before giving birth to him, and letting him be so unlucky in life. Oh, you are such a horrible excuse for a mother, I have no words. Mu Gyul is stifling back the tears and the pain, and it’s such exquisite acting from Jang Geun Seok, yet again. Later that night, when his mom has cried herself to sleep, Mu Gyul takes a tissue and gently wipes away her tear and mascara stains.

Lee An and the bitch manager confront Jung In, asking to replace Seo Jun who is in violation of her contract. Jung In lights into the bitch manager, accusing her of orchestrating the leak of Seo Jun’s various gossips to get Lee An out of the drama production. Lee An is incredulous his manager could be behind all this scandal-mongering.

Jung In gets called to see devil daddy, who threatens to rescind the investment right away. Mae Ri and loser daddy arrive just in time to understand why Jung In needs to marry Mae Ri. She goes inside and pleads for devil daddy not to rescind the investment. She blames herself for the failure marriage contract, and gets down on her knees next to the already kneeling Jung In to ask for one more chance. (Okay, totally random, but god I love that scene of Mae Ri and Jung In kneeling, in any other drama, these two would be my ultimate OTP, and their take down of devil daddy would make my year).

Mae Ri goes to see Mu Gyul. She confesses that she was jealous when she saw his pictures with Seo Jun, and needed time to herself to think. She says that she’s fine now, and sits down to knit. Mu Gyul asks if that is for him, and she smiles and confirms that it’s for him to wear when they go to the skating rink together.

Mu Gyul straight up tells Mae Ri that he only likes her, and won’t look at another woman. She asks him “until when?” Oh, snap, that was harsh but a valid concern, Mae Ri. Mu Gyul’s eyes widen and he’s unable to respond to her question. She changes the subject and tells Mu Gyul that she needs to go help out Jung In for the time being. Mu Gyul is annoyed, didn’t they agree to just think about their relationship for now? He realizes that Mae Ri is motivated by her loyalty to Jung In to help him see this drama production to fruition.

Mae Ri is meeting with Jung In at a coffee shop, and asks Mu Gyul to come and meet him. He refuses initially, but in the end Mu Gyul comes nevertheless. Mu Gyul tells Jung In that they should have a real battle. Jung In asks what Mu Gyul means, and is told that the three of them should make the contract marriage a reality.

Episode 11 Recap:

Mu Gyul lays down the gauntlet – they stop dicking around and actually try out this marriage thing for real. A real attempt at being married will reveal the truth (i.e. who does Mae Ri want). He asks if Jung In not confident enough to take up this challenge. Jung In smirks (omo, me loves confident Jung In), and says that he’s game. A real attempt at being married will reveal who is best suited to be with Mae Ri on life’s journey.

You can see Mu Gyul taken aback, perhaps out of a combination of Jung In’s acceptance of the offer and his confidence. Jung In offers to convince Mae Ri’s dad, and wants to shoulder the responsibility if this new marriage contract is discovered. Mae Ri finally speaks up, angrily asking the two dudes what the hell they are doing passing her around like a buck. The two guys are too busy staring at each other again, and she has to slap the table to get their attention. Damn, finally she’s back to being alive again after moping her way for the last episode and a half.

Mae Ri chases after Mu Gyul, rightfully yelling at him for the shit he just pulled. Turns out that Mr. Posturing Kang Mu Gyul was not expecting Jung In to accept his offer of a real marriage attempt. Mu Gyul was getting sick and tired of this threesome repeating itself, and was hoping his offer would be too ballsy and Jung In would just back down and the entire situation would end once and for all. He’s a tad too simplistic, but at least I understand his motivation if not his strategy.

Mae Ri is upset at being kick around like a ball, and Mu Gyul hates sharing her with Jung In. He really just wanted to be with her without any of these looming situations. He walks off, and Mae Ri runs after him, asking him to explain clearly his thinking. But she grabs his arm the way she used to all the time (omo, I love it), but she’s pissed so she’s all grumpy and they walk away being grumpy and in love together. Damn, thank you new writer, even the first scene between them in this episode is back to being awesome.

Loser daddy has been sleepless for nights now, worried that Mae Ri would get Mu Gyul’s paper airplane messages or run away with him. The daddies agree that Mae Ri will move in with Jung In (unaware that Jung In and Mu Gyul have struck their own agreement – which really should have happened like 4 episodes ago as well! Argh, hate the old writer even more now!). Mae Ri asks for a day to consider.

She calls Mu Gyul and tells her that her dad has decided to ship her off to Jung In’s. She’s actually considering accepting that ridiculous proposal Mu Gyul and Jung In struck. Mu Gyul’s not happy loser daddy keeps wanting to shove Mae Ri into the arms of a guy she doesn’t love, but he’s kinda dug his own hole here with the “let’s try out this marriage thing for real” offer he made to Jung In. [Random aside – I think the old writer moved Mae Ri in with Jung In, but the new writer changed the terms so that both men willingly agree to fight for Mae Ri with full disclosure and acceptance of the terms, i.e. this puts everyone in the driver’s seat again, even though ideally the story really shouldn’t have to resurrect the marriage contract again. C’est la vie.]

Jung In visits loser daddy and promises to take care of Mae Ri when she comes to live with him. She will be free to come home as she pleases. As Mae Ri is walking Jung In out, she asks why he accepted Mu Gyul’s offer? And this is where Mr. Jung In vaults from being douchebaggy loser to being potentially awesome second lead in a millisecond. Jung In smiles and tells Mae Ri that he, more than anyone, knows how she feels about Kang Mu Gyul. Just like she helped him when they were kids, he wants to help her now. The resurrection of the marriage contract is but a way he can help Mae Ri be with Mu Gyul.

Mae Ri looks touched, but she reminds Jung In that her feelings towards him is just loyalty, she will not change how she feels about Mu Gyul. Jung In accepts this, and tells her to move in with him first, then she can go be with Mu Gyul.

I like how relatable Jung In is in this scene. He accepts Mae Ri’s feelings for Mu Gyul, respects the terms Mu Gyul set for giving this marriage contract a real go again, and doesn’t ever once tell Mae Ri that he doesn’t have some feelings for her. His intentions are pure and honorable, but he’s got feelings too, and I’m sure if Mae Ri were to transfer her affections from Mu Gyul to Jung In, he wouldn’t reject her either.

Mu Gyul is pacing in his apartment and kicking the wall in frustration. He calls Mae Ri to warn her to beware of men, who are never to be trusted. When she laughs that he’s a guy, too, he says that he’s different than the other guys. He reminds her to lock the doors, don’t wear short skirts, and stay in her room after dinner.

She teases him for being so worried about the situation, and he mutters that he’s not sure what happened to Kang Mu Gyul, for him to behave like this. She cheerily tells him that this is a clear indication of how much he likes her. He doesn’t deny it, and tells her to call him with updates nightly. She agrees and tells him to endure it when she’s away. Omo, the adorable banter is back!

Mae Ri bids farewell to loser daddy, always the kind filial daughter even as she leaves to fulfill her duties that he’s foisted on her. He does love her, and keeps talking about how he wants her to live a good life, without monetary worries. Too bad his method is all wrong. You know, I keep thinking that if the daddies had just introduced their kids, and asked them to date, with no strings attached, Mae Ri and Jung In would have fallen in love sooner or later and happily gotten married. Seriously, there would be no Mu Gyul. The seeds these people sow.

Mae Ri arrives at Jung In’s house, and he comes out to welcome her. Man, now that he’s actually got a three-dimensional personality, and Kim Jae Wook looks alive again for the first time in 5 episodes, I am reminded happily of how gorgeous he is to look at. Rawr, Jung In, you sexy repressed boy robot, you! He takes Mae Ri to her new room, which is lovingly decorated, with an entire wall full of books.

He excuses himself so she can rest, and she immediately goes to the wall and pulls down a book. As she flips to the first page, she sees a post-it note from Jung In. He has written down that this particular book is about a couple, and tells her that reading the book made him understand more about what real happiness means. He asks in the post it whether Mae Ri will be his heroine (from the novel).

#!*^$#^$%^*&!!! AHHHHH, is it too late to jump ship to Team Jung In? What he just did? Is so freaking amazingly romantic I think I just died right there. Really, I died a little inside, because I can’t clone a Mae Ri for him. Damn, if the original writer had written Jung In with even an ounce of care, I would be shipping him with Mae Ri as much as I ship Mu Gyul with Mae Ri. He does this with another book she grabs, telling her via a post it that the heroine of the book doesn’t make a decision at the end, leaving it up to the reader’s imagination. He asks Mae Ri what her decision will be?

Mae Ri smiles a little, and then you hear Mu Gyul’s voice yelling Wi Mae Ri and the scene shifts to the jealous one checking his cell phone obsessively, wondering why she hasn’t texted him all day. He keeps typing these jealous texts, but ends up not sending it, yelling at himself for being so petty. He can’t help but sneak another adorable peek at his phone.

At the dinner table of manners, devil daddy calls Mae Ri “daughter-in-law” and confesses to being pleased that she has moved in. He gives her a present, a honking engagement diamond ring. He tells Jung In to put it on Mae Ri, and declares that the ring will be in lieu of an engagement ceremony, and they should consider themselves engaged. Oh boy.

When they get home, Mae Ri immediately returns the ring to Jung In, telling him that she can’t accept. He tells her that he understands her dilemma, but she must have realized it that everyone is going to think they are affianced once she moved in with him. As much as this is uncomfortable for her, he asks her to just endure it for the time being. Jung In moves to put the ring back on her, but his hesitation here speaks volumes, and he ends up turning her hand over and putting the ring in her palm. He tells her to consider it temporarily in her care.

The band mates and Mae Ri’s friends are out drinking. Mu Gyul gets called out the join then, and his mood takes a turn for the worse when his band mates theorize that a woman can be seduced by the mood easily. Mae Ri’s friends stand up for her, saying that she’s not that kind of woman, but the band mates all tease Mu Gyul, saying that Jung In might not be so easily trusted.

Mu Gyul stalks out, and goes back to his apartment and flops into bed. He imagines a candle-lit romantic scenario where Jung In seduces Mae Ri and she pulls him in for a kiss. He sits up in shock, his phone ringing from Mae Ri calling him. He demands to know what’s she’s up to (she’s sitting in bed knitting his sweater), and she refuses to tell him, citing that it’s a secret.

Mae Ri tells him that she’s in her bedroom, which is nicer than she expected since it’s a stuffed with books that Jung In had prepared for her. Mu Gyul yells at her to just stay there forever then, don’t even bother coming by tomorrow since she loves that room so much. He hangs up, and Mae Ri just smiles at the phone (knowing how utterly jealous he is), and tells him to hang in there for a little bit longer. OMG, why wasn’t Mae Ri behaving like such a rational girlfriend in the last episode? Oh yeah, because the old writer had a raging case of the drama cramps.

Mu Gyul worries that Mae Ri may really take him seriously and not come home tomorrow, and he looks around at his apartment, realizing how empty it is without his Merry Christmas. Mae Ri stays up all night to finish his sweater. She walks out to see Jung In setting the table for breakfast. The man is wearing a vest-white dress shirt combo, and my corneas need to see a opthamologist because there is searing pain from seeing such perfection. He looks at the table, wondering how best to set it up just right. (Those screencaps above are so I can stare at Kim Jae Wook some more)

What seriously almost (thisclose) tips me right into the Jung In-Mae Ri forever bandwagon is the next scene – he practices his greeting to Mae Ri and his offer for her to enjoy the breakfast. O. M. G. – can this boy get any dorkier? He tries to rearrange the table to make it more accessible for Mae Ri to grab the rolls, and then moves to take a drink of water. Mae Ri calls out to him at that moment, and he sprays the mouthful of water all over the food in shock.

He stands up and pretends that he wasn’t just caught being the world’s biggest adorable doofus. Hee, god, how I wished we got to meet this Jung In from day 1. He wishes Mae Ri a lovely day with Mu Gyul, and reminds her to leave her phone on in case he needs to reach her.

Jung In finds Mu Gyul at the studio, the former happy and the latter sullen. They discuss the OST production, the title song is done but need a set of lyrics only. Jung In informs Mu Gyul that Seo Jun is missing. Mu Gyul tells Jung In not to lump him and Seo Jun together, he’s not interested in her situation.

Mu Gyul asks Jung In about Mae Ri spending the night at his place. Jung In smirks (I cannot get enough of this confident and cool version of Jung In), and asks Mu Gyul whether he’s curious about their first night together. Mu Gyul feigns no such interest, and Jung In rubs salt in the wound by telling Mu Gyul to ask Mae Ri to describe it, since she’s got quite a florid ability to describe things.

Jung In then playfully smirks once more, and walks out of the room, with Mu Gyul staring at him. Don’t you guys get tired of hearing me talk about how much I love new and improved Jung In v.2, okay? I suspect I’ll be mooning over him for the next 5 episodes. But don’t worry, I’m still on the M&M ship, they are my OTP of the year without a doubt.

As Mu Gyul is walking home, he’s still smarting over Jung In’s attitude and his words back at the studio. He wants to call Mae Ri, but has to talk himself down from this bad mood. He thumps himself on the chest a few times, reminding himself to trust his Mae Ri. Good boy, Kang Mu Gyul, congrats on being adult AND having feelings, and learning to reconcile them and behave with maturity.

Mae Ri arrives at Mu Gyul’s to find his mom drunk and bemoaning her self-inflicted problems. Mom sees her honking diamond ring, puts it on and exclaims that all her problems would go away if she had the ring. Mu Gyul’s mom asks to borrow the ring, promising the return it once she arrives in Paris and finds her boyfriend. She runs off, leaving Mae Ri calling for her. Too bad loser dad calls right at that moment, telling Mae Ri that he’s bringing herbal supplements to Jung In’s place for the two of them.

Mae Ri has to run back to Jung In’s house, and calls Mu Gyul, whose face lights up when he sees who is calling. Too bad his face falls again upon hearing that Mae Ri will be late coming home, since she’s stuck at Jung In’s house until her dad leaves. She promises that no matter what happens, she will come home tonight to him.

Mu Gyul arrives at home to see his mom packing. What’s worse, his mom lies to him and tells that that Mae Ri insisted on giving her the ring, which she pawned to pay off her debts. Oh, this woman needs to be boiled, flayed, and then filleted, all while she’s still alive. She promise that once she arrives in Paris, she’ll be able to get the money to buy the ring back. She says that she would never swindle the girl her son loves. Words cannot describe how much I loathe this pond scum of a woman.

Mu Gyul loses it and screams at her to never come back again. Thank you for finally wising up, Mu Gyul! He honestly tells her how he feels, how awful it is for her to come into his life when she feels like it, leaving when she wants to. He tells her that he is no longer her son. He leaves, and she leaves as well, seemingly unfazed by her son’s honest and raw words of censure.

Jung In has returned home and is drinking with loser daddy. Mu Gyul calls Mae Ri to meet him outside the house. She happily goes outside to meet him, and Mu Gyul immediately asks her whether she thinks he’s a joke? Since she’s living with a rich guy in a lavish house, does she think he’s a beggar to her? She’s confused by his accusations, and he asks her whether she gave the ring to his mom?

Mae Ri honestly tries to tell him that she didn’t give the ring to his mom, but he’s in such a bad temper that he doesn’t register her denial and tells her that he doesn’t need a woman who pities him. If she’s going to treat him like that, then they should just end it now. YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT! Mae Ri calmly tells him that he shouldn’t say something like that so easily. He replies that what she did was wrong in the first place. Both have tears coming to their eyes, and then Mu Gyul walks off.

THIS, everyone, THIS is the first real fight these two should be having. I know the mom takes the ring thing was her setting Mae Ri up to absolve herself of her selfishness, but ultimately two these sweethearts have a lot of unresolved hurt and raw wounds in their life that they need to patch up. Unlike the brainfart over Seo Jun in episode 10, this was a meaningful fight, and their behavior was totally understandable and real to me.

Mu Gyul is the immature one, prone to lashing out first and then considering the facts. Mae Ri remains sensible yet untried in love, aware that Mu Gyul is saying something in the heat of the moment, but unable to not feel hurt by it. Jung In walks out to see Mae Ri wiping away her tears. I’m not sure if he heard the entire conversation, but he definitely knows something happened.

Mu Gyul walks home, and opens the fridge to find a present that Mae Ri left for him earlier. It’s the sweater she stayed up all night knitting, and which Mu Gyul now realizes was what she alluded to earlier, and why she was at his apartment and ran into his mom, who swiped her ring. Mu Gyul holds up the sweater to his face, taking a deep breath and breathing in the scene of his Mae Ri’s love for him. You big doofus, you better be ready to apologize.

Loser daddy has passed out on the sofa, and Mae Ri runs off to find Mu Gyul. I genuinely love this girl and her sensible ways. Mu Gyul has put on his new sweater and taken a giant step forward in conquering his insecurities, by going to the ice skating rink by himself.

Mae Ri arrives at the apartment to find it empty, along with the gift box containing her sweater. She realizes where her Mu Gyul went (squee, this is what I call couple ESP), and runs off to the ice skating rink to find him. Mu Gyul is just skating around and around, looking to see if someone will come. He turns and see Mae Ri, a smile lighting up both their faces. She toddles a little and he skates over to grab her before she falls.

She asks if he likes the sweater, if it’s warm? He says that it’s very warm, and he thanks her for coming. They skate and enjoy the experience together, really making a new memory and erasing a bad one from Mu Gyul’s childhood. Back to the Seo Jun story that I care nothing about, Lee An and the bitchy manager have tracked her down to a club. Seo Jun confronts the bitchy manager about selling her pictures and fueling her gossip for her own financial gain. The bitchy manager attacks Seo Jun first, and during the fight she falls down and hits her head. Serves her right, what a piece of garbage.

Our Mae Ri and Mu Gyul come back to the apartment hand-in-hand. Its dark and Mae Ri moves to turn on the lights when Mu Gyul pulls her swiftly into his tight embrace. I love his move, it was so fluid and heart thumping a gesture. Both lean in for a kiss, when suddenly the lights turn on and the entire gang has been waiting in the apartment for them, complete with cake and banners touting this couple’s first night together. Mwahahaha, without you idiots, these two might actually have HAD a first night. Grrrr, mood ruiners.

The gang is playing a kissing game with a mechanical monster hand, which lands on Mu Gyul and Mae Ri. The group chants for them to kiss, and Mu Gyul leans in only to peck Mae Ri on the cheek. While the gang is goofing off, Mu Gyul grabs Mae Ri and they run outside for some alone time. They are sitting at their usual spot where Mu Gyul performs, and Mae Ri is exclaiming how cold it is outside.

Mu Gyul asks Mae Ri if he can play her a song to warm her up, and she nods her head in agreement. He tells her that this song is the song he composed whenever he was thinking about her. Seriously, drama!!! In one episode you have Jung In barfing up a room full of individualized post-it note stacks of books, AND you have Mu Gyul composing a song for Mae Ri? How’s a girl to choose? Wahhhhhh, so unfair. We need two Mae Ris right about now.

Mu Gyul plays the song and hums the tune, telling Mae Ri that the song doesn’t yet have a set of lyrics to go with it. He finishes, and Mae Ri compliments him on the song being so warm and wonderful to listen to. He confesses that she always reminds him of warmth, and that this song belongs only to her. My heart, be still. She says that the song is different than his usual style, and he confesses that since meeting her his style is evolving.

He asks her to write the lyrics for the song, because he only wants her words to accompany the tune. He tells her that songs are written this way – when music meets lyrics is when a song is created. He says that the process is just like the two of them. Well, yeah, if the lyrics ran over the song with a car, and then begged until the song agreed to be in a pretend marriage with the lyrics. But I see the similarities.

Its morning time when Mu Gyul walks Mae Ri back to Jung In’s house. They whisper goodbyes to each other, and Mae Ri is about to walk in when she sees her dad leaving. She offers to make her dad some bean sprout soup and manages to lure him back into the house, allowing Mu Gyul to adorably sneak away, but not before they wave sweetly at each other again.

Mae Ri sits in her room and listens to the tune, composing the lyrics. She flashes back to all the happy and sad moments in her relationship with Mu Gyul. She calls him, but he can’t talk because the club has called him to go take care of Seo Jun, who has passed out drunk after getting into a fight with the bitchy manager the night before. He take Seo Jun back to her apartment. Mu Gyul reminds Seo Jun that she still has an outstanding debt to repay, i.e. the contract with JI Entertainment.

Mu Gyul and Mae Ri are both heading to the production office, leaving each other voice messages and unaware of each other’s location at that moment. Seo Jun finally gets her head out of the air and does something professional and constructive for a change, arriving at the office as well. Jung In walks down to the lobby at that moment to get the party started.

He stops when he sees Seo Jun, the first time since she disappeared after that ridiculous and pointless press conference. Seo Jun is followed by Mu Gyul walking in from another door behind her. Mae Ri walks in from the other direction, arriving at the heaping pile of stares and jealousy to stand behind Jung In. The very dramatic music that plays is oh so very rousing – yes, I can feel the heated awkwardness emanating from everyone involved.

Jung In sincerely welcomes Seo Jun back to work, telling her that he was worried about her. She apologizes. The foursome get to work recording the title track off the OST called “Hello, Hello.” Seo Jun looks at the music sheet and realizes that Mae Ri is the author of the lyrics.

She stalks out of the recording booth and confronts Mu Gyul, asking him whether this song was written about his love story with Mae Ri. He doesn’t deny it, but asks her to be a professional and just judge the song on its merits. Seo Jun throws the sheet music in the air and flat out refuses to sing the song.

Thoughts of Mine:

FINALLY. Hallelujah. *Throws confetti in the air* Episode 11 of M3 was so much awesome that I was reminded of how much potential this drama had when it first started. I really shouldn’t haterade on the original screenwriter so much, because she did construct a cute and silly like premise and gave us a few episodes of zany fun times. Except she had no clue how to properly develop and elevate the story from silly to serious.

She also failed to properly develop any character other than Mae Ri and Mu Gyul. Seo Jun I can care less about, but Jung In was terribly wasted. Thank god the new writer knows a good thing when she sees it, and she brings Jung In back into the fold and shows us, and Mae Ri, what an awesome guy he is. It doesn’t matter whether the second lead will get the girl, I always respect and appreciate a well-written character with depth, and we’re beginning to crack the surface with Jung In. And he’s a closet dork! How cool is that. Seriously, in real life, Jung In and Kim Jae Wook are totally my types. Swoonswoonswoon. Next time, boys, next time you’ll get the girl.

I hope you won’t chide me for skipping over episode 10 when it comes to my thoughts. To be honest, even though Mae Ri and Mu Gyul’s admittedly romantic “make new memories” date was lovely to watch, it was ultimately pointless in developing their relationship substantively further. I thought episodes 8-9 were actually rather meandering and spinning in circles, but episode 10 took the cake. Let’s just pretend that episode did not happen, and skip right to the awesome that is episode 11, shall we?

I’ve always expected the two men to really, genuinely, in good faith, vie for Mae Ri’s heart. It really should have happened way earlier than episode 11, but like a dog begging for a bone, I’m happy to get whatever scraps thrown at me. This episode was wonderfully paced and substantively structured, so we see both sets of relationships move forward, yet reminded that Mae Ri only loves Mu Gyul, even as she becomes better friends with Jung In.

Of all the incomprehensible things Seo Jun pulled in this drama so far, her refusal to sing a love song chronicling the love story of her ex-boyfriend, as composed by him for his new girlfriend, who wrote the lyrics, is the one thing I can actually understand and empathize with. Yes, it’s unprofessional at the end of the day, but I can actually feel the how much this is a slap to her face. While I don’t believe that Seo Jun loves Mu Gyul, I can believe that she once loved him back in their short relationship, and her pride must sting that the woman who has changed Kang Mu Gyul is not herself but this rather ordinary girl.

Too bad the drama has Seo Jun pulling one stunt after another, so that this latest attitude from her just feels like more fuel to the fire, and I can barely even tolerate her face, much less feel bad for her. I just wish she would suck it up, make that damn drama, and then move on from this situation which really she had no part in. The real emotional entanglements are between Mu Gyul, Mae Ri, and Jung In. Seo Jun was, and always will be, the clueless fourth wheel.

I know I squealed like a stuck pig over the newly awesome Jung In in episode 11, but it doesn’t sway me to his suitability for Mae Ri. I love their new dynamic, friends but cognizant that he may have warm feelings towards her. This is actually such a sexy possibility, and should make Mu Gyul worried. Not that his Mae Ri will change her mind, but that Jung In may fall so deeply in love with her than he’ll fight tooth and nail for her heart. Right now, Jung In is back in my good graces, and I think he’s way too good for Seo Jun. I rather he’d end up alone and find his perfect someone in another drama.

I continue to hate all the parents, to an unhealthy degree, since my doctor tells me hate is bad for my complexion. But I can’t help it, the drama continues to convince me that Mu Gyul and Mae Ri need to move abroad at the end of the drama to truly cut off all ties with their toxic parents. Mu Gyul’s mom hits new lows in these two episodes. She truly is a horrific human being, and I’ve rarely been so insulted as a parent to see her wear the same mantle.

Thank god Mu Gyul seems to have finally decided to cut the cord and stop making excuses and putting up with her selfishness. It’s only fitting that when he’s looking around the skating rink, with no expectation of seeing anyone come for him, he sees Mae Ri has come to find him despite all the hurtful things he said to her earlier. That is what loving someone means, the ability to work through the pain and always put the other person first.

When you love something, you care. And when you care, you feel all the highs or lows that come with experiencing genuine emotions. Just like I love M3 enough to care when its good or when its bad, I feel like Mu Gyul is finally understanding what love is. When he was under the mistaken assumption that Mae Ri gave his mom money behind his back, undermining his big boy masculinity, even though his first reaction was to cut and run as usual, he didn’t actually do it.

He said things he didn’t mean, but he managed to move himself and his ego past it. When he saw the sweater from Mae Ri, even without her clarification that she didn’t give his mom the ring, he was already moving past his initial reaction. I’m assuming the two of them discussed the misunderstanding, but even if they didn’t, their lovely interaction afterwards is more than enough confirmation that they aren’t going to let their irresponsible parent split them apart.

I’m so happy that M3 appears to have righted its course and is headed towards actual conflict and angst that makes everyone have a stake in the outcome. I also can’t wait for that dang drama to finish filming. I want Seo Jun outta there, and Mu Gyul and Mae Ri to start living their lives and their dreams together, without devil daddy pulling the strings.