That Winter, The Wind Blows makes me simultaneously feel squicky and shivery. The intensity radiates off the screen but it’s not always the appropriate kind. Currently I can’t fully enjoy the OTP moments, because its all predicated on Oh Soo pretending to be Oh Young’s brother and Oh Young falling for his pretense that treating him as her oppa. This episode seriously gave me whiplash back to Song Hye Kyo’s classic fauxcest career making drama Autumn in My Heart. The night out in the countryside and later taking a romantic beach stroll could have been lifted straight from that middle episode of AIMH when Joon Suh and Eun Suh eloped and tried to run away from all the collective family and friends freakout over their romance. I tried to ignore it early on but its impossible for me to actually enjoy watching Oh Young and Oh Soo touch each other or snuggle in bed or do gorgeous beach walks when in the drama Oh Soo is supposed to act like a sibling while the other labors under the belief that Oh Soo is her oppa.

I hope Oh Young finds out soon that this Oh Soo is not her oppa but instead the other one who was nice to here once, otherwise this romance will continue to give me the subtle heebie jeebies. I kinda wish the drama could have found a way for Oh Soo to ingratiate himself into Oh Young’s life but not pretending to be a blood relative, but that’s just me wishing some of the taboo assumptions could be done away with. This drama still dazzles with its visual mastery and storytelling excellence, especially with the reveal of Moo Chul’s beef with Oh Soo and his first love backstory with Hee Sun’s sister Hee Joo. Not to mention Jo In Sung did his patented cry like a super baby routine for the first time in this episode, and took a fully clothed shower to add to the count. How could anyone not give this drama their full attention when watching?

Episode 5 recap:

Oh Soo carries Oh Young of the water. Hmmm, the princess carry, it always gets me right there.

Oh Young touches Oh Soo’s face tentatively, wanting to feel what he looks like now. She calls him oppa and tells him that they can leave now. Girl, I know you be blind, but people be not touching brothers like that.

Myung Ho sits with Moo Chul in Oh Soo’s old apartment and introduces himself as from PL Group. Moo Chul says he recognizes him as the fiancée of the PL Group heiress. Myung Ho asks if Oh Soo (the not dead one) lived here and Moo Chul asks why Myung Ho is curious. Moo Chul says he’s a swindler and bad guy.

Oh Soo puts Oh Young in the car and calls her a crazy woman as he tries to dry her. Oh Young says she’s fine but he can tell she’s freezing. Oh Soo is relieved to find some change of clothes in the trunk. He chastises Oh Young for going into the water and asks if she’s trying to kill herself like she did at the train station last time?

Oh Young laughs because she was curious who Oh Soo resembled and now its clear he resembles their nagging mother. Oh Young asks if they can not go home tonight. He call her crazy again and gets out of the car and tells her to change inside. Oh Young keeps calling him oppa and tells him to not go. He says since she doesn’t listen to him, why does he need to listen to her?

Moo Chul tells Myung Ho about swindler Oh Soo – he owes Moo Chul a debt, grew up in an orphanage, and dated Jin So Ra (showing a magazine with her on the cover) but now they have broken up. But he’ll likely meet with her in the future. Moo Chul says the two Oh Soo’s aren’t very close and don’t keep in touch anymore. Moo Chul asks why Myung Ho is looking for one Oh Soo behind the other’s back? Oh Soo (tree) or Oh Soo (protect). Moo Chul shows Myung Ho a picture of Oh Soo, Jin Sung, and the dead other Oh Soo..

After Myung Ho leaves, Moo Chul calls Oh Soo and informs him that Myung Ho was just at his place digging around for information. Moo Chul reveals that he gave Myung Ho a picture which included the dead other Oh Soo. Oh Soo says Moo Chul will handle it from there and won’t out him since he needs to get paid as well. Moo Chul claims he can’t tell a lie. Oh tells Moo Chul to go stay away from each other in the remaining 2 months left. Moo Chul says time is passing by and when the 3 months is up, who know what their ending will be?

Moo Chul flashes back to a scene with Hee Joo (Hee Sun’s unni). He’s on the street and Hee Joo sticks her head out a small store and happily tells her Moo Chul oppa that she’s carrying Oh Soo’s baby and she is so happy because Oh Soo is finally hers now. Moo Chul looks devastated.

Myung Ho sits in his car and stares at the picture of the three guys. Turns out Moo Chul lied to him that dead other Oh Soo was the swindler orphan Oh Soo. Myung Ho remembers Moo Chul’s offer to call him if he wants to know more.

Oh Soo goes back to the car and hands Oh Young a warm beverage. Oh Soo agrees to stay out all night and suggests taking Oh Young to the beach to ride a motorcycle. Oh Soo thinks about the accident but Oh Young says he promised to teach her to ride a motorcycle.

Oh Soo rides a motorcycle with Oh Young sitting in front of him. She flashes back to riding a bicycle with her mom and brother when she was little. He flashes back to riding a motorcycle with Hee Joo behind him, and he screams out that he loves Hee Joo and Hee Joo says she loves him, too. Oh Soo tears up remembering this.

Moo Chul is at the nightclub beating up his own minions for disobeying his orders for allowing teenagers to join the gang. One guy says he felt sorry for the kid having to pay for his mom’s medical bills. Moo Chul beats up the kid and asks if his sick mom told him to go join a gang to make money? He tells the kid to scram and never show up here again.

Jin Sung is there dragging his younger sister out of the bar. He bumps into Moo Chul and tells him to leave them alone today since they are customers. Jin Sung rags on his sister, saying that their father drinking already gives him a burden so why does she have to drink as well. Moo Chul asks Jin Sung to follow him instead of Oh Soo.

Moo Chul asks Jin Sung what he’s hoping to accomplish with Oh Soo? Jin Sung ignores him and piggybacks his sister out of the bar. Moo Chul finds out that Jin Sung’s sister frequents this club with her friend. He tells his lackey to give her VIP treatment from now on and some spending money, smirking as he sets her up to cause trouble for Jin Sung.

Secretary Wang waits until midnight and calls Oh Young. Oh Soo picks up and says Young cannot answer because she is in the shower. Secretary Wang is incensed they are staying out all night, saying they are adults of the opposite sex. Oh Soo reminds Secretary Wang that he said she was just a guardian and not their mother. He doesn’t need her permission, he just wanted to let her know Oh Young was fine. She slams the phone down in anger.

Jin Sung is at Hee Sun’s place and she’s placing her sister’s picture in front of an offering. Hee Sun tries to call Oh Soo but can’t reach him. She’s upset that he might have forgotten today is the anniversary of Hee Joo’s death. Jin Sung says it’s not a big deal to forget. People forget birthdays of living people, much less anniversaries of the dead.

Jin Sung’s sad arrives outside and Jin Sung goes to get items from dad. Dad seems rather cheery and simple minded and thinks Jin Sung and Hee Sun are alone in the room and ought to have been hooking up. Jin Sung scolds his dad for drinking and causing problems for him. Jin Sung didn’t even go to college and is trying his best to make money so his dad needs to behave.

Dad knows Jin Sung is living a difficult life and he vows to behave. He hopes Jin Sung and Hee Sun make a go at it. Jin Sung tells dad to raise Jin Mi well and make sure she goes to college and doesn’t turn out like him. He chides his dad for taking all the family’s money to buy cows. Dad says Jin Sung must love him since he beats up anyone who calls him a cripple. Dad tells Jin Sung to take good care of Hee Sun tonight on Hee Joo’s anniversary.

Jin Sung walks back to Hee Sun’s place but she’s leaving to find Oh Soo. Jin Sung stops her and asks if all she sees is Oh Soo and she never notices him. He asks what Hee Sun is trying to do, bothering Oh Soo when he’s likely at Hee Joo’s tree crying all night like he did last year. Hee Sun stares at him and Jin Sung angrily asks why she is looking at him like that? Doesn’t she know he likes her? He huffs off.

Oh Soo and Oh Young walk outside and she asks all about his first love. Was she pretty? Kind? When was their first kiss? What was her name? He says he doesn’t remember any of it and she calls him a liar. Oh Young uses Hee Sun’s name and guesses a few combinations and actually guesses Hee Joo. Oh Soo doesn’t want to talk about Hee Joo because she’s dead so Oh Young wants to talk about their parents. She tells him to do it now rather than later since he’s leaving in 2 months and she could die soon.

Oh Soo and Oh Young sit in the room and drink soju as she plies him with questions because he claimed that he couldn’t talk about his first love sober. Oh Soo starts to open up about Hee Joo – her parents were teachers at school and he doesn’t know why she liked him so much. They moved to the countryside but she came back to him and ran away from home. He told her to go home but she cried and wouldn’t so they lived together. She asks if they slept together and Oh Soo says of course, he’s a guy. Both start laughing. She tells a funny story about sending the wrong text message when she first started learning braille.

It’s time to go to sleep and Oh Young asks if he can sleep in the same place with her. He says no, he’s still a guy even if he’s her brother. Oh Young is blind so she can’t see anything. Oh Young wants to use her hands to remember his face, to see if he looks like their father. After he leaves, that way she can still remember him and how he feels so she won’t be so lonely.

Oh Soo and Oh Young lay down and he allows her to touch his face, teasing her that there are place she can’t touch. Oh Young says that everything a blind person touches is innocent and not to be misread. She really is very curious about him and its not something he can just tell her.

After Oh Young innocently feels up Oh Soo, she lays down next to him. Oh Young reveals that as a blind person she needs the arms of others all the time. Oh Soo offers her his arm as a pillow. Oh Young is grateful that her brother came back and she’s happy.

Oh Young turns and embraces Oh Soo. Oh Young falls asleep and Oh Soo tells her that he didn’t come back for money, he came back because of her, would she believe it? While Oh Young is asleep, she cries out for her oppa not to leave her. Oh Soo whispers in her ear that he’ll always be next to her no matter when.

The next morning, Oh Soo and Oh Young are walking on the beach and she reminds him that he promised to be next to her wherever she is at. He realizes she wasn’t asleep last night and heard it all. They walk along the beach happily.

Secretary Wang sits at the piano at home and she flashes back to walking into the house and seeing little Oh Young happily playing the piano with her mom.

Oh Young asks Oh Soo what happened to the man who had the same name as him? She thinks about that man a lot whenever she is with Oh Soo. Oh Soo lies that he’s not living at that place anymore and he doesn’t know where he went. Oh Young says that man was in a rush that day but still told her that her brother loved her. If he hadn’t told her that, she wouldn’t have been able to keep going.

Oh Soo gets a call from Jin Sung that today is Hee Joo’s anniversary. Jin Sung and Hee Sun are at a little tree that has a plaque of Hee Sun planted next to it. Jin Sung is furious Oh Soo forgot. Hee Sun grabs the phone and says she won’t forgive Oh Soo for today. She smashes her sister’s plaque in two and walks away, leaving Jin Sung to pick up the pieces.

Oh Young asks who called when Oh Soo calls Secretary Wang to come pick up Oh Young. She’s upset they can’t go back together and wonders why his attitude changed all of a sudden and he’s so cold to her.

Oh Soo apologizes to Secretary Wang for taking Oh Young out all night and leaves Oh Young with her. Secretary Wang says no, she was put in her rightful place and walks over to allow Oh Young to take her arm. Secretary Wang checks out Oh Young to make sure she’s alright. Young isn’t happy about being treated like a child.

Oh Young sits with Secretary Wang who asks if she likes her brother now. Oh Young says she went to the beach with her oppa and they drank together and rode a motorcycle. She thought of her mother and how she would be happy to see them together. Secretary Wang tells Oh Young that Lawyer Jang brought over teh will. Secretary Wang tells Oh Young that if she died, her inheritance would go to her brother even if she didn’t leave a will. Secretary Wang talks about Myung Ho and how he’s a good person which just makes Oh Young yell out that she doesn’t like him.

Secretary Wang wonders why Oh Young doesn’t just fire her since she dislikes her so much? Is it because she still has some use? Secretary Wang hopes Oh Soo is a good person and will take care of Oh Young, and until then Oh Young can keep using Secretary Wang. Oh Young screams, asking how she turned out this way needing help. Secretary Wang says firmly its because of the brain tumor, telling Oh Young not to second guess. She’s ready to be tossed aside now that someone is here who can take care of Oh Young.

Oh Soo arrives at the forest memorial for Hee Joo and sees that the plaque has been broken in half. He is devastated but then Moo Chul steps forward saying Oh Soo sure arrived late. Moo Chul thought Oh Soo would be gone by now.

Oh Soo tells Moo Chul to scram but Moo Chul points out why there is only one memorial here? Shouldn’t there be two? Hee Joo and the dead unborn baby, the baby that never got to see the world.

Oh Soo is so angry that he punches Moo Chul. He then flashes back to him tossing Hee Joo aside while she begged him to raise the baby together. Oh Soo says he doesn’t want the baby since this world is so dirty so why have someone grow up like him. He tells Hee Joo to go home and gets on his motorcycle and leaves.

Hee Joo gets on her motorcycle and chases after him. Moo Chul was there and witnessed the fight and chases behind both of them on his motorcycle. Hee Joo keeps calling out for Oh Soo to stop but he ignores her. Oh Soo rides past an intersection and a second later Hee Joo enters the intersection and is blindsided by a truck. Her body goes flying and she lays bloody and inert on the ground as Oh Soo and Moo Chul stare in horror. Even dying her hand goes to instinctively protect her belly.

Back to the present, Oh Soo and Moo Chul start fighting in earnest and beating each other up. Moo Chul said he loved Hee Joo, but Oh Soo claimed he loved her more. So Moo Chul let Oh Soo have Hee Joo as long as he promised to take care of her forever. Moo Chul loved Hee Joo so much, so why did Oh Soo have to let her die. Why did he get her pregnant and then dump her? He regrets giving up Hee Joo to Oh Soo, and even in the end Hee Joo loved Oh Soo.

Moo Chul tells Oh Soo not to dare say he was young and scared, because Hee Joo was also young and scared as well. Oh Soo cries that he never expected she would die. Moo Chul screams that Oh Soo’s words to her was her entire world, she even left her parents for him. Moo Chul hands Oh Soo a pill in a little glass jar. It’s clearly poison and he says this is his last present to Oh Soo. Whether Oh Soo takes it, or his fake sister takes it, it doesn’t matter.

Moo Chul thinks Oh Soo won’t feed it to his fake sister, because ultimately Oh Soo is just a piece of garbage that is crawling with maggots. After Moo Chul leaves, Oh Soo sits against the tree and sobs his guts out. He then tapes the plaque back together before leaving.

Secretary Wang sits with Lawyer Jang and he reveals that she doesn’t have any shares in the company so she cannot inherit. Secretary Wang doesn’t need anything, she is happy to see Oh Young happier these days. She asks Lawyer Jang to take her out on a date which totally throws him off guard. He asks where to and she suggest the neighborhood is fine.

When Lawyer Jang leaves, he trips over himself and tells Secretary Wang to call him anytime she feels lonely, he’s always free to talk.

Oh Young is reading in her room and Secretary Wang comes by to hand her a camera that Oh Young asked Lawyer Jang to buy. She shows Oh Young how to use it and suggests they take a picture together since there are no pictures of just the two of them. Oh Young declines.

Secretary Wang hands Oh Young the will and says the original is with Lawyer Jang. Oh Young asks Secretary Wang to help her find a man with the same name as her brother. Didn’t Secretary Wang say Oh Young can keep using her? Secretary Wang agrees to find the person.

Oh Young goes to her hiding room and records herself, saying that she is leaving a video for her brother for after she dies, much like she used to make videos intended for her mother. We see that Oh Young can see some light out of the corner of one eye. Oh Young knows her tumor is growing and she is conflicted about whether to go to the hospital.

Now that her brother is back, she doesn’t want to have the surgery anymore. If she got the surgery, everyone around her would be taking care of her. She wants to spend the time left being happy. Her head starts to hurt and she stands up only to trip. She heads upstairs to look for Oh Soo.

Oh Soo is in the shower fully clothed thinking about Moo Chul telling him to kill Oh Young. She arrives and talks with him through his closed door. She asks him to apologize for suddenly ditching her or at least tell her the reason. She walks out and he feels back and goes out only to see her waiting for him.

They go back in the room and Oh Soo sits down. Oh Young asks where he went after he lost his temper with her? She’s curious about his sudden coldness to her, back then and also now. Oh Soo admits he went to see Hee Joo, it was her anniversary yesterday and he forgot.

Oh Young walks over and comforts Oh Soo by holding his head in an embrace. She accidentally knocks the pill on the ground and steps on it. She asks what that is and is told that it was a pill given by a friend. If a person wanted to die, it would allow that person to pass peacefully. Oh Young asks for the pill.

Thoughts of Mine:

Until the drama unravels the fake brother ruse, which ought to happen soon since there are too many people in the know (Jin Sung, Hee Sun, Moo Chul, So Ra) and even Secretary Wang and Myung Ho aren’t buying his identity that easily, I’m not going to talk about the OTP romance. I know in my gut this relationship will be compelling – a guilt-ridden orphaned con man and a blind abandoned heiress – but nothing about Oh Soo and Oh Young’s interactions with for me except if Oh Young knew all along and was just playing the game because pretending he’s her brother gives her an excuse to keep him around. The way they banter is so flirtatious at times, and so raw and grasping in others. That is not how long-separated reunited siblings ought to even be interacting, so the fact that Oh Soo treats Oh Young like a woman he’s attracted to and doesn’t try to alter his behavior annoys me because it undermines his ruse. And this is supposedly a ruse that is predicated on his life on the line. You can say Oh Soo can’t help himself, but then I wonder how he’s veering from the script already so early on. Similarly Oh Young’s actions with Oh Soo really are so inappropriate, regardless of her being blind. All the touching is way inappropriate and the snuggling even more so. I don’t know how anyone could get excited watching that because we know one of the participants thinks the other is a sibling. At least in AIMH they started the romance long after they knew they weren’t siblings.

I continue to adore Jin Sung, and to a lesser extend Hee Sun, because they are the unpredictable outliers in this story. We learn about Jin Sung’s country background and his family that depends on him to be the breadwinner and protector. Kim Bum is doing an outstanding job of making Jin Sung so alive and interesting despite his limited screen time. It’s probably my love for Jung Eun Ji that makes Hee Sun endearing to me, despite her pissy attitude at times and her fixation with Oh Soo. I actually am completely on the side of Hee Sun and Moo Chul and why both are so angry with Oh Soo. He really is the cause of Hee Joo’s death, and the death of his unborn child. There is no other way about it, but I connect with Oh Soo because he knows that and accepts his guilt. Jo In Sung plays Oh Soo so well I cannot even begin to describe how magnificent it is to watch him in his glory emoting all over the place whether subtly or full-blown. The story continues to be not terribly exciting or tension-filled but the acting and dialogue are the crown jewels of this piece and both remain at the top of its game. Because the OTP is current off-limited for me to squee over, I’m all in with the “what is their relationship?” push and pull between Jin Sung and Hee Sun. It’s weird that he’s over at her house seemingly fixing his pants (are they sleeping together without strings attached?) and he’s so candid in liking her, but she’s just surly and Oh Soo obsessed yet wonderfully relaxed around him. They are sooooo cute together I need them to start making out onscreen ASAP.