Thirty-Nine (서른 아홉) is a Korean drama TV series directed by Kim Sang-ho and stars Son Ye-jin, Jeon Mi-do and Kim Ji-hyun, alongside other cast members. The series has 12 episodes and Thirty Nine episode 7 is titled The Inconvenient Truth and has a runtime of 71 minutes.
Netflix describes the series as:
Leaning on each other through thick and thin, a trio of best friends stand together as they experience life, love and loss on the brink of turning 40.
– Thirty Nine episode 7 recap contains major spoilers –
Thirty Nine episode 7 starts with Chan-young lamenting the fact that she was unable to perform her scenes properly at an audition – the director just had a funny face and doing a sad scene was next to impossible. Although Joo-hee and Mi-jo don’t understand it at first, a picture makes it clear. As the three rush out to drink Chan-young’s disappointment away, Joo-hee’s mother welcomes a friend into her home who causes her much discomfort. Is this Mi-jo’s bio mom? It sure seems like it!
Back in the present, Seon-u rushes an unconscious Mi-jo to the hospital and after she gets better, takes her away to their cancelled camping trip. Meanwhile, Chan-young’s mother is almost giddy after meeting Jin-seok with her daughter. As Seon-u asks an overwhelmed Mi-jo to be considerate of herself as she is with others, Chan-young and Jin-seok wonder what happened when their friends rushed off camping.
The next day, Chan-young meets Seon-u while Jin-seok meets up with Mi-jo. The latter discusses Seon-ju coming over to Chan-young’s place and wonders what they can do about this mess. Mi-jo comes clean to him and tells him everything that happened between her and his wife and they both agree that life is pretty unpredictable and sad. Meanwhile, Seon-u tells Chan-young what went down the other night as well. Their discussion is funnier and it’s entertaining to watch them work off each other, of course, with an undertone of sadness.
Joo-hee, on the other hand, is having coffee at the restaurant of the department store where he used to work at. While talking with the girls, Mi-jo tells her that Hyeon-jun knows about her little dilemma, thanks to Seon-u. The cappuccino, too, tastes horrendous. That night, Joo-hee starts working for Hyeon-jun. The three girls meet up at his restaurant where Chan-young proposes learning golf to spend more time with her friend. So-won, meanwhile, moves into the Onnuri Child Care Centre to stay and work there.
Chan-young and Mi-jo discuss their plans for golfing and about finding Mi-jo’s birth mother. They discuss the possibilities but cannot come to a conclusion, thanks to Joo-hee’s mother’s smart lie to protect her. The discussion ends when Mi-jo asks what Chan-young has in her own bucket list and the latter proposes to go home. On the other hand, Jin-seok serves his wife divorce papers that she refuses to sign. As Chan-young sits at a laundromat looking at her clothes getting washed, Jin-seok spots her and calls her. What she says after that is nothing short of heartbreaking.
Seon-u, the adorable little muffin that he is, gifts Mi-jo a box of golf balls with the cutest messages written the next day. Both Mi-jo and I felt my heart evaporating at this! She tells her father of her newfound boyfriend that night but wonders whether that makes her a selfish friend. Her father eases her mind and they go off to have ribs at home.
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The next day, as Mi-jo and Seon-u go off to enjoy golf together, Chan-young gets ready to take part in an audition. As Mi-jo has fun with her boyfriend, her bio mother harasses her adoptive mother to send her mother. It’s nice for all the adults in Mi-jo’s life to band together and help her to keep her safe. Meanwhile, a vindictive Seon-ju asks someone to find out who Chan-young’s parents are and where they live.
As Mi-jo comes across a horrible realisation about her mother, Seon-ju tells Chan-young’s parents that their daughter is seeing her husband. Onuri’s orphanage director tells Seon-u what his father told So-won and Chan-young experiences some physical discomfort.
Summing up: Thirty Nine Episode 7
Thirty Nine episode 7 gave me a whole lot of butterflies and heartbreak – something that is patent with this series. First of all, I liked the pace with which the story is going forward. It’s not too fast and won’t lull you to sleep either. All three friends get their fair share of things happening to them while the supporting characters, too, have a good amount of growth.
All the characters, especially Seon-u, are loveable and you want them to succeed and get over the problems that they have in life. It’s really sad to watch them struggle, more so when you have feelings for these characters. The episode made me laugh and almost made me cry and you know a show is doing something right to make you feel such varied emotions in the span of an hour.
Also, I am sorry, but how adorable are those cute golf balls? I can’t even!
Thirty-Nine is streaming on Netflix.
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