Not All Neighbors Are Good Neighbors
Lee Eun-Pyo has a bad dream. In this bad dream, a strange woman antagonizes her while she’s giving a lecture. Eventually she bolts upright and breathes heavily, as a new day begins.
As the sun shines on separate apartments, so too does the spotlight shine on our various different families. There’s Yun-Ju and her daughter Soo-In, Young-Mi and her children Julpin and Sae-Bom. There’s also the defacto Queen Bee Chun-hui with her daughter Yoo-Bin. There’s also the woman from Eun-Pyo’s dream too, Jin-Ha, whose child is called Henry.
In the first episode of the new season of “Green,” four women come together to form a traffic safety group. In the 10 minutes that follow, we see them save a child from crossing the road. ..
Eun-Pyo’s friend Yun-Ju comes over to help unload her things, including several stacks of books that her mother-in-law is not exactly pleased to see. Eun-Pyo’s friend Yun-Ju discusses how they’re bringing up their children.
Eun-Pyo wants her children to experience the world for themselves while Yun-Ju plans to groom Soo-In into a mini version of herself. ..
Eun-Pyo’s move appears to be linked to her partner whom she’s broken up with. The details of this still aren’t clear though so we’ll have to hold off on making assumptions just yet!
Eun-Pyo is caught in the middle of a disagreement about walnuts in a lady’s bakery. She’s uncomfortable about being put on the spot, and an awkward silence ensues between the two women as they end up getting the same elevator.
Chun-Hui and Eun-Pyo live next door to each other, but when Eun-Pyo apologizes for not getting Chun-Hui a moving-in gift, Chun-Hui nonchalantly shrugs that off and decides they should just live their lives separately. When she riffes to Yun-Ju about the earlier incident, Yun-Ju points out that Chun-Hee is a “tiger mum” and her daughter Yu-Bin is a high flyer. Yun-Ju suggests her friend head to an upcoming birthday party to smooth things over with the other mothers. ..
Eun-Pyo shows up late, struggles to buy a birthday present, and even realizes Dong-Seok (her son) is alone. Soon, the aforementioned Goddess of the group shows up to drop off her son Henry. She’s too busy working though and leaves him there. Just then, Chun-Hui shows up with her son.
As all the women sit together, Eun-Pyo is put on the spot as Jun-Hu breaks her promise and begins gushing about EunPyo’s past – including how she dated a professor and graduated from university. Jun-Hu tells the group that she was only joking when she said that EunPyo had a “bad past”, but everyone else in the room seems to believe her. As EunPyo listens in disbelief, she can feel her face flush with embarrassment.
Eun-Pyo shrugs off sending Dong-Seok to an academy, claiming she’s “not that sort of mother.” She points out a mother’s greed in choosing to do this, which ultimately sees her shunned by the other women. Yun-Ju is quite the snake too, deciding to turn away from Eun-Pyo too and join the other women. Her real play here though is getting her child into a better educational program.
Eun-Pyo’s day goes from bad to worse when Dong-Seok messes up a violin performance for Yu-Bin. He then slips over and breaks her violin on a trampoline. If the rivalry wasn’t already red hot, it certainly is now. After sending her account details over, Eun-Pyo is shocked to learn that the violin is actually 3 million won (about £2000). ..
Eun-Pyo heads over to pick up a bookshelf first and the seller, Jin-Ha, happens to be there. Now, we don’t know the full story of their past but Jin-Ha seems to be very friendly and even picks up on how Eun-Pyo was in France with her in the past. ..
Eun-Pyo clearly feels uncomfortable, and even more so when Jin-ha offers to help her move the bookshelf into her house. After dropping it off, Jin-Ha and Henry head home but there’s a phone call from Chun-Hui, which reveals a lot given Jin-Ha’s exasperated facial expressions. It’s clear that she feels alienated from the other women, mostly because they’re trying to sponge off her success and selfishly try to do right by their children. ..
Eun-Pyo is feeling overwhelmed and sick after her night of partying and writing on her phone. She’s not sure what caused the fever, but she’s not feeling well and can’t seem to get up from her bed.
Eun-Pyo is a working mother who struggles to balance her responsibilities as a parent and her job. On this particular day, she has to drop her children off at school and notices that her messages from Jin-ha haven’t been responded to. She worries that something may have happened to her son, and decides to go back home to check on him. ..
It’s here that Jin-Ha and Luis Bunuel’s past comes to the forefront as they share a passionate kiss. Eun-Pyo is also in attendance, watching from the sidelines. As their kiss deepens, she can be seen tearing up a photo of her and Jin-Ha from their school days. This moment seems to foreshadow their upcoming rivalry, as both women seem to be indicating that they want nothing more than to win over their new partner.
The Episode Review
A white truck arrived 10 minutes after the initial call, but fortunately no one was hurt. ..
The opening episode of Green Mother’s Club is interesting, with a delightful dynamic between the women already. That birthday party was absolutely brutal and it’s hard not to feel for Eun-Pyo, who’s thrown right into the snake pit, with these women ready to spit venom on anyone who isn’t in with their clique.
I know what it’s like to walk into a playgroup or soft-play with my kids in the morning and be surrounded by suspicious glances and whispers. It’s not a nice feeling.
This episode captures the sense of alienation so well and the characters are interesting and certainly hide a lot of baggage. I’d imagine Jin-Ha “stole” Luis from Eun-Pyo in the past and that’s what caused the pair to break up, souring their relationship somewhat. Then again, that’s just a guess at this point so we’ll have to wait and see. ..
This is a blend of Sky Castle and a female-led Graceful Friends. It’s an interesting blend but it remains to be seen if this one can really knock it out the park.
