Recap: How To Be Thirty, Episode One

I’ve been meaning to check out the new short series, How To Be Thirty. It looks cute and I hear good things. It’s the story of a 30 year old woman who has devoted herself to her work as a manga author. One day her first love shows back up in her life and things get moving from there.

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How To Be Thirty: Episode 1 Recap

The episode starts out animated (I had to double check because I thought I had clicked the wrong show at first) A church bell rings and we see a couple standing at the altar taking their vows. As they lean in for the kiss, the bride’s face changes and she pulls out a knife to slash the groom.

The scene changes to a woman we presume to be the author. She’s meeting with her editor over a video call. The editor disagrees with such a bloody ending to the story. Yes, the manga is called Psycho Bride. And yes, the bride needs to get her revenge on the cheating groom. But no, the story cannot end this way.

The editor goes on to tell the author, Seo Ji Won (Jung In Sun), that kids these days don’t love so passionately. She goes on to say that Seo Ji Won probably doesn’t understand because now that she’s 30 she’s past the age for love. 🙄

Friends

The scene shifts to a woman in a red dress drinking a beer. She seems to hear what Seo Ji Won is hearing. She drinks the beer and fills out a survey about it, checking off the box for “in my 30s”.

The scene shifts to a second friend who is putting on her work lanyard and also seems to hear the statements about 30 being old. She looks smooth and sophisticated as she greets the new hires at the company. Once out of sight, she complains about her ankles hurting and the fact that she won’t be able to keep wearing high heels.

Back on the video call, Seo Ji Won spins in her chair and thinks about what to do. Finally she agrees to rewrite the entire final episode, but tells her editor that it means missing the deadline by a week. As they continue to argue over the final episode, Seo Ji Won falls out of her chair with a neck cramp.

A Week Later (?)

Sometime later, Seo Ji Won and her (former) editor are walking outside and talking about how well-received the final episode of the manga was. Apparently they stuck with the bloody ending and the readers loved it. The editor is moving into a different job now and Seo Ji Won will be getting a new editor. As the editor continues walking and talking, Seo Ji Won stops in front of a poster on the office window. She smiles at it as she is transported back in time to seeing a different poster.

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In the Past

Seo Ji Won is on the phone with the company running the contest. There are only 5 minutes until the deadline, but her contest entry file won’t open up. She implores the person on the phone to try one more time for her and they seem to find the file. Seo Ji Won is filled with relief, and the rest is history.

Present Day

The editor calls Seo Ji Won back into the present. She mentions that the new editor wants to go forward with one of the story proposals that Seo Ji Won had previously submitted.

Later when Seo Ji Won sits alone in the company’s cafe, she struggles with the storyline. She hates the dialogue. It is clearly an older proposal that Seo Ji Won had forgotten about. She has no interest in pursuing this story and can’t understand why the company wants to go with it (I bet I can guess. I wonder who the new editor is? 😏)

Her old editor returns and tells Seo Ji Won that something has come up and the new editor can’t meet with her right now. The new editor apparently is a real hot shot that the company worked hard to recruit. He loves this first love reunion story and is really attached to the idea of getting it published. Looks like Seo Ji Won is stuck. Before leaving, Seo Ji Won overhears her former editor speaking to her new editor on the phone and hears a name that sounds familiar.

Bus Ride

On the bus ride home, Seo Ji Won wrestles in her head over the name she heard. Lots of people have the same name, she reasons, it’s probably not THAT Lee Seung Yoo right? The bus stops and a pair of students get on. When the girl falls asleep, the boy catches her head with his hand before it hits the window. They smile at each other sweetly.

At a bar

Later, Seo Ji Won meets up with her friends from the earlier scene. Lee Ran Joo berates Ji Won for imagining that the new editor could be that same Seung Yoo. The story of a writer and her editor reunited to rekindle romance is the sort of thing that only happens in dramas. Seo Ji Won is not convinced.

The third friend, Hong Ah Young gets in on the act now too. They tell Ji Won that middle school love isn’t real love. They are in their 30s now, if she wants to tell a real romantic story it should be rated for the over 29 crowd (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). The teasing turns back on the other two with Ji Won getting a couple of digs in too. We learn that Ran Joo is a radio announcer because she is too camera shy to do television. Ah Young has just gotten out of a 9 year relationship with a man who cheated on her and left to marry someone else. All three of them have bad taste in men it seems.

They’ve managed to date jerks, scumbags and human trash. “Human trash?” says Ran Joo, “but the men I’ve dated were all pretty good”. “Not them,” Ah Young clarifies, “you. You’re the garbage.” Apparently Ran Joo likes to string guys along without committing to any of them. Ran Joo concedes that she is trash.

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The three friends commit to goals for this new season of life that they are moving into. Ah Young is going to make her bar into a hot spot for the city. Ran Joo is going to find a killer guy to have a killer romance with. Ji Won brags that she’s done with men and has a great career so she doesn’t need a goal. When pushed, she reveals her deeps desire to… sing karaoke!

From a walkway above, a man silently watches the three women dancing before walking away.

Later that night

Ah Young sits down at the table alone after her friends leave. She stares at the mess left. Her brain wanders back in time to the memory of clearing tables with the man she loved. She vows to rid herself and her bar of all traces of the cheating jerk.

Meanwhile Ran Joo dries her hair, alone in her apartment. She stares out the window recalling how much her parents loved each other and how they still got divorced. She has promised herself to never marry and to only date men casually. Something in her face tells you that’s not how she really feels. Her words tell you how she’s struggling too.

Back at home, Ji Won has opened a box of memories. She pulls out pictures she had drawn of the boy she loved back in middle school.

Another day

Ji Won waits in the company cafe once again. A young man comes to join her and introduces himself as Lee Seung Yoo (Kang Min Hyuk). From the surprise on her face, and the smile on his, you can tell that this is definitely THAT Seung Yoo.

15 years later, Seo Ji Won’s first love has walked back into her life. He clearly remembers her too and can barely keep the glee at surprising her off of his face. They go out to eat with other editors and staff from the company. At the dinner, Ji Won can’t stop sneaking looks over at Seung Yoo. He introduced himself earlier without mentioning their connection. Now he sits at the opposite end of the table chatting away with the others and making no attempt to connect with her. Ji Won wonders if she’s got it wrong. If this is in fact not the Seung Yoo that she knows from the past. When Ji Won makes eye contact, the new editor simply nods in acknowledgement.

Later when Ji Won is leaving, she finds that it is raining outside. As she debates what to do, Seung Yoo arrives with an umbrella. He smiles at her as he calls her familiarly. Yes, this is definitely THAT Seung Yoo 😍

Final Thoughts:

I love it! Adorable and easy so far. The friendship between the three girls is comfortable and real feeling. There’s a hint of heartache and mystery to come, but I don’t think we’ll find that with our main leads. This looks to be a cozy tale of two people reuniting and re-learning about each other. I can’t wait to see more.

The episodes are very short, only 15-20 minutes which is a bit disappointing. But I usually think dramas drag on too long so this could be a blessing. The show airs 2 episodes per week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It’s available on both iQiyi (some regions) and on Viki.

Have you started watching How To Be Thirty? What are your thoughts on it? Let me know!