Jung Yoo Ah – High School King of Savvy
To quote myself:
I’m very curious as to what her life was like when she was living at home with their mother, because that just sounds like a recipe for disaster. I’m not surprised she moved to Seoul with Soo Young because it seems like Soo Young is the more responsible one — and the one who actually cares about Yoo Ah (remember that she was like, “Of course Mom didn’t try to see me, she never does”).
So I’m going with the headcanon that she was pretty much left to her own devices growing up, and because she didn’t have as many boundaries as perhaps her peers, she was forced to make it up as she went along. Which made it easy for her to fall into that “thug/jjang” role.
She’s got a forceful personality and I actually like it, because she’s decidedly unapologetic about going after what she wants, even if that includes Min Suk.
[…]The show has teased promises of some character growth. Such as: Soo Young marveling that Yoo Ah is growing up when she realizes that her sister has been doing the housework because she found out that Soo Young lost her job. But she didn’t confront her sister about it because she respected her sister’s pride, and quietly did what she could to make things easier for her instead of complaining she wasn’t getting her allowance.
So yeah — she can be a bit of a bully and clingy, but she still knows when to back off. I assume the show will still play up her obsession with Min Suk, but I’m hoping they’ll continue to give her some character growth, too. After all, she and Min Suk are both high schoolers. If he’s being forced to grow up because of his bizarre situation, then maybe she will learn to grow up, too, in order to support her awesome older sister.
(But I’m assuming there will be some sisterly angst because I figure we’re headed to them liking the same boy, although I’m not sure I’m on board with that yet.)
Turns out, I was not at all on board with Soo Young “stealing” Min Suk. Okay, maybe he was never Yoo Ah’s to steal, but he was still a high school student and it still bothered me that Soo Young and Min Suk got married. Which is why I feel like Yoo Ah definitely got the raw end of the deal. She loves her sister, no question about that, and she wants her sister to be happy, which meant she was the one sacrificing her crush on Min Suk so that her sister could be happy. In the end, she actually felt like the more mature person than her sister.
Despite the whole Min Suk thing. I really appreciated the realistic feel of the sisters’ relationship. Yoo Ah may appear to be a selfish brat, but she was always true to herself and yet willing to put aside her desires in order to support her family – especially her sister. She might whine and complain about it, but she knows when to suck it up and do the right thing, even when it hurts. If that isn’t growing up, then I don’t know what is.
The Obsessive Dilettante 