Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale – K-drama Episode 9 Recap & Review

The Self-Martyr

Episode 9 of Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale begins with Jae-rim wanting to help Cha-min get closure. He returns to his mom and agrees to listen to the whole story. Once done, he goes back to Jae-rim and asks for a hug. 

They head back to the club and have dinner. He is happy to see his mom but he cannot forgive her since she hurt his dad. The talks turn to their dreams and Jae-rim reveals that her initial dream was to be an artist. But now she only wants to be Cinderella and marry rich since she has nothing. He disagrees and keeps complimenting her while she wallows in self-pity. 

They can’t stop thinking about each other and are excited to see each other the next day. At work, some kid throws water at them but Cha-min protects Jae-rim with his umbrella. She teases him before asking for the umbrella as he is now strong enough to go around with it. He hesitates before giving it to her but looks pleased when she praises him.

Their honeymoon phase doesn’t last long as Dan-a comes across Cha-min buying gifts for Jae-rim. She threatens to destroy Jae-rim and to stop her, he agrees to get married. She gloats in front of Jae-rim who is heartbroken. Do-hong arrives just in time and offers to take Jae-rim away to Berlin where she can start afresh as an artist.  

Meanwhile, Cha-min sulks as Dan-a drags him to her wedding gown fitting. She throws a tantrum when he doesn’t show any enthusiasm and he points out that she is pretty even if he doesn’t say it aloud. She goes crying to her dad who is confused. She finally realises that she is beautiful enough to get someone who will love her back.

Elsewhere, our poor Jae-rim is busy crying over Cha-min as well when Su-jin arrives home with Dr. Gu. She clarifies that he was not hitting on other women but simply practising on them before he proposed to her. Hwa-jin is her tough self but she accepts him as family.

Jae-rim sulks alone in her room as she hates that Cha-min is being hot and cold with her. Gu calls her for dinner and she asks how he succeeded in getting Su-jin. He declares that she was his dream followed by a joke that he is a good person.

The next day, Cha-min announces a vacation for the staff and Jae-rim is confused. With a push from Secretary Heo, she visits Cha-min. She plans to voice her feelings for him aloud but all of that goes out of the window when she sees that Cha-min has been beaten up. 

They end up bickering as he acts cold and she asks him if he would be alright if she left with Do-hong. He claims he was never sincere with her and was only helping her Cinderella dream come true. He goes one step further by kissing her to prove that he is a player and she slaps him before running off.

A flashback shows us that the gift he’d gotten for Jae-rim was a ring. At that moment, Dan-a’s dad and his thugs arrive and tear down Chungdam. The dad also beats up Cha-min for making his daughter cry. After he leaves, Cha-min’s dad arrives. Mr. Moon gives an I-told-you-so speech which Cha-min refuses to accept as he points out that Lily still loves them.

Mr. Moon claims he is being fooled and decides to teach him a lesson – he tells Cha-min to cut ties with him which means no more money or Chungdam. Then they’ll see if Lily will take in her broke son. Mr. Moon believes she won’t and says now no one loves Cha-min.

At present, Cha-min sees that Jae-rim has left her shawl behind and he cries as he only wants her to be happy. Meanwhile, Jae-rim believes that she is unloveable. At the end of Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale Episode 9, she gets a parcel from Cha-min who had sent it before Dan-a threatened him. He had taken baby Jae-rim’s painting of Cinderella from her old home and had it restored. He sends it to her and writes a letter that she is not Cinderella, she is a warrior.

The Episode Review

Ah, the classic push-and-pull which turns into a misunderstanding in the penultimate episode move. Really don’t know why we expected this show to be any different. They were doing so well. Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale Episode 9 is also pretty alright in the beginning as we get our goofy couple being super lovey-dovey. Unfortunately, that comes to an end when Dan-a threatens Jae-rim. 

But why do K-drama male leads feel like they are doing the right thing for the female lead by being rude to her and pushing her away? Who does that help? Especially since it seems Dan-a has called off the wedding. So, just tell Jae-rim the truth now, bro. What’s the problem?

If it was any other K-drama, such an episode would have probably been chalked off as the usual last-minute plot twist but it just feels disappointing that Dreaming of a Freaking Fairytale had to resort to this overdone trope as well.