"What Is the Point of Us?" Salon De Nabi Turns a Pregnancy Scare Into a Standoff

In episode 10 of the JTBC drama "Salon De Nabi," a woman asks her partner what the relationship is worth if he will not worry alongside her. The scene grows out of a misunderstanding over a suspected pregnancy, and it ends with neither side giving ground.

A pregnancy scare and a partner who stayed on the sidelines

The conflict peaks when the pressure the woman felt while suspecting she was pregnant comes to light. Worried about the possibility, she tells the man about her condition and watches how he reacts. Rather than share her worry, the man tries to move past the matter lightly. Once it is later confirmed that her period has started, he tells her to relax and tries to wrap things up.

His attitude angers her. She points out that during the time she spent flustered and afraid of being pregnant, he did not think it through with her or stay by her side. When he explains that he was flustered too, because it was his first time going through something like this, she hits back: "When you were flustered and lost, shouldn't I have been lost right there with you?"

Choi Daniel's character looks for answers

Earlier in the episode, Choi Daniel's character is shown struggling to read changes in his relationship. Bewildered, he asks people around him for advice, summing up his trouble with the words "I don't understand how women think." He wants to know why a woman is avoiding him and has become slow to get in touch. After confirming that she has clear likes and dislikes and a direct personality, he senses a crisis when she refuses to sleep with him.

He cannot grasp her state of mind and finds no answer to why she is pulling away. He is advised to give her time, but without identifying the underlying cause, he tries only to smooth the situation over.

The woman also describes having to bear her worry alone and asks what the relationship means if the two will not think things through together. The episode treats the episode as more than a trivial misunderstanding: it takes aim at the emotional support and sense of responsibility a partner should show at a critical moment. It uses a minor misunderstanding between lovers and a lack of communication to show how they can shake the foundation of a relationship, and to explore psychological differences between men and women and questions of responsibility. The two end their conversation with their positions running parallel and the conflict unresolved.

Source: DRAMA Voyage (YouTube)