Side dish: It’s cold out, which means it’s a good time to eat a meal cooked by a poodle. Here’s a recipe for oden by Cooking with Dog.
Episode Recap
We’re in the past instead of the future this time, with two boys and a girl playing hide and seek. The two boys go off to hide in a small house, as the girl counts. Before she can go to find them, she gets distracted by a box of matches. She tries to light them, until one catches fire, and the grass erupts into flames.
We’re back in the present as obnoxious psychiatrist Ko Yi Seok (Chun Jung Myung) gets a phone call from his grandfather, the Chairman accusing him of deception, and ordering him to return home. Yi Seok agrees, then lies to his girlfriend, severe anthrophobe, Cha Hong Do (Choi Kang Hee) that everything is okay, but he needs to leave. Yi Seok runs out the door, leaving dinner on the table for her.
Back at the Chairman’s house, the Chairman is going over the résumé of Hong Do’s old woman persona, Oh Young Rae, while explaining to Butler Ahn (Choi Moo Sung) how they were fooled by a young woman in disguise. Butler Ahn is clearly the one who runs the family, when he stops Yi Seok before he sees his grandfather to warn him that the Chairman knows about Hong Do/Young Rae.
Yi Seok is suitably contrite as he explains the situation to the Chairman. His grandfather angrily tells him to go away, in the end, having decided that pressing charges would only embarrass them both.
Police detective, Jang Doo Soo (Lee Jae Yoon) comes outside his apartment when he hears a tapping at his window. It’s Yi Seok’s actress sister and Doo Soo’s current pursuer, Ko Se Ro (Ahn So Hee) in a police uniform, wondering if he’s doing okay from the night before. Doo Soo ignores Se Ro’s questions, and tells her he has to leave, but comes back to fix her uniform.
At the Chairman’s house, his housekeeper finds Young Rae’s résumé, and gets angry that the Chairman is so obsessed with her. At breakfast, later on, the housekeeper flips out when the Chairman complains about the soup, calls him a stupid old man, chucks her apron, and quits her job, to everyone’s consternation. Back in his library, the Chairman is surprised when his housekeeper bursts in with her bags packed, to tell him that she loved him, and took care of him all these years, and then leaves in tears.
At an audition for a police officer role, Se Ro nails it with her accurate portrayal and enthusiasm. They even decide to change the character from male to female to accommodate her.
Butler Ahn gets a phone call from the person he asked to check into Young Rae’s background, and discovers that Hong Do’s grandmother used to work for the Chairman as his housekeeper. Butler Ahn goes looking in his old photo album, and discovers a picture of the three kids from the start of this episode, with himself and an older woman who is likely to be Hong Do’s grandmother. Uh oh.
Hong Do, meanwhile, is busy cleaning Yi Seok’s office at the clinic when he arrives. When his mom, Hwang Moon Sun (Jin Hee Kyung) shows up shortly after, Hong Do tries to hide, but Yi Seok proudly introduces her as his girlfriend. They all go to lunch together, in a lovey-dovey atmosphere. When Moon Sun mentions Hong Do’s red face, Hong Do explains her situation with some help from Yi Seok. Everyone is all smiles as they put food on each other’s plates.
Everything looks headed for disaster this episode, as Doo Soo is thrown down a flight of stairs, and knocked unconscious by a suspect who runs away. Doo Soo ends up in the hospital, with his partner looking on, but it’s not long before Se Ro shows up. Doo Soo’s partner reassures her that he’s just sleeping, and that he only knocked his head, and twisted his ankle. When Se Ro starts speaking to the unconscious Doo Soo, his partner responds on his behalf until Se Ro shoos him away.
Back at the Chairman’s house, Butler Ahn reports his findings to the Chairman, about Hong Do, but leaves out the fact that her grandmother used to work there. But it’s not long before the Chairman figures it out, and is appalled to learn that Hong Do is his former housekeeper’s granddaughter.
Yi Seok walks Moon Sun to the car. When she asks him why he’s dating a patient, he affirms that he just likes her. She’s happy to see him happy, and offers to buy a necklace for Hong Do.
Back at the hospital, Doo Soo wakes up to find Se Ro playing nurse. He tries to get her to go away, but she settles in to sleep next to him. When he shoos her away again, Se Ro offers to make out with him instead.
The next morning, at the clinic, Yi Seok proposes to Hong Do that they go to meet his family together. Hong Do refuses, saying she can’t face the Chairman after deceiving him. Yi Seok explains that the Chairman already knows about the deception, then gives her a necklace that Moon Sun got for her. Yi Seok reassures Hong Do that it will go well.
It looks like it’s not going to go well, as the Chairman contemplates the strange fate that brought Hong Do and Yi Seok back together. Butler Ahn explains that after Hong Do’s grandmother left the Chairman’s house, she changed her granddaughter’s name so she could forget the incident entirely. The Chairman responds that Yi Seok and Hong Do should be separated before the situation gets worse.
Se Ro is trying to buy kimbap for Doo Soo, who is trying to sleep in the hospital. She barrages him with text messages until he responds that he doesn’t need anything, then goes back to sleep. Se Ro buys one of every variety, just in case.
Back at the Chairman’s house, the now ex-housekeeper can’t leave well enough alone, as she jogs past the place, wondering if it has collapsed in her absence. The Chairman comes out for a walk at the same time, and she can’t help but fuss over him, even asking if he changes his underwear after baths. He tells her to back off, and she loses her temper and flounces away.
Back at the hospital, when Se Ro shows up with every variety of kimbap, Doo Soo tells her to go away. Instead, Se Ro asks Doo Soo for advice on how to stop thinking about him, referring to him as her sunbae in heartbreak. Doo Soo counsels her to keep busy in order to keep her mind off the person she likes, and when she can’t do that, to just hurt. Se Ro is a brick wall, because she just hugs him, and tells him she’ll be his drinking buddy when he feels bad. Doo Soo looks sort of amused as he tells her to go and practice getting over him.
We were about due for a makeover, so Yi Seok takes Hong Do shopping to buy her a dress to meet his grandfather in. Transformation complete, they go to the Chairman’s house to introduce her, but it doesn’t matter what she looks like, because the Chairman tells her he’ll never accept someone with no education nor parents. Hong Do apologizes profusely to the Chairman, who clutches his chest just as Moon Sun comes in. As Hong Do is offering him his pills, the Chairman begs her to leave Yi Seok. Hong Do runs away, but is chased down by Yi Seok, who reassures her that he loves her even though she’s an uneducated orphan with a mental illness.
Back inside the house, Yi Seok’s mother asks the Chairman to accept Hong Do, since Yi Seok is clearly happier and more like himself when he’s with her. The Chairman looks troubled as he lies down.
The next morning, Se Ro wonders to Yi Seok if Hong Do can go visit Doo Soo in the hospital to make him feel better. Yi Seok reacts badly to the news that Se Ro is still chasing after Doo Soo (Ha! Not as badly as Doo Soo).
Back at the hospital, Doo Soo wakes up with his partner sleeping in a cot next to him. Doo Soo looks around at all the things that Se Ro has left to make him feel better (is that a toaster oven?), then tickles his partner on the chin to wake him up.
Yi Seok visits Hong Do, and teases her with the news that Doo Soo is in the hospital, acting jealous when she shows interest. He takes her to visit Doo Soo, but sends her away to buy coffee so he can have a secret talk with Doo Soo. When she goes, Yi Seok asks Doo Soo whether he’s playing around with Se Ro to get revenge on him. A frustrated Doo Soo doesn’t dignify this accusation with a response. They are interrupted by the Chairman calling Yi Seok to inform him that they’ve set up a blind date for him. The Chairman reiterates his demand that Yi Seok break up with Hong Do, then hangs up.
When Hong Do returns, she finds Doo Soo alone, and they chat awkwardly. Hong Do comes outside the hospital to find Yi Seok waiting for her, since he left them alone deliberately so they could talk. Yi Seok asks her if he should go on the blind date, but she decides to let him do it, since he already chose her. Yi Seok decides to make sure that the Chairman knows his intentions with Hong Do.
Doo Soo and his partner walk in to the police station. His partner is impressed with Se Ro’s dedication in nursing Doo Soo at the hospital, and gives him back all the things that Se Ro left for him. Doo Soo promptly sends Se Ro a text to come get them. Lucky for Se Ro, the text arrives in time to stop her from cutting off all her hair in an effort to get his attention.
When she comes running to the police station, he offers to go out and buy her a coffee. Instead, she asks him to buy her two coffees for the same price from the police station vending machine. When two other detectives come by to say hello to her, and comment on how pretty she looks, Doo Soo chases them off, and wonders why Se Ro’s skirt is so short despite the cold weather. When Se Ro congratulates herself on making him jealous with her cuteness, Doo Soo cracks a smile.
Back at the Chairman’s house, Yi Seok announces his intention to move out and live with Hong Do to the Chairman, to show how serious he is about her. As Yi Seok leaves, Moon Sun adds her voice of support. To stop her, the Chairman reveals to Moon Sun that Hong Do is the granddaughter of their old housekeeper.
As Yi Seok goes to Hong Do’s house to happily tell her that he’s moving in, Butler Ahn arrives in the midst of a crisis in the Chairman’s bedroom. Moon Sun is having a full-on meltdown, because she has discovered that Hong Do was the same child that killed Il Seok, Yi Seok’s older brother.
Comments
It’s fate! FATE, I TELL YOU!
I’m not going to lie; I’m a little disappointed the story went this way. I mean, sure, it’s not nice fate, where they were childhood sweethearts separated by circumstance, but the kind of fate that ensures they can’t be together without causing damage to the people around them, and probably themselves. Even though neither one knows this story yet, it’s bound to come out pretty soon, given that we left Yi Seok’s mother in the middle of a meltdown.
Thankfully, before this all goes to hell in a handbasket, our weekly dose of cute is still around in the shape of stoic Doo Soo and stalker Se Ro. Who knew it was going to be so amusing to watch Se Ro slowly, but surely, wear Doo Soo down?
Call me crazy, but I have hope for next week. Most of the cliffhangers on “Heart to Heart” have been resolved in a non-melodramatic way. Maybe next week, it’ll be our fate to get a non-melodramatic resolution to this one. Fingers crossed.
Heart to Heart (하트 투 하트)
Noonas Over Forks 
Started reading your recaps a few episodes back. I appreciate the balanced assessment of the characters which was lacking elsewhere (myself included). The polarizing effect this show seems to have was beginning to annoy.
So far, H2H has managed to basically use several common drama tropes but not be as typical thanks in part to its pacing so I have hope too. But it does seem like we may be shifting away from two people growing as people together to two people facing unnecessary drama together. Fate strikes again.
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Thanks for reading! Glad to know I’m not alone in holding out some hope. I’d like to think that this is one of those incidents that has to be aired in order for everyone to get over what happened, instead of a random bit of drama to keep the couple apart. Maybe I’m being too much of an optimist? We do still have four episodes to fill.
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what kind of dramatic twist…
Meh i hated this episode, it’s like the writer doesn’t know where the story is going since Hong Do it’s getting better, It’s like they’re pulling (silly) conflicts after conflicts just to fill time. I just hope they don’t stretch this storyline for too long and that Yi Suk be sensible to understand that a 6 year old had no fault in his brother’s death.
And Doo Soo it’s starting to finally open his heart to Se Ro even though he doesn’t realize yet.
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It’s not one of my favourites either… but at least we had Doo Soo and Se Ro to keep us going. So cute!
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