Episode Recap
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Soo Hyun (Sung Joon) has some explaining to do after Hye Rim (Han Ye Seul) discovers that he is acquainted with her date, Won Gook (Lee Seung Joon). Soo Hyun dismisses the idea that he had anything to do with their date, but acts like a scorned lover. Hye Rim points out that she and Soo Hyun never dated, and never will, as far as she is concerned. Claiming that she will too busy with some diplomatic work to see Soo Hyun from now on, she angrily marches out.
Hye Rim does a house call on a wealthy client and gives her the French gibberish show. She advises the woman to let her son live his life. Her fee is a mere $100, including travel expense.
After Soo Hyun apologizes to Won Gook for his rude intrusion on his date, he coaches Won Gook before his meeting with Hye Rim. Thus, Won Gook’s story is consistent with Soo Hyun’s. Hye Rim grills Won Gook until he takes offense, and leaves. This does not distract Hye Rim from Won Gook’s unintentional reveal that Soo Hyun is both supervising and participating in the experiment.
Soo Hyun is worried that his rash actions have placed his experiment in jeopardy since Hye Rim now refuses to see him. He decides to gather more information so that he can discern what Hye Rim really means when she says she has no interest in him.
Soo Hyun calls Yoo Rim (Hwang Seung Eon) to find out why Hye Rim is so busy nowadays. Yoo Rim will only say that Hye Rim is working to pay for her child’s tuition. Yoo Rim asks Soo Hyun if being a high school student in London is expensive, and after he confirms this, she abruptly hangs up on him.
Soo Hyun approaches Hye Rim to ask how much it would cost to rent her café for a small party. Hye Rim coldly turns him down even after Soo Hyun offers $3000 then $3500 as the rental fee. When Soo Hyun offers $4000, Hye Rim thinks of her daughter’s living expenses and reconsiders. She ends up proposing a fee of $2500, not wanting bad karma from being greedy, and she cheers up considerably when Soo Hyun asks if she will also read the fortune of his friends.
Hye Rim cheerfully sets up for the party then reads the fortunes of the guests. She is taken aback when Soo Hyun decides to introduce her to the table who give her a round of applause, then offers to clean up when she trips and breaks some glasses. Hye Rim remains pissy so Soo Hyun attempts some innocuous skinship, but rather than bring down her defenses, he finds himself shaken by the contact. He reminds himself to stick with the experiment.
Yoo Rim returns to the café and is impressed by Soo Hyun’s thoughtfulness in arranging a party that would give Hye Rim a quick bump in business. Hye Rim is more cynical and finds Soo Hyun’s motives suspect.
Mi Ran (Jang Mi Hee) is going through exercises with a personal trainer at a gym, but is actually waiting for Seung Chan (Jinwoon) to arrive. When he does, Seung Chan takes Mi Ran through all the different machines so that she can decide which one she wants to buy.
When exercise becomes too taxing, Seung Chan takes Mi Ran to the convenience store for some ramen with a whole onigiri thrown in. The entire experience makes Mi Ran feel young again. Seung Chan offers to exercise with her every day, and when Mi Ran asks what he wants in return, he names her. Mi Ran is flustered until Seung Chan asks her to act as a surrogate parent who he can talk to about his worries, and she laughs uneasily.
Mi Ran learns of Soo Hyun’s experiment from Seung Chan after he expresses concern for Hye Rim. An outraged Mi Ran confronts Soo Hyun, and he claims that his experiment will help him determine if love is something that transcends science, as Mi Ran believes. Mi Ran asks what his hypothesis is, and is appalled to learn that Soo Hyun believes that women do not truly love, but are focused solely on material goods. She offers counselling to Soo Hyun, admitting that she has always thought that there was something wrong with him.
Seung Chan is shocked to learn from robotic student, Ji Ho (Lee Joo Hyung) that Soo Hyun is back in the experiment again as a suitor. Seung Chan proposes that they work together to keep Soo Hyun away from Hye Rim. However, when Ji Ho goes to steal Soo Hyun’s phone in order to break off his communication with Hye Rim, Ji Ho realizes that he left Seung Chan with the opportunity to make a date with Hye Rim for a magic show. Ji Ho promptly returns Soo Hyun’s phone then tattles on Seung Chan.
In the auditorium of the magic show, Hye Rim expresses her gratitude to Seung Chan for being a reliable support. They are excitedly discussing the magic show when Soo Hyun lands like a rock right beside Hye Rim, and expresses contempt for magic tricks. Hye Rim decides to switch seats with Seung Chan in order to get away from Soo Hyun.
Right before the start of the show, Soo Hyun notices that the audience member beside him (Jo Eun Ji) appears to be in distress. She shakily reassures Soo Hyun that she is okay, but when the magician announces that he is engaged to be married, the woman clutches Soo Hyun’s hand then collapses.
After the woman is carried out of the auditorium, she suddenly recovers while Soo Hyun is examining her. She wakes up with no memory of how she got there, and a demonstrates a different personality. She blames the meeker version of herself, Yoo Sun for bringing her to the magic show, and refers to current herself as Emma. When Soo Hyun offers to help, Emma is hostile. Soo Hyun manages to slip his business car in her purse before she leaves. Soo Hyun believes that Yoo Sun is suffering from dissociative identity disorder, and can only hope that Yoo Sun will find his contact information.
Yoo Rim and Ji Ho are kissing, but Ji Ho only sees it as practice for Hye Rim. Yoo Rim is outraged that he still likes her older sister, and slaps him. She accuses him of knowing nothing about the human heart, and leaves him holding his cheek.
The Chairman (Byun Hee Bong) enters Soo Hyun’s counselling centre for the first time to check on his investment. Soo Hyun is impatient with the Chairman, seeing the visit as a sign of a lack of faith in him. The Chairman asks how serious dissociative identity disorder is, and Soo Hyun explains that it is a coping mechanism.
Yoo Sun manages to find her way to Soo Hyun’s office, and remembers nothing of when she was Emma. It turns out that the magican is her ex-fiancé who disappeared without warning, only to return with a new fianceé. Soo Hyun offers to treat her dissociative identity disorder, but she rushes out.
Yoo Rim has just gotten home from a long day of work when she receives a text from Ji Ho asking to meet outside. He wishes to learn more about correlation between actions and words. While waiting for Yoo Rim, Ji Ho gets accosted by the world’s oldest looking teenagers. They attack and are attempting to rob him when Yoo Rim arrives and kicks their asses. Afterwards, Ji Ho is ashamed at not being able to fend for himself much less protect a woman. He decides to go study hapkido. Yoo Rim is just thrilled that he considers her a woman.
Soo Hyun attempts to reach Yoo Sun, but her alter ego, Emma keeps answering the phone. It occurs to him that Emma might be more receptive to Hye Rim. However, since Hye Rim is not receptive to helping Soo Hyun, he attempts to trick her, but she sees right through his ploy. They strike a deal in which Soo Hyun will pay Hye Rim handsomely for her help.
On the way, Soo Hyun must fill up his car with gas, and even though he receives coupons for a free car wash, he is reluctant to use them. Hye Rim talks him into getting a car wash, then realizes that the car wash triggers Soo Hyun’s recurring unpleasant memory. Soo Hyun uses his discomfort as an opportunity to apologize for telling her to quit working at his office. Hye Rim rightly guesses that he feared his growing feelings for her. Hye Rim refuses to forgive Soo Hyun, but he is simply relieved to get the apology off his chest.
Buoyed by the promise of three times her café’s daily earnings, Hye Rim intervenes as Emma is about to attack Soo Hyun with an umbrella. Hye Rim pretends to be a cosmetics salesman unassociated with Soo Hyun. Thus, Hye Rim gets into Yoo Sun/Emma’s apartment, and sneaks around, taking photos of her art work. When she gets caught, Hye Rim quickly distracts Emma with a makeover then accepts one in return from Emma.
While clothes shopping with Emma, Hye Rim reports to Soo Hyun who simply directs her to get closer to Emma in order to find out more about her relationship with Yoo Sun. Emma appears to view Yoo Sun as a roommate whose only friend is her.
Meanwhile, Soo Hyun questions the magician about his relationship with Yoo Sun. They dated, but Yoo Sun broke up with him without warning. Soo Hyun believes that Emma did not want to lose Yoo Sun to the magician.
Hye Rim and Soo Hyun are discussing Yoo Sun’s case on the phone when Seung Chan calls, and Hye Rim smugly announces that she is hanging up on Soo Hyun to speak with his brother. Seung Chan invites Hye Rim to decorate a schoolyard wall with him, where she finds a public declaration that he likes her on the wall. Hye Rim appears uneasy, but Seung Chan is just relieved to make his feelings known.
The next day, the school children are admiring the mural while Ji Ho and Soo Hyun glower at it. Soo Hyun confronts his brother and demands to know how Hye Rim reacted to the mural, as the experiment supervisor and not a jealous rival. Seung Chan is happy to report that Hye Rim seemed pleased with his work.
Soo Hyun goes looking for Hye Rim, but she has already gone to gather more information from Emma about Yoo Sun. Meanwhile, Soo Hyun visits Yoo Sun’s former teacher who reveals that her father and mother died while trying to save her from drowning.
After Hye Rim reports her findings about Yoo Sun to Mi Ran, Mi Ran is about to reveal the truth about Soo Hyun’s experiment when he enters the office. Mi Ran asks to speak with Soo Hyun alone.
Meanwhile, Hye Rim takes Ji Ho clothes shopping with her. Ji Ho fails to sneak a peek at Hye Rim in the change room, but seems to enjoy his day out with her. When she does a round of quick fire questions, she tricks Ji Ho into revealing the real name of the experiment. Ji Ho escapes before revealing more.
Soo Hyun asks Hye Rim to do a reading of his fortune and she agrees. As they face each other, recent events replay in their minds. Soo Hyun is focused on Seung Chan’s confessional mural, and Hye Rim plainly states that she likes Seung Chan more than Soo Hyun, because she cannot trust Soo Hyun. Hye Rim then reveals that she has pieced together the truth regarding the experiment and Soo Hyun’s feelings for her. Yet, deep down, she hopes that Soo Hyun will state that his attraction for her is real.
Hye Rim is about to leave disappointed when Soo Hyun stops her to confirm that his feelings for her are real. He swoops in for kiss, and Hye Rim throws her arms around his neck.
Comments
This was an action packed, but sloppy episode, and that may be the reason why I finished it feeling overwhelmed and confused.
Hye Rim was consistently angry with Soo Hyun, but I frequently forgot why she was angry. After all, Soo Hyun has lied to her so many times in so many ways. Having an inkling of how untrustworthy Soo Hyun is, I am surprised that Hye Rim retained any feelings of attraction for Soo Hyun by the end of this episode.
Meanwhile, Soo Hyun spent most of the episode feeling guilty with burgeoning feelings for Hye Rim. Again, I was not sure which of his many misdeeds he is feeling badly about. Soo Hyun did apologize to Hye Rim for firing her from his office, but is he just hiding even worse crimes, or was he really only focused on that one act? Also, this nicer side of Soo Hyun seems to have popped up from nowhere, because he still adheres to his misogynist hypothesis that all women are gold diggers.
Meanwhile, the interactions between Hye Rim and Soo Hyun have failed to yield any sexual tension. I place the blame for this on the writer for not providing a sufficient build up to romance. Soo Hyun has spent so much time scheming and Hye Rim on sleuthing, that I don’t understand where their feelings for each other started. Are we supposed to see kinship in their casual use of deception?
One final, uncomfortable thought: I thought Yoo Rim and Ji Ho’s kiss was better than the cliffhanger kiss featuring Soo Hyun and Hye Rim. The former just had an ease that the latter did not.
But I really really really liked that last kiss.
I mean yeah, Ji Ho and Yoo Rim seemed to French kiss better. But still there was something in that last kiss that made me squee with happiness and wonder. Sung Joon and Han Ye Seul are great kissers. I hope in the coming episode we can see the better bedhopping kisses. Because that preview seemed so hot.
I really like all the 2 episode clients. They seem to have so much depth and emotion and so many flaws. I loved every client, although Juni won my heart with her sob story. Which always makes me tear up. I have never seen a more sad accident ever.
I’m waiting for more kisses. French kisses. And bedhopping maybe? Pretty please?
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I agree with you that the last kiss lacked any kind of chemistry. That’s my biggest gripe with this show. The two leads have the chemistry of two bricks when they are together, even though I love both actors. There just isn’t a spark between them.
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