Oh Hae Young Again episode 5 recap

Episode Recap

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The magic of their bodies colliding is broken as soon as Hae Young (Seo Hyun Jin) extricates herself from the arms of Do Kyung (Eric Mun), and he peevishly asks if she is crazy. She marches confidently to where his sister, Soo Kyung (Ye Ji Won) and his friend, Jin Sang (Kim Ji Seok) stand watching. Soo Kyung points out that one of Hae Young’s bra inserts popped out when Hae Young collided with Do Kyung, and Hae Young is forced to do the walk of shame to retrieve it. Do Kyung is stone faced as a humiliated Hae Young skitters away, but he wakes her up in the middle of the night with his riotous laughter.

The next morning, Do Kyung offers Hae Young a drive to the subway station, and she gets into his car without a word. She demands an expensive dinner as payment when he starts laughing again.

The prettier and more popular Hae Young (Jeon Hye Bin) and her team are wondering if they should tackle the difficult task of toppling the first place competition. It leads Hae Young to think about how she was about to give up on Do Kyung when a random cheer of support she received during her marathon revived her hopes. Little does she know that the cheer came from her former classmate, the other Hae Young. 

During the day, Do Kyung receives numerous texts from Hae Young reminding him of dinner. He finds a written note in which Hae Young suggests a steak house in Cheongdamdong. Do Kyung texts Hae Young to agree to the expensive steak restaurant.

That evening, Hae Young walks into the restaurant, and encounters her prettier rival, Hae Young who notes that they seem fated to run into each other. When Do Kyung walks in, he goes straight to dowdier Hae Young’s table, but hears his ex-fiancée call out to him. Do Kyung stiffens, and after realizing that he attributed the written note to the wrong Hae Young, proposes leaving and does exactly that. Pretty Hae Young explains the mix up to plain Hae Young, but before she can explain her relationship with Do Kyung, he returns to drag plain Hae Young out to his car.

Pretty Hae Young runs out to apologize, and when she states that she misses him, Do Kyung angrily punches the window of his car. Both women cringe as the window cracks. While Do Kyung drives away, Hae Young sits in the passenger seat, staring at his bloodied hand. They end up at a more modest restaurant where she watches him drown his sorrows in soju. Do Kyung only stops drinking when Hae Young voices her realization that his ex-fiancée is the scourge of her adolescence, and she starts chugging, too. 

Outside the restaurant, Hae Young gets angry at Do Kyung for making a fool out of her by keeping silent about who his ex-fiancée is. She is also livid about being used as a tool to make the other Hae Young jealous. Do Kyung shouts an apology and storms away. 

In the middle of the night, Do Kyung has yet to come home, and Hae Young cannot sleep. She goes outside just in time to see a hired driver bring Do Kyung and his car home. Hae Young runs herself ragged getting the unconscious Do Kyung safely into bed, and tending to his wounds.

In the morning, Hae Young is the first thing Do Kyung sees, and she cooks him breakfast. She takes the opportunity to goad him about last night’s encounter with his ex-fiancée then offers to help him put on a show to provoke her. Hae Young is eager since she has never thought herself capable of making prettier Hae Young jealous. Do Kyung objects since playing such games would make him even more pitiful. 

As he is leaving home, Do Kyung watches Jin Sang charge past, accompanied by the woman he picked up from the club last night, and followed by Soo Kyung swinging a bat. Do Kyung manages to pick Jin Sang up in his car, and Jin Sang concludes that it may be safer to return home to the axe-wielding cuckolded husband than suffer the wrath of Soo Kyung for bring strange women to her home.

Hae Young walks confidently into work for the first time, but finds herself trapped in the elevator with the other Hae Young, and unfairly compared to her, again.  Once they are alone, pretty Hae Young admits that she does not think Do Kyung would seriously date someone with the same name as her, plus she is relieved that he still seems deeply affected by her. She skips away, oblivious to the steam coming out of Hae Young’s ears.

At the company shindig, Hae Young and Soo Kyung must both suffer watching popular Hae Young get showered with praise and attention. Pretty Hae Young then recounts embarrassing stories from the dowdier Hae Young’s past. Hae Young simmers until they are alone, then attempts to lie about sleeping with Do Kyung, but fails to fool the happy Hae Young. The evening hits rock bottom after downtrodden Hae Young shrilly shouts at the other Hae Young, and gets publicly reprimanded by their boss.

Earlier in the day, Do Kyung had received a visit from his mother and her latest director, and he had bluntly asked if the director intended to make art or money for his mother. Now, at their work dinner, Do Kyung’s team beg him to stop giving his money away to his mother, and to care less about the quality of the work they take on. Do Kyung gets distracted by sounds and goes back on the street to do what he loves best: recording.

As Hae Young’s colleagues disperse, she spots Do Kyung standing on the street. Assuming that he is there to fulfill her quest to make pretty Hae Young jealous, she runs towards him while laughing hysterically, and mounts him. Do Kyung goes along with her charade through gritted teeth, as pretty Hae Young’s face falls. Once they are alone, Do Kyung reiterates his refusal to play such games, then warns her never to speak of his ex-fiancée again. 

Do Kyung takes off only to double back to pick Hae Young up. She apologizes again for assuming that he was a willing participant in her petty plan for vengeance. He dismisses it, and drops her at home before leaving, purportedly for work.

Hae Young comes to realize that she has made excuses to see Do Kyung again, because she has liked him from the beginning. It seems that after being dumped by her fiancé, she is ready to put her whole heart into her next relationship. At home, she sobs at the blocked doorway, not knowing that Do Kyung is recording everything. 

To her credit, pretty Hae Young does not seem inclined to bitchiness or vindictiveness when she comes face-to-face with her rival for Do Kyung’s affections at work. However, while walking alone on the street, she collapses in sobs and a stranger is forced to call for help.

Meanwhile, Do Kyung continues to feel the guilt of having destroyed Hae Young’s life without her knowledge. He wants her to recover from the trauma he brought about, but fears falling for her in the process.

While working at his studio, Do Kyung hears glass shattering, but cannot find the source. Suddenly, a vision matching the sound comes to him, and it appears that a tearful Hae Young threw the rock that broke a window.

Comments

This was a very entertaining episodes. First off, the physical comedy was strong. The scene in which Hae Young realizes that she lost her bra insert did make me laugh out loud as did the scene with Soo Kyung swinging a bat at Jin Sang and his one night stand. Finally, the expression on Do Kyung’s face when he was forced to play along with Hae Young’s charade, was priceless.

The dramatic moments were also very juicy. Watching Do Kyung come face-to-face with both Hae Youngs was like watching an accident in slow motion. Even the painful process of watching Hae Young get put through the wringer at her work party had the masochistic pleasure of waiting for her to explode.

I applaud the writer’s decision to allow the leads to repeatedly make up so quickly. Hae Young’s concern for Do Kyung soon overcame her anger at him for keeping his ex-fiancée’s identity a secret. His annoyance at being made an unwilling participant in her dating charade did not stop him from picking her up in his car immediately after he had stormed off.

Of course, this is all building up to the prolonged angst of Hae Young learning that it was Do Kyung who destroyed her wedding. I hope the writer retains some of the sense of brevity that has been demonstrated thus far.

Two final quick thoughts. Pretty Hae Young is an interesting antagonist in that she hurts without ill will. It seems that her charmed life has just made her blind to the pain of others. Thus, you find yourself understanding why Hae Young would want to punish her, but you pity pretty Hae Young a little, because she has no idea why she is being punished.

Secondly, does Hae Young’s co-worker have feelings for her. The poor guy stuck it out, dancing on the karaoke stage with her when her other supporters had abandoned her. In a better Kdrama universe, the supportive guy who has been by your side through all your humiliating moments should have a shot.

Oh Hae Young Again (또 오해영) 

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