Side dish: Good timing is important not only in love, but in the making of soufflé. Test out your sense of timing with recipe for chocolate soufflé from Serious Eats.
Strong woman, Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) is so discombobulated from the confession of gaming CEO, Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik) that she can’t sleep. When she gets messages from Min Hyuk and straight-laced policeman, In Gook Doo (Ji Soo) at the same time, she hides under her covers and imagines the two of them battling it out for the right to be her Romeo.
The next day at work, Min Hyuk and Gook Doo send identical messages at the same time again, and she finally responds by turning down their invitations to the movies. Instead, she spends the day in a tizzy, unable to figure out who she likes. The mystery is solved when Min Hyuk arrives at the office, and she’s struck dumb by how handsome he is in a suit. She spends the rest of the day staring at him, lovestruck, while he flirts with her and works.
Later, when Gook Doo attempts to meet up with Bong Soon to give her a present, Gook Doo is called away with the news that his ex-girlfriend, Hee Ji is under threat from the kidnapper. Instead of finally confessing his feelings for Bong Soon, Gook Doo has to awkwardly interrupt Hee Ji’s date with Bong Soon’s brother and his friend, Bong Ki (Ahn Woo Yeon) to warn her about the kidnapper.
Back at the café where Bong Soon is waiting, it’s Min Hyuk who makes an appearance instead of Gook Doo. Rather than make another cocky remark, a shaken Min Hyuk asks Bong Soon to like him. When she won’t take his hand, he pulls her into a hug. Later, the two of them leave to go for a walk together. That night, after an elated Min Hyuk drops Bong Soon off at home, Gook Doo finally manages to meet up with her, but before he can confess his feelings, Bong Soon tells him that she’s happy being his friend.
The next day, Bong Soon and Min Hyuk are super flirty as they work together to create a presentation for her game. Meanwhile, frustrated that the kidnapper keeps eluding them, Gook Doo and his team come up with a plan to trap him in an alleyway, by using Hee Ji as bait. The kidnapper seems to be falling for their plot, but in fact he kidnaps Kyung Shim instead.
Episode Review
Junggugeo Kaenada 중국어 캐나다: The main message of episode 11 appears to be that Bong Soon is seeing Min Hyuk in a new light. Literally, a glowing halo of hetero attractiveness.
Only 만: Nothing says “I love you” like seeing the object of your affections with a glow of fuzzy white light around them. I should try it sometime.
Junggugeo Kaenada: It is no wonder Bong Soon is distracted from so many other pressing matters like the deadline to present her game concept and prove herself to the Planning and Development supervisor. Or, the Dobong-dong kidnapper.
Only: I’m glad the police are on his trail for once, because it seems like the kidnapper pretty much dropped off Bong Soon’s radar, first thanks to her indecisiveness over Min Hyuk and Gook Doo, then in the glow of her love for Min Hyuk. By comparison, I felt bad for Gook Doo, who had to put the kidnapper’s threats ahead of his confession.
Junggugeo Kaenada: It says a lot about my past disappointment with Kdramas that I expected Gook Doo to stay silent about the kidnapper when he came face to face with Hee Ji and Bong Ki together. Fortunately, Gook Doo proceeded with warning Hee Ji of the danger she was in, in clear terms, so that Bong Ki could help protect her. Maybe it was thanks to this delightful demonstration of common sense, but I started to see Gook Doo’s appeal in this episode.
Only: Maybe it’s the fact that Gook Doo was still working to catch the kidnapper, even when he was trying to get together with Bong Soon, and even after she rejected him. He’s obviously not happy, but his moping hasn’t take precedence over catching the bad guys.
Junggugeo Kaenada: Min Hyuk is losing in comparison, regardless of Bong Soon’s growing feelings for him. I really cringed when he repeatedly used public displays of affection with her at his workplace, because she has yet to establish her competence with her future colleagues. Min Hyuk doesn’t care about Bong Soon’s career in spite of the fact that he appears to be mentoring her, because he is setting her up to appear to have slept her way to the top.
Only: Min Hyuk also had yet to confirm that Bong Soon had feelings for him before he started grabbing her hand publicly at work. Also, can someone please explain why a super strong woman can’t get her hand free?
Junggugeo Kaenada: Viewers might disagree with me, but I feel like the magic between Bong Soon and Min Hyuk has died down ever since they ceased being combative. Her submissive, moony stares at him actually ring hollow in comparison to the casual injury she used to inflict on him. Here I was complaining about the level of violence in previous episodes. Now, I’m getting nostalgic for Bong Soon’s abuse of Min Hyuk.
Only: Their bickering was the closest they came to seeming like equals. Since she fell in love with him, it seems like the power imbalance has gotten worse in Min Hyuk’s favour, especially now that she’s transferred her hero-worship from Gook Doo to him.
Junggugeo Kaenada: Speaking of power imbalance, the Dobong-dong kidnapper has once again outsmarted Gook Doo’s division. They were so focused on protecting Hee Ji that he was able to snatch Kyung Shim. Bong Soon is going to self-flagellate, as she should; I don’t know why Kyung Shim was departing for Busan alone at night. On a side note, I found it hilarious that the photos Gook Doo showed of the kidnapper to Hee Ji were essentially the actor’s glamour shots.
Only: I don’t know if using Hee Ji as bait counts as protecting her, but the kidnapper is pretty much running circles around them. It’s pretty clear that the only people who can stop him are Bong Soon and Min Hyuk, if only they can stop being lovey-dovey long enough to do it. Frankly, I would have preferred the two of them doing something about the Dobong-dong kidnapper than watching a musical montage of them working on a video game.
Junggugeo Kaenada: The writer really has set Min Hyuk and Bong Soon up to look like insular assholes. The only thing that will force them out of their love cocoon to care about the disappearance of four women is the kidnapping of Kyung Shim. I am relieved by this plot development, but I’m not crazy about Bong Soon’s weepy plea for help in the preview for episode 12. I was hoping she would get good and angry.
Only: I’m getting a little frustrated with how little her super strength is used in this episode and the past few episodes. If the only reason she’s strong is to intimidate her team leader, and to beat up some cartoon gangsters, then why bother?
Junggugeo Kaenada: We’ve focused mainly on the lead couples, and ignored secondary characters like the gangsters, juvenile delinquents and the gay caricature playing the Planning and Development supervisor.
Only: I don’t have much to say about the comic relief gangsters and delinquents, since I pretty much tune out when they’re onscreen. The Planning and Development supervisor is a character I could really have done without. Vivi at KDrama Fighting! wrote a pretty comprehensive post on the subject, if anyone wants to take a deep-dive into representation in Korean dramas.
Junggugeo Kaenada: Let’s hope we see less of the secondary characters now that the urgency of finding Kyung Shim will be front and center for Bong Soon and Min Hyuk.
Only: Yes, maybe Min Hyuk and Bong Soon can take a break from flirtatious video game development to actually catch the guy.
Noonas Over Forks 
Lol I’m probably one of the minority, but I too stopped liking the MH/BS relationship when she started falling for him – it’s like she lost her spark and spunk, which I think it’s pretty common in alot of K-dramas. In ep 12 she went crying to MH to help her….erm… she’s strong and all so why is she so weepy? She could beat up a whole load of gangsters and whatnot but not this kidnapper?? And honestly, I find MH/BS relationship really boring and find it really unprofessional that they are conducting alot of their romance pretty openly in the office. MH holding Bs’s hand in front of other colleagues – what’s up with that?? And she couldn’t pull free lol. MH has also ceased being interesting to me – alot of the time I find him unprofessional and just nothing about him stands out very much now. GD was actually amazing during this ep and for once I’m super interested in his development. Also I think this drama made a mistake by juxtaposing a romcom with a psycho-thriller plot as it’s difficult to enjoy the romance with so much darkness hanging over your head. Also, I’m far more interested in the kidnapper plot than anything else at this moment, it’s super exciting and everything else is just filler. The characters have some of the most inane dialogue ever! lol
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