Summer vibes this week with sunshine, rainbows, and heart eyes as our leads get oh-so-close together. But with our heroine’s “boyfriend” causing a barrier, rivalry and jealousy brew between our two high school boys. Plus, we’re introduced to a crime plotline that I did not see coming — and with so many feel-goods packed around it, I’m mostly choosing to ignore it until next week.
EPISODES 5-6
The squees are back! And if there’s one thing this drama knows how to do, it’s hit me right in the ribs. The distance that was so evident last week in the way our leads relate to each other is starting to melt away as Sun-jae pushes toward Sol and Sol starts to reconsider why she’s in the past.
We ended with an epic hug on the shore last week, and now, as our leads taxi home together, Sol learns that she and Sun-jae have met before. He tells her about the first time he saw her — that day in the rain — and she realizes that she’s viewed him as unreachable all this time, but he was right there all along. They’ve had a series of missed connections (including the time he saved her life), and she wonders: “Not missing those signals — could that be the reason why I came here and why I met you again?”
With that setup, the majority of the next two hours are just bliss as Sun-jae’s heart practically explodes any time he sees Sol smile. But, he’s careful not to come too close since, technically, she’s still dating Tae-sung. Technicalities aside, it’s no secret where Sol’s interests lie. And this dynamic — between “boyfriend” and “object of attention” — leads to a series of mini macho competitions that (sorry) are just beautiful to watch.
For example, when Sol forgets her tie at school, Sun-jae removes his own and slips it over her head (holy smokes this moment). This leads Tae-sung to seek out Sun-jae and ask what’s up with him and his girlfriend, as they try to outrun each other on the high school track. And it’s not just the shots of triceps that have me captivated. I’d say our two flirtatious and good-looking male leads have almost as much onscreen chemistry with each other as they do with our heroine (thank you casting director).
But even though Sol is giving Sun-jae all of her attention, her motivations are still mostly rooted in her fangirl love and mission to save his life. She gives him a time capsule, which they bury together, and instructs him not to open it until midnight January 1, 2024 (the time of his death). She also tries to soothe him by not allowing him to watch the Olympic games when Korea is about to win the gold in swimming, fearing he’ll be too sad.
To distract him, she takes him on a date to the movies, where he tries to act cool and uninterested. She, on the other hand, grabs ahold of his head and turns it toward her face when she worries he’ll see the swim competition on TV. It’s pretty hard for him not to misread that and, try as he might to keep a neutral face, he can’t hold back his dimples. By the time she puts her headphones over his ears to stop him from hearing the news, he looks ready to melt.
But all the antics lead to an important moment. When Sun-jae actually sees the Korean swimmer win the gold, he cheers alongside everyone else. Sol misread him. And he tells her that even if he had known he’d have to quit swimming, he’d have done it anyway. He was happy when he swam, and if he didn’t do it, he would never have known that happiness. He doesn’t regret it, even though it ended (which is just lovely life advice). He assures her that he’s all right — and I think she’s finally getting to know the real Sun-jae.
Things get a little wonky when In-hyuk needs a new vocalist for his band (already called Eclipse) and he asks Sun-jae to fill in. Sol is really upset to see him on stage, imagining the future this might lead to. So later, when she finds out that Sun-jae agreed to sing in order to win a new phone for Sol (she lost hers that night she fell in the reservoir), she’s angry. They start to argue and she tells him not to worry about her — instead he should just be selfish.
Sun-jae chews on that advice during the night, and in the morning, he agrees to only think of himself. In that vein, he asks her to break up with Tae-sung. Can she do that for him? And just at the moment when Sun-jae is saying this to Sol, she’s hearing the recording from the night at the pool when he said he liked her. So, it’s a sweet kind of double confession — to which she responds by thinking, “Why would he like me?” before running away in a panic. (Oh Sol, give yourself some credit!)
We then learn that Sol actually fulfilled Sun-jae’s wish before he even asked. Rumor around the school was that Tae-sung picked a random girl to date (which happened to be Sol) just to blow off another girl who was following him around. And so, Sol being the sparkplug that she is, kicks the crap out of him and dumps him on the spot. But Tae-sung really looks hurt (and not just from the way she headbutted him).
When Sun-jae overhears that Tae-sung got dumped, he’s ecstatic. But when he sees Sol crying, he thinks it’s because of “that jerk.” She happens to be out buying rice wine for her grandmother at the time, but Sun-jae assumes she’s trying to drown her sorrows. “Can’t you just lean on me?!” he asks (gah).
Just as they begin to fight over the bottle of makgeolli, Sol’s oppa, IM GEUM (Song Ji-ho), does a flying kick to Sun-jae’s face. This is because he thinks Sun-jae is the one that got Sol drunk that night by the pool — and now this bad influence of a boy is at it again.
After the kick, Sun-jae is flat on the ground and the open makgeolli somehow pours into his mouth (lol of all the ridiculousness). In seconds, he’s drunk and passed out, which is a great way to have him end up at Sol’s house for the night.
And then my favorite scene arrives. First, as Sun-jae is sound asleep in Geum’s room, Sol enters and aims the fan at him (in a reversal of the scene we saw last week at his house). Then, at his bedside, she touches his chest to make sure he’s still alive, and he sleepily slides his hand up to meet hers. (Eeeeeee! Last week I went on and on about the hand scenes and this one is just omo.)
When he starts to wake up, Sol pulls away and hides under the bed. He immediately finds her there and they end up uncomfortably close when she covers his mouth with her hand. Right then, Geum opens the door and, not wanting to get caught together, Sun-jae wraps a blanket around Sol and pulls her into a cuddle on the floor. This way, it looks like he fell off the bed and is just sleeping there.
Once Oppa is safely asleep in the bed, Sol lifts her head from Sun-jae’s chest and peeks out of the blanket, bringing her and Sun-jae face to face. (I’m not kidding, I screamed. Apparently it was the only way to let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding). They stare at each other, very close, and Sun-jae blinks in that way that says he’s about to kiss her, when Geum says, “What are you two doing?” LOL. Caught! But luckily, with no repercussions.
After this, both parties seek advice from their besties about how to proceed. On Sun-jae’s side, he’s told not to hit on Sol too soon after her breakup or to make it too obvious he likes her (he still doesn’t know she heard the recording of the confession). On Sol’s side, her friend tells her that it’s no wonder that Sun-jae likes her when she threw herself at him. This is worrying to Sol because she thinks he only likes her due to her fangirl efforts — and she didn’t mean to stir his heart.
But now that Sol knows he has feelings, she’s letting herself feel for real too, rather than the distant idol crush she had before. When she’s suddenly pensive around him, he assumes she’s still thinking of Tae-sung. And these ongoing misinterpretations are one of the things I love most about this drama. Their uncertainties leave them so totally insecure that they assume the worst, which leads to more misinterpretation, and it just feels so authentic.
Tae-sung, for his part, tries to redeem himself by showing up at Sol’s house unannounced and waiting for her to arrive. When they finally talk, he apologizes and says he didn’t use her. He asked her out because she said she liked him. “So do you go out with everyone that likes you?” she wants to know. No — he really liked her. A lot. Sol, however, thinks he’s BSing (and I do too. I have a feeling this bad boy only wants what he can’t have). Tae-sung, though, seems really affected when he leaves, and then gets into a motorcycle accident, which puts him in the hospital.
Finally, Sun-jae gets Sol to agree to a date with him. They go to watch the Olympics on TV and witness the Korean baseball team take home the gold. There’s so much excitement in the air that Sun-jae decides it’s the timing he’s been waiting for. He takes Sol’s hand and leads her to a quiet locale, where he confesses for a second time. He tells her how he always hated the rain until the day he saw her. He liked it that day and has liked it ever since. “I don’t think I’ll ever hate them. The rain… and you. Sol-ah. I like you a lot.”
She looks sad and lowers her eyes. He gets nervous, “Well, you don’t have to answer right away.” Before she says anything, they get a call from Tae-sung in the hospital telling them that Sol’s mom is there too. This is really a shock because up to this point, Sol (and we) thought she was on a trip with a new guy she’s seeing.
As it turns out, Mom has cancer and the guy wasn’t her date but her doctor. Luckily, she’ll have surgery quickly and be okay, but the moment brings Sol and Tae-sung together for a heart-to-heart. She thanks him for calling and says, “I don’t know what kind of scars you have, or what kind of pain you have to face, but I want you to spend the time you have now in the best way possible so you have no regrets later — this is all I can say to my first love.” And wow, I love this acknowledgement from her. She wants to change his fate too (before he gets in a fight and drops out of school).
Once Tae-sung is let down softly and Mom is in recovery, it’s back to dealing with that confession of Sun-jae’s. Sol says she can’t reciprocate his feelings. (Ouch.) He protests but she goes on, saying she’s sorry for getting involved in his business and confusing him. “Hearing this from you makes me feel uncomfortable and pressured.” She tells him to stop liking her and then walks away, leaving them both to deal with their hurt alone.
You know, as much as it breaks my heart to hear her say this, I respect her honesty and it feels like the right sentiment — she would feel uncomfortable and pressured given her understanding of things. From the bit we gather from her thoughts, it seems like she’s worried about when she goes forward in time again and Young Sol reappears. Young Sol won’t know what’s happened (and might still be hung up on Tae-sung), and Adult Sol can’t risk hurting Sun-jae like that again.
Okay, let’s talk about the crime plotline. Sol still hasn’t gotten all of her memories back about the night of the accident. But she has a flashback of something to do with a set of jingling keys and a taxi driver. We see that when she lost her phone, some crazy dude picked it up. Later, he calls her house trying to find her — and halmeoni gives him their home address so he can “return the phone” (*smacks forehead*).
At the end of this week’s episodes, we skip to the night of the accident. Sol is at home, trying to run out the clock and keep herself safe until after the time the accident occurred. Sun-jae messages her that he wants to talk. He won’t make her uncomfortable, he just needs a minute. She says no, but he doesn’t see her response and goes out to meet her anyway — and she sees him leave his house.
When it starts to rain, Sol can’t bear the thought that he’s waiting outside for her and rushes out to meet him. Outside, she suddenly remembers the first time they met — that day she put an umbrella over his head. She recalls a radio interview he did when he described meeting his first love, and realizes it was her. It’s now obvious to her that he liked her before she arrived from the future.
She starts running to him, but on her way, she’s cut off by the crazy taxi driver who has her cell phone. She remembers being kidnapped and chased. Then we see Sun-jae going back home and finding her fallen umbrella while the taxi is pulling away.
Well, this was a twist I didn’t really see in development. But instead of guessing about what will happen next week, I’d rather just squee about all the magic in these episodes. I really love the dating dynamics at play here with people who are infatuated but don’t want to show all their cards. It’s cute and comical, but also right on the money. Sun-jae especially keeps giving away a little more than he’s comfortable with, only to backtrack and try to play cool. Of course, when he finally thinks it’s safe to have feelings, she pulls the rug out from under him.
There was no surprise that it would be the case, but it didn’t make it sting any less. When you have this much lovey-dovey feeling throughout an entire two episodes it can only end badly. But, then again, it’s like Sun-jae said about swimming: it made him happy at the time and he has no regrets about it being over. And that’s exactly how I feel about the last two hours: totally worth it, even if the cloud-nine feeling can’t last forever.