We’ve reached the half-way point of our story and the theme of fate versus free will is getting more complicated. While new backstory helps us understand our leads in the present, new kiss premonitions begin to guide not only their lips — but also their hearts.
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP
We left off last week with a cliffhanger of Min-hu telling Ye-sool he has “one condition” that should be met before they sleep together. This week begins in the same scene, but we still don’t learn what that condition is right away. The conversation is interrupted by Ji-young and then, even after Min-hu shuttles her out of the building, it seems he loses his nerve to discuss it.
Back at home, this leads Ye-sool and Ho-woo to try to guess what the one condition is. Ho-woo thinks Min-hu might have an S&M fetish, which causes Ye-sool to have a drawn-out fantasy about Min-hu asking her to role-play and sign a slave contract (lol I’m crying).
At work the next day, Ye-sool tells Min-hu that the only reason she wants to sleep with him is because she saw it happening in the future. Now, whenever she sees him, she can’t concentrate. She thinks that once they get it out of the way, she will feel more at ease. Min-hu offers again to do it that night at his house so they can get back to feeling comfortable around each other (uh, yeah, no problems with this plan).
That night, though, rather than actually getting to it, they do a staged run-through of the big event, with Min-hu asking for a play-by-play of the moves. Min-hu is in disbelief that he would act the way Ye-sool is describing. For example, there is no way he would ignore it and keep kissing her after they break his potted plant — affectionately named Jackson, haha.
Further, Min-hu says he doesn’t sleep with women he’s not dating, and so, if Ye-sool wants to sleep with him, she should date him. That, it turns out, is his one condition. Huh? What the manipulation is going on right now? And why all the need to try to construct a future that is supposedly pre-determined? Complicated logic aside, after putting the idea of dating out there, it’s the thread that ties all the action together for the remainder of the episodes.
Ye-sool isn’t initially keen on dating Min-hu. To express this, she accepts Pil-yo’s three-date offer — while Min-hu is standing there to hear it. This escalates the developing rivalry between Min-hu and Pil-yo, and also allows us to get more insight into the Ye-sool/Pil-yo backstory.
On the first of their three dates, Ye-sool and Pil-yo go camping and, in a romantic setup, he shows her his lauded film. While he points out scenes based on their history together, it’s obvious that he still has genuine feelings for her and wants to know why they broke up back in college. In flashback, we find out that every time Ye-sool and Pil-yo kissed, she saw him in a future relationship with one of their classmates (having a baby and all). This led Ye-sool to pull away from him while simultaneously wanting to kiss him often in order to confirm whether or not the future had changed.
From Pil-yo’s perspective, Ye-sool’s actions were both hurtful and confusing (a quote from his movie poster reads, “I shed tears every time I kiss you.”) For me, this whole sequence is making Pil-yo very endearing after a flat start last week. It also explains Ye-sool’s experience much better. Even though Ye-sool thinks to herself that they broke up because they had a “miserable future together,” the reality is that her visions were causing them to suffer in the present. In that sense, her choice to break up is a practical issue, more than a matter of avoiding the future. With horrible visions disrupting intimacy, there was no way for her to be happy in their day-to-day life.
This backstory paints a powerful contrast to the visions she sees when she kisses Min-hu. When Ye-sool suddenly remembers the visions she had the night she drunkenly kissed Min-hu in the car, the scenes are filled with laughter and kisses. The two are clearly in a relationship — it’s not just a one-night stand, as she had assumed from her prior premonition. Ye-sool quickly realizes that it’s the first time she’s seen herself happy.
The question of happiness becomes central as every time Min-hu asks about Ye-sool’s visions of their future together he wants to know, “Are we happy?” While we know the answer, Ye-sool isn’t ready to admit it yet. She gets closer to her feelings, though, when her house is burglarized and Min-hu comes to the rescue. Afterward, he brings a crew to install surveillance cameras and it finally clicks for Ye-sool that he has consistently been trying to take care of her.
While Min-hu is explaining something technical about the surveillance system, Ye-sool asks if he likes her. He says, yes, and continues talking tech. It’s a sweet moment that seems to stun them both and they meet outside where Ye-sool has a million questions. When did he start liking her? And how could he yell at her at work if he likes her? (lol, this show doesn’t miss a beat with the jokes). He answers all of her questions matter-of-factly and asks when she is going to answer his.
But Pil-yo is there to hear everything and stop her from answering. The two men then have a showdown for Ye-sool’s feelings at a bar, where they trash-talk by using negative information they’ve heard about each other from Ye-sool over the years. It turns out neither holds their liquor well and both pass out trying to outdrink each other. With no one to drive Min-hu home, Ye-sool takes him to her place and dumps him on the couch (Piggyback Counter: 3).
When Min-hu wakes up drunk and flirty, many kisses occur and we get a shower of happy visions of their future together. The next night, he asks her again: are we happy? And she responds: should we date? (Yessss! Will these two get on with it already?! I’m biting my nails the tension is so high.)
Apart from the growing feelings between Min-hu and Ye-sool (which are oh-so-lovely to watch), one of the highlights this week is Pil-yo’s development as a character. I can feel how much he still cares about Ye-sool and how much pain he is holding in. I don’t want to see him and Ye-sool get back together, but I do want to see him heal and move on.
Also, giving him not one, but two rivalries this week adds depth to his storyline. His contentious moments with Min-hu are laugh-out-loud funny, but he also gets positioned opposite Ji-young. She goes out of her way to get the part in the new Mopix car commercial he’s directing (to be near Min-hu), but she’s all wrong for the concept he sketched of a 70-year-old man (ahaha). Since I find her so unpleasant, I’m hoping their rivalry will be satisfying to watch.
The other highlight is finally getting some questions answered about Min-hu’s past. He goes to visit his long-time doctor to discuss his changing symptoms — and the doctor is Ji-young’s dad. This explains how Ji-young knows all about his abilities (and can use that knowledge to blackmail him into not cutting her off completely). We find out that Min-hu was in an accident as a kid and when he woke up his five senses were heightened. Ji-young’s dad helped him learn to deal with the pain it causes him.
However, the doctor tells him that he can’t take the medications he’s on forever or it will cause brain dysfunction. He needs to try to get control over his senses on his own. Since his hearing is the strongest sense, he should aim to listen to sounds he wants to hear. We see this put into practice when Ye-sool gets switched to a different planning team after a photo of the new Mopix model is “accidentally” leaked. Someone has to take responsibility, and Ye-sool finds herself downstairs with Planning Team 2. Through the floor, Min-hu listens to Ye-sool crying and consoling herself.
An addendum on my favorite side couple: Ho-woo breaks up with Seung-taek when their seven days of dating are up. Both admit they like each other a lot, but that’s precisely the reason Ho-woo wants to break up — to end it on a high note.
However, they meet again when Seung-taek is greeting a new batch of medical students and Ho-woo is among them. (Was I not paying attention? When did they allude to her being a medical student?) Unfortunately for Seung-taek (who is beyond smitten), Ho-woo prefers if they act like they don’t know each other so she can focus on checking “doctor” off her bucket list. Well, I gotta love her for having big plans, but I also doubt she can resist Tae In-ho’s babyface for long.