Lost dreams are now found, but so are ten-year-old (almost) love letters. While our heroine might be on a high of finding and pursuing her dreams at last, our hero is struggling with his feelings and trying to protect himself in the wake of them. But if we know anything about our heroine it’s that she’s good at bulldozing her way past obstacles.
EPISODES 5-6
Now we’re talking! With the Gripe Greip plot arc out of the way and our characters behaving fully in-character again, our drama finally starts to shine. These were two delightful episodes, and the emotional core of the show is now feeling strong enough to carry the weight of the patchwork-y plot (and I say that in the kindest sense). Let’s jump in!
Poor Seung-hyo is having a hard time dealing with his feelings (aka, acknowledging that he still likes Seok-ryu), so his knee-jerk reaction is to push her away. He’s suddenly flustered around her after last week’s hugfest, and tries to push her out of Atelier In ASAP. But whose arms are those wrapping around Seung-hyo from behind? Oh, it’s just his ex-girlfriend JANG TAE-HEE, the gorgeous artisan who wants him back (and a super fun guest appearance from my girl Seo Ji-hye).
What’s most funny about this ex-girlfriend plot arc is that Seung-hyo obviously has a type, because Tae-hee and Seok-ryu get on like peanut butter and jelly. And — thank the drama gods — Tae-hee soon faces the fact that a) Seung-hyo is not interested in rekindling with her and b) he is literally a beacon of light and happiness when he’s around Seok-ryu. Take that, overplayed ex-girlfriend trope! By the end of the week’s episodes, Tae-hee is on the SxS ship as much as we are.
But Tae-hee and her story arc aren’t just to push the romance ahead: they’re also to help Seok-ryu realize the dream that’s been inside her all along. First, following the Namsan lock incident where Seung-hyo helped Seok-ryu let go of past trauma, she cooks an amazing hotpot. When we lingered on her cooking I was just glad to finally have a female lead in a K-drama that can cook. But on closer glance, I was getting Chocolate vibes with the level of care that was taken in showing the food prepping and eating. Why, you might wonder, are we watching Seok-ryu cook and everyone enjoy her food?
The answer becomes clear later in the episode.
It turns out that Tae-hee wants to partner with Seung-hyo for a work project, and the Atelier In folks + Seok-ryu wind up on a field trip of sorts. At Tae-hee’s workshop, the grounds are filled with onggi and all sorts of fermenting ingredients therein. Seok-ryu is over the moon with this experience, asking questions galore, lapping it all up, and then later making kalguksu for everyone with the fresh doenjang and other ingredients. It was while everyone was fussing over the soup (and my mouth was watering) that I realized Seok-ryu’s dream before she realized it herself.
During the same outing, the flusteredness continues between Seung-hyo and Seok-ryu. As if the hug weren’t enough, he spent an evening drinking with her dad (lol) and fell asleep in Dong-jin’s bed. So imagine Seung-hyo’s shock when he’s being pounded awake by Seok-ryu (thinking it’s her little bro) — and in the scuffle he winds up half naked on top of her (of course). And then, in trying to extricate himself, he sprains his toe. LOL!
With that on his mind — and Seok-ryu’s infectious happiness over aged soy sauce and all things related to Korea cooking traditions — there are practically hearts in his eyes. Tae-hee sees it, we see it, Mo-eum’s seen it since high school — in fact, everyone probably sees it except for Seok-ryu (for now). In the meantime, the two share a moonlit moment in a field of earthenware pots, and it’s here that Seung-hyo finally accepts that he’s in love with her.
But love is not that easy, especially when you’re childhood friends and you’ve kept the roaring flame you’ve had going under wraps for so long (don’t ask me how). And when you’ve expressly overheard her say she’s still in love with her ex. So, Seung-hyo doubles down on his avoidance to the point where it really starts to drive a wedge between them. At first, Seok-ryu thinks he’s mad or upset at her; meanwhile, she just wants her partner in crime to rejoice in the cooking certification she’s (secretly) going for.
Once Seok-ryu realized she loves to cook, it’s like the plot universe opens up all this evidence that it’s the right path for her, from the fact that Mo-eum testifies she’s always loved cooking to the fond memories of watching her dad in their pokey tteokbokki shop.
Speaking of that shop, though — and Dad — drama is on the horizon. Seung-hyo accidentally sees Seok-ryu’s dad leaving a nightclub with a woman hanging all over him, and after this sight he waits for Dad to get home. They have a chat, which we are not privy to yet, but not long after Mom starts piecing things together too. Her husband has been out every night, there are weird receipts around, and she expects the worst and confronts him straight away. (This has gotta be the fastest moving plotline in history.)
The truth comes out that Dad is in legal trouble. Earlier in the episode we saw him acting all sweet when two YouTubers NerTubers turned up in the shop and wanted to film there. When we later see how that played out, the two guys “found” a hair in their food, got “burned” by the soup, and their “luxury” watch was damaged. Dad is distraught trying to deal with all the money he now owes them, but is too afraid to tell anyone.
Seok-ryu — who we know adores her father — has a plan in place to catch these shady influencers. She heads to a neighboring storefront for CCTV footage, but — alas — Seung-hyo already has it. Oh, and he has an epic sting operation all set up where he meets the scammers, debunks all their claims, and invites Dan-ho who is Extremely Interested in writing about this new wave of scammers popping up and hitting local businesses.
When the scammers can’t see a way out, they try to run away instead, and it’s actually hilarious watching Seung-hyo and Dan-ho try (and fail) to keep up with these guys. But it’s okay in the end. One guy runs into a pole on accident (omg lol), and Seok-ryu is on-scene and she whacks the other one with her purse and a “How dare you do that to my dad!” until Seung-hyo ends it with swift sidekick to the scammer.
In the scuffle, Seok-ryu was pushed to the ground, but don’t worry about her nosebleed — she said she’s just been overworked lately (must be all that vegetable chopping lol.) Still, that doesn’t stop Seung-hyo from heroically ripping off his expensive tie and holding it to her nose to stop the bleeding. Don’t worry about the scammer trying to escape. Little bro of many muscles is also on the scene, and delivers a well-aimed kick. And that’s why influencers are not to be trusted, kids.
After that little adventure (and Seung-hyo’s Mr. Darcy-level family problem-solving), Seok-ryu expects everything to go back to normal between them. However, Seung-hyo is all “we’re adults now” and “let’s respect each other’s privacy.” He’s cold and it’s disappointing, but it’s where the heart of this dramatic tension lies because we’ve previously seen him spill his guts to new neighborhood pal Dan-ho.
Seung-hyo had asked if he wanted to grab a drink, but instead of at a bar, Seung-hyo winds up at Dan-ho’s front door, meeting his — yes — little five-year-old daughter KANG YEON-DU (Shim Ji-yoo). The drink he gets is iced misugaru, and they chat in Dan-ho’s backyard after Yeon-do has fallen asleep. Can I just say… I love this bromance. They are self-proclaimed neighborhood friends, and boy does Seung-hyo need someone to talk to. And it turns out Dan-ho is a great listener. He hears all about Seung-hyo’s “friend” and how he’s in love with his childhood friend but he can’t confess because it’s complicated. Dan-ho — who knows full well what is going on here — tells Seung-hyo about a ~swimmer~ who always struggled to start strong, but then made up the time. “Even if it’s late, I would tell him to muster up courage just like that swimmer did.” Cue: Neighbor Mo-eum eavesdropping, confirming everything she already knew since high school.
As for Seok-ryu, she’s slowly piecing Seung-hyo’s strange behavior together. The contents of the letter he wrote in the time capsule, intending to confess to her. The stars he affixed to her ceiling. And (not pictured) all the million sweet and caring things he’s done as a part of her life since forever.
Well, when he rejects her gift of the first meal she’s made in her class — lovingly packed for him, knowing it’s his favorite from childhood — Seok-ryu is having none of this anymore. No she will not stay out of his life, thank you very much, and I love her impetuousness in this scene. She pushes back against all of Seung-hyo’s resistance and he finally breaks out with a tortured, “You’re going to make me lose my mind!”
Seok-ryu wonders what he really means, so she follows him, throws her shoe at him, and demands to know what he meant by that. Now, we all know that’s Seung-hyo speak for “I like you so much I am barely holding it together” — but will he admit it? We have to wait a week to find out, because the drama just pulled the cruelest trick ever and cut the episode mid-scene, mid-dialogue, mid-moment.
Like I said above, the show won me over this week with everything feeling a bit more crystallized, and the food/cooking angle is just *chef’s kiss.* I still think the writing is a little haphazard and the pacing either too fast or too slow, but I’ll take it if they can deliver more episodes like this in the coming weeks.
Also, they definitely heard us complaining about the Mo-eum/Dan-ho love line last week, because this week’s interactions brought back their dynamic of mutual interest, kindness, and a hefty dose of honesty. After Mo-eum learns that her favorite crop circle girl is his daughter (when Yeon-du calls 119 with a fever), she berates Dan-ho. But though we don’t have the whole story yet, we can see (and so can Mo-eum) that he’s a caring single dad who is doing his best to raise her. And speaking of full stories we don’t have yet, the drama also continues to hint that whatever went down in Seung-hyo’s family and why his parents are so strange/estranged. Will this play into his own hesitation around confessing to Seok-ryu? I’m thinking yes, because an Episode 7 confession/kiss might be too much to ask for. But then again, we already got the ex-girlfriend appearance trope out of the way.