Misery loves company — although when the other party is a witness to our leading lady’s downfall, he becomes unwelcome company — but heartbreak is temporary, and life has to go on whether they like it or not.
EPISODES 5-6
After hitting rock bottom last week, Bora finds comfort in knowing that like most “scandals,” hers was just a flash in the pan and the world has moved on. However, her anxiety briefly returns with La Bella’s latest issue featuring a column from Deborah. All of the hundred thousand released copies get sold out in two days thanks to BlackPink as the cover models (and Bora who buys tons of copies to prevent more eyes from reading her column or even remembering that Deborah the dating coach exists), and La Bella orders a second press run of the issue. Heh.
But it’s not so bad for Bora after all, because thanks to her column, the public sentiment finally shifts towards her. And this means the Deborah project is back on the table at Jinlee publishers. Unfortunately, Bora backs out of the project — and no, it’s not because she overheard Sang-jin describing her as “the main character of an epic story of failure.” It’s just that after her breakup, Bora doesn’t think she can write a book about love again.
There’s nothing like heartbreak to bond two sad souls, so Soo-hyuk spends most of the episode trying to cheer Bora up. From playing along to activate a bit of jealousy in Ju-wan, to a solidarity lunch at Dad’s Chicken (Mom’s Chicken’s competitor), to telling her about his own heartbreak experience — it’s Soo-hyuk to the rescue. Because there’s no better cheer up mechanism than hearing about other people’s misfortunes. Lol.
“Heartbreak is like the common cold. Although we come down with it sometimes, we get over it before we know it. Everything will be all right as if nothing happened,” Soo-hyuk says to Bora. But when he mentions that rather than a book about love, she can write about what happens after a breakup, Bora thinks he was just buttering her up to get a book out of her. “Let’s not see each other again,” she says to him, but not out of spite. She’s just embarrassed that Soo-hyuk is a constant witness to all her mortifying moments.
But just when I thought that Bora was spending too much time at the bottom of the heartbreak rock, my girl clawed further down to dig for oil. Her drunken self really staggered all the way to Ju-wan’s at night to beg him to get back together. *Facepalms* “How low are you going to go?” Ju-wan asks, and I want to whack him upside the head because that is my line! My goodness, Bora! What happened to practicing what you preached earlier on about loving yourself more? But then, there are some lessons that only total humiliation can teach a person, and Bora needs to learn once and for all that there is no salvaging her relationship with Chicken Junior. Telling her that he hates her like crazy, Ju-wan slams the door in Bora’s face. Welp! And as usual, Soo-hyuk is present as a witness — but he does more than observe this time, and he pulls Bora into a comforting hug.
After self-reflection and alcohol-induced gastritis, Bora decides that she doesn’t want to leave this world with a gravestone that reads “she was dumped, drunk, and clingy.” So, she pulls herself together. Better late than never, I guess. And over text, Bora thanks Soo-hyuk for looking out for her, and reiterates her “let’s never see each other again” stance.
Nothing says “moving on” better than spring cleaning and getting rid of all the Ju-wan memorabilia in Bora’s apartment. Heck, Bora even decides to move to a new place. Unfortunately, Bomi falls for a messenger phishing scam and sends 40 million won to their new “landlord” (thinking the text was from her sister). Soo-hyuk also loses 5 million to the scam, and Bora is part apologetic and part embarrassed when she finds out. Bora cannot understand why he would agree to send money to “her” in the first place, but Soo-hyuk interprets this as, “It’s is all your fault, you should have double checked before sending the money.” Thus, her “let’s never see each other again” feeling becomes mutual.
But getting scammed means Bora no longer has enough money to sign a new lease. And there is nothing like the threat of homelessness to spring a reluctant writer towards a publisher she never wanted to see again. Hehe. And this is where we conclude what was a mostly draggy week in the Bora! Deborah universe.
Because Bora’s career hinged on being in a happy relationship and she lost both in one fell swoop, I could understand — and empathize with — her being all down in the dumps throughout last week. But extending the misery into this week was just too much of a stretch. And as for Soo-hyuk, from what I saw, he was never into his ex as much as Bora was into Ju-wan. So, I’m not really sympathetic towards him, because I don’t get why his breakup blues have gone on for this long. It’s almost seems contrived at this point.
Can we just be done with this breakup angle so we can explore more interesting parts of the story? Like the sweet sisterly relationship between Bora and Bomi. And what I just know will be the cutest romance between Bomi and Jin-ho. Already, Jin-ho has gotten a job at Jin-woo’s bar, and aside the budding hyung-dongsaeng bromance between both guys, I thought this was a nice way to draw Jin-ho closer into Bomi’s orbit. But an angle I don’t really look forward to exploring is a romance between Sang-jin and Woo-ri. I can overlook her having a crush on him, but please, let these two remain platonic till the end.