THE SHORT VERDICT:

For the majority of its run, I genuinely felt that Show was quite excellent.

From the sweeping, gorgeous scenery, to the beautiful people in it, Show was a treat to look at. On top of that, I found the writing thoughtful and thematically robust, and I loved following Show’s train of thought from episode to episode.

Unfortunately, Show does wobble in the finale stretch. Not enough to break my watch, exactly, but it sure leaves me with a wistful sense of the could’ve beens. 🥲

Despite that, I do think that Show is worth your time, on balance.

THE LONG VERDICT:

Truthfully, I’d been rather wary, coming into this one, because I’d heard the online chatter about this show suffering from a tonal switch midway through its story, and didn’t want to invest my drama hours in a potential dud.

However, I loved the opening episodes so much that I decided to take the emotional risk of investing not just my drama hours, but my heart as well.

Funny thing is, I never felt like I encountered a tonal switch during my watch.

In fact, I thought that Show was extremely solid – all the way through episode 10.

Which means that this drama managed to out-perform my initial expectations by quite a lot, yes?

Thinking about it that way does make me feel better about the eventual wobble during the finale, actually.

I guess context is everything, after all. 🥲

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to it while you read the review.

Overall, I found the music in this show to be very pleasant, in a breezy, eclectic kind of way.

Although none of the songs actually became earworms for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the music when it did come on during my watch, and I definitely felt like the music amplified my watch experience nicely.

If I had to pick a favorite, it’d be Track 4, Delight, which I find quite.. (yes) delightful. 😁

Here it is on its own as well, in case you’d prefer to listen to it on repeat. Just right-click on the video and select “Loop.”

HOW I’M APPROACHING THIS REVIEW

First I’ll talk about how to manage your expectations going into this one, and what viewing lens would be most helpful.

After that, I talk about stuff I liked or didn’t like, on a more macro level, before I give the spotlight to selected characters and relationships, in a separate section. Finally, I spend some time talking about my thoughts on the penultimate and finale episodes.

If you’re interested in my blow-by-blow reactions, &/or all the various Patreon members’ comments during the course of our watch, you might like to check out my episode notes on Patreon here.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are a few things that I think might be useful to keep in mind, if you want to maximize your chances of enjoying your watch:

1. Show prioritizes thematic exploration

Our writers consistently put their primary focus on the exploration of the idea of translation, and in doing so, sometimes favor a more fragmented storytelling approach.

Keeping your eyes on the theme of translation should help, particularly when our story departs from a chronological telling of events.

2. Some suspension of disbelief is required

Some things aren’t going to make complete sense, but I would suggest just rolling with it, as that’s far more enjoyable than trying to fight it. 😁

3. The viewing lens

On that note, I thought I’d mention that over on Patreon, Elaine mentioned that she found a dark fairytale lens very helpful – and I have to agree, it works!

Thanks, Elaine! ❤️

STUFF I LIKED

Show is beautiful to look at

The first thing that strikes me about this show, is how cinematic it feels, right off the bat.

The scenic locations, coupled with the excellent production values, take my breath away, right from our opening scene, and that gorgeous scenic beauty is consistently there in the back of our story.

Glorious.

How Show leads with a flash-forward

Honestly, I was quite surprised that Show would open with a flash-forward that drops us right in the heart of the romantic tension.

Yes, it’s a scene that’s already been teased in the trailers, but still, I hadn’t expected Show to lead with this – and to Show’s credit, I think that it works very well.

Kinda like how Dynamite Kiss (review here!) had led with the promise of what was possible, I feel like this show’s doing that too – just in a slightly different manner.

[MINOR FOUNDATIONAL SPOILERS]

Right in the opening scene, we already get to sample the romantic tension between Mu Hee (Go Youn Jung) and male lead Ho Jin (Kim Seon Ho), as well as second male lead Hiro (Fukushi Sota, whom I can’t help but find very handsome, not gonna lie 😁).

Clearly, both men have feelings for Mu Hee – but only Hiro feels able to act on his feelings, while all Ho Jin is able to do, is look on, while providing the translation for the love confession, because that’s his job.

[END FOUNDATIONAL SPOILERS]

It’s a pretty delicious sort of conundrum, and I do think it’s very shrewd of our writers, to give us this taste – and then whip us right back in time, to where our story actually begins, because by this point, I felt quite invested and needed to find out:

1, how we actually get to this point in our story, and

2, what actually happens.

Nicely played, I do think. 😁

Show goes down easily

One thing I found myself really enjoying about this drama, is how easily it goes down – at least for the most part.

As you may know, I watch my shows on a rotating basis, and therefore can’t binge entire dramas in a single sitting. This means that naturally, there’s a break of about a week or thereabouts, between my watching E1 & 2 and E3 & 4 and so on.

In my head, I’d imagined that it might take me a bit of time to get re-situated with this show, and get sucked back into the story each week.

However, that wasn’t the case at all. I basically got sucked back in immediately, upon pressing ‘play’ each week – and I do love that.

Overall narrative handling

Overall I do think that our writers handle our narrative with a sure hand.

Yes, I am underwhelmed by the narrative decisions in our finale, but that aside, I do consider the rest of the show to be deftly handled, so I want to give credit where it’s due.

Generally speaking, I’d say that there are quite a few layers / narrative pieces at play, and I feel like our writers work them into a nice balance that works very well.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

[BROAD MINOR SPOILERS]

E3-4. As the Romantic Trip project kicks off, I found myself getting enjoyment from two main things:

1, Hiro’s discontentment with Mu Hee as a co-host; his aggravation is my entertainment, and his disgruntlement becomes quite an amusing running gag; and

2, how this gives rise to opportunities for the bond between Mu Hee and Ho Jin to become stronger.

It’s like a two-arc relay, almost, and I feel like it works really well.

[END MINOR SPOILERS]

The touches of symbolism

This isn’t something that I actively looked out for, but I did occasionally notice some really nice symbolism at play.

One example that comes to mind is the recurring motif of trains and train tracks.

[SPOILER ALERT]

In episode 3, I do think that it’s not an accident, that as we pan away from Ho Jin and Mu Hee, we see the barrier on the train track lifting, as the train goes by.

I feel like with this detail, PD-nim’s mirroring the lifting of the barrier between Ho Jin and Mu Hee – isn’t that a nice touch? 🥲

And then later in our story, when the misunderstandings between our OTP are in full force, Elaine noted that the train whooshing past them, is kind of like meaning / communication whooshing past them.

I thought that was a very meaningful insight – thanks Elaine! ❤️

[END SPOILER]

The theme of translation

Like I alluded to earlier in this review, the writing in this show focuses on the theme of translation a great deal.

Not only is it ever-present in the main arc of our OTP relationship, it’s also worked into a lot of the secondary arcs as well.

I thought our writers did really well, layering all the various arcs to reinforce the central theme of translation as connection.

Here in this next spoiler section, I highlight a couple of times when this stood out to me extra.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-6. These episodes, I’m starting to see why our story is titled “Can This Love Be Translated?” – there’s a lot of translation that’s needed, not just by our characters, but by us as viewers too.

I have to admit that I came away from episode 6 probably as bemused as most other viewers, and it’s only after further thought, that I think I’ve figured out – or translated, heh 😁 – what our writers intended to communicate, via those key scenes between Ho Jin and Mu Hee.

Show establishes the idea early on, that there are as many languages as there are people, and these episodes, we really start to see that play out, between Ho Jin and Mu Hee – and that’s also where the eventual breakdown occurs, in episode 6, where they fail to truly understand (ie, translate) what the other person is really saying.

E5-6. We see that this dynamic, of not truly understanding what’s going on with the other person, in the way Nanami (Hyunri) concludes that the reason Mu Hee glows with so much happiness, is because she’s spending time with Hiro, when really, the reason is because Mu Hee’s got Ho Jin’s voice in her ear, the entire time.

It’s a very natural misunderstanding, certainly, and I can’t blame Nanami or Hiro for thinking that this is because Mu Hee likes Hiro.

But as we know, the truth is that Mu Hee likes Ho Jin, and she’s over the moon that Ho Jin’s officially on her side, and that she gets to “spend time” with him all day, in the course of her work.

Of course, with Mu Hee being on cloud nine and therefore extra charming and agreeable, I can completely understand Hiro having reason to pause and reconsider his opinion about her.

This is not our main misunderstanding, of course, but I do think that our writers do a nice job of layering this misunderstanding as a secondary, supportive sort of layer, and using it to prime us for the main misunderstanding to come.

[END SPOILER]

Show’s sense of humor

I’m happy to say that by and large, I found myself enjoying Show’s sense of humor quite well.

I didn’t feel like things were too OTT or uncomfortably embarrassing.

Instead, it seemed to me like a lot of the amusement stemmed from misunderstandings, which I thought worked very well.

Here’s an example to illustrate what I mean.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E3-4. I find it smart and funny, how our writers have Ho Jin in the know about Hiro’s dissatisfaction with Mu Hee as a co-host, thus leading to his measured questions and reactions around how Mu Hee feels about Hiro as a co-host – thus leading Yong U (Choi Woo Sung) to misunderstand and report to Mu Hee that Ho Jin appears to be jealous of her positive regard for Hiro.

Ahaha. That’s ripe for hijinks indeed. 🤭

[END SPOILER]

STUFF THAT WAS OK

The way Show requires some suspension of disbelief

Like I mentioned earlier, Show does require us to suspend disbelief on a pretty regular basis.

This didn’t affect my watch negatively, which is why I’ve got this in the neutral zone.

I just wanted to give a quick spotlight to the kind of disbelief that Show wants us to suspend.

Here’s an example from very early in our story.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. I have to confess that Mu Hee’s big accident made me gasp out loud.

I mean, falling from the top of a building, right down to the ground, onto her back? That would be enough to kill someone. 😱

I guess this is our first indication that our writers intend for us to suspend disbelief to some degree, since Mu Hee wakes up from a 6-month coma without any apparent scars or other ill effects.

Miraculous, to say the least – and I do think that this is a good indication of just how much disbelief our writers require of us.

[END SPOILER]

How Show handles the DID thing [SPOILERS]

Truth be told, when I began my watch, I hadn’t been aware that our story would include DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder).

So when I heard rumblings about this becoming an alter ego sort of DID story and changing tones suddenly at the midpoint mark, I’d worried that Show would only spring this on us in the second half.

Therefore, I was actually quite happy with the way Show clues us in early, within episode 2, that this will henceforth be part of the playing field.

For the most part, I am very pleased with the balance that Show keeps between the central love story, and the DID stuff to do with Do Ra Mi.

I’d imagined that we’d be spending a lot more time on Do Ra Mi, given that the presence of this alter really affects Mu Hee, but mostly, I found this nicely folded into the larger story of Mu Hee’s burgeoning connection with Ho Jin.

It’s only later in our story that Do Ra Mi takes up more screen time.

At this point, I thought it would be wise to echo those of you who pointed out that in real life, it’s important for someone in Mu Hee’s position to seek professional help, rather than just keep that on the peripheral of her recovery.

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

Show’s handling of the finale

It hurts me to say it, but it’s true that I was underwhelmed by the writing in our finale.

I’ll talk about it in detail later in this review, but I just wanted to put this here for now, to acknowledge upfront that Show does wobble in the final leg, sadly. 🥲

SPOTLIGHT ON SELECTED CHARACTERS /RELATIONSHIPS

Go Youn Jung as Mu Hee

I love Go Youn Jung and I think she does a lovely job of the character of Mu Hee.

Mu Hee immediately strikes me as the kind of person who wears her heart on her sleeve and follows her emotions wherever they lead – where preparedness is an afterthought (if it’s a thought at all 😁).

Overall, I found Mu Hee to be spontaneous, emotion-led and spirited, and Go Youn Jung makes her so effortlessly charming, that I could totally see why both Ho Jin and Hiro would fall for her in spite of themselves.

The more we learn about Mu Hee’s emotional wounds, the more my heart went out to her, and I wholeheartedly rooted for her to find a way to heal and love herself. 🥲

I will talk more about Mu Hee later when discussing the OTP, but for now, here are a few Mu Hee highlights from my watch.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. When we’re introduced to our female lead Mu Hee, she’s huffing and puffing her way up that bridge, in stilettos and a beautiful green dress.

That’s a great way to establish right away, that our female lead is down-to-earth and relatable, despite her jaw-droppingly beautiful surroundings.

E1-2. Honestly, the way Mu Hee dives into that solo trip to Japan, to seek out the woman whom she believes has stolen her boyfriend, is full of chutzpah.

She doesn’t speak Japanese, barely knows her way around, and doesn’t really know what she wants to say to “the other woman” when she gets there, and is armed only with her trusty translator app, but by golly, is she determined.

I can’t help but be quite fascinated by her, right away. 😁

E5-6. Unfortunately, Mu Hee’s confidence takes a big hit when Ji Sun (Lee Yi Dam) arrives to join the crew in Canada; I feel like I can practically hear the record-scratch in her mind, as she basically stops glowing and starts withdrawing into herself – where Do Ra Mi’s ready and waiting to fan her insecurities.

One of the key things that I notice Do Ra Mi doing, is tell Mu Hee that everything’s her fault.

When Ji Sun arrives, Do Ra Mi’s conclusion is that it was because Mu Hee had walked under that ladder, thereby inviting the bad luck.

I think this is very useful information for us, in understanding how Mu Hee’s wired.

If her first instinct is to blame every bad thing on herself, this does help us to understand better, her later instincts to withdraw from Ho Jin.

[END SPOILER]

Kim Seon Ho as Ho Jin

I found Kim Seon Ho nicely likable as Ho Jin, even though Ho Jin’s not exactly the most personable character, when we first meet him.

What I mean is, we quickly get the idea that Ho Jin is very good at his interpreter job, and prides himself on being professional and not crossing any personal boundaries.

Beyond that, I also got the sense that he’d rather not cross into personal territory as a matter of preference, rather than as a matter of professional conduct and self-control.

And so, even though he generally comes across as pleasant, professional, and prepared (the 3 P’s are completely coincidental, but I like ’em 😁), he’s far from an open book.

Therefore, one of the things that I enjoyed during my watch, was getting to understand Ho Jin and what makes him tick, bit by bit.

Again, I will talk more about Ho Jin when I discuss the OTP, but for a start, here are a few Ho Jin highlights from my watch.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. We know in hindsight that at Mu Hee’s urging, Ho Jin had run toward Ji Sun  despite knowing that she’s in a relationship with his brother Jin Suk.

This is problematic, yes, but the saving grace here is that he stops in his tracks, once Jin Suk calls – which nudges him to his senses.

I put this down to Ho Jin being overcome with the emotion of the moment; being in that place, which holds such strong memories for him, and being urged to action by Mu Hee with her pure, wholehearted enthusiasm.

I’m rationalizing that anyone can slip and make a mistake, especially when overcome with emotion; the important thing here, is that Ho Jin changes his mind, once his brain catches up.

E3-4. Of course our story requires Ho Jin to suddenly have a reason to say ‘yes’ to the translation gig, because we need him to be traveling with Mu Hee.

However, it does definitely give his decision a layer of poignance that his reason to agree is because he’s still in love with Ji Sun, and Jin Suk’s announced that he and Ji Sun will be getting married soon.

Aw. Even though we’ve known all along that Ho Jin had never intended to get in the way of Ji Sun’s relationship with Jin Suk, this is still a very difficult milestone for him, that’s basically soaked in a sense of finality.

I can understand why he’d want to be as far away from the wedding as possible. 🥲

[END SPOILER]

Mu Hee and Ho Jin

I’ll state upfront that this is not an OTP that I squeed over, and yet, I found myself very interested and engaged in the back-and-forth tango that we get, of these two people learning to translate each other and arriving at a place of mutual understanding.

Despite the quirks inherent in this relationship thanks in large part to Mu Hee’s unconventional habits, I found the process of this OTP drawing closer to each other very accessible and organic.

I also very much appreciate how our writers weave the entire DID layer into the development of our OTP connection, so that Ho Jin plays an active part in Mu Hee’s healing.

I thought that was nicely done.

In this next (monster) spoiler section, I map the OTP connection over the course of my watch.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-2. That scene where Mu Hee first encounters Ho Jin, with her trying to get her translator app to translate a curse word, and Ho Jin trying to act natural, like he can’t understand what she’s saying, is pretty great.

I found this very amusing, and a lot of credit goes to the directing restraint as well as the comic timing of our leads.

Her realization and slow processing of the fact that he’s Korean and understood her perfectly; his deer-in-headlights glazed-over face as he tries to figure out what to say in response; it tickles me a fair bit. 😁

And, we learn something important very quickly: that Mu Hee has a way of wheedling Ho Jin into saying, “Yes” to helping her, when his default has always been, “No thank you, I don’t get involved in other people’s business.”

We also learn that Ho Jin’s kind at heart, despite his preference for not getting involved.

When that Italian couple’s kid goes into shock, he jumps right into action, and then later, when Mu Hee finds herself dangerously on the verge of crying, during the confrontation (where she finds out that she herself, is, in fact, the real “other woman”), Ho Jin swings into position to protect her, while making up a cover story to protect Mu Hee’s dignity.

Aw. He’s a soft teddy bear at heart, is he? 🥲

(Ok, to be fair, he does technically gaslight the other woman into believing she’d been rude to Mu Hee, and that’s not nice, but since the other woman was rude first, I’ll excuse it just this once. 😅)

I also like that we get some great foundation-building between Mu Hee and Ho Jin, as they agree to have dinner together, and therefore spend the time leading up to the 7pm reservation, doing touristy things, during which pockets of sharing and conversation organically come into play.

Certainly, Mu Hee’s driving the sharing, but Ho Jin does eventually buy into her thought process, that it’s safe for them to share secrets for the basic reason that they are strangers who will never see each other again.

This allows them to engage more honestly than most people do upon first meeting, and I like that idea a lot; that our would-be OTP is getting off to such a genuine start. 🥲

I also like that Ho Jin is shown to encourage Mu Hee without prompting – thus showing us that he has more of a marshmallow center than he’d like to let on.

And the way he does it, by saying that if the other woman had been right, and the man who’d left Mu Hee is drawn to misfortune, then that must mean that only happiness awaits her, is a reframing that lands as smart and kind.

It’s almost like he’s translating the event for her rather than the language, if that makes sense?

I do really like the detail, that Mu Hee gets to translate an event for Ho Jin too, by telling him (or at least, confirming for him) that the girl who’d wanted him to be at that island for her birthday, was making a confession.

Afterwards, I couldn’t help but love the unhesitating way that Mu Hee tells Ho Jin to go and meet the girl, once he realizes that she’s there on the island, as per their long-ago promise.

Mu Hee doesn’t pause for a second to consider that this would mean that Ho Jin would leave her all alone and that their dinner date would be no more; she’s just that much on board rooting for his love – isn’t that so pure? 🥲

E1-2. I am delighted by the way Ho Jin shows up in Mu Hee’s life again, where she immediately recognizes his voice, as he translates that interview question for her.

The way she lights up immediately, with such a sparkle in her eyes, is just so disarming; I can’t help but be charmed. 🥰

Additionally, I can’t help but be charmed by Ho Jin as well, as he tries to use his gaze to subtly guide Mu Hee back to the interview at hand. Like, “See? He’s already helping her.” 😁

(On a complete tangent, I just wanted to give Show props for making the Singapore journalist actually sound Singaporean. 😜)

During the interview, I can’t help but clock that quick flash of disappointment in Ho Jin’s eyes, when Mu Hee answers the question about “the man in the photo” being just a random person who’d given her directions, and that it wasn’t romantic at all – and then the way there’s a tiny flash of him perking up again, when she says that just the thought of a chance encounter with someone charming while traveling gives her butterflies.

From this alone, I feel like it’s safe to say that Ho Jin isn’t as neutral and uninterested in Mu Hee as he later claims to be, when he asks her to delete his photograph from her Instagram post.

However, he’s clearly holding himself back and doing everything he can to maintain a neutral professional ground between them.

We’re not told why, so I’m guessing for now, that it could likely have to do with the fact that she’s now a top star, and things would be too complicated, and so he’d rather stay away than get drawn into a potentially scandalous situation? As we know too well, netizens can be harsh and cruel.

If that train of thought proves true, that this could even be interpreted as his way of protecting her?

Because, clearly, Mu Hee is quite thrilled to see him, and even her makeup artist notices how happy and excited she looks, because of meeting Ho Jin.

However, my gut does say that the stronger factor here, is likely Ho Jin’s general instinct to not get unnecessarily involved with other people.

The thing is, though, his care leaks out, in spite of himself.

He’s clear on wanting to establish a distance between Mu Hee and himself, and yet, we see that he’d visited her when she’d been in a coma, and several times at that.

That’s not casual concern, and I think that this says far more about the truth of his heart, than the words that he’s saying, to get Mu Hee to stop being so interested in him.

In contrast, I find Mu Hee’s honesty really appealing and charming.

When she finds herself in an awkward situation because Ho Jin overhears her manager reporting that he’d managed to trace the woman connected to the island, she ‘fesses up and apologizes, even though it’s all incredibly embarrassing.

I also like her self-awareness, like the way she tells Ho Jin that she’s blabbering because she’s nervous. I find her very endearing. 🥲

And even though she conducts herself quite well during this conversation, I do think that it’s still a blow to her, when Ho Jin is emphatic that they will never have a reason to see each other again. Aw.

In hindsight, I’m thinking that perhaps this is quite a big blow to her – and that’s why we see that strange cut to the awards show in Japan.

In the moment, it’s very disorientating – which is perfect, because this absolutely mirrors the disorientation that Mu Hee herself feels.

It’s only later that it becomes clearer, when we see Do Ra Mi sneering at Mu Hee in the mirror, that this was likely a case of her alter ego coming to the fore and taking over for a while, and this is why, from Mu Hee’s point of view, she goes straight from being outside Ho Jin’s home, to being on the red carpet.

Based on the fact that Mu Hee curls up in the hotel hallway with her head in her hands, this must be the first instance of her “blacking out” and also, the first time she’s encountering her alter ego.

Given everything that we know about Ho Jin and his core inability to just stand by and do nothing if Mu Hee needs help, I do think that he’s going to be quite involved in helping her navigate these strange waters, going forward – and I am very curious to see where this goes.

E3-4. One thing that I feel our writers are using very well, is the set-up where Ho Jin is the only person in Japan whom Mu Hee feels she can ask for assistance, because he speaks Japanese.

Because he has to translate for her during that appointment with the doctor, he can’t help but learn a lot of personal information about Mu Hee, like how she’s started to see Do Ra Mi, and how Do Ra Mi always appears to be mocking her.

And because the doctor asks about whether there’s any history of mental illness in her family, Ho Jin also comes to know of her childhood; how she’d lost her parents, and had to live with her uncle’s father, while being told that it had been her mother’s fault, that the accident had happened at all.

I can literally see Ho Jin’s expression change, the moment Mu Hee starts talking about seeing Do Ra Mi; I feel like I’m watching his sympathy for her come to the fore, in a single moment.

That changes their dynamic almost immediately, because after the doctor’s appointment, for the first time, it’s Mu Hee who doesn’t want to see Ho Jin anymore, due to the fact that he now knows an uncomfortable amount of personal information about her.

In this moment, I still find Mu Hee very endearing, because when she tries to manage her awkwardness by  saying that Yong U will make fun of her for going to Ho Jin for help with a stomachache, there’s a gentle ruefulness in her eyes, instead of anger or frustration.

That inner softness is very appealing to me.

And then her self-awareness, when she tells Ho Jin that she doesn’t want to see him again because he now knows too much about her, is something I appreciate as well.

Plus, there’s how she doesn’t lash out at him, but instead explains it clearly, with an unmistakable tinge of sadness. I just can’t help but want to root for her, y’know? 🥲

It feels like a really significant pivot moment, when Ho Jin now tells her not to drive after taking a sedative – not because these are words from the doctor, but because these are his own words of caution that he’d like to offer her.

Somehow, this lands as really fitting to me, that as Mu Hee makes her decision to pull back, it (along with the context which Ho Jin now knows) actually helps to unlock Ho Jin from his prior reticence and reluctance to have anything to do with her.

E3-4. I like the fact that we see Ho Jin reading about Delusional Disorder at the bookstore, where he’s supposed to meet Jin Suk; this definitely means that he’s thinking about Mu Hee and curious to know more about what she’s going through, yes?

E3-4. Of course, Ho Jin soon finds out that the actress who’s joined the project is none other than Mu Hee, and I can’t help but notice that when they take some time alone to discuss their situation, Ho Jin’s first question to Mu Hee, is about whether she’s gone to the hospital to seek medical help like she’d said she would.

That very strongly signals to me that he not only views her as a person (rather than a business contact) – and views her with care and concern, at that. 🥲

And, as much as Mu Hee’s stated that she never wants to see Ho Jin again, I find it quite cutely amusing, that she can’t help but let her petty peevishness come through, when they finally get to talk alone.

Basically, it’s amusing from where I’m sitting, because Mu Hee all upset from misunderstanding that Ho Jin only agreed to the job because he’s too in love with Ji Sun, and using all that frustrated energy to bicker with Ho Jin and tell him to drop out of the project, so that they won’t have to work together.

This is an instance where her mood and her words match on the surface, and very well, even – but I can totally see that she means the opposite of what she’s saying, and that she’s mostly peeved and jealous, and would rather Ho Jin not take the job on Ji Sun’s account. 😁

I think it says a fair bit, that Ho Jin speaks to her discomfort around him knowing too much about her – and makes his condition for dropping out, that she answer honestly whether she’s been to the hospital to seek treatment.

Aw. That is very humane for someone who clearly doesn’t like to get involved, yes? 🥲

I’m glad that the truth finally comes out when Mu Hee blurts out all that stuff about how he can’t impress Ji Sun anymore, if he drops out of the show, and I’m glad that Ho Jin sets the record straight – that the whole reason he took on the project, was because Ji Sun’s getting married to his brother.

Awwwkward. 😅

Even more awkward, from Mu Hee’s point of view, is the fact that Ho Jin witnesses her trying to laugh off the fact that the entire team had heard her screaming in the elevator (because of Do Ra Mi).

Ho Jin’s expression though, reads to me, as deeply concerned; like he’s actually worried about her, deep down.

While Ho Jin’s conversation with Writer Kim (Kim Won Hae) does seem kind of inserted in there out of nowhere, it does give us an important moment, when Writer Kim’s remark, that Ho Jin tends to speak sharply even when he’s saying something good, gives Ho Jin pause.

This makes it make sense, when Ho Jin eventually meets Mu Hee at that cafe, and the first thing he does, Mu Hee broaches the subject of her behaving erratically at the elevator the other day, is to apologize for speaking out of line in their last conversation.

Admittedly, when I break it down like that, it does look a little manufactured, but to Show’s credit, I don’t think that it brought any real hiccups to the watch experience.

Plus, I’m just glad for the knowledge that Ho Jin is likely going to be more considerate and kind in his words to Mu Hee, going forward. 🥲

Also, I really like the healthy tone of the conversation, where Mu Hee apologizes for her bringing up Ji Sun, and explains that she’d probably wanted to point at his weakness because he knew about hers. That makes complete sense, and gives a nice sense of even ground, to the reset that this conversation signals.

I love that they’re able to talk about their “weaknesses” so openly with each other now, as well as what they’d each hoped to experience on the show; it really feels like a very healthy place for them to be.

Even when Mu Hee receives the call confirming her casting and wobbles for a bit, I like that Ho Jin pushes back, and she tells him that he can be sharp or whatever; that she’ll take it as concern.

The way Ho Jin names her as being capricious, with a tendency to say A when she means B, then turn around and insist that she said C, feels rooted in discernment rather than pettiness.

I also like that, true to her word, Mu Hee doesn’t take offense at his bluntness, and instead casts about for a way to convince him that it would be helpful if someone who knew her situation and knew the language were to be with her.

It’s honestly pretty cute how Ho Jin, who knows so many languages, comes right out and tells her that her behavior is too difficult for him to interpret, and to please tell him in a way that he can understand – which is when she comes right out and squeaks out a request for him to please go with her.

And then, when she perceives that he’s starting to crack, maybe a little bit, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she starts selling the fact that he’d get to see the Northern Lights like he’s always wanted.

I love that after a long second, he agrees, and they just stand there smiling at each other, now suddenly partners on a new mission.

Aw. I find this pretty cute. 🥰

E3-4. I did absolutely feel secondhand mortified when Mu Hee knocks on Ho Jin’s door pretending to look for Yong U, while knowing full well that Yong U wasn’t there, and then getting called out for it when it turns out that Ho Jin’s literally on the phone with Yong U.

In this case, however, my amusement was greater than my secondhand embarrassment, and I was well entertained by Mu Hee’s rueful attempt to see more of Ho Jin.

Plus, it really helps that Mu Hee’s not the type to get held back by her own embarrassment, and bounces back with her signature honesty, which I find very charming.

I also love that Ho Jin’s obviously more amused than anything, by her, and the little smile that he leaks, as he leads the way for them to have a conversation elsewhere, is very excellent indeed. 🤩

Afterwards, I liked the honest and open tone of their conversation, where Ho Jin’s even able to ask her about Do Ra Mi, and she’s able to answer candidly that Do Ra Mi’s still there, and is acting like a troll.

It gets a little sticky when Mu Hee realizes that she can’t tell Ho Jin exactly what Do Ra Mi’s said to her, because it involves romantic fantasies about him, and then it looks stickier still, when Ho Jin guesses correctly that the reason she can’t tell him is because there are “diary entries” about him – except that he thinks that she’s been cussing him out.

Heh. If only he knew, eh? 🤭

Honestly, I really like the tone of the conversation that they end up having.

Yes, they do bicker a little bit, when Ho Jin declines to tell Mu Hee anything about what Hiro really thinks about her, and when Mu Hee mentions that Yong U had told her that Ho Jin had acted all disgruntled at the idea that she liked Hiro.

Importantly, Mu Hee’s able to tell him that she thinks that he’s right about her being her own hater, and the reason for that, is likely because she’s afraid that after her “festival” season is over, she’d be left all alone.

I appreciate that Ho Jin responds to this seriously, and tells her not to accept the things that Do Ra Mi’s saying to her, and even asks her how he can support her.

It’s so wholesome that Mu Hee’s able to tell him that he’s doing exactly what he’d said he would; that even though he wouldn’t date her, he’d root for her.

PLUS. The way he grabs her wrist and looks a little conflicted as he starts to say something, totally gives me the impression that he would’ve likely told her about Hiro, to manage her expectations, if Yong U hadn’t interrupted their conversation.

As filming commences for Romantic Trip, I love that moment when Mu Hee asks through her clipped-on mic if Ho Jin can hear her, and he confirms that he can.

The way she smiles and waves at the camera, and the way he smiles a little smile, sitting in the booth watching the screen, is so wholesome. 🥰

It really feels like they’re together on the same team – which is why I feel extra gratified, when Ho Jin starts getting antsy, about the way Hiro’s pulling mean-spirited pranks on Mu Hee, all in the name of entertainment.

Ho Jin’s already stated that he will only translate what he hears, ie, he won’t get involved, but even from this early stage, you can totally see him struggle to contain his discomfort at the way Hiro’s treating Mu Hee.

It feels like only a matter of time, before Ho Jin’s resolution cracks – and we see that first crack, when Ho Jin gives Mu Hee the hint that helps her to finally locate Hiro, after having been sent on a wild goose chase around town by Hiro and his “playful” balloon tricks.

Then, when Hiro makes that snide joke about cutting to a scene with her and her bloodied axe, Ho Jin opts to flatten Hiro’s words and summarizes it into something neutral instead.

The way he opts not to translate Hiro’s condescending words, lands to me as Ho Jin refusing to allow Hiro to use him as a tool with which to hurt Mu Hee. 🥲

I was definitely surprised, though, when Ho Jin goes one further, and adds a few sarcastic remarks of his own, while interpreting Mu Hee’s reply to Hiro.

Ooh. This is getting rather personal, I see.

Not gonna lie; I got a big stab of satisfaction seeing Ho Jin break his professional stance like that – it just goes to show that this is how much he cares about Mu Hee, doesn’t it?

E3-4. What I find most interesting about what ensues after Hiro’s big diva meltdown, is that Ho Jin takes it upon himself to get Hiro to resume filming – while telling Mu Hee to absolutely not go to see Hiro on her own, to apologize.

I mean, I am pretty certain that Ho Jin’s interest in getting Hiro to agree to resume filming, is mostly to do with Mu Hee; so that people don’t start blaming her for the halt in production and all the inconveniences associated with it.

At the same time, Ho Jin’s determined that Mu Hee not lower herself to apologize to Hiro when it’s not even her fault.

He’s basically stepping in as Mu Hee’s proxy, to save the day, while also stepping in as Mu Hee’s protector, to shield her from as much of the negativity as possible.

Aw. As they say, not all heroes wear capes, yes? 🥲

Despite Ho Jin’s good intentions though, Mu Hee does come across Hiro in the town square – which clues her in, definitively, to the fact that he’s been lying about losing his contact lens and therefore being unable to proceed with the shoot.

It feels significant, that in this moment, when Mu Hee’s taunted by Do Ra Mi, to throw a rock at Hiro, it’s Ho Jin who brings Mu Hee back to reality, by telling her that Hiro’s left.

I also appreciate that Mu Hee feels able to tell Ho Jin about the taunting by Do Ra Mi, and that Ho Jin tells Mu Hee that she’d won, by not giving in to Do Ra Mi’s taunt.

Also, when Mu Hee confronts Ho Jin and asks him exactly what’s going on with Hiro, I’m glad that Ho Jin chooses to tell her the truth about Hiro’s dissatisfaction with her being cast as his co-host.

And then, when Mu Hee gets upset that Ho Jin hadn’t told her the truth, but had let her talk about acting loving and cheesy with Hiro, it feels important that Ho Jin tells her that it’s ok to get angry.

I mean, he’s respecting her emotions and encouraging her to get angry when she feels wronged – even if he might be on the receiving end of her anger, as part of the deal.

It’s great that Ho Jin’s ploy, to tempt Hiro with tickets to an ice hockey game, to get him to stop pretending that he’s lost his contact lens, works

More importantly, is the way Ho Jin encourages Mu Hee to let Hiro know that she’s holding a rock – so that he won’t push her around.

He’s literally making allowances in his professional ethos, to even translate swear words for her, if she needs him to.

That’s.. huge, from Ho Jin’s point of view, and I really like that we get to see that Mu Hee’s this important to him, that’s he’s willing to make such a big exception for her. 🥲

ALSO. When Mu Hee prattles on about how Ho Jin hadn’t translated everything that Hiro had said, because he must’ve felt worried that she’d get mad and ruin the shoot, I can’t help but sit up, when Ho Jin corrects her – that he just hadn’t felt like translating, because it had upset him.

Oohh! He’s allowing the fact that this was personal for him, to exist in their shared understanding of the situation??

That definitely feels very significant! 🤗

What’s even better, is the fact that he apologizes to Mu Hee for it. He’s apologizing for withholding information from her, and not respecting her right to know, and I love that. I love that he recognizes her personal agency and wants to respect it. 🥲

And Mu Hee is just so endearing; I love that she cheerfully gloms onto the fact that he’s on her side, and agrees to let it slide.

I love how she gives Ho Jin that heart gesture as they get out of the car; it feels like the misfire earlier, with the leaf heart for Hiro, has now finally been corrected, with the right person on the receiving end this time. 🥰

I’m also suitably amused by the way Mu Hee’s so firmly on cloud nine about Ho Jin being on her side, that she’s cheerfully gracious when interacting with Hiro – which in turn triggers Hiro’s confused discombobulation.

E5-6. It’s lovely to see Mu Hee basking in that joy, and Ho Jin likewise leaking smiles at getting to see, from his very specific, privileged vantage point, Mu Hee in her most endearing element. 🥲

I love that as he watches Mu Hee stumble on a four-leaf clover, he looks visibly pleased, like he’s won a victory of some sort. 🥰

Importantly, we see later, that he’s clocking all the things that she says and does during the day, and taking them to heart.

That’s why, during his free time at night, he goes and eats the exact same hotdog that she ate during the shoot – and then remarks that it’s indeed delicious.

That’s SUCH a great little detail, because that proves that he wants to share experiences with her – even if he has to have his share later on. I love that. 🥰

Later, I found it completely relatable, when Mu Hee realizes that she’s going to be drinking with Yong U in the room he shares with Ho Jin, and quickly scuttles back to her room so that she can change her outfit.

That’s probably exactly what I would do too, if I knew that there was a good chance that I’d be seeing my crush. ☺️

I froze in secondhand mortification when Mu Hee puts on Ho Jin’s glasses and then completely forgets that she has them on, when he gets back to the room. Ack. Talk about getting caught in your feelings, yes? 🙈

But then! Isn’t it great that he looks increasingly amused by her, as she makes up that excuse about needing glasses to read that book because her eyesight is so bad?

I hadn’t noticed it at first, but revisiting the scene for these notes, there’s a twinkle in his eyes as she rambles off her string of excuses. That just makes the leaked smile afterwards feel like such a natural culmination of his amusement, and I do love that. 🤩

As you probably know by now, leaked smiles are my kryptonite – and I LOVE that Ho Jin’s leaking smiles because of Mu Hee. She might be mortified, but it’s so great that he’s amused more than anything else.

And then, when they end up spending the night chatting because they’ve both been locked out of their rooms, I love the follow-up one-two reveal that we later get; first, that Mu Hee had lied about forgetting her key card, and then, that Ho Jin stumbles on the truth when her key card drops out of her pocket – but then gently puts it back into her pocket for her, thus helping to preserve her little lie.

It’s honestly pretty great, because he gets to know that she’d just wanted to spend time with him, and then we get to see him protecting her dignity, by pretending not to know. That’s quite charming, yes?

In fact, it’s only after he finds out about this, that he invites her to go with him to the farmer’s market – so I’d say that’s a very reciprocal kind of gesture, ie, she’d expressed in her own way, that she’d wanted to spend time with him, and now, he’s expressing in a different way, that he’d like to spend time with her. I like that. 🥰

I liked seeing them chatting and laughing over coffee, about auroras and four-leaf clovers, but importantly, there’s that moment where Ho Jin looks struck and pauses, when Mu Hee says, “It’s only natural to feel anxious when things might not work out. Still, though, you go in with an inkling of hope that they just might. Is that not your mindset when you start something too?”

At this point, I’m pretty sure that Ho Jin’s thinking about this little “something” that’s brewing between them, rather than the auroras, and I feel like it’s clicking into focus for him, that there is something to hope for, in terms of a future working out between them.

I do think that that’s a contributing factor to why he starts to take her search for four-leaf clovers much more seriously. And I do take that to mean that he does, in fact, want to hope for things to work out between them. 🥲

E5-6. After Mu Hee’s confidence takes a hit because of Ji Sun’s sudden arrival on the scene, Ho Jin and Mu Hee start to talk at cross purposes to each other.

When Mu Hee approaches Ho Jin and asks if he isn’t scared that he’ll get caught, and that he should talk to Ji Sun so that he doesn’t get caught, she’s actually testing the waters, because she’s trying to find some assurance from him, that he’s not still in love with Ji Sun – or that he’d at least ‘fess up so that he can cut things off cleanly.

And when she stops him from walking off, asking if he won’t grab onto someone nearby, in order to avoid Ji Sun, she’s really asking why he won’t hold onto her and use her as a cover.

Unfortunately, as we’ve already seen from early on, Ho Jin is not good at understanding – ie, translating – Mu Hee’s words and behaviors, even though he knows so many languages.

This is why he’d asked her before, to explain in a way that he could understand, and this is also why he asks her, unironically, to move aside, unless she’s asking him to hold onto her and use her as cover.

Importantly, this doesn’t prevent him from (as we see later) looking for that 7th four-leaf clover to complete her goal of a set of 7, for maximum aurora luck, and then reaching out via text, just like she’d asked, when he gets back to the hotel.

I really like that Mu Hee runs down to meet him without hesitation, because this means that neither of them is holding a grudge.

I can’t help clocking, though, that Mu Hee’s apology isn’t about overstepping boundaries when she’d asked him to speak to Ji Sun, but about the fact that she’d danced with Do Ra Mi all night and cursed him – and that’s why she thinks he’d gotten into an accident.

Again, we see her default instinct is to blame herself even when the thing has nothing to do with her.

So I do like that Ho Jin gently sets her straight, and says that the accident wasn’t her fault. And I do like the twinkle in his eyes, as he tells her that the luck that she’d collected came through – while pointing her to the aurora that she’d so badly wanted to see.

I do find it endearing that Mu Hee would try to set the record straight, that the aurora isn’t because of the luck she’d collected, because she’d thrown out all the ones she’d collected. I like that honesty about her.

And then, I find it very wholesome and sweet, the way Ho Jin pulls out the four-leaf clover that she’d left in his jacket pocket – and then even pulls out the additional one that he’d found, while waiting for the accident stuff to be handled.

That shows that he takes her to heart, even though he might not personally believe in the luck of four-leaf clovers. 🥲

I love that they get to gaze at the aurora, just the two of them, and when Ho Jin suggests that they head back in, I’m glad that he, in his limited understanding of Mu Hee’s internal workings, manages to realize that she just wants to spend more time with him, and relents.

Not only does he relent, he offers to watch it with her until it fully disappears, not understanding that for Mu Hee, the ending of the aurora symbolically represents the ending of her moment with him; ie, she doesn’t truly believe that they have a future together, and the ending of the aurora reminds her too much of the fact that the time she has with him, will eventually end too.

Aw. That’s so poignant, isn’t it? 🥹

Little does she know that his heart towards her has been steadily shifting.

After she tells him that after this, every time he sees an aurora, he’ll have no choice but to think of her – but not to worry, because auroras don’t appear in Korea, we see, after a long moment, that Ho Jin mutters quietly to himself (and I translate), “What to do.. At this rate, one just might.”

Eee!!! He’s basically saying that she’s steadily on her way to becoming his aurora, and that’s So Significant – it’s just a pity that she doesn’t hear what he says, coz I’m sure she’d be even giddier than I am. 🥲

I honestly think that Mu Hee has no clue that Ho Jin reciprocates her feelings in any way, and this is why she can mention skinship with Hiro so casually – which causes Ho Jin to knock his head on the door that he’s trying to unlock, poor guy.

He’s absolutely reacting to her casual mention of holding his hand, and her estimation of how she plans to be nicer to Hiro. 🤭

However, I don’t think that Mu Hee’s stupid, blind or clueless.

Rather, I think that her self-confidence is pretty low (see Exhibit A: Do Ra Mi’s consistent manner of putting her down and blaming her for everything).

Additionally, there’s also the thing where Ho Jin’s already told her point-blank that he would never date her, but would root for her.

Putting things into perspective this way, you could say that Mu Hee’s simply believing what Ho Jin had told her, and interpreting all his niceness as him rooting for her, yes?

Even so, she can’t help herself when they have That Moment over mini pretend waterfalls by the lake, and leans in to kiss him. 💋

As Ho Jin later points out, this is part of Mu Hee’s spontaneous nature; she’ll jump head-first into an action without thinking it through – only to backpedal afterwards.

That’s exactly what she’s doing, when she blurts out that Do Ra Mi had made her do it – it being, threatening him with a kiss.

It makes zero sense, which is the big clue to the fact that she’s just making things up in the moment, before running away out of embarrassment.

To further deepen the misunderstanding, Mu Hee later spots Ho Jin looking in Ji Sun’s direction and thinks that this is an expression of his ongoing feelings for Ji Sun, not knowing that the reason he’s looking at her, is because he’s just heard from Writer Cho (Baek Joo Hee) that Ji Sun had said that he’s liked someone for a long time.

Ack. Another layer of misunderstanding, due to what I’d like to call wonky translation. 😅

No wonder we see Mu Hee sinking further into emotional and mental instability, with Do Ra Mi questioning Ho Jin at gunpoint all night, asking all the questions that Mu Hee would like answers to: like why he hasn’t reached out even though Mu Hee’s leaving the next day, and why he hadn’t reacted at all to the kiss – had it meant nothing to him?

These are clearly all the questions that are haunting Mu Hee, even as she makes the decision to retreat quickly and leave without saying goodbye to Ho Jin.

Importantly, we also get to see a glimpse of past trauma that continues to haunt Mu Hee, when Do Ra Mi turns to her and tells her to answer the question of whether Ho Jin has any feelings for her.

We don’t know the full details of her past at this point, but we see Mu Hee as a young girl, letting go and falling off a balcony, while Mu Hee says in voiceover, “You know the answer has already been decided, so why are you acting like this? Cha Mu Hee is a girl who can never be loved. That was decided a long time ago.”

This is such an important beat, because it establishes a critical piece of the puzzle here: that Mu Hee believes that she cannot be loved.

Therefore, no matter what we’ve seen of Ho Jin bridging the gap between them while growing feelings for her, it’s safe to conclude that she cannot see it – because she believes that it’s a fundamental impossibility.

At the same time, the heart wants what it wants – and that’s why Mu Hee perks up so visibly and says ‘yes’ without hesitation, when Ho Jin shows up the next morning and offers to drive her to the airport.

During the ride, we do get a nice moment of mutual understanding, when Ho Jin admits that he hadn’t slept at all, because he couldn’t get over how she’d “threatened” him and then just run off like that.

I like that Mu Hee explains herself, saying that she hadn’t known how to deal with it, and that’s why she’d avoided him.

It also feels significant, that Ho Jin admits that he came out to “catch hold” of her, so that she wouldn’t run away again, and asks her not to run – because he’s giving (their situation) serious thought.

I’d found it a bit weird that he would prioritize talking to Ji Sun, but I buy that he’s doing this because Mu Hee herself had nudged him toward it – and he’s positioning it as something he’s doing because he doesn’t want to look pathetic in Mu Hee’s eyes.

It feels healthy, that Mu Hee admits that she’s been agonizing over things too, because she didn’t want to pretend that nothing had happened – but neither did she want to run away.

It’s a concrete step forward for them, even though they aren’t minting a relationship in the moment, and just knowing that they’re on the same page and hoping for the same thing, is enough to cause them both to smile and relax, which is very nice to see. 🥲

Unfortunately, everything gets turned on its head soon after, when Mu Hee hears that Ji Sun’s not getting married after all, and rushes back into town, to look for Ho Jin.

..Which is when she spots Ho Jin and Ji Sun talking and smiling over coffee – which leads her to conclude that Ho Jin’s getting his happy-ever-after ending with Ji Sun after all.

We then see Do Ra Mi informing her that she’d simply been a supporting character in their love story – maybe even a villain, since she’d threatened Ho Jin.

Crucially, we see Do Ra Mi telling Mu Hee that the only way to avoid looking pathetic, is to erase everything and move on.

This, along with her belief that she can never be loved, forms the foundation of Mu Hee’s state of mind, as she runs away.

This is why, when Ho Jin catches up to her, Mu Hee immediately starts with the assumption that he’s gotten together with Ji Sun, and even tells him that she hopes that things work out well this time.

Of course, this isn’t what she really wants.

Each time she says something like, “You should hurry back, she’ll be waiting for you,” what Mu Hee’s secretly hoping for, is that Ho Jin will tell her that she’s wrong.

However, as we’ve established, Ho Jin is not good at translating what Mu Hee says, to get at her true meaning and intention.

He does ask her to stop and just say what she really wants to say, which I see as his way of mitigating his inability to understand her, but unfortunately, Mu Hee’s deeply-rooted sense of self-condemnation is too strong, and she defaults to the thing that she’s believed all along: that Ho Jin doesn’t really like her.

As a defense mechanism, she makes up that thing about wanting to make him fall for her no matter what, in order to save her pride, positioning everything simply as a goal or project that she’d given herself.

And the thing is, Ho Jin believes her.

Like I keep going back to, he doesn’t know how to translate her deeper meanings, and in this moment, he does look genuinely hurt, which is why, I think, he accepts her words at face value and says, “Let’s stop here.”

I also think that he’s trying to rationalize his reactions towards her, now that she’s framed everything as her “playing” him to get him to fall for her – and that’s why he says that everything that he’d felt in response to her, must have been him being swayed by the emotions that she’d shown.

It’s only when Ho Jin says that he feels wronged, because he’d been getting ready to cross the track towards the person he liked, that Mu Hee finally realizes that Ho Jin did in fact like her – but by this point, it’s too late, because Ho Jin’s too hurt and too upset, and the connection that they’d made, has already been broken. 😔

Mu Hee is understandably devastated to realize what she’s done, and feels helpless to do anything to change this awful outcome that she’s unwittingly engineered.

Two week time-jump later, we see Mu Hee and Ho Jin lock gazes across the hall at that concert where he’s translating for the conductor, and to my eyes, Ho Jin’s gaze is still full of hurt.

Not only that, I feel that he’s now put a firm distance between himself and Mu Hee, and that’s sad. 😔

I’m certainly wistful for the happy times that we had earlier, in episode 5, but given the fundamental communication issues that exist between Ho Jin and Mu Hee, I do think that this misunderstanding was inevitable.

And, I do think that being able to work through it, to come to a place of proper mutual understanding will be one of the big milestones that this would-be OTP will need to cross, in order to truly find each other again. 🥲

E7-8. If I had to describe this set of episodes in one word, it would be: disorienting.

First, let me talk about why I found episode 7 disorienting.

In episode 7, we are in that place where Mu Hee and Ho Jin have “broken up,” and the big question is how Show will cause their paths to cross and intertwine again, and how they will get past that misunderstanding and hurt.

At this point in our story, I feel like I can understand Ho Jin’s mental and emotional state better than Mu Hee’s, ie, he believes what Mu Hee had said to him in Canada (and I summarize), about wanting to win his heart as a challenge to herself, because she hadn’t wanted to live with the humiliation of him rejecting her.

Since he still believes this, I find it easy to understand why he wouldn’t be happy to see Mu Hee at that theater and want to avoid her.

As far as Mu Hee’s side of things go, I have to admit that I found it hard to figure out what she was thinking, in jumping in head-first, to push herself into Ho Jin’s orbit, despite knowing that he would not welcome her.

The only lens I can default to, is the understanding that she’s the impetuous type who often acts without thinking things through, and in this case, she’s just that desperate to be around Ho Jin, even though she knows that he’s closed his heart to her, after she’d broken it.

I can buy the idea that she’s so hungry for his presence in her life, that she would act in illogical ways, and it’s true that Show supports that reading somewhat, by informing us that she’s been posting mournful rainy pictures on her social media, specifically in an effort to get a reaction out of Ho Jin.

Plus, there’s the way she jumps on the fact that Yong U’s moving in with Ho Jin, like she’s suddenly found a lifeline.

This context, albeit not super strong, does support the idea that Mu Hee would leap at the chance to see Ho Jin again, even if it involves bailing on whomever she was with, and jumping into that elevator with Writer Kim.

At this point, I’m very sure that she has zero plan; all she knows, is that she’s desperate to see Ho Jin again – and this elevator ride is her ticket.

I also estimate that it’s this exact visceral urge, that propels Mu Hee to accept Writer Kim’s dinner invitation at Ho Jin’s house – even though Ho Jin himself clearly doesn’t want her there.

I can only say that there’s a certain kind of desperation where you feel like you have to grasp at any opportunity to catch a glimpse of the other person, even if you know that the other person doesn’t want to see you (trust me, I’ve been there – and it’s not pretty 🙈).

I estimate that it’s the same compulsion that leads Mu Hee to steal the record (though she accidentally takes only the sleeve – again, clearly, she’s not thinking this through).

She’s desperate to feel like she has some kind of connection with Ho Jin, even if it’s stealing something, so that she has a piece of him to hold onto.

As for why she doesn’t just take a more direct approach and apologize to Ho Jin while explaining herself, I think Show has established quite well, that Mu Hee’s just not in a place where she feels able to do stuff like that.

She’s operating on very low self-esteem, believes she cannot be loved, and that everything’s her fault.

I believe that this all translates into very low self-confidence, where she feels out of control, like there’s nothing that she can do to actually fix the damage that she’s done – and so she hangs around Ho Jin, talking obliquely, simply hoping to be understood without having to ask.

To be clear, I’m not saying that this is right; I’m just trying to understand where Mu Hee is coming from, in this moment, ie, I’m trying to work through my own disorientation as I write this. 😅

As uncertain as Mu Hee feels, we get to see that Ho Jin feels just as confused and unsure, with what he tells Writer Kim, where he expresses that he doesn’t know whether Mu Hee is toying with him, or genuinely interested in him again, after turning him down.

I really do appreciate Ho Jin’s vulnerability in putting his feelings into words like this. 🥲

I also really appreciate Writer Kim’s point – that if Ho Jin doesn’t understand the language that Mu Hee speaks, he can study it the way he’s studied all these other languages that he’s learned – because that gives Ho Jin an idea of something specific that he can do, to help himself.

I believe that this idea gives Ho Jin a sense of hope – of eventually being able to understand Mu Hee, if he would apply himself to learning her language – and that’s why we see him softening towards her, when he catches her stealing the record.

At the same time, I think there’s something about seeing that Mu Hee’s trying to steal the record of the song that they’d shared in Canada, that gives Ho Jin a sense of assurance, that what they’d shared, does mean something to her.

To me, that’s why Ho Jin decides to take a step towards Mu Hee, by telling her that he’ll bring the record to her, even though he really doesn’t have to.

Unfortunately, this is exactly the moment when Mu Hee’s Aunt and Uncle come looking for her, and because they clearly represent trauma from her childhood, this destabilizes her enough to make her drop everything – including Ho Jin’s impending visit.

From the snippets of flashback that we see in episode 8, it’s becoming clear that Mu Hee’s trauma around Uncle and Aunt isn’t just about them not caring about her while she was in their care.

More than that, there’s a strong indication that Uncle and Aunt had actually been behind her parents’ deaths – and her survival had run against their plans, because they’d poisoned her birthday cake.

That is A LOT, and Mu Hee’s carried this secret all these years, while trying to act like everything’s fine around Uncle and Aunt.

With this context in place, I can see why Do Ra Mi would emerge in direct relation to that trauma, even if Do Ra Mi’s emergence is triggered only years later, by Mu Hee’s accident. Do Ra Mi’s existence has to do with Mu Hee’s survival.

..Which brings me to the thing that I found disorienting about episode 8 – and that is the fact that we see Do Ra Mi take over, and act in Mu Hee’s shoes.

Up to this point, we’ve seen Do Ra Mi as being a presence in Mu Hee’s life, but Mu Hee had not appeared to lose control (although we have been given hints from as early as episode 2, that this might actually have been happening – thus Mu Hee blanking out between being outside Ho Jin’s house, and “coming to” on the red carpet).

I believe the shift here, is that where before, Mu Hee’s episodes of blanking out had been quite infrequent, it becomes a matter of routine, almost, in episode 8 – with the arrival of Uncle and Aunt being the trigger.

The main point of disorientation for me, was trying to figure out Do Ra Mi’s intentions behind her actions, along with what she thinks and feels, in relation to Mu Hee.

Up to this point in our story, Do Ra Mi’s been positioned as the voice of self-condemnation in Mu Hee’s life, and Mu Hee herself has said that Do Ra Mi is her hater.

However, in these episodes, that doesn’t seem to be the whole story.

In fact, on revisiting these episodes for these notes, I realize that there’s an actual note of casual affection about Do Ra Mi, mixed in with the exasperation and disdain – and then I realize that this is actually consistent with what we’ve seen of Do Ra Mi in past episodes. I just.. hadn’t registered it then.

In episode 8, it becomes clear that while Do Ra Mi demeans Mu Hee, she also acts for her. She might call Mu Hee pitiful and incompetent, but she refuses to leave Mu Hee helpless – which is why she takes over, to achieve outcomes that she sees Mu Hee as being incapable of achieving on her own.

Not only that, she imposes her analysis on Mu Hee’s life, by deciding that Ho Jin is not a safe choice of partner (we’re not told why, but my guess is because Mu Hee cares too much about him?) – and also deciding that Hiro is the better choice (possibly because Mu Hee doesn’t care about him? 🤔)

It pretty much looks like, from Do Ra Mi’s perspective, Mu Hee getting hurt again is unacceptable — even if preventing that hurt requires overriding Mu Hee’s will.

And if we take the perspective that Do Ra Mi’s existence is linked to Mu Hee’s survival, that makes a lot of sense.

This is why Do Ra Mi engineers everything that she sees as better and necessary for Mu Hee’s life – and then steps aside, handing over the situation back to Mu Hee, at the end of episode 8.

It feels significant, that we’re seeing a deliberate handover from Do Ra Mi to Mu Hee, preceded by Do Ra Mi’s remark, that she hopes that Mu Hee will be happy.

Importantly, this handover reinforces that Do Ra Mi does not want to be Mu Hee. Instead, she wants Mu Hee to survive.

It remains to be seen how Show will continue to evolve the relationship between Mu Hee and Do Ra Mi, and how Mu Hee will handle things, now that she’s back at the reins of her life and her body, but for now, I would like to also explore something else that I feel is significant, in episode 8.

And that is the fact that Ho Jin eventually (yes it takes him a while) realizes that the person he’s been interacting with, is literally not the same person he’d thought he’d been interacting with, ie, he learns to recognize Mu Hee.

Given that Ho Jin’s consistently been portrayed as someone who has difficulty understanding Mu Hee, this feels like an important shift.

Yes, it’s still true that he doesn’t yet know how to understand the specific language that she speaks – but he’s now able to recognize it, and he can tell that Do Ra Mi isn’t her.

This is a huge turning point for Ho Jin, because now he knows that what he’s been seeing, is not Mu Hee as a single, confusing signal, but a mish-mash created by different speakers.

I feel like suddenly, Ho Jin must feel like the lights have come on, with this realization.

And I do think that this changes everything for Ho Jin, because now he can see that Mu Hee hasn’t been messing with him, AND, that she’s a prisoner of her own mind, where Do Ra Mi functions as the key.

Him going to Italy in order to catch hold of Do Ra Mi and engage her in conversation, in order to find out what she wants, AND, what it would take for her to go away, is very telling; all of this reads to me as him doing everything he can, to find a way to free and save Mu Hee.

The important thing here, to my eyes, is that he’s now on Mu Hee’s side again, not just rooting for her, but actively trying to help her.

As we close out episode 8, I’m curious to see how quickly Ho Jin clues in to the fact that Mu Hee’s back in her own body, and where we go from there.

But so far, I’m pretty satisfied with how our writers are inviting us on an expansion of the idea of connection and translation.

[END SPOILER]

Fukushi Sota as Hiro

I’m actually quite surprised that I’m coming away from my watch feeling rather fond of Hiro, as a character.

[BROAD SPOILERS]

I certainly hadn’t expected that, given that he starts our story as quite the snooty prankster and difficult diva in one.

When I think about it, Hiro’s designed very similarly to the prototype of a very commonly featured romantic male lead, yes? Where they are transformed by love?

How cheeky of our writers to take that, and make him the second male lead. 😁

That’s a very smart way to draw on rom-com drama tropes, but turning it smartly on its head, while bringing the Very Green Flag male lead to the forefront, who’s the much more popular kind of male lead, in recent times.

Way to establish that the Hong sisters are well-experienced in Dramaland, while also demonstrating that they are not behind the times at all. 😁

Even though Hiro’s not our male lead, he does end up being transformed by love after all (again, a nice play on the romance trope), and I found myself becoming affectionate toward Hiro, despite some of his more unsavory actions in our early episodes.

I felt bad for him, for not realizing that he was interacting with Mu Hee’s alter instead of Mu Hee herself – and falling in love because of it.

And then finally, I actually felt quite proud of him, for being able to conduct himself graciously, even though he knows that Mu Hee doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.

Hiro’s a pretty good egg after all. 🥲

[END SPOILER]

Special shout-out:

Ji Sun and Yong U [SPOILERS]

I feel like your mileage may vary on this one, but I personally enjoyed the secondary loveline between Ji Sun and Yong U.

In a smaller fashion, their loveline also starts out from a place of misunderstanding and miscommunication, and they have to clear those up in order to arrive on the same page.

The beats in this loveline are a lot simpler and move a lot faster than our central loveline, thus making their relationship feel rather rushed and compressed, but I didn’t mind it much, mostly because I thought that these two make a very cute couple. 🥰

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PENULTIMATE EPISODES [SPOILERS]

E9-10. So far so very good, my friends. I found these to be a solid pair of episodes; befitting of the penultimate stretch of our story.

I do think that if you prioritize precise timeline logic, then these episodes might feel disorienting or confusing to watch.

When I put aside timeline coherence and instead focused on the emotional journey, I found that I experienced this set of episodes as a larger puzzle, where various pieces would click into place, as Show revealed each new fragment of information.

I actually found that quite pleasurable, honestly.

In terms of why Show would choose this approach instead of something more linear, my guess is that the intent was to mirror the disorientation that Mu Hee feels, because she’s also experiencing her reality in a very fragmented way.

We get a taste for that right away, at the top of episode 9, when Mu Hee finds herself quoting the lyrics from the opera La Traviata, and even providing the translation, even though she doesn’t have any memory of memorizing them or learning their meaning.

She looks surprised – shocked, even – as she claps her hand over her mouth, and it’s only then that we cut away to the scene of Do Ra Mi saying the same thing to Ho Jin.

Importantly, at this point, this insight is reserved for us; Mu Hee herself doesn’t actually gain access to these memories until the end of episode 10.

Which means that we get a fuller view of the puzzle than Mu Hee herself does, as she lives through these episodes.

For me as a viewer, the consequence of this asymmetry, was that I felt a lot of sympathy for Mu Hee, because I was able to see what was happening to her, in greater clarity than she is able to experience at any given moment.

I can only imagine how disorienting and confusing it must be for Mu Hee, to find herself randomly quoting lyrics, or finding herself waking up in a state of disarray, or experiencing heartburn and a hangover, all thanks to things that Do Ra Mi has done.

I mean, Mu Hee knows enough to conclude that this is all a result of Do Ra Mi’s doing, but it doesn’t take away the confusion, since she has no clue what Do Ra Mi’s been up to, and importantly, I imagine she’d feel an acute sense of loss of control, while having to reorient herself every time she wakes up in her own body.

Honestly, I find Mu Hee remarkably calm, for someone who has to go through her own Instagram feed to figure out whether she’d come to Italy with Hiro, or had made the trip alone – and y’know, I feel like this likely ties in to her broken sense of self-worth.

To the average person, being able to have this level of control is a given, but perhaps to Mu Hee, this is just another aspect of working to survive her life – a life that has been unstable and sometimes even hostile, for most of her memory?

I find it fascinating that Mu Hee doesn’t seem to feel angry with Do Ra Mi, despite knowing that Do Ra Mi’s taking all kinds of liberties in Mu Hee’s name.

When Mu Hee pieces together the fact that Hiro’s assertion that she’d kissed him, is because Do Ra Mi had kissed him, she gasps in shock, but there is no anger there – only pure surprise.

And then, her line of reasoning, is that she will take responsibility, which I read to mean that if Hiro had expressed that he liked her, she would have gone with the flow and dated him – all because Do Ra Mi had kissed him.

This is likely partly due to Mu Hee’s adaptive survival strategy, but also, Mu Hee has expressed in the past, that she ought to be grateful to Do Ra Mi, for doing difficult things for her.

At the same time, that thought that she would date Hiro if he’d confessed his love for her, does echo very poignantly the idea that Mu Hee believes that she can never be loved; ie, it reads like her taking whatever is given without questioning it – or even questioning whether she herself wants it – because she doesn’t deserve love anyway.

Importantly, I do think that our privileged stance as viewers also mirrors Ho Jin’s viewpoint.

Now he knows that Do Ra Mi regularly takes the reins while leaving Mu Hee in the dark, and because of that, he’s able to recognize and understand her disorientation, as she deals with whatever fallout she finds each morning – and that enables him to feel sympathy for her.

That’s the whole reason his prior frustration with her melts away, and is replaced with a cordial warmth, like the way he greets her through her earpiece and makes pleasant remarks about the weather, and even assures her that she will have great weather and therefore a smooth time for the entirety of their trip.

Doesn’t it feel significant that this warmth returns while he’s in the translation booth? He’s literally in the position of interpreter, and now, for the first time, he understands what he’s interpreting. 🥲

Truth be told, I find it really poetic that almost all of the time that Do Ra Mi’s at the reins, she’s spending that time with Ho Jin.

Mu Hee might not know what Do Ra Mi’s been up to, save the glimpses that she gets from the clues that Do Ra Mi leaves behind, but Ho Jin is intimately aware – because he’s right there to witness it in real time.

So, as Mu Hee loses time, Ho Jin gains time – and Do Ra Mi becomes the bridge.

He becomes her unwilling co-conspirator, but soon, he learns to manage Do Ra Mi, like the way he refuses to let her drink, because he doesn’t want Mu Hee to suffer the hangover afterwards.

Importantly, through his time with Do Ra Mi, he asks questions about why she’s still there even though Mu Hee appears to be happy, and.. he listens.

He consistently looks like he’s processing everything that Do Ra Mi says in order to better understand Mu Hee; like that moment of realization in his eyes, as he hears Do Ra Mi talk about confronting Mu Hee’s family and feeling proud of it.

It looks like he realizes how much pent-up injustice Mu Hee’s internalized over the years, and how it must have been a secret wish of hers to confront her family – which is why he strokes Do Ra Mi’s head and tells her that she’s done well.

He’s feeling empathy for Mu Hee, and I find this moment so touching and poignant – and so significant too, because it demonstrates Ho Jin’s heart going out to Mu Hee in a whole new way. 🥲

And then, how illuminating, that Show then overlays the scene of Do Ra Mi retaliating with a bite to Ho Jin’s shoulder – with Writer Kim reading from those lines that book from which Do Ra Mi had torn the page:

“I felt like I might die if someone was kind to me. For whatever I’ve done wrong, it felt as though kindness may kill me.”

Although Do Ra Mi lashes out saying that kindness makes her want to kill, I do feel that this quote is much closer to the truth.

When you feel deeply condemned, kindness can feel utterly devastating. 💔

Earlier, Ho Jin had always been slightly behind Mu Hee emotionally, misreading her intent and playing catch-up, but now, he’s the only one who has full visibility.

He sees the bravado, the manipulation, the protectiveness, the self-hatred; he sees Mu Hee as a whole – even the parts that are hidden to herself.

Even when Do Ra Mi’s threatening him, mocking him, or setting up Hiro — she’s doing it in conversation with him.

Mu Hee believes she can never be loved, but now, the person who now understands her most deeply is the man she thinks she’s lost.

That’s tragic and beautiful at the same time, isn’t it? 🥹

As Ho Jin continues to watch over Mu Hee, we start to see hints of emotional strain, like the tears that sheen in his eyes, as he translates the opera lyrics conversation for them, where Hiro even talks about watching that opera with Mu Hee.

Ho Jin’s keeping a careful distance from Mu Hee because he understands from Do Ra Mi, that Mu Hee would be safer and happier apart from him – and that she’s so tormented by what she’d done to him (in initiating a reconnection and then flaking out on it) that she’s basically paralyzed in front of him.

This increases Ho Jin’s understanding of Mu Hee in a very acute manner, but this stance, of seeing her more and more clearly, while keeping his distance from her, is also taking a toll on him – and that hint of strain becomes clearer and clearer, over the course of these episodes.

I do think that the reason he starts talking to Mu Hee again in a more personal capacity, is dual-layered.

Part of it is because Do Ra Mi’s informed him that Mu Hee is unable to go back to acting silly and friendly with him like she’d used to, because of how bad she feels towards him.

And the other part of it, I believe, is because he is, himself, giving way to the strain of watching over her without allowing himself to be close to her.

That’s why he suggests Carmen as an alternative opera for her to watch with Hiro, because he thinks that it’s one that she would enjoy more than La Traviata.

It’s a small thing, but it’s meaningful and intimate.

It says: “I still know your taste. I still think about what you’d enjoy. I’m still paying attention.”

And importantly, it re-ignites their dormant conversation dynamic, and I do love the detail that Mu Hee’s still very infatuated with Ho Jin, and can’t resist asking him about whom he’d seen the opera with – y’know, just in case the other person’s gender or age were similar to hers, and therefore has similar preferences.

Mu Hee’s so cutely charming, and I can totally see why Ho Jin would have to swallow that leaked smile in response. 🤭

It feels very significant, that instead of opting not to answer like he might have in the past, he chooses to gently assure her, by telling her that it had been an author in his fifties, and this makes Mu Hee relax and smile, agreeing that she has old-fashioned taste – which just makes Ho Jin swallow another leaked smile.

It’s all so precious. 🥹🥰

This moment causes all guardedness to melt away, allowing them both to say the things that they really want to say to each other: Mu Hee remarks that it’s been a long time since they’ve talked personally like this, and Ho Jin says that he’s been watching over her the whole time.

Underneath the words, she’s saying that she’s longed for this connection, and he’s saying that he’s been connected to her, all along.

It’s very heartwarming, to my ears. 🥲

But again, this is from my privileged perspective, where I feel that I can understand where they’re both coming from.

From Mu Hee’s perspective, Ho Jin is not far from his professional self, because she interprets his words to mean that he’s been watching her on the monitor while translating for her during filming.

I believe that’s why the photo of the aurora at the exhibition hits her so hard, that her eyes well up with tears, and she ekes out a whispered, “I miss you,” which is when Do Ra Mi comes to the forefront to rescue her from her distress – by saying goodbye to Ho Jin, using the lyrics from La Traviata.

To Ho Jin, of course this reads as a strong reminder that leaving Mu Hee is the best way to protect her, and this is why he withholds the truth – because he now understands what truth would cost her.

But it’s clearly a very big effort and sacrifice on his part, which is why he’s so vehement that Mu Hee NOT congratulate him on finding a “Babe.”

(On a tangent, I loved the detail that Ho Jin’s now able to tell quite quickly, whether he’s speaking to Mu Hee or Do Ra Mi – even when Mu Hee leads with, “Babe.” So satisfying! 😁)

With so much of our story revolving around Ho Jin learning to “translate” Mu Hee, it feels like a nice reversal, when Mu Hee inadvertently “translates” for Ho Jin – with his mom.

What I mean is, she doesn’t exactly translate in the strict sense of the word, but she does help to build the bridge that eventually reconnects them, and that feels meaningful and valuable, even though it starts out as a mistake.

I can’t help but feel gratified that Mu Hee achieves this just by essentially being herself – especially since she has such a low opinion of her self-worth.

Just her being herself is enough to break down the walls that mother and son had erected and maintained over many years. How precious is that? 🥲

And then when Ho Jin feels awkwardly stuck during conversation with his mom, he falls back on the exact line of conversational thought that Mu Hee had talked about earlier – how’s the wine business, and such.

I wanted to say to Mu Hee: “SEE??? THIS is your value, reflected back to you.” 🥹

Also, very importantly, Ho Jin is fully able to see Mu Hee’s role, in helping this reconciliation to happen – and he tells her so, while icing the bump on her head.

I love that he’s affirming her like this, because I now know, more than ever, how rare and life-giving this kind of edification must be, in Mu Hee’s life. 🥲

Later, in the scene where Mu Hee’s instinct is to hide, when Ho Jin walks in as she’s holding his phone and she accidentally switches off the light, I really like the slow, deliberate way he walks toward her, puts the light back on, and, looking right at her, says, “It’s you, Cha Mu Hee.”

This feels Show enacting literally, something that’s happening symbolically – Ho Jin showing Mu Hee that she belongs not in the dark, but in the light; that she does not need to hide in the shadows.

I thought that was very meaningful. 🥲

But as Mu Hee demonstrates, she’s still more comfortable in the shadows – because she switches the light back off, in order to gather her courage to apologize to Ho Jin for everything.

By this point, Ho Jin’s almost at a breaking point, particularly because they are about to say goodbye, which is why he wavers enough to grab onto Mu Hee’s arm as she tries to walk past him to leave – to say that perhaps he should her sweep him away, since it’s the end and everything.

It’s only Mu Hee’s reference to his “girlfriend” that stops Ho Jin in his tracks – because this reminds him all over again, of Do Ra Mi’s repeated request, that he leave Mu Hee, so that she can leave too.

Oof. It’s a visible punch to the gut for Ho Jin, as he wishes Mu Hee happiness with tears brimming in his eyes.

That’s also why Ho Jin stays professional and translates Hiro’s confession to Mu Hee, though I’m thinking, in hindsight, that Hiro’s intention here, had been to galvanize a reaction out of Ho Jin.

The end of the trip really becomes a moment of reckoning for both Ho Jin and Mu Hee, because this becomes the point of decision: do they really back away, or do they make a different decision and move forward instead?

When Mu Hee sees that video of Ho Jin slumped sadly at the translation booth, she becomes overwhelmed with emotion – which is when she hears Do Ra Mi’s words again: to run away, because that’s what she does best, and be happy.

It’s at this point, when she’s confronted by this taunt, that Mu Hee looks inward and, in asking herself whether she’s really able to leave it all behind, unlocks all the memories that had been out of her reach, because they’d belonged to Do Ra Mi.

I believe the reclamation of her memories signifies an identity reintegration – because now she’s taking back ownership of those memories, from Do Ra Mi. 🥲

When Ho Jin receives that picture message that Mu Hee sends him, I like how much purpose there is, in his steps, that he would even start running, just so that he’d be able to get to Mu Hee sooner.

Importantly, when Mu Hee starts rambling when she sees him, he no longer gets impatient or tries to stop her. He knows now, that this is how she copes. Instead, he waits and listens.

And when Mu Hee’s ready, she tells him that she remembers everything; that she couldn’t let the memories disappear – because he was in them. 🥹

The truth is, though, that there is still emotional repair work that still needs doing, and we can see this in how Mu Hee instinctively defaults to the idea that Ho Jin must be there to reject her.

I think that’s why Ho Jin decides to tell her that he’s going to stop asking her to be happy – because they’re destined to break up anyway.

I believe he’s doing this to relieve her of pressure, so that she can relax and be herself.

He says as much, when he explains that he’s just coming up with a plan to prevent her from rejecting him again when she gets anxious. So no, I don’t believe he actually thinks they’re going to break up.

I also very much like that when Ho Jin realizes that Mu Hee has trouble grasping that he’s confessing (most likely because she’s so convinced that he’s going to reject her – because she “can never be loved”), he tells her directly, that he’s confessing.

Then, as she continues to hesitate, he steps forward and kisses her – so that there’s no way she can misunderstand.

And I find it so heartening, that as Mu Hee returns the kiss, she slowly finds the confidence, to also return the embrace.

Now we’re at a point where he finally sees and understands her, and loves her – and she finally is starting to accept that she can be loved, after all.

How hard-earned and beautiful that is. 🥹

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

E11-12. Given how much I’d enjoyed my watch up to episode 10, I came into this finale really hoping to like it.

Unfortunately, I do think that Show makes some pretty big missteps in this final stretch, and that definitely affects my overall assessment of it.

To be fair to our writers, I do believe that there was thought and intention behind these narrative decisions – but I don’t think that the execution worked out so well, particularly in the watch experience.

First, though, let me talk about a moment that I actually liked.

In episode 11, after Mu Hee realizes from Shameless Ex that Ho Jin would suffer a lot of scrutiny as her boyfriend, she dresses up as Do Ra Mi and approaches Ho Jin to tell him that it’s ok for him to break up with her.

I love that:

1, Ho Jin is able to tell right away, that this is Mu Hee, and not Do Ra Mi, but

2, Chooses to humor her anyway, because he understands that she’s more comfortable approaching the difficult topic of conversation with Do Ra Mi as armor, and

3, Firmly declines to break up with Mu Hee, saying that there’s nothing that would sway or upset him about the rumors that might surface.

I really do like that Ho Jin’s able to see her clearly, and is choosing to stand firmly beside her. 🥲

Unfortunately, for me, the missteps from episode 12 kind of overshadow the highlights, more than a little bit.

We have too much going on in episode 12, and with not enough time for anyone to process or resolve anything properly.

Halfway through episode 12, Show introduces:

1, the fact that Do Ra Mi is really Mu Hee’s own mother, which completely changes the axis of her internalized self-condemnation, and

2, the reveal that Mu Hee’s parents are both alive, and that her father is really her uncle who lives abroad – which also completely turns Mu Hee’s longstanding trauma on its head.

Talk about a late-stage information dump.

With just 30 minutes of screen time left after these seriously major revelations, there simply isn’t enough time for anyone to respond to them in a meaningful way.

At the same time, the finale is also busy wrapping up several supporting arcs, which only adds to the sense that episode 12 is juggling too many narrative threads in too little time.

And so Mu Hee breaks up with Ho Jin, as she’s leaving to go to the US to seek out her mother, and I have to confess, I had to think about this quite a bit to halfway come to terms with it.

Truth be told, I feel that the break-up lands as rather unnecessary, and in the midst of all the sudden Big Reveals, it does feel like the writers are throwing in a last-minute separation, just for the sake of a final scene reunion.

In my mind, we’d spent practically the entire story around the idea of learning to communicate, and at this crucial point in Mu Hee’s journey, I would have liked to have seen her communicate properly with Ho Jin.

Also, I’m unconvinced that it was necessary for her to break up with him in order to “face her demons,” so to speak, because running towards the truth does not require one to also run away from love, yes?

HOWEVER.

I thought about this pretty long and hard, and here’s the most generous read of this plot point that I can muster.

I believe the writers were most likely going for the idea that even when Mu Hee’s unable to translate herself, Ho Jin’s now able to translate her.

And so, even though she says that she wants to break up with him and doesn’t really explain why, he understands without having to be told.

He understands that she feels she needs to do this on her own, and that she doesn’t truly mean to break up with him – which is why, time-skip later, we see him say to his friend that he can’t bring his girlfriend to the gathering at the restaurant, because “they’re broken up right now.”

This interpretation at least supports the theme of translation and communication that we’ve spent hours of screen time unpacking.

That said, I do still think that Show didn’t present this thematic intention clearly enough, which is why I found myself having to work so hard, to reverse engineer it. 😅

Additionally, I do feel that it’s a major omission, to have Mu Hee’s final healing journey happen entirely off-screen.

After spending so many episodes tracing Mu Hee’s trauma and how Do Ra Mi affected her life, it would only make sense for us to also get a glimpse at the final healing process.

Without it, the watch experience feels distinctly incomplete, in my opinion.

From a more macro standpoint, I think that Show should have introduced these Big Reveals earlier in our story, and then invested screen time in allowing Mu Hee to process and work through them properly – while taking us along for the ride.

Because Show prevents us from partaking in Mu Hee’s healing in a meaningful way, I also find it difficult to buy into her return and our OTP’s reconciliation in any real way.

Instead of being viscerally invested in the ending, I now feel like I’m simply approving it from a distance – and unfortunately, that distance was something that Show introduced, by shutting us out of arguably the most important part of her healing.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Thoughtful and solid for the most part; pity about the late-stage stumble.

FINAL GRADE: B+

TRAILER:

MV:

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