Reel Tastes & Travels – a light dose of entertainment to wake you up

Another aborted kiss, two even… an actual kiss…two heartfelt declarations! What seemed like a filler episode at first really ramped things up in the last 15 minutes. 

The episode picks up at the workshop where Young-joon and Mi-so eat their dinner. They don’t end the retreat as an official couple despite his earlier confident proclamation but they are definitely getting closer to it. When she mentions her disappointment at missing the outdoor bbq, he decides to surprise her with a barbecue at his house and fails in spectacular fashion. Young-joon being Young-joon, still finds something to be proud of i.e. like a normal person he has now found one thing that he is not good at, harking back to her statement at the start of the series that she just wants an ordinary romance with an ordinary guy. Well, that seems firmly out the window, though given the premise of the show, it was never really on the table anyway. 

They almost kiss but again his traumatic memories from the kidnapping stop them. This time however, Mi-so realizes that there must be some underlying cause instead of getting angry. Frankly, that was a relief because it’s not much fun watching the same misunderstandings play out again and again. 

Later on, Young-joon’s mother finds out about Mi-so’s presence during ‘The Kidnapping’ and calls her for a heart to heart. It’s here that we are really bombarded with clues screaming that it was Young-joon and not Sung-yeon who was kidnapped – the specially designed custom sweater, the susceptibility towards cold, the mother’s half whispered cry of anguish about Hyeon (instead of Yeon). Thankfully, Mi-so is smart enough to pick up on these and not be gaslit by everyone around here into ignoring what her intuition and intellect are telling her. Also thankfully, it seems like the show is done dragging this out and they pretty much confirm through a flashback what has been glaringly obvious for a while. 

All of which lead up to the big declarations. First, Sung-yeon proclaiming his affections for Mi-so during the art centre launch event, which in turn motivates her to find Young-joon and confess her feelings for him to avoid any misunderstandings. Yes, finally! They move in for a kiss, only to have Young-joon abort it again, but this time Mi-so takes the initiative. And just like that, his demons disappear, at least with regards to physical demonstrations of his affection. Pretty far-fetched that decades of childhood trauma can be overcome so easily but if it means they can finally move forward in their relationship, I’m willing to give it a pass. We’re still only half-way through the series though so I’m curious what other hurdles will be thrown at them to pad out the series.

Episode 9 mostly deals with the two adjusting to actually being in a relationship and trying to strike a balance between their professional and personal relationships. Young-joon overcompensates by trying to do Mi-so’s more mundane tasks himself, which has the unintended consequence of sparking a panic in his team as they believe this is a precursor to layoffs. And Mi-so has to learn to let Young-joon do some things for her, instead of catering to his every need like she used to. They narrowly escape being caught by their team a few times, escaping with the flimsiest of excuses. I suppose having seen him as an authoritarian for so long, it is easier for them to ignore the most obvious explanation to their actions and instead settle for any alternate story however sketchy. Yoo-sik continues to be the friend of the year, supporting and advising Young-joon whenever required while having his own troubles ignored.

Young-joon and Mi-so make up over a meal from her favourite restaurant but their cute interaction is cut short by a surprise visit from her sisters. Unwilling to introduce him to them so early on in the relationship she hides Young-joon in the cupboard. Unfortunately for him, her sisters are unwilling to take a hint and plonk themselves down for a long dinner, forcing him to endure not just a long wait in the cramped closet, but also numerous insults about himself. At least it serves to inform him of the poor opinion her family has of him given his constant demands on her time as her boss. Good to puncture his air of self-satisfaction about what a catch he is so that he can put in suitable effort to win over her family whenever he does meet them.

The other important development was Mi-so finally meeting Sung-yeon and firmly putting to rest any hopes he has regarding her feelings for him. Following his earlier declaration, she has been caught up in her new relationship, but here she finally takes the opportunity to let him down firmly.

Stray Musings

• Manager Bong trying to act cute to win over Secretary Yang is cringeworthy, and you’ll feel plenty of second-hand embarrassment watching her scenes.
• Note to all guys out there – maybe check that your feelings are returned before making public declarations. At least Sung-yeon didn’t mention Mi-so by name so there’s still some wiggle room for both to escape an embarrassing situation.
• It’s endearing how happy Young-joon is to call Mi-so ‘his girl’ in public, after waiting so long to have her return his feelings.
• Although played for laughs, Young-joon really is a terrible friend to Yoo-sik. He is clearly upset about the encounter with his ex-wife, yet every time he turns to Young-joon for consolation, he ends up advising him on his relationship instead.
• There is a secondary plot of Gwi-nam accidentally taking Ji-ah’s fan when she’s moving in which sparks off a series of interactions that is slowly setting the scene to overcome their antagonism towards each other.