Hard To Be Honest
Episode 15 of Lovestruck In The City begins with Jae-Won 10 minutes after kissing Eun-O. The only trouble is, Eun-O regrets kissing Jae-Won despite being the one to kiss him first. Speaking to the camera, she also admits that she regrets fishing the ring out too. Eun-O goes on to mention how she does like Jae-Won but also regrets what she’s done. Unfortunately all of this stems from Eun-O telling the truth – a truth she wanted to take to the grave. With Eun-O saved as “crazy idiot” in his phone, Jae-Won phones through to Eun-O for round 2 later that evening. She simply hangs up on him though (twice) in her sleepy state. The third time though, she stays on the phone and they discuss the regret Eun-O has been feeling. Apparently she doesn’t regret meeting him, admitting she loved every minute she spent with him during the Summer and just wanted to be loved. Now though, she doesn’t know who she is. Eun-O needs to look after herself and discover who she really is, and that means there’s no room for loving Jae-Won in that. The next day, Jae-Won arrives and drives Eun-O’s car to the garage. He gives her back her suitcase while she hands over his camera bag. Jae-Won tells her to take care but Eun-O tellingly stays quiet. She nonchalantly tells him that they’ll see each other at work and watches him leave. Meanwhile, Rin-I fixes up her fork with glue, sending a picture on to Kyeong-Jun who happens to be at work. Elsewhere, Seon-Gyeom messages Kang, having found his house, and tells him to come outside. Only, it turns out it’s not actually his house she’s waiting at. She’s in a random alleyway, where she drills three boys and forces them to pick up cigarette butts off the floor. After they’re done, Kang heads out for drinks with Seon-Yeong where they discuss their past and, in particular, their break-up. The pair continue to discuss their thoughts, eventually leading to Kang and Seon-Yeong going their separate ways. They shake hands, clinging on a little longer, before she turns and leaves. Kang has more important matters to deal with back home though, as Eun-O lights a candle. It turns out this has been a tradition for them since school, as the candle-lighter is given the room to talk and the others have to listen. Anyway, Rin-I sits with the others and mentions her time away. When she returned to Korea, Kang was there, having made sure all the bills were paid for and everything left snug and warm. After bringing up these memories of kindness, Eun-O opens up and admits that she took on a fake alias and was the one to take Jae-Won’s cameras. She didn’t want Jae-Won to find out the truth but her friends are not happy about her keeping it a secret from them all this time. After a relatively tame reaction, the pair eventually embrace their friend, as Eun-O continues to sob. After this, Eun-O heads into her room and finds her old suitcase. Inside happens to be a box left behind from Jae-Won holding a necklace he was intending to give her. Meanwhile, Jae-Won holds onto the relationship rings, deep in contemplative thought.
The Episode Review
After reeling us back in with a decent couple of chapters, Lovestruck In The City slips back into old tricks. Let’s discuss that strange opening, because this exemplifies the exact reason Jae-Won and Eun-O shouldn’t be together. After maturing and actually talking things out last episode, we return to Eun-O being cold and distant while Jae-Won winds up whiny and clingy. I’m not quite sure whose decision it was to turn this scene comedic, but much like Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) these moments just do not work. However, the episode does redeem itself later on with some touching moments between Eun-O, Rin-I and Kang. On that same subject though, can we just take a moment to discuss the tame reaction to Eun-O’s confession? I know they’re her friends but given how much passion and anger they had during the interview segments about the camera thief, it’s a shame there weren’t more fireworks here. Then again, this inconsistency has kinda been the theme for the entire show. Lovestruck In The City is certainly a rollercoaster ride of emotion, but for the most part this episode has more highs than lows. The verdict is still out overall for this topsy-turvy ride though, and if there’s one thing Lovestruck In The City has been – it’s unpredictable.
