Crossing The Line
Episode 4 of Youth of May begins with Hee-Tae experiencing painful visions of the past. Namely those involving Seok-Chul. This episode sheds a lot more light on this part of Hee-Tae’s past, with lots of flashbacks to his time doing military service. While training, Hee-Tae is told not to make phone calls or write letters. Back in the present, Myung-Hee deliberates on the previous night’s meeting, blushing while sitting at the front desk. As she gets up to do her rounds, she finds Hee-Tae by the phone. He’s still trying to sort out Seok-Chul’s transfer but intentionally keeps her in the dark about this when Myung-Hee arrives to see him. However, that doesn’t stop him flirting with her a little. Myung-Hee hands in her letter of resignation to the nurses and prepares to head over to Soo-Ryeon’s. Only, Soo-Ryeon suddenly heads out her house when she receives word that Jihye Publishing have been ringing and asking about her. This, as it turns out, is actually a from for the protestors to meet, discussing when and where they’re protest next. Once at the safehouse however, the duo are startled when men suddenly pound on the front door, asking to be let in. Unfortunately Soo-Ryeon is brought before Hee-Tae’s Father. It turns out he’s been spying on her and knows all about what she’s been up to. Ki-Nam threatens her, telling the girl to keep her mouth shut. Later that day, Myung-Hee heads over to Soo-Ryeon’s house but finds Soo-Chan and his Aunt there instead. She encourages Myung-Hee to join them on the sofa. She wants Myung-Hee’s advice on who to pick as a bride for Soo-Chan and starts going through a number of prospective matches. Soo-Chan, of course, likes Myung-Hee and the whole ordeal is really embarrassing for him. The next morning, the dysfunctional Hee-Tae household is gripped with tension. Jung-Tae hurries off to school early after admitting that the other kids call Hae-Ryung a mistress. Meanwhile, Ki-Nam obviously has issues at work involving Soo-Ryeon. The odd one out here though is Hee-Tae, who awakens in a good mood as he heads off on his date with Myung-Hee. Together, they head up to Sarang Orphanage. While there, Hee-Tae is introduced as a friend and a trainee doctor too. While he nervously does a check up for the different children, Myung-Hee winds up washing clothes outside. It’s exhausting work, and Hee-Tae eventually collapses on a bench. After feeding a bread roll to a young orphaned girl called Young-Mi, she passes out. It turns out she has gastroenteritis, and seeing Young-Mi like this brings back horrible flashes of the past with Seok-Chul. Eventually the pair sit outside, where Hee-Tae admits he’s not cut out to be a doctor. According to him, everything he touches just breaks. Myung-Hee sticks up for the man though, claiming he’ll be a great doctor and he’s being way too hard on himself. After a great day together, the pair say their goodbyes as Hee-Tae wishes for Myung-Hee to look back. Eventually she does, bringing a massive gasp. Anyway, she agrees to give him her answer regarding their relationship prospects the following day. Only, this is likely to hit a major snag when Ki-Nam starts researching more about Hee-Tae and Myung-Hee. With pictures snapped in private and various files from the hospital, he realizes that the pair are seeing each other. He immediately heads up to see Hyun-Chul while he’s at his watch repair stand. Ki-Nam confronts him over Myung-Hee and warns the man to be careful. He needs to keep an eye on his daughter or Ki-Nam will make a move himself. The next day, Soo-Ryeon meets Hee-Tae and admits that his father is pressuring them to get together. She also confirms that he threatened her too. In order to quell any doubts, Soo-Ryeon urges them to keep up this charade for another month. Of course, it’s not that simple for Hee-Tae given his ties with Myung-Hee. Meanwhile, Myung-Soo runs into trouble at the training camp after meeting his father. The other boys start making fun of Myung-Soo’s father, hobbling around on one leg. Jung-Tae has seen enough and heads over to punch the boy in question. It’s a big moment for these two, as they patch up their differences over a common theme; embarrassment over their parents. With everything that’s going on, Myung-Hee meets Hee-Tae late at night and gives him her answer. She decides not to proceed and instead asks him to get engaged to Soo-Ryeon.
The Episode Review
Youth of May returns and answers the big questions hanging over yesterday’s episode – where is the antagonistic threat coming from? Well it seems the forces that be are gravitating around Ki-Nam, who’s forcing the hand of all our characters. Hee-Tae finds his world completely turned upside down thanks to Myung-Hee’s confession at the end. She knows that his father is a dangerous man and it could spell big trouble for both families if the arranged marriage doesn’t go ahead. There’s definitely a feel of Romeo and Juliet forbidden love going on here, with the two-family dynamic actually working pretty well to backdrop against this. The changed time period to shoot during the 80’s is a nice touch too and this episode is packed full of drama. We also learn more about Seok-Chul here, with some telling flashbacks showing Hee-Tae’s world crashing down around him. It also explains why he’s so standoffish when it comes to being a doctor. Either way, Youth of May delivers a really strong episode and while yesterday’s chapter was good for comedy and romance, the changed feel here dives into the drama a lot more, with forces conspiring against our main couple. The ending certainly leaves the door open for more though, with lots of question marks hanging over the direction this one is likely to take next.
