When I first read the title of Episode 8, “The Point of No Return,” I feared the worst for MinHo — and prepared myself to cheer for Dr. Ye. 😀

The title “The Point of No Return” gave me flashback of Episode 9 in Reply 1988 with its title “Crossing the Line.”

Back then, I told the ladies over at soompi that THAT episode was going to be the seminal moment that would shape and determine the rest of the episodes.

Remember this nearsea? I PM’ed you to bug you about the line on the camera viewfinder. 

You see, the guy on the left,  Junghwan (JH) did NOT cross the line.

Both of the guys had an opportunity to take a “couple photo” with the girl, Deoksun (DS) but JH was reluctant to hug her because of “appearances.” They weren’t in a relationship so, in his mind, it was awkward to take a girlfriend-boyfriend/couple photo.

Taec, on the other hand, spared no thoughts to such matters. As a matter of fact, he was VISIBLY annoyed with the bellhop who was flirting with DS. “Visibly” means you have to pay attention to his eyes. lol. He grabbed DS and pulled her to him.

There!

I told the ladies in the R88 forum that Taec crossed the line and that in kdrama, the guy with the guts to go after his love is rewarded with the girl. Of course, those silly JH fangirls howled in anger and called the mods….

Well, in this drama, JH resembles that jerk MinHo. He bickers a lot with BoYoung and he is relentless in teasing her and insulting her. Taec resembles Dr. Ye. They are both renowned in their fields, shows empathy to the heroines, and treats the heroines carefully instead of brusquely. Dr. Ye and Taec are the mature ones when compared to MinHo and JH.

However, the JH’s characteristics that grated on me in R88 were tempered in MinHo in this drama.  MinHo is a step-up from JH.

I’ll cite a few examples.

In R88, JH berated DS for wearing an inappropriate short skirt in the dead of winter. To teach her a lesson, he refused to lend her his coat. Meanwhile, in another episode, Taec saw that DS was freezing. Without saying anything, he removed his overcoat and wrapped her in it. When she protested, he gave her an “excuse” that he was hot with his coat on.

THAT is what MinHo did with his jacket in Episode 4. He simply put it on BoYoung and pretended to scold her while tucking her hands in his pockets. Inside his pockets were a beer and snack to lift up her spirits.

In contrast, we had Dr. Ye wondering what she was doing with HER hand in his pocket.

Second-hand embarrassment level: 80

That’s important in romantic shows. The jacket.

Additionally, in R88, despite JH secretly admiring DS, he teased her for looking ugly and laughed at her when she cried. He cringed at her dancing and her eating habits disgusted him. He called her stupid. And interestingly enough, he never called her by name till the end.

On the other hand, Taec saw how hopeless DS was with baduk and Rubik’s cube but not once did he ever diss her average IQ. Instead, he allowed her to boss him around. He even let her nag him in front of his surprised admirers fans.

This is important in romantic shows: pet names because they show affinity, a bond.

In A Poem a Day, The Ye Line had a limited lifespan because Dr. Ye refused the moniker. He thought it was absurd. Only the name “Cry Baby BoYoung” stuck with BoYoung and it was Minho who gave her that nickname.

Sure, like JH, he finds many of BoYoung’s actions comical and he cringes whenever he sees her fan herself to dry up her tears.

However, we know from the start that he’s NOT incapable of deep emotions or sympathizing with her. Remember the Sagwa/Apple incident? He saw BoYoung cry in a room but he hung back to give her privacy.

He didn’t call her Cry Baby this time, too. He calmly told her to stop crying already a couple of times then he waited for her to sober up. He knew she was grieving.

And note too: he didn’t use these drunken words to get back at her later on. What she said here, “I’d want to be enemies with someone like me, too,” was a hundred times more embarrassing that her body gags. It was maudlin.

The Ye Liners sadly miss that while MinHo has seen her most embarrassing moments, Dr. Ye doesn’t want to be part of it. Remember nearsea how much it annoyed me that JH expected his father and DS to behave with decorum all the time. Well, Dr. Ye is a stick-in-the mud, too.

Tells a drunk to “Stop drinking so much.”  If I were BoYoung, I’d have saluted him and said, “Aye, Aye, Captain Obvious!”   

“Why are you telling me that?” Ugh! He doesn’t care to hear about her date life or her planned wedding to a rich sheikh. Come on, dude! Draw a line in the sand. 

Then, if he finds her chattering with Dr. Kim too loud in public, then what about her clumsiness in public?  

Like this?

How about this?

Or this?

Will he really find this cute in the long run? His face didn’t even crack a smile (while I was rolling in laughter).

All these springtime blossoms and cotton candy fluff are fine but the bigger question is…

Will he play with her? 

There’s no doubt that MinHo can be annoying as heck but you have to admit, he wants BoYoung to enjoy life too. BoYoung missed out on the fun because she had to work right away. Didn’t she say that at the beginning? And wasn’t that the reason she looked at the riverboat and sighed, “It’s so pretty.”

MinHo plays with BoYoung like Deoksun plays with Taec and forces him out of his introspective life.

And to top it all, what was this all about? To me, this is a dealbreaker, especially when the title of the episode is “The Point of No Return.”

He’s wiffling-waffling. Dithering.  He’s having a DefCon moment. lol.

He says: Ye JaeWook, can I give you some advice? Don’t meddle. Are you trying to get revenge for Dr. Woo? What you just did to Dr. Shin wasn’t like you. (he leaves then he turns round again. Ye JaeWook, can I give you some more advice? Don’t regret what’s already happened. It’s true that Shin MinHo was wrong…. Can I give you one more…

Cleaning Lady: Look here. I’d like to give you some advice. Please move aside so I can clean the mirrors. 

He answers: I’m sorry.

lolololol.

Why is he having this conversation with himself? He’s overanalyzing this. Like Defcon, he’s going:  I shouldn’t have done that. No, I should have done. No. I should have…

He’s beating himself up for breaking his “code of ethics” and stooping to avenge BoYoung’s reputation. He deplores that he meddled and behaved like a silly high school kid with MinHo. But he reasons out that MinHo that deserved to be embarrassed so his action was justified. He’s arguing with himself whether he did the RIGHT thing or not…in the bathroom

Can you believe how ridiculous this is? I’d facepalm but I don’t want to ruin my makeup. 

To me, he’s making a mountain out of molehill. He’s creating a moral quandary where it doesn’t need to be. The truth is staring at him in the mirror. But is this really the Point of No Return for him already?

THAT’s why I say that there’s hope for the MinHo fans. You see, while Dr. Ye was agonizing over his ethics over a simple matter, MinHo already has decided on a course of action. He’d seen them walking back from their lunch and he turned his back on them, just like in the poem. Sure, he agonized over his decision like Dr. Ye. But unlike Dr. Ye the focus was on something someONE else.

Here, I’ll keep it simple. 🙂

Dr. Ye’s Point of No Return = comprising his ethics
MinHo’s Point of No Return = compromising BoYoung’s happiness.

🙂  But don’t tell the YeLiners this, okay? Because I’m not in the mood to deal with hysteria right now.

I said that the poem frames the whole episode. Read it again because I’ll change the pronouns.

The Point of No Return
by Kim Chul Hyun

Leaving the person you love
And turning
As if you no longer love her.

Hiding the pain in your heart
And turning around
As if it doesn’t really hurt.

Hiding your unwanted parting
And turning around
As if it doesn’t matter.

Holding back your tears
And turning around
As if you’re not weak.

If you love that person
You can’t turn back
Because you love her.