If I ignore all the legal scenes, I’m fine with this romcom. It reminds me of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” In that well-loved play, Beatrice and Benedick sparred wits until Benedick was tricked into believing that Beatrice secretly loved him. He didn’t know that he was being set up when he overheard three men gossiping about Beatrice’s desperate feelings for him. According to the men, she was lovesick but was hiding her love for him out of dread that he would mock her relentlessly should he discover the truth. According to them, she had also written a love letter which she ended up tearing into pieces.

Don Pedro. Hath she made her affection known to Benedick?
Leonato. No; and swears she never will: that’s her torment.
Claudio. ‘Tis true, indeed; so your daughter says: ‘Shall
I,’ says she, ‘that have so oft encountered him
with scorn, write to him that I love him?’
Leonato. This says she now when she is beginning to write to
him; for she’ll be up twenty times a night, and
there will she sit in her smock till she have writ a
sheet of paper: my daughter tells us all.
Claudio. Now you talk of a sheet of paper, I remember a
pretty jest your daughter told us of.
Leonato. O, when she had writ it and was reading it over, she
found Benedick and Beatrice between the sheet?
Claudio. That.
Leonato. O, she tore the letter into a thousand halfpence;
railed at herself, that she should be so immodest
to write to one that she knew would flout her; ‘I
measure him,’ says she, ‘by my own spirit; for I
should flout him, if he writ to me; yea, though I
love him, I should.’
Claudio. Then down upon her knees she falls, weeps, sobs,
beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curses; ‘O
sweet Benedick! God give me patience!’
Leonato. She doth indeed; my daughter says so: and the
ecstasy hath so much overborne her that my daughter
is sometime afeared she will do a desperate outrage
to herself: it is very true.
Don Pedro. It were good that Benedick knew of it by some
other, if she will not discover it.
Claudio. To what end? He would make but a sport of it and
torment the poor lady worse.
Don Pedro. An he should, it were an alms to hang him. She’s an
excellent sweet lady; and, out of all suspicion,
she is virtuous.
Claudio. And she is exceeding wise.
Don Pedro. In every thing but in loving Benedick.

After hearing all this “fake news,” Benedick decided to end his bruising repartees and instead to show her love and end her anguish. The gossipers’ ruse worked because he was already in love with her but was unwilling to admit it.

That’s my monthly Shakespeare lesson, and kdrama connection. Now, on with the show….

1. The Meeting Spot

“X” marks the spot.

Did you notice? Every time JungWoo and HaNeul find themselves standing at this spot in front of her family home/restaurant, their relationship levels up.

In Ep 3, they were standing here when they decided that they’d stay away from alcohol and each other.

In Ep 4, when they came home after a long drive to Sokcho to see the sunrise, they were met by her mom, brother, and friend at this same spot. Her mom was confused to see the two of them get out of her car.

Mom: Wait. Why is he…what’s going on?
Brother: Noona, did you go to Sokcho with Mr. Rooftop?
Friend: “Mr. Rooftop”? Is this your first love who moved into the rooftop room?
Haneul: Huh?
JungWoo: I’m your first love?
HaNeul: No. You’re not.
JungWoo: Huh?
HaNeul: No. You got it wrong. He isn’t.

This location marked when JungWoo began basking in the idea that he was her first love, Just like Benedick from “Much Ado About Nothing,” he started to make much ado (or big fuss) about being the “first love” when HaNeul explicitly stated it wasn’t true.

In other words, he was overreacting over nothing.

When HaNeul handed him more research work she had done for his legal case, he suspected that her diligence was due to her residual “first love” feelings for him. When she shyly asked him to go shopping with him that night, he assumed that her awkwardness was proof that he was her “first love.”  Though he called her a nuisance, he was secretly thrilled to be invited and made a fuss about dressing up nicely for what he thought was an evening date with her.

Hence, he was vexed that she only needed his advice on clothes for a blind date she was going on.

The following day, on her way to her blind day, they crossed paths near the fateful corner.

She was dressed prettily in the outfit he had chosen for her. But instead of complimenting her on her appearance, he took a dig at her voice.

HaNeul: (talking on her phone) Okay. I’ll meet you there.
JungWoo: Was that your blind date?
HaNeul: How’d you know?
JungWoo: I could tell right away from your despicable tone.
HaNeul: (pouting)

He also let it slip a couple of times what he thought of her blind date. He referred to the poor guy as a scumbag.

He was being sour grapes because she wasn’t going out with him.

He was still annoyed when they met again. Only after she told him of her disastrous lunch date, did he perk up. She called him out on it, saying, “Why do you look so excited? Are you happy that my date flopped?”

Before he could give her a decent reply, they were interrupted by her aunts.

Notice that? They were again at that Meeting Spot.

The aunts pounced on him thinking that he was HaNeul’s boyfriend, and soon-to-be husband. They dragged him inside the restaurant for interrogation and he and HaNeul had to correct their misinformation. Poor HaNeul’s mom was humiliated for lying.

Aunt: Just a chingu? Your mom said you went out to meet a plastic surgeon.
HaNeul: Oh that? I did have a blind date today, but it didn’t work out.
Aunt: What? Then, he’s just a chingu and she went on a blind date today. So the whole marriage thing was a lie?
Mom: Well, you see…
Aunt: (cackling) I get it now. You were so proud that your daughter was a doctor. Imagine how humiliating it must be now that she’s jobless like Bada. Right? I get it. You were lying.
Aunt 2: Goodness. Of course. You packed up and went to Seoul so she could get into HNU’s med school. But she didn’t get in. Then, you bragged about her becoming a doctor at a big hospital, but even that went down the drain. What will you do now?
Aunt: (addressing JungWoo) Hey, Just-a-Chingu, why did you say you were a plastic surgeon?
JungWoo: Because I am a plastic surgeon.

JungWoo might be “just-a-chingu,” but HaNeul and her mother knew why he gave the aunts his savage medical opinion on their plastic surgery options. He was defending HaNeul’s and her mom’s honor like a true boyfriend, and soon-to-be son-in-law.

Thus, I’ll be keeping an eye on this Meeting Spot in the next episodes. I like how subtle the director has been about using a fixed location to connect JungWoo and HaNeul stronger together.

2. A good judge of character

HaNeul made it clear to her family and friend that JungWoo was only a friend and a decent person to boot.

HaNeul: He’s just a friend, not my first love. We weren’t close before but we became friends.
Brother: But the news said…
HaNeul: Since when did you watch the news? There’s more to the story. It’s still an ongoing trial. And above all else, I can handle it myself. I know how to judge if someone is good enough to be friends with or not.

I like that she didn’t base her judgment on “feels” or physical attraction like that silly heroine in “My Demon.” I like that HaNeul was gathering sufficient proof of JungWoo’s character.

In Ep 2, she heard his confrontation with his so-called friends from high school.

Friend #2: We were ruined too because of you.
JungWoo: Really? Did you really quit your jobs because of me? Yours was going bankrupt and was about to ask you to resign. And you quit while drunk because you hated your job. I knew you were secretly taking most of the ad revenue. But I kept quiet because I thought you needed it. I didn’t want you two to suffer because of what happened to me so I paid off your penalties first. But what did you say? I guess only I thought we were friends. Have a good life, you two.

She knew him to be an honorable friend.

In this episode, she learned that his clinic got sold.

HaNeul: Bitter, isn’t it?
JungWoo: (thinking she was talking about the coffee) It’s sweet and delicious.
HaNeul: Not the coffee. I bet you worked hard to save up all that money. I can’t even imagine such a figure. But you spent it all on penalties and compensations. You even sold your clinic. I thought you wouldn’t be all right.
JungWoo: Well, I’d be lying if I said I was delighted. But…I also just think it’s a relief to have had that much saved up. In any case, some people’s lives were ruined because of me. I’m glad I had enough money to at least give them what they deserved. That’s how I feel.

She knew him to be an honorable employer and business owner.

Then after their shopping date, she recalled what he did for her back in high school when she injured both her wrists.

HaNeul: Even if I was hurt back then, you found seats for me, took notes for me, and got permission to record lectures. I thought you were kind.
JungWoo: (thinking to himself) Is that why she fell for me? (aloud) I wasn’t trying to be nice. I just wanted to play fair and square.
HaNeul: I finally get it.
JungWoo: Get what?
HaNeul: All this time, I just thought you were framed for some vague reason. My gut told me you weren’t the type to brazenly deny your wrongdoings. But after getting to know you and reminiscing about that incident, I finally get why I trust you so much.
JungWoo: (waits for her)
HaNeul: You’re extremely competitive but still thoughtful of others. Despite losing everything you had, you worry about the pain of others first. (nodding her head) So you couldn’t have done it.

My comments:

a. I like that she uses critical thinking skills for making an evaluation and judgment, rather than her “feels.” That’s one of the things that I disliked about Do DoHee in “My Demon.” “Handsome nutjob” was her first impression of the guy yet she fell for him simply because she slipped and fell into his arm. How dumb was that?

b. HaNeul was saying that based on her personal observation of JungWoo’s standard of care and his readiness to make amends when necessary, she knew that he wouldn’t be fighting this suit in court if he had knowingly given the wrong medication, blotched a surgery because of carelessness or performed an operation with disregard to its potentially deadly consequences.

c. Her good opinion of him boosted his self-confidence and gave him hope. When she pointed out his good character, she was able to redirect his attention from his faults to his strengths. She was his character witness; she could attest to his good moral and professional conduct (just like that Dr. Michelangelo would speak up for him). Also, when she said that she believed in his innocence, he began to feel better about his chances at trial. Her positivity was infectious.

3. “Not your fault”

I mentioned this in the previous episode.

4. The trope comparison

Let’s compare the falling-into-the-guy’s-arm trope.

This was from “My Demon,” first episode, during their meet-cute.

This one wasn’t integral to the story. It wouldn’t have mattered if this trope was replaced with something else, e.g., he Heimlich-ed her as she choked on a piece of steak; she espied him feeding a stray cat with leftover food; he part-timed as a pastry chef.

As I commented elsewhere, my problem with the “My Demon” screenwriter and director was they tried so hard to sell us a product, namely, the romance between the two leads, that the show felt phony. They included all the possible cheesy tropes in hopes of getting us to buy into the romance. But they couldn’t hoodwinked veterans of kdramas. We could see that there was no real connection except physical attraction between two rather fine-looking characters.

Sigh. This shallowness is to be expected from a co-writer of that trash “Mr. Queen.”

This is from “Doctor Slump”

This trope was a useful plot device. It was necessary to the story.

a. The trope showed that she was aware all along that their physical contact aka “skinship” flustered him.

HaNeul: What do you think? Does it look pretty?
JungWoo: Very pretty. (self-correcting) The dress. It’s really pretty.
HaNeul: Huh? Why are you suddenly feeling shy? Is it because we touched when you caught me earlier?

I like how blunt she was. There’s no beating around the bush with her, even if it meant talking about embarrassing things.

JungWoo: What are you talking about? As if that was a big deal. Don’t be ridiculous.
HaNeul: (laughing) To be honest, I was a bit surprised. You seem to have matured a bit.
JungWoo: What?
HaNeul: You once threw me so I almost broke both wrists. Remember?

b. The trope had a purpose of this trope. It wasn’t just for cheap thrills like in “My Demon.” It jogged their memories of their time in high school. Back then, he caught her when she fell off the table, but he promptly dropped her after their classmates began teasing them to date each other.

c. Most importantly, it moved the plot forward as she realized that he was a good guy.

That’s the standard I expect from well-used tropes. To avoid turning them into cliches, they should carry a purpose and add meaning to the story.

5. The matchcut dissolves

I have to praise the great editing skills in this episode.

For transitioning from one scene to another, a director (or editor) can use a matchcut. The director selects one visual element in Scene A then matches it with a similar visual element in Scene B. It can be an object, a shape, a color, or a composition that matches/connects the two scenes.

However, this matchcut technique can be sometimes too abrupt, so the director can do a “dissolve” shot. A “dissolve” is to gradually transition from one scene to another by fading in (or out) into the next shot.

There are two examples in this episode.

a. The mung beans

The image of JungWoo and HaNeul dissolved into a tray.

A tray of mung beans which her mom was working on. Clever, right?

b. The cherry blossoms

He carried her backpack. Her wrists were injured, not her shoulders, but he still took her backpack. So much for knowing anatomy.

He tried to hide his gallant move by acting a bit curt and gruff with her.

The camera panned to the cherry blossoms in full bloom above their head.

Then, the scene transitioned from daytime to nighttime with the same view of the cherry blossoms.

When the camera panned downward, it showed JungWoo and HaNeul as grown-ups walking under similar cherry blossom trees in full bloom.

Now, you may ask how does this kind of cinematography help with the story. I see two ways.

In the case of the cherry blossoms, this matchcut dissolve technique connected two different times and created a parallelism (or comparison) between the two. Some awkwardness still remained but as grown-ups, they had a better grasp of their feelings.  As for the mung beans, the matchcut dissolve effectively emphasized a detail — that JungWoo and HaNeul were becoming close to each other (like two peas in a pod?) because of their shared troubles.

I dislike posters who enthuse about cinematography this, and cinematography that in their reviews when all they mean is that they are impressed with the pretty pictures. Please don’t be that kind of poster here on this blog.