I like the simplicity of this episode for three reasons.

Reason #1.

The mystery behind the death of the Macau heiress was solved but not before JungWoo wised up to who his real friends were. In a sense, the flashback at the beginning of the episode was an appropriate introduction because the malpractice lawsuit was a seminal moment for him, too.

In botany, the word “seminal” pertains to a seed.

When JungWoo was in elementary school, he had a “kidney bean incident,” or the first time he experienced failure in his life. His kidney bean was the only seed that failed to sprout in class. Though he was told to be patient, he tried to do everything in his power to make it shoot up like the rest. He held it up to the sun so it would receive extra sunlight. He watered it diligently so it would grow faster. But nothing happened. When a classmate tried to console him, he denied feeling upset. To hide his real feelings of anxiety and dejection, he said that he didn’t like kidney beans anyway.

JW: I don’t need kidney beans in my life. I won’t cry because of those stupid beans.

But because of those “stupid beans,” he went home that afternoon with “tears the size of those beans.” In retrospect, he admitted feeling lonely and sad because of his failure to grow such an easy thing like a kidney bean.

In high school, he had his second taste of failure when he brought home his report card that showed his coming second to HaNeul. He tried to downplay his grades to his mother, but she chewed him out, saying, “Is it that hard to keep up what you’ve been doing? What’s the point of living in failure?” When he reached his room, he spotted his “kidney bean” logbook and was reminded of that incident.

JW: That’s when I realized. Life was like a kidney bean. There were some things that happened out of my control. Unlike happiness, which felt vague at times, misfortune always makes its presence known. I hit rock-bottom in a blink of an eye. And failure always went hand in hand with loneliness. To save face, I pretended I was fine and bearing it. To be honest, I longed for a family who cared about me. I yearned for someone who believed in me. However, as one misfortune led to another, my days never got better and were surrounded in darkness. Will ever be okay again? Will I ever get to enjoy a normal evening again?

Thus, the “kidney bean incident” during his elementary years was literally and metaphorically a seminal moment for him. By “seminal,” I mean that the incident was life changing. At first, it seemed little and insignificant (like a seed) but in time, it grew to have a big impact on him and, shaded (like a deep-rooted tree) his perception of his self-worth and lovability.

This lawsuit is like the report card incident because he was reminded once again that his self-worth and his lovability were defined by success. When he was successful, he received lots of attention, support, and “love” from people. His achievements made him valuable and loveable to his friends, business partners, and own mother (to be fair, we haven’t heard from his father). But when he was accused of killing his patient, they all abandoned him. Clearly, their love for him was only conditional on his success.

The end of the lawsuit against him proved to him that his “peeps” had been fair-weather friends only. In a voiceover, HaNeul explained what he had been feeling after his innocent verdict.

HaNeul: It took some time for JungWoo to recover. He unnecessarily suffered too many losses. He needlessly had to experience failure and disappointment. He didn’t know who to blame and felt lost for some time. Once again, another ordinary day began. And people didn’t seem to care about his pain. [montage of his business associates, friends, and mom trying to reestablish contact with him.] Inside, what his secrets left behind was pain.

Seeing how these people couldn’t crawl fast enough out of the woodwork to reconnect with him — after letting him hang to dry — undoubtedly pained him. He went into hiding for three days, and HaNeul and her family gave him privacy and space until they decided to hold a rooftop barbecue and drink the ginseng wine to coax him out of his room.

Thus, to me, this rooftop barbecue/ginseng wine incident was another seminal moment similar to the “kidney bean incident.” It was seminal because a seed was planted in JungWoo’s head that he didn’t have to accept conditional love anymore. He was worth more than that.

Note: I like that HaNeul contrived to water the rooftop cabbage in order to chance a meeting with JungWoo. It harks back to the “kidney bean incident” when JungWoo watered his bean and goes well with the theme of planting.

HaNeul’s brother first brought up the topic of false friends.

HaNeul’s brother: The people who abandoned you when you were ruined are reaching out now. Right?
HaNeul’s mom: How despicable! They should just dislike him all the time like we do.
HaNeul: Don’t say that. You don’t dislike him.
HaNeul’s mom: There’s no reason to like him. I witnessed him cold-heartedly and cruelly reject my daughter right here.

She continued to explain her “ambivalent” feelings for JungWoo. She didn’t like him for publicly rejecting HaNeul, but as a mother herself, she couldn’t help feeling pity for JungWoo.

JungWoo’s old tutor had the misfortune of calling him at the wrong time; he received the brunt of HaNeul’s mom’s wrath.

HaNeul’s mom: (asking JungWoo) Did this jerk ever call you when you had hit rock bottom?
JungWoo: No, but…
HaNeul’s mom: (talking on the phone) Hey, you, listen up. You didn’t bother to call him when he was struggling. So how dare you call him now? You call yourself a human being?
JungWoo’s sunbae: (blabbering on the phone)
HaNeul’s mom: Then you should have called sooner. Just get lost before I throw a bucket of freezing water on you.

After she hung up, she hugged JungWoo.

HaNeul’s mom: From now on in your life, if these good-for-nothings continue to mess around and pester you, curse them out like I just did. Got that?

To me, that’s a seminal moment right there. She might have been drunk talking, but hopefully her words would sow sober thoughts in him.

Reason #2.

I also like this episode because it made fun of JungWoo’s vow to confess his feelings for her at a time and venue befitting the occasion.

Remember what he said in Episode 6.

JungWoo: You’ve been trying all day to cheer me up. Thanks.
HaNeul: Well. I know how awful it feels to be depressed.
JungWoo: But… it really wasn’t a confession.

He was referring to the karaoke incident. He sang two songs and in both those songs, the lyrics included the word “naman-eul” which translated into “only me.” The line from the first song was “You said you love only me.” The line from the second song was “sincerely only me.” But “naman-eul” sounded like her name, “Nam HaNeul.” So she thought he was singing, “I love HaNeul,” and “sincerely love HaNeul,” respectively. Lol. By the way, HaNeul means “southern sky.” Her brother’s name, “Bada” means sea.”

JungWoo: What do you take me for? Do you think I’d confess my love at an arcade or at karaoke? Maybe it’s because you’ve been single all your life, but you’re so clueless.

The implication here was that he’d choose a romantic time and place to confess. Neither an arcade nor a karaoke was intimate, cozy, impressive, and special enough for a love declaration.

Then, later he repeated his plan.

JungWoo: I know I shouldn’t feel this way but I can’t control my feelings. I have a ton of things I want to tell you, but I’m holding myself back.
HaNeul: What are all the things you want to tell me?
JungWoo: Just some things.
HaNeul: Come on, what are they? Just tell me one of them.
JungWoo: I like you.

Startled, she dropped her dumpling.

JungWoo: Hey, don’t throw that away!
HaNeul: I didn’t. I just swooned…I mean, I was startled.
JungWoo: I mean it. I’m only able to stay strong thanks to you. You’re like a drug someone prescribed for me. I didn’t see a doctor despite having PTSD. Maybe it was because of you. Maybe I didn’t go because you’d help me get back on my feet every time. Once these troubles are resolved, then I’ll confess my love for you properly. Not at an arcade or at karaoke.

HaNeul: (speechless)
JungWoo: (messing her hair)
HaNeul: What in the world? Did you think that would make me swoon?

Without a doubt, he raised her (and our) expectations. He sounded like…well…a boyfriend material.

Hence, I found it funny that he kept declaring himself at the most unromantic times and places because he was drunk. Let me list them.

a. Unceremoniously in a restaurant

HaNeul: It breaks my heart. You’ve lost so much.
JungWoo: But I gained something special, too. I really like you.
HaNeul: (taken aback) That was so sudden.

JungWoo: Remember what I said? I said you were like a drug someone prescribed for me. I said I didn’t see a doctor despite having PTSD because of you. To me, you’re like my anxiety medication. My life is so bitter and salty. But you’re so sweet. It felt like I was eating candy in a salt pond.
HaNeul: (confused) “Candy in a salt pond”?
JungWoo: My life was so bitter. But the moments we shared were so sweet. It was like eating bracken and chocolate together.
HaNeul: I see….

I can see why she wasn’t convinced. For one, it was obvious that he was intoxicated. That aegyo grin of his wasn’t something he would do if he was sober.

For another, he was no Shakespeare. This is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 26.

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Lol. Shakespeare really had a way with words.

Here’s the gist of Sonnet 26. The narrator despairs of his cursed and outcast existence in the world. (Sounds like JungWoo, right?) But the narrator only has to think of his and he’s immediately uplifted by thoughts of her. He can rise above any hardship (the “sullen earth”) like a lark (which is a kind of bird) at sunrise to sing praise to God.

Do you see the connection with JungWoo? JungWoo felt that his life was bitter, but he just had to remember his sweet moments together with HaNeul, and she gave him strength and hope to go on.

b. In front of the claw machine

JungWoo: Let’s play the claw machine. I’m sure you’ve never tried one before.
HaNeul: That’s right.
JungWoo: Let’s do it. Oppa will win you a stuffed doll. Just you wait.

Note: I checked the sub; he actually called himself “oppa.” I doubt he would say that if he was sober. Weren’t they the same age? But HaNeul let it be because she knew he was drunk.

JungWoo: (dancing in front of the machine)
HaNeul: What are you doing?
JungWoo: Oh. Right. I just got so excited. (Talking to the machine)
HaNeul: Hey, you’re good. How did you do it in one go—
JungWoo: Right. Have I told you that I l liked you?
HaNeul: What?

JungWoo: I understand. You probably didn’t know. But I really like you.
HaNeul: No, I knew but…
JungWoo: And so I’ll make sure to get you a doll!

He liked her so he would treat her to a doll.

c. Buying ice cream at the mini-mart

HaNeul: You know ice cream’s the best when you’re drunk.
JungWoo: Of course. Right. I haven’t told you that I liked you, right?
HaNeul: (staring at him) You did. Multiple times.

Her face!

JungWoo: Mmm. I like you.
HaNeul: Okay. I get it. So pick your ice cream.
JungWoo: Okay.

She finally got it that he was stuck on confessing his feelings for her while he was drunk, and that she would just have to grin and go along with it.

d. Moongazing by the Han river

JungWoo: Gosh, the moon is so bright.
HaNeul: You’re right. It’s so round and yellow that I want to make a wish.
JungWoo: (clasping his hands) My problem is somewhat solved now so please help HaNeul become happy!
HaNeul: Why are you shouting your wish?
JungWoo: That way, the moon can hear us.

She couldn’t help but be amused by his childlike innocence.

JungWoo: Right. You probably don’t know. But I—
HaNeul: (interrupting him) I do know. You like me, right?

JungWoo: How did you know?
HaNeul: (thinking aloud) Is he confessing his love or just teasing me?
JungWoo: You are the kidney bean that I planted.
HaNeul: I was anxiety medication, candy in a salt pond, and bracken and chocolate. And now, I’m a kidney bean?
JungWoo: Yes. Because I can’t wait to watch you sprout. You see, I was so desperate for someone who’d believe in me. I just wanted one person like that in my life. Then, you appeared.

They smiled at each other.

JungWoo: Can I hold your hand?
HaNeul: Yes. Absolutely.

Then, they held hands. He scooted closer to her.

JungWoo: Gosh. The moon is so bright.
HaNeul: I agree. It’s pretty.
JungWoo: Did I tell you yet?
HaNeul: (preempting him) Yes, you did.

JungWoo: Really? I think you’re pretty.
HaNeul: I don’t think you told me that before.
JungWoo: I didn’t?

JungWoo: Then, have I told you this?
HaNeul: What?
JungWoo: I like you.

I have to give JungWoo A+++ for persistence here.

HaNeul: (voiceover) That night, JungWoo confessed his love several times more. And his words made my heart break because they told me how lonely he had been.

JungWoo: I told you, right? I like you.
HaNeul: I like you, too.

This brings me to my last reason for liking this episode.

Reason #3. 

I thought the show did very well in getting the message across.

In vino veritas. Unconsciously, JungWoo kept confessing his love because he hoped that if he showered her with love (i.e., professed love constantly), she would reciprocate and bloom with love for him. And HaNeul figured out that underneath it all, JungWoo was just like a little boy who desperately wanted to be loved for himself, warts and all.

You see, he blamed himself for the kidney bean fiasco. His extra efforts to show them “love” — in the form of more sunlight and water — came to nothing. In his childish logic, he believed that the beans didn’t sprout because they “rejected” him for not being good enough. Unfortunately, this feeling of being inadequate or not being good enough was reinforced by his mother. She too rejected him when he didn’t bring home good enough grades.

But with HaNeul, he was willing to take his chance again.

She showed him that while she wasn’t oblivious to his faults (e.g., she noticed his wrinkled shirt for the trial), she focused more on his strengths than his flaws, and that she knew how to encourage him to become a better person. She saw him at his weakest moment, but she didn’t reject him. Instead, she stuck by his side, supported him, and believed in him.

She liked him for who he was…even when he was drunk, emotionally silly, and overly sentimental. 

This was a seminal moment for both of them, too.