To bookend my review of these first two episodes, I’ll finish in the same way I began: with an example of a romantic scene I approve of. This time, I’ll focus on the cinematography.

The backstory:

A furious JiYoon (JY) marches into her sunbae’s office. She accuses her former colleague of poaching her candidates to hurt her. She tells Sunbae to stop the scheming or else, she will assume Sunbae is terrified of her. But Sunbae counters that of course, she’s terrified of JY because one person already died because of her.

With that comeback, Sunbae does two things. One, she admits to stealing JY’s recruits. But she claims that her actions weren’t unethical nor shameful because they were in retaliation for JY’s past offence. Two, she triggers JY’s memories.

JY’s eyes shift down to her sunbae’s nameplate on the desk and she’s instantly transported back in time when she was looking at another man’s nameplate on an empty desk. The CEO of the company had passed away and her coworkers were buzzing about her role in his death.

Clearly, the sunbae knows JY’s Achilles’ heel. To JY’s credit however, she steels herself to issue a final warning to her sunbae. “If you do this again, I won’t hold back anymore.” Then, she marches walks out of her sunbae’s office.

Once she’s out of there, she hears people whispering around her.

Note how the camera becomes blurry. Though it keeps JY in focus, everything around her is hazy, cloudy, foggy. This is great camerawork because it gives the impression that:

— JY’s walking in a daze. She can’t clearly see the people around her because she has disconnected from the physical world and withdrawn to her mental world. This retreat to her inner thoughts is her way of coping with stress. Remember the child Byeol’s drawing of a girl engulfed in black? This is something similar: JY is engulfed in fog.

— JY’s isolated and abandoned. Everyone is blathering that she’s a traitor and that she was shameless to show up there after her betrayal. In this shady world, nobody is on her side. The bleakness of the shot captures the unforgiving and judgmental nature of the workplace.

— JY’s living in a déjà vu. The monochrome of this scene aptly produces a surreal feeling of “been-there, done-that.” Her traumatic past merges with the present as she heads for the exit. In her imagination, she’s reliving the “perp walk.” In reality, however, no one is paying attention to her. A female stranger even bumps her because she’s on the phone. If ever, JY’s attracting attention because she’s walking as if she’s a zombie.

Note the different camera angles in this last scene. I’ll explain five different angles for expedience.

1. The wide shot. This sets the stage and provides visual context.

2. The close-up shot. This focuses our attention on a particular action that we might have missed with a wide shot.

3. This POV shot. This gives us the perspective of the character. For example, when the camera is positioned behind the back JY, we’re virtually standing in her shoes and seeing what she’s seeing. This camera angle allows us to empathize with her emotions.

4. The medium close-up. This allows us to watch the character react to the dialogue or events.

Let’s begin at 1:00:57, the moment when JY steps away from Career Way.

First, there’s a close-up shot of JY’s shoes as she crosses the threshold. Career Way’s office has a carpet with hexagonal design. Outside is white marble. To me, these details are symbolic. Those hexagons gives off a claustrophobic vibe, that is, a feeling of being hemmed in. In contrast, the white marble appears liberating. JY is leaving her former workplace which had been hostile to her in the end, and heading off on her own. The future is uncertain, though.

Then, there’s a medium close-up of JY looking exhausted. Though she mustered enough courage to enter her enemy’s territory, she’s now drained of energy. There’s also a droning noise in the background which probably mimics the ringing in her ears because she’s feeling faint.

Then, a POV shot. JY sees strangers before her, and they appear unfriendly and unwelcoming. She gets bumped by one of them.

Next, a close-up shot of JY grasping her head and blinking her eyes. This tells us that she’s getting more and more confused. She feels faint but is trying to hold onto consciousness.

Then, there’s a medium close-up of JY walking past pillars. I like this super-imposed imagery because it gives the sense that she has a long way to go before exiting the building.

Next, a wide shot of JY entering an airy, glass-filled hall. This is symbolic again. She may have escaped danger but she’s in a vast emptiness with no exit and no end in sight.

Then, close-up shot of JY grabbing the railing. This is her desperation. She’s at the end of her rope but must hold on.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

Then, we get a wide shot of JY with the backdrop of a glass wall. There are lines everywhere in this shot. The lines frame her in a corner, looking small, insignificant, and helpless.

Then, the camera gives us a close-up of her eyes as she looks down at the ground floor. From this shot, we see her point-of-view. We get that the wide-open space is frightening. How will she get down and out of there when she’s feeling dizzy and lightheaded? Who will help her out? No one is there. But then, in the corner of her eye, she spots someone entering the grand hall and running up the escalators.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

Then, there’s a close-up of her face. It shows her confusion and disbelief.

I like the camera following EH up the escalator.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

He takes three steps at a time because he’s in a hurry to reach her side. I’m reminded of the “rocky staircase” scene in Episode 1. Although he wasn’t in a hurry back then to rescue her from the darkness, I thought he was purposedly clomping down the stairway so the sound of his heavy footsteps would reassure her that help was on the way. (I wrote this in passing, didn’t I?)

Noteworthy: the difference in camera focus.

When the camera is focused on EH, the shot is hazy and blurry at the edges, and the colors are filtered and muted. That’s because we’re seeing him from JY’s eyes, and she’s about to lose consciousness.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

However, when the camera is focused on JY, the shot is sharp, and the color is back. That’s because we are looking at her from EH’s eyes, and he’s clear-headed.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

Next, a close-up shot of JY reaching out to him.

Then, a wide shot of EH’s running to her side.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

Then, a close-up of EH grasping her arm as she clutches his. As soon as they touch, the colors return. Like magic.

source: iamacolor’s tumblr

What follows next is multiple close-up shots of JY and EH. As I said earlier, close-up shots are meant to indicate action. Therefore, even though only one word is uttered (EH says, “Taepyonim” or “Ms. CEO.”), there’s a whole lot of INTERNAL  movement — or realizations — going on. They’re both processing what this whole encounter means to them because it isn’t merely by accident that he appeared at her side.

Moreover, I think there’s a subtle callback to the “nondualism gate” in Ep 1. Although there isn’t a physical “nondualism gate” behind them, the fact that she rests on him, and he lets her be, is the ultimate SIGN of nondualism. Meaning, she’s freed herself of her binary worldview of love and hate, I’m-right-you’re-wrong, client and non-client, boss and assistant, friend and enemy, etc. And she rested on him.

Their body position alone evokes the symbol of nondualism and oneness: yin and yang.

(sorry, I can’t get a better screenshot than this.)source: iamacolor’s tumblr

And that’s why I say this is a romantic scene, although it isn’t melodramatic like the she-fell-off-the-cliff scene in  “When the Phone Rings” or she’s-hanging-on-the-ledge scene in “My Demon.”  The romance is the result of a well-planned and carefully executed cinematic presentation of an otherwise trope-y event of a man rescuing a fainting damsel.