Soundtrack #1: Episode 3

by mistyisles

Even as it becomes increasingly clear that there’s more than just friendship blooming between our photographer and lyricist, they remain reluctant as ever to confront it head-on. But either time is on their side, or it’s working against them, because they’re going to have to make some kind of decision a bit sooner than they think…

EPISODE 3 WEECAP

After seeing the photos Sun-woo’s taken of her over the years, Eun-soo starts to put two and two together. She tentatively asks about his unrequited love – when did he first fall for her and why? Sun-woo, not catching on that she suspects it’s her, answers cagily. After a few rounds of questions, he says testily that he’ll handle it on his own, thanks.

But, as we saw last week, these two are quick to apologize with flowers whenever they have a disagreement, and this time it’s his turn to present her with a bouquet and ask if they’re still good (they are). He answers her questions, further confirming her suspicions by saying he’s not sure exactly when he fell in love, but that nine years ago was when he first consciously realized it.

Sun-woo also tells her he plans to confess his feelings… but doesn’t. Eun-soo spends most of the episode getting the confirmation she needs from other people – like their married friends (played by Park Hoon and Park Min-jung) who’ve known for years that Sun-woo liked her – and then waiting for Sun-woo to actually confess.

Meanwhile, they’re each presented with something new to think about. The composer likes Eun-soo’s new lyrics, and invites her to dinner to meet their song’s singer (cameo by Seo In-guk). Then he invites her to a wine bar afterwards (something else she’s too polite to admit she doesn’t like), and things get a bit uncomfortable.

Turns out, his line about giving her tangerine juice without asking because he “enjoys sharing the things he likes with the people he likes” wasn’t just a pleasantry. He’s perfectly polite as he explains that he found her so beautiful when she begged for two more weeks to revise her lyrics, and he assures her there’s no need for her to respond right away… but still, this feels a tad creepy. Maybe it’s just the casting (Kim Joo-heon is 14 years older than Han So-hee), or maybe it’s the power imbalance in their professional relationship. Either way, it seems weird.

Then Sun-woo shows up, and it gets even worse. To be fair, he’s already miffed because he’d planned to finally confess that night, only for her to actively avoid him all day and stay out until nearly midnight. But that doesn’t give him a complete pass, because his response to seeing them in the wine bar is to barge in, sit himself down at their table, and start sampling their food, all while putting on the same odd, childish attitude he did before.

Naturally, when Eun-soo excuses herself to make a phone call, the guys get all territorial. The composer tells Sun-woo point-blank that he confessed to Eun-soo and is giving her space to respond as she wishes. And for some reason, Sun-woo seems to come to the conclusion that Eun-soo’s mind is already made up in the composer’s favor instead of his.

Instead of confessing, Sun-woo tells Eun-soo the exciting news he’d received earlier in the episode: a high-profile photographer contacted him wanting to collaborate, and they’re leaving immediately to travel the world with an exhibition.

Now they’re both suffering in silence, when they could clear things up by simply talking to each other instead of making assumptions. The thing is, though, while Eun-soo claims she sees no point in not being direct about her feelings when she likes someone, she exhibits the exact opposite behavior when it comes to Sun-woo.

A flashback shows us that when he left for his military service, she put on a bright, smiling face to see him off, but then burst into tears as soon as he was gone. And she admits to their friends that what she’s really scared of isn’t so much losing him if they were to break up, but rather hurting him.

So now he’s left the country without telling her how he feels. And she knows anyway, and maybe even acknowledges to herself that she feels the same way, but is afraid to tell him. But she also finally understands what he meant when he described the feeling of loving someone and not being able to tell them, so I have a feeling her lyrics are ultimately going to do the confessing for her – just as his photos did for him.

Interestingly, if that happens, it won’t be the first time she’s written lyrics about their relationship. Back in high school, she wrote a few lines dedicated to their friendship, cheering him on to pursue his dream even though most of the other people in his life didn’t support it at the time.

That unwavering mutual support is what has kept their friendship strong all these years, and it’s also what Sun-woo loved first about her. But now it’s becoming an obstacle in a way, because they both want the other to be happy – and will do whatever it takes to keep the other from being hurt – but they’re both operating out of the mistaken belief that somehow being open about their feelings might cause the other to get hurt. And neither realizes that that’s exactly what’s currently hurting them both.

I’m glad we only have one more episode left, because I’d hate to see this dragged out any longer than it has been already. While I have a pretty good guess as to how things will play out overall, I am just a little curious to see who’s going to show up first with some purple flowers and an actual, overt expression of love instead of dancing around the elephant in the room.

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Soundtrack #1: Episode 3