The Interest of Love: Episodes 5-6
by Dramaddictally
Formal dating, formal breakups, and formal complaints lodged against the boss — our bank employees mean business when it comes to work and love. It’s too bad their actions and ambitions can’t line up, so they can put all that seriousness into getting what they actually want.
EPISODES 5-6 WEECAP
Last week we ended with an old-school wrist grab, as Sang-soo pulled Soo-young in for a hug. This week, Soo-young pulls away and the two go back to their brooding selves, rehashing what would have happened if Sang-soo had showed up for their dinner. (Why do I feel like these two have already been married for a decade? Their attitudes say they’re sick of each other, not falling in love.)
On the bus ride back from their conference, Sang-soo apologizes for the hug, in case it made her uncomfortable. Soo-young says it didn’t, and suggests they go to dinner that night. Sang-soo seems excited, but also conflicted as he’s still under the impression she’s dating Jong-hyun.
At the office, Mi-kyung asks Sang-soo to attend a wedding with her, since they both know the people getting married. Sang-soo agrees, and then leaves Mi-kyung and Soo-young alone in the breakroom. Mi-kyung tells Soo-young about her confession to Sang-soo last week — but says they’re not dating “yet.” This conversation seems to put an unshakable spell over Soo-young for the rest of the episodes, as she distances herself from Sang-soo and tells him to date someone who’s a better match for him (a.k.a., Mi-kyung).
But even if Soo-young wanted to go with Sang-soo to dinner that night, she couldn’t. The branch manager, YOOK SHI-KYUNG (Jung Jae-sung), asks her to accompany him to a dinner meeting with a client. We already know this guy’s scum by the way he held Soo-young’s hand in his office last week, but if there were any doubts, this meeting clears them up.
Soo-young — who is much younger than both the manager and the male client — sits at the table and attempts to conduct business. She’s reprimanded by the client and later, when they leave, her boss tells her that it’s her job to “entertain” clients in meetings like these. (Essentially, he’s brought her along to act like an escort.) He then forces money into her hand for a cab, even after she refuses and says she’s not comfortable taking his money. (“It’s good manners to accept what a superior gives you” — am I the only one who was about to retch watching this?)
When she gets home, she puts the 50,000 won bill into a tin with other bills, and we know this isn’t the first time this has happened. Since she missed the dinner with Sang-soo, he texts and asks if she wants to go tomorrow night instead. She doesn’t reply — already thinking that he’ll soon be falling for Mi-kyung.
The icky office politics take up a major portion of these episodes. The next day at the bank, Manager Yook asks Soo-young again to go to dinner with him and a client. Sang-soo asks if he can go instead. But the boss says that Sang-soo will be playing golf with a client on the weekend, so it doesn’t make sense. Soo-young then stands up for herself in front of the entire staff, saying that if she needs to explain a product, she’ll do it during business hours.
Manager Yook asks if she’s refusing for today or from now on. Soo-young responds, “I don’t believe it’s my duty to entertain clients.” We see everyone in the office cringe as they look down at their desks. As punishment, Soo-young is ordered to clean and reorganize the file room by Monday (which means she’ll have to work over the weekend to do it). When Mi-kyung says she’ll help Soo-young with the task, Manager Yook tells her she doesn’t have time for such menial work.
This whole ordeal sets off a series of events. First, both Jong-hyun and Sang-soo try to help Soo-young in different ways as she’s struggling to deal with the horrible work situation. But, at the same time, everyone at the office is badmouthing Soo-young, saying she should just go to the afterhours meetings (even if she’s asked to do it more than anyone else). When Sang-soo is asked what he thinks, he says that Soo-young made a choice (making it sound like it’s her fault she’s in the situation she’s in). Soo-young, of course, is outside the door listening when he says it.
Ultimately, Soo-young files a complaint against Manager Yook and an auditing team comes to talk with the staff. We learn that in all likelihood — even if the staff corroborates that Soo-young is treated unfairly — it’s Soo-young that will either be fired or transferred to another branch. Manager Yook won’t face any disciplinary action.
Somehow (and it’s not clear to me how this works), Sang-soo reports Manager Yook for using company funds for personal expenses. This causes Manager Yook to give Soo-young the formal apology she requested, in front of the entire staff. No one knows Sang-soo did this, and they think some sort of justice has been served. (The part I don’t get is how Manager Yook isn’t still in trouble for the misappropriated funds.)
While the work troubles are happening, Soo-young and Jong-hyun start dating. I say this with little fanfare because that’s really how it happens. Soo-young is walking home in the rain one day, in a terrible mood after seeing her mother, and Jong-hyun comes up with an umbrella. They stop at a store, he bandages up some paper cuts she got while organizing the file room, and then he says, “I want to be your boyfriend.” (Possibly the best line in existence for asking someone out.) She says, “Okay, be my boyfriend.” He’s ecstatic, but she seems resigned to the idea.
On Sang-soo’s side, he goes to play golf with his client on the same weekend that he is supposed to attend the wedding with Mi-kyung. She comes to pick him up at the golf course, barely acknowledging the “important” client. When Sang-soo tries to tell her she was rude, we learn that the client is her father. Later, when Sang-soo gets the contract he was proposing to her dad, we don’t know how much of a role she may have played in his success.
At the wedding, we meet some of Mi-kyung and Sang-soo’s friends from college. The friends talk behind the backs of the bride and groom, and Mi-kyung tells them to stop.
One friend then turns her negativity on Mi-kyung, asking why she always acts like she achieved everything herself, when in fact, she takes things from her rich parents. Everything she’s wearing is too expensive for a bank clerk (plus, we saw Mi-kyung’s apartment last week and I was thinking the same thing: this girl ain’t making it on her own). The friend (who’s also rich, btw) says that Mi-kyung couldn’t have done anything without her father — so Mi-kyung should stop acting like she’s better than them.
Sang-soo takes Mi-kyung’s side, and the two leave the reception to have a drink on their own at a bar. Mi-kyung gets very drunk and says she wanted to do everything on her own — and that she works just as hard as everyone else (which is abjectly untrue, but it’s also not her fault that it’s not true). Sang-soo tells her that everyone suffers in their own way, and Mi-kyung tears up and says his words comfort her.
Soo-young and Jong-hyun spend most of their dates at the library, while Jong-hyun studies for his police exam. This is where they have their first kiss, and slowly we see that Jong-hyun is growing on Soo-young with all the nice little things he does for her. On the day he goes to take his exam, though, he gets a phone call (that we don’t hear) and misses the test. He then takes a leave of absence from work and only contacts Soo-young later — to say he wants to break up (presumably due to some crisis he doesn’t want to share with her).
At the exact same time that Soo-young is getting dumped by the guy she wasn’t sure she liked, Sang-soo starts dating Mi-kyung (who he’s “not 100% sure about” either). But these two are actually quite cute. She finds a rare coin on the ground and says she’ll give it to him if they start dating. After a beat, he says, “Give it to me.” We end with these two smiling and ready to embark on a relationship, while Soo-young looks baffled at Jong-hyun.
I have a lot of thoughts about the content of this week’s episodes, but the story is starting to annoy me. There are really important things being said here about gender and class in the workplace (Soo-young’s experiences are very close to my own when I was in my early 20s and working in an office for the first time), and the drama is doing a good job of reflecting nuance — both in the character of Soo-young and how she’s treated.
But I’m bothered that after we see Soo-young stand up for herself — saying that she wants to be responsible for her actions no matter the outcome — the drama throws in a nonsensical way for Sang-soo to be the savior. It doesn’t take away from Soo-young sticking to her convictions, but it does say something about the overarching story the show is trying to tell. And again and again, I feel like it’s a very dated story.
Outside of the social issues, I find myself caring very little for the relationships. When Jong-hyun broke up with Soo-young, all I could think was, well, this might be in her favor. She wasn’t sold on him anyway, and they felt very boring together. Also, for me it’s a red flag that he told her she should come to him when she has a bad day — but he can’t do the same for her (as we see with the breakup cliffhanger).
I like Sang-soo and Mi-kyung together a little better only because they’re more fun than any of the other combinations. I do wonder where the story is headed, though, after the odd conversation these two had about a famous artist and his escapades in love. They discuss that the artist was married, but had a mistress — and he loved the mistress more. Hmm. Are we headed into cheating territory now that Sang-soo and Mi-kyung are dating? Am I terrible if I think this might actually pump some blood into this show?
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The Interest of Love: Episodes 5-6
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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