Crash Course in Romance: Episodes 3-4
by mistyisles
Turns out, our leads have more in common than they thought. A shared connection might just bring them together at last, but not without a whole lot of bickering, internal wrestling, and assorted shenanigans — some more embarrassing than others — along the way.
EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP
After a mysterious metal pellet crashes through the banchan shop window, Haeng-sun and Chi-yeol file a report at the police station. They momentarily devolve into a heated round of bickering when Haeng-sun contemplates reporting Chi-yeol for the cell phone incident, but the long and short of it is that tracking down the culprit will be nearly impossible at this point and Haeng-sun is out the cost to repair the broken window.
Needless to say, she and Chi-yeol are not on great terms. But he needs to eat, so he remains her regular customer, and the two trade petty little comments and dirty looks every time they see each other. It all culminates one day in a purely accidental bucket of water thrown in Chi-yeol’s face, and all he can do is stand there and sputter, “Why?” with the saddest, most confused expression ever.
Haeng-sun tries to insist he change into some of Jae-woo’s dry clothes, Chi-yeol declines, and it’s at that moment that Hae-yi walks in. It’s hard to say who’s more mortified by the realization of their respective relationships to each other. Everyone stares at everyone else for a painfully awkward pause, and then Chi-yeol just turns around, walks out to his car, and drives away.
Now, instead of petty paybacks, Chi-yeol and Haeng-sun try to one-up each other with apologetic generosity. She gives him a lavish banchan spread, he gives her a truckload of fresh ingredients. She uses those ingredients to cook him food when he has to work late into the night… and he rejects it because he’s preparing an important exam and she doesn’t realize how problematic it would be for her to come anywhere near the exam materials. (But still, it’s the thought that counts, right?)
That exam is the level test to determine the seven students who will get into the hagwon’s exclusive All Care program, participation in which practically guarantees acceptance into med school. Hae-yi has recently been excelling in school thanks to Chi-yeol’s classes — even earning a rare hi-five from him for getting an answer right (before he knew who her mother was) — so Haeng-sun excitedly urges her to try for the All Care program. Hae-yi does, and earns herself one of those seven coveted spots.
Haeng-sun celebrates over drinks with Young-joo, getting so exuberantly drunk that when she spots Chi-yeol on the way home, she runs to him, lifts him into the air, and spins him around in a circle before toppling to the ground. Chi-yeol is neither hurt nor offended — he finds it hilarious. He’s still laughing about it the next morning, but when she pretends not to remember what happened, he lets her.
To no one’s surprise, Hae-yi’s best friend, LEE SUN-JAE (Lee Chae-min), also earns a spot in the All Care program, and so does the school’s reigning top student, BANG SU-AH (Kang Na-eon). Sun-jae is thrilled for Hae-yi, but Su-ah is decidedly Not Happy, especially considering Hae-yi knocked her out of a top spot on their most recent school exam. She throws a royal fit, demanding her mother do something about it.
Su-ah’s mother is the extremely influential JO SU-HEE (Kim Sun-young), and it doesn’t take long for her to learn that Su-ah isn’t the only one bitter about Hae-yi’s rising success. A student named LEE YOUNG-MIN (Yoo Jun) didn’t make the cut, and his mother turns to Su-hee in hopes of at least getting him the chance to study with the students who did get in. Additionally, Sun-jae’s mother, lawyer JANG SEO-JIN (Jang Young-nam), is furious that Sun-jae has friends and interests outside of studying — not only is she suffocating Sun-jae, but her marriage is strained and she has a *mysterious* other son who doesn’t talk or interact with anyone. At least, not openly.
Seo-jin and Su-hee are on a fast track to mortal enmity, but their mutual itch to get Hae-yi out of the program unites them. Suddenly, the hagwon has an unwritten rule that All Care program participants must be enrolled in classes with all of the program’s instructors to qualify (Hae-yi is only in Chi-yeol’s), and Hae-yi’s acceptance is rescinded. Young-min gets her spot, and proceeds to get himself thrown out of Chi-yeol’s class for being blatantly rude and disrespectful.
Chi-yeol, incensed, threatens to withdraw from the program himself, but can’t bring himself to jeopardize the other students’ futures just to make a point. Continuing classes, however, plunges him into a brutal bout of cognitive dissonance that makes him fear he’s losing his mind.
Haeng-sun, meanwhile, makes a new rule of her own: anyone professionally affiliated with the hagwon is permanently banned from her banchan shop. (This doesn’t help Chi-yeol’s misery.) She also stages a protest in front of the hagwon, but it only serves to get Hae-yi blacklisted. Finally, after much agonizing, Chi-yeol arrives at a decision and braves Haeng-sun’s wrath to offer her a deal: he wants to tutor Hae-yi privately.
Alongside these events, we learn some important but as-yet incomplete information. First, a student in this area committed suicide several years ago, and her younger sibling allegedly murdered their mother in retaliation. The sibling was acquitted, and no one knows what really happened, but the details seem a bit too similar for this not to be the student from Chi-yeol’s traumatic past.
Second, a new student pops up at Hae-yi’s school. SEO GEON-HU (Lee Min-jae) is an ex-hockey player who’s suffered a potentially career-ending injury. After a teacher reminds him he has his whole life ahead of him, he asks Hae-yi for help studying.
And finally, Sun-jae’s mysterious brother might just be our pellet shooter. If not him, someone with a very similar aura stalks Young-min (who’s plotting Chi-yeol’s figurative demise) and knocks him off a balcony to his death. (!)
The more I watch, the more impressed I am by Chi-yeol’s genuine passion for helping his students succeed, and the clearer it is that his seeming coldness outside of the classroom is self-sabotage to avoid getting hurt again. And it’s hard to blame him for it when he tries to reconnect with old friends only to overhear them badmouthing him behind his back. Or considering how cutthroat the moms’ circle is.
Which makes it that much sweeter that not only is Haeng-sun working her way into his heart, but so is Hae-yi — his decision to tutor her stemmed less from a general sense of justice and more from knowing she would have eagerly embraced the opportunity Young-min so haughtily tossed aside.
As for Haeng-sun, her intentions are so good, but she does have a lot to learn. I felt Chi-yeol’s frustration with her for making Hae-yi’s situation worse even as I felt for her desperation to do something in the face of an unfair system. When they’re not bickering, she and Chi-yeol seem to bring out the best in each other, though, so I’m excited to see them operate on the same page for once.
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Crash Course in Romance: Episodes 3-4
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily
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