I've fallen back but still reading your recaps. Your side comments are Insightful and funny.
I really hope that the reporter becomes no.14. Or maybe the fan boy can do us a favour.
Or HM can finally achieve his dream of getting dad's approval.
I don't really care who does it.please just disappear!
P. S- I'm not a psycho. I hope so. So I really need her gone.

I'm not sure about the stabbing scene, for a super cop, he was not so smart with the " I block of knife with my body" move. If he's dead how can he protect the woman he loves ?

The power that people give to the father is very frustrating. He still has influence on people event if he's prison. Indifference is the best weapon with this kind of guy.

I feel like all the characters evolve in the present except the main characters even their conversations are always the same...

Reporter Park makes my blood's boiling more and more in each episode. I agree with Moo-won who told Park that she's no different with Dad - only they have different face. Dad, for sure, he's a serial killer, while Reporter Park is an evil disguise in the face of a reporter.

I'm wondering if Dad will break from the jail and make Reporter Park his 14/15....

Namu-ya, Nak-won ah... Just let me hug you.... :)

I was waiting for this finally it's here. Thank you @mary :)
Now off to read.

Is it me but dad seem more and more like an Hannibal Lecter. He is clearly a very scary manipulator and know how to get to peoples inner scars. no wonder people cant move on as he is in the shadow... I feel he is using reporter park to get information from outside of the prison.
I hope they can save HM. but i feel his redemption is gonna be in some kind of sacrifice... oddly I like is relationship with sister. we could sew from their childhood that he actually cared for her.

So happy for JY word at the end. our girl is the active one of the OTP. who says a girl need to wait for the boy to take action. finally the romance can take a leap!

As usual a beautiful poignant, sad, intense episode.
I feel sympathy for Hyun Moo he had a tough life he has conscience and deep down cares for family it's just he wants approval from worse dad. He and Na Moo both deserve better, they have endured far too much for too long.
I love Na Moo and Nak Won's relationship it's deep, pure and loving. All I want for them is to be happy and seeing them suffer is so sad.
The scene when the mother confronts him in prison sent chills down my spine, it was so creepy, repulsive and hats off to the actors in this show even the ones to hate they're doing a amazing job.
No matter how much I'm against murder, I'm willing to turn a blind eye to retribution of that repulsive reporter.

Honestly?
So on board with this drama. Fully invested.
It's mostly the acting that's got me in love, though. Dead-eyed stares that somehow emit so much emotion, an angelic woman who's strong and kind, I could go on and on...
JKY, JKJ, this is GREAT.

One of my favorite scenes this hour is of Nak-won and Mom seeing each other in the hospital for the first time after 12 years. Nak-won eases mom's guilt by telling her that she is not the person to blame. The goodness of her soul enables her to survive the horrific past.

But Nak-won-ah, next time please don't ever sit in an empty stairway by yourself especially knowing there is a murderer on the loose who is out there to get you. We all know that stairways in Dramaland are full of CCTV blind spots!! I am happy that you survived, but my worry for your safety took minutes off my life.

The way they stare at each other tugs at my heart strings! I commend Nak Won on being such a strong strong character. I wonder if I personally would have been ‘still in love’ if I was in her place! What an impossible situation to be under.

Can we all vote to kill off the reporter? HATE her beyond anything! PURE EVIL!!

That first 15 minutes of the episode though so many feels and emotion that you HAVE to witness that. I mean @mary did such a great job pinpointing stuffs sometimes I didn't even catch (lol) but that confrontation with Hyunmoo and Jaeyi trying hard to help bleeding Namoo while trying NOT to faint akjhdjahdjhf

Ugh, I love mom so much and that talk with Dad just gave me chills so much that I am totally sure we're gonna get somebody killed someday. Is it Mom, is it Sojin, is it hyunmoo, is it Police Captain Ahjusshi, is it Dojin's Hoobaes, but tbh my money is on Hyunmoo. Don't thriller drama tend to do that?

Hardwood flooring, full access to live television, nice shelving units, personal library, generously sized window, not to mention personal attendant and regularly scheduled cooked meals....why is Psychopath Abuji's prison cell more luxurious than any of the Noryangjin rooms in Dramaland?

Thank you, Mary!
I love you for that “don’t break his murderer-wannabe heart” side comment. Lol.

Can the writer please let Do-jin & Jae-yi happy already? They’ve suffered enough and I think it’s about for them to be together. Let him move in with her too, for safety purposes. ^^

What to make of the unexplained wound on dad’s head 12 years ago, and his counting of murders being +1. Any speculations?

I hate Park Hae Young
Yes, she create another killer, she destroy and kill the victims family
Can't they sue her for privacy invasion?
Can't Mowon use his position to jail Park Hae Young and her media?
Thanks @mary for the recap. I really want to hug Dojin and Jaeyi. One episode every week really hard to take 😭😭

I don’t understand why it would be a deep dark secret to defend yourself when someone is trying to kill you or the person next to you? I am referring to both Moo-won and Na-Moo. It isn’t as if it were a mere suspicion that their lives were in danger. Other people had just been murdered in the vicinity and the person is raising a weapon against you. Defending yourself is understandable and justifiable response and not an indication of repressed murderous impulses.

Lets just have na moo and nak won move into another show like wreck-it ralph does! This new show cud be about them, puppies, candies and rainbow!

Its just saddening to watch two people who love each other not be able to live freely without guilt or under the watchful eye of stupid people.

I screamed when I saw in my email that this show was being recap.😁😊💕😁😁.: the drama gods heard my prayers and decided to answer. I’ve watched and rewatched it on odk for the past month
Now I’m going to start praying for ‘goodbye to goodbye’

Loved your comments.
I kind of hope the reporter IS #14 because I hate her so much. I may even hate her more than psychopath, murdering Dad.

Gahh, Psycho Dad is despicable. I feel like part of the reason he undermines Hyun Moo is to fuel his animosity towards Na Moo. Dad's manipulation knows no bounds. His conversation with Mom was so creepy, especially the part where he says he never killed her because of her scent *shivers*

Reporter Park is such an interesting character. Too bad I can't wait till someone throws a hammer at her. There's one too many psycho in the show right now, someone's gotta go.

wow, after reading comments and mary's replies to comments, i've realized that i'd forgotten so much of the details from previous episodes being fed at such a slow pace... i'm going to have to go back and restart from the beginning to refresh my very bad memory.

oh darn... must rewatch all the beautiful angsty staring scenes...
; )

So temped to talk about today's episode here, but I know I must not!

But I bear good news, it looks like Come and Hug Me might be back to two episodes a week starting next week!

Beware of Spoilers and Rampant Speculation

Part 1 of 2

Thank you for your recap, Mary. It feels like a dog's age since I watched the episodes, so I rewatched them to refresh my memory.

Owing to preemptions, not only have we viewers most recently been cheated out of two episodes (last week and this week), but the show's rhythm has been knocked into a cocked hat as the usual overnight cliffhanger has dragged on for a week. Besides being cruel and unusual punishment for Kdrama fans, it is messing with the narrative's timing. After this week's episodes 19 & 20, we should be back to Writer-nim's intended rhythm and timing.

Why do I make such a big deal about this issue? Because I've noticed over several years of Kdrama watching that such disruptions can kill the momentum of a show. Given COME HERE AND HUG ME's plot and diabolically-twisted villains, it is difficult enough to witness their machinations and wait for the shoe to drop. My nerves are already shot. Having to withstand the tension for a longer period of time than the writer intended just adds to the struggle.

That said, I'm still tuning in to see what's in store for the characters, and I don't mean only the OTP. Given Evil Dad's sociopathic bent (and I do mean bent, in the sense of “warped”), everyone around Na-moo is a potential target. Mom & So-jin, Jae-yi and her manager, stylist, and driver, mentor Detective Go and fellow officers... Heck, if Na-moo had a pet, I'd worry about it, too.

I'll admit that I'm awaiting Reporter Park's day of reckoning. She's finally gone too far with her televised persecution, and has managed to provoke Evil Dad's wrath. She obviously never learned to refrain from tormenting zoo animals, especially predators. She's nuts enough to provoke a serial killer in person and on his own turf. The woman is certifiable.

Now I'm beginning to wonder what made Reporter Park Hee-young such a nutcase. Just as Evil Dad has been lovingly recreating the dysfunction of his own family of origin by brutalizing his sons and pitting them against each other since they were small, I have a feeling that Reporter Park might be from a whacked-out family as well. Methinks she's more than just an idealist who went off the deep end. She takes too much self-righteous, sadistic pleasure in publicly harassing the subjects targets of her “reporting.”

We're barely past the show's half-way point. At last we're getting provocative insights into what makes hyung Hyun-moo tick. Reporter Park has thrown Jae-yi's Orabeoni's tragic past in his face. Stay tuned for Prosecutor Gil Moo-won's long-overdue backstory. I have a feeling that we'll be seeing an examination of the Spectrum Of Evil, ranging from 12-year-old Moo-won killing his parents' murderer to hyper-bully/murderer-wannabe Hyun-moo, to Evil Dad himself. I'm tempted to assign Reporter Park to the spectrum, too.

- Continued -

Beware of Spoilers and Rampant Speculation

Part 2 of 2

I'm concerned that Dad is finally going to push someone over the edge. It could well be Moo-won who does whatever it takes to permanently ensure his sister's safety by killing Dad and/or Hyun-moo. I can imagine his becoming thoroughly disillusioned with the limits of protection afforded by the law. He has been troubled by the effect of committing murder on the state of his soul. It would not surprise me if he feels he is beyond redemption, a la Prosecutor Jang Do-han in LOOKOUT.

Hyun-moo's reaction to stabbing Na-moo in Jae-yi's garage tells me that he is not cut out to be a murderer. Although the circumstantial evidence, and Na-moo's profiling, points to him as the perpetrator of the recent attacks, especially when it comes to intimate knowledge of the crime scene at Jae-yi's family home as replicated at the film studio, Hyun-moo was too horrified to be a killer. Murderer-wannabe, yes. But he lacks Dad's finely-honed killer instinct. As they grappled in the garage, at several junctures I could see Na-moo's words – and tears – almost getting through to him.

Even more telling was Hyun-moo's (non-)reaction to his fearless little sister's browbeating and finger pokes. He still has a soft spot for So-jin in what's left of his heart. I think that Na-moo's words found their mark after all, and that there might yet be hope for Hyun-moo. That sense was reinforced by his shock and revulsion at the attack he witnessed in the street. It's one thing to hire a hitman and another thing to be present when the attacker strikes. I'm hoping for redemption for him. I'm also fearful that, should he cease to attempt to gain Psycho Dad's approval, he may become a red shirt himself.

Dad has 13 victims, not 12?! Did he kill one more after Stepmom left and before he attacked Nak-won's family? Did he switch his modus operandi, thus evading detection? Or might it be one of his early kills? I'm bracing for a flashback. And still getting over his attack on the prison guard who missed becoming #14 by a hair's breadth.

The revelation that there's an actual Murderous Acolyte/Fanboy conducting his own killing streak doesn't come as a surprise. I have been expecting something along this line. Copycat killers are a dime a dozen in Kdramaland. However, the young guy comes across as just as deranged as Dad. The way he taunts Hyun-moo for being unable to make his first kill is unnerving. I'm afraid he'll whack Hyun-moo. Seriously. Or maybe Hyun-moo will get himself killed defending Stepmom and So-jin when Murderous Acolyte/Fanboy goes after them.

-30-

Seo Jung-yeon's portrayal of Stepmom has really grown on me. She held her own against Heo Jin-ho in the prison visitation scene – no mean feat when facing an actor of his caliber. While she spewed righteous maternal indignation in that scene, elsewhere she projected noteworthy tenderness with Na-moo, affectionate domestic nagging towards Detective Go, and abject remorse to Jae-yi. The character has gone from being a hardbitten, abusive woman who's had a very difficult life to a tenacious survivor who has been coaxed out of her armor by the kindness, compassion, and selflessness of her younger stepson. Na-moo's generosity of spirit has rubbed off on her to the point that she has invited Hyun-moo to cast his lot with his former family. She didn't have to do that, but she's willing to take a chance on him. She's also welcomed Detective Go to the fold. I would like nothing better than for them to continue to have a comfortable relationship while running their own private Na-moo Fanclub with So-jin.

That scene of Stepmom visiting Psycho Dad in jail had me cheering because she told him to leave her kids, including Hyun-moo, alone. Then it curled my toes, especially when he indicated that he was aware that she saw what he did to that poor woman at the dog farm. I just about lost it when he blamed her for the death of Nak-won's parents. True, she could have ratted him out to the cops and possibly put an earlier end to his killing spree. He is so cagey, he could have eluded them. I give her the benefit of the doubt for managing to save her daughter and herself. Dad told Na-moo that the reason why he was killing Nak-won and her family was to remove weaknesses from Na-moo. (How many other “weaknesses” does he intend to remove from his son in the future?) The onus is completely on batcrap-crazy Dad.

Dad's declaration of affection – that he hadn't killed Stepmom because he likes her scent – made my skin crawl. His warning her to stay away from other men raised a red flag. As did his twisted logic regarding divine forgiveness. He obviously did not get the memo from a certain carpenter who hung out with tax collectors to repent and sin no more. I was ready to throw my Baltimore Catechism at him. Heo Jun-ho is doing a fabulous job portraying the murderous narcissist.

HyunMoo is getting more and more pitiful but I’m so glad SoJin and Mom and NaMoo see right through him and embrace him.
HyunMoo: *threatens SoJin*
SoJin to Mom: HyunMoo asked about DoJin

HyunMoo: *ramsacks store* *stabs NaMoo*
Mom: They’re MY SONS not yours

It’s only a matter of time before he realizes the love he’s been receiving. Can’t wait to see him realize, deny, then hopefully walk into this loving family’s embrace.

Thank you @mary for picking up this series. I stopped watching on ep 15, its too much for my hearts hehehe. But, I'm curious on how this show unfold. Na-moo and Nak-won are such unfortunate person, they should move on with their life but instead whatever happen that night bound them for life. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing chemistry between Do-jin and Jae-yi, especially from JY part. Maybe I'm wrong, but lets hope they do better.
From beginning, I think Hyung could be a better person. I still remember how he used to protect little So-jin in his own gruffly way. Like @mary said, he's not mentally strong enough to get out from his father shadow. At least NM didn't need his father approval in his life. That's what differentiate HM and NM.

as for "Does he think he’s actually a tree?!" He is Na-moo (tree) anyway lol

I really like it they finally dig Moo WOn's character a little more. And Finally Hyun Moo's character can shine. love the reveal of his character, which he is appear as not ruthless as he want to believe.

I wish I could record Mom's conversation with Yoon Hee-jae and force Hyun-moo to listen to it. Because here is a parent's love and acceptance that he has craved for as long as he remembers, if only he would learn to accept it. I hope he'll stop listening to Dad's twisted words soon before he did something unforgiveable.

As if I need another reason to love Mom, she bravely told Yoon Hee-jae that he has no right to call himself a Dad and gave him ultimatum to stop bothering her children and stop pitting her sons (yes, Hyun-moo, you included) against each other. She is such a superwoman with endless capability of love. And it brought tears to my eyes when she told Do-jin that he is a gift for her. Only her loving and sincere words could stop our hero from feeling guilty over every little happiness he get.