Tell Me That You Love Me: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by Dramaddictally

Two artists cross paths on Jeju and again in Seoul at the start of an ever-so-slowly unfolding love story in ENA’s Tell Me That You Love Me. High on visual craftwork and low on verbal conversation, this one promises a lot of wandering, wondering, and longing — as well as some later-in-life love.

Editor’s note: Weekly drama coverage will continue.
 
EPISODE 1

If I didn’t already know this drama has the same director as Our Beloved Summer, I might have guessed it in the opening sequence. It’s got a similar palette and an artful eye for composition that gets right to the heart of the story.

In a series of intro shots, we see two side-by-side images of our leads in distinct locales, doing similar things at the same time. They’re both alone, introspective, writing or drawing, and looking out at the sea. Overtop, there’s voiceover, asking questions about love and difference, and whether or not it’s okay to be together when two people are very different. The whole setup tells us we’ll have to pay close attention to what’s on the screen and to the things that are not being said.

Finally the two frames join when the leads are on a beach and our heroine’s scarf blows over to our hero in the wind. He picks it up and returns it, she says thank you, and they go their separate ways. Over the next hour, we’ll slowly and quietly learn bits and pieces about their lives, as they glean things about each other.

JUNG MO-EUN (Shin Hyun-bin) is a former flight attendant who’s now struggling to be an actress. We see her on set at the beach, where she has no lines, but is fired from her role because she can’t convey the expression the director wants. Afterward, she decides to stay on Jeju for a few days to eat, walk, and vacation since she’s there anyway.

CHA JIN-WOO (Jung Woo-sung in a long-awaited return to dramaland) is an artist who appears to make his living by drawing and painting. He’s on Jeju sketching the scenery, and the two leads keep meeting each other as they walk around the island. Mo-eun tries to talk to Jin-woo on various occasions, not realizing he can’t hear.

One day, they’re both at the rooftop of a restaurant, when a kitchen fire sends smoke through the entire building and everyone has to evacuate. Jin-woo is gazing off the roof at whatever he’s drawing and doesn’t see everyone leave. Mo-eun, who’s just realized that he’s deaf, rushes against traffic to go back upstairs and help him get outside.

In his reluctance to move through the smoke, we get a glimpse of a flashback — and he appears to have some fire-related trauma that I’m sure we’ll get to know better later. But I have to say, this whole scene with the restaurant fire is presented as high drama and feels a bit disjointed from the rest of the episode, which is slight and seated in reality. The way the exaggerated action is jammed in here has me a little worried about what’s to come with the story.

Because of the smoke exposure, Mo-eun and Jin-woo end up side by side in the hospital. They begin to communicate through writing and texting, but he can also read lips, which is handy because she doesn’t know any sign language. When they leave, she’s hungry, but it’s late, so they go to where he’s camped out and cook ramen in the open air. He smiles, telling her, “It feels lively for the first time in a long time.” And I can only imagine how lonely he must be if sitting out there in the dark feels lively.

After they part, they’re still thinking of each other. She’s online studying a sign language dictionary and he’s picturing her face as she tried to coax him out of the fire. The next day, Mo-eun is leaving her hotel and finds that Jin-woo has left his sketchbook for her at the front desk. Inside, she sees a drawing of herself, standing on the beach the day she was fired. He took a photo of her then, not knowing she was being let go. On the drawing he’s written, “To Ms. Actress.” This means a lot to her since no one has ever called her an actress before (only an extra).

Three weeks later, they’re both back in Seoul and both still thinking of each other. They didn’t exchange names or contact info and it’s unlikely they’ll ever see each other again (in their minds, not in dramaland rules). We see Mo-eun struggle, working a waitress job in between going to her acting group and trying out for a role where she’s rejected, insulted, and then low-key sexually harassed.

Jin-woo seems established in his career already and we see him teaching art to a trio of young people, all communicating in sign language, where he tells them he’ll help them find their true selves. (An interesting storytelling note, in comparison with the recently aired drama Twinkling Watermelon, there is no voiceover for the sign language here, which I quite like.)

Then one night, on a street corner in Seoul, our leads spot each other. From the opposite side of the street, Mo-eun uses her newly learned sign language to say, “Hello.” We hear Jin-woo think, “I always thought I was the one who should make an effort to live in harmony with others.” He felt that way since most everyone around him can hear and he’s in the minority. But here Mo-eun comes and makes an effort to say hi to him first. He wants to like it — to make something of it — but tells himself that maybe he’s overthinking it.

That’s the close of Episode 1 and it hooked me right in. This is a slow story but it has the chance to unfold into something very lovely. Here are two people who feel beaten down by life. They’re older, not at the age for young love anymore, and each a bit lonely. But they’re thrown together by circumstance and have this inexplicable connection that both want to explore.

The reconnection in Seoul struck me as really beautiful — not for the connection itself — but his questioning of it. He can see she’s made an effort to learn how to communicate with him, which means she’s thought of him since they last met. But then he counters himself, not fully trusting what it might mean. And that slight insecurity has me invested already. I can’t wait to see what it means and how this romance will gently develop, maybe healing a little of that hurt, loneliness, and distrust.

There’s one other thing that has me fully intrigued and that’s Park Jin-ju playing Mo-eun’s housemate and bestie, OH JI-YOO. I’m a big fan of Park Jin-ju to begin with, but if I’m not mistaken, we have a side romance coming on in the noona department.

In a brief scene, Mo-eun’s younger brother, JUNG MO-DAM (Shin Jae-hwi) gets discharged from his military service and shows up at his sister’s house needing a place to stay. All we got was a few seconds of flirtatious dislike between Ji-yoo and Mo-dam, but that’s all I needed. Sold! See you next episode.

 
RELATED POSTS

• Premiere Watch: Tell Me That You Love Me
• Listening to Jung Woo-sung’s quiet world in ENA’s melodrama
• Jung Woo-sung is a silent artist in Tell Me You Love Me
• News bites: October 17, 2023
• Padam Padam: Episode 1
• Reborn Rich: Episodes 1-3
• Our Beloved Summer: Episodes 1-2 Open Thread
• Jung Woo-sung
• Shin Hyun-bin