Not interested in Kyung-min as a villain or as a friend with a bad attitude. Not interested in who else could be the villain. Not really interested in Hong-ran and Dae-young and the bugs. Seriously, the dragonfly scene was a little over the top.

Just give me more of the play-fighting, the comforting, and the honesty between our leads. I love PHS's expressive reactions, even when he's alone, talking to himself.

Thanks for the lovely recap @lovepark. Theoretically, I am "currently" watching 4-5 dramas but when I have time to perhaps catch up on others or re-watch an episode of Dr. Slump, I re-watch Dr. Slump - probably the first time in a year that a drama has held that kind of appeal.

I don't mind the mystery - yet. It's a plot device for keeping our couple together-but-not-yettogether so I'm good with it provided it doesn't overtake the actual simmering romance. These two have much to traverse thru emotionally/psychologically and jumping into a hot romance would have red flags and sirens.

Sooner or later, Jung-woo's Mom will show up. . . .probably right around the time they share their first kiss. So, anyone have any bets on the "Episode 8" kiss - will it happen or not?

Totally off-topic but the pastoral scenes at "Hwanbon" were actually filmed at Daegwallyeong Pass (a name which will be familiar to viewers of Live Your Own Life). It's on my bucket list for trip to South Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daegwallyeong

Another set of lovely episodes with some very mature conversations between our leads and a lot of progression. I adore the leads and together they are absolutely delightful. I love Ha-neul!! She is amazing and I totally love her no-nonsense approach to her feelings. The way she lays them out casually while doing laundry was wonderful to watch.
I especially loved how mature both the leads where when expressing their feelings. Its there, but they are not sure what it means. Given how vulnerable they are, it seems such a mature thing to talk about upfront.

The cameo was a riot!! I loved the hijinks.

I love how Jung-woo instinctively is aware of Ha-neul and her feelings when she is next to him. He is learning things about her. Like he said he notices people he is interested in. He was 'interested' in her in school as a frenemy, and now he is 'interested' in her as a friend-crush.

Also, its amusing that they both are so competitive and somehow they both bring out the silly side in each other.. But as adults, they are able to laugh about it.

Gosh, what kind of friend says 'you dont deserve to be happy'. The kind you dump right then and there.

I am so here for the romances (both main leads and second leads). I love how they just have fun together and hang out. It doesn't all have to be romance tropes and drama. It was also funny with the school crush and how all of the things she thought were the ML showing her interest, were actually directed at the FL.

Also, I posted this on my fanwall, but the psychiatrist is wrong: PTSD is not a common reaction after trauma. PTSD is the less common reaction - natural recovery is the most common. The exception is sexual assault, where PTSD rates are higher. But for medical trauma or a motor vehicle accident, PTSD is gonna be the rarer outcome (I get why he screened her for it, but maaan this psychiatrist and I see eye to eye on very little. What do you expect from Ki-ho's dad, though, LOL)

I continue to enjoy this drama. Best rom-com we've had in a long time. Although they are adults, it feels like a coming-of-age drama, because she was in a state of arrested development. The writing strikes a good balance between romance, drama, and silliness. I think what makes or breaks a rom-com is the reason the couple can't be together, and it seems realistic that they would be tentative given all the other things going on. I agree that the mystery elements seem to be on the back burner for now, and I hope things stay this way.

I wonder why Yoon Park accepted this role... After 6 episodes, we barely saw him and his character is just the clown of the drama.

I like the relationship between the leads and the actors are really fun in this role. It's cute and entertaining. But in the same time, I'm very frustrated by the fact they chose adult acting like kids, than the ML's issue was caused by elaborated plan by a villain...

Last week I was slightly worried that the two of them would get together too quickly and I would lose interest in the drama (*cough* King the Land *cough*), but after the last two episodes I'm relieved. I think the writers have found a good and interesting way to keep the "tension" high, even though FL and ML know how they feel about each other by now.

As I've said I'm in essential agreement that this show is being carried by the adult interactions between the two leads. For me, the two actors have great chemistry, but I say that recognizing that often when I feel in a romance two actors have great chemistry the consensus will be that they don't!

Where I would likely differ from many, and I'm just putting this out there, not to be argumentative about the show, but as an expression of my tastes. I liked the first episodes where they showed the high school interactions, because it set up a basis for their adult relationship. But now, for me, the show is going back to that well once too often. Their pettiness to one another because they didn't know how to express what was really attraction just wasn't THAT cute that it deserves continual iteration, especially at this point when they have advanced beyond their high school relationship.

Also, speaking of cuteness, at times their current cuteness goes just to the line for me, and just as I'm about to say--okay, enough of 30 something year olds acting like teenagers--they will actually be honest with each other, and I breathe a sigh of relief that the relationship is still one I can get behind.

By the way, the 20 something brother is a good example of the kind of kdrama male behavior that I know is supposed to be cute and funny but makes ME want to behave like a teenager and punch him.

I fully anticipate, though that the "friend" of the ML will force at least one misunderstanding breakup sometime in the next 4 episodes--not to mention the casino heiress murder story will interfere dramatically with the "healing" going on. So I'm sure there will still be plenty of incidents where I'll be shaking my head and muttering about a good romance being ruined. Can the good scenes outnumber the bad for 10 more episodes? I'll be really interested to find out!

The relationship between Ha Neul and Jung Woo is so lovely to watch. So many other romance dramas have the central romantic tension be the main couple having many misunderstandings (some deliberate and some unintentional) and then clearing them up (probably helps that this is not a chaebol drama). What a delightful relief to have the main couple start at what seems to be rock bottom so that there is no posturing to appear great or hiding what they fear is their ugly secret. Instead, they appear honestly, warts and all, to one another and are realizing that is sufficient and actually liked by the other. It also seems that they are discovering that this is a truer version of themselves now that they had been forced from rat race. The current day scenes, which are just more relaxed and more honest than their frantic and antic high school scenes, are so comforting to watch, and as they are falling for each other more and more, I find myself liking them more and more, individually and as a couple. I also like that even though they are starting from the place of knowing each other's "flaws" and troubles, this doesn't mean that this is the peak of the romance, which is often the case in other dramas. Instead, it feels like a slice of life romance where they are walking along a path and having their relationship naturally deepening as they journey--how refreshing it is to have this paced romance. This is not a sizzling chemistry, hot romance; instead, this seems like a more true love story that could last beyond the initial thrill of attraction.

As to the rest of the drama when it's not the two spending time together, I feel like I have been thrown from the safe haven honest zone to the farce of a world. Oh well.

Finally, another rant about the brother. Why can't he at least help out at the restaurant? Ha Neul even offered to help since her mom didn't have the part-timer help. I don't know what privilege is going on here--the maknae or the son--but I don't want to see him complain and lounge about anymore. Adds nothing to the story.

This drama is like my weekly warm patch of grass in the sunshine (weird metaphor but I hope you get the vibe). It’s turning into a classic summer watch because we’ve had a recent spell of hot summer days here and the show seems to match the weather in in tone and energy. On a similar note to you @lovepark, I've taken the murder mystery/killer??/stalker plot line in stride because I’ve accepted it as part of the package when it comes to anything billed as ‘healing’, but also they’ve done well with mixing tones (for me at least) so I’m not that bothered by it; it's 'dressing' as you put it! I’d rather the drama come from an external source than from within the blooming relationship between the leads (famous last words probably, but I think Summer Strike went down this route and Dr Slump gives me similar-ish vibes).

The thing that stood out to me in particular this week was how refreshingly calm and simple things were. The two leads actively communicated, there was equal give and take in them looking out for each other, someone FINALLY suggested going to therapy for trauma & PTSD, and there was the very healthy realisation that whilst it’s nice to have someone there for you during difficult times, love (and a relationship) is not the answer to solving your problems - and extra 👏 for the mature realisation that yes you’re allowed to feel feelings (wth Kyung-min) but maybe jumping into a relationship headfirst without sorting through what you’re going through isn’t fair to yourself or the other person. And on the note of communication, yay also to recognising and being upfront about your feelings, both with the confessions but also the jealousy - whilst it was a cute bit of comedic fun, I appreciated that Han-eul had that time to reflect and realise she was being unfair, and then actually communicated that .

The story -and actors - have very believably developed Han-eul and Jeong-woo’s friendship; I genuinely feel it, it’s really sweet and comforting, and now it’s looking like it’ll be a very natural transition into something more. I don’t want to jinx it, but it feels like these two are the most most green flag drama pairing I’ve seen in a while, and after a spell of rather intense romance dramas that operated in the extremes of insta love, ‘I love you’ & and ‘I’d die for you’ lines being said after like episode 3, and star crossed romances that spanned across lifetimes, this feels like a fresh summer breeze in comparison - and therefore way less exhausting to love.

How nice to watch two great actors Park Shin-Hye and Park Hyung-Sik.
Our leads do not need any side story :) Their interaction is enough to keep me watching.

Sometimes when I’m enjoying a drama this much I have a million little things to say about it and a million little things I want to point out. And other times I just want to bask in it and go back and rewatch right away. I’m just having the best time with our characters.

I don’t mind the mystery at all and appreciate that they’ve given the leads different situations to deal with. Ha-neul is certainly in her present state from decades of overworking herself to meet others’ (but probably mostly her own) expectations, but I think Jeong-u’s trouble is also probably the result of a decades-long unaddressed issue. He was definitely naturally gifted and popular, but he has also been striving to try to be worthy of love, first his parents’ and then his classmates’ and colleagues’. And I have to believe it was jealousy of his success that played a role in whatever scheme he’s been caught up in now. He was being extraordinary because he felt like he had to be, and someone else (suspicious hyung is an obvious candidate) felt the need to take that from him.

Also, when Kyung-min said that to Jeong-u, I wanted to leap through the screen and kick him hard in the shins, Ha-neul-style. Nobody says that kind of nonsense to uri Jeong-u and gets away with it! Nobody.

The real star is the relationship....nailed it!

Fluff is my weakness and I'm enjoying the relationship slowly blooming, even with the OTT teen behavior. I think it sorta adds credibility to the nerdiness of FL. And ML's aegyo is so cute!

The cameo was a nice touch, and the as the bug scenes were funny. The mystery is just a compulsory feature of trendy rom-coms. Looking forward to next week.

Beanies, keep your comments coming.

I would also like to take a minute to admire whoever planned the wardrobe of the two leads. They pull off chic casual wear so well and look just as gorgeous as when they dress up to the nine in that black suit or that beige dress.

I would also like to give a shout out to the beautiful cinematography. Those rooftop mixtures of colors is breathtaking in its causal simplicity.

I'd really not taken any more notice of Kyumg-min before that scene handing over the pen, but when he told Jung-woo in such a matter of fact way that he had 'no right to be happy', it was so out of the blue, not to mention out of place, it was chilling, not least because he seemed to be waiting for a reaction that didn't come, and was ready to say something more.

Any normal person hearing that would have demanded to know what he meant by it (and any normal person would also have asked questions about the delay in revealing the pen recording device). It seems he is tired of Jung-woo being so passive and wanted to provoke him but he didn't bite. Mr Creepy and Mr Avoidance.

I really want to love this drama but I find myself skipping through the scenes without our leads together... Also, the plot was too slow.. there's not much happening in one episode :")

"You don't deserve to be happy." WTF. For the ML to hear that, internalize it, and still consider that dude a friend? And even after he held back the cameras and needlessly sandbagged his friend's job interview? How many clues does the ML need that this guy is up to no good?

There is so so so much to love about this drama that I don't even know where to start. So I will start with the one that for some reason made it to the top of my list - Park Hyung Sik and his jackets.
I have been comfort watching the epsodes and I swear I watched them once just to check his jackets, and the colour coordination of his outfits. That pink and white with grey? That parrot green one? Or the khaki and blue combo.....or even that simple off white one. No one wears cooler jackets than this guy.
Every time I think I probably saw the best episodes, in comes the one that outshines it. There is so much energy, so much drama and such simplicity in everything. They made mundane interesting. Two people washing clothes in a tub and making it rewatchable - who would have thought!
High point: When Ha Neul confesses that feeling jealous made her feel awful. I just love love love this character. Not only she says everything that's on her mind, always, she is teaching JW to do it too.
The man has turned bottling up into an art. And yet it's not a lack of willingness, but rather, he had so much good going on for him that he probably convinced himself he didn't deserve to think about his misfortunes. And the thing about him not deserving to be happy - it comes from a shit place somewhere in his childhood.
Their interaction is pure gold. I can't think of another actor who does comedy at this level and actually gets to be a serious hero. When he went in panic - "I don't know what it was but please don't tell me, I don't want to know.." hehehehhe! By that time I was in stitches.
But the high point comedy this time came from Park Shin Hye. Her mortification and the way she yells at her family, omg that was hilarious. Absolutely spot on.
If I went back to my childhood, I woukd give you a hug.....there was so much feeling in that one sentence. Gave me goosebumps.
And they both made you feel - the top two students in Korea eating mental health medicine in a park decades later. A satire on pressure students face that spills over to their real life - boom. It's target.
However, as soon as the leads get off the screen, the dip hits. The second leads are terrible. Yoon Park must have accepted this career suicide mission to pay for his marriage expenses. I can't think of one good reason why he thought this was a good idea. There is nothing interesting about his character. He started off well, and now his character is just annoying. And he is paired against one the worst besties in the history of k drama land. She is just plain awful. It makes sense in a weird way - Han Neul probably hung onto the only person who wanted to be friends with her. And while she has EQ of the insects that her son loves is not surprising, it's a torture to watch her enact that on screen. These two should not be even called second leads. Their combined screen time has probably been less than 30 minutes, and half of it has been a pain to watch.
I hope JW...

so glad that this drama opens up what mental illness really means and how you cannot just hope it will go away but have to work on it and maybe get medication.
Really liked their honesty. Hyung Sik plays that "I like you, but I am holding back (but cannot help smiling) so well

unlike Ha-neul’s situation which has been depicted as the accumulation of decades of pressure and overwork, Jung-woo’s story is more dramatic.

@lovepark Agree that Ha Neul's character and her struggles feel real because her backstory is grounded in reality, but Jung Woo's situation appears manufactured and is annoying to watch, the more they push the limits with the stalking/murder mystery. Park Hyung Shik is trying so hard, but I am getting bored his obstacles.

I love the slow build up of trust and care between the OTP, but the drama needs to give more screentime to Dae-young and Hong-ran. At this point, Lee Sung Kyung's cameo (by the way, loved it) had more content than secondary OTP. Can we also have more focus on Ha Neul's family? They have lots of untapped potential.

Honestly, Hang-ran is running for the award of worst friend in the universe.
She doesn't listen to Ha-neul, not just on one occasion when Ha-neul says she depressed but on several. And it seems to be such a common theme that Ha-neul does not bother correcting her or making her own needs heard.
She is also incredibly quick to judge others based on literally no information what-so-ever. While this may be part of the comedic aspect of her character, it is also a recurring issue. She doesn't listen to what is said and comes up with her own conclusions (one case is how dead set she is that Jeong-woo is a "scumbag" based on nothing that Ha-neul said but on everything that she, herself, chose to understand and interpret... Not listening is definitely her super power).

She also joins forces with mom when it comes to setting up Ha-neul on a blind date. I appreciate that I am not an expert, but perhaps the first thing to do when someone is going through burnout and depression (in Ha-neul's case, I strongly believe this could be partially linked to Ha-neul being an undiagnosed autist - see my messy and poorly structured quick post about it here: https://www.dramabeans.com/members/DarkCc/activity/1534608/) is not to plan a blind date for them. If, like I suspect, Ha-neul's condition is connected to high-masking, a blind date would only force her to mask some more, which is truly exhausting. Thankfully, Dae-young is making enough of the conversation so she doesn't need to force a social mask.

Another element that I find truly worrying about Hong-ran as Ha-neul's official best and only friend is the fact she does not pick up on any of Ha-neul's feelings. Not that she should, of course, part of Ha-neul's character is how much effort she puts in keeping her feelings to herself. But this is also a massive contrast to Jeong-woo, who appears as a former classmate at first, and still picks up on all those untold feelings, and that is precisely because he starts verbalising them out for her that Ha-neul feels safe enough to explore her emotions and open up about them.

Even if it wasn't a rom-com with a love story, Jeong-woo and Ha-neul would still be better matched than Hong-rae and Ha-neul. For a start, he is a better friend than Hong-rae is proving to be so far.

So, anyway, while Hong-rae is not a mean character, she comes at the bottom of the list of best friend award. Behind Jeong-woo, and I'm tempted to list out every single dissertations Ha-neul read, the Tetris game, her new beige dress, and that cat that walks across the street in the background of a scene BEFORE putting Hong-rae's name on the list.

These episodes were not as good as 3-4, but they were solid. I don't really care about the mystery to be perfectly honest, so the more they add, the less interesting the drama. I do appreciate that they both know they like each other though. There are no questions, so romance finally happens, it happens without question.

The drama is good, funny, I like the dynamics between the characters, but I really don't like the drinking scenes in every episode. I'm fed up with this alcohol promotion in Korean dramas.

@cecee: I don't think they will give the autism diagnosis though (it would have been wonderful if they did) but I think they want to keep the aspect of depression above all else. Societal rejection of seeking help for mental health is huge - even someone like JW rejects it outright (I am not weak...sigh! How often have I heard that in my family).

How cute are they! I love how open they are about their feelings, self-aware about liking each other, and don't deny it to themselves. Jung-woo's casual confession "I like you" made me swoon. "Are you saying being interested in me is like being 'infected'?" lmao I was relieved when Ha-neul felt apologetic by Jung-woo turning down her suggestion of therapy instead of being offended that he was implying she was weak. I was glad that she immediately regretted her jealousy, especially shoulder-checking him (Uncle: "Decent human beings don't do that."), but it was also cute how conscious he was of her reaction to the classmate.

I could not stop crying through the whole episode 5 -- from their opening narration "Why do you come to mind first whenever I'm upset? Why do your words comfort me?" to Jung-woo's wish "If I could go back in time, since I feel so bad for the younger you, I'd like to give you a hug." to Ha-neul's hug "It'll all be okay." to Jung-woo's confession "I missed you." Park Shin-hye does this teary-eyes thing that makes me want to cry with Ha-neul every time. Jung-woo knows Ha-neul so well in how she would be at the arcade to avoid going home, and she knows him that he must've been having a hard time. Yes, Jung-woo needs therapy, but he also needs to cry it out.

Even if Kyung-min hyung wasn't sus, he is dead to me now. How dare he tell Jung-woo that he has no right to be happy! I'm really thankful that Jung-woo and Ha-neul have someone by their side. Ha-neul's family overhearing her "rejection" was so embarrassing (did they not smell the meat?), but I adored Mom's defense that Ha-neul was only asking why. After Ha-neul realized that Jung-woo has PTSD, I was hoping that she would read between the lines of his lie about only seeing her as a friend.

A big thanks for your recap, @lovepark!

Just watched our OTP in their guest appearance on Salon Drip 2 and finally answered one of my crazy questions. In LSK’s cameo when the 3 of them walk to the coffee shop she is shorter than PSH. Since in real life she is 3 inches taller I couldn’t figure out how that was. Then PHS revealed that in order to keep the right balance of heights between them PSH had to walk on some kind of elevation thing but one time they walked beyond it and he was shocked that she was still the same height because she started walking on her tippy toes. He and the host admired how much experience she had to share from being active for 20 years.

A few people have suggested that Ha-neul is somewhere on the autism spectrum, but has not been diagnosed. I sincerely hope this is not the case because it would completely detract from the issues of clinical depression and total focus on studying (as a student). To have Ha-neul diagnosed as neurodiverse would be used to explain/justify/excuse her depression and behaviour, rather than allow the story (and viewers) to reflect on the societal attitudes that resulted in her situation.

He says he will confess 'properly' and not in a arcade or karaoke bar...

Who bets that's exactly what he will do and he will marry her with paper rings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zdg-pDF10g

And their honeymoon will be in an arcade game room :-D

I was listening to this today and these two popped up in my mind and I had to share lol.

I really like their low key confessions. We don’t have to watch them go around with tiresome misunderstandings, mixed signals and hurt feelings. They know they like each other now, they just want to be more ready and healed mentally.

And lee sungkyung cameo!!❤️ Will it be too much to ask for another one featuring lee minho or lee jongsuk (for psh) and han hyojoo or park boyoung (for phs)😄

Oh Man, there were so many Laugh-out-loud moments and also a lot of heartfelt moments in this show.

Loved the importune date starting with the cycle and it was cute seeing how flustered Jeong Woo was getting at looking at Ha Neul as she was waiting for her punishment for losing the bet and half-heart finger flick at the end of it. Their reaction to having to spend time in a hotel room together was hilarious as was their reaction to Jeon Woo accidently sitting on Ha Neuls hand and the cute competitive Go stop card game that followed. It was so cute how Jeong Woo caught Ha Neul in the arcade when she was avoiding home, it was like a teacher or a parent catching their child in their arcade the whole scene was so cute.

The scene in the school was touching when Jeon Woo said, that if he could go back in time to his school day he would give Ha Neul a hug because he had no idea how much of a hard time she was having. ‘’ Don’t worry what others think and take care of yourself first. You need to be okay today to help yourself make it through to tomorrow. It was a really moving scene.

The drinking session with Hong Ran where Ha Neul was sorting out her feelings about Jeong Woo was cute, you won’t believe how many times, I rewound the scene when Hong Ran realised that Ha Neul and Jeong Woo spend the night at a hotel. But by far the best part of the episode has to go to what happened after Jeon Woo turned down Ha Neul's confession. Her family's reaction was the best ‘’ We heard Everything, I mean Nothing ‘’ I rewatched that scene so many times I lost count, the sheer embarrassment and mortification on both their faces and the look of betrayal from Ha Neuls's family was priceless. The Final scene where Ha Neul just hugs Jeong Woo and tells him everything will be okay after she figured out Jeong Woo has PTSD was so swoony.

For episode 6, I like how Ha Neul made an effort to ensure Jeong Woo was getting proper sleep. It was nice that we got a glimpse of Hong Ran's life, it’s nice to see her living her own life and not in the scene solely to move the plot along, I loved the interaction between her and her son, she seems to be a loving mother who put her son before it was really adorable to watch.

It was nice to see Ha Neul and Jeong Woo taking care of themselves by going to therapy it was funny how Jeong Woo quipped ‘’ are we doing Medicine mukbang now ‘’. I like how Jeong Woo touches on the point ‘’ Who would have thought the 2 of Korea's top students would be sitting on a park bench taking Mental Health meds decades later ‘’ goes to show all that effort, sacrifice and not taking care came at a cost.

The part where Ha Neul was celebrating in the street after finding 500 won on the road was funny, I get '' enjoy the little things in life'' but be aware of where you do it especially when you are near Neighbourhood Ajummas, the embarrassment on Jeong Woo face and his efforts to get her to stop was hilarious. Their fight with the...