Wow. The power this show has over me is crazy.

Episode 9 stared with this "positive" stress?

It took us 20 minutes to actually see our couple together. And I was scared their plans were going to get ruined at the end. But at the same time, those 20 minutes had me smiling for the most insignificant reasons.

I was smiling while they were picking up someone else's trash from the corredor, and I was smiling when Hye Jin cleaned up her room.

Just every single thing that happened in that episode made me smile.

However, I have to say that uri teacher Nam and Si Woo are becoming the highlights of the episodes for me.

Watching our couple find their own boundaries and rhythm was beautiful. I, too, wanted to kick Joon Ho's butt when I heard him called her "teach". 😂
But I love how that incident just helped them be open and honest about other stuff.

And that would've been my favorite scene if it wasn't because their son, I mean, fave student, Si Woo appeared.

Si Woo is like this little light in the darkness. Almost literally since you can't see anything half of the time while watching this show.

I'm pretty sure that if at least ONE student had gone to the school teacher with a concern/question like the one Si Woo had in episode 9, he probably wouldn't have felt helpless.

Hagwon or school, every place in this show is depressing. Hye Jin's work hours are as dangerous as students having good grades.

Both environments are toxic as hell, and I feel like the only real happy ending here would be to set the system on fire.

But then Si Woo appears to remind everyone the real meaning of education. He seems to be here to show us what learning is really about.

Protect that child at all cost.

2. And I guess uri teach Nam is the same.

Well, tbh, this week I loved her because she's the only person in that office that seems to see Hye Jin as a human being and not this "thing" that can't make mistakes or get hurt like anyone else.

But besides that, she also shows a genuine love for learning and teaching. It's admirable how she doesn't let anything break that for her.

We have heard many the bad experiences she lived in the past, and we see her struggle economically in the present, but she never hesitates to defend her career, and she always keeps her values intact.

She's probably the coolest person in the show.

3. Aigoo Kim sajang. I'm not happy to see you.

I seriously don't know what to think of the school teacher.
I just feel sad about his entire situation.
I will never like the guy, but I can't stop feeling bad for him.

When the other teacher said that she would rather get into an accident than deal with the parents and students, I was speechless. Like wtf are you supposed to do with that?

And then she just breaks it to him. That the kids didn't get good grades because they actually learned something.

"Do nothing."

I think Hye Jin should be thankful he decided to go...

I loved both episodes so much and I thought Hye Jin's emotional turmoil and the fallout (and patchup) with Jun Ho regarding it was really nicely done. I also love how much of the major moral/ethical/narrative dilemmas are female character centered, which is not always the case in dramas.

While I agree that it wasn't actually Hye Jin's fault, I understood why she felt guilty. She'd gone into the school guns blazing to fight for her students which she was valid for, and the reason it turned kinda dark and bleak was because Sang Seob was stubborn about it. However, because she did do it in such a public way and pushed it so hard, and the fallout ended up being that Sang Seob was kind of humiliated over it, I understand why she feels like she was the instigator of the fallout even if she wasn't, because she felt proud of herself for the way it went for herself and her students. She'd already been feeling conflicted about her place at Daechi Chase and kind of rediscovering her early love for teaching with the free lecture and was in a bit of an emotional flux recently, so the insiduous way Sang Seob recharacterized their meeting and subsequent events to make her the sole instigator and himself the sole victim, coupled with Hyung Sun's pointed needling, made her feel more guilty than she might have otherwise.

Sang Seob is interestingly written in that I genuinely dislike him but he's not written as a cardboard cutout antagonist. His students seem to like his teaching, he seems to care about education and teaching properly, but he's intransigent and that is what caused his problems. If he'd agreed that there was another answer, then that would have solved the issue right away. He didn't want to do that because he thought Hye Jin was beneath him as a hagwon instructor, and then there was a lot of fallout from his stubbornness to get one up on her.

I loved that Jun Ho went looking for sympathetic ears after getting rejected by Hye Jin and found two people shaking his head at him for being obtuse. He'd been idolizing her for so long that he'd kind of put her up on a pedestal where she was always strong. Everything felt like an exciting competition to win that he knew she would come ahead of, so he didn't see this situation as something that would cause her conflict and doubt. I loved that once he realized what was wrong he didn't spend any time feeling sorry for himself and instead ran to her right away and gave her exactly the support she needed.

Him getting accidentally dumped out of bed because he called her teacher and made her feel like she was doing something wrong was absolutely hilarious. They added some comedy and then made it intimate and serious again. They have great chemistry together and all the small nuances are so fun to watch.

Chung Mi remains one of my favorite characters with her pragmatic drive and I hope she gets her cute little romance with Seung Kyu too.

The preview with Hye Jin yelling does make me...

I know this drama is supposed to be slow on purpose but when you think about it not much happened in 10 episodes did it? Sometimes I can get confused by the dialogue so the recap is helpful. Keep up the good work @dramaddictally

This show does long scenes extremely well, in the sense that you honestly don't notice how long they are. Or maybe you just don't care, because of how good they are. But both episodes started with very long scenes, and both were excellent, and they also couldn't be more different from each other.

The beginning of episode 9 felt so realistic. It was funny, romantic, and real, and I loved every minute of it. That being said, Jun-ho is a way better person than me, because I would've ditched the friend way earlier than he did.

The whole situation with Sang-seob is complicated. Like, I do think there's an ounce of truth in what he and the Gray Witch tell Hye-jin, and you could definitely argue that she does share some of the responsibility or fault as for what happened. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I stand on the whole thing myself. It is very interesting to watch it unfold though.

Anyway, it feels like the fun times are over, and we're heading into more drama territory, or at least the leads are. Because our second loveline has finally started, and I've been waiting for this every since he looked back at her in episode 3. And it looks like they might bring the fun, while our leads bring the drama, which should hopefully strike a good balance.

I love hyejin and all her flaws. I was cheered when the grey teacher told her some bomb truths. I can understand why hyejin felt that way, but it still was hypocritical, especially for people who do not follow her thoughts as we do. we know she has been re-evaluating what it means to be a teacher, thinking more about students as people than numbers to give her money. her reaction is because she has been thinking about things she never did before, including having a relationship. she got the reality check and now just needs to lick her wounds and do her best in what she believes in.

I love chanmin. she's my favorite character with siwoo. I feel like the side romance will give me all the feelings the main couple isn't, unfortunately. when I said in previous posts that I think WHJ is a bit miscast for what this role asks is because I feel like the actor who plays his friends is way more apt for this noona romance. he has that boyish face and vibe to him that I think is what junho as a character is supposed to give me but it isn't because WHJ is just... too sexy and charming? LOL

despite all of that, I like the set of characters in this drama and the whole debate about what it means to learn, teaching a language just as a tool, and the importance of humanities as a field (as a humanities girlie, I felt represented). it is interesting considering how different and also similar it is to where I come from. I REALLY wish we could see more of these teachers IN THE CLASSROOM, TEACHING though!

I really loved the confrontation between the teacher Pyo Sang-Seob and Hye-Jin because I felt like the feelings of both of them were valid. For me, the teacher is not a villain. He's genuine in his teaching. And my issue is the school system, why they need to put the students on scale? Why being good meant a bad thing? If the test was too easy ok, but it wasn't the issue, the students worked hard and everybody in a Hagwon or not could do it.

The love story is great. It feels so real with their awkwardness and new happiness.

It looks like Joon-Jo is doing the same mistake than the FL in Black Dog. Even Si-Woo is the most adorable teenager, it's important to give the same attention to each student.

Thank you, @dramaddictally, for the weecap! I like the drama but I just have sometimes want more brightness in the scenes - they're always dark. Well, not the bedroom play but more like in other scenes where (unless the face is in close-up) you wouldn't see what the whole scene is about because there's not enough light.

That is so interesting. I understood Hye Jin's crisis of conscious immediately. Maybe he had been planning on quitting for a long time or maybe not, but she was the trigger that led him to seemingly give up on teaching. I would feel like crap as well.

Ahhh the romance is romancing though. They are so cute together and the affection is so genuine between the two of them. Hye Jin has him wrapped around her little finger and now she fully knows it.

Also, I am so glad she said something about him calling her teacher. It drove me bananas. Thankfully that was addressed in a most excellent way. lol

As for our new romance, I love it. Seung Kyu was utterly smitten after she shamed him. She is obviously a slower burn. Also, I adore the actress playing Chang Mi, she is incredibly versatile. I have yet to see her in something and dislike her acting.

As someone skimming almost exclusively for the scenes with our lead couple alone together, I'd like put out the idea that our Jun-ho shows himself to be a walking red flag in these moments. Indeed, his red flag per minute (RFFM) score is higher than any other non-villain ML I've come across as of late.

Here's hoping that (1) he gains the "patience" he needs to hold his hot self back on an ongoing basis if that's what's requested of him; (2) he figures out that the FL isn't his teacher-mentor who can guide him through life, but instead a woman with needs and wants of her own, many of which will not involve him; and (3) he truly comes to understand and to behave as if she won't end up "alone forever" without him, even if she dumps him unceremoniously on his head when kicking him the heck out of bed.

Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but again, I want the best for Jun-ho's jeans our Jun-ho and truly hope he might give himself a chance to grow out of his love for his teacher before the woman who inhabits that role for him--and has for a now unspecified period of time into his youth--gets hurt.

Several things:

1. I love when dramas are realistic/relatable. The prologue, all the happenings before the bed scene- that was nice. Let me clean up the place, what do I wear, the awkwardness- all that is relatable. It's like when the actors drop things or bump into things- it makes for a much more inviting drama.

2. I don't even know what's going on with the teacher to be honest. We spent a whole 20 minutes there, but I'd like for us to explore the concept of teaching to get good grades/jobs/money versus teaching for the sake of teaching and a passion for learning. Let's explore capitalism and how it stifles. Let's explore Hye Jin's character and her business mode versus ethics dilemma. (I still don't know much of anything about Jun Ho!). And more of my favorite student, Si Woo.

3. I liked how they navigated the argument. And Jun Ho's ability and willingness to learn. That's good for the future of their relationship.

4. Though I wish dramas didn't steer everyone toward romance, I do like the blossoming relationship between Chang Mi and the friend.

Still loving this show, but haven't yet been able to collect my thoughts on these episodes so can't type much at this point. However, I wanted to give a shout-out to my favorite part of the "first time" scenes--when Hye-jin tells Junho to please, please, PLEASE stop calling her "Teach." That's been killing me, too, especially during the more intimate scenes. I know in Korean this practice is about respect and that even spouses sometimes refer to each other by titles first; I also got that the writer was trying to pivot to Junho being the teacher in their romantic relationship because he has more experience with physical (and possibly emotional) intimacy than Hye-jin does. But I don't need to be reminded that he was once her student. It's not relevant to where they are now, they're two mature adults and colleagues, and when they're alone, Junho should just call her by her name. So I was glad that got addressed and resolved.

One other thing: did I understand correctly that Hye-jin told Junho that she was a virgin? If so, I have to say that really stretches credulity. I know she was busy and couldn't date much, but she's also healthy, attractive woman in her 30s without any clear trauma, so I find it hard to believe she hadn't slept with anyone before.

For a show about hagwon, it's a bit disappointing the only class with real interaction we've seen so far is from the FL, not even ML except for that one free lecture. At this point, aside from the romance part, it's all talk (how great of a teacher Ms. Nam is). I can't even remember what's the plus point of ML as a teacher. Yes, he is determined to help Shi Woo; but he can't possibly the only student in the academy.
I know the writer tries to paint FL as a good person/teacher; obviously she is. She doesn't have to beat herself for Sang Seob resignation from school. She clearly asked him to talk privately. He was the one who rejected the idea thinking he could beat her and that people outside school who teach are parasites and way beneath school teacher. I'm glad he realized his mistakes, though.
That said, my next disappointment and quite possibly the biggest is that most likely the rest episodes will only be about 'war' between Choisun and Chase academies. No more school and hagwon dynamic. But show, surprise me!

Dramaddictally, thanks for the recap !

This show smoothly sails along.
No serial killers, crazy ex’s, or heartless chaebols, the parents are docile.
Grey Witch and cranky ahjussi teacher are mild adversaries.
The sound track leaves something to be desired.

I disagree with the assessment above, in that the best part of episodes for me has always been the highly detailed workplace drama. The romance is just he 'hook' to get people to watch.

I'm reminded of the drama 'My Mister'. In the 1st episode they did a 4th wall break, telling us explicitly it was a story about the lives of three middle-aged brothers, and that they added a 'girl' to the storyline to get people to watch. This story here is an office morality drama (tragedy?) with a noona romance overlayed to sweeten the dish. Both are done exceedingly well, but for me the office story dominates.

One interesting detail. There's was a brief scene where we see people pay for their meal at the restaurant then leave. Anonymous extras onscreen for 5 seconds. But they played it as though they were the leads in their own drama with their own story arcs. It made me wonder who those people were. Can we follow them around for awhile? 5 seconds onscreen.

I just want to say that JRW's acting has been phenomenal. She has many types of relationships to handle (colleagues, friend, boss, antagonists, and of course, former student/boyfriend) and her character rings true in every interaction. The show's plot/setting is also good, but without JRW's performance, it wouldn't be nearly as good. I've been genuinely impressed by her acting skills. She's proving herself to be much more than just a pretty face.

This drama truly is a gem! The first scene was one of my favorites. The angst, the preparation and the awkwardness when finally together were so very well done. The way it feels so raw and realistic is amazing truly, and kudos to the director for making it that way. It felt like you were actually in the room next door and you should be quiet and leave so as to not bother them. The way the camera went out of the room and came back, those small details make it a really nice drama watching experience. Kudos to the writer for characters that are so real and the actors for acting it so perfectly. The way Hye Jin kept thinking about how to get ready, should I wear this lingerie or nah? Is it too much? No spoken words, but so much understanding. Now, I admit I was on Jun Ho's side, because I wasn't really understanding what Hye Jin's issue was until the Gray Haired lady laid it out for Hye Jin, and for us too. But, still I am a bit confused at the problem, I think maybe because I am not familiar with the educational system in Korea. I still don't understand why the other school teachers were angry at Pyo and why would students' good grades be so bad that they thought it would affect their careers as teachers? This really went over my head, I am so confused. Even the fact that Hye Jin went to see him, what was that bad about it that he had to quit his job? I don't really understand this whole issue. But, I was glad that Hye Jin and Jun Ho talked through it. Another thing that I didn't quite understand was what Hye Jin's best friend told her husband about Jun Ho and Hye Jin. It felt like it was supposed to be something that could make us better understand the conflict but I was like huh? Completely missed her point. I was a bit wary about Chung Mi last week as far as her loyalty, but now I like her, she is honest and authentic, and I was smiling when Jun Ho's best friend couldn't help but ask for her number. Great couple of episodes and looking forward to the weekend!

I knew the Korean educational system was competitive. But this series makes it seem downright sinister and scary. I can't enjoy the romance part of this.

I'm just catching up to the airing schedule of this drama - excited to join the conversations! I love this show, like I love most Ahn Pan Seok dramas. Even the soundtrack! A few thoughts:

1. The structure of the romance in this show feels different to others. Up to their declarations in the first half, I don't think we got much buildup of them falling in love. I think this is because in fact they both liked each other already, it was about Hyejin accepting it and Junho taking the leap to voice it. I'm not sure I'm explaining the difference well but I think that's why it felt rushed to people in ep7/8 - it was mostly their internal feelings which the audience weren't privvy to (and we usually are in dramas).

2. I think there is some self-loathing in Hyejin's reaction to Pyo ssaem leaving for the hagwon. There is a part of her that dislikes what she does - focusing only on grade, teaching to the test and not the love of a subject, which is what Shiwoo has also (re)awakened in her. She's a product of/participant in the system for sure, but I think deep down a small part of her wishes she was a noble teacher in a school rather than working in a hagwon. I'm not saying Pyo ssaem is heroic, but he's the only one railing against the injustice of the system as it is and trying (unsuccessfully) to do something about it.

3. I love the education storyline here. It's so rich, complex and well told. If I compare it to crash course in romance, this show actually delves into the mechanics and the morality of the system, with no need for murder, yet.

4. This is my first Jung Ryeon Won drama and I LOVE HER. A multi layered character brought to life so well.

@dramaddictally thank you for you recap as ever!

An important thing to remember is that when Hye-Jin first contacted Sang-Seob she wanted to discuss the matter of the exam over the phone but he insisted she meet him in person, arriving at the school she was expecting to speak with him in private but he refused and insisted they speak in the staffroom in front of his fellow teachers, he wanted an audience. He obviously thought he was going to be able to outwit her but as we and everyone else witnessed it was quite the opposite, he cornered himself and became both verbally and physically abusive. Hye-Jin's actions were not premeditated as suggested by Director Choi and I find it gobsmacking that there has been no official repercussions for Sang-Seob's manhandling of her.

Sang-Seob is a complex character and while we can empathise with his situation we can definitely not sympathise. Ironically Hye-Jin appears to have the greater understanding of his character and I wonder how he would have handled this situation if she had been a man. It will be interesting to see how story unfolds now that he has made a deal with the devil, it will be no surprise that once his purpose is served he will be chewed out and unceremoniously kicked to the curb.

I need to ask Jun Ho's parents if they've got a hidden daughter somewhere, cos I'm convinced that Chung-mi is Jun Ho's (older) sister! 🤣🤪 (kidding)

She radiated pure sibling energy in the incredulous contemptuous look she gave him during his restaurant whinge-fest: "Are you really this stupid? WHAT on earth do girls see in you?! I feel sorry for Hye Jin eonnie!"

Add another 10 points for Chung-mi, please!! 💪👏👏

And kudos to Jung Ryeo Won's acting here! Like @Dramaddictally, I also thought she looked more than a little sick and scared - don't blame her for being deeply wary of him, based on the thinly veiled hostility he demonstrated in their encounters (and one outright ASSAULT).
*Aside*: I'm still shocked by how everyone around them goes on about how she humiliated him, but apparently they've just forgotten the way he physically manhandled her!? Only Chung-mi's appropriately worried - but maybe since she has a better grasp on of what kind of guy he might be??

Teacher Pyo's demeanour initially SEEMED less defensive and aggressive, but every now and again, he'll throw out a comment that's deeply disturbing and borderline inappropriate - and he shifts from mild-mannered to sinister in a way that throws me (and Hye Jin) off-balance. I think there were definitely moments when he was gloating and enjoying keeping Hye Jin on tenterhooks throughout the visit.

And the suspenseful Hitchcockian BGM doesn't help either!

Not to mention, I wonder what the Gray Witch saw in Teacher Pyo to declare that he had such potential? Should we be alarmed?

I've gotta give it to the Gray Witch, though - she certainly held up a mirror to Hye Jin, and she wasn't totally wrong in pointing out Hye Jin's double standards. It's true that she strategises and schemes her way around the Daechi Jungle with the best of them, but she also wants to be the Good Teacher.

She was (retrospectively) swamped with guilt at "driving" Teacher Pyo into a corner - even though a part of her had calculated and weighed such an outcome already. Her self-flagellating Walk of Penance to Teacher Pyo's school, and empathising with "how he must have felt going to school every day" was a tad too over the top for me. Not sure how the director/writer intended it to come across ...🤔

It was interesting seeing Hye Jin's reaction to the students praising Teacher Pyo's classes, though. She wasn't exactly pleased about it, was she?