"Both actors are excellent in this scene but Lee Se-young’s dialogue is especially well written and she delivers it amazingly. The fact that she switches to her native language so she can say what she needs to say authentically is just soul crushing"
perfectly stated @dramaddictally
That dialog hit like a white truck.
I was like - wow. Daebok!

I never knew a fight scene could be my favourite in a love story. But the moment Hong switched to Korean, her language no one around her understands, hit me right in my immigrant soul.

I am so glad that she called him out on his never apologizing. One of the things that hit me when she switched to Korean is that he never seriously tried to speak her language.
Honestly, I am not sure how I feel about Hong making the first big gesture. I guess we now know that because of his mom. Jungo now seems to be neutral and wait for others to state their wants so he isn't hurt, but that is so unfair. Even the letter was not really much of anything one way or the other.

The break up scene between Min Jun and Hong completely broke my heart. I hope they can save their friendship after a while. It's obvious how much they care for each other, so I hope they don't lose that.

Tbh, the fight scene with Jungo made me feel more rage than anything else. The way he talks to her...

I'm even wondering if he dated her (and maybe all his previous girlfriends) just as "work" for his writing. Like, it was some evil plan to get inspiration for his book?

First of all, he says that he always thought that they were together, even though he got home when she was sleeping and then had to go back to work. Didn't know anything about her. And ignored her all the time. So, he just wanted to have someone to warm the other side of the bed for him? He just wanted a roommate? He can't be bother to call her and even looks done everytime he finds her awake...
What does a romantic relationship (or any relationship) mean to him? Wouldn't be better if he just gets a pet?

Also, how can he not know that she was feeling lonely when she literally told him a million times? Why was he so surprised she dumped him? 😂 It took him a month to conclude she was feeling alone? No shirt Sherlock.

Btw, why does he think that the only thing he needed to do was to understand that she felt lonely? That means that his behavior wouldn't have mattered otherwise? It's okay to mistreat your partner if they're not having an existential crisis?

The way he never validates her feelings or acknowledges that he does something wrong, he didn't apologize once, and then has the audacity of telling Min Jun "do me a favor, don't make her feel lonely"? I beg your pardon? 헐. 너나 잘해.

I hope Hong only went there to find closure, and nothing else. It makes no sense to go back to him.

I hope that we, the audience, don’t get robbed of the scene where the publishing house workers realize that the subject of their popular book is standing right in front of them.

Thanks @dramaddictally for the lovely review. I really look forward to this drama every week. I love sitting with these flawed leads who love with each other hopelessly and waddle through cultural, psychological and geographical limitations. As someone who is in an inter-cultural relationship, I relate to both the explicable bond you feel with the person alongside the cultural frustrations/loneliness which comes with the package (and is as real as the bond). Tropey kdramas rock but I am also finding this mellow show delightful where I cannot predict the ending and I am myself unsure as to what I would find satisfying.

@dramaddictally brilliant recap! I adore this show, it may be small but it is definitely perfectly formed..

I feel like with each week, this drama is a prime example of telling viewers—and people in general— about how important it is to show up for yourself. Not to say that Hong’s feelings of loneliness as she’s literally all on her own in Japan are invalid—they totally are! It’s human nature and we have emotions and feelings, unless you’re a psychopath—but if I were in her shoes in Japan like that, my fight or flight instincts would have kicked in and I would show up for myself, least of which, at least try to make something productive and useful out of the situation, put myself out there and maybe find a job—especially if I know the local language— find something to do to keep myself busy.

When it comes to Min Jun, I do—but don’t— feel for him. He knew what he was getting himself into with Hong, knowing full well that her heart I
Will never be (fully) his in the way he wants. If the drama turns him into a whiny butt in the next few episodes— like we’ve seen dramas do with similar characters in other instances of 2nd ML characters with unrequited love—then I might just flip a table. Are we going to get an explanation as to why he never approached her 5 years ago until after Japan? I doubt it, so all I can go on is what we’re being given, and it’s sad that with such an emotionally gritty and deep drama, we may have to settle for a very flat 2nd ML.
I don’t know what to make of Hanna at this point, and honestly, she doesn’t even feel necessary as a character, imho. Nothing would change—be improved or made worse— if her character didn’t exist. I still find purpose with Min Jun, but not with Hanna.

Thank you @dramaddictally for another wonderful recap! 😊 Every week, I look forward to it!

Great Recap. This was the best episode so far with the letter reveal, Minjun situation, and Jungo starting to see Hong's lingering feelings.
Two things that stuck out to me were Hong's father's dialogue about how love begins and if it ends. Then Hong's realization about their love ending without a chance to say goodbye.
That fight scene was so real, in the end the breakup wasn't really about intercultural differences but how each person's idea of receiving and giving love were so vastly different.

I don't think Hong is going to see Jungo to get together but rather to give them the closure they both need. I think she will choose herself and open herself to love again with someone else not Minjun or Jungo. Sad to say goodbye to these wonderful characters but I also can't wait to see the last episode.

Thanks @dramaddictally for a great recap.

Again, I seem to be the only one living in the land of confusion:
The family are all talking about the upcoming wedding, we see Hong trying on wedding dresses and yet Minjun apologises for being too shy to propose before😮 so was it mind reading or her asking him that led to the explicit wedding planning?

I loved her statement about even if she was married with three kids there is something that connects her to Jungo, even though she barely knows him and she had previously decided he didn't deserve her love. I think with all the poetry references throughout the drama she is referring to an in yun connection and even if the meet up is about forgiveness and closure they will always have that link and maybe once they close off the regrets they can move on and fully commit to new loves. If they decide to reconnect and marry in order to survive they need to commit to proper communication. I think they still have the problem of where they choose to live to minimise the impact of the external pressures on the relationship.
I am really intrigued how they will end this drama and what led the author to write such a fascinating novel in conjunction with a Japanese man. I want to read the novel to see how close the drama is to the original story.

Both the characters make me frustrated with their behaviour.
I'm just here now to watch two very attractive people who are fabulous actors :)

This show makes me miss "Shogun," where the culture and customs are depicted clearly, making it easier for a foreigner like me to understand why the characters behave the way they do.

It's a bit difficult to understand Jungo without some cultural context. In "Shogun," one of the main characters, Mariko, explains the concept of the "eightfold fence" (based on a tanka poem) to her British love interest as a coping mechanism.
"Do you know "The Eightfold Fence"? From the time we are small, it is something we are taught to build within ourselves. An... impenetrable wall, behind which we can retreat whenever we need. You must train yourself to listen without hearing. For instance, you can listen to the sound of a blossom falling or the rocks growing. If you really listen, your present circumstance vanishes. Do not be fooled by our politeness. Our bows, our maze of rituals. Beneath it all... we could be a great distance away. Safe. And alone."

I know this drama is set between 2019 and 2024 in Japan/Korea, but I think this could apply to Jungo and why he is emotionally distant. It seems that he has been coping this way after being abandoned by his mother, but Hong doesn't deal with loneliness in the same manner. She needs him to be physically and emotionally present.

I think they moved in together mostly out of convenience because her roommate went back to Korea. So, it's not surprising that their relationship is half like that of roommates and half that of a couple in a romantic relationship.

It's interesting that the father asked the question, "Should love have an ending?"

Poor Hong. I feel really bad for her. For her to say it out loud that she would choose Jungo in any other alternative life made me sob for her dilemma a bit. IRL her relationship with him will never last. Jungo is just a selfish jerk. He is all about himself without the flashing lights.

I came here only to yell NO MINWOO!! but ended up reading and loving all the Beanie comments.

I am so in love with this show! It is full of raw emotions that tear on my heart strings. In this year of dissapointing, predictable romance dramas (QoT, LND, No Gain …) it made me believe again in the power of passionate romance writing.
Regarding Jungo: sometimes I am asking myself, whether indeed he represents the stereotypical Japanese man, that is passionate inside but must not show on the outside paired up with this almost pathological sense of duty towards work. That kind is not often displayed in the typical J-dramas, but after reading and watching a lot of documentaries on Japanese culture, I can see how character like this exists. And when paired up with a lonesome Korean woman, who comes from a different culture and has a different upbringing with regards to caring about
family, I can understand how he is so lost to understand what is going on.