viola

pure fluff

Now this is the episode that cements this drama as a romcom. We have Hye Jin and Jun Ho finally agree to be together, and with that, we also get to see how sweet they are with each other. I enjoyed the episode in a romantic aspect! They're very cute as a couple and they do have chemistry. I loved the scene with Hye Jin and her friend and how vulnerable she was in that moment admitting that Jun Ho was her guiding hope during what was the worst time of her life, and also admitting that he was always special to her, in that he was always more than a student. I just love Hye Jin as a character, and she's very cute in the romance too, but I think it's almost a disservice just to have her romance spotlighted, only because she's so interesting as a whole. She's capable of more than just this relationship, but I don't mind seeing them happy together.I would like for the drama to spin back into the workings of the hagwon environment, probably because that part is the most interesting to me. But we shall see! It looks like from the preview that Hye Jin and Jun Ho will see if keeping the relationship secret actually works, or if Jun Ho at some point will want them to go public.

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idyllic

That's the immediate word that comes to mind when I think about this episode. Actually, the whole time I was expecting a punch out of left field especially towards the end, but instead it ended on a very sweet and peaceful note. Once again, this episode was more about Hye Jin and Jun Ho's relationship, which pushed the politics and school plot to the background, but that's not something I actually minded. Instead I liked how we stayed with Hye Jin throughout again (and also a little bit with Jun Ho) as she tried to navigate the change in her relationship with Jun Ho and her decision to leave the academy.I thought her reaction was very human and very "her". She clearly has feelings for Jun Ho (she kissed him back!!), and I thought the way she eventually accepted them was quite realistic. It wasn't drawn out. It was a very realistic depiction between two adults, which was again - quite nice to see. It could have very easily been boring to watch, but instead the script and the directing held up. I wanted to see what Hye Jin would do, even though I knew them getting together is the foregone conclusion, and that curiosity stems from the fact that Hye Jin and Jun Ho are both interesting and likable characters.Jun Ho felt very realistic as well, as someone who wanted her to return his feelings but also had to balance preparing for his first big assignment of the year. I liked that he didn't throw all of his work to the wayside just to prioritize his feelings for her. It makes for more of an interesting character if he's motivated by more things than just love and dating. I'm curious to see how their relationship will progress now that they know for sure that this affection is requited.

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romance development!

Good for Hye Jin and Jun Ho. I professed my disbelief last episode at the preview of Jun Ho kissing Hye Jin because I thought it was too soon for it, but my doubts have been cleared this episode. The plot progression and pacing was quite satisfactory in that I felt the kiss at the end was completely earned.It was so refreshing to see Hye Jin actually yell at the Director during their confrontation. She had all the right in that situation to express her true feelings because we as the audience can feel how much she was hurt. She raised a very good point that the Director broke the trust between them and of course trust is something that is very difficult to get back. I was also frustrated at how the Director made that long speech without ever once truly apologizing to her. Hye Jin deserved to yell and curse and let out her feelings. Do I think this conflict between her and the Director is solved? Not really, even though the Director got on his knees later to apologize, mostly because he did that under influence of alcohol. Tell me why Korean mean always have to be drunk or utterly miserable before they let their pride down and admit their wrongdoing.Otherwise, this was a Jun Ho and Hye Jin relationship-centered episode. The conflict where Jun Ho says that he doesn't want Hye Jin to keep sacrificing for him or keep seeing him as someone she needs to take care of felt very realistic even though it obviously hurt Hye Jin's feelings to hear it. He did the funny thing of trying to draw the line and then immediately doing a 180 by pulling her back to him. The part where he tells her that he wants her to go because if she stays then he'll want to keep her was a cleverly written piece of dialogue. Especially the part when he tells her that she can read between the lines aka understand that this is because he's attracted to her as a woman, which is a fun callback to how they're both Korean Lit professors, so they're both used to interpreting a passage and the author's voice.Pyo Chang Sub is still being really hard-headed, and since we've had so little time with him since episode one, he comes off as quite frustrating in his endeavors. I imagine that the next episode will still be centered on Hye Jin and Jun Ho's relationship, judging by the preview.

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a sign of more romance to come?

I feel like I keep repeating myself in these reviews because I keep saying "good episode", but listen, it was a good episode? I did actually gasp out loud during one of the scenes, and that was when Si Woo expressed his intentions to switch hagwons directly to Director Choi Myung Sun's face. Even though we, as the audience, already knew that he'd switch -- it was still a surprising moment for him to say so out loud to a character that's been established to be very intimidating and scary, especially since Si Woo seems to be the kind of student who is very polite and listens to the adults around him. I also gasped at the end of the episode preview, but that's for the next episode.Hye Jin really is my favorite character of this series. She's just so cool and extremely refreshing in a society where women are instructed to downplay their achievements and exhibit modesty at all times. She's also not written in a "grrl power" kind of way, where her superiority is constantly talked about or displayed without any real meaning or build-up behind it. The story's done a fantastic job at establishing that she's a confident person with the intelligence and talent to back up what she says. The line when she tells Jun Ho that she wasn't shocked by Choi Myung Sun's offer because she believed that she deserved that kind of offer was a banger line. Of course, I also enjoyed at how she shared her troubles with her lawyer friend about how she doesn't know if she wants to take this offer, and her own hesitance is so strange to her. We can tell that part of that hesitance is because of her attachment to Jun Ho, but I wonder if she a.) realizes that or b.) has realized that but is slowly coming to terms with it.The other characters kind of recede to the background during this episode, which is fine because it is undoubtedly Hye Jin's episode. It is Hye Jin who has to deal with the consequences of their special lecture failure, it's Hye Jin's history with the hagwon that makes her punishment feel so bitter to us as the audience, and it's Hye Jin's emotions and decisions that control the flow of the events in this episode. For example, it's essentially Hye Jin who gives Jun Ho his first student, because she decides to step aside for him. The best thing a drama can do is keep the audience wanting more, which I definitely felt when this episode ended. I'm curious to see if Hye Jin will leave Daechi Chase, and I'm curious to see how Jun Ho will try to either convince her to stay or the reasons why he'd let her go.

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rises above my expectations

Episode four hit it out of the park. It kept up with the momentum from the first three episodes. The pacing was tight and the directing was pretty stellar. I enjoyed the misdirection used before the special lecture. And it worked really well because both Daechi Chase and Daechi Choi(?) have such similar buildings, so the misdirect and the initial confusion played out perfectly.We finally get confirmation that Jun Ho does have feelings for Hye Jin beyond being an important instructor to him. I loved the use of the present and past with the special lecture combined with Hye Jin teaching Junho in the past. I did laugh at the use of black and white because Wi Ha Joon does not look like a high schooler when he's out of his uniform, so they had to have the black and white to tell the viewer that this is a past scene not a present scene. The interweaving felt natural and highlighted just how important Hye Jin means to Jun Ho, which was very nice to see. And obviously, Jun Ho cemented his importance to Hye Jin in this episode. He was there for her when she was in the middle of her crash out, and I think that established how Jun Ho is someone she can rely on and is someone who will always be on her side. I think having that and knowing that is more important than the physicality of their relationship in breaking down the barrier of instructor and student.I liked how Nam Chung Mi's character was further established in this episode. Rather than someone who's one hundred percent driven by ambition (not that there's anything wrong with that), she's someone who's consideration of others has always blown up in her face, which is why her decision to step into Hye Jin's territory makes sense. I wonder if she'll decide to sort of team up with Hye Jin and Jun Ho, or make her own way in the academy. It was touching to see her be the only instructor who remained behind and who looked in to watch the lecture.I am surprised by the preview of Episode 5 and it looks like the Director might get rid of Hye Jin? Which would be kind of crazy to do, but also very interesting to see. Like, the Director and Hye Jin have such an affectionate relationship and long history between them. But the Director is also someone with a lot of pride, and because he believed so strongly in their proposition, that his disappointment in them could explain why he chooses to throw her out. Just interesting stuff. This is what makes a drama entertaining to watch, more than just crazy events happening, it's how they build the characters together in relation to one another that makes a story really shine. I'm looking forward to seeing how episode five pans out.

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better than i expected

oh man the trauma of the test-taking hagwon atmostphere did rear in my head but luckily since it's not student-focused or centered i was thankfully rescued from going down into a rabbit hole of my past.i like seo hye jin as the main protagonist and the character. she's a woman who gets down to business and knows her own mind, but she's also caught between the desires of her clients/customers and the aggressive hostility of the educational institution that she technically profits off of. she's mature, responsible, and very realistic.i think pyo chang sub the high school teacher is a good "villain", in that he's not technically a villain in that you understand where he's coming from. he's also a realistic character. that deep-seated inferiority complex that all kr men have and cannot handle except in the most aggressive bull-headed ways. damn. i wonder how this conflict will be resolved, hopefully not in a makjang way.wi ha joon make a positive impression in this role. he's playful, mischievous, and clearly very optimistic. but still mature in a way that i like for hye jin, who deserves a guy who knows his own mind and way rather than the standard kdrama asshole. i like their conflict, it feels real and makes sense, especially since hye jin sees jung ho as her greatest accomplishment and who technically achieved all the right things and made the right decisions, so she's really thrown off by the fact that he's veered off the golden path. she still sees him as her student in a way that feels refreshing. less someone she raised and more as a sign of her success.

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