Remember when this romantic comedy used to be funny. And romantic? Yeah, me too.

Cue the fuzzy frames – again

Remember when this romantic comedy used to be funny? No, I’m not repeating myself. It’s a flashback. In case you forgot what I just wrote one paragraph ago. Our show is quite fond of this technique. I won’t bother to list all the flashbacks like I did in the last recap. But let’s just say they reminded us of when our couple talked, and kissed, and exchanged meaningful boxes with underwear in them, and were actually in the same room with each other. Ah, those were the good old days.

And the Mother of the Year award goes to

Anyone but this lady! I don’t know if I’ve ever disliked a k-drama mom more. Her brokenhearted daughter packs up to hide away in the country, and what is she worried about. Whose going to babysit?!?! But she’s not only selfish, she’s also delusional. She honestly believes the reason she’s going on a TV talk show is to help support her recently demoted Yoo Mi. In what lifetime does helping your daughter include outing her secret relationship with her ex-boyfriend and mentioning her name so that all her new coworkers know her business. Yoo Mi and Jin Wook need to make up and adopt Dong Goo post-haste to get him away from this woman.

I thought you came too late

So many things don’t make sense about the past two episodes. Second Lead Hyun Tae kept stepping aside for Yoo Mi’s happiness. Keeping his feelings to himself. He even ran interference with Stalker Chick. But, like Cha Jin Wook before him, he now does something unexplained and out of character. He knows Yoo Mi thinks Jin Wook is just fine without her while she is living a miserable existence in exile. But when he spots Jin Wook, who has obviously come to find her, he says what? Nothing. Why? It makes total sense if he believes he now has a chance with Yoo Mi, but he has JUST finished saying that he came too late. Basically bowing out of the fight without even swinging a punch. Oh, wait. He did let one fly. When Yoo Mi’s mother blurted her self-seeking, daughter-ruining gossipy drivel on TV, he punches JIN WOOK? What did he do? If only someone would take a swing at mom, instead.

So . . . why are you doing this?

If you google how long it takes to get from Seoul to Daejeon, it says 50 minutes by bullet train. But it might as well be another planet the way our OTP is treating it. Cha Jin Wook is racking up some mileage because he made the trip two times without talking to her. It would help if they told us why he lets her go so easily. Apparently, he thinks it’s for her own good. His mother was miserable, for reasons they never bother to explain, and he doesn’t want Yoo Mi to end up the same way. The lack of character development or motivation was easier to ignore in the earlier episodes because we got lots of squeeable moments, but now that our couple is 50 bullet train minutes apart, the paper thin plot is starting to show. Help!

But what about Secretary . . . this could work, too

Butler Bestie and Flirty Cook seem to be over. They never mention the relationship or what happened with that phone number she gave him. But now we see a whole new what-might-have-been between her and Clueless Cook. Remember when she slapped him in the face and made us laugh out loud? Maybe that was the start of a whole Noona-Dongsaeng thing. Imagine her working the older woman, younger man relationship. I doubt the writers will pursue this story, but I think the actors could totally pull it off.

Bless you, Butler Bestie

Our adorable Secretary Jang comes to his senses and says the best line in the past two episodes. “Just go!” He declares he is speaking as Jin Wook’s friend of ten years, not his secretary. I only know introductory Korean, but I’m pretty sure he actually referred to himself as “hyung”. Is there any native speakers that can clarify? If he did, let’s all say it together. Awwwwwwwwww. He should be a motivational speaker, because Cha Jin Wook lights out of there like a house on fire. And just when we think we’re getting somewhere, what do they give us? 6 minutes of epilogues and commercial.

Sigh. They have one episode left to sweep up this mess. What would we like to see happen? Hugs and kisses, obviously. But what else? Yoo Mi’s mother developing a conscience? Pfffft. Yeah right. That’s never gonna happen. Tae Hyun finding a woman who deserves him, rather than the Stalker Chick the writers are shoving at him? Yep, that’s a long shot, too. I guess I’ll settle for hugs and kisses.

* Drama Geek was kind enough to point out in the comments that Dramafever lists the episode count as 13. Imagine my chagrin! I looked it up and it seems earlier sources like Variety.com listed it at 12, but now some say 13. One website I found said 12 + 1 Special. If there is an actual Episode 13, I will recap it. But consider this my disclaimer. If it’s just a Behind-the-Scenes, Making-of, Favorite Scenes rehash, I think I’ll pass. I figure I’ve done my time with the flashbacks.