Recap Korean Drama "Link: Eat, Love, Die" Episode 5

Link: Eat Love Kill (링크: 먹고 사랑하라 죽이게) is a fantasy-drama series directed by Hong Jong-chan and starring Yeo Jin-goo and Mun Ka-young in lead roles. The series consists of 16 episodes and will be taking over tvN’s Monday and Tuesday 10.30 PM KST slot, previously occupied by Military Prosecutor Doberman. The series will air from June 06, 2022, to July 26, 2022. Eat Love Kill episode 5 has a runtime of 64 minutes and is titled The Child Returns.

– Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5 recap contains major spoilers –

As Gye-hoon shares his theory about Jin-geun being alive, Da-hyun gets more nightmares about him coming alive and trying to murder her in Link: Eat Love Kill episode 5. However, she promises to not let him trample over her and ruin her life – a conviction that Gye-hoon feels as well.

The next morning, Gye-hoon gets badgered with questions by the neighbourhood aunties and, frustrated, finally tells them his name and wonders back to when he told Jin-hoo that he has come to his hometown to find out who killed his sister.

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

 

Meanwhile, Da-hyun tells her family that she told Gye-hoon everything and her mother then beats her. I find it appalling that she hits her adult child at every moment, considering she tries to murder anyone who even bats an eye at her daughter. This shtick is getting annoying at this point.

Anyway, she runs off from the abusive situation to work and looking at Gye-hoon makes her heart beat faster. However, she reminds herself of what he told her the other day and starts working, being extremely professional without any hints of friendliness.

 

Gye-hoon is taken aback by her behaviour and asks her whether something has happened. But before that conversation can go anywhere, Jin-hoo and Eun-jung arrive at the restaurant. Clearly, he’s very uncomfortable with how Da-hyun is behaving but doesn’t know what to do about it.

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

 

As the townspeople wonder why Gye-hoon has come back, he realises that Da-hyun is trying to mask her fear and discomfort to appear strong and is acting cold only towards him. She later asks him why he said what he said the other day but before he can answer her, she slams him to the ground thinking that a car is trying to run them over.

As they both hilariously try to be humanistic with each other, he asks him to stop being extremely formal and they bicker their way to the market where they both discuss vegetables and spend time together much to Min-cheol’s suspicions.

As they walk beside Won-tak and Min-jo’s police car, who are discussing their surprising history, Gye-hoon asks an anxious Da-hyun to not hide when she sees the police car since if Jin-geun is alive, she has nothing to feel guilty for.

Meanwhile, a concerned Dong-sook goes to the neighbourhood ladies and spills to them who Gye-hoon really is, which makes all of them scared. They even share this with their husbands, who look equally petrified. At this point, it seems like all of them murdered Gye-young – they look mortified and heartbroken! Gye-hoon notices the sudden shift in mood in the neighbourhood as well.

 

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

 

At the police station, the officers think back to Eui-chan’s arrest and how he never confessed to the crime. Honestly, there wasn’t any evidence of him doing it but people shunned him anyway. In the present, Gye-hoon asks Eui-chan why he lingers around his restaurant and the latter apologises because Gye-young died because of him.

Confused, Gye-hoon asks him what happened that day and Eui-chan tells him that Gye-young wanted to ride in his car that day but doesn’t tell him anything else. Frustrated, Gye-hoon pleads with him to tell him the truth but he simply doesn’t crack. Won-tak stops him from hitting Eui-chan and then tries to lecture him about exacting personal revenge. The irony is not lost on anyone.

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

 

Meanwhile, Da-hyun learns about Gye-young from Jin-hoo and learning about Gye-hoon pushes Eun-jung’s buttons, after which she goes on a tangent about murdering anyone who hurts her brother. That night, Da-hyun is confused to see Gye-hoon looking rather morose.

The next morning, Gye-hoon is shocked to find Won-tak moving into his building. After a little back and forth, they agree to stay out of each other’s ways. Da-hyun, meanwhile, asks her family whether they remember Gye-young’s case and tries to think back to what she remembers about her. Family, on the other hand, looks extremely guilty of something.

At work, Da-hyun shares with Gye-hoon about her thinking that he liked her but he actually thought that she could be his sister. She wonders how she’ll keep her promise of not falling for him when she’s already interested in him. She tries to console him but ends up getting consoled herself!

 

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

 

Later, Da-hyun’s family gets to know about Eun-jung and are left rather shocked and confused when they learn that she belongs to Jin-geun’s family. Meanwhile, Da-hyun goes out with Gye-hoon when he gets a call from his mother saying that she saw Gye-young somewhere.

They rush to find her and after much searching, he finds her at the mall sitting on the floor by herself. The moment he finds her, she starts to berate him for leaving his sister alone in front of everyone in the mall, much to Da-hyun’s awkwardness. Anyway, he is able to bring her back through sobs while Da-hyun goes back home, feeling rather morose.

Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5 Ending

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

 

As Da-hyun goes to Gye-hoon’s restaurant to make food, she gets a text from Jin-geun, unbeknownst to her. Gye-hoon is left shocked finding her at the restaurant and he hilariously finds out that she doesn’t know how to make tteokbokki. As they share the surprisingly good meal, Gye-hoon realises that Da-hyun has been feeling sad for some time.

Surprisingly, she starts crying from the encounter with his mother and when he asks her if she’s fine or not, she asks him the same. She laments that he shouldn’t be fine with something like this and as she sobs, he starts crying as well.

Gye-hoon tries to justify it by saying that it’s just her feelings being transferred to him, but when he starts sobbing, it’s not lost on anyone that those are his genuine tears.

 

Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5 Review

Still From Link: Eat Love Kill Episode 5

Well, that was a rather sad episode. Link: Eat Love Kill episode 5 has a lot of context to our characters which proves the hardships that all of them have gone through to be where they are. Gye-hoon is probably my favourite character in this episode till now only because, in spite of the absolute horror that he has gone through, he’s still so kind and warm.

 

Although he might seem cold on the outside, the audience knows what’s happening when no one else is looking and it’s sweet watching him trying to understand his feelings and also trying to figure out this morose mystery.

On the other hand, Da-hyun’s character arc is still ongoing and although she’s a kind character as well, she’s very immature. However, I can’t fault her for that considering Bok-hee’s immaturity which comes off rather disingenuous.

Ok, I know she’s the over-the-top comic character. However, how she behaves with her daughter is rather eyebrow-raising. I mean, she hits her daughter on the head with a spoon at the slightest annoyance. That’s abusive and we don’t laugh at abuse. Plus, why must she go overboard with every little thing that is happening around her? She’s the adult, why is it that her character is so silly?

Coming to the story in today’s episode, I think I enjoyed it. The thought of the stalker coming back from the dead is dreadful and I feel bad for Da-hyun and her PTSD. She’s going to have a tough few upcoming episodes. The emotional moments today added some much-needed flavour to our characters, making us sympathise with them and their stories.

Thus, it makes us want to watch the series if only to know what happens to them. My heart broke for Gye-hoon during the scene at the mall – he’s gone through enough heartbreak to last a lifetime.

So, what’s in store for our protagonists? Does Jin-geun come back from the dead? Well, we’ll have to wait for the next episode to get a glimpse of that!