Recap Korean Drama "Love Is for Suckers (2022)" Episode 9-10

This week we get to focus more on Jae-hoon than Yeo-reum as online rumors start spinning out of control about his supposed malpractice. When the scandal is picked up by regular news sources, Chae-ri wants to get to the bottom of it “because it’s a matter of morals and ethics” — and not one person side-eyes her when she says this. Yeo-reum attests the rumors are baseless, but Jae-hoon says he is to blame — he did kill someone.

We know Jae-hoon well enough to know this isn’t how it sounds. And, of course, there’s a pretty simple (but awful) story behind it. Back in 2019, Jae-hoon was head of neurosurgery at a hospital, putting him in the position to make life or death calls in the emergency department. When two patients come in — one burned beyond belief — and there is only space for one in the operating room, Jae-hoon decides to send in the patient with a better chance of survival.

The operation is successful and Jae-hoon saves the young patient, while the burn victim dies without treatment. When Jae-hoon comes out of surgery, he learns the unrecognizable victim is his father. (And that clears up why he can’t make himself go back to practicing neurosurgery.)

He’s wracked with guilt not only because he did not save his father’s life, but because he knows that if he had recognized his father he may have made a different decision, possibly losing both patients’ lives. On top of this, he quits his profession and goes into a deep depression — never telling anyone around him what happened (not even Yeo-reum).

Whoa, that is a lot to take in. Jae-hoon has been harboring this deep sense of guilt while letting his friends think he was just depressed about his father’s death — without knowing his involvement. For better or worse, after the news stories increase, Chae-ri allows the whole TV-watching nation to learn about his involvement.

It happens when the young guy he saved on the operating table comes looking for Jae-hoon at Yeo-reum’s office. He tells Yeo-reum the full story and says he wants a chance to speak to Jae-hoon to thank him. Jae-hoon isn’t there. He’s gone out to the beach lodge that he uses as a safe space. It’s the one he took Yeo-reum to when she called off her wedding — which is how she knows exactly where to find him.

Instead of going alone, Chae-ri convinces Yeo-reum to take the whole production crew out there to film Jae-hoon’s encounter with the saved patient. While Chae-ri is pushy about getting the raw footage, saying she knows best how to clear up Jae-hoon’s media mess, Yeo-reum doesn’t put up much of a fight against it.

The crew shows up and sends Ji-yeon to talk to Jae-hoon on the beach. He turns and sees the team, including Yeo-reum, who’s standing back, almost hiding behind a tree. (Are they trying to make me hate her right now?) Jae-hoon walks over and is face-to-face with the patient he saved, as cameras swarm around them. Rather than thank him, the patient apologizes. He’s been feeling guilty this whole time knowing that by saving his life, Jae-hoon ruined his own life, as well as his father’s. “Who am I to be saved?” the kid asks. He then pulls out his acceptance to medical school, saying he wants to be a doctor like Jae-hoon — a neurologist.

Everybody is a teary mess — Jae-hoon, the newly admitted med student, the crew (and me). Jae-hoon says he did well and they hug. Chae-ri is there, knowing she was right and capturing every emotional bit of it. When it airs, the nation is on Jae-hoon’s side and ratings spike. Not only is Chae-ri happy to prove that there was no malpractice, but she sues the rumor starter (a hospital worker that didn’t like Jae-hoon) for defamation against her reality show. (What?! Look who’s talking, lady!)

Jae-hoon’s backstory is the thread through most of these episodes but at the same time, dynamics are developing between characters that I did not expect — and I’m loving every minute of it. For one, Jae-hoon and Chef John — who start out arguing about “very serious” things like strawberry jam — end up seeming sort of friendly after Jae-hoon’s past comes to light. In either mode, they’re a funny pair.

Also, Chef John and Ji-wan have an incredibly watchable moment or two. When she eats the meal he made for someone else, she loves it and compliments him, understanding the ingredients and describing it in her writerly words. (There is no way they are setting these two up but I love that the show is playing with the idea.)

But the most fun of all is Chae-ri’s growing “craving” for Jae-hoon. Jo Soo-hyang says everything with her eyes and the minute the possibility was put in front of me, I was all for it (#fire). Chae-ri can tell Yeo-reum has feelings for Jae-hoon, so she gives Yeo-reum a heads up that she’s thinking of sleeping with him — just once, because after that she’ll probably lose interest (lol). I know it won’t happen (and Jae-hoon has enough problems already) but under other circumstances these two could be awesome together.

All the side interactions are high fun, making it all the more noticeable how not fun the dynamic is between Jae-hoon and Yeo-reum. Yeo-reum is super job-focused right now, to the detriment of her friendships. And Jae-hoon really should have given Yeo-reum some space after she told him she just needs a friend right now. Neither are doing a great job being there for each other and the tension is enough to hit you in the gut.

When Yeo-reum first informs Jae-hoon about the online rumors about him, his first reaction is to ask if she’ll use them as part of the reality show. I mean, ouch. But also, it’s not undeserved. From Jae-hoon’s perspective everything is easy for Yeo-reum — he feels like a pushover to her. She keeps acting as if nothing happened between them, but he’s too affected to be able to do that.

From Yeo-reum’s perspective, she can’t get anything in her life right. She wants to be successful but has a mediocre career. She wants to be a good friend but doesn’t know how her friends are feeling. And with love, she says, “Every heart I lay my hand on crumbles away like a pile of ash.” Rather than being easy, Jae-hoon is the most difficult part of all.

The problem, of course, is that neither of them can say these things out loud. Instead, they have imaginary conversations with each other — which is a good device for us to know their thoughts and wishes, but not so good for solving their problems.

In the final scene, Yeo-reum is left alone at night to collect some cameras from a haunted house shoot and it begins to flood outside. When she comes out, she can’t cross the flood. She sees Jae-hoon on the other side of the water, then wading towards her, and finally lifting her up and carrying her across. We’re left to wonder if this is another imaginary scene or if he’s really there.

I’m inclined to believe this scene is real. But, if it’s her imagination showing us what she wants from him, then what is holding her back from just getting with him? We know she’s feeling like a failure in all aspects of her life. Is this a kind of noble idiocy playing out? Is she afraid she’ll fail with him too so she just wants to leave things how they are? It’s too late for that given that he — after that swoony confession — went ahead and pressed her when she said she just needed a friend right now. No matter how much denial she’s in about how her actions affect him, there’s no way things can go back to how they were before.