Recap Korean Drama "May I Help You" Episode 9-10

Welcome back from the week-long hiatus. Again. Am I the only one who had to scan the previous weecaps to give myself a refresher on what’s happened so far in the drama? Lol. Anyway, we left off on the camping trip where Tae-hee told Dong-joo about his brother’s accident.

Tae-hee wishes to see Joon-ho one last time to apologize, because he believes his brother resents him. But from Dong-joo’s interactions with ghosts, she knows they don’t resent the people they cared about while on earth, and she tells him so. And it’s kinda sad how she comforts him with knowledge she gleaned from her first ghost, without connecting the dots that the kid ghost and Tae-hee’s brother are the same person.

I feel bad for Chung-ha who was collateral damage in the aftermath of Joon-ho’s death, but there’s a big difference between her relationship with Tae-hee and his friendship with Dong-joo. Unlike Dong-joo who is patient with Tae-hee and doesn’t pressure him into revealing more than he’s willing to share at a particular time, Chung-ha is needy and she puts her immediate emotional needs above Tae-hee’s feelings. So it’s no surprise that such a one-sided relationship like that is bound to wear the other party out.

Tae-hee finally opening up to Dong-joo is another milestone crossed in their friendship, and they both return from the trip in high spirits — so high that Vincent can spot the change in their relationship from a mile away. And this development gladdens him as he was worried about Tae-hee’s feelings on going camping with another same-aged kid as his brother.

 

Tae-hee’s happiness doesn’t get past Chung-ha’s mom when she spots him out on an errand, and Mom gets upset because how can he look so happy when her daughter is miserable? But it’s not like she readily accepted their relationship in the first place. Mother and daughter get into an argument over Tae-hee, and Chung-ha moves out of the house and temporarily into the Dime a Job building. But Tae-hee would rather sleep in the office than under the same roof as Chung-ha.

Chung-ha goes after Tae-hee, but he reiterates the end of their ten-year relationship (wow, that’s a long time!), but she assumes their breakup stems from Tae-hee blaming her for reviving the truck driver without knowing the accident victim was his brother. Oh! So that’s why she asked Tae-hee last week if she should unplug the driver’s life support. Like that will undo everything that happened. Pfft. Tae-hee maintains that it wasn’t her fault for doing her job as a doctor, but she still cannot accept the breakup because she needs a more concrete reason to do so.

The real issue here is that Joon-ho died on his way to deliver Tae-hee’s proposal ring for Chung-ha, and Tae-hee cannot in his right mind continue a relationship with that same woman. While he doesn’t divert the blame to her, Tae-hee still chooses to keep his previous proposal plans a secret from Chung-ha, just as he has chosen to not forgive himself and live in the shackles of his guilt. I can understand breaking up with Chung-ha to an extent, but I still feel she deserves to know exactly why their relationship had to end.

Anyway, Chung-ha refuses to give up on their sunken ship, and declares her aim to win Tae-hee back in front of Dong-joo with a: “Tae-hee is nice to everyone.” Okay, and? “How long is your lease? I plan to move in after you leave.” Tsk. Staking claim to a territory that has since moved on? I admire the effort, but unfortunately, her claim activates a sense of inferiority in Dong-joo, and Dong-joo starts to think she’s not good enough for Tae-hee.

 

So-ra’s crush on Il-seob mirrors Dong-joo’s situation with Tae-hee — especially since Il-seob’s ex is back in the picture. And while So-ra is hilariously excited at the prospects of being in a love triangle, Dong-joo is pissed at her friend. In reality, she’s just annoyed at Chung-ha’s arrival in their lives. But when her latest ghost client regrets not being able to confess to her own crush while she was alive, Dong-joo decides to take the leap.

Dong-joo pulls the wrist-grab trope on Tae-hee (a win for the K-drama ladies), and confesses her feelings for him. Unfortunately, the swoon-worthy moment dissipates just as quickly when Tae-hee denies having feelings for her. But the pretty little liar is not fooling anyone since he goes on to tell Chung-ha’s mom that he likes someone else, as he turns down the clinic she offered him in exchange for getting back together with Chung-ha. He’s really serious about not returning to practice as a doctor, huh?

On the bright side, there is no end to the scheming of uncles in order to get their niblings together. And when a bride with no family members needs to hire friends to attend her wedding, Father Michael and Vincent are only too happy to send Dong-joo and Tae-hee to pose as her friends. Unfortunately, Dong-joo’s ex is a colleague of the groom’s, and he recognizes both of them. Tae-hee begs the ex to just go with it, but when the jerk makes snide remarks about Dong-joo’s job, Tae-hee replies with his fists.

The scorned ex goes on to reveal the truth to the other guests, and the bride gets a harsh scolding from her in-laws for lying about her background. Thankfully, the wedding isn’t cancelled as the groom admits to Tae-hee that he already knew about his wife’s background. He only went along with her ruse because he wanted to protect her, and now he regrets not telling his family the truth about his wife sooner.

In order not to do something that he will regret, Tae-hee decides to stop running from his feelings as well. He tells Dong-joo that he likes her too, and he reinforces his confession with a kiss. Squee!! My DongHee ship has officially sailed! I absolutely love the slow buildup of their romance and the sincerity of their confessions (and the kiss). They’ve really earned this relationship, and I couldn’t be any happier for them.

Poor Hae-an, though. He already got his heart broken after Dong-joo turned his feelings down, and it was really funny to watch him sob his heart out as he threatened to kill the bastard Dong-joo has feelings for. Heh. Fair warning, Tae-hee — now that Hae-an has been promoted to detective, he will sniff you out soon, so make sure to sleep with one eye open.