Recap Korean Drama "Melancholia" Episode 12

Jul 17, 2022

Episode 12 of Melancholia sees Ms. Noh attempting and failing to intervene in Seung-yoo’s speech.

After exclaiming that he was the student involved in the school’s scandal, Seung-yoo claims that he is going to prove that the scandal was a setup.

Yoon-soo accuses him of trying to ruin his career. He says this is more important for him to prove. She starts to get emotional, but then catches sight of a cameraman. She then denies that she wishes to be significant to him.

Due to his speech, Ms. Noh fires Seung-yoo for harming the school’s reputation. She then calls for Ye-rin to give pictures she’s had taken of Seung-yoo and Yoon-soo. It’s in return, she says, for the picture Ye-rin gave her four years ago.

Meanwhile, Yoon-soo meets with Yeon-woo to give her information to help her bring down Ms. Noh at the board meeting. In return, Yeon-woo offers to recommend her as a teacher for another school.

Ye-rin is upset about the recent turn of events, especially the pictures she’s seen of Seung-yoo with Yoon-soo. She confesses her feelings for Seung-yoo. He’s not affected at all, however. Gyu-yeong then takes Ye-rin’s hand and dashes her away as she cries.

The next time Seung-yoo sees Ye-rin, he warns her of Ms. Noh, while Ye-rin tries to tell him that Yoon-soo is using him. Seung-yoo admits to her that he loves Yoon-soo.

When Seung-yoo and Yoon-soo see another cameraman, Yoon-soo calls the police. Seung-yoo rides away on his motorcycle, leading the man to follow him. But when Seung-yoo tries to wrestle his camera away, the man beats him down. The cops find him and take the guy to the hospital.

Once there, Seung-yoo confesses to Yoon-soo that he truly doesn’t wish to make her life difficult. She drops him off at home.

Seung-yoo goes to see Mr. Han. He informs him that he has even more evidence that would incriminate him. However, if Mr. Han implicates the other guilty parties, Seung-yoo will help mitigate his own charges. The former teacher doesn’t agree to anything just yet.

It frightens Yoon-soo to find out that her father has fallen ill. Professor Ji hasn’t been eating. Instead, he’s spending all of his time working on a maths problem. He tries to convince Yoon-soo that you must fall in love with some equations in order to solve them.

Seung-yoo asks Yoon-soo to give him more time to clear up past misunderstandings. He suggests the two of them will be able to have a clean slate. She disagrees. Although she implies she also has feelings for him, she says there’s an error in the premise of their relationship.

It seems Ye-rin has chosen who she is siding with. She brings something valuable to Ms. Noh, who is very pleased.

Not for long, however. At the board meeting, Yeon-woo accuses her sister of stealing from the foundation.

The episode ends with Yoon-soo receiving a surprise call and going to meet a mysterious figure.

The Episode Review

A lot of subplots reach a critical point in this episode. However, I’m most excited about Seung-yoo finally expressing a dose of humility! I wonder if the series is setting it up so that he’ll eventually have to let Yoon-soo go.

For once, it seems that everything is falling into place for Ms. Noh’s enemies to take her down. She has a few tricks up her sleeve, although I wouldn’t say Ye-rin is the steadiest ally to have on one’s side.

Although Melancholia doesn’t use the most nuanced or believable methods to advance the suspense, it still manages to keep things interesting with a lot of corrupted politics and unsteady alliances.