The Practical Guide to Love: Episodes 9-10
by Unit
The penultimate week is upon us, and our lead couple is finally sailing the Waters of Romance! They even take time out of their dating era to intervene in the secondary couple’s romance. But dramaland rules prevent smooth sailing, so the plot hits us with some parental troubled waters…
EPISODES 9-10
As Eui-young and Tae-seop bask in the euphoria of their newly-dating phase, we learn the idea of marriage comes naturally to Tae-seop because he grew up with loving and supportive parents. But Eui-young’s parents separated (not divorced) when she was much younger, and she doesn’t have as much fantasies about marriage. The good news is, there’s no singular path to dating. And as Tae-seop says, they can just figure out the path that works best for them. Eui-young and Tae-seop’s romance is so cute, it almost feels like they’re teenagers. But their 30+ knees beg to differ, and they can’t hold their squats long enough to not get caught when the HOME employees burst in on their office date. Looool. But the employees are happy for them and that’s what matters.
As for Ji-soo, well, he’s not overly elated about the relationship, but he respects Eui-young’s feelings for Tae-seop. He gives her the “I won’t make things awkward, so don’t be a stranger” speech when she tries to avoid him, and this puts her mind at ease. Ji-soo informs Eui-young that he’s preparing to film his first drama. But as we’ll come to learn, the director only cast him because Jeong-ah was reviewing the script. Jeong-ah ultimately passes on the project, and the director becomes passive-aggressive towards Ji-soo on set. Tsk. What happened to professionalism?
Moving on, Seung-joon becomes a drunken mess after his breakup with Hyun-min, and he invites his bestie to his pity party. Eui-young scolds him for his wrong assumptions about dating apps, and advises him to apologize to his girlfriend. Seung-joon cries that he’s been blocked, and Eui-young sides with him immediately. She doesn’t think he should be with someone who blocks him over a small misunderstanding, and she tells him to forget all about the girl. Lol. Eui-young has a similar “the guy is the problem, forget about him” advice when Hyun-min shares her relationship woes. But she is soon hit with epic levels of shock when she connects the dots after seeing Seung-joon’s poster (with evil doodles on his face, lol) stuck on Hyun-min’s fridge. LMAO!
Eui-young initially decides to stay out of her friends’ love affairs, but she can’t help playing matchmaker — via the secondhand market app — after learning they still like each other. When our secondary couple meet up, Seung-joon shares that he’s a victim of the tragic sports injury trope. Since quitting basketball, he has been holding back physically and emotionally as a way to protect himself from getting hurt, and that’s why he kept things casual with Hyun-min. He apologizes, and tells her he likes her. They hug and all is forgiven.
Meanwhile at the hotel, a decision is made to rebrand their gift sets due to declining sales. Na-ri intends to wing the whole thing as usual, until she overhears the higher-ups have high expectations for the rebranding project. She completely throws herself into work — proving that she can be very efficient when she wants to be — and even manages to butter up a notoriously stubborn farmer to supply them prime beef for the new gift sets. Alas, the farmer is taken with Eui-young and privately informs the purchasing team lead that he’d like to set her up with his youngest son. A sensible team leader would have informed Eui-young about the farmer’s plans, but nope. He just sends her off to finalize the contracts with the farmer’s son.
The team leader is quite evasive when Na-ri calls him out — at Ji-soo’s part-time cafe — for sidelining her in favor of Eui-young, and Ji-soo overhears the conversation. He puts the pieces together and realizes that Eui-young has been set up without her knowledge. Na-ri and Ji-soo immediately attempt to alert Eui-young, but her number is unreachable. Meanwhile, Eui-young also realizes she has walked into something other than a simple business meeting when the farmer’s son starts to get all handsy. She tells him off as firmly and as politely as she can before excusing herself, but he grabs her wrist and begins to make a scene. Thankfully, Tae-seop shows up before Handsy can go any further. “Who the hell are you?” Handsy yells. “I’m her boyfriend,” Tae-seop fires back. Phew! Territorial Tae-seop is back, and with an official title this time. Hehe.
As to how Tae-seop appeared as Eui-young’s knight in shining armor, it turns out Ji-soo called him. Ji-soo was going to head to the restaurant himself, but he remembered his promise to not make things awkward for Eui-young, so he dialed 1-800-BOYFRIEND. Subsequently, the team leader apologizes to Eui-young, but he cannot avoid the HR summons. Eui-young is granted some time off until the disciplinary process is settled, and she’s encouraged to take the chance to rest and look after herself, considering she hasn’t done much of that since she started working.
The task of closing a deal with a replacement farm falls on Hyun-min, and Eui-young tags along for moral support + a weekend getaway outside of Seoul. It won’t be a proper getaway without the boyfriends, so Tae-seop and Seung-joon tag along as well. Lol. The couples end up having a double date, and Eui-young gleefully reveals her part in getting Seung-joon and Hyun-min back together. Afterwards, Tae-seop and Eui-young spend the night together, and hopefully they did more than just holding hands. Heh.
Tae-seop and Eui-young unexpectedly run into her dad the next morning in the lobby. Eui-young hasn’t seen her dad in a long time, and she’s stiff around him. But he doesn’t notice and acts like they just saw each other yesterday. The couple also runs into Eui-young’s mom when Tae-seop drops Eui-young off at home after their trip, and Mom asks her to set a date for a proper introduction. Eui-young is surprised because her mother has never been overly interested in her romantic relationships, and she wonders what changed. Perhaps, it’s the newly-discovered aneurysm in Mom’s brain. That’s right, our show has been hit with the sudden health crisis trope. *facepalm*
The week ends with the planned meet-the-mom date. But guess who shows up first? It’s Eui-young’s dad! This man casually strolls in like he’s returning from a grocery run, and his presence immediately releases an air of awkwardness and discomfort in the house. Tae-seop arrives shortly afterwards, and it’s about to be one helluva family dinner. Oh boy!
Looks like our final week will devote a chunk of time to address the familial issues of our main characters. Eui-young’s parents’ marriage aside, there’s drama brewing with Ji-soo’s family. Jeong-ah does a timeline math after overhearing Dr. Shin’s colleagues gossip, and she realizes he started seeing her before his wife died. She’s not pleased to have been made an unwilling party in his affair, so she files for a divorce! Jeong-ah goes on to apologize to Ji-soo. And while I don’t expect them to become best buddies by the end of the show, I hope they can at least come to an understanding of sorts, because she seems to genuinely care about him.
RELATED POSTS