[Drama Recap] Love Rain Episode 4

Here we recap and discuss episode 4 of Love Rain.  Caution, spoilers below.  Don’t read if you don’t want to know what happens.

After a brief video recap of the prior episodes, we see In Ha and Yoon Hee taking a walk together, saying how much they missed each other.  They sit down on a bench and Yoon Hee notices In Ha’s busted lip.  He tells her not to worry and that his friends will understand eventually.  In Ha then asks Yoon Hee if she went to the hospital, but she doesn’t want to worry him and lies and says she didn’t.  She apologizes, but In Ha quotes back the line we’ve heard far too many times in this series: love means never having to say you’re sorry.  This makes her happy and they pinky-swear to never say sorry to each other.  We then have a cryptic voiceover of In Ha saying that he didn’t know at the time, but Yoon Hee was preparing for the end.

They hear music playing nearby and peak inside a building to see some students practicing dancing.  Not to be outdone, the two of them start dancing outside as well.  In Ha then tells Yoon Hee that he finished the ending for his song and that he wants to sing it for her later.  We then cut to In Ha working on the song and we see that the final line is “I love you.”

We now cut to In Sook talking to one of her classmates in the classroom, while Hye Jung just sits at her desk staring ahead.  As soon as Yoon Hee walks in, everyone looks at her and goes silent.  Looks like the rumor-mill has done its job.  She walks up to Hye Jung, but before she can say anything, Hye Jung picks up her things and storms out, with In Sook close behind.  You then hear the other students whispering that the rumors are true and calling Yoon Hee a slut for playing around with In Ha and Dong Wook.

Speaking of our C’est La Vie members, Dong Wook finds In Ha and challenges him to another tennis match.  We then cut to Hye Jung and In Sook walking when they’re met by Chang Mo who tells them that Dong Wook and In Ha are at the tennis courts.  When they get there, In Sook densely asks what the wager is this time, but quickly realizes the idiocy of her question and figures it out.  Dong Wook serves the ball, but In Ha doesn’t move and just lets it hit him.  He’s clearly pissed and serves again but again, In Ha just stands there.

Meanwhile, Yoon Hee is getting out of class now and she does have a friend left on campus after all as someone comes and tells her about In Ha and Dong Wook.  As she gets there, In Sook comments that she has some nerve to show up, but Hye Jung is more annoyed at her for playing dumb when Hye Jung told her about her feelings for In Ha.

Yoon Hee has finally had enough and runs toward In Ha.  Chang Mo sees her going to intervene and so runs after Dong Wook.  She steps in front of In Ha and tells them to stop, but Dong Wook’s not listening and instead throws his racket away and charges In Ha himself.  In Ha tells him he didn’t mean to fight with him, and that he’ll never play a game with Yoon Hee at stake.  Dong Wook is about to punch him, but Yoon Hee intervenes once more.

As an angry Dong Wook storms off, Yoon Hee says it’s all her fault that they’re fighting.  Eh, let’s call it 70/30 with In Ha taking the majority of the blame for being a royal coward.  Hye Jung finally uses her trump card, and the one thing that might actually tear our star-crossed lovers apart, and gives Yoon Hee back her diary, saying that In Ha had it all along.  Yoon Hee is crushed, thinking that In Ha isn’t who she thinks he is and is only following what he read in the diary.  Hye Jung lashes out at Yoon Hee for breaking up all their friendships, and even tells In Ha to shut it when he tries to stop her.  In Ha turns to stop a heartbroken Yoon Hee from slowly walking away, but is stopped by Hye Jung, who decides to confess her own feelings on the spot.  She likes him as much as he likes Yoon Hee, so why does she have to be the bad guy?

In Ha eventually does catch up with Yoon Hee, but she’s in no mood to talk to him.  The allegiance song starts playing and so Yoon Hee is forced to turn around and face In Ha.  He, however, doesn’t seem to care and is staring at her the whole time.  Before the pledge finishes, he wraps her in a hug, but Yoon Hee brushes him off and runs away.

We then cut to In Ha walking in the rain and then going to Yoon Hee reading her diary again in her room, a packed luggage behind her.  She then flashes back to when she initially asked In Ha if he had seen her diary when she lost it.  As she’s flipping through the pages, she finds a note at the end that In Ha wrote for her.  In it, he thanks the diary for leading him to her and asks for her forgiveness for not returning it to her sooner and that his heart was sincere.  This is probably the first smart thing I’ve seen In Ha do all episode.  She seems touched by it and suddenly hears In Ha’s voice outside her window.

He says he’s not going to say sorry since they promised each other not to and that he was glad that he found the diary so that he was able to get to know her better.  Good thing this is a drama, because creeper moves like this don’t work in the real world.  He reiterates that his feelings were real and asks her to believe him.  Yoon Hee stands up to go talk to him, but is overcome by a coughing fit.  As the fit goes away, she looks into her handkerchief and finds blood.  We then flashback to the hospital and a doctor tells her that she has late-stage tuberculosis.  Of course, In Ha is still outside the window thinking that Yoon Hee hasn’t forgiven him.

The next day at school, In Sook arrives at class to finding buzzing with the news that Yoon Hee has taken a leave of absence.  In the cafe, Dong Wook apologizes to the manager but that he’s not doing the show anymore because he only wanted to do it with all 3 of them.  Chang Mo gets pissed off, saying that he only put up with Dong Wook all this time because it gave him the opportunity to sing. Oh what deep bonds of friendship you all have.

To vent some frustration, Chang Mo immediately goes up on the performance stage and starts playing a song that’s banned.  The table in front of him loudly mentions this and Chang Mo yells at them, asking why it should be banned.  In Ha walks in at this point and Chang Mo continues his rant by saying that he’s playing this song because his friends pissed him off and he feels like it.  If anyone doesn’t like it, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.  Dong Wook and In Ha quickly join in and soon the whole cafe is rocking out to the song, including the table that mentioned it in the first place.  In Sook then bursts in and tells them about Yoon Hee’s leave of absence.  Guess they do still care a little bit about her, and the five of them rush over to Yoon Hee’s place to confirm that she’s gone.

Back at school, Chang Mo is met by some surly looking morals policemen.  He thinks they’re here about his little performance at the cafe, but is relieved when they ask him about someone else instead.  He relaxes too soon, however, as they ask about In Ha next and mention people are saying that a banned song that someone performed was written by him and In Ha.

Guess he didn’t get in that much trouble as we see Chang Mo in his dorm apologizing to In Ha for punching him.  In Ha then apologizes for disappointing him and thanks him for sticking by him through all this.  He then tells Chang Mo that he’s going to go see Yoon Hee and that he’s never fallen in love like this with anyone.  Chang Mo says he’s jealous of him and that Dong Wook will eventually come around as well.  He then tells In Ha that he plans to travel around Korea after the radio show and see if it’s as beautiful as everyone says.

The next day, In Ha goes to the train station and finds Dong Wook waiting for him.  Seems he had the same idea and says that if In Ha didn’t come, he was going to see Yoon Hee himself.  He tells In Ha that he hasn’t completely forgiven him yet, but that In Ha should go bring her back because he wants to apologize to Yoon Hee as well.

Back in her Yoon Hee’s hometown, we see her sitting on the porch wistfully looking up into the sky.  Her grandmother spots her and asks why she’s outside, saying that it’s cold.  Yoon Hee says she just wanted some fresh air and will go for a walk.  Before she leaves though, her grandmother asks her if she wants to go live with her uncle somewhere else to cure her disease.  Yoon Hee nods in agreement and goes on her walk.

After she leaves, In Ha shows up at her house and asks if she’s home.  Her grandmother tells him that she just went for a walk and so In Ha goes sprinting off to find her.  He spots the elementary school and remembers Yoon Hee telling him that her dad used to teach there.  In Ha hears an organ and remembers Yoon Hee telling him about this as well and goes in search of the source.  Lo-and-behold, there she is playing it.

When he opens the door, Yoon Hee is startled to see him and immediately tries to run away.  In ha stops her though and asks her why she ran away like that.  He starts to apologize about not returning the diary, but Yoon Hee says he doesn’t have to and she believes that he really did intend to return it to her all this time.  She then sticks the knife in his heart and says she realized that her feelings weren’t real.  She didn’t like him so much as she just wanted someone who understood her and that he was just reading from her diary.  In Ha grabs her and tells her to stop lying and that he has a lot to say to her still.  Yoon Hee doesn’t want to hear it and runs off as In Ha tells her to listen to their radio show later.

When Yoon Hee gets back to her house, she’s in tears and tells her grandmother that she’ll definitely get better and come back.  Later that night, we see her finishing up packing for her trip and looking wistfully at the watch that In Ha gave her.  She remembers him telling her that he finished the song and to make sure to listen to the radio show.

On the day of the show, Dong Wook meets up with In Ha and Chang Mo and asks if Yoon Hee is coming.  In Ha doesn’t know, of course, and the two of them get sad thinking about it.  Chang Mo tries to brighten up the mood and tells them to just end the war.  At this point, Hye Jung and In Sook show up with bouquets of flowers.  After they talk for a bit, In Sook fangirls and gives Chang Mo a kiss on the cheek before running away.  Hye Jung turns and follows her friend, but is stopped by In Ha who apologizes and thanks her in the same breathe.  She says nothing and smiles in response.  Dong Wook says they should go in now, but In Ha looks back once more to see if Yoon Hee is coming.  Chang Mo forgets his guitar and goes back to get it and sees the morals policemen walking around the venue.

The radio show starts now in a concert hall and the MC says it’s a competition of college groups.  We see clips of each of the acts, but none of them really stood out.  The boys are the final act and they come onstage.  As they’re about to start their performance, Yoon Hee walks in and causes In Ha to stare at first and forget to start.  The audience and his friends thinks it’s nerves and laugh at him, Chang Mo even giving him a nudge.  Only Hye Jung follows In Ha’s gaze and sees Yoon Hee standing there.  As they perform, we see a video montage of all the various love scenes for each of the characters throughout the episodes.  Yoon Hee finally gets to hear the ending and is touched enough to start crying.

To end the night, the group is asked to perform one last song.  We then get a brief flashback of the police in Chang Mo’s dorm room.  They’re searching it for banned materials, and find books on democratic economics.  Back at the venue, as soon as their performance ends, Chang Mo glances to the side and sees the police waiting for them.  He leaps off the stage and warns In Ha to start running as well.  In Ha is confused for a second but sees the police coming out and realizes what’s going on.  He’s too late though and gets caught.  The audience is in an uproar about it and Yoon Hee starts go after In Ha, but has another coughing fit.  Dong Wook sees her collapse and brushes off the police to go to her.  It is then that he notices the blood that she coughed up in her hand.

At the jail, Dong Wook visits In ha and tells him that Chang Mo is okay.  In Ha then asks about Yoon Hee, and Dong Wook lies and says that he didn’t get the chance to see her.  Dong Wook tells him that they won first place after all and asks what’s going to happen to him.  As punishment, it seems In Ha will have to go to the military earlier.

Later that night, Hye Jung sneaks a care package to the fugitive Chang Mo.  She gives him all the money she has and even sneaks out some of her mom’s jewelry to sell.  He tells her to tell their friends not to worry about him and asks about In Ha.  Hye Jung tells him about the situation and says he should worry about himself more.  Chang Mo then gives her a hug and tells her to take care of herself and In Ha before running off.  As one last gift to her, he gives a funny dance which causes Hye Jung to laugh a little.

Dong Wook arrives back at his home and we see that he’s taken Yoon Hee there so she can be cared for.  He mentions to her that per her request, he didn’t mention her illness to In Ha.  He then asks if the reason why she went back home was to cure her disease.  Yoon Hee nods and tells him that she’s going to go to the US and get treated there.  In Ha thinks if that’s the case, then it’s more of a reason to tell In Ha.  Yoon Hee says she will, but that she wants to come back cured and tell him herself.  She just doesn’t want him to know how or else he’ll be hurt worrying about her.  As her final request to Dong Wook, she tells him once again not to say anything to In Ha about it.

The day has come for In Ha to go off for his military service and his friends are all there to see him off.  Hye Jung tells him that she’ll write to him often and visit when she can.  Dong Wook pulls out a small box and says that it’s from Yoon Hee.  In Ha opens the box and finds the watch that he gave her.  He then reads her note telling him that she’s leaving to go to the US.  She tells him that she was happy to hear his song and thanks him for all he’s done for her.  She looks forward to the day that she can tell him this in person, but she’s returning the watch to him because she won’t be able to spend time with him anymore.  She then ends the letter by saying that she was happy for the time they spent together.  We then have a voiceover of In Ha saying that that’s how Yoon Hee disappeared from his life, but does take note that not once in the letter does she apologize and takes this to mean that she still loves him.

Dong Wook decides that he can’t hide it anymore and reveals Yoon Hee’s secret to In Ha.  He tells his friend to wait for her and that Yoon Hee will be back when she’s better.  As the train goes off, we see In Ha tearing up and saying that he believes that their love never ended.

We then do a rather nice seamless transition to the present day where we see In Ha’s son, also played by Jang Geun Suk, taking pictures from a moving train.  As he gets off the train, he bumps into someone who apologizes to him in Japanese.  As he looks up, he meets the eyes of Yoon Hee’s daughter, played by Yoona, and we end the episode like we began the series: with a voiceover of In Ha saying he fell in love in 3 seconds.

Final Thoughts

I wish it hadn’t taken so long, but I can’t complain about how they ended the past arc.  This was by far my favorite episode of the drama and it made me realize that I had connected to the characters more than I realized.  Yoon Hee, perhaps because I’m a fan of Yoona, I always had an affinity for, but the rest really sucked me in just as we say goodbye to them.  Chang Mo and Hye Jung’s goodbye scene was by far my favorite of the series as you can see how deep their friendship is and both Son Eun Seo and Seo In-Guk portrayals of their characters there were so spot on.  Even playboy Dong Wook, who has been my least favorite character so far, had me touched with his struggle between keeping the promise with the girl he loves and telling his best friend.

I’m really glad they still had all of them remain friends through this rather than splinter apart.  As this drama is so fond of saying, love is both happiness and sadness and this is true for romantic love as well as love between friends.  A true test of friendship is how you deal with the sad times, not just the good.  Having them stick together through this adds in a touch of realism that drew me into the story that much more.

Now that Yoona’s character is finally allowed to show emotions, we get a glimpse into her acting abilities and I think she’s done rather well thus far.  Her character was far too restricted in the earlier episodes where she’s just supposed to be this suppressed wallflower so it’s nice to see her have more freedom in this regard.   I really hope Son Eun Seo makes an appearance in the future arc again as I thought she did a good job portraying her character and it would be a waste to have her only show up for these 4 episodes.  At any rate, we finally close this chapter of the drama and for the first time I really am anticipating the next episode.

Special Bonus: I really hope they officially release Tiffany’s OST soon for this drama soon because I really like what I’ve heard of it so far.