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Our characters find themselves in situations where they have to make crucial decisions. To keep going or to quit? To keep trying or to give it all up? The process of finding and accepting these decisions is never easy but it’s ultimately the right one.

Melo Movie Episode 9: We Were like Strangers Who Knew Each Other Very Well

Joo-Ah reflects on her relationship with Si-joon starting from when they were in high school. To her, there were two types of people in the world: Si-joon and then everyone else. She always did what he liked. She was always there for him during rough moments in his life. But the support from Si-joon wasn’t always reciprocated. When it came to pursuing her passion for screenwriting, Si-joon only focused on himself. Even though Joo-Ah was busy with her own goals and dreams, she tried to be the best partner for Si-joon. But it got to a point where she couldn’t handle it anymore and she wanted to break up with him. Si-joon may be the greatest love of her life but the thought of leaving him was a feeling she could never put into words. So what about Si-joon’s side of the story? How exactly did he fall in love with Joo-Ah? Si-joon was grateful for Joo-Ah and how much she loved him. She accepted him, she loved him for who he was, she was always supportive of him. She was bright. She motivated him to work even harder. He even went as far to produce extra songs for side gigs to make more money to support them both and also wanted to buy her a new laptop. But when they broke up, all of that was erased. Si-joon kept himself busy by making new music and eventually he attempted to turn a new page in his life. But Joo-Ah’s sudden appearance ruined all of that again. There’s a part of him that wants to get revenge on her but the other part of him holds onto the hope that maybe they can get back together.

So Si-joon presents an idea to Joo-Ah to test their feelings for each other. He asks that they go on three dates to determine what they should do about this push-and-pull relationship between them. Moo-bi spends the night over at Gyeom’s house and gets some sleep on his bed. Gyeom joins her in the middle of the night and he sits upright on the empty space next to her on the bed. He admires her for a few seconds before falling back asleep. In the morning, he wakes up to find Moo-bi in a weird sleeping position. He can tell that she’s awake and the two lovers share a sweet and heart-fluttering kiss that morning. Moo-bi’s enjoying the experience of living with Gyeom so far but all hopes and wishes are ruined as soon as they encounter Mom exiting the house at the same time as them (AHHHH!). Mom’s speechless seeing her daughter come out of Gyeom’s house and she walks off and pretends as if she didn’t see anything. So much for wanting to live with Gyeom, haha.

It’s the first date for Si-joon and Joo-Ah. Joo-Ah arrives at the agreed location first and she watches as Si-joon approaches her. Memories of high school Si-joon flashes in her mind as he walks towards her and the former lovers awkwardly greet each other. Si-joon ends up grabbing Joo-Ah’s hand and the two walk off together. At work, Moo-bi learns from PD Ha that the budget for her movie has been cut which means it’ll be hard to get started on production and will get cancelled.

At home, Gyeom finally cleans up the house but everything constantly reminds him of his brother. He faces the photo frames with his brother down on the shelves. He even throws out Joon’s favorite chair, wheelchair, and underarm crutches. In the process of doing so, Gyeom encounters Jeong-hoo so he’s questioned on why he’s throwing out Joon’s belongings. Gyeom defends that he was going to have to do it eventually anyways but Jeong-hoo gives him some good advice. As someone who was close to dying a few times, he has a good understanding of what the person who’s left behind feels like. Therefore, he encourages Gyeom to take his time in grieving the loss of his brother. He shouldn’t force it. Rather, he can take things slowly and mourn as much as he wants.

Si-joon and Joo-Ah grab some food first on their date. Now that Joo-Ah’s also doing creative work, she understands how Si-joon must have felt back then when they were dating. It must have been hard for him. Si-joon’s curious as to how Joo-Ah’s feeling so far on their date. If she’s nervous, he tells her that it’s okay. She shouldn’t try to look relaxed if she’s really not. They then go to a vinyl record store to listen to some music, go on a walk in the park while eating some ice cream, and then munch on some snacks. So far, the date seems to be going pretty well.

Gyeom has a lot on his mind and he can’t seem to get any work done (me when I’m struggling with my recaps). He stares at all the movies lined up on the shelf against the wall. Things aren’t going so well for Moo-bi and she’s stressed out about her movie. When she arrives home, Mom briefly addresses the situation from earlier that morning with Gyeom and then checks in with her daughter to see how she’s doing. Moo-bi shares that her project has been cancelled since the investors pulled out but she’s not that worried. She’ll just take some time off and then pick up another movie after. She won’t be like her dad and go into debt just to make a movie. Mom is taken aback by the comment and she comes to his defense. How could Moo-bi say such a thing about her father? He was so proud of her. But Moo-bi argues that he didn’t care about her or Mom and that Mom had to make many sacrifices because of him. It’s clear Moo-bi still resents her father. She hates him just as much as she hates her own name.

Gyeom hangs out with Si-joon to avoid being at home alone. Since Gyeom is there, Si-joon hands him the bottle of alcohol that belonged to Joon. Gyeom’s surprised by how Joon used to drink at the bar. He had no idea. But then again, there were many things about his brother that he didn’t know about. To that, Si-joon comments that Joon’s life belonged to him. No one – even Gyeom himself – should have had a say in how Joon lived his life. So Gyeom should do the same and live his life to the fullest the way that he wants to. So with that, Gyeom leaves the bar after teasing Si-joon about Joo-Ah. When he arrives outside of his house, he’s hesitant to enter inside and even takes a peek up at Moo-bi’s house. Moo-bi herself is occupied for the night. After arguing with her mom about her dad, she re-watches her dad’s movie and sure enough, not much has changed. She still finds the movie as boring just like when she first saw it.

Moo-bi visits Director Ma to relay the news about her cancelled project. Since Director Ma has experienced something similar before, she’s come to him for some advice. Director Ma shares that he too just easily accepted things and moved on when he had any cancelled projects. But it’s different for him since his resume is much more extensive. He has more movies and experience under his belt. But for Moo-bi who’s still new to directing movies, she should be fighting for the opportunity to tell her story. If she doesn’t tell her story, who will? She should do whatever it takes to get the movie done. It’s up to Moo-bi to decide what she wants to do next. Director Ma updates Gyeom about Moo-bi’s cancelled movie which surprises him. He heard nothing from Moo-bi about it and assumes she might need some time alone to process things. Just as he’s about to go back inside his house, a lady in the neighborhood walks by and asks if she can take Joon’s favorite chair with her. But Gyeom denies the request and he takes Joon’s chair back with him. Aww.

Joo-Ah finds Si-joon in the neighborhood near his studio and relays the news about their cancelled movie. Si-joon was already aware of the news but he’s not too surprised. Things don’t seem to work out often for him anyways. Since the two are already together, he suggests that they go on their second date which ends up being at his studio. Joo-Ah’s sad over the cancellation of their project and listening to his song will make her feel better. So they listen to Si-joon’s song that he had originally produced for the movie but he interrupts the listening session to share an update. He’s going to quit music. It’s about time. He doesn’t have what it takes to become successful and he’s tired. Tired of Joo-Ah bothering him about his music. Joo-Ah’s not happy upon hearing Si-joon’s decision but she’s the reason as to why he wanted to quit. He’s tired of her praising him because it only gets his hopes up and makes him think that there’s potential for something between them again. Joo-Ah’s close to crying upon seeing Si-joon’s reaction and she storms out of the studio. Si-joon chases after her a few seconds later but fails to find her.

Moo-bi reviews her notes on her cancelled movie and she’s reminded of Director Ma’s advice about telling her story. It was the same exact thing that her father used to tell her when she was a kid. He wanted to create a movie to tell a story. Moo-bi rests her eyes due to fatigue and wakes up in a sweat from suffering a nightmare. She leaves the office and is about to smoke a cigarette outside when she recalls that she had quit smoking. It no longer helps her deal with her stress. But there’s another way that Moo-bi can deal with her stress and it’s much (much) better (and healthier) than cigarettes. It’s none other than Gyeom. He shows up in his red car to pick her up. Five years ago, she mentioned to him that she would tell him if she ever needed his help. And in order for Gyeom to help Moo-bi, he needs to be near her. So with that, the two give each other a hug and then walk to his car holding hands. In the last episode, it was Moo-bi who was there for Gyeom. This time, he’s the one reaching out to her and being there for her.

Si-joon finally finds Joo-Ah after searching for her the entire night. They fight over the conversation that happened back at the studio. Joo-Ah’s angry that Si-joon is still so obsessed with himself. How could he find her to be a burden when she supported him endlessly during the 7 years they were dating? That was just her way of showing him her love. But for Si-joon, her confidence in him and reliability on him to succeed drove him crazy and became too much pressure. It was suffocating. Joo-Ah is familiar with this side of Si-joon. The side where he was selfish and only thought about himself. He didn’t deserve to have her by his side because he never cared about her. Si-joon’s world was turned upside down twice: first with the break-up and then with Joo-Ah’s sudden reappearance. But it’s only because he’s still looking for the same Joo-Ah who he dated for seven years. The Joo-Ah he’s standing across in the present is different. She’s changed. It’s clear Si-joon hasn’t moved on since the day they broke up. The wounds and pain are still so fresh. The two embrace each other with a hug and cry into each other’s shoulders. Moo-bi narrates the reality of Si-joon and Joo-Ah’s relationship, commenting,

“Maybe knowing each other so well is actually quite unfortunate. Such relationships can share the greatest love, but they can also be so much more hurtful. And.. you can’t help but realize that the end is drawing closer.”

Moo-bi and Gyeom go on a night drive in his red car. Moo-bi’s still feeling dejected about her cancelled movie but Gyeom isn’t worried. He’s confident in her and knows she’ll get it done some way somehow. But wait, Moo-bi mentioned five years ago that she wanted to create a melo movie. Why? Moo-bi responds that it’s simply because she wanted to tell the sweetest story ever: a story about people loving each other because all she wanted was to be loved. So just like Gyeom did five years ago on the night that they kissed in the snow, Moo-bi asks him the same exact question in the car: would he still like her if she was to tell him her secret? And not leave her?

For Moo-bi, Gyeom is her safe place. She feels comfortable enough to open up to him and reveals that she thinks she’s the reason as to why her dad died. This is her secret.

Epilogue

We return to Gyeom’s house and focus on Joon’s favorite chair outside on the patio as well as a photo of Joon and Gyeom together. The house is empty. In the background, Moo-bi asks Gyeom what his secret is and he contemplates on how to answer the question.

My Thoughts:

This episode is the episode that I felt the most conflicted and uncertain about so far. Up until this point, I enjoyed every episode and thought they each had their own strengths. While this episode had its good points, I was also unsure about other aspects.

This episode primarily focused on Si-joon and Joo-Ah’s complicated relationship and provided the backstory on how they fell in love and also why they broke up. Surprisingly enough, I was never really all that curious as to why they broke up. While the reason for the break-up was important, it wasn’t something that I felt like I needed to know to understand Si-joon and Joo-Ah’s push and pull dynamic. Rather, the drama wanted to focus more on them navigating their reunion rather than focusing on the break-up itself from seven years ago. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the drama had been keeping up with Si-joon and Joo-Ah’s story. I could see why Si-joon was so conflicted on whether to keep things up with Joo-Ah or to let go of any hopes of rekindling anything with her. He so desperately wanted to forget about her and move on but it was difficult to do so when she kept on popping up into his life in little spurts here and there. Not to mention that he still hadn’t moved on from the break-up so to still be sad over the break-up and then reunite with Joo-Ah who seemed to be doing fine was challenging.

On paper, I get what the drama was trying to do with the second lead couple and in a way, I liked what it had shown us so far. Si-joon and Joo-Ah’s dynamic is very different from Moo-bi and Gyeom and it was refreshing to see the contrast between the two couples. But at the same time, I think Si-joon and Joo-Ah’s story would have worked so much better for me in various ways. I’m not sure if it was the writing of Si-joon as a character or if it was Lee Jun-young’s interpretation and portrayal of Si-joon (or perhaps a combination of both) but something about his character just didn’t sit well with me. It wasn’t until I re-watched this episode that I found Si-joon a little off-putting. It absolutely pains me to say this because I actually like Lee Jun-young as an actor and I’m not trying to discredit his acting skills or anything (I swear I’m a fan of his acting). I actually think he’s really good at acting and I liked what I’ve seen from him so far out of his projects but there was just something about Si-joon that I didn’t vibe with (he surprised me with his appearance in D.P. He was so good in that drama and had so much charisma and onscreen presence during his brief time on the show). Si-joon was just a little too aggressive and intense in this episode and I get that it’s a personality thing where he’s supposed to have this hard exterior, cold, and blunt behavior. But at the same time, I would have sympathized for Si-joon a little bit more if he just toned it down a few notches and controlled his emotions better. Seeing and hearing him raise his voice at Joo-Ah and shout all his anger and frustration out on her made me uncomfortable. So again, I’m not sure if there was this disconnect between what was written on paper versus how Lee Jun-young portrayed the character? Something just seemed off about Si-joon and it became especially evident to me after re-watching this episode.

It made things all the more confusing for me because I was okay with Si-joon so far in the show and I actually liked him during the ending scene for episode 8. Instead of getting mad and impatient with Joo-Ah, he remained calm and finally gave in to the exhaustion that had been plaguing him. He was tired of wondering and guessing and doubting everything and wanted to know what he and Joo-Ah were to each other in the present. Were they done with each other or were they returning to each other? The way that Si-joon presented and carried himself in that moment was a good way to highlight the angst that the drama wanted to portray in their relationship.

And while I like both Lee Jun-young and Jeon So-nee as actors, I think two actors who had more chemistry with each other would have sold me even more on the angst and yearning in Joo-Ah and Si-joon’s relationship. Because this drama is so character-driven, you need actors who have strong chemistry with each other to sell their story and relationship. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if Lee Jun-young and Jeon So-nee were able to do that for me to the fullest extent.

With all of that being said, I do like what the drama did with the ending scene where Joo-Ah and Si-joon fought. Sometimes you want to make a relationship work so bad but you know it just won’t. It’s not meant to be. Sometimes, love isn’t enough. Then there’s other times where the love is too much so things become overwhelming. Joo-Ah and Si-joon were together for seven years so they knew each other well and were familiar with each other’s habits and behaviors. But then they also realized that maybe they didn’t know each other as well as they thought they did. The line where Joo-Ah mentioned that the Joo-Ah from seven years ago was different from the Joo-Ah in the present was touching. She wasn’t the same person as before. That person doesn’t exist anymore (this line reminded me of the movie “Past Lives” which is a sign that I should probably watch it again soon once I catch up with all my K-dramas). Si-joon still lived in the past because times were much simpler, better, and happier back then and he didn’t want to accept his new reality, whether that was the reality of moving on from Joo-Ah or the reality of constantly going back and forth with her five years later.

Moving onto Moo-bi and Gyeom, I liked that the drama continued to draw parallels between their relationship from five years ago to their relationship in the present. They constantly walked down memory lane and were reminded of the comments they said to each other in the past. From Gyeom mentioning that he had to be near Moo-bi to help her to talking about Moo-bi’s dream of directing a melo movie to Moo-bi asking Gyeom the same exact question that he had asked her five years ago, things were consistent with Moo-bi and Gyeom. It’s clear that the time they spent with each other back then meant a lot to them and were memories that they cherished. The other part of this episode that I enjoyed was the focus on Moo-bi’s job and the issue with her movie cancellation. It forced her to reassess her perception about her job, her dad, her relationship with movies, and if it was still something that she wanted to do. It made her reflect on why she was in the movie industry and what she got out of it. Why was she in it? Moo-bi finally realized and accepted what her purpose and reason for creating movies was. Just like her dad, she wanted to tell a story. But not just any story. She wanted to tell her story. Lastly, I appreciated the continuation on Gyeom’s grieving process. Now that he was able to enter his house, the next part was handling Joon’s belongings and the drama did a wonderful job in showing Gyeom’s struggle between slowly saying goodbye to his brother or holding onto his memories of him. Regardless of what side he was on, both decisions were equally painful for Gyeom.

At the end of the day, it’s hard for me to give criticism and I try my best to formulate my thoughts in a way where I hope I don’t come off as if I’m hating. That’s definitely not what my goal was with the commentary for this episode so hopefully people don’t misunderstand. This was just me channeling my inner Ko Gyeom and sharing some of my observations as a K-drama critic (and enthusiast). If there’s anything we’ve learned so far from “Melo Movie”, it’s that everyone’s watching experience is different and what one person likes and enjoys can be completely different from how someone else feels about it.