REVIEW: ‘Love Scout’ Episode 9

If there is anything that Kdramas have taught regular viewers, it is that when there is peace, trouble is quick to follow. This is exactly what happens in Viki’s Love Scout Episode 9, where the first half features a brief period of calm for Kang Ji-yun (Han Ji-min) and Yu Eun-ho (Lee Joon-hyuk). Unfortunately, Eun-ho discovers information tying him to the most tragic event in Ji-yun’s life, and this news is sure to shake things up for the worse in the final remaining episodes.

Things start on an emotional high, building on Ji-yun’s and Eun-ho’s open defiance of Oh Chul-young (Jo Seung-yeon) from the previous episode. The two take things to the next level when they go over to Ji-yun’s apartment that night, and, for the most part, Chul-young is kind of forgotten. Considering the dramatic build-up in Episode 8, it’s an odd choice overall that Chul-young takes more of a subdued backseat role in Love Scout Episode 9. Instead, the episode shifts its focus to Jung Su-hyeon (Kim Yoon-hye), with the character getting more time to shine.

The majority of Chul-young’s involvement in the episode stems from Su-hyeon’s reactions to his father’s actions in the previous episode. The next day, Su-hyeon apologizes to Ji-yun for his father’s behavior but she pays the issue no mind. Sensing that things have developed even further between Ji-yun and Eun-ho, the young employee grows frustrated.

This frustration gets directed at those he considers responsible for taking Ji-yun away from him, but even then, it is dismissive to frame it this way. Su-hyeon knows that Ji-yun was never his to begin with. This can’t stop his feelings from being all over the place.

And so, in Love Scout Episode 9, he confronts these two men in his own way. With Chul-young, we get a little more development into their relationship, however brief. Chul-young treats Su-hyeon with disdain, a reminder that the heir is not anything like his dead brother. For Chul-young, his resentment toward Ji-yun is still a little confusing, but it seems like he is upset that she won’t join the family. It’s a larger example of how he wants to bring her to heel, but with only three episodes left in the series, some clarity would be nice.

Love Scout Episode 9 invests much-needed time in Su-hyeon.

As for Su-hyeon’s interactions with Eun-ho, they take on a more competitive yet friendly tone. They go out to dinner, and upon seeing how easily Eun-ho drinks alcohol, Su-hyeon’s competitive spirit ignites. Things escalate until the two are arm wrestling to a crowd of cheering restaurant patrons. It’s pretty silly and shows how immature and pure Su-hyeon is, and gives another example of how Eun-ho adapts to each person he’s with. In the end, the now incredibly drunk Su-hyeon emerges triumphant.

In his triumph, Su-hyeon forgets how drunk he is. This leads to a hilarious comedic performance from actor Kim Yoon-hye, who hasn’t had too much time onscreen to prove his acting chops. In Love Scout Episode 9, he goes from serious to jealous to downright funny, but most importantly, Yoon-hye’s Su-hyeon emerges as a suitor for Woo Jeong-hoon (Kim Do-hoon) when Eun-ho brings the inebriated Su-hyeon back to his apartment complex to sleep things off.

Somehow, Su-hyeon ends up passed out on Jeong-hoon’s mother’s couch and doesn’t remember how he got there. But he is greeted with the disapproving stares of Jeong-hoon and her son, Jung Seo-joon (Kim Tae-vin), and guilt-tripped into staying for breakfast by Lee Jung-soon (Yun Yoo-sun). Jung-soon subtly interrogates Su-hyeon, and he takes it in stride, proving the potential he has to be Jeong-hoon’s future partner. It remains unclear, though, at the end of Love Scout Episode 9, if the new discovery of who Jeong-hoon’s crush is will deter or empower Su-hyeon.

This brings us to Eun-ho, who plays a pivotal part in the next story arc introduced in Love Scout Episode 9. As was introduced in a previous episode, Eun-ho has been trying to find the name of the person who saved his life many years ago and has been searching for the kin of his saviour. Unfortunately, it is revealed that the man who saved his life in a fire all those years ago was Ji-yun’s father, placing Eun-ho in an incredibly uncomfortable position.

Plot transitions aren’t handled smoothly, leaving something to be desired.

The guilt Eun-ho feels radiates off of actor Lee Joon-hyuk’s body and facial expressions. If it weren’t for him, Ji-yun may still have her father. But, as was pointed out to him by the man who tracked down the information, Ji-yun’s father would have done this regardless if anyone was still left to be saved. That was his nature. But, Eun-ho understands how the news will impact Ji-yun and, by the end of Love Scout Episode 9, all of his fears, guilt, everything come down on his shoulders when he finally reveals the truth.

The shock that registers on Ji-yun’s face upon hearing how Eun-ho is connected to her father is devastating. Han Ji-min continues to prove how much she delivers with her micro-expressions, revealing Ji-yun’s shock without going too far. Despite the emotional impact this sets up for the upcoming episodes, this plot segue could have been handled better.

It’s not a seamless transition to the next phase of the story. In fact, the shift in tone in Love Scout Episode 9 is abrupt. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for a series that has been smoothly balancing between different plots, it is noticeably out of left field. Particularly since the first moment Eun-ho’s side quest is introduced last episode, it was innocuous and didn’t take too much focus, blending into the rest of the episode with little fanfare.

That said, what goes up must come down. This is an unspoken rule of Kdrama storytelling, with the trials and tribulations keeping us invested again and again. Love Scout Episode 9 makes some missteps in its storytelling in this episode. It successfully expands on Su-hyeon, but previously introduced storylines are dropped or put on the back burner in favour of more overtly dramatic ones. With only a couple of episodes left, these are odd decisions made late in the game that may or not may hurt Love Scout as it races towards the finish line.

Love Scout Episodes 1-9 are streaming on Netflix in select regions and on Viki, and new episodes are released weekly.