REVIEW: ‘Nice To Not Meet You’ Episodes 3-4

Man, Lim Hyun-joon (Lee Jung-jae) really goes through it in Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4. After the previous episodes set up such a big rise, Hyun-joon’s inevitable plateauing made all the sense in the world. But, going into these new episodes, Hyun-joon’s fall is coming faster than anyone could imagine. And the orchestrator of his descent? None other than Wi Jeong-sin (Lim Ji-yeon) and her boss, Yun Hwa-yeong (Seo Ji-hye).

However, while his career descent seems almost inevitable, one element that also remains inevitable across Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4 is the fact that Hyun-joon and Jeong-sin are tied together by fate. Whether it’s due to coincidences like Jeong-sin being at the wrong place at the right time or the fact that their young brothers have decided to set them up on a date (without knowing of their shared connection, of course), it would take a divine act of intervention to separate Hyun-joon and Jeong-sin at this point.

But first, Hyun-joon tries to see if he can somehow convince Jeong-sin to join his side. Offering her sweet exclusives and complete access to him, all Hyun-joon asks is that he be allowed to proofread everything before it’s printed. Being the staunch journalist snob that she is, Jeong-sin refuses, citing the ethics of journalism. This ethics of journalism of hers is tested, however, throughout Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4. The most blatant example? When Jeong-sin runs into Hyun-joon again in the hospital, not too long after this meeting.

A more positive side of Jeong-sin comes out in Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4, but it can’t spare her from trouble.

Jeong-sin finds herself in the hospital initially for stomach pain before it quickly turns into a burst appendix. The timing couldn’t be better, as Hyun-joon is rushed to the same hospital around the same time after collapsing. The media quickly distorts it into a suicide attempt, with expositional conversations given throughout of exhaustion being used by celebrities and their managers in the media as covers for similar attempts.

However, once Jeong-sin’s boss realizes Jeong-sin is under the same roof as the celebrity, she puts the barely coherent journalist back to work to get the real scoop. In her attempts to sneak into Hyun-joon’s VIP quarters, we get prime time moments of awkwardly funny physical comedy from Lim Ji-yeon, equipped with fart sounds and all. It is here that she runs into Hyun-joon’s mother, Seong Ae-seuk (Na Young-hee), who receives plenty of screen time in Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4, and inevitably gets caught by Hyun-joon due to her excessive farting.

This leads to what we see as the beginnings of Jeong-sin trying to help Hyun-joon’s image as best as she can in Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4. In pursuit of truth over gossip (unless her rage takes over), she determines to craft an exclusive with Hyun-joon and his manager, Hwang (Choi Gwi-ha), that shows his hospital visit has nothing to do with attempting to commit suicide. It’s a step forward for their relationship, less so enemies than becoming mostly tolerable acquaintances. 

Celebrity does nothing to protect; instead, it paints an unrelenting target with little regard.

Her approach to the exclusive wins over Hwang, but Hyun-joon is still skeptical. Honestly, though, who could blame him? Given how she targeted him in Episode 2 with a flurry of articles that ultimately cost him work, he’s right to side-eye her. It isn’t until their encounter in a secluded area of the hospital that his opinion towards her relents, albeit because she literally passes out bleeding in front of him. Not particularly subtle, but it effectively makes the point about how fate keeps trying to bring them together. 

He heroically (and messily) saves her at the last moment post-collapse, literally breaking the locked hospital doors to get her to a doctor quickly. This moment goes viral, doing more work to rehabilitate his reputation than the exclusive Jeong-sin was working on to help him out. Still, if Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4 prove anything, it’s that somehow Jeong-sin will get involved in mucking up Hyun-joon’s life in some fashion. And, not too long after his viral moment, she does, and this time with his mom.

This ebb and flow of Hyun-joon’s reputation has been a constant in the series so far, reflecting the tenuous and fickle nature of the media and public at large. For a star like Hyun-joon, whose star power is waning, any negative publicity can cost him. And, after Jeong-sin recognizes his mother in a line-up of former erotic film actresses, just the suggestion of a relation alone is enough to put a target on his back. With Hwa-yeong seemingly having it out for Hyun-joon for no explained reason, there’s no end in sight to his inevitable fall.

Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4 put Hyun-joon through the ringer and never let up.

Still, Jeong-sin does her best to try to warn Hyun-joon that an article tying him to the erotic film industry is going out. For her part, Lim Ji-yeon portrays Jeong-sin’s internal struggle exceptionally well, with her facial expressions perfectly illustrating how Jeong-sin knows her words will be harming an actor she is coming to respect. It takes a conversation with the mysterious president of her company, Lee Jae-young (Kim Ji-hoon), to remind her that she is just doing her job as well. 

In the end, Jeong-sin is too late to warn Hyun-joon, who learns of the article in real-time at a press conference he is giving as a sponsor for a ramyeon brand. This culminates in a panic attack and an eventual doctor’s visit, where he is reminded that his anxieties are more intense compared to others due to his career. In Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4, it is shown how much responsibility Hyun-joon shoulders. Between caring for a constantly guilt-tripping mother and supporting his younger brother, Hyun-joon is constantly working for them. 

It draws into focus how much his career in acting is meant to be for himself. Yet, it’s never that simple. With his ex-girlfriend,  Gwon Se-na (Oh Yeon-se), trying to undermine his trajectory on shared projects and his overnight success after working on Park Byeong-ki’s (Jeon Sung-woo) film, he has to make concessions.  And, for someone like him who bears the weight of that responsibility, someone like Jeong-sin becomes the enemy quickly when they jeopardize it. 

Despite Hyun-joon getting knocked down in Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4, we see how much pressure he is under and why.

It’s no wonder then that he confronts her about the article later. He is losing control of his carefully crafted life, which he has built not just for himself, but for the family that has come to rely on him. It’s also what makes his consultation with a virtual tarot reader later on in Episode 4 all the more sad. He’s lost some of that resilience with his rise, and now all this bad luck is further increasing his anxieties. But, at least he may have one more season of Good Detective Kang Pil-gu, if he can survive being directed by Byeong-ki again.

A surprising twist at the end of Nice To Not Meet You Episode 4 is the return of the conspiracy from previous episodes. The one that got Jeong-sin transferred to the entertainment journalism department. Meeting with her eyewitness, she discovers that someone is missing from the video that was initially shared with her. That person? Hyun-joon’s ex, Se-na. Se-na has never come across as a good person, so her involvement adds a layer to an already muddled mystery. Yet, this offers something exciting to look forward to in upcoming episodes.

Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 3-4 spend time fleshing out the complicated yet fun dynamics between Lee Jung-jae’s Hyun-joon and Lim Ji-yeon’s Jeong-sin. While romantic feelings between the two haven’t sparked yet, a slow-growing respect is starting to form. However, with the volatile nature of the entertainment industry and Se-na slowly emerging as a bigger player in this complex conspiracy rooted in the story, it appears that our future couple has an even rockier road ahead.

Nice To Not Meet You Episodes 1-4 are now streaming exclusively on Prime Video, with new episodes dropping  Mondays and Tuesdays.

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