Bo Ra! Deborah (2023) Episode 4

Episode 4 of Bo-ra! Deborah opens with Bo-ra waking up to a call from Yu-jeong who reminds her about the Golden Night Party that night.

Sang-jin comes to work to see all the partitions back in place. U-ri’s the only one who speaks in support of the open plan. In his office, Sang-jin complains to Su-hyeok about how Bo-ra has been unreachable. Sang-jin asks him if something happened the day he gave her phone back but Su-hyeok doesn’t reveal what he knows. Then Sang-jin finds an invitation to the Golden Night party on his desk.

At the event, things are set to roll. Yu-jeong’s boss, Su-jin, meets Bo-ra and congratulates her for being engaged. She even says that a designer named Oscar de Rang wants Bo-ra to do a shoot with wedding dresses. Bo-ra isn’t able to tell them the truth. Later, Yu-jeong steps into the room again to make sure Bo-ra’s okay. After she leaves, Bo-ra finishes the champagne in her glass.

Sang-jin and Su-hyeok arrive at the party. Sang-jin chats up a girl but it abruptly ends when Su-jin — also Sang-jin’s ex-wife — comes by. They have a terse exchange after which she leaves.

A member of the staff tells Bo-ra it’s time for her to go on stage. We see flashes of her having a lot of champagne before she walks on stage tipsy, with her lipstick smudged. She’s silent for a while and she thinks about telling the audience the truth — there’s no such thing as Santa or happy endings. A flashback shows her calling Ju-wan but he doesn’t pick up. On stage, she throws away the flashcards given to her and drunkenly talks about how being single means one is a loser. After dropping several truth bombs about love and loneliness, she starts cursing men. Su-jin has the music turned up to cut Bo-ra off. After gloriously flipping everybody off, Bo-ra trips and falls down on stage.

Just as she’s wishing for someone to take her away, Su-hyeok comes on stage, covers her with his jacket, lifts her up and takes her out. Outside, she tells him to put her down. He gives her his jacket and handkerchief and she leaves. She takes her shoes off on the grass as she walks and Su-hyeok picks them up.

The next day at La Bella, damage control is in process. Su-jin asks Yu-jeong for an explanation but she claims to not be that close to Bo-ra.

Meanwhile, Ju-wan sees the video and amps up the security at his office.

At Jinlee Publishing, Su-hyeok and Sang-jin look at all the comments demeaning Bo-ra online. Sang-jin is also reluctant to take on her book now.

Bo-ra herself goes through all the articles online. Bo-mi, too, goes through the comments and clicks the dislike button on them. Yu-jeong comes over and shows Bo-ra an online petition against her. She then sees a public statement from Ju-wan’s company saying they are terminating the contract with their model Deborah. Yu-jeong tells her to post an apology as soon as she can.

She does so, revealing that she broke up with her longtime boyfriend and takes responsibility for her actions. She says she will take a break from all future projects for a while. Su-hyeok finds himself disliking all the negative comments about her post. Seeing it all, Bo-ra switches her profile to a private one.

Later, Bo-ra gets drunk with Yu-jeong and Bo-mi. She even ends up yelling at her plant and cry-hugging both the girls, before they drag her to bed.

At Jinlee, one of the employees suggests a sentimental illustration book but Su-hyeok rejects the idea. Later, Sang-jin wonders if Su-hyeok is still not over Yu-ri and asks him to go on a double date, but he refuses. Afterwards, Sang-jin catches Su-hyeok looking at her photo anyway. Su-hyeok says he’s thinking about calling her.

Apparently, Yu-ri has been playing the same song on the radio that she played when she told Su-hyeok she liked him. Sang-jin analyses her profile photo and points out all the signs that she has a boyfriend. In doing so he mistakenly calls Yu-ri and they hear her voice as well as another man’s. Sang-jin pretends he dialed by mistake and ends the conversation. A disheartened Su-hyeok then heads to her house. He sees Yu-ri step out of the building, followed by a man who is clearly her boyfriend.

Bo-ra’s mother tells Bo-mi how embarrassed she is of Bo-ra’s actions. Bo-ra decides to go out for a walk and tells a worried Bo-mi to not stress about her. Bo-ra goes shopping, buys herself churros and stops to hear someone playing the guitar. On the bus home, she tears up again. Su-hyeok, too, tears up in his car while listening to the song on the radio.

A flashback to two years ago shows Yu-ri telling Su-hyeok that she played the song for him. The lyrics echo her feelings, saying that she will wait for him. He tells her not to wait and then actually turns up at her office, in front of her.

In the present, his car comes up next to the bus where he sees Bo-ra crying with her head stuck outside the window.

The Episode Review

True to Love offers another good episode and this time the highlight is Bo-ra’s drunken rant on stage. Decked in shimmering gold, she is an absolute riot to watch go off against dating, romance and men. Yoo In-na does a fantastically entertaining job and it’s hard to take your eyes off her. Yoon Hyun-min also offers some swoon-worthy looks as he swoops in to rescue her off the stage.

I’m pleasantly surprised that the breakup theme is stretched out for this entire episode as well but it doesn’t feel like a drag. Although I think I’m ready for episode 5 to return to more cheerful and comedic notes. It will be nice to see Bo-ra in high spirits again!