Bo Ra! Deborah (2023) Episode 8

Episode 8 of True to Love opens with Su-hyeok being annoyed with Bo-ra and cutting the video call on her. Bo-ra berates Yu-jeong but she turns the conversation to her fancy new bag.

Jin-woo comes to help shift things around the new house and who comes along to help? Jin-ho! He and Bo-mi are startled to see each other but Bo-mi warns him to not tell the others how they met.

The next time the doorbell rings, Bo-ra opens the door to see Su-hyeok. He mingles with the others but when the food gets delivered to her previous address she and Su-hyeok head out to pick it up. In the car, Su-hyeok brings up the day of the staff dinner. He’s about to pretend he doesn’t remember anything but, in an effort to be nonchalant, Bo-ra reveals it all herself.

At dinner, Bo-ra almost recognises Jin-ho’s hoodie as the one she had. She then asks about his deal with Ms Destiny. Bo-ra and Yu-jeong end up criticising her for being a clubber and a bad influence but Jin-ho defends her. Conversation then moves to the voice phishing scam that got Su-hyeok and Bo-mi. Yu-jeong reveals that even Jin-ho fell for a pyramid scheme.

As the party wraps up, Jin-ho helps Bo-mi clear up and asks if she really has a boyfriend. When she admits she doesn’t, he asks if he can keep in touch and she agrees.

The next day, Bo-ra goes shopping and buys amethyst jewellery for herself as it’s the birthstone for February. She then works on her book, talking about the joy of filling empty spaces with new things and people.

Su-hyeok joins her at a café. After analysing the cause of the breakup, Su-hyeok asks what her next step in the plan is. She still has to figure it out. She says seduction is easy but bringing an ex back is difficult. He challenges her statement about seducing so she takes him through the steps of her seduction process. It seems to get to him but he later laughs it off.

She then tells him that the next stage of the plan is breaking up with Ju-wan. When he reminds her they’re already broken up, she says that she needs to break up with him again to change the last impression Ju-wan has of her — from a sad, clingy girl to something more graceful and poised. After all, last impressions are what stay with you.

For this to happen, she needs to meet him coincidentally. Which is why she’s brought Su-hyeok to a restaurant Ju-wan really enjoys. Although, Ju-wan doesn’t turn up that day.

Despite saying otherwise, Su-hyeok can’t help but think about Bo-ra’s seduction before sleeping. As a result, he turns up to work tired and sleepy and Sang-jin worries about it. Su-hyeok asks Sang-jin what his last impression was when he was divorcing his wife.

Meanwhile, Jin-ho texts Bo-mi and officially asks her out for a meal. She agrees.

At Jin-woo’s cafe bar, Yu-jeong is all praises about her husband. Jin-ho comes up to Bo-ra for advice on how to express his feelings on a first date with the clubber girl. Still assuming that the girl is a bad influence, the two friends encourage Jin-ho to make a public proposal (a.k.a sabotage the whole thing).

Su-hyeok arrives and shows Bo-ra a rough plan for her book, making the latter quite impressed. When he asks about the ending, Bo-ra says she wants an ending like in La La Land where the girl turns and smiles at her ex, showing how happy she is. She even drags him along to shop for a similar black dress. She wants one that makes men see the woman in slow motion. She tries on several dresses but none strike Su-hyeok’s fancy.

Meanwhile, Sang-jin thinks about what Su-hyeok said about last impressions and remembers the bitter way he and his wife went separate ways after their court case. He then calls Su-hyeok and asks him to join him for lunch but Su-hyeok gets distracted by the vision of Bo-ra in a black dress. He asks her if she moved slowly on purpose. Satisfied, she tells the staff that she’ll buy it.

At the office, U-ri offers to share her lunch with Sang-jin. While adding sauce to her food, she makes a heart with it. She almost confesses her feelings to him but the other staff arrive at that time.

Bo-ra bumps into Yu-ri at the shopping mall and they have a quick chat. Later, Yu-ri sees Bo-ra with a man but doesn’t recognise him from behind.

Bo-ra badgers Su-hyeok to join her at her stakeout on Sunday at 2 outside Ju-wan’s restaurant since she doesn’t have a car.

Bo-mi meets Jin-ho and he takes her towards a group of live singers. When he joins in and sings for Bo-mi, she gets embarrassed and walks away. He’s dispirited but she runs back and hugs him. She quietly tells him to follow her. She tells him off for listening to other people’s advice again. He says he doesn’t know what to do other than like her and be nice to her. Bo-mi says that that’s just what she wants, nothing more. She agrees to officially date him and even holds his hand!

Come Sunday, Su-hyeok can’t stop thinking about Bo-ra as the clock is about to strike two. He ends up going to the restaurant and sees her walk in her black dress outside. She joins him in the car. Just as they begin to argue about how long they have to wait, they see Ju-wan turn up.

Bo-ra goes into the restaurant and takes a seat across Ju-wan, who’s astonished to see her. She tells him it’s good that they parted ways. She makes it clear that she’s moved on and doing well and won’t even be coming back to this restaurant.

Outside, Su-hyeok is waiting to give her a ride. Through the window, Ju-wan sees her get in Su-hyeok’s car.

On the way home, Bo-ra is happy that she didn’t cry while speaking to Ju-wan. She feels happy, like humming a tune. And so, Su-hyeok takes her to a karaoke. She sings a sad breakup song but Su-hyeok interrupts her to sing a more upbeat one. This is followed by a montage of the two going wild singing and dancing in the karaoke room.

She thanks him for making her feel better and he admits that all the chaos with her helped him not think about his own breakup. After a moment of quiet awkwardness, they get up to leave. Bo-ra’s hand is on the door when Su-hyeok pulls her back and they kiss.

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The Episode Review

What a good episode! The light and breezy vibe continues in episode 9 but this time we have a splash of chemistry and romance as well. It’s been wonderful to see Bo-ra and Su-hyeok’s relationship go from awkward encounters to a burgeoning friendship where they support each other to, now, something a little more.

I am a bit surprised it’s taken so long for sparks to fly, but it’s definitely not felt dragged or boring. The actors play it really well with nuance and subtlety, making their dynamic feel real.

This show also has a tendency of lingering during meals and conversations between characters and they pull it off quite well. Conversations are interesting, even entertaining as we see with Bo-ra’s charming seduction technique in this episode. The dialogues and the visuals make these scenes an unexpectedly good watch.