Call It Love (2023) Recap Episode 8

While heading out for his part-time job at night, episode 8 of Call It Love begins with Jigu noticing a drunk Woo-ju on a bench. After drinking with Jun, she went to Dong-jin’s apartment building and ended up passing out on a bench nearby.

Dong-jin gets a text from Ji-gu about Woo-ju and rushes out of his house. He asks her why she didn’t call him. She asks how he is so sure that she came to see him. When he doesn’t respond, she realises she was the only one who didn’t know about her feelings.

Dong-jin and Woo-ju walk home and then stop to get her some water. She talks about her impressive archery track that ended because of a shoulder injury. She tells him about the time she threw herself in front of her father’s car. She did it to cause her father twice the pain she was feeling. Dong-jin sympathises with her but she tells him not to like her back. As a favour.

In the morning, Jun texts Woo-ju to tell her that her mother never picked up the phone, so she doesn’t know anything.

Dong-jin cancels the hall booking for their exhibition. The man in charge informs Dong-jin that CEO Shin is really struggling, while Shin himself goes searching for Min-young and becomes determined to find her.

Dong-jin calls the office and Woo-ju picks up. He asks her for some information and she puts the phone down before he can ask if she got home properly the previous night. Kang turns up and gives Dong-jin a ride. Dong-jin asks Kang what it means when someone says “Don’t like me”. Kang says it’s a warning to the other person to not confess their feelings.

At the office, Woo-ju sees Dong-jin’s shirt that has a button loose.

Sun-woo sells his beloved car. He and Min-young drink. Sun-woo talks about buying the car because he wanted something that revolves around him and the office revolves around Dong-jin. Min-young accuses Sun-woo of behaving coldly with her and now suddenly being friendly. He tells her he saw her with Woo-ju and advises her to leave Dong-jin alone. She storms off.

A flashback shows Min-young going to a restaurant. Outside, Hee-ja is arguing with a young couple for honking at her and trying to get them to pay her. Inside, the two women meet. Back home, she tells Dong-jin about meeting his mother. When asked about meeting her mother, Dong-jin keeps postponing it. She asks if he even wants to marry her. He says he does, which is why he’s giving her time to think about it carefully. At night, Hee-ja messages her asking her to come out shopping.

In the present, she rings Dong-jin’s doorbell. The door opens and she doesn’t let him fully open it. She admits that she didn’t marry him because she was afraid his mother would turn her life upside down. But he also started avoiding her. So he shares the blame. The door closes and we see that it was Ji-gu at the door, not Dong-jin.

Dong-jin comes back to the office to see that the button on his shirt has been sewn back on.

Jun comes home to see Woo-ju making dinner. She realised that he must have given Ji-gu his clothes and asks him to tell Ji-gu to come to the pharmacy the next day. She’ll handle the rest.

Hae-sung takes picures of Su-ho on his phone. He says they’re for his social media. He suggests making a couple social media account for them. She’s unaware of the concept and he explains. Hae-sung comes home and asks Jun if he knows what a couple’s account is. He wonders if she’s mistaking incompatibility with Su-ho for a generation gap.

Ji-gu tells Dong-jin about what happened with Min-young. Just as he leaves the building, CEO Shin’s car comes in. A flashback shows that he was waiting outside the gallery every day until someone finally gave him Min-young’s address.

Woo-ju goes to meet the real estate agent near her house.

At the office, the real estate agent calls Dong-jin and tells him that the daughter of the house has given up on the house and doesn’t want to be stressed about it anymore. She also conveyed that she and her family have moved to a better place so he doesn’t need to worry. This is Woo-ju trying to undo her mistake.

Dong-jin helps Woo-ju carry some boxes to the conference room and then asks her to not do things like fix his shirt button. She says if she wants to do it she will and he should lock the door if he doesn’t want it.

Cha Young-min meets Yuri at a café. She reveals that Woo-ju is still working there and that she and Dong-jin are very close.

Sun-woo calls Min-young but she cuts the call and switches her phone off. Shin turns up at her door and says that this is a matter of life and death for him.

Hae-sung is having lunch with her friend when Jun turns up. He apologises for saying things without thinking. He agrees to pick up the bill for them too and leaves after lunch.

Employees at Best Fairs talk about an office dinner. They go out to a beef restaurant. Yuri says she asked Woo-ju to come but she refused. She’ll leave once the contract ends so there was no point in getting to know all of them.

At the dinner, Sun-woo makes a toast to all the employees who stayed with the company. Dong-jin and Ms. Baek talk. She confesses she didn’t stay out of loyalty but just because she wanted to keep working. And Yuri stayed because of money problems. So, Dong-jin shouldn’t feel burdened by them.

Towards the end of the office dinner, Sun-woo asks Dong-jin why he won’t go out with Woo-ju. Turns out, he saw their interaction in the conference room. Dong-jin tells him that he had promised himself that he won’t be hurt and left alone again. Still, he admits he was swayed by her.

At home, he sees Min-young come out of the building. He stops her to tell her to stop drinking as she’s punished herself enough. He turns to leave but she hugs him from behind. CEO Shin sees them and assumes they were working together. He walks towards them but Woo-ju suddenly comes out and stands in his way.

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The Episode Review

I genuinely feel like this show would actually be a good one if twenty minutes were cut out from every episode. The extended flashbacks, the muted colour palette, the sluggish pace and the lack of plot development is infuriating. And this is only the midway point! What are they possibly going to cover over the next eight episodes?

Min-young’s arc is neither interesting nor empathy inducing. The show is trying to make viewers sympathetic towards her but it’s no use when she’s been written as self-pitying and self-indulgent. Woo-ju seems to be trying to rectify her mistake but I can’t say that her character grabs any more attention than it did before.

Dong-jin meanwhile, maintains his sentimentality but what charisma he has is all down to Kim Young-Kwang’s looks and talent, not the story. Sun-woo remains a spark of energy in a melancholic show that seems intent on bringing you down with it.