Love To Hate You 2023 Recap Episode 2

Episode 2 of Love To Hate You opens with Kang-ho getting an apology from the lead actress in his film. He asks the actress to apologise to each of the crew members and producers on the film for wasting their time and money if she wishes to be forgiven.

Kang-ho feels victorious but Won-jun is mad at him for causing so much trouble that they had to call in their lawyers to help. Kang-ho wants to take the lawyers out for lunch in order to compensate for the trouble he caused them. Mi-ran is at the law firm for her interview and talks about how Gilmu Law Firm is more interested in making money rather than helping out people.

Mi-ran is worried that since this was an all-male law firm, she would not get the job. After causing Kang-ho to trip and fall, Mi-ran acts shocked. Kang-ho asks Won-jun to laugh and save him the embarrassment of the accident. The two men walk away and Won-jun hates the public humiliation Kang-ho’s careless walking caused him.

Kang-ho is sure there was another reason for his fall but Won-jun distracts him from investigating the matter. Mi-ran is giving her interview which is taken by the owner of Gilmu and Soo-jin. While the lawyer asks valid questions, Soo-jin resorts to asking personal questions in order to get an idea of Mi-ran’s personality.

After a chaotic interview, Mi-ran is uncertain if she will ever get a callback from Gilmu. Kang-ho is surrounded by female employees at the law firm while the male lawyers observe the show. Soo-jin asks Won-jun and Kang-ho out for drinks as she too is an actress from Won-jun’s agency.

The meet-up turns into the two actors bickering and Won-jun trying to defend his friend, Kang-ho in front of Soo-jin. Things get messy between the two actors. Won-jun asks them both to sign with different labels once their contract expires because he was so done with both of them.

This seems to have done the trick as both actors immediately stop fighting. Kang-ho is excited to attend the dinner with Gilmu lawyers because that is where he will be seeing another artist named Johnny. Kang-ho’s little princess, a teenage girl he is very close to wants Johnny’s autograph and Kang-ho wants to get on for her at the dinner.

Won-jun asks Kang-ho to be nice to other women just like he is nice to the ‘little princess’. At the same time, Mi-ran gets a text about being hired at Gilmu that she was hired. Both Na-eun and Mi-ran celebrate despite their shock. Mi-ran is smug when she shows up at Gilmu the following day.

She claims that she was the only female candidate and still made it to an all-male lawyer law firm. However, as soon as Mi-ran reads the terms of the contract, her smugness changes into fear. She still signs the contract and is told that she will be working as Soo-jin’s main attorney.

Unsurprisingly, Jin-suh, Mi-ran’s ex volunteers to give her a tour of the office. The two try to catch up on the tour and Jin-suh appears to be territorial with her. Mi-ran tries to tell him that she has moved on and would like to be just friends now that they are colleagues.

On set, Kang-ho is filming the kiss scene with the actress he hates just as he had rehearsed with Won-jun. The kiss is extremely passionate which makes the on-set crew swoon. However, soon after the kiss, the actress sees Kang-ho brush his tongue and gag in the restroom. She is hurt and walks away all angry.

In her green room, she tells her manager that Kang-ho must be gay. All the lawyers from Gilmu are rushing to attend the company dinner and since it is a social gathering, the lawyers are determined to embarrass themselves in front of their celebrity clients. Mi-ran is sure she can be the weirdest of the lot and wants to make sure she can fit in. 

The antics her colleagues are pulling make Mi-ran believe she cannot one-up them all. At the party, Jin-suh rips his pants and reveals pink underwear embarrassing himself in front of Mi-ran. However, Mi-ran goes on stage for her embarrassing performance. Outside, Won-jun tells Kang-ho that Mi-ran, one of the candidates who saw him on the trip was now hired.

Won-jun recalls laughing manically and is more embarrassed than Kang-ho, who took the fall. Kang-ho makes his way inside the party and watches Mi-ran’s crazy performance. She starts to panic when she sees Kang-ho, recalling how she made his trip.

Her awkwardness starts to show when Mi-ran makes Kang-ho the centre of her performance. The party is in full swing and Kang-ho takes Johnny outside to chat with him and grab his autograph for ‘little princess’. Everyone at the party is getting drunk. Jin-suh is drunk out of his mind and asks Mi-ran for a chat.

Kang-ho follows the two lawyers, curious to see what Mi-ran is like. When Jin-suh starts getting close to Mi-ran, she pins him by twisting his elbow and throwing him inside the men’s room. As the party comes to an end, Soo-jin offers to drop Mi-ran home. She tells Mi-ran that she only got the job because Soo-jin insisted on having a female attorney.

Mi-ran is heartbroken and rushes back to the restroom because she feels incompetent. Won-jun finds Soo-jin and offers to drop her home. After her meltdown in the restroom, Mi-ran runs into Kang-ho. He accuses Mi-ran of flirting with him and figures out that she was the one who tripped him on purpose.

Mi-ran tries to cover up the accusation by stating that she was his fan and wanted to touch him once. Kang-ho buys the lie and the two part ways. Mi-ran gets into an open van and passes out in the back seat. However, it turns out to be Kang-ho’s vehicle. Mi-ran wakes up in shock only to hear Kang-ho badmouth her.

She hides in the back as they make it to Kang-ho’s house. Kang-ho is excited to meet Ji-woo, the girl he calls ‘Little Princess’. Seeing that it is the right time to leave, Mi-ran starts to run out of Kang-ho’s car. She grows concerned when she sees Kang-ho hugging Ji-woo and going inside the actor’s house all by herself.

She assumes that Kang-ho is grooming the high school student and wonders what she can do to save Ji-woo. She pelts a stone at the CCTV camera which rings a siren, causing Kang-ho to send Ji-woo back home. Suddenly ,three cops show up to investigate the broken camera and Mi-ran is shocked to see how influential Kang-ho is.

The Episode Review

This show is so chaotic and I love it. I love how Mi-ran immediately came to the conclusion that ‘little princess’ is a victim with Kang-ho as the assailant. She is the knight in shining armour that has come to rescue the little girl from a groomer. Well, it is certain that this assumption will cause Mi-ran to fall flat on her face, but I am more concerned about Kang-ho’s gripe with women in general.

What is it that is making him hate women so much? We will soon learn more about the issue Kang-ho has with men but the way Mi-ran’s father treats her mother and Mi-ran is infuriating. The show is really feminist off the bat and a sincere attempt to show how women live in South Korean society. I can’t wait to see how the show picks up in the episodes to come!