Recap Korean Drama "Seasons of Blossom (2022)" Episode 7-8

A school event brings up more memories of the past that are part blissful, part painful. Meanwhile, our fake couple are starting to get to know each other on a deeper level than they’d first intended.

EPISODES 7-8

Realizing that she hasn’t taken the time to really try getting to know Jin-young, Bo-mi sets about doing just that. While her initial motivation is to make their fake relationship seem more realistic, the result is that she and Jin-young both start warming up to each other more than ever, and maybe even enjoying each other’s company.

Jin-young waits for her on the walk to school, for example, and starts a little game on scraps of paper during class. When he wins said game, Bo-mi’s competitiveness kicks in, and she spends the entire class period demanding rematch after rematch.

Meanwhile, the school gears up for a big sports day. In gym class, badminton pairs are assigned by height, meaning Bo-mi ends up with Jae-min and Sun-hee with Jin-young. Jae-min takes advantage of the alone time to ask Bo-mi what kind of person Jin-young is, and Bo-mi first expresses annoyance at his stubbornness, but then softens and adds that his lack of pretentiousness is reassuring.

The thing about Jin-young is that I feel we’re told about his supposed flaws far more than we actually see them in action. The other students paint him as rude and insensitive, but he’s really just straightforward and matter-of-fact. He even convinces a couple of bullies to leave him alone by calmly laying out the flaws in their logic to show that it would be a waste of time to mess with him.

Sports day arrives, along with the tradition of sending affection in the form of flowers. Bo-mi’s friends tsk that her boyfriend isn’t acting very concerned about all the flowers she’s received, adding that to their list of criticisms against him. Bo-mi seems to agree (at least to a point), but when she goes to support him in the video game competition, she starts to see him in a new light.

He and his friends are clearly in their element here, and greet her enthusiastically for once. Bo-mi listens to the friends’ commentary while Jin-young competes so she can compliment him using their lingo, only for him to deadpan that she needn’t say things she doesn’t mean. But then his face lights up in a huge smile — he was just joking. Aw, he’s genuinely happy she came.

Bo-mi doesn’t get to watch him win since she has to leave for her badminton match, but that means he gets to proudly show her his trophy afterward. Then, as they say goodbye at the school gate and Bo-mi turns to walk home with Jae-min, Jin-young musters his resolve and gives her a flower himself, taking the ones other boys have sent her to give to his little sister instead. Then he calls her familiarly by first name for the first time, breaking into another smile as he does.

Jae-min, after watching all of this, also musters his resolve. Once Jin-young leaves, he asks Bo-mi the million-dollar question: are she and Jin-young really dating?

As for So-mang, the more time she spends with Jae-min, the more she continues to see Ha-min in him. Contrary to his easy smile, Jae-min wrestles privately with the grief and resentment So-mang’s presence has stirred up, while simultaneously hanging on her every word. When So-mang recalls finding Ha-min in tears one afternoon, Jae-min claims there wasn’t anything going on at home at that time, but it’s a lie.

Their parents had decided to send Jae-min (still in elementary school then) to an academy for gifted students. Ha-min had argued against it. Frightened by the resulting screaming match, little Jae-min had begged Ha-min to let it go, and in his anger, Ha-min had pushed Jae-min aside, causing him to fall and hit his head.

Now Jae-min has Ha-min’s diary, which details how guilty Ha-min had felt about it, and how ashamed he’d become of his own duplicity after So-mang saw him crying. Though So-mang had no idea why, he pulled away from her after that, afraid of becoming too dependent on her for support and understanding.

Still, So-mang never gave up on him, and kept offering support in her own way — namely, with an adorable little drawing of a bunny holding an umbrella over a fox and an encouraging note. In the present day, Jae-min finds that picture tucked into Ha-min’s diary and gives it to So-mang. Though So-mang is surprised that Ha-min kept it, Ha-min’s diary entries explain that her gesture acted as an “umbrella” for him, helping him keep going at least a little longer.

That was why, during their own sports day, Ha-min finally reached back out to So-mang. He volunteered her to do face painting (and she got her revenge for the haircut by painting the cutest little fox on his cheek), helping her make a few new friends in the process. Then he admitted he’d kept their friendship secret because he knew everyone would like her once they got to know her — and he wanted her all to himself. And as the other students cheered their teams on from the rooftop, he reached over and held her hand in the middle of the crowd.

The combination of sports day, talking with Jae-min, and the approach of summer — the season of Ha-min’s death — fills So-mang with both happy memories and regret. In hindsight, all the warning signs she’d missed are crystal clear, and she blames herself for not recognizing Ha-min’s silent cries for help.

As she explains to her fellow student teacher, it may be in the past, but the memories and feelings are as fresh and real as if Ha-min were still physically present in the school — and that’s not going to change overnight. If anything, as the anniversary of losing him gets closer, those feelings are probably only going to get stronger.

While the present-day love triangle (quadrangle?) doesn’t have the same emotional pull as the past storyline, I’m thankful for the bits of lightheartedness it brings, like sunshine peeking out from heavy, albeit beautiful, rain clouds. Without it, So-mang’s longing and Seo Ji-hoon’s portrayal of sadness masked with a smile would likely have me in a total emotional mess already.

That said, I don’t necessarily care which boy Bo-mi ultimately ends up with (or if she ultimately ends up with either one) — as long as whatever decision she makes is made in honesty to herself and to them, and it’s what she really wants, not just what she thinks everyone else would prefer.