Tell Me That You Love Me 2023 K Drama Episode 11-12

We finally see how the breakup went down between Jin-woo and Seo-kyung in college and it’s enough to melt the coldest of hearts. All three actors that play Jin-woo throughout his life know how to transform their faces into epic heartbreak, but Baek Sung-chul’s pained stare in these flashback scenes turned me into a puddle.

So, the short story is that Seo-kyung breaks up with Jin-woo and flees the country because she feels miserable while he lives in a “peaceful, silent world.” According to her, he didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just that he can’t hear and that’s not going to change, so there’s no way to overcome their differences. Holy harsh, Seo-kyung.

Of course, we learn much later that she has other things going on but she’s just not saying it. A few episodes ago, we were introduced to the idea that someone might be following her around in college when she kept hearing this creepy whistling everywhere she went. Now we finally have some follow-up and learn that another art student was stalking her — and this crazy dude appears to be the one that set the fire she got trapped in.

Seo-kyung breaks up with Jin-woo right after the fire, but we still don’t know all the details about his role in trying to save her (or not) and how she escaped. The important part for now is that our hero was hit with a double trauma. There was the fire in which he felt helpless to save the lady he loved, and then he got dumped in the harshest way. All of this leads to the seven years he was off the grid, which Seo-kyung has just learned about.

We come back to the moment in the present where Seo-kyung stops Jin-woo after hours in the museum to apologize for leaving him alone back then. She wishes she stayed by his side. Jin-woo’s expression turns to subtle anger and he signs that it’s his problem, so she doesn’t have to feel bad anymore. Then he marches off to meet Mo-eun as she gets out of work.

The problem, though, is that Seo-kyung is the director of the art gallery and she’s orchestrating Jin-woo’s upcoming exhibition. This means they have to spend a bunch more time together. Things come to a head just before the opening when Jin-woo is taken into custody by the police for “property damage” – that is, they’ve discovered that he’s the mural artist called Dino, who’s going around painting on other people’s walls.

Seo-kyung follows Jin-woo to the police station to translate and, afterward, they have it out in the parking lot. She starts by saying that she already knew his secret identity and adds, “I was surprised that the painter I was looking for was you.” (Well that’s got a double meaning if I ever heard one.)

She asks about the seven years after the breakup, for which Jin-woo has no paintings. He doesn’t want to explain it to her and she says it broke her heart to find out he didn’t produce anything during that time. Then, Jin-woo is signing, but his angered facial expressions and sharp arm movements say that he is yelling. He tells her to stop apologizing and asking questions. “Stop making me remember all those past times!” He turns to leave — and Mo-eun is standing there watching the whole conversation.

This scene is a knockout. Both Jin-woo and Seo-kyung are so pained (for different reasons), but they’re choking it all back as they sign to each other. There are no words spoken aloud but every emotion comes across and the tension is sky high.

When Jin-woo tells Mo-eun that he’s the mural artist Dino, she asks about how he picked that name. We see a flashback to when he had just lost his hearing as a child, but was still in a school where all the other students could hear. When they had to introduce themselves to each other in front of the class, he tried to speak but couldn’t hear himself. The other kids thought he said his name was Cha Dino, and they ridiculed and teased him mercilessly. Now, he’s retaken the name. (My god, my heart shattered for this kid. And it doesn’t make it any easier that the young actor, Kim Ji-hoon, might be the most adorable child on the planet.)

Jin-woo’s exhibition is a success and the art part goes off without a hitch. The problems arise when Seo-kyung’s stalker shows up and Mo-eun hears all about Seo-kyung’s past and her lingering feelings for Jin-woo.

First, there’s a famous artist, KWON DO-HUN (Park Ki-deok), that’s been hanging around for many episodes and acting as an antagonist to Jin-woo. He’s mostly been filling in exposition about Jin-woo’s college years, but this time, we see the role he played in it all. Do-hun approaches Seo-kyung at the gallery and starts raving about stalking her and setting fire to the university building — and then demands to know if Seo-kyung still has feelings for Jin-woo.

All of this Mo-eun overhears while she’s cuddled up with Jin-woo on a bench outside the gallery. He obviously has no idea what’s happening, and this leads to a very strange dynamic between our leads. Jin-woo can tell something is wrong with Mo-eun, but Mo-eun doesn’t want to tell him what she’s heard.

Later, Mo-eun describes what she’s feeling to Ji-yoo and it’s not just that she feels insecure, but that she feels lonely, since they don’t share the same world even when they’re in the same space. She says that she always thought Jin-woo could be lonely because he can’t hear, but she realized that she could be lonely too because she could.

The part that rings loudly throughout this conversation is that it’s a callback to what Seo-kyung said to Jin-woo when she broke up with him. Both women heard things that disturbed them — things that Jin-woo can’t hear — and it creates a barrier between them (which explains why Seo-kyung would call his world “peaceful”).

This internal conflict in Mo-eun is worrisome because it looks like she might be second-guessing the relationship. There’s a scene where she imagines what it would be like if she and Jin-woo could talk and laugh easily together if he could hear.

Near the close of the episodes there’s another worrisome sign when she and Jin-woo are discussing the link between strong memories and scents. They’re in the room where he teaches and she smells a strong odor of paint, and then she writes, “Someday, somewhere, when I’m alone and smell paint, I’ll remember this moment.” Now, that could be another very cute moment between these two (among many) or it could be a way of saying goodbye.

I don’t want to be pessimistic, but the context of these episodes is all about memory. Specifically, it’s about how happy moments end up being painful when you look back on them in the past. Mo-eun begins Episode 12 by talking about how we smile in front of a camera, only to look back on the photos with remorse later. And I hope her moments with Jin-woo won’t become one of those painful memories in the future.

Also, all this talk about happy photos is how we learn that Mo-eun’s mom is not her birth mom! She learned the secret as a child, but her parents don’t know she knows. I’m not totally sure what this means for the larger story, except that Mo-eun has some solid motivation for feeling insecure about love (even though the mom that raised her clearly loves her).

Mo-eun’s insecurity about Seo-kyung and Jin-woo reaches its apex as our episodes end this week. First, we see Seo-kyung confessing to Jin-woo after his exhibition. She says she learned two things while they worked together: 1) he’s a great artist and 2) she’s the perfect partner for him. *Gasp* What’s with all her crazy confidence?

Second, after wallowing in self-pity at Ki-hyun’s bar, Seo-kyung waltzes over to Jin-woo’s house in the pouring rain one night. As you can guess, it’s just as Mo-eun is arriving to see it. Mo-eun is at a distance and no one notices her, but she sees Jin-woo’s door open as Seo-kyung steps inside. Oh brother. This is where we’ll be picking up next week.

Poor Mo-eun! She looks crushed. And who could blame her? She’s totally in love and she’s just heard that Seo-kyung still has feelings for the man she’s endlessly confessing to (there’s a lovely moment when Jin-woo is washing dishes and Mo-eun walks up behind him and writes “I love you” on his back with her finger. Gah. It’s really sweet). And now he’s opening the door for his ex on a rainy night?! Grr.

I continue to love this drama for how well it captures the small moments. There’s so much nuance in day-to-day activities and when our artsy leads are in the same space just practicing their crafts — near one another but separately — I could watch it all day. What I like less are the not-at-all subtle story moments, like the fact that Seo-kyung had a stalker and then broke up with Jin-woo, but it’s not clear if Jin-woo ever knew about the stalker. I know all these details are yet to be revealed, but if Seo-kyung left without filling him in, I will be questioning both her character and the writing.

As we kick into gear for the final weeks, I’m hoping for less high drama and more quiet moments. Less Ji-yoo and Mo-dam (who are now officially dating) and more of the adorable high school romance that’s taking off in Jin-woo’s art class. And a less confident Seo-kyung, so we can have a more confident Mo-eun. And definitely, definitely I don’t want any sad memories of once-happy moments for our leads.