Playful Kiss Episode 7 Recap

Did someone order a serving of angst? Well, here you go. A big, heaping, bubbling pot of angst coming right up. This is the first episode where I don’t think I LOL’d once. Well, except for a certain face meets tennis racket moment. Otherwise, episode 7 of Playful Kiss (Mischievous Kiss) is straight on emotional trauma territory we’re headed smack into.

Get ready for a bumpy ride, folks. And tomorrow doesn’t look any better. My forecast: stormy clouds ahead, with a high chance of thunder and heavy rain. But that only means once the storm passes, we have a rainbow and blue skies to look forward to. Keep that long-term goal in mind, because it’s starting to get tougher to watch Seung Jo emotionally neglect and verbally shoot barbs at Ha Ni.

This was also the episode where Joon Gu transitioned from cartoonish worshipper of Ha Ni to genuine potential future partner. And I love it! Whatever hurt Seung Jo dishes out to Ha Ni is only going to come back and bite him in the arse later, and I cannot wait to see Seung Jo feel his own heart break. Because that will be the moment this genius realizes that he’s just an ordinary man, with a woman who loves him extraordinarily much.

Episode 7 Recap:

Ha Ni and Hye Ra have a mini-staredown, but Ha Ni is the first to look away while Hye Ra walks after Seung Jo. Ha Ni comes home after school, rather down and droopy. She walks up to her room as Seung Jo walks out of his room. She asks him about the girl in his class. Seung Jo tells her the girl is Yoon Hye Ra. Ha Ni asks if she is a sunbae (i.e. elder classmate), and Seung Jo queries if Hye Ra looks like a sunbae.

Seung Jo tells Ha Ni that Hye Ra is considered a goddess in their class, which makes Ha Ni understand that Hye Ra is also a freshman. Then Seung Jo nonchalantly says that Hye Ra is the second place incoming freshman at Parang, and Ha Ni notes that Seung Jo is the first place student. Ha Ni wonders aloud why someone like Hye Ra decided to come to Parang.

Seung Jo then asks Ha Ni whether she’s jealous, and then brings up their “kiss” from before. He tells Ha Ni that she can be jealous if she wants to, since they have already kissed before. He leans down and Ha Ni scrunches her eyes closed thinking he’s going to kiss her again, but Seung Jo just laughs and walks away. Dude, you don’t have to purposely be such a jackass, you already are even when you don’t try.

At school the next day, Ha Ni hangs out with her two friends discussing her love woes. The aspiring hairdresser friend tells them that she got a job, and won’t be able to have lunch all the time anymore. The other friend also has to ditch Ha Ni for lunch today, since the sunbae in her major is taking all the freshman out to lunch. So Ha Ni tries to work up the courage to text Seung Jo asking if he wants to have lunch with her.

As Ha Ni is deciding out loud what to order at the school cafeteria, Seung Jo comes up behind her. He asks her whether she can read something if she doesn’t read it out loud. He orders first, and she tells the cook behind the glass that she wants what he’s having. Seung Jo’s plate of food is rather rudely put in from of him, and it has less than half the amount on Ha Ni’s plate, even though they ordered the same thing.

Of course, it’s because the cook is none other than Joon Gu, who has taken a part time job at the school cafeteria. Joon Gu tells them he wants to earn more money so that Ha Ni can marry him at any time, and he want to be close to the woman he loves because he doesn’t trust Seung Jo around her.

Joon Gu asks Seung Jo whether he’s surprised to see him at Parang, and Seung Jo wonders whether Joon Gu isn’t tired from following in the footsteps of a girl. Joon Gu responds that he’s not tagging along, what he is doing is called L.O.V.E. Seung Jo gets a pissy attitude and walks away with his tray to go sit with another group, while Ha Ni sadly sits to eat her meal alone (with Joon Gu gesturing for her to enjoy the meal).

Later, as Ha Ni is walking with her classmates, she sees Seung Jo sitting alone by the park bench reading a book. She stealthily sits down at the bench behind him, and is about to turn around and talk to him when suddenly another guy sits down next to Seung Jo and the two begin to talk.

Seung Jo calls the guy sunbae, and asks how he’s been. Sunbae jokes around that Seung Jo is so cold to him, but then dives right into the topic at hand, asking Seung Jo which club he is planning to join. Seung Jo says he hasn’t thought about it, and sunbae tells Seung Jo to join his club. Seung Jo demurs, saying he hasn’t practiced in a long time. Sunbae brings up helping Seung Jo find a missing notebook back in high school, and other past interactions, and Seung Jo agrees to join his club.

Seung Jo sees Ha Ni sitting behind him and asks her whether she has class or not, remarking that all she seems to do is follow him around. Ha Ni queries which club Seung Jo is planning to join, and Seung Jo declines to tell her, noting that she will simply tag along as usual. This makes Ha Ni stalk Seung Jo as he goes to the club meeting, accidentally walking into the martial arts club (where the boys are super excited to see a girl and try to give her a nun-chuck), before tracking down Seung Jo in the tennis club.

Seung Jo sighs loudly upon seeing her, and who else walks to sit down but Hye Ra. Hye Ra asks Ha Ni whether she plays tennis, and when Ha Ni says she’s never played before, Hye Ra tells Ha Ni she shouldn’t be here since she is looking down on the club. Ha Ni retorts that the tennis sunbae said that anyone is welcome as long as they have the heart to learn and will to practice.

Tennis sunbae gets up and introduces himself as a second year student at Parang, at which point Ha Ni blurts out “second year!” incredulously. Everyone laughs as tennis sunbae concedes that he looks wayyyy older than a 21 year old, noting that his own mother uses jeondamal (formal language) with him and is afraid to use banmal (casual language). Mwahahaha, love this wink wink nod to the fact that the actor playing the tennis sunbae is like 40 years old in real life.

At the first practice, Seung Jo and Hye Ra come walking onto the court. Ha Ni tells them she thinks tennis sunbae is like tofu, a gentle and kind person, NOT like someone else that she knows, staring at Seung Jo. Hye Ra remarks that Ha Ni clearly doesn’t know the whole picture, and walks away. Seung Jo follows with a smirk at Ha No.

Ha Ni swings the racket and succeeds only in accidentally hitting a ball that hits the tennis sunbae’s forehead. Once they start practicing, the nice tennis sunbae turns into psycho tennis sunbae, as he hits serve after powerful serve at the new recruits who dive, dodge, and duck at his flying tennis shots, unable to return them. Hye Ra is the first to be able to return his shots. Seung Jo is equally as good.

When its Ha Ni’s turn, she just squeals and runs around avoiding the incoming shots. When the tennis sunbae yells at her to stay put and hold her racket up, she does so but the first shot hits the racket, which then smacks her full in the face. Ha Ni falls down with a bloody nose, but is praised by the tennis sunbae for her conviction.

The tennis club goes out to have drinks afterwards. A classmate tells Ha Ni that tennis sunbae is actually a very gentle guy, until he holds a racket in his hand. The other club members enviously note that both Hye Ra and Seung Jo are not only super smart and fabulously good looking, they are also have athletic prowess, which is so not fair.

They ask if Seung Jo and Hye Ra were very popular in high school, and Seung Jo says not so much. One guy remarks that Hye Ra must have dated a lot, and Hye Ra says that she has no interest in love. They discuss being in love, and Hye Ra has a very clinical approach to it. Seung Jo mentions that love means losing one’s identity, and once that happens it becomes very distasteful. It appears that Hye Ra and Seung Jo share similar views on love.

The next day, Ha Ni sneaks into Seung Jo’s English class, and Joon Gu tags along. Miscommunication ensues when the teacher asks her why she has a band aid on her nose, did she hurt herself? Ha Ni thinks he is telling her to be quiet, and she states that she will “shut your mouth.”

Joon Gu jumps in to defend Ha Ni, and Hye Ra tells the teacher Joon Gu isn’t a student and works in the cafeteria and is attending the class because he likes Ha Ni. She then tells Joon Gu he should leave because other students paid an expensive tuition to attend class and he shouldn’t disrupt their studies. Hye Ra is a serious cold beyotch.

Ha Ni confesses to Mom that there are lots of pretty and smart girls at Parang, and that Seung Jo must also like those types of girls. Mom worriedly asks Ha Ni whether such a girl has shown up, and Ha Ni nods. Mom tells Ha Ni that she may look young, but she is an adult. With her experience she knows that Seung Jo and Ha Ni are perfect for each other, like a lid that fits perfectly on a canister. Mom tells Ha Ni that it doesn’t matter how perfect the other girl is if she’s not the perfect fit for Seung Jo. Mom then switches the lids on two different size canisters, and one is too small and the other now too big.

Eun Jo calls Mom to ask her to bring supplies to school for him, and Ha Ni drops it off. She sees that Eun Jo has a crush on a classmate at school, and Ha Ni invites her over to the house. Mom and Ha Ni are super excited to see this. Eun Jo doesn’t know how to woo his friend, who wants to leave until Seung Jo comes home. The little girl meets Seung Jo and immediately crushes on him instead.

Ha Ni grumbles to Seung Jo that he’s a flirt, who pretends that he doesn’t know what is going on. She tells him that he purposely confuses her, being nice and smiling at times, then cold and distant at others. Eun Jo is heartbroken. Mom and Ha Ni take turns consoling him. Eun Jo is angry at Ha Ni, saying its all her fault since she invited his friend home which is how the friend met Seung Jo.

Ha Ni tells him that she alone exactly understands what Eun Jo is feeling, liking someone who doesn’t like you back. Ha Ni says that she watches as the person she loves smiles at another woman, and never looks at her. She tells Eun Jo that it must be a miracle when two people fall in love with each other. Her dad overhears this conversation, and is rather saddened by it, seeing his daughter hurting over Seung Jo.

Ha Ni’s dad is teaching Joon Gu to make noodles, and Joon Gu is enthusiastic and making good progress. Dad overhears Joon Gu remarking that he wants to learn quickly so that he can make noodles for Ha Ni to eat as soon as possible. When Dad asks Joon Gu if he really likes Ha Ni that much, Joon Gu gets embarrassed by such a direct question. Joon Gu confesses that he could not have graduated high school but for Ha Ni. Everyone avoided him since he had the worst grades, and was always getting into trouble. Except for Ha Ni, who was willing to befriend him.

Hye Ra comes over to study with Seung Jo, they are a team for a class and need to complete an assignment together. Ha Ni sneaks behind a panel when she sees Hye Ra and Seung Jo come out into the study area, and she wants to avoid them. However, this means she can’t leave until they leave, and they decide to finish up the class project there.

Joon Gu thinks about people his age, who are taking classes, joining clubs, and wonders if he’s a loser. But then he tells himself that he can only continue to work hard to become a chef as soon as possible. He wonders what Ha Ni is doing, and picks up the phone to call her. He notes that he’s actually nervous, since he’s never called her at this time before. Except Ha Ni is still stuck hiding behind the panel and misses his call.

Hye Ra notices Ha Ni hiding outside, but doesn’t say anything to Seung Jo. During the tennis practice, Hye Ra tells Ha Ni things about Seung Jo that Ha Ni doesn’t appear to know, and Hye Ra coolly notes that even though Seung Jo and Ha Ni live together, they aren’t very close.

Ha Ni’s dad decides that it’s time he and Ha Ni moved out of the Baek house. Ha Ni is shocked, and her tears well up but she tells Dad that it’s because the food she is eating is too spicy. Ha Ni’s dad informs the Baeks about moving out, and both parents try to change his mind. He tells them Ha Ni will soon forget Seung Jo, and Mom is distraught, saying that she will continue to work on them.

Mom cries, saying that she adores Ha Ni’s bright personality, hardworking ways, and caring nature. She says that Seung Jo is sure to fall in love with her in time. Mom wonders if it can all be resolved if she can simply get Ha Ni to marry Seung Jo. Ha Ni’s dad is touched that someone loves his Ha Ni this much. Eun Jo overhears this conversation, and promptly tells Seung Jo.

Seung Jo, who is reclining on the sofa reading a book, immediately sits up upon hearing this news. Eun Jo tells his brother that this is great news, since Ha Ni has only brought them both trouble since she moved in. Seung Jo’s face falls and he walks outside, about to peer into Ha Ni’s room. Ha Ni walks out of the bathroom and he asks her if she’s moving out. She says yes, and asks if he’s going to miss her.

Seung Jo says he’s thinking only that things go back to the way they were. Ha Ni concurs, telling him she hopes that is what happens. She tells him that she needs to go pack now, and he walks past her into the bathroom. Seung Jo says good night casually, but as he is closing the door, you can see a flurry of emotions flit by. Above all else, Seung Jo looks slightly floored, like he isn’t quite sure what hit him. It’s called FEELINGS, Seung Jo, consult a dictionary.

Ha Ni looks at all her Seung Jo mementos and cries, thinking about all the memories she’s made with Seung Jo since they’ve lived together. In the morning, her dad comes to carry her luggage downstairs, and Ha Ni hugs him and starts crying. As they head downstairs to bid farewell, Ha Ni calmly thanks the entire family for all they have done for her and her father.

Mom is distraught, and Ha Ni thanks her especially for cooking delicious food for her every day, cheering her on and buying her pizza at the athletic competition, even taking her and her friends to the beach for an outing, celebrating her acceptance to college – all of this will remain unforgettable memories for Ha Ni. She apologizes to the brothers for bring them so much trouble. Seung Jo remains mute but he is clearly not jumping for joy.

Mom cries buckets and hugs Ha Ni goodbye, telling her that she doesn’t know how she will live without her Ha Ni. The dads also tearfully hug goodbye. The robot brothers stand back unsure of how to activate their emotion buttons. Ha Ni takes one final look over at Seung Jo, who averts his eyes and seemingly says goodbye with a cavalier attitude, wishing Ha Ni a good life.

After they leave, Seung Jo walks into Ha Ni’s now empty room, and sees that Ha Ni left her beloved little stuffed animal behind. It is the same plush toy that Seung Jo got for Ha Ni from the claw machine after they attended the musical together. Seung Jo looks at the toy with a melancholy expression…..

Thoughts of Mine:

I ain’t gonna lie. I felt tears coming when Ha Ni and her Dad left the Baek household, and a hurty feeling in my heart when Seung Jo walked into Ha Ni’s empty room and saw the toy she left behind. This is the same toy Ha Ni dove back into moving traffic to retrieve, and almost got herself seriously injured.

I can’t say “serves you right, Seung Jo”, because it’s clear that Seung Jo is in many ways much more emotionally stunted and immature than Ha Ni is. So his actions towards her in this episode bespoke so much more than the typical Seung Jo being mean to Ha Ni. This is Seung Jo purposely shutting himself off from Ha Ni, because he is trying to stave off the confusion and need to figure out his feelings with respect to her.

That’s not to say that I condone how much Seung Jo racheted up the cold treatment of Ha Ni in this episode. That is not a way to treat a friend, much less a woman who treats you as number one in her life. Both Ha Ni and Joon Gu broke my heart in different ways today.

Ha Ni for continuing to endure Seung Jo’s ill treatment of her, and then bravely trying to let him go (moving out and clearly leaving the one thing he’s ever given her behind). Joon Gu for each time he stands up for Ha Ni, looks out for Ha Ni, simply thinks about Ha Ni. This is the first time his love and adoration of Ha Ni felt real to me, and now I feel his love for her. It’s absolutely genuine, and makes me realize that no way in hell does Seung Jo ever deserve Ha Ni.

But I still root for darling Ha Ni to find her destiny, and her destiny is current-boneheaded Baek Seung Jo. And since I know Joon Gu will find his special someone who loves him back as well, I don’t feel as bad that I know he’s never going to win Ha Ni’s heart.

Because PK is such a slice-of-life story, watching Ha Ni continuously work hard to be good to Seung Jo, and get the face-palm time and again really hurts like hell. Because its stuff that can happen and probably has happened to most of us. We might never be the leading character in a story about being switched at birth, falling in love with our step-brother, getting cancer and magically getting cured by two humidifiers – but I betcha each of us has experienced rejection before. And boy does it hurt sting like the dickens.

[credit: screencaps from MBC stills and soompi.com].


Comments

Playful Kiss Episode 7 Recap — 28 Comments

  1. that was a good recap of episode 7. I welcome the angsty of this episode, i say it’s about time as well. I disliked BSJ’s treatment of Oh Hani and that’s a totally bonus to KHJ. IT just proves his vast improvement in acting…
    I’m quite ready for more of the “stormy clouds ahead, with a high chance of thunder and heavy rain” ahead as you’ve pointed out- there will be blue skies and beautiful Rainbows after the storm..

    PK Fighting!!

  2. Thanks so much for this recap. As I was watching the ep I couldn’t understand most of the conversations. Besides, you little “side notes” are so funny!!! “The robot brothers stand back unsure of how to activate their emotion buttons. ” LMAO!

    Looking foward the next recap!

  3. Thanks so much for taking the time to recap in english. Enjoying reading it and enjoyed reading your thoughts. My laugh from the episode was when OHN hit the ball into old tennis guys face!!

  4. thanks for the recaps ockoala….this eps moves me so … non stop sobbing from the time Hani’s father announcing they will move from Baek’s house and seeing Hani’s swallowing her tears….my heart breaks seeing Mom who loves Hani so much and the separation….even reading this recap make me cry..
    yes I want to see Seung Jo’s breakdown and hurting over Hani (want to strangle him_…serves him right to treat precious Hani that way

    • I was also moved to tears for most of this episode.. while Joon Gu is preparing the noodles and thinking about how pathetic his life is not going to college and joining clubs like the rest of his high school classmates… while Ha Ni is eating her spicy noodles and tearing up bc of Dad’s announcement to move out out of Baek’s family house..and when Baek Mom is wailing that Ha Ni who is such a happy presence in the house is finally moving out!!

      Kudos to PK.. you’ve finally moved the ante, not just fluffy show anymore but wringing out buckets of tears from us viewers..

  5. Thank you so much for the episode recap. Your so quick and I really appreciate your help.

    I am loving Playful kiss. I can’t wait for ep8 tomorrow.

  6. thank you for your lovely recap. i just watch ep7 without sub but still fell the emotion. i did cry like mad last few minute even though i not sure about what they talking about. this drama is very real,i fetl like going back in time when i was in high school. those memory is still fresh .thank you again show. PK FIGHTING

  7. Thanks for the lovely recap. I look forward to yours every week while I wait for subs. Completely agree with you about Joon Gu’s love for Ha Ni feeling real this episode; he’s so earnest and honest about his devotion. So sad that Ha Ni won’t reciprocate his feelings, however. Seung Jo better shape up and realize his feelings before he breaks any more of Ha Ni’s heart…our precious Ha Ni made me cry a lot this episode. Ahh…can’t wait for next episode. Keep up the good work!

  8. Ockoala – you are fantastic! How can the recap be so fast and flows so well? It’s truly major angst time alright! I understand how BSJ has a high IQ but his lack of EQ is deplorable, because he ends up being such a meanie to Ha Ni. One can really feel for Ha Ni, it’s so sad being rebuffed and scorned by BSJ when all she offers is love and adoration. Secondly, the angst in the form of YHR! She is a girl one really love to hate. I guess we need such a character to make the story exciting. I didn’t like her in BOF and I must say I still don’t like her here. Not sure if she has the hate-me face or simply wonderful acting in getting us to dislike her 3rd party character. I’ll be looking forward to your tomorrow’s recap!

  9. thanks for the recap. It was fun reading it.well the tennis is way too old. What is he supposed to be 28-29 or more? He looks like an ajhussi and would have fitted the role of a coach instead.the two leads are super adorable. Ha ni is cute. Next episode should be good as well.

  10. ahhhhhhhhh……… prince of tennis fandom collides with itakiss! does the tennis sunbae remind anyone else of nakamura??? lolz. craziness ranting over. will be prim and properly commenting after this….. but he seems such an interesting little sidepath of the main storyline. they really do serve up cute side characters don’t they? and the play on ages – the old tennis sunbae, the incredibly young mom, the 6? year real life gap between the two leads….

    i’ve been away for a while, but oh lordy, did they make good progress! and I totally felt that it was symbolic that Hani left behind her little toy from SeungJo, almost as if she wanted to leave behind her love for him too, and this was a symbol of her determination to do so. thank you for your sweet and evocative recap!

    my favourite recap line thought – “The robot brothers stand back unsure of how to activate their emotion buttons.” literally rofl!

  11. and off the point, although everyone has always remarked on her marked similarity to Yoon Eun Hye, I’ve always thought that she has her own defined look…until that picture right at the top. I FINALLY see it…….doh!

    I still think they look different, but I can finally see the similarity… maybe because YEH has so much more a impish look about her, whilst Hani is more a curious-cat kinda creature, so they evoke entirely different characters about them, but when still and quiet, they have that same air of dreaminess… inhabiting a world all of their own! oh and of course, they have similar hair, rounded cheeks and eyes….. but that’s just physical..

  12. Thanks, I’ve not even watched the episode at viikii but I can’t help myself. I just have to read your recaps. Laughed in silence (am @ work) at your comment “The robot brothers stand back unsure of how to activate their emotion buttons”.

    Kamsahamnida!

  13. THANK YOU! All of you, with your generous compliments and kind words of enjoyment. I enjoy writing the recaps bc PK touches me to write about it, and bc I know y’all actually enjoy reading it! 😀

    For those of you asking about tennis sunbae, the character is supposed to be a 2nd year university student, 21 yrs old, but the actor is 40, and the drama openly discusses and makes fun of how much older the actor looks compared to his character’s age. It’s a running gag, hence not really worth noting other than the dude is hella hilarious with his on-court v. off-court persona.

    I loved this episode, and I hated this episode. Not sure I need to explain more, but it hurt real good watching SJ put HN through the ringer.

    • Not that I approve of the way SJ treats HN, but all that he is doing is covering up what he truly feels. Like when he got jealous of JG singing I love you to HN and so he was extremely mean to her afterward, then when she acted like she didn’t care by showing her picture he feels the need to leave a mark on her, so that she doesn’t stray from the path. He pushes her away when he is secure of her feelings and pulls her back in when he is insecure. He is just an immature brat who never had to work hard for anything. Good thing about SJ, and that is why I like the character, is that once he knows what he wants he goes for it full force and whoever is in the way better watch out.
      If this drama continuous to be a lot like the anime, then he will soon prove to be someone we can totally like and dream of.
      Good recap of the series. 🙂

  14. This is my first time visiting this blog and I must say I like it. Thank you for the fast recap….wish this can be continued but surely understand if a recap takes longer time.

    I enjoy reading your recap and the flow of expressing the scene. Superb !!.

    As for the drama, I love the Korean version a billion times more than the Taiwanese Version. I hope that epsd 8 forward we can see how BSJ jelously growing…..bah!!!, he is robot but the one that we want to have !!!.

  15. Why at the end of the show it shows the bears with Ha Ni using the tennis racket letting her anger out about Beck Seung Jo and Hye Ra but you don’t see it the episode? Don’t they show the attractive part of the episodes within the bears, so why couldn’t I see that in the episode?

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