Episode 8 of Me Too, Flower! was one of the best episodes of a drama I’ve watched in a long time. Aside from a few bumps, it was simply wonderful. I loved it so much I decided to recap it. Just episode 8, I have no intention of recapping the first seven episodes, or continuing with my recaps of the remaining eight. If I wasn’t recapping Man of Honor, I’d probably take up the rest of M2F because the drama is turning out to be so emotionally sincere and deliciously romantic.

After I wrote my first impressions review post my marathon viewing, I decided to go back and rewatch episode 8 again, this time slowly and leisurely. I was blown away by the raw and open connection between Jae Hee and Bong Sun, arriving at a place of mutual affection both reluctantly and inevitably. The OST is turning out to be a killer add to the story, amping up scene after scene until I’m deliriously lost in the moment and wondrously enchanted by the love story between two very broken people who want what most people take for granted – a love with no ifs, buts, or maybes. On a shallower note, my heart was toast the moment Jae Hee used his teeth to remove Bong Sung’s glove. *jaw drop*

If you want to read the recap with an OST song playing, open another window and click on this link to play 네가 있으면 좋겠다 – Taru “I Hope You Can Be.

Episode 8 recap:

Bong Sun stands up for the mistreated store employee who is sorta her friend, but mostly because Bong Sun has a sense of right and wrong plus the courage to act on it. Too bad the crazy rich ahjumma flips her lid and demands Bong Sun apologize for insinuating she was trying to return a used purse. Which everyone knows is exactly what she was trying to do. Bong Sun looks stricken but makes no move to apologize. Hwa Young, less in the role of the owner of the company and more because she hates the threat that Bong Sun poses to her co-dependent relationship with Jae Hee, yells at Bong Sun to apologize. Jae Hee walks in and understandably is upset to see this scene unfolding.

Hwa Young continues demanding that Bong Sun apologize to the customer, and when Bong Sun makes no move to do so, Hwa Young’s assistant grabs Bong Sun and forces her on her knees before the customer. Jae Hee can’t stay silent any longer and yells at Hwa Young for her behavior not befitting that of the company owner. Jae Hee jerks the other guy off Bong Sun and helps her up. With a final look towards Hwa Young, Jae Hee drags Bong Sun out of there and leaves Hwa Young seething at the confirmation of how much Jae Hee cares for Bong Sun.

Jae Hee pulls Bong Sun out of the store but she shakes him off once they get outside. She asks if he’s going to stab her in the back after helping her, just like he did before? She won’t trust him again. Bong Sun leaves Jae Hee standing there, realizing that she’s right to feel hurt and confused by his seemingly contradictory behavior towards her in the past. But Jae Hee knows what he feels now and he’s not going to just let her walk away again.

Hwa Young stands in her office and seethes. She stalks over to a poor defenseless vase and smashes on the ground. Thank god there are no puppies anywhere in her vicinity. She’s got tears in her eyes, but I don’t suppose being thwarted in her own selfishness merits any sympathy.

Bong Sun walks to her bridge and looks out over the Han River. Jae Hee rides up on his motorcycle and asks her to come with him. Bong Sun shoots Jae Hee down, telling him to stop being so flip and get out of her life from now on. She walks away yet again, but he gets off his bike and stops her. He holds her by the arms and asks her to cross with him. He wants her to cross this bridge with him (both literally and metaphorically). Isn’t that what she’s always dreamed of?

He forces her to look at him as he pours out his heart. He confesses that there are people he needs to protect, and he cares about those people very much. They are very important to him. But now he wants to take care of Bong Sun as well. She just stares at him so he shakes her, asking her to get her spirits back up. Doesn’t she understand, he wants her to rely on him! He calls her a silly woman and drags her to his bike and puts a helmet on her.

Bong Sun voiceover that it’s always been her dream to cross this bridge. We see Bong Sun sitting in her patrol car on that bridge, with the pouring rain coming down over the city. She dreams about crossing the bridge, but she’s not allowed to drive the patrol car across because the bridge is outside her patrol perimeters. She knows it’s no different across the bridge. Even though she knows, but when she’s stopped at the bridge, she just has this impulse to drive across and escape from it all.

Jae Hee and Bong Sun ride in silence down a beautiful highway with the ocean to one side. They stop at an overlook and peer out into the glorious setting sun, standing there in comfortable silence.

Later that night, Jae Hee tends to the broiler to stoke a fire while Bong Sun wanders around a little cottage. He calls her closer to the boiler to keep warm. She sits down and remarks that Jae Hee sure knows what he’s doing. His reply that there is nothing he can’t do is in the typical quippy Jae Hee style, but his confidence makes his statement feel like the truth rather than a boast.

Bong Sun wonders what will happen if Jae Hee is fired since he just publicly raged at his boss Hwa Young. Jae Hee tells her not worry. Bong Sun keeps the subject on Hwa Young, astutely noting that Hwa Young appears to dislike her intensely. Jae Hee listens but suggests Bong Sun may be reading too much into Hwa Young’s behavior back at the store, which was motivated by her desire to placate a customer. But Bong Sun isn’t stupid and her female intuition is working just fine. She can sense that Hwa Young personally hates her, but she doesn’t know why.

Bong Sun wants confirmation that Jae Hee has no relationship with Hwa Young, and won’t be taking orders from her anymore. Jae Hee says he’s currently working on a ten-year plan he’ll announce soon. Bong Sun confesses that she’s worried, afraid she’s going crazy by being with him. He asks if she really can’t trust him? She confides that even people who lack nothing have a hard time in life, much less someone who has nothing like him. Jae Hee confirms that he was serious about what he said back there, that he wanted to take responsibility for Bong Sun. It’s not something he says casually. She pouts that he already talks too much every day. He asks what he needs to do to show it to her? Bong Sun correctly notes he can’t prove himself (with something like this), other than by what he does going forward.

Jae Hee sits down in front of the boiler and pats the seat next to him, motioning for Bong Sun to join him. She does, and he promptly puts his arm around her and pulls her right up next to him. She startles for a moment before relaxing and laying her head down on his shoulder. Jae Hee makes a speech that he will feed her three meals a day of rice with meat and soup. He won’t let her move every year because he can’t pay the rent. He clarifies that this is what Baek ahjusshi said to his wife when proposing to her.

Jae hee asks if this is enough for Bong Sun? She says yes, and confesses that when Jae Hee talks, his words are like paper flowers that release a scent. She concedes that this is enough, and even if it doesn’t happen, it’s still fine with her. Hwa Young sulks in her house and plots, remembering Jae Hee opposing her to stand up for Bong Sun. Dal peeks into Bong Sun’s room and wonders why she’s not home yet.

Jae Hee sits with his back against the sofa and Bong Sun snuggling in front of him. She compliments him on having a pretty name, especially since she doesn’t like her own. He calmly says Bong Sun is really pretty, too, which is sincere because he means it. It’s pretty to him, even though the name itself is rather inelegant.

Bong Sun brings up Jae Hee’s past, that he’s had to raise himself since he was thirteen years old. She visited the place he lived after he was orphaned, meeting the nice ahjusshi there who seemed like a real father figure. She reveals a similar childhood experience of her own. Even though she still has two living parents, she pretty much raised herself after she was fourteen. We know her parents split and remarried, and Bong Sun elected to live alone in their old house rather than go with her dad.

Bong Sun asks softly, a rhetorical question that is filled with her own understanding of the same experience, how Jae Hee lived? It must’ve been hard for Jae Hee? He must’ve been lonely, right? Jae Hee hears Bong Sun quietly and incisively dredge up his painful childhood, her voice filled with melancholy and a kindred understanding, and he begins to cry.

His silent tears fall until he lets out a soft sob and Bong Sun turns around. She pulls Jae Hee into her shoulder to let him cry. She strokes his head and comforts him, reassuring him that she understands. She was also scared, too. Very scared. They hold each other as Jae Hee sobs into her shoulders, letting out the tears he likely never had the chance to shed when fighting for survival on his own.

Dal goes to visit Dr. Park to find out who Jae Hee really is and what he does for a living. Dr. Park won’t reveal anything, so Dal steals his cell phone and locks herself in the toilet, threatening to flush it down the toilet. Too bad her threat doesn’t work and instead Dr. Park locks Dal in her stall. She’s finally rescued by another person. Dr. Park ends up getting his phone back but Dal gives him a kick in the shin and now they are even.

Bong Sun and Jae Hee have breakfast at a restaurant with an outdoor seating section. The camera pans down and we see their legs are entwined under the table, very naturally and effortlessly. They eat and smile at each other happily. Bong Sun wonders who the people are Jae Hee mentioned he wanted to protect? His grandparents? He demurs and promises to introduce her soon. They are as important to him as Bong Sun.

She kicks his legs away and pouts that she has to become more important to him in the future. He smiles and agrees, using his legs to pull her towards him again. She also tells him to earn more money. He promises to do that and even more, he’ll fly her in a private jet across the Pacific. She teases him for boasting like all men are wont to do.

They enjoy the motorcycle ride back to Seoul, grinning widely and hooting and hollering as the wind rips through their hair. It’s night time when Jae Hee pulls up to Bong Sun’s house. She refuses to get off and grabs his waist even tighter. He wraps his arms around her arms but reminds her that she needs to get to work early tomorrow. She continues to pout, the first time we’ve seen Bong Sun be genuinely playful and immature, allowing her childish side to come out as she OPW’s Jae Hee.

Jae Hee reluctantly unwraps her arms from his waist and gets off the bike. When she still refuses to end her time with him, he picks her up from the bike and princess carries her over to the front door. He asks her to punch in the code for her door. She tries but her mittens prevent her from accessing the correct buttons. She holds up her hand and Jae Hee bites the mitten off her hand. Oh my lord, was that hot or what?

He has the mitten in his mouth while Bong Sun punches in the code. He puts her down and she walks inside. As he turns to walk away, she suddenly runs out and hugs him. She confesses that she’s feels a little bit sad. She’s sad because she likes him so much and he’s leaving. They embrace each other tightly.

Hwa Young sits in her car and peeping toms on this intimate moment between Jae Hee and Bong Sun. She stares even though it hurts her, this confirmation that Jae Hee is moving further and further away from her. He’s not your personal guilt slave, Hwa Young, get over it.

Have another song off the OST. 눈물이 많아서 – Suzy “Too Much Tears”

Jae Hee goes to see Hwa Young the next morning and asks to talk. He wants to know if there are a lot of customers like that crazy rich ahjumma. Hwa Young says they don’t have many, but that lady is well connected and beyond rich. Jae Hee says he’ll take care of the situation and gets up to leave. Hwa Young asks about Bong Sun but Jae Hee isn’t ready to talk about that right now. Hwa Young extends an olive branch and confesses her desire to apologize to Bong Sun. Jae Hee is pleased to learn Hwa Young wants to do the right thing.

Jae Hee gets into the car of the rich ahjumma as she is about to drive into her garage, which frightens her out of her wits. He calls her noona sweetly but threatens to reveal her shady ways to the world, how she tries to return used merchandise and pretend it’s still new. He wonders why she has such a tendency, asking if her husband is having an affair. Jae Hee asks her to beware of the power of Twitter, so she should behave in the future or else he’ll ruin her good name.

Bong Sun gets into the patrol car with Maru, who can’t start the vehicle. He asks her to give the car a push. Bong Sun goes to the back and opens the trunk at Maru’s behest. Out pops balloons and a love declaration from the besotted boy. How cute. She makes Maru get out of the car but he’s feeling shy and afraid of getting smacked.

Bong Sun gets back in the car and thanks Maru for everything he’s done for her. She knows that he likes her, but she’s not good enough for him. If someone likes her, she’ll first suspect that the person wants something from her. She feels sorry towards Maru for the way she’s treated him in the past. She encourages him to keep working hard, and he’ll meet a good person in the future. Maru asks if it’s because of Jae Hee? Bong Sun can’t help but smile which leaves Maru genuinely sad. Bong Sun lays her hand on shoulder to comfort him.

Bong Sun comes home that night to find her dad in the house. He’s upset she’s home late and asks if she’s out seeing a guy. Bong Sun confirms it, wondering if he wants her to be all alone for the rest of her life. Dad intends to spend the night because he has matters to take care of around here. Bong Sun goes to prepare his bedding and sees a family portrait, leading her to remember her father berating her mother over every little thing done wrong around the house.

Bong Sun tries to sleep but hears her dad demanding that she make him some ramyun. He eats the ramyum and makes Bong Sun bring him some water. Dal comes home and is forced to come sit down for a chat. Dad asks what she does for a living and why she hasn’t moved out yet. Bong Sun confirms she’s moving out soon and to stop asking Dal so many questions. When asked what she does for a living, Dal nervously replies that she’s a model. Dad lets her leave and she scurries off.

Bong Sun asks if her dad treated her mom this way when they were married. She wonders why he couldn’t have treated her better, cherished her like he cherishes this house. Dad slams his cup down and rages that Bong Sun’s mom was lazy and did nothing unless he asked her to. When Bong Sun speaks up in defense of her mom, her dad throws the cup against the wall and gets up to leave. Man, Dad is a grade-A jackass.

He insults Bong Sun as just like her mother, with no manners. He ought to just sell this house since he can’t even get any rest here. Bong Sun stands up and yells that she’s also her dad’s daughter, and she learned things from both her parents. Dal hides in her room overhearing all of this, wondering how Bong Sun’s dad is like that.

Bong Sun goes to see her mom who is working at a restaurant. She asks Mom how old she was when they took a camping trip that she remembers vaguely. Mom reveals Bong Sun was six years old then. In Bong Sun’s memory, her mom was always smiling, so was her mom really never happy in the marriage? Mom confesses that she was happy in the marriage. Bong Sun’s dad did everything fast and well, taking care of everything.

But he started to berate Mom as an outlet when his police career didn’t progress smoothly, because there was no one else he could take it out on. Bong Sun listens with tears pooling in her eyes, but she leaves before her mom can see it. Mom stops Bong Sun and thanks her, this is the first time Bong Sun has voluntarily come to visit her. She’s always been scared of Bong Sun, which is why she never visited her. Bong Sun pushes her Mom off and tells her that the food she made last time didn’t taste good. Mom yells to a departing Bong Sun that she will make her tastier food next time.

Jae Hee walks up to Bong Sun who is sitting in the park. She runs into his arms and asks him to reassure her that she is a good person and a good daughter. He correctly surmises that she must’ve seen her parents. He thinks it’s wonderful she still has parents, but she confesses that she dreamt of having no parents. Bong Sun can’t forgive them (yet), so does that make her a bad daughter? Jae Hee assures her it’s fine that she can’t forgive them. If she were a bad person, he couldn’t possibly like her that much. They continue to hug each other tightly.

Jae Hee gets up his resolve and goes to see Hwa Young at the showroom. He is very formal with her and just announces that he likes Cha Bong Sun and they are dating. Hwa Young can tell what he wanted to say so she turns herself around before he starts talking. She asks if he needed to report this to her? Jae Hee felt the need because he’s feeling guilty that he’s the only one in love while Hwa Young is still alone. He hopes she finds someone herself. Hwa Young thinks Jae Hee won’t be able to handle Bong Sun. Jae Hee assures her the relationship won’t affect the company or their partnership. Hwa Young probes and finds out Jae Hee hasn’t told Bong Sun the truth about his real profession.

Bong Sun meets with Dr. Park and finds out her parents have very different personalities, he’s an S and she’s an N. He’s practical whereas she’s a dreamer. Dr. Park reveals that people seek to look for similarities when they first develop feelings for the other person, in an attempt to justify why they like the other person. Bong Sun realizes that she may be looking for similarities with Jae Hee by pointing out they had similar childhoods.

Bong Sun leaves Dr. Park’s office just as Hwa Young walks in. She demands to know if Bong Sun is also Dr. Park’s patient and is pissed that Bong Sun is always in her orbit these days. Dr. Park finds out Bong Sun’s precinct is just outside the store. Hwa Young wants to know what Bong Sun is seeing Dr. Park for but he refuses to break privilege and tell her, though he teases that Bong Sun’s situation is not as serious as Hwa Young’s. He asks how long she plans on dragging Jae Hee along in her life? Doesn’t she want to remarry? Hwa Young turns it back on Dr. Park, asking if he doesn’t have any suicidal tendencies these days, to which he shrugs off her attempt to point the arrow at him.

He notices that something is really bothering her. Hwa Young wonders why people are so pretty these days. Even the ugly and the fat seem pretty, so eye-catching. Was she ever pretty before? Dr. Park says she’s still pretty now. Hwa Young saw a woman who recently just fell in love, she was so pretty and appeared to exude this fragrance. Seeing her so happy makes Hwa Young angry. Hwa Young goes to her office and picks up an invitation for the upcoming launch show. She appears to get an idea and asks her assistant to prepare invitations for the female folks at the precinct to thank them for the hard work lately.

Dal goes to the precinct to find Bong Sun. Maru welcomes Dal and reveals Bong Sun has been in the toilet for thirty minutes, likely due to constipation. Dal walks into the bathroom and Bong Sun asks her to spray some perfume into the air. Dal is happy that Bong Sun understands the need for perfume now. Bong Sun and Dal walk outside just as Hwa Young pulls up. Hwa Young sees Dal and recognizes her as someone who knows Jae Hee when she saw them talking in an earlier episode. Hwa Young listens in as Dal tries to borrow money to pay off her credit card debt but Bong Sun refuses. If Dal wastes her own money, Bong Sun isn’t going to cover her ass.

Hwa Young pulls up next to Dal, who in turn recognizes Hwa Young as someone who knows Jae Hee. Hwa Young meets with Dal, looking her over as a perspective model. She makes Dal stand up, take her coat off, and turn around, rudely assessing her. She wants to know if Dal has any family and who she lives with. Dal reveals she has an unni. Hwa Young wants Dal’s number.

Bong Sun comes out of the precinct to see Hwa Young waiting for her outside. She greets Hwa Young politely, who hands her an invitation to the upcoming show and apologizes for last time. Bong Sun is still pissed, because it’s clear Hwa Young had it out for her last time. Hwa Young explains her reaction as purely work related, and shoves the invitation in Bong Sun’s hand, asking her to please come.

Bong Sun gets a call from Dal who reveals that she’s going to be away for a few days and won’t be needing to borrow money from Bong Sun anymore. Bong Sun suddenly gets a sneaky idea knowing that Dal won’t be home for a few days. She goes shopping with Jae Hee for groceries. The ahjummas all wonder if they are married because she buys more expensive food.

Jae Hee finds out Hwa Young invited Bong Sun to the launch party. He encourages her to go, and she confesses she’s planning to go even if she still doesn’t like Hwa Young’s attitude. She wants to go see how the rich throw money around, buying knock off products for high prices. Jae Hee takes offense, asking how Bong Sun knows the products are knock offs. What if it was made with a lot of hard work? He tells Bong Sun to go and take a good look around. Hwa Young sits in the launch party show room and looks all plotty. Ugh, she’s so damn annoying.

Bong Sun cooks dinner happily while Jae Hee fixes things around the house. She peeks at him and smiles contently. They sit down for dinner and Bong Sun takes the lead in praying to all the gods – for a child who has not had any happiness like her, she thanks the gods for giving her such a precious moment of warmth. All she wishes for is to eat rice and soup for her three meals, live in a small house, and have someone to eat dinner with every day. Her prayer for is for a day like today to continue for a long time.

Jae Hee listens and gets emotional at her prayer, so he starts eating quickly. She asks him what is wrong, but he wipes his eyes and thanks her. She thanks him as well. Jae Hee reveals this the first time he’s had a meal like this. She thanks him for eating with her. Bong Sun encourages Jae Hee to dig in. He takes a sip of the soup and smiles at her. She smiles back, this moment so ordinary yet for two broken kids who have become painfully raw adults, so hard earned.

Thoughts of Mine:

I can’t explain what madness came over me and compelled me to recap a random episode of a drama that wasn’t even on my radar until a few days ago. But this episode deserved to be captured in words so I can revisit it from time to time. Everything that happened felt like a well-earned respite for Bong Sun and Jae Hee, finally having the courage to be with each other, but also merely the first step in the next stage of their relationship. I don’t think finding an equally broken person in each other would magically heal their wounds. It’s not like two broken souls smushed together makes a whole person, but it does feel like being with each other brings both of them a measure of peace with who they are.

Jae Hee has it all but he’s never dealt with the painful memories of having nothing. Add to that the guilt of the accident that took the life of Hwa Young’s husband, the guy is just going through the motions. He lives his life but it’s a rudderless existence, tied to his sense of obligation and guilt towards people he cares about. But he’d never lived for himself. Making money doesn’t make him happy, spending it even less so. He creates because he’s talented, but it’s a purpose that doesn’t fill the void in his life from being orphaned so young. Bong Sun is the first time he’s doing something because he wants to, because it makes him happy.

Bong Sun is equally screwed up, carrying around all this anger towards her parents and being unable to open herself up to trusting people. She naturally kind and empathetic, but there is so much hurt inside her that she lashes out constantly rather than enjoy the life she is living. She doesn’t lack for anything material either, but like Jae Hee, she’s lacking in the emotional ties that allow people to derive joy in their existence on this earth. What really moved me about this episode, and all the intimate (but not overtly sexual) skinship between Jae Hee and Bong Sun, was how much they crave human touch. They can’t keep their hands off each other, because they’ve lived so long without parents showing them with the simplest of affections.

I know everyone was oohing over how hot the kiss was in episode 6 between the OTP, but I loved everything in this episode more. Because the kissing was an explosion of their attraction to each other, but this episode allowed them to let down their guards and be emotionally intimate with each other. Jae Hee still hasn’t told Bong Sun the truth about his real identity as a wealthy man, but everything he’s told her about his feelings are honest and real. I hope she doesn’t place too much weight on his deception, and accept that rich Jae Hee sees her the same way as poor Jae Hee. And in the end, it’s still the same man she’s falling in love with.

The less that can be said about Hwa Young the better. She annoys the shit out of me because I can’t stand her passive-aggressive guilt trip. If she was secretly in love with Jae Hee, then perhaps she has a leg to stand on in trying to reclaim Jae Hee. But I sense only a entitled possessiveness about her, the belief that Jae Hee belongs to her, whether it’s because he owes her for accidently mowing down her husband, or because he’s not allowed to find someone else until she’s ready to let go. I guess her presence is integral to the story, but the OTP is written so well I find she’s a distraction. I don’t need her plotting to separate Bong Sun and Jae Hee, those two have enough emotional scars to fill a canyon.

I think M2F works so well because the writing tries to be honest (even if it doesn’t always succeed) and the chemistry between the OTP sells their love story convincingly. Yoon Si Yoon is just mesmerizing as Jae Hee, at times still a scared little boy, at times a fearless grown man. Upon rewatch, Lee Ji Ah in episode 8 was actually really lovely in her acting. Beyond really capturing her character’s insecurities and frustrations, she was heartwarming as Bong Sun took a chance with Jae Hee and tasted romantic happiness for the first time. This episode really was something special to behold, and I’m just pleased I had a chance to recap it.