This episode of My Lovely Girl was so static that the bore factor went through the roof. The entire episode was spent on Hyun Wook and Se Na pining for each other without anything else of importance happening. The only time I perked up, and the drama momentum made an uptick, was when Shi Woo shows up. He’s the shining beacon of energy and character progress, the one person who is actually doing useful things about his personal and professional life. He likes Se Na, he’s making the effort to spend time with her but not overstepping his bounds. His career almost collapsed, then he’ll switch over to singing ballads and use his voice rather than dance to kick start it.

I do like Hyun Wook, what’s not to like about a guy who is smart, funny, and caring, but his noble idiocy routine in this episode was just a waste of everyone’s time since he will never be able to give up Se Na that easily. Se Na’s continues to be a fantastic character in how she approaches romance, straight forward but not emotionally needy. She calls out Hyun Wook all the time for his indecisiveness and then is able to make decisions of her own. Too bad an episode was wasted on keeping the OTP apart when all it took was Hyun Wook saying “to hell with it” and giving his romance with Se Na a chance whatever may come.

Episode 10 recap:

Hyun Wook freaks out that Hae Yoon told Se Na that he was her unni So Eun’s former boyfriend. He rushes to Se Na’s apartment and runs into her in the courtyard. She seems hesitant to see him and even takes a step back away from him when he walks towards her. Turns out Se Na isn’t aware of Hyun Wook being her sister’s boyfriend but is instead worried that Hyun Wook misunderstood her relationship with Shi Woo.

Se Na explains that nothing is going on with her and Shi Woo, especially since Hyun Wook knows that she likes him. Se Na does feel terrible that she got fired from AnA because of it and even led to Hyun Wook misunderstanding her. Hyun Wook assures her that there is no misunderstanding but it’s nevertheless over. He’s no longer going to take care of her, whether as the neighborhood ahjusshi or as the AnA president. From now on they have no reason to see each other anymore as her contract is ended with AnA. Hyun Wook walks off but once he’s alone the tears start to fall. Se Na can only stand there totally shocked by everything that’s happened.

Hae Yoon finds Hyun Wook drinking alone and sits down with him. Hyun Wook calmly asks when she found out and heard that she’s known for some time but kept quiet because she tried to understand him. Hae Yoon warns Hyun Wook that she won’t accept it if he tries to bring Se Na back to the company. Hyun Wook isn’t planning to do that but in return Hae Yoon is to never tell Se Na the secret. He pleads with Hae Yoon to promise him this and she realizes with certainty that Hyun Wook really does like Se Na.

Hae Yoon reminds Hyun Wook that it can’t be between him and Se Na and he understands and accepts that. Hae Yoon puts her hand on Hyun Wook to reassure him but he just moves her hand out of the way and leaves the bar. Hyun Wook goes to stand outside Se Na’s apartment and brood alone that night. Poor Se Na sits at home totally clueless about why Hyun Wook is clearly interested in her but insists on pushing her away because she’s Yoon Se Na.

Se Na waits for Hyun Wook outside his house and walks up to him the next morning. He doesn’t want to see her anymore but Se Na demands to know the truth. This isn’t about Shi Woo because she can sense Hyun Wook has another reason to push her away. So what is it? What reason is he not telling her? Hyun Wook lies that he wanted to nurture her talent initially but now he’s changed his mind and doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore.

Se Na asks why and Hyun Wook says the answer is clear. Se Na asks if he dislikes her now? Hyun Wook lies that he didn’t say he liked her when he admitted his heart fluttered for her. From now on he doesn’t want to see her again so she’s not to come to his house anymore. Hyun Wook drives off leaving Se Na crying.

Hyun Wook broods on the rooftop of AnA and Sang Jin walks up to tell Hyun Wook that he didn’t reveal the secret to Hae Yoon who found out by herself. Sang Jin heard Hyun Wook sent Se Na away and wants to talk about it. Hyun Wook isn’t in the mood to talk but does admit he’s not going to be Se Na’s daddy long legs anymore because he doesn’t have the right now.

Sang Jin goes back to Hae Yoon to report that Hyun Wook won’t talk to him either. If Hae Yoon is worried about Hyun Wook then she needs to talk to him herself. Hae Yoon knows Hyun Wook won’t share with her now but hopes that he can move on now that Se Na is gone. Sang Jin hopes so as well.

Shi Woo calls Se Na but she doesn’t answer his call. He texts “call me back otherwise I’ll be thinking of you all day.” Se Na calls back and says he can’t call her because of the photo. Shi Woo doesn’t understand what photo and wants Se Na to visit him. She won’t visit anymore and asks that he not call her again.

After Se Na hangs up on Shi Woo, Hyun Wook arrives to check on him so Shi Woo wants to know what happened to Se Na? Hyun Wook orders Shi Woo to unlock his phone and then deletes Se Na’s number from his cell. He informs Shi Woo that Se Na has left the company and he’s not to have any connection with her anymore. Their picture was snapped from the hospital but the company has taken care of it, but Shi Woo is to be extra well-behaved and vigilant going forward.

Shi Woo wants to know if Se Na got fired because of him but Hyun Wook just wants Shi Woo to focus on his comeback now that his solo debut was a disaster. Shi Woo quietly confesses that he’s not being distracted, he simply just likes Se Na is all.

Se Na curls up in bed and refuses to eat and just mopes. Joo Hong wants to know what happened to get her fired so abruptly? Did she break up with the doggie flower boy? Se Na sadly explains that she didn’t even start dating him so how could they break up? All he admitted was having his heart flutter for her but then that’s it. Joo Hong’s boyfriend comes in to pile on, saying that the president of AnA clearly wouldn’t be serious about dating Se Na.

Se Na walks through the neighborhood and passes by the bench she once sat with Hyun Wook and they quietly talked and joked with each other. Hyun Wook has his mind on Se Na even when he’s working in the recording studio. He finds Se Na’s music notebook there and flips through it. Se Na calls the sound engineering to apologize for not saying goodbye properly. Hyun Wook hears the sound engineer chatting with Se Na and that she’s working part time jobs now. Se Na tentatively asks about Hyun Wook but doesn’t want to talk with him. The sound engineer wishes Se Na well and hopes to work with her again.

After ending the call with Se Na, the sound engineer asks Hyun Wook why he fired Se Na? That girl was hard working and had natural musical talent. If she’s properly nurtured then she will make something of herself. Hyun Wook has no answer for that because he’s right.

Shi Woo drives up to Se Na on the street and orders her in the car before their picture can be taken. They drive off to talk and Shi Woo asks what the picture looked like? Se Na describes it as them looking like they were going to kiss and chides Shi Woo for joking around like that. Shi Woo is more upset that everyone thinks what he did was a joke. He is upset that Se Na is suffering because of him yet again, it wasn’t what he wanted.

Se Na notices Shi Woo’s left foot in the cast still and wants to get out of the car and tells him to go back and rest. Shi Woo locks the door and turns on the radio to Se Na’s song, pointing out that he drove 40 minutes to come see her. He asks to sit here until the song is done. Shi Woo wonders why Se Na isn’t upset, she got fired for something she didn’t do and also didn’t happen. Se Na is upset but there is nothing she can do about it. Shi Woo sasses back that he should have kissed her then if he’s going to get in trouble because of it.

Shi Woo wonders what would have happened had he sung her song like originally planned? Se Na thinks the song wouldn’t be as well received now if Shi Woo had performed it. He’s insulted but she sticks with her assessment. Shi Woo doesn’t want her to work part time jobs anymore, since she got fired because of him then he’ll take responsibility for her. Se Na wants him to worry about himself after his debut disaster.

Jae Young meets with Hyun Wook’s dad who knows he messed with Shi Woo’s debut stage. Jae Young blames it on Shi Woo’s own mistakes. Hyun Wook’s dad wants Jae Young to stop now but Jae Young refuses. He worked at AnA for 7 years and one day the company was just handed to Hyun Wook just like that. Hyun Wook’s dad isn’t sorry about doing that because Hyun Wook is better at running the company than Jae Young.

Hyun Wook’s dad wants Jae Young to accept that and stop overreaching for something that doesn’t belong to him. Even if Hyun Wook hurt Jae Young’s pride, that doesn’t even level up to what Hyun Wook endured. Jae Young demands to know why so Hyun Wook’s dad reminds him that after So Eun died Hyun Wook wasted his life for many years. He wants Jae Young to stop now.

Jae Young says what happened was what Hyun Wook’s dad wanted so don’t blame others. And if he doesn’t stop Hyun Wook now then Shi Woo’s career will be over shortly all because of Hyun Wook. Jae Young brings up the girl Hyun Wook brought into the company was snapped in a close picture with Shi Woo.

Hyun Wook’s dad pays a visit to Hae Yoon to ask about Shi Woo being snapped in a picture with a girl. He wants to see the girl now and heard Hyun Wook brought her into the company. Hae Yoon assures him that the girl has been fired and the picture quashed so he doesn’t need to worry. She wishes Hyun Wook’s dad can make up with him so everyone can get along. Hyun Wook’s dad reminds Hae Yoon that Hyun Wook’s birthday is coming up. He admits Hae Yoon is his first choice to marry Hyun Wook but he can’t help her or get involved for reasons she understands.

Hyun Wook’s dad runs into his wife in AnA and wonders why she’s here so late. She quickly makes an excuse and runs off to Director Kang’s office. He shows her the annual report that the company has decreased in earnings 12% from last year and they need to either increase their revenue by either new products or fan club expansion. Hyun Wook’s stepmom worries the company is tanking but Director Kang assures her that it isn’t.

Hyun Wook takes a call about Se Na’s songwriting and it’s clear he’s still helping her out. Hae Yoon comes in wanting to have tea with him but he instead calls a management meeting. He doesn’t want Shi Woo to stop all activities, if he can’t dance then he can still sing.

The AnA management team summons all the rookies to perform their new concepts for them. The girl group’s dance moves aren’t good enough nor can do they have the singing stamina. Hyun Wook wants the solo rookie to sub in for the boy idol group lead which makes everyone unhappy.

Hae Yoon calls out Hyun Wook for being so tough on the rookies but he doesn’t have time to coddle them anymore. With the Shi Woo mess around Hyun Wook needs to work even harder to get the company back on track soon. Hae Yoon can hear from his tone that he’s planning to leave soon. Hyun Wook reminds her that he was always just an interim president and he wants to fix things before his dad comes back to take over.

Hae Yoon wants him to stay permanently but Hyun Wook doesn’t find the job interesting. She calls out his attitude as if without Yoon Se Na around then running AnA doesn’t mean anything to him. Why does it have to be like that? Hyun Wook has no time to talk since he has to pick up Dal Bong from the hospital. Hae Yoon asks to go with him, she’s always disliked Dal Bong since So Eun brought him into Hyun Wook’s life. But now that Dal Bong is sick she feels really bad and want to apologize to him.

Se Na is walking home from the corner market when she sees Hyun Wook driving past with Hae Yoon in the front seat and Dal Bong in the back.

Hyun Wook and Hae Yoon bring Dal Bong home and she suggests Hyun Wook consider moving. Hyun Wook won’t right now since Dal Bong is sick and moving will only stress him out. Hae Yoon apologizes for her idea and is just happy that Dal Bong doesn’t bark at her anymore. Hyun Wook curtly sends Hae Yoon off so that Dal Bong can rest.

Se Na is drinking her frustration away at a restaurant and calls Hyun Wook who doesn’t answer her calls. Hyun Wook stares at the cute dog cap Se Na bought for Dal Bong and smiles while Dal Bong rests on his pillow. Se Na leaves a message on Hyun Wook’s phone that she’s at the restaurant in front of the supermarket and will wait there until he comes because she has something to say to him. She later calls back and leaves a message calling ahjusshi a really bad guy.

Hyun Wook arrives after Se Na passes out drunk on the table. He just stares at her trying not to cry.

Se Na wakes up in her bed and goes out to the kitchen to get some water. She asks Joo Hong what happened last night and Joo Hong’s boyfriend claims he carried Se Na home after getting a call from the doggie flower boy to come pick up Se Na at the restaurant. Joo Hong wonders what’s going on with her and that guy, are they dating again now? Se Na grabs her cell phone and realizes she drunkenly called Hyun Wook multiple times last night.

Se Na gets a call from Hyun Wook and meets him at a café. He’s here to suggest that she join a songwriting team called Soul. She can work on the melody portion and the head songwriter has a good personality and is easy to work with. She’ll get a signing bonus and royalties from whatever song she worked on. Se Na turns him down immediately but Hyun Wook persists that she take the opportunity.

Se Na brings up Dal Bong being discharged from the hospital and he didn’t even tell her. Clearly he’s serious about them having nothing to do with each other anymore. In that case he needs to stop being interested in her life. Hyun Wook asks that she not drunk call him if she doesn’t want him to worry about her. Se Na apologizes for that and vows not to do it again. But her job is her own worry and she doesn’t need him involved in any way.

Se Na leaves the meeting with Hyun Wook and gets a call from Shi Woo telling her that he found a job for her. Shi Woo paces his apartment nervously waiting for Se Na to arrive. He’s so adorable! He welcomes Se Na inside as the first girl to be inside his dorm apartment and teases if she’s nervous? Se Na goes inside and wonders where his manager is since Shi Woo said he was with his manager? Shi Woo sasses back that he sent his manager to the South Pole so he can be alone with Se Na.

Shi Woo stops joking and tells Se Na to sit down so they can discuss important matters. Se Na notices how nice the apartment is and Shi Woo admits it’s super nice and four people used to live here. Talk turns to what job Shi Woo has for Se Na and his idea is for her to write a song for him. He wants her back in AnA and she should want it as well because she did nothing wrong to deserve getting fired. Shi Woo has been thinking and really regrets his own decision not to go with Se Na’s song in the first place so this time he wants to do it right.

Se Na thinks about Shi Woo’s offer to write a song for him as well as Hyun Wook telling her that he wanted to nurture her talent but has changed his mind now and doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore.

Hyun Wook goes home to dine with his dad and stepmom to avoid his dad coming to see him on his birthday. Stepmom brings up the company planning to debut a rookie group and wants it to be a girl group rather than a guy group. She also wants Mina as the main vocal of the new group. She brings up Hyun Wook’s dad planning to give the company to Hyun Wook and his real estate to the second son, what does that leave her and Mina? Hyun Wook isn’t interested in their conflict and plans to debut the guy group along with Ra Eum’s new comeback.

Hyun Wook’s dad stops Hyun Wook to ask for more time, he needs time to deal with the woman and boy situation and explain what is going on. Hyun Wook doesn’t care, once he’s gotten the company back on track he’s leaving AnA just like he intended.

Hyun Wook’s stepmother calls Director Kang to tell him that Hyun Wook is planning to leave AnA so that’s a wrench in their plans. She wants Director Kang’s birthday so she can check if they are compatible since they are to be business partners.

Hae Yoon shows Hyun Wook a selection of singles for Shi Woo’s ballad comeback. Shi Woo brings Se Na into the meeting and declares he wants Se Na to write for his new album “Song for You”. Shi Woo regrets his decision to not use Se Na’s song in the beginning and he wants to do it now. Hyun Wook asks what Se Na thinks? Se Na doesn’t have a problem with it nor does she worry she can’t do it.

Hae Yoon thinks Se Na is using this as an excuse to have a work place romance. Se Na doesn’t need an excuse for a romance plus she’s not a trainee anymore but is here to work officially with the agency. Shi Woo feels bad that Se Na got kicked out because of him and will be careful. There is nothing wrong with a singer and songwriter working together for a few days. Hyun Wook has no reason to object and tells them to work together for a week to produce the songs and he’s looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

Shi Woo notices that Se Na doesn’t look very well but she claims to have been nervous today. She sends Shi Woo off first and goes to the bathroom to wash up and compose herself.

Se Na runs into Hyun Wook in the halls and he asks why she wants to work with Shi Woo when she turned down his job lead. Se Na doesn’t want to rely on Hyun Wook for anything. If it’s uncomfortable for her to be at the agency, it’s only for a short while and she’ll work hard and be done. Hyun Wook doesn’t care as long as she doesn’t show up in front of him.

Se Na goes to the practice room where Shi Woo is waiting and almost falls over. He’s worried about her condition and wants to take her home to rest. Se Na declines and asks him to just let her go home alone. Shi Woo relents but asks Se Na to call him when she gets home safely.

Se Na takes the bus home and all she can do is mope over all the mean things Hyun Wook has been saying to her recently.

Joo Hong takes care of the sick Se Na and chews out the doggie flower boy for making Se Na so worn down. Se Na remembers the sweet moments with Hyun Wook and gets out of bed to run out to see Hyun Wook. Joo Hong doesn’t stop Se Na and thinks that she can only get better after she sees Hyun Wook.

Hae Yoon waits outside Hyun Wook’s place to make a birthday surprise for him. Sang Jin calls in that he’ll be late and tells Hae Yoon to impress Hyun Wook herself. Hae Yoon knocks on Hyun Wook’s door and he doesn’t seem happy to see her but lets her inside. Hae Yoon greets Dal Bong who gives her the usual cold shoulder. Hae Yoon explains that Sang Jin will be coming later and it’ll just be the three of them and not too rowdy.

Se Na knocks on Hyun Wook’s door and basically asks what the fuck he’s doing? Does he think she’s easy to toy with? Why did he do all that to her and made her so confused? Why does he have to make her so tragic when she’s done nothing wrong to deserve this? Se Na sees Hae Yoon inside Hyun Wook’s place as he stands there silently taking in all her understandable anger. Se Na turns and walks right out of Hyun Wook’s life.

Hyun Wook goes back inside and he’s totally affected. Hae Yoon suggests that he move soon and tells him not to waver. Hyun Wook orders Hae Yoon to leave because he’s not in the mood for a birthday party. Hae Yoon wants to know if he’s going after Yoon Se Na? Hyun Wook has been trying so hard to hold it in and Hae Yoon has no right to dictate his heart. Does he have to stop his feelings just because she ordered him to?

Hae Yoon cries accepting that she’s no one to Hyun Wook, she’s not a friend or a lover so she has no right to tell him anything. She’ll leave now but she knows Hyun Wook and Se Na won’t be happy together. Once Se Na knows that he was the cause of So Eun’s death then Se Na will hate Hyun Wook forever. Hae Yoon passes by the arriving Sang Jin as she leaves.

Sang Jin tries to get Hyun Wook to go after Hae Yoon but Hyun Wook just cries for Sang Jin to understand him. He’s going crazy right now and Sang Jin guesses that it’s over Se Na. Sang Jin wants to know if Hyun Wook can accept the consequences if he goes forward with Se Na but Hyun Wook just runs out of his house.

Hae Yoon is downing her sorrows in liquor when Jae Young sees her at the bar and wonders why she’s drinking alone when she should be celebrating Hyun Wook’s birthday with him. Hae Yoon feels like what Jae Young said is coming true, that Hae Yoon will end up as tragic as Jae Young’s one-sided crush. Hyun Wook oppa is falling in love with Yoon Se Na but it can’t happen because Yoon Se Na is Yoon So Eun’s little sister. Jae Young’s eyes light up to hear such a shocking secret.

Hyun Wook finds Se Na but she speaks first, telling him that she’ll be fine and won’t like him anymore. Hyun Wook stares at her before saying that he will be harboring a one-sided love for her going forward. Because it doesn’t matter to him anymore, where she’s Yoon Se Na or not, he likes her.

Thoughts of Mine:

This was basically a pointless episode of MLG. The only reason Hyun Wook rejected Se Na for an entire episode only to backtrack was to make a point that he resisted going for his dead girlfriend’s younger sister because it’s “wrong” somehow. But he’s been resisting all along so this full episode of pointed resistance was a waste of time especially since he buckled under the weight of his feeeeeelings for Se Na without anything changing in his thought process. It boils down to Hyun Wook basically said suck it to Hae Yoon and Sang Jin and everyone who has been clucking at him to not do it. Too bad he had to royally put Se Na through the ringer and girl is too awesome to deserve it when she’s done everything right in how she deals with Hyun Wook’s hot-and-cold towards her.

He comes across as a player the way she sees it, the way he likes her and then pushes her away, since she doesn’t know he’s harboring the big secret that is eating away at his conscience. I love everything about Se Na in the episode, how she stood her ground with Hyun Wook and continues to speak her mind with him and demand that he give her satisfactory answers to his douche behavior. Too bad the truth might be worse for her but at least the later she’ll know Hyun Wook did agonize over falling for her. Jae Young continues to be a grade-A ass and there is still no reason given for the degree of his anger and hatred towards Hyun Wook. Now he knows the truth about Se Na it’ll only give him more ammunition to destroy Hyun Wook, but I’m hoping it’ll all come back to bite him the arse as his machinations ricochets back.

Hae Yoon remains annoying and pitiful, whatever she does just screams pathetic and lame, she doesn’t even have the evil manipulative side to fall back on as all she does is plead with Hyun Wook to accept her as she throws herself at him all day long. The entire Hyun Wook daddy-stepmother-Director Kang subplot is sooooo weird I’m not even going to touch it, no clue what the hell is going on there so let’s move along. Hyun Wook has good ideas about running AnA but it’s just ideas without a lot of practical knowhow. I feel like Jae Young really is savvier about the business side even if he has no right to feel slighted since AnA was never his to begin with. Shi Woo remains the beacon of happy for me in this drama, anytime he shows up I smile and enjoy all his scenes. He’s a cool cat and I’m not one for moping over whatever calamities befall him in the drama. He’s gaining maturity and experience through all the tumbles and doing all the right things to keep moving forward in a positive way. Getting Se Na to be his songwriter is brilliant in both a personal and professional context. Here’s to hoping she tells him soon that she likes Hyun Wook and he needs to give up.

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