The Drunken Party
Episode 6 of Love in Contract picks up where we left off, with Ji-Ho tagging along with Sang-Eun for a hike. After arriving at her door and confronting her about missing their last date, he admits he wans to extend their contract. He needs her help, and that stems from keeping up appearances with his boss at work. His work life is now dependent on Sang-Eun agreeing to continue their contract. No pressure then! Anyway, she agrees to think about it and he limps back to the office, having hurt himself on the hike. Back home, Ji-Ho tries to find the words to speak to Sang-Eun, but he can’t get them out. However, Sang-Eun too is also nervous, although she eventually does agree to help out with the party coming up on Friday. Ji-Ho wants the same contract as before, but it needs to work around Hae-Jin, so naturally all three of them are joined around the table and forced to come up with a compromise. There’s obviously no love lost between Hae-Jin and Ji-Ho here, but a schedule is decided, with Ji-Ho forced to compromise and look after Hae-Jin’s cat as a result. Ji-Ho has a great way with the kitty and manages to calm Jamie right down. While he looks after the feline, Hae-Jin spends his time playing chess with Sang-Eun, calling her pretty and Ji-Ho a weirdo. Sang-Eun admits that she thought Ji-Ho genuinely liked her. Hae-Jin tries to use this marriage to his advantage, heading to work and admitting that he’s in love and laying it on thick with the producers. As for Ji-Ho, he prepares for the housewarming party. Before he heads home, he heads out for something to eat with Ji-Ho but the place is pretty busy ad Ji-Ho’s social anxiety flares up. Once there, Ji-Ho admits that he’s been in the courtroom as the judge for a lot of her divorce cases and was worried she may be a victim of crime too. This helps to break the ice between them, with Sang-Eun and Ji-Ho heading to photoshoots and buying a bunch of different items to try and make it seem believable that they’re a couple in love. It’s a really nice montage segment and a far cry from the brash nature of Hae-Jin that we’ve witnessed. Ji-Ho also asks about her family, and the pair get their story straight before the big homecoming party. She’s not going to drink though, despite Gwang-Nam’s teasing, and prepares to head out to Ji-Ho’s after packing up her car. When Gwang-Nam sleeps, he awakens later on and finds Sang-Eun exhausted and on the sofa. She’s just got back after preparing Ji-Ho’s apartment, complete with flowers, catering and pictures up on the wall. It’s just in time for Ji-Ho’s colleagues to arrive and see how angelic the place is. The apartment looks amazing but Ji-Ho is shocked and tries to act normally. All the pictures up on the mantlepiece show them going on trips together that they clearly never did, but the Principal manager is impressed. However, a couple of the women are convinced there’s something awry going on here, suspicious of the fact Sang-Eun isn’t drinking. To try and dissuade them, Sang-Eun does just that, deciding to drink on the job. This drinking eventually leads to everyone getting blind drunk, with the manager deciding to sing while holding a flower. Ji-Ho is shocked and remains speechless, as the group end up doing an impromptu talent show. Sang-Eun gets invovled in every single one, belly dancing, and trying to one-up all the games. Kim Yoo-Mi wins first prize but Ji-Ho is not happy. He immediately calls out the bias and claims that Sang-Eun is the real winner here. Everything ends up escalating and becoming quite hostile, with Ji-Ho super competitive and upsetting his manager. So how did Sang-Eun end up back home? Well, she woke up on the sofa and basically head back home from there. However, it’s time for Sang-Eun to go and see Hae-Jin. She shows up bleary eyed and ready to work, but she falls asleep on his shoulder. When she does, Ji-Ho shows up from behind and notices them together. Paparazzi snap pictures of them, while Sng-Eun reflects on what happened that night at the party. It turns out she actually kissed Ji-Ho in her drunken state to keep him quiet, calling him her first love. Naturally, when she wakes up and realizes, she’s shocked.
The Episode Review
Just as a side-note here, did anyone else notice that large light just sticking out distractingly in the park eight at the end? That’s definitely a goof on the production side of things, right? This episode deepens the ties between Sang-Eun and Ji-Ho in a really nice way, with the kiss solidifying their ties together. Given both Ji-Ho and Sang-Eun have been nervous around one another, it’s no surprise that in her drunken state she ended up kissing Ji-Ho. As for Hae-Jin… I’m not feeling it. The show has struggled to really help us empathize with Hae-Jin, who is brash and not very likable. I appreciate these two have history together but the chemistry isn’t there. At least not yet anyway. The ending, with the framed camera showing all three in the same shot, is a really nice way of contextualizing what’s happening, and there’s definitely scope for this one to grow in the near future. Next week’s episodes should be quite the dramatic affair!
