Call It Love – K-Drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

Office Politics

Episode 3 of Call It Love starts with a scene sometime in the past. Hee-ja asks Dong-jin and Sun-woo to return the money she lent them. Sun-woo tries to protest but Dong-jin gives in to her. As the men leave, Hee-ja muses that Dong-jin is as weak-minded as his father.

Outside, Dong-jin tells Sun-woo that they should just give the money back. He agrees, adding that Dong-jin should open up if he’s having a hard time.

Back in the present, Director Kim Ju-ho rushes forward to hit Dong-jin but Woo-ju pushes him away. Ju-ho is furious at her but she threatens to call the police if there is any more violence. Dong-jin tells her to leave. Before she does, she tells him that standing still while a boar is charging at you doesn’t make you nice, it makes you dumb.

Dong-jin and Sun-woo treat Ju-ho to drinks at a bar. He rants about how Dong-jin was the only one who knew his wife ran away with another man. After Sun-woo apologises, Ju-ho admits that he received divorce papers from his wife and was taking his anger out on Dong-jin. He says Dong-jin is lucky to have a woman who protects him.

While driving the director home, Sun-woo and Dong-jin talk. Sun-woo thinks the woman was Ms Baek but Dong-jin tells him it was Woo-ju, which shocks him. Sun-woo asks if there’s something going on between the two of them. After helping Ju-ho get home, Dong-jin tells Sun-woo about the real spy being Cha Young-min. He says he even saw CEO Shin and Young-min meet. Sun-woo is shocked to hear this. Dong-jin muses on trust, comparing it to how his mom cooked japchae every time she got remarried even though she knew he didn’t like it.

In the morning, Woo-ju sits by her sleeping brother Ji-gu when he suddenly wakes up. She asks him about his coming test. Ji-gu asks him why she was really sitting by him. She says some mothers stand insufferable husbands by seeing their children. But it didn’t work for her.

Woo-ju leaves the house and gives Jun a call. He lies about being at the pharmacy but is actually standing on a roadside, near Woo-ju. She finds out anyway and asks him what he’s doing. He says he’s determined to find out where she works. Woo-ju tries running but he catches up easily. He gives her one week to carry out her revenge and then leave the place, otherwise, he’ll call her mother. He says he’s being a true friend by trying to stop her. They argue and Woo-ju says if she doesn’t do anything she’ll lose her mind. They pass Dong-jin who tries to talk to Woo-ju, but she just walks past him, not wanting Jun to find out who he is.

At work, Woo-ju meets Dong-jin by the elevator. She tells Dong-jin not to thank her for the previous day since she protected him out of instinct. When Woo-ju gets to her desk, everyone questions her but Dong-jin makes it clear that he asked her to come back. She wonders if he was waiting outside the elevator because he knew this would happen.

Cha Young-min enters the office and notices that Wooju is back. While they’re having their daily meeting, Sun-woo lashes out at Young-min but pretends it’s nothing. Sun-woo and Ms. Baek leave the office. Young-min asks Dong-jin about Woo-ju just as she enters the office. Dong-jin says she’ll be working with the business team from now onwards.

Afterwards, Young-min watches from outside as Woo-ju closes the blinds inside Dong-jin’s office. He doesn’t want to confront Young-min about his betrayal because CEO Shin would just target another employee instead. He asks Woo-ju to keep an eye on Young-min instead. She asks if he trusts her. He trusts her word so that she doesn’t get manipulated easily. She says she has no intention of helping him.

Jun goes into a coffee shop and finds Ji-gu working there. He has quit studying for the civil service exams and decided to pursue singing. Jun agrees to not tell Woo-ju.

At the bank, Hae-sung counts bank notes. Her colleagues say she does this every time a relationship ends. She tells a security guard she’ll set the alarm before leaving. He gives her a drink with a heart sticker on the bottle that says “You’re amazing”. His name is Park Su-ha. She tells him she might misinterpret the heart-shaped sticker and fawns over it after he leaves.

Jun and Woo-ju eat at a restaurant. Woo-ju muses on the irony of Dong-jin asking her to keep an eye on the spy. Jun asks Woo-ju if Dong-jin is handsome but she’s unable to answer properly. Hae-sung comes in and joins them. She vents about the fact that she’s not dating anymore. On the way home, Hae-sung talks about lonely people and Woo-ju thinks about Dong-jin eating cup noodles alone.

At his apartment, Dong-jin is doing exactly that. Someone bangs on his door. He continues eating for a while before calling the guard to make a complaint. The guard conveys the message to the neighbouring apartment and tells Dong-jin that they won’t do it again.

CEO Shin talks to Min-young, convincing her for an investment in his company. When someone else in the restaurant seems to recognise her she quickly leaves.

At the indoor golf range, Sun-woo gets a call from the person at the restaurant who saw Min-young. He tries to further confirm that she’s in town when he sees her right there in front of him. They talk and their relationship seems more friendly than one would expect.

At a garage, Dong-jin works on a car while the mechanic berates him for doing it himself. He seems to be someone Dong-jin knows well. The other man asks Dong-jin if he’s been in touch with ‘the old man’. He says Dong-jin should come to the camping ground next weekend but Dong-jin says he can’t make it.

Young-min gets angry at Woo-ju when she keeps a file on his desk instead of bringing it to him personally. She calls him out on overreacting as if he was guilty of something but Young-min makes a scene and she is forced to apologise.

Later on, Young-min keeps thinking about her comment. He sneaks out to call CEO Shin to ask if Dong-jin said anything.

When everyone goes out to lunch, Woo-ju ends up taking a bunch of phone calls. Later, Dong-jin sees Woo-ju go to a restaurant. He enters but sits at a different table. He asks her if something happened at work but she deflects. She says she can’t spy on Young-min because he already hates her. She asks Dong-jin how long he’ll let this go on. Dong-jin says he even let his girlfriend cheat on him for a year. She doesn’t ask any more questions, claiming she doesn’t have an interest in other people’s misery either.

Hae-sung sees Woo-ju and Dong-jin walking together after lunch.

Hee-ja is shopping with her new boyfriend and buys two suits, one for him and one for someone else.

Hee-ja and her boyfriend’s car turns up at the office. The boyfriend wants to come up to meet Dong-jin but Hee-ja makes him stay in the car. She goes up to his office and asks Ms Baek for an iced coffee, who in turn tells Woo-ju. She also mentions it’s for Dongjin’s mother. Woo-ju goes in and gives her the coffee. She looks her in the eye but Hee-ja doesn’t recognise her and even makes rude comments. Woo-ju leaves. Dong-jin tells his mother to leave as well.

Jun tells Ji-gu not to tell his sister about him quitting his studies because he’s worried she’ll go crazy. He says she went crazy the day she saw her father and Hee-ja come out from a motel. Flashbacks show Woo-ju running straight into her dad’s car. He goes to help her and she asks him why it was Hee-ja out of all people. This parallels the current Woo-ju following Hee-ja’s car but she steps out of its way at the last moment.

Ms Baek tells Dong-jin that Director Kim hasn’t been in touch. He runs into Woo-ju by the elevator and apologizes for his mother’s behaviour, telling her not to bring coffee anymore as it’s not part of her job. She says spying on Young-min isn’t her job either. He apologises again but she tells him he doesn’t know what it is to truly be sorry.

In the parking lot, Woo-ju tells Young-min that Dong-jin knows about his betrayal. She tells him he needs to try harder to ruin the company.

The Episode Review

A good episode, if a bit slow but that’s not anything new. I enjoy the character-centric nature of the show but it’s lacking an element of excitement that pushes viewers to keep watching. The story is also leaning a bit more towards office drama.

I was hoping we’d see more of Woo-ju’s revenge by now but while she keeps insisting she’ll go crazy without it, she hasn’t actually done a lot. It’s a lot of preaching without practice. The end of the episode feels like the start of some kind of action, which is good.

Dong-jin’s character is intriguing, as much as I try to not get lured in by Sad Bois. Kim Young-kwang does a wonderful job that straddles the line between pitiable and melancholic. It’s a good balance because as a viewer, feeling empathy is what stops it from getting entirely boring.

I’m also starting to really like Jun, he seems like a solid, reliable friend and a great foil to the hot-blooded Wooju.