Dinner Mate – K-Drama Episodes 15-16 Recap and Review

Crash Landing On Dinner Mates

After the previous duo of episodes, Dinner Mate returns for more melodrama and a glimpse ahead at some possible romance on the horizon. With the truth now out about Hae-Kyung, and Jae-Hyeok’s mental issues starting to dome to the foreground, Dinner Mate ramps up the emotion but with it, manages to dispel this somewhat with a lovely parody of Crash Landing On You toward the end of the episode.

Episodes 15 and 16 of Dinner Mate begins with Do-Hee rejecting Hae-Kyung again, telling him she doesn’t want to know and admits that eating with him was uncomfortable. Inside her apartment however, Do-Hee looks at the card he gave her and weeps. She doesn’t have long to dwell on this however, as she becomes distracted by A-Young who invites her out to go food shopping.

While Hae-Kyung drowns his sorrows in alcohol and tries to be more positive like Do-Hee told him, A-Young tries to convince Do-Hee to take a chance in her life. Pondering over the words, when Do-Hee returns home she realizes she’s lost Hae-Kyung’s card.

Do-Hee is unable to face No-Eul the next day and doesn’t return to 2N Box while Jae-Hyeok heads to Hae-Kyung’s clinic and speaks to him about Do-Hee. He tells the doctor that she works at 2N Box and she’s the Producer Woo he’s been emailing. Clearly rattled, Hae-Kyung tries to keep a level-head and suggests Jae-Hyeok should undergo a thorough mental exam given his obsession with Do-Hee.

When Jae-Hyeok leaves, Hae-Kyung meets Gun-Woo in order to find out the truth and it’s here he sees Do-Hee’s picture and learns exactly who she is. At the same time, Jae-Hyeok confronts Do-Hee at 2N Box and calls her out for her lies.

On the back of this, Keanu and Do-Hee sit together and share food, with the former asking abut her love life. When he fails to get any definitive answers, he comments on her sleep deprivation and suggests she get some shut-eye. As Do-Hee leaves, she hands him some food and they exchange their trademark laughs.

Back home, we see Jae-Hyeok is obsessed with Do-Hee and Hae-Kyung, vowing to “put everyone back to where they were” as he looks at a pin-up board with all their pictures. In the morning, the group work to put on their latest show for 2N Box but something isn’t quite right.

At the Relax Psychiatrist Clinic, Keanu heads in and meets Hae-Kyung who’s shocked to see him. As they sit together, he tells Hae-Kyung to be careful and calls Jae-Hyeok a dangerous man. Just as she mentions this, back at 2N Box the lights fall after being sabotaged by Jae-Hyeok. He jumps in and takes the brunt of the hit though, in a bid to protect Do-Hee rather than No-Eul, but it’s clear that Keanu was right – she does have to be careful.

When Hae-Kyung learns No-Eul is in hospital, he races there but immediately finds himself distracted when Do-Hee happens to be in the ward. As No-Eul wakes up, she throws her arms around Hae-Kyung, which immediately makes Do-Hee uncomfortable and she walks away.

Outside, Hae-Kyung races after Do-Hee and tells her to be careful of Jae-Hyeok. As she brushes off these concerns, she walks away but deliberates over the accident. After what happened, she wonders how Jae-Hyeok would have known about the lights. For now though, A-Young arrives and drops off some supplies, telling her to stay there and rest up.

When A-Young leaves, she runs into Keanu and the two sit and exchange pleasantries again, ending with the trademark laughing shared by the duo.

While Hae-Kyung nurses No-Eul back to health, Do-Hee throws herself into her work and follows a spiritual video online about past lives. Here, we see a wonderful parody of Crash Landing on You. It’s a really well-worked segment and the entire scene works to alleviate some of the bigger bits of drama hanging over this double bill of episodes.

After going for dinner together, Hae-Kyung admits to No-Eul that he doesn’t want to date her. Instead, he heads to 2N Box and tells Do-Hee he’ll be on her show. With the truth about who they both are now out in the open, Hae-Kyung lays it all on the line and admits he has feelings for Do-Hee, which is where the episodes end.

With Hae-Kyung finally embracing his own feelings and Do-Hee seemingly able to look past the issues she had about No-Eul, it looks like the second half of the drama may just return to those early romantic comedy vibes. Of course, the situation with Jae-Hyeok still looms heavy over this one and given his obsession with Do-Hee this doesn’t look like it’ll pose well in the future. What happened with Keanu too? This whole issue looks like it may escalate in the future but hopefully our duo can overcome this.

For now though, Dinner Mate bows out its duo of episodes with another very good slice of drama and the door is left wide open for the second half of this Korean drama.