DNA Lover – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Healing Gene

DNA Lover episode 4 starts with A-ri visiting the church led by the handsome Father Andrea. So-jin joins her for some divine intervention after finding out that Yeon-u has the highest level of the cheating gene she has ever seen. She worries that fate will repeat itself and she will keep getting heartbroken. A-ri advises her to just accept her fate of being attracted to men with the cheating gene.

At the hospital, Yeon-u receives a flowerpot from a stranger but ignores it. He is currently focusing on a young baby boy who was abandoned by his mom after birth. Father Andrea has been helping to take care of the family, but if the mother doesn’t show up in a week, the baby will be handed over to a child welfare facility.

As the day progresses, Yeon-u wonders why So-jin has been quiet. He was looking forward to hearing the test results. Even after So-jin drops by to give a lecture on freezing eggs, she fails to mention anything about the test. If anything, she and A-ri avoid him. The two women are curious about all the women in the hospital that he has flirted with because they seemed to hate on So-jin when she showed up.

Meanwhile, Sung-mi visits Jung-tam to talk about her period delays. She is moved when he says she is the coolest woman he has ever seen. She is also happy that he sees her as a woman and is willing to help her. 

On the other hand, Mi-eun can’t stop thinking about Gang-hun. She has dinner with Yeon-u and visits Gang-hun’s dad’s restaurant. She tries to flirt with Gang-hun, but he remains oblivious to her advances. Yeon-u jokes that Mi-eun can never seduce Gang-hun. 

Back to our girl A-ri, it seems like her DNA lover is around the corner, or should we say on the pulpit? She is suddenly attracted to Father Andrea when he helps her get some of her favourite potato skewers from a popular food truck.

As So-jin contemplates how to tell Yeon-u about the tests, she coincidentally runs into Yeon-u’s mo at the research centre. Yeon-u’s mom is having a hard time trying to stay slim to keep up with her husband’s mistress. So-jin warns her of the danger of under-eating and tries to reason with her. Unfortunately, her words fall on deaf ears. It is important to note that So-jin is unaware that the woman is related to Yeon-u. After listening to the woman, So-jin gets angry again at all the cheating men.

Speaking of Yeon-u, he is increasingly getting disappointed by his dad’s affairs. He tries to talk to his father, but the old man says it is impossible to stay with a woman he doesn’t love. However, how many women will he love in his lifetime?

On her way home, So-jin runs into Sang-min, arguing with another woman. He is now cheating on the girl he left So-jin for. The new woman gets mad when it is clarified that Sang-min has been triple-cheating on her. She angrily walks away and Sang-min vows to get his revenge on So-jin.

After this encounter, So-jin texts Yeon-u and tells him he has the cheating gene. She advises him to meditate and casually visit the temple. He texts her back, asking to meet. Once they meet, he feels offended when So-jin insists they can never date because he has the cheating genes. He assures her he is not a player and she should try to know him better. However, So-jin insists that DNA doesn’t lie and continues to judge him harshly. Yeon-u gets pissed and says he is also not interested in dating someone so judgemental. 

After the meeting, Yeon-u goes to a bar and coincidentally runs into Mi-eun. Even though she is there with her date, she opts to keep Yeon-u company. She is surprised that Yeon-u is bothered by So-jin and tries to comfort him. On the other side of town, Gang-hun tries to comfort So-jin because she looks so down. He tells her that DNA tests can’t lead her to fate. As he helps her down from a high point, he trips and they fall on each other. So-jin realises he smells like flowers, but he ignores her and calls her a pervert.

Later that night, when So-jin throws away the documents on Yeon-u she notices something she missed. Yeon-u has the healing gene, which means there is hope for him. He is one to be optimistic, and that is something important to her. He can supposedly heal her depression! The next day, Yeon-u sees his latest patient, Ms Heo, and reminds her of the set meeting the next day. Ms Heo has been a great patient and even asked about his childhood nickname to give it to her baby.

In the meantime, So-jin notices someone is following her. Gang-hun reminds her to be careful and carry her safety alarm with her. He invites her to dine at the restaurant and Yeon-u also shows up. The two ignore each other, making Gang-hun question what happened between them. After a quick meal and watching Gang-hun being considerate to So-jin, Yeon-u leaves. So-jin was planning to apologise and was startled when Yeon-u got a message and abruptly left.

The following day, Yeo-u gets a visit from his mom. The mom informs him about the dad’s latest mistress. The mistress is younger than Yeon-u, and the mom is angry. However, she has no plans to leave her husband. Even though Yeon-u has tried to encourage her and even introduced her to lawyers. The mom believes that Yeon-u’s dad will return home soon, and she is willing to wait. She knows it is destroying her, but she doesn’t care. This infuriates Yeon-u because all she cares about is his dad.

After meeting with his mom, Yeon-u links up with Ms Heo and heads to the research centre for the prenatal tests. So-jin runs a DNA test and discovers that the baby has Retinitis Pigmentosa. There is a chance the baby can go blind. It is at this point that Ms Heo reveals that she is dating Yeon-u’s dad. This is not news to Yeon-u since his mom had already shown him the information about the new mistress. He cautions Ms Heo that his dad is not dependable and he will break her heart. However, Ms Heo lashes out, saying he is jealous and scared that her baby will take over the hospital. 

Ms Heo storms out of the meeting and Yeon-u asks So-jin to keep the meeting confidential. He asks her to remember that the case doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with him. So-jin realises that her words must have hurt him because Yeon-u is trying to avoid his dad’s mistake. She follows him to apologise and return the umbrella he forgot. He harshly tells her off, advising her to try to see beyond the DNA tests. 

Later that night, Yeon-u worries that he was too harsh on So-jin. Meanwhile, a troubled So-jin walks home and notices someone is following her. She tries her alarm but Gang-hun is at work and misses the alerts. She starts running while calling him, but he takes a while to finally pick up. By the time he picks up and rushes to her, he finds Yeon-u helping So-jin after she took a fall. Yeon-u stays behind with So-jin while Gang-hum chases the culprit. It comes as no surprise that the stalker is Sang-min looking to get his revenge.

The episode ends with So-jin thanking Yeon-u and apologising to him. She asks him to allow her to run more tests because she found out he has the healing gene. Yeon-u is frustrated and argues that this is not how they should learn about each other. He moves to kiss her, saying that is how an attraction test is done.

The Episode Review

One minute we were enjoying a rom-com and the next we were nearly getting a crime thriller. DNA Lover is all over the place but in a good, funny way. We certainly didn’t see that mistress twist coming, but it explains a lot. All his life, Yeon-u has been avoiding love because he has seen the effects of his parent’s toxic love.

He is right, he can choose whether to cheat or not and it was harsh for So-jin to judge without knowing him. He is also right about So-jin seeing only the DNA. She forgets that humans have choices and the whole nature vs nurture conversation. 

As things start to hit up between Yeon-u and So-jin, I hope we will get more clarification on whether she ran the test on the right person. How did she fail to notice the RP gene in Yeon-u’s test? Did we miss something in episode 3? Whose jersey did she take?