Extraordinary You – Episodes 17 & 18 Recap & Review

Time Travel?

As we approach the halfway point of this drama, Extraordinary You is really starting to blossom into one of the bigger surprises this year. Dan-O’s adorable, exaggerated mannerisms and Kyung’s dual-personality adding depth to his character, are such an endearing pair of characters, it’s hard to take your eyes off this one. The story is suitably unpredictable too and given the way this one is shaping up, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some element of time travel involved here.

We begin the episode from Ha-Roo’s perspective, where we finally see what he saw in the black hole. Putting his hand deep into the realm beyond, this happened to be the catalyst for cutting his hand open and allowed all his memories to come flooding back. It’s here we receive a lovely montage of Dan-O and Ha-Roo too, glimpsing their most touching moments together in the past. As they sit and talk about what’s happened in the shadow, Ha-Roo tells her he’ll never let her go while she weeps.

With Ha-Roo back to his normal self the next day, Do-Hwa and the others begin to formulate a plan to celebrate, until the writer interjects and throws Dan-O back into the story again. Here, she’s forced to endure an awkward birthday celebration with Joo-Da. As the scene turns back to shadow, Kyung follows Dan-O outside before heading into the library and investigating the different books, cycling through them to find the meaning of “trumpet creeper”, which happens to be a specific flower. The same flower, as it happens, that’s linked to Ha-Roo.

Meanwhile Ha-Roo and Dan-O decide to spend time together on an impromptu date where they into a strange shop that appears to hold memorabilia from Ha-Roo and Dan-O’s time together. As they head back to school, she makes him promise to remain as he is before questioning how he got the scar on his hand. It’s here. he tells her about the black hole while she makes a passing comment about clocks turning back, which certainly backs up the earlier idea of time travel being part of the story now.

As the page turns, Ha-Roo snaps back to a strange historical time with our two protagonists in the Joseon period. It’s a brief moment, and one that passes quickly as Ha-Roo goes about his day like normal. Kyung asks him to carry his bags but he refuses, telling him to move his own bags instead. As things begin to get heated between them, the story continues forward as Kyung tells Sae-Mi she’s the villain of the story.

Playing up to her true nature, Sae-Mi confronts Joo-Da about the situation with Do-Hwa and Nam-Joo, while the rest of the girls surround her. Locking her in a dark room and telling her to self-reflect, the girls leave Joo-Da to weep quietly to herself as the scene turns to shadow, where Do-Hwa hears her cries. He rushes to her location and laments the writer before we suddenly skip back to the scene and it’s Nam-Joo that comes in and saves the day.

Meanwhile, Kyung continues to show both sides of his personality, bullying Ha-Roo and the others while seemingly genuinely caring about Dan-O. Berating his family, he reflects on what he’s been told and tells them it feels awful to always be mean. It’s a touching moment but one that also takes place in the shadow, ultimately paving way for the scene to return as Dan-O’s situation continues to deteriorate.

After Kyung looked at the book about the marriage, Jimmiche realizes that Kyung’s changed his own destiny and can now influence matters. Outside he worries that this will turn out like the previous book before talking to Ha-Roo about the flowers. Heading back in to the library with newfound knowledge he seemingly speaks to the writer in the heavens above, telling him he’s cruel and hopes the story doesn’t end in tragedy.

With Ha-Roo back to his old self, Jimmiche watches on from afar as the two once again play tennis. Only, this time it’s Ha-Roo who wins. As they come to blows, Ha-Roo promises to change the story before catching Kyung off guard and asking if he likes Dan-O. He pauses, enough time for Ha-Roo to admit he has feelings for Dan-O. As things appear to stop, the black hole returns to the library, this time with a flashback to the Joseon time period. Here, we see a long-haired Kyung holding Ha-Roo up at sword-point. As Ha-Roo walks away, Kyung calls after him and tells him he’s in love with Dan-O. What does this mean?

There’s plenty of ambiguity with this one as the episode bows out on another cliffhanger, and the more the story progresses, the more I feel like time travel is going to play a part in proceedings. Between the two different time periods and Ha-Roo’s scar that seems to be much more healed earlier on compared to now, all of this points to something bigger behind the scenes. Of course, I could be way off here but for me, that’s what this is hinting at.

Still, with good characterisation and a surprising amount of charm throughout, Extraordinary You leaves things wide open for tomorrow’s episode which looks set to be another explosive one!