Heartbeat – K-Drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Something Special About In-Hae

Episode 2 of Heartbeat begins with In-hae retaliating by biting Woo-hyeol back. He falls down and passes out. She checks his pulse and heartbeat and panics.

At the hospital, a doctor tries to use CPR on Woo-hyeol. They declare him dead. He wakes up to the smell of blood from the patient on the bed next to him and then remembers he’s still a vampire. To the doctor and In-hae’s shock, he gets up and seems totally fine. He then watches In-hae pay the medical bill with some fascination.

On the way home, Woo-hyeol insists on going to his house but In-hae protests. He tries to explain his contract with her ancestor but she doesn’t believe him. She ultimately takes off in a cab. He wanders around the streets, musing about how much the world has changed. He figures that he is now somewhere in between a human and a vampire.

Meanwhile, Dong-seop and Sang-hae are at the mansion armed with cakes and party hats. They are shocked to see the open coffin and Dong-seop gets worried about Woo-hyeol. Incredibly hungry by this point, Woo-hyeol is enticed by the smell from a blood donation centre. He tries and fails to get a cab and then begins to follow a cat he believes is Ko Yang-nam.

In-hae goes back to her old house and packs some belongings.

After following the cat for a while Woo-hyeol finally realises it is just a cat. He vents out his frustration at In-hae and two women nearby think he’s yelling at the cat. He tries asking them for help. They can’t find the Shaded Oasis on the internet but they are able to locate the Osio tailor shop. Woo-hyeol heads over there and enthusiastically greets the owner who looks a lot like his ancestor. Now that he has his bearing, he finds his way home.

He’s filled with nostalgia while walking through the rooms. He then changes his suit and decides to spend one more day in the coffin to make things right. But when he goes there, he finds black spots all over the coffin as if it’s burning.

He comes back out to the living room just as In-hae returns. The misunderstanding about the house resurfaces. Woo-hyeol explains the situation again and rants about how hard those 100 years inside the coffin were – describing issues with his back, insects and even ghosts. When In-hae still doesn’t believe him, Woo-hyeol tries bringing his fangs out but it doesn’t work.

He also can’t fly or lift heavy objects or make things float. He tries hypnotising her as well but gets distracted by his own reflection in her eyes. When he tries getting closer, she pushes him back and kicks him out of the house. He sits down outside the house, dejected.

In-hae explores the mansion and sets herself up in one of the bedrooms. Starving, she goes out to a store and gets instant ramen for herself. From there she sees Woo-hyeol looking around trash bags (he’s actually looking for the cat). He spots her and hungrily stares at the ramen instead.

Having gotten a free packet, In-hae gives her ramen to Woo-hyeol. He loves it so much he slurps it all down. He even applauds the ramen’s smell and taste and In-hae realises he seems drunk. He even thinks she’s Hae-sun at some point. He remembers the time when Hae-sun had brought him to a run-down house. It would be their secret hideout.

The shopkeeper ultimately wakes up a passed-out Woo-hyeol and sends him on his way. He sees a cat again and this time it really does turn out to be Ko Yang-man. Yang-man immediately realises that Woo-hyeol is neither vampire nor human.

They sit down and chat and Yang-man explains that without the owner, the coffin loses its power and becomes charcoal. When Woo-hyeol reveals it was a human female who opened the coffin, Yang-man is shocked as it can’t be opened that easily.

The next morning, In-hae wakes up to a shocking call. She goes to her old apartment to find workers ready to demolish the place. She tries to stop them since she needs to get her things but they begin throwing her belongings out the window instead. Do-sik arrives just then and reprimands his workers for doing so. He goes up to her and the two recognise each other.

They had met back in college when Do-sik’s bike nearly ran over In-hae. He seems enamoured by her as she bandages his hand. At present, they chat in a coffee shop. Do-sik apologises for his workers’ behaviour. He tries to help but she refuses it and agrees to move her things out by the end of the week. Before leaving, he hands her his business card. In the car, Do-sik asks his driver to look into the housing fraud.

Woo-hyeol goes up to his house to find the door locked. He then recalls what Yang-man said about humans not being able to open the coffin. So, In-hae mustn’t be an ordinary human. He’s then interrupted by a woman from the neighbourhood. He claims that he’s the owner and she seems suspicious. He explains that he’s given the key to someone else.

On her way home, In-hae sees the fraudster who stole her money. This time, he’s pretending to collect donations. She calls him out and begins to chase him. When she nearly runs into a car on the street, the bite mark on Woo-hyeol’s neck flashes in pain. He runs out to find her.

In-hae loses track of the man but keeps searching. Woo-hyeol pulls out a small vial of blood. It was given to him by Yang-man who also cautioned him about In-hae and told him to protect her and keep her by his side. Woo-hyeol drinks the blood from the bottle and feels his powers return. He flies to the top of a building and uses his senses to locate her.

In-hae comes across the man and gives chase again. The man corners her and is about to attack with a metal rod when Woo-hyeol shows up. He bends the metal rod easily and heals when the man attacks with a knife. After knocking him down, Woo-hyeol turns to In-hae, who finally believes that he’s a vampire.

The Episode Review

For all the chaos of the previous episode, episode 2 of Heartbeat starts out fairly slow. Despite that, it is nice to see the way Woo-hyeol deals with the changes in the world. The latter half of the episode does pick up speed, as well as excitement.

The arrival of Yang-man is a refreshing change as it brought Woo-hyeol a familiar face while also providing us with some answers. As well as more questions. Which is a great way to take the story forward.

Taec-yeon continues to be an ace at humour. The fantasy stuff is getting bigger and deeper which is great. Overall, the story is finding its footing and I can’t wait to see what’s next.