Imitation – K-Drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

Hiding The Truth

Episode 5 of Imitation begins with Ma-Ha arriving at the Rand Hotel. After her efforts, she’s got a luxury room courtesy of the film company.

In a rush to grab her gift bag though, it turns out she’s actually nabbed Ryeok’s. When she shows up at his door to give it back, he’s just got out the shower and ends up wrapped in a dressing gown. When the stalker fans show up outside, he grabs Ma-Ha and whisks her inside. Only, Dae-Gwon appears too and awkwardness ensues as they try to evade him.

Down in the lobby meanwhile, Byun Jung-Hee wants to talk to Ji-Hak about the past and his ties to Eun-Ji’s girlfriend. The chat is frosty, to say the least, as Ji-Hak eventually tells her to use her energy and resources to find Eun-Jo instead.

With the stalker fans lurking outside, Ryeok is forced to travel with Ma-Ha on his back as night turns to day and the pair charge up the hallways. She makes it just in time for her roll call which is at 6.30am. Ryeok meanwhile, hurries back himself.

The coach eventually pulls up and the pair hop aboard. It’s a long trip and Ryeok moves seats to be closer to Ma-Ha, after initially berating her for turning up late. Eventually they make it to their destination and have a good day of shooting.

Ryeok finds himself constantly thinking of Ma-Ha and chuckling though, which certainly confuses the other members of Shax. However, he doesn’t laugh around Ri-Ma, telling her that Ma-Ha is not a copycat.

Elsewhere, Ma-Ha sits with the rest of Tea Party as they discuss the upcoming events for the girls. Hyun-Ji in particular is given the opportunity to do a fashion magazine shoot. When she arrives, she finds Yoo-Jin there and news that he apparently berated Ryeok earlier in the day. Anyway, that evening Tea Party are invited out by Yoo-Jin.

Ryeok meanwhile finds himself conflicted over how he feels. Specifically, his emotions toward Ma-Ha. He finds himself constantly thinking of her, eventually turning to Do-Jin for help. Using cryptic language, he manages to convince Ryeok to head on social media and find her that way. Despite sending a message across, Ryeok is distracted by a lack of a reply.

As we soon find out, Ma-Ha believes it’s a fake number and deletes the text. Thinking little of it, the girls arrive for their evening with Yoo-Jin. It’s his first payment in 3 years and he wants to treat them. Only, Ma-Ha’s phone keeps ringing. It’s Ryeok. And Ma-Ha keeps hanging up. Eventually she figures out it’s Ryeok from a message about the gift pack. Instead of meeting up though, simply tells him to get it delivered.

Only, back at the studio he winds up reading the diary that’s inside the pack… although we don’t actually see what’s written. That evening Ryeok shows up at her house and begins charging up the stairs after her. Only…he leaves the gift pack in the car. As he sees her, a smile crosses his face.

The Episode Review

Imitation returns this week with a hilarious episode, one that leans in hard on the comedy for this hour of drama. While there’s less emphasis on the music and cutthroat nature of the industry this time, instead the show starts to deepen the ties between Ma-Ha and Ryeok.

Their interactions are brilliant and we’ve all been there with the text messaging too, impatiently waiting for a reply and then trying to play it cool not to seem too keen. It’s displayed really well here and seeing Ryeok smiling around Ma-Ha just reinforces how he feels.

However, the agonizing wait for one episode a week is really difficult and it’ll be interesting to see how the ratings are swayed by this over the weeks. Whether it just be because we’ve been spoilt with two episodes a week for so long in K-drama land or not, Imitation feels like it needs more than one episode to really hit its stride.

Either way, this week’s chapter bows out on a high, with the door wide open for where this may go next.