Love Next Door – K-drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

Go Back

Episode 5 of ‘Love Next Door’ begins with a flashback of Seung-hyo arriving in the US and Seok-ryu sneaking him into her room since they’re both broke students. In the morning, Seung-hyo accidentally sees a message on Seok-ryu’s phone, revealing that she is dating a Korean-American man named Brian. Seung-hyo, who had liked Seok-ryu for a long time, feels dejected by the news.

The scene shifts to the present, with Seok-ryu and Seung-hyo returning to Seung-hyo’s house with ingredients for cooking, as Seok-ryu insists on celebrating the good news about the Greip deal with home-cooked nutritious food. However, she slips, and Seung-hyo catches her in a princess style.

Later, Seung-hyo is surprised that Seok-ryu’s food is unexpectedly delicious. Mo-eun joins them, and as Seung-hyo leaves to buy drinks, Seok-ryu shows her pre-wedding pictures to Mo-eun, confessing that she still loves her former fiancé. Seung-hyo overhears this conversation.

The next day, Seok-ryu, Seung-hyo’s mother, and their friends visit a Buddhist temple and pray for their children. It’s revealed that there was an incident between Seung-hyo and his mother in the past, and she wishes for their relationship to improve.

Meanwhile, Seung-hyo is cranky after overhearing the conversation between Seok-ryu and Mo-eun. So, when Myung-u asks Seok-ryu to help with the Greip project, Seung-hyo declines, later worrying about Seok-ryu and scolding her to find her dream, as she had promised. Elsewhere, Mo-eun helps Dan-ho find a four-leaf clover for a certain lady.

While Seok-ryu is in Seung-hyo’s office, his former girlfriend, Jang Tae-hue, arrives. She’s an onggi (traditional Korean earthenware) artist. She wants Seung-hyo to look at her designs for her collaboration with a global firm, inviting everyone to her workshop.

In the meantime, through Seok-ryu, we learn that Seung-hyo and Tae-hue had a “passionate” relationship while in college, and Seok-ryu once caught them kissing in a car while she was visiting her family in Korea.

Later, Seung-hyo and Seok-ryu’s father drink together, and they decide that Seung-hyo can stay in Seok-ryu’s brother Dong-jin’s room.

However, Seok-ryu is oblivious to this arrangement and ends up violently trying to wake Seung-hyo, leading to Dong-jin finding the two friends in a compromising position. Seung-hyo later stubs his toe, resulting in a hospital visit. Thankfully, it’s nothing serious, but he ends up with a leg cast for a week.

Since he’s injured, Seok-ryu drives him to Tae-hue’s workshop. As the others are to arrive late, we find out that Tae-hue’s father is a doenjang (soybean paste) master, so she oversees his business and uses her onggi to store the paste. They help neighbourhood women make soybean paste.

Tae-hue later reveals that she wanted to see Seung-hyo, and it becomes clear that she’s still interested in him, even though she was the one who broke up with him for another man. Seok-ryu sees them together and feels awkward.

Luckily, Myung-u and the others also arrive and help with the soybean paste and soy sauce-making process. Unfortunately, while carrying a huge onggi, Seok-ryu trips and falls, breaking the pot and spilling the paste on the dirt. Seung-hyo sees her and scolds her in front of Tae-hue.

Meanwhile, Mo-eun receives an emergency call from the little girl she met in the park. Her name is Yeon-du, and she’s promptly taken to the hospital. It turns out she is Dan-ho’s daughter, with Dan-ho frantically arriving at the hospital after hearing about the case. Mo-eun scolds him for leaving a 5-year-old child alone at home, only to be scolded by Yeon-du, who tells Mo-eun she will ignore her now that she’s scolded her father.

Back at the workshop, after changing her clothes, Seok-ryu makes noodles for everyone with the remaining soybean paste, and they’re surprised that her dishes taste so good. The entire time, Seung-hyo is missing. Tae-hue finds him and talks about how his love for her was lacklustre, emphasizing that she noticed him looking at Seok-ryu and realized he likes her.

Later that night, Seok-ryu finds that Seung-hyo has washed her clothes. She then looks for the 100-year-old soy sauce kept in the pot, and Seung-hyo finds her. Seok-ryu finds the pot and realizes that her dream is to cook, while Seung-hyo realizes that he still likes Seok-ryu.

The Episode Review

It’s lovely to watch how thoughtful and sensitive ‘Love Next Door’ is in every episode. The structure of the show starts with the theme of the episode title, “Go Back,” which resonates with Seok-ryu’s mother’s desire for her to “go back to her original state,” and Seung-hyo’s mother’s wish to go back to the relationship with her son before a certain incident led to their drifting apart.

At the same time, Seok-ryu remembers her former fiancé and expresses her residual feelings for him, while Seung-hyo tries not to go back to the days when he had feelings for Seok-ryu.

But by the end of the episode, when the show hints at how the relationship between the two friends might be changing, the title shifts from “Go Back” to “Go Back to You,” as Seung-hyo finally accepts his feelings and realizes that he still likes Seok-ryu.

Overall, the episode is touching, with Seok-ryu realizing her passion for cooking. There are little memorable moments in the show, like Seok-ryu mentioning Jung Hae-in’s work ‘Something in the Rain’, and their bickering revolving around such moments. ‘Crash Landing On You’ star Seo Ji-hye’s surprise cameo is another cherry on top.