Motel California – K-drama Episode 8 Recap & Review

Episode 8

Episode 8 of Motel California begins with Kang-hee leaning in to kiss Yeon-soo but he pushes her away, re-establishing their friendship. They decide to drink to her new house. Kang-hee goes to buy drinks and considers getting a condom. When Yeon-soo calls her to buy a lightbulb for the house, she mistakenly assumes he’s talking about a condom.

She realises the truth when she returns. He then goes out to actually buy the light bulb — this time considering a condom himself. He returns with a flashlight and reminds her of the night she asked him to sleep with her, mirroring those memories again. Yeon-soo inwardly reminds himself they are just friends.

After some time, Yeon-soo is drunk and pulls her close. He asks her if she’s really changed and is about to kiss her when she runs off to the bathroom. She sprays some perfume on herself but by the time she comes out, Yeon-soo has passed out on the floor. She tries to wake him up but fails. Instead, she kisses him on the forehead. An hour later, Yeon-soo wakes up and sees Kang-hee sleeping on the floor. He carries her to her bed and tucks her in.

In the morning, Kang-hee finds him sleeping on the sofa under his jacket. When he wakes up, he berates himself for not holding back the previous night. They leave her house and bump into Seok-kyung, who lives next to her. Seok-kyung then meets Esther and complains about how he’s feeling jealous of Kang-hee and Yeon-soo.

Kang-hee and Yeon-soo have a meal and she then gets on a bus to Hana-eup. But at the last minute, Yeon-soo pulls her off. He says he wants to spend one day in Seoul, the way it would have been if he had gone to Seoul with her all those years ago.

In Hana-eup, Soon-ja gets a text from Yeon-soo who says he can’t make it to the performance. She runs off to see Nan-woo, who has just received the same message from Yeon-soo. Soon-ja realises Yeon-soo and Kang-hee are together in Seoul, which does not bode well for them.

Meanwhile, Kang-hee and Yeon-soo go around the city. She shows him her goshiwon and they share a moment on the bed. They then head to an arcade where Yeon-soo beats her at all the games. The mood is ruined when Soon-ja calls Kang-hee from Ah-reum’s phone. Kang-hee picks up and gets an earful from Soon-ja.

Reality sets in for Kang-hee, who tells Yeon-soo that no matter what they feel, they can’t change their parents. They take the bus home and find Soon-ja waiting for them to disembark. She accuses Kang-hee of taking her son away from her and Yeon-soo holds her back as Kang-hee heads home. The three other friends are speculating at the motel when Kang-hee arrives and admits that Yeon-soo did sleep in her house. Although, as a friend.

The next day, Yeon-soo admits to Nan-woo that it was his mother who sent the flowers and tickets. Nan-woo then says they should tell the others they’ve broken up but Yeon-soo is worried about all the blame falling on Kang-hee. Nan-woo doesn’t seem too happy about this.  

Elsewhere, Soon-ja complains to Chun-pil about the young couple and how they couldn’t possibly be together. We learn that Soon-ja’s husband had an affair with Chun-pil’s wife and not long after that, they both died. As Soon-ja keeps criticising Kang-hee for stealing Yeon-soo away, Chun-pil finally loses his calm demeanour. He yells at Soon-ja for only thinking about herself and not the kids.

The next thing we see is Yeon-soo rushing to the hospital where Soon-ja pretends to be sick. He asks her if she’s the one who lodged a complaint against the construction and she admits that she is one of the people who did. She reveals that she dislikes Kang-hee so much because her mother seduced Yeon-soo’s father and led him to his death. Bits of flashbacks show a car accident where Yeon-soo’s father and Kang-hee’s mother passed away.

The rumours around Kang-hee two-timing Seok-kyung and Yeon-soo keep growing. Chun-pil takes a walk with Kang-hee and tries to offer some comfort. He tells her not to worry about what others are saying. He then tells her he’s going travelling for a bit.

Seok-kyung arrives at the construction site where a worker tells them the construction has been suspended because of a number of complaints. The worker even blames Kang-hee for everything. Seok-kyung meets her at a cafe where she says the complaints will stop once she leaves for Seoul. He dismisses that statement and later asks Heon-yeol and the other gossipers in the cafe about the rumours.

Kang-hee goes to the motel, where Soon-ja is waiting for her. She confronts Kang-hee about being like her mother and stealing men away. Kang-hee unabashedly says that she is. Yeon-soo arrives and Soon-ja asks him to choose between her and Kang-hee. He deflects and takes her away, pushing her to go back to the hospital.

Seok-kyung then finds Kang-hee sitting on a bench. Now that he knows everything about her past, he reveals his own. He describes how there was a rumour that he was gay and he used another, more scandalous rumour to cover that one up. He tells Kang-hee that she needs a rumour like that.

Yeon-soo then takes his mother out for lunch. He admits that he had spent time with his father, Kang-hee’s mother, and Kang-hee — he was part of his father’s affair and lied to his mother many times. He did so because he preferred Kang-hee’s mother to Soon-ja. When he grew up, he felt guilty about it all which is why he dealt with Soon-ja’s many husbands and antics. He says he now wants to be independent of her. He also says he doesn’t want to be just friends with Kang-hee anymore.

We then see Yeon-soo running towards Kang-hee. He grabs her hand and takes her to an empty street where he passionately kisses her and then asks her to go out with him at the end of Motel California Episode 8.


The Episode Review

Motel California Episode 8 gets things moving a little more. Soon-ja becomes quite the antagonist here and with so much screen time given to her, it’s not pleasant. Perhaps this was intentional, but her whining and hand-wringing grates on the nerves. Of course, this makes the final scene of Yeon-soo claiming his independence from her all that much more affecting.

On the back of Chun-pil’s descriptions of Soon-ja’s bad parenting, it’s great to watch Yeon-soo stand up to her. It also explains his calm manner of dealing with her irrational and problem-causing behaviour.

On the other hand, her character has always been portrayed as unreasonable, absurd, and a little foolish. In light of the nuance given to Kang-hee, Yeon-soo and Chun-pil, I do hope the series offers some to Soon-ja as well, since that would only make her more believable.

Meanwhile, Kang-hee and Yeon-soo’s day in Seoul offers a gentle break away from the small-town dynamics. It’s also nice to see them get this much time alone where it is proven that this “just friends” phase isn’t going to last long.

Of course, we can’t completely ignore the reveal of their respective parents having an affair together. It’s definitely out there and adds a bit of a weird element to Yeon-soo and Kang-hee’s relationship. Depending on how the series handles this, it could be something easy to brush past or it could be the thing that puts viewers off.

Previous Episode

Next Episode

Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!

  • Episode Rating
    (3)
3

Leave a comment