No Gain No Love – K-drama Episode 11 Recap & Review

Episode 11

Episode 11 of No Gain No Love starts with a flashback. A young Ji-uk is welcomed into Eun-ok’s home but she makes him promise to never tell Hae-yeong that he’s staying here.

Back in the present, Ji-uk admits everything. Hae-yeong is naturally furious and blames her mother for her father’s death. She says that despite everything that happened, her mother didn’t regret it and took in Ji-uk.

She storms out of the house and Ji-uk isn’t able to understand the connection with her father. Ja-yeon, who heard everything, says that Hae-yeong will come to appreciate that her mother wasn’t alone during those years.

Hae-yeong gets in a cab to go to the nursing home but then changes her mind, considering her mother’s current state. Meanwhile, Ha-jun goes to his high school reunion and mentions Ja-yeon. Someone remembers what happened — Ja-yeon’s father went crazy looking for his wife and ended up killing someone in the foster house.

A flashback to six years ago shows Eun-ok having a tearful reunion with Ja-yeon. Eun-ok apologises for calling her and blaming her for Hae-yeong’s father’s death. She assures Ja-yeon it isn’t her fault. Eun-ok then tells Ja-yeon that she’s sick and will forget the bad memories soon. She also says that Hae-yeong doesn’t know that her father was killed by Ja-yeon’s father.

This is why Ja-yeon is able to reconnect with Hae-yeong and live with her. But she remains afraid that Hae-yeong will find out and hate her for it. At present, Hae-yeong comes home and Ja-yeon apologises but doesn’t explain why.

Ji-uk later goes to the office to look for Hae-yeong but hears that she has taken the day off. Elsewhere, Gyu-hyun is upset because Ja-yeon isn’t picking up his call and complains about it to Ha-jun. They bump into Ji-uk who hasn’t been able to reach Hae-yeong either. As they talk, Ha-jun tells Ji-uk what he heard at the reunion.

The men then come up with a plan for Gyu-hyun to call Hae-yeong and find out where she is. She says she’s in a town that sells walnut cookies, which helps Ji-uk figure out her location.

Back home, Hui-seong meets Ja-yeon and says she has to back out of her audio drama project. She’s keeping the baby with Tae-hyeong. Ja-yeon promises to support her through it all. Ja-yeon then gets a call from Ha-jun.

At the recording studio, Tae-hyeong is faced with an angry Min-ji, his other girlfriend who he recently broke up with. She tells him that once Hui-seong’s child is born, he won’t be so calm about not knowing the biological father.

Ji-uk finds Hae-yeong in her mother’s old house in a small town, the one she grew up in. She moved here in the last few years because she thought it would slow down her aging. Ji-uk tells Hae-yeong all about it and then shows her a video of Eun-ok remembering Hae-yeong at the nursing home.

Hui-seong and Tae-hyeong go to the hospital for a sonography but Tae-hyeong recalls Min-ji’s words. Hui-seong notices and later asks him if he regrets his decision. He admits that he did so, just for a second. But that’s enough for Hui-seong to walk away.

Hae-yeong and Ji-uk talk more about her mother and Ji-uk tells her they actually met before. On her father’s first death anniversary, Hae-yeong wanted a light for her smoke and Ji-uk gave her one. He also admits he disappeared after their wedding because he had already fallen for Hae-yeong but couldn’t break his promise to Eun-ok. Hae-yeong is disappointed and says they should leave.

At home, Chang-il breaks into the house. Ja-yeon is terrified but runs upstairs and locks herself inside her room. Hae-yeong realises something is wrong when Ja-yeon doesn’t pick up her phone. She tells Ji-uk that the man who killed her father is out of prison. Since they’re further away, they call Gyu-hyun for help.

Back home, Chang-il attacks Ja-yeon and demands she tell him where her mother is. When she refuses, he begins to choke her but Gyu-hyun arrives just in time to save her. He knocks Chang-il out and calls the police.

Hae-yeong arrives and wraps Ja-yeon up in a hug. The police drag Chang-il out and Hae-yeong hits him, giving him a piece of her mind. Ja-yeon realises that Hae-yeong always knew her father’s real identity. Back when Ja-yeon approached Hae-yeong, she realised what Ja-yeon had been going through. She decided she didn’t want to lose her like she did her father.

Ja-yeon and Gyu-hyun are taken to the hospital and she thanks him for saving her. Despite knowing about her past, Gyu-hyun claims to still like her, which moves Ja-yeon and the two kiss.

Later at night, Hae-yeong gets a call from the nursing home and learns that her mother passed away. She speaks about it offhandedly at first but Ji-uk makes her pause and feel her feelings and she finally breaks down at the end of No Gain No Love Episode 11.

The Episode Review

No Gain No Love Episode 11 tackles the big reveal of Ji-uk being a foster kid and Hae-yeong coming to terms with that. Their relationship trajectory is handled fairly well, although I wish they spent more time on it. We did see Ji-uk explaining his point of view and got a nice moment when he showed Hae-yeong the video of her mother remembering her. But I was hoping to hear more of Hae-yeong’s point of view and learn how she gets over it.

But this is the point in the show where most K-dramas begin to falter in trying to wrap everything up. So, the focus moves from character exploration to plot and the big bad villain with zero backstory or depth gets more screen time. While Ja-yeon’s trauma is a crucial part of her story, I’m not sure we really needed to have Man Chang-il get out of prison and attack her.

Other scenes like Gyu-hyun and Ji-uk being unable to get in touch with their girlfriends as well as the punchline about the sex toys prove that the show’s comedic chops are better and deserve more of the limelight.