No Gain No Love – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2

Episode 2 of No Gain No Love starts with a flashback to eight years ago. A young Ji-uk visits his grandmother at a nursing home. She is a foul-mouthed old woman who seems to be dying because of her love for cigarettes. As they talk, she tells him to marry a decent and modest girl.

Back to the present. A drunk Hae-yeong asks Ji-uk to be her groom. She passes it off as a joke but he rejects her anyway. Flashbacks show that Ji-uk witnessed her arguments with her exes, the one who used all her food/supplies as well as the one who wasn’t generous enough in bed.

At work, Yi-lin messages Hae-yeong, asking for a word. On her way to see her, Hae-yeong’s other colleague reveals that Yi-lin and Gyu-heon’s mothers were very close friends. So, she’s quite close to him and his family. Meanwhile, Gyu-heon continues to stop Ha-jun from transferring departments, because he was the only man who applied to be secretary and his mother doesn’t let him hire women.

Hae-yeong meets with Yi-lin, who has called Woo-jae as well. She says that both of their proposals for the competition are almost identical. A flashback shows Hae-yeong telling Woo-jae an idea about a video game that could teach math concepts.

After Yi-lin leaves, Hae-yeong tells Woo-jae to drop the idea or she’ll reveal everything about them. He blackmails her in return, saying he’ll make sure the scandal paints her as the villain. In retaliation, she suddenly says she will win the contest because she’s getting married in a month.

When Hae-yeong finally realises she will need a groom to get married, she goes to the grocery store again and asks Ji-uk to be her husband. A fake one, just to walk down the aisle. Of course, he refuses.

Back home, Hae-yeong sorts through all the weddings her mother attended and plans to invite all those people in order to get monetary returns. Hui-seong gets angry and says she can’t use their mother like this. Hae-yeong claims that she’s her real mother, which makes Hui-seong storm out. Ja-yeon tries to go bring her back in but Hui-seong says that Hae-yeong has never considered them real family.

A flashback shows Hae-yeong’s mother bringing Ja-yeon home when Hae-yeong sees them. She argues that her mother has never shown interest in her. Ja-yeon still remembers her disappointment. On her way home, Hui-seong looks at the picture of a man named Producer Yun on her phone. Elsewhere, he seems to be having an affair with another woman.

In the morning, Ji-uk gets into a verbal argument with a man in a black suit. Around the same time,  Hae-yeong goes to look at wedding venues and caterers and happens to leave her phone behind at a shop.

Hui-seong, who works as a voice actor, is at work in a recording studio with Producer Yun. She later sees the other woman’s earring but deliberately ignores it. She then gets a call from an unknown number.

Ultimately, Hae-yeong realises she left her phone and rushes back to get it. She sees that there is an emergency message from the nursing home. Her mom is having violent fits. Hae-yeong rushes there and sees Hui-seong holding her mother back as she has a fit.

When their mother is finally asleep again, Hae-yeong tells Hui-seong that this was all a surprise to her as well. One day out of the blue, her mother called Hae-yeong and told her she had dementia but not to worry. She had already put herself in a nursing home. It’s been a year now. Hae-yeong gave Hui-seong’s number as a backup since she’s also her daughter. Both of them then apologise and make up to each other.

Hui-seong advises Hae-yeong not to go through with the wedding again but Hae-yeong believes that she’s too un-loveable to find a real love match. She also wants her mother to see her get married before her mind is too far gone.

Hui-seong relates this conversation to Ja-yeon later as they walk down the street, where Ji-uk happens to overhear them. The man in the black suit comes to Ji-uk’s store and Ji-uk sees Hae-yeong’s advertisement for a husband on his phone. He drops and smashes the phone on purpose but also gets a punch in the face in return.

In the morning, Ji-uk stops Hae-yeong as she’s on her way to work. It’s raining and he gets under her umbrella. He goes close to her and asks her if she feels anything. Hae-yeong stutters but says no. He then agrees to be her groom if she agrees to keep a stray cat in her home, the same one we’ve seen Ji-uk take care of outside the store. She’s not fond of cats but she agrees.

The next day, Hae-yeong heads out to buy her wedding dress. On her way, she stops by the grocery store and asks Ji-uk for his measurements. He ends up tagging along. She asks him why he hugged her the other day and he says he was testing whether she was allergic to cats. Hae-yeong thought it was a chemistry test but Ji-uk is confident that he could never feel anything for her apart from dislike.

At the dress shop, Hae-yeong tries on a ridiculously elaborate dress. When Ji-uk asks why, she says she doesn’t want people to remember him as it could be bad for his bright future. Elsewhere, Ja-yeon meets Gyu-heon’s mother, who is a huge fan of her novels. She praises Ja-yeon’s work. When Gyu-heon and Ha-jun enter the same hotel, both women hide.

Suddenly, while Ji-uk is changing into a tuxedo, Woo-jae and Yi-lin walk into the store. Hae-yeong doesn’t want them to see Ji-uk but he steps out — and to her surprise — looks absolutely stunning in the black tuxedo.

An epilogue of No Gain No Love Episode 2 shows the three girlfriends discussing the wedding. Hui-seong says she should have at least chosen an attractive groom. But Hae-yeong says she can’t have someone good-looking because he’ll be remembered and she wants someone average and forgettable. Well, well, well….

The Episode Review

No Gain No Love Episode 2 takes the fun of the pilot a notch higher. Hae-yeong has launched her plan into motion. From watching her try and win Ji-uk’s favour to the end ‘reveal’ of Ji-uk’s attractiveness, it’s all incredibly amusing. And the cherry on top is the fact that Ji-uk seems to genuinely care about her. There’s also something satisfying about watching Hae-yeong’s calculating nature be paired with someone who gives and gives and gives.

With Hae-yeong’s mother in the nursing home, the foster sibling dynamic, and the two additional love stories, I do feel like No Gain No Love may have taken too much on. While the ensemble of characters and plotlines gives Episode 2 a fast-paced, energetic feel, it might become too much later on. And the crowning jewel is obviously the central romance between Hae-yeong and Ji-uk. The combination of the enemies-to-lovers and the fake marriage trope is going to be delicious.