No Gain No Love – K-drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

The Wedding

Episode 3 of No Gain No Love begins with Ji-uk’s big reveal at the dress shop. Everyone, Hae-yeong included, are astounded to see how good Ji-uk looks in suits.  Yi-lin ends up hanging out till he chooses a suit.

When they ask how Hae-yeong and Ji-uk met, Ji-uk says they knew each other as kids. Later, Hae-yeong rants at Ji-uk, angry at him for being so good looking. As they argue, they are interrupted by a woman — a cameo from Kim Jung-eun, playing her role as Geum-ju from Strong Girl Nam-soon.

The two go to a café for Hae-yeong to cool off. Ji-uk explains that his grandmother didn’t want him to use his good looks to get ahead. Hae-yeong also ends up confessing that Woo-jae cheated on her for six months. She then asks Ji-uk how he remembered all the details about her friends and ex. He says she would talk about it loudly while at the store.

Meanwhile, Woo-jae can’t stop thinking about Hae-yeong and Ji-uk. Yi-lin happens to mention that Hae-yeong is exactly Woo-jae’s type.  Woo-jae dismisses it and says he’s never thought about it like that.

Inside their massive chaebol house, Gyu-hyun tries to change his mother’s mind about allowing unmarried women on his team. His mother refuses because of his father’s affairs. When Gyu-hyun gets to work, he comes across Hae-yeong handing out wedding gifts. They exchange pleasantries and he congratulates her. He later orders Ha-jun to go to her wedding in his place.

Hae-yeong enters a meeting room and finds that Yi-lin has told everyone that Ji-uk is handsome. The others ask her about the proposal and the ring and she manages to ward them off with vague answers. But she realises she needs a wedding video documenting their relationship and the proposal, as the trend is these days.

In the evening, Hae-yeong goes to the store and asks Ji-uk to take part in an elaborate proposal. He refuses to do so even when brings up the cat ‘Kitty’, who Ji-uk wanted her to care for. This all happens in front of two young students and is absolutely hilarious. Without Ji-uk’s support, Hae-yeong takes a selfie stick around and films herself. But Hui-seong and Ja-yeon reject it, saying that her eyes look dead.

Back in his tiny apartment, Ji-uk gets continuous texts from someone named Yu-kyung. This person calls and Ji-uk responds that he doesn’t want to “go there”, referring to some place overseas. He then says that he’s getting married.

Hae-yeong buys herself a wedding ring and rents one for Ji-uk. She then goes to the store when Ja-yeon asks her to pick up a package. When she gets there, someone locks her in and the lights go out. She follows a trail of fairy lights to find a message made out of jelly cups: “Marry Me”. A toy train comes by, offering a toy ring.

Ji-uk is standing behind her and reveals he bought a bunch of the jellies that Hae-yeong really likes, which are about to stop being produced. He asks Hae-yeong to marry her and she says yes.  

While setting the store back to normal, Ji-uk admits that someone he knows lives in Canada and wants him to move there. He’s using this marriage to stop them from contacting him for good. She sympathises but also tells him to make a better proposal when he’s doing it for real. He says he’s going to avoid women who wants designer bags and hotel rooms for a proposal, a.k.a women like Hae-yeong.

Later, Hui-seong and Ja-yeon are watching the tape of the proposal when they comment that Hae-yeong’s eyes look genuinely happy. Meanwhile, Gyu-hyun comes across his mother’s tab and the scandalously sexual web novels on it.

The wedding day arrives! Ja-yeon speaks loudly on the phone and makes sure everyone hears that the groom’s relatives are all overseas, which is why they aren’t here. Meanwhile, Hae-yeong decides to not use the waiting room and welcome the guests by the hall.

Instead, her mother uses the waiting room and greets all the foster kids who have now grown up and come to see her. Hui-seong and Ja-yeon tear up when they realise Hae-yeong meant for her mother to have this moment.

While waiting outside the hall door, Hae-yeong sees another bride with her father. She remembers her own dad comforting her when she was upset after seeing Ja-yeon. Her father promises that they will live as just the three of them for a while.

At present, Hae-yeong regrets something that happened with her father but we don’t learn much more about it. Ji-uk arrives and they walk inside, hand in hand. As they walk down the aisle, Hae-yeong wonders if her mother regrets her father’s death too.

Producer Yun, who was taking the wedding photos on Hui-seong’s request, comes out of the hall. Ja-yeon thinks they’re off to go on a date, but he says he has to go elsewhere.

Hui-seong takes Yun aside and it’s clear that both of them know about his affair with the other woman and that she’s hiding this from Ja-yeon. We also learn that they’ve been together for ten years! He kisses Hui-seong and heads off.

Ha-jun, as directed by Gyu-hyun, arrives to give Hae-yeong’s wedding gift. He meets Ja-yeon and recognises her as his old schoolmate. Ja-yeon blushes all over.

After the wedding is all over, Hae-yeong and Ji-uk are out on the street. Hae-yeong waits for a cab to take her to her company sponsored night at the hotel. Ji-uk is about to return the wedding ring.

Suddenly, Yi-lin drives by with Woo-jae and reveals that they are cashing in their company sponsored hotel getaway that very same night. Ji-uk wants to leave but Hae-yeong convinces him to come with her to the hotel. The couples end up being booked into adjacent rooms. Once again, Ji-uk wants to leave but Woo-jae steps out  of his room and forces the couple to hide in theirs.

An epilogue shows a scene from the wedding, when the groom must give the bride’s mother a hug. Ji-uk does so and Hae-yeong’s mother remembers him, calls him by name. He responds saying “it’s me”.

The Episode Review

Episode 3 of No Gain No Love is quite a blast actually! We see Hae-yeong and Ji-uk fully dive into the fake marriage idea but still argue and squabble over things. Hae-yeong filming herself was hilarious as was the scene where she begs Ji-uk to propose in front of the young students sitting outside his store. The eventual proposal was absolutely adorable and it also gave us some insight into Ji-uk’s personal life.

The episode is fast-paced, engaging and fun, with both Shin Min-a and Kim Young-dae doing a fabulous job of their frenemies energy. The chemistry between them highlights that they’ve known each other for a while and the actors smoothly switch things up from arguments and banter to soft moments of connection.

The show as a whole is playing into its sense of exaggeration and with those additional animations and comedic sound effects, it’s really living up to the name of entertainment.  

The twist at the end, while a little predictable considering all Ji-uk’s knowledge about Hae-yeong, is executed well. It’s a short and sweet reveal at the end which makes you want to know more.

With the mystery of Hae-yeong’s father’s death and her old connection with Ji-uk in the mix, I do feel like this show might be taking on a lot. But for now, it is a sharp dose of fun and humour, with a sprinkling of romance.