Not Others – K-drama Episode 8 Recap & Review

Unless I’m Crazy

Episode 8 of Not Others starts with a flashback from when Jin-hee was a teenager. She notices how her mother only talks about the men in her life. Back then, Jin-hee had wondered if this was a normal conversation for a family. Back to the present day, Eun-mi struggles to escape the man with the baseball cap and finally manages to alert the patrolling cops to help catch the stalker.

Jin-hee rushes to the police station and spots the guy being taken into custody and charges him for following his mother around and harassing her family. Jae-won shows up in time and tries to calm Jin-hee down. Jin-hong checks on Eun-mi but Jin-hee yells at him for not protecting Eun-mi as he promised.

Eun-mi yells at Jin-hee, asking her to cool off when Mi-jung shows up, concerned for her friend. Mi-jung blames herself for leaving Eun-mi in danger while Jin-hee leaves the room to catch some air. The next morning, Eun-mi wakes up to Jin-hee tending to her mother’s wounds in a not-so-gentle way. She leaves for work despite Eun-mi’s request for her to stay back.

On her way out, Jin-hong tries to talk to Jin-hee but she ignores him. Jae-won spots Jin-hee walking to work and asks her about Eun-mi before riding off to work on his bicycle. Later that day, Jin-hong drops Eun-mi off to work reluctantly and wonders if he could tell Dr Park about their relationship.

Eun-mi is against the idea and the couple bid each other farewell as Eun-mi gets to work. She treats her colleagues to snacks and visits Dr Park in his cabin to hand him some snacks. Dr Park misunderstands Eun-mi’s gift and assumes that she was trying to go out with him. Eun-mi takes back the gift bag and goes out without saying a word in clarification.

Meanwhile, the cops at the station decided to celebrate the case closing by going out for dinner. However, Jin-hee gets an angry call from her superior after he sees a video of her attacking the stalker. The section chief then invites Jin-hee to a headquarters for a get-together with the seniors but Jin-hee declines the invite to attend her team dinner with her coworkers.

Jin-hee is forced to show up at the get-together for a while where the group discusses Jae-won’s past. Jin-hee learns that Jae-won had a bad reputation among his seniors because of his attitude. Tae-kyung excuses herself from the dinner and takes Jin-hee outside along. Jin-hee joins her teammates at the karaoke bar and is disheartened to learn that Jae-won had skipped the outing.

Meanwhile, Eun-mi takes Jin-hong out to dinner with Mi-jung in order to introduce him as her boyfriend. Mi-jung reprimands him for running away and leaving a pregnant Eun-mi stranded, 30 years ago and wonders if he would do the same again. Jin-hong claims that he hasn’t been in touch with his family for a decade which leaves Eun-mi shocked. Later that night, Jin-hee is drunk out of her mind when she shows up outside Jae-won’s house.

Inside his house, Jin-hee talks to him and makes herself comfortable, touching his face and calling him handsome during their conversation. Jin-hee tells Jae-won that she was worried but dozes off on his couch a short while after. Meanwhile, Eun-mi wakes up later that night and notices that Jin-hee was not home.

The next morning, Jin-hee wakes up in Jae-won’s house and goes to take a shower before leaving for work. At the police station, the cops learn that the stalker had confessed to murdering the woman. However, Jin-hee and Jae-won are both apprehensive about the news.

On the patrolling round, Jin-hee looks at the CCTV footage from Eun-mi’s scuffle with the stalker and tries to make sense of the incident. Soon-chul and Jin-hee notice a group of high school girls beating another teenager from their class. Jin-hee checks on the girl and finds her to be Ga-eul who was being bullied because she’s pregnant. Jin-hee asks the girl to reach out if she needshelp but Ga-eul refuses.

That evening, Eun-mi is at Jin-hong’s house and wonders if he’s lying to her about not being married or having any kids. She goes back home with some of the home-cooked food from his fridge. Later that night, Ga-eul shows up outside Jin-hee’s police station asking to borrow money from the cop as she has nowhere to stay. Jin-hee takes her home where Eun-mi senses that Ga-eul is pregnant by estimating her cravings.

As the trio eat, Eun-mi claims that being pregnant and giving birth to a child are both extremely difficult. Ga-eul wonders why Eun-mi would go through so much if she regretted giving birth to Jin-hee. The mother claims that it eventually was worth it because Jin-hee made her happy in the longer run, which makes Jin-hee emotional.

Eun-mi admits that she had to do it all alone but Ga-eul counters that her boyfriend is going to co-parent the baby with her. That night, Jin-hee curls up to Eun-mi after hearing Ga-eul cry herself to sleep from her bedroom. The next morning, Jin-hee and Eun-mi wake up to see that Ga-eul has already left.

The mother-daughter duo go off to work but Jin-hee asks Eun-mi a few questions about the stalker. Eun-mi refuses to answer the questions and waits outside to join Jin-hong. Jin-hee ignores Jin-hong and leaves without greeting him. Eun-mi yells at Jin-hee for treating him badly but Jin-hee claims that she was embarrassed for yelling at him without calmly thinking things through.

At the clinic, the staff discuss the fact that the building has been purchased by a grumpy new owner. As it turns out, the owner is none other than Mi-jung. Mi-jung gets her bones checked by Dr Park and has an argument with him because he’s the one who spread the rumour about the new owner being miserable.

Later that day, Jin-hong meets Jin-hee outside the police station and talks to her about the incident. He admits that he understands and forgives her for how she reacted. Jin-hong calls to tell Eun-mi about his talk with Jin-hee when she asks him to bring her and Mi-jung some ice cream.

Mi-jung teases her friend for being corny while Eun-mi tells Jin-hong that he needs to be good to her. That night, Jae-won’s senior walks him back home and mocks him for not moving on in life by starting a family of his own. He asks Jae-won to stick around and refrain from resigning.

Jin-hee overhears the conversation and joins Jae-won for drinks at his house. The two cops talk about the reason why they decided to be cops. Jin-hee narrates the story of her argument with Eun-mi as a teenager and how she has reprimanded her mother for chasing men.

Jin-hee admits that it was then that she decided to give her mother a carefree life and protect her by being a cop. Jae-won is touched by Jin-hee’s story but refuses to share his own. Jin-hee tells him that he was the idol of their Police University batch and that Jae-won should stop disappointing people that have been rooting for him for so many years. As a result, Jin-hee spends another night sleeping on Jae-won’s couch.

The next morning, Eun-mi is upset when she tells Jin-hong that Jin-hee stayed outside the entire night. Jin-hong reveals that Jin-hee was upset because Eun-mi had called him to the police station instead of her daughter on the night the stalker was arrested.

Eun-mi admits that she did not want her daughter to be in danger with the stalker roaming about in the police station. She wonders if Jin-hong is hurt by the fact that she’s okay with putting him in danger instead of Jin-hee. Jin-hong claims that what Eun-mi had done was indeed right. He asks Eun-mi to always call him when she needed help instead of putting Jin-hee in danger.

Eun-mi is overwhelmed by emotion and starts making out with Jin-hong on the couch. Jin-hee walks out of her room leaving for work and ignores her mother as she makes out with Jin-hong. Eun-mi yells at Jin-hee for staying out all night but asks to go back to making out with an embarrassed Jin-hong.

That afternoon, Jin-hee gets a call from Tae-kyung claiming that the stalker has taken back his confession and is claiming that he’s not responsible for the murder. Jin-hee is worried that the real culprit is still on the loose. Meanwhile, Jae-won goes to the prison to talk to someone. 

At the same time, Jin-hong goes back to his apartment and finds Eun-mi fighting with his sister as the episode comes to an end.

The Episode Review

It is very unclear who the real culprit could be but now with Jin-hee worried about the height of the stalker not matching the guy who was arrested, I am worried about Jin-hong could be the culprit. However, there is a chance that the internet cafe guy is behind all this because he is suspiciously present in every episode without much cause but to complain about the street light.

I love the relationship between Jin-hee and Jae-won. Now that Eun-mi has found her happily ever after, I want the show to focus more on Jin-hee and Jae-won because they have so much sexual tension between them but it is not going anywhere substantial.

From the looks of it, Eun-mi is going to have a crazy fight with Jin-hong’s sister and the incident has every right to be chaotic. Eun-mi and Jin-hee taking Ga-eul in was every bit endearing but it seems like Eun-mi has a hard time showing that Jin-hee was not a burden to her.

Eun-mi’s conversation about Jin-hee’s birth and how she single-handedly raised her does not sit well with me because Jin-hee had no control over the fact and it was solely Eun-mi’s decision to birth and raise a child on her own. Still, the ending leaves everything wide open for the next episode!