Strained Relationships
Episode 12 of Record Of Youth begins with Hye-Jun answering his phone to Ji-A. She confirms that she’s made a sacrifice for him. Hanging up, he instead speaks to Hae-Hyo about his meddling and getting Ji-A involved in this. Annoyed, he and Hae-Hyo start arguing over what he’s done.
Unfortunately things are only made worse by the revelation that Hye-Jun knew about Jin-U and Hae-Na’s relationship all this time. As Hae-Hyo leaves, he wonders just what he and Ji-A spoke about.
As we cut back in time, we see Hae-Hyo’s conversation with Ji-A. This seems to be a ploy to try and win Jeong-Ha over on his part.
Meanwhile, Min-Ki and Yeong-Nam get talking about Hye-Jun’s career. He admits to watching a lot more TV and helps drive his Father to the meeting with his instructor.
Inside, Yeong-Nam sits quietly as Min-Ki learns he’s going to be on a TV advert as part of his modeling career.
Elsewhere, Jin-U’s Mother tries to calm Ae-Suk down, with the latter checking online for malicious comments about Hye-Jun.
At the same time, I-Young confronts her daughter over the relationship she’s involved in with Jin-U. She allows Hae-Na to date Jin-U but forbids her from marrying. As she exerts her dominance, she takes Hae-Na’s car away from her as well.
It doesn’t dampen her spirits though as she heads up to meet Jin-U. She admits that their relationship is no longer a secret and in exchange, he tells Hae-Na he loves her.
Midway through talking though, Hye-Jun rings and suggests they meet again. Organizing a meeting, Ji-A shows up and reveals that she spoke on-air about how Hye-Jun is not a homosexual and was dating her for a long time.
Jeong-Ha attends to a client who admits she loves the pampering and one-on-one feel she gets from her. Afterwards, Hae-Hyo shows up and she calls him her big brother – he definitely does not like this!
As they talk, Jeong-Ha reveals that she’s going to go on YouTube later on but she’s not fussed about followers; she just wants to head online and discuss her day like a diary. She even tells him to tune in later on.
Little does he know, Do-Ha speaks to Tae-Su about Hae-Hyo’s follower count. Something is clearly going to happen here as he suspects the numbers may be fake. For now this is kept to the back-burner but it’s obvious we’re gearing up for something big here.
Hye-Jun meets up with Jin-U and they discuss what happened to Ji-A. Only, Jeong-Ha’s live broadcast (the one we ended on last episode) happens to be her confessing to their relationship.
Only, Hye-Jun quickly phones her before she does and hurriedly reveals everything with Ji-A’s article. When she returns on-air again, there’s no one left to watch and she instead decides to do a give-away instead.
Back home, Ae-Suk and Yeong-Nam reminisce over the money Hye-Jun promised them to pay off the debts. In their own way of trying to pay him back, they phone Min-Jae and organize a meeting. They want to put pressure on her to try and quell these bad comments online once and for all.
That evening, Jin-U and Hae-Hyo meet up and seemingly settle their differences. However, Hae-Hyo gets a cheeky shove in though before this is completely resolved. When Jin-U calls out for Hye-Jun, it turns out he’s gone. Instead, he’s head over to Jeong-Ha’s house to explain himself.
To begin with, they discuss Hae-Hyo and how she’s been meeting up with him. Hye-Jun teases that he may be able to win her over but she quickly waves that prospect away.
After a brief exchange of flirting, they get down to brass tacks. Hye-Jun apologises for what happened with Ji-A and promises to be there for her.
On the back of this, the family call a meeting but this time bring Min-Jae in to hear them out. There, they bombard her with questions over the scandalous comments and what she intends to do about it.
Just before they continue, Yeong-Nam is taken aside by Hye-Jun who tells his Father that he can handle things himself.
On the back of this, Hye-Jun takes to the screens again in preparation for a new romantic drama he’ll be performing in.
As we cut forward in time, we see him on-screen but the duo are slightly awkward given they used to do modeling together. She berates her make-up artist and Hye-Jun takes the opportunity to give her Jeong-Ha’s number. Only, someone films this exchange and it looks like he’s taking her number.
The next part of the drama goes ahead and Jeong-Ha shows up with Hae-Hyo after sorting his make-up out. Given Hye-Jun’s hectic schedule, Min-Jae takes Jeong-Ha aside and tells her she should just be an observer for him.
Before she can continue, Min-Jae suddenly receives a call from the reporter asking outright whether Hye-Jun is dating his make-up artist or not. With Min-Jae refusing to budge, the reporter has pictures of Jeong-Ha and Hye-Jun together. Will she broadcast these online?
With Hye-Jun and Jeong-Ha’s relationship precarious for now, it’s made worse by Hye-Jun’s female co-worker getting into character and calling him her boyfriend.
In the wake of this, Jeong-Ha worries that faith alone isn’t enough to sustain her and Hye-Jun’s relationship. Caught in the storm, she waits at the bus stop alone.
She remembers Hye-Jun’s words about calling when it rains to be there for her. Unfortunately he’s on the plane and isn’t able to keep his promise.
Instead, Hae-Hyo shows up with an umbrella for her and drives the girl home. As she invites Hae-Hyo in, the two look at each other while Hye-Jun prepares for take-off in the plane.
The Episode Review
What does the future hold for Hye-Jun and Jeong-Ha? The preview for next week seems to hint that these two are going to hit a rocky patch in their relationship but could Hae-Hyo be the catalyst?
This guy has been the wild-card throughout this entire drama and it’s also only a matter of time before he finds out what I-Young has done with his follower count.
On top of that, the show continues to deliver decent social commentary. It’s interesting to see Jeong-Ha’s reaction to this romantic Korean drama Hye-Jun is filming.
I’d imagine it would be quite strange to see your partner on-air kissing someone else and given the problem they’re going through, it’s only made this anxiety and tension worse.
Still, the ending leaves the door open for the final four episodes and quite what will happen next, remains to be seen.
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Episode Rating
(3.5)
ahhh!! to be honest, i dont know if jeong ah is being selfless of just being selfish! i mean she’s bringing her family issues/childhood trauma in her romantic relationship and that is keeping her away from showing her true feelings towards hye jun! if she’s mad or upset about something she should say it instead of entertaining hae hyo everytime!
The only reason Hae-hyo has time to be hanging out with her is because he is less busy than his friend. If he had the same measure of success, he would be just as busy. Same with her, if her career kicks off, she will be just as busy. Frankly I am irritated with her…Does she want him to be less successful so she can be his only fan! Going off with Hae-hyo at the awards ceremony was NOT okay! I’m upset the show did not show us how that was resolved. Inviting Hae-hyo into her home! What is she thinking!
Hae-hyo is being evil as far as I am concerned. Not telling Hye-jun about Jia’s interview till it was too late was a calculated move and though he hasn’t “technically” done anything wrong, he is very close and that is so not okay. He is a weak mama’s boy who can’t handle his friends fame. Goes to show you, people only want you to be successful as long as they are more successful than you.
I am very curious about what Jeong-Ha is thinking. She has to know Hae-hyo likes her! She has been painted as an astute character so she must know on some level yet she is ignoring it. Or does she just want the available?
I think she needed to voice her feelings about how Hye-jun’s fame was affecting her, afterall his family did. Suffering in silence is not noble, it’s just causing cracks. I am not saying Hye-jun is blameless. He needs to open up more. He should have discussed the issues with her earlier on.
If anything does happen between Hae-hyo and Jeong-Ha, I don’t want her with Hye-jun. She does not deserve him.
First, I am team HH because HH is steady and reliable and that is what JA needs. I love his character because he is complex. HH is not a typical 2nd male lead, heck I am not sure I would even classify him as a 2nd male lead. He is on equal footing with HJ it seems. First, I want to say JA called HH to come and get her, we can see her calling someone so I am guessing it was HH. Also, HH knows JA well enough to bring her her own umbrella instead of having her share one with him. HH is very observant of JA. Although, he wants JA to break up with HJ, he hasnt technically done anything wrong. HH is just always there playing the role of boyfriend and now JA is slowing starting to rely on him, she turns to HH first on almost everything because HJ is not around.
I have always thought HJ and JA were better at being friends than being lovers. There timing is just bad it seems. JA is actually more herself around HH than she is HJ and she is not intimidated or embarrassed in front of him. Plus, HH and JA are ALWAYS together.. she is with HH more than she is with HJ ( when you look back over the series). What I love is how the writing team showed the growth of HH and JA relationship. There was a time when JA would only let HH drop her off at the corner, then she let him take her to the door, then she let him in her house.. I feel like this is very meaningful.. What I find interesting is how everyone blames HH but not JA.. its pretty obvious that HH likes her and she stayed around him, she could have told him that she wanted to keep it professional and maybe limit his visits but she never did this.. WHY? Also, she always mentions HH around HJ.. there has not been 1 conversation that HH was not mentioned when she was with HJ.. I also notice that HH is always 2 steps ahead of HJ when it comes to JA.. Like how HH took the initiative to introduce JA to some female celebrity clients something HJ didn’t think too do ( poor guy has so much on his mind). HJ is trying to balance career, friendships, family, fame, and girlfriend which is an impossible jobs to be honest. I actually think HJ loves JA far more than she loves him but again its timing with these two. However, I do think JA is meant for HH, I feel that there has been foreshadowing from the episode 2 that it was going to be HH but I could be wrong. My fear is that they all go their separate ways because I love this trio of friends.
Whats crazy is HH actually misses HJ more than HJ misses HH. HH was actually a good friend in many ways and always made time for HJ and tried to get him jobs but HJ sees HH struggling and hasn’t done anything for him, heck even Park Do Ha helped HH more than HJ did so I guess its perception. Apart of me thinks that HJ wants to cut ties with HH after a lifetime of being compared to him, like HH fans say, HJ NEVER mentions HH but HH always mentioned that HJ was his bestie even before HJ was more famous than he was. HH is right, HJ has changed in some ways, did anyone not notice his small smirk when HH said he had free time and was taking Pilates?? I noticed it and was cracking up.. None of these characters are perfect, not HH or HJ or JA and I dig this about this drama.. If JA falls in love with HH then I accept it because it would natural for her to catch feelings after being around him so much and her boyfriend constantly being away and if they end up together.. so what? Life is life.. it happens.. I read a comment about how someone got super mad about the idea of HH and JA and said it was wrong and not who she was supposed to love.. HEHEHE. That was funny, I had to tell the girl, Honey if we (humans) loved who we were suppose to love, the world would be alot more organized.. LOL.. People have fought wars, changed laws, crossed oceans all because they loved people they weren’t suppose to love. JA may end up with HH or HJ or with no one… all are likely scenarios in the real world.. but I am cheering for HH.. and HJ.. lol..
Is it me or does everyone else find HH’s behavior at the creepy stalker level. Guy is beginning to creep me out. Openly planning with HJ’s ex to split them up. Constantly pushing past her courteous refusals.
Ah interesting take, what’s brought on the second lead syndrome? Love to hear alternate takes on this!
Thanks for commenting!
-Greg W
Yeah I completely agree. There’s just some lines you don’t cross and gunning for your best friend’s girlfriend is just sneaky – especially given Hye-Jun is on the plane home!
They knew their relationship was going to be tricky, what with Hye-Jun being a big star, but he’s shielded her pretty well from the limelight. I’d imagine Hae-Hyo will have bigger problems though when he learns what his Mother has been doing with the followers.
Thank you for commenting!
-Greg W
It’s hard to move on with this meddling from Hae-hyo. From what I can decipher is that Hae-hyo is sitting in his parked car having just left Jeong-Ha’s apartment either being tormented by being rejected or tormented that he screwed up and now Jeong-Ha has finally responded to his inappropriate advances. I’m not hopeful that Jeong-Ha and Hye-jun will immediately reconnect on the level they once were. I want to believe Jeong-Ha has the character and commitment to avoid being swayed by Hae-hyo. I noted in the article above it was mentioned that “faith is not as strong as love” well I think that says a lot about the fact Jeong-Ha has more love for him than the faith that their love will flourish bilaterally.
I actually want Hae-hyo to end up with her ❤️❤️❤️