Twinkling Watermelon – K-drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

Episode 4

Episode 4 of Twinkling Watermelon starts in a flashback from when Se-kyung was a little girl and worked as a child artist. She was often compared to a rookie actress that disappeared very soon which often infuriated her mother. Se-kyung realises that she was adopted after her adoptive parents lost their daughter – Han-na.

Se-kyung gives up her dreams of becoming a dancer and actress in order to fit into Han-na’s shoes and picks up the cello. She learns to play the instrument which seems to help her depressed adoptive mother recover. Se-kyung’s mother looks happy and the teen girl is glad she’s able to bring the shine back into her family’s life.

Back in 1995 where the previous episode left off, Eun-gyeol spots Se-kyung and recognises her as Mr. Viva’s daughter. He calls her “ahjumma” (another word for aunty) and leaves Se-kyung, who is clearly a teenager, shocked. She assumes that Eun-gyeol is trying to flirt with him and asks him to leave.

Eun-gyeol asks her to join his new band which reminds Se-kyung of Yi-chan. She wonders why all boys thought girls are like band members. The line reminds Eun-gyeol of his last conversation with older Se-kyung. He starts talking about the future and wonders why Se-kyung didn’t show up to his concert with his daughter as she promised she would. All this leaves teen Se-kyung confused.

Meanwhile, Yi-chan talks to Chung-a in the sports room and tells her how he is in love with Se-kyung, unbeknownst that she can’t hear him. He starts going in circles and wonders why Chung-a is so silent. Yi-chan panics when he notices blood on Chung-a’s forehead and tries to clean her wound with his tie.

Chung-a recalls a traumatic incident and bites him, causing him to yell out. The PE teacher hears the noise and goes looking inside the sports room. The bullies are worried that the PE teacher will find Chung-a inside the room and run there. Yi-chan holds the door down to keep the PE teacher from entering the room. He tries to talk to Chung-a, who is not able to hear a thing.

The mean girls show up outside the room and practically confess to having locked Chung-a there. However, once the teacher gets inside, he finds it empty of any students. He realises that Yi-chan has escaped from a spare door. Meanwhile, Yi-chan holds Chung-a by the hand and runs outside the school with her.

Eun-gyeol asks Se-kyung about her father, Mr. Viva, and reveals that he learned to play the guitar from the man. Yi-chan promises to help Chung-a out knowing that she was attacked by someone due to the wounds on her face. He asks for her name and tries to check her nametag but Chung-a intercepts and leads him to stop.

Yi-chan hands over the information brochure of his band and asks Chung-a to contact him if she needs his help. Meanwhile, Se-kyung reveals that her father was a teacher and not a musician. She calls Eun-gyeol a liar and accuses him of messing up her life.

Just then, Yi-chan shows up but Se-kyung asks the two to leave her alone. Yi-chan follows after Se-kyung but Eun-gyeol is confused about the things happening in this world. Yi-chan yells at Eun-gyeol for making his first love cry. On the other hand, Se-kyung appears worried about the sudden revelation from Eun-gyeol and recalls how a man had left flowers for her after one of her recent performances.

Back then, Se-kyung had asked the man to refrain from showing up in her life. Present-day Se-kyung gets a mild injury while playing the cello as she recalls the incident. She goes back home and learns from her mother that they are going to move to the USA as her father has gotten a permanent position there. She tells her mother that she is happy about the news as she is not interested in living in Korea anymore.

Just then, Yi-chan shows up at her house and apologises for what happened. He tells her that he was determined to start the band no matter what but would stop troubling her going forward. The two notice Eun-gyeol who is hiding behind a tree and Yi-chan takes him along.

On their way out, Eun-gyeol asks Yi-chan to quit thinking about Se-kyung as she is going to end up with someone else. Yi-chan wonders who Eun-gyeol was and the latter is close to revealing the truth about his identity. Eun-gyeol holds back and asks Yi-chan to trust him but Yi-chan is frustrated with Eun-gyeol. He runs away but Eun-gyeol follows him around town.

Eun-gyeol ends up at the Snail Guesthouse and recalls his father talking about the place. Eun-gyeol enters the place and sees his great-grandmother beating Yi-chan for getting poor grades. Eun-gyeol picks up the marksheet and is embarrassed at his father’s grades. In order to save himself from his grandmother, Yi-chan lies and claims Eun-gyeol is his tutor.

Grandma decides to test Eun-gyeol and gives him 25 minutes to solve a few problems. Eun-gyeol manages to solve them all in 15 minutes, leaving all the guests shocked. Eun-gyeol is taken into the guesthouse and he meets Bal-san there.

Eun-gyeol watches Grandma with Yi-chan and recalls how she was alive during his childhood and had passed away soon after he had started communicating verbally. Eun-gyeol thinks that his great-grandmother handed the baton to him before her passing, asking him to take over and make sure his family could communicate with the world. Eun-gyeol wonders how his father lost his hearing ability and wonders why he turned out so sad, unlike his past self.

Bal-san catches him crying but Eun-gyeol is distracted and ends up drinking some soju. He passes out instantly and Yi-chan puts him to bed. That night, Eun-gyeol dreams about a chat he had with his father when he was younger. He recalls seeing a wound on his father’s shoulder and tries to remember what his father’s response was but isn’t able to recall it.

The next morning, Se-kyung meets the school principal, Ji-mi who asks her to keep the fact that she was going to the USA a secret from her classmates. She thanks Se-kyung for being kind to Chung-a but asks her to stop being so considerate to the point of hurting someone’s feelings.

The conversation leaves Se-kyung confused but Ji-mi adds that her sympathy will make Chung-a weak. The conversation ends abruptly with Ji-mi asking Se-kyung to leave. Outside the office, Chung-a is waiting for Se-kyung and asks if Yi-chan is in trouble.

She tells Chung-a that she is moving abroad and has to keep it a secret from the rest of the school. Se-kyung notices that Chung-a is worried about Yi-chan. She invites Chung-a to a concert that evening.

Meanwhile, Eun-gyeol wakes up with a hangover and reads the note from Yi-chan. Yi-chan had left some of his clothes for Eun-gyeol to change into and had already washed and dried his old clothes for him. Eun-gyeol answers the landline phone call from Yi-chan who asks Eun-gyeol to bring his gym clothes and 2 watermelon popsicles to school.

Eun-gyeol shows up at the school and finds the music room. He finds a guitar there and starts playing it. Ma-joo wonders if Yi-chan’s persistence to form a band would be of any help. Ma-joo asks Yi-chan to consider asking Eun-gyeol to play for them but the latter thinks he was a liar who had run away from home.

The two boys go to the music room to inspect the music and find Hyun-yul eating watermelon popsicles there. They chase after the person playing the guitar and learn that the guy has gone to the bus stop. Yi-chan goes outside and ends up in Eun-gyeol’s arms, literally. Eun-gyeol drags Yi-chan and drags him to class, waiting outside to make sure he doesn’t leave.

On the other hand, Chung-a is in painting class when she recalls first meeting Yi-chan at the bookshop. She considers going to the concert with Se-kyung and wonders what Yi-chan will do after his first love leaves to go to the USA. Yi-chan shows up to his part-time job at the ice cream shop but Eun-gyeol follows after him.

Yi-chan’s boss gives him the concert ticket left behind by Se-kyung, inviting him to attend the show with him. Yi-chan skips work, leaving Eun-gyeol behind. The ice cream shop owner hired Eun-gyeol as he was very handsome and would draw in a lot of customers.

That night, Se-kyung waits for Chung-a to show up at the concert but goes in when she doesn’t show up. Yi-chan, who is running late, arrives at the concert a while later. Se-kyung, unlike the other girls at the show, isn’t enjoying herself despite the fact that her fiancee, Ji-hwan is performing.

On the other hand, Yi-chan ends up reaching the venue after the concert had already ended. He calls out to Se-kyung who was on stage with Ji-hwan and her friends and tells her he was late because he found the invitation letter very late. Se-kyung is pissed that he had shown up to the concert and yells at him, asking him to leave her alone.

Yi-chan is insulted by Se-kyung but Eun-gyeol shows up and defends his father’s teen self. He introduces himself as the lead guitarist of Yi-chan’s band. Ji-hwan asks to jam with Eun-gyeol to check his skills out. The crowd draws back once the music plays and Yi-chan sings as Eun-gyeol plays the electric guitar. Yi-chan enjoys singing while Eun-gyeol plays music and relishes the fact that he can make music with his father.

Despite all his efforts, Yi-chan is not able to impress Se-kyung who leaves soon after. On their way back home, Yi-chan tells Eun-gyeol that he won’t be going to college because he wants to work hard and earn money. He claims that he was trying to have fun and live his high school days to the fullest because he will never get the time once he starts working towards buying his grandmother’s restaurant back.

Yi-chan claims that his father caused Grandma to lose her restaurant and he was trying to earn enough money to buy it back. He’s going to do everything to make his life twinkle. Just then, a car passes and Yi-chan runs to save a young child from being run over.

Eun-gyeol runs after him and recalls how his father had revealed that he had gotten into a huge accident when he was in the 11th grade. Eun-gyeol tries to look for a scar on Yi-chan but finds none. The episode ends with Eun-gyeol realising that he is about to witness his father getting into an accident which would make him lose his hearing. 

The Episode Review

After the end of this episode, I am worried that Eun-gyeol will try to change the course of events from the past in order to from his past life. Moreover, it looks like Yi-chan is about to fall in love with Chung-a who is already in love with him. She gave him the concert tickets, hoping he would meet Se-kyung and the two would have some time before she left for the States for good.

Knowing how much Se-kyung hates boy bands, it is likely that her real father – Mr Viva was a band member who put her up for adoption. There is a lot less known about Chung-a and her connection with Ji-mi, the principal but I am sure this show will give us insane plot-twists. Twinkling Watermelon is well-liked by many viewers already which has me very hopeful for what this one has in store as the episodes progress.