Blinded By Love
So far Chocolate has served up a real bittersweet collection of episodes, with some very poignant and heartbreaking moments. This week, Chocolate returns with a glass of comedic-flavoured Sikhye to wash that down with before returning to another hammer blow of emotion at the end. As further characterisation is served up for our supporting players, and in particular Lee Jun, Chocolate delivers another strong episode. Tae-Hyeon arrives and begins episode 7 of Chocolate, breaking up the party as Cha-Young berates her brother for embarrassing her infront of Kang. Later that evening, Kang falls asleep, only to be woken up by the Director who offers him some instant noodles in a bid to cheer him up. However, he decides to wash up instead and as he does, is treated to a delicious meal from Cha-Young, bringing back memories of the past. As she tries to explain herself, he brushes aside her concerns but barely touches his food as he’s called away urgently to a patient packing her things and leaving, seeking alternate medicine from Dr Jo. Meanwhile Lee Jun is caught in the middle of a family feud but a call from Su-Hui distracts him enough for us to get a flashback to when he saw her in a pottery class at school and fell in love at first sight. Kang is interrupted by Ji-Yong entering the room and asking about the hospice. There, he asks the neurosurgeon if he’s unhappy and after some deliberation, replies that he is. Sighing, the little boy gives him a sandwich, leaving Kang to reminisce back to the first time Cha-Young arrived in the restaurant as kids and he cooked for her. As he continues to bite into the baguette, he thinks back to the words he said that day and wallows in self-pity. Meanwhile the Director is approached by Yeong-Sil who arrives in a rainbow dress and shows it off to him. The two flirt for a little and she calls him cute as he covers his eyes, believing she’s naked under the dress. At the same time, Cha-Young applies Su-Hui’s make-up as they prepare for Lee Jun’s arrival. However, she decides to have their date by the lake instead, which Cha happily agrees to, driving her down as we cut to a very nervous Jun arriving at the hospice. Dressed in a suit and clutching a bouquet of flowers, Lee Jun arrives by the lake and Cha leaves them alone as they talk about their feelings, in particular Lee Jun’s affection for her. Removing his jacket, he wraps it around her as she apologises and hopes he finds someone healthy in his life as he walks away. One of the nurses rushes into Kang’s office and shows him a bottle of sleeping pills. It turns out Su-Hui may well have taken them and as she wanders through the fields onto the rocky beach, Kang and the others scramble to try and find her. Cha hurries into the lake as she sees her stepping into the deepest parts and submerging in the water, saving the blind woman from committing suicide as Kang rushes to the lake to lend them help as well. After bringing Su-Hui back to the hospice, the Director berates her selfishness in trying to commit suicide and thanks Cha, prompting Kang to leave the room as a shivering and weak Cha-Young rushes into the kitchen and is helped by her fellow chef. Distraught by her actions, Lee Jung heads into the room and listens as Su-Hui apologises and calls him honey, going on to talk about what happened before he says goodbye to her for the last time, regretting that he ever liked her and angrily exclaiming that if she does commit suicide, he hopes she never comes back as anything. That evening, after consuming a bowl of soup Cha heads out and walks thoughtfully away as Kang watches her try to find him. Min-Yong approaches him and asks what he’s doing as he chimes in and thoughtfully remarks that he wants to avoid Cha but has complicated feelings. Deciding to tackle his emotions head on, he approaches Cha and offers her a ride home. She decides against it though and as he rides off, he watches Cha in the wing-mirror while she stands in the car park waiting for Tae-Hyeon. As the episode closes out, we see a montage of our two characters, ending with Kang admitting he wants to avoid her but can’t get her out of his head. “Min-Seung I think I’m lost again”, He sighs, as the scene fades to black. Given the way this drama has gone over the weeks, I genuinely thought Su-Hui had passed away by the beach. The imagery during this scene was beautiful too, given the circumstances, and visually Chocolate has been a really impressive series overall. The door is certainly left open for romance to follow now but given Kang’s honour to Min-Seung and his complicated feelings, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be smooth sailing for them. For now though, Chocolate bows out with another strong episode and plenty of questions going into tomorrow’s drama.
