Positive Credit
Episode 4 of The Interest of Love starts with us in the past with a big flashback at New Year’s. The staff are hard at work rolling up bank calendars to send out. Sang-su ends up with a papercut though, which Su-yeong offers a plaster for. Alone with his love interest, Sang-su tells Su-yeong that he doesn’t want to be extraordinary, he has plans to be average. As he comes from a wealthy family, blending in suits him just fine. We then return to the present, and, more specifically, the time where Sang-su left work. After sorting the balance out, he crossed the road and then decided to just wander about and show up an hour later. Su-yeong’s annoyance came from the fact that he hesitated and decided not to show up immediately. Apparently there’s no logic or reason behind his doubts (but hold that thought because later on we do learn more about this!) For now though, we’re left with the thought that Sang-su’s desires lie with wanting to be average and blend in, which dating Su-yeong would have made a lot harder. If that wasn’t enough, Su-yeong even admits that she liked him and thought they had a fair amount in common. But that’s very clearly been ruined now, right? Back inside, Su-yeong gets a round of applause from everyone for absolutely smashing the Winner’s Round promotion and selling loads. Next, Mi-gyeong and Sang-su also get applauded for their presentation. Things are still frosty between Sang-su and Su-yeong all day at work though, and the pair find themselves constantly in the same vicinity as one another. When Sang-su attempts to get a one-up over Su-yeong regarding the font size on a document, Su-yeong turns it around and points out old gift certificates he hasn’t filed. All the other staff notice how cold they’re being to one another and of course they start gossiping. After work, Sang-su shows up at a memorial service for his father, paying his respects. He sits with his mum and the pair discuss Sang-su’s upbringing. She tells him not to take things so seriously and asks him if he’s happy. Sang-su can’t answer. You see, Sang-su blames himself for his father’s death, which hangs heavily on his shoulders. His dad was apparently involved in a car accident, although there are faint glimmers of it potentially being suicide. Since then, Sang-su has always second guessed his own decisions, which could go some way to explain why hesitated with Su-yeong. That night, Mi-gyeong questions Su-yeong outright what’s going on between her and Sang-su. Su-yeong though turns around and realizes that Mi-gyeong likes him. She points out that he’s a constant, someone who always puts his mind to something and that he’s a goodhearted man. Hearing this, Su-yeong starts to doubt her own mannerisms, but does tell Mi-gyeong that she looks good with Sang-su. Speaking of looking good, Mr Yuk’s wife appears completely dolled up after parking (dreadfully I may add) in the designated slot outside. She heads into Yuk’s office to see her husband, while Jong-hyun continues to do cute little favours for Su-yeong. He drops off a drink for her but Mi-gyeong usurps this completely and decides to take Sang-su out for a relaxing spa afternoon. Afterwards, Mi-gyeong heads out with Sang-su and tells him that she likes him. She wants Sang0su to take this seriously, and goes on to tell him that he’s completely different to other men she’s met. Sang-su is still unsure, and seems visibly uncomfortable when Mi-gyeong holds his hand in the elevator. Meanwhile, Su-yeong is also uncomfortable when Mr Yuk tells Su-yeong she needs to hand over her Winner’s Plan to Mi-gyeong and continue with her current role. All that hard work is completely out the window, as she’s not given the opportunity to progress. That afternoon, a work conference sees Su-yeong and Sang-su joined by a whole bunch of characters from different branches. Su-yeong drinks way too much, understandably given she’s feeling bummed out, so Sang-su decides to follow her outside. Sang-su reveals that he’s apparently rooting for this tortured soul, with Su-yeong’s nonchalance reminding him of himself and the way he handles situations. When Su-yeong notices Sang-su following, she asks just why he showed up when he told Mr Ma he had plans. Su-yeong admits, in a round about way, that she does have feelings for him. When Su-yeong eventually walks away, Sang-su makes a move and hugs her tightly.
The Episode Review
After a pretty tepid and wobbly start, The Interest of Love seems to be getting its act together and easing back into this love square the show is developing. We get far less stalking and needy Sang-su and a lot more melancholic looks and deep-rooted issues that need to be ironed out between our characters, which serves the slice of life narrative much more effectively. For the most part, The Interest of Love works rather well as a look at “real life” love and the subtle differences between how Mi-gyeong and Su-yeong both view the world is pretty intriguing. This time we hear from Mi-gyeong about how caring Sang-su is and how much he cherishes whoever he likes… which I guess does go some way to paper over the issues his character had for the first couple of chapters. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come moving forward.
