The Fire
When The Camellia Blooms surprises us this week with another strong episode, chock full of dramatic moments as the foreshadowed fourth fire breaks out, trapping Dongbaek and bringing us closer to the next murder. The relationship between our two protagonists has definitely taken a step forward too and the episode ends with a very touching moment for Dongbaek and Yong-Sik. We begin with Hyang-Mi driving away followed by Jong-Ryeol, and then Jessica. From here, we then flashback to all the characters who have once threatened her, as they could all be her murderer, before seeing her bleeding body on the floor in an unknown place. The next day at the police station, Captain Byun quickly rushes to Yong-Sik with the results of the cat food test. It turns out all but one came back positive for a very toxic and lethal pesticide. The clean one was from Heung-Sik. This news make Yong-Sik even more determined to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Jessica despairs when Jong-Ryeol tells her that Pil-Gu is her son and he will want to raise him if they get a divorce. She tells him that she’s getting a lot of hate online because people believes she only got famous because of her husband. After realizing that Hyang-Mi didn’t come home after the delivery the night before, Dongbaek heads to the police station to get some help. Here, Yong-Sik berates her as he doesn’t want her to offer deliveries so late at night, as the whole situation is starting to worry and exhaust him. It’s here we receive another flashback where we see paparazzi following Hyang-Mi around when she was with Jong-Ryeol. Back in the present we see them waiting outside the Camellia just as Pil-Gu walks past. This prompts them to start questioning the women of Onsang about Dongbaek, but they’re quick to defend her, telling them that they always stick out for each other. Gyu-Tae’s mother berates him about his behaviour but he complains that she has always treated everyone else better than her own son. Arriving at one of his businesses, he’s greeted by Yong-Sik who questions him about the director of the Hanbit academy. However, he suddenly bursts into tears, telling him his wife left him. As he returns home, he finds his wife’s car full of mud and divorce papers on the table. During dinner, he tries to convince her to rethink the divorce but to no avail. The paparazzi arrive at the Camellia soon after and when Dongbaek realizes that they have been taking pictures of Pil-Gu, she loses her cool and breaks their camera. This then prompts her to call Jong-Ryeol, angrily telling him what she just found out. Yong-Sik then waits for Dongbaek at the Camellia with flowers. Her mother suddenly appears and while they talk about money and family, we receive a flashback where we see the reason she abandoned her daughter was because she couldn’t afford to feed her. Upon learning this, he decides to head home where he sees that both his brothers are with his mum. When they find out who he’s dating, they make fun of him until his Mum comes to his aid and tells them not to be so harsh. Meanwhile Dongbaek bemoans how she doesn’t deserve Yong-Sik as she thinks he’s perfect. Her mother asks her if she feels that way because she wasn’t loved when she was little and tells her to go and see him. Early the next morning, Yong-Sik wakes up to meet for the usual market venture with Dongbaek. However, he’s unable to go as Captain Byun calls him to the scene of a new fire. There they find saw-dust, just like the others, and a jumper that looks like one of Dongbaek’s. While at the market, she hears an announcement, asking her to come to the sales office. As she does, we see a strange hooded figure walking around the building. Suddenly, the fire alarm rings and a fire starts to rage, trapping her in the room. Yong-Sik rushes to her aid though, pouring water over his head and throwing himself at the door to free her. While they’re both recovering in hospital, a strange man calls asking for Dongbaek and finds out that she’s not dead. Seeing how badly hurt Yong-Sik is, Dongbaek berates him for being so careless and crazy. Yong-Sik sighs in reply, telling her he’s exhausted and can’t do this anymore. He tells her he wants to end all the flirting before surprising her by proposing instead; he wants to be by her side all the time. After thinking for a few seconds, she finally tells him she loves him and the episode ends with the two of them kissing. The latest episode of When The Camellia Blooms was definitely one of the strongest of the season so far, skillfully blending drama, humour and romance perfectly. It definitely feels like we’re heading towards a very dramatic finale. The fire scene was quite tense too and Yong-Sik was the perfect hero during these dramatic moments. Yong-Sik absolutely steals the show, as per usual, and is by far my favourite character in the show. The episode ends on a really touching note too, with the perfect proposal and Dongbaek finally admitting she loves him. It might not be smooth sailing for the two love-birds just yet though as they will undoubtedly still have obstacles to overcome with Yong-Sik’s mum, but more importantly with the threat of the Joker still hanging in the air. For now though, this Korean drama bows out with a thoroughly enjoyable and dramatic episode.
