Paintballing
With only a few weeks to go, Dinner Mate serves up some crucial back-story for Keanu and Jae-Hyeok through this episode while also managing to deepen the emotional connection between Hae-Kyung and Do-Hee. There’s some decent bits of humour thrown into this too and the relationship between Keanu and A-Young is arguably the most heart-warming part of the whole drama so far. Episodes 21 and 22 of Dinner Mate begin with Jae-Hyeok eating the strawberry cake. Only, it turns out he’s actually allergic to strawberries. This is why Do-Hee scrambled over to him, just as A-Young cuts the feed to the broadcast. On his way out the building, No-Eul hands over an old photo of Jae-Hyeok and Do-Hee to him but makes sure everyone inside notices her doing this. In the parking lot, Hae-Kyung confronts No-Eul over her desire to make him jealous and walks back to his car. As he does, Do-Hee rings and the two discuss the cake mishap and how it could lead to Do-Hee being dismissed. When they hang up, Hae-Kyung deliberates over Keanu’s words surrounding how Jae-Hyeok is needy and obsessed with her. Later that night Hae-Kyung and Do-Hee head out for dinner and discuss what’s transpired. He praises her for the quick thinking she exhibited and they talk about the work/life balance they have. Only, the wildcard here comes from Jae-Hyeok whom Hae-Kyung can’t forget was carrying Do-Hee’s photo around. The next day, Do-Hee approaches Keanu but Jae-Hyeok notices and it brings back flashes from the past of him in his therapy sessions. Not long after, he gets dressed up and prepares to go for a meal with A-Young. Sitting together and eating, A-Young suddenly suggests that they live together. Despite initially shocked at this proposal, he continues to eat nonetheless which eventually leads to A-Young kissing him and the two giggling as they grow closer together. That afternoon the 2N team head out paint-balling and get themselves dressed up in camo gear ready for battle. The match begins and the eliminations continue, with No-Eul firing numerous paint balls at Do-Hee before telling her she’s never going to give up. With the match over upon A-Young being declared the winner, No-Eul confronts Hae-Kyung and asks him to tell her how much he loved her in the past. Truthfully, he tells her he hurt for a long time but he’s fine now and clearly moved on. He tells her she’ll be fine too but as she hugs him, Do-Hee sees this take place and walks away silently. After dropping Byeong-Jin off at home, Hae-Kyung returns and speaks to Do-Hee about the true nature of his past. However, before he does he admits that he loves her. Taken aback by this, Do-Hee looks him deep in the eye and the two wind up kissing. Not long after, he takes her home and they watch classic movies together. Meanwhile, Keanu confronts Jae-Hyeok and chases him through the streets. Eventually, they sit together in a restaurant and discuss the past. In particular, they discuss his false narrative surrounding an article he wrote incriminating Keanu. Jae-Hyeok refuses to admit it’s false though, prompting our ex-doctor to give him one last chance before he takes things a step further. Back at home, Do-Hee finishes the movie and watches as Hae-Kyung winds up hard at work. When she awakens from a nap on his sofa, Hae-Kyung drives her home but as we saw previously, someone’s broken into her house and started smashing things up. As Hae-Kyung races to the scene, Do-Hee notices a shadowy figure hiding by the window frame. Is this Keanu, Jae-Hyeok or someone else altogether? Quite what will happen next on Dinner Mate remains to be seen but one thing’s for sure, neither Jae-Hyeok or No-Eul will stop until they’ve got what they want. Both of these characters have serious psychological issues and it’ll be interesting to see how the show handles that going forward. In an ideal world, Jae-Hyeok and No-Eul will end up together to prevent further harm coming to Hae-Kyung and Do-Hee but right now the future is certainly unclear surrounding what direction the show is likely to go with this. Having said that though, the cliffhanger ending is a lovely hook to keep you coming back tomorrow and there’s certainly plenty of drama to chew over with this episode in the meantime. Roll on tomorrow!
