Name: The Interest of Love season 1 episode 10
Director: Jo Young-min
Released: 2023-01-21T15:50:32

In the tenth episode of The Interest of Love, Sang-su and Mi-gyeong meet each other’s parents, and Sang-su realizes that he has still not moved on from Su-yeong. The episode is now streaming on Netflix.

Recap

Su-yeong plays the piano for Sang-su at the train station and tells him the story behind Chopin’s piece. He drops her home and asks her what she meant when she asked him about breaking up.

She, in turn, questions him about what made him ask her if she is happy. She further asks him if he is happy. The two do not answer the questions, and Su-yeong bids him goodbye.

At dinner with their college friends, Gyeong-pil and Mi-gyeong find out that Sang-su knows about their past. Gyeong-pil tries to stop Mi-gyeong from confronting Sang-su about it, but she refuses to listen to him.

Mr. Jeong apologizes to Su-yeong for his behavior. He has saved enough money to move back to his old apartment by the end of the month. He will continue preparing for the exam and asks Su-yeong to start over with him.

When Mi-gyeong talks to Sang-su about her relationship with Gyeong-pil, Sang-su tells her that he did not bring that up because it is in the past. He does not believe that she was being dishonest by keeping it from him.

Seeing him unaffected upsets Mi-gyeong. She asks Sang-su if there is something similar that he did not tell her, but he chooses not to reply, upsetting her further.

Sang-su also tells Gyeong-pil that he did not mention his relationship with Mi-gyeong because it is in the past. Gyeong-pil finds it suspicious how he is not at all bothered by it, which makes him ask Sang-su if he even likes Mi-gyeong.

Sang-su is unaware that the employees no longer need to wear uniforms. To get an understanding of his feelings, Gyeong-pil leads Sang-su to believe that Su-yeong is quitting her job when she goes to submit her uniform, causing him to burst out anxiously.

Mr. Jeong takes Su-yeong out on a date, where he gets a call from Seon-jae, a friend who keeps asking him obvious questions. Meanwhile, Sang-su takes Mi-gyeong to meet his mother, where they also meet Mi-gyeong’s mother.

Sang-su makes it clear that she is his mother, even though she tries to hide their relationship from Mi-gyeong and her mother.

Mi-gyeong’s mother is not happy that her daughter is dating her friend’s tenant’s son, but Mi-gyeong tells her that she likes Sang-su more than he likes her and that she will not break up with him.

When Sang-su’s mother asks him why he likes Mi-gyeong, he tells her that he is comfortable with her. His mother comments that it sounds like he is complimenting his colleague, not his girlfriend.

Mi-gyeong is happy that Sang-su took a step further in their relationship on his own, but when she offers to come to his house, he rejects her offer. The persistent anxiety regarding their relationship does not let Mi-gyeong sleep at night.

The next day, Gyeong-pil informs Mi-gyeong about her cousin’s arrival at the bank. Mi-gyeong is confused as to how Gyeong-pil knows her cousin when she never introduced them.

Along with her cousin, Mi-gyeong’s father also comes to the bank to take a better look at his daughter’s boyfriend, Sang-su. He tells Mi-gyeong that he only came because she asked him for the first time and that she should learn to get things that he cannot buy for her.

Mi-gyeong tells Sang-su that now that they have met each other’s parents, they will soon be a family, but once again, he chooses not to say anything.

When Su-yeong goes out with Ms. Bae and Ms. Seo, she witnesses her mother get into an accident. Sang-su, along with Su-yeong, rushes to her mother’s aid. The others find out that she is Su-yeong’s mother when they hear her call her that.

When Mi-gyeong hears about this, she understands that Su-yeong must have had a reason to keep this a secret. She asks Ms. Bae to do the same. Sang-su, who had taken Su-yeong’s mother to the hospital, insists on staying there with her, but she asks him to leave and go back to work.

Su-yeong’s mother is refusing to get treatment. Su-yeong asks her father if he knew about the psychogenic pain in her mother’s legs. She holds her father accountable for all their misfortunes.

Sang-su does not leave and meets Su-yeong at the bus stop. She thanks him for his help. He then takes her to his college, to a spot that used to help students forget everything and start afresh, in order to help her forget her tiring day.

He also takes her to a food joint to eat but finds it closed. They decide to go out for dinner on weekend.

When Sang-su and Su-yeong do not answer Mi-gyeong’s calls, she makes up an excuse to show up at Su-yeong’s house. She notices that Mr. Jeong has been living with her. Mi-gyeong gifts her expensive clothes and deliberately talks about marrying Sang-su.

When Mr. Jeong comes home drunk, Su-yeong finds out that his family needs financial help. She sells the clothes Mi-gyeong gifted her and gives the money to Mr. Jeong.

He fears that taking the money from her would make him insecure once again and cause problems between them. She leaves the choice to him, and he accepts the money with a heavy heart.

Mi-gyeong asks Sang-su to keep the car that she bought for him because seeing it lying there makes her feel like he is rejecting her. The next day, the couple goes out to play golf with her father.

He tells Sang-su that he does not care about being an affectionate father; he wants to be a useful one. He has the resources to make up for everything that his daughter’s boyfriend lacks.

He does not even care about Sang-su’s feelings; he would give Mi-gyeong whatever she wants.

He wants to have dinner with Mi-gyeong and Sang-su, but Sang-su shows up to have dinner with Su-yeong. She sees him sitting in the same spot where she waited for him. This time, she leaves and lies to him on the phone about being with Mr. Jeong.

However, Sang-su catches her lie and follows her. She tells him that life is a circle; she keeps thinking she is moving forward, but she keeps coming back to square one.

He is not angry at her for lying to him. Instead, he takes her to clean the rink where he plays ice hockey. He teaches her to skate and lets her win a race. When she tells him that he did not even try to win, he replies that he will just let her win.

He thinks that he fooled himself into believing that he was going somewhere, but he is back in the same spot with her once again. He tells her that he cannot do this anymore and kisses her.

Review

Gyeong-pil’s character serves two purposes. He spells out what is painfully obvious for the characters to help them understand their own feelings better. The tactics that he uses not only help them see what has always been there, but they also entertain the viewers.
The analogy of the circle used in this episode sums up Sang-su and Su-yeong’s relationship. Sang-su let Su-yeong decide that they should move on from each other, without putting up a fight. The two tried to move on, only to find themselves in love with each other again.
This rink scene contrasts with Sang-su and Mi-gyeong’s ice rink scene. Everything in this scene, from the characters’ actions to the ending, depicts that Sang-su might be comfortable with Mi-gyeong, but he would never be happy with her the way he is with Su-yeong.