Lee Soo made a clutch play in episode 10 of More Than Friends and that one decision might favor his goal to win Woo-yeon again!
We are down to six episodes of More Than Friends, and for religious followers like me, this episode is the turning point in the love triangle we all have been rooting for.
Shin Ye Eun, Ong Seong Wu and Kim Dong Jun never registered to my radar as characters I will look back with a smile this year. But they convincingly reeled me in to their worlds. Their genuine worlds of crazy and downright heartfelt love.
abbyinhallyuland watched More Than Friends on iQIYI
Recaps: 01&02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale + Review |
More Than Friends Episode 10 Recap
“Will you be okay? Both Joon-soo and Lee Soo will be there?”
Woo-yeon chats with Young-hee who has been preparing earnestly for her marriage proposal to Hyun-jae. It has been a month and Woo-yeon has not heard any from Lee Soo and Joon-soo. The following day she is set to meet them for the photobook launch.
Deducing Lee Soo had already given up, she compared him to how she would be, if she was in his place. Young-hee questions if she has somehow misunderstood herself or if she might inadvertently became unfamiliar of herself at times. She voices out how thinking she understands someone causes misunderstandings at some point.
“You were disappointed I ignored you?”
Coming out from the washroom, Woo-yeon bumps on Lee Soo. She faintly expresses how he was ignoring her, so Lee Soo explains that he just don’t know know what to say since he promised to wait. But he also does not want to look everything is fine less he might hurt her again.
Teasing if she was disappointed that he ignored her, Woo-yeon strongly denied and walks away. Lee Soo chases after her and ask if they can eat barbecue, but she shoves him away by saying she’s vegetarian.
Changing tactic, he offers salad instead, but she plays around and replies she likes meat. She tells him she has multiple personality, so Lee Soo asks if she can ask her other personality if she hates him too, teasing one of her personalities still probably likes him.
Their conversation was cut when Joon-soo approached to inform that they will be going out to eat taking no for an answer.
“By the way, what’s the relationship between you two?”
Woo-yeon sits beside Lee Soo in front of Joon-soo and responds accordingly about the food on the table. One curious staff member asks the relationship between Woo-yeon and Lee Soo. The latter responds that there are relationships that are hard to explain in words. Quick to counter, Joon-soo mentions that they are high school classmates.
Thanks to Secretary Min’s quick grasp of the situation he reverts the topic and they all quietly munch the food. However, the three are again put on another awkward situation after dinner with both the boys wanting to driver her home.
While Joon-soo takes his usual passive route of explaining he does not mean anything, but is just thankful; Lee Soo bluntly declares he has intentions on why he wants to send her home.
In the end, Woo-yeon rides alone in a cab leaving the two behind. They decide to go for another round and drink soju together. They also draw the line not to share drinks and get their own bottles to drink individually.
“The thing is bad people should date each other, so no one good would be hurt.”
They start their soju conversation with this:
Joon Soo: “Don’t you know you’re too late?”
Lee Soo: “Don’t you know you’re clingy?”
After four bottles each, it progressed to this:
Lee Soo: “I didn’t know how much she liked me. How could I love her when I don’t know?”
Joon-soo: “I was always on my toes. I endured it over and over again, and she broke up with me. Am I Candy?”
Lee Soo: “That’s true. She’s so mean. She’s worse than me.”
Joon-soo: “That’s why you should give up on her.”
Lee Soo: “Nooo! Hyung, you should give up on her. The thing is bad people should date each other, so no one good would be hurt. You’re too nice.”
Setting an instant simulation that two bad people can’t date less one will die, Lee Soo insists on not giving up on Woo-yeon. Drunkenly blabbing how he will be good to her. Joon-soo adorable responds how he is being ambitious. He quips being all perfect, but Woo-yeon still won’t come to her.
“Woo-yeon, can you like me again?”
Finding Lee Soo in front of their gate, Woo-yeon listened to him spout drunk words of how pretty she is. Just as she is about to hail a taxi, Lee Soo falls on her shoulder. He mumbles and asks Woo-yeon if she can like him again and not to say it’s over.
Waking up to an unfamiliar bed, Lee Soo realizes he is inside Woo-yeon’s room. Sensing someone is beside him, he mischievously holds the person’s hand, only to find out that it was Joon-soo. The two scream together alerting Woo-yeon who was chatting with mom. Perplex to how cool her mom in accepting her daughter brought in two boys one night, she asks why she is not bothered. Mom, smartly quip what could surprise her when she raised her.
It turns out that before Lee Soo came, Joon-soo arrived, also spouting drunk thoughts of how it was his fault for being so forbearing. Confessing how he should have held onto her since he is now being clingy and looking like a fool, he told her that he can’t let her go.
The two boys meet their lady love’s parents for breakfast and are both focused to score brownie points. After laying their strongest specs, Joon-soo breaks the friendly truce and spills Lee Soo was the guy who made Woo-yeon cry when her mother asked about him.
She rants how her blood boils at the thought of him and wants to break his legs apart. Taking advantage of the situation, Joon-soo exposes who Lee Soo is, and Woo-yeon’s dad squint his eyes in a menacing glare. Unfortunately, both of them weren’t able to finish the breakfast because they were both thrown out.
“Where did she pick up a trash like you?”
Supportive Jin-ju brings her boyfriend to photo exhibit of Woo-yeon and Lee Soo and bumps with Sang-hyuk happily checking the exhibit. He eventually tags along and eat dinner together with them.
Suspicious of Jin-ju’s boyfriend, Sang-hyuk’s gut feel proves to be correct as he discovered the guy to be just toying on Jin-ju because she’s rich and gifts him a lot of things. What’s worse is he has another woman.
Holding his rage, Sang-hyuk tells him to break it up with Jin-ju nicely. Following Sang-hyuk’s order, he didn’t see the guy when he gets back from the wash room.
Feeling dejected, Jin-ju meets the girls and shared her short-lived romance in a state of shock. Young-hee and Woo-yeon both hate the guy for his guts. Jin-ju, who is still moving in stages of love grief, chides on her friends for saying bad things about her ex.
Young-hee senses something familiar coming up, and it really did as Jin-ju drunk calls her ex-boyfriend bargaining to become someone who lacks a lot for him not to feel daunted. Woo-yeon can’t believe the words coming from their prosecutor friend. But Young-hee tells her that she is worse than her in her crazy-in-love moments.
“The beginning and the time I became aware was just different.”
Lee Soo drops by at the cafe where Woo-yeon works to buy a coffee and get a coupon so he can come everyday to fill up the coupon. Hearing his intention, Woo-yeon charges his cofee free of charge so he won’t use the coupon as an excuse to visit her. He responds that he will still visit and get a free coffee from her.
Surprised at his sudden presence when he was all-quiet for a month, he sulks on how she did not contact him for a month. Asking her to tell him what she liked about him before, he promises to show it to her again. Firm with her decision, Woo-yeon tells him to just leave.
Lee Soo stays for Woo-yeon’s shift to be over and smiles when she came out. However, his smile fades because he spots Joon-soo entering the cafe. Joon-soo reveals his visit to be about his friend who is looking for a calligrapher for a drama poster. Woo-yeon accepts the business card of the drama PD, but tells Joon-soo that she hopes it to be the last work-related coincidence they would have feeling.
Confessing how he has a lot of thoughts on how he can cling to her after their breakup, Joon-soo requests for her to accept his way of coping through work-related coincidences that can let him see her.
As soon as Joon-soo left, Lee Soo goes to Woo-yeon and asks about his love rival’s business. Woo-yeon dismisses his prying by pulling out the late-for-10-years card that she has on him.
He tells how he regrets realizing it too late but reveals he might have like her back then too. She warns him not to manipulate his memories but he tells her how the beginning of when he liked her and the time he realized it were just on different times.
Bitterly, Woo-yeon recounts how her 10 years was all about having a one-sided love on him when she could have made something for herself. Instead, she only got pains in her heart.
“Mom, I’m sorry.”
Unbeknownst to Young-hee who has been busy making her marriage proposal event for Hyun-jae, her plan seems not to be going through again. She finally learns about her mom’s stomach cancer which is in a dire situation. Her mom already refuses the surgery thinking about how it will only burden her children.
Confronting her mom of the problem, they have at hand, the mother-and-daughter argue about how they don’t each listen to each other. In the end, realizing the gravity of the situation, Young-hee weeps hardly and apologizes to her mom. She begs her not to die and make her an orphan.
Woo-yeon meets with the drama PD and discuss how the collaboration would go. When he asked her for a Saturday dinner, Woo-yeon agrees.
Meanwhile, Young-hee goes to meet Hyun-jae for his birthday celebration. Putting a happy face all the while, Hyun-jae feels something is bugging her. After dinner and watching a stage play, they go for a night view moment and Hyun-jae asks her to stop putting her happy front since his birthday is already over.
Young-hee brings out about her mom’s sickness so Hyun-jae assures her that everything will be okay. Honestly asking if he is really okay with someone like her who is poor, with a brother to support and a mom who is sick; Young-hee pours out her current woes to the man she wants to marry. Hyun-jae answers that he is okay with it.
“You’re too good to a man like him.”
Sang-hyuk stares at Jin-ju still struggling on the vanished boyfriend he asked to disappear. Mumbling how her ex-boyfriend can’t be reached and resigned at the cafe, Sang-hyuk’s suggestion of going to his house was unfortunately picked up by Jin-ju.
Learning she sent him a shoe package before made Sang-hyuk accidentally throw a towel that hit her face. Fixing her face, he kneels to appease the already visible rage on Jin-ju’s face.
He tags along when Jin-ju goes to visit where the ex lives and made an attempt for her not to see him in a romantic “Don’t go Don’t meet that guy” plead reminiscent of Lee Soo and Woo-yeon moment. (This scene rally cracked me up!) The Sang-hyuk heart-fluttering moment immediately fades when Jin-ju asks if he also wants a rag slap on his right cheek.
“Is your business conning money from women, you gold-digger.”
Sang-hyuk’s attempt to stop Jin-ju came to naught eventually bumping with the very man he does not want Jin-ju to meet. Surprised to see him with a beautiful young woman in tow, Jin-ju gets the picture fully listening to the girl blab about how she’s the rich girl who buys things for her boyfriend.
Fuming Jin-ju slaps the trashy ex with her bag and boasts how she was born in a wealthy family and she means to take out her anger to him. The ex pushes Jin-ju to the ground making Sang-hyuk full of woes and fueled to enough to punch him on his face.
Finally feeling the overwhelming emotions, Jin-Ju breaks into tears and borrows Sang-hyuk who consoles her caringly.
“She’s the girl I like.”
Lee Soo wakes up from slumber with her mom’s call for them to celebrate her birthday with a dinner. He bumps with Woo-yeon who was also there to meet the drama PD. He drags her to meet his parents, and when dad asks who she is, she responds she’s a friend while he happily declares, she’s the girl he likes.
Soo’s mom pries if the girl who dumped her is finally going out with him. He replies he soon will be. But dad sees another good-looking man approaching Woo-yeon and thinks otherwise.
Surprised at seeing Joon-soo, he explains that he asked a favor from his friend so he can eat with her. He asks if his means is underhanded and he gets her response by staring at her worried look as she stares at Lee Soo’s glum face. She motions to leave but Joon-soo asks a favor for her not to since he will look pitiful if he does.
“I’m fine being someone you are thankful for.”
Admitting she feels uncomfortable knowing Lee Soo is there, Joon-soo acknowledged how Lee Soo is special to Woo-yeon. He knows how a love that consumes someone’s life doesn’t come too often nor does it come to everyone. But he counters how if it did not come in 10 years, it might not really meant to be. That he is not really the right person for her.
Making another love pitch, Joon Soo asks her to stay with him if she can’t have a good relationship with someone because of Lee Soo. Woo-yeon responds that his offer is not love. But he corrects her that it is also a kind of love. A love where he is fine being someone she is thankful for.
Woo-yeon responds that his definition of love is like a transaction – a mutual exchange. She agrees that what he said coincides to the essentials of dating and marriage, but she is still naive to enter a relationship built like that. Politely declining his offer, she told him she won’t do it.
“Because I Like You!”
Bawling like a mess Jin-ju’s new audience for her bitter love story can’t stand anymore and asks why she dated that guy in the first place. Sang-hyuk chides her on losing her Kang-Dong-Won-Lee-Min-Ho standard and tells her to stop crying. Feeling humiliated, she voices out that she understands what a mess she is but she just wants to date and nobody wants to.
Offering himself, Jin-ju asks why she will date him so Sang-hyuk finally confessed that he likes her.
“Are you trying to get full price for your unrequited love?”
After dinner, Woo-yeon sees Lee Soo as she bids goodbye to Joon-soo. She walks fast intending to speak to him, but he drives away after seeing them. Taking a cab, Woo-yeon goes to his house and tries to explain. She tells him not to misunderstand because she was not on a date with Joon-soo.
Wondering why she was there to explain, he asks if she likes him again, but she replies no. Confirming if she is playing with his emotions, he asked:
“One minute after I introduced you to my parents as the girl I like, you made me watch you on a date with another guy. That was hard enough. But then, you show up at my door to explain it wasn’t a date, all the while saying you don’t like me?”
Lee Soo asks Woo-yeon how can he interpret her action. Stressing she was not on a date so that he won’t be mistaken, Lee Soo burst out on how he can’t understand her for disrespecting him. He asserts how he has been telling he likes her, so should not trample on his sincere feelings.
Woo-yeon counters how he promised he would wait, so she asks him to wait quietly and not do anything. She flares stating how he’s acting like a home shopping host rushing to sell something and giving options to either buy or not his offer, taunting that it will be a lost or otherwise.
“It’s risky to assume you know someone else when you often misunderstand yourself. That’s why you must ask. You must hear it directly from them.”
Lee Soo asks if he has to beg for her love, but Woo-yeon responds why she has to answer that. She asks if he is insisting for a full price to his unrequited love. Confessing she was again move by his feelings, but she snaps right away to her usual reality, she storms out of his apartment building and finds Joon-soo waiting.
Asking why he had to be there after an emotional war with her first love, Joon-soo explains that he’s there because whenever she goes to Lee Soo, she ends up looking emotionally exhausted after.
Just then, Lee Soo comes rushing and finds Woo-yeon talking to Joon-soo. He goes to where they are and tells her to go ahead and explain, make excuses because he will believe everything even if it is a lie.
More Than Friends Episode 10 Musings
This episode is the turning point of the love triangle. While the bulk of the sentiments is being carried by Woo-yeon, the catalyst to that is how Lee Soo failed to respond to her emotions in all those times he could have.
Misunderstandings in Korean dramas are really scary. In More Than Friends, it is extra scary because the characters tend to have a mindset that refuses to ask and say the right things at the right time. *chuckles
Surely banking on its confrontation scenes, this drama is as scary as horror movies whenever Woo-yeon and Lee Soo argue with their emotions. I think a lot of us watching subconsciously cheer for them while they raise their arguments. Key points that make sense in their own perspectives that we cannot refute.
In reality, Joon-soo’s character deserves all the hugs we can give. He is Woo-yeon’s male version, and he hasn’t realized it yet. *wink
Notably, this episode is pretty much balance in sealing the main love line and side love lines. Although, we feel bad on Young-hee’s effort being thwarted again, we hope she would realize how Hyun-jae’s happiness is ultimately having her by his side.
Something about P.O always makes me smile. Finally mustering the strength to ask Jin-ju out, I hope they will finally achieve the love dreams they both deserve.
I also can’t wait how Woo-yeon will respond to that last scene, but based on the teaser, another opportunity will be given to Lee Soo to gain the upper hand in this love triangle quest. But, will Joon-soo give way easily?
Photos/Videos: JTBC
