Soooo the picture above basically is the three main scenes in episode 2, at least that’s what I think. Episode 2 was like Christmas, everything was sweet and going so well that it was obvious that something would happen.

At the gathering for new employees, Soo Hyun makes a speech to welcome them as the representative, she notices Jin Hyuk in the crowd and stops abruptly in the middle of her sentence. They both smile at each other and everything goes on well. I mean anyone would be surprised to see someone they met in the other half of the world in front of them as a part of their daily lives, but for these two it’ll probably mean a lot more.

Soo Hyun uses her representative powers and gets her hands on Jin Hyuk’s application form for the company, she reads about him going to his neighbourhood playground and sitting on the swings whenever he feels down, and she checks it out by herself after work. However, Jin Hyuk walks by on his way home and recognizes Su Hyun, and the two finally have a chance to talk after finding out each other’s identity.

Jin Hyuk convinces Soo Hyun to take a look at a picture of her that Jin Hyuk took while they were in Cuba, and because it’s in film and not digital form they use a toy grabbing machine as a light source instead to be able to see the picture clearly. Soo Hyun repeats her actions in Cuba, asking Jin Hyuk if he has money, and the two play a few rounds of the toy grabbing machine, starting with Jin Hyuk failing over and over again, finishing with Soo Hyun succeeding in one try. They laugh and have a good time, and I have to say their interactions in this scene were my personal favourite out of the whole episode. Bo Gum is really cute and the two really seemed to be having fun, even though they know that they’re boss/employee, they didn’t seem to care at all and I liked that.

Jin Hyuk and his colleauges have a gathering after work to welcome Jin Hyuk into the department, and Jin Hyuk gets drunk. At the same time, Soo Hyun gets off work late and just happens to see Jin Hyuk waiting for the bus on her way home, looking quite unwell. She offers to give him a ride and he gladly accepts(cause he’s drunk lol). Jin Hyuk is just complete cuteness when he’s drunk, the way he talks and his expressions ohmygod are priceless. I never really watched Bo Gum’s other works because I prefer dramas that are set in mordern times but his dramas often have either a historical setting(Love in the Moonlight) or is set in older days(Reply 1988). However, I loved his chemistry with Irene(Red Velvet) when they were the MCs for KBS’s Music Bank, and so finally when news came out that he was doing Encounter/Boyfriend, he was one of the reasons that I wanted to watch the drama.

Soo Hyun asks Jin Hyuk out on a date(lol not really I’m just kidding), what happens is that she asks him to go to the highway service area(?) to eat ramyeon with her[Fun fact:When a girl asks a guy to eat ramyeon with her in Korea, it basically equals ‘Do you want to netflix and chill?’, and if you still don’t understand thennnnn I can’t help you Google it by yourself trying to keep it PG13 here] BUT Soo Hyun is actually justs asking him to keep her company here in this case, because she’s a public figure and everytime she goes out in public she has to lay low in case the paparazzi take pictures of her. So they go and eat together and smile at each other and have a sweet date(at least in our eyes it was a date), they bid each other farewell and their relationship deepens. Of course, after feeding us a ton of sugar the script writer decides that that’s enough and it’s time for our bitter medicine which prevents our teeth from spoiling, and the next day Soo Hyun and Jin Hyuk’s “date” was posted on the internet, thankfully with Jin Hyuk’s face blurred though, and the episode ends there.

I apologize if I focus too much on the main characters’ storyline too much because that’s the main point of the drama for me and there’s not much to say about the other characters yet since it’s only the first two episodes right now. It’s only the start and there’s been romance between the two already, which is uncommon in Kdramas, as usually the leads are bickering and on opposite sides and yet later they fall in love over time, so it’ll be interesting to see how Soo Hyun and Jin Hyuk’s relationship develops when both are obviously interested in each other already in the first two episodes. Aaaand so this review has come to an end and let’s meet in episode 3!

 

Introduction

^{So this is one of the latest dramas I’ve just started, called Encounter, while the original Korean title translates as Boyfriend. Encounter (}남자친구) ^{is a 2018 South Korean television series starring Song Hye-kyo and Park Bo-gum. The drama is just beginning to to air on tvN with the first episode being on November 28, 2018. It will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 21:30 (KST) for a duration of 16 episodes.}

Synopsis:

Brought together by fate, a woman who seems to have everything and a young man who seems to have nothing decides whether to throw away wealth and authority or give up an ordinary life to be together.
Starring:

Song Hye-kyo as Cha Soo-hyun

-A daughter of a prominent politician and former daughter-in-law of a wealthy family

Park Bo-gum as Kim Jin-hyuk

-A freewheeling, ordinary young man who finds joy in the simplest things

——————————————————-SPOILER ALERT———————————————————

EP.1 Thoughts and Feelings

So this is the first time I’ve watched Bogum act in a drama as I haven’t seen any of his other works, while I have watched Song Hye Kyo act in the Descendants of the Sun, but I know very well that both are very good actors so when I knew they would be working together I was quite excited. Of course, it’s hard to forget the fact that Song Hye Kyo is married to Song Joong Ki, while Park Bo Gum is Song Joong Ki’s best friend. It did distract me a little to be honest, I wasn’t sure of how to react at first seeing them play a couple with their real life relationships being this way, but after watching the first two episodes I am COMPLETELY hooked and I can only say that Bogum and Song Hye Kyo are definitely professionals because they are doing such a good job of portraying their characters.

For episode 1, Soo hyun meets Jin Hyuk while on a business trip in Cuba, her car crashes into where Jin Hyuk was sitting at an outdoor cafe, and his camera falls to the ground and breaks. Soo hyun’s secretary takes care of things, offering to buy him a new camera, so only Soo hyun sees Jin Hyuk and is able to recognise him, while Jin Hyuk doesn’t even know Soo hyun is inside the car. Jin Hyuk refuses the offer, as the camera was a gift from when he was born, only taking the contact number the secretary gives him, saying that he will contact her after he gets back to Korea. I have to say that if I were him I would be soooo mad that something that precious got broken, so you can see how good of a guy Jin Hyuk is.

So these two people’s fates start to intertwine, and later Soo hyun decides to go out alone to watch the sunset, but after she had a sleeping pill which DOES NOT make sense but oh well Kdramas. Her taxi breaks down and she has to walk up multiple steep slopes in ridiculously high heels to the point where she can see the sunset. Finally she gets there and sits down on the edge of a 3 metre high stone wall, feet dangling, and suddenly the sleeping pill she took before starts to take its toll. Soo hyun almost falls to her death, Jin Hyuk saves her by appearing out of nowhere and lets her sleep on his shoulder for an hour. It’s very unrealistic I know but never take Kdramas too seriously or it’ll lose its fun, take my advice.

Soo hyun wakes up, get startled because she’s leaning on a complete stranger, recognises Jin Hyuk but doesn’t say anything, then they start having fun. Forgot to mention Soo hyun’s purse got stolen so she asks Jin Hyuk to borrow her some money, first for a beer, then he buys a pair of sandals for her, then dinner, then tickets for a salsa performance, where they dance together, and then he pays her taxi fare back to the hotel. Before buying the sandals though, they walked barefoot together as Soo hyun’s feet were already hurt from walking in those heels for a long time and so Jin Hyuk convinces her to walk barefoot by doing it with her. They both enjoy each others’ company immensely and promise to meet each other again the next morning. Bogum and Song Hye Kyo’s acting really is on par and it shows when they’re acting as a man and a woman attracted to each other. They have chemistry inside the drama and express the romantic scenes so well, and the way their relationship in the drama is going makes it seem like they will be a really cute couple.

The next day Soo Hyun gets delayed by a guy who arrives late to sign a contract, and Jin Hyuk waits until he can’t stay anymore, so they miss the chance of seeing each other again. Yet, they suddenly see each other checking in at the airport, and Soo Hyun goes over to him to talk, confessing about the camera incident, saying that she’ll make up for it by upgrading his flight to business class. However, Jin Hyuk yet again refuses the offer, saying he planned his trip so thoroughly and wants to finish it just as he planned, like the backpacking trip of his youth. Watching this I was just like whyyyyy would you refuse that like but that’s Jin Hyuk’s personality I think. Soo Hyun says she understands and they bid each other goodbye.

Last scene cuts to them arriving at Korea, where Jin Hyuk discovers that Soo Hyun is the representative of Donghwa Hotel, and he then recieves a message saying that he has passed the final audition and is officially an employee at Donghwa Hotel. †The episode ends there in a freeze frame and that’s it for episode 1. The fact that Jin Hyuk will be an employee at Soo Hyun company was unexpected and is something to look forward to in later episodes but their relationship is now boss and employee so that’ll be interesting as well. I think it was an okay first episode and I do want to keep watching which is a good thing. Let’s see how it goes and hopefully this drama will end well.