Episode 2 of The Practical Guide to Love begins with Ui-yeong keeping a bit more distance with Tae-seop after his sudden bold proclamation about marriage. It completely derails the date and Ui-yeong is so shocked, she spills soy sauce all over her white dress.
Tae-seop decides they should rearrange the date for next time but Ui-yeong rejects the offer and decides to head home. Her dress is a complete state but she does take Tae-seop's advice on how to clean it.
Her friend Seung-joon helps Ui-yeong out with the date and they reflect on Tae-seop's mannerisms, and the potential that he may actually be loaded. Or, as Ui-yeong's mum points out, he could be "car poor".
Funnily enough, the car actually is a company vehicle and Tae-seop isn't exactly loaded. He sleeps in the vehicle overnight and in that time, doesn't message Ui-yeong, who starts to wonder whether he's going to or not.
Song Tae-seop actually owns a woodworking studio and he's very busy a lot of the time. He tends to head out on business trips and around that, he has social gatherings too. He doesn't have much time for dating.
Tae-seop is a bit preoccupied with a wedding he's attending right now though. His ex, Hyun-ju, approaches and questions why he's been so silent lately. Tae-seop was dumped after they dated for a long time and Tae-seop's reaction was to leave silently.
The pair are willing to put water under the bridge, and in fact Tae-seop is quite upbeat about the whole date. However, he hasn't messaged for a while now (over 68 hours) and despite liking her, he's been slammed with work and social obligations.
Then the icing on the cake is when Tae-seop heads home and hurts his back. Sprawled out and unable to move, he's suffering from an awful muscle knot. His friend heads over and helps get him sorted with some acupuncture, which does the trick.
The owner implores him not to end up dying alone and to do what he can to meet someone else.
That night though, Ui-yeong winds up running right into Tae-seop who's walking the other way. He's actually heading to the airport because he has a business trip coming up.
Ui-yeong cuts the BS and immediately asks about blind dates, where she wonders whether she should cancel the blind date or not. He's quite nonchalant about it but tells her he'll contact when he's back from the business trip.
Now, Ui-yeong sees their chance encounter as a sign from above and ditches the archaic advice from her friends to play hard to get. Given his advice about the dress pays off, she sends him a message thanking him. Only… he doesn't reply to her message.
Interestingly, Ui-yeong also gets another proposition here, from Lee Jeong-woo. Na-ri gave her number and he wants to meet on Saturday for drinks. Annoyed with Tae-seop's lack of a reply, she agrees to go. Funnily enough, she shows up wearing the same dress as before for Jeong-woo.
Tae-seop chooses this moment to reply but Ui-yeong is busy and shrugs off his suggestion to meet. The ball is firmly in Ui-yeong's court. She ignores that for now and eventually meets Jeong-woo, who's good looking and shows in a rather casual get-up. Only, he doesn't have much humour or empathy. Or, well, anything else actually.
Jeong-woo is obviously here just for the sake of showing and he has no interest in paying for anything either. He helps himself to some desserts and drinks.
Just before Ui-yeong leaves though, Tae-seop shows up. It's the worst possible place to see him, and Jeong-woo introduces himself as Ui-yeong's brother.
The whole thing is a disaster but funnily enough, after all that, Jeong-woo decides they should head out for drinks and food together. It's not part of their blind date schtick so neither are trying to impress the other.
The pair immediately start talking casually here, and as they start to get drunk, Tae-seop ruminates over how he should have been more proactive with how he feels.
Funnily enough, this no-holds-barred approach from Ui-yeong, who asks Jeong-woo to hook her up with good looking friends and to give tips for her next date, actually works to warm him up.
On the way out the bar, they end up at a kids playground together. If she wasn't spinning out from the alcohol already, Ui-yeong will now as Jeong-woo puts her on the roundabout and spins it wildly.
As the pair lie together, Jeong-woo brushes Ui-yeong's cheek and she finds herself starting to warm to him. She does tell him she won't sleep with him and eventually heads home.
The next day, Na-ri catches up with Ui-yeong and asks how her date went. She brings up how nothing happened and he actually never bothered to message and ask if she got home ok either.
Having been on 2 blind dates, Ui-yeong reflects on her experience so far and mulls over the pros and cons of this. To treat herself, she heads into a department store and decides to go all-in, picking out some good outfits and treating herself.
Midway through, she checks out her phone and finds a ton of blind date requests. It's completely overwhelming and she's not quite sure how to handle it.
The Episode Review
Alas, our Ui-yeong has succumbed to the woes of dating apps and found just how absolutely overwhelming this can be for women. This sudden rush of endorphins and the overwhelming feeling of bombardment is shared among many women on the platform.
I'm glad The Practical Guide to Love has included this, as a lot of shows tend to gloss over it or distort the reality of what dating is like for women.
However, you just know that the choice is going to come back around to both Tae-seop and Jeong-woo, who slot nicely into the charming, nice guy and the bad boy archetypes.
It'll be interesting to see what way this one goes but for the time being, The Practical Guide to Love rounds everything out with another decent chapter.
What a great second episode. It seems that next episode will bring chaos and I am here for it. Also the opening OST is growing on me. And as usual Han Ji-min carries this show.
Cameo Appearances
Also the 3 cameos were fun too:
- First was the real cameo – our "Not Others" reunion (It's always good to see Choi Soo-young).
- Second was just a cameo in an image and her name was shouted out too: Mimi (from Oh My Girl!).
- And finally just a voice at the end: Yuk Jun-seo (You might know him from Single's Inferno season 4).
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