Highlights: "Heard It Through the Grapevine" Episode 4

How long can you pretend that life is normal when everything you built your existence on has fundamentally changed? That’s the question that Han Jung Ho and Choi Yeon Hee try to answer in this episode of “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and the answer (unsurprisingly to everyone except them) is “not very long.”

These were my five favorite scenes from episode 4 of “Heard It Through the Grapevine”:

1. A paternity test changes everything

Okay, the proof that In Sang really is the baby’s father may not change everything, but it does mean that Jung Ho and Yeon Hee need to face their son’s position head-on. They start this by delivering many reassuring lies to In Sang and Bom, promising that they are now willing to support the young couple. The fact that In Sang and Bom actually believe them at first is adorably naïve, especially since Jung Ho and Yeon Hee spend the entire scene with sickly fake smiles plastered on their faces, acting like they’re swallowing nails. It’s both exasperating and incredibly funny to watch.

2. Every time you think Han Jung Ho can’t sink further, he does

On the one hand, I knew that In Sang’s parents were never going to accept Bom without a fight. But I still wasn’t quite prepared for Jung Ho to send his secretary to Hyung Shik and Jin Ae’s house with a contract for almost $2 million in exchange for Bom getting out of In Sang’s life. The coldness and arrogance of this gesture sickened me. Han Jung Ho may be a member of high society, but with all his education, he apparently never learned how to be a decent person.

3. Kim Jin Ae is my hero

Like husband, like wife. Yeon Hee also has no idea how to be a decent person, as is beautifully illustrated by her reaction to Jin Ae’s impromptu visit—Yeon Hee is so desperate to avoid Bom’s mother that she even goes so far as to claim that she isn’t In Sang’s mother. That’s just rude.

Luckily, Jin Ae is having none of it, and she gives Yeon Hee the lecture she so richly deserves, chastising her for tempting a poor family with money without thinking of the children who are in the middle of this situation. It’s hugely satisfying.

4. In Sang goes for help

It says so much about In Sang’s childhood that in less than a week he’s already more open and honest with Bom’s parents than he is with his own. My heart just goes out to this boy—his explanation to Jin Ae that loving Bom is the first thing he’s ever done on his own was just so sad. And although Jin Ae reacts to his promise that all he wants to do is support Bom and the baby with understandable skepticism, she still somehow treats him with more respect than his parents do. In Sang may not have lucked out with his parents, but his in-laws are fantastic.

5. It’s wedding time!

…and now Hyung Shik and Jin Ae are his official in-laws! I knew we’d get to a wedding sooner or later, but I love that we got to it this soon, and this defiantly. I don’t know what made me happier: In Sang marching into his house and facing down his mother, or Yeon Hee and Jung Ho’s subsequent arrival at City Hall, horrifying fake smiles back in place, acting like this wedding was part of their plan all along. I may think that In Sang’s parents are terrible people, and I may want for Bom, the baby, and In Sang to stay as far away from them as possible, but there’s no denying that they’re entertaining.

What did you think of this episode? On a scale from 1 to “nightmare-inducing,” how frightening do you think Jung Ho’s fake smile is? Let us know in the comments below!

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