No Plan B
Episode 9 of Eve begins with Yoon-Kyum promising Ra-El that he can control this volatile cocktail of emotion that’s coming their way. Between So-Ra and now Jin-Wook aware of their affair, it’s a precarious situation. Back home, Jin-Wook packs up everything that Ra-El has worn for Yoon-Kyum and demands she throw it all out. With everything escalating the way that it is, Moon-hee speaks to Ra-El in confidence. She’s concerned about Ra-El’s kamikaze plan, especially as she doesn’t have an alternate plan. Everything here is resting on So-Ra and Yoon-Kyum breaking up. In the morning, Ra-El shows up at the kindergarten, where she finds So-Ra revelling in applause from everyone. Unfortunately, Ra-El is shunned by all the women as So-Ra publicly slaps her in the face and claims she’s been talking back. Interestingly, she doesn’t mention the affair in front of everyone. The reason why soon becomes clear in private. So-Ra boasts that she’s actually falling upwards, given she’s about to be in charge of the mall – as a Director no less. This gives her voting rights and far more power than she had initially. “This is the world of adults. Got it?” So-Ra says patronizingly, as she stands up and leaves on Yoon-Kyum’s arm. That’s not what Ra-El had in mind and it certainly doesn’t do her plan any favours. Yoon-Kyum and So-Ra are all over the news too, given LY Group have now gone public on the stock market. When Ra-El watches this transpire, she speaks to Eun-Pyeong, who admits she’s worried about her. He also suddenly reveals that he loves her too, which feels like it’s come out of complete left-field to be honest. Anyway, he tells Ra-El he just wants her to be safe and will do anything for her. He doesn’t want an answer but just needed to get this off his chest. That night, Yoon-Kyum receives a brown envelope from a shady guy on a motorbike. Before he can open it, Eun-Pyeong arrives to talk business and to have a drink. His aim here is to hoodwink Yoon-Kyum, which he manages to do by switching over the envelopes. That’s probably just as well, because when Eun-Pyeong catches up with Ra-El that night, he shows her what’s inside. There are numerous pictures from her past, including her true identity and name. But who sent this? Well, it turns out it’s actually Moon-Hee. She’s double-crossed Ra-El in order to push forward her own plan of action. When Ra-El learns this, she doesn’t let it show and indirectly threatens Moon-hee, telling her that anyone who crosses her will be sorry. Meanwhile, So-Ra continues to avoid her father but there’s only so long she can do that for. Eventually she does head over to his place, where Han is livid and knocks his daughter down to the ground. Ra-El happens to be listening to all of this from her secret room. So-Ra manages to stave off her father’s wrath, pointing out that she’s been made director. For now, it falls to letting her anger out on Ra-El, who’s called into the dance studio where So-Ra has all the mums turn on her. So-Ra is adamant she can have Bo-Ram kicked out but Ra-El shrugs that threat off and claims she can get So-Ra’s daughter kicked out instead. On the way out, So-Ra knocks over the shelfs and calls Ra-El a psycho. Ra-El calls her back though just before meeting Yoon-kyum, challenging her and claiming that one of them is going to come out on top. But who?
The Episode Review
So Eve’s initial plan has gone completely awry and as a result, we now have this show descending into melodrama as the show has devolved into a cat fight between So-Ra and Ra-El. While there’s nothing wrong with that per-se, it also gives the impression that this show is going through the motions and recycling the revenge theme, diluting its initial impact earlier in the show. Don’t get me wrong, Eve is still enjoyable but this is one of those k-dramas that perhaps didn’t need 16 episodes to tell its story. It really does feel like we’re gearing up for the endgame, but then we still have 7 more episodes to go. We’ll have to wait and see.
