4 Times Kim So Hyun's Lie-Hearing Ability Failed Her In Episodes 7-8 Of "My Lovely Liar"

With “My Lovely Liar” at the halfway mark, we’re starting to see several threads come together. Mok Sol Hee’s (Kim So Hyun’s) and Kim Do Ha’s (Hwang Minhyun’s) pasts collide, with each trying to reckon with old wounds in order to move forward in a relationship with each other. But some hurts are too deep to heal, and this week, Do Ha is going to need all the support he can get as he tries to forge a real life for himself despite everyone insisting that he should live as their pawn instead. And Sol Hee’s about to be tied up because she’s finally realizing that her ability is far more imperfect than it seems. Here are four times where Sol Hee’s ability proved not to be foolproof.

Warning: spoilers for episodes 7-8 below.

1. When she doesn’t register the scheme regarding the bakery’s sale

Sol Hee’s flabbergasted when Do Ha takes her confession of being able to hear lies so calmly. He puts every moment where Sol Hee seemed to somehow read people in a second in perspective and realizes that her explanation is the only one that makes sense. She can’t believe how easygoing he is about it all, but it doesn’t take long to convince her. She’s tried so hard to bear this secret for so long that being able to actually tell someone the truth without hiding it by calling herself a shaman feels amazing.

But Sol Hee’s powers have their limits. When a roach is found in the bread at Do Ha’s favorite bakery, Sol Hee sighs at the irate customer’s insistence that the roach was baked into the bread and wasn’t from her own pantry. She doesn’t hear any lies, so she doesn’t intervene. But days later, things get suspicious. A strange man keeps sniffing around the bakery, acting like it’s already doomed. He turns out to be the bakery’s realtor’s son. Do Ha and Sol Hee investigate and discover that the realtor cooked up a scheme to kick the bakery out as tenants so his son could take over, while using the bakery’s recipes. Do Ha and Sol Hee are relieved that they’re able to help, but neither considers the real takeaway here: that Sol Hee’s lie detector ability isn’t foolproof. She heard an angry customer and believed them without knowing the full story. Lie-detection doesn’t come with context, and that’s precisely what Sol Hee could have really used in what comes next.

2. When she hears Do Ha lie despite his insistence that he didn’t

Sha On (Lee Si Woo) continues to be this show’s weakest link. She continues to stalk Do Ha and hang around his neighborhood, getting mobbed by people in the process. Sol Hee’s bodyguard, chauffeur, and Sha On’s biggest fan Baek Chi Hoon (Ha Jong Woo) rescues her and takes her to Sol Hee’s shop. The two women recognize each other, and Sha On immediately turns into even more of a brat. She demands that Sol Hee leave Do Ha’s life and literally tries to pay her, like some sort of evil mother-in-law. Sol Hee refuses, so Sha On spills Do Ha’s biggest secret in the hopes of driving Sol Hee away. She reveals that Do Ha killed someone. At the same time, Do Ha comes to the conclusion that he’ll tell Sol Hee the truth. We’ve watched him go from horribly agoraphobic to finally venturing outside, to letting go of his mask, and to revealing his name as Kim Do Ha, and he’s finally started to dream of love and to want to be honest with the woman he loves. And, of course, Sha On takes that away from him.

He freezes when Sol Hee asks him whether he killed someone before he can tell her the truth. He admits that he was a murder suspect but that he didn’t kill her. And Sol Hee registers that as a lie. She tries not to believe it. She takes a full night to process it and asks him to repeat it the next day. He guesses that she registered that as a lie, and he says it again, and Sol Hee just panics when it registers as a lie again. She runs from him, and he collapses because there’s nothing he can do at this point. No matter how much he insists that he isn’t lying, she only hears it as one. And no matter how much she tries to convince herself, this is a lie too great to overcome.

3. When she realizes that not all lies are wrong

It’s worth noting that Sol Hee doesn’t suddenly turn really afraid of him or panic at the sight of him. That’s a pretty tiresome trope, where the female lead, who has trusted the male lead all this time, suddenly freaks out after she discovers some secret or the other (I’m looking at you “Scarlet Heart: Ryeo”). Instead, Sol Hee calls Do Ha while she’s getting drunk. She admits that she doesn’t know what to think and is a little wary of him but trusts him to bring her home. Still, the fact that she isn’t sure if he’s a murderer is a huge spanner in the works.

Do Ha returns to his apartment in Seoul, ignoring his mother’s whining that he needs to return to Germany (she’s up for provincial election and doesn’t want him tainting her name). He also ignores Jo Deuk Chan’s (Yoon Ji On‘s) whining that he needs to do what’s best for the company and hide because Choi Eom Ho (Kwon Dong Ho) is hunting him. And he cuts Sha On off, especially after finding that she believed he had killed Eom Ho’s sister. The worst part is that Sha On was so happy about it, saying that she supported him regardless. This girl is nuts. Do Ha finally wants to live life on his terms, but the people who should be supporting him are trying to force him back in his cage. What’s worse, the girl who encouraged him to take those steps outside his cage isn’t sure of him anymore. Poor guy.

Sol Hee can’t figure out what to do, but things change with the arrival of her newest client. The man is a wealthy chairman who just underwent surgery for various complications. He feels awful, but his family and the doctors keep insisting that he’ll be fine. Sol Hee visits his hospital room and realizes that his family and the doctors are lying to him. The man’s illnesses are not getting better, and his surgery couldn’t fix anything. She tells the man the truth, but he’s okay with it. He points out that not all lies are wrong. His family and the doctors are simply trying to give him hope so that he’ll live his last days without grief. Sol Hee takes this to heart, especially when she runs into Lee Kang Min (Seo Ji Hoon) afterwards.

4. When her ability doesn’t tell her why Kang Min lied

Sol Hee panics when she sees Kang Min in the gastric cancer ward, thinking that he has cancer. She confronts him and discovers that she’s right about the illness but wrong about the time. It turns out that he found out he had stage three cancer, right about the time things got bad in their relationship. That’s why he was lying to her then. Sol Hee breaks into tears, realizing that she misjudged him. She was so focused on him lying that it didn’t occur to her to ask why he was lying. Kang Min turns out to be a pretty nice guy. He makes no secret of wanting Sol Hee back but gently backs off when she indicates that she has feelings for Do Ha. He even encourages her to go to him. Sol Hee realizes that there must have been a similar reason for Do Ha’s words registering as a lie and races to go see him. Only, Do Ha has another visitor.

Choi Eom Ho has figured out the link between Do Ha, his mother, and Deuk Chan. Thanks to Sha On’s lunacy, he knows that Do Ha is Kim Seung Ju and stalks him, pretending to be a security guard at Do Ha’s residence. Sol Hee runs into him with Do Ha on the phone. Do Ha hears Eom Ho’s voice and tells her to run and that Eom Ho tried to kill him years ago. But Sol Hee can’t leave Do Ha with him. She hides in the shrubbery just as Do Ha finds her, and the two of them manage to avoid Eom Ho. Do Ha apologizes and vows to tell her everything that happened that day, but Sol Hee shakes her head. She tells him that she doesn’t need to know it all. She’s decided to trust him, and that’s all that matters.

Aww, it’s a good thing we got here so quickly! I was worried that they would leave the reveal of Do Ha’s past for the end of episode 8, but it’s great to have the two leads on board with each other at the halfway mark, especially because there’s a lot of trouble coming their way. Both Do Ha’s and Sol Hee’s mothers are unhinged, Eom Ho is on the prowl, Sha On needs psychiatric help, and Deuk Chan and his brother are hiding something. And what did happen to Eom Ho’s sister that night? Next week shows Eom Ho kidnapping Sha On under the mistaken belief that she’s Do Ha’s girlfriend. Here’s hoping that the leads don’t have to suffer because of Sha On’s antics again since this girl has some serious redeeming to do!

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Shalini_A is a long time Asian-drama addict. When not watching dramas, she fangirls over Ji Sung, and spins thrillers set in increasingly fantastic worlds. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram, and feel free to ask her anything!

Currently Watching:  “Longing For You,” “Not Others,” “My Dearest,” and “My Lovely Liar.”
Looking Forward to: “Gyeongseong Creature,” “Ask The Stars,” “The Girl Downstairs,” “The Worst Evil,” “Queen of Tears,” “Vigilante,” “Daily Dose of Sunshine,” and Ji Sung’s next drama.