Highlights: "Heard It Through the Grapevine" Episode 6

I would like to propose a new title for “Heard It Through the Grapevine”: “Rich People Behaving Badly.” It’s almost impressive how terrible Jung Ho (Yoo Joon Sang) and Yeon Hee (Yoo Ho Jeong) are, how flawlessly they manage to take every chance they have to be good people and transform it into an opportunity to display just how self-involved and self-obsessed they are. I was relieved to see that many of you enjoyed their crying sessions in yesterday’s episode as much as I did, but their time for crying is over. The time for making other people cry, though? That’s just beginning.

These were my five favorite scenes from “Heard It Through the Grapevine” episode 6:

1. Bom’s family adores Jin Young

Before I had even started to process my anger at the way that Yeon Hee is policing Bom’s relationship with Jin Young (Yeon Hee, you do not have the right to say when Bom (Go Ah Sung) can and cannot see her son!), I was luckily distracted by the beauty that is the Seo family’s love for its newest member. In comparison with Yeon Hee’s selfish love, Bom’s entire family is made happy by Jin Young’s mere existence, even if most of them still haven’t met him. Every episode, it’s this family, bound by genuine love and affection, that keeps me sane.

2. Where is Han Jung Ho’s Oscar?

It’s hardly a surprise that Jung Ho is an excellent liar. But the absolute gusto with which he greets the former Prime Minister’s news about an impending corporate scandal he already knows about is still nothing short of marvelous. It’s so overdone, so gloriously hammy—and yet the former PM buys it hook, line, and sinker. Such is the magic of Han Jung Ho, I suppose.

3. A (hopefully) healing hug

It’s a testament to how well In Sang (Lee Joon) understands his parents that he knows this family breakfast is doomed to fail. (To be fair, anybody with eyes could tell you that any gathering that involves dressing a pair of teenagers like a grandpa and an aging housewife couldn’t possibly go well!) And it’s sweet that he makes sure to hug Bom before the visit starts, to help ease the pain that she might feel. Alas, even twenty hugs couldn’t save this breakfast.

4. Hyung Shik gets lost

This sequence is the perfect metaphor for the difficulties of dealing with the Han family. First poor, innocent Hyung Shik (Bom’s father) gets lost, wandering up and down identical corridors past more rooms than any family could possibly need, the doors of which are all locked. When he finally does find an unlocked door, he’s greeted by a hysterically screaming rich person (Yeon Hee), even though nothing scary has happened. (Yes, she was frightened that Hyung Shik might recognize her voice from the time that he tried to visit Bom and Yeon Hee pretended not to know who Bom was. But since that initial situation was caused by Yeon Hee’s unfailing lack of consideration and politeness, my sympathy is limited.) Poor Hyung Shik. Poor Seo family.

5. Han In Sang is my hero

THANK GOODNESS. This parental visit was almost unbearably awkward from the moment that Jin Ae and Hyung Shik entered the Han house, but the in-law breakfast moved beyond awkward to genuinely mortifying. Watching Jung Ho pompously set the terms for their family relationship—Bom gets to go to college, Noo Ri gets a job, and Jin Ae and Hyung Shik get to move to an orchard where they can never remind anyone that they exist—just made me so angry, and so horrified for poor Jin Ae and Hyung Shik. Even worse than their stunned silence is Bom’s descent into tears—she’s outraged and humiliated, of course, but she can’t say anything because of her precarious situation in the Han household.

Luckily, In Sang has had enough. He was simmering for the entire episode over the way that his parents are treating him and Bom, and he had sincerely hoped that his father would use this breakfast to apologize to Hyung Shik and Jin Ae for how they’d been treated in the past. When the exact opposite of an apology takes place, In Sang can’t stay silent. He stands up, bows to Hyung Shik and Jin Ae, and apologizes for his father’s behavior.

What a great moment. To see In Sang treating Jung Ho like an embarrassing child is just wonderfully satisfying, and Jung Ho’s reaction is hilarious, as he bellows his son’s name and tries to climb over a railing to get to him, only to injure himself in the process. I have no idea what the fallout from In Sang’s outburst will be, but I’m so glad it happened.

What did you think about this episode? How amazing was that final scene? Let us know in the comments below!

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