Highlights: "Heard It Through the Grapevine" Episode 7

Episode seven of “Heard It Through the Grapevine” opens in the aftermath of last week’s breakfast-meeting disaster, and it’s immediately clear that something has changed. The relationships between all of our main characters have altered—most unexpectedly, In Sang (Lee Joon) and Bom (Go Ah Sung) are no longer the united front they once were. Of course, they still love each other. But the almost-insurmountable gap between them (a wealth gap, a class gap, a power gap) has been cruelly exposed, and there’s no going back.

I’m not worried, however. I believe in Seo Bom’s ability to achieve her goals. The Han house may look a lot like enemy territory, but with her inquisitive, determined nature, I have faith that Bom will find her way, and In Sang’s, too, for good measure.

These were my five favorite scenes from “Heard It Through the Grapevine” episode 7:

1. Jung Ho hasn’t gotten any wiser, but he is in a lot of pain

On the one hand, Jung Ho’s post-breakfast lecture to Bom and In Sang about why Bom’s parents are not and never will be the Han family’s equals is unbearably smug and heartless. (The fact that Bom clearly takes his words to heart, even though she doesn’t agree with him, is both fascinating and troubling, and a sign of a new direction for her character arc.)

On the other hand, the sight of Jung Ho (Yoo Joon Sang) being helped into a chair because his fight-caused injury makes it difficult for him to move, and the clear pain and discomfort he exhibits, almost makes sitting through his speech worth it. Almost.

2. Jung Ho is obsessed with baldness

The not-so-sad truth is, Jung Ho suffered two injuries at the breakfast fight. The first, more obvious injury makes it difficult for him to walk and sit (I’m trying to be delicate about it!). But it seems that Hyung Shik might have tugged on some of Jung Ho’s hair, and the aftermath of that occurrence is no less traumatic for poor Jung Ho, who is impossibly vain about his hair. I laughed way too much at the sight of this powerful man reduced to taking photographs of his head in a desperate attempt to see whether the missing hair was noticeable.

3. Bom and In Sang get petty

One of the best outcomes of the breakfast fight is that now Bom and In Sang have seen that Jung Ho and Yeon Hee (Yoo Ho Jeong) are vulnerable after all. The young couple still lives under Jung Ho and Yeon Hee’s control, but the power dynamics have nevertheless shifted. Both of our young heroes take advantage of that, in wonderfully petty fashion. No, they can’t change their living conditions yet, but they can annoy Jung Ho and Yeon Hee—and they do.

First, Bom, on catching Yeon Hee and Secretary Lee changing the talismans hidden in her room, subtly but pointedly tells her mother-in-law off for buying into such superstition. (The great part is that Yeon Hee’s shame in her belief just makes her position look even weaker.) Then In Sang scolds Jung Ho for trying to visit Jin Young without washing his hands first. (Using the baby’s safety as an excuse might be a little cowardly, but it’s undeniably effective.) It’s delightful to see the younger generation making the older generation squirm.

4. “Madam… Fighting!”

Secretaries aren’t just for organization, it turns out. Yeon Hee demands that Secretary Lee cheer her up when her spirits are down—and in response, Secretary Lee gives her boss the most solemn, joyless “Fighting!” I’ve ever seen in a drama. It’s hilarious.

5. Bom and In Sang ask a question

What a fantastic sequence. One of the areas where “Heard It Through the Grapevine” always shines is its depiction of the interactions between the Han family and the “help”. The housekeeper, butler, secretaries, and teacher may work for the Hans, but they are also intimately familiar with all of their employers’ faults and foibles. This knowledge breeds an interesting mixture of respect, curiosity, and slight contempt. I thoroughly enjoyed just watching the employees sitting together at the end of the day, sharing drinks and gossiping about the latest news in the house.

The scene got even better, however, when Bom and In Sang interrupted the gathering. It’s clear that Bom has quickly learned what In Sang and Yi Ji have always known—that the “help” can be counted on when Jung Ho and Yeon Hee cannot be (remember, in the first episode, when In Sang wanted to find Bom? He didn’t ask his father for help. He asked Joo Young, one of his father’s secretaries). So when Bom and In Sang’s episode-long argument about his father, power, and ethics reaches an impasse, they know better than to ask Jung Ho for clarification. Instead, they go to In Sang’s law tutor (now also Bom’s tutor) to ask him to resolve it.

Ultimately, they don’t get an answer, mostly because In Sang quickly reveals that he only wants the matter resolved so that Bom will let him sleep in bed again, instead of the couch he was forced to sleep on last night. But it’s wonderful just to see the kids interacting with this group of people they feel comfortable with.

I’m also really excited to see how Bom and In Sang’s argument develops in future episodes. Even though they love each other, this is a natural conflict—Bom, as the fish out of water in the Han household, hasn’t just been thrust into a richer lifestyle than she could ever have imagined. She has entered a world she knows nothing about, whose rules she could never begin to guess. Of course she wants to study the world more closely than In Sang, its native inhabitant, would ever care to—and of course she feels the impulse to criticize it more freely than In Sang ever would. I’m really looking forward to seeing these two learn how to cleverly navigate this world of power and money together.

What did you think of today’s episode? Let us know in the comments below!

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