Loyalty
Episode 10 of Eve starts with Yoon-Kyum speaking to Ra-El about their situation. He intends to set them up with an apartment and pay off Ra-El’s husband with a big payday. He’s all-in on this affair but Ra-El is standoffish, claiming she has some issues at the school she needs to take care of first. Meanwhile, So-Ra decides to personally introduce the new CEO of the company while she’s settling in as the Director of LY Group. First up though, she brings Jin-Wook in and berates him for not taking care of Ra-El. In fact, she tells him to either quit or be fired. They use the work he’s done for Chairman Han as leverage. So-Ra also tells him that he needs to leave and head for the States – and he has 10 days to do this. When he reveals this to Ra-El and Moon-Hee, the former sees this as an advantage, pointing out that this could be used to their advantage. When Yoon-Kyum finds out about leaving, he confronts Ra-El in the parking lot and pleads with her to see sense. She refuses his advances and drives off, thinking to herself that she can cruelly rip his heart apart then she will do in the future. However, for now the drama falls to the kindergarten. Joon-Cheol receives a call from the headmistress there about a complaint Ra-El has filed regarding So-Ra’s behaviour. So-Ra does her best to get rid of the flames, deciding to go all-in on her new role as director by announcing it before everyone at a big event. Things go okay for a while but So-Ra notices Ra-El up on the balcony. Heading up, Ra-El hands over a rose “You look fabulous, madam.” She teases. When Ra-El leaves, she also turns on the loudspeakers so the entire party can hear So-Ra raving to Yoon-Kyum. They discuss the affair and how Ra-El should be on her knees apologizing. It’s a big turn of events and when So-Ra heads down to the party and learns their entire conversation was broadcast out for all to hear, she’s shell-shocked – and even more so when she heads home and realizes this was all conducted by Ra-El dropping a mic in her bag. That day, Yoon-Kyum confronts Ra-El about her actions but she plays a different angle. She’s annoyed at being hidden away and claims that he’s hiding her and doesn’t want a proper relationship. Yoon-Kyum has heard enough and decides to walk away, claiming they shouldn’t see each other anymore. That is, until Ra-El steps forward and hugs him, pointing out that she’s the one who calls the shots here and decides whether they see each other or not. It turns out though, So-Ra getting the CEO position was simply so Yoon-Kyum could protect Ra-El. He gave up his stature and caved to his wife simply to make sure Ra-El stays hidden and their affair isn’t known to So-Ra’s father. When Ra-El heads back to see Yoon-Kyum, apologizing for being overly emotional, their conversation is broken up by Yoon-Kyum receiving a call. It turns out Madam Seol is in a critical condition. She’s the wife of the LY Group’s head, and has been hospitalized for nearly 8 years. She has pneumonia and has just passed away. At the funeral, Eun-Pyeong shows up alongside Ra-El, which completely rattles So-Ra. It would appear she was let in intentionally by her brother and sister-in-law to wind So-Ra up. Ra-El cradles Da-Bi when So-Ra approaches, stepping on her hand. When Mr Han heads over and questions just what’s happening, Ra-El whispers something in the chairman’s ear. She claims So-Ra is keeping a lot of secrets from him, and Ra-El takes her leave after dropping that bombshell. Ra-El and Eun-Pyeong leave the ceremony while Yoon-Kyum comes clean to his father in law, admitting he’s had an affair on So-Ra. He doesn’t mention with who though, but Han is determined to find out. Ra-El rings Yoon-Kyum and tells him she wants to be his main woman, not So-Ra. As we soon see, Yoon-Kyum surprises everyone by taking Ra-El’s advice and deciding they should break up.
The Episode Review
Although we do get some movement on the plot at the end, with Yoon-Kyum breaking up with So-Ra, a lot of this drama has just been rehashing the exact same plotlines repeatedly all season long. The revenge cycle is a nice angle but the problem is, there’s not a whole lot of substance to this show beyond that. Furthermore, the end-goal is supposed to be taking out Han and his brother but yet, they’ve basically been footnotes in this whole drama, playing second fiddle to So-Ra and Yoon-Kyum instead. There are moments where this devolves into being a makjang and a lot of this episode could have easily been cut out as there’s just not a whole lot of movement with the main plot. Not only that, but the forced implied romance between Eun-Pyeong and Ra-El really doesn’t work. Despite that though, there’s enough here to enjoy and the ending certainly looks like next week’s follow-up is going to be far more dramatic.
