Echo
Episode 4 of Now, We Are Breaking Up begins on the night of Soo-wan’s death as he calls Jae-guk from his car. Jae-guk is confused by whatever Soo-wan tells him, but the car crashes before Soo-wan can explain. In the present, Young-eun questions all the resentment and misery she’s held onto without knowing Soo-wan passed away. Sono’s popularity is in a steady decline, and the new dresses aren’t selling, even though Young-eun went ahead with their release. Yoo-jung, who is a department store director, relegates Sono’s shopfront to a less desirable location. CEO Hwang asks Young-eun to jump off the burning ship that Sono has become and take over a licensing deal with the imported brand, Claire Marie. Chi-sook finds Do-hoon at his office. He’s expecting an apology from her, but she doesn’t even remember the taxi incident. He asks about Young-eun and Chi-sook mistakes it for him having a crush on her. Jae-guk meets Yoo-jung at her department store and makes his intention to stay in Korea known. On his way out, he passes Young-eun, who is checking on Sono’s storefront. She’s distracted by his presence, though they don’t acknowledge each other. Mi-sook invites Young-eun out for lunch after Soo-ho ignores her. As they eat, Young-eun breaks down and lets her know about Soo-wan’s death. At the same time, Young-eun’s mother, Kang Jung-ja, tries to befriend Jae-guk’s mother, Min Hye-ok. Jung-ja boasts about Young-eun while Hye-ok remains distant. Later, Mi-sook gets a check-up, believing that she is pregnant. The doctor finds that Mi-sook is not pregnant but has an unusual growth causing similar symptoms. At her apartment that night, Young-eun has a flashback to earlier in the day when she told her team about Claire Marie. In the flashback, Young-eun puts a damper on her team’s fighting spirit by reinforcing the company’s decision to dissolve Sono. Na-ri questions Young-eun’s apparent resolve, leaving her wordless. Young-eun pulls herself out of the flashback and boxes up all the old belongings she’s been holding onto. She calls Mi-sook, who sits alone at a bus stop but pretends that Soo-ho has taken her to dinner to make up for ignoring her. Meanwhile, at Do-hoon’s apartment, Chi-sook proposes to help him date Young-eun if he helps her date Jae-guk. Do-hoon doesn’t bother to correct her assumptions. She finds out about Jae-guk’s infatuation with Young-eun after snooping through his laptop and discovering the secret photos he snapped of Young-eun at the first shoot they did together. Chi-sook rushes over to Young-eun’s apartment to confront her but gets distracted by the tower of boxes Young-eun has built. Chi-sook can’t believe that Young-eun is ready to move on and echoes Na-ri, asking if Young-eun is okay with abandoning Sono. This time, Young-eun rants about the tireless effort she’s poured into the brand. Chi-sook reminds Young-eun that she also had a lot of fun over the years. Chi-sook leaves without mentioning Jae-guk and Young-eun looks through an old concept portfolio she made for Sono. On one of the pages is a handwritten message. She has a flashback to when she told Soo-wan that sono, meaning echo in Latin, would be the name of her first brand. Jae-guk visits what was once the site of Soo-wan’s crash. We flash back to their call again and Soo-wan says he’s on his way to meet someone. The next day, Jae-guk takes Young-eun to visit Soo-wan’s grave. Jae-guk has a flashback to a discussion he had with Soo-wan in Paris. Soo-wan must return to Korea and feels like he should break up with Young-eun so that he doesn’t hold her back. Jae-guk tells Soo-wan to give her a choice instead. Back in the cemetery, Young-eun speaks of how much she loved Soo-wan even though their relationship only lasted two months. She draws clear boundaries with Jae-guk, stating that she only sees him as Soo-wan’s brother now. Chi-sook’s younger brother, Hwang Chi-hyung, arrives at The One. CEO Hwang wants Young-eun to be his supervisor, putting him on the Claire Marie team with her. Instead, Young-eun negotiates to stay with Sono for its few remaining seasons in exchange for mentoring Chi-hyung. Young-eun is leaving the office when Jae-guk comes up to her. We flash back to his time in Paris ten years ago. He’s asked to ghost write a student recommendation letter for Young-eun. He adds the handwritten message we saw in Young-eun’s concept portfolio, writing that he hopes her passion will become a sono (echo). He needs to rush to a shoot, so he gets Soo-wan to deliver the portfolio with the letter to Young-eun, allowing the two to meet for the first time. We also flash back to Jae-guk’s previous conversation with Yoo-jung. Yoo-jung starts to warn him away from Young-eun but he stops her, reasoning that Soo-wan is no longer around. The flashbacks end and Jae-guk wants to know if Young-eun missed him, saying that he missed her.
The Episode Review
Is it weird that one corner of this love triangle is dead, but he’s still the most likeable love interest? On that note, we should address how unbelievable it is that Young-eun was so completely in love with Soo-wan but didn’t worry at all after she couldn’t get in contact with him on the night he died. She was so wrapped up in an imagined break up that she passed Soo-wan’s smashed up car and didn’t even glance at it. Poor guy. This episode also tried to distract us from the fact that Soo-wan was obviously the more likeable brother by pushing the destined love trope into our faces. Jae-guk’s past actions are now the cause of Young-eun’s most significant relationship, her return to Korea, and her brand name. But, instead of creating an atmosphere of magically fated love, this came across as an unpleasant tool to sweep away the dead brother in the room. Worse than any of this is Now, We Are Breaking Up’s biggest sin – it’s boring. A bad drama can be so bad it’s fun to watch, like a train wreck you can’t look away from. This is more like waiting at the station for an hour because your train is delayed. You’re unamused, tired, and ready for the whole ordeal to be over.
