Ron Does Stuff

In the previous episode, it was very heavily telegraphed that Eom Ho stabbed Do Ha as he arrived back to his place in Seoul after visiting Hakcheon. Or at least that’s what they wanted viewers to think but as we can see from the preview above, Do Ha is very much not stabbed (not stabbed, ITZYYY).

So what the hell happened then? Let’s check out episode 12!

You know who gets stabbed? That poor guy who just got his idol group disbanded. This is definitely not his day. Do Ha gets to see Eom Ho standing over the guy’s body and a fight ensues that soon involves Sol Hee and Kang Min as well.

I think I’ve already mentioned this before but one thing I do not like about My Lovely Liar so far is how some characters have remained one-dimensional and the actors portraying them haven’t done anything with them at all. Eom Ho is one such character. He’s been one note for me throughout the series and the actor only seems to play him in that intense shouty way that gets really tiring when you have to watch it for multiple episodes. And now he gets even more screen time in the interrogation room doing the same old schtick and I am tired, people. TIRED.

Thankfully, we quickly get Do Ha, Sol Hee, and Kang Min interaction as they write up a police report and this is less awkward and less painful to watch than Eom Ho’s interrogation. Kang Min is especially hard on Do Ha, which of course will make Do Ha probably go back to mask wearing because nobody is as hard on Do Ha as Do Has is. Let me type hard one more time.

The Atlantis dude — Ethan, according to Wikipedia, because it’s four episodes until the finale and I don’t think his name has ever been mentioned? — manages to survive the stabbing, which at least lightens the load a bit for Do Ha, but that moment of relief for the audience is quickly squashed by the return of Deuk Chan’s scumbag brother, who is asking for help with his financial problems again. The scumbag brother threatens to kill himself if Deuk Chan doesn’t help him out and I kinda wanted Deuk Chan to stand up, open a window, and tell his brother to jump. As it is, it may be Deuk Chan who’ll jump off a building as news items start appearing that Do Ha and Seung Ju are one and the same.

While Deuk Chan’s world is crumbling, Do Ha and Sol Hee are engaging in the time-honored K-drama tradition of the piggyback ride; Sol Hee had conveniently sprained her ankle during the Do Ha v Eum Ho scuffle. Do Ha sends her back home in a cab while he waits around at the hospital for Ethan to wake up.

We then find out that Ethan was at the place because Moo-jin, the plagiarist composer, had asked him to find dirt about Do Ha in exchange for a spot in another boy band. Dude, that guy is not going to get you in a new group, and Ethan says as much in-universe. In fact, he’s decided to quit music altogether, even after Do Ha offered to write a song for him.

The bad night doesn’t stop there for Do Ha, as a gaggle of reporters accost him in the hospital lobby. Now, I know this was made way before what happened to Lee Sun-kyun, but Do Ha saying that the media did not believe him when he first denied involvement in Eom Ji’s murder sorta kinda echoes that a bit.

Everything that has happened has changed Do Ha’s approach to things, as he now tells Sol Hee that he wants to stop waiting and find out who actually killed Eom Ji. Hopefully this propels the plot along!

Do Ha’s mom is told to stop her gubernatorial run bye.

Back in Seoul, Deuk Chan’s scumbag brother goes to Do Ha to ask for money and while trying to guilt him into helping him out reveals the abuse that Eom Ji suffered under her father, something Do Ha wasn’t aware of before. He insinuates that maybe Eom Ji would have died from her father’s abuse anyway and tells Do Ha that he can tell him where Eom Ji’s father is now if he gives him money. Gotta give him credit for always being on that scumbag track!

Sol Hee’s mother is back lemme go take a dump in the toilet while the scene plays out. Okay maybe not because she does say one true thing — society doesn’t care about the truth if they’ve already made up their mind about something. There’s also a scene showing comments from K-netz and once again, this was made before everything that went down with Lee Sun-kyun, but the faint similarities!

Anyways, Do Ha meets up with Sol Hee and tells her about his plan to head to Hakcheon to talk to ~someone~ and he stupidly tells her not to go with him out of some misguided sense of chivalry. She can help you figure out if Eom Ji’s dad is lying or not, you idiot!

Meanwhile, Chihoon has been fiercely defending Do Ha online because Syaon is getting affected by the whole mess and it’s uncanny how closely his comments mirror those from Knetz, or at least the ones that the cesspool that is Pann Choa choses to translate through an app. But either way, here’s the man for you Syaon!

Deuk Chan, on the other hand, is becoming even more suspicious because he’s mad about articles coming out that his company plans to sue Do Ha because he didn’t tell him about his past. Do Ha’s already giving you a way out, why are you mad about it? Is it because it cuts you off from Do Ha? He even sends him one of those significant other texts where he distances himself from the articles. Honey, from one member of the community to another, there’s no use pining over a straight guy! And then he gets a call from a law firm because his wife wants a divorce! The road to freedom is there baby accept the divorce and head to Itaewon or something and live your gay life!

Do Ha is back in Hakcheon and gets publicly shamed by one of the vendors at the public market, and since I like beating a dead horse, lemme say again that this was filmed way before everything that happened with Lee Sun-kyun but the parallels!

Sol Hee asks Kang Min out to lunch supposedly to thank him for helping her out but Kang Min correctly deduces that the lunch is for Sol Hee to ask about the status of Do Ha’s case. Just like Do Ha, Kang Min is of the opinion that they need to find the real killer if Sol Hee is going to insist on Do Ha’s innocence.

Do Ha’s mom is moving behind the scenes to have the police officer cover up for Do Ha and my hate for her is well-documented so we move along.

And because the universe hates me the next scene involves Sol Hee’s mother so I really don’t care. My golly why do I dislike the mothers in this show so much?

There’s a little comedic interlude with Moo-jin and the Luni Cafe gang that partly calms me down after the two successive mother scenes, and then we’re back into the thick of Do Ha’s investigation as he asks the son of a factory owner about Eom Ji’s father. The guy tells Do Ha where he last saw Eom Ji’s mother, while Sol Hee all the way back in Seoul tells her little Lumi Cafe gang that they’re going to be on paid leave while she goes to Hakcheon to help Do Ha out.

Yet another comedic interlude, this time with Sol Hee’s mother but it’s already too late guys I don’t like her!

Sol Hee finally arrives in Hakcheon and finally, some progress with regards to Do Ha’s investigation because they’ve kinda figured out that Eom Ji’s father may have killed her for insurance money. Considering the amount of Forensic Files I’ve been watching this should have been something I considered! They track Eom Ji’s father down to a gambling den and we get a really nice callback to the first episode because the den is owned by the gang boss that Sol Hee helped out way back when!

Once inside the bar, things go into overdrive because Deuk Chan’s asshole brother is there. We find out he liked Eom Ji! And they also find Eom Ji’s father there! Do Ha asks him if he killed Eom Ji!

Cliffhanger!