Recap
Suzu takes care of Uta at the clinic while Sasaki comforts Haru, who is wailing in the hallway. Issei stands and watches.
Uta is okay, and the next morning Suzu talks with Haru. He’s full of praise for Uta and puts himself down. Suzu tells him about feeling like a loser after getting sued and forced to leave her job. She’s happier now and realizes there’s no ‘right’ place to be.
Uta tells Sasaki she thinks Haru wanted a miscarriage and Sasaki makes his weird expression.
Suzu learns about the online post calling her a murderer from the nurses, and Sasaki takes her outside. Flashbacks show Suzu was lied to about the patient’s condition, and then treated poorly by her older male bosses.
Present day, Sasaki brings her corn potage. Suzu thinks the guy who sued her wrote the post but keeps telling Sasaki she’s fine. He urges her to rely on him.
Issei is haunted by seeing Haru upset at the clinic. Sakura shows up and asks about his feelings for Suzu, but out loud so he can’t understand.
Suzu is being followed home, so she hides. Issei finds her and accidentally terrifies her. To her dismay, he brings her more corn potage. She tells him about being followed, but nothing else. He promises to protect her and gives her a ride home, walking her to her door.
Sasaki is waiting outside. Issei recognizes him and thinks he’s Suzu’s stalker, but she explains he’s a colleague. Issei is still jealous and aggressive, and Sasaki is oblivious and friendly, thinking he’s Suzu’s younger brother. Once Sasaki is gone, Suzu goes inside and opens a window to flirt with Issei standing outside. Someone is watching and photographing.
After work, Haru and Issei are eager to apologize to each other. Haru remembers meeting Issei, who cleaned out Haru’s neighbor’s place. He credits learning to sign with Issei for his recovery, cries, and apologizes.
At Issei’s urging, Haru confesses his fears of being a bad husband and father. Issei tells him to talk with Uta. Haru does, signing to her at first as he struggles to talk. They agree that they are both scared, but decide to have the baby.
Suzu’s address, along with pictures of her and Issei and her and Sasaki, have been posted on the internet. Sasaki and Issei both find out, but Sasaki reaches Suzu at her place first. Sasaki takes her inside only to get hit by bricks thrown through the window.
Issei shows up and sees a little girl holding a nasty sign with the crowd outside. He’s upset that Sasaki is there, and Suzu didn’t tell him what was going on. He thinks she didn’t rely on him because he was deaf and young. He leaves.
Suzu and Sasaki go to the clinic for the night, and she bandages his wounds.
The next morning Haru and Uta ask Sasaki to take good care of them, and Sasaki makes his weird face.
The food truck guy advises Issei to apologize to Suzu first, which he does, via text. They agree to meet later. He’s spinning happily at work when Sakura shows up, finding out it’s probably about Suzu.
Suzu gets chocolate and goes to meet Issei, but sees Sakura in the truck with him. It looks like they’re kissing.
Thoughts
The plot isn’t always the most interesting part of this show. Of course Sakura has a crush on Issei, both because Issei’s awesome and because she’s a secondary character in a Japanese drama. Of course Issei sees Sasaki as a threat, both because Sasaki’s awesome and because he’s a romantic lead in a Japanese drama.
The whole bit with the stalker isn’t my favorite thing either. It feels wrong that there’s no one there when Suzu and Sasaki get to her place with all the flyers posted up, but there’s a crowd when Issei arrives. Maybe the bricks through the window brought the crowd?
The characters are what keep me here. There’s not enough room to talk about it, but Haru’s feelings towards both his wife and his best friend were so sweet in this episode. It’s great to learn what Issei means to him.
Issei being upset, while poorly timed, I appreciated more on this second watch. When he found Suzu hiding the first time he accidentally scared her without realizing it. He also couldn’t do anything for Haru when he was upset and scared and watched Sasaki help him instead. He’s feeling isolated and helpless, and Suzu’s determination to pretend she’s okay and not tell him things didn’t help. I do wish he’d brought it up later, but, well, it’s a drama.
On the other hand, Sasaki’s reaction to Issei is as delightful as everything else. He’s someone who assumes everyone is his friend, and it’s adorable to watch him get totally the wrong idea with Issei. Most second male leads in Japanese dramas feel kind of vestigial, there to prove the female lead is desirable and wants the male lead when neither needs proving. My appreciation for Sasaki grows with each episode, so you’ll continue reading about it.
The repeated corn potage, while such a little thing, felt so true to life. Life can sometimes be awful, and then there will be these weird little moments to distract and lighten your heart, if only for an instant. A blip of humor in tragedy.