K-drama midseason recap: She Would Never Know – flimsy romance navigates troubling thematic territory
- Hyun-seung’s behaviour towards Song-a becomes increasingly hard to distinguish from that of a stalker as the show progresses
- Whether intentionally or not, poverty is presented as a kind of disease that haunts and intrudes on the lives of the characters at crucial moments
This article contains spoilers of the show.
When we last met Song-a (Won Jin-a) and Hyun-seung (Rowoon), the pair’s eyes were locked in a slow-mo scene playing against the sparkling strobe lights and raining confetti of a nightclub. A shared moment of intimacy? A hint of romance?
Not exactly. Song-a’s expression was one of surprise, as she was not expecting to bump into her colleague when she was on the dance floor with her friend, in a rare moment when she lets her guard down.
Hyun-seung didn’t just happen to be there, of course. He had followed her in after seeing her on the street. As the show picks up after their meeting in the club, she asks him if he’s there with friends. His answer – “no, I followed you here” – is blunt and creepy.
Throughout She Would Never Know, Hyun-seung has repeatedly seen Song-a across the street or waiting for the lift and always dashed towards her without hesitation. He also does so whenever she retreats to the emergency exit stairs, when she is presumably looking for privacy.
With this latest nighttime act it becomes increasingly hard to distinguish his behaviour from that of a stalker.
