
This is part two of our live recap for Dinner Mate!
Caution: Be wary of typos
Shorthand Character Chart: Dinner Mates Character Chart
How we do this: This live recap will be in two parts and we segment each post around every 10 minutes. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on the scene. There will be typos which we have fantasies of fixing once the episode finishes airing. Also, if there is a preview then we will try and translate it. Look for that at the bottom or on a separate post!
KOREAN DRAMA DINNER MATES RECAP EPISODE 15 & 16 – PART 1
——-dramamilk.com——-
/4/
Keanu looks at Hae-kyung’s offices. He is standing outside.
Then we go to a flashback where Hae-kyung is working in a hospital. He sees Keanu as a doctor in the hospital. They shake hands collegiately and Hae-kyung smiles pleasantly.
Then we cut back to the present where Keanu walks into Hae-kyung’s office.
2N BOX
The woman who suffered from anorexia has started an eating show. BJ and Hae-kyung happily looks at her videos with pride. Then they see Keanu walk in. BJ immediately says that charismatic guy is back. Keanu stands to greet him and asks, sunbae?
Cut to them both talking in hae-kyung’s office.
HK – Sunbae! What happened after 5 years! Can’t you even call me!
Keanu – Jung Jae-hyuk. Be careful with him.
HK – *stunned* How do you know him sunbae?
Keanu – Just know that he is dangerous.
HK – Yes, I realized that.
Cut to 2N Box where we see that the thing is about to fall. Jae-hyuk looks at it. No one else knows.
Keanu – Just know that he is a lot more dangerous than you realize
HK – Wait a minute. You just showed up after many years and are telling me to be careful with Jung Jae-hyuk? What are you talking about, sunbae?
Keanu – if you have someone that you want to protect, do it with whatever it takes.
The light starts to shift. Do-hee notices it.
Keanu – Regretting after losing does not work anymore. That is what I wanted to tell you.
HK – Are you leaving already? You just showed up, you can’t go! give me your number.
Keanu – I have no cell phone. * laughs maniacally*
HK – What? Sunbae….
Keanu – I will see you soon, don’t come out.
HK – Sunbae…sunbae!
Back at 2N Box, the light falls. Do-hee sees it and hits Noeul out of the way. Jae-hyuk runs and hits the light off of Do-hee. Noeul passes out. Do-hee checks Jae-hyuk’s bloody arm to see if he is okay. he says he is.
OFFICE
Meanwhile, Hae-kyung walks around his office and thinks that he should not matter in Do-hee’s life. She doesn’t even know about it. But as a doctor I should tell her about the danger signals. He leaves and hops in his leathered out car that I want.
Gun-woo calls him again and tells him that Noeul got injured at work. Hae-kyung asks where he is and heads that way.
HOSPITAL
Noeul is sleeping in the hospital or maybe still passed out. Do-he is sitting next to her. Jae-hu is getting stitches.
Hae-kyung walks into the hospital and looks through all the beds for Noeul, he has to pull curtains away to find her. He finally finds her and goes to be next to her but he sees Do-hee sitting there and stops. They both stare at each other. Gun-woo is there as well but gets pulled away as Noeul’s guardian.
So they are alone standing over Noeul. Then Noeul wakes up and sees Hae-kyung there. She calls him oppa and wraps her arms around him. Do-hee leaves. he can’t follow in this situation.
Jae-hyuk looks on happily. He is the one that was fixing the light.
Meanwhile, Gun-woo talks to the doctor who says that the only thing wrong with Noeul is malnutrition. He asks, huh? The doctor says that the patient is not eating enough. She should be hospitalized overnight and take nutrition shots. She is conscious so we will move her to a normal bed. Gun-woo looks concerned.
Outside, Do-hee walks up the street slowly. Then Hae-kyung comes up and lightly holds her arm to stop her.
HK – Wait. I think I need to tell you this. Be careful with Jung Jae-hyuk.
DH – How do you know him?
HK – Just be careful, he is not a normal person.
DH – He doesn’t behave well towards me but he is not strange. Can you be out here now? Goodbye.
She keeps walking on. He turns around and looks at her leaving then turns back around and walks back to the hospital.
A car horn honks, it is Jae-hyuk pulling up to Do-hee. he gets out and asks if she can drive for him. it is because of his arm. Will you not do it? She says okay and hops in the driver seat. He smiles happily.
He buckles himself in and sees that she has a scratch on her hand so he give her ointment for it and says she should go to the hospital. She says okay and drives off.
JH – You shouldn’t have just left. You left the person who rescued you.
DH – Ah, sorry.
JH – Is that it? If you are sorry then can we eat together?
DH – Okay.
JH – At your place. I want to eat your moms kimchi chigae. While I was in America I was thinking about your mothers chigae more than my own. She calls me over and over again so not going over is not respectful. if I eat then I will heal faster. So, we can go?
She doesn’t say anything.
/5/
Meanwhile, Hae-kyung sits next to Noeul who is sleeping once again. Gun-woo comes in and says that Woo Do-hee saved Noeul. The light fell and she jumped to push her out of the way. She did not even hesitate.
Hae-kyung nods and says he will stay with her tonight. Gun-woo leaves.
DO HEE’S PLACE
Scene change to Do-hee at home. She is laying in bed and wonders why he did not ask her why she was there. Well, maybe he does not have room to think of me at all with Noeul passed out.
There is a knock on the door. Noeul opens it. It is Ah-young with drinks. She checks over Do-hee like a mother to make sure she is okay. Do-he says she is fine. Just a tiny scratch.
Ah-young asks her why she jumped in the way? Do-hee tells her that she saw it happening, she can’t just do nothing. Then she jokes that she did not know that her CEO loves her this much. Ah-young tells her not to come to work, just rest. I am telling you as a CEO. It is late so Ah-young heads out already.
The food she brought is Hong-sam ginseng (PPL) food so she is super happy to grab some.
Ah-young leaves and walks right past the convenience store where Keanu is sitting. Though she ignores Keanu. He chuckles. She comes back and sits at his table with a banana milk.
She asks, what, is it the first time you have seen someone drinking banana milk? He tells her that it is the first time she has drank banana milk. She tells him her name, not “you”. She also asks his name. He says his name is Keanu. Like Keanu Reeves. Are you drinking tonight?
She tells him that she does not drink every night. So he lifts his beer up to her and she lifts her banana milk up to him. She asks what he is looking at. He says, Nam Ah-young, I am looking at you. Your name is Nam Ah-young in my heart (Nam Ah Young also means “remains” so he is saying that her name remains in his heart). She is a bit smitten. She laughs like him and says she practiced it.
/6/
HOSPITAL
Hae-kyung slept in a chair next to Noeul all night. She wakes up seeing him leaning over her bed, sleeping. She lightly touches his hair and thinks back to a similar moment they had when they were dating.
In that moment in the past, he took care of her in his home. She slept in his bed. He slept leaning over the bed but sitting on the floor. He wakes up and makes her something to eat. She thanks him and he tells her that if she is thankful then she should not get sick and should eat it all because she did not eat yesterday.
She says that even her own mother did not do this for her.
She thinks about this in the hospital and lightly rubs his hair. He starts to wake up and rubs his eyes.
NE – You stayed here all night?
HK – *looks away*
NE – You worried about me
HK – *checks his watch* I will go to the office.
He grabs his coat and goes to pay for everything at the hospital counter. When he turns around, he sees Noeul standing there. He asks why she is out already? You can stay here all day.
She shrugs and says that she wants to go eat something now since she is malnutrition. She puts her arm around his and pulls him away to eat something.
2N BOX
Cut to a hypnosis video that Do-hee might be watching? They are all looking at the screen on Do-hee’s desk and Do-he has her eyes closed. We can hear the hypnotist talking, he asks if she sees anything like walking in a field.
Do-hee says, military uniform.
We are taken to her memory where she says she saw a comrade with military clothing and a North Korean accent. (Lol, this is Crash Landing on You spoof). She waits in bright clothing for the military man in North Korean attire to walk to her. The man is Hae-kyung.
HK – Dan…
DH – My name is Dan
The team says, wow! Daebak! And Do-hee wakes up a bit and sits up. Jin-kyu asks if she is acting? This all looks fake. Do-hee tells him NoOoOoOo. She asks what seh said. Jin-kyu tells her that she said her name is Dan, but in a North Korean accent.
Do-hee is all like, wow. Jung-whan thinks that she might have been from North Korea. She says it wasn’t my voice though. They think that this really worked! This psychiatrist traveled to your past life!
Sora thinks this is really bottomless content. She claps. Do-hee looks impressed and says that is her specialty. But then they all look at Jin-kyu who is speaking with his eyes closed. The Crash Landing music starts to play, possibly. he ays he is not an eagle, he is roses and piano and tomato. My name is Lee Jung-hyuk.
Do-hee is all like what?
Then Jin-kyu starts to say, Seri! Stop! (Lol, this guy was also in Crash Landing on you) he says it all in a South Korean accent.
/7/
KIMBAP PLACE
Hae-kyung and Noeul go to a kimbap place. Hae-kyung thinks that she should eat something a bit more nutritious. But she wants to eat this. She thinks that nothing is more filling or easy to eat than this.
He starts to eat with her, she happily watches him.
NE – Do you remember that you proposed to me before? You asked me to get married while we were eating udon (noodles). You were saying that people eat noodles when they get married. But I liked it. Smart and logical oppa saying nonsense and was trying to be with me. I thought about that. Let’s get married.
He stops eating and looks at her.
NE – I am proposing in a kimbap restaurant.
HK – Noeul….
NE – *starts eating her noodles*
Cut to them driving away in his car.
NE – are you still angry with me?
HK – No, it is all gone. My anger and regret, there is nothing left to you.
NE – Kim Hae-kyung….
She stares at him but he does not look at her. He finally stops at her place.
HK – Go in.
NE – No, let’s go in together.
HK – Noeul ah….
NE – You are the same. Even if I travel for many days or meet a man, you were always like that. It is okay, I am not angry, I understand everything.
HK – back then I was okay, I understood everything.
NE – You did not love me. You are afraid of getting hurt so you do not ask or rely on anything to the other person. You did not know the desperation of still going back even though you were jealous or hurt. Goodbye. I am leaving but I am not giving up. I am that desperate.
She gets out of his car sniffling. He looks at her from inside. She is standing there waiting for him to come around. He gets out and comes around.
He puts his hands on her arms, holding them.
HK – I am sorry.
She looks at him with teary eyes and then walks past him to her place. he looks at her walk in and lets out a deep breath.
Then he drives away thinking about Do-hee. It is the moment they were in the restaurant and she thanked him for everything then said goodbye.
VO – I expected that I would eat dinner with her tomorrow also.
He keeps driving away and thinking about her. he thinks about her boyfriend coming up to her door.
VO – I was angry because a woman who I did not even know her name was meeting with a strange man.
He runs after her in the hospital
VO – I was not of afraid of getting hurt, I was afraid of her getting hurt.
The yellow light is about to change red, he speed up a bit to make it before it does.
Meanwhile, Do-hee is at 2n Box talking with her team. She tells Jin-kyu that hat he has planned doesn’t work so he shows her something else. A doctor that is like Hae-kyung who is at Korea University. he is young and handsome, he is pretty popular.
Do-he tells him that he does not know how handsome Kim Hae-kyung is. Jin-kyu asks if she met him? She says no, no, no, it is a rumor. Just a rumor. Lets contact Dr. Lee first.
HK – You don’t have to call him.
They all turn around to see Hae-kyung standing there. They are shocked.
HK – I will be there. I will be on tv, PD Woo.
She looks at him, shocked and he looks at her confidently.
ROOFTOP
They both stand to talk on the rooftop, they are looking at each other.
DH – I am sorry, I did not plan to lie to you –
HK – I don’t care. I missed you. The person I had dinner with. The woman I went camping with. The woman who likes coffee milk. The woman who had heartache with a past love. I missed her. Even after I realized she was Woo Do-hee PD who called me Sibelnom.
He is quiet for a moment. She looks at him.
HK – I missed you. That is why I ran here. I told you the end will be the same. You said the ending can be different. I will give it a try. I am the bravest I have been in my entire life. So – I like you Woo Do shi.
They music kicks in, she stares at him with bright eyes. he stares at her with wanting eyes and he takes a step forward.
Fade out
COMMENTS
Ah, they ended well with a talk on the rooftop and I just want this show to be all about talks on rooftops with no table between them to stop Hae-kyung from confessing all his feeling and slowly stepping forward into Do-hee’s personal space. Geez! I really thought they were going to kiss. Why did you cut it right there, show!
Though I am annoyed by the ex’s storylines. I can understand No-eul’s storyline because it tells us more about Hae-kyung. I also got Do-hee’s ex’s storyline. But it is so annoying that it seems like Jae-hyuk is sticking around and turning into the main vilian. I just want him to go away. In fact, he and Noeul should get married since they want to force people to love them so much. They are the perfect pair.
Back to my cutie pie couple, Jae-hyuk and Do-hee. Le sigh. I cannot ask for anymore with this couple than they are giving me. I love all the moments they are together and thinking about each other. I feel like this episode was all about hae-kyung coming around and breaking out of his previous heartbreak to be with Do-hee and I am all for that.
Because, come one, you can’t just pace outside someone’s house every night, Hae-kyung. This is not Cinema Paradiso. Do-hee is going to call the cops on you. Or maybe invite you in, I don’t know, it’s a Kdrama. 😁
PREVIEW
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBf48RnpKzU/
English Translation
DH – He’ll be there. Kim Hae-kyung volunteered.
Everyone – What! Let’s do it!
Keanu – Your dark circles are writing Kobin on your face (maybe he said Gomin which is like thinking about something hard or agonizing about something)
HK – You should have told me that that person is Woo Do-hee.
NE – I thought you were not doing it because you don’t like PD Woo Do-hee.
HK – I don’t not like that person.
NE – That person?
JH – treating patients with food is not valid in science.
NE – I am a b* but I never stopped liking Kim Hae-kyung.
HK – I am a good doctor so you should grab hold of me.
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What? There is a CLOY spoof and DH said her name is Dan? Someone has to put this clip on YouTube, Right NOW! LOL
Author
For real! 😂😂😂😂😂
https://youtu.be/JN_X5lDnPWM
Thanks for super quick recap. I really love this drama. Everything is just about right. The moment the couple are together giving me really good feeling. Love the show!
Author
I am with you, every single moment that this couple is together sends me into good vibes swoon land. 😍
Thank you, @V! Will they actually kiss at this point? I expect further corkblorking for a while yet.
Wow! I LOVE how Writer-nim handled the staggered identity reveals. Having both exes reveal our OTP true identities to their opposite counterparts was thrilling—especially since Do-hee and Hae-kyung had to suppress their surprise. And despite the shock of learning No-eul’s relationship to HK, I cheered that Do-hee remained professional and even protected NE from the light.
I’m not crazy about Jae-hyuk’s villainous turn but at least Lee Ji-hoon has undeniable acting prowess. Son Na-eun, not so much. She did well though with No-eul’s poignant scene in the car with HK. When they dated, she was far too immature to express her needs to Hae-kyung. He liked her—just not in the way she needed to be loved.
The CLOY spoof was adorable and I was SWOONED at Hae-kyung’s eyes shining with tears as he confessed to Do-hee. His awareness of his feelings and his willingness to “be brave” is worth a thousand sighs.
Author
I loved that part toooooooooo. I felt it so much when he said he wanted to be brave. Just love love love love love. I love how they are really playing up the ages of our protagonists because he is old enough to be like, I don’t want to get into any relationship again. I’ll just be single. But then likes this woman and actually spends time GETTING TO KNOW HER (not insta love, peeps, though I also like that as well sometimes 😉), and made a very big decision to persue her with the intention of marrying her because he is all or nothing.
Ah, it is just love it!
Be brave. That’s what I would say to the 18 year old me. Just be brave, win or fail just be brave over and over again. HK I promise it will be worth the risk and DH please don’t make me a liar… lol.
Heartfelt thanks for the recap.
Author
😘😘😘
Wonderful recaps and it’s so surprising how there’s not a big following on this show. This site is my go-to for this show and I so appreciate your wonderful summaries and comments!
This show really is uniquely different from most KDramas I’ve watched in the past; it has such a dialogue-friendly, whimsical approach to portraying two interesting, kind and wounded people who connect so wonderfully over food and drink. It also doesn’t hurt that both of these individuals are just so attractive and fun to watch!
This series reminds of that wonderful “Before” film trilogy by Richard Linklater which depicts two characters who respect and admire each other and have these wonderful chats that cover so many interesting facets of daily life. I love our two colorful characters and how naturally they interact with one another. They might bring up some eye-raising conversation topics but they’re never overly bitter or hurtful towards each other, and that’s a wonderful thing.
I love how one supports the other, and that wonderful line from DH to HK had this old fool (ie., me) grinning like an idiot: how sometimes not all relationship attempts have to end up badly.
It’s wonderfully suggestive yet it’s also such a kind, sweet thing to say…
Wow. You can see the impact it had on HK, and it’s nice to see how the interest and encouragement really lit him up. DH’s inner conscience at work right there, as plain as day (or night, in that case).
For me, DH is the star of the show. Her quirkiness, sense of humor and quick wit is so refreshing. No damsel-in-distress here. And what a departure from her withdrawn, serious character in CLOY. Her portrayal alone makes this show so worth watching, and I hope she finally gets the leading-lady recognition she so richly deserves!
I love this site and I so look forward to your next set of recaps and comments! Thank you. 🙂
Author
I love that you are comparing it to the Before Sunrise series! I got the same kind of vibes from it.
It definitely does not hurt that these two people are easy to watch 😉. I am with you with DH, she is the drama glue that is keeping this series pumping since she is the one that shows the most emotion and so far is the character that has the most to lose.
I love the straight forward chats that DH and HK have, I will miss them if they start getting awkward with each other (though a bit of awkwardness is also nice ☺️).
So happy you are coming to our site, Steve 😘