Legend of the Blue Sea

Chapter 8

People do some growing up this episode, and I suppose by people I mostly mean our childlike mermaid—although she isn't the only one to make big strides in facing up to truths and trying to deal with them. It's an episode chock-full of emotional beats, as people are forced to recognize that problems move on whether you like them or not, so you'd better have a hand in doing something about them.

As Chung takes a dip in the pool, we hear the merman's earlier warning to her: that no human would be able to accept a mermaid for what she is, including the man she loves.

Joon-jae returns to the house unexpectedly, and his attention is drawn to the pool area. As he approaches, he meets Chung's eye just as she surfaces, and they both freeze in surprise.

She frantically orders him to stop right there, and Joon-jae does, out of shock more than anything. He glimpses her bare skin, and when she yells at him to look away, he immediately turns, flustered. Heh, to his ears it sounds like she's afraid he'll try something, and he belatedly objects to her forceful reaction.

Once she's safely two-legged again, Chung comes into view, and asks Joon-jae about the question he'd been about to ask when she cut him off. He has to think to recall it, and then starts in on the scolding about how she can't be so careless when she's living in a house full of men.

Chung retorts that he shouldn't be bursting in suddenly, and that actually chastens him until he remembers that this is his house. Joon-jae argues, "So who should be the careful one—you or me?" Chung: "You."

He says she should count herself lucky that it was him who came in and not anybody else, although when she asks why that would be lucky, he has no answer. Then he orders her to hurry and change, and she points out that he has to leave first. Ha, I love how he doesn't even realize when or how he lost the upper hand.

Joon-jae returns to the car without even collecting the phone he went back for, figuring he'll make do without it. After giving his partners the side-eye, he makes a house announcement that everybody must ring the doorbell before entering, including himself.

Nam-doo asks why, and Joon-jae pulls the "my house, my rules" line. Then he wonders why it's so warm today and fans himself, only to have Nam-doo say the temperature is subzero.

Chung shares her close call with her merman friend Jung-hoon, who cautions her to be careful, warning that Joon-jae will have a lot of questions in response to her suspicious behavior. She says that he's already hounding her about what happened in Spain, and Jung-hoon insists that she can't let him know: No mermaid coming outs! (He uses a hilarious mishmash word, akin to "mer-ming out.")

Jung-hoon notes that it's a good thing that lies exist in the human world; mermaid telepathy makes it a non-issue in their world. To illustrate his point, he points to a store ad, which reads, "Free phones! 100%! The shopowner is crazy!" She's ready to take the sign literally, but Jung-hoon says that the shopowner isn't crazy; the ad is just telling you to come and spend your money. Same goes for store employees who pile on the flattery; they don't mean it, they just want you to buy.

Most important of all, he cautions her not to be taken in by the words "I love you," which are common and spoken insincerely. To demonstrate, he calls a service number on his phone, and the call service agent answers, "I love you, Customer."

Chung asks how to know when somebody is lying, and Jung-hoon gives her clues: evading eye contact, stammering, touching an ear or lips.

All these are on full display as Joon-jae protests that he's totally not preoccupied with Chung these days, stammering before touching his lip and looking away. Nam-doo points out how strange it is for Joon-jae to be controlling about a woman's clothing, and Joon-jae argues that he does the same for Nam-doo and Tae-oh. He makes it a point to fuss over Tae-oh's clothing now, but neither partner is buying his denials.