'HIGH SOCIETY' - EPISODE 8

"Hang on, my fingers are stuck in my ear."

Things are starting to heat up for our chaebols:

Joon Ki and Chang Soo meet up with their dates and go dancing. Ye Won's lackey shows up at Joon Ki's to scope out the situation with him and Yoon Ha. The fun our couples are having is not over with this evening, either, as the next day they drive to the beach. Yoon Ha loses it when Chang Soo suggests the girls call him and Joon Ki "oppa," as that is what she had used to refer to her brother. The dad decides that it is best not to declare Kyung Joon dead as the inheritance tax would put an unreasonable burden on Kyung Joon's widow. Mama is incensed that he would use their son's tragedy for economic purposes.�

Chang Soo questions whether Joon Ki knew about Yoon Ha's chaebol status before dating her. Predictably, it ends up in fisticuffs between the two. After their dates, Yoon Ha invites Ji Yi to work under her, as she's heading up the Chinese division of Taejin. At his home, Chang Soo's mother gives him an earful about who he should be dating. Chang Soo arranges for Joon Ki and Yoon Ha to be tailed by a reporter, who snaps pics as they attend an art exhibition that evening. Joon Ki tries to call Chang Soo to patch things up, but Chang Soo has changed his number. Yoon Ha's father gets the shock of his life when his wife tells him she wants a divorce. The next day, at the store, Chang Soo and Joon Ki show coldness and distance when Joon Ki shows up to deliver documents to our young store director...


"Do I even want to know what you just stepped in?"

Now the atmosphere is getting a little ominous between those two. Chang Soo and Joon Ki were pretty close in the beginning, and now they both are psychoanalyzing each other. As near as I can tell, if they're being honest, is Chang Soo is afraid that he's not a good person and that Joon Ki doesn't like him and, worse, that Joon Ki is using him. Joon Ki sees Chang Soo as an elitist who looks down on anyone who isn't rich. The question of the day is: are they right? I know Ji Yi is a very humanizing influence on Chang Soo. They're just so cute as they go through their give-and-take conversations that, when they end up in a kiss, it makes you think everything's going to be okay. Joon Ki, I'm still not sure about. Both of them appear to have a dark side, one which is usually revealed when they stand shirtless in front of a mirror.

I'm a bit worried for Yoon Ha's dad. This is about the time when something happens to put these characters in the hospital at death's door, knocking loudly. He doesn't look to be in the best of health anyway, and the divorce could send him over the edge. What I'm hoping is that a hospital stay could get him to reevaluate how he's living his life and become the warm, loving man his wife wishes that he still was. In some ways I do, as well, though we don't get to know him. It's one of my frustrations with this drama, that some characters are presented through the lens of finance, and defining traits are overlooked. He is largely presented as the flipside of Daddy Warbucks and has little personality outside of Taejin Group. He treats his wife cruelly (the few times he interacts with her) and...that's it?�


"Aish! So many spam emails!"

It's also a bit sad that, although the drama is supposed to be about Yoon Ha,�she's far and away not the most interesting character. I think Chang Soo, Joon Ki, and Ji Yi are actually the most dynamic characters in the drama. The interaction between the secondary couple as well as the disintegrating bromance make for great drama, and the actors milk those subplots nicely. Yoon Ha seems to react to things around her rather than being a mover and a shaker, and thus, she tends to be overshadowed. What could end up being a breakout role for UEE is hampered by a lukewarm script.


? Raise your hands, raise your hands if you're sure...?

This is getting pretty interesting now. I just wish they would get some cliffhanger endings. Where the installment ends feels like a completed scene, which doesn't really make you hungry for more. The previews are actually more intriguing than the ending. Maybe that's what the writers are counting on -- that you'll watch the preview and end up sucked into the next episode. I do have to give it a little credit; it feels less and less like a "filler drama," placed there to fill the time slot and little else.

Are you guys sucked into the story yet? Let me know!

SEE ALSO: Japanese media outlets predict Honda Hitomi will seek promotion opportunities in Korea after parting ways with her agency