Summary
A steady instalment which builds intrigue in addition to further setting the scene.
We recap the Netflix K-Drama series Crash Course in Romance Season 1 Episode 2, “Probability of Encountering Your Enemy at Your Worst,” which contains spoilers.
Much like episode one, Crash Course in Romance’s second chapter is an uncluttered affair, something which glides by without much need to really think about what’s going on. With that being said, the underlying intrigue of a potential hitman being involved in proceedings adds a gripping dose of excitement, one which also gives viewers something else to tackle amongst the obvious rom-com tropes.
Crash Course in Romance Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
After a quick reminder of the last episode’s ending, we move to some flashbacks. In these scenes, Chi-yeol’s past as a relentless studier is established (he wished to become a teacher even when his father passed, and regularly only ate one meal per day at Haeng-seon’s mother’s restaurant), and Hae-e’s sudden abandonment is made clearer, given she is simply dropped off at her relative’s place of work. Additionally, Haeng-seon is shown to have quit the handball team when disallowed the chance to check up on her ill niece, with her decision aided by the coach’s attitude in how he brings up the fact he already excused the player when her mother died.
Following on from a look at how a young Hae-e kickstarted the unique relationship with her aunt, which saw her refer to her as “mother,” we return to the present. Here, Haeng-seon is beating herself up for not realizing her niece wished to take private classes. Or at least she is until Yeong-ju offers up some touching comfort, which helps the former handball player understand she still has a chance to help Hae-e attain her educational desires.
However, it quickly becomes apparent it’ll be tougher than it looks for Haeng-seon. For starters, she’s told to apologize to Hae-e, who could’ve rocketed to the top of her class, for negligence. Then Haeng-seon is introduced to skymom, where she’ll become privy to the competitive environment rife amongst mothers looking to have their children enroll in private education. Elsewhere, Chi-yeol is told by his doctor that his sudden enjoyment of food could help signal a positive change in his eating and sleeping disorders.
READ: Will there be a Crash Course in Romance Season 2?
As a content, motivated Chi-yeol completes a successful talk show appearance with parents and students ahead of his upcoming admissions, Haeng-seon tells both Yeong-ju and Jae-woo that she’ll require their help tomorrow (later, this is confirmed to be with tasks such as grocery shopping) so Hae-e has a better chance of being enrolled in private classes. Following this, Chi-yeol backs away from a visit to ‘Nation’s Best Banchan,’ concerned over his sighting of the person he only recently came to blows with over a cracked mobile phone.
While Chi-yeol vomits again when eating another restaurant’s meal, Sun-jae returns home to find his mother drunk. The lawyer is in a strange mood too, embracing her son, telling him he is all she has. Interestingly, this scene ends with a hooded figure taking money that’d been secretly stashed above a plate in the cupboard, by Seo-jin.
The next day, various parents and guardians compete for spaces in line for Chi-yeol’s class enrolment. This includes Haeng-seon, who was delayed slightly thanks to the tutor himself showing up looking for a fix of her shop’s food but still ended up getting a delighted Hae-e admitted into the in-demand instructor’s lessons. With that being said, here Su-a appears slightly jealous that her academic adversary will be in the same private class as her.
After escaping the sight of Haeng-seon, who is still caught up in Jae-woo’s phone being broken, Chi-yeol eats his lunch box from ‘Nation’s Best Banchan’ in his car. Meanwhile, Yeong-ju theorizes the tutor may have fallen for the former handball player, and it’s made clear that the current shop owner’s husband – a Taekwondo studio owner in the Philippines – is fictional.
As a beaming Hae-e thanks her aunt for getting her enrolled in Chi-yeol’s classes, Su-a is frustrated by the developments. “I hate her pretentiousness,” the student says to her mother regarding her classmate, strangely jealous of a person who has only ever been kind in her presence.
Once finished with his teaching, Chi-yeol opts to drive himself home, carrying with him a phone meant for Jae-woo. Things aren’t all rosy for the tutor though, as his stalker has signed up for “season two” of his classes, much to his annoyance. Nevertheless, we do see that the boisterous student has actually been dropped to the floor by the same hooded figure seen earlier.
With the phone intended for Jae-woo awkwardly delivered by Chi-yeol, Yeong-ju is adamant this means the customer is interested in Haeng-seon. Yet the former handball player plays it cool, admitting she would want to date, as well as get her teaching certificate, but wishes to see Hae-e to university, and “provide a foothold for Jae-woo,” first.
At school, Su-a finds herself in trouble for working on Chi-yeol’s academy textbook during class. Her teacher, Jeon Jong-ryeol, is doubly annoyed at the cocky student’s know-it-all attitude too, wanting to garner the same respect the private tutor receives. In due time, the reason for such sensitivity is revealed, as it turns out the two (Jong-ryeol and Chi-yeol) know each other, and have some sort of history together linked to “ghosting,” and a student’s death.
Deeply reflecting on his confrontation with Jong-ryeol, Chi-yeol heads to the resting place of the late Jeong Su-hyeon, evidently struck by the fact he was told he should feel guilt for the currently undisclosed incident which led to her death. Following that, the tutor narrowly misses a chance to eat at ‘Nation’s Best Banchan’, where Haeng-seon is considering how she’ll return the phone gifted to her.
While Jae-woo is perplexed by the sight of Chi-yeol on a bus stop advertisement, knowing he has seen the tutor before, the instructor himself is ordering his team to re-print his textbooks, furious over the careless editing in them. Elsewhere, Hae-e tells Sun-jae she is “so excited” ahead of her first day in an academy, which she truly throws herself into. Particularly, the new student is motivated by Chi-yeol’s speech on how he wants the best for his students, and how he hopes they’re “just as desperate and passionate about this moment” as him.
When Hae-e returns home, she’s eager to tell her aunt just how good her academy maths class was, relaying all her feedback with a marked passion. At the same time, Jae-woo continues to struggle to recall who it was he recognized in a bus advertisement, before being afforded the perfect opportunity to remember when Chi-yeol enters the shop.
Ending Explained
With Chi-yeol’s identity subsequently exposed, Haeng-seon gets to confronting her apologetic customer, frustrated at his alleged idea that a new phone will simply solve all of the issues between the parties. What follows is a petty squabble, mostly based around the tutor taking his form of “compensation” back and leaving, until everyone has to take cover when one of the shop’s windows is busted by the same type of silver ball used to take out the instructor’s stalker. With a quick look at the shock caused by the incident, the episode ends.
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