Summary
Episode 2 of Like Flowers in Sand adds more depth to the central character study while also fleshing out some surrounding mysteries.
Episode 2 adds more depth to Like Flowers in Sand, while also doubling down on the suspicions surrounding both a match-fixing criminal organization and the sudden return of Du-sik, whose reappearance made for the cliffhanger conclusion of Episode 1. It’s another steady episode that doesn’t grip so much as linger, and after its first weekend, the K-Drama remains an intriguing proposition.
Like Flowers in Sand Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
Viewers, meet Du-sik. Baek-du’s childhood friend has always, it seems, been a force to be reckoned with, the daughter of a renowned wrestler who terrorized the neighborhood kids with her skills, fearlessness, and authority. No boy escaped her.
Baek-du, then, still lying on his back after the end of the premiere, has mixed feelings about seeing her again. Couldn’t she have reached out sooner? Or perhaps not announced her return by dumping Baek-du on the ground?
There’s a bit of deliberate mystery about Du-sik, who claims not to be Du-sik at all. While she has a storied reputation in town, most people assume her to be male, given the name and the reported feats of strength. But Baek-du is adamant that the woman he has encountered is Du-sik, and sets about proving it.
Baek-du goes to Seok-hui — who remains insistent that the river accident is deeply suspicious — and asks him to do a background check. The case is apparently closed when Seok-hui explains that Du-sik is uglier and this new lady is very pretty, so it simply can’t be the same person. This sentiment is expressed multiple times.
Who is Yu-gyeong?
The woman Baek-du believes is Du-sik introduces herself to the neighborhood ladies as Yu-gyeong, explaining she’s in town due to her work as a civil servant. It’s easy to assume, as a viewer, that her timely appearance, which coincides with a death that is beginning to look increasingly like a murder, is slightly more than coincidental.
Yu-gyeong doubles down to Baek-du that she is not Du-sik, but she expresses profound disappointment when she hears about his retirement from wrestling, which only complicates matters. Likewise, when Baek-du later goes to collect his things from the training center, he sees Yu-gyeong, now the general manager of the team, throwing a man twice her size around. The coincidences keep piling up.
Yu-gyeong’s hiring is part of efforts to rejuvenate the team since Coach Sang-chul has disappeared – we see him briefly in his car, looking rather terrified – and Dong-seok has jumped ship to another team. With Baek-du’s retirement, things aren’t looking good for the squad, and Tae-baek can’t seem to take the idea that his son is quite this disillusioned with wrestling.
He is, though. It’s nice to see Like Flowers in Sand continue to delve into this introspective character arc, since the burgeoning mysteries threatened to obscure it, which is a shame since the show seems to be a better character study than it is anything else. Either way, Baek-du’s relationship with wrestling is extremely complex, and upon hearing the depths of it, his father has little in the way of advice or support.
How does Like Flowers in Sand Season 1 Episode 2 end?
The second episode ends with Yu-gyeong, having watched the exchange between Baek-du and his father, talking to Baek-du while he lays on the ground trying to get some alone time. In this scene, she basically confesses that she is Du-sik, but hints that if she is obscuring her identity, it’s obviously for a reason.
Things are thrown for a loop, however, when a man arrives and refers to Yu-gyeong as “honey”, implying that she’s married and leaving Baek-du in visible distress.
What did you think of Like Flowers in Sand Season 1 Episode 2? Let us know in the comments.
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