Summary
When the Phone Rings maintains good tension in Episode 4. We’ve hit a clear turning point now where several key secrets are going to come out.
When the Phone Rings really stepped things up in Episode 3, and I’d say Episode 4 continues to build on that momentum. There’s a real page-turner quality developing in this K-Drama that is, I suppose, indicative of its webtoon origins. That “one more issue” structure doesn’t always translate to TV, but it’s working pretty well here if you ask me.
As a brief refresher, the third episode saw the real kidnapper turning the tables on Hee-joo by threatening her father, and a softer side to Sa-eon began to emerge. Part of this fourth installment is about establishing more particulars around Sa-eon and Hee-joo’s relationship, beyond their seemingly tokenistic marriage, but the unavoidable reality is that Hee-joo is still holding onto some serious secrets, and they always come out sooner rather than later.
I do feel for Hee-joo, though. She was so frantic at the end of the previous episode after everything she had been through in such a short span of time, but she’s also trapped in a silent prison of her own making, with her selective mutism a con weaponized since her childhood that is now forcing her to subsist in a prison of her stress. But she’s also having to deal with constantly being treated like a doormat to an extent that even Sa-eon finds puzzling.
Because of all this, the development of Hee-joo and Sa-eon’s relationship has to be conducted at a remove, through lingering glances and implications rather than outright statements or actions. Consider Sa-eon’s interest in Sang-woo, obviously rooted at least partially in jealousy, and his watching Hee-joo from his computer screen. Obviously, the key way in which this comes up in When the Phone Rings Episode 4 is Sa-eon conducting Hee-joo’s interview, getting her to role-play a couples’ segment, and then subsequently confessing to his assistant that he likes her.
Where does all this come from? Flashbacks suggest that Sa-eon has been looking out for Hee-joo for a long time, but almost in a protective big brother sense, sneaking her food and stuff like that. It doesn’t exactly speak to a doting future husband, but what matters is that the two of them are united in childhood trauma and mistreatment. There’s a shared history there, but also an instinct to look after one another, or at least for Sa-eon to look after Hee-joo.
Unfortunately, Hee-joo is still obligated to call and threaten Sa-eon as a would-be kidnapper, and the angle she takes in When the Phone Rings Episode 4 is to bring up her sister, In-a, who is back in Seoul, which is apparently a good enough reason to get divorced, despite Sa-eon and In-a having apparently made a deal before she left that they would never get married.
Her second call is made from the roof of the building where the Chungwoo Daily News anniversary event is being held; she and Sa-eon are both in attendance. But the key difference with this one is that Hee-joo has had a bit to drink, so she starts rambling emotionally, really giving herself away. But it just so happens that Sa-eon is standing behind her on the roof, begging the question of whether he has known all along what his wife has been up to, or is just finding out for the first time (I’m guessing the former, for what that’s worth.)
The epilogue of When the Phone Rings Episode 4 reveals that Sa-eon also knows Hee-joo has been faking her mutism, so there’s going to be something of a reckoning in the next episode, that’s for sure. The key question now is how it’ll all shake out – can Hee-joo and Sa-eon form a united front to take on their adversaries, or will the weight of all the deception sink them? We’ll have to wait and see.
