“My Lovely Liar” is easing quite nicely into its stride.
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“My Lovely Liar” is easing quite nicely into its stride. This week, the show peels back the layers around Mok Sol Hee (Kim So Hyun) and Kim Do Ha (Hwang Minhyun). There’s a tightness to the world here. Everything is connected pretty well without requiring insane leaps of logic, and the progression at which we’re getting access to everyone’s secrets feels natural and earned. Here are a few secrets that came to light in this week’s episodes and a couple that remain hidden!
Warning: spoilers for episodes 3-4 below.
1. Revealed: Kim Do Ha’s identity
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The show doesn’t drag this one out for too long. We pick up at last week’s cliffhanger, right when Sol Hee’s trying to put Do Ha’s mask back on. He awakens and looks terrified that she’s seen his face and could possibly remember him. To Sol Hee’s credit, she doesn’t try to lie, and he stumbles away in a panic, fleeing to a hotel to hide in fear. Meanwhile, a guilty Sol Hee puts everything together and realizes that Do Ha must have sought out the Yeonseo neighborhood as a means of fleeing all the attention he was getting from the press after Sha On (Lee Si Woo) carelessly revealed his location. Sol Hee feels incredibly bad about it, and when she next spots Do Ha, she makes sure to apologize, even when he’s trying to hide from her.
goyoonjungs
goyoonjungs
goyoonjungs
But Do Ha has had time to think about everything she’s done for him thus far. He’s honest with his friend and Sha On’s CEO, Jo Deuk Chan (Yun Ji On), that Sol Hee saw his face. They both note that Sol Hee has done nothing but help Do Ha out so far. She decides to pretend that she has no idea who he is.
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liveasbutterflies
liveasbutterflies
She’s only lying to put him at ease. He’s a little wary, but it works. Especially because he’s starting to grow quite the soft spot for her.
2. Revealed: Do Ha’s soft spot for Sol Hee
Do Ha is used to people wanting something from him like Sha On, his mother, even Deuk Chan to some extent. He’s useful, and he doesn’t mind it. But Sol Hee throws him in a curveball because she genuinely doesn’t expect anything from him. She’s rescued him a couple times now and asked nothing for it in return. In his eyes, she seems to purely help others out of the goodness of her heart. Of course, he doesn’t know that she can tell when people are lying.
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So, Do Ha can’t help but jump in when he sees a guy attempt to get rough with Sol Hee on account that she ruined his relationship with a rich older woman. Said older woman was Sol Hee’s client, and she revealed that the guy had cheated on her with her maid and gotten her pregnant. Do Ha’s so invested that he forgets to wear his mask or sunglasses. He stays by her side throughout, drives her back to Yeonseo, and even says he’ll wait while she has some hangover soup. Sol Hee offers him some as well, and to make him feel comfortable, she moves his bowl beside hers instead of opposite her so she won’t be looking at his face while he’s eating. It’s little things like this that really get to him because it shows that she cares about his comfort, whereas other people dismiss his mask-wearing as ridiculous.
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It gets even better when they head back and Sol Hee finds paparazzi waiting outside their building because Sha On (again) is hunting for Do Ha without caring that this will lead the paparazzi right to him. Sol Hee quickly shields Do Ha, puts his mask back on, pretends he’s her boyfriend, and keeps him in her apartment until the police drag the paparazzi away. Only, one member of said police happens to be Sol Hee’s ex, Lee Gang Min (Seo Ji Hoon).
goyoonjungs
goyoonjungs
This is the most romantic bit of mask-wearing since “Healer“
3. Revealed: Sol Hee and Gang Min’s relationship history
Sol Hee and Gang Min have the worst sort of relationship history. The kind that almost made it. He proposed to her three years ago when they were young and very much in love, and Sol Hee was over the moon because he didn’t lie once. She had nothing to suspect when he said he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
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Which is why it shattered her when he suddenly started to change. The details are still a little fuzzy, but what’s clear is that Gang Min withdrew from the relationship first. He started spending nights away, lying to Sol Hee when she asked why. The worst part is that when she tearfully asked him if he even wanted to get married to her, he lied and said that they should. She dumped him then and there. Three years later, he’s back, vowing that he misses and even took a post in Yeonseo just so he could see her.
moonlightsdream
moonlightsdream
She clearly wants closure. But she also doesn’t want to open herself up to being hurt again. So when Do Ha pops by, she announces him as her boyfriend. And it only takes one look at her for Do Ha to play the part to the hilt. He’s such a sweetheart because he does it thinking that Gang Min is harassing her, but when she explains that isn’t the case, he kindly tells Sol Hee to be honest with Gang Min. It’s the best way to move forward. And he holds her hand all the way home. Adorable.
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4. Still hidden: Do Ha’s possibly fake alibi
There’s still a lot about Do Ha’s past that remains shrouded. We don’t know if he’s still on the run or not. He was the prime suspect in the murders, but it appears that Deuk Chan provided him with an alibi that resulted in his release and the case growing cold. His mother, Jung Yeon Mi (Seo Jung Yeon), is up for election and has lied to everyone that Do Ha’s in Germany. And there’s something eerie about her casually saying that the body of Eom Ji Yoon (Hwan Cho Rok), Do Ha’s ex-girlfriend, has probably been chewed up by fish.
Meanwhile, Sha On continues to be the absolute worst. Do Ha can’t keep ignoring the fact that she’s obsessed with him (and that her obsession is causing him great personal stress due to her ignoring his boundaries), so he tries to cut ties as her exclusive songwriter. But Sha On goes to the same beach where Ji Yoon tried to take her life and went missing. She calls Do Ha and pretends that she’ll take her life too unless he meets with her. It’s the most disgusting weaponizing of trauma. Do Ha goes white with fear, has a huge panic attack, and Sol Hee has to drive him to the beach. He reveals with his own mouth this time that he’s Do Ha, and he asks her to keep his secret. Little does he know she’s been keeping it all this time.
Do Ha is out of his mind with fear until he finds Sha On safe and sound. He’s furious and can barely control his temper. She’s all pouty and even gets snippy seeing Sol Hee, mistaking her as Do Ha’s girlfriend. Sha On wails that he should just have let her die because she really wanted to. Sol Hee registers that as a lie, but can’t say anything. Do Ha sends Sha On packing to her manager and passes out in the car while Sol Hee drives home.
5. Still hidden: Sol Hee’s ability
Sol Hee’s ability is still a secret from Do Ha. But she’s fascinated by him because he doesn’t seem to lie. He gives her his real name, Kim Seung Joo, and it doesn’t register as a lie so she wonders if her ability is broken around him. In reality, Do Ha is someone who chooses his words carefully and tends to answer with the truth on a regular basis. Sol Hee’s just never met anyone that honest.
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And it’s worth noting that Sol Hee isn’t always right. She has a revelatory meeting with a client, who asks her to test if her fiancé truly wants to marry her. Everything seems to indicate that he doesn’t. He’s on the phone with a female coworker and is lying about what they’re discussing. The woman thinks her relationship is ruined until her fiancé shows up with a cake and their coworkers. It’s a surprise party. That’s what he was on the phone about. Sol Hee quietly returns the client’s money. Her ability allows her to hear the truth, but it’s out of context. If the person believes what they’re saying, she’ll hear it as the truth, even if it’s objectively a lie once contextualized. And it’s this distinction that will be important real soon because when Sol Hee tries to help a passed-out Do Ha out of her car, she hears him whisper that he didn’t kill Ji Yoon. And that registers as a lie!
It may be that Do Ha’s convinced himself that he’s responsible for Ji Yoon’s death and that’s why she hears it as a lie. But the fact that she now knows that he’s tied to a murder is going to make things all the more interesting, because it seems that a fake Do Ha is about to spring up out of the blue next week! How much more will Do Ha’s life be shaken up? We’ll find out soon!
