My Romance Scammer 1×09 Review: Episode 9

There is a lot of stuff going on in this episode, to the point where I genuinely find myself wondering where the story is ultimately headed. I thought I knew, but now I’m not sure.

We’re going to start right out the gate with the major event of episode 9: Pai and Tim have seemingly reconciled. I think it’s interesting that they sort of mirrored Yu and North with this, in that they got divorced and then almost immediately were back together. It makes far more sense for Yu and North to have done this, though, given the short duration of their relationship and the fact that Yu didn’t actually scam North despite everyone saying that he did.

Tim, on the other hand, spent over a year deceiving Pai on a daily basis. His carefully crafted persona only started slipping after Yu bumbled into their lives, and Pai has said repeatedly that he doesn’t even know Tim. Not really. And this is absolutely true, and it was something that was handled nicely in the dinner scene from episode 8. Because of this, I think most of us expected it to be several episodes before Pai was able to forgive Tim.

And, to be fair, I don’t know that Pai actually has fully forgiven Tim. I think Tim still has a lot of work to do to prove that he can be trustworthy. He is now an officially certified architect, which helps. But he has yet to mention his enormous debt to Pai, not even when Pai asks him why. Why did he do what he did? Perhaps Tim realizes that the debt being a factor doesn’t excuse his actions, so he doesn’t want to look like he’s trying to minimize his behavior. Still, I find it odd that there hasn’t been a mention of Tim’s debts in a while. (Also, didn’t he say in the previous episode that he had a new job? What is that job?)

In a hilarious montage, Pai goes on a series of increasingly bad dates (with guest stars Mond, Save, and Aun), where it becomes extremely clear to him that dating is hard, and finding someone who makes you feel the way Tim made Pai feel is not easy. I’m not sure whether Pai was seriously trying to get over Tim, or if he was just trying to twist the knife. (Three dates in one day is a bit much.) Whatever the reason, he eventually comes to the conclusion that he still loves Tim, even if he has no idea who Tim is as a person.

The montage, of course, is also peppered with Tim continually following Pai on all of his dates. This directly leads to another one of Pai’s revelations, which is that Tim is one of the only people in his life who is still there. Pai has been abandoned by his family; his grandfather cast him out and forbade his parents from interfering, and it’s clear that his aunt has never really been his biggest fan.

Even North took their grandfather’s offer to come back to Empire. (We’ll talk about that later.) Pai has to be feeling so betrayed. But Tim refuses to leave, even though Pai wants him to. Tim is the entire reason that his life has fallen apart, but he’s also still the only person fully in his corner. (Even if he did semi-catfish him on a dating app. It was to prove a point!)

And their date was adorable. I love them going to a thrift shop and trying on a bunch of different outfits. Not only does it emphasize that Tim was putting on a front with Pai, but it also highlights that Pai does not know who he himself is outside of the family business. (I also took it as a callback to Sand and Ray’s similar date from Only Friends, which was one of my favorite episodes.) But it also seems to be more in line with the kind of person that Tim really is, rather than the person he was pretending to be.

I think that Pai is still trying to sort out his feelings. He didn’t have time to properly process everything that happened because he was disowned immediately after his disastrous wedding. There are still three episodes left, so I suspect we’re not done with this. I’ve seen some people who are upset at how quickly Pai seemed to forgive Tim, but I do think that this isn’t over. However, I don’t think that we’re going to get three full episodes of conflict between these two, even with so much left unresolved between them. So I can’t help but wonder what else the narrative has in store for them.

North’s storyline this episode is interesting. Nana approaches him with an offer from his grandfather: return to Empire in order to be groomed to head the business instead of Pai. North initially turns this down, but surprisingly, Yu convinces him to accept. I am a little confused as to why. Now, there is some really great character work for North in this episode, but I think that this move makes no sense.

For starters, North has been happy with his café. They do guilt him a bit by suggesting that Pure may one day get tired of the work, and North doesn’t actually do anything for it. But he doesn’t need to if he owns it. If Pai is able to successfully turn the café around, they can hire a new baker to replace Pure in the event he ever does want to leave. North doesn’t need to know how to bake.

Second, it was kind of an important plot point that North didn’t want anything to do with Empire. He avoided all responsibility with anything to do with the company to the point that he opened his café in the first place. He famously did not want to be involved. So why the sudden turnaround?

And last, I seriously hate Yu’s argument that he can’t give North the life he deserves. This is pretty common in BLs, and romcoms in general, and I’ve always disliked it. It seems to imply that being poor is inherently a personality flaw. North seemed perfectly happy with Yu the way that they were. He may be spoiled in the sense that he grew up rich, but he was so chill and easygoing about everything that I firmly believe he would have been happy no matter what, as long as he got to be with Yu. (Just look at their “Africa” date! These two will be good no matter what.) This argument also reeks of “I know better than you what you need”, and while I think that Yu was coming from a place of insecurity rather than anything else, it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

That said, I do think that having to work an actual job will ultimately be good for North, who has never done an honest day’s work in his life. And I think it’s really important for his growth as a person to have to face hardships. But of course he was going to be antagonistic when his aunt showed up. Of course, he assumed she was messing with him. That was my first thought as well.

And I’m not convinced that she wasn’t; she’s made no secret that she wants her son to be the heir. It makes sense that she would purposely try to sabotage North. Even if she had a point. She’s clearly the one who suddenly changed the training procedures. North had one less “rating” button than Yu. I think all of that was meant to prove that North wasn’t up to the challenge.

I also don’t know where I stand on the grandfather. I think they’re trying to make him seem like he just wants the best for his grandsons. (Or at least for North.) But he was so cruel to Pai at what is probably the lowest point in Pai’s life. Even Pai admits that he’ll likely never get his grandfather’s forgiveness. And his “olive branch” to North is super controlling: 10 years of work and then maybe he’ll forgive him. For what? Getting scammed? Ugh, I can’t stand this guy.

I hope the series ends with the four of them teaming up to take over the family fortune. Justified conning! (It’s not going to end like that. I know this. But I can dream.)

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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