My Romance Scammer 1×08 Review: Episode 8

Pai and North’s first day of being disowned does not go as badly as expected, thanks to North’s previous stubbornness. Tim’s quest to win Pai over again, however, could use some work.

Apologies for being a couple of days late with this review. I really have no valid excuse, other than my brain wasn’t braining enough to sit down and actually think about this episode. As it is, this is likely going to be shorter than usual because I’m still having trouble concentrating. Not that any of you needed to know that, but still.

Episode 8 answers a question I had after last week’s episode, which was about the status of North’s café. Because it was an asset just in North’s name, and not a family asset, they still had access to it. Being able to keep the café open meant they would be able to earn an income. I love that Pai initially sounded like he was going to scold North for not closing when he was ordered to, only to turn around and thank North for not doing so.

I love the business meeting Pai had with Yu and North, where they took stock of their assets. Pai seems to be one of those people who cannot not be working. He doesn’t know how to exist otherwise, after being in charge of the family business for so long. His ordering Yu to take notes, as though Yu has any idea how to do that, is evidence that he doesn’t know how to turn off his business brain. (Yu’s notes being “Pai is poor” had me cackling. He’s not wrong.)

Unsurprisingly, Pai immediately takes over the café. Despite technically being an employee, he starts making a lot of business decisions, including firing some of their current staff. Pure puts up some resistance (his chocolate recipe!), as the one who’s been actually doing all of the work for the past year, but Pai does not seem to be someone who takes no for an answer. Of course, Pai is the one with all the business acumen, and it seems that his changes have a positive effect on the café.

Pai also still has the deed to the land where he and Tim were supposed to build their gated community. I am a little surprised that he forgot that when he was taking stock of everything he owned. However, Kuea points out that as long as he and Tim are still married, the land is considered a marital asset. So, naturally, Pai demands a divorce. (Lowkey surprised he waited this long to do so, but I imagine he needed processing time.)

Tim settles with all of his sugar mamas and ends up paying them an obscene amount of money to not pursue further legal action. Presumably, it’s the money that he offered Pai’s family at the wedding, but where did this money come from? People were questioning that last week, but I assumed the cash he was showing off was fake. Because if he was sitting on that much money, why does he still have loan sharks threatening him? Why is he still in so much debt? Make it make sense.

Also, what is this new job? Pai may not care, but I certainly do.

I am very intrigued by the way they are handling the breakdown of Tim and Pai’s relationship. It’s a back-and-forth, which is understandable, given how long they were together. Pai was really dependent on Tim emotionally, and the person he fell in love with was a lie. He knows that, but it’s hard to acknowledge that when said person is right in front of him all the time. He’s so angry at Tim, but he still needs him a little bit.

So you have scenes like the breakfast scene, where Pai makes Tim sit separately and won’t let him participate in the conversation, but Tim still tries. Or the laundry scene, where Tim smiles as Pai literally throws things at him. And then you have Pai smiling as Tim explains step by step exactly how he manipulated him, because Tim admits that he was so taken by the moment that he gave Pai his real name by accident. (I assumed it was because he couldn’t legally get married under an alias, but this explanation is much better.)

That dinner scene was incredible. MarkJi and Junior really nailed the nuance. You could literally see Junior become Pai’s Tim – in his vocal inflections, in his eyes. It’s incredible. I loved these two in Perfect 10 Liners, but this show is undoubtedly their best work. The fact that they were both crying absolutely killed me.

And the panic Pai went through when Tim slipped and hurt himself. Obviously, Pai still cares about him; feelings like that don’t immediately disappear, even when you’re mad at the person. But he’s still doing his best to separate himself from Tim, because he doesn’t want to be hurt again.

Y’all, I am so proud of Yu. The fact that he went to his mother and asked for his money back, so that he could give it to North… He’s been so hurt by his mother, and he’s risking it again, because he loves North so much. And then he had the strength to confront her and report her to the police, because she tried to go after North on her own. I’d wager that we haven’t seen the last of her, but I hope, for Yu’s sake, that we have. (It would be nice to have a show where they don’t try to reconcile with the toxic parent.)

We still have four episodes left, so there is plenty of time to get to some angst. I think Pai is still in shock, and aware of the fact that he needs Tim right now (or at least, needs Tim’s house), to be as angry as he wants to be. But I’m also aware that this is, at heart, a romcom, and it’s likely we’ll never get to a “realistic” level of anger and pettiness.

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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