In the penultimate episode of Dynamite Kiss, Darim takes the fall and escapes to the countryside, still not far enough for Jihyeok to let her go.
In an episode entitled “Flirting Master of the Orchard,” after Kwak Siyang’s cameo as Darim’s childhood friend, Kim Sangsik, Dynamite Kiss gets us in and out of our third-act breakup quickly and cleanly. While Darim and Jihyeok deal with the effects of the reveal on their relationship, Jihye and Taeyeong continue their scheming.
Also Read: Pop Corner: Dynamite Kiss Episode 12 Recap: Darim’s Guilt
Interrogation
The episode begins before the baby carrier drama, with Jihyeok and Darim finally revealing their relationship to their mothers. Jihyeok professes his love for Darim and his intention to eventually marry her.
The story then catches up to the end of the last episode, where Darim is now accused of being a spy who leaked the product information to a rival company, MomsJoy. Apparently, the leaked email was sent from her computer. The higher-ups also found her resignation letter, which led them to believe that she intended to sell them out before taking a job at MomsJoy.
Changho confronts Jihyeok, demanding that he stop covering for someone who lied about their marital status to get a job. When Jihyeok insists on standing by Darim, Jihye takes out the photos that Mr. Ma took on the island, exposing Jihyeok and Darim’s relationship.
Word that Darim is a spy and a liar who seduced her team leader goes around Natural Bebe. Despite this, Jihyeok hugs her in front of everyone and promises to take care of the investigation.
Intervention
Mi-ok notices that Hayeong has been out of sorts and goes to talk to Seonu. At Seonu’s baby studio, Mi-ok meets Jun, who gives her a drawing and a carton of chocolate milk to pass on to his best friend, Hayeong. Seonu chastises Jun and tells him that “the pretty lady” isn’t coming back.
Mi-ok has a meal with Seonu and Jun and is charmed by how well they get along as father and son. She later asks Seonu to open his heart to Hayeong. He responds that he knows that she’s a good person, but she deserves someone who will love her more than he would, as he’s not in a position to let anyone into his life right now.
Later, Hayeong tells her mother that she has decided to go to the US to study and forget about Seonu. Mi-ok gives her Jun’s drawing and milk carton as a remembrance.
Inevitable
Darim is still under investigation when Jihyeok comes in to tell the auditor that he had taken over and to stop the interrogation. To his surprise, Darim confesses to leaking the information. Little did he know that Jihye had talked to Darim, telling her to take the fall so that Jihyeok and the Mother TF team wouldn’t be negatively impacted by her scandal.
The scandal is the reason Jihye needs to turn the shareholders against Jihyeok and his so-called biggest supporter, his father, Chairman Gong. With Mr. Ma’s support, she portrays them as unfit to lead the company and asks the shareholders to vote Changho out as chairman. However, they need a certain percentage of shareholders and shares to accomplish their goal. They have enough shareholders but not enough shares, to which Taeyeong proposes a solution.
Jihyeok comes to see Darim at her house to ask why she confessed. He doesn’t believe that she did it because he knows her to be a good person. He assures her that they have each other, that he’ll be okay as long as she’s there, and that he’ll be there for her as well. Despite all this, Darim breaks up with Jihyeok, saying she’s at rock bottom.
Insistence
The next day, Darim tells her mom the truth about how she got her job at Natural Bebe. Myungsun is shocked and hurt to hear that her daughter had gone through so much on her own. She proposes that they sell the house that they had lived in with Darim’s father and go to the countryside to live with Darim’s aunt and uncle.
While Darim is working hard at the orchard, Jihyeok finds evidence of a MomsJoy employee meeting with the man who set fire to the art hall. After getting Seonu to tell him where Darim is, Jihyeok goes to the countryside in the middle of the night to tell Darim he’ll clear her name. He tells her she was just caught in the crossfire of whoever was targeting him and asks her to cancel the breakup.
At the farm, Jihyeok also faces Darim’s aunt and uncle, the latter of whom is trying to set Darim up with local village hero Sangsik. Sangsik comes by the next day, and Jihyeok, who never agreed to any breakup, tries to compete with him at farmwork. He of course fails at this, having never done a day of farmwork before in his life, but Darim still chooses him as she never wanted to break up either.
They make up and the episode ends with Jihyeok going back to Seoul and interrupting a meeting of shareholders ready to vote him out.
Dynamite Kiss Episode 13 Thoughts and What To Expect Next
In every romance story, the third-act breakup is usually the trickiest part to pull off, so it was smart of Dynamite Kiss to make it be something against the characters’ wills as well. Clearly, neither Darim nor Jihyeok took this breakup seriously given how quickly they got back together, but in the moment, it was absolutely heartbreaking.
Knowing how much Jihyeok loved Darim this whole time made him saying he’ll be fine “as long as I have you” so convincing, and to have her later listen to his voice recording was all the more painful. It was the emotional result of twelve episodes of getting viewers invested in this couple, and Dynamite Kiss did well in crafting that sharp but brief stab to the heart.
In the last(!) episode, it seems that Natural Bebe will be under new management with In-ae returning to the top. There’s also a car accident to stir up some drama, but if Jihyeok and Darim can get through this, they can get through anything.
What is your favorite scene from Dynamite Kiss episode 13?
Source: SBS Play, SBS Now Twitter/X
