Still Shining Episode 9 Review: Uninteresting and Boring

In the previous episode, Tae-seo’s grandmother falls sick, and it emotionally weakens him. Meanwhile, Eun-a starts focusing on her guesthouse in Teongyeong. When Tae-seo tries to reach out to Eun-a, he sees Seong-chan inside the guesthouse and misunderstands Eun-a’s loyalty. This leads to their breakup without a proper explanation.

Still Shining Episode 9 has a runtime of 60 minutes.

The series has 10 episodes, with two episodes dropping every Friday at 8.20 PM IST.

Still Shining Episode 9 Recap

The episode resumes from Tae-seo breaking up with Eun-a. As he cries in the kitchen, his grandpa hears it and worries. When Tae-seo goes out for a walk, his grandpa follows him, and they both have a life-advice conversation. After this, in Seoul, Tae-seo continues to prepare for his train driver examination.

Meanwhile, Hui-seo takes care of his grandmother in the hospital and even invites one of her friends to visit her there. Grandma’s close friend holds her hand and sings a song, wishing she would open her eyes soon. On the other side, A-sol gets close to Tae-seo, given that she is expecting a wooden work from him. As she drives him to the hospital, she talks about first loves and the closure that comes with them. Just then, Hui-seo calls and tells that their grandma has woken up.

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At the hospital, seeing Tae-seo’s grandmother’s hand twitching, something inside A-sol speaks up and changes her perceptions about love. Tae-seo feels relieved, given his grandmother is getting back to normal. Eun-a hears about Tae-seo’s grandmother’s condition via one of the town people, and she feels relieved as well. Later that night, Tae-seo goes out to drink with his best friend and cries about what happened between him and Eun-a.

On the other side, Eun-a tries to distract herself by focusing on the guesthouse. One day, So-hyeon arrives at the guesthouse and introduces herself as Eun-a’s mother to the people living near the guesthouse. So-hyeon spends quality time with Eun-a, and they have a stepmother-daughter conversation. As So-hyeon leaves, she hugs Eun-a, and the latter asks whether she can visit her. So-hyeon, with joyful tears, asks Eun-a to come right away as a gesture of saying she’s most welcome.

Tae-seo then drops off A-sol’s wooden table, and this is when she asks him for a favour: a breakup. A-sol says that she would like to think she’s dating him, and on a particular day, she wants to break up with him by holding his hands and telling all the good things about each other, so their breakup would feel warm. Tae-seo agrees to it as he feels no harm in it.

Tae-seo then goes to see Eun-a at her guesthouse, but one of the employees tells him that Eun-a has left to see her mother. The day when A-sol and Tae-seo break up comes, and as they planned, they hold hands. A-sol proceeds to confess every feeling she has had towards him since school, and this makes Tae-seo feel sad. He pauses the breakup and tries to calm down. A-sol tearfully asks him to continue the breakup process as she can’t keep all those feelings lost forever. Hence, they schedule another breakup date before Christmas ends.

Tae-seo’s grandmother wakes up and starts walking, and this gives him immense relief. As the episode closes, Tae-seo walks around Yeonwoo to clear his mind, and he sees Eun-a sitting by the lake. As he calls her name, the two lock eyes, and the episode wraps.

Still Shining Episode 9 Review

I don’t actually like the emotional realism in this series. It’s slowing things down, and the breakup feels heavily stupid to me. Grandmother plot seems nice because it shows the emotional grief a husband and his grandchildren go through. But amidst this, the breakup is draining me out, especially when both of them know they can work their love life out if they actually have a decent conversation.

Eun-a’s storyline feels just as tender, particularly with the arrival of So-hyeon. Their evolving mother-daughter dynamic adds warmth, but once again, what’s the need? Now I honestly feel bad for A-sol. Her breakup request feels so powerful because she’s not ready to be loved, but she wants to feel a good farewell.

The series so far hasn’t been doing well in my opinion, and I don’t expect much from the last episode.

Also read: 

• Still Shining Episode 8 Review | Still Shining Episode 10 Review
• Still Shining Season 1 Review