Aahana Swrup
The Netflix K-Drama ‘Can This Love Be Translated?’ centers around the love story of a peculiar pair who keep falling into mistranslations despite speaking the same language. Following an accident during filming, actress Cha Mu-hee falls into a brief coma. By the time she wakes up, her film has blown up, turning her into a global star, seemingly overnight. In the aftermath, she books a role on a reality dating show, Romantic Trip, where she will travel to scenic locations with Japanese heartthrob actor, Hiro Kurosawa. To bridge their language difference, the duo’s interactions will be facilitated through an interpreter. It just so turns out that the interpreter chosen for the job is Joo Ho-jin, a man with whom Mu-hee shares a loaded past. Even though Ho-jin is well-versed in many languages, the one he can’t crack is Mu-hee’s cryptic love language, which is shielded behind layers and layers of her own insecurities and a dark past. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Ho-jin Can’t Trust the Sincerity of Mu-hee’s Interest in Him
Even though the majority of Ho-jin and Mu-hee’s relationship develops during their work together on Romantic Trip, their story begins much before that. The two cross paths for the first time on a trip to Japan. The interpreter is in the area for business, while the aspiring actress is trying to win an ex back. By sheer coincidence, the two end up in the same ramen shop together, where Mu-hee ropes the other into translating the conversation between her and her ex’s new girlfriend. Naturally, given the nature of the dramatic confrontation, Ho-jin gets to see some of the deeper and more vulnerable parts of the actress off the bat. As the duo decides to spend more time together, exploring the locality before having dinner together, he finds himself opening up to the other as well. Consequently, she learns about his long-term one-sided feelings for Ji-sun, something which is otherwise a well-kept secret. As such, the two start off by learning each other’s secrets shared in a foreign city under the comfort of anonymity.
Even though sparks of something more linger between them, Mu-hee encourages him to go after Ji-sun when an opportunity presents itself. Although this doesn’t lead anywhere, it ends up setting the scene for their future dynamic to come. Shortly after their fateful meeting, Hu-mee suffers a serious accident, which puts her in a coma. By the time she wakes up, her last role as Do Ra-mi becomes a cinematic sensation, launching her straight into stardom. Another twist of fate brings the duo back into each other’s lives. However, this time, Ji-sun, who is a producer on Romantic Trip, is a much more permanent fixture, and Mu-hee has to go on fake “dates” with Hiro as a part of the show. All of this only complicates matters between the pair even more. Ho-jin is a pragmatic person who prefers to evaluate his emotions with time and care. On the other hand, Mu-hee is someone who oftentimes acts first and thinks later. For the same reason, a wall of miscommunication and misunderstandings remains standing between them since the interpreter finds it hard to trust the actress’ feelings for him as anything serious.
Do Ra-mi Complicates Matters Between Ho-jin and Mu-hee
One of the defining aspects of the central relationship in the story stems from a unique affliction that hangs over the protagonist. After waking up from the coma, Mu-hee’s life changes in multiple ways. While her launch into stardom is the more visible one, there is another, more menacing and underlying change. Once back to consciousness, the actress begins hallucinating a phantom of Do Ra-mi, her character from her last film. Quickly, the zombie character becomes a mental manifestation of the worst of Mu-hee’s fears, anxieties, self-hatred, and insecurities. However, as time passes, the hallucination begins to have a greater hold on the protagonist. During moments of intense pressure, Mu-hee begins to transform into Do Ra-mi, where the bold and fearless character would take over the otherwise reserved actress. As a result, anytime the latter took over, the former underwent a stage of unconsciousness not unlike an individual with multiple personality disorder.
This becomes a particularly prevalent problem during the shooting of Romantic Trip in Italy. During this time, Do Ra-mi begins to take over the actress routinely every night. Ho-jin, the only person who knows about this, finds himself accompanying the other every single night to keep her company and keep her out of trouble. Consequently, the other people on the set begin to believe the interpreter has an Italian girlfriend. When Mu-hee learns about this rumor, she begins to believe Ho-jin could never reciprocate her feelings. Ultimately, a big change arrives on the last day of filming. For the final shot, Hiro confesses his feelings for the actress, which he has developed over the course of their time together. As the interpreter, Ho-jin has to translate part of this confession, which takes a toll on him.
Fortunately for the couple, the show’s director ends up capturing Ho-jin’s upset reaction in the aftermath. Despite never saying anything, he had been observing the relationships unraveling on his set all this time. As a result, he sends the recording to Mu-hee. This recording reveals the true depth of the interpreter’s feelings for the actress, which, in turn, gives the latter the strength to confront her own demons. Namely, Do Ra-mi. Consequently, in an emotional moment of self-reflection, Mu-hee realizes she has been using the zombie character as a coping mechanism to deal with the more difficult parts of her life. It also helps her remember every single adventure she shared with Ho-jin as Do Ra-mi over the course of the trip. In the end, this becomes the final push that brings the two together.
Ho-jin and Mu-hee Learn to Speak Each Other’s Love Languages
Once Mu-hee confronts her own complications with Do Ra-mi, space opens up for her and Ho-jin to give their romance a real try. Still, their real problem has always been their inability to understand and converse in a wya that the other understands and responds to. For the same reason, this time around, both surrender themselves to each other in the other’s unique way. Ho-jin prefers a no-nonsense and straightforward approach. As such, the actress spills her guts out to the other, confessing that the reality of how well he knows her makes her scared to pursue a romantic relationship with her. She’s scared that after knowing everything about her life, her past, and her insecurities, he couldn’t possibly want to be with her. Inversely, Ho-jin recognizes that Mu-hee is governed by her anxiety. Therefore, the interpreter tells her that they shouldn’t worry about the long run anyway because they will eventually break up.
Although his words may seem careless, Ho-jin is actually telling Mu-hee that he recognizes her need for delusion and fantasy in order to deal with the harsher things in life. He’s willing to play into that by offering to lower the stakes of their relationship by setting a pre-emptive deadline, which in reality is fake. Thus, the duo realizes that the other is willing and able to learn their quirks and accommodate them in order to envision a future together. Ultimately, this is what helps them start a genuine romantic relationship together. The fruits of their labor are seen in effect shortly thereafter when some family complications force Mu-hee to go on an emotionally taxing solo trip. During this time, she asks to “break up” with Ho-jin. She’s comfortable making this demand, and he complies with it, because they know it isn’t actually real. Both of them are able to trust the sincerity of the other’s feelings for them, which allows them to come back together in the aftermath of the trip. In the end, Ho-jin and Mu-hee meet again in an observatory, which marks the beginning of the rest of their life together.
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