Sold Out On You Episode 11 opens with a big betrayal. However, Chang-ho is secretly in cahoots with Michelle, and their plan is not only to sabotage Gojeuneok Bio’s new product, but to push Matthew out of the industry all together.
Meanwhile, Ye-jin is trying to take her life back again. At home she discovers Matthew working late and tells him she has stopped taking her sleeping pills. She wants to confront her painful past without medication. Matthew tries to comfort her and the scene turns romantic when the two kiss.
The next day, Ye-jin tells Sung-mi and Ki-hong she is getting her show back.
Matthew Finds a New Healing Cream
Matthew creates a new raw material using the white flower noori mushroom at Gojeuneok Bio. The ingredient appears to speed up wound healing, so Matthew and Mu-won start work on a regenerative cream.
Later, Matthew takes Ye-jin to a fancy dinner. She suspects he wants to propose but instead asks her to work with him on the new cream. Ye-jin is moved by his trust and agrees.
They work together closely for the next few days. At one meeting, Ye-jin says the cream smells pungent and they have a short debate as to whether or not to add an artificial scent. But the tension is short-lived and the two are soon back to their affectionate ways.
Soon the cream clears its laboratory tests. Matthew asks Som-yi to name the product and she chooses “Noori.” Ye-jin then hands the finished product to Director Dong, who gives it the thumbs up for her show.
Ye-jin meets Eric again.
The next morning, Ye-jin runs into Eric again. This time he asks her why she never came to see him years ago. Ye-jin says she had only just begun taking strong sleeping medication at the time. She slept through her alarms, and awoke a good deal later in the day.
Ye-jin tells Eric that she still cherishes the happy memories they shared, even though things didn’t work out between them.
Noori Cream in a Scandal
HIT starts to push Noori Cream and the team gets ready for a pre-launch event for 30 lucky winners. But trouble is on its way.
Michelle finds out that Joong-hoon has been working with Eric, and fires him. Joong-hoon manages to get the footage from her car’s dashcam before she leaves.
Shortly after, beauty influencer Min-na posts online that Noori Cream gave her an inflammatory skin condition. The charge is no sooner made than it is all over town, and the people are up in arms again against Matthew.
Articles start to connect Matthew to the new scandal, as well as the old controversy over the Good Morning Cream. They vandalize his office, they vandalize the greenhouses in Deokpung, they even come visit him at home. Matthew says he will go because he does not want the village to suffer for him.
Some elders agree, but Mrs Yang defends him. She says that she got involved with Matthew because she saw her own son in him, who died in the same incident as the Good Morning Cream.
Chang-ho’s Connection Revealed
At HIT, Chang-ho meets Ji Yun-ji and gives her flowers. Turns out it was Yun-ji who gave him the list of people who came to the Noori Cream pre-launch event. The thing is, now, Chang-ho wants her to help him to hurt Matthew even more.
Meanwhile, Joong-hoon shows Eric screenshots from the dashcam footage proving that Michelle met with Chang-ho. Eric takes the evidence to Matthew and Mu-won.
They took the lead back to H. O. Cosmetics. They find out that the company has been entering into contracts with small businesses, stealing their tech and profiting off their research. A former client tells of a time when H.O. Cosmetics changed raw materials in a product and sold it at a higher price.
This sounds very much like the Good Morning Cream fiasco.
Ye-jin Discovers the Pattern
Ye-jin and her colleagues find out that all six of the complainants about Noori Cream had attended the pre-launch event. No other events had any problems with customers. Next, more testing, which proves there’s nothing wrong with the cream.
Matthew gets help from Jin-yi and Som-yi who reach out to Ye-jin. They team up to make a live broadcast that proves the product is safe. During the broadcast they prove that the cream does not have any harmful effect, even on Som-yi’s skin.
Yun-ji Confesses the Truth
Myung-hwa sees Chang-ho and Yun-ji together and begins to investigate Chang-ho. Later, she approaches Yun-ji who we learn has a young daughter named Seo-a.
We see a flashback, where Chang-ho bribes Yun-ji, threatening to tell everyone she has a daughter. He wanted her to give Good Morning Cream a primetime slot without going through the proper internal review process.
Now, Yun-ji finally tells Ye-jin everything and gives her a recording of her conversation with Chang-ho.
Matthew v. Chang-ho
Matthew finds Woo-su’s phone at Woo-su’s house. Woo-su’s messages reveal him telling Chang-ho to own up to his mistake.
Matthew then goes to confront Chang-ho and plays the recording Ye-jin sent him. Chang-ho almost confesses to doctoring the ingredients in the recording.
Woo-su confronts Chang-ho about switching the ingredients in a flashback and begs him to deny it. There’s no remorse from Chang-ho and you can see how far he was willing to go.
Review: Episode
Sold Out On You episode 11 is a good penultimate episode as it raises the stakes right before the finale. Just when Matthew and Ye-jin appear ready to move on, another scandal drags them back into the pain of the past.
The episode is more serious than usual and it actually helps the story. The lack of forced comedy makes the tension that much more powerful. This time Matthew and Ye-jin also respond more positively. Rather than breaking down they immediately start investigating and work to uncover the truth.
In this episode Chang-ho becomes a much bigger villain. However the drama still needs to properly explain his motivation. Looks like he really wants to ruin Matthew’s life but why? Hopefully the finale explains better to the viewers.
There are some weak points in writing still. Yun-ji’s secret daughter story line seems underdeveloped and it is difficult to understand why she would risk so much. Woo-su’s decision to die without telling the truth also raises questions.
It would have been more emotional if we had seen Matthew and Ye-jin supporting each other more directly during this crisis, especially since the scandal echoes their old trauma. Instead they spend much of the episode solving things separately.
Still, the episode provides good momentum heading into the finale. Episode 11 is a live broadcast, an investigation and a final confrontation with Chang-ho, all of which make for an engaging setup for the ending.