Head Over Heels- Episodes 3-4
Curses, Ghosts, and the Accidental Hand-Hold That Might Just Save a Life
Head Over Heels episode 3 kicks off with a heavy emotional gut punch. Seong-ah is camped outside Gyeon-woo’s grandmother’s funeral room, keeping quiet watch as his relatives coldly reject him. He barely has time to grieve before whispers of his estranged parents arriving force him out. It’s clear: even in mourning, Gyeon-woo’s on the outside looking in.
While Seong-ah is caught in the rawness of Gyeon-woo’s grief, her spirit mother, General Dongcheon, is dealing with a supernatural crisis of her own. She and her team of shamans attempt to exorcise a haunted house crawling with violent spirits. But it’s no ordinary haunting—a powerful curse attacks mid-ritual, and General Dongcheon takes the hit to protect her people. She ends up sealing the entire house, revealing that the main spirit inside is beyond exorcism. The twist? The spirit was empowered by a human sacrifice. That’s why it’s so strong—and so dangerous.
Back in Seong-ah’s world, things take a darker turn. She finds Gyeon-woo under the influence of a suicide ghost—a malicious spirit that feeds on despair. He’s slipping further into isolation, and it’s getting harder to reach him.
Meanwhile, General Dongcheon discovers something linked to a mysterious shaman named Yeom-hwa, who’s now an internet-famous spiritual influencer. She tracks her down, but Yeom-hwa is in hiding and insists it’s not the right time for them to reconnect.
Back to Gyeon-woo: desperate to help, Seong-ah turns to her spirit mother for advice. General Dongcheon gives her two options. One: Gyeon-woo has to find a reason to live. Two: Seong-ah can become a human amulet, physically shielding him from the ghost with her touch. And from that moment on, Seong-ah turns full-contact comedy.
She starts trying to touch Gyeon-woo at every opportunity—elbow bumps, shoulder taps, accidental shoves. The girl is on a mission. And just as she's getting creative with her ghost-fighting tactics, the truth about Gyeon-woo’s past starts to surface. Classmates overhear the archery coach defending him and realize he wasn't responsible for the school fire after all.
Later, Seong-ah follows Gyeon-woo to a columbarium, where they place photos of him and his grandmother. When Seong-ah tears up looking at a picture of them during his archery win, Gyeon-woo finally sees it too—his grandmother was proud of him. That realization cracks through his numbness, and the suicide ghost begins to retreat.
The next day, he quietly returns to the archery range. It’s tentative, like muscle memory he’s afraid to trust. But his coach watches from the sidelines, not pressuring—just letting him come back on his own terms.
Meanwhile, Seong-ah’s ghost radar flares up again—this time, she spots a baby ghost clinging to a classmate. She remembers her spirit mother’s warning: baby ghosts, dancing ghosts, and smiling ghosts are the ones you really have to be careful with. They don’t leave peacefully.
Seong-ah crafts a new amulet to keep the baby ghost away and hides it under Gyeon-woo’s desk. He catches her mid-act, and they end up talking about archery, grief, and passion. Something shifts. Gyeon-woo doesn’t just see Seong-ah as a meddling shaman anymore—he sees her. Bright, bold, relentless. That moment of connection is enough to break the suicide ghost’s hold completely.
And just when it seems like things might settle, the episode ends with the gentlest twist: Seong-ah goes in for a high five. Gyeon-woo, maybe for the first time ever, doesn’t flinch—he laces his fingers through hers.
End scene.
Salt, Ghosts, and a Lip Balm Amulet That Deserves Its Own Spin-Off
Episode 4 of Head Over Heels begins right where the last one left off—fingers laced, hearts racing. Gyeon-woo’s quiet reciprocation has both him and Seong-ah in a daze, barely functioning as their awkward new feelings bubble under the surface.
But there’s no time to fully process their budding romance. Seong-ah is back at work, helping General Dongcheon prepare for a high-stakes ritual at the still-haunted house. We also learn there’s a countdown: just eight more days left for Seong-ah to shield Gyeon-woo from the death curse.
Things escalate when a pair of clueless livestreamers show up at the haunted house, ready to chase clout by filming ghost content. Seong-ah chases them off with a firm warning, but—surprise—they sneak back in. One of them ends up possessed and tries to kill the other. Instant karma, courtesy of a furious spirit.
Back at school, Seong-ah gets creative. To keep protecting Gyeon-woo even when she’s not physically around, she crafts a “stand-in” amulet: a lip balm, complete with googly eyes, a nose, and a mouth. She gives it to him in the most painfully awkward scene of the episode, and it’s weirdly charming.
Things take a turn when Seong-ah casually comments, “How cute,” while staring at a dog ghost tailing the school bully. Ji-ho and Gyeon-woo are floored, thinking she’s suddenly crushing on the bully. Seong-ah later clears things up—she was talking about the ghost of the bully’s old dog, who’s clearly still loyal even in the afterlife.
Meanwhile, the situation with the haunted house worsens. The livestreamers are now in critical condition, so General Dongcheon sets up a quick soul-retrieval ritual and calls Seong-ah to assist—forcing her to ditch school mid-day.
Elsewhere, Yeom-hwa makes her dramatic entrance. She visits Gyeon-woo, throws salt at him, and calls him a “newly deceased,” claiming death is practically hanging over him. Turns out, she was hired by his own parents… not to help him, but to protect themselves from him.
To make matters worse, Gyeon-woo leaves Seong-ah’s protective lip balm amulet at home.
At school, the rumors are flying. Someone spots Seong-ah on footage from the haunted house livestream, and suddenly everyone suspects she might be a shaman. Gyeon-woo, already emotionally frayed, snaps—he yells at her for not defending herself and admits how much he resents shamans.
But Ji-ho gives Gyeon-woo a little perspective, confiding that he once taught Seong-ah to smile through her pain and that yes, he has feelings for her too.
As Seong-ah returns from the ritual, she runs into Gyeon-woo. In a misguided attempt to protect her from rumors, he tries to rip off her mask in front of everyone to “prove” she’s not a shaman. It’s clumsy, it's chaotic, and it backfires.
Still, when Seong-ah changes and runs to meet him later that night, they find themselves alone in the dark. Literally. The lights go out, and ghosts start creeping in. Gyeon-woo finally opens up—flashbacks reveal a boy who smiled through constant pain, rejection, and salt-tossing shamans. He apologizes for lashing out. Seong-ah hugs him, and the ghosts vanish.
The next morning, their vibe has totally shifted—playful, soft, and full of sweet little moments. Gyeon-woo even tells his coach he’s not quitting archery. The coach, in true drill-sergeant fashion, rewards this with 50 laps between the school and the haunted house. Classic.
As Seong-ah hauls props to the ritual site, she runs into Yeom-hwa mid-ceremony. Mistaking her for a member of General Dongcheon’s crew, Yeom-hwa pulls off Seong-ah’s mask and urges her to join the ritual dance. Seong-ah, surprised but curious, goes along.
And just as she starts moving to the rhythm, Gyeon-woo arrives. He stops short, watching Seong-ah dance—unmasked, glowing, caught between spirit and human worlds—as the episode fades out.
DramaZen's Opinion
Episodes 3 and 4 of Head Over Heels are the reason I tell people, “You’re seriously missing out if you’re not watching this show.”
First off, the emotional depth in episode 3 absolutely floored me. Seong-ah camping outside the funeral, quietly keeping watch while Gyeon-woo gets rejected by his own family? Brutal. And then we get hit with the reveal that the grandmother's spirit has been lingering, asking Seong-ah to stay by his side. I wasn’t ready. That whole scene was heartbreak wrapped in kindness.
Then we dive right back into the paranormal madness. Suicide ghosts. Haunted houses. A human sacrifice backstory. It’s nonstop and somehow never feels overstuffed. Seong-ah literally becomes a human amulet, meaning every time she touches Gyeon-woo, she protects him from death. Cue the montage of accidental arm grazes, shoulder bumps, and the most awkward lip balm hand-off in episode 4 that had me wheezing. That lip balm deserves its own award.
Gyeon-woo, meanwhile, is slowly cracking open. Watching him go from emotionally shut down to quietly seeking comfort in Seong-ah’s presence is such a satisfying slow burn. The archery return? So good. His bond with the coach is subtle but meaningful, and it adds another layer to his healing arc.
Episode 4 had some wild moments—the livestreamer possession scene was straight-up horror movie-level creepy. But it also gave us the sweet and ridiculous: Seong-ah saying “How cute” about a dog ghost and getting mistaken for having a crush on the school bully? Gold. Pure gold.
The salt-throwing Yeom-hwa scene? Unhinged in the best way. The fact that Gyeon-woo’s parents hired her to protect themselves from their own son? That’s next-level messed up, and it makes me want to hug him and punch them at the same time.
And then there’s the final scene—Seong-ah dancing with Yeom-hwa as Gyeon-woo shows up. It’s eerie, dreamlike, and kind of beautiful. The look on his face as he sees her caught between two worlds was the perfect cliffhanger.
In short: the ghosts are terrifying, the rituals are intense, the comedy is sharp, and the romance is killing me in the best way. Head Over Heels just keeps raising the stakes—and my expectations. I am all in.
