Post by TheBo on Sept 2, 2010 14:07:51 GMT -5
Grand Chef recap Ep14 – THIS IS A COMPLETE RECAP, DON’T READ IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW. Tell me please if I'm giving too much detail, I'm trying to give it for anyone who missed the episode.
PS - Yes, I started this before you saw the episode, but I hid the thread until Friday. Hah hah.
Sung-chan experiments with cheap beef and soy sauce in his home kitchen. He remembers an incident with his foster father Chef Oh, who taught him a recipe for a special sauce that no-one else knows about, because Sung-chan guessed two of the ingredients. Back in the present, reporter Jin-soo comes in, bubbly, and Sung-chan teases her for always being at his house, as if she owns the place. She notices he’s using super-cheap beef cuts, and he says he’s trying to make them taste like expensive meats. Is this possible? she posits. Why, yes! Here is the secret! Last-minute sauce! (Of course, she spills it.) This is the sauce that must be added at the exact last two minutes of cooking. She asks how to make it; he grumps at her, just watch me; he says, what did you want to say to me, anyway? After a little absent-minded rumination, she remembers that she has found an apartment for him. (She’s stolen the person’s entire sign with phone number slips; presumably so no-one else can take one, but still, kinda rude.) He seems to think there must be something else, and she suddenly remembers she wants to ask him about the contest for Un Ahm Jung.
Now, right here, I have to protest most vociferously. At the end of the last episode, she was shocked! YES, SHOCKED to learn that there had been dirty dealings in the pheasant contest to choose the successor to Un Ahm Jung. Now, she just kinda forgot about it until prodded? Seriously?
So she recounts details she has learned. He gets mad and says she doesn’t know anything, that no such thing occurred and someone is telling her stories. She should never mention it again or he’ll dump her. She’s plainly shocked and pained, but she’ll probably forget about it in a minute or two. Next, she is shown doodling some kind of flow chart onto a notebook next to her computer at night, thinking hard, and SC is shown sitting up in bed, can’t sleep.
Switch to the public park in the morning. Elfin man reads an article about SC and BJ, they’re so handsome, etc. Ms Jo (sauce lady) comes up to him, saying SC is a hundred times better. He is surprised to see her, why is she there so early? She asks, What am I to you? He waffles. She declares, just as I thought, I’m nobody important to you, just as I’m nobody important at Un Ahm Jung. She complains about BJ’s behavior. Elfin man tries to laugh it off. She persists, but he runs off. (My translator keeps having her call him “oppa” when she is plainly saying something like “orra-poyo”—what do you guys get?)
Cut to—the contest! Reporters! Chanters with banners! Other banners! Jin-soo looking put out! Her boss getting make-up! Mr. Gang comes over to Choi the Weasel, and chews him out for paying the hospital bill. They have a conversation about return of the super knife. I wish they could reconcile because I always like that c-r-u-d. A production assistant tells everyone to applaud and then cues in the presenters. The chefs come in. Bong-joo is making oxtail with many unusual (to the presenters) spices; but Sung-chan is using—gasp!—lower leg meat. Cheap and not tasty. He cuts it at a speed guaranteed to make me cringe, especially since the actor is clearly not used to using a sharp knife in this manner—he lets his fingers rest on the cutting board. Doof.
Cut to the Un Ahm Jung crowd watching the contest and discussing it. But wait! Two chairs are empty! Who is missing? Why, it’s Ms Jo Sauce Lady and the head lady of the restaurant crew. Ms Jo is trying to leave, and Ms Hostess is trying to stop her. Hostess says, you can’t go, everyone is leaving, what will I/we do? Jo says, they all left for a reason, we all give our youth and they just use us and don’t think we’re worth much. Hostess says, what about Ja-woon (Elfin Man)? What about when he comes to see you at the sauce pantry? Jo says, he’s the reason I’m in this state.
Cut back to the contest. BJ making special pepper sauce, adding to cooked oxtail. SC making a marinade, putting in the tenderized cruddy meat. (In come Grand Chef Oh and Elfin Man. Yay.) The announcers say, SC’s food looks so familiar--is that bulgogi (which SC is making?) and yes! It is! U-A-J’s team is stoked and puzzled—why would he make something so common? SC’s team not so happy. Announcers’ commentary on nature of cooking as art (U-A-J), conversely, SC’s bulgogi reminds one of childhood times when poor, mothers making bulgogi on one’s birthday. Good times. SC’s team a little happier. SC gets out last-minute sauce. “Last-minute sauce!” says Chef Oh. “Last-minute sauce!” says Jin-soo. SC remembers Chef Oh: “You can only use it once at the last minute. Use it or not, decide. For those who know, it’s like drawing the eye after finishing the dragon.”
Coming up on the last two minutes, Bong-joo decorates lovely dish with micro greens, pepper sauce, everything elegant and beautiful. He’s finished two minutes early, just as Sung-chan puts in the sauce. He finishes off his dish just as the buzzer rings. Time for a tasting. Sung-chan is first; the judges are stunned by the taste and tenderness of the meat. SC explains his method, excited about the sauce itself. His father and the elfin man both nod approvingly.
BJ is next. His “work of art” is very much appreciated by the judges. Seems he made the pepper sauce milder for western tastes (So I misunderstood the scene in the restaurant when they discovered the sauce). He’s praised for making Korean food “international.” (Pah.) Now the scoring. For taste: Both 10. Appearance: 10 each. Creativity: 10-10. They’re even. Grand Chef looks worried. Marketability: BJ 10; SC 8. (WHAT? He made the more marketable product! I guess they’re talking about foreign markets.) The judges explain. They thought Bong-joo’s product could be marketed to foreigners, and it is perfect. SC did a great job but it was not perfect. (Again, PAH, I say.) The Grand Chef looks sad, SC looks sad, mobster boss looks sad, Jin-soo looks sad. All of U-A-J looks deliriously happy, they chant. Mob boss gives his posse a look, and they shamefully drop their heads. (LOL) Chef Oh and elfin man leave the proceedings. BJ comes to SC and they make up, congratulating each other. BJ asks SC to come back to the restaurant, and says it’s his last offer. SC says (cheerfully), “Bye,” everyone suitably sad as he walks away.
Jin-soo catches up with SC later and accuses him of throwing the contest. He yells at her that BJ had the better idea (appealing to Western tastes). She continues to accuse, he runs away to his apartment, where he is moving out.
BJ comes to his father’s room and promises he’ll bring back SC. “Do you really want to do that?” Yes, he says. “Great,” says the old man, turning away. Tough room. Cut to Gang’s beef restaurant. Mob boss is in a bad mood. SC and Gang try to jolly him out of it. Boss declares his friendship for them.
Next, SC is driving his truck and gets a call from Jin-soo about the apartment she found for him. He says he wants to talk to her anyway, they’ll meet later. I think this is a bad translation; I think he’s telling her he’s leaving town, because she rushes to his old apartment, which they are demolishing. BJ is there looking for SC. Jin-soo says, why did he leave his belongings? Did he really leave? So apparently, he’s taken a powder.
Big goings-on at U-A-J. Lots of bigwigs celebrate the opening of the New U-A-J. Bong-joo begins his speech with “today’s date”: May 28, 2008. Big day. Big day. It’s near a resort, so they’ll get foreign tourists and Korean tourists. We are great etc etc. Applause. Signing of some tiles with good wishes (guess they’ll put these up somewhere). Dinner with Director Jang (the guy they all are so eager to please who shows up from foreign places once in awhile—he’s also the one who owned the company Butcher Gang’s daughter worked for indirectly and how Min-soo threatened Gang). Dir. Jang tells Chef Oh it’s time to pass on the business to Bong-joo. Everyone looks approving except Chef, BJ and girlfriend Joo-hee, who look uncomfortable.
That night at Jin-soo’s apartment, she obviously has obsessively been watching the last contest trying to figure out if SC threw it. She tries to call him about his apartment, but ends up yelling at the “owner temporarily out of touch” message. Next, daytime: She has written an article: “The Un Ahm Jung Mystery”—I cannot read Korean so I don’t know what it says, even though they show text obviously for us to read. Her boss comes out to call her into his office; she nervously hides the article. Her boss shows her the article her co-worker wrote about the U-A-J grand opening; it’s good, but not good enough for him. Why won’t she go there any more? She has to rewrite the article. She brings up an excuse. He demands to know the “mystery” and she claims there is none, but if there is, it is private. Again, he tells her, you’re not digging enough; dig until something ugly turns over. She escapes, declaring her story about some tea growers will be fantastic-o.
Reporter Kim Jin-soo (“Kim pi-ja”) taking a trip. Bus trip. Gets to a faraway place; hiking in the woods with stupid high-heeled shoes on. Who is she looking for? The tea fields! And who is in the tea fields? Pantry lady Jo, that’s who! She’s a tea-picker. She’s arranged interviews at the tea company for Jin-soo. They discuss Sung-chan. Ms Jo says SC reminds her of elfin man (Ja-woon), they are totally alike. Disappearing without a word. She wonders if elfin man is drunk right now.
He is. In the pantry, screaming about director Jang’s “taste” or lack of it. Actually, I think the word for bean paste contains the syllable "jang" so this must be a mistranslation. He seems to think without Ms Jo, the restaurant will fail. The hostess lady tells him, “She left because of you.” “Whaaaat???”
Joo-hee comes across Chef Oh sitting by himself looking pensive, tells him "the reporters have all arrived." Seems there’s a big announcement, all the staff, lots of reporters. He announces, all “business” of his restaurant will be handed over to Bong-joo. To everyone’s shock, BJ stands up and declares he’s not ready yet, he’s not qualified to step into these shoes. Chef Oh says, “This is my decision. I hope everyone—even you—can live with it.” The meeting breaks up. One reporter tells another—“the descendant of the Grand Chef is here!” She can’t get him to say what he means. I’m not sure I got a correct translation of this, though, because this statement makes no sense.
Chef Oh and elfin man are discussing the contest and why Sung-chan lost. It should have been a shoo-in, the taste of the last-minute-sauce is “incredible.” Elfin man says, it illustrates SC’s heart, wanting to make the best taste with the least-expensive meat. They discuss what an incredible guy he is, to have such a wish, so everyone can afford to taste it. “That contest was not big enough to understand such an intention.” Sad part? SC left feeling badly, not knowing his was the best dish and should have won.
Sung-chan is wandering around, looking for special foods. He finds “the gold of anchovies” and buys a bunch. When he takes them to his truck, he catches an addled old woman stealing his goods. She gets into his truck, saying she’ll pay him when he takes her home. She runs him all over town; she clearly doesn’t know where she lives. Back at the start, she says, “That’s my place!” and he drops her off there, not taking any money. When he gets back into his truck, he finds her ID necklace, stating she is senile and where she lives, which is far away in another town. He takes her there. She scarfs down his expensive anchovies, even throwing them out the window to the sea birds. They scream at each other the whole way. “You eat some too, oppa!” “Aigu! Those are so expensive!” etc. Hilarious.
Jin-soo and Ms Jo are talking about the wonderful tea varieties of this company. Seems they are not “farmed” but sort of wildly grown. Ms Jo sings a song about the varieties of tea. Jin-soo is stung by a bee.
SC brings home the senile granny. She insists he come in to get his money, dragging him in physically and screaming that she’s not a thief. He keeps telling her, it’s free; she keeps looking for the money in her house. She tells him to get her a box from a top shelf. It contains nothing. Halmonyi suddenly forgets why SC is there. Jin-soo and Ms Jo come into the yard (Jo and this grandma share a yard) and hear her yelling, thief! SC bursts from the house and Jin-soo and Ms Jo beat him unmercifully with sticks and dishes. Jin-soo suddenly realizes who it is. Sung-chan! they cry. Granny looks on delighted and malicious. Very funny stuff.
PS - Yes, I started this before you saw the episode, but I hid the thread until Friday. Hah hah.
Sung-chan experiments with cheap beef and soy sauce in his home kitchen. He remembers an incident with his foster father Chef Oh, who taught him a recipe for a special sauce that no-one else knows about, because Sung-chan guessed two of the ingredients. Back in the present, reporter Jin-soo comes in, bubbly, and Sung-chan teases her for always being at his house, as if she owns the place. She notices he’s using super-cheap beef cuts, and he says he’s trying to make them taste like expensive meats. Is this possible? she posits. Why, yes! Here is the secret! Last-minute sauce! (Of course, she spills it.) This is the sauce that must be added at the exact last two minutes of cooking. She asks how to make it; he grumps at her, just watch me; he says, what did you want to say to me, anyway? After a little absent-minded rumination, she remembers that she has found an apartment for him. (She’s stolen the person’s entire sign with phone number slips; presumably so no-one else can take one, but still, kinda rude.) He seems to think there must be something else, and she suddenly remembers she wants to ask him about the contest for Un Ahm Jung.
Now, right here, I have to protest most vociferously. At the end of the last episode, she was shocked! YES, SHOCKED to learn that there had been dirty dealings in the pheasant contest to choose the successor to Un Ahm Jung. Now, she just kinda forgot about it until prodded? Seriously?
So she recounts details she has learned. He gets mad and says she doesn’t know anything, that no such thing occurred and someone is telling her stories. She should never mention it again or he’ll dump her. She’s plainly shocked and pained, but she’ll probably forget about it in a minute or two. Next, she is shown doodling some kind of flow chart onto a notebook next to her computer at night, thinking hard, and SC is shown sitting up in bed, can’t sleep.
Switch to the public park in the morning. Elfin man reads an article about SC and BJ, they’re so handsome, etc. Ms Jo (sauce lady) comes up to him, saying SC is a hundred times better. He is surprised to see her, why is she there so early? She asks, What am I to you? He waffles. She declares, just as I thought, I’m nobody important to you, just as I’m nobody important at Un Ahm Jung. She complains about BJ’s behavior. Elfin man tries to laugh it off. She persists, but he runs off. (My translator keeps having her call him “oppa” when she is plainly saying something like “orra-poyo”—what do you guys get?)
Cut to—the contest! Reporters! Chanters with banners! Other banners! Jin-soo looking put out! Her boss getting make-up! Mr. Gang comes over to Choi the Weasel, and chews him out for paying the hospital bill. They have a conversation about return of the super knife. I wish they could reconcile because I always like that c-r-u-d. A production assistant tells everyone to applaud and then cues in the presenters. The chefs come in. Bong-joo is making oxtail with many unusual (to the presenters) spices; but Sung-chan is using—gasp!—lower leg meat. Cheap and not tasty. He cuts it at a speed guaranteed to make me cringe, especially since the actor is clearly not used to using a sharp knife in this manner—he lets his fingers rest on the cutting board. Doof.
Cut to the Un Ahm Jung crowd watching the contest and discussing it. But wait! Two chairs are empty! Who is missing? Why, it’s Ms Jo Sauce Lady and the head lady of the restaurant crew. Ms Jo is trying to leave, and Ms Hostess is trying to stop her. Hostess says, you can’t go, everyone is leaving, what will I/we do? Jo says, they all left for a reason, we all give our youth and they just use us and don’t think we’re worth much. Hostess says, what about Ja-woon (Elfin Man)? What about when he comes to see you at the sauce pantry? Jo says, he’s the reason I’m in this state.
Cut back to the contest. BJ making special pepper sauce, adding to cooked oxtail. SC making a marinade, putting in the tenderized cruddy meat. (In come Grand Chef Oh and Elfin Man. Yay.) The announcers say, SC’s food looks so familiar--is that bulgogi (which SC is making?) and yes! It is! U-A-J’s team is stoked and puzzled—why would he make something so common? SC’s team not so happy. Announcers’ commentary on nature of cooking as art (U-A-J), conversely, SC’s bulgogi reminds one of childhood times when poor, mothers making bulgogi on one’s birthday. Good times. SC’s team a little happier. SC gets out last-minute sauce. “Last-minute sauce!” says Chef Oh. “Last-minute sauce!” says Jin-soo. SC remembers Chef Oh: “You can only use it once at the last minute. Use it or not, decide. For those who know, it’s like drawing the eye after finishing the dragon.”
Coming up on the last two minutes, Bong-joo decorates lovely dish with micro greens, pepper sauce, everything elegant and beautiful. He’s finished two minutes early, just as Sung-chan puts in the sauce. He finishes off his dish just as the buzzer rings. Time for a tasting. Sung-chan is first; the judges are stunned by the taste and tenderness of the meat. SC explains his method, excited about the sauce itself. His father and the elfin man both nod approvingly.
BJ is next. His “work of art” is very much appreciated by the judges. Seems he made the pepper sauce milder for western tastes (So I misunderstood the scene in the restaurant when they discovered the sauce). He’s praised for making Korean food “international.” (Pah.) Now the scoring. For taste: Both 10. Appearance: 10 each. Creativity: 10-10. They’re even. Grand Chef looks worried. Marketability: BJ 10; SC 8. (WHAT? He made the more marketable product! I guess they’re talking about foreign markets.) The judges explain. They thought Bong-joo’s product could be marketed to foreigners, and it is perfect. SC did a great job but it was not perfect. (Again, PAH, I say.) The Grand Chef looks sad, SC looks sad, mobster boss looks sad, Jin-soo looks sad. All of U-A-J looks deliriously happy, they chant. Mob boss gives his posse a look, and they shamefully drop their heads. (LOL) Chef Oh and elfin man leave the proceedings. BJ comes to SC and they make up, congratulating each other. BJ asks SC to come back to the restaurant, and says it’s his last offer. SC says (cheerfully), “Bye,” everyone suitably sad as he walks away.
Jin-soo catches up with SC later and accuses him of throwing the contest. He yells at her that BJ had the better idea (appealing to Western tastes). She continues to accuse, he runs away to his apartment, where he is moving out.
BJ comes to his father’s room and promises he’ll bring back SC. “Do you really want to do that?” Yes, he says. “Great,” says the old man, turning away. Tough room. Cut to Gang’s beef restaurant. Mob boss is in a bad mood. SC and Gang try to jolly him out of it. Boss declares his friendship for them.
Next, SC is driving his truck and gets a call from Jin-soo about the apartment she found for him. He says he wants to talk to her anyway, they’ll meet later. I think this is a bad translation; I think he’s telling her he’s leaving town, because she rushes to his old apartment, which they are demolishing. BJ is there looking for SC. Jin-soo says, why did he leave his belongings? Did he really leave? So apparently, he’s taken a powder.
Big goings-on at U-A-J. Lots of bigwigs celebrate the opening of the New U-A-J. Bong-joo begins his speech with “today’s date”: May 28, 2008. Big day. Big day. It’s near a resort, so they’ll get foreign tourists and Korean tourists. We are great etc etc. Applause. Signing of some tiles with good wishes (guess they’ll put these up somewhere). Dinner with Director Jang (the guy they all are so eager to please who shows up from foreign places once in awhile—he’s also the one who owned the company Butcher Gang’s daughter worked for indirectly and how Min-soo threatened Gang). Dir. Jang tells Chef Oh it’s time to pass on the business to Bong-joo. Everyone looks approving except Chef, BJ and girlfriend Joo-hee, who look uncomfortable.
That night at Jin-soo’s apartment, she obviously has obsessively been watching the last contest trying to figure out if SC threw it. She tries to call him about his apartment, but ends up yelling at the “owner temporarily out of touch” message. Next, daytime: She has written an article: “The Un Ahm Jung Mystery”—I cannot read Korean so I don’t know what it says, even though they show text obviously for us to read. Her boss comes out to call her into his office; she nervously hides the article. Her boss shows her the article her co-worker wrote about the U-A-J grand opening; it’s good, but not good enough for him. Why won’t she go there any more? She has to rewrite the article. She brings up an excuse. He demands to know the “mystery” and she claims there is none, but if there is, it is private. Again, he tells her, you’re not digging enough; dig until something ugly turns over. She escapes, declaring her story about some tea growers will be fantastic-o.
Reporter Kim Jin-soo (“Kim pi-ja”) taking a trip. Bus trip. Gets to a faraway place; hiking in the woods with stupid high-heeled shoes on. Who is she looking for? The tea fields! And who is in the tea fields? Pantry lady Jo, that’s who! She’s a tea-picker. She’s arranged interviews at the tea company for Jin-soo. They discuss Sung-chan. Ms Jo says SC reminds her of elfin man (Ja-woon), they are totally alike. Disappearing without a word. She wonders if elfin man is drunk right now.
He is. In the pantry, screaming about director Jang’s “taste” or lack of it. Actually, I think the word for bean paste contains the syllable "jang" so this must be a mistranslation. He seems to think without Ms Jo, the restaurant will fail. The hostess lady tells him, “She left because of you.” “Whaaaat???”
Joo-hee comes across Chef Oh sitting by himself looking pensive, tells him "the reporters have all arrived." Seems there’s a big announcement, all the staff, lots of reporters. He announces, all “business” of his restaurant will be handed over to Bong-joo. To everyone’s shock, BJ stands up and declares he’s not ready yet, he’s not qualified to step into these shoes. Chef Oh says, “This is my decision. I hope everyone—even you—can live with it.” The meeting breaks up. One reporter tells another—“the descendant of the Grand Chef is here!” She can’t get him to say what he means. I’m not sure I got a correct translation of this, though, because this statement makes no sense.
Chef Oh and elfin man are discussing the contest and why Sung-chan lost. It should have been a shoo-in, the taste of the last-minute-sauce is “incredible.” Elfin man says, it illustrates SC’s heart, wanting to make the best taste with the least-expensive meat. They discuss what an incredible guy he is, to have such a wish, so everyone can afford to taste it. “That contest was not big enough to understand such an intention.” Sad part? SC left feeling badly, not knowing his was the best dish and should have won.
Sung-chan is wandering around, looking for special foods. He finds “the gold of anchovies” and buys a bunch. When he takes them to his truck, he catches an addled old woman stealing his goods. She gets into his truck, saying she’ll pay him when he takes her home. She runs him all over town; she clearly doesn’t know where she lives. Back at the start, she says, “That’s my place!” and he drops her off there, not taking any money. When he gets back into his truck, he finds her ID necklace, stating she is senile and where she lives, which is far away in another town. He takes her there. She scarfs down his expensive anchovies, even throwing them out the window to the sea birds. They scream at each other the whole way. “You eat some too, oppa!” “Aigu! Those are so expensive!” etc. Hilarious.
Jin-soo and Ms Jo are talking about the wonderful tea varieties of this company. Seems they are not “farmed” but sort of wildly grown. Ms Jo sings a song about the varieties of tea. Jin-soo is stung by a bee.
SC brings home the senile granny. She insists he come in to get his money, dragging him in physically and screaming that she’s not a thief. He keeps telling her, it’s free; she keeps looking for the money in her house. She tells him to get her a box from a top shelf. It contains nothing. Halmonyi suddenly forgets why SC is there. Jin-soo and Ms Jo come into the yard (Jo and this grandma share a yard) and hear her yelling, thief! SC bursts from the house and Jin-soo and Ms Jo beat him unmercifully with sticks and dishes. Jin-soo suddenly realizes who it is. Sung-chan! they cry. Granny looks on delighted and malicious. Very funny stuff.