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Post by TheBo on Jan 21, 2015 16:21:56 GMT -5
LINK TO CAST LIST THREADEp 30: When Kyungsoo hears Wonsook/Grace is his mom, he does not react well and runs away from home. At the restaurant, Mrs Go asks Wonsook to explain. It turns out she tried to raise her son alone, but they were starving to death, so [after desperately contemplating a murder/suicide], she put him on the doorstep of the biggest, nicest house in the neighboring rich neighborhood. She would go there to check up on him frequently over the years, but one day the house was empty and she heard the family had emigrated abroad (they went to Australia as we now know), so she was unable to trace them after that and decided to put her child out of her head. After she’s explained all this, Grace still can’t eat and sleep, she’s totally inconsolable. Even Uncle Seo can’t jolly her into eating something. Yoon’s assistant marvels at her cool attitude when KS is gone a week, but it turns out Yoon has GPS on his phone and notification of his credit card charges, so she knows where he is and whether he’s all right. [Pretty funny.] Yoon finally goes to get her husband, but not before he gets a text from Mrs Go, telling him she is grateful that Grace is his mother and not some less worthy woman. When Yoon arrives, he says he’ll go home now, he’s done enough thinking. He goes straight to Grace’s store and they cry in each other’s arms. Soo-ae and Baldy are both overcome with tears watching them. Then, Kyungsoo brings his wife and children to Wonsook’s home, where he formally introduces them to Grace, who is overcome with joy. Mrs Go praises her son and daughter for having done the right thing. Grace is thrilled with her new family and asks to babysit, and little Hana is thrilled she’s got a grandma with such a fantastic store. In a cute flashback (they wear costumes of their younger selves but are played by the old actors), we find out that Mandeuk and Geumsil are past lovers. The day before she was to marry someone else, he asked her to meet at a nearby mountain and run away with him. However, she thought he meant the local “love hotel”—which had a similar name--and she went there and sat in a dark room waiting for him, while he angrily froze on the mountain. They both married others, and both have spent their whole lives resenting the other’s fickleness. They now figure out the miscommunication, but they’re both angry that the other was so stupid. Mrs Go decides to visit the friend of Dr Wow about producing the new herbal mix. The man is surprised, as he and Dr Wow are rivals, but he takes her around his state-of-the-art production setup. She’s impressed. He says if Dr Wow invented it, he’s on board, but she should carefully look at the company before deciding whether to hand over the recipe. He seems nice. David Kim is moping about, refusing to eat and yelling at everyone. In self-defense, Dongsik had begged Bongshil to call DK, but with everything happening she forgets. After a particularly scary incident, DS calls to remind her. So she calls DK, who practically dances across the room even though he’s acting all cool and says he doesn’t know when he’ll make it over there. He demands from DS how she got his number, who admits he gave it to her and braces himself for a slap, but all he gets is a thank-you smack on the arm. DK dresses carefully, grabs his fancy potted plant and goes over to see Bongshil unannounced. She is delighted with the plant and with his telling her it means “new beginnings,” which he just made up. However, when he tells her he wants a certain herb in his soup, she’s taken back to a meal with her husband where he asked for the same, using the same words. DK is so happy he can hardly sit still, but it seems his arm really hurts when he puts on his coat. BS helps him, but he’s either overcome with amour or planned it, and he grabs her to his chest, kisses her on the forehead and whispers “I’ve missed you.” He runs away, and she sits down on the floor looking stunned. Outside, Soo-ae has accidentally knocked Dongsik down on the stairs. She explains the Kyungsoo/Grace situation to him, and then he asks her what gifts one should get for a woman. She obviously thinks he means her, and he writes all her advice in his notebook. However, DK comes running downstairs and they have to leave, much to Soo-ae’s disappointment. At his apartment, DK sends DS home, then sings and dances (literally) about how cool and great he is. But Mrs Go is considering all of her previous encounters with DK, and her conclusion appears to be, "Oh dear, when did this happen?" (silly thing.) *********MY FAVORITE FAVORITE LINE?? When Wonsook is weeping about losing her son, and Mrs Go says calmly, “Please be more specific.” YES. FINALLY. A character demands information before going off on a toot with her own assumptions. Bo was SOOOOO HAPPY she yelled “FINALLY! YES!” at the TV and then had to explain herself to Dear Boyfriend. LOL.
I’ve been thinking about Mandeuk and Geumsil. The flashback was hilarious, and not just because of using the original actors. First, the couple that pushes past Geumsil at the hotel are clearly 20-tens people, while Geumsil and Mandeuk are dressed for much earlier times. Both of them must be at least 70 (we know Bongsoo/Soo-ae was a late son born in his father’s 40s), and Geumsil’s living with her father in the story, so let’s say it was 1970 at the latest. Why the heck were our two lovers dressed as if they’d stepped out of a sageuk? Wikipedia says the love hotel phenom didn’t reach South Korea at all until the mid-to-late 80s, so why was there one in this small town in the 70s (or earlier)? I think the director did this on purpose, I think it’s a clever, clever use of fantasy, blending modern times with our expectations of “olden” times.
Thanks for letting me know you're reading these, bird, it makes it less crazy-lady-talks-to-her-birdy. Oh, wait, that's a pun. LOL. I guess "BST" is as good an explanation as any....
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Post by TheBo on Jan 22, 2015 12:36:46 GMT -5
LINK TO CAST LIST THREADEp.31 [FINISHED]: Mrs Go sits and thinks about David Kim, and finally puts on her makeup and goes to her husband’s grave. “Should I be doing this?” she asks him. Wonsook stays up all night to make clothes for Kyungsoo, Inyoung and Hana, and gives them to Kyungsoo. She also gives him a savings account she’s put money into his whole life as an inheritance for him. He’s touched and tries to tell her she doesn’t have to do so much, but she is deliriously happy and wants to do everything at once. She also gives a beef barbeque breakfast for her whole household, plus Baldy, Mija/Mangeum and Uncle Seo. (But not Bongshil, who's at Seo's grave.) Mandeuk tells Geumsil to meet him for coffee so they can clear up their past. She’s defensive and doesn’t want to go, but then she seems to think twice about it. [see below] Jaesoo, who has run away from home, refuses to answer his Mom’s calls. So Mom out of desperation begs Mrs Go to have Inyoung call and meet with him one more time to convince him to come home. Mrs Go orders Inyoung to do it, but I-Y, who still thinks she did nothing wrong to him, refuses. [We’ll see, little missy.] DK is being schooled by Dongsik on how to send cute text messages. He also gives DK the printed list, “How to Capture a Woman’s Heart,” which contains Soo-ae’s advice. In DK's “mind,” the list is illustrated by video vignettes of Soo-ae meeting with Dongsik, although interestingly, in the vignettes, Soo-ae is following the list’s strictures (buying presents, meeting frequently) instead of DS--the roles are reversed. DS makes DKim go to a mall jewelry store to get a nice set of rings “spontaneously” and helps him pick them out. Unfortunately, since DK doesn’t know Bongshil’s size, he makes DS try the ring on, making the store girl think the two men are a “couple.” DS is rather uncomfortable, but DK is totally oblivious. He then texts Mrs Go and demands she meet him outside (“dress warmly”), where we see him driving up on his new motorcycle/sidecar gig. Mrs Go looks pretty disapproving, but that’s probably because she doesn’t know it’s him. She jumps a foot when he takes off the helmet. He drags her to a little café where he’s set up a romantic candlelit luncheon with a small orchestra. When he gives her the rings, she slams them down onto the table and tells him he’s an inconsiderate boob and she’s going to take a bus back to work. (Mostly, it appears, because she remembers her husband giving her a ring just before he died.) He talks her into coming in his car instead, but she’s clearly cut him off at the knees. Simultaneously, Mandeuk also has a coffeeshop tête-à-tête with Geumsil, who is also combative and becomes embarrassed at their personal lives being aired in public. They talk about their marriages and he says they should just be together, since they were each other’s first loves. Next morning, after her study session with her English teacher (Charles) and Mija/Mangeum, they all have breakfast at Wonsook's per usual. When Charles keeps holding Geumsil’s hand, Mandeuk has a total fit and declares that she is “his woman,” and he forces his K-Marines ring onto her finger. Everyone finds this hilarious and touching except poor Geumsil, who takes off the ring and runs off. DKim interprets BS’s angry reaction as disappointment in the tasteful gem size, so he yells at poor Dongsik then runs out to get the biggest danged diamond he can find. He calls Bongshil, but she’s at the hospital where one of her customers claims her herb drink gave him stomach problems and is yelling about lawsuits. She can’t reach Dr Wow, so she calls her future business partner instead, who twigs to the fact that the guy was actually taking illegal Viagra from China and knows the drink had nothing to do with it but wants to sue someone for the hospital bills. When David finally catches up with Mrs Go, she’s coming home late and he’s standing outside the house holding a big bouquet and is angry as heck. He shoves the ring onto her finger and demands that she leave it there and not push him away any more. She mumbles that she won’t. Then he kisses her a big smack on the face and marches off like a ten-year-old boy who’s just knocked down an opposing snowfort. There’s also a nice “bit” where Soo-ae ministers to Dongsik’s cold (he got it bringing DK's bike home) by literally running to the nearest hospital to get the best cold medicine. He is clearly touched. ****At first, when Wonsook said “Whose son are you?” to Kyungsoo (at her store, when she gave him clothes), it was alarming, as if she forgot everything for a moment, but then I realized she was saying, “I can do this because you’re my son.” Whew. Another Alzheimer’s storyline would just be too much.
SRSLY, Bongshill must feel like she’s being romanced by a little boy—only not creepy of course LOL. He’s hilarious. I don’t imagine he acted like that with Haeja—or whatever that actess was named. [Whatever happened to her? ALL the actresses just up and disappeared, dint they.] And that kiss. How perfectly sterile. I know it’s a Korean-drama convention to make sure no spit passes and that you don’t look like you enjoyed it, but it’s still hilarious.
Mandeuk is certainly ready to open the wallet all of a sudden, isn’t he. And what a dude—or as Uncle Seo puts it, he IS The Man. LOL.
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Post by TheBo on Jan 28, 2015 14:07:44 GMT -5
LINK TO CAST LIST THREADEp.32: Mrs Go Bongshil tries everything to get David Kim’s ring off her finger, but he cleverly got it a halfsize too small—so it’s stuck on there. Later when he visits her at the Flower Table Café, he thinks she took it off, but she’s really got the diamond turned around inside her palm. When he flips her hand over to see, she’s embarrassed that Mija also gets a gander. Mija spends the rest of the day cluck-cluck-clucking about this development, until she and Mangeum finally conclude DK and Bongshil must be sleeping together. [Pretty sure they’re not, but who knows with K-drama.] Inyoung is having nightmares about poor Jaesoo, so she calls and they meet in a coffeehouse. She firmly tells him he has no hope, then honestly apologizes for leading him on and using him. He’s brokenhearted, but he returns home. Inyoung feels like a bad person. [She should.] Ricky, however, gets some good news. The lead in his musical, for which Ricky is the understudy, gets a burst appendix. No, that’s not a good news, but it does mean Ricky will have to step into the lead. He and Inyoung celebrate over some coffee in the park, and Inyoung helps him feel better about this windfall. Grace visits her son’s family. Kyungsoo doesn’t warn Yoon, so she has to run around at the last minute cleaning. When he says she doesn’t need to worry, even Hana tells him he doesn’t have a clue. Grace brings tons of stuff, she wants the kids to be excited when she’s visiting and they are. Yoon even stops by after a nearby meeting. Happy family. Mija and Mangeum are supposed to be learning elementary school mathematics, but it’s beyond them. They don’t try very hard, either, much to Geumsil’s despair. But there’s bigger news with Geumsil. Mandeuk convinces her to be his gal, and he asks Soo-ae if it’s all right that he’s moving in with Geumsil. S-A’s fine with it, but Geumsil is not thrilled. They bumble through and the next morning appear at the breakfast table as if they are newlyweds, with Soo-ae preparing wedding morning noodles and everything. Everyone celebrates their new union, but Uncle Seo is starting to wonder when his true love will appear. Dongsik calls Soo-ae when he’s at the café, and as she arrives she is confronted by an old school acquaintance who demands to know if she’s Beomsoo. She is afraid Dongsik might have heard, but instead he tells the guy to bugger off because he’s upsetting Soo-ae. Because of this distraction, Dongsik allows Mrs Go’s herb doctor friend to slip past him into the café while David Kim is there eating. The man drops off papers for Mrs Go, and DK demands to look them over. He takes them away and has the guy investigated, then sweeps Mrs Go off the next day to visit Dr Herb’s facility. Dr Herb assumes the two are married, which pleases DK and embarrasses Bongshil. On the way home, DK tries to hold her hand, but she’s embarrassed. So he dumps Dongsik by the side of the road. But poor Dongsik has left his wallet in the car so presumably can’t take a bus. No taxis are available to pick him up on the windswept highway, but he receives a call from Soo-ae (still worried because of her school friend), who is distressed to hear her pookie is cold and lost. (He really seems to be suffering BTW.) DK drives Bongshil to a local park, apparently only accessible by ferry. They have a very nice time, and DK tells her he’s found out Dr Herb is legit and she can sign the contract if she wants to, but that DK would help her instead if she wanted. She says it’s just something she must do, like homework. Part of her journey. Then DKim very clearly arranges for them to miss the last ferryboat. Mrs Go is distressed. DK—thrilled. [END] ****First Mandeuk has fits about Charles holding Geumsil’s hand, then DK fumes and Bongshil quickly begs Dr Herb to let go of hers. Har. Hand-holding in Korea. Hilarious.
Oddly, the character I'm finding most appealing these days is Mandeuk. He's so sweet to Geumsil, and maybe he's railroading her a bit, but it seems to be turning out that she's happy and she is someone who is stubborn and needs convincing. The actor is so good, his looks of distress, love and joy are very affecting to me. Nice job.
I am of two minds about Soo-ae. If she feels she was always a girl, and she just took steps to attain that, then why should she have to reveal that secret to anyone, even Dongsik? What if she had had a birthmark removed? Is this any different? However, it does seem she's in danger of being outed, so it's a concern that Dongsik will receive an unwelcome shock. And he's a pretty innocent character in this way, so I'm feeling sorry for him.
I didn't really care about Versace and the Japanese gangster, because if he didn't realize the owner of a transgender club was a transgender person, then he's an idiot and can't be helped. Those two seemed on a more equal level in this matter than Dongsik does to Soo-ae.
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Post by TheBo on Feb 3, 2015 11:48:59 GMT -5
LINK TO CAST LIST THREADEp.33 (not in exact order): David Kim’s plan has worked, and he and Mrs Go Bongshil are left stranded on the holiday island. He gets a nice condo hotel that has a living room, kitchen and separate bedrooms, and she sits on the couch in shock. He tells her she’s a very attractive woman and that she should wear her ring around the right way. When he goes to get her some tea, she pretends to fall asleep. He is amused because you can see her eyelids fluttering like a child, and he tells her he won’t rush her. Then she really falls asleep, and wakes in the morning, where he tells her she had a nice nap on the couch alone. Then he takes her home to the café, where she rushes in to a curious Mija, who has already told Geumsil that DK took Bongshil away and never brought her back. Geumsil tells everyone she saw Mrs Go leave early to shop, and Mija (sworn to silence) says nothing. However, there have also been developments between Soo-ae and Dongsik, who was left stranded by DK on the highway the day before. She comes up on a motorbike and he gives her a grateful hug. She insists on driving, but takes too many risks and is stopped by the police. They want her ID, which says she’s a man named Beomsoo, but she manages to finagle the police so Dongsik doesn’t hear that. However, when she takes him to a café to warm up and eat something, she goes to the lady’s room and unfortunately runs into that school friend, who angrily outs her to Dongsik when she refuses him favors (it’s kind of fuzzy what he wants exactly, but he’s not a nice guy). Soo-ae is embarrassed and cries, and Dongsik is in shock. He goes out to drink and even ignores calls from DKim, who can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. Inyoung urges Soo-ae to call Dongsik and straighten it out instead of sitting around crying, but she apparently can’t bring herself to do it. She just mopes around and refuses to eat, and even her oblivious father notices she's not herself [but she puts on a brave face for him and claims she's on a diet]. Elsewhere, Grace and Kyungsoo are giddy with each other’s company. KS tells Uncle Seo and Mandeuk to have open, local “Got Talent” auditions instead of hiring a professional singer, because that’s trendy [this conversation is hilarious from my {American, everyone has always done this} point of view BTW]. Grace, Kyungsoo, Geumsil, Mandeuk and Uncle Seo are the judges, and they see lots of talented people, including surprisingly Five Claws (whatever her name was, the evil one who tried to kill Bongshil’s business) and Mija, who has a nice voice, but Geumsil and Mangeum are scandalized that a pregnant woman would do such a thing. However, they hit gold when a homeless woman auditions. This was the same woman that Bongshil helped one night when BS was selling food on the street, and Uncle Seo remembers her. They are clearly set to “be nice” to her, but she’s professional grade, and next we see her in an elegant dress entertaining the bustling nightclub crowd. Ricky and Inyoung are getting along like a house afire. She brings trendy food to his theater company, so she’s popular with them too. Also, Jaesoo comes to Mrs Go and humbly apologizes for causing such a ruckus and embarrassing her, and she forgives him and assures him he’ll find the right girl, because Inyoung is useless (LOL). He’s sadder but wiser it appears. Bongshil is a little cold toward DK, but only because she can’t figure out what to do about him. He offers to lend her a stake in the business, but she refuses and says she still wants to do it herself. She announces her new business venture to her extended Namhae and Seoul family, who are all thrilled and happy for her. Later, Kyungsoo explains an “angel investment” to Wonsook, Geumsil and Mandeuk, where a bunch of very small investors can each invest a little in a large pot, thereby spreading the pain if it goes south, and they are all excited and Grace plans to get the whole neighborhood in on it. Geumsil later comes to Bongshil, reassures her that she protected BS’s reputation but recommends that she take what DK has on offer, because he’s a great guy and Geumsil has experience of being a widow and it’s hard, so why not take happiness while you have time. [Both Geumsil and Mandeuk are changed a lot from their earlier personalities, it’s sweet that they’re so happy.] Bongshil goes to see DK and bring him some gifts, and he’s about to kiss her again when Dongsik bursts in with big news—the tea is ready. DK is totally annoyed by "that brat" LOL, and orders DS to give the embarrassed Mrs Go a ride home. Yoon’s production has faced some unforeseen problems, but it’s on track. She’s exhausted but as we have seen over several episodes has refused to get that full checkup and take a rest. She passes out cold, and assistant Sungmin rushes her to the hospital and calls Kyungsoo, who calls Mrs Go. When she gets to the hospital, her daughter is lying, pale and unresponsive, in a glassed enclosure. Mrs Go throws herself up against the window, crying “Yoonyoung!” [Choking up thinking about it.] *** I think it’s so weird that Mrs Go has to pony up any money at all to this doctor fella. It’s her recipe, everything belongs to her, she should get a hefty amount from him in royalties and a share in the business no matter what. Makes me wonder if David Kim is that great at business after all. Sheesh.
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Post by TheBo on Feb 3, 2015 17:24:20 GMT -5
LINK TO CAST LIST THREADEp.34: Yoon may need a liver transplant or may even be dying. Sungmin helps Mrs Go and Kyungsoo by filling out the admissions paperwork, then takes Kyungsoo aside and reads him the “bad {selfish, oblivious} husband” riot act. Kyungsoo seems to agree; he doesn’t try to defend himself. Grace and Uncle Seo fly to the hospital, informing the Nam Hae people on the way out. (All very surprised and upset.) Grace believes she neglected Yoon, but Mrs Go says she did fine and asks her to babysit the grandkids, who are presently being cared for by Inyoung. Unfortunately, all three of these babies are crying because they don’t know what’s happening. Grace comes to relieve I-Y, who rushes out. At the hospital, Inyoung finds out Yoon is too sick to see her, so she stares through the glass and remembers all the cruddy stuff she’s done to Yoon. Then she cries in the stairwell. Ricky tries to reach her on the phone and wonders what is going on. (He later comes to the hospital to support her too.) Yoon slips into a coma. Kyungsoo, alone with her for a moment, begs her forgiveness and for her to open her eyes, but there’s no response. Grace is not a great babysitter, but Uncle Seo rushes over to help after she freaks out on the phone with him. Hana acts like her spoiled self, and Grace keeps falling down on milk spilled by Eunho. Mayhem, generally. Next morning, Inyoung arrives home to help out with Hana—who is late for kindergarten. David Kim shops for expensive clothing and purses for Mrs Go, but when he goes to the café and hears the news from Mija, he simply returns home and sends Dongsik to the hospital on a fact-finding mission. DS reports that even though Hepatitis A is not normally that terrible, this seems to be a dire situation and Yoon may require a transplant. Mandeuk buys some expensive shellfish and asks Geumsil to make porridge for Bongshil and herself. “Good health!” he advises, so she tells him he ought to quit drinking, which he promises to do. She’s pleased when he offers to invest in Bongshil’s business and he tells her people at the community center want to invest. She says he should collect money like he used to in Nam Hae, and she’ll help him. They’re so cute together—although she does find it extremely irritating when he hangs right over her shoulder as she makes the porridge. Soo-ae arrives to help, and a conflagration is apparently averted. Geumsil arrives at the hospital, with Soo-ae toting the soup. They run into DKim, who thinks they should go in together and tells Dongsik to take the porridge. Awkward. Although Dongsik has been thinking about Soo-ae, he simply takes the soup and she miserably follows him to the room. However, there can be no visitors so DK and DS wait downstairs. Soo-ae goes to DK’s waiting room and reports that she couldn’t tell Bongshil DK is there yet, but can she talk with Dongsik? Um, sure, says DK. Mrs Go comes out of the emergency area and has a heart-to-heart with Geumsil, who comforts her as best she can. Bongshil recalls how sickly Yoon always was (compared with Inyoung’s robust health), and how she tried to make her healthy but failed. She blames herself and is scolded by Geumsil, who says even God knows what a good mother she was to Yoon. Still, Mrs Go blames herself for the situation. Soo-ae and Dongsik meet outside, where she apologizes for not telling him, but wants to say that she’s not a monster, just a human being who liked another person. She leaves. DKim meets with a specialist and asks him to take care of Yoon’s case. He goes to meet Mrs Go, but there’s a medical emergency, so Geumsil tells him maybe he’d better try another day. He goes out to the car, where DS is waiting in a daze, and they leave. The doctor (FINALLY) explains that they should be looking for a donor match. There’s some therapy they can do in the meantime, so almost everyone who knows or is related to Yoon goes in for blood tests. Mija is pregnant (and scared), so she doesn’t, and apparently neither do Mandeuk and Geumsil. Probably too old, but they do start collecting funds from the neighborhood businessmen to invest in Bongshil’s tonic. Baldy invests and is flabbergasted when the guy who tried to sue Bongshil brings in an investment too—a big one. However, nobody who comes in to test is a match. Mrs Go has one more trick up her sleeve—Yoon’s birth mother sent her a Christmas card once, but Yoon threw it out. However, Mrs Go kept it just in case. It had a phone number. She gives the number to Kyungsoo and tells him they need to try everything now. Of course, instead of calling immediately, he wastes time staring at Yoon in her bed, but then he calls Mrs Kim (Yoon’s mother), who lives in Orlando. DKim and Dongsik stand/sit around staring into space. DK asks for a drink from the kitchen, but DS takes a slug before he brings it out. It’s a new bottle, so DK notices. He drinks some, then asks DS to sit and drink with him. He pours a drink into the same glass, which DS slams back, and then does the same with the next one. DK is disturbed. They go to shots and finish the bottle. When DK complains about his situation, DS says you got nothin’ on me, but refuses to elaborate. Then DS orders another bottle from room service, to whom he is decidedly cranky (not his usual cool self), and then passes out in DK’s desk chair. DK is disturbed. Again. Dr Herb sees Bongshil at the hospital, where he tells her a huge investment was made from Lee Tae Won in her name. Over 100 people invested; he wonders what kind of person she is to have inspired such loyalty. “I’m a lady from the countryside,” she says. He laughs, says he now understands Dr Wow’s actions and gives her a sample of what will be going on sale the next day. Kyungsoo waits at the airport with a sign—“Kim Nakyung.” Yoon lies in her room receiving her plasma transfusions. When Mrs Kim arrives, Mrs Go thanks her for coming and leaves them. The two women then meet for coffee in the café. Mrs Kim didn’t know how Mr Seo had died, she says, and had wondered about Yoon’s new mother over the years. However, Mrs Go has more pressing business. She first apologizes for Yoon’s illness, then begs a shocked Mrs Kim to get tested as a donor—but nobody told her that bit. Mrs Go gets down on her knees and pleads to Yoon’s mother to get tested to save Yoon’s life. Yes, really. **I kept wondering why nobody was even trying to make arrangements for a liver donor. It was clearly an emergency, everyone ought to be tested right away but they just keep crying and clutching Yoon instead of doing this. Really, really irritating.
I recognize Mrs Kim (Yoon's birth mom), but don’t know who she is. If you know what I mean. I’ll try to find out who the actor is. {EDIT: No luck.}
Two things: Soo-ae's apology to Dongsik was nicely done and very affecting. And Dongsik is capturing my heart with his wordless angst. Nice job on both of them.
Second, it would have been nice if they'd brought in a couple of kids to play out some scenes of Yoon and Inyoung's childhood, maybe Yoon bossing her around but helping her little sister out, even just a scene or two from childhood and teen-age (in which case they could have used the same actors). It would have made more sense to have Inyoung remember back that far, and could have given their relationship more depth for the viewer. Like when they did flashback scenes of when Mrs Go and Mr Seo met as young adults, and when Yoon remembered telling her dad about her divorce. A missed opportunity.
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Post by TheBo on Feb 5, 2015 18:33:13 GMT -5
REVISED 2/10/15 - changed a little wording here and there, and added some "thoughts" to the end.LINK TO CAST LIST THREADEp.35: After Mrs Go Bongshil begs Mrs Kim to take a blood test for the liver transplant, she doesn’t say anything, but runs away to the alley where she takes out a cigarette. She cries. Mrs Go prays at the chapel, asking god to punish her instead of her daughter [see bottom of this post]. Mrs Kim does take the blood test. However, the operation is not necessary. Kyungsoo, Mrs Kim and Mrs Go are waiting by Yoon’s bedside when she wakes up, crying for her mother. Mrs Kim grabs her hand and says, “Mom is here!” but somehow Yoon knows it’s not “her” mother, and she pulls her hand away and whimpers until Mrs Go is there. Outside, Kyungsoo asks Mrs Kim if she’s hurt, but she says she doesn’t have a right to be hurt. She’s very happy that Yoon is better. Mrs Go talks Yoon into seeing her birth mother before she flies back to the states. The two estranged women meet, and they clear the air a little. It turns out that Yoon has a younger brother in college, and both women work in the entertainment industry on the production end. Kyungsoo had already noted that they look a lot alike and have similar mannerisms. When Yoon asks if she “regrets leaving us,” Mrs Kim says no. [She could at least have said she regretted hurting Yoon, but apparently that’s not in her.] She leaves, asking Mrs Go to take care of Yoon, and the two women actually clasp hands before she takes off in the taxi, looking very sad. The happy, happy doctor sends Yoon home, but warns her she has to take time off of work, feed up, rest, vacation with her family when she feels better and generally take better care of herself for quite some time. If not, she could have a relapse and irreversibly damage all of her internal organs, even her heart. Kyungsoo promises to make her do this. Grace and Uncle Seo have a good old time playing house with the kids, but are very relieved when it’s over. Especially as Hana is watching them like a hawk if they look like they might be getting a little close to each other. Those two seem well on their way to matrimony square. Everyone is very happy about Yoon, and Mandeuk explains at breakfast how their group is actually family: Kyungsoo is Grace’s son, so since Soo-ae and Grace are like sisters, that makes Yoon Mandeuk’s granddaughter-in-law, and Mija is like Geumsil’s daughter, so Mangeum is Mandeuk’s son-in-law, etc. His explanations hang together, too. They are family. He asks Mangeum to buy special food, and Geumsil to cook it, and Soo-ae to deliver it to Bongshil and Yoon. They all praise him for being so considerate and generous with their time. Hope he at least plans to pay for it. Mrs Go visits Dr Herb and tells him she thinks that instead of marketing the product in duty-free shops, they should sell it at "oriental medicine" clinics in Korea. It’s a longer profit curve, but should work out better eventually. At first he’s doubtful, but she convinces him to bring it up before the board, and he even seems enthusiastic about her strategy. Elsewhere, Ricky has his debut, with Inyoung cheering from the front row, and he’s a big hit. Also, Jaesoo joins the army [He has to anyway, doesn’t he?], and his weeping mom sees him off on the train. He seems to be growing up. When Dongsik drives DK to the café, he arranges for another driver, asks to leave early and is accommodated. So Dongsik walks over to Grace’s store and picks up Soo-ae, to take her for a meal. He is very nice to her but says he doesn’t have strong enough feelings about her to get over this (the transsexual thing). Maybe if he’d fallen in love with her, he’d have felt betrayed, but then could have accepted her--but they’ll never know. She cries, but she understands him. They go out drinking, and he carries her home and gives her a nice hug when she asks for one. He leaves quietly, passing a confused Mandeuk, who finds Soo-ae weeping by the door. Bongshil must have lost weight, because David Kim’s ring falls off in the sink when she’s soaping up her hands. Simultaneously, DK notices the plant he grew from the mystery seeds is drying up and dying. BS sticks the ring into her pocket, and when DK arrives to see her, hides her hands and tells him she can’t talk to him for a few days. He waits patiently. The first day she’s back at the Flower Table café, after she sends Mija home with Mangeum to rest, she calls DK to come over and she’ll feed him a meal. With great ceremony, she serves him a bowl of gruel, a type they used to eat in Namhae when food was scarce. The poor man is thrilled, but not so much afterward when she formally gives him the kissoff and returns his ring. She’d “rather be a mother than a woman.” She seems to think Yoon got sick because Bongshil “ignored” her. Yeah, god’s a dick, so she can’t be happy as a woman and a mother at the same time. David is pretty heartbroken, as illustrated by him looking pensively out the window and also he starts drinking. Mrs Go just cries over the dishwashing. **So, as I say below, I softened toward Ep.35 once I started watching Ep.36 (which I have not yet finished). I like and agree with Bird's thought that Bongshil wants to know how to stand on her own two feet, but I think I was hoping she would use the opportunity of the ring falling off to redefine and restart the relationship on a more even footing. You know, "This ring fell off, and I'm not going to wear it just now because you forced it on me. Rather, I think we should start over and we'll see if I want to wear this ring later." So when it didn't happen, I got very angry.
Also I'm always annoyed when people think god is a vindictive jerk who attacks your family if he/she is mad at you. I'm not religious, and I'm strictly agnostic on the question of the existence of a deity, but why would you worship an entity who'd kill your children out of spite?
Just saying.
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Post by bird11 on Feb 5, 2015 23:50:01 GMT -5
Bo- just thought I would add a comment about this episode. I remember this one pretty well. I was a little disappointed when Bongshil returns the ring to David-- but my thinking was more along the lines that she felt it was because she felt that her heart was still with her dead husband, and that for once in her life she wanted to stand on her own two feet and not depend on DK (those initials always made me think of Donkey Kong! ) for her happiness. I can see that she wants to be a mother more than a women, but I just didnt feel she was ready for a relationship and Dk was a bit overbearing with his ways of doing things-- like with her new business, DK gave me the impression that he wanted it done his way and that was wrong-- it is her business, not his. I know he was not a expert in relationships, but sometimes he just drove me crazy!
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Post by TheBo on Feb 10, 2015 14:23:58 GMT -5
When I posted that I was SOOOOOOO po'd. Then I thought to myself, Well, he IS a gangster, she might have turned him down because of THAT. LOL.
But then I thought, maybe he's just one of those ruthless K-drama Korean businessmen. You know the ones I mean. They work for good, but use questionable methods. I can cut him some slack I guess.
And I agree with your assessment in all particulars. Anyway, I started watching Ep.36 and mellowed out a little toward Ep.35, so I'm going to review what I wrote there in case there's anything you know OFFENSIVE. Not that I'm ever offensive.
Who's laughing back there?
I want to do this before I finish watching Ep.36. Hopefully this week, I'll have the final post on that as well as some "final thoughts," so I hope you'll return and chat dear Birdy.
DID THE EDIT, added some stuff at the end.
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Post by bird11 on Feb 10, 2015 15:25:00 GMT -5
Wow-- I'm impressed you heard me laugh all the waaaay out here in the 'burbs! (well, they do say sound travels farther in colder weather..... What you said about the ring falling off made sense, I really hated the way he forced the ring on her finger. I never really thought he was a "gangster", more of a big business man/owner who thought he had to have his way with EVERYTHING--so when he decided he wanted a relationship with Bong Shil-- he just HAD to have it. I personally would have let him have it right between the eyes- or at the very least one of those infamous Korean drama flicks of the finger to the forehead Can't wait to read your final comments......
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Post by TheBo on Feb 11, 2015 13:33:56 GMT -5
LINK TO CAST LIST THREAD Ep.36 FINAL EPISODE: Go Bongshil has told David Kim to take a walk, she’s too busy with her family to be “a woman.” He’s angry, but very sad. Two years pass. Everyone’s life is very different, with few exceptions. Happy, happy Mija and Mangeum are expecting their second child, a daughter. (When she’s born, everyone is relieved that neither of the kids resembles Mangeum--lol.) They run Bongshil’s Flower Table Café for her, which is popular and profitable. M&M still live at Wonsook/Grace’s building, and Geumsil, with her convenience store, is the local business board president. But she has to keep an eye on hubby Mandeuk with the ladies, because he likes to step out to Senior Center dance classes for “research” for his nightclub, which he still runs with Uncle Seo. However, the marriage seems relatively happy, and they are both besotted with the grandchildren. Soo-ae is doing very well at an all-girl college. She misses Dongsik, but is philosophical about it. As for Dongsik, he’s still DK’s chauffeur and dogsbody. Even DK tells him he ought to get a move-on in the marriage front before it’s too late. SA and DS apparently don’t see each other, they are not friends and whatever was between them is just over. Grace and Uncle Seo are still playing footsie with each other and “secretly” dating, although everyone is fully aware of their relationship. They are silly and happy so that seems fine. Baldy is the same, but we learn he has a “younger” boyfriend. No explanation of what happened to Versace; presumably she’s got the entire Tokyo area criminal syndicate under her control by now. Inyoung and Ricky are still going together, but she gets grumpy because he’s not reliable, due to his active hot-girl fan base and many commitments. But they seem to be bumbling along. I-Y is starting to teach drawing classes at an art school. They go to a party together and run into Jaesoo, who’s clearly more attractive to I-Y with his confidence and uniform and all. So maybe that’ll unwind in another direction—but we are told no more. The party is for publication of Mrs Go’s book about her experiences as a country bumpkin coming to Seoul. She seems to have "told all" pretty frankly, leaving out all the names of course. There’s a TV drama in the works, to be produced by Yoon’s company and written by Kyungsoo. Those two have experienced a great change in their lives. They live at Flower Hill (the Seo family home in Nam Hae), where K-S writes and Yoon is a happy homemaker. Really. She has turned into Bongshil, a calm, satisfied mother and wife. Kyungsoo brings in the money with his successful scriptwriting. Yoon’s company is well run for her by Sungmin, her old assistant. All is well. As for David Kim, he seems to have buried himself in his work and is gone overseas for many months at a time. Looks like he’s returned to pre-Bongshil mode, but somehow more zen and calm. He receives an invitation to her book publication party, where he stands in the doorway long enough for her to get a look at him, and they smile. He remembers their times together, and it turns out Bongshil still has his ring, in a small wooden box with a hankie he lent her, which she takes out and pensively ruminates over occasionally. But Bongshil is a big-time executive. She’s a sophisticated dynamo who has taken the herb company to great heights, travels extensively on behalf of the company and handles it much better than Yoon ever did. She gives time and money to the community, including volunteering at a soup kitchen. Even Five Claws sings her praises and helps out at the soup kitchen, clearly a reformed character. One weekend, as usual, Bongshil drives out to Nam Hae to see the grandkids and garden. She has a new driving license (so her driver can have the weekends off) and a sign on her car—“sorry for being a Sunday driver.” Coincidentally, DK and Dongsik drive up behind her little car. Everyone else is passing her pretty impatiently, but DK just says, “Sunday driver? OK, just slow down.” She gets home and during the weekend, she and Yoon have a heart-to-heart, where Yoon tells her she hopes B-S will accept love when it appears in her life again. She doesn’t want her mom to be lonely. B-S says she plans to retire back to Nam Hae in two years, but she also will keep open to love if it appears. On the way home, Bongshil drives through a cherry tree grove in bloom, where there’s a rain of blossoms all along the highway. She is so delighted she gets out of her car to walk on the roadway. From the other direction, David Kim is walking, too (with Dongsik slowly driving behind him). They stop. They look surprised. They smile. Wide pan of Bongshil and David standing in a rainfall of blossoms, looking at each other. ***I could not decide whether I was satisfied with this ending, but I think I am. They clearly still love each other, and she seems ready for a relationship now. DK has calmed down considerably, and should be able to let things develop as they go. Yep, I liked it.
The switcharound between Yoon and Bongshil was sweet and funny. They both clearly were happier and more successful as each other than they had been as themselves, if that makes sense. And the girl who played Hana was very believable as an older child, I even wondered if it was an older/younger sister thing. Good job on her.
At first I was sad for Dongsik, because it looked like he lost all those relationships he gained before, but then I realized he must still be in touch with Bongshil. I hope so. He was a lonely guy who needed an auntie, and she had promised him she would be that for him no matter what. I think that’s what happened, too.
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Post by TheBo on Feb 11, 2015 13:57:40 GMT -5
LAST THOUGHTS I very much enjoyed the drama from beginning to end. Even parts I didn’t like so much, such as the beatings and gangsters, were kept to a minimum and really served the storyline rather than being gratuitous or nonsensical. I appreciated that the Japanese gangsters, although menacing and violent, clearly had reasonable motivations and were human beings, not "types." They had paid money and they wanted goods, they weren't just being random, senseless jerks.
The romance between DK and Bongshil was mostly very well handled. Even though I now understand that Korean “thing” where you don’t respond to praise in any way (or you’ll be bragging) or if female, let a man know you appreciate his advances (or you're y'know "loose"), I wish we had been given a little more insight into how she felt toward David--it was all implied. My suggestion? She could have told Geumsil or Grace how she felt about him. Even David’s descent into teen madness was sweet, especially when Bongshil wasn’t actually in the room with him LOL.
I did feel that people disappeared with some regularity. All the actresses who were so important to Yoon just evaporated, and I was particularly disappointed by DK’s old girlfriend never showing up again. We might have appreciated an update, like we got from Five Claws. It might have been amusing if she ran into Bongshil and had become a well-known spokesperson for children’s leukemia research for instance.
Another group that disappeared were the Oh brothers (who had swindled and murdered Seo). Again, Bongshil had shown mercy to Byung-geun and his family, it would have been nice if they (for instance) were shown at a nearby table at the book signing party, smiling and nodding and looking healthy. It would have tied things up better.
I was pretty impressed that they had the whole transsexual storyline and handled it sensitively on all levels. But I was very impressed that they had an openly gay character—not just implied—and actually discussed the fact that he had a boyfriend. I’ve never seen a drama be so frank about that. Maybe I just haven’t seen the right dramas.
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Post by bird11 on Feb 19, 2015 12:39:30 GMT -5
I have been meaning to add some comments to this for you, Bo. I am so glad to see you finished this drama, your comments are so right on that I don't know what to add! I think the relationship I was most happy with was Dongsik and Bongshil-- probably because was not typical-- here are two people unrelated and she takes him on just like an Aunt-- he needed someone to show him some affection without it being a girlfriend. I liked that. The overall assortment of characters and how they interacted is what made this drama so enjoyable. Other than the "gangsters", the characters were so every day normal people that it was nice to watch. I still don't know about the fact that they are started out in the same small town and ended up in Seoul together was really necessary, even though it made sense in the story, I wonder if the drama would have been much different without it. I am really glad I watched this! (and that you watched it, too!)
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Post by TheBo on Feb 24, 2015 13:49:16 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm really sorry I couldn't keep up with you, it would have been nice to discuss things as they happened. But at least we both got to watch them.
I thought this was one of the best I've seen. And yes, the very best relationship was between Dongsik and Bongshil, just as you say. They made me happy whenever I saw them together, whatever the circumstance.
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