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dangermousie
This recap made me relive some angsty angsty parts I'd rather pretend didn't exist. Yes. I, the resident angst junkie, do not like angst for once, because I've grown to love these characters so, every time they hurt I want to weep.
Before I get down to capping business, I just wanted to express a few more general observations.
1. I find Creepy's character reveal (I cannot say character change) one of the most deft things in this drama. When the drama started, I rather liked him, if thought he came on too strong, and couldn't fathom why the rest of the flisties called him Creepy and loathed him. But the more you get to know him, the more you see the rotten core. You may thing he's going down a slippery slope faster than he might have otherwise, due to the blackmail and his Yoon Seo obsession, but that is not true. With someone of his character there would always be a catalyst for that slide because he simply does not see others as human, only as tools to serve his wants. His reaction to the fact that he murdered his wife is to blame his parents! He always blames others for anything bad he does - and he genuinely believes that e.g. it's Jin Joo's fault that he has to kill her or lock her up. There is hope for redemption for a person, however steeped in badness, if he or she is at least self-aware of what they are doing wrong. But Ji Suk never even thinks he is doing anything wrong - he feels wronged throughout and that all these bad things he is doing are forced on him and he's blameless. There is no hope for such a man.
2. In contrast, Kang Suk overthinks his own character a lot - he's terrified he will slide into darkness and be ruled solely by ambition, but the very fact that he's so self-aware and so scared of becoming soulless means that he will not. I mean, you never know, he may concievably travel to the dark side but he won't be able to live with himself until he claws his way back.
3. This brings me to point N3. He keeps asking Jin Jin to be his savior, really - to keep reminding him she loves him. To fight for him, in fact. That is not an unreasonable thing to ask of one's fiancee, especially considering how much he's done for her and hers. BUT. There is a huge problem with that - this hits front and center into Jin Jin's insecurities. Jin Jin is very strong and is the ultimate survivor, except in one thing - life has kicked out of her ability to believe she can be truly, lastingly happy, or that she is 'worthy' of being loved and loveable. Being with Kang Suk has almost cured her of this but then came the clusterfuck that is recent events. If KS starts withdrawing (whether because he's getting ambitious or, more likely, as is happening, to protect everyone from spies), I don't see her going in his face and yelling about how awesome she is and how he owes her. Her lack of belief in own worth will make her even more predisposed to think it's over/they are better apart, especially since it will also feed "well, I can't be so awesome as to make him unbearably miserable when we break up/he won't not get over it" view if she decides break-up is for his own good (am I making sense?) Kang Suk understands one of the dangers in their relationship - i.e. horrible family history (though the whole thing about her picking Jin Joo over him may be less true now that Jin Joo is self-sufficient) but I don't think he understands how deeply her insecurities about her own worth and luck run.
4. Which brings me to point n4. Yes, I am writing a novel. I actually like that for JJ her sister comes first, over her lover. Or, at least, let me modify this - that this was the case when she was handicapped. Because, let's face it - whatever happens to Kang Suk, at least he can ask for directions and feed himself. Jin Jin has to prioritize Jin Joo because the latter is helpless and needs it. That is why I love that Jin Joo finally recovered - that means that the dependency is gone and, among other things, it means that if she wants to, she can allow herself to put Kang Suk (or anyone else) first in her affections. I hope she does simply because Kang Suk has never come first to anyone before - not his parents, not his hideous stepfamily, not anybody.
5. I really loathe Yoon Seo's monster parents but it strikes me that they cannot help themselves - it's as if their minds are narrow and can only work one channel. They don't set out to actively torture Yoon Seo but they just don't care what she wants, wanting the best for themselves. Dong Ah is the first person in her life to see her as an individual. Not a prospective dowry, a fetish object or obedient puppet, but a person with wants and needs of her own. He may put her on a pedestal but he's also the only one who sees her as a living and breathing woman.
6. I don't blame Kang Suk for wavering when he finds out that if he married Yoon Seo he'd inherit his father's company and his in-law's and be this super-chaebol. He's someone who's always sought validation of his existence through being accepted and acknowledged through inheritance (due to the family issues) and this is more than he dreamed of, just as he learned to give it up. It is to his huge credit that even though he may be wistful and even struggling a little, he has no hesitation in doing the right thing. Especially since if the charade vis-a-vis Yoon Seo is revealed (and he's digging himself deeper and deeper), he'll probably be disinherited entirely. But OTOH - he cannot marry Yoon Seo no matter what - this would be a betrayal not just of the woman he loves and his friends, but his own self. Can you imagine him being able to look at Yoon Seo across the table? He'd just die inside. And Yoon Seo would just die - she was suicidal before and only her happiness with Dong Ah banished it. I think Jin Jin could cope with the break-up - she still has her dream of singing and her sister, but the other three would be toast (Dong Ah would get into a wrong fight or drink himself to death, surely).
Anyway, if you got through War & Peace above, congrats, on to the recap proper.
JJ calls KS and he's so happy to hear her voice, teasing that surely she can't miss him already.
And then she tells him the truth about YS and DA and begs for help.
Casa de Hell.
They make me cry.
KS gets to YS' house and smoothes everything over, says he doesn't care about the scandal, it's not YS' fault, they should push engagement forward blah blah blah. He saves her but you can see how he's getting more and more caught in the net of the charade and how miserable he is. The thing is, Kang Suk never lied. Even when he was Mr. Broken Robot, he always told the truth. So this has got to be killing him, not to mention pushing back his own love relationship worse and worse.
He also convinces YS' parents to release DA to avoid scandal. But of course the lovers can't meet any more, all they can do is talk on the phone.
He tells JJ he will have to have an engagement ceromony with YS. She isn't pleased but tells him she can't possibly be jealous or blame him, when he is doing it on her request and for their friends.
He asks her how can she not be jealous - he wants her to be jealous as a sign of her love, but knowing what comes later, be careful what you wish for.
So she tries acting out jealousy, this cracks him up, and they are back to adorableness.
Digging the hole deeper and deeper...
You know, I know the Manager is well-meaning, but she doesn't know the whole story, so her advice is from the "rich guy was playing with singer, now marrying rich girl" standpoint is wrong so every time she gets into JJ or KS' faces, I get annoyed.
DA and KS meet and try to figure out the whys-and-wherefores of Creepy and the backstory. They both figured out Creepy was behind murder attempt on Jin Joo and KS' stabbing.
There had to be an enagement interview (because both KS and YS are from such prominent families) and they had to pose thus. JJ may objectively know this is playacting, but emotionally, this hurts.
Ride back after this. You can cut the tension with a knife. She knows she can't complain because that would be insane/irrational, but that doesn't make her feel any better. And he's not the happiest camper either.
And then he realizes she is jealous. Adorable!
KS visits his mother who asks him if he's wavering due to his ambition (why does she always assume the worst of him?). He doesn't answer but I think it's because despite it all he is still not close enough with her to bare his soul to her but also because she's awfully black-and-white - she cannot understand that he's worried he may be wavering instead of really wavering, if it makes sense. KS' tendency to overthink is his enemy here. She is also worried he'd want to make JJ his mistress but, honestly - even if KS went insane and offered, does she really think JJ will accept?
He still has her rose! And he arranged for an ostensbile double-date which is a great way for YS and DA to meet.
But, sadly, it turns out Creepy's spy followed them so they have to pretend to be DA/JJ and KS/YS. Yeah, they are about as happy by it as you can imagine. (Dude, KS, can't you hire a private room? Oh well, next time. Though I suppose that would be suspicious).
I loved this bit. YS is totally struggling with cutting her meat dish (which appears to be made of leather) and KS is totally oblivious, grimly eating. So Dong Ah tells him to cut YS' meat. Awww. And LOL. Jin Jin is jealous but YS loves that Dong Ah notices :)
So then KS orders DA to cut Jin Jin's meat, not that she was having any trouble. When DA points out the same, KS tells him he's busy cutting stuff for his (DA's) woman so DA better return the favor. Oh, so adorable!
This is his face when he's forced to deny Jin Jin to his father (Creepy tattled to YS' father who tattled to KS') and lie that yes, he had a brief physical fling, but it's over. Oh God. (By now, YS and DA better name all their kids after him, honest).
And then he has dinner with YS' father who basically tells him he dislikes his own sons as incompetent and once YS and KS get married, he'll leave his company to KS as well.
This is so much more than he even dreamed of and worked for when all he had was his ambition and he can't have it.
No wonder he's hitting the bottle.
And so he shows up, freezing and drunk, outside JJ's house in the middle of the night, desperate to see her.
And he tells her "Na Jin Jin, the only woman who makes me laugh" (My heart!)
And he begs her to hold on to him and keep reassuring him of her love because he's terrified of darkness within.
He tells her that today he had to deny her to his father.
And that he knows it was for Dong Ah and Yoon Seo but what if it was also, in part, because he was scared to fight for her? He's clearly breaking under the thought and my heart hurts for him because his tendency to overthink and overanalyze, which is what normally makes him so effective and smart, is driving him mad here. The very fact that he's so scared this could be part of it means it is not. He must have had a hell of an upbringing to really believe so badly of himself, but of course he did - his stepmom and stepbro don't even think of him as a person (and think he's ruthless/ambitious/evil etc), his father hopes he is, and even his birth mother thinks he is. None of them see his past coldness as a coping mechanism to survive in a family without love.
Of course, this tortured confession starts JJ dwelling on whether she should let him go because he's suffering too much due to being with her (see long meta above on her insecurities). This isn't made better by the fact that he just found out his bro planted a spy in his company so he has to cut JJ cold when she asks him out for breakfast as spy is watching. She doesn't know about the spy though so all she can think of is he's going cold, as he told her he feared he would, earlier...
And then she texts him to come to the roof, their meeting place, and he texts simply "can't". KS, you idiot, I know you want to tell her why in person, but this sort of thing is better not delayed. How about a text of "can't, we have a spy, still love you tons, xxx." See, not so hard, and avoids both of you angst later. (Also, it's your company, dude! Just fire the guy, honest!)
Meanwhile Dong Ah is hunting info on who stabbed KS and why. For one thing, KS is his friend, but for another, he knows it can be leverage on Creepy.
Creepy, I must say, is getting more and more into the habit of having people offed. He tells Mobster he hired to off Jin Joo couple eps back that if Dong Ah comes sniffing around, kill him. Creepy is officially also Stupid. He's going to be in Mob power forever. And he thought DA's Dad's blackmail was bad (not to mention if he had any brains, he'd let YS and DA escape. This means KS won't have advantageous marriage and inherit a huge thing - it would also be easier for Creepy to fight for inheritance from KS and his Dad if KS isn't golden son-in-law of huge chaebol). Creepy, thinking with id will get you nowhere.
On stage that evening, JJ sings as if her heart is breaking and KS is there to hear it.
They meet afterwards and he tells her he could come here because spies will assume he came to meet his mother. And tells her they can't meet again for some time. This latter is setting off all alarm bells for JJ/confirming her fears. KS being a rational person and not a typical kdrama hero starts explaining that the reason he was so cold at the company and will have to be this way is because...and then phone call interrupts about the Mob and Dong Ah. Argh! Timing-wise it makes sense but JJ is so going to misinterpret his reasons. For God's sake, man, send her an explanatory text. Face to face will have to wait!
Dong Ah has been lured to a trap by the Mob and is about to be beaten to death as he's hugely outnumbered...
When a figure jumps into the middle of the fighting, scattering his assailants. It's Kang Suk, proving yet anew that he's the most awesome thing who ever awesomed. And as the episode ends, Dong Ah and Kang Suk stand back to back, facing a veritable horde of thugs who have murder on their mind.
Credits, music, heart-attack.
See you next time!
These things are getting longer and longer - both in terms of meta and caps. By the end I'll max out LJ per-post character limits.
