What an utterly delightful episode! I wasn’t exactly disappointed with last week’s, but I do think they took a small step back from the giddiness and/or angst of previous episodes. Well, it’s all back today, and in full force.
Also: When did Jung Yong-hwa learn to act?? He wasn’t ever terrible, but he seems much better all of a sudden. I like.
SONG OF THE DAY
Lucite Tokki – “손” (Hand) [ Download ]
EPISODE 13 RECAP
Although we understand what Tae-kyung means by giving Mi-nyeo “permission” to like him, because Mi-nyeo is simple-hearted, she takes it at face value. She asks, “Can I really like you? Won’t that be ridiculous and make you feel awful?” (She’s referencing the words he’d said when he thought she liked Shin-woo.)
He answers, “Well, it is a little surprising and feels strange, but it’s not bad.” She worries that he’ll find her feelings bothersome, so he says, “Go Mi-nam, I’m someone who receives love from a tremendous number of people. That’s my job. Adding you to my fan club isn’t a bother. That’s who I am, so you can like me.”
Hilarious! Her pure nature allows Tae-kyung to save face while seeming oh so magnanimous, but what adds icing to this cake is her response: “Thank you. Even if it’s just as your fan, thank you for letting me like you.”
Tae-kyung didn’t mean it that way, that she should like him just as a fan would like a star, but he’ll have to work with it. He motions her closer and holds out his hand: “Welcome to my fan club.”
Thankfully, this scene isn’t a total letdown for those of us who wanted more because he grabs her in a surprise hug.
She’s startled, but he maintains his nonchalance as he says, “This is because you’re a special fan. It’s an honor, you know.” But his boyish smile conveys how he actually feels about this.
Mi-nyeo says goodbye to Mother Superior, who looks over at Tae-kyung and asks, “Is that person your star?” Mi-nyeo replies, “Yes, he’s like a very distant star.”
Mother Superior watches Mi-nyeo leave with Tae-kyung in a moment that somewhat reminds me of a father giving away his daughter at the wedding altar. Mother Superior muses, “That distant star came all the way here to find her. The two of them shine brightly. Even if stars shine more brightly in the dark, I pray that when darkness finds them, they will not lose their light.”
Which is a nice way of saying, (1) Mi-nyeo is an equal partner for Tae-kyung, and (2) They aren’t lone stars, but each other’s light.
On their drive, Mi-nyeo eats some tangerines given by the nun, but finds them too sour and advises him not to eat them. Not one to be left out, Tae-kyung tells her, “I like sour things” and asks for one.
She hands him one, and he points out that he’s driving and can’t peel it. Basically, he wants her to feed him.Tae-kyung adds, “Go Mi-nam, from now on, don’t be with Shin-woo when you’re dressed like that.” Thinking he means that she doesn’t look pretty as a girl, she decides to change back into men’s clothing, and he clarifies, “You can dress like that with me. Don’t do it in front of Shin-woo. Because of you, Manager Ma, the stylist, and I all thought you liked Shin-woo.”
Thinking that her behavior has again inconvenienced Shin-woo, Mi-nyeo decides, “I’ll have to treat Shin-woo hyung well.” Tae-kyung frowns: “Treat Shin-woo well? How did we end up at that decision?”
Meanwhile, back at the greenhouse, the reporter sniffs around for clues and finds Mi-nyeo’s dropped photo of herself as a girl. He recognizes the face as Mi-nam, and hurries to A.N. Entertainment to confront the team about the woman. Hoon-yi explains that the woman is Mi-nam’s twin sister, and shows the official birth records to prove it. The reporter accepts this, since it makes sense that Mi-nyeo would be at her brother’s concert and photo shoot. This also means Shin-woo is dating Mi-nam’s sister, which is a big scoop.
The best way to handle this is to call Mi-nyeo over to “prove” that the story is real. Mi-nyeo worries whether she’ll be able to hold up under scrutiny — it’s like she’s gotten so used to everyone playing along with her boyish appearance that she thinks she’s more credible as a boy than a girl. Tae-kyung tells her encouragingly that she can do it, and to let Shin-woo do the talking. He hands her the hairclip and assures her, “In my eyes, you are clearly a girl.”
Shin-woo then steps forward to take her hand. He says, “She’s my girl now. I’m taking her.”
As Tae-kyung watches them leave, he mutters a complaint — even though he knows it’s only for pretend, he chafes to hear Shin-woo addressing Mi-nyeo as “my girl.”
Show time. I LOVE how befuddled Sung-chan is to see Shin-woo present Mi-nyeo as his girlfriend, although he pretends that he’s in on the secret.
Shin-woo asks the reporter to go easy on them, since Mi-nyeo is an ordinary citizen and very nervous about this. Reporter Kim is happy to oblige, since in exchange he’s getting an exclusive interview that will announce their coupledom in an article to come out over the weekend.
Sung-chan sees that Shin-woo likes Mi-nyeo a lot, particularly given the story about how he confessed his feelings with the gift of shoes, to make her into Cinderella. (Tae-kyung scoffs, “The shoes have to fit for her to be Cinderella.”)
Now that two of his boys are allegedly dating, Sung-chan advises him to think not only about their love lives, but to put some effort into their fan clubs too: “Fans are people who cry and wail over liking you, but go on to marry another man. That’s also the limit to the love a star can receive.”
Wise words! This conversation is a nice echo of Mi-nyeo’s declaration at the top of the episode — sometimes the Hong sisters get too on-the-nose with their symbolic statements, but I like it better when they’re a little less obvious.
Tae-kyung thinks to himself, “That’s right, a fan can change easily and go to another man. But you can’t argue with a fan. What do I do?”
After Mi-nyeo changes back to Mi-nam’s clothing, Shin-woo tells her she did a good job and suggests they practice their explanation about how they got together.
As he provides their story, Mi-nyeo accepts it unquestioningly, although we recognize his words as a quasi confession of his true feelings. For instance, they first met on the roof of a club the night of Mi-nam’s induction into the group. She had been drunk, and he’d caught her from falling: “That’s when I first met you as a girl.”
In this version of their love story, Mi-nyeo called him Shin-woo oppa from the start, and they grew close very quickly. They had their first date at the amusement park, where they rode the rides together. Afterward, they went to Myungdong and ate noodles and ice cream together, and went shopping. Mi-nyeo memorizes the story as he provides it.
But there’s one important detail that’s bound to come up — what about their first kiss? She’s uneasy, and suggests they say they haven’t done it yet. Shin-woo kisses his fingertips and presses them to her lips. He tells her, “Let’s tell them it was today. I liked you so much I decided to confess my feelings for you.”
Then, as they face their shadows cast on a large wall, he thinks back to his preparations for the restaurant date that never was: “I borrowed an entire restaurant and waited for you to come. I wanted to stand in front of the mirror and show you — that this is the person I liked. Then, you’d look in the mirror and be surprised. And then I told you, I knew you from the beginning and had been watching over you all this while. I really like you a lot.”
Mi-nyeo is oblivious to his underlying meaning and treats his story as pure fiction, and adds, “Then I must have answered like this: ‘I like you too, Shin-woo oppa.’”
Since this scene is using the mirror and their shadows as analogues, Mi-nyeo looks at the wall and comments that she can’t see his expression in the shadow. Shin-woo can see from hers that “Your shadow looks happy. Are you okay about Tae-kyung making things hard on you?”
She answers, “Actually, he found out how I feel. But he wasn’t upset. That alone is a relief.” In his sad, quiet voice, he tells her, “I see. That’s what it seemed like. I guess I won’t see you crying anymore.”
He hints that his expression in the shadow is sad, but when she looks at him curiously, he smiles for her benefit. He assures her that her story has a happy ending.
Aunt Mi-ja is bitter over Hwa-ran’s confession that she caused the death of the twins’ mother. Hwa-ran admits, “We separated because of my mistake, but we continued loving each other.” Mi-ja is indignant, since the woman had to watch her man be in love with another woman while she was pregnant: “You’re right, she did die because of you!” Hwa-ran answers, “That’s why I said I would repay that debt to the children.”
Sarcastically, Mi-ja retorts, “Oh, the kids’ll be so grateful for that. Hearing this song, written by the father who left their mother to cling to you, ought to make them dance for joy!” Mi-ja stomps on the CD (which is the first really sympathetic thing she’s done, I think). Hwa-ran bursts out, “I’m going to leave them half of my inheritance! If Jae-hyun hadn’t died, I would have become their mother. Please bring them to me and help me repay my debt.”
So, Mi-ja deliberates over the right thing to do. The twins will surely not be pleased to face Hwa-ran, but perhaps they deserve to take the woman’s money.
Taking Sung-chan’s advice, Tae-kyung looks at their fan club, bothered to see that they’ve lost members. He grumbles, “Pig-Rabbit, you can’t drop off like this with so little loyalty.”
Thinking back to his conversation with Mi-nyeo, he’s dissatisfied with the way they settled on having her be his “fan.” He wonders, “How can I make the ungrateful Pig-Rabbit take on a loyal fan attitude?” To his surprise, he sees a recent message posted in the fan cafe, written by a new user named “Pig-Rabbit.” He gapes: “She joined the real fan club?”
That she did. Mi-nyeo sees that a number of fans have recently quit, understanding that one can join and leave pretty easily. (Again, this ties in to the metaphor of her feelings as a fan and her feelings as a woman.)
Just then, she receives a message from the “administrator”: “You have passed the new member test.” She writes back, “If I don’t pass a test, am I not able to join?”
On the other side, Tae-kyung smirks and says, “Pig-Rabbit, I’ve got you now! Shall we first test your interest in me?” His next message asks her to rate her knowledge of Tae-kyung. Mi-nyeo thinks this over honestly, and writes back her response as a rating out of 10.
Surprised, he frowns: “A 7? That’s it?”
His next question asks her to rate his looks. Recalling her compliments about how cool he is, he’s pretty confident about this one — only to get back the ego-crushing answer: “A 5?! That means I’m only average!”
Tae-kyung calms himself, reminding himself that he can’t argue with a fan. He types furiously, and the next question receives a 4. Another question yields a 7. And then he hiccups to actually get back a 2.
Overall, this means he has averaged a 5. He is not at all pleased, since this means that the fan could be swayed either way with a little pressure. He hesitates to ask his final question, worrying, “What if the answer comes back less than 5? I feel more nervous than when I went out on my first piano competition.”
Mi-nyeo receives the question, which asks, “How much do you like Hwang Tae-kyung?” On the other end, Tae-kyung awaits her answer with a pounding heart, and opens the message to find:
“100!!”
Here’s the gif — if only I could reproduce that little squeal Jang Geun-seok makes.
Tae-kyung grabs Pig-Rabbit for a hug, and tells it gleefully, “I cancel what I said about you being ungrateful. You’re the best. 100 points!”Mi-nyeo awaits the administrator’s response, then receives a text message from Tae-kyung summoning her in the name of a “fanmeeting.” She finds Tae-kyung at the piano, tapping out the child’s tune “Mountain Rabbit.” She thought he hated that song, but he says, “I conquered my trauma over the rabbit.”
Mi-nyeo asks asks what a fanmeeting is, and he replies, “It’s what happens when I invite all the people who like me and make them feel good.” Taking on the demeanor of the host of a real fanmeeting, Tae-kyung asks his “audience” for song requests. Mi-nyeo picks, and he complies.
Jang Geun-seok – “Fly Me to the Moon.” This is ripped from the episode. [ Download ]
Mi-ja still feels torn over whether she’s doing the right thing, but brings Mi-nyeo to meet with “her father’s friend.” The two are startled to recognize each other, and Mi-nyeo connects the dots, remembering Hwa-ran’s revelations to Tae-kyung about being in love with the songwriter. She asks, “Were you really friends with my father?” and emphasizes the word friend.
Hwa-ran expected Mi-nyeo to know the details, but decides not to reveal them herself, answering that they were friends. She’s remaking the song because she felt sorry for how he struggled when he was so talented.
When Hwa-ran reaches out to pat Mi-nyeo gently, the reaction strikes her as odd — the boy use to shrink back when she touched his ear, which was the only way she could tell the twins apart. She tests her theory by asking Mi-nyeo for help zipping up her dress — which she does without any problem. Hwa-ran decides this must be the girl, not the boy.
Heyi is, once again, annoyed to have such a hard time getting in contact with Tae-kyung and invites herself over for lunch. Tae-kyung rejects her lunch plans, and when she announces that she’s going to take photos to prove they’re friends, he retorts, “Photoshop it.” HAHA.
Of course, she reminds them of her threat to expose Mi-nam, so they reluctantly comply. She assigns each guy a task, enjoying having them cook for her. It’s pathetic, really, how desperate she is for companionship that she’d prefer to coerce someone into being with her, and then acting like it was done willingly. She accepts their spaghetti offering as though they’d really done it out of friendliness, and prepares to dig in.
In a cute moment, Shin-woo whispers to the guys that it’s going to taste bad because he oversalted it. Jeremy asks, “You too, hyung?” — because he’d added sugar! Tae-kyung smirks that he also added something.
Jeremy readies the camera to capture Heyi’s reaction, while the guys wait in anticipation… but just before she takes a bite, Mi-nyeo arrives. This may just be the only circumstance in which they’re actually bummed that Mi-nyeo interrupted a moment with Heyi, lol.
However, Heyi checks their reactions, suddenly declaring her appetite gone. She offers her lunch to Mi-nyeo instead, who accepts cheerfully. The guys groan inwardly — and at the last minute, Jeremy jumps in (sweet Jeremy!) to spare Mi-nyeo the experience. He forces himself to eat it instead, and guesses the third secret ingredient that Tae-kyung added: “V-vinegar?”
To make up for Jeremy’s sacrifice, the guys make a new lunch (fried rice), which they all eat together. As they sit around the table, Heyi clocks Shin-woo’s looks at Mi-nyeo, and suspects something more beneath the surface.
Therefore, when he excuses himself to grab some tea from his car, she follows. We see that his trunk holds a dying bouquet of flowers as well as his gift of shoes, which he quickly puts away when Heyi approaches. Annoyingly, Heyi pokes her nose in, trying to gauge his feelings. She asks whether Mi-nam liking Tae-kyung makes him feel bad. to which he answers, “Just talking to you makes me feel bad.”
Guessing that the gifts in the car were for Mi-nyeo, Heyi follows Shin-woo back inside, then swipes his car keys. She draws Mi-nyeo aside, where she presents the items and tells Mi-nyeo to try on the shoes: “If they fit you, I’ll think of them as yours and give them to you.”
Mi-nyeo has no idea what this is about, but tries on the shoes, which fit perfectly. Heyi’s hunch thus confirmed, she grabs Mi-nyeo and heads inside “to confirm this together.”
The look on Shin-woo’s face as he registers that Mi-nyeo is wearing the shoes is pretty awful, and by awful I mean heartbreaking. Mi-nyeo doesn’t understand so it’s not that he feels embarrassed because of her — it’s more about having his emotions stripped bare before he’s ready to do them himself, and having them exploited by someone as hateful as Heyi for her own amusement. Ouch!
Heyi asks pointed questions about who the shoes were meant for. Mi-nyeo doesn’t know they’re for her, but she recognizes that Shin-woo is feeling hurt and that it’s related to her wearing the shoes, and takes the shoes off apologetically.
Tae-kyung is sharper than the rest and starts to see what Heyi is getting at. He drags her out as Shin-woo says, with difficulty, “I should have just thrown them away.” He looks at Mi-neyo and says, “Mi-nam, throw them away for me.”
Tae-kyung orders Heyi, “Don’t show up again. You’re through here.” She repeats her threat to spill everything, but Tae-kyung challenges her, “Then what? How will Korea’s Fairy Yoo Heyi come out of that?” This makes her pause. She answers, “I can pretend I didn’t know.”
Tae-kyung counters, “But I’m going to act like you did. Aren’t you afraid of what I’ll do?” He tells her to leave.
Mi-nyeo finds Shin-woo alone on the deck and tells him, “You were a big comfort to me when I was in difficult times. I want to comfort you too, but I don’t know how.” He asks her to “just sit by me,” and after some time, he explains, “I put all my heart into those presents. Seeing them like that made me feel bad.”
Mi-nyeo apologizes for acting foolish and tells him not to throw the shoes out — she’ll clean them, and he can give them to the person he meant them for. Sigh. I know Mi-nyeo is hardly the brightest star in the sky — or moon — but she can really be dense. (It’s a really good thing she was set up as a nun, because her naivete really helps to make her seem simple rather than brain-dead.)
Shin-woo is of similar mind, because her failure to read the situation hits him as another letdown: “I haven’t been able to confess my feelings once, but it feels like I’ve been rejected a hundred times. I don’t think I’ll be embarrassed now even if I’m rejected for real.”
We return to the theme of them both being idiots in love, and Mi-nyeo says, “We can become cool idiots who love diligently.” But regardless of what happens, they can’t force someone to like them. They can’t ask the impossible.
The guys check up on Shin-woo to make sure he’s feeling better. Tae-kyung senses there’s meaning behind the shoes, but hasn’t fully made the leap — he wonders what reasons Shin-woo could have had for giving shoes to Mi-nyeo. Come on, buddy, just take a few more steps and you’re there…
Later, Mi-nyeo accompanies Tae-kyung to the studio where he’s working on the song remake for Hwa-ran. He tells her, “This is work that makes me feel extremely bad. Go Mi-nam, as a fan, stick right by my side.”
But she has to decline because she’s going to Busan today. She and Shin-woo are going to visit his parents to explain the situation before the article comes out. Hoon-yi, the stylist, and Jeremy will accompany them, so they’re going to make a fun trip of it, and she invites Tae-kyung. He declines because he’s busy, expecting them to return that night, but is surprised to hear that they’ll be making it an overnight trip. Mi-nyeo announces happily, “Shin-woo promised to buy us delicious kkomjangeo [hagfish]!”
Tae-kyung attempts to change her mind with subtle suggestions (which he should know never work on her): “Go Mi-nam, they have that in Seoul too. If you come back today, I’ll buy it for you at a really delicious place.” He’s stuck with her response: “But they say the Busan kkomjangeo is the best!”
Hwa-ran drops by to check on the progress of the song, and uses the opportunity to ask Sung-chan about Mi-nam. Sung-chan tells her she can drop by and see both Tae-kyung and Mi-nam, since they’re good friends.
That tidbit strikes her as odd, but she agrees that they are looking chummy when she sees them together at the studio. She thinks, “If he knew that she’s Go Jae-hyun’s child, he wouldn’t even bother talking to her. Until the song comes out, I’d better pretend not to know.” But a second thought occurs: “He can’t be acting like that knowing she’s a girl, is he?”
Hoon-yi announces that he and Jeremy can’t make the trip because Jeremy has a last-minute appearance scheduled, and sends Shin-woo and Mi-nyeo off together. This is a deliberate ploy, and Hoon-yi congratulates himself for doing the couple a favor, still thinking that Mi-nyeo is in love with Shin-woo.
The plan is for Mi-nyeo to change into girl’s clothing, then meet up with him separately. Shin-woo asks tentatively, “When we get to Busan, do you want to say we’re dating for real?” It’s the hesitation in his voice that makes my heart twist for him in this scene, as he adds, “You’re a girl, and if we really date, the reports will be true.”
Mi-nyeo answers in puzzlement, “But we both have people we like.” Shin-woo asks, “What if we leave the people who don’t like us back and start new together?” He offers, “Will you like me? I’ll like you.”
Tae-kyung finds out that Hoon-yi and the others won’t be accompanying the couple to Busan, and can’t hide his dissatisfaction over this. As he often does, he talks out his dilemma, trying to reach a decision:
Tae-kyung: “Go Mi-nam gave me 100 points. Then why am I still uneasy? Because she might not keep giving me 100 points. If I want to keep receiving 100 points, what do I have to do? I have to tell her I’m glad to receive 100 points, and that I don’t want to lose even one point.”
He grabs his jacket and heads out.
It’s nearing boarding time, and as Shin-woo readies to go first, he tells Mi-nyeo: “I’m not telling you to give your feelings all at once. If you think you could give even a little bit of your heart, that’s the beginning. I’ve already begun. I’ll leave first. If you think you can begin to have feelings for me, come with me. I’ll wait for you.” He gives her the ticket and heads inside the airport, leaving Mi-nyeo to make her decision.
Tae-kyung arrives at the station and searches all over for Mi-nyeo, growing frustrated when he doesn’t see any sign of her. He just misses seeing Shin-woo waiting for his departure, who finally walks to the gate to board alone.
Thinking he’s missed his chance, Tae-kyung stamps his foot in frustration. He walks outside, shoulders slumped as he wonders, “When she gets back, will I not have 100 points? What if she starts to take off points while she’s in Busan? I can’t tell her not to take points off after she’s already cut down the score.”
Making up his mind, Tae-kyung checks his watch and sees that he still has time — if he drives as fast as he can, he can make it. (It’s 5 hours by car, 1 by plane.)
Just then, he stops short to see her: “Go Mi-nam — you didn’t go!”
She startled to find him here, but that doesn’t even compare to his reaction, which is a sudden burst of surprise, relief, and happiness. He’d thought he’d missed her.
Overcome with relief, he grabs her in a sudden hug, and tells her, “Go Mi-nam, I give you the same score.”
COMMENTS
Finally, we get a straight confession out of Tae-kyung! Okay, granted Mi-nyeo has no idea what he’s talking about with “scores” and she’s not as caught up in the emotion of the moment as he is, but the significance of the statement is that he’s finally declared something without beating around the bush, or twisting around her words to give himself the upper hand. He’s startled into making an uncharacteristically honest declaration that doesn’t put his pride ahead of their feelings.
I love Shin-woo in the airport scene, when he comes as close to declaring himself as he ever will. Ultimately I think he still makes a huge mistake, by trying to protect himself and not admitting the full truth that he always knew she was a girl. He tries to work his true feelings into the constructed truth he has presented to Mi-nyeo, and in the end it’s not enough to be half-honest. Mi-nyeo is still going to feel more sorry for him than anything, and although he tries to make a case for a “fresh start” for both of them, they’d be building it on a false base — one where he knows her truth but she doesn’t know his. She’d still think he was pining for the girl he really liked, and that they were each other’s secondary choices.
This doesn’t mean I dislike Shin-woo, of course. It’s just another reason why he’s the dreaded Second Lead and not the big hero in this drama.
This was kind of Shin-woo’s big episode, wasn’t it? I’ve been sympathetic of his predicament before, but this was the first time I actually felt something for him, rather than just thinking I was supposed to feel for him. Shin-woo has been drawn as a gentle, lovable guy but I haven’t really bought the act, other than as a stand-in for That Guy we’re supposed to feel sorry for. So I was very glad to finally see Jung Yong-hwa making some real progress here. Funny how I thought he was rather stiff doing straightforward emotions like jealousy and/or sadness, but thought he did a nice job with more complex expressions of ruefulness, tentative hope, and melancholy.
The scene where he tells Mi-nyeo their story of how they supposedly met is a key example. It’s also really sad, because while Mi-nyeo accepts his story as merely their cover, Shin-woo is again enamored of romance, constructing his version of what would have happened if his wishes came true. Mi-nyeo thinks this is a fun exercise, but Shin-woo’s building his sad fantasy. For instance, he recalls their Myungdong date and tells Mi-nyeo that in their story, “Wherever I wanted to go, you came running.” He says this as he remembers the opposite example — that when she got a call from Tae-kyung, she went running to meet him instead.
There’s a moment after their interview with the reporter where Shin-woo looks at Mi-nyeo, dressed in her boy clothing again, and says half-jokingly that he wanted to spend more time with his girlfriend. He wants to pretend to be the couple longer to extend his fantasy, because that’s the only time he can be honest with his own feelings — when Mi-nyeo is acting the part.
Funny enough, Tae-kyung has the opposite problem in this episode. Shin-woo wants to maximize his false relationship — like Heyi, he’ll take the illusion over nothing, sadly — but Tae-kyung is trying to move past the false “fan-star” framework he has inadvertently created. In the beginning of the episode, he finds himself confined to a boundary he doesn’t actually want. This happened because he sought to preserve his pride by calling Mi-nyeo just another one of his many fans.
In contrast with Shin-woo, who’s still hiding behind half-truths, Tae-kyung acts in an honest reaction at the end. Even disregarding the fact that Mi-nyeo and Tae-kyung are So Meant To Be, you have to respect the guy who’s learned from his first almost-missed-chance to grab it (literally!) the second time. Shin-woo has had multiple chances, but he’s still too afraid to take them.
Credits:
November 18th, 2009 // by javabeans
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