Dear Reaper Boy: TAKE ME WITH YOU. Promise me when it’s my time to go, you’ll still be wearing Jung Il-woo? Rawr.
I’m really digging the premise and the setup of this story. The execution leaves a little to be desired as of yet, but there’s a lot of potential to for it to grow into its clothes. This is one of those cases where the acting is trailing behind the writing, but hell if I’d PAY most dramas to be this way rather than the other. Basically, if you write good characters and a compelling premise, it’s easy to look past the acting flaws into what the characters are meant to be. (See: Crack High.) The tone and the story are lovely, and overall it promises to be a nice balance of dark humor and life-affirming drama.
EPISODE 2 RECAP
Ji-hyun wakes up in Yi-kyung’s body (and thank GOD for that), and cries in shock and glee at having corporeal form again. Not that this is the body she’d have chosen for herself. She takes a good look at Yi-kyung’s bruised face, torn clothes, and unwashed hair, and wonders if she’s a gangster. Heh.
She goes to the world’s dirtiest bathroom to wash up (with nary a bottle of shampoo or conditioner in sight, to her utter horror) and wanders outside. She whines that she has to wander the streets looking like a hobo.
Reaper Boy suddenly appears behind her, but once she gets over the initial scare, she greets him cheerily with, “Hey it’s you! Scheduler!” I think he’s more taken aback by her, truth be told, because he’s used to being scary, but she’s not at all frightened of him. I think I’m gonna like this Soul-Reaper relationship.
She eagerly tells him that she’s Shin Ji-hyun, which flares his quick temper. He reminds her that he told her the Three Rules just last night, and she’s already breaking one of them. She catches herself right away, and promises not to break them, sheswears.
In flashback, we find out the rules (and YAY for a drama that’s clear about the rules): (1) She cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone that she is Shin Ji-hyun. Consequence: express trip on the Elevator of Doom.
(2) She can only use Yi-kyung’s body when she’s asleep. That’d be from 10 in the morning till midnight, since Yi-kyung works the graveyard shift. Reaper Boy: “You have a double-digit IQ, don’t you? I said, you have to return to Yi-kyung’s house by midnight every night, and not a minute later.” Consequence: for every minute that she’s late, that’s one day out of 49 that gets shaved off. Mwah, I love how snippy he is.
(3) She’s to earn any money she needs herself. Nice. This is one of my favorite themes from shows like Dead Like Me, where the afterlife is just as full of responsibility and money troubles as regular life. Plus, Ji-hyun’s got a perfect princess complex that’s going to make this fun. He reminds her that she’s not to harm Yi-kyung in any way while she’s borrowing her body. Check.
Ji-hyun promises to follow the rules, and adds that she’s got that three genuine tears thing in the bag. She’s thought about it, and there’s going to be at least five or six people who really love her, so…is there some sort of incentive plan whereby extra tears equals extra years on her life? Hahaha. Reaper Boy scoffs at the gall of one delusional princess.
He hands her a cell phone, with a scary voice counting down her remaining time. It also has a panic button (in the shape of a skull, natch) to call him, only in absolute emergencies. Heh, that button is going to be SO abused. And…can I get one of those?
He also gives her a loan to get her started: 49 dollars, of course, (or 49,000 won to be exact) which she has to pay back later. He gets on his motorcycle to ride off in style, and she asks why he rides a bike if he can teleport. Good question. He tells her that it’s one of the ways he enjoys his reaper life. Is getting a perm one of those things too?
She tries to hitch a ride, but with a happy sneer, he reminds her that a reaper does not get involved in human affairs. I’m thinking that’s going to change for you, and that you’re going to hate it…which means I’m going to LOVE IT.
Ji-hyun decides to take a taxi to the hospital (way to blow your money, princess), and watches from outside her room as Min-ho and her parents sit by her bedside. She flashes back to when they re-met, by coincidence again a week after the mountain incident.
She apologizes for putting him through all this, and then remembers her tear necklace. She looks back at him, and he’s upset, but not crying. She assumes that he’s cried so much overnight, that there must not be any tears left.
She spends more money buying shampoo and lip gloss, which is just going to piss off Reaper Boy to no end. Although I’m thinking he probably spends a good deal of money on beauty products himself, judging by the looks of him.
She then heads over to the girls’ apartment, where In-jung is too upset to get out of bed, and Seo-woo is trying to talk some optimism into her. Ji-hyun listens at the door but can’t hear anything, and wonders if maybe they’re with Kang. (And by the by, how much do I love that name, Han Kang, which = Han River?)
Kang is alone, brooding with a trinket in his clenched fist. He thinks back to their high school days when they first met, as a city boy who gets transplanted and bullied, and the local girl who rules the town because of her daddy. She cluelessly “saves” him from a fight, leading to adorable exasperation.
Back in the present, Kang’s broody times leads to a bout of headdesking, so he decides to go to work. I can’t tell if this place he owns is a café or an Italian restaurant, but basically, they make pasta and serve wine, so I’ll go with Italian joint. And what’s a ‘genius’ architect doing as a restaurateur anyway? Whatever, Drama.
Ji-hyun arrives looking for her friends, and smiles when she sees Kang, but remembers that she’s not…herself. She realizes how hungry she is, and orders her favorite dish, scarfing it down like a pro. But when she goes to pay, she comes up short. Well, that didn’t take you long.
The waitress shames her, and Ji-hyun insists that she didn’t realize she’d spent all her money, and that she was just so hungry. Kang sees all this and tells them to just send her on her way.
Outside, she says to herself that she’ll be sure to repay Kang for the gesture once she’s back to life, and sits down at the bus stop…only she just now remembers that she’s completely broke. Slow on the uptake, this one.
She scans the jobs section in the paper, realizing that there’s nothing she’s qualified to do, and ends up right back in front of Kang to ask for a job. He dismisses her since he’s not hiring, and well, she hasn’t exactly left a great first impression. But she begs for just a temporary position for 48 days…no, just a week, even.
He looks at her, bruised face and dirty clothes, and notices her nervous tick which instantly reminds him of Ji-hyun. It tugs at his conscience, so he hands her two large bills, saying that it’s instead of the job.
She looks up at him angrily, banmal flaring up as she tells him that her daddy told her never to accept handouts. She stomps away, offended and hurt.
But Kang sends a waiter to chase after her (too prideful to chase after her himself, of course) to give her a chance. He offers her a job from 11am to midnight, at 4000 won an hour. Okay, that’s like slave labor. She jumps for joy and thanks him, and then sheepishly has to ask to borrow bus fare.
She trudges home, wondering why she’s so tired. Probably because you’re using a body that’s supposed to be sleeping right now. At home, she wonders where she’ll hide the shampoo, and then discovers the boxes full of pretty things, from Yi-kyung’s life pre-accident.
Her eyes brighten at the sight of non-hobo belongings, and she stashes her goods in there. It’s early yet (before she turns into a pumpkin) but she decides to lie down, and the second she goes to sleep, Ji-hyun’s soul pops right out of Yi-kyung’s body.
Once she’s out of her host body, she’s surprised to find that she’s not tired at all anymore. Side effect of death? She tries to get out, but finds her incorporeal self quite useless at opening doors.
So what does she do? She uses her panic button of course. I mean, it was YOUR mistake in giving her that thing, you do realize, right? Reaper Boy is busy getting his rock on at a club (So. Cute.) when his phone goes off. Apparently a reaper’s cell phone vibrates at a frequency reserved for torture devices, because it physically pains him until he answers it. So, mystical leash he can’t ignore? Even better.
He appears, wondering what the emergency is, to which she cheerily asks, “Can you open the door?” His face just says it all:
Hahaha. I think I will never grow tired of exasperated reaper face. He asks, voice dripping with sarcasm, that she couldn’t possibly have called him here for something so ridiculous as opening a door, could she?
Methinks she’s quite used to being considered stupid, so she just explains that it’s an emergency to her, since she can’t open it. And why not, she wonders, since ghosts and such can move through spaces, or so she thought.
He explains, as if to a five-year old, that she isn’t quite dead, really, so that’d be why she can’t pass through things. She remembers at the hospital, that Min-ho passed right through her. He tells her that it’s because to those people, she’s considered dead. Interesting. Difference of perception? That means the rules are bendy, yeah?
Yi-kyung stirs, and Ji-hyun asks him to take her out of there, since she doesn’t really want to spend time with someone who’s still a stranger to her. He reminds her that Schedulers don’t get involved in people’s lives, and that as a 49er, it’s her job to adjust to life with her host. And then poof, he’s gone.
Ji-hyun crouches in the corner and watches as Yi-kyung goes through her depressing routine of instant noodles before heading out to work. They stand at the bus stop across the street from each other, in a nice contemplative moment that mirrors their loneliness.
Ji-hyun goes to the hospital where Min-ho continues to watch over her comatose body. He asks aloud what he should do, and she asks him just to cry, and not hold it back.
Meanwhile, Yi-kyung’s mystery secret admirer comes to the store to buy a pack of his usual cigarettes, and he takes the opportunity to ask if she’s feeling okay. He tells her to go see a doctor if she’s feeling dizzy or anything. She realizes that he must be the guy who saved her that day, and just blankly asks him how much the hospital bill was.
He wonders that she doesn’t recognize him, since he comes in there every day and buys the same thing, every day. But that would require her to be awake and take notice of the world around her, which she clearly hasn’t done in years. She insists on paying him back and asks that he not interfere anymore. She hands him some money and he agrees to come back with the hospital bill next time.
The next day, Ji-hyun wakes up in Yi-kyung’s body, and washes up to her heart’s content. She even happily discovers a blowdryer and pretty clothes in the boxes, and shows up for work looking like a new person. (Kang’s restaurant is named Heaven, which I’m choosing to read as cheeky and therefore funny, because the earnest version is too cheesy.)
They’re surprised to see her cleaned up, but even more surprised to find that she is the world’s worst waitress. Kang just watches her, mouth agape and eyes wide.
Back at the hospital, Mom has a nervous breakdown, and Dad yells at Min-ho to go home and wash up, while he takes the next watch. In-jung and Seo-woo come over to take care of Mom, and In-jung wanders into Ji-hyun’s room, crying when she sees their old pictures and her wedding dress. Too bad it’s not in Ji-hyun’s presence, because I’m dying to know what color her tears are.
Ji-hyun starts nodding off at work, until Min-ho arrives, asking for a drink. She perks up instantly, being overly attentive to him, which Kang picks up on right away. Heh, I know it’s a sad situation, but it’s still kind of amusing at the same time, since Kang is in that hyper-aware-and-competitive mode with Min-ho, which he’s been repressing for some time now.
She’s also clearly overstepping bounds, but can’t help herself because it’s Min-ho. Kang sends her home, but she ends up waiting outside for a full hour, until Min-ho gets carried out of the restaurant and put into a car.
She rushes over to help Kang carry him, and the look on his face is like, what the hell, lady? He tells her that it’s his friend’s fiancé, and is about two words from firing her, when she realizes how late it is and rushes off in the middle of his sentence. Heh.
Min-ho goes home and angsts, and I’m getting the vibe that there’s more to his grief than grief. I could be reading into it, but he seems to be feeling guilty, which means there’s a good chance that whatever straying he’s about to do is…already done?
Meanwhile Kang shows up at the hospital, and mumbles insults at her for just lying there when she used to strongarm the whole town. See, THIS is real grief, the grief that I’m used to, where people yell and then cry and then laugh and then yell again. He leaves her a single pink rose in a vase, and walks out.
Ji-hyun arrives, with little notice of Kang, and cries when she sees her dad sleeping by her bedside. She sits next to him, trying to offer words of comfort as she puts her hand on his, across the great divide.
The next day at Heaven, Ji-hyun spills water on a customer, and Kang steps in to clean it up, and drags her away. He shows her basic things like water-pouring and setting a table, which she marvels that he’s awfully good at.
…Only SHE’s supposed to be good at them too, since Yi-kyung’s resume clearly states that she worked at the Seoul Hotel, which should technically make her better than all of them. Whoops.
She stammers that she got into an accident and suffers from amnesia, of the task-oriented kind, where you forget how to do certain things. He doesn’t believe a word she’s saying, but she insists he can look it up on the internet, adding quietly that it happens a lot in dramas. Heh.
He thinks she’s got pants on fire, so he tells her to go get proof of her employment history from the hotel…in an hour. She rushes off, after collecting yesterday’s wages for cab fare, and asks HR for the document. One of the girls there recognizes Yi-kyung, but Ji-hyun just rushes out of there, unable to acknowledge any connection.
She watches the servers at the café downstairs, and wonders what happened to Yi-kyung if she used to work in such a nice hotel. She turns to go, when she sees Min-ho walk by toward the elevator.
She just smiles and follows him, but doesn’t catch the elevator in time. She watches it go up and wonders what he’s doing here, as the elevator goes past the restaurant floor. She doesn’t really think much of it, until she turns and sees In-jung standing next to her.
I KNEW IT. Gah, they’ve been cheating on her for god knows how long.
She’s startled, and then notes warily that Min-ho has gotten off the elevator on the 18th floor…where there are nothing but rooms. She follows In-jung into the elevator, and pushes the button for 20 and waits…In-jung pushes 18.
Scared but unable to tear herself away, she follows In-jung and watches from across the corridor, as In-jung rings the doorbell…
…and Min-ho comes out to pull her inside.
Aaaack! We know what’s coming the whole time, but that moment is done so well. The shock puts Ji-hyun into a tailspin, as she stumbles down the hall toward the room. She looks at the door, and then all of a sudden it triggers her memory.
The day of the accident, when she had run out of the dress shop wearing the bridesmaid’s dress to show In-jung, she had already discovered the two of them, across the intersection in Min-ho’s car. He was tenderly kissing her hand, not knowing that Ji-hyun was seeing the whole thing.
And THAT’s the reason why she got into the accident that day, because she was frazzled and trying to gather her thoughts, when that bike wiped out in front of her.
Back in the present, it all comes flooding back to her, and she falls to the ground.
COMMENTS
Damn, that’s cold. It was niggling at me, that Min-ho was so strangely steadfast and yet not at all like a normal grieving boyfriend, who would be yelling at her comatose body for taking that street that day, or whatever. Now it makes sense that he’s been standing vigil out of guilt, because he’s a lying dirtbag.
It’s probably made worse if he had intended to break things off with In-jung before the wedding, because well, timing be damned, he would’ve been scott-free if not for this turn of events. Now he’s ironically tied to Ji-hyun by way of guilt and duty in a way that he wouldn’t have been, if she were alive. Karma’s a bitch, yo.
I’m a huge fan of this type of narrative, especially when it feels assured, and I can trust that the puzzle pieces will be beautifully, thematically mirrored. And like javabeans mentioned, because it deals with themes so universal, it doesn’t even matter to me that they’re simplistic. I can’t wait to see how these two women’s lives become further entwined, and how they bring each other back from the brink of death and heartbreak.
I’m in the mood for something contemplative and stirring, and I think this is just the ticket. ‘sides, who could get enough of that face?
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I’m really digging the premise and the setup of this story. The execution leaves a little to be desired as of yet, but there’s a lot of potential to for it to grow into its clothes. This is one of those cases where the acting is trailing behind the writing, but hell if I’d PAY most dramas to be this way rather than the other. Basically, if you write good characters and a compelling premise, it’s easy to look past the acting flaws into what the characters are meant to be. (See: Crack High.) The tone and the story are lovely, and overall it promises to be a nice balance of dark humor and life-affirming drama.
EPISODE 2 RECAP
Ji-hyun wakes up in Yi-kyung’s body (and thank GOD for that), and cries in shock and glee at having corporeal form again. Not that this is the body she’d have chosen for herself. She takes a good look at Yi-kyung’s bruised face, torn clothes, and unwashed hair, and wonders if she’s a gangster. Heh.
She goes to the world’s dirtiest bathroom to wash up (with nary a bottle of shampoo or conditioner in sight, to her utter horror) and wanders outside. She whines that she has to wander the streets looking like a hobo.
Reaper Boy suddenly appears behind her, but once she gets over the initial scare, she greets him cheerily with, “Hey it’s you! Scheduler!” I think he’s more taken aback by her, truth be told, because he’s used to being scary, but she’s not at all frightened of him. I think I’m gonna like this Soul-Reaper relationship.
She eagerly tells him that she’s Shin Ji-hyun, which flares his quick temper. He reminds her that he told her the Three Rules just last night, and she’s already breaking one of them. She catches herself right away, and promises not to break them, sheswears.
In flashback, we find out the rules (and YAY for a drama that’s clear about the rules): (1) She cannot, under any circumstances, tell anyone that she is Shin Ji-hyun. Consequence: express trip on the Elevator of Doom.
(2) She can only use Yi-kyung’s body when she’s asleep. That’d be from 10 in the morning till midnight, since Yi-kyung works the graveyard shift. Reaper Boy: “You have a double-digit IQ, don’t you? I said, you have to return to Yi-kyung’s house by midnight every night, and not a minute later.” Consequence: for every minute that she’s late, that’s one day out of 49 that gets shaved off. Mwah, I love how snippy he is.
(3) She’s to earn any money she needs herself. Nice. This is one of my favorite themes from shows like Dead Like Me, where the afterlife is just as full of responsibility and money troubles as regular life. Plus, Ji-hyun’s got a perfect princess complex that’s going to make this fun. He reminds her that she’s not to harm Yi-kyung in any way while she’s borrowing her body. Check.
Ji-hyun promises to follow the rules, and adds that she’s got that three genuine tears thing in the bag. She’s thought about it, and there’s going to be at least five or six people who really love her, so…is there some sort of incentive plan whereby extra tears equals extra years on her life? Hahaha. Reaper Boy scoffs at the gall of one delusional princess.
He hands her a cell phone, with a scary voice counting down her remaining time. It also has a panic button (in the shape of a skull, natch) to call him, only in absolute emergencies. Heh, that button is going to be SO abused. And…can I get one of those?
He also gives her a loan to get her started: 49 dollars, of course, (or 49,000 won to be exact) which she has to pay back later. He gets on his motorcycle to ride off in style, and she asks why he rides a bike if he can teleport. Good question. He tells her that it’s one of the ways he enjoys his reaper life. Is getting a perm one of those things too?
She tries to hitch a ride, but with a happy sneer, he reminds her that a reaper does not get involved in human affairs. I’m thinking that’s going to change for you, and that you’re going to hate it…which means I’m going to LOVE IT.
Ji-hyun decides to take a taxi to the hospital (way to blow your money, princess), and watches from outside her room as Min-ho and her parents sit by her bedside. She flashes back to when they re-met, by coincidence again a week after the mountain incident.
She apologizes for putting him through all this, and then remembers her tear necklace. She looks back at him, and he’s upset, but not crying. She assumes that he’s cried so much overnight, that there must not be any tears left.
She spends more money buying shampoo and lip gloss, which is just going to piss off Reaper Boy to no end. Although I’m thinking he probably spends a good deal of money on beauty products himself, judging by the looks of him.
She then heads over to the girls’ apartment, where In-jung is too upset to get out of bed, and Seo-woo is trying to talk some optimism into her. Ji-hyun listens at the door but can’t hear anything, and wonders if maybe they’re with Kang. (And by the by, how much do I love that name, Han Kang, which = Han River?)
Kang is alone, brooding with a trinket in his clenched fist. He thinks back to their high school days when they first met, as a city boy who gets transplanted and bullied, and the local girl who rules the town because of her daddy. She cluelessly “saves” him from a fight, leading to adorable exasperation.
Back in the present, Kang’s broody times leads to a bout of headdesking, so he decides to go to work. I can’t tell if this place he owns is a café or an Italian restaurant, but basically, they make pasta and serve wine, so I’ll go with Italian joint. And what’s a ‘genius’ architect doing as a restaurateur anyway? Whatever, Drama.
Ji-hyun arrives looking for her friends, and smiles when she sees Kang, but remembers that she’s not…herself. She realizes how hungry she is, and orders her favorite dish, scarfing it down like a pro. But when she goes to pay, she comes up short. Well, that didn’t take you long.
The waitress shames her, and Ji-hyun insists that she didn’t realize she’d spent all her money, and that she was just so hungry. Kang sees all this and tells them to just send her on her way.
Outside, she says to herself that she’ll be sure to repay Kang for the gesture once she’s back to life, and sits down at the bus stop…only she just now remembers that she’s completely broke. Slow on the uptake, this one.
She scans the jobs section in the paper, realizing that there’s nothing she’s qualified to do, and ends up right back in front of Kang to ask for a job. He dismisses her since he’s not hiring, and well, she hasn’t exactly left a great first impression. But she begs for just a temporary position for 48 days…no, just a week, even.
He looks at her, bruised face and dirty clothes, and notices her nervous tick which instantly reminds him of Ji-hyun. It tugs at his conscience, so he hands her two large bills, saying that it’s instead of the job.
She looks up at him angrily, banmal flaring up as she tells him that her daddy told her never to accept handouts. She stomps away, offended and hurt.
But Kang sends a waiter to chase after her (too prideful to chase after her himself, of course) to give her a chance. He offers her a job from 11am to midnight, at 4000 won an hour. Okay, that’s like slave labor. She jumps for joy and thanks him, and then sheepishly has to ask to borrow bus fare.
She trudges home, wondering why she’s so tired. Probably because you’re using a body that’s supposed to be sleeping right now. At home, she wonders where she’ll hide the shampoo, and then discovers the boxes full of pretty things, from Yi-kyung’s life pre-accident.
Her eyes brighten at the sight of non-hobo belongings, and she stashes her goods in there. It’s early yet (before she turns into a pumpkin) but she decides to lie down, and the second she goes to sleep, Ji-hyun’s soul pops right out of Yi-kyung’s body.
Once she’s out of her host body, she’s surprised to find that she’s not tired at all anymore. Side effect of death? She tries to get out, but finds her incorporeal self quite useless at opening doors.
So what does she do? She uses her panic button of course. I mean, it was YOUR mistake in giving her that thing, you do realize, right? Reaper Boy is busy getting his rock on at a club (So. Cute.) when his phone goes off. Apparently a reaper’s cell phone vibrates at a frequency reserved for torture devices, because it physically pains him until he answers it. So, mystical leash he can’t ignore? Even better.
He appears, wondering what the emergency is, to which she cheerily asks, “Can you open the door?” His face just says it all:
Hahaha. I think I will never grow tired of exasperated reaper face. He asks, voice dripping with sarcasm, that she couldn’t possibly have called him here for something so ridiculous as opening a door, could she?
Methinks she’s quite used to being considered stupid, so she just explains that it’s an emergency to her, since she can’t open it. And why not, she wonders, since ghosts and such can move through spaces, or so she thought.
He explains, as if to a five-year old, that she isn’t quite dead, really, so that’d be why she can’t pass through things. She remembers at the hospital, that Min-ho passed right through her. He tells her that it’s because to those people, she’s considered dead. Interesting. Difference of perception? That means the rules are bendy, yeah?
Yi-kyung stirs, and Ji-hyun asks him to take her out of there, since she doesn’t really want to spend time with someone who’s still a stranger to her. He reminds her that Schedulers don’t get involved in people’s lives, and that as a 49er, it’s her job to adjust to life with her host. And then poof, he’s gone.
Ji-hyun crouches in the corner and watches as Yi-kyung goes through her depressing routine of instant noodles before heading out to work. They stand at the bus stop across the street from each other, in a nice contemplative moment that mirrors their loneliness.
Ji-hyun goes to the hospital where Min-ho continues to watch over her comatose body. He asks aloud what he should do, and she asks him just to cry, and not hold it back.
Meanwhile, Yi-kyung’s mystery secret admirer comes to the store to buy a pack of his usual cigarettes, and he takes the opportunity to ask if she’s feeling okay. He tells her to go see a doctor if she’s feeling dizzy or anything. She realizes that he must be the guy who saved her that day, and just blankly asks him how much the hospital bill was.
He wonders that she doesn’t recognize him, since he comes in there every day and buys the same thing, every day. But that would require her to be awake and take notice of the world around her, which she clearly hasn’t done in years. She insists on paying him back and asks that he not interfere anymore. She hands him some money and he agrees to come back with the hospital bill next time.
The next day, Ji-hyun wakes up in Yi-kyung’s body, and washes up to her heart’s content. She even happily discovers a blowdryer and pretty clothes in the boxes, and shows up for work looking like a new person. (Kang’s restaurant is named Heaven, which I’m choosing to read as cheeky and therefore funny, because the earnest version is too cheesy.)
They’re surprised to see her cleaned up, but even more surprised to find that she is the world’s worst waitress. Kang just watches her, mouth agape and eyes wide.
Back at the hospital, Mom has a nervous breakdown, and Dad yells at Min-ho to go home and wash up, while he takes the next watch. In-jung and Seo-woo come over to take care of Mom, and In-jung wanders into Ji-hyun’s room, crying when she sees their old pictures and her wedding dress. Too bad it’s not in Ji-hyun’s presence, because I’m dying to know what color her tears are.
Ji-hyun starts nodding off at work, until Min-ho arrives, asking for a drink. She perks up instantly, being overly attentive to him, which Kang picks up on right away. Heh, I know it’s a sad situation, but it’s still kind of amusing at the same time, since Kang is in that hyper-aware-and-competitive mode with Min-ho, which he’s been repressing for some time now.
She’s also clearly overstepping bounds, but can’t help herself because it’s Min-ho. Kang sends her home, but she ends up waiting outside for a full hour, until Min-ho gets carried out of the restaurant and put into a car.
She rushes over to help Kang carry him, and the look on his face is like, what the hell, lady? He tells her that it’s his friend’s fiancé, and is about two words from firing her, when she realizes how late it is and rushes off in the middle of his sentence. Heh.
Min-ho goes home and angsts, and I’m getting the vibe that there’s more to his grief than grief. I could be reading into it, but he seems to be feeling guilty, which means there’s a good chance that whatever straying he’s about to do is…already done?
Meanwhile Kang shows up at the hospital, and mumbles insults at her for just lying there when she used to strongarm the whole town. See, THIS is real grief, the grief that I’m used to, where people yell and then cry and then laugh and then yell again. He leaves her a single pink rose in a vase, and walks out.
Ji-hyun arrives, with little notice of Kang, and cries when she sees her dad sleeping by her bedside. She sits next to him, trying to offer words of comfort as she puts her hand on his, across the great divide.
The next day at Heaven, Ji-hyun spills water on a customer, and Kang steps in to clean it up, and drags her away. He shows her basic things like water-pouring and setting a table, which she marvels that he’s awfully good at.
…Only SHE’s supposed to be good at them too, since Yi-kyung’s resume clearly states that she worked at the Seoul Hotel, which should technically make her better than all of them. Whoops.
She stammers that she got into an accident and suffers from amnesia, of the task-oriented kind, where you forget how to do certain things. He doesn’t believe a word she’s saying, but she insists he can look it up on the internet, adding quietly that it happens a lot in dramas. Heh.
He thinks she’s got pants on fire, so he tells her to go get proof of her employment history from the hotel…in an hour. She rushes off, after collecting yesterday’s wages for cab fare, and asks HR for the document. One of the girls there recognizes Yi-kyung, but Ji-hyun just rushes out of there, unable to acknowledge any connection.
She watches the servers at the café downstairs, and wonders what happened to Yi-kyung if she used to work in such a nice hotel. She turns to go, when she sees Min-ho walk by toward the elevator.
She just smiles and follows him, but doesn’t catch the elevator in time. She watches it go up and wonders what he’s doing here, as the elevator goes past the restaurant floor. She doesn’t really think much of it, until she turns and sees In-jung standing next to her.
I KNEW IT. Gah, they’ve been cheating on her for god knows how long.
She’s startled, and then notes warily that Min-ho has gotten off the elevator on the 18th floor…where there are nothing but rooms. She follows In-jung into the elevator, and pushes the button for 20 and waits…In-jung pushes 18.
Scared but unable to tear herself away, she follows In-jung and watches from across the corridor, as In-jung rings the doorbell…
…and Min-ho comes out to pull her inside.
Aaaack! We know what’s coming the whole time, but that moment is done so well. The shock puts Ji-hyun into a tailspin, as she stumbles down the hall toward the room. She looks at the door, and then all of a sudden it triggers her memory.
The day of the accident, when she had run out of the dress shop wearing the bridesmaid’s dress to show In-jung, she had already discovered the two of them, across the intersection in Min-ho’s car. He was tenderly kissing her hand, not knowing that Ji-hyun was seeing the whole thing.
And THAT’s the reason why she got into the accident that day, because she was frazzled and trying to gather her thoughts, when that bike wiped out in front of her.
Back in the present, it all comes flooding back to her, and she falls to the ground.
COMMENTS
Damn, that’s cold. It was niggling at me, that Min-ho was so strangely steadfast and yet not at all like a normal grieving boyfriend, who would be yelling at her comatose body for taking that street that day, or whatever. Now it makes sense that he’s been standing vigil out of guilt, because he’s a lying dirtbag.
It’s probably made worse if he had intended to break things off with In-jung before the wedding, because well, timing be damned, he would’ve been scott-free if not for this turn of events. Now he’s ironically tied to Ji-hyun by way of guilt and duty in a way that he wouldn’t have been, if she were alive. Karma’s a bitch, yo.
I’m a huge fan of this type of narrative, especially when it feels assured, and I can trust that the puzzle pieces will be beautifully, thematically mirrored. And like javabeans mentioned, because it deals with themes so universal, it doesn’t even matter to me that they’re simplistic. I can’t wait to see how these two women’s lives become further entwined, and how they bring each other back from the brink of death and heartbreak.
I’m in the mood for something contemplative and stirring, and I think this is just the ticket. ‘sides, who could get enough of that face?
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217 COMMENTS
this is surprisingly good so far…loving the story line and I have already figured out who the Scheduler is but I still really want to follow this drama. Hopefully the rest of the episodes are as good as the first two…
I’m wondering if the scheduler will end up having an interest for Ji hyun’s character…..
he keeps on reminding her that he doesn’t get involved with human affairs…..
but.. who knows?
I’m thinking we’re gonna be seeing a love square of some sort!!
can’t wait ><
Good choice of first pic hehe (he’s the only one that makes me interested in this drama…)
it’s good to know there’s sth to look forward to for another 2 months or so~
Hey Scheduler Boy …. take me with you … even right this moment i’m ready to go …but only with you …:-)
Take me toooo XD
Oh well. Jung Il-Woo! Haha! Love every screen cap of him! Thanks GF! And I’m with you on that phone with the ‘emergency’ button
I’m loving this drama more and more. Yay for new crack!
I was so put off by the doll-like actress, I think jb and gf have convinced me to finally watch this because of Jung Il Woo screen caps ‘o’ (I desperately want to see good drama with him after his previous drama)
And so many hidden secret will be opened one by one, and it is already starting in this episode.
Btw, Jung Il Woo is not an angel right?
They watched Summer Scent, and thought,
“Hey! Let’s do that separated, then, lost in the woods thing.
YOU rescue her. Then I will cancel on a date a week later and you can ‘accidentily’ meet.”
i think episode 2 was much better than 1…and it seems to be shaping into my current Kdrama fix.
i already know how i want this show to end!!! hahah
the ending’s a shocker!
From the very first episode I knew there was something going on between them.
Reading the recap, all I could think about was.. he’s feeling guilty because he was cheating on her on the day of the accident.
DUDE, either this is a very predictable or I’m just that good. LOL
YES, he DID and still has feelings for ji hyun… but I have a prediction….
I think Han Kang will find out about the true Yi Kyung… where she works and how depressed she is…
I think her true character will grab Han Kang’s attention and he’ll start speculating that the daytime Yi KYung is not really the true Yi Kyung….
don’t know if that made any sense lol… just a prediction though!
But ultimately I want Yi Kyung and Hang Kang to be together… I’m sure the true yi kyung will slowly start changing when she being interacting with the other cast (HAN KANG!! :D)
his crush is pretty cute
and IF POSSIBLE…reaper boy and ji hyun to end up together. but i do like the hang kang/ji hyun pairing too, but only when she’s in yi kyung’s body. (i don’t really like the actress who plays ji hyun.)
I suspect YK will get with not-so-secret admirer too. A guy who is drawn to her and still tries to approach her even though she is frumpy, unresponsive, and depressed – that’s one special guy!
or if reaper boy is YK’s dead boyfriend, maybe she’ll offer to die in place of JH. giving her body up for JH to live with Kang while she goes off and becomes reaper’s assistance. LOL i’m really interested in how things will turn out.
Reaper boy is obviously the ex who died in a motorbike accident. I want him to end up with the glum woman….she used to be a queen in her past life btw.
I’m curious about it too and its fun since usually we get the idea who’s gonna end up with who even before the drama begin, or I’m just slower than Ji-hyun. Or maybe this is about a reaper who falls for human and begs God to make him one just like Nicholas Cage’s city of angel, or that just my excuse to ask more and more and more of Jung Il-woo.
Thanks GF, nice review.
Uh yes, Reaper Boy has a good chance of most likely being Yi Kyung’s dead boyfriend. Not only was the bf’s profile and clothing style similar to Reaper boy, the character description states that he has no memory of his previous life (most likely when he was alive).
It’s so obvious, it wasn’t even funny. But I am interested where it leads.
So far, I can’t really tell what’s going to happen as far as pairings go and I like that a lot. Loving this drama so far!
And seriously, I wouldn’t mind death if I had such a hot easily pissed off Reaper Boy to myself. . .
On a completely unrelated note. . .does Jihyun wear contacts or is her skin naturally that pale and eyes that dark? I just feel kind of creeped out when I’m watching her because everyone else in the drama look like regular pretty people but she looks like a porcelain doll.
At least it’s pretty.
I hope Ji-Hyun really helps Yi-Kyung get out of her depression and be friends. It can be one of those friendships where YK will keep JH grounded and JH will inject some life into YK’s world.
I hope the guilt will really tear In-jung and Min-ho in pieces. backstabbing bastards!
Love the reaper/scheduler!
are you and jb gonna do the alternate eps recap?
The door and the reaper was funny. Mmmm, wonder if reaper boy will fall in love… XDD
See, I’m getting interested in this drama already.
thanks for the recaps. i am enjoying this drama, especially since there are no other dramas to watch these days and it’s pretty good at balancing light fun w/deeper themes of true love (sunny happiness is another light tdrama that i just started).
i’m pretty sure the meeting in the mountains and in the movie theater weren’t fateful coincidences but set up by minho and injung. the previews said something about land so maybe they were trying to get ji hyun’s land? in any case, they both seem to feel guilty about lying to ji hyun and all i can wonder is who, then, will be her 3 people? perhaps the 3rd will be her host (played by lee yo won) or a character not yet introduced? i’m assuming the grim reaper can’t count even if he probably will end up warming to her.
I liked this one a lot more than the first episode, especially the end. I feel more invested in the characters anyway, in particularly Ji-hyun, who I’m pretty sure will have me banging my head against the wall throughout the drama, but at least I’m interested in her now.
Thanks for the recap jb & gf!
i know this is crazy but i enjoy watching jihyun and the scheduler. their interactions are cute! though i know it seems impossible but i would love to see them end up together somehow.
jung il woo is <3
Take me with you too! I can be your assistant Scheduler! XD
Nam Gyu Ri is a bit a awkward in the role. I feel like she’s lacking that spark that makes you really feel for Ji Hyun. With a more polished actress, Ji Hyun could be a very memorable and sympathetic character right from the start, but as of now she just comes off as very meh.
Lee Yo Won is ok. She’s not doing a bad job, but still, I feel like something is missing. The contrast between how she acts when she is Ji Hyun versus when she is Yi Kyung is not all that remarkable yet, I guess because we haven’t seen much of Yi Kyung and know her history or what she’s like.
I know that In Jung and Min ho are the “bad” guys but…they make a hot couple XD
And is it just me or has Jo Hyun Jae’s acting taken a step backward? There some parts where he seemed a little stiff. Then again, he’s been gone for 2 years so I’ll cut him some slack for now….
Anyways, the writing is better than the acting for now but hopefully the actors/actresses will improve. I couldn’t fully enjoy Dream High because of the stilted acting…
I’m hoping the writers cast Seo Ji Hye for a reason.
In the short and few scenes that she had, you can already see some depth in In Jung. I know Seo Ji Hye would be able to make me sympathize with In Jung, no matter how despicable the character becomes. I hope the writers take advantage of her abilities and really flesh out her character.
Nam Gyu Ri plays Ji Hyun kind of flat, so that’s keeping me from being too emotionally invested in her. Her facial expressions, especially when she’s talking, are also kind of awkward. That gets to be distracting and another reason why I’m having a hard time taking the character seriously.
Yi Kyung is just a really dull character at this point. I hope they tell us more about her so I could understand why I should even care about her.
And I agree about Jo Hyun Jae, I found him a bit awkward in a couple of scenes as well.
Wow, the plot thickens and I love every character. Even Nam Gyuri–despite everyones doubts, I think she picked a role that does not demand much nor is outside her capabilities. I think she’s perfect.
)))))
So…………….who does Nam Gyuri get paired up with in the end…???
KYAAA—i want her to be with reaper. Forever.
The best friend and the boyfriend…that was low. People dont do that.
ok, ok, they do that but it will cost you. Guilt, deep and burning guilt is a nice and good way.
Scheduler is awesome. More please! when he is irritated is better, its
so funny. She is like a little child. Contrary to the general opinion, I
like her. In both ways: semi-ghost and when she is in Yi-kyung body.
Thank you for the recap!
The fact that she is NOT sympathetic to the audience, and annoying, is how it should be now. She currently does not deserve to be loved by three people, so WE can’t like her either.
I’m not sure who I want Reaper Boy to end up with (ME!). It is too soon.
I only want Kang to be happy, no matter what. I love him with my heart.
and i want kang to be happy too…. even when he is being bad tempered he looks so sad, so lost, so needing to be loved… can i give him all the loving he needs?
To me she has that kind of loneness that makes her character understandable in a weird way.
hope Kang with Ji Hyun, reaper with Yi Kyung ( i guess some how they have a relation in the past, the somebody died on street, likely the reaper), MinHo with In Jung
she really fits the naive innocent Ji Hyun perfectly!
Now shipping Han Kang and Ji Hyun couple =)
By then, Yi Kyung will have become so accustomed to the Ji Hyun personality that she’ll continue with that personality. And, that is the personality that Kang loves.
Thank you so much for the recap.
i really enjoy LYW as Ji Hyun, she’s so much ADORABLE !!
so cute in every scene he makes..!!!!
This is a happy episode & just loving her acting… She’s so much fun to watch!
i really appeciate her acting…
banzai to lee yo won !!!!
funny and cute, i wanna see it more !!
This is one of the bests of Lee Yowon. I enjoyed this episode so much.
shes super cute when she smiles =)
more bubbly roles for LYW!!!
I anticipate every Jung Ilwoo scene!
p.s. is it just me, or is Jo Hyun-jae HOT??? he reminds me of Jung-woo from My Princess (sorry, forgotten the actors’ name). I think I’m getting old – the pretty boys no longer do it for me.
want to cuddle him too…. give him a great big hug…. been wanting to give him a great big hug since i read that he was totally devastated when his father died….
(and I meant JHJ)
In the scene after the flashback where he bangs his head on the counter at this house, then, after at Heaven.
TWJ + JHJ =
We get to see beautiful things when he wears TWS.
I am now a fan of TWS as I was of The Grey Sweater in MP.
I have to go back and check to see if the are jeans, and when he wears them. I’ll do that for the JJH team.
but thanks for the heads up (oooopppssss!!!!), will check it out right NOW hahaha
YES! I’m calling him the Prof (in my head) when I see him. Need to stop that.
I think it’s the eyes and/or the lips? And his face haha.
They look alike but I wouldnt mistake them for each other in a line-up
This switching bodies thing is not really my cup of tea; I didn’t watch SG precisely because of that. But this drama has got the cool and so cute Kang guy (can’t remember his name, sorry) whom I love. Saw him in Only You, and in Three Dads. Love his lips….they have these darling tilts at the corners. I’ve got a thing for tilts….first, the head tilt, now the lip tilt….oooooh
LOL at the tilting-thing
me too like his lips – sexy, curly, luscious lips…. mwah, mwah!!
(but why he doesn’t get a TAG for this post?)
omo, you can relate to CSW even at a 49 Days post. I think your symptoms are pretty serious.
Reaper Boy, are you gonna offer a “counseling session” to omo?
The story is getting more intriguing , can’t wait until the subs are out so I can watch them
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/03/49-days-episode-2/