Is it just me, or does Gun look sort of vampiric here? It’s just me, right?
Side dish: Both Gun and Mi Young had miserable birthdays, but more importantly, neither one had any birthday cake. For my next birthday, and it’s coming up in September (hint hint), I want someone to bake me this cake in the shape of Jupiter from Cakecrumbs.
Episode Recap
Madcap chaebol Lee Gun (Jang Hyuk) finally puts the moves on a receptive Kim Mi Young (Jang Na Ra) as they kiss in front of the auction house.
Despite this leap forward, they still end up spending a chaste night together at home. Gun turns into a touchy-feely Mr. Hyde in bed, but he dampens his impulses by taking a cold shower. The next morning, Gun sees his psychiatrist, who watches him freak out before telling him that it’s okay to desire his wife. Unconvinced, Gun turns to the bible, but even that fails in the face of his snail fantasies.
While Gun’s half-brother Yong basks in Gun’s approval, his stepmother snoops around and finds the divorce agreement. All unawares, Gun and Mi Young have an ultrasound appointment with Dr. Octopus then go shopping for baby stuff. They end the day by discovering that they have the same birthday, and it’s the day after tomorrow. They sleep, with two teddy bears standing guard between them.
Back in New York, Gun’s ex-girlfriend Se Ra (Wang Ji Won) is having a meltdown over losing Gun. Meanwhile, Daniel (Choi Jin Hyuk) is looking longingly at a photograph of his sister when Mi Young visits his café. Mi Young wishes to paint Gun’s portrait on a mug for his birthday, and Daniel redirects his longing looks at her instead.
At the office, Secretary Tak gets a pat on the bottom for arranging a perfect birthday for Gun and Mi Young. At home, Yong bonds with Mi Young over fish eyes in the seafood soup she prepared for him.
The next morning, Mi Young pops out of the shower in a towel, only to run into Gun, who barely contains himself from turning into his lustful alter ego.
Before they can go celebrate their birthday, however, the news of their divorce agreement breaks and it’s a crisis in Gun’s family. Grandma blames Gun and collapses. Mi Young’s mom shows up to drag her daughter away, after giving everyone a piece of her mind. Gun eventually goes after them, but is stopped by Mi Young’s mom’s accusation that he made Mi Young miserable.
With Mi Young gone, it’s up to Secretary Tak to get Gun fired up about saving his position in the company. Instead, Gun gets fired up about reuniting with Mi Young for her birthday. The Romeo and Juliet strategy has Gun, Secretary Tak, and Lawyer Hoon break through the reporters outside the house by disguising themselves as high school students.
Mi Young also uses the Romeo and Juliet method to get out of her mother’s restaurant. This kinky cosplay ends with her friend, Ji Yeon kissing an unwilling Yong while the throng of reporters cheer on.
En route to the rendez vous, Secretary Tak gets news that a shareholder meeting is being convened to replace Gun. Gun refuses to go and Secretary Tak ends up yelling in his face to snap him out of his stupor. Neither gets what they want when Gun passes out in the middle of the road.
Gun ends up in the hospital, while Mi Young, unaware of what is going on, continues to wait at their meeting place. While Se Ra, who has arrived from New York, appears by Gun’s bedside, Daniel comes to Mi Young and tells her he can’t take watching her be hurt anymore.
Comments
Only 만: This episode was so confusing.
Junggugeo Kaenada 중국어 캐나다: It was not that bad. It was just nonsensical. And yet, I liked it more than episode 9.
만: I didn’t get the reaction of Mi Young’s mom or Gun’s grandmother to the reveal of the contract marriage, and the giant catastrophe that followed it. I mean, yes, they appear to have an agreement, but they wouldn’t even listen to the explanation, which was reasonable. Instead everyone acted like Gun and Mi Young had committed an unforgivable sin.
중국어 캐나다: Yes, the family’s reaction to Gun and Mi Young’s contract marriage seemed excessive, but I put it down to the Korean culture and the fear of bad PR for the company. I could be wrong.
만: I can understand the reaction to the bad press, but for Gun and Mi Young’s family and their reaction in private, I’m utterly baffled. The idea that after being browbeaten into a marriage by their relatives that Gun and Mi Young would just happily continue as they were is ridiculous. Frankly, my reaction would be more in line with Gun’s initial reaction, as in, “How do I get out of this?” Versus Mi Young, who was all too ready to immediately jump into a relationship. Sure, he acted like an ass, but at the same time, his feelings of wanting to escape are understandable. Instead of listening to that, his grandmother collapsed and acted like he’d strangled the baby with his bare hands.
중국어 캐나다: That was a low point of this episode. Then, they added Gun’s collapse, which is probably his unidentified illness rearing its head just as we need more drama.
만: Right. I hope we don’t end up with some lame noble idiocy storyline, or amnesia or something equally stupid. But, we’ve been ranting so far. Let’s accentuate the positive.
중국어 캐나다: Pretty much everything else that did not really advance the main plot was crazy entertainment. Gun gave us what was possibly the least sexy shower scene in K-drama. Of course, Gun was just trying to give the alter ego inside him a cold shower to prevent him from boning his wife. It would seem that his psychiatrist is acquainted with this side of Gun, because he did not appear alarmed.
만: I think he’s just acquainted with Gun, so he’s probably used to the crazy. Actually, if his unidentified illness turns out to be that the alter ego takes over, I’ll be glued to the screen for the next episode.
중국어 캐나다: Gun’s illness appears to be infectious. How else to explain the secretary who practically begs for a pat on the bottom from his boss, Gun? Or, everyone going along with the Romeo and Juliet scenario that involved dressing up as high school students?!
만: I have no idea. But, watching Ji Yeon take the opportunity to jump on Yong was worth it.
중국어 캐나다: I loved it! Company President Park and the journalists all egging them on to be more risqué. I laughed pretty hard watching Yong frantically flap his hand in protest.
만: Hamo hamo!
중국어 캐나다: It’s cute that Yong has decided to help out. He and Ji Yeon may become my favourite couple if they keep up this aggressive noona scenario.
How did you like Daniel this episode? I feel like he has been getting irate a lot, which both he and Mi Young have noted. The writers should take note and stop him before he becomes a rageaholic.
만: Telling Mi Young to be more assertive in one breath and then yelling at her for not listening to him with the other is a bit much.
중국어 캐나다: I noticed that Daniel chose to embarrass Mi Young by catching her in a lie rather than leave her alone at the end of the episode.
만: This is one of those moments played for pointless drama. Why would he watch her from afar at all?
중국어 캐나다: So, the writers have separated Gun and Mi Young, and placed the second leads as barriers to their love along with Gun’s illness. They are ramping up the drama.
만: I don’t object to that, because there should be a story in there somewhere. My main issue is that everyone this episode painted Mi Young as a victim, excepting the board members of Gun’s family company who painted her as a money-grubbing harlot. Her protests just seemed like bravery in the face of bad circumstances, as if Gun had been horrible to her all along, and she’d suffered in silence. I can’t believe she didn’t even manage to refute that convincingly.
중국어 캐나다: I wonder if Mi Young will ever grow a backbone. She says she no longer wants to be a post-it note, but she remains pretty flimsy. Oh no, are we starting to come down from our initial “Fated to Love You” high?
만: No, no. Our relationship with the show is just becoming more complicated.
중국어 캐나다: Like “Fated to Love You”.
Fated to Love You (운명처럼 널 사랑해)
Noonas Over Forks 
I think this is the first time that I actually sympathized with grandma. The elders only care about the family’s reputation which affects the company’s and therefore their pockets. But grandma was dissappointed at Gun. I believe not because of the divorce itself but because it looked like he was buying the baby from Mi Young. It does make both Mi Young and Geon look really bad.
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I’m not asking for a lot from Grandma, or Mi Young’s mom for that matter; I just want them to ask Gun and Mi Young for an explanation before flying off the handle. I know that it looks bad, but Grandma collapsing and laying a guilt trip on Gun instead of talking to him is too much, as is Mi Young’s mom dragging her away without so much as listening to her. Remember that these two are the ones that browbeat them into hastily (in one day!) getting married in the first place, again without asking for an explanation or listening to the two of them.
Anyway, I’m still enjoying the show, so I’ll swallow it again this time, but I’m not going to have much sympathy for either Grandma or Mi Young’s mom, whatever their good intentions, or however bad it looked.
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I agree! I think the idea is that both Mi Young and Geon will evolve and stop being dragged and manipulated but their families. There is time since we are in the middle of the drama :p
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As frustrating as it might be, people like Mi Young, do make people around her feel they are victims. This was to me, believable as well. What I like so far is she does not believe this herself. She does need to grow a backbone but it would be hard to believe it if she does it overnight. She was brave enough to declare in front of everyone that she loves Geon.
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Yes I agree. We’ve seen a few hints along the way of her recognising the need to step up, and that declaration is a step forward. I think one of the problems is the passage of time on this show, and I think it may be an editing issue. While we feel like a significant time has passed, judging by what she said here, it’s still only been about one or two months. So I’d give her more leeway to find her footing. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
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I hope her continued growth is a part of the story, rather than just more catastrophes keeping them apart. Fingers crossed!
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Yes, although we could say that this catastrophe was initiated by the contract, which terms were cold and ugly, and that was Geon’s mistake? So again, it would be their mistakes causing the problem of course with a little help of others :p
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Btw I clicked again, cause of that picture of Geon and the snail! He looks like he is from a fairy tale. Too funny!
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I like the glasses on the snail myself…
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I have been looking forward to reading your take on the 2nd half of this episode. I am not reading other blogs until my own is done and posted.
This episode could have been titled “It takes a village to interfer with a relationship”.
I was surprised to see Daniel move into a more than friends mode or whatever happened this episode. He and Mi Young click as sibs and he clicks with Lee Gun as protective bro would. The switch seemed abrupt.
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I’m not really seeing a lot of romantic chemistry with Daniel, and in fact, he didn’t really confess his love for her in the last scene. He just said he couldn’t stand seeing her hurt anymore, and that he wasn’t going to hold back. My guess is that he’s going to try to keep Gun and Mi Young apart, because he perceives Mi Young as a victim in this relationship. If it does go romantic, then I agree with you; it’s way too abrupt.
As for the second half of the episode, as you can see, I was most bothered by Mi Young’s mom and Gun’s grandmother, though they were true to form. Daniel’s sudden larger role (whatever it is), and Se Ra’s return were a bit abrupt, but not unexpected; The two characters exist for a reason, and I guess they have to step in at some point. I just hope we’re not going to get a lame amnesia storyline here. I mean, I’ve knocked my head once, and fainted a few times; if dramas are to be believed, I should have forgotten whole swathes of my life this way… then again, I may have… uh oh…
Love your comments btw! Always thoughtful.
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I am glad if Daniel’s declaration was not romantic. It was unclear. I like him as brother NOT lover.
While I do not dig Se Ra she did get a quick dismissal from LG on a long term relationship. That is my single concession to her.
What is with the hitting by the elders? Mom hitting MY and Grandma hitting LG.
So with you on amensia. I generally consider that a cop out cliche from a writer.
Enjoy your opinions too. This whole blog thing is fun.
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