Let’s Eat 2 Episode 16 recap

Episode Recap

In a panic, because he thinks he’s been caught, roof dweller, Joo Seung runs to dig up his stash of money in the mountains, only to find the place swarming with people and police tape surrounding it. He panics and runs to the bus station, but just as he’s about to buy a ticket with the little money he has left, he hears a news report of an archeological artifact being found on the mountain, hence the crowd of people. Instead, Joo Seung stores his bag in a locker, and runs off.

Meanwhile, writer, Soo Ji, and fast-talking insurance salesman, Dae Young are out to dinner, eating soondae. They argue as per usual, but when it turns out that they can get a half-half order, they settle down, and proceed to orgasmically stuff their faces. When Soo Ji comments on how they seem to be agreeing on everything, Dae Young disagrees, saying that this is how his girlfriend eats soondae. Already taken aback, Soo Ji drops her chopsticks when Dae Young’s girlfriend calls him away from the table. But, it was all a dream, and Soo Ji wakes up in bed. Rather than face the fact that she was dreaming about Dae Young, Soo Ji decides that her dream was about spicy, stir-fried soondae, instead. Soo Ji gets up to exercise in anticipation of eating soondae, but stops short of exiting when she realizes that Dae Young is also leaving his apartment. She stares at him through the peephole as he makes plans to eat with someone else.

Land lady, Mi Ran, and beauty blogger/student Hye Rim are feeding neighbourhood Pomeranian, Barassi 2.0, when Dae Young comes out of the villa on his way to work. He asks them for an update on elderly neighbour, Jeom Yi, but there’s no change either way.

Soo Ji goes to work at the government office, and ends up overhearing people gossiping about her relationship with her boyfriend, civil servant, Sang Woo at the elevator. When she gets in to her meeting, only In Na is present. In Na chews her out for not being as early as usual, since Sang Woo is no longer attending their meetings. Before they can start, another co-worker comes in on a made-up errand in order to check out Soo Ji. Annoyed, Soo Ji takes off, while In Na stays to gossip. In the washroom, Soo Ji has to contend with more gossip, and this time, she confronts her detractors.

Dae Young meets with his friend from another insurance company (a cameo by Yoon Doo Joon’s Beast bandmate, Yang Yo Seob). They pause to eat orgasmically, then his friend offers him a job with a different insurance company that would allow Dae Young to return to Seoul.

Meanwhile, at the Sejong government office, In Na comes running to tell Soo Ji the latest rumour: that she beat someone up in the washroom. Soo Ji tells her what really happened, and In Na runs off to pass on this new tidbit to the rumour mill. Frustrated, Soo Ji clutches her aching stomach.

On their way out of the restaurant, Dae Young discovers a scratch on his car. He vows to find the culprit using his black box camera, but when he watches the footage, he discovers that the car had been scratched on a different day. Going through old recordings, he smiles as watches footage of Soo Ji’s antics in front of the villa. Before he figures out how his car was scratched, he finds a video of Joo Seung’s previous suspicious behaviour. Dae Young asks a listless Taek Soo to forward him the email about Joo Seung’s insurance file.

Back in the forest, Joo Seung stares blankly at the closed off archaeological dig site. Within the barrier, Sang Woo calls Soo Ji to ask her to meet later. Soo Ji turns him down, citing his exhaustion as the reason. Sang Woo is not convinced, and asks if anything is wrong. Soo Ji flashes back to when he told her to be open with him, but regardless, she lies and says she’s fine. After they hang up, Soo Ji gets off the bus to go to the hospital. There, she discovers that her stomach pains are due to stress. On her way out, she drops by to check in on the still unconscious Jeom Yi.

Just as she’s about to leave the hospital, Soo Ji runs into Dae Young on his way to visit Jeom Yi. Worried for her health, Dae Young counsels Soo Ji to eat more and diet less. He’s about to ask her out to dinner, but stops himself, since he assumes that she’ll be eating dinner with Sang Woo. Soo Ji doesn’t bother to correct him, and he looks longingly after her, as she walks away.

Meanwhile, Joo Seung is still waiting for an opportunity to get his money out at the archaeological dig site.

The next day, Soo Ji is at work in the government office, when she overhears two people discussing a rumour. She steps up to defend herself again, but before she can, she realizes that they’re talking about In Na being separated from her husband. Soo Ji goes in to the usual meeting to find that In Na is a weepy mess. Instead of talking about work, they go out for drinks instead.

Back at the insurance company, Dae Young is wearing a ridiculous jacket while he looks into Joo Seung’s file. Taek Soo points out how suspicious Joo Seung looks, especially since his parents, who were supposed to have committed suicide, actually made dinner beforehand. Between that and Joo Seung’s previous suspicious behaviour, Dae Young comes to the conclusion that something is off. He asks Taek Soo to hold off on reporting Joo Seung until he can speak with him.

Back at the dig site, Joo Seung’s break has finally come when the archeologists start packing up for the night. Just as he’s about to go retrieve his money, Joo Seung gets an angry call from Hye Rim, who is annoyed that he didn’t show up to pick her up from work. Disappointed at having missed his chance, Joo Seung runs back to get Hye Rim.

Back at the villa, Dae Young knocks on the door of Joo Seung’s rooftop container, then lets himself in. He’s called back out again by the barking of Barassi 2.0, and looks down at the street from the edge of the roof. Below, Joo Seung drops off Hye Rim, then takes a shovel and leaves, with Barassi 2.0 barking at him all the while.

Dae Young follows Joo Seung, but loses him in the woods. Lucky for him, Barassi 2.0 has come along, and he’s barking while Joo Seung digs a hole. Just as Joo Seung is about to silence Barassi 2.0 with his shovel, Dae Young tackles him, and overpowers him after a scuffle. He drags him back to the villa so they can have a talk.

Back at the villa, the police have arrived, looking Joo Seung. All unawares, Mi Ran and Hye Rim point him out when he shows up. Joo Seung makes a break for it, but he doesn’t get far before he’s caught and arrested for insurance fraud. As the police drive him away, Dae Young calls Taek Soo to berate him for ratting out Joo Seung, but Taek Soo denies that it was him.

Meanwhile, Soo Ji turns down another date with Sang Woo, but this time, because she’s out drinking with a miserable In Na. When Soo Ji returns to the bar, In Na confesses that she kept up her failed marriage in order to maintain appearances. Soo Ji looks thoughtful when In Na says that deceiving her heart was the most tiring part. In full-on monologue mode, In Na apologizes to Soo Ji for gossiping about her, since she has learned that she doesn’t like being the subject of gossip herself. But, In Na points out, on the upside, she has displaced Soo Ji as the hottest topic. They empty their glasses at this cheerful thought.

In Na, unfortunately, drinks herself into a drunken stupor, and Soo Ji ends up having to carry her back to her apartment. She dumps In Na on the bed, but her annoyance fades when In Na starts crying over her divorce in her sleep. Soo Ji thinks back to In Na’s words about deceiving her heart.

At the police station, Joo Seung is being questioned over a stabbing at the hospital, with a perplexed Dae Young next to him. It gets more confusing as it becomes apparent that the police identified Lee Joo Seung from his fingerprints, then tracked him to his address via the phone company. Finally, Joo Seung admits that he’s not Lee Joo Seung, but instead, An Chan Soo.

It’s the morning after at the villa, and In Na wakes up to a hangover in Soo Ji’s bed. In Na wakes Soo Ji up to bring her water, then refuses to go to work when Soo Ji notices that they’re already late. The idea of living alone is so novel to In Na that she doesn’t get why Soo Ji’s apartment is so small. Their conversation is interrupted by Mi Ran pounding on her door, and Soo Ji pushes In Na to hide in the washroom while she goes to talk to Mi Ran. Mi Ran reveals that Joo Seung has been arrested for insurance fraud, and for stabbing a doctor. Neither of them knows what to make of it, but they decide to go to the police station together. As Mi Ran goes to get Hye Rim, Soo Ji lets In Na out of the washroom, and tells her to just shut the door behind her after she leaves. Instead, In Na goes back to sleep on her bed.

At the police station, Mi Ran, Hye Rim, and Soo Ji get the whole story from Dae Young, that Joo Seung’s real name is An Chan Soo, and that he was a runaway who ended up working and sleeping on a construction site. There, he was terrorized by the real Lee Joo Seung, who beat him up and took away his money.

One day, Lee Joo Seung came home with a bag full of money, and told Chan Soo that he was going to leave forever. Chan Soo asked for his money back, but Lee Joo Seung only beat him up more. Finally, they got into a scuffle, and Lee Joo Seung hit his head. Believing he was dead, Chan Soo took the bag of money and ran. The real Lee Joo Seung lost his memory, and thus wasn’t able to find Chan Soo. With impeccable timing, Chan Soo is led past them in handcuffs just as the story comes to an end. A tear tracks down Chan Soo’s cheek as he looks at Hye Rim.

Meanwhile, back at the government office, Sang Woo gets a taste of the rumour mill. A co-worker approaches him at the coffee machine to ask if he was dating Soo Ji, because he’d knocked her up. He angrily tells the guy that he asked Soo Ji out first, and characteristically curses as he walks away.

On their way home, Dae Young mentions that he’s going to ask a favour of a lawyer he knows regarding Joo Seung’s complicated case. Their conversation is cut off by Soo Ji’s cell phone. She takes a call from Sang Woo, and agrees to meet with him, but her eyes are trained on Dae Young the whole time.

Sang Woo and Soo Ji sit together at the park, and Sang Woo apologizes about the rumours he has caused. As a freelancer, Soo Ji isn’t too concerned for herself, since he’s the one who has to keep working there. But, she points out that the rumours are partly true, that she did approach him because of his good specs. Sang Woo looks stricken, but recovers quickly, pointing out that he started to date her out of curiosity himself. Soo Ji is not to be deterred, and asks to break up. Sang Woo wonders if it’s because of Dae Young, pointing out that he noticed her feelings for him already. When Soo Ji apologizes, Sang Woo tells her not to, since they won’t be breaking up. He grabs her hand as Soo Ji’s jaw drops.

Comments

WTF, Sang Woo. If the first thing that comes out of your mouth in the next episode isn’t “Just kidding! Let’s definitely break up.” then I’ll have to abandon my good impression of you.

I really hope this show isn’t aiming to turn Sang Woo into a crazy person just to make Dae Young seem like a better option. Regardless, I’m glad that Soo Ji acknowledged that chasing Sang Woo for his specs alone was problematic; I’m just sorry that it took her developing feelings for Dae Young, a bunch of gossipy co-workers, and In Na’s breakdown to figure it out. In retrospect, it’s pretty clear that Soo Ji never developed feelings for Sang Woo as a person. Instead, she chased him based on his specs (and his looks), and when she landed him, she was unable to relax enough to build a convincing relationship.

As for a relationship with Dae Young, who am I to say that a mutual love of food can’t be the basis of a relationship? It’s at least part of the basis for my own relationship (now if I can only get my significant other to start watching K-dramas). And, Yoon Doo Joon and Seo Hyun Jin have done a pretty good job of conveying their characters’ longing for each other. Let’s hope they have as much chemistry when they actually get together.

As for Joo Seung/Chan Soo, here’s hoping he doesn’t get an instant K-drama redemption just because he wept at Hye Rim; attacking a Pomeranian with a shovel and having fights with old ladies isn’t indicative of a healthy mind. Also, is it just me, or did they arrest him for insurance fraud when they should have arrested him for stabbing the doctor? No wonder Dae Young looked so confused.

Anyway, the food in this episode was pretty good. Thanks to Soo Ji’s dream, we have now added a soondae restaurant to our list of places to eat in Los Angeles during KCON.

Soondae (순대) feast, including white soondae (백순대), spicy stir-fried soondae (순대볶음) with chewy noodles (쫄면), and soondae soup (순대국)

I’ve had soondae before, but this looks fantastic. I can’t wait to eat it again in LA.

Kimchi stew (김치찌개) and braised kimchi (김치찜)

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Let’s Eat 2 (식샤를 합시다 2)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 || series review