Episode Recap
Horny ghost, Soon Ae (Kim Seul Gi) has possessed the body of Bong Sun (Park Bo Young) and is wreaking havoc by throwing Bong Sun’s boss, chef Sun Woo (Jo Jung Seok) to the ground. An embarrassed Sun Woo finally gets the requested pantry key off Soon Ae, and leaves her to be rebuked by the other chefs.
Fed up with everyone’s hysterics, Soon Ae attempts to exit Bong Sun’s body, but finds that she is stuck. The words of warning from shaman, Suhbingo ring in her ear. Soon Ae has a fit, and faints.
Soon Ae wakes up in Bong Sun’s body lying on a table. While the chefs are debating the cause of her collapse and whether to call her an ambulance, Soon Ae gets a peek at the crotches around her. She starts smacking her lips in anticipation, and sous chef, Min Soo (Kang Ki Young) calls her on her charade. Soon Ae sheepishly sits up.
Sun Woo is talking with his sister, Eun Hee (Shin Hye Sun) about Bong Sun’s resignation when Soon Ae walks in accidentally. Eun Hee leaves them alone and Soon Ae asks for her job back. Heeding his sister’s advice, Sun Woo gives Bong Sun a month to decide whether to stay in the culinary arts. Soon Ae jumps up and cheers, and a weirded out Sun Woo walks away.
Soon Ae is soon happily making herself at home in the professional kitchen, which is oddly familiar to her. When Min Soo attempts to offload his responsibility onto her, she flat out refuses. After her screaming match with Min Soo causes her colleagues to question what has become of Bong Sun, Soon Ae struggles to figure out what kind of person Bong Sun is.
In the middle of busy dinner service, Sun Woo is called into the police station. The obnoxious food blogger who Sun Woo threw out of his restaurant has reported him for assault, and filed a lawsuit. Sun Woo is joined by his brother-in-law, policeman Sung Jae (Im Joo Hwan) who tries to convince him to simply apologize. Sun Woo angrily welcomes the opportunity to go to court, instead.
Meanwhile, Soon Ae continues to weird her colleagues out. She betrays her ignorance about Bong Sun being the reason that Sun Woo threw the food blogger out. The chefs speculate that Bong Sun has snapped due to stress, and may go on a murderous rampage. The sight of Bong Sun excitedly wielding a knife sends the men running and screaming. Later, the chefs scream some more in the shower when they catch sight of Bong Sun nonchalantly staring at them.
Soon Ae ogles and attempts skinship with Cordon Bleu trained fellow chef, Joon (Kwak Si Yang) in the middle of dinner service. After work, she plies him with alcohol, but fails to get him to a love hotel. Soon Ae blames her failure on Bong Sun’s homely appearance. She is just as dismayed to see the windowless closet that Bong Sun lives in, though she is unfazed by the overabundance of ghosts that her host body attracts.
Sun Woo’s reputation and business suffer once the lawsuit goes public, but he stubbornly refuses to settle. His mother decides to apologize and pay off the blogger behind his back. Sun Woo confronts his mother, and rather than thanking her, he bitterly brings up how she failed to support him as a child. Thankfully, his mother does not take the high road, and chooses to smack Sun Woo then demand that he pay her back the settlement amount.
During a visit at the grave site of their mutual friend, Sun Woo’s friend, PD So Hyeong (Park Jung Ah) reiterates her offer of a spot on her cooking competition show. Sun Woo is compelled to accept the opportunity to revive public opinion of him. He asks Min Soo to serve as his second during the competition, and Min Soo eagerly accepts in spite of being ready to abandon Sun Woo and his restaurant.
Unfortunately, Min Soo soon fails Sun Woo by forgetting the chef’s personal knife. After receiving a call from Min Soo, Soon Ae sets out for the TV studio with Sun Woo’s knife, and almost runs into shaman, Suhbingo while exiting the restaurant. Suhbingo has been hired by Sun Woo’s concerned mother to review her son’s physiognomy in order to read his fortune. Soon Ae coughs as she rushes by to mask the jingling of Suhbingo’s necklace.
After Min Soo gets himself locked out of the television studio, Sun Woo is forced to have Soon Ae assist him in the competition, in spite of having banned her from his restaurant kitchen. However, he directs her to leave everything to him.
On air, Sun Woo is transparent about his reason for participating, hilariously stating that his hands are for cooking, not hurting. However, the odds are not in his favour when the competing dish is a rice meal that a mother would feed her hungover son. Being neither a fan of rice nor a recipient of mother’s cooking, Sun Woo finds himself making rookie mistakes like burning the rice.
Soon Ae saves the day by turning the dish into Burnt Rice Pollack Soup. Sun Woo wins the competition, and Soon Ae is obligated to continue assisting Sun Woo on air for the sake of continuity, despite Min Woo’s pleas to be given a second chance. Sun Woo gratefully allows Soon Ae back in his kitchen.
As Soon Ae wonders how she came up with the idea of Burnt Rice Pollack Soup, she spots a man passed out on the street from drink. She manages to drag him to the police station where Sung Jae recognizes the sloshed man as the son of the owner of a deteriorating restaurant that the policeman persistently patronizes.
When the restaurant owner arrives at the station, Soon Ae is flooded with memories of cooking Burnt Rice Pollack Soup for her father’s popular restaurant. She is devastated to realize that the restaurant owner and his son are her father and brother.
Comments
Only 만: This episode had me laughing so hard at one point that I had to leave the room lest I scare my significant other.
Junggugeo Kaenada 중국어 캐나다: Same here. I cackled a lot, and then I teared up at the end. This episode really provoked a roller coaster of emotions.
Only: Well, I didn’t cry, but I will admit it was sad. The team behind this show is the only one to have made me cry at a K-drama, so I know it’s coming at some point.
I can’t think of a clever segue, but how about we go through what you liked in this episode?
Junggugeo Kaenada: I simply like how raunchy Soon Ae is. Her leering at men’s crotches, attempt to bed her colleague, Joon, and random fondling are all fantastic. I also appreciate how readily she stands up for herself. It is such a relief from the many K-drama heroines who are exactly like the submissive Bong Sun.
Only: That said, I hope this is not the last we see of Bong Sun, because that would be weird. Actually, I’m hoping Soon Ae and Bong Sun will start interacting with each other at some point.
Junggugeo Kaenada: True, I don’t want Bong Sun to become an afterthought like Gong Yoo’s body in “Big”. But, for once, the female lead is allowed to be the one in the spotlight. Male lead, Sun Woo is actually the straight man. I have no objection to his character, but Soon Ae really does overtake him in being ridiculously entertaining.
Only: I think it would be hard for anyone to compete with Soon Ae for sheer entertainment value. The thing I find interesting is that all the leads are funny, but also really sad in some way. Bong Sun, if she ever comes back, with her crippling meekness and ability to see ghosts; Soon Ae, what with being dead and all; and Sun Woo, who basically spends his evenings Googling himself and eating instant ramen. Even Soon Ae’s raunchiness is weirdly poignant.
Junggugeo Kaenada: I agree; no one is a one-dimensional punchline. I think we have gushed enough. Was there anything you did not like about this episode?
Only: Not really. The only negative thing I could say is that my expectations are now absurdly high for the next episode.
Junggugeo Kaenada: If I am picky, I would say that Sun Woo’s mother is weirdly uncompelling in spite of having a very colourful background. Plus, I am distracted by how absurdly young the actress playing her is. I know she is supposed to have been 19 years old when she had Sun Woo, but that means the actress should not be less than 10 years older than the actor playing her son. No wonder everyone keeps mistaking them for a couple. Other K-dramas have had a romantic scenario with that age gap.
Only: I didn’t give it much thought, probably because they keep joking about it. I did laugh when she was telling him what a bad guy he was in the hallway, then had to explain to her students that he was her son, not her boyfriend.
Any last words?
Junggugeo Kaenada: I am looking forward to the next episode, though like you, I am cautious. I fear that we have reached such heights of excellence that the show can only falter in logic or pacing. Please don’t fail us, “Oh My Ghost”.
Aaaahhhhh, loving it!
I’m feeling a little sad that Joon (Kwak Si Yang) will end up being in a one sided love because the actor can do heartbreak like no other and I really hope I won’t fall for the third (fourth? Fifth?) lead again. I’m a huge fan of Kwak Si Yang, more than the male lead so……..
Plus, I really really really love Kim Seung Gi and I’m sad that we’ll get glimpses of her in this drama. She is the main character (so far more than Bong Sun) yet I yearn for more.. Lol
I’m also thinking, is the handsome cop Soon Ae’s ex-boyfriend who married Sun Woo’s sister when Soon Ae died. Because she seemed to be immediately attracted to him. Its just a thought. Because why else would he be the main lead if he is already married… Or, or…. Ohmygawd! He might be Soon Ae’s murderer because he seems to be so kind and loving now. Maybe he turned a new leaf after he killed her. Maybe accidentally?
My head is roaming with possibilities!!!! Lol. Thanks for the joint recap, lovelies.. I will definitely check this out!
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Glad someone said it first: is the cop heroically dedicated to finding Soon Ae’s killer? Soon Ae’s remorseful accidental killer? Or Soon Ae’s unapologetic killer? Knowing how kdramas love their twisty darkness for the OTP, there are a lot of ways this could go, so stock up on tissues now.
I LOVED King of HS Savvy so much, and this show is such a treat.
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Thank you very kamsa for the recap, ladies Noonas XD! So many questions on IJH’s character, indeed! In 49 Days the second (or maybe it’s the first) male lead was the bad guy but that doesn’t fit well in this drama’s plot up till now; who knows what it’s there for us in the next weeks, though XD!
The mother issue, on the sidenote, was funny enough; in terms of age, I could see any actress in this role. An even younger one could have been even more hilarious, suggesting anything from cosmetic surgery to something like a theatrical role distribution. BTW, I can truly feel as if I’m a theatre audience while watching this drama; all the performances, the plot, the rotation of the sets have a BBC’s production vibe or a theatrical one. I like it so much and looking forward to the next episodes. I’m just praying for decent ratings for the obvious reasons…this is tvN afer all, right? 😉
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The ratings are 2.655% for the first two episodes which is AMAZING for a cable drama.
I think tvN got another hit =D
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Pheeewwww!! Good news *doing the happy dance* tvN has then no reason for cancelling the drama! Thank, God!!
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