I think I love this drama for all of the reasons why I shouldn’t. It’s definitely not exploring new territories, it looks and acts like the daily drama it is, and it hasn’t been subtitled yet. Basically, there are going to be birth secrets, inappropriate relationships, an abundance of female histrionics, and all in a language I can’t understand*. I have already watched the first twelve episodes.
This show gives some of my favorite supporting actors more time to shine. It doesn’t really have a mainstream actress or actor, but contains characters by people I have loved in their previous incarnations. The young love interest, Jung Eun Woo, of the main girl is played by the dude from H.I.T.- the ultra professional cop who rode his bike to work J, and the main girl, Jang Shin Young, is the boy band manager from I Am Legend. I always sort of wished she would end up with the has-been rock-star composer guy. I loved him. Anyway, the real reason I am watching this is for the old man, Han Jin Hee, who marries the young heroine. That sounds really sleazy and sad all at the same time as I write this, but how can I not love him? He’s the dad from The Greatest Love (and about every other Korean drama ever). I do miss his Hyun Bin homage of a sparkly tracksuit, but I am certain I will adapt to his more mainstream look as the show progresses. Oh, and the restaurant manager from 49 Days plays his sidekick/secretary (who I’m thinking may be evil, but not entirely sure at this point). It’s a good thing that this drama is so blatant in its acting as otherwise I am certain I would never figure out what’s going on. Then again, I may never (which is half the fun).
The plot of the show seems pretty straight forward. A hardworking young girl’s life goes to rack and ruin, a lonely, but extensively rich old man rescues her from certain doom- probably working as a hostess somewhere (although we haven’t gotten that far yet)- and she moves on up as his trophy wife.
· These recaps are totally subject to conjecture based on body language and background music as my understanding of the Korean language pretty much consists of Oppa and other nomenclatures.
Episode 1
We begin by meeting our plucky heroine, Kim Hyo Won, as she does all sorts of odd jobs with a cheery smile designed to make us fall in love with her resourcefulness and positive stance on life. However, all is not perfect in her sunny world as we soon see from her interactions with a sick little brother. At home, Hyo Won visits with little bro who seems just as cheerful as she is. She chats with mom, who comes off a little ditzy, and dad, Maeng Sang Hoon, enters. Dad is the obedient servant/secretary to the Chairman in My Princess, but in this he is an unemployed father whose future is beginning to look up.
Next morning, Hyo Won heads off to her new job at a resort/water park with her friend, who may also be related- so I’ll refer to her as Cuz in the future. They stop their tour of the facilities to gape at the costumed divers performing at a waterfall looking thing. On a side note, I had a friend of a friend who used to do performance diving in college, and the looks the two girls give the main diver is totally the same as the looks girls used to give him. This is the moment where our heroine gets a good look at Choi Jin Hyeok. He confidently acknowledges the crowd below and leaps to his certain death. Well, it would be certain if we didn’t know that he was a diver, performing at waterpark, and not the kind of guy to kill himself in front of a multitude of small children. He may be wearing eyeliner, but it doesn’t seem to be a psychological statement.
Enter a confident, beautiful woman with a gun. She, Lee Ye Ryun, is the daughter of our yet to be met future old bridegroom. She kinda scares me…and the guy in charge of the guns- Kim Sung Oh. I have no idea if he plays a bigger role in this drama, but he made me laugh in Secret Garden as Hyun Bin’s secretary and made me cry as the serial killer in Sign. Anyway, Ye Ryun totally has issues. She works in the office of this large resort under the supervision (possibly?) of Cuz and where Hyo Won will also work as a new employee. Speaking of Hyo Won, she is walking around the park carrying a box of stuff while Cuz runs by like she really, really has to go… and be in the line of employees at the building entrance to greet the arriving CEO, Lee Kang Ro. He yells his subordinates; therefore we know he’s gruff and intimidating. People skills are probably not his strength. Meanwhile, Hyo Won is still wandering around with her box. It turns out she needs to get a badge from the men’s locker room. Lo and behold, who should be changing and not respond to her repeated calls to determine if the room is clear, but our sculpted diver. We know he is sculpted because our eye widen just as hers do to see him in only a towel. Unlike our heroine, we do not avert our eyes or scream. Well, maybe a slight squeal. She talks hurriedly and he teases. Ah, what a nice smile. She maneuvers her way around him with her hand shielding her eyes from his partial nudity. And now we know she is a good girl. She grabs the badge and slinks back around him, all the while keeping her eyes protected from the prettiness. He just smiles and continues to put on lotion. But then, she gets angry at the absurdity of the situation and confronts him. So, now we know she has gumption. They banter back and forth in the early stages of “getting to know you”. Seriously, has he put on enough lotion yet? She clumsily runs away.
Lee Kang Ro, Lee Ye Ryun, and Park Tae Ho (the secretary/second-in-command guy) meet in daddy dearest’s office to discuss something that does not please Ye Ryun. If we had a drinking game for the number of times she smiles, we would be stone cold sober for a very long time. She leaves, and Kang Ro and Tae Ho continue to talk. There’s an Egyptian looking statue balancing a plant stand on its head in a corner of this office. I want it. The guys give off a vibe that they have known each other for a very long time. There are probably not any secrets between them.
Cuz enters the room dramatically, frazzled under the stress that the CEO brings to his employees. Both girls head off to the local fortunetelling booth at the park. The cards Hyo Won chooses pique the interest of madam fortuneteller and we gain a sense of murkiness foreshadowing Hyo Won’s future. Before the last card is revealed, Hyo won purposefully refuses to see it. She may like the idea of not knowing what the future holds (and I guess I do too as I am watching this drama by choice) but I bet in a few episodes she’s going to wish she had peeked. The girls run off, and mysterious music plays in the background as the camera focuses on the lone un-turned card.
Finally, we meet the Other Woman. At least, I think she is. I’m fairly certain she is Kang Ro’s ex-wife and the mother of his children. I’m not entirely certain that they are divorced at this point, but theirs is not an amicable relationship. She is the epitome of the wealthy elegance of women of a certain age. One glance reveals that she liked to look well, eat well, and live pretentiously. She gives off an aura of superiority and is not the kind of woman I enjoy meeting- unless, she is unequivocally on my side. She is also going to be the antagonist in this series (I’m not sure if Ye Ryun is going to be actively evil like her mother, but she has her own story line, so we’ll see). I so love the moment when cold ex-wife and cold ex-husband pass each other in the hall followed by their respective underlings and a daughter following behind. I think they only have two daughters, but there might be three. Other daughter, who lacks a backbone, follows the mother. There’s a dinner scene following this with both daughters eating with the mother. They clearly live with her and not daddy. Also, other daughter- who is the oldest- has a little boy, but no husband within sight. Ye Ryun is upset about something, her mom blows her off with a smug smile, and older daughter complains about something. I think they’re discussing daddy. Other Woman looks totally elegant holding her silver chopsticks.
Hyo Won clocks out of her first day at work, smiling effervescently at her colleagues but scowling at Choi Jin Hyeok (diver boy) as she leaves. She’s a bit clumsy as she trips whenever he’s around. He thinks she’s cute, but she finds it painful. She makes it home with a smile on her face, while her dad greets her at home and gives her spending money. It’s this point that really hits my heart, ‘cause he is totally a dad at this point. He doesn’t have much money and he just went on a job interview, so obviously things are tight at home, but he just wants to take care of his little girl.
Kang Ro remembers a time at the river with ambulances and police. There is a distraught woman along with his wife. I’m not sure what is going on, but I’m positive this is when their relationship became doomed. I think his wife is responsible for someone’s death. He wakes up from his car nap/flashback to see Hyo Won running to her second day at work. This is his first glimpse of her, and while it’s not love at first sight or anything, we can tell that he’s fascinated by her joyful approach to life that is missing from his own. He keeps an eye on her as he drives by (thankfully he’s being chauffeured or I would predict a tragic car accident in the near future), and catches a glimpse of her again as she cleans and frolics in the waterpark with Cuz before it opens for the day. Cue happy music followed by foreboding music as he stares at her in the final scene.
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