Pop toast.

The concept of a soul mate is almost laughable these days. Yeah sure, there are some extreme romantics out there who do think it exists (believe me, I know of one personally). But what if you know that the ‘one’ is right there under your nose? How would you react? Well, this sitcom explores the complicated situations of love through four couples. If I said anymore, it’d ruin the surprise. Even though it’s a sitcom, it feels like a drama. A really refreshing and  brilliant one that you’ll gobble up into bits.

Nouvelle Vague – This Is Not A Love Song

The Theme Song for this episode. And one of the songs I cannot get enough of.

Is it just me or doesn’t Phillip look a lot like Bae Yong Joon?
Now, recap’s ahead!

Su-gyeong and Phillip are heading off hand and hand to catch the local subway. The couple grabs a seat in the crowded subway cart and Su-gyeong rests her head against her boyfriend’s shoulder while Phillip fiddles in his pocket for the ring. He’s nervous. He suddenly stand up and bends down on one knee in front of a massive crowd and proposes to his longtime girlfriend. She’s definitely startled. She doesn’t want this. She knows she loves Phillip and they’ve been dating for five years but something in her heart tells her otherwise. The women in the subway car are muttering at how jealous they are and are egging Phillip on, taking pictures on their cellphones and whatnot. The men are chanting her to say yes. Thoughts are flying across her mind—the ring choice sucks, the place to propose sucks, his proposing line is so cheesy (she senses that he must have snatched it from the Net). No no no, it’s not the way she pictured it would be. She doesn’t want to hurt his feelings. Eventually, she caves in and agrees to marry Phillip under the crowd’s eyes—Social pressure sucks, doesn’t it?  She hopes that what she’s done is the right thing to do.

A wonderful character description can be found over here.

A man and a woman are greeting each other at a formal matchmaking date. Hong Yu-Jin is an innocent looking woman with big bright eyes, rosy cheeks, brand name clothes and wears Chanel No.5 perfume. She’s the epitome of the marriage starved rich conservative maiden concept. She only wishes to get married and has a peculiar way of speaking. Good enough for playboy Shin Dong Wook, she fits his criteria. After a few exchange of words, Dong Wook excuses himself and hides behind a wall in order to see Yu-Jin’s reaction. Just as he expected, Yu-Jin’s mother rushes up asking all sorts of rushed questions, whether she likes him or not, etc and how her daughter should catch his eye since he’s a refined music director and from a good family… Her mother hands her tickets to an art gallery and scurries off, hoping for the best.

Dong Wook overhears everything and decides that her spying mother is too much for him so he drags Yu-jin by the arm and heads out the door.

At the gym, Ryohei walks in and checks out the gym’s equipment. The women completely are mesmerized by his chiseled looks. Why wouldn’t they be? He is a male model from abroad (which he is in real life). While all the females are gleeing over eye candy and thinking of ways to make the first move,  Minae knows exactly woo a man’s heart.  She saunters over to Ryohei, looks at him in eyes and orders him to take off his clothes. Ryohei’s left speechless. Ooohh.. how bold.  She meant for him to change his clothes to work out and she’ll be his personal trainer. Oh my god, she certainly knows how to capture his interest… she keeps giving him skinship and slaps his firm butt while he works out at the weights. The people at the gym are confirming it: Maneater Minae’s got her prey wrapped around her little finger.

Phillip and Su-gyeong are on a stroll when suddenly Phillip grabs Su-gyeong and kisses her passionately on the lips. It’s his new air kiss, Phillip proudly suggests. Er, Su-gyeong’s not exactly pleased to see Phillip puffing up like a frog to kiss. Phillip then tries to be playful but fails and annoys Su-gyeong. Nipple poking? How is that supposed to be cute…? Anywho, Phillip arranges some time with Su-gyeong to spend some more quality time tommorrow but Su-gyeoung’s busy. Phillip hold her hands and thanks her for accepting her proporsal, telling her that she just saved his skin from any possible embarrassment. He tells her he loves her. She replies the same but not without hesitation. Phillip moves forward, gives a peck on her forehead and embraces her.

Lesson One: Sometimes the word ‘Love’ is used very cowardly.

Yu-Jin and Dong Wook are found to be at the local fast food restaurant, it’s very different from what Yu-jin usually eats that’s for sure.  She’s mesmerized by the wonderful taste of fast food and tastes meat for the first time. Dong Wook laughs and introduces her to soju. It’s too bitter for the Yu-jin’s delicate taste buds. No worries, Dong Wook shows her how to properly gulp it down like a man instead of sipping it. Her cute way of drinking soju is warming up to Dong Wook. Dong wook tells her to lose the formal tone from her speech but she can’t help it since she is a proofreader for a local newspaper. She turns around and points out that the sign behind her is misspelled and angers the manager in the process. Poor naive Yu-jin is left stunned from the manager’s scolding. She cries out her heart about how her work is always taken for granted but when she makes one small mistake, she ends up being spat at.

Maneater Minae is with her prey Ryohei at a fancy bar. In front of them are two rows of alcohol. She describes herself as one who always gets what she wants and she never loses when in any situation. Ryohei replies that neither does he. The consquence of losing this drinking game: Loser must abide with the winner’s wishes. One, two, three.. the glasses go one by one into their mouths, lips gulping down the liquor in one clean shot, intense eyes are at each other. Then Ryohei breaks the rules, he takes two shots in one hand and dunks the liquid down his throat like there’s no tommorrow. Minae smiles. It seems that her prey’s pretty clever. Oh, but she’s got something up her sleeves. She murmurs something to Ryohei,  he can’t hear her so he bends forward. Minae cuddles up really close to his ear, tells him that he still has a drop left on his cheek and kisses him on the lips.

Dong Wook offers to take Yu-Jin wherever she wants to go while they’re walking under the Seoul streetlights. Yu-Jin hasn’t gotten a clue and leaves it up to Dong Wook to decide. A bus comes to the stop and Dong Wook points at it. Yu-Jin doesn’t get it. Dong Wook takes her hand and runs for it. They manage to get on the bus and Dong Wook offers his arm for Yu-Jin to hold on to. Yu-Jin blushes.  She wonders if Dong Wook does this often to ladies he’s met in his life. Wait, could he be a player, she thinks? She brushes it off and takes in the moment. All of a sudden, Yu-Jin vomits onto the unsuspecting passenger before her.  The passenger wakes up and throws a hissy fit unto her until she barfs again onto his lap. Dong Wook, being the kind gentlemen he is, takes off his jacket and starts to clean up the stinky mess Yu-Jin made. That’s it, Yu-Jin’s fallen head over heels over him.

Meanwhile, Su-gyeoung is lying on her bed and chanting mantras in hopes of convincing herself that Phillip is her true love and she ’s happy that she’s gotten the proposal she’s waited for five long years. She still feels crappy regardless. She tries making up reasons for why she’s not feeling right about marriage with Phillip… right, the subway wasn’t where she wanted it to be, she wanted it to be in front of a castle with a gospel choir accompanied. The ring was bland, she wanted a solid diamond rock. No honey, that’s not it. Could it be Phillip? No no no, she brushes the thought out of her head. That could never be it. Frustrated, Su-gyeong ducks under the covers and shuts herself out.

Dream Sequence
… Su-gyeong in her wedding dress and marches straight towards the altar where her prince charming Phillip awaits.  Phillip puts out his hand towards her and she does the same too when all of a sudden another bride bursts out, sends her wedding bouquet flying and snatches Phillip’s hands before her. Su-gyeong shakes her head in disagreement and starts to yell in protest but no voice comes out. Phillip on the other hand kisses the other bride’s cheek while Su-gyeong starts streaming down tears. Isn’t Phillip who she wanted and was right for her? Why this? She hears the door behind her creak open and turns out to see a man’s silhouette engulfed in bright light. The man widens his arm, welcoming her for a hug. She starts running towards him—lo and behold, that man is Dong Wook!

Dong Wook wakes up in cold sweat over the dream he just had now. Just who exactly is this woman who came to him crying in his arms?

Minae wakes up in bed too and looks over to see the side’s empty. She wonders where Ryohei’s gone off too. She goes into the living room and finds Ryohei already has cooked breakfast for her and Yu-Jin come to admire his cooking. Yu-Jin rushes over to Minae’s side and compliments on Minae’s taste in men while she sobs about her nearing-the-thirty-range-and-not-married-yet dilemma and plastic surgery. Aww, Ryohei being the sweetheart he is, tells her that she’s pretty as she is. Yu-Jin wishes Dong Wook were a bit like Ryohei and wants him to call her. Minae tells her to go text him but that shocks innocent Yu-Jin. She believes it’ll make him think she’s desperate. Ryohei informs her that most guys nowadays like women to be proactive. Well, he’s the actual proof for that.

So Yu-Jin comes up with verbose messages to send to her darling for her first text message. Minae protests and tells her that the text message after first date must be short, simple and should not be over 10 syllables.  Men want innocent women, not the pitiful kind.

Dong Wook comes out of the shower half naked and delivers some fanservice to his female viewers, highlighting his rock steel abs and toned body while stretching. He scoots over to the expresso machine that he bought solely for decoration—the taste is too bitter for him so he add pounds of sugar into the teeny cup. He grabs his cellphone and sees the text message Yu-Jin sent him. He texts her back saying that he was about to call her. Liar! Fortunately, Minae’s caught onto his little game and knows he’s playing it safe. Then she starts lecturing about how the length of the ellipsis in his text message suggest many hidden meanings. And five dots (which Dong Wook put in his message) is a sure sign that he’s a player.

Whatever, Yu-Jin doesn’t care. She would rather be whisked away in his Casanova ways.

So more chaos ensues when she asks Minae and Ryohei on how she’ll respond back. Finally they agree to send him a text indicating how Yu-Jin doesn’t believe him in banmal tone to fit under the ten syllable rule. Dong Wook chuckles when he receives the message. At least she’s not the type to whine over a broken nail or make him carry a tiny bag for her, he thinks. So he makes her even more confused and sends her a message with only two circumflexes. Poor Yu-Jin can’t wrap her head around it. She desperately wants to see him but wants to abide by Minae’s rules. So on Round Three, she sends a message asking him what they’ll eat for dinner tommorrow night, leaving no choice for Dong Wook to back out. As he prepares to respond, he’s interrupted by a phone call and heads out the door.

Minae gets ready to leave but is blocked off by Yu-Jin who wants her help on every step of the way. Minae doesn’t care and leaves Yu-jin crying her out on her own.

Sometime later at the newspaper office, Yu-Jin is scolded by her stuck-in-the-seventies Boss for being late on her first day of work. It turns out our Su-gyeoung works in the same office and she’s late too.  Anyways as punishment, Su-gyeoung is appointed to be Yu-Jin’s supervisor and to show her the ropes in the office. Su-gyeong’s fed up but continues working on a newspaper articles and shows her snarky side to a male newspaper reporter. Yu-Jin’s in complete admiration.

Jung-hwan grabs a can of pop out the vending machine at the gym and wishes how wooing women could be as simple as that. Ryohei’s confused. Dong Woo, the ulimate playboy, points out that that’s what dates are for—it’s too find out what they’re really thinking deep in their hearts. And there are mail-in order brides if he wanted a woman to solely fill his specific needs. Jung-hwan, frustrated, points out that women are so much more complicated and have already a list of criteria that their men must raise up to… his salary, choice in college, bed size, and even choice of underwear and colour. Regardless, they’ve got it sorted out. They are players.

Dong Wook and Jung-hwan now focus their attention to Ryohei whom they’ve heard the latest rumor about him being picked up by a woman in their gym. Ryohei tells him that she’s a woman who’s impossible to figure out. Cue flashback dream sequence for Dong Wook. He tells them about the dream and the girl who he can’t figure out—he’s never seen her but he feels that somehow he’s known her for a long time.

Back at the office, Yu-Jin shares details about her boyfriend to Su-gyeong including how he cleaned up her vomit without hesitation. Yu-jin’s eyes are totally lovey dovey. That reminds Su-gyeong of how her relationship with Phillip was like five years ago. It just doesn’t have the spark anymore. Speak of the devil, her phone rings and it’s Phillip calling to tell her to take care of herself when eating. He rushes into the elevator before the door closes and Minae stops it. Anyways, Phillip does some lovey dovey talk while Minae eavesdrops. She can’t help but be interested in his cute speech to his darling. Whoa, I forgot to mention but Minae teaches an English class and Phillip’s one of her students. Anyways, Minae decides that prey #2 is Phillip and saunters over towards him while he’s confused. She asks for a taste and he’s a nervous wreck in a split second. She snatches his coffee and drinks it and exits out of the elevator, not forgetting one more sensual look before the door closes. Phillip’s left speechless.

The newspaper proofreaders are having a company dinner over barbequed intestines. They’re not exactly festive though and Su-gyeong is wallowing in her own self-pity. They find out about Su-geong’a marriage proporsal and compliments her on her wedding bliss. Her Boss is feeling jealous…  she doesn’t want to believe she’ll be a spinster her whole entire life. She gets her mind off of it by telling a naughty joke involving three women, a man and big boobs. Yu-Jin’s phone rings and she’s ecstatic to hear from Dong Wook. Unfortunately, it’s a text saying that he’s gonna be late for their dinner because of a meeting. She’s upset and binges on the intestines.

They’re not the only ones having dinner. Minae accompanies Phillip and two other men (who are also students in her class) to a chic restaurant. The two other men are throwing compliments on her sexy figure and are obviously trying hard to flirt with her. Minae bluntly tells them they fail. She learns about Phillip’s longtime girlfriend and wants to know more about her. Phillip starts to stammer on compliments on his fiancee. Something doesn’t feel right. He’s too mesmerized by Minae. She proceeds by tapping her foot onto his leg. He’s a goner.

Ryohei’s on a go-see with Dong Wook for an upcoming fashion show.  Dong Wook hopes to please the designer with his song choice for the runway. The designer is not happy, claiming the song needs to be soothing and “jjan”, whatever that means. He disses him, claiming his style of music cannot compare with Yoji Yamamoto.

His phone rings and it’s his mommy who called to check up on her son. She’s upset that he hasn’t told the details on his matseon. She’s nagging him to get hitched up already since he’s already in his thirties.

We head back to a karaoke room when Su-gyeong is belting out off-pitch melancholic tunes in front of her co-workers. The coworkers including her Boss are cringing in pain. This was supposed to be a happy wlecome party for Yu-Jin but Su-gyeong is ruining it! It doesn’t matter though. Yu-Jin is too focused onto her cellphone—it rings! She excuses herself out of the room with a huge grin.

Dong Wook wants to meet with Yu-Jin right now. She’s in total euphoria that she skips her own welcome party and starts to dance as if no one was watching.

They meet at the intestines fast food place again. Yu-Jin is disappointed. She just had cooked intestines a couple of minutes ago with her coworkers but she doesn’t dare tell Dong Wook. She keeps quiet and shoves the intestines in her mouth while smiling. And to add more fuel to the fire, Dong Wook orders another two portions of intestines, liver and tripe for his girlfriend. Yu-Jin can’t hold it in anymore—she’ll puke! She keeps quiet when Dong Wook mentioning how he likes girls with good appetite.  Dong Wook continuously feeds her and all the food she’s held in her mouth comes crashing down on the neighbour behind her. And it’s the same passenger she barfed on in the bus.

Oh crap.

Obviously she’s embarrassed and she takes her hand out towards the coat that Dong Wook is wearing. she tugs at it, hoping he’ll take the hint. He’s not exactly willing to ruin his nice coat but complies anyways.

The coworkers at Yu-Jin’s welcome party haven’t even noticed that Yu-Jin’s not there. Su-gyeong is still depressed out of her mind to even care. She’s too busy moping about how guilty she feels about accepting his ring when she doesn’t really love him. She abruptly snatches the mic from her boss, picks at the lyrics saying how everything they mention about love is wrong, wrong, and wrong and collapses onto the floor.  Her co workers thinks she’s gone nuts.

Phillip is still at the chic restaurant with Minae, telling her that yesterday was it was his and his girlfriend’s fifth anniversary. Ugh, what a doofus. Why on earth are you spending time with your hot teacher when you could be with your fiancee? He’s stammering again… Minae is looking at him with her sensual eyes. She smirks, and gets straight to the point: she asks if he wants to sleep with her.

This is the moment where everything I built in five years crumbles away in an instant.

End of Episode.

Thoughts:

What the hell. WHAT THE HELL. I can’t believe he’s actually considering it. I never liked Phillip (the character obviously, not the actor) but to go that low… UGH. Ryohei is such a sweetcake by the way. He reminds me of a puppy. And I want Dong Wook to lose the hairband. Hairbands are nice on girls, not on grown men. It just makes him look like an idiot.