by: Raine

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We knew that after all the cute from last episode, this one had to go the other way. It was so intense. Lots of emotions flying everywhere and misunderstandings all around. Kang-chil and Ji-na function very differently and it’s causing some issues. My favorite moment thus far is in this episode.

“???” – ??? (from the Padam Padam OST)

There are no additional tracks. *sob* I’ll stick it in when more of the OST comes out!

episode 6 recap

Gook-soo is staring at the mirror at his burgeoning wings when Young-cheol comes in. At the same time, we get back to the impromptu stolen kiss that shocks Ji-na…and Kang-chil. Confused and conflicted, Ji-na clams up and leaves. (SCORE! CALLED IT!)

He looks after her, feeling like a total idiot and then follows her. He tries to make conversation and finally asks if she’s mad. She says, as always, I don’t want to talk. Let’s sit separately. He does so, hurt and confused. When they get back to Tongyeong, she tells him to take a taxi and drives off.

At Ji-na’s, Young-cheol and Gook-soo wait for them to come back. Gook-soo inquires after Young-cheol’s relationship with Ji-na, saying he told him everything he was curious about. Young-cheol says that have unfinished business but Gook-soo says that Ji-na belongs to Kang-chil. The dazed and confused woman of the hour walks in without Kang-chil so Gook-soo goes to search for him.

Ignoring the elephant in the room, Ji-na tells a jealous Young-cheol to go because she’s tired. He knows something is wrong.

On the way home, Kang-chil hears a phone and picks it up from under a rock. There are pictures of Yong-hak talking to Chan-gul, a man, an apartment building and the bloody knife. It rings and Kang-chil is so surprised that he drops it before answering.

It is Yong-hak who tells him to meet Chan-gul. Understandably, Kang-chil, doesn’t trust him as far as he can throw him, but Yong-hak says he was not guilty of framing him for the assault that kept Kang-chil in jail. Chan-gul did something to Yong-hak’s father. Show the pictures to Chan-gul and he will believe that only you and I  know where the evidence is.

Yong-hak hangs up and Kang-chil looks around for him. Gook-soo comes barreling around the corner, pissed off that Kang-chil is alone. Then, he cheerily asks about Kang-chil’s date. Tee-hee.

Although Kang-chil should be happy about evidence and his date, Gook-soo notes that Kang-chil is decidedly down. Did you get slapped after kissing her? REALLY? Did she not like it? Or is it because you have no money, you have a kid and you’re an ex-con? That makes Kang-chil feels even worse and like he made a mistake. If the timing is right, Gook-soo replies, you don’t wait for a girl to kiss her. You give it a try like everyone else.

Gook-soo looks in the mirror and has a vision again. “I keep seeing you dying. So annoying.” He looks pale and sweaty. Turning, he sees the wings in the mirror and then passes out.

The next morning, Kang-chil follows Jung on his way to school who wants to know why he’s being followed. Kang-chil doesn’t want to, but his grandmother asked him, just to be sure he’s going to school.

Suspicious, Jung asks why he brought him here to which Kang-chil sputters nervously, “What reason?” Jung thinks that Kang-chil wants his mother’s family’s money. Well too bad! They cut her off after having him. Jung also wants to have paternity test because they don’t look anything alike.

When he discovers they have the same blood type, he looks nervous. Hilariously, Kang-chil rips Jung’s shirt out from his pants and finds a mole just like his. Jung again demands a test even though it costs money.

Annoyed, he spits on the ground and Kang-chil grins. “We even spit the same!” Of course, at that moment, the bully walks by with his posse and says like father like son, spitting in the street like gangsters. Kang-chil looks guilty while Jung demands why he committed a crime and went to jail. “I’d rather you not exist.” 😦 To add to a growing list of shitty things happening to him, Ji-na cycles by and ignores him, but smiles with Young-cheol.

At work, Mi-ja is fussing over Gook-soo who had a fierce fever the night before. She feels his forehead and then touches hers to his in a very maternal way. His smile is absolutely glorious. Have I mentioned that I love Mi-ja?

Anyway, she asks if he called his father. He has, and dad is up and about after several years of being bedridden because he heard Gook-soo was working. He plans to give his father spending money when he gets his first check.

Mi-ja takes a look around and admires their handiwork on the lovely house. Kang-chil enters as she says that she wants a house like this for all of them to live in – she also sadly mentions Kang-woo, her eldest son who passed. However, Kang-chil is cranky and just wants her to leave. But she is too busy admiring the place.

She is still admiring it when Ji-na and Young-cheol arrive. Kang-chil is mortified and whines like a teenager for his mother to leave. She tells Ji-na that she loves the house and that she’s beautiful. Finally, Kang-chil gets her to leave. Gook-soo tries to get Kang-chil to flirt with Ji-na to no avail.

The next morning, Kang-chil hesitantly asks Ji-na to look at the shelves he very carefully made for her. He looks like a child waiting for approval from his mother. When she makes a move to leave, he grabs her and asks her how long she’s not going to talk to him. How will I know why you’re mad unless you tell me? he asks. She tells him never to touch her again.

At home, Kang-chil gets a package of underwear and Gook-soo observes that Kang-chil is bothered because he can’t talk to Ji-na. He also says that Mi-hye (Ji-na’s mother) and the warden are very nice to him. The warden must be worried so he should go to the hospital for a check-up. Then Gook-soo picks up a pair of red and white boxers with a red bow…

In bed, Gook-soo tells Kang-chil that he became an angel because his wings have begun to come out. They keep disappearing, but he is happy to finally be Kang-chil’s guardian angel. He reminds Kang-chil to be mindful of all the lessons he learns from his life or death situations. Gook-soo’s mother told him he was an angel through her death.

Hyo-sook passes by Young-cheol who says he’s going to pay Kang-chil and Gook-soo, which worries her. The boys think they are getting fired (haha), but Young-cheol says he wants to pay them now – they’ve never given their parents money right?

Ji-na calls and then Young-cheol asks Kang-chil if anything happened, but he doesn’t answer. Young-cheol smiles it off and leaves. Before they can look at the money, Hyo-sook comes and steals it, saying it’s for Mi-ja and runs. Strangely, Gook-soo has a really hard time chasing her. With abs like those he’s sure fit enough to catch up to a woman in heels…

Anywho, Hyo-sook throws (???) the money at Mi-ja and it flies everywhere. They scramble, with Fish ahjumma, to collect it. Kang-chil drives by and asks how she likes being showered with money and Hyo-sook thinks she didn’t have to worry after all.

When Gook-soo finally catches up, he’s really out of breath and passes out again. (Still the angel transformation thingy, eh?)

At the abandoned farm house, Kang-chil imagines a workshop and then takes out his tools, remembering Ji-na’s request for a talisman like Gook-soo made for him. He gets to work.

Meanwhile, Ji-na and Young-cheol are eating kimbap and watching for otters. He warns her that the townsfolk don’t like her feeding the animals, but she remains steadfast. Then, Young-cheol asks what he really wants to ask: what happened with Kang-chil?

She asks him why he’s been so busy. He understands her deflection means that she won’t tell him. With a sigh he explains that he’s been drinking with an ex of his who broke up with her boyfriend. When she looks jealous, he grins hopefully. “I thought you liked Kang-chil, but I guess not.”

They notice Tenggie has gone missing. UH-OH. Conspicuous absence of the pooch of destiny!!!

Where is he? At Kang-chil’s workshop where he has just finished a carving of Tenggie. He is sitting in the exact position of the carving. Then he jacks the carving and runs off. POOCH OF DESTINY STRIKES AGAIN!

Kang-chil happily chases the pooch across a field to wear Ji-na and Young-cheol have driven up. He gives the carving to Ji-na who looks mighty confused. (GOOD!)

Inside, Kang-chil makes tea for them and Young-cheol says he’s a talented artist and he’ll try to hook him up with a magazine. Ji-na refuses the tea Kang-chil made her and scolds Tenggie instead. A phone rings and Young-cheol answers a call from his ex. Kang-chil looks saddened by Ji-na’s look of jealousy.

They leave and Kang-chil hears them arguing. Ji-na is pissed that Young-cheol lets his ex, who dumped him to marry another man, use him whenever she breaks up with a new guy. Young-cheol says it’s just sympathy but Ji-na scolds that he doesn’t express sympathy as he should. Kang-chil has come outside to leave and they notice him.

Then, in the guise of speaking to Young-cheol, she advises, for Kang-chil’s ears, that when sympathy goes overboard, people can take it the wrong way. Don’t misunderstand it. One mistake is fine, but a second is not.

Young-cheol guesses she is saying it for Kang-chil to hear, but notes that her method is too much and very cruel. Kang-chil is extremely hurt and drives away, leaving a very guilty-looking Ji-na behind.

In the car, Ji-na remembers the kiss and looked quite ruffled. Young-cheol asks again if something happened and she says that they kissed. He slams on the breaks and she clarifies that he kissed her, but that her sympathy had gone overboard.

Kang-chil turns around and drives up to them. He asks Ji-na to talk and despite Young-cheol’s protests, she gets out of the car.

He wants to know why she’s mad and saying things in such a roundabout way. It’s confusing to him. Does she not like him? Was everything sympathy? Why does he have to apologize for kissing her? What’s wrong with a man liking a woman?

Instead, she should apologize. He is trying really hard not to cry and she looks completely crestfallen. He’s called her on her game. A jealous Young-cheol comes over, says time’s up and steals her away. Kang-chil hops in his truck and zooms away.

At her house, Young-cheol says that he’ll marry her. Why won’t she marry him? That’s why she broke up with him. But he’s pulled a stunt like this before – whenever he gets jealous of another man vying for her affections, he impulsively asks her to marry him. She doesn’t want that.

In response, he kisses her.  (That one didn’t work before, buddy. Why should it work now?) She shoves him off, pissed that he’s thinking about kissing after she’s told him he’s hurt her. When he earnestly says he wants to kiss her, she smacks him. He is very frustrated. (Yes, double entendre.)

When Kang-chil gets home, his mother is counting the money. Quite pensively, she hands it to him. Kang-chil wants to know why she doesn’t like the money her son earned for her. She is satisfied that he earned the money by working and wants him to spend it on himself and on his son.

Why? Because she can’t use money that he earned by his own hand after sixteen years of suffering in jail. (Is it just me, or does this woman look stunningly beautiful right now?) He wants to pay her for all her suffering but she asks how money can pay for that – it’s stupid money. It’s not really worth anything. A person can only eat three meals a day.

‬That little boy suffered through so much in that cold little cell for sixteen years. Why do you think I don’t heat the rooms even in the middle of winter. With what can that be repaid?

Kang-chil walks out, overcome with emotion and completely unsure of how to respond.

I’ll be honest. I cried during this scene.

Kang-chil is driving and remembering his conversation with Ji-na. If he were to be repaid for his life, how much would it amount to? She answers that it can’t be measured with money.

Angry at the hurts Chan-gul has caused his mother and the people he loves, Kang-chil stalks him and plays a game of cat and mouse on the road. Finally, he cuts off Chan-gul and menacingly climbs out of his car. Chan-gul looks nervous as hell.

“How does that feel? Me following you around? Scary? I felt like this for over ten years. Even in a cold cell, in that windowless world, I felt like you were watching me and my heart beat so fast. You’re experiencing it now.”

He shows him the photos Yong-hak gave him. If I give you this evidence, how are you going to repay me for the sixteen years of my youth that just disappeared. I’ll be waiting.

He drives off, leaving Chan-gul severely shaken. Angered by his fear, he orders his lackey to get rid of Kang-chil.

Then we get Ji-na’s asshole dad, Detective Jung. He’s pitching a fit – throwing things and hitting other police officers because the police chief has taken him off active duty and given him administrative work.

He goes to drink with his junior partner and Ji-na. His partner mentions that Chan-gul has something to do with the reassignment, further aggravating temperamental former Detective Jung. When the guys at the next table mutter a sarcastic comment about cops, it’s the last straw. Jung flips the table and starts a fight.

Meanwhile, Kang-chil is looking for Ji-na. When they stop for directions, Gook-soo takes his phone so that he won’t run away. Kang-chil wants to call Ji-na again and spies a telephone booth. On his way over, he sees the fight in the shop. Upon closer inspection, he realizes that it’s the same cop who beat him senseless that day sixteen years ago. Shocked, he moves to enter the shop but is halted by Ji-na who screams, “Dad! Stop!”

Kang-chil is jolted out of his anger and remembers how Ji-na reminded him of Mi-hye, the woman who visited him in jail. Then, he recalls the boxers. She sees him but he is so overwhelmed by the realizations that he hurries to the phone booth and calls Gook-soo.

Suddenly, as Ji-na watches in horror, a truck smashes into the phone booth.

 Comments:

Ack! He just got taken out by a truck in a phone booth? Seriously?! Show, what are you doing to my heart?

I haven’t talked about this thus far, but I have to say something now: cinematography. Omigosh. It’s so stunningly beautiful. The landscapes they show aren’t just for the pretty, but really draw you into a scene. Then we have awesome effects like Kang-chil imagining his workshop or his floating body superimposed over Gook-soo’s reflection.

The close ups capture little things like the bookshelf that Kang-chil built, or a glimpse of the ocean. Or a window shining light over a loving mother. Awesome.

Here a little reminder about the Secrets of Min-ho’s murder – There’s nothing new. Just to refresh your memory.

• There were four people there that night: Kang-chil, Min-ho, Chan-gul and Yong-hak.
• Min-ho stabbed Kang-chil several times in the stomach. Then Chan-gul stabbed Min-ho.
• Yong-hak was on the ground as Chan-gul put the knife in Kang-chil’s hand and then implicated him in the murder at the trial.
• Yong-hak currently has the murder weapon and wants to get Kang-chil on his side for some reason.
• Chan-gul knows he has evidence and threatens him to bring it to him. He’s been bribing Yong-hak for silence.
• Chan-gul framed Kang-chil by somehow getting Yong-hak to implicate him and getting him false assault charges in jail to lengthen his jail time.
• Chan-gul can’t harm either Yong-hak or Kang-chil until he gets the evidence.

Ji-na is so black and white in her thoughts and actions. She clams up or she’s completely open. I understand that the kiss may be too soon for her, but running away and causing Kang-chil so much pain and confusion is not the way to go. Young-cheol is right. The way she went about telling him how she felt was too cruel.

At the same time, I really appreciate the character’s consistency because watching her grow and emerge from her shell is quite wonderful. I like the contrast between her closed-off persona and Kang-chil’s tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve.

Kang-chil. Man, is he scary when he’s pissed. It’s incredible how Jung Woo-sung can embody a child and a vengeful man so convincingly. His lack of self-control really gets him in binds and will continue to do so in the future. He didn’t see that Ji-na wasn’t ready to be physical and should not have threatened Chan-gul – the man framed him and then framed him again to keep him in jail. He’s capable of anything.

I understand his anger. Chan-gul’s actions have hurt not only him, but his mother – quite profoundly. To see the woman he holds so dear hurting finally made him snap. His relationship with her is beautiful.

Mi-ja is so wonderful. She feels things as deeply as her son and but has a lot of trouble expressing them. But when she finally came out with it, I cried. It was the most powerful moment for me thus far. The emotion was so raw that Kang-chil didn’t know what to do with it – so he jumped to the most accessible motion and went after Chan-gul.

She also opens her heart to Gook-soo. Did you see that grin when she fussed over him? ‘Nuff said.

Gook-soo. I love the mystery in this character. He is jovial but the seriousness with which he views his angelic duties is just as intense as Kang-chil’s devotion to his mother. I like seeing that his transformation is just as confusing for him as it is for me, the viewer. The supernatural element is so naturally incorporated it doesn’t seem silly at all – I had expected it to kill the show. It is most definitely  not killed. It’s alive and kicking and leaving me wanting more.

Episodes 1 (MadDino Asylum), 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Character introductions.

Padam Padam Episode 6 Screencaps by MadDino.