by: Raine

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Episode 18 came in at 9.5%.

This episode tried to highlight the “issues” that were brought up earlier in the drama like Young-gul’s fear of abandonment, Ga-young’s need for acceptance and Jae-hyuk’s daddy issues. But as far as I’m concerned, they were so badly established, that I was left wanting. In order to establish such things, writernim, you need to have coherency and some semblance of a linear plot line.

At least there was two seconds of cute. Sort of. And Yu-ri has really amazing legs. I want them.

“???” –  You’ll get more when they give me more! (from the Fashion King OST)

episode 18 recap

Ga-young realizes that her boyfriend is a revenge-hungry psycho. He won’t let her leave and pretends that everything is all fine and dandy while she has a little mental breakdown on the sofa.

Seriously woman, you have a mouth and it’s not just for eating.

Jae-hyuk is watching people on t.v. make-out (another use for mouths) and calls Ga-young, begging her not to do this to him.

Honey, this is what happens when you so thoroughly develop a one-sided love. You become a pathetic lump. A HOT pathetic lump. But a lump is a lump. And honey, you’re a big ol’ lump. Even if I pity him and his stunted emotional growth, there have still been eighteen hours of drama time wasted on figuring out his third grade psyche. Not to mention the four to five hours I put into each recap.

Oh. My. God. Fashion King. You ate my life. Give it back. Or at least give me a paycheck with all the money Jae-hyuk and Young-gul are throwing around in their corporate pissing contest. Minus the piss.

Ga-young makes a break for it when Young-gul falls asleep (although he’s not really asleep). She remembers all the times that Young-gul showed his insecurities of being alone and abandoned and reflects on the promise he just made. He promised to take out anyone who hurt either of them.

Yes, Ga-young. He has issues. No, they’re not your fault, but we all know that’s where writernim is taking this. Ga-young will feel guilty for going to Jae-hyuk and hurting Young-gul all those times.

Why can’t the characters understand that relationships aren’t about who hurt who more when? This show has me invested in counting hurts and woes and it’s stupid. A relationship is moving through life together. Everyone in this show just battles each other. There may be love, but that’s not enough to get over the unhealthy relationships everyone has with each other. Go find another love that’s healthy.

Anyway, Ga-young feels guilty and texts Young-gul that she went home ’cause she thought Bong Sook would worry.

You didn’t need to say that. It’s okay to be pissed and not agree with what he’s doing. Stop pacifying and babying him!

As if the guilting wasn’t bad enough, Ga-young sees Jae-hyuk called her a bajillion times. MORE GUILT!

Lesson of the episode: If you want Ga-young to do something, guilt her. What will she do when both men guilt her at the same time?

Youn-gul shows An-na her new office and she wisely notes that it feels like she’s being kicked out of the factory. She also wants to have a party but slyly mentions that she only knows Jae-hyuk.

I smell a social disaster brewing. And no An-na, mentioning Jae-hyuk doesn’t work on Young-gul unless you’re Ga-young. Then he goes ballistic.

Ga-young is at Young Young Apparel in front of a sewing machine, listening to the ahjummas gossip about her. The lead theory of why she’s back is that Young-gul got so jealous that he snatched her away.

I love how they gossip about her four feet away from her. The sewing ahjummas are pretty much the best part of this show besides that kiss in episode 16. *fans self*

When Young-gul shows up with An-na, he is indeed angry, making the ahjummas wonder if they’re right. An-na is also pissed. Surprise, surprise.

Young-gul drags Ga-young into the office. She, surprisingly, asks to stay at the factory like before, because the times she stayed at the factory were her happiest.

That’s cute Ga-young. You think recreating the scene of your happiness will make you happy?

But Young-gul catches onto the real reason she wants to sleep at the factory: she’s avoiding Jae-hyuk. Can you blame her though? He’s a bonafide stalker.

She refuses the key he slaps on the desk (with a Fashion King Bear as the accessory) and tells him she’s going to sleep at the factory no matter what he says.

Yay, she made her own decision! She’s a BIG girl now. At least for .42 seconds!

When she leaves, Young-gul feels hurt, which is understandable given that the writer is trying to show us that he has abandonment issues. I see how they tried to set that up, but I really don’t feel pity for him. It would’ve been easier to understand and sympathize with Young-gul had this whole line of emotional attachment between audience and character been better planned and written.

Jae-hyuk calls Ga-young who ignores him so he rips up her resignation and drives over to Bong Sook’s. We get some heavy KIA product placement on the way before we see Daddy Jae-hyuk yell and beat up on poor Assistant Kim for not controlling the young and impulsive Jae-hyuk. Dad’s pissed ’cause Kim doesn’t know where Jae-hyuk suddenly ran off.

No, I’m not kidding. HE BEATS UP Kim. And I’m seriously mortified. We all knew Jae-hyuk had daddy issues but this just compounded everything. He beats on employees for things they can barely control?

Daddy Jae-hyuk orders Kim to better guide the young Jae-hyuk and then leaves the poor man in tears.

O_O

Young-gul and An-na go out to eat at a very fancy place he normally doesn’t frequent. Who should happen by but Daddy Jae-hyuk. An-na introduces them and things quickly turn towards business. Dad wants to buy GG and Young-gul says it would be an honor to work with him.

WHAT? Young-gul, what are you doing? Whatever it is, I see it backfiring.

So does An-na, who is pissed he so very obviously used her to meet with Daddy Jae-hyuk. She wonders why she keeps running into the Jung family. Yesterday Jae-hyuk came to apologize to her. Even if he’s a terrible guy, when he says he’s sorry, he really is. When he says he loves you, he really does.

Thank you writer, for laying down the law for a future event to come. Seriously, this story is either convoluted as heck, or ridiculously obvious.

An-na says she won’t work there if Ga-young does and Young-gul sarcastically orders Il-gook to cancel the deposit on the new office.

Bong Sook trudges home and sees the stalker waiting for Ga-young and calls Ga-young to see if everything is okay. Ga-young has just gone to bed after remembering her first night in the factory and Young-gul’s hurt when she said she didn’t want to stay at his new digs.

Seconds after Bong Sook’s call, Jae-hyuk comes banging on the door.

DON’T LET HIM IN!

Apparently she can’t hear me and let’s him in. He can’t believe she’s avoiding him.

Really, Jae-hyuk? I can’t believe she didn’t’ get a restraining order.

He slowly backs her against a wall, demanding to know why she quit a reputable company and came to hide out here at this shabby factory. Does she know what she’s doing to him? He grabs her face and goes in for a kiss, but she turns away.

Good girl. *pats on head*

Jae-hyuk has the sense to back off and asks her to come back and stop making him to pitiful.

No, you did that yourself.

Of course, Young-gul is coming as Jae-hyuk is going and I’m thinking, “Do you understand why she’s avoiding your place NOW?”

I mean, Jae-hyuk went to Bong Sook’s and searched the factory. Why would she go to that apartment building where she is sure to run into him when he’s not feeling like stalking?

Young-gul has brought Ga-young food and for once, a misunderstanding is avoiding when she tells him that Jae-hyuk asked her to come back. With that out of the way, Young-gul asks what she expects him to do if she sleeps at the factory. How is he to leave her alone? He calls Il-gook to bring an extra cot and they cuddle on the single cot in the mean time.

She is uncomfortable and cramped while he is just enjoying the fact he can hold her. Finally, she agrees to sleep at his place just as Il-gook shows up.

This was supposed to be cute, and the screencaps are, but this show sucked the smiles and squees from me. Where are my smiles? I’m a very smiley person and I want all of them back. Give them back, show.

Daddy Jae-hyuk confronts his son about his relationship with Young-gul. Dad is pissed Young-gul showed up at the restaurant with Jae-hyuk’s ex and orders Jae-hyuk to bring Young-gul to the house to dinner to figure out what is up the Dongdaemoon merchant’s sleeve.

Young-gul is at a meeting with foreign investors who tell him that J Fashion is about to bite the bait and accept an offer from their branch in Europe.

Meanwhile, Chil-bok comes ’round the factory looking for Young-gul but finds Ga-young instead. He wonders where Young-gul has gone. The whole neighborhood has noticed he’s been acting weird lately.

Ga-young knows why, as do we. Young-gul is PSYCHO with revenge.

Then it’s time for another dinner that is awkward, but so much fun to watch: dinner at the Jung residence. Daddy makes seemingly innocuous chitchat while Mama smirks over her teacup and Jae-hyuk looks ready to puke.

After a bit, Dad broaches the topic of bringing GG toJ Fashion. But Mama has had enough. She lays into Young-gul about living with Ga-young and working with An-na. Young-gul took both of her son’s women and calls her son a spinless idiot. Then she takes a jab at her husband for trying to discuss business with the man who made a fool of their son. Does he like money that much? What is he going to do with all of it?

Then she stalks out and I suddenly decide I like her.

Time for an elevator show down Young-gul smirks as Jae-hyuk marvels at the fact that Young-gul turned down Daddy’s $10 million offer for GG. Young-gul thought it was too little for a global brand and then takes a shot at Jae-hyuk’s father: his liver is the size of a bean. Maybe that’s why he made such a weak offer.

Jae-hyuk slams Young-gul against the wall with his hand around Young-gul’s neck. What is Young-gul up to? But Young-gul is enjoying the fact that Jae-hyuk has tried and can’t figure out Young-gul’s intentions.

Hubris, my friend. We learned about it in school. And you’re going to learn about it very, very soon. Your hubris: arrogance.

At the office, Assistant Kim tries to give Jae-hyuk a report and we learn that although Ga-young quit, the company still doesn’t know she did. Kim wants to publicly fire Ga-young and get a new team leader. Before Jae-hyuk can answer, An-na calls and Jae-hyuk makes Kim take the call. An-na is inviting him to the opening party for her new office.

Madam Dragon’s lawyer can’t find any useable dirt on Young-gul. His mother left for America twenty years ago, his father is in a homeless camp and his aunt is in Soo Won with no connections to Young-gul. The Dragon SEEMS shocked to hear this news… In any case, Mr. Laywer thinks that the Dragon should hand over the boutique at a reasonable price because it’s better than a lawsuit.

An-na also invites the Dragon to her party.

An-na, are you okay? You’re not this stupid right? You put Stalker Jae-hyuk, the Dragon, the designers, Doormat Ga-young and Psycho Young-gul into a room and you’re spelling disaster.

Whatevs.

The seamstress ahjummas want to go and An-na tells them that they can go only if they can dress appropriately. Bong Sook takes offense and says she was an haute couture designer back in NYC – she’ll dress the ahjummas. An-na is proper amused as am I.

Young-gul plays dress up with Ga-young who wisely doesn’t want to go to the party. They choose a little black number and he finally decides to bust out the necklace.

But she doesn’t recognize it. In fact, she doesn’t think it goes with the dress and wants to take it off. He tells her it’s from long ago and removes it with extreme disappointment. He goes to wait in the car to wallow as she gets ready. (Okay, I feel a LITTLE bad for him.)

This really means it gives her time to have an awkward elevator meeting with Jae-hyuk before heading out to the party. Jae-hyuk heads up to his place for a little party with a liquor bottle.

(So she’s not making a great face, but I think she’s pretty. LOL.)

At the party, An-na is playing hostess and the ahjummas show up looking kinda adorable.

I must say, that I think the heavy set one looks really pretty! I’m not a fan of what she’s wearing, or her hair or make-up, but she’s got charisma!

In any case, the ahjumma gossip for the moment is that the office is Young-gul’s way of getting An-na out of the way while allowing her to continue to make the company money.

Young-gul and Ga-young show up. Design Director Kim is surprised to see Ga-young. He heard she was too sick to come to work.

Jae-hyuk, you were supposed to tell them she quit, you crazy stalker!

Ga-young ignores the comment and introduces Young-gul instead. Kim remembers meeting him once, by the elevator. Y’know, that time he backed An-na into the corner. Kim laughs maniacally at Young-gul’s way of getting around.

When Young-gul and Ga-young turn around, they’re greeted by a trio of glares from Madam Dragon, her spawn and An-na. Ga-young slips her arm possessively into Young-gul’s, which makes him uncomfortable.

Hey! You do it ALL the time to her. Let her find some comfort in claiming you!

But he doesn’t. As soon as An-na says that someone wants to meet him, Young-gul leaves Ga-young to the wolves.

Or, in this case, Dragons.

The Dragon drags her back into a conference room and promises to give “half of it” to Ga-young in the Dragon’s will.

Of course, Ga-young is completely baffled. She has no idea what the Dragon is talking about. The Dragon takes Ga-young’s confusion as dissatisfaction. She thinks Ga-young “wants it all” and is incredulous. What will happen to everything the Dragon has worked for?

We know that Young-gul has been working on getting Ga-young’s mother’s shop back, but Ga-young is clueless, especially as Young-gul specifically asked the Dragon not to mention anything to Ga-young.

Before Ga-young can try to clarify, Jae-hyuk stumbles into the party, mad drunk and hollering for Ga-young. He grabs a flute of champagne and proceeds to fall over, break the flute and cut his hand. Ga-young runs out and sees him, feeling completely mortified.

Hell, I’m embarrassed for him… You really shouldn’t pre-game for an office party, dude…

Jae-hyuk keeps yelling for her until she kneels by him and tends to his wound. While she does so, Young-gul rushes over, looking all angsty.

The reason Jae-hyuk is there is to tell her something. Young-gul hauls Jae-hyuk to his feet, but the chaebol is so unstable that he crashes to the floor again. Ga-young looks like she wants to melt into the freshly laundered carpets as Jae-hyuk wobbles to his feet and declares:
‪

‬I love you.

An-na stares. Young-gul is heart broken. Ga-young is torn.

 Comments:

Yes, that’s how I felt after this episode, too.

Remember when I wrote “Lesson of the episode: If you want Ga-young to do something, guilt her. What will she do when both men guilt her at the same time?” Well, next episode will give us that answer. Ga-young better be brave and just leave both needy bastards high and dry.

A relationship has to meet in the middle and right now she’s the doormat upon which they wipe their feet. She is the receptacle for their anger, woes, insecurities, sorrows and manifestations of their inner six-year-old. NOT. COOL.

We all know that Young-gul is setting himself up for a major fall; yes, the same kind that Jae-hyuk is experiencing. I kinda can’t wait to see it so he can get his head out of money, revenge and paranoia and just accept Ga-young whole-heartedly with no conditions or strings attached.

I’m really sad that they didn’t set up his issues better. They seem to only come into the story when the writer remembers to highlight them. Or anyone’s issues really.

Guh, one more week.

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

Character introductions.

Fashion King Episode 18 Screencaps.