by: Raine

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I’ve taken a summer off and I’m back with a bang in my 189th post! It’s the third major milestone in the Dichotomy’s growth! Stay tuned for a more extensive celebration in another 63 posts at post 252! And now for the show…

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Take a trio of gumihos, throw in sexy Lee Chun-hee, one thousand livers, top comedian Seo Gyung-Suk, some moral quandaries and you have MBC’s special, The Thousandth Man. It’s fun, sassy, dark and promises to pack a whole lotta somethin’ into eight episodes. At least I hope so.

Episode 1 received an AGB Nielson rating of 6.7%.

Episode 1 – Why does love not last?

“Hey Girl” –  B1A4  (from the The Thousandth Man OST)

episode 1 recap

“A thousand year old fox must eat one thousand livers of men before the end of the millennium. This is the legend of Gumiho.”

A woman (Kang Ye-won) transforms into a deadly, liver-eating gumiho. Then, she is shown hanging out in regular house clothes with her mother (Jeon Mi-sun) and younger sister (Hyomin). Their family motto declares that only the strong survive.

Close-up on the gumiho who is aptly named “Gu Mi-jin.” She only eats livers offered voluntarily. However, if she doesn’t find one more liver, her thousandth, in one hundred days, she will turn into foam. The question is: will she be able to find it and therefore become human?

Dun, dun, dun!

On a plane, a pair of kids are fighting over a drink and spill it on the passenger in the seat in front of them. That passenger is none other than our gumiho, Mi-jin, who gumiho eyeballs them.

A total aside, but if a gumiho eyeballs you, is it called a gumiball? Kekeke…

Anywho, the kids get gumiballed and they gape at her as their mother apologizes for their transgression.

A whiny man needs medicine for a headache and a Caucasian couple makes out. Mi-jin can’t stop staring at the lovebirds and pulls out her wing-adorned cell phone to peruse through several pictures of her and Caucasian men.

I wonder if those dudes donated their livers to the cause…

Anyway, he plane hits turbulence. The whining man flips out. The pilots panic over windshear. Stewardesses are flying everywhere. Even our gumiho bemoans that it’s not yet her time to go.

It’s basically a huge disaster.

While everyone freaks out, one man sleeps peacefully with a polka-dot eye mask on.

Mi-jin remembers the men who sacrificed themselves for her. “There’s only one more!”

The turbulence causes her to drop her phone and she crawls after it. Another bump of the plane sends her careening into the seat beside the peacefully sleeping man with the eye mask. The sleeping man removes the mask and reveals that he is a total Hottie McHottiepants (Lee Chun-hee). He’s also really annoyed at being disturbed and covers his eyes to get some more shut eye.

And you’d think the plane would’ve disturbed him…

The whiny man starts to shout that someone needs to tell his family that he lived well until the end. This inspires Mi-jin to leave a message for her family as well. She starts to desperately beg the cranky hottie to tell her mom that she has always wanted to be human. Hottie yanks off the blindfold in annoyance. Mi-jin finally sees his face and it shocks her into a flashback.

She and Hottie are standing on the edge of a cliff dressed in period clothing: he as a general, she as a married woman. He is holding a sword to her throat. To one side is a long drop into a lake. On the other is a line of archers with bows and arrows set. Mi-jin tells Hottie, who in this time period is her husband, that she always wanted to be human and she is glad to die by his hands.

The second-in-command informs the general that the woman (his wife) is a gumiho.

Really kids? I think he knows that…

(I really love the variety of expressions Lee Chun-hee uses as an actor. The first screencap is him calling off his men. The second is just after he was shot protecting Mi-jin.)

Anyway, the general says that he’ll deal with the gumiho himself, but his men don’t want to risk it. The second-in-command orders the archers to shoot. The general throws himself in front of shocked Mi-jin, taking multiple arrows in the back.

The wounded general falls slack and both he and Mi-jin fall off the cliff into the water. They stare at each other, knowing this is the end and he reaches out to touch her face. “Sorry, my husband,” she thinks.

Back to the real world where she and Hottie are on the malfunctioning plane, Hottie requests that she let go of his hand. It takes Mi-jin to register the fact that she has returned to reality and then whispers, “You’re exactly the same.”

Hottie stares incredulously at her, tells her that her pick-up line sucks and that she really does need to become human.

Another aside (because I love asides). I really like the Korean play on the word “human”. It’s not quite the same usage as it is in English. But in Korean, it really lends itself to this particular bout of wordplay. She says “human” and means the physical embodiment of the word. He says “human” and means the social aspect of the word – like not hitting on a man on a failing airplane.

The eye mask goes back on until the turbulent plane throws her across his lap. Hottie removes the mask long enough to flash Mi-jin a look of annoyance and shove her off of him. Then back on it goes.

Hottie, whose name is Kim Eung-suk, arrives at Last, a beautiful restaurant nestled in verdant foliage. His arrival shocks Chef Pierre Seo (Seo Kyung-suk) who seems less than thrilled to see him. Eung-suk is glad to be home and suspicious of Chef Seo’s skittish behavior. Did Seo accept reservations without Eung-suk’s knowledge.

Seo practically starts twitching with nerves. “Of course not,” he replies.

Uh-huh. Sure. And I’m betting that accepting reservations without Eung-suk’s approval is a “no-no.”

Then it’s time for Seo’s sob story. Eung-suk is so picky about choosing their customers, which makes it very difficult for Seo to make a decent living. With the most adorable smirk, Eung-suk says, “Sounds like you took a reservation.”

Hrm, I wonder why Eung-suk is so picky about reservations. Aren’t restaurants just supposed to, y’know, accept them?

Chef Seo complains about Eung-suk’s lack of trust in people but doesn’t get very far because three young women barge in calling, “Oppa!” Hastily, Seo herds them out, saying they only accept customers with reservations. The women are confused because he invited them.

Hehe. Caught.

As Seo takes care of the problem downstairs, Eung-suk happily heads up to his room/manpad to settle in after a long flight. He is interrupted by another potential customer, the smiling Min-seok  (Oh Min-seok).

Yes, I’m amused by the fact that several characters share the same names as the actors playing them.

Smiley Woo-hyun saw an ad for the restaurant in the paper and wants to make a reservation. Eung-suk passes judgement immediately and says they’re very critical about choosing clientele. He walks away, allowing the burden of explanation to fall on an antsy Chef Seo. His excuse for turning Woo-hyun away is that Last only accepts customers who are coming for one of their “last meals” before death. The restaurant will be one of the customers’ last memories where the date, time and menu is chosen by the restaurant.

Seo quickly ushers a confused Woo-hyun out and informs him to just make up an excuse the next time he wants a reservation.

At the gumiho residence, Mi-jin trudges inside, weary from the frightening flight. Her mother and sister greet her in a flurry. Mom Mi-seon wants to know how the trip went. Did she find any men? Sis Mi-mo wants to know if there were any souvenirs in the form of fashion-forward clothing.

Although Mi-jin tries to explain that she had a harrowing experience, mom only worries that Mi-jin has 100 days to find a liver and prevent the imminent transformation into foam. Mi-jin assures her that Mr. Perfect will appear soon to donate his liver to her worthy cause.

That night, Mi-jin remembers the stranger on the plane who looked exactly like her former husband from the Goryeo Dynasty (918 to 1392). She slithers from her bed to the floor and pulls out a trunk full of ornately decorated boxes. Within she finds a dagger.

A gayageum slowly sounds a few notes and Mi-jin appears on the screen in period garb on the porch of a traditional home. As the music increases in tempo, the camera focuses on a man wielding a sword in a beautiful dance.

The music suddenly stops and the swordsman comes to sit beside Mi-jin. It is her deceased husband, the general and Eung-suk’s doppelganger. He is agitated because a gumiho appeared in the village next to theirs. Mi-jin silently hopes that it is neither her mother nor sister.The look of worry on her face prompts the general to comfort her. She has no reason to fear because he’ll slay the gumiho. But fear creeps into her eyes and he misinterprets it to be fear for her life.

The general pulls out a dagger that is precious to him and tells her to stab the gumiho with it if she must. With the shadow of a smile, he tells her that she probably won’t need it because he’ll protect her. She looks nervously at the dagger and the memory ends.

Back in the present day her sister Mi-mo calls her downstairs. The news is explaining the disappearance of actress Han Yi-seul (cameo by T-ara’s Jiyeon), a gumiho who let fame get to her head and failed to find her last three livers before a millennium passed.

Sis hopes the news story has shocked Mi-jin into action, but Mi-jin only pities the foamy gumiho. Mom wants her to worry about herself and find a liver before it’s too late.

Mi-jin laments that there is no such thing as true love. The time for it has already passed. Her sister counters that it only takes a minute for a man to fall in love.

Heh. It took me only a minute to fall in love with Park Shi-hoo…

Anyway, sis thinks Mi-jin’s a freak for waiting for a man to give up his liver because of his profound love for her. Then sis complains of period cramps and pointedly says that women get those when they’re human. An argument erupts when mom gets sick of lint-rollering up all of Mi-jin’s fox fur at “her age”. Heehee.

At a clinic, Mi-jin is treating a patient when Mi-mo barges in calling her “fox” and informing her that a hot guy is waiting for her in the lobby. At Mi-jin’s pointed look, Mi-mo puts on a more respectful tone. Oh sisters…

Mi-jin heads on out and sees there are yellow footprints leading her away from the building. One pair of footprints directs, “Mi-jin, follow me.”

She hops, skips and most adorably follows the yellow footprints until she reaches another pair with directions: “Look up, beautiful.” On the side of the building are thousands of post-it notes that form the words, “I love you, Mi-jin.”

As she is looking, a man sidles beside her holding a bouquet of flowers. She glances up at him with surprise. “Min-seok!” (Yes, the dude who tried to make reservations at the impossible Last restaurant.)

Min-seok tells her that he loves her, which puzzles her. He’s been looking for her for a while, coming around every day for two months. He even made the bouquet by picking a flower a day. But Mi-jin is still confused.

Meanwhile, the cleaning lady is pissed because she has to take down all of the post-it notes. A lovely little detail.

Min-seok tries to convince Mi-jin that his love is sincere. He snatches her hand, traps it against his chest and says that his heart will tell her everything. Of course, her gumiho senses tell her that absolutely nothing has changed with his heart. In fact, it’s beating more slowly than usual. He’s probably not the one she’s looking for.

Her hand starts to slide down and he quickly jerks it back up. “Down there’s my liver,” he berates. Heehee.

In the bathroom at the clinic, Mi-jin brushes her teeth and chats with her mother who is in the bathroom. Mi-jin tells her mom that the whole thing was so cheesy and insincere that her claws tingled. As does each mention of her gumihohood, Mi-jin’s words anger her mother. “Mi-jin. Not your claws, your hands!” She also wants Mi-jin to focus on his liver, not his love or lack of sincerity.

Then mom brings up Mi-mo’s “Ten-in-one-go” incident.

It’s 1969 in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Mi-mo is a military nurse. She enters the medical tent and comforts a man who mistakes her for another woman. She sniffs at his blood and her eyes flash gumiho.

There are even more groaning men around. She glances at all of them and then counts – there are exactly ten.

Mi-mo throws her arms into the air and does an amazingly cute celebratory dance. Bravo, Hyomin. I was laughing so hard.

Back in the bathroom, Mi-jin wonders how Mi-mo could call that love. Nurse Mi-mo says she could feel the soldiers’ sincerity. Besides, Mi-jin is a fox and doesn’t understand that to humans, love is a prize. The men are confused, but the love is still ephemeral.

Mommy Mi-sun wants Mi-jin to be more like ten-in-one-go Mi-mo, but Mi-jin hates being compared to her younger sister.

They exit the bathroom and a rather severe man arrives with a sour look on his face. Mi-sun explains to Mi-jin that the look is the man’s happy face.

Mi-sun takes the man, Secretary Park Jung-hak (Park Jung-hak), into a room and demands to know if he made the reservation. He did not – he was rejected eight times. But Mi-sun feels no pity. Instead, she becomes angry. She always gets what she wants and if he can’t secure the reservation, he shouldn’t come back. Secretary Park chokes back a sob and leaves.

Oh the drama! The angst!

Secretary Park heads back to the restaurant where Chef Seo says he will never get a reservation. A Spanish guitar sounds a pasodoble and Secretary Park whips off his jacket and tucks his pants into his socks. Then, he backs Chef Seo behind the dining table and frightens him by lifting the bouquet of flowers from the table.

Instead of throwing them, he sets them down and then slides onto the table, refusing to leave until he secures a reservation. Eung-suk comes in and wonders what’s happening. Chef Seo (who he calls “hyung”) explains that he just doesn’t like the man who keeps offering money. He hates people who try to buy good memories. Eung-suk thinks Chef Seo is refusing the man because he’s not a woman. Heh.

Eung-suk takes out the trash in the rain while Secretary Park is struggling to remain on the table because he really has to pee. He wants to make Mi-sun happy but the restaurant is making him suffer! Finally, he decides to forgive and forget. He sits up, gets dressed and forgives a very confused Seo before running out to find a bathroom.

Outside, Eung-suk meanders back to the restaurant and sees a beautiful pair of pink flowers being pelted by the rain.

Min-seok arrives and glances up at the restaurant, remembering that he has to make up a good excuse to get a reservation. He drops the umbrella, musses his hair, ensures that the rain thoroughly soaks him and trudges up the stairs.

The pink flowers that Eung-suk saw are now covered by a plastic cup. Aw, he’s a big ol’ softy!

Min-seok comes up the path looking drenched and dejected. They come inside and Chef Seo quickly starts in that a reservation isn’t possible. Suddenly, crazy Min-seok desperately hugs  a surprised Eung-suk and sobs that his girlfriend only has three months to live. “Please help me!”

At the gumiho household, Secretary Park seems to be doing penance by ironing a little, white sock. Mi-sun walks in and tells him to each before he leaves, but he doesn’t think he deserves to eat. He’s not sure why they continue to reject him. So why is he ironing a sock? Not to assuage her anger, but because it makes him feel good to see it flat.

Pfft!

This angers Mi-sun who orders him to get the reservation. He says he’s forgiven them, which makes her even angrier. He covers his eyes with sunglasses and tries not to cry. Mi-jin enters as he flees and remembers her mother said that the sour look meant he was happy. Heh. Mi-sun wonders how a man can cry so much and then think the sunglasses will hide it.

Episode 2 – Love isn’t set up, but a passion

It’s dinner time at the gumiho household and Mi-jin gets meat. But she’s unhappy with it because it isn’t raw. Mi-sun doesn’t like to hear that “gumiho” talk – she wants her daughter to be human.

Mi-mo wonders why the restaurant keep rejecting them. Mi-sun explains that the young owner chooses the customer and the menu. With a sly grin, Mi-mo says she can help because she’s good with men. Mi-jin sneers that Mi-mo is such a fox. She should act human if she’s human. But Mi-mo doesn’t see what’s wrong with dating. Mi-jin wants to love one man with loyalty when she’s human, but her mother wants to hear her say that after she’s human.

Mi-jin’s winged phone signals several texts from Min-seok and doesn’t understand what they mean. They are a series of selcas. Mi-mo rolls her eyes and indicates that Min-seok is mouthing out a word, “Aishiteru,” which is “I love you” in Japanese. She thinks he’s uncreative because he got it from a movie.

But Mi-jin, as always, is stuck on the fact that he might love her. But she doesn’t feel his sincerity. Her family just wants her to count him as her thousandth man.

They’ll see if she will because Min-seok asks her to meet him at 1pm the next day.

Eung-suk and Seo go to the fish market for ingredients. Seo feels bad for the couple but Eung-suk thinks that it’s important how they live – and their restaurant will help the couple make an amazing memory with a perfect meal.

Aw, Eung-suk is such a romantic. KAWAII!

Time for food porn as Chef Seo prepares dinner. *drool*

Eung-suk comes in and is asked to taste test. Something about the test immediately quiets his mood. Seo tastes the food as well and thinks that it is bland. How did Eung-suk not know this with his superior taste buds? He even saved Seo in France by tasting his food and making a suggestion when the professor wasn’t looking.

Lost in thought, Eung-suk walks away and stops in front of the salt jar. He tastes a bit, and then tastes some more. For some reason, the taste of Seo’s cooking and the salt have really brought Eung-suk down.

It’s time for Min-seok to pick up Mi-jin. She is greeted by a mime who sits her on the back of a car and puts headphones over her ears. Breakdancers start showing their moves, old and young couples make hearts with their arms and Mi-jin is absolutely delighted by this flash mob put on for one person.

Then Min-seok walks down the middle of all the dancers holding a bouquet of flowers and wearing a cheesy grin.

At Last, the couple sits and Min-seok nervously proposes. “Do you want to be the protagonist of my life?” When she hesitates, he pulls out the ring, which is upside down.

Before he can place it on her hand, Eung-suk and Chef Seo come out clapping. Mi-jin and Eung-suk recognize each other with surprise.

And now Min-seok’s little lie about her having the three months to live really starts the story’s wheels turning.

Eung-suk introduces himself and Chef Pierre Seo. then he decants some wine, serves them several courses that look ridiculously delicious and finally brings out the main course, steak.

OMG, I love steak. And this episode is full of it. I’ll watch just for the steak…

The couple is left alone for the main course and Eung-suk gazes at Mi-jin through the window, remembering that Min-seok mentioned that she only has three months to live.

On the roof, Chef Seo notes that the male diner’s expression was much to happy for a man who would only get three months with his loved one. Eung-suk says that love doesn’t have a time limit.

NOOOO! Don’t say that. I see where this is going!

Anyway, Seo thinks it’s strange for Eung-suk to say it because he doesn’t let women get near him. With a laugh, Eung-suk agrees and then falls silent. He mumbles that the woman wanted to become human, but had a boyfriend.

Honey, you’re not going to puzzle that one out, I assure you.

As Min-seok and Mi-jin dine, she asks if he loves her a lot. She wants to know if he’d feel the same if she had three months left.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

He is confused and thinks she’s joking. The seriousness of her words, tone and expression finally get to him. Then he breaks out into awkward, riotous laughter. He promises to do everything to save her…then offers dessert.

What a phoney. Grr.

However, Mi-jin is determined. There is one method to save her. Min-seok assures he he can do everything for her.

She needs a liver – his liver. Min-seok knocks over his wine in shock and rings the bell. Eung-suk comes to clean up the mess and Min-seok bolts outside, leaving our poor gumiho disappointed.

Outside, Min-seok calls a friend to vent. Apparently this friend was right. He should’ve broken up with her because now she wants his liver. The friend laughs but Min-seok thinks he’s going to cry.

Mi-jin overhears and a single tear falls on the face of Min-seok’s phone. He hangs up, thinking it’s going to rain. When he goes back inside, she is gone and has settled the bill. Eung-suk is cleaning the table and notices the ring. Min-seok snatches it from Eung-suk’s hands and comments that Mi-jin at least has a conscience.

Okay, I want to stab this guy in the eye with a steak knife. Or, cut out his liver and feed it to Mi-jin. Let’s say it all together now: asshole.

Min-seok tries to explain himself to a surprised Eung-suk: She suddenly told me that she only had three months left to live. But didn’t you already know that? Min-seok quickly covers up his faux pas by saying that hearing it directly from her made him upset. Eung-suk, of course, thinks Min-seok is weird and continues to clean up.

A grieving Mi-jin gets all sexied up and heads out to a club for some boozing and dancing. She finds a really well-made man and goes to a hotel. He’s showering and I’m drooling over all the muscles while she drunkenly enquires whether he loves her or not. Of course! Enough to give her his liver? He’ll give her everything!

And she has found her thousandth man. She stumbles onto the bed and opens her arms, swaying slowly. Wind blows through her hair and a cloud of black smoke takes on the shape of a fox with emerald green eyes. It leaps into her chest and she transforms into a gumiho: dark eyeliner (of course); long, dark hair; wickedly long red nails; and gumiho green eyes.

The unsuspecting liver donor is now clean and wearing some Superman undies getting ready for his Superman to have a fun night. Well, that is until he sees her, screams like a little girl and runs out of the hotel clad only in his Superman undies. “She’s not a person!”

She watches him run away from atop a light post where her nine tails slowly sway. She leaps to another light post and then to the ground, once again in her human form. “You said you loved me.”

Last closes and Eung-suk wonders if Seo has a date. But Seo won’t date without money and he ain’t willing to spend it. Eung-suk closes up and gets freaked out by Mi-jin sitting on the steps. She wants alcohol. He tries to tell her they are closed. “Don’t be stingy. Just give me alcohol!”

Mi-sun and Mi-mo are watching a show on liver cirrhosis in horror. (Oh, the irony.) Mi-sun wonders if she’s tired because her liver isn’t healthy but her daughter reminds her that humans get tired at night. then they realize that Mi-jin isn’t home and hope she’s finally succeeded.

At Last, Mi-jin downs wine as Eung-suk watches. Are all men like this? she wonders. He wonders if drinking so much is wise.

Then she says that what Jin-yi unni said was right. You know, Hwang Jin-yi.

As in Hwang Jin-yi the legendarily famous gisaeng.

Of course, he now thinks Mi-jin is certifiable.

Anyway, Jin-yi unni said that if a man is handsome, then his personality is ugly. That’s why her standards for man were different than those of other people.

As she babbles, he continues to try and stop her from drinking more, to no avail.

She harps on how back in the day, men would give their lives for love. They wouldn’t need stupid setups. A person could feel someone’s sincerity just by looking.

Eung-suk says that love isn’t set up, but a passion. Mi-jin thinks his words are amazing and wonders if there are men like that still around. What about him?

AWKWARD.

He suggests it’s time to leave but she wants to stay and talk because she can talk freely with him. To get her out, he promises that she can come back and talk. But she refuses, thinking he will just kick her out again. He writes her a VVIP pass on a napkin and assures her they can talk if she comes back. However, it’s too late today.

At the gumiho clinic, mommy Mi-sun can’t find Secretary Park. Mi-jin walks in dressed casually, drinking water and looking completely hung over. She walks to her office and one of her tails pops out. Her mom runs after her and smacks her butt – why doesn’t she just advertise that she’s a gumiho?!

Mi-sun and Mi-mo sit across from Mi-jin wondering why she would drink so much and not get a liver out of it. She smells Secretary park and the restaurant she went to yesterday on herself and her mom gets angry again that Mi-jin makes her gumihohood obvious.

Mi-mo says it must be exhausting for Mi-jin to fail so much. Their mother suggests that Mi-jin go home early, but it’s mom’s birthday today! They should eat before they leave. Besides, Mi-jin has a reservation at an amazing place. Doesn’t Mi-jin know how picky mom is? Mi-mo asks. Of course!

And we all saw THAT coming.

At Last, Secretary Park is on his knees begging Chef Seo for a reservation. But it’s still a no. He leaves dejectedly and sees the three women of the Gu family walking up the path. He hides and watches them enter: Mi-sun and Mi-mo decked out, Mi-jin still in her hang-over duds.

Mommy Mi-sun is stoked to be at the restaurant. Kim Eung-suk is just plain ol’ shocked to see them. He gets a look from Chef Seo. But Seo goes with the flow and begins to flirt with Mi-sun who casually says that she heard it’s hard to get a reservation here. Mi-mo didn’t realize that his restaurant was that place that Mi-sun had been drooling after.

Mi-jin holds up her VVIP napkin and informs them that Manager Kim told her to come any time – and it’s her mother’s birthday. An embarrassed Eung-suk gets another pointed look from Chef Seo but they seat the women. A dejected Secretary Park watches from the outside, then uses his sunglasses to hide his tears of failure.

Flirty Mi-mo asks hottie Eung-suk if he’s the owner and he shyly answers that it is good to meet her.

Then she asks him if he’d like to go out on a date.

 Comments:

The Thousandth Man ain’t nothin’ we haven’t seen before but I think I can dig it. Lee Chun-hee’s “WTF” face is worth every second – seriously, how much more adorable can he get? That and I want to see if Mi-jin will cave to  family pressure and her desire to be human. Will she make another good man (like Eung-suk’s doppelganger) die for her?

Personally, I think Mi-jin has the wrong idea about love. She’s a taker. She’s taking love, livers and lives. At least her mom and her sister aren’t apologetic about brutally stealing them and deluding themselves that love is a good reason to wheedle a liver out of a man.

So, instead of taking, it’s time for Mi-jin to do some giving and hopefully we’ll see her learn how. And, of course, we hope to see Eung-suk the romantic learn to love.

What is Kim Eung-suk’s deal with avoiding women anyway? I’m sure we’ll find out soon since we only have eight episodes!

Also, I’m seeing Mi-jin the gumiho representing those women who need to be in a relationship to feel valid, loved and worthwhile. Those women who are chronic daters. Except she will, you know, die without a man. But Mi-jin NEEDS the men to love her. Is it an excuse to feel better or is she searching for a love that has no end goal (like killing her lover for his liver)? I have no clue. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

This drama was touted as a romantic fantasy melodrama so I’m expecting some tears and some romance. I’m also expecting some more funny with comedian Seo Kyung-suk and the quirky writing that screenwriter Kim Kyun-tae has delivered thus far. Actually, I really loved the funny in this.

A few things were a big overworked like the “three-month” concept, but the writing and directing made it work. Three months (roughly a hundred days) is a big mile stone for relationships in Korea and the use of it here is conspicuous. The Hong Sisters made use of it in My girlfriend is a Gumiho as well.

My big hope is that this thing doesn’t turn completely melo. I’m planning on starting Five Fingers and I don’t know if my heart can take it…

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Character introductions.

The Thousandth Man Episode 1 Screencaps.