by: Raine

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Enter detective Psycho-jo, who has stooped to new lows of immaturity as illusion and reality collide.

“Sorry” – Instrumental of song sung by Lee Seung-won (from the Cheongdam-dong Alice OST)

 

episode 15 recap

Psycho-jo has just been confronted by Se-kyung who told him she wants to show him everything just as he showed her everything. But, he says he’s already seen everything. She drops the nice girl attitude and asks, “Se-kyung who is like Candy? Yes, that is me and the person who used you is also me.” She doesn’t differentiate between the two. And neither does he and it’s driving him crazy.

Wait, Psycho-jo, my love, my dear. You are ALREADY crazy. Just sayin’.

He tells her that he just woke up from a six year nightmare. Why does he have to have the same dream again? It drives him crazy that it isn’t a dream, but reality. He tries to leave, but she stops him by saying she’s not Seo Yoon-joo.

(I really want to use her name now. She’s not really a tick anymore, is she?)

Se-kyung won’t run away like Yoon-joo and Psycho-jo can’t run away either. Tommy watches as she tries to drag him out of the airport. Psycho-jo shakes off Se-kyung’s arm and declares he won’t change his mind. She tells him that someone said he would die and that everyone is worried about him. He is annoyed and asks who said it. Answer: Yoon-joo, Dong-wook and his father. He is especially shocked by hearing his father was worried. What did he do wrong that would make him die? he asks. She thinks Psycho-jo isn’t the kind of person who would die over something like this and he agrees.

Then she throws in the kicker: why does everything think that he will?

He says they’re overreacting and she replies that this is the response that Psycho-jo wanted, for attention, like a child. His mental problems are fake as well. He doesn’t like to hear that at ALL. He is no child, he declares. Se-kyung also agrees with that and demands to know why he’s running away like he does during important situations, to escape reality.

He defends himself by saying he doesn’t want to see her or even be in the same country as her. She isn’t phased and merely tells him to keep his promise: that he will only die if she leaves him. Then, quite petulantly, he yells, “I won’t die!”

And Dong-wook and Secretary Moon run over to them, faces full of worry. They ask if he’s okay, and he says they’re overreacting. He’s just fine. Dong-wook tells him what Se-kyung did: everyone was worried about him. Psycho-jo tells them to stop worrying and Se-kyung, quick on the uptake as always, tells him not to run away if he hates everyone’s overreactions.

Psycho-jo fights Dong-wook’s attempts to drag him out, but ends up getting in the car in the end. Se-kyung watches him go with sadness and relief.

In the car, Dong-wook asks how long Psycho-jo knew about Se-kyung. He just found out from Daddy Cha today and then Secretary Moon heard from Dong-wook. Psycho-jo twists the truth: everyone knew but me?

Seriously dude, come ON! We know that you were hurt, but what’s with all the drama? Se-kyung is right – you’re acting like a child.

Anywho, Psycho-jo wonders what they all said to make Se-kyung so worried. Dong-wook tells him that Se-kyung came to him to ask a few questions. Dong-wook promises to talk to her, but Psycho-jo warns him not to say anything, or talk about him…EVER.

Tommy drives Se-kyung home. In the car she tells him that she will go to Psycho-jo first thing tomorrow because he will have a lot to ask her. She has to answer everything no matter what. Tommy says that Psycho-jo may not ask because hearing the truth may be painful. She will go everyday, anyway. Tommy wonders why he wants her to stop now. he tells her he liked someone a long time ago, someone he liked a lot. But they broke up because he saw too much of the good and the bad in her.

Se-kyung gets what he’s saying because she’s broken up because of the same reasons. But she is not the kind of person to let it end so easily.

Yoon-joo is sitting in her now empty closet with a packed bag. It makes me sad.

Dong-wook takes Psycho-jo home where Daddy Cha is waiting for him. Psycho-jo immediately assumes his father is there to say, “I told you so,” and laugh at him. Did he cover up the truth to make him look like an idiot?

Wow, seriously? Do you think everyone is out to get you? You’re not THAT important.

Daddy Cha tells his son that this isn’t anything, especially when time passes. Psycho-jo wouldn’t think otherwise and orders that they leave. He literally kicks them out. Dong-wook promises Daddy Cha to take care of him. Daddy Cha wonders how they got him home, and Dong-wook tells him that he left the airport after fighting with Se-kyung.

Inside the apartment, Psycho-jo leans against the couch, trying to come to terms with everything.

Ah-jung tells Se-kyung’s family what Se-kyung did to Psycho-jo and they are absolutely shocked. When she comes home, she apologizes to her parents and her mom nearly passes out. Is she really Se-kyung? mom demands and yells at her. Her father is quiet and escapes to the roof where Se-kyung finds him. She apologizes and he takes the blame. How could she have hope, looking at him?

Se-kyung wonders why her father always blames himself after he’s worked so hard. He turns to her and asks what Psycho-jo did so wrong that she had to do this to him. It’s not right.

I agree she needs to be scolded, but Psycho-jo also really put her in a pickle with all his (adorable) neediness and fantasies.

Her father is incredulous. How could she do this? She starts to cry.

In his apartment, Psycho-jo is pacing, trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. He wonders about the rabbits, when she asked him his name, when she thanked him for helping In-chan, and today, when she said she doesn’t differentiate between sincerity and using.

He sits and writes a list. What is with this show and lists?

He calls Secretary Moon and asks what date and time Ah-jung told him that Se-kyung liked Secretary Kim.

I think I’m going to die laughing. Is this how he’s going to cope? Investigative work? Is he Harriet the Spy with his little notebook?

Secretary Moon admits that he didn’t tell Psycho-jo everything. Psycho-jo says he won’t stand for anyone being less than upfront anymore. Secretary Moon reveals that he told Ah-jung that Secretary Kim was the president.  So between 1 and 2 AM, the day before the Christmas party, all was revealed.

Pffft, he’s even getting the time? Hahahahahahaha!

Se-kyung tells Ah-jung that she’s going to see Psycho-jo everyday. Ah-jung thinks that she shouldn’t, men don’t like girls who stick to them, but Se-kyung can’t do anything else but this. It’s what she always does. She’ll meet him no matter what.

Then there is a banging on the door and Ah-jung winces when she sees him and sends Se-kyung out.

Thrusting a sheet from his notebook of clues in her face, Psycho-jo asks, like a detective, “Can’t differentiate? What do you mean you can’t differentiate? December 24, 2012, Secretary Moon told Choi Ah-jung that Secretary Kim is the president.”

I know I shouldn’t find this funny, but it’s SO ridiculous. BWAHAHAHA!

Hey, witness, Psycho-jo says to Ah-jung who promptly disappears indoors, holding onto the doorknob to prevent him from opening it. Pfffft. He takes this disappearance as a confession and turns to Se-kyung. She knew his identity Christmas Eve and wrote the letter stating that she liked Secretary Kim. After she pretended to be sick and hid from him, making him look for her. Then she told him that Secretary Kim and the president were too far. (Meaning in social class.)

Se-kyung stops his investigation to tell him that it all started way before that: he became her White Rabbit. He’s confused and she explains that Alice follows the White Rabbit to Wonderland. Se-kyung, like Alice, was going to follow her White Rabbit into Cheongdam-dong.

Psycho-jo thinks she’s spinning a good tale when she was really looking for someone to use. She agrees. He figures out that’s why she was so determined to meet the president and cut out poor Secretary Kim and used him, even when she liked him. Was liking him part of her plan?

Se-kyung says that liking Secretary Kim before she knew his real identity is the truth. Why did she cut him out? he demands. Because he was poor? Is she really that kind of person? She confirms it. She also says that after finding out the truth, her conscience had an alibi. (She means that she could use him while still loving him of her own free will.)

Psycho-jo says that the fact that she can’t differentiate between liking him and using him really makes him crazy. Doesn’t she know her own emotions? She asks him why he can’t trust his feelings. No matter who she was, she loved him and he knew that the best. Psycho-jo says that he didn’t know and he also doesn’t know her.

You know, I got that she loved him because she felt badly for hurting him every step of the way and seemed to really understand him. But I’m worried about him. He loved his illusion of her.

Se-kyung heads inside where Ah-jung immediately pounces on her. She thinks that Psycho-jo coming of his own accord is a good sign. Se-kyung doesn’t look like she believes it.

Psycho-jo gets in his car and glances at his paper and wonders when it started, trying to sort it out in his memories. Also, what is a White Rabbit?

The next morning Se-kyung readies to head to Psycho-jo’s place before work. Ah-jung tells her never to give up and Se-kyung swears she won’t. Then a banging on the door indicates that Se-kyung doesn’t need to go to Psycho-jo – he’s come to her (wearing a very Tae-kyung like shirt.)

Psycho-jo asks when he became the White Rabbit with a few sarcastic comments thrown in. Also, I’m pretty sure this whole investigation has been made in banmal, but I could be wrong. I don’t speak Korean.

Se-kyung reminds him that he told her to grab the opportunity because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. She started then, when she became a stylist. He figures out that the one hundred questions and the rabbits are because of that. Snatching the rabbit from his hand, she accuses him of thinking all night about when she started to use him. He looks a bit shaken.

She picks up the box and heads downstairs because she understands how much agony this is causing him. She starts to put the rabbits in the recycling because he doesn’t want to see them nor do they mean anything to him. Therefore it doesn’t mean anything to her either. He tells her that she asked his name that day and also thanked him for the first time. Was she being sincere? He desperately asks her if it was real; he believes she was sincere.

Instead of answering “yes,” she tells him that it’s his problem. He sees and hears only what he wants to so he can’t see a person properly.

But, you lied. Isn’t it hard to see a liar properly?

Anyway, she says that a person who can’t see people clearly can’t love. She saw him, childish and petty. Now it’s his turn to look at her. Not fantasy Se-kyung, but real Se-kyung.

Okay, I agree with that. I don’t get how I can disagree and agree with her. Whatevs.

He’s left to stew and take his rabbits back to his car. He glances at his list and wonders if the first letter she wrote about In-chan was in his imagination. He follows her in his car like a creepy stalker and shoves the blue letter in her face, demanding to know if he was imagining her sincerity in it. She climbs in his car and has him take her to the park where she broke up with In-chan.

The letter was imagination because she wrote it to break up with In-chan. Psycho-jo sobers and asks her why. She says that In-chan is better without her. In the company, she doesn’t design. At that time, she wasn’t any use to the world or him so it was better to throw everything away and start again. She wished for someone to come and save her. That’s how she entered Cheongdam-dong.

Psycho-jo asks if he was the one to save her. She tells him he had everything to save her. (Love and money.) He scoffs. She broke up with a man who had nothing and found one who was rich. So she was sincere and she wanted to use? Now she doesn’t want to let go? She agrees and tells him that she really thought he’d save her. But now everyone says she should be the one to save and protect him. She is his home and his everything. Without her, they say he is nothing. To everything in the world, she was nothing, everyone threw her away. But not Psycho-jo.

This is the person he is to her.

He is obviously moved by this confession and doesn’t follow her when she leaves.

Daddy Cha calls her to tell her to end her relationship with Psycho-jo. She refuses. Tragedy didn’t strike when Psycho-jo discovered the truth. Daddy Cha reminds her what is in Psycho-jo’s mind. Then Se-kyung tells him to knock it off. He should stop saying his son is weak. It’s partially his fault that Psycho-jo turned out as he did. Daddy Cha weakly protests.

Heh. She is a ballsy wench, that Se-kyung.

She tells Daddy Cha that Psycho-jo isn’t truly weak, but trying to meet his father’s standard, which says that his son is weak and not good enough. What standard is that? Daddy Cha asks.

Management. Becoming the successor of the family biz.

As if, Daddy Cha says. He does whatever he wants to. But Se-kyung doesn’t agree. If Psycho-jo did that, he’d live as an artist. But he decided to pair his artistic talent with management in Artemis, which wouldn’t have been possible without his artistic intuition. She asks Daddy Cha to acknowledge what Seung-jo enjoys at least once.

More than that, I think, he needs to truly talk to his son. Acknowledging his artistic talent is only one piece of the puzzle. But it’s a good place to start. Something concrete to go on.

Then she asks him to let her and Psycho-jo settle things themselves. Yoon-joo ran away, pushed by Daddy Cha, and Psycho-jo did, too. Se-kyung doesn’t want to end it like that because she loves him.

I do believe her. That’s why she’s fighting so hard now.

Psycho-jo sits in his car, thinking about what Se-kyung said. She’d thrown herself away, but he found her.

Se-kyung heads to work, prepared to leave. Indeed, her things have been packed and Assistant Manager Kim informs her that In-hwa asked for her dismissal. On the way out, she runs into bitchy In-hwa who says that things will be difficult for everyone. It’s a surprisingly unfortunate situation. GN Fashion missed out on a lucrative business deal and Se-kyung’s plan was foiled. After missing the business deal, In-hwa delivered justice because life is fair.

Seriously? You’re such an ego. Where’s a pin? I need to pop your bubble.

Se-kyung tells In-hwa that she’s glad to know In-hwa is human, just like her. In-hwa has given up on business and Se-kyung apologizes for that. But Se-kyung hasn’t given up on Psycho-jo yet and she won’t let him give up either.

Speaking of GN Fashion’s business, Min-hyuk meets with Yoon-joo to give her one last chance. He can’t give up on the outlet. He tells her to get Psycho-jo back into the outlet deal – she’s beneficial to their family because she’s tied to him. It’s not a pleasant tie, but how well she does determines where she will live. Tears flood her eyes and he tells her that it’s his turn to do business with her. That way she can keep doing the business she wants.

Is this how he’s punishing her? she asks. He says it’s just a business deal although he doesn’t believe her life is worth hundreds of millions of won. Ouch.

She calms herself down in the elevator where she meets Se-kyung leaving. They both look completely dejected. Se-kyung didn’t call because she didn’t know Yoon-joo’s situation and apologizes. Yoon-joo says she’s been given a chance. Then she asks about Psycho-jo. Se-kyung says no running away is going to happen.

Psycho-jo is still sitting in his car at the park, thinking about how she said she was useless to everyone but him. He goes to see her, only to find her climbing into Tommy Hong’s car, guided by Tommy’s hand on her back. Cue jealousy, curiosity  and more stalking Se-kyung.

Tommy tells her that he was on his way back from closing a few of his stores, which was probably due to GN Fashion’s influence. But he has good news anyway. No one is asking him to matchmake anymore. Even if he’s ruined, he wanted to stop.

Tommy regrets it; he was crazy. Yoon-joo asked him why he accepted Se-kyung’s offer. Se-kyung is surprised that Yoon-joo visited him and Tommy says that neither he nor she are as naive as Se-kyung, who thought she’d done a great job persuading him. He thought she was cool, but people aren’t fooled by that. He regrets his decision.

Se-kyung says he doesn’t look regretful and he says this is his regretful face (Hye-mi from Dream High, anyone?). Then she tells him that instead of her going to Psycho-jo, he came to her. Tommy thinks Psycho-jo is trying hard.

When she leaves, Tommy stares wistfully after her and Psycho-jo angrily witnesses it. So he storms into Tommy’s office and demands to know who Han Se-kyung is. Confused, Tommy answers that she’s Psycho-jo’s fiancee. Psycho-jo accuses Tommy of ruining his wedding plans and even assumed she was being sponsored. So why was she meeting with him? They looked mighty friendly with Tommy driving her and carrying her box and opening her door and touching her back.

Somebody’s jealous!

Tommy says he was helping Se-kyung into Cheongdam-dong. Psycho-jo wonders what Cheongdam-dong is to them because he doesn’t understand. Also, is Tommy an Alarm Clock Rabbit (자명종 토끼/jamyeongjong toki)?

HAHAHAHA. He can’t remember the Korean name for White Rabbit, which is “Clock Rabbit.” (시계 토끼/shige toki) Nice little pinch of humor there, writer.

Tommy realizes that Psycho-jo means White Rabbit and Psycho-jo wonders if he told Se-kyung to make him her White Rabbit. Tommy tells him that he was responsible for the marriage match between Psycho-jo and In-hwa and Se-kyung was an obstacle. He admits to making the video but that it didn’t work because of her tenacity. If he knows anything about Se-kyung, though, it’s that she is sincere at heart. Psycho-jo wouldn’t understand someone who’s been pushed to her wit’s end (Tommy uses the phrase “driven to the edge of a cliff.”)

Psycho-jo says he knows all about cliff edges. He also thinks that it’s their fault that someone like him doesn’t understand all of this.

Blame game time! Whooooo! And the immaturity continues.

Tommy calls Se-kyung to tell her about Psycho-jo’s visit. The moment she says Psycho-jo will now come to find her, she hears a banging on her front door.

At least he’s predictable?

She goes out to meet him. He asks her how long she’s known Yoon-joo was his ex. She’s known since the day he sent her the USB so she couldn’t confess. The day Psycho-jo proposed, Tommy threatened her with the video. She didn’t want to lose, so she accepted his proposal. Psycho-jo wonders why she didn’t give up, why she and Tommy and Yoon-joo are willing to go so far to enter Cheongdam-dong.

Se-kyung wanted to live while loving. But she couldn’t do that. He tells her to stop making excuses because for some people, loving is the most difficult thing. For her, living in the world was the hardest. He wanted to believe in love and she wanted to believe in the world. “Being poor no matter how much you try is never your fault,” there isn’t a world that would tell her that.

Is poverty something to be proud of? he asks her. Does being poor make it okay to use someone’s sincerity. How is love related to poverty? Poverty isn’t something to be proud of; he’s been there. And still, he rose to this position. So she shouldn’t make excuses.

Se-kyung tells him he had good fortune with his paintings and those chances don’t come to everyone. Psycho-jo gets defensive and says that his painting was worth the 30,000 euros paid for it. Even if it is good fortune, it’s the result of him working so hard in a tough situation. It was his reward. Se-kyung says that the world doesn’t treat them that way. Effort doesn’t always yield something wonderful.

Psycho-jo is furious that she assumes his position came from luck. She thinks the luck he was born with carried him. He yells at her. She knows how hard he worked to get here. But she says that although he is a person who can believe in good fortune, she is not.

Stop talking like a loser! he orders, which brings tears to her eyes. She quietly asks if he also believes that being poor no matter how hard she tries is her fault. Is it because she’s dumb? Is it because she’s lived her life incorrectly?

“I suppose it is,” he replies coldly.

She leaves him standing there and slumps against the door to cry. His conscience urges him to the door, but he can’t bring himself to knock. Instead he stands outside and listens to her cry.

So what will he do when he finds out daddio bought it, ‘cause I’m positive he did. His good fortune DID follow him from birth. Daddy wasn’t gonna leave his starving kiddo hanging.

Yoon-joo drinks with her brother, Ho-min. She asks him if he remembers when their father’s business went downhill during the IMF and they had to move into a shoddy house. Their mother bought her expensive clothes even when they didn’t have money. She always told Yoon-joo that her beauty was her good fortune. Ho-min replies that she told him that he didn’t have any good fortune and to follow his sister no matter what. Yoon-joo would be the one to save their family. He asks her what she’s going to do now.

Good question.

Dong-wook asks Psycho-jo what he’s going to do about Se-kyung. Psycho-jo admits he was thankful that she came to the airport and that he wanted to lean on her. This pleases Dong-wook who wants it to work out, but Psycho-jo doesn’t think it will. He asks Dong-wook what he thinks about his painting that sold for 30,000 euros. Dong-wook thinks that people saw the effort in his painting. Is there any other way to  think about it?

Psycho-jo grows pensive and says that Se-kyung thinks it was fate.

We see the paintings hanging in Daddy Cha’s house. Psycho-jo says he thought there was one person he thought it could be, but brushes it off.

In a flashback, Daddy Cha has his assistant buy the painting for 30,000 euros and then tells his assistant to donate it. Having a painting doesn’t benefit business.

Psycho-jo says that Se-kyung was right about a lot of things, so even if she scolded him, he listened in silence. Now he wants to understand her, but the deception makes it difficult. Is the inability to trust people or the inability to trust the world more difficult?

I don’t think that’s really the question here. I think he needs to figure out whether or not he can accept her despite her deception. It’s a touchy subject, marrying for money. But many women want someone who can support them. Or, like In-hwa, want to be matched well for business. The question this show TRIES to explore is, “Is it wrong to marry for money and comfort?” When someone is that downtrodden, is it okay to look for an out?

Psycho-jo wonders if it was painful because there was love despite the lack of sincerity. Or if because there was no money, was it more painful to throw away love?

You both were in pain, dude. Get over it. The question is: can you trust her now that she’s deceived you.

Psycho-jo heads to Se-kyung’s who is waiting for him. She hears a noise and runs outside, but he’s not there. She keeping poking her head out, but the rooftop is empty. So she heads to his place and we get to see both of them hesitating to knock or ring the bell and wallowing in their woes.

The next morning, Psycho-jo follows Se-kyung on foot. He watches as she takes the crowded train and struggles to get on. She also gets squished against the door by a ton of expensive purse-wearing commuters. (Of course, he’s not being squished…) This scene mirrors the scene in the first episode.

Then he follows her to a job interview at a store where a woman is picking between expensive purses that Se-kyung could never buy.

He walks around Cheongdam-dong, seeing it from Se-kyung’s eyes. It’s the place she has to enter no matter what. For him, it’s just where he lives.

Dong-wook meets Secretary Moon. Moon is surprised because he thought things were going better. Dong-wook admits that he’s disappointed with Se-kyung. Psycho-jo deceived and was deceived, but this time it’s 100% her fault.

Moon wonders what they’re fighting about. It’s about a painting!

Then we get several meetings at the same time: Tommy Hong and Se-kyung; Psycho-jo and Yoon-joo; and Dong-wook and Secretary Moon.

Psycho-jo asks Yoon-joo if she’s getting a divorce. She tells him they’re giving her a chance. He says that he’ll help her however he can, because he was part of her downfall.

But she says that she can’t do it and tries to leave. He stops her by asking about the painting. Did she buy it?

We jump to Se-kyung telling Tommy that Psycho-jo doesn’t know who bought the painting and then to Dong-wook telling Moon about the 30,000 euro painting. Dong-wook doesn’t know who bought it.

This would be more suspenseful if we didn’t know who bought it. I guess the suspense comes in wondering how Psycho-jo will react. But shouldn’t he have guessed who bought it by now?

Secretary Moon thinks he knows who it is and we cut to Psycho-jo, who thinks that Yoon-joo bought it with the 30,000 euros his father gave her.

Se-kyung doesn’t know who bought it for sure, but thinks that Psycho-jo isn’t suspecting who he should. No duh!

Yoon-joo scoffs at Psycho-jo. Why would she spend her entire fortune on a painting? Psycho-jo seems relieved. Yoon-joo says it’s obvious who bought it and he looks confused. She wonders if he’s really baffled or if he’s faking.

Tommy thinks it’s obvious, too. Obviously, it’s not obvious to him.

Then Secretary Moon finally spits it out: it’s his father. Daddy Cha!

Finally, the unsecretiest secret comes out!

Se-kyung can see the ending. Alice in Wonderland ended the same way: the whole thing was a dream. She awoke from her dream.

And then Yoon-joo tells him: it was his father.

He wakes from his dream.

 Comments:

Bubble popped. His world of pain and suffering and the stories he’s concocted come crashing down. Finally! At the same time, however, I don’t want to belittle his tribulations. He really did live on the street, suffer break-up and betrayal and then went through some mental health issues. Much of it could’ve been avoided, if not all. His weakness is what makes his character, but at times, especially the past few episodes, it was a little much.

Now for the double standard of marrying for money. If a poor person marries for money. If a rich person marries for money, it’s a business match. Fair? I think not. Like I said before, marrying for comfort and security is something a lot of people do. I mean, when people search for a partner, no one wants to marry a guy who can’t keep a job, right?

For Se-kyung, it was impossible to approach Psycho-jo with her true desires: I love you and I love your money. No one wants to be loved just for money. But we’re talking reality. Being poor sucks. It’s a good concept for the show to explore. I just wish they’d done it better.

Off to the finale where all will have a happy ending. It has to with all the crap they put me through. It BETTER! I know I said before that I didn’t want them together, but the k-drama rom-com fan in me can’t handle it. Heh.

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 (final)

Character introductions.

Cheongdam-dong Alice Episode 15 Screencaps.