by: Raine

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We get some cuteness and a whole bunch of second lead and mother-in-law annoyances. Luckily, Doo-rim keeps the show light enough to enjoy and watching Kang-joo scratch his head over how she makes him feel is delightful.

“MaMa Beat” – LC9 as “Monstar”  (from Skirmish and featuring Ga-in from Brown-eyed Girls)

episode 3 recap

In the aftermath of the tomato hurling incident, the tomato hurler is dragged away while cursing Kang-joo for putting her family on the streets and her siblings in an orphanage. Kang-joo looks ashamed, especially after Doo-rim glares at him and storms away. He barks at his people to deal with the interview and clean up the mess.

Afterwards Roo-mi, the incurably selfish, asks if Doo-rim was trying to show her up by proving she’ll go to any length to protect what she has. Where does she get off asking that? Then she hands Doo-rim the pre-screened questions and responses. She’s told to answer as is written. Then Roo-mi pauses and says that her face looks different without make-up, which Doo-rim quickly covers up with the excuse that she had some things “touched up.”

If she’s quick enough to come up with that answer, how did she eat a cotton ball? HOW?

Doo-rim is curious why the furious worker got fired, and it was for smoking on the job. Before she can ask anything else, a store employee (Oh Jin-joo played by Park Jin-joo) comes in with a few outfits and recognizes Doo-rim as Doo-rim. She wants to know when and why she moved to the city. Roo-mi scolds a very confused Jin-joo and sends her off.

Dad eats with the older man he met last episode who assures Dad that “her” death was nobodies fault. “Her” must be Dad’s first love. The old man says she seemed strange the night before her wedding and asked that her ashes be spread at the base of the old tree Dad had visited. At the time they had thought she was preoccupied with the wedding, but it turned out to be her last wish.

After tea, the old man asks Dad not to come back anymore. Dad finally calls the old man “abeonim/father-in-law,” but is asked not to return again. It’s been 30 years already. It’s time to move on.

During the interview, Kang-joo spins a romantic yarn about the day of his proposal, which Doo-rim awkwardly joins. He ran through the snow to get to her and put the necklace on her. Doo-rim struggles to curb her gag reflex as he lies without effort. He treats each customer as lovingly as he does his fiancee. *cough* Bullshit *cough* Oh, excuse me. I had a cotton ball in my throat.

The interview serves to promote the launch of President Kaneko’s JR brand in Kang-joo’s mall.

After the shoot is over, the director want a few shots of “Yi-kyung” playing piano, which catches Doo-rim off guard because it wasn’t in the prepared script. Off to the side, Jin-joo has watched the entire interview and is positive that the woman is Doo-rim, not Yi-kyung.

I’m not sure if this is an “uh-oh” moment or if she’ll turn into someone Doo-rim can confide in. In any case, Doo-rim is up shit’s creek if she has to play piano and Jin-joo knows it. When she asks for water, Jin-joo volunteers to fetch it and makes a big production of dropping the water on Yi-kyung and on the piano.

AAAAAAAAAAH! Not the PIANO! RAWR! AAAAAH!!!!!!!! *musician spaz attack* AAAAAAAH!!!!!

The move saves Doo-rim from playing the piano in any case.

Afterwards, she goes off to find Jin-joo who actually shushes Doo-rim who is ridiculously loud in her excitement to see her hometown friend. Jin-joo saw how nervous Doo-rim was at the piano and saved her on purpose. But how the hell is she Kang-joo’s fiancee?

Cut to after Doo-rim tells her everything and to when Doo-rim bemoans her sudden princess status and how stressful it is. Jin-joo finds the fact that she has a doppelganger more curious and wonders if there is a birth secret. Doo-rim shuts that down, but now that it’s been mentioned again, I’m wondering, too. Then Doo-rim makes Jin-joo promise to keep the secret and she swears that she will so fervently that it makes me wonder when she’s going to spill the beans.

Doo-rim leaves the mall and sees the Tomato Hurler holding up a poster board protesting her unfair termination. (If she’s that poor, where did she get the money to print the board? Why not hand write it?) Doo-rim says she shouldn’t have smoked and the Hurler said she tried it JUST once and has worked hard for three years before that. Isn’t this too cruel? Doo-rim finds out about her situation: her parents are gone and her siblings are young. She tried the cigarette to try and calm herself ‘cause she’s been stressing. Doo-rim identifies with her and gives her some money, which is when a pissy Kang-joo walks up.

He drags her upstairs while Doo-rim fights for the Hurler. Kang-joo says that she should stop with rescuing cats and not go any further. He doesn’t run a charity.

This situation is pretty shifty because they both have points, humane and business.

Anyway, she lays into him for not understanding what it’s like not to have a mother or to have nothing. When she got hit with the tomato, she was furious at him for worrying more about his embarrassment than about checking to see if she was okay. She calls him materialistic and self-centered, which has him fighting to protest, but she’s feeling injusticed and won’t be silenced. What is the point of all that money and being covered in designer from head to toe if he himself isn’t high-end?

She leaves him baffled. And I must say his reaction is a nice piece of acting by Lee Hong-ki because of how understated it is. Outside she freaks out over her stupid mouth running away with her again.

At the Choi hanok, Dad returns home to a very stern-looking Myung-hee. Mrs. Jang asks her husband, Butler Jang, if he knows where Dad goes on his periodic “don’t-ask-don’t-tell” trips. They start arguing about who Dad really loves and it’s not Myung-hee, when, of course, Myung-hee walks in.

She sits down with Dad and gives him his medicine and asks him not to go out alone, y’know, for his health. She can’t stop his heart from going out there, but he can’t go out there alone. He assures her he won’t be going out there again.

Guh, this horrid lighting! It makes the actors look jaundiced!

Doo-rim returns home and says her interview went well and deflects onto Yi-hyun when she sees his hand is hurt. She shows genuine concern, which seems to get to him. Please, don’t let him fall for her. That will creep me out to high heaven and back. He smiles when she cheerily leaves to prep dinner and then she endears herself to him further by serving him a piece of fish.

When she asks if he’s heard from his sister, he assures her he has people looking for her. Doo-rim quickly denies further curiosity.

That night Kang-joo tosses and turns in bed while thinking of Doo-rim’s lecture about money. Good, he is human.

The next morning, Yi-hyun is struggling with his tie when helpful Doo-rim shows up smiling with the sound of a harp in the background. Seriously, show? That wasn’t necessary. Anyway, she ends up helping him with his tie and asking for permission to go out, which she receives with a smile.

Mommy Myung-hee meets with Mommy Jae-ran and pushes for a quicker wedding because of Dad’s heart condition. He had surgery last year. She wants to set a wedding date and Jae-ran is stuck with picking a wedding date. And now we have our deadline for this “contract” she has with Jae-ran and Yi-hyun. Or we will have a deadline.

Turns out that the errands Doo-rim had to run were a search to find Bong-sook. The trail leads her to dead end at a beauty parlor where she left unpaid bills. On her way out, she sees a cake-eating contest for which the prize is a t.v. I bet she wants that for her Granny. She signs up with a bunch of men and overweight women and snarfs. There is a film crew there..eek!

Right when she’s stuffing the last of of the cake in her face with her hands, Myung-hee drives up looking particularly appalled. Heh. Luckily Doo-rim spots her and, thinking fast, stuffs the cake plate in her face to cover herself with icing. Going for the Mrs. Doubtfire routine?

More than Mrs. Doubtfire face, the appearance of Kang-joo distracts Myung-hee and they both leave. He takes a disturbing look over his shoulder though…

…and waylays her on her way out of the bathroom. He scolds her (again) and asks what would’ve happened had his mom seen her. He’s shocked by her and by her outfit. She blames it on pre-wedding stress and wanting to try things she’s never tried before. She apologizes, which I think she should do as she is getting paid to act like Yi-kyung.

To make matters worse, Roo-mi comes looking for Kang-joo about an appointment and gives Doo-rim a very curious once over.

In the car, Kang-joo asks if all women get like that when stressed by their weddings. Roo-mi gloats that of course the stress of marrying into Taeyang group is getting to her. A cake-eating contest is too much, Kang-joo says, which has Roo-mi curious. Yi-kyung doesn’t like sweets.

And you just gave the hunting dog her first whiff of something to chase, Doo-rim. That one’s on you. Then there is a second lead when Doo-rim comments that Kang-joo doesn’t know Yi-kyung well. He says he knows she likes cats, which has Roo-mi explaining that she’s allergic to them. This confuses him because he saw her rubbing it all over her face and saw her take it home to raise.

Roo-mi goes straight for Jin-joo who says that she was mistaken when she thought “Yi-kyung” looked like her friend. The interaction makes Roo-mi even more suspicious.

We get a glimpse of Granny watching drama on her new t.v. She loves it. Doo-rim assures her she’s doing really well. Their conversation gets cut short by a furious Jae-ran. She scolds Yi-hyun for not watching Doo-rim better because the trending topic online is of the cake eating contest. Jae-ran storms upstairs and throws Doo-rim’s “cheap” clothes on the bed, asking what she’s going to do when Yi-kyung comes back after ruining her reputation. She orders Doo-rim to throw her “disgusting” clothes away and the kitten and storms out.

Although Jae-ran was unacceptably rude, her anger is justified. I hate that.

Doo-rim pulls the kitten out of the carrier…where she LEFT IT? Seriously? You leave the cat in that carrier that entire time. Show, bad. Just bad. A cat is not a goldfish. You cannot keep it in a carrier.

Yi-hyun says she must’ve had her reasons and Jae-ran is pissed he’s defending her. Then she starts blaming him for not finding Yi-kyung and spills the beans I’ve been wondering about: Would he be like this if she was his real sister?

So they aren’t blood related…guh.

He walks out on the queen of hysterics and broods in the hall.

Doo-rim gives the kitten, named Coco, to Jin-joo to take care of for now. Then Jin-joo asks how Doo-rim feels when with Choi Kang-joo, every girl in South Korea’s dream man. What’s it like to be alone with him? Doo-rim says he has charisma, looks and money, but she can see why Yi-kyung disappeared. She starts bad mouthing him, but is stopped short when Jin-joo says he got the Hurler a full-time job at a grocery store with full benefits and her siblings don’t have to go to an orphanage.

Aw, she got to him! (And aw, the kitten mewling is so cute!)

Doo-rim returns home and reports to a smiling Yi-hyun that her friend likes the kitten and will care for her. Then he shows her the invitation to the Monstar showcase that Kang-in sent.

LC9 cameo soon?

Kang-joo tries to call Doo-rim, but can’t reach her. Roo-mi walks in and asks if she posted the clip. He asked the bakery and she cops to it pretty quickly. She was claiming her spot. Luckily, he hates what she did as much as I do and tells her to look for a new job. She gets teary and I laugh at her idiocy. What did she think would happen? He’d fall into her arms?

Kang-joo calls around to find Yi-kyung and hears she’s at the showcase. Of course, she’s there with her “oppa” Yi-hyun who has bought her hoddeok (sugar pancakes) and smiles at her enthusiasm while she eats it. It’s her first time at a place like this and eating hoddeok and he notes that today is full of first times for her. She calls him “oppa” for the first time and thanks him for cheering her up after she made so many  mistakes.

Her mistakes are really her fault. I don’t pity her. And this strange relationship these two have creeps me out.

Anyway, he wipes some crumbs from her lips and promises to take care of her for today and they have a nice friendly rapport. They laugh and she acts all cute with aegyo, which is of course what Kang-joo sees and gets all jealous over.

FINALLY! I likes jealousy. Bring it on!

He walks over and her smile fades. He asks how she feels to be the trending topic and Yi-hyun quickly defends that he dragged her down here to make her feel better. Doo-rim apologizes and grabs onto Yi-hyun when Kang-joo wants to talk to her in private. He covers for her again: she’s feeling bad and they’ll make sure she doesn’t make any more mistakes.

Kang-joo passes between them and decides to watch the showcase since he’s there. Doo-rim follows him like an eager puppy, leaving Yi-hyun “oppa” behind.

Inside the venue, fangirls recognize Kang-joo and he smirks at all of the attention. You’re showing off, you jealous person you! Doo-rim is trying to shrink into herself and he calls her on it. Where is all the confidence she shows in front of him? She never fails to say something about everything he says and does. That prompts her to bring up what he did for the Tomato  Hurler. She apologizes for being so harsh on him. He assures her he didn’t do it because of her (yeah right), but to keep Hurler’s mouth shut in front of the press.

The two Monstar fans from Doo-rim’s hometown show up and she has to pretend not to know them. She excuses herself to go whisper things back and forth with Yi-hyun, which definitely gets the jealousy brewing in Kang-joo who is busy greeting fans. I loves petty jealousy!

As she works her way back over to Kang-joo, she falls and is trampled in the crowd. We get a weird montage of both Kang-joo and Yi-hyun moving towards her in the crowd and then someone drags her into a hallway. (This scene has some of the best lighting in the show, by the way.)

She thinks it’s Yi-hyun, but it’s Kang-joo. He tells her to live with her oppa forever and then accuses her of “doing it” on purpose to get to him. (I.E. the falling, damsel in distress act.) He gets close to her and she warns him away or his nose will bleed. (Pun on sexual excitement and her martial arts skills.) He takes it sexually and gets closer so she head butts him.

HAH! The look on his face. He can’t believe she headbutted the guy who saved her from the crwod. That’s when Yi-hyun finds them.

Cut to LC9 performing MaMa Beat with Kang-in’s girlfriend Leeann singing Ga-in’s part. (Original track from Skirmish posted at the top of this recap!) Kang-in is standing in the lineup of six. I wonder which LC9 member got kicked out so he could do that. Leeann cheers on Monstar after latching onto Kang-in. Then he steps forward to speak and thanks his “better-looking” brother and his fiancee for showing up. It’s the first time any of his family members have shown up to support him and he’s really thankful. AWWWWW! Bromance? Anyone? Please?

Kang-in says that his brother will soon be a taken man and wishes them a long, happy life and also says that he loves his hyung…and his fans. But he loves his hyung! D’AW!

Yeah, I’m easy to please with bromance, fan service and abs.

We get more fanservice when the crowd wants the couple to kiss. Hong-ki Kang-joo smiles sweetly at her, puts his arm around her and kisses her to cheers…and Yi-hyun’s resentment. Doo-rim looks a bit affected by it although she thinks it’s acting, very, very believable acting.

I’m happy about it, ‘cause we know it was real for him and because he’s smiling at his brother!

Doo-rim gets signatures and selcas with the band and Leeann asks for a selca as well and also to call “Yi-kyung” “Unni.” I wonder how the real Yi-kyung would feel about that. Anyway, the brothers watch their women interact. Kang-in walks over and Doo-rim thanks him for tonight. He says she should thank him for the kiss, although she should’ve gone for a deeper kiss. His hyung is awfully sensitive, right?

Right…

Leeann realizes by the look on Doo-rim’s face that it was their first kiss and is surprised ‘cause they’re engaged. Kang-in thinks that is his brother’s style – he hates skinship like a disease. Hrm, not from what I’ve seen. Hehe. Kang-in warns her against Kang-joo because all men are animals.

I think she’s established that by the number of times she’s called him a pervert. Hehe.

Kang-joo tells Kang-in to call home once and a while to keep mom from worrying and he forces Doo-rim to leave too. Leeann calls Kang-joo brother-in-law, which weirds Kang-in out, especially when she mentions marriage. Then she notices how different “Yi-kyung unni” is from last time.

Kang-joo is still stuck on Leeann calling him brother-in-law and getting ahead of herself. (She uses a word only used for relatives and since she’s only dating Kang-in, it’s weird and pretty presumptuous.) He thinks she’s weird, but Doo-rim finds her charming and blessed with good genes: beauty and talent. She’s jealous of her as a woman. Kang-joo agrees she should be jealous with the body of a little girl. She asks how he could say that to her face. She says inner beauty is important and he replies that that is what ugly women say.

Dude, you’re a douche! He proceeds to insult her height and chest size, none of which I find lacking. He says her head is big and she gets insulted. He asks why she is since he’s stating facts and we should all sigh and shake heads together at his cluelessness. She moves to storm off, but he stops her and says that he stopped the clip of the cake-eating contest. He just couldn’t say it in front of her oppa.

Aw, are you trying to be nice? I can see you trying, and so can she because she quietly promises him to be careful. He continues scolding and she SWEARS not to do it again and he walks off. Haha.

Jae-ran hears the clip was taken care of and apologizes to Doo-rim for being so on edge because of Yi-kyung. Doo-rim accepts responsibility. Good. Then she asks what happens if they can’t find her before the wedding. Jae-ran asks what Doo-rim would do, which freaks her out. Then Jae-ran assures her it won’t happen, gets a creepy look on her face and walks out.

She runs into Yi-hyun in the hallway and says she’ll go to Namhae in the morning. Tomorrow is “that day,” right? Jae-ran asks. She’s sorry she can’t be with him. He says it’s okay. He’ll take care of it.

Kang-joo remembers Doo-rim headbutting him and wonders how she dare do that to him. It was more shocking than when company stocks plummeted. HA! You’re so uptight. He wonders who she is (to not find him attractive and act as she does, I’m guessing.

Flowers arrive and Doo-rim sees they’re for Yi-hyun’s birthday. She wonders why she wasn’t asked to make seaweed soup. After taking a phone call, she heads over to the Choi hanok to make some food. Myung-hee says in her stiff manner that she did a good job and Mrs. Jang raves about it. Finally, Mommy Myung-hee mentions that she won’t rag on her about the video clip because Kang-joo asked her not to. She says it’s the last time she will make a fool of herself, and Doo-rim agrees. Too bad we know there is much more foolishness to come!

It’s cute how through the whole conversation Mrs. Jang keeps giving her encouraging looks.

Doo-rim brings Dad his medicine and compliments his art. He says his talents don’t match hers and laughs. How can she eat a whole cake in a minute?  BWAHAHAHA! He liked it? That’s awesome. He likes that she eats well and isn’t picky. He tells her to be comfortable with him despite his wife’s intentions for calling her over to scold her.

Then Doo-rim spots the Baduk board and challenges Dad to a game…of flicking the pieces around. I’ve seen this in so many dramas. What’s this called? In any case, Dad and Doo-rim have black marks all over their faces and are arguing about him cheating when Myung-hee hears the argument and comes in. She’s appalled by what she sees. He silences her and says they need to concentrate and very seriously takes aim, fires…and misses! His punishment is to get his face painted on. Ah, explains the black dots. Myung-hee tries to stop it, but he won’t allow it. They laugh hysterically and he asks for another mark. Myung-hee is appalled by the whole thing and refuses to pose when they take a selca to commemorate the event of silliness.

I loved that. That was awesome.

When Doo-rim asks Mrs. Jang if Kang-joo was always fussy, she replies that he smiled all the time when he was young and chattered a lot. He spoke less after that incident; he became like a statue. Doo-rim asks what happened and we learn that he was kidnapped when he was eight by his female tutor. He came home safely after a day, but he was so shocked he was sick for a few days and he hasn’t gotten close to anyone since.

I hope there is more to this story…

Mrs. Jang says the only person he ever spoke to was Roo-mi. But strangely, he never told anyone what actually happened that day. No one knows how he escaped. They all act like it never happened and Doo-rim should, too.

Dad is chuckling to himself in his office and MYung-hee looks annoyed. Dad likes that “Yi-kyung” is so innocent. Myung-hee warns him not to get too attached to Yi-kyung and trails off before she finishes explaining.

Just say it, you chose her to die by the ghost’s hands!

Myung-hee changes her train of thought to say not to favor Yi-kyung too much or she’ll be spoiled. He says she’ll refine well like a gem if taught well.

Roo-mi is watching footage of the couple’s kiss at the Monstar showcase and Knag-in snatches the phone to see what she’s watching. He mutters that people have nothing better to do, knowing it will have hurt Roo-mi. He came to see her because he had a shoot and also to give her a hair pin, which she isn’t all that impressed with. She quickly hands it off to Jin-joo and then passes out.

She is so wretched. Just stay passed out. And wasn’t she fired? Why is she there?

Doo-rim is shopping with Kang-joo and is checking out ties. Who wants to be that it’s for Yi-hyun or Kang-in? Or anyone but Kang-joo?

He walks up behind her and says it’s not his style. She says it’s for Yi-hyun’s birthday and he looks disappointed. She haphazardly invites him to the party and he says he’s busy. She knew he’d do that, but asked anyone so he wouldn’t be upset she didn’t invite him.

Haha, she’s got your number boi!

He stands around and she wonders why he’s not going since he’s so busy. He hesitantly says that he wanted to have dinner, but he has plans and she carelessly replies that she has to get ready for the party.

Kang-in comes to scold Kang-joo for working Roo-mi so hard that she passed out. Of course that’s the logical conclusion to jump to….NOT.

Anyway, Kang-joo sits at Roo-mi’s beside and she says she’s going to head back to work so she can make up for what she did and not be fired. No, you should be fired. Stop throwing a pity party. She says while he was kissing Yi-kyung she stayed up all night preparing the mall’s event…all for him. The mall has to do well so he can do well.

You’re annoying. When she moves to rise, he makes her rest or she’ll really be fired. When he comes out, Doo-rim asks how Roo-mi is doing. He’s canceled his dinner plans for her, which disappoints Doo-rim. Kang-joo tells her to go home to her beloved oppa. (Kang-in also goes into visit Roo-mi. Doesn’t he have a girlfriend? Why is he so worried about her?)

Kang-joo leaves and Doo-rim looks guilty.

Inside, Kang-in gives Roo-mi medicine and tells her not to worry about him being fired. They wouldn’t dare fire HIM. That arrogance runs in the family. He says they won’t fire the visual and scandal maker, which makes her laugh. He says she’s pretty when she laughs. But she has nothing to laugh about since Kang-joo got engaged. He puts in the hairpin, which is when Doo-rim walks in with juk (porridge) for her. She won’t accept it until Kang-in urges her. Then she chucks it in the trash since it’s hers to do with as she wishes. Kang-in apologizes for her behavior.

I need her to really just drop off the face of the planet now.

Jin-joo tells Doo-rim that Roo-mi posted the video clip. Rumors spread ‘cause the secretaries heard them fighting. Jin-joo wonders what she’ll do if Roo-mi tries to take him and Doo-rim pretends not to care. It’s against the contract, Jin-joo reminds her. The family may want compensation if Doo-rim lets the wedding get ruined.

Then Doo-rim muses that it seems like Roo-mi has something going on with Kang-in as well. Then we get a shot of Jin-joo doing something on a computer…oh, you’re making trouble, aren’t you?

Doo-rim waits at home for Yi-hyun with food prepared for his birthday. She gets a call from Jae-ran and asks if it’s his birthday. She prepared something for it, but he hasn’t picked up all day. Jae-ran tells her to take care of Yi-hyun and then we cut to…

…Jae-ran drinking wine with the real Yi-kyung who sent the flowers in a “safe” way so as not to be caught. She flashes back to the ghost holding the necklace Kang-joo gave her and threatening her life if she keeps wearing it. Yi-kyung freaks out, demanding to know who she is and why she keeps appearing before her. If she becomes his first wife, the ghost promises to take her life.

We jump back to Jae-ran’s visit to the Psychic. She says that her daughter is marrying into the family and she knows the secret, the curse. She wants to know if the rumors she heard are true and if the first wife of the first-born son is sacrificed. The Psychic confirms the curse and that the Taeyang Group family knows of it. Well…duh.

Yi-kyung watches Doo-rim run out to find Yi-hyun from an apartment across the street from the house. Jae-ran says they have to take this secret to their graves.

 Comments:

I was wondering if it was perhaps Yi-hyun hiding Yi-kyung away, but it was Jae-ran. This show made the pair out to be supremely evil near the ending, but I’m hoping they play Yi-kyung with a little more depth than that. She’d terrified so she’s doing something terrible. This does explain Jae-ran’s strange, bi-p0lar behavior towards Doo-rim, though. Hopefully it also gives us a chance to get to know Yi-kyung better. It also brought up how actively the ghost haunts this family. Not only did it ‘ask’ the Psychic for help, but it’s been haunting Yi-kyung.

As for Doo-rim and Yi-kyung, f the two were twins or siblings, it would solve almost everything in terms of family issues and businesses. Except for the whole, y’know, lying part. Then Granny could live in comfort, Doo-rim could get her man and Yi-hyun…okay, I’m not going there. Yi-hyun’s strange interest in Yi-kyung and his affections for Doo-rim just plain weird me out even though he is very sweet. I need to find out more of this back story so I stop feeling chills every time he looks at Doo-rim.

And don’t even get me started on Roo-mi. This kind of singular minded, vindictive, selfish second lead is my boon. I hate that the people around her let her get away with that kind of behavior. She continues because she’s indulged. And what is with Kang-in indulging her SO MUCH?! I don’t like it. I don’t like her. I don’t like her behavior. Sure, she’s heartbroken and that is a veritable and real hurt. But to ruin “Yi-kyung’s” image is to hurt Kang-joo and his business. Didn’t she think about that? I wish she would get haunted.

Looking at Myung-hee, she’s so defensive about NOT having anything to do with Dad’s first-love’s death that it seems almost certain she did, just like she has a hand in choosing Yi-kyung to be the first wife and obviously favoring Roo-mi. I also should’ve guessed about Jae-ran, but it seemed too much for BOTH mom’s to be plotting Doo-rim’s death. This show was billed as a melodrama…

The other issue I have is that the side characters are seriously there as plot pushers. Jin-soo, Driver Kim, even Roo-mi, they’re just there to fill a role. They have no lives of their own. Poor Granny is just there to pull some heartstrings. To give them each a little personality would take a few more lines of dialogue and some clever camera work. The camera can say so much about a person, but I have a feeling this show has a small, small budget. That, and this camerawork isn’t inspiring. In fact, the horrible natural back lighting is starting to drive me up the wall.

Also, these episodes are way too long. They should be 45 minutes and they’re over an hour to an hour fifteen. This needs to be much more compact. Or, fill it with more of the main couple, they’re the best part.

Recaps 1, 2

Character Introductions