by: Raine

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This was a pretty hefty episode. Kang-joo takes a step away from his parents’ authoritarian rule to protect who he loves. Doo-rim learns a few secrets about others, and discovers a few about herself. The ghost makes herself more apparent and also more of a mystery. The web of deceit and lies only grows larger and our OTP has to find their way out of it – and it’s ridiculously exciting.

“Words I Can’t Say Yet” –  Lee Hong-ki  (from the Bride of the Century OST)

episode 7 recap

The ghost shows up and we get a flashback to when he was kidnapped and trapped in a room, calling for his mother. He wears himself out and falls asleep. When he wakes up, the ghost comforts him. We jump to his return home where his mother cares for him during the day and falls asleep by night, which is when the ghost sits by his side.

The ghost tells young Kang-joo that she is the being that protects the owner of the home. She watches over him as he ages through the years, and comfortingly strokes his hair as he sleeps in the shrine. He draws her in his school notebooks.

So that’s what he meant when he said it was comfortable to nap in the shrine.

Back to the present where he turns to face her. “Isn’t not true, it it?” he asks. “Why wouldn’t it be?” she responds. He’s confused. She protected and comforted him through the years. She was on his side. There is no way she could do that. The ghost replies that he saw only what he wanted to see. To become the head of the house means he must sacrifice. He can’t let her die. The ghost tells him that his decision will determine the outcome; he holds the key. Then she disappears and the candle goes out.

Is she telling him to be more proactive in his life instead of letting his parents control everything?

Doo-rim calls Yi-hyun to tell him that they’ve decided to move. He’s happy, and Doo-rim and her Granny are looking forward to it. Granny assures Doo-rim she’s excited to move and she won’t regret it. Doo-rim dreams that they will become rich and own a home and a car and go on trips to Hawaii. They are adorable while dreaming. Then they go to sleep because Doo-rim is catching the bus in the morning.

Mommy Myung-hee doesn’t find Kang-joo in his room in the morning. He’s sitting in the shrine, and it looks like he’s been there all night. He rises with a determined look on his face and strides out into the sunlight.

Meanwhile, Yi-hyun tells Creepy Mom that Doo-rim is coming to Seoul and he’s going to scout potential locations with her. Creepy Mom is creepily ecstatic.

Oh his way out he runs into Yi-kyung who notices his smile. She guesses he has something going on with his “girlfriend.” He tells her that she’s not a girlfriend yet. He needs time. Yi-kyung wonders why it’s taking so much time.

Ah, WEIRD!

Creepy Mom asks if Yi-kyung is going to look at wedding dresses today. Yes, she is. “Don’t worry,” Creepy Mom assures her. “Doo-rim is coming to Seoul. We’ll bring her close and wait for our chance.”

You sound like a hunter, evil fiend! I will hunt you. I know how to shoot a bow and arrow!

Yi-kyung  should choose a beautiful wedding dress for Doo-rim to die in. If she has to die, she should be pretty. Ew, I had to type that. Ew. Ew. Ew. Yi-kyung smirks. Even more “ew.”

Yi-hyun takes Doo-rim property shopping. And lookie there, it’s the shop from Flower Boy Ramyun Shop! Of course Doo-rim loves it and Cha Chi-soo makes an entrance…just kidding. She’s uber excited, which makes him smile. She says it barely needs any work. Just some paint and a new sign.

Jump to Yi-kyung looking evilly at wedding dresses. No one should look at a wedding dress with a smirk like that. Kang-joo shows up in a pinstripe suit looking gangsta badass. He coldly tells her to stop looking at the dress. She won’t be needing it.

Are you…doing what I think you’re doing?

Yi-kyung asks him if he’s calling off the wedding. Yes, yes he is. He uses the excuse that they never wanted the marriage to happen in the first place. He doesn’t want to force it. He doesn’t want to marry when it’s his parents’ desire, not his.

OMG you loves her. I mean, not THIS “her”, the other “her”. Doo-rim. He’s trying to protect her. In this case, the noble idiocy means he saves her life. That is good. Sure, he could tell her about the curse, but we won’t go there ‘cause we know that won’t happen. This is his way of being proactive and protecting the woman he cares about.

Yi-kyung asks him not to do this. She’ll fix what he doesn’t like. But he’s solid in his refusal. From today on, they are nothing. And when he says it, he looks like he’s going to crumble. Aw, puppy. He says she may hate him now, but will thank him one day. However, Yi-kyung has an agenda and keeps pushing the issue.

Our stoic puppy continues to be stoic, though. He will tell his parents tonight, make a formal announcement soon, and pay her any damages she wants. That’s as much as he can do.

Yi-kyung goes straight to Creepy Mom who flips out and blames Yi-kyung. Yi-kyung turns it around and blames Doo-rim for the change. Creepy Mom then gets a creepy look on her face. Now is the perfect time to bring Doo-rim back.

Guh, can I just not watch parts with her in it?

Outside a fancy restaurant, Yi-hyun contemplates a ring while Doo-rim chats with her Granny on the phone. Granny chats briefly with Yi-hyun and asks him to watch over Doo-rim using language that seriously implies romantic/marriage responsibility in Korean. Doo-rim brushes off those implications while Yi-hyun delves further into them. He asks what she’d do if he kidnapped her, and she asks instead why he’s not eating. He likes the food she cooks best. Eeeek, are you working up to a proposal?

Doo-rim says he can come buy the restaurant whenever he wants and she’ll make him a meal – she’ll make all his meals for him. He is about to pull out the ring box when Creepy Mom calls.

She wants Doo-rim to go to Kang-joo because he called the wedding off after she left. Yi-hyun protests adamantly, but Creepy Mom is EVIL and makes Doo-rim take responsibility for the change. She needs to find out why. Yi-kyung is “accepting the decision” because “it was never going to happen anyway.”

Omg I need an umbrella to protect me from all the flying bullshit.

Yi-hyun goes upstairs and confronts Yi-kyung who is packing. He won’t let her leave because this is her problem. She has to figure a way out of it. Yi-kyung yells that she’s going crazy as it is without him pressuring her, too. She did everything she could; she clung to Kang-joo and begged and cried, but nothing. She can’t do it anymore.

I still don’t get why this is Doo-rim’s problem. She should just out herself now, but I know she’s emotionally invested on all sides. She tells Yi-hyun she’ll talk to Kang-joo.

That night, Kang-joo faces his parents and with great difficulty tells them that he’s breaking up with Yi-kyung because he doesn’t have feelings for her. He’s already told her. It wasn’t an easy decision and hopes they can respect it. He leaves and looks absolutely crushed.

Mommy Myung-hee goes to talk to him and ends up yelling at him. He tells her that she knows exactly why he is doing this. She thinks he’s being careless so she’ll tell Dad to disregard everything that’s happened. Kang-joo pulls a great card: Should I marry Roo-mi instead? He sends her out and she immediately phones Creepy Mom to do some damage control. She says the wedding is still on and Kang-joo is just overwhelmed.

Creepy Mom tells Yi-kyung that the wedding is still on. Mommy Myung-hee will do anything to keep it moving forward. All they need to do is get Doo-rim to change his mind.

Yi-hyun drives Doo-rim to the company and he looks like he ate dog poop that morning. He tells her that this isn’t her responsibility and she doesn’t have to do it. He’s right! But Doo-rim thinks Creepy Mom was right and that Creepy Mom has been very good to her. Yi-hyun reluctantly sends her off, making her promise to call when she’s through.

Doo-rim heads inside with a determined look on her face and I’m SO EXCITED FOR THEM TO MEET AGAIN! She has the same look on her face as she always does when she’s about to give him a verbal smackdown. He ignores her presence and tries to walk out, but she physically blocks him. Is it because they started off on the wrong foot? Isn’t that obvious? She wants to know the real reason he’s breaking up with her. His gaze shifts over her shoulder. Doo-rim turns and sees a very surprised Roo-mi standing there. She announces that it’s time for his meeting. He breezes past Doo-rim who refuses to give up.

After too many Yi-kyung/Kang-joo interactions, this one was so refreshing. Both Lee Hong-ki and Yang Jin-sung are so different around each other when she is Doo-rim. Awesome.

Doo-rim plunks down on a sofa to wait and fumes at his ability to piss her off. She waits a long time and the meeting gets extended. Luckily, Doo-rim is proactive and asks where the meeting is taking place. I likes that.

In the meeting room, Roo-mi asks him if it’s true and if it is, why? Suddenly, a desperate looking Kang-joo asks her to marry him and she looks horrified. Roo-mi says it makes no sense. He points out that it’s what she wanted, isn’t it? His lip curls into a snarl and he tells her that he knows exactly why she gave Yi-kyung a wedding gift out of nowhere. She won’t get what she wants because he won’t let it happen.

Just then Doo-rim marches in. They relocate to the rooftop. She’ll back off if he gives her a legitimate reason, she says firmly. He repeats that their marriage was business. It just didn’t feel right. He’ll lose too much. She can’t make up for what her family lacks. She has caused a lot of problems and he’s spent a lot of time cleaning them up. He doesn’t want to do that throughout his married life. It makes him sick to his stomach.

Ack, too much noble idiocy. Dial it back a notch!

With tears in her eyes, Doo-rim promises to do better, but it’s of no use. From now on he’ll take responsibility for Taeyang group and needs a smart woman he can depend on. She is below expectations.

Doo-rim is very hurt and asks if everything between them meant nothing. He says he felt nothing and was just doing it because he was forced, but he won’t ruin his life because of her. She wanted a reason and she got one. He turns to leave, but she calls out after him, “It wasn’t like that for me!” It gives him serious pause, but still, he walks away and leaves her crying.

When he gets home Mommy Myung-hee is waiting and ready to beg and explain her way out of the messy situation. She assures him it’s all a misunderstanding. He wishes it was, but what does she think of Roo-mi over Yi-kyung? She diverts by asking what’s wrong with him. He’s so furious and wonders if it doesn’t matter what happens to Yi-kyung as long as his mother gets what she wants. Was she thinking of bringing in Roo-mi, who she likes, if something happens to Yi-kyung?

Bravo Lee Hong-ki for awesome acting!

Dad hears the tail end of it and Kang-joo storms out. Dad asks Myung-hee what he means and blows a gasket when he hears the truth. I love seeing him rail on her. He tells her to fix everything, but she says Kang-joo won’t listen to her. She looks mighty sorry for herself.

Boo-frickin’-hoo.

Mrs. Jang runs to her husband with the news of the broken wedding. Butler Jang notes that it’s not like Kang-joo. He warns his gossipy wife not to spill a word. Ha, yeah right. She worries that Roo-mi said something to Kang-joo and regrets letting the cosmetics loosen her mouth.

Doo-rim drunkenly sings into her chopsticks. On her table are three bottles of soju – that means she’s trashed off her ass. She gets her neighboring diners to sing a bit with her. But when Yi-hyun comes to get her, she’s a sobbing mess. She ruined everything and now Kang-joo thinks she’s below expectations. He doesn’t like anything about her. She starts to wail. Yi-hyun watches and his heart breaks as she admits the whole thing makes her angry despite the fact that she’s a Yi-kyung knock-off. She loudly curses Kang-joo and Yi-hyun gets asked to take her out.

He takes her to Jin-joo’s place where she continues cursing Choi Kang-joo and continues to break his heart.

Yi-hyun reports to his mother who blames it all on Doo-rim. Yi-hyun says she can’t blame her, and Creepy Mom rescinds the comment, but continues to say that she made a lot of trouble. Yi-hyun points out that Yi-kyung could solve it. Y’know, it IS her problem.

Yi-kyung comes down and declares that she will call off the wedding. This wedding was wrong from the start. It’s only right to stop. She’ll meet with him and wrap things up. When Yi-hyun tries to talk to her, she pitches a fit. Creepy Mom says they’ll have no choice but to bring Doo-rim back, which is just fine with Yi-kyung. She can even walk down the aisle with him. Yi-hyun hates that idea (duh). Yi-kyung doesn’t want to marry a guy who didn’t even recognize that his fiancee was different. She’d rather live alone.

Is this all an act for Yi-hyun’s sake? I think it is because Creepy Mom points out that they need to use Doo-rim if Yi-Kyung continues to be this stubborn. She doesn’t want to use her either *cough*yearright*cough* but they can’t afford to lose this marriage. They can’t shut down the company.

If she was worried about all the lost jobs and her employees, I’d feel a drop of sympathy for her. But she isn’t so I don’t.

Yi-hyun broods over the ring he bought Doo-rim. I’m warming up to him.

Dad finds Kang-joo in the garden. He knows Kang-joo didn’t make an easy decision and he understands it. He asks if Kang-joo believes in the curse. Never mind his mom, why is he making a foolish decision? Kang-joo assures him that it was an unwanted marriage. Nothing will change his mind.

Dad is looking at Hong Man-soo’s profile and tells Butler Jang that he needs to meet him, for Kang-joo’s sake.

Doo-rim lies on the bench on Jin-joo’s rooftop because she couldn’t sleep. She knew he was mean, but how could he be so cruel? Jin-joo tries to comfort her by saying she wasn’t the real one. How could he change so fast? Doo-rim wonders. Jin-joo says that there is no reason for falling in or out of love. That wounds Doo-rim because it drives home the fact that he doesn’t’ like her anymore. Or, at least she THINKS he doesn’t. Jin-joo is surprised to see her crying and finally figures out that she really likes Kang-joo.

Doo-rim prepares a monster breakfast spread in her attempts to forget Kang-joo who has “already forgotten her.” But Doo-rim still has Yi-kyung’s cell phone and receives a call from Dad who wants to see her today. She freaks out about her post drinking appearance and hurries to get ready.

Evil moms meet and talk about how the kids felt pressured and utter apologies and excuses all over the place. Creepy Mom takes pleasure in watching Mommy Myung-hee try and curry her favor. After all, if the most eligible bachelor in South Korea breaks of the marriage, Yi-kyung won’t’ ever be able to marry. Mommy Myung-hee asks that Creepy Mom help Yi-kyung stay strong because there is nothing Kang-joo can do. It’s his parents’ decision and he will follow it. The two evil moms think about their evil agendas. Seriously, get them black moustaches to twirl!

Mommy Myung-hee’s mother comes for a visit and gets straight to the questions about Kang-joo’s marriage. She wanted Kang-joo to marry Roo-mi. In any case, she came to attend a relative’s birthday celebration and watch Kang-joo get married. She also wants to meet Yi-kyung. Myung-hee’s mother notes her daughter’s hesitance to talk about Yi-kyung and says she has a right to meet her future granddaughter-in-law. The topic shifts t Myung-hee’s marriage. Her mother thinks Dad should be grateful because without Myung-hee he wouldn’t be able to marry again. Apparently Myung-hee had been adamant about marrying him. She assures her mother she has no regrets. Mother asks if she likes holding onto the shell of a man who never looks at her with warmth. Aw, she’s defensive. Why can’t Myung-hee be like that?

Anyway, Myung-hee says she doesn’t expect affection. She just wants to stand by him like his shadow. That’s pathetic. Her mother decides to leave because all she wanted was to see her daughter’s face. Okay, that warmth I was feeling towards Myung-hee’s mother dissipated. That’s just sketchy. She has an agenda. What is it?

Dad takes Doo-rim to the resting place of his first wife. He tells her that  “this is where the woman who was my everything sleeps.” They married happily, but the happiness was short lived. She died in a car accident on the way to the honeymoon, and that began a strange rumor: there is a on his family that take’s the life of the first wife of the first-born son as a sacrifice by the spirit protecting the house. He says it’s just a story that morphed and became true over telling and time. That’s the reason Kang-joo is calling off the wedding. He’s afraid to lose her like Dad lost his first love.

Awesome. I thought she was going to be in the dark forever, but she wasn’t. Yay for quickly revealed secrets. Er, sorta quick!

Dad explains that Kang-joo’s trust was broken when he was kidnapped by someone he trusted and hasn’t let many people in. He is different around her, though. Dad promises to respect whatever decision she makes. However, he wants her to keep what he told her a secret.

Secretary Kim brings Kang-joo some sweet potatoes because he seemed to like them and he hasn’t been eating well lately. He picks one up and contemplates it sadly.

Creepy Mom gives Doo-rim the deed to the restaurant. Then she says that Myung-hee has no thoughts of calling off the wedding. All that’s left is for Doo-rim to change his mind. Doo-rim agrees to it while Yi-hyun watches.

Yi-hyun walks her out and asks why she’s doing this. Doo-rim uses the restaurant as an excuse. Yi-hyun asks if there is anything else, and she denies it. But it’s obvious to them both that the reason is Kang-joo. She even tries to convince herself that it’s ONLY because of the restaurant. Denial.

Dad meets with the mysterious Hong Man-soo who has been working for Myung-hee’s mother  for a long time. He asks what Man-soo knows about the accident that happened 30 years ago. Isn’t that the reason Man-soo has been calling him? We get a flashback of Myung-hee’s mother in a car and looking shaken. Then we cut back to the darkened car meeting. We don’t get to hear what was said, but Dad throws an envelope of money at Man-soo and tells him never to contact him again or he’ll make his life a living hell.

Upon his exit from the car, Butler Jang warns him to keep his trap sealed or he’ll have to deal with him. Aw, cute, Butler Jang. Jang gets back in the car and asks if Dad is okay. Dad only tells him to start the car and go.

Myung-hee tells Dad that her mother stopped by for a short time and left. Dad is alarmed by this. She’s in town to go to the relative’s birthday and see the wedding. Dad should make time to meet with her and Kang-joo.

He looks so suspicious. What did Man-soo say?!

Doo-rim stays with Jin-joo who is applying for jobs. She calls Kang-joo who is outside without his phone. In fact, he’s brooding to the song Lee Hong-ki sang for the OST! (Posted above.) He’s reliving the memories he has with her starting from when Doo-rim showed up and turned his life upside down. The scene shifts to her doing the same.

A talkative Mrs. Jang walks Dad, Myung-hee and Kang-joo out as they go to visit Myung-hee’s mother. She accidentally mentions the fact that Yi-kyung won’t be there and is scolded by Butler Jang. The family arrives and Myung-hee asks Kang-joo not to mention the broken wedding yet.

All of a sudden, a cheery Doo-rim holding a ladle runs out to greet them, surprising them all.

 

 Comments:

Unlike Kang-joo and his family, I’m not at all surprised to see Doo-rim there.  She is a self-sacrificing sort of person, and one in love. It only makes sense that she’d continue her role as the fake Yi-kyung.

I have to point out that the most clever aspect of Creepy Mom’s plan is how she plays on Doo-rim’s need for maternal affection. She’s ensnared Doo-rim with her lies about love, motherly love, and belonging to their family. Doo-rim’s strong relationship with Yi-hyun only strengthens those ties, however false they may be. And if she planned out Yi-kyung’s refusal to follow through with the marriage – and I’m pretty sure she did – then she’s all the more clever. She’s got Yi-hyun the doubter in the palm of her hand now. I hope he continues to  find her suspicious.

Yi-kyung is not a very well-developed character. We learn about her in strange fits and starts. She spends most of her time smirking, brooding and throwing tantrums. She’s basically Creepy Mom’s mini-me. At first I thought she’d be a “forced” mini-mi. Following her mother because she felt hurt and betrayed all while her conscious niggled at the back of her mind. Instead, she’s a smirky evil lady. One of four. She seems to enjoy this game. I was hoping she’d be conflicted. Then she’d be different from Creepy Mom, Mommy Myung-hee and Roo-mi.

And Roo-mi! There wasn’t too much of her, thank GOD! She didn’t hesitate to throw Yi-kyung to the ghost when she discovered the truth and is therefore one of the show’s four evils. I’m glad she was caught. Kang-joo is whip smart and I like that. He’s found someone and something to protect: Doo-rim and his love for her.

(I cannot tell you how many times I’ve typed “Kangaroo” instead of “Kang-joo”!!!!!)

Now onto the ghost. She has a heavy hand in all of this from acting as the Jumper in the first episode, to keeping the bracelet on Doo-rim’s hand, to haunting Yi-kyung, to appearing to Kang-joo and the Psychic. She is also potentially giving Dad nightmares. Rather than being a good or evil spirit, I think she is a self-serving spirit. We don’t know what her real endgoal is, which makes her role fun. It seems that she wants Kang-joo to be with Doo-rim and not Yi-kyung. But does she want Doo-rim to be the sacrifice or does she want Kang-joo to be happy?

Then we have Myung-hee’s mother who seems to have played a similar role in her life as Creepy Mom is doing for Yi-kyung. It’s no wonder Myung-hee is sick and twisted with that woman for a mother. At least if my hypothesis is correct.

I do like how Dad and Myung-hee and everyone involved in the knowledge of the ghost has a slightly different take on the ghost, the curse and everything involved with it. It keeps me curious and wanting more. As this show progresses I find myself liking it more, which is awesome!

I love Dad’s role in this. I love his character and his personality. I like that he pines for his dead wife and Myung-hee pines for him. I like that he is becoming proactive about protecting Kang-joo at the same time that Kang-joo is becoming proactive about Doo-rim. I love that he’s essentially stuck between his duty to his home, his job and being a good Korean head of house and knowing that his wife schemed her way into marrying him. I love that he doesn’t want that for Kang-joo. Awesome. I love good K-drama parents. Especially since we have two nasty ones and a few nasty grandparents lurking around.

The games that the moms are playing are evil, but they certainly are intriguing and fun for me to guess at and watch. They’re trying to outsmart and outevil each other. I think Creepy Mom might win on that front, but you can never tell when people are willing to sacrifice an innocent’s life to win their ends.

Kang-joo is in for a world of hurt when he discovers Doo-rim’s deception. I don’t even want to think about it. Instead, I’m going to think about the cute that HAS to happen now that they’re back together. I mean, they’re back together, right?

Recaps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Character Introductions