It’s like this drama went from zero to eighty in the span of seconds — one moment, it’s spinning its wheels while remaining in the same place for ten episodes, and then suddenly wheels find purchase on the gravel and speed off into the distance, careening wildly because all that speed makes it hard to steer. It’s enough to give you whiplash. We’re getting makjang-er and makjang-er, with extreme parental opposition of the Montague/Capulet variety and gangsters and kidnappings, which is actually kind of amusing since the tone has remained staunchly romantic-fluff.
Dad storms Mu-gyul’s studio, and as there’s no way for both kids to hide, Mu-gyul faces him while Mary hides in luggage.
Dad accuses Mu-gyul of plotting to marry Mary, scam her out of her ring, then divorce her and rake in the money with alimony. Which is nonsensical to the utmost degree, since Mary only came into the ring recently and possesses no money worth ripping off, but Dad’s hardly the voice of logic, much like this drama’s writer.
He tries to drag Mu-gyul off to the police station for the ring, but gets distracted by a few oddities scattered throughout the place. Like Mary’s blanket… and her cosmetics on the table…
Sensing trouble, Mu-gyul starts to inch away, giving himself a head start by the Dad finds him running down the street with a piece of rollaway luggage.
Mu-gyul stuffs the bag into a taxi, ditching Dad while they make for Jung-in’s neighborhood.
Dad beelines there as well and pushes past Jung-in into Mary’s room to confirm her absence. Only to find her in bed, coughing excessively and pathetically.
Jung-in vouches for her, saying she’s been feeling sick all night, and a confused Dad has to accept this explanation for now. He begs Jung-in to save Mary from Mu-gyul’s clutches, gaining Jung-in’s assurance that he’ll take care of her. Outmaneuvered but not fooled, Dad’s warns Mary to watch her step.
Mu-gyul hides out in Mary’s room to wait for Dad to finish his threats and leave and flips through a book, where he finds Jung-in’s note. It explains the book’s premise of two lovers who leave on a trip to discover what each holds most dear. Jung-in has written that this book helped him learned what real happiness is, and wishes the same for her. Mu-gyul just scoffs, calling Jung-in’s wooing style old-fashioned.
Jung-in is dismayed about their ring predicament, wishing she’d have come to him before selling the ring, and offers to retrieve it for her. Naturally, Mu-gyul resists.
With Dad on their scent, the three(some) decide that they have to be extra-careful… by all living together. (IN BED?!) Now THAT’Swhatimtalkinabout, drama.
Mu-gyul states that he’ll room with Mary, pointing out that he and Mary are used to sharing a bed. While technically true, Mary is mortified and adds the detail he conveniently left out, about them separating the bed into halves with a curtain.
Jung-in maintains his cool, merely stating that his rules will apply in his house — but as soon as he’s in his own room, his imagination starts to get the better of him. He puts pillows down the middle to visualize the barrier, and imagines Mu-gyul casting aside the flimsy curtain divider for makeout sessions.
(What is WITH the music in this show?)
Thus Mu-gyul is relegated to sleeping on the couch, where he wakes in the middle of the night, thirsty. He heads to the fridge but somehow can’t find the fridge, so he sneaks to Mary’s room, climbs half on top of her, and asks her for a drink. Yeah, it makes no sense, but I’m fully onboard this idea as far as waking-up methods are concerned.
Mary takes him to the very obviously visible fridge and gets him some juice, which gets spilled on his shirt in a collision.
Jung-in wakes up to the odd sound of running water, and tiptoes out into the hallway. Again his imagination gets the better of him as he hears the other two saying things like, “I’ll do it” and “Are you done yet?” and “Hold on, I’m doing my best.”
Sure that they’re up to some kind of sexy fun times (aw, without him), Jung-in bursts in, only to find that reality is a lot more innocent than his wayward imagination. To cover up his embarrassment, he gruffly complains about being woken up and tells them to get back to sleep.
Having agreed to sing the song after all, Seo-jun records “Hello Hello,” from which scene the following snippet is ripped. (I haven’t found an official version as of yet.) [ Download ]
The lyrics, written by Mary, go:
I was standing around on the narrow street
when those indifferent words grazed by me
Hello, hello
Unfamiliar but not awkward, it felt niceWould it be okay to lean on you?
With concern, that wrinkled sincerity unfolds in front of me
Thank you, thank you
Conveying my simple, thankful honestyThat’s true
Hello, hello, my cute angel
Stay by my side always
Also
Thank you, thank you
That’s what I want to tell you
No no no no no
Just the words thank youIt’s not easy to be deliberately wrong
because the more you do, the more you’ll regret enduring it
I know, I know
Maybe it’s better for that smiling PierrotWould I be able to stand up without becoming dirtied?
Though I brush myself off, the pain builds
She knows, she knows
No longer is tomorrow only mineThe world I’ve confronted so many times
You’ve taught me to greet it
My heart overflows with this melody
I’ll go on together with youThat’s true
Hello, hello, my cute angel
Stay by my side always
Also
Thank you, thank you
That’s what I want to tell you
No no no no no
More than a love confession
The words thank you
convey all my feelings
However, Mu-gyul is dissatisfied with Seo-jun’s delivery of the lyrics, so he heads into the studio to demonstrate what he wants
“Hello Hello,” Mu-gyul style. [ Download ]
He makes his point so clearly that Jung-in suggests that it’s better that Mu-gyul sing the song instead. Seo-jun’s happy to let him have it.
Jung-in contemplates the photo of Mary’s mother he’d seen in his father, just as his father calls him for a meeting about getting wedding plans under way. He takes this opportunity to bring up the photo, and says that he had always wondered why his father was so set on marrying him off to Mary. President Jung explains that it’s merely because they promised to marry the kids off when they were children, but Jung-in won’t be fobbed off with that and asks if there was anything more to it. The president declines to answer.
So Jung-in asks Mrs. Yoon, the assistant tasked with guiding Mary in her marriage plans, about the relationship between his father and Mary’s mother. Mrs. Yoon is reluctant to divulge the story, which is enough indication that there IS an uncomfortable truth being hidden. All she offers is that the photo has been carried in the president’s wallet for nearly 30 years.
Wedding planners descend upon Mary to deck her out in bridal designs. She uncomfortably goes through the motions, but reminds Jung-in that she’s not going to marry him for real at the end of the contract. Jung-in accepts that, saying that this is just to keep up their ruse for the others’ sake.
Mu-gyul catches the tail end of this scene, and this type of conveniently timed misunderstanding is quickly making its way to the top of the writer’s list of specialties, isn’t it? Mu-gyul stomps off in a jealous fit, which seems to be turning into his specialty.
Mary chases after him in the freezing cold, but as she is tripped up by her high heels and long dress, she loses him a block or two away. She stands there crying as Jung-in comes up quietly to give her his jacket, mere feet away from where Mu-gyul hides around the corner.
When Mary arrives at the studio to check on him, it’s his huffy mother who sits there, arms akimbo all judgy-like. By way of self-defense, Mary brings up the ring, but Mom retorts that Mary’s actually worse than she is (ha! she wishes). At least Mom doesn’t cheat.
Mary protests that she’s not cheating, that Mu-gyul’s the only one for her. Mom states that Mu-gyul has a “cold heart,” and therefore needs a girl with warmth. As Mary is unsuitable, Mom tells her to stop seeing him.
President Jung confronts Dad about that fake ring, guessing that something’s up. Dad insists that he hadn’t done anything and that he isn’t in financial trouble, though he refrains from sharing the full story. The president has bigger concerns in any case, as his investigators have produced photos of the happy couple together. He also knew that Mary is living with Mu-gyul, even before Dad had figured it out.
Dad promises (again) to tear them apart no matter what, and agrees to alert President Jung right away if he hears the kids are back together. If he fails to keep him informed, he’s a goner.
The bandmates convene that night, but the mood is chilly with their recent fight (over Mu-gyul’s inauthenticity as a rocker) still fresh in their minds. You know a party’s dead when Seo-jun is the one telling everyone else to cheer up. But a few rounds of liquor melt the ice, as they do, and soon the boys get past their earlier peevishness.
Seo-jun admits that she did a poor job trying to act cool about the whole thing, and that she’s putting that cool act behind her now. She’s decided to allow her emotions to show from now on, rather than affecting her detached demeanor, given that she was never truly able to be cool on the inside.
Mu-gyul is first to rise, prompting the boys to complain that he’s a traitor for leaving early. After all, with Mary living with Jung-in, he can stay out as late as he wants — which is news to Seo-jun.
Mu-gyul finds his mother sleeping on his couch, his momentary good mood dispersed because (1) she’s not Mary, as he’d assumed, and (2) he’d warned her not to come back after her last stunt.
Mom advises him not to call Mary anymore, and that she sent her away, pressing the point about Mary already being married. She warns that he’ll get hurt, and points to herself as an example of a life ruined by love. Oh, is love what we’re calling selfish irresponsibility now, Worst Mother In the World?
Mu-gyul bursts out that he won’t be like her, ruined by love, and to mind her own business.
He finds himself back at Jung-in’s front gate, looking up at the house. He starts to text a message reading “Mary, about today…” But he doesn’t send his attempted apology.
Inside her room, Mary contemplates her unringing phone, wanting to text the same message to Mu-gyul, but giving up as well.
She finds Jung-in drinking alone out in the kitchen, and moves to help him when he staggers drunkenly. He shakes off her arm in a knee-jerk reaction, then recalls himself and apologizes.
He’s been brooding over his discovery all day — the one that makes him suspect that his father harbors a fixation with Mary because of her mother — and asks desolately, “Do you know what it feels like to be stuck in a place that won’t allow you to enter or exit?”
He explains that he’d never once strayed from his father’s wishes for him, thinking that was the right thing. But he doesn’t think so now. He even starts to mention the reason his parents divorced… but then brings himself back to the present and ends the conversation with the announcement that he will return his father’s investment after the upcoming showcase.
In his drunken state, Jung-in missteps and loses his footing, sending both himself and Mary to the ground. He lands on her, slow to react, and this is the pose that Mu-gyul oh-so-conveniently finds them in. Of course.
Assuming Jung-in is forcing his attentions on Mary, Mu-gyul furiously intercedes while Mary ineffectually tries to calm him down. Jung-in is so drunk and defeated that he doesn’t bother to fight back or struggle, and ends up falling to the ground, hitting his head (lightly) as he goes down.
It’s not enough to hurt him, but it does knock him into sleep, requiring Mu-gyul to take him to bed (omo! And that’s not even a joke this time!).
Mary walks Mu-gyul outside, his temper calmed now and their affectionate good humor restored. He promises that at the showcase, he’ll prove that he’s the right guy for her, hinting at some kind of big gesture or statement to show others his intentions. In that way, he wants to be able to ask her father confidently to entrust Mary to him.
With that, he gets busy to prepare for the showcase, and reworks the song to a faster tempo. (This move was briefly suggested by Jung-in in a previous episode, which may be a throwaway bit or just an indication that Jung-in has some musical sensibilities of his own. Personally, I vastly prefer the slow, moody version.)
The Worst Mom and the Second-Worst Dad in the World confer, and she insists that she drove her point home effectively with Mu-gyul and Mary — she’s done her part in trying to tear the kids apart even though it pained her like a bullet through the heart. She calls it the cruelest thing she’s ever done, which is either a dramatic statement or proof of an extremely short memory (hello? You regularly left the poor boy out in the cold and shooed him away for booty calls! And you think it’s cruel to tell his girlfriend to stop calling?).
Jung-in and his company busily get to work in readiness for their showcase, and Lee Ahn does his part by deciding to go ahead with the production and cutting Manager Bang out of the decision-making process. He has taken Jung-in’s cautions to heart and realizes that she’s far more villainous than he’d known, and files to dissolve their contract.
She’s not pleased to lose her Hallyu star client, but he’s firm in his dismissal, and shows up to a shoot looking much more pleasant without her toxic presence.
In one scene that has Lee Ahn showing Seo-jun’s character how to play the guitar, the director cuts in, dissatisfied with the clumsy guitar-playing. He wants to swap out a more skilled player for the scene, using Ahn only for close-ups, which is how we get Mu-gyul dressed in that plaid suit and cozily showing Seo-jun how to play. Mary watches this with a little unease, though she keeps a professional demeanor as best she can.
An irate Manager Bang interrupts the shoot, storming onto the set and beelining for Ahn. She hasn’t accepted their parting of ways, and insists he come with her, grabbing at his arm and shrilly insisting he’s got no place in this production.
Annoyed, Ahn resists her attempt to strong-arm him (literally), and in the process he knocks into a standalone wall prop, which teeters dangerously.
Everyone looks up at the tottering wall, which is headed straight for Mary. Reacting swiftly, Mu-gyul leaps to cover her and takes the brunt of the impact as the wall crashes down.
He’s fine for the most part, but the injury requires him to wrap up his right wrist, though he tells Jung-in that he’ll still be able to perform at tomorrow’s showcase. Mary’s near tears for being the reason for his injury, but he assures her that he’s fine.
Affectionately calling her his temporary right arm, Mu-gyul accepts Mary’s help home, where she puts him to bed and lies next to him comfortably. He tells her when his eyes open, “I’d like you to always be here. You won’t go anywhere, right?” She promises to stay with him.
Mu-gyul reveals his plan for tomorrow, saying that he’s going to make his confession while onstage. She wonders what he means, but he just smiles and tells her to look forward to it.
And this is the cozy scene that Dad finds when he bursts in on them (again??).
This time they kneel before him contritely; with Mu-gyul now sure of his feelings for Mary and committed to the relationship, he takes the respectful route, when all this while he’d been the dispassionate rebel. Now he bows his head, calling him “Father,” and promises to make Mary happy.
Dad points out that he has nothing to offer her, though she contradicts him by listing his assets, such as his musical talent and good looks. Mu-gyul earnestly vows to succeed as a musician — enough to keep Mary well-cared for and in good clothes forever.
It’s a lovely sentiment (Mary is touched), but Dad refuses to concede, not even if the world were to turn backwards. He can’t accept Mu-gyul as a son-in-law because he already has one.
He drags her home angrily and locks her in her room, ignoring her sobs about needing to be with Mu-gyul because he hurt himself on her behalf. Turning a deaf ear to her, Dad calls President Jung to fill him in, and the president accepts this news with a grave, “I see. So this guy refuses to listen, is that it?”
Mary finds herself still locked inside the room by morning, and fakes a stomachache to get Dad to open the door. When he hovers anxiously over her, Mary shoves him aside and makes a break for it, racing toward the showcase before she misses it.
Meanwhile, Mu-gyul endures the pain in his right hand as he gets ready and leaves for the showcase. As he walks through his neighborhood, he doesn’t notice the black car parked outside, which starts to follow him slowly.
He’s running late, worrying the rest of the crew, and assures Jung-in on the phone that he’s almost there. Then finds himself stopped by the black car and accosted by three strange thugs.
Confused and already handicapped because of his injury, Mu-gyul protests when they usher him toward the car. He’s overpowered and shoved in just as Mary spots the scene at a distance, and races toward the car shouting Mu-gyul’s name.
She pounds on the car door and positions herself in front, keeping them from moving while she shouts for help.
The gangsters merely put their car into reverse to steer clear of her, then race off, leaving her looking after them in shock.
COMMENTS
What can we do at this point but cling to the careening vehicle and try not to fall off when it makes wild turns with no warning?
As I said, it’s actually a little bit amusing to watch the drama now, because the stuff that’s happening is at such odds with the tone of the piece. It’s like the drama took a cue from Seo-jun, who declares that she was never as cool as she tried to pretend and therefore is done trying to keep up appearances. Mary may have tried to be cool and hip and indie, but now it’s going for narrative convolutedness of the wackiest kind, coolness be damned. Except the vibe is still light and fluffy, so the kidnapping (groan) carries no weight, no suspense or hint of danger.
The kidnapping also brings to mind other dramas that attempted an eleventh-hour abduction to elevate the level of angst, such as Witch Amusement and Wish Upon a Star. And like those dramas, it doesn’t work, but at least we can enjoy it for the silly factor. If those shows were any indication, I’m going to expect some roping up and warehouse hideouts, per the kdrama norm. And this drama is all about pulling out the usual cliches, now that it’s done trying to skirt the cliches.
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