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Cinderella and the Four Knights: Episode 11

Sky House has another lady guest, and with the spotlight on her, she makes our Cinderella feel a bit lacking today. And despite feeling that the attraction is mutual, a certain knight is driving her insane. Their moments must count for something, right? But does she even stand a chance with Barbie in the house?

 
EPISODE 11 RECAP

Ha-won and Hyun-min watch in silence as Ji-woon and Hye-ji arrive outside Sky House. Hye-ji has a suitcase with her, and Ji-woon announces that she’ll be staying with them for the time being. Ha-won and Hyun-min don’t make a peep, but it’s not like they have much say in the matter.

Ha-won leads Hye-ji to her room as they’ll be sharing. Hye-ji apologizes for the unexpected intrusion, but Ha-won assures her it’s no problem since she doesn’t own this room or Sky House. Hye-ji expresses how grateful she is for Ji-woon because he rushed to her assistance as soon as she needed him; he always came running whenever she was in a pickle. Ha-won listens to this with slight unease.

Hyun-min tries to explain his lack of response to her calls, but Hye-ji cuts him off and states that once again, he was a step behind Ji-woon. As Ha-won is turning down the bed, feeling conflicted by Hye-ji’s sentiments from earlier, Ji-woon knocks on her door and enters. He tentatively asks her how she got home, and without facing him, Ha-won answers that she clearly arrived in one piece. It’s an awkward, albeit civil interaction, and Ji-woon requests she take care of Hye-ji while she’s here. As soon as he leaves, Ha-won wonders aloud if he only has eyes for Hye-ji.

The next morning, Ha-won wakes up to find her side of the bed empty. She’s struck by how quiet Sky House is, and Ms. Beolgyo muses that Hye-ji is the reason for that. A flashback from earlier that morning reveals Seo-woo being startled by Hye-ji’s presence, followed by his embarrassed beeline for his room as soon as he realized his bedhead and generally undone state. Hyun-min also had a humiliating encounter when Ms. Beolgyo held up a pair of crimson undies and asked him if they were his while Hye-ji was in the living room. Lucky for Ji-woon, Hye-ji greeted him with a glass of water and a light dabbing of his facial sweat post-run.

Back in the present, Ms. Beolgyo chirps that Hye-ji’s presence has turned this place upside down; she witnessed Ji-woon’s kindness toward a lady. A first! But she figures it was only natural since Hye-ji is as pretty as a doll. Ha-won suggests that the atmosphere was strange when she first moved in too, but Ms. Beolgyo points out that the boys never acted differently around her.

Ha-won’s feeling like an inadequate woman and doesn’t understand Hye-ji’s appeal, but then she catches her standing in front of the air conditioner, hair perfectly windswept and face glowing in daylight, and Ha-won can’t help but be enchanted by her beauty as well, LOL. She glances at her sweats and concludes that she and Hye-ji are indeed very different.

Back in her room, she bemoans that men are all the same, preferring girls with pretty faces and bodies. But a line from her coloring book — “Your inherent charm will attract your fated partner” — catches her attention and boosts her confidence, prompting her to try on all her accessories and peruse her wardrobe.

Ha-won steps out in a dainty dress, causing Seo-woo to drop his TV remote, heh. She shyly asks him what he thinks of her new look, and he struggles to speak before calling Ji-woon and Hyun-min for their input. Ji-woon arrives and notices Ha-won’s outfit, but avoids commenting on it. Ha-won dashes to her room, feeling self-conscious.

Ji-woon reflects on Ha-won’s distant and strange behavior toward him and figures she’s still mad at him, but isn’t sure how to make it up to her. Meanwhile, Chairman Kang and Hwa-ja are dining at a nice restaurant. She surprises him with a gift, but he’s disappointed to see that it’s a shirt, and not the tie he saw her pick out for the young man she had in mind.

Hye-ji tries to see her dad at the police station, but she’s refused a visit due to ongoing investigations. She calls her uncle to see if he’d be willing to help her out, but he isn’t. Hyun-min overhears all this and contacts his friend for a favor. He meets with him at a bar and learns that the judge in charge of Hye-ji’s father’s case is a colleague of his friend’s dad; the friend says his dad will put in a good word and hands Hyun-min a letter addressed to Hye-ji.

Hyun-min angrily chucks his glass at the wall in response to his friend’s bashing of Hye-ji’s father’s embezzlement charges. He pointedly brings up how his friend’s father set up a new law firm recently after losing his job over corruption charges to remind him that his father is no better, so he shouldn’t denigrate others.

Hyun-min gets home and hands Hye-ji the letter from her dad. He tells her she doesn’t need to worry anymore. Thinking she’d be grateful for his gesture, he puts on a magnanimous air and is about to hand her something, but she looks him in the eye and says his help makes her uncomfortable. She walks away, and Hyun-min opens his palm to reveal a key.

He throws the key at Ji-woon, and orders him to use it to retrieve Hye-ji’s belongings, since Ji-woon’s the one who brought Hye-ji here. Hyun-min warns him not to tell her that he’s behind this.

Hye-ji sobs as she reads her father’s letter. He apologizes for the trouble he caused and encourages her to carry on with her life with her head held high, because her life won’t change because of him. Ha-won observes Ji-woon quietly regarding Hye-ji.

The next morning, Ji-woon takes Hye-ji to a storage facility. Using Hyun-min’s key, he opens a chamber, and Hye-ji’s face lights up upon seeing all her sewing equipment in one place. She thanks him, and excitedly packs a few things in order to complete her projects. Ji-woon feels a bit awkward taking the credit for Hyun-min’s doing, but he keeps Hyun-min’s word and stays mum on Hyun-min’s involvement.

Hye-ji happily offers to buy lunch for him, but is disappointed to end up eating instant noodles outside a convenience store. Ji-woon’s thoroughly enjoying his meal, however, and Hye-ji guesses that he’s eaten this many times before. Ji-woon affirms that he has with Ha-won, since she loves it as much as he does. Hye-ji notes that he seems to really care for Ha-won and inquires if his kindness to her is equivalent to the kindness she receives from him. Ji-woon doesn’t know how to answer, and sheepishly admits that he hasn’t done a lot of nice things for her. He dodges the subject by offering to grab coffee for her.

Inside the convenience store, he notices a special for White Day (like Valentine’s day, but men present gifts to women). He purchases a gift box and sticks it in his jacket pocket before emerging with coffee. Hye-ji notices the gift in his jacket and observes aloud that he took awhile to get coffee.

Ms. Beolgyo lays out lunch on the dining table for Ha-won alone, since Seo-woo’s out working. and Ji-woon and Hye-ji left in the morning. Ha-won’s disappointed to hear that the two left together, and Ms. Beolgyo sympathizes with her, since she’s been alone every day since Hye-ji arrived. She disapproves of Ji-woon not including Ha-won like this, and Ha-won quickly gets up to see if Hyun-min will join her.

Hyun-min’s playing video games and has no desire to eat with Ha-won, but she shuts the game off and divulges that she doesn’t want to eat alone. He begrudgingly joins her at the dining table. He remarks that her appetite has increased significantly, and Ha-won answers that it’s because her heart, not her stomach, is feeling empty.

Hyun-min’s ears perk up when Ha-won mentions that Ji-woon and Hye-ji are out together, but denies showing interest in their business when Ha-won observes his change in behavior. He gets defensive, claiming that he’s not acting weird, but Ha-won advises him to just be honest about his feelings and express them so he doesn’t get sick bottling everything up.

He then turns to her and asks if she feels annoyed for being left out all the time, and she assures him that she’s not, even though she’s eating alone. Hyun-min gets on her nerves by mimicking her repeated dismissals of being alone.

Ji-woon and Hye-ji return to Sky House. Hye-ji explains to Ha-won and Hyun-min that Ji-woon helped find her studio stuff. Hyun-min retreats to his room and gazes at his smiley face phone background. Ji-woon enters and tells him that he did what was asked. Hyun-min thanks him, but Ji-woon states that this is the last time he’ll look out for Hye-ji on Hyun-min’s behalf.

Hyun-min replies that he’ll need Ji-woon to continue like this because he has no right to make it up to Hye-ji himself after hurting her. Plus, Ji-woon’s always looked after her, so his favor doesn’t change anything. Ji-woon clarifies that he’s not doing this for him, but as a friend to Hye-ji since he values her, and warns Hyun-min not to make her cry again.

Ha-won’s talking to herself while taking a stroll, still bitter about Hye-ji and Ji-woon, when Ji-woon pops out of nowhere and asks who she’s speaking to. She shoos him away and suggests he tend to Hye-ji, and he smirks. “Sounds to me like you’re disappointed that all my attention is on her,” he quips. Ha-won denies feeling that way, and Ji-woon fails to give her the White Day gift he purchased for her.

“I’m sorry I left you behind that day,” he says, meaning every word. She tries to brush off the incident, but he insists they go on another drive when she’s free since their last trip was interrupted; he has something to tell her, too. Ha-won eagerly agrees to the drive and beams. Once he’s out of Ha-won’s sight, Ji-woon sighs, disappointed that he wasn’t able to give her his gift.

Ha-won’s on cloud nine after that conversation with Ji-woon, but is puzzled by his need to tell her something. Seo-woo catches her look of concern and figures she’s struggling because Hye-ji’s at Sky House now. He recommends she be nice to her while she’s here since she lost her home, and Ha-won nods in agreement, but looks uncertain.

Ha-won watches Hye-ji unpack and throw her clothes into the hamper. She goes up to Hye-ji and volunteers to do her laundry, only to end up shrinking her clothes, LOL. Ha-won’s very apologetic and offers her the black and white tracksuit to wear in the interim. Hye-ji insists it’s okay since the shrunken clothes were old, and she can always go shopping with Ji-woon.

The mention of Ji-woon gives Ha-won pause, and Hye-ji reveals that she confessed her feelings to him; he was always by her side whenever she was having a hard time with Hyun-min, and that’s why she wants to try dating him.

“Did he give you an answer?” Ha-won blurts. Hye-ji nods (aka fibs) and gives a cryptic response to a crestfallen Ha-won: “Ji-woon probably feels the same way I do. Don’t you think?” Mmm no, I don’t.

Chairman Kang does not look happy as he recalls Hwa-ja picking out a necktie for a young man, which ended up not going to him. He sternly orders Bodyguard Lee to report on Hwa-ja’s every move. Meanwhile, Hwa-ja’s getting her usual massage from nosy Stepmom, who lets slip that she heard Hwa-ja’s current marriage isn’t her first. Hwa-ja bolts upright, demanding to know who said that. Stepmom answers that she overheard two other chaebol wives talking about it, but assures her not to worry since she’ll happily relay whatever rumors she hears. This doesn’t ease Hwa-ja’s anger, however, and she reprimands Stepmom for being a gossip-obsessed loudmouth and threatens to speak to the manager to get her fired.

Hwa-ja rings up one of the chaebol wives who was talking behind her back, and sweetly suggests they meet up before warning her in a threatening tone that if she spreads any more rumors, she’ll have to face the music.

That night, Ha-won thinks back on all the times she and Ji-woon shared a moment, but Hye-ji’s desire to date Ji-woon only confuses Ha-won even more. In his rec room, Hye-ji asks Ji-woon if he’ll join her tomorrow on her shopping trip, and he agrees. The next day, Stepmom arrives for work, only to learn that she was fired after her incident with Hwa-ja the other day. She bawls when she gets home, regretting her decision to act as Hwa-ja’s right hand woman just to get Yoo-na hitched to a Haneul Group son because it got her fired. Yoo-na erupts into tears as well, upset that her chances of moving into Sky House are even slimmer.

Hwa-ja’s getting her nails done when she catches a glimpse of Bodyguard Lee passing by in her mirror. He conceals himself behind a door and appears uneasy with the task of spying on her. Hyun-min spots Ha-won (actually Hye-ji wearing Ha-won’s black and white tracksuit) heading to the kitchen post-shower and marvels at her insatiable appetite. He places a hand atop her toweled up head to tease her for eating before drying her hair (what?), but is shocked to find Hye-ji’s face right before him. She backs away from him and her towel unravels. Hyun-min apologizes; he mistook her for Ha-won, but Hye-ji’s visibly shaken as she storms off.

Ha-won marches to Ji-woon’s room and knocks on his door. She wants answers, but he’s not in. Hye-ji sees her outside his door and informs her that she’s going somewhere with Ji-woon. Right as they’re about to leave, Ji-woon realizes he forgot his wallet and heads back inside to grab it. Hye-ji’s reminded of her lie to Ha-won and appears apprehensive.

Ha-won confronts Ji-woon in his room, notices the gift in his hands, and assumes it’s for Hye-ji (it’s not), which confirms her suspicions. She’s about to leave without a word, but Ji-woon doesn’t let her off the hook, knowing she came in with something on her mind.

Ha-won: “Sorry for not noticing sooner… Say things in a way I can actually understand. I heard everything from Hye-ji so don’t do things that will cause misunderstandings anymore.”

She walks away, and Ji-woon is left baffled by her statement, unsure of what she meant. Ha-won immediately regrets what she said and feels ashamed.

When she returns to Sky House, Ms. Beolgyo informs her that her father is here. Ha-won’s overjoyed to hear this and rushes to see him, only to find a strange man noshing on snacks in the dining room. It’s Kang Young-jin, the construction worker Stepmom confronted about being Ha-won’s biological father, but Ha-won has no clue who he is.

Her face falls as Young-jin excitedly reminds her that he and her mother ran the Taekwondo dojo together. Young-jin ogles the luxury of Sky House and commends Ha-won on moving on up in the world. She wants to know why he sought her out, and he answers with a question: “Has your mom ever spoken to you about your dad… your real dad?” Ugh, I do NOT like Mr. Shadypants here.

Ji-woon screeches to a halt, bothered by Ha-won’s mention of Hye-ji. He asks Hye-ji if she said anything to Ha-won, and she answers honestly about how she told Ha-won she wanted to go out with Ji-woon, and that the feelings were probably mutual. It all starts to make sense for Ji-woon, and when asked why he ran to her side during her time of need, he calmly apologizes and states that she’ll have to head home by herself. Translation: Hye-ji just got kicked out of his car.

Back at Sky House, Ha-won drops her teacup, rattled to hear the stranger before her assert that he’s her real dad. Ha-won doesn’t understand; he and her mother were just friends. But he doesn’t seem to address her confusion and merely states that he wants to be a proper father to her now after years of feeling bad for the man who ended up raising her. He clasps her hands and adds that if she “helps [him] out a little bit,” the two of them can live together. And just like that, my skeeve meter just shattered.

This is all too much for Ha-won to process, so she urges him to leave at once. But when he doesn’t, she ends up walking out first. Ms. Beolgyo eyes Young-jin suspiciously, unsure of what to believe. Ji-woon pulls up to Sky House just as Young-jin leaves. He asks Ms. Beolgyo where Ha-won is, and she explains that she just left, seemingly troubled after meeting with a man who’s purportedly her father.

Ha-won walks across a bridge in a daze, replaying Young-jin’s claim that he’s her dad. She calls the dad who raised hers, desperately hoping he’ll pick up for once. Meanwhile, Ji-woon’s back in his car, wondering where Ha-won is and why her line is still busy. He remembers their conversation on the bench, and Ha-won mentioning how she wants to believe that her dad is her real dad.

Ha-won’s fifteen calls to her dad go unanswered because her dad left his phone in his pickup. Ha-won’s phone battery is on its last breath when a call comes in from Ji-woon. She answers it, and Ji-woon frantically asks her where she is. Ha-won breaks down into tears and cries his name, but her phone dies before she’s able to say any more.

She sobs on the bridge, painfully alone, devastated, and unsure where to turn.

 
COMMENTS

There was A TON of screen time for Hye-ji in this episode, and unfortunately, none of her scenes were particularly riveting. She is a very vanilla corner of an otherwise sufficiently complicated love triangle, and it’s just a pity that she’s such a bland character, tepid as old bath water. I think part of it has to do with the actress along with the writing. She’d be a lot more interesting if she took on an extreme characterization, either as the love-to-hate, evil threat to our heroine’s romance, or the perfect-on-paper beauty inside and out who’s so lovable that we can’t help but root for her as well. Hye-ji is somewhere in the middle, neither this nor that. She’s just so-so — sorta nice, sorta mean. (Zzzzzzz…)

I can’t hate her with a passion, and I can’t love her character either. She’s so mediocre, and my attitude toward her is well, meh. I can understand why the writer didn’t paint her as a villain because Hyun-min needs to end up with her at the end, but I think the writer could’ve made Hye-ji a more compelling character who dramatically changes into the person Hyun-min fell in love with as a kid, or something like that. Something. Anything. More Hye-ji meant less Seo-woo and less Bodyguard Lee, which translated to the death of fun. Ever since Debbie Downer came into Sky House, it seems like all the fun and cute just evaporated. Ji-woon was busy driving her around and barely had time for Ha-won even though it’s crystal clear that he likes her.

I wish the scene between Ha-won and her “dad” was way more emotionally charged. There was an inexplicable cut from their scene right as he was about to break the big news to her, and then we returned to it with Ha-won’s reaction. This is literally an earth-shattering scene that upends everything Ha-won’s known about her dad, but it felt so anticlimactic. Cutting away mid-scene was not the best way to go about this. We missed shady Young-jin’s delivery and his exact words when he claimed to be Ha-won’s real dad, along with Ha-won’s full reaction to the news/the buildup to her dropping her teacup. I doubt he’s her real dad, but still. What could’ve been a moving scene lacked a real emotional punch.

It seems like at this point, Ha-won is freeloading at Sky House because there haven’t been any new missions. I wonder if this is supposed to mean that Ha-won truly has united and tamed the Kang boys, but clearly, she hasn’t really. I don’t think they’ve changed much from how they were at the beginning except for the fact that their romantic lives have become a lot more complicated because of Ha-won. It’s interesting to note that Ha-won, while feeling conflicted about her growing feelings for Ji-woon, has not once fretted about the no-dating rule that was hammered in so much at the start of the series. Maybe she’s forgotten, but I know we, as viewers, haven’t. If she’s aware that her stay at Sky House is only temporary and that she’s technically an employee, how could she forget the cardinal rule?

While there was some movement on the real dad storyline, there really wasn’t much besides that. This show is most enjoyable when there’s lots of fluff and cheese, but this episode in particular was lacking on that front.

 
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I can't even with Hye-ji.

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Can. Not. EVEN.

I was going to be on her side, but when she LIED to Hawon about Jiwoon liking her back, I wanted to punch my screen. So glad Jiwoon at least made it crystal clear when he kicked her out of the car.

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Kicking her out of the car! Best rejection ever! I was laughing so hard then poor thing is getting rejected everywhere....

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I don't think that Hye Ji lied. She's just so self absorbed that she just automatically assumed Jiwoon would like her and truly believed it until the moment where he told her it's not so.

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Oh, I thought she lied when she said Jiwoon gave her an answer to her confession. As far as I can remember, he did not. He just stood there (so, partly his fault). Although, I could be misremembering, but I don't want to rewatch to see what really happened.

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I know! Maybe because all Hye-ji does is mop the whole series. Like, I haven't seen her truly have fun, not even once. Not even when they were all drunk.

Also, it's hard to sympathize with her after she lost everything, their house, their family's reputation, Ji woon's attention because it didn't feel like there was a change in her situation. She had been broken from the beginning, nothing to contrast with. Argggh writers... her character simply falls flat.

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No face please show up, please, please. You are the only known fictional character capable of handling problems like Hye Ji while breaking drama dimensions, please come quickly.

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Hahaha that would be hilarious if W somehow came into play in this drama! Anything is up in the air with no face!

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haha epic comment, love it ;)

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LOL if W and Cinderella somehow did mix, I dont think we would need No-face. Hye-Ji would diappear on her own (like character without their reason to exist) after Hyin-min rejected her the first time. I mean she seriously ONLY exists to day dream about him so...just waiting for her limbs to start flickering and disappering.

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No-face may well become a long-lasting big thing like Truck of Doom.

I think W is going to have more impact on how we think about our kdramas -- and comment on them -- than any other show except maybe King of Dramas.

Remember "What would Anthony do?". What would Anthony have No-face do?

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You know, the one lesson that all K-drama writers should take from W is be weary of poorly written characters, you never know what they'll do if they break that fourth wall. Cinderella's writers should watch their backs. Hyeji is going to come after them with her sewing kit and knitting needles. I honestly would be more scared of Hyeji than No Face, at least he was a compelling character.

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the reason im watching cinderella, besides park sodam and jung ilwoo, is bcos its a feel good show w/o needing too much of my brain cells which has already been severely depleted by W... if no face appears i think i might go mad.

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Even from the recap, the shows sounds really boring. Jung Il Woo why can't you choose a better show whyyyyyy?

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The fact that Hyeji is getting more screen time and the fact that she's currently living with the rest is kinda ruining the dynamic of the house. She doesn't exactly bring out the best in other characters, unlike Hawon. Personally, I love Hawon's interactions with the other characters and that's one of the best part of this drama. I still think they Hyunmin/Hyeji storyline is dragging too much. I want the focus to go back to Hawon's missions. Happy that Hawon and Jiwoon's relationship is progressing though.

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I can't believe I was so obsessed with this show and watched it the moment it was subbed at like 5 a.m. and now I'm 4 episodes behind. The true power of Hye Ji.

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So don't watch it because to love to watch it. Watch it because you love to mock it.

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Basically the problem with Hye-ji is that she's boring, and in a fluffy show like this, having a wet blanket just kills the frothy buzz. If you excised her from the episode completely and put in any kind of doofy filler that kept the mood up, it would be fine.

For instance, since they haven't had a challenge in a while (really was the family vacay even a challenge?) how about doing an Iron Chef parody where the chairman tasks her with getting the boys to cook him a meal. Then they put all 4 "knights" in aprons and we get to see Choi Min banging out a 5 course meal leading the other guys to panic, while one of the guys makes cup ramen, another burns rice, and the third calls Taecyon for help making French toast. Now, that would be 15 minutes of quality content.

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She IS a wet blanket, totally devoid of personality. And those constipated faces she makes? ugh.

I like the Iron Chef concept.

But really, they could have more cute moments between Seo Woo and Ja Young. It doesn't even need to be romantic. But every time she fan girls over him, it's cute.

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Now now, let's Hye-ji some credit - she's mastered the art of the slow-walk-of-insufferable-pain down. And employs it often. So. Freaking. Often.

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LOL

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A big ball of pity-party. Ahahah.

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Ha, agreed! I love Ja Myung and would rather have lot more of her than depressing Hye Ji.

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I think Hey Ji has become scapegoat or punching bag of viewers frustrations towards everything involved in the show. Misdirected Criticism.

As for the episode, Emotionally empty scenes can't make you connect with any character. The only scene that i took notice of was between Eun Ha Won and Kang Hyun Min. It shows how much Writer compromised One male to make Other Male more appealing.

As for expressions - I watching Love & War 2 - My Girl's Man and the Husband is so stiff and no expression that even Na Eun looks a good actor compare to him.

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I don't think that's accurate. I don't have a lot of criticisms for this show, and I don't read a lot of hateful comments. It charts well on DramaFever and it gets acceptable ratings in Korea. I just find her dull and a waste of time that could go to mindless cute stuff, and increasing her role in this episode was not enjoyable.

But to be really serious about the character, if she REALLY just switched cousins because she gave up on 1 and figured the 2nd one was her back-up plan, doesn't that mean that she thinks she's been keeping him on the hook as a spare this entire time? That's really shitty. I just thought they had a sibling-like friendship this whole time.

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Recapper herself mentioned most important point missing in the show now. The missions. Blaming one character for everything is just 1st account foolishness.

I don't think any character is even redeemable in this show. Brainless entertainment leads the audience nowhere and by no means can be acknowledged.

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Hopefully this episode sets up the new episodes so that they're ready for a lot of fluff and cheese like they've had before! I'm ready for it again!

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Dearest PD: I entirely place blame on you and you alone for casting choice of Son Na Eun to play HyeJi. She is so lifeless and she brings the entire drama to a screeching halt! Even her walk is lifeless.

Sincerely,
Disappointed viewer

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I agree. A different actress might have given her more personality.

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I have been wondering, what would it be like if Chae Soo-bin was cast as Hye-ji instead...

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Wow! You took the words right out of my mouth! She talks listlessly and I had also noticed that even the way she walks, is totally listless and lifeless, like she’s everlastingly depressed. She’s a beautiful girl, but acting is NOT her forte.

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Please no more So Na Eun in my screen ! In any drama that I will watch.

Please let her stay with her singing career only. Acting not for her.

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Even her singing is............

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Yes, your comment actually prompted me to write a reply! Lol! My face just falls from a silly grin whenever I spot her in Twenty Again! Argh! That cute fluffy drama just completely gets ruined by her terrible lifeless acting. I feel like breaking the silly couple up and call my favourite teacher student couple back on screen instead!

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I miss the old Ha-won. She was cheerful, positive, tough and full of energy. Where did the badass girl go? Meanwhile, Hye-ji is still pathetic & now a user too. How convenient for her to rely on someone she has ignored for a long time. Does she think Ji-woon is reserved to her while she chases another guy?

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You want me to believe that that big-ass mansion (so famous that everyone knows its name) doesn't have a spare room or a guest room for our permanently depressed seamstress?
Surely there is a third pool or a fifth gym you could convert into a room, no? Or is the only requirement for room selection how close you are to the rest of the love triangle/square/hexagon? For optimal eavesdropping opportunities, of course.

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+1

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A third pool you can push her in....

I'm sorry, I feel bad but I can't stop laughing at this sudden thought.

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Fab's comment just made my day. Honestly, if not for my obsessive nature of finishing whatever I started, I'd already dropped this drama. Every single time Hye Ji is on screen I wanna throw my phone. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Plus, I already accepted that this drama is not going to blow my mind plot-wise, but they had to scramble the characters core values as well. And Ha Won puhlease, whatever feminine charms you see in Hye Ji I could not fathom. All I see is a zombie with puffy cheeks that's been walking lifelessly in my waking nightmares. Brrrr...

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Hye-ji - Any guy will do as long as he is rich.
What a horrible character to try to portray as a nice person.
She is the same as the Step-Sister, only smarter and more boring to watch in action.

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Hmm, I don't think Hye-ji cares about money when it comes to guys.
If anything, both her and Hyun-min are fiercely attracted to rejection or people ignoring them. Ji-woonon the other hand seems to be a true knight, always searching fordamsels in distress.

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*Ji-woon. Sorry, too tired to spell right.

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Wow! You took the words right out of my mouth! She talks listlessly and I had also noticed that even the way she walks, is totally listless and lifeless, like she's everlastingly depressed. She's a beautiful girl, but acting is NOT her forte.

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Chickachunga, you're right -- what happened to the missions? Are there going to be any more, or did the writer forget? Also, what exactly was the mission for the trip they all took? Was it just to take a trip?

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I've always thought that female actresses in Korea get the short end of the stick. Generally speaking, female k-drama characters are poorly written and underdeveloped, which means the actresses don't have much to work with. However, in this case, I'm sorry to say, but Naeun is mostly at fault for Hyeji. She delivers her lines as if she's reading a book...totally monotonous and flat.

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Something I wanted to talk about since a long time ," poorly written female characters" and its not just drama even manga and manhwas have that trope . Sometimes I wonder how pathetic! There isn't anything more interesting than chasing guys around? Haeji has a nice career ahead. The writer could have made her give up on hyunmin and made her focus on career. Atleast that wouldn't spoil her character beyond repair.

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Hye-Ji would become more bearable if she actually had a goal in life that had nothing to do with Hyun-Min. Apparantly she is good with sewing clothes, but I don't see any passion or any steps to expand her business. I loved the first scene with Hye-Ji when she was looking for fabric and convinced the seller to make an exception for her. That Hye-Ji had potential.
I think this is a mistake of the writer: forgetting that people have a job, or a goal to work towards, and now everybody, except for Seo-Woo and Bodyguard (who are in the background) is either walking around the house or driving around the city. I miss some purpose in the story and the characters. I still enjoy watching the episodes, however the show will be quickly forgotten.

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This ep really wasn't good but the next one is a fair bit better and I totally agree about hye-ji she's just a black hole, completely devoid of anything interesting and sucks the fun out of those around her. I really don't care for a lot of the family intrigued stuff I q

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The fact that Hyeji is getting more screen time and the fact that she’s currently living with the rest is kinda ruining the dynamic of the house. She doesn’t exactly bring out the best in other characters, unlike Hawon. Personally, I love Hawon’s interactions with the other characters and that’s one of the best part of this drama. I still think they Hyunmin/Hyeji storyline is dragging too much. I want the focus to go back to Hawon’s missions. Happy that Hawon and Jiwoon’s relationship is progressing though.

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I find it a bit ironic that when Cho Hye-Jung was in Imaginary Cat, a lot of people were complaining about her acting. Now she's in a show where everyone is complaining about someone else. And wouldn't most of us rather see her Ja-young character with Seo-Woo than see Hye-ji with anyone?

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Yeah, I think that says something about writing/directing. CHJ in Imaginary Cat could not have been more annoying, but I like her here. And I liked Naeun well enough in 20 Again, but somehow liking her is eluding me in this drama.

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Oh no she was bad in 20 Again as well.... After watching her two times, enough is enough.

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Yeah, she wasn't great... but she wasn't this bad.

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She didn't have as much screen time in twenty again so it was easier to overlook her and mentally skip her scenes.

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Let's pretend this ep didn't air, shall we... It was a very short watch with all the fast forwarding.
How can you as a writer be so incredibly uninspiring with such a gorgeous cast. Would it hurt your tablet if you penned some action in that gigantic house. Anything. They're heirs to what seems to be the country's biggest conglomerate, I'm sure they have plenty of enemies, not just fangirls.

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Actually...this ep did one thing right. Sacking Evil stepmom was unexpected but such a pleasant surprise. Ok it was a bit underwhelming, at this point you can stop airing their scenes and no one would bat an eyelid.

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Ah, another W reference. You can really tell the pecking order of shows and their impact by how often they get mentioned in the comments about other shows.

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Whoops. Meant that to be a reply to # 18.

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HAHA. Hell yeah, W is for life. This show's legacy is could-be-would-be more things if the writer had lost his/her face for a little while.

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I agree with everything chickachunga said about Hye-ji. I, for one, have taken to skipping all her scenes, I find that this is the only way I can enjoy this drama, pretending that she does not exist.

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I agree 100%.. whats with HJ? Like, I totally skip all her parts... which this time around was half-episode! shes not mean or good-natured or anything... she at times looked like she knew Jiwoon liked her and used him to get on HM but then goes around telling HW she "thinks" he feels the same way... I thought she was cunning but its more like shes clueless about JW? They wanted to make her mysterious but came out as someone who makes no sense since we still dont know her story... I bet even if we knew, shed still come off as a bland character.
I blamed the lack of missions on Grandpa being at the hospital but now what?? Hope theres a fun mission to takes us alm out of HJ's funk

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Is third-lead syndrome a thing? I feel utterly alone on the Seo-Woo/Ha-Won ship. What are we called Seo-Ha? Woo-Won? I know that Ji-Woo has that whole ghetto Darcy thing going for him and Huyn-Min is the secretly soulful badboy, but can someone please show some non fan base love to the somehow innocently sweet popstar?

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You could say Seo-ha IS the second lead -- I never took Hyun-min seriously as competition for Ha-won's affections. (I think the only one who takes Hyun-min seriously is Hyun-min.)

I realized the bingo card is missing a key trope-- Drama Lane! In Kdrama Land, there is a special lane on all roads where the characters can suddenly pull over and argue, burst into tears, look broody, have a panic attack, or whatever. In this episode, Ji-woon uses the Drama Lane to kick Hye-ji out of his car (yay! But I do feel a bit sorry for her in that scene.)

I really want to believe that Hye-ji some has justification to believe that Hyun-min is really interested in her, and I had been operating on the theory that her whole plan with Ji-Woon was just to make Hyun-min jealous. I think Ji-Woon assumed that was the plan, too, and he seemed to be willing to go along with it, despite thinking that he liked Hye-ji himself. Then Hye-ji apparently forgot the plan, but by then Ji-woon realized that feeling protective of Hye-ji paled in comparison to how he felt about Ha-won.

And all that might have worked with a different actress playing Hye-ji, or different directing, or better dialogue... I don't know.

As many others have said, I'm getting tired of kdrama female characters who start out with an interesting premise and then forget everything that defined them (badass fighter, sewing genius, running a grocery store, taekwondo instructor, whatever) a few episodes in. Even in Boys Over Flowers, the girl had a physical accident that made her stop swimming-- she didn't just forget about it.

At least Gil Ra-im in Secret Garden never lost her skills. Even when she was stuck in Joo-won's body. That was one Cinderella who was more than a match for the "prince," and never lost her own identity.

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How about Seo-won? That sounds close enough to So-won, which is the Korean word for "wish".

Or Seo-won itself means "oath" or "pledge".

Lol, SeoWoo has like the llleeeeaaasssttt screen time here that there's not much to talk about... sad.

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Oh at this point, I'm a seo woo shipper now. Ever since Ji woon and Ha won finally got their romantic attraction going, Hyun Min and Ha Won's chemistry suddenly leveled to friendship. I used to think Hyun Min should have been the lead for his chemistry with Ha won but these days I 'd like to see more of Seo Woo and Ha Won.

Blame Hye Ji for sucking the fun out of Hyun Min.

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Oh my.. Oh wow.. OH MY GOD! Finally this recap is out. First and the last thing i wanna say is.... Na Eun is just the MOST incredible and superb ANNOYING in the whole drama ever. Sorry not to sorry. Can she just gone for a while then forever? She can, right? Plz

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you know what I realized as I was watching this the other day? That ha won just graduated high school. She's not even in college yet. I know it's a fluff show but why would any of these guys realistically be interested in a high schooler?! Aren't they robbing the cradle? Anywho it doesn't matter but it kind of made me roll my eyes a bit.

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i think they are just one or two years older then her. i dont in the character description it said ha won is 20.

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"But does she even stand a chance with Barbie in the house?"

I don't know why I don't find Naeun is really pretty like a doll whatever. Naaahh I find her pretty, but just ordinarily pretty. The way this show made her to look or force to look extra pretty made me laugh. Maybe because she is the only one who is wearing short dresses? I don't find Hye Ji or Naeun is like a Barbie, doll. But one thing for sure, she lacks of charm although she could probably look more girly like.

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Literally, this show is prolonging the agony.

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Song Na Eun picked a good drama and character seeing as pretty much 95% of the comment section is about either her or her character lol..

Jung Il Woo on the other hand needs to find a new agency. Blossom perhaps.

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Ha, I feel sorry for Naeun. If this were a live shoot, she could read some comments and liven up the character a little, or there could be less of her written into the script, or something else that would help. But as it is, she is stuck with what's been filmed, as are we all.

As for JIW, yes, Blossom!

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I totally agree with this :-)

"I think the writer could’ve made Hye-ji a more compelling character who dramatically changes into the person Hyun-min fell in love with as a kid, or something like that. Something. Anything. More Hye-ji meant less Seo-woo and less Bodyguard Lee, which translated to the death of fun."

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Yea, the bad acting is particularly grating in this episode where the character is supposed to emote but instead we get more of the same from this actress. And please don't mention her trademark dead-man-walking shuffle.

I know I'm going to get bashed for this but IU over in Scarlet Heart is also holding on to her blank stare Queen crown. She is better than Na Eun in certain emotional displays but there was one scene in Ep9 after LJK pulled her in from the rain and he started a monologue...all her reaction shots were the same throughout that I think you can basically just take one shot of her and use it for everything. That scene was so long and excruciating to watch because I kept expecting her to react but nope, deer-in-headlights mode was fully on and the close-up didn't help either. LJK probably acted out 10 different emotions in that one scene compared to the constant one from IU.

Please send these people to acting school!

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This episode is the most boring, and yeah Hye-ji (or Son Na-eun ?) just sucks the life out of it.

It's also because Grandpa suddenly forgets his grandsons and his big plan to make them all like a family, and instead mopes around and gets eaten by jealousy. C'mon Grandpa ! You don't have much time. Give Ha-won missions !

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eu não estava nem um pouco interessada nesse drama, mas as pessoas estão falando tão mal da Hye Jin e de como ela é um saco, que estou começando a ficar curiosa.

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Last week someone said that Hye-ji is a ghost. If that's true, she's almost certainly a virgin ghost and thus overdue to be possessed by Kim Seol-gi.
That should fix the insipid acting problem.

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On a related note, what is with the singer with the lousy diction? I can understand mispronouncing consonants that don’t exist in Korean, but there are t’s in Korean.
I can’t figure out if she is singing
“I can’t live withou choo, with-ow-ow choo”
or
“I can live withou choo, with-ow-ow choo”
(withou choux? shoe?) (choux is very yummy, I bet Choi Min or JIW can make it.)
That said, still watching this show, still hoping for redemption.

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I just died with thus comment. Now everyone in office is looking at me with a strange expression

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Thanks for the recap, chickachunga!

I think I would enjoy this so much more if there was no HJ on screen ever! And how can she think and respond on behalf of JW that he probably feels the same way and convey that to HW?! Just wanna smack her for stepping over the boundaries, especially when I don't think she's so clueless that HW really cares what JW's answer is. At least HJ was honest when JW asked her what she said. How satisfying to see JW telling HJ to get out of his car!!! I'm glad that as much as JW value HJ, he's not gonna let her dictate how he behaves, how he feels, or what he thinks. I'm so glad that he knows he needs to go back to HW to clear up the misunderstanding since it's pretty obvious to us viewers that JW and HW are mutually attracted to each other. The ramen and White Day gifts say it all.

I don't believe for a sec that that slimy dude is HW's father. He just wants to mooch $$$ off HW to pay off his debts.

I want more SW and Bodyguard Lee please!!! They make the drama interesting. And HM better stop being wishy-washy cuz I don't want JW to keep doing things for HJ either since that just creates distance between JW-HW.

I hope Chairman Kang discovers the truth about his wife soon. She's kinda dumb when you think about it. How can she buy a tie for her son when she's out shopping with Chairman Kang? At least wait till you are shopping by yourself to do that so he wouldn't have a chance to notice.

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