Smile: Episode 27

by soyjoy

Nothing particularly substantial happens in this episode. There are lighthearted and enjoyable moments, but it was pretty much a filler episode that rehashes the same themes.

The key element that makes this series work is the growth of the characters and the relations between them. Since there’s barely any developmental progress in this episode, it feels a bit extraneous. That said, if you’ve already come to care enough about these characters to watch them for 26 hours, a little slice-of-life narrative isn’t bad. Just don’t start the series here, hehe.

EPISODE 27

The parents are shocked into silence at hearing Hyun-soo’s announcement. Hyun-soo repeats, “We’re in love.”

Tempers quickly flare between Geum-ja and Jung-kil, who have always rubbed each other the wrong way. Rather than actually processing the situation at hand, the two begin flinging tangential accusations at each other, using the situation as a dumping ground for their pent-up frustrations.

With the discussion going nowhere, the parents each pull aside their respective kid. Jung-kil still thinks this is Jung-in’s ruse to win Han-se back. Without going into specifics, he tells Jung-in that Grandpa Man-bok can’t take care of them anymore, so she needs to get back together with Han-se. (Oh Jung-kil, will you EVER learn??)

Since Sung-joon wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise, he takes Ji-soo outside. He says this shows that just professing you love each other isn’t enough. Perhaps because adults are old-fashioned, “Whether or not something happened is the deciding factor in winning their consent.”

Ji-soo looks concerned at this, especially when Sung-joon continues suggestively, “Let’s do something very wrong.” Ji-soo is aghast, and she hurries off to work.

Geum-ja feigns ignorance, acting around Jung-in like nothing happened. When Jung-in says that she truly likes Hyun-soo, Geum-ja exclaims, “Of course! There are so many people who like our Hyun-soo.”

As they expected, Jung-in and Hyun-soo face opposition from all sides, but it’s no less frustrating, especially Geum-ja’s silly act. Over breakfast, Hyun-soo expresses concern for Jung-in, and he warns her that she might get indigestion if she eats too much. But Jung-in says she can always eat well, even in the most stressful and saddest moments of her life.

She says, “I think it’s you, not me, who’ll get indigestion. Why are you in such a hurry? Even this much is fine with me. Let’s take it slow.” She hands him a spoon and he digs in, saying he’ll need energy. But he’s worried for her, since she has to take the brunt of the blows, often harsh, from his mother.

And it doesn’t take Geum-ja long to lash out. She returns the clothes Jung-in bought for her in episode 9. Jung-in argues that it was a gift, but Geum-ja says dismissively, “It was nice to wear it for a while. Thanks.”

Jung-in continues to put on a brave front, but the awkwardness in the house, the coldness from Hyun-soo’s parents and the pressure from her own can’t help but get to her. As she leaves the house, she pauses, her eyes welling up.

Han-se stops by the house and is greeted enthusiastically at the house by Geum-ja, Jung-kil and Joo-hee as “son-in-law.” Though he doesn’t know what accounts for this change in manner, he adorably basks in it, chuckling, “To be greeted so warmly overnight is a welcome change.”

Jung-kil whispers to Han-se that Hyun-soo has announced that he loves Jung-in.

Han-se’s reason for coming is to try to convince Geum-ja to sell him the Seos’ old house. She tells him to hurry up and take Jung-in out of Grandpa’s house, and he responds that he can do so as soon as she sells him the house. She’s hesitant, arguing that they have history with that house—it’s where her husband was born.

But he adds that if Hyun-soo finds out the house can become his, it’s like adding oil to the fire; it’ll only give Hyun-soo and Jung-in more momentum. He grabs Geum-ja’s hand. “Ma’am,” he says, “from now on you have to join hands with me.” [It’s akin to saying, “from now on we’re batting for the same team.”]

Han-se and Secretary Kim track Jung-in down at her part-time job handing out samples outside the cosmetics store. Han-se introduces himself to Jung-in’s coworker as her boyfriend, and to his surprise and delight, Jung-in says, “That’s right. He came to help me today.”

She continues with a mischievous smirk, “This guy is ready to help with anything.”

She uses them as street demo models. HA!

When Han-se’s mom calls Secretary Kim, he answers: “The Director is busy demonstrating cosmetics so….” Han-se runs over to grab the phone and claims instead to be on a date with Jung-in.

Jung-in notices and yells for all it’s worth: “THIS IS A CREAM THAT EVEN THE HEIR OF GLOBAL MOTORS USES!”

When Han-se returns to the office, Mrs. Lee is ready to pounce. She blows up at him for cheapening the family’s reputation by doing streetside marketing. On top of that, he’s put company stocks on the market. He explains that he did that in order to buy the house back because he’s in dire straits now that Geum-ja has the house. Mrs. Lee says she’s determined to get that house. (Why? I don’t know.)

Grandpa Man-bok, So-nyeo and Joon-bae are getting their much-awaited checkups. Haha. Gramps looks pretty cute (though I worry for him with all that exertion) when he does the lung test. “You’re quite healthy; you must exercise a lot,” the nurse says.

He sheepishly describes his morning exercise regimen (which we’ve seen—good to know it has some positive effects!).

As they wait for their last examination, Jung-kyung happens to see Grandpa Man-bok. He introduces So-nyeo as Joon-bae’s friend, but she says, “If you say it like that, I’ll be disappointed. I’m [Grandpa’s] girlfriend.”

He tells So-nyeo he needs to talk to Jung-kyung, and as soon as she’s out of earshot, he says: “She’s a strange woman”—with the implication that she’s a bit touched in the head. HAHA.

Grandpa is also in an endearingly good mood when he talks to Jung-kyung. She apologizes for having been so cold in the past and thanks Grandpa Man-bok for taking in her family, saying that she’s been able to learn a lot about life, family and love from living in his house.

Grandpa Man-bok asks whether her feelings were hurt when Geum-ja slapped her over the issue with Hyun-soo. But Jung-kyung says, “I had been regretting that I didn’t appreciate Hyun-soo’s feelings for me, so getting hit was actually refreshing.”

Grandpa says his wish is to see Hyun-soo, Sung-joon, Jung-kyung and Jung-in all living as siblings. He thanks her for not reciprocating Hyun-soo’s feelings. (Jung-kyung’s face goes: “Uh-oh.”)

While Sung-joon is helping out at Ji-soo’s store, Kyung-soo runs in breathlessly to say that the hoodlums are back. He tells Sung-joon to hide and avoid trouble, and Ji-soo agrees that he should. Sung-joon wants to have at it with them, but he reluctantly gives in, since it’s what Ji-soo wants.

Ji-soo asks Kyung-soo to watch the store the following day, suggesting that she’s planning to start something with those guys.

Hyun-soo waits for Jung-in at the bus stop. She puts out her hand, but not for her “glove” (thank goodness… it’s cute but overused by now); she wants the red bean cake that Hyun-soo bought for her.

They walk, catching up on their days; Hyun-soo is quite leisurely now that he has no job. Then they do the scarf-glove thing again (darn, just when I was thinking we’d gotten through a scene without it).

At home, Jung-kil and Geum-ja are arguing over who seduced whom.

Jung-kil: What does our Jung-in lack, that she would date Hyun-soo when there’s Global’s Han-se?
Geum-ja: I suppose you’re saying that because you don’t know better, but it’s our Hyun-soo that has a graduate degree.
Jung-kil: Nonetheless, the owner is Han-se.
Geum-ja: As long as he doesn’t lose everything like a certain someone, he’ll be lucky.
Jung-kil: In business, you can lose money and borrow money!
Geum-ja: Why is why a person should have humanity. How depraved could you have been that when your company went down, there wasn’t a single friend or relative for you to call on? How low could you have gone that you’d have to come into your chauffeur’s house?

Just then, Jung-in and Hyun-soo arrive. Joo-hee asks Hyun-soo when they started to like each other; were they shot by Cupid’s arrow at the ski resort? (LOL.)

Sung-joon cuts in, finally able to have his say: “That’s old news. You don’t even know how lovey dovey those two are.”

Jung-kil demands to know how long they’ve been dating. Hyun-soo apologizes for lying to their parents and says he’ll explain. However, Geum-ja dismisses the topic as a moot point; she’s still in denial.

After a few shots of soju, Sang-hoon tells Hyun-soo the full story of his first love—that it was actually Jung-in’s mom.

Sang-hoon says the odds are stacked against Hyun-soo: there’s Han-se, plus the fact that Jung-kyung was his first love and Jung-in’s mom was his father’s first love. Hyun-soo responds, “Father, I’m sorry for being stubborn, but I want to make Jung-in my own.”

Despite the plea, Sang-hoon won’t back down. He points out that he and Geum-ja even went to Jung-in’s wedding. Hyun-soo says he’s willing to wait until they can put those memories behind.

Sang-hoon asks, “Of all people, why Jung-in?”

Hyun-soo exclaims, “And you—of all people, why Jung-in’s mom?!”

Haha—this father-son scene is cute, especially because we haven’t seen too much of their interactions until now. When Sang-hoon hits Hyun-soo, he yelps, “Ow.” But he juts his chest out and says, “Hit me again.”

“You better not regret it,” Sang-hoon says, hitting him repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Jung-in gives Geum-ja a beauty treatment from her store’s cosmetic line. Geum-ja mentions that she’s meeting Jung-in’s “mother-in-law” to find out about setting Hyun-soo up on blind dates.

Jung-in responds that she knows Geum-ja is acting like this on purpose, but Geum-ja doesn’t budge and continues with the act.

Hyun-soo waits outside for Jung-in. While he’s waiting, Jung-kyung comes by the house. After her conversation with Grandpa Man-bok earlier that day, she’s worried for him and Jung-in. She reminds him of his earlier advice to her: Don’t give up on love just because the circumstances are hard.

Hyun-soo finds Jung-in in the backyard. They spend time together, finding some rest in each other’s company after a hard day 2 of their battle.

Geum-ja meets with Han-se’s mom, who asks how much Geum-ja wants for the house. But Geum-ja answers, uncomfortably, that she bought it to give to Hyun-soo when he marries. Mrs. Lee responds that it’s a nice thought, but she’s willing to pay above market price. (In other words, cut the crap and hand it over. Ha.)

Watching these two cats try to be civil is really awkward.

Once she’s home, Geum-ja goes wild with excitement that Mrs. Lee is willing to pay well over market price for the house. Sang-hoon tells her she can’t sell it, since it’s something Grandpa gave her. She agrees, but she can’t hold back her glee at having leverage over the queen of Global Motors.

Inside, Geum-ja hears Hyun-soo’s voice coming from Jung-in’s room. She peeks in to see:

It puts her in a foul mood, so when Hyun-soo later asks her to go on a “date” with him, she ignores him. He’s used to having her wrapped around his finger, so he tries to sweet-talk her, but she suddenly explodes in anger.

“Shut your mouth!” she yells. “I don’t even want to hear your voice! Don’t call me your mother again!”

Later that night, Geum-ja gets out of bed with fire in her eyes. While Jung-in lies asleep, a shadow approaches….

Geum-ja wakes her up to say, “Save me. Please. It can’t work with Hyun-soo. Please, save me. Just once… Just once, do me this favor, Jung-in.”

Sexy gangsta Ji-soo is back. She drives up on a motorcycle and tells Sung-joon to hop on. He holds on for dear life as she takes off.

In the backyard, Hyun-soo has just finished a project:

“Does it look like her?” he asks, with a satisfied look on his face.

COMMENTARY

The episode ends with a lot of dangling threads rather than one cliffhanger. The storytelling as a whole has gotten a bit disjointed, as there are more plot lines to follow and there aren’t neat ways of wrapping their ends together or segueing between them.

A lot of the scenes don’t even reach a natural conclusion. For example, when Jung-kil demands to know how long they’ve been dating, Hyun-soo doesn’t get a chance to answer, and Jung-kil… just leaves. Or when Sung-joon leaves the store because the hoodlums are there—where did they go? Why have Kyung-soo make such a big deal about them coming if THEY NEVER SHOW UP? It’s as though the characters have the attention span of a goldfish. They ask a question and then they just…

You can tell the writer is trying to create filler story to stretch out the series here. One of the clearest examples is in two scenes that put Geum-ja and Jung-in are in similar situations (the kitchen scene and the facial scene). They actually repeat the same exact lines of dialogue. (Argh! nothing! happens!!)

There were two scenes that stood out for me in this episode because they showed character and relational growth: between Jung-kyung and Grandpa, and between Hyun-soo and Sang-hoon.

It’s been a while since Jung-kyung had much screen time, but I’ve kind of had a soft spot for her (when she wasn’t being a total nuisance), because I think Choi Jung-yoon was doing the best with the material she was given. So it’s nice to see her character rounding out now. And it’s also refreshing to finally see a character who’s grown and gotten to a point of being able to realize that growth. (How is it that Jung-kil is still repeating the SAME mistake of trying to sell off his daughter for money??)

The dynamic between Hyun-soo and Sang-hoon was also fun to watch. Chun Ho-jin, who plays Sang-hoon, showed his acting chops in the recently-ended Will It Snow for Christmas? If I hadn’t seen him in that, I don’t think I would have taken him seriously as an actor. Sang-hoon had seemed like a frivolous character because he didn’t have enough substance. He’s passive, a pushover at best, while Grandpa Man-bok dominates the household and Geum-ja dominates the marriage. So seeing him have a few rounds and finally get fatherly with Hyun-soo was, I think, the best part of this episode. His measured disapproval—which does make sense—is more balanced than everyone else’s reactions. Though he’s against the relationship, he’s at least understanding and sympathetic. And, even if his opinion is keeping Hyun-soo and Jung-in apart, at least the man finally has an opinion.

One parting rant. Mrs. Lee… Words cannot describe. I’ll leave it to the screencaps to speak for her histrionics. She even overacts the violence—in the scene above, when she hits & kicks Han-se, it looks and sounds real enough that Lee Kyu-han must have been in actual pain… as much pain as I’m in, having to watch her onscreen.

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