The Musical: Episode 11

by kaedejun

We’re back in business! Episode 11 aired last week, but heads up if episode 12 does not air this coming Friday. I heard that it might delay again thanks to a sports game…

Anyways – for episode 11 we have angst! And a totally new girl who’s pretty awesome too for Jae Hee. It’s not his sister (danggit!) but she’s close enough. As for Eun Bi, well it’s time for her to suffer for rejecting Jae Hee’s advances…As a character, she’s flagging, and I’m hoping we move past all the angst soon as the last five episodes come up for this series. I honestly do believe that these broadcast delays are not helping the pacing of the storyline anymore.

So after a week’s hiatus, we’re all back to square one – a musical with no funding, and the lack of a lead actress. Jae Hee agrees to selling his “soul” to a record label for 3-4 years, helping a girl pop group make it all the way to the States. Gu Jak has a hard time reaching Jae Hee after this, and Bok Ja overhears that “Chungdamdong Gumiho” is pretty much a sunk ship.

As for our wonderful rich boy Yoo Jin, he visits his grandfather’s library and opens up a large wooden cupboard that encases a musical box. It triggers memories of his mother, who had said he could take it once he marries. He envisions his parents in the room with him, fighting over where Yoo Jin would live after marriage (either apart or with them), when he finally slams the music box shut, trying to shut out all thoughts of his parents.

Despite Eun Bi’s words about believing her mother loved her when she left, Yoo Jin can’t help but be angry at feeling like he was abandoned. His grandfather comes in to interrupt his thoughts and talk business expansion in China.

Unable to forget about music boxes, Yoo Jin visits a store that specializes in music boxes, whether they be small revolving cylinders in a case, or large pianos that play music by itself. He’s here to purchase a gift – for Eun Bi. The store owner tells the two of them about the healing and calming powers of a music box. On the contrary, when Yoo Jin’s father tries to calm down his hysterical wife with her favorite music box, she ends up going in a frenzy and throwing it to the ground to shut it up.

Yoo Jin takes Eun Bi’s hand and holds it against a small music box so that she may feel the vibrations. He looks upon her dotingly, and I’d like to think that he means to be her protector. However, the purchase makes Eun Bi feel a little guilty, as she’s unsure of what to make of the gift. Yoo Jin reassures her that if she doesn’t like it, she can freely return it to him. That doesn’t help ease her curiosity over the intention behind giving the gift though.

As for Yoo Jin’s girlfriend, Ra Kyung, well – she’s getting cheered up by Joon Hyuk. He hands her some gourmet coffee – luwak – and excitedly tells her all about it, even though she knows what it is. His eagerness makes her smile a bit, which cheers him up ten times more. He’s made it his personal goal to make her smile at least once a day. While he may be sweet, his actions are quite burdensome.

Jae Hee heads over to a cafe to meet with the pop group’s producer. He looks around disinterestedly, when suddenly a woman comes up to him with a tray of coffee and some snacks. She’s Ahn Sung Ha, and she seems to know him. Jae Hee has no clue who she is though, and is very disinterested in the whole business arrangement. He looks around the cafe, listening to the music, and Sung Ha just sits their quietly, waiting for him to speak.

She knows that he’s listening and enjoying the music (and hence not talking); she also knows that he might not like hearing the ceramic cup clink against its saucer, and places her cup on a napkin instead; and she also knows his taste in snacks. He starts sensing that she’s kind of familiar to him, but he still can’t place it. And she’s not helping him figure it out!

Eun Bi practices the solo song with Kang Hee watching in the studio. Eun Bi has some trouble reaching the high notes, which makes Kang Hee stop her and start over. “Pay attention to your breathing!” That instruction reminds Eun Bi of when Jae Hee was training her in his home over her breathing, and she stops singing, lost in thought.

At the end of a work day, Ra Kyung suggests that they all go out for drinks, which is surprising coming from her for her coworkers. They get drunk enough that Ra Kyung spills all her boy troubles to them. They’re not much help, telling her that her life sucks because she has a perfect man cheating on her, and a pauper completely in love with her. They’re no experts on love, but they do tell Ra Kyung to stop living like a fool. That’s the least she can do.

Gu Jak finally gets a hold of Jae Hee, who tells him to do exactly what he says. The money issue has been solved, and Jae Hee sold himself for it. All he asks is Gu Jak to leave him alone for the next four years. There’s a bitter smile on his face as he says all this.

And then we have a mopey scene for both Jae Hee and Eun Bi! Eun Bi practices herself to death, not quite getting the choreography for “Count Monte.” She contemplates calling Jae Hee, but then throws her phone aside. As for Jae Hee, he curls up on his sofa watching Eun Bi’s audition tape, and thinks about how she rejected him nicely due to her fear that with the end of “Chungdamdong Gumiho,” everything will end between the two of them.

He sits outside his stoop for fresh air, moping still. Suddenly Sung Ha shows up, talking on the phone, not seeing him. “I guess he can’t remember because I had braces back in high school,” she tells the person on the other line. She sees Jae Hee staring at her blankly, and then says, “I think he heard me but is blank still.” She hands her phone over to Jae Hee, who regards it suspiciously. Who’s on the other line?

“SIS?! How come you’re…?!” Suddenly he looks at Sung Ha with a new pair of eyes. Noona had to give him the answer huh?

He invites Sung Ha inside, and she hands him her high school photo, which helps him remember her. He thought she went to college in America; she did, and they even saw each other in the States! Dude – this guy has the worst memory ever! If you’re not Kang Hee or Gu Jak – or even Eun Bi – he won’t remember who you are! Funnily enough, we find out that he had a hippie hairstyle, and Sung Ha had a cute short bob back then. Jae Hee with long hair like in the musical Hair!? I’d like to see that. 🙂

A high school friend, Mi Sun, with her ADORABLE son joins the two of them as well, and she immediately tells Jae Hee to not break Sung Ha’s heart again. (EHHHH!?) Mi Sun then pipes up that a former classmate is rich and famous in New Zealand now, and Sung Ha notes that it’s better than someone they know. Mi Sun: “Hong Jae Hee is broke?! Stay away from him – you’ll only waste your life!”

Sung Ha stays behind late into the night to hang with Jae Hee, and he samples some music ideas for the girls’ album. Though she is now a producer, she hasn’t lost her musical touch. Jae Hee wonders why a talented pianist quit her passion, and Sung Ha admits that she couldn’t quite find a musical style that fit her. She tried writing music but was unsuccessful, so she quit and became a producer instead. Jae Hee notes she practiced too much; Sung Ha notes that Jae Hee was a lazy genius, practicing only an hour before the test to make sure he knew the music.

Jae Hee: “You know too much information… I must kill you now!” Sung Ha: “I should kill you since you forgot me!” Jae Hee: “Did you just touch me!?” Geez – what a pair of juvenile rivals! I love it.

After a sleepless night thinking about Jae Hee, Eun Bi wakes up early the next morning to deliver milk. She sees a guy standing outside of Kang Hee’s home and thinks that it’s Jae Hee. However, the guy’s girlfriend arrives and Eun Bi’s smile falters to see that it’s just a stranger. She heads over to Jae Hee’s place instead, where she sees him walking Sung Ha out. They’d been up all night together.

Jae Hee spots Eun Bi on her bike, and Sung Ha notes the pained stares that these lovebirds give each other. Awkward… Jae Hee sends Sung Ha off, and then wordlessly, Eun Bi turns back on her bike. She loses herself into her thoughts, thinking about how happy Jae Hee and Sung Ha looked together outside his home, and doesn’t see the car that comes out of nowhere.

Eun Bi takes a tumble on the ground, but thankfully comes out with only a scrape. Through Bok Ja, Eun Bi also finds out that Jae Hee no longer goes to practice, that he had to sell himself to a record label company just so “Gumiho” could still continue having practices. The sleepless night, compounded with the accident and her depressing thoughts, make Eun Bi fall sick with a high fever.

She’s not the only one though – Jae Hee forces himself to catch some sleep in a way to also avoid thinking about Eun Bi.

Bok Ja is so busy at work that she doesn’t hear Eun Bi calling her on the phone. Eun Bi considers calling Yoo Jin as well, but calls Jae Hee instead. He sees her call (and he’s even labeled her as “My Dohwa, My Eun Bi”) but stuffs it under his pillow and ignores it. Nooooo! She’s dying!!!

At the studio, Yoo Jin arrives in the hopes of seeing Eun Bi, since she’s always the first one there, but it’s empty. He hears footsteps approaching and smiles in anticipation… only to see Ra Kyung. At least he has the grace to cover up his falling smile with another one when he greets his girlfriend. Since both have some time before their respective meetings and schedules, they grab a cup of coffee together.

They later overhear a couple of the other cast members calling Eun Bi to see where she is, and guess that she might be sick. Of course, that becomes a big concern to Yoo Jin. He calls up Bok Ja to see if she’s heard from Eun Bi, and then finds out their address. Without telling Ra Kyung much, he just dashes out of there to be superhero to Eun Bi.

Yoo Jin gets a landlord to open the door for him when no one answers, and they find her curled up on the floor, sweating feverishly. She murmurs that she wants to be taken to the hospital, and Yoo Jin carries her out in a blanket and into his car. Ra Kyung, who’s followed him secretly, gasps at the sight of Eun Bi looking so sick, but her shock quickly changes to anger and jealousy as she watches Yoo Jin take care of another girl.

Jae Hee finally wakes up and checks his phone, and sees a video voicemail from Sung Ha instead. She wishes him a good day, noting how funny it is that he’s going to have to work closely with someone he had forgotten for the next few years. What? You’re not going to check up on Eun Bi and why she called?!

Eun Bi is diagnosed with a severe fever, and the doctor wants to run some diagnostic checks on her. Ra Kyung arrives at the hospital with an ahjumma and a chauffeur in tow; it looks like she brought her battalion to wage war against a sick girl. The ahjumma is to watch over Eun Bi, and the chauffeur is to take Eun BI home; as for Yoo Jin, he’s leaving with her now. He’s not angry with her – in fact he seems to understand why she’s doing this.

They drive off to an outdoor cafe, and she finally becomes forthright about her feelings. Does Yoo Jin sincerely believe that Ra Kyung never wavered during the years they had been together? That she had never been tempted to stray? She decided to stick it out with him and stay by his side through and through, which is a lot harder than choosing to leave him. And now he just goes off with another girl? She tells him she won’t leave him, so basically Yoo Jin must make his own choice. Yeah! An ultimatum!

Eun Bi wakes up with the ahjumma by her bedside, and she vaguely recollects that it was Yoo Jin who had taken her to the hospital… and has now left her. Using the chauffeur’s phone, she calls up Kang Hee to apologize about missing practice and for being sick. Kang Hee is very understanding, and lets her know that the whole cast is getting 4 days off anyways, so she can go and rest up. When she hangs up, the foreign producer she is with notes that Kang Hee was uncharacteristically nice and kind, and must have been talking to “the pretty one.” (Probably meaning Eun Bi.) Yay – even outsiders can see through her fake graciousness.

Bok Ja and Kwang Suh pick up Eun Bi at the hospital and then send her off to her grandmother and father in Daegu; ever since they heard about her condition they’ve been begging her to come back. Cutely enough, Bok Ja links arms with Kwang Suh and asks what they should do together next, which freaks him out completely.

As Eun Bi boards the train, she finally gets a call from Jae Hee (who had been waffling between calling her and not calling her). But when Eun Bi finally answers, Jae Hee hangs up. AISH – patience is a virtue, people!

Well – it doesn’t matter anyways, because Cool Girl Sung Ha arrives at his home for another meeting anyways.

Ra Kyung meets up with Joon Hyuk again, and this time he surprises her with flowers. She ain’t smiling. Over tea, she frankly tells him that she felt comforted by him, but wants nothing to do with him. She’s going to marry Yoo Jin, so she can no longer accept him being nice to her because then, she’d just be leading him on. Joon Hyuk doesn’t care, and he can’t stop himself. So Ra Kyung brings out the big guns: even if she weren’t dating Yoo Jin, she’d never be able to date Joon Hyuk.

He knows that she’s talking about their different lifestyles and wealth, and reassures that things won’t be difficult for her – or for him either. All he wants is for her to smile, so she shouldn’t worry about not being able to make him happy. He leaves with a happy kick in the air. Ra Kyung looks at the bouquet of flowers and dumps it in the trash. Must be frustrating to have a suitor who can’t get off your back and just wants you to be happy, huh?

Eun Bi arrives at Daegu station and is greeted by her father. He’s clearly concerned for her well-being even though he doesn’t express it in so many words. At least he’s not chewing off her head about being in a musical anymore. I’m sure Eun Bi feels a little awkward to see her father being all considerate, buying a bunch of groceries, rather than yelling at her. Her grandmother mentions in passing that she should send some extra soup to “Mr. Laptop’s” home. Omigod – can Eun Bi meet Yoo Jin’s parents already!?

After a recording session with the girl group in a studio, Jae Hee heads home for some marathon DVD watching. Sung Ha joins him and seriously looks like she’s ready to be his wife, wearing his apron as she cooks him dinner and presents him a stack of DVD’s from his favorite director. Jae Hee’s as excited as a little kid in a candy store, and wonders if she is this nice to all the songwriters.

No dear, just to you.

Back to Gu Jak and the state of “Gumiho’s” production: Joon Hyuk finds Gu Jak drinking himself to stupor and begs him to get himself together. The only way to repay Jae Hee is to put on the musical, not drinking all the time! “Gumiho’s” progress is really slow nowadays… -__-

Sung Ha cooks up a teriyaki bowl for each of them so that they can eat as they watch a movie – how thoughtful. By the film’s end, Sung Ha is sniffling and dabbing at her eyes, and Jae Hee is.. rubbing at them. She hands him a tissue and, like a man, he denies crying. Pfft – then he should just blow his nose.

Sung Ha: “Will you come to me? Or should I go to you? I think it’s good for you that I stay with you. That’s also good for me. Do you want to come to me, or I go to you?”

Comments:

WHOO – CONFESSION!

I love the character of Sung Ha. She doesn’t seem to be as awesome as Jae Hee’s sister (because no one can defeat a sister that controls his money, wouldn’t hesitate to beat him up, and get on his case), but she’s spunky, emotionally honest, and quite smart. She’s not manipulative (like Kang Hee) and she’s emotionally secure (unlike Eun Bi). I find her a better rival for Jae Hee’s love against Kang Hee than Eun Bi would be. It’s clear though that Jae Hee still has lingering feelings for Eun Bi, and sees Sung Ha as an old friend. However, she is an interesting new player to this love triangle/square.

And speaking of honesty, finally Ra Kyung steps up and stakes her claim on her man. It was a much needed jolt of reality for Yoo Jin. The scene where Ra Kyung sees Yoo Jin pick up Eun Bi from her home was one of her best scenes, because all the conflicting emotions played out on her face. She’s a nice person, and so she was clearly worried to see Eun Bi’s state of health. But she’s also a woman who’s starting to feel insecure about her man, and so she’s rightfully hurt, jealous, and angry that he would lavish so much attention on another girl.

It’s only frustrating that Yoo Jin doesn’t realize what his actions signify right off the bat. And actions speak so much louder than words.

I’m glad she also told Joon Hyuk straight that she wasn’t interested in him. It’s a bit frustrating that he’s so stuck on to her (because I would find that quite clingy), but if he so wishes to go after her, then he’s just bringing the pain upon himself, and it won’t be anyone’s fault anymore.

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