20th Century Boy and Girl: Episodes 21-22

by LollyPip

I love how much fun these two are having together! It’s so great that, regardless of whatever else may happen between them, they’ll always be best friends first and foremost. Unfortunately, Jin-jin’s celebrity status means that they can’t let their guard down even for a moment, because the results of even the tiniest slip-up could mean disaster, both personally and professionally.

 
EPISODE 21: “Comrades, as sweet as honey”

Back in Seoul after their Jeju Island trip, Ji-won gets stuck in the elevator with Jin-jin’s mom on his way home from work. Desperate to see Jin-jin, who’s waiting for him upstairs, Ji-won lies that he’s already eaten dinner then gets busted when his stomach growls, hee.

Mom insists that he come to her place so she can feed him. She serves him a huge meal and he digs in dutifully, but the instant she goes out to the shop, he races upstairs as fast as he can. He’s adorably fidgety while waiting for Jin-jin to open the door, so excited he can’t stand still.

Jin-jin pretends to sternly straighten Ji-won’s tie, and he holds out a hand for the present she promised him for working hard. She gives him a short hug, so he decides to give her a present too, and he nearly cracks her ribs with his bear hug.

They go downstairs to share the food Mom set out, and Jin-jin giggles at Ji-won when he wants to know every single detail of her day. She says he’s different, and he’s relieved when she admits that she likes it. She wants to see that DiCaprio movie, but Ji-won says that he has other plans for tonight, something that will allow them to spend more time together. Rawr?

Damn, nothing so fun. Ji-won meets with Anthony at a pojangmacha, planning to tell him about his and Jin-jin’s relationship. Before he can broach the subject, Anthony gets a call from Manager Choi, who’s excited about a number of roles that the broadcast station director wants to recommend Anthony for.

But Anthony gets upset when he learns that the director is putting him forward because of We Got Married, and that he wants him to costar with Jin-jin. He firmly refuses to work with Jin-jin again, unwilling to keep riding her coattails, and he reminds Manager Choi not to get so excited about things like this.

When he hangs up, Anthony tells Ji-won that he’s very grateful to Jin-jin for the surge in his popularity. Ji-won argues that Anthony earned it, but Anthony jokes that Ji-won, Manager Choi, and Jin-jin are the only ones who think so. He asks what Ji-won wanted to tell him, but Ji-won chickens out and doesn’t tell Anthony that he and Jin-jin are together.

At the airport, Ah-reum waits for a taxi after her flight, but her frightening experience with the creepy taxi driver still has her worried. Suddenly Woo-sung pulls up and offers her a ride, and though she snaps that he’s not as cool as he thinks he is, she’s secretly pleased.

On the drive home, Ah-reum asks Woo-sung why he picked her up, and he claims that he just happened to be in the neighborhood at the exact time that she needed a ride home. As he talks, Ah-reum can’t help noticing his lips.

Despite her previous statement that she’d never kiss a guy who looks like Woo-sung, his lips suddenly look pretty good to her now. She’s horrified at the direction her thoughts have turned, but she can’t take her eyes off of Woo-sung’s newly enticing mouth (and it cracks me up that the radio is playing Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips”).

While at the store, Ji-won buys some of Jin-jin’s favorite sweet buns and leaves the bag on her doorknob. She texts him as she eats, asking what he’ll do if she gets fat, and he answers perfectly that she’s pretty no matter what. They head to bed at the same time, Jin-jin giddy as a schoolgirl but Ji-won sighing heavily, thinking of Anthony.

The next morning, Jin-jin snags Min-ho when he comes to get her for breakfast and makes him submit to a lengthy fashion show to find a cute outfit. Min-ho whines louder with each outfit, eventually escaping downstairs to eat.

Jin-jin’s mom dotes on Ji-won so much that Dad and Min-ho joke that he may as well marry Jin-jin, because Mom already treats him like her son-in-law. Jin-jin snaps at them to knock it off, and when Min-ho wonders why she’s so upset, Ji-won says with a grin, “It doesn’t sound so bad to me.”

Ji-won and Jin-jin ride the elevator downstairs, with Mom standing in front of them. Jin-jin playfully grabs Ji-won’s pinky finger, tightening her grip when he tries to pull away. They snatch their hands apart when Mom turns to ask Ji-won a question, but when she looks away again, Jin-jin grabs two fingers this time. Hee, her cheeky expression just kills me.

Mom turns back around and they jump apart again, but as soon as she can, Jin-jin latches onto Ji-won’s whole hand this time. Ji-won fights her so hard that when he breaks free, his hand flies out and smacks Mom on the behind. PFFT, Jin-jin cracking up is the best thing ever.

Once they’re free of Mom, Ji-won offers Jin-jin a ride, but she has too much to do this morning. They head to their own cars, and Jin-jin asks Ji-won what she should do about We Got Married.

Later she tells CEO Jang that she wants to quit the show, but he won’t hear of it. She and Anthony are so popular that the fans are clamoring for them to get married for real, though CEO Jang complains that the fans are even sending gifts of “adult toys,” hee.

Jin-jin complains that she never even agreed to do the show, reminding CEO Jang that they tricked her into it. CEO Jang asks if there’s something Jin-jin isn’t telling him, and when she’s not forthcoming, he just warns her to be careful in her everyday life.

Kyung-seok generously offers to let Young-shim go home early that evening… at almost half past nine, ha. Since she just got her first paycheck, she asks if he’d like to go across the street for fried chicken. They order a couple of beers, and Young-shim takes a giant gulp of hers only to look up and see that Kyung-seok has only taken a small sip.

He seems impressed and a little amused at Young-shim’s impressive drinking ability, while he continues to take tiny sips of his beer. Soon, Young-shim is on her fifth beer, and although Kyung-seok has only finished about an inch’s worth of his, he’s completely sloshed.

Young-shim tries to get Kyung-seok to go home, but he parks himself on a bench outside the pub and cheerfully asks if she’s going to be five minutes late again. So he did notice! She says she’s not late these days, and promises that she won’t be late in the future. Kyung-seok slurs that he trusts her, then jumps in a taxi before she can respond.

She’s still a bit shocked when the Bongos meet up, but they’re all pretty quiet; Ah-reum’s preoccupied with Woo-sung’s lips and Ji-won and Jin-jin try not to give themselves away. Ah-reum asks if you can develop feelings for someone you’ve known a long time, and Ji-won and Jin-jin bark in unison, “No!”

Ah-reum decides that they should swear an oath not to get married, and Young-shim easily agrees. Jin-jin does too, though reluctantly, but Ji-won refuses. At the thought of Ji-won and marriage, Jin-jin nervously spills her beer on her pants, and when Ji-won tries to help her mop it up, she runs out claiming to need the restroom.

Ji-won follows right on her heels, catching up to her downstairs. Jin-jin asks why he’s being so obvious in front of Ah-reum and Young-shim, doing things like sitting next to her and slipping her pieces of fried chicken. Confused, he says that he always does those things, and they both laugh nervously.

When it’s time to go home, Young-shim and Ah-reum head off, leaving Ji-won and Jin-jin to walk home together. Ji-won tries to cuddle up on Jin-jin, making her squeal, worried that someone might see them.

They aren’t fooling anyone — Ah-reum and Young-shim cringe at how much Ji-won was staring at Jin-jin, and they wonder if they’ll last more than three days this time.

Ji-won wonders out loud when the hundredth day anniversary is, and Jin-jin confidently rattles off a date in February of next year. Ji-won asks incredulously how she knew about his boss’s new baby, but Jin-jin knows he’s just teasing her. They walk home with their fingers brushing, not quite holding hands.

 
EPISODE 22 RECAP

In the morning, Young-shim shows up to work a full half-hour early, and she’s amazed that Kyung-seok is already there, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after being so drunk last night. He’s also back to his usual personality, with no reference at all to his uncharacteristic behavior last night.

Woo-sung and Ah-reum take a walk together, and suddenly Woo-sung stops and asks, “Can I kiss you?” Ah-reum nods shyly, then looks up at him and yells, “Wake up!” HAHA, he was dreaming, and he wonders why he would ask to kiss Ah-reum.

Ah-reum gets her nails done with her fellow flight attendants, grabbing at her phone eagerly every time she gets a text. But they all disappoint her until she gets one from Woo-sung asking what she’s doing today, and she melts.

This does not escape her friend Ji-hye, who asks if Woo-sung is Ah-reum’s boyfriend now. Ah-reum denies it, and when she complains of a racing heart, feeling flushed, and being unable to sleep, Ji-hye wonders if she’s going through menopause.

At the office, Young-shim takes a call from the bank, who says they’ve been trying to reach Kyung-seok. She fields the call since he’s fallen asleep on his desk (so cute!), and makes him a cup of coffee to wake him up. She tells him about the call from the bank, but he just smiles and asks if she’s worried they’ll go bankrupt and she won’t be paid.

After a business meeting, Tae-hyun tells Ji-won that rumors are spreading about how he rejected the chairman’s niece. Ji-won confesses that he had to leave the impromptu blind date because his girlfriend was waiting for him, and at the word “girlfriend,” Tae-hyun demands all the details.

Over lunch, Ji-won tells Tae-hyun about himself and Jin-jin, swearing him to secrecy. Tae-hyun is adorably excited for Ji-won, though he’s not above suggesting a double date with himself and Mi-dal as the second couple — you know, just so Ji-won and Jin-jin can go out without it looking like a date. LOL, he’s so transparent.

They’re distracted by some schoolgirls at the next table who are sighing over the latest photos of Jin-jin and Anthony on their TV honeymoon. Jin-jin flips through those same photos at home, and she starts to text Anthony to ask if he can meet with her to talk about something.

Anthony’s actually in her building’s elevator, on his way to Ji-won’s apartment. Before Jin-jin sends her text, Anthony texts her asking if he can talk to her about something this weekend. She remembers him telling her in Jeju that he has something to say to her, so she agrees to see him.

Anthony lets himself into Ji-won’s place to drop off some tonic from their mother. He finds a ticket on the kitchen counter, which places Ji-won at the hospital on the night that Jin-jin was poisoned. He realizes that Ji-won had been there, and that he’d lied about not being able to come at the time.

Jin-jin’s mother has difficulty with her eyes as she’s chopping vegetables for dinner. She ends up cutting herself, and she complains to her husband that her vision is blurry. He blames the onions, but Mom says that she’s been cutting onions for years without a problem, so Dad breaks down and tells her to see the eye doctor.

On her way down to drop off some food for Ji-won, Mom runs into Anthony and recognizes him. She thanks him for being at the hospital with Jin-jin and invites him to come to dinner one night. She gives him the food she made, insisting when he tries to politely decline.

He goes home and unpacks the food, which turns out to be soup with all kinds of delicious side dishes. As he eats, he seems touched by the home-cooked meal.

CEO Jang runs into Manager Choi at the mall, where she’d been nervously checking her bank account, and he figures Anthony must be making a lot of money these days. She pretends that it’s true, and she agrees to buy him lunch.

As they eat, CEO Jang asks why Anthony turned down the rubber glove ad, and Manager Choi says he was just worried for his image. CEO Jang mentions that Jin-jin had actually been excited to do that ad, but he thanks Manager Choi for saving her from that mistake.

He asks where Manager Choi’s office is so that he can send Anthony some of the gifts their fans have sent. She says anxiously that she’ll pick them up in person, which leads me to think that she doesn’t even have an office.

That evening when Ji-won goes to Jin-jin’s, he takes her a second lucky bamboo just like the one he let Anthony give to her. She teases him for being jealous of Anthony’s gift, and he sheepishly admits it. Jin-jin teases him happily, enjoying the feeling of Ji-won being jealous over her.

After their flight, Ji-hye notices that Ah-reum seems to be looking for someone. Ah-reum denies it and complains of the heat, but Ji-hye points out that it’s cold out and suggests she see a doctor. Ah-reum decides she’s right, so she goes to find Woo-sung at work.

She finds him in his hospital’s hallway and pouts that she’s felt sick ever since the pervert taxi driver scared her. She describes her sweaty palms, pounding heart, and difficulty breathing, and a concerned Woo-sung checks her forehead for fever. He finds none, but his touch does something to Ah-reum.

Dazed, she says that she thinks she’s found her medicine. Woo-sung asks what it is, and she says, “…You.” She asks him to heal her, then leans forward and plants a kiss on him, right there in the middle of the hospital.

Woo-sung freezes in shock, and when Ah-reum pulls away and looks up at him, all she sees is the beautiful young man he was in high school. Awww, these two are my favorite.

Ji-won and Jin-jin eat dinner in front of the TV, and they decide to finally go see that DiCaprio movie later. Jin-jin’s mother nearly walks in on Ji-won fawning over Jin-jin, and she backs out of the room and goes back downstairs, shocked.

She stops Min-ho from going upstairs to watch soccer on Jin-jin’s television, even physically blocking the door to Jin-jin’s apartment. She forbids Min-ho to go upstairs ever again, and even promises to buy him his own TV, hee.

Jin-jin pouts on the way to the movie, since she and Ji-won will have to sit apart for fear of being seen together. Ji-won refuses her offer of lip balm, so she holds him still and puts it on him, flustering him with her close proximity.

In an office nearby, a reporter works late looking for a good scoop. He gets an anonymous email that promises a juicy scandal, which includes a picture taken of Jin-jin kissing a man who is definitely not Anthony while on her We Got Married honeymoon. Oh no.

Ji-won sits a few rows behind Jin-jin at the theater, but soon after the movie starts, he realizes that there’s nobody behind them and moves to sit beside her. A while later, Jin-jin gets a little grumpy at how Ji-won is so into the movie that he’s paying no attention to her. But he notices, and he takes her hand in his and whispers for her to watch the movie.

He gives her a heads-up when the movie is almost over, and he looks apologetic as she sneaks out to wait for him in the car. When he joins her, she asks him to tell her how the movie ended. He teases her, dramatically drawing out the big twist just to get her worked up. Just as he gets to the climax, he grabs Jin-jin and kisses her silly.

When she gets home, Jin-jin collapses on her bed, giggling and kicking her feet in excitement. Ji-won arrives at his place to find the tonic that Anthony left, but the ticket sitting beside it makes him worry that Anthony may know he was at the hospital that night.

He calls Anthony to do some damage control, but Anthony’s voice is weak when he answers the phone. He can barely speak, only managing to whisper that he’s at home before passing out. Frightened, Ji-won rushes out to his car to go check on Anthony.

He doesn’t see the man standing outside his building, but even if he did, he wouldn’t know that the man is the reporter who got the picture of him kissing Jin-jin. But the reporter sees Ji-won, and recognizes him from the photo.

COMMENTS

Well, this isn’t going to go any place good. Not only does the reporter now know that Ji-won is the man who was photographed kissing Jin-jin when she was supposed to be on her TV honeymoon with Anthony, but he just saw Ji-won leaving Jin-jin’s building late at night. Of course he’s going to assume that something tawdry is going on. If the public could make the assumption that Jin-jin was getting an abortion just because she was seen entering a women’s hospital at night, I can’t even imagine how much worse it will be when it’s revealed that not only is Jin-jin dating someone else while filming We Got Married, but that her boyfriend is none other than Anthony’s brother.

Backing up a bit, I knew that Ji-won and Jin-jin would be adorable together, but good grief, they’re so sweet they’re gonna give me a toothache. It’s cute how they give in to their immature sides when they’re together, letting themselves enjoy all those fluttery early-relationship feelings without trying to hide or deny them. I love how they joke and tease each other (I’m still laughing at the way Jin-jin kept grabbing Ji-won’s hand in the elevator), because it makes me happy to see that they aren’t letting their friendship fade into the background now that they’ve introduced a romantic element into their relationship. They’re still, and will always be, best friends. It’s going to make it that much harder when they’re found out, because I’m sure that they (or at least, Ji-won) will decide that either hiding their feelings or breaking up will be the right solution. I honestly don’t know which I’d miss more, their romance or their friendship.

It’s taken me this long to get a sense of Anthony as a person, because he’s just so difficult to read. I don’t think that he’s a bland or boring person, I think he’s just a very quiet person, and that he’s spent most of his life in the spotlight and prefers to guard what little privacy that he has left. He really opens up around Ji-won and Manager Choi, which shows that while it’s not easy for someone to earn Anthony’s trust and get into his inner circle, it is possible. I think that’s why Ji-won was shaken when Anthony mentioned that the only people who think he’s talented are Ji-won, his manager, and Jin-jin. Ji-won knows how hard it is for his brother to trust someone, so for him to list Jin-jin alongside the two closest people to him, Anthony was showing that Jin-jin is becoming as important to him as they are.

But although I can sometimes see something in Anthony’s face when he looks at Jin-jin, I still don’t think he really sees her as someone he wants to date. He’s so against using her to further his career (beyond going on We Got Married) that he refuses to even consider being in a drama with her, even if it means he’d get a leading role. I think — well, I hope — that he would feel the same way about dating her in real life. But I also think that Ji-won would sacrifice his own happiness if it gave Anthony a chance at love, it’s obvious that he worries that Anthony has feelings for Jin-jin. My only hope that that won’t happen is that so far, all the characters in this show seem to act pretty rationally. Since Ji-won knows how Jin-jin feels about him, he wouldn’t play the noble idiot card and try to step aside to give Anthony a chance with her. Probably. Right?

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