My Absolute Boyfriend: Episodes 5-6

by LollyPip

Our heroine is starting to get used to having her temporary robot boyfriend around, and she even seems to enjoy his company a little. Being with someone who adores you is no hardship, as Da-da is learning, though she keeps reminding herself that it’s only for a few days. But Da-da’s past isn’t as firmly in the past as she thought, and with some new revelations, it seems there’s a lot more she’s going to have to deal with than one attentive robo-boyfriend.

 
EPISODES 5-6 RECAP

Young-gu, formerly known as Zero-Nine, follows Da-da into her bedroom to ask if she plans on sleeping alone. He sweeps her into his arms and reminds her that he’s a love companion, but Da-da begs him to let her go — so he does, dumping her on her butt. HA.

She shrieks at him indignantly and orders him out of her room, and he goes with a willing grin, annoying Da-da all over again. She throws herself onto her bed for a satisfying tantrum, which confuses Young-gu, but only for a moment.

In the morning, Da-da’s alarm wakes her, but it’s Young-gu who turns it off from where he’s sitting by her bed. LOL, he’s wearing an orange prison jumpsuit that he got from the box of discarded costumes they stole. He tells Da-da that he’s in “morning call mode,” but she just sends him out again.

He’s made her a healthy, balanced breakfast, but Da-da is running late. She turns down his offer of a ride to the set, telling him not to go outside and stay out of trouble until she returns after work. She goes, and Young-gu pouts that he wanted to spend time with her.

Outside, Yoo-jin presents Da-da with the repair estimate for the van (where she hit Young-gu), and the script for today’s job, which is for a CF that Wang-joon is filming. On set, Yeo-woong also reviews the script with Wang-joon, sighing loudly that even after Wang-joon broke up with her, poor Da-da still has to work with him every day.

There’s a delay due to another actor named Hwa-ni, who’s complaining about his character. Eun-dong reminds Hwa-ni that he only got a role in the advertisement due to Wang-joon, and tells him to suck it up.

Wang-joon tells Hwa-ni to be grateful he’s in this ad at all, so Hwa-ni threatens to quit. Wang-joon says that he’ll quit instead, and Hwa-ni can do whatever he wants. He sneers that Hwa-ni is picking up a lot of things that he’s throwing away, like the second season of his android drama that Wang-joon turned down. Ouch.

Back at Da-da’s house, Young-gu passes time repairing all of the electronics that Da-da has broken. Hwa-ni complains about Wang-joon as Da-da does his makeup, and she gets irritated by his speculation that Wang-joon gets so many roles because he’s got a rich sponsor. She tells him to be careful of spreading lies, and when Hwa-ni snaps that a lowly makeup artist has no right to speak to him, she packs up and tells him to find someone else. Good girl!

Hwa-ni follows her and shoves her around, right in front of Wang-joon and Yeo-woong. Hwa-ni yells that her attitude is probably why Wang-joon fired her, and Wang-joon can’t stand it anymore. He’s about to confront Hwa-ni, but out of nowhere, Young-gu shows up (in a light blue hanbok, hee) and pulls Hwa-ni’s hand off Da-da.

He tells Hwa-ni, “Do not touch my girlfriend,” then gives him a small push that sends Hwa-ni flying across the room. Everyone rushes to help Hwa-ni, except for Young-gu who stays beside Da-da, and Wang-joon who watches them with a frown.

Da-da pulls Young-gu outside to ask why he ignored her request for him to stay home and keep out of trouble. She says her life is enough of a mess without him butting in, and tells him wearily to get out of her life.

Hwa-ni assumes that the guy in the hanbok who shoved him is an actor, and vows to find him and make him pay. Wang-joon mutters that he’s not that hurt, and for some reason he suggests they switch characters so that he’s Hwa-ni’s sidekick.

He tells Yeo-woong that he doesn’t care because he doesn’t like his character anyway. He also tells her to call the director of his drama and tell him he’ll do the second season after all, and that he wants to see any script Hwa-ni is offered first.

They finish filming, and while everyone is praising Hwa-ni, Wang-joon just heads to his van alone. He can’t stop thinking about the guy who came to Da-da’s rescue and wondering who he is.

It starts to rain, which doesn’t help improve Da-da’s bad day any. Then Young-gu shows up to cover her with an umbrella, unbothered by her earlier claim not to want him around. Wang-joon was on his way to bring Da-da a spare umbrella, but for the second time today, he’s just moments too late.

As they walk, Da-da asks Young-gu if he’s in danger of rusting or breaking down from getting wet, but he assures her he’s fully waterproof. Da-da apologizes for being harsh earlier, but Young-gu says that things said in anger aren’t usually true. Feeling much more friendly, Da-da advises him to just run whenever she gets angry, and Young-gu makes a mental note.

A car passes close, throwing up a sheet of water, which Young-gu blocks with the sleeve of his hanbok. Da-da pretends not to be affected by his closeness, and they continue home. Impressed with Young-gu’s weather forecasting skills, Da-da admits to herself that he’s actually kind of useful.

He changes into a uniform and asks Da-da if she showered, because he’s “fully prepared.” Da-da asks guardedly what he means, but he just tells her to trust him a she scoops her into his arms. Da-da shrieks that she’s not ready yet (yet??), but all Young-gu has on his mind is music.

He’s fixed her father’s record player, which he switches on to play a record of Unforgettable by Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole (which, awww). Da-da pictures her father (cameo by Jung In-ki) asking her to dance, and she becomes a little girl again as he twirls her around the room.

Young-gu’s voice breaks into Da-da’s daydream, and he proudly shows her that he’s fixed her phone, several kitchen appliances, and even her fridge (which she was using as storage space, hee). Da-da smiles, saying that she feels like she’s gone back in time.

Eun-dong fusses at Wang-joon for switching the characters in the commercial, which nearly got them sued by the advertiser. Wang-joon tells him to just cancel his contract with them and pay the fine, since he can easily get a new contract with one of their competitors.

Eun-dong sighs that Da-da has been the cause of a lot of problems lately (he doesn’t know Wang-joon dated her), but Wang-joon snaps at him to stop talking. When Yeo-woong drops him off, Wang-joon asks her to find out about the guy in the hanbok from earlier.

At Kronos Heaven, Director Go logs onto Bo-won’s employee account to find out where he and the robot are. To his dismay, he finds a running countdown, which means that Zero-Nine’s dating mode has been activated. He gets a call from Director Park, Diana’s employee, letting him know that she’s waiting for her robot, and he nervously promises to have it ready by next week.

In a huge mansion nearby, Diana whines that she wants her new toy as soon as possible. She’s holding a naked doll, and when her housekeeper says that she washed its clothes, Diana suddenly snaps, snarling not to touch her dolls without permission.

Diana croons to the doll that she can’t play with it today, then makes her housemaids be her living dolls instead. She cakes makeup on the terrified housekeeper, then hacks her hair off, warning them all never to touch her things again. Director Park offers the housekeeper a stack of money, presumably to keep quiet.

Disguised as a woman, Bo-won visits a former Kronos Heaven employee named IN-HYUK (Kwon Hyun-sang), who’s arranged some money and a burner phone for him. In-hyuk doesn’t want to talk about his life since leaving Kronos Heaven, so Bo-won just thanks him with a cheeky wink.

Young-gu is in Da-da’s room again the following morning, this time wearing an apron… and nothing else. He explains that he’s been analyzing her tastes and this is his conclusion. HA, he points out a workbook full of cutouts of naked male body parts and tells her not to be ashamed, though Da-da protests that she was only doing research for a drama character. Suuure.

Today’s drama shoot has been canceled — Wang-joon’s costar, Ruby, got more botox and froze her face. Eun-dong tells Wang-joon to take the day off and rest, and Da-da tells her employees the same. Excited, Young-gu wants to go on a date with Da-da, but she snaps at him to forget it.

Wang-joon tries to take Eun-dong’s advice but he can’t sleep, and Yeo-woong already made plans for the day, so he petulantly threatens to make some trouble. He wanders his house, noticing the little lingering reminders of Da-da like her pink slippers and her coffee mug, and it makes him even more grumpy.

Instead of a date, Da-da makes Young-gu help her clean her workshop. His robotic strength comes in pretty handy, as does the fact that he repaired her broken vacuum, and they even find an emergency stash of money that Da-da thought she’d lost.

Young-gu tries to get Da-da to use the vacuum, but she tells him that every machine she touches ends up broken. Sure enough, as soon as she takes it from him it quits running, but Young-gu puts his hand over hers and the vacuum springs to life again. They vacuum the shop together, and again Da-da is moved by Young-gu’s closeness.

He informs her that her pupils are dilated and her heart rate has increased and asks if he’s making her heart flutter. But Da-da pulls away and says she was only startled that he was so close. Liar.

Kyu-ri shows up unannounced, and Young-gu wants to meet her. But Da-da says that if Kyu-ri sees him, she’ll tell everyone, and he’s leaving in a few days. She orders Young-gu to stay in the bathroom and not to let anyone see him for any reason.

Da-da had forgotten that she’d asked Kyu-ri to bring her some regular men’s clothes from Wardrobe, and Kyu-ri asks what they’re for. Da-da fibs that they’re for the new dummy and tries to shoo Kyu-ri out, but Kyu-ri wants to see this amazing new dummy. Da-da talks her into leaving, but Kyu-ri has a sudden need to use the bathroom and goes right back inside.

Young-gu is still in the bathroom, so Da-da lies again, this time saying that she clogged the toilet. Kyu-ri is about to leave again, but Young-gu tries to fix a shelf and ends up knocking it off the wall, and the noise gets Kyu-ri’s attention. She and Da-da argue about whether there’s someone in there, until Kyu-ri just whirls around and bursts in.

Thankfully, all she sees is the broken shelf, and she tsks at Da-da to get her life together. She finally leaves, and Da-da finds Young-gu using the plungers to wedge himself up near the ceiling, hee. He’s so proud of himself that he didn’t get caught, it’s adorable.

Da-da gets him into some normal clothes and they go grocery shopping, since Young-gu threw out all the expired food in the house, which was all the food. She can’t help but noticing that Young-gu makes even jeans and a plain t-shirt look good, and she tells him that this look is her preference.

Young-gu asks what the stickers mean that are on the meat packages, so Da-da explains that they indicate the quality of the meat — the better the sticker, the better the product. Young-gu asks her to give him a sticker, curious about how she sees him, but Da-da teases that it’s not easy to get such acknowledgment.

They go home and Da-da cooks lunch, and she asks Young-gu what happens if he eats real food. He says he can eat, but he doesn’t need to, and that it makes him happy to watch her enjoy her food. It reminds Da-da of a time she made pasta for Wang-joon, but he’d told her that he had a photo shoot and couldn’t eat carbs, and he’d left her to eat alone.

At his house, Wang-joon watches a “mukbang” stream online (where people eat on camera) as he contemplates his own boring, healthy lunch. He works on putting together a robot figure, remembering that he once told Da-da that robots remind him of himself — fabulous and pathetic at the same time.

He’d admitted that in his next life, he won’t choose to be an actor. Da-da said she liked that he’s an actor, but he’d said sadly that she always has to hide because of him. Da-da had insisted that with their professions, they completed each other, and the memory makes Wang-joon smile until he remembers that he’s all alone.

He goes to a room where gifts from fans are stored, and picks up one of several black boxes adorned with dead flowers. Inside the box are photos of him and Da-da together when they thought they were alone, and in all of them, Da-da’s face is scratched out. Oh, that explains so much.

Wang-joon drives to Da-da’s studio, but he tells himself to get a grip, that he only just broke up with her. He sees Young-gu taking in Da-da’s laundry, casually handling her underthings like it’s no big deal, and he can’t help himself.

He jumps out of the car and asks Young-gu what he thinks he’s doing, and Young-gu reads his attitude as aggression. Wang-joon claims this is his house, but Young-gu says that’s a lie because he’s been collecting data. Wang-joon assumes that Young-gu is a criminal and tries to grab him, but Young-gu easily twists his arm behind his back and pushes him away.

Wang-joon declares this a real fight and throws a punch, but Young-gu just twists his arm again then ties his hands together with one of Da-da’s bras, calmly saying that he’s a security risk. Da-da comes out and sees what’s happening, and when Young-gu calls her “girlfriend,” Wang-joon breaks free and glares at them both.

He accuses Young-gu of being a stalker and tells Da-da to call the police, but Da-da says that Young-gu isn’t a stalker, nor is he an underwear thief. Incredulous, Wang-joon asks what he is to her, so she looks him right in the eyes and says, “He’s my boyfriend.”

 
COMMENTS

I know that Da-da only said that to lash out at Wang-joon, but honestly, he deserves it. He broke up with her without warning and let her get arrested for being a stalker when she had every right to be in his house that night. Now he thinks he can show up and demand answers about her personal life, which he has no right to know about anymore. He doesn’t get to be mad even if she is dating someone new, and I’m glad immaturely that Da-da is letting him get a little taste of his own medicine.

Despite thinking that Wang-joon deserves to suffer a little, I’m also worried about him. He seems deeply unhappy since breaking up with Da-da. We only got to see him with her for a few minutes, but he was smiling and laughing, and since they broke up he’s been miserable. It was interesting to hear him say that robots remind him of himself, because in a lot of ways, he seems more like a robot than Young-gu. He denies his feelings and treats others callously, though somehow it feels more like a protective wall he’s built than how he really wants to be.

Even when we saw him being cold to Da-da in flashbacks, there was something so sad in his eyes, so it made a lot of sense when we found out what’s likely the real reason that he broke up with Da-da. If she was being threatened, that would explain why Wang-joon broke up with her on the very day he’d promised to tell the world about her and get engaged, and it also explains why the breakup seemed so upsetting to him. I’m not happy that he just chose to be cruel rather than talk to Da-da about it and decide together, as a couple, what to do, though. I’m not a fan of one half of a relationship making unilateral decisions that affect both parties, and so Wang-joon is still on my list, and he has a lot to make up for.

Just from the way Diana was portrayed in last weeks’ episodes, without even meeting her, I could tell that she had some sort of mental or emotional issue. Nobody healthy spends millions on a high-tech android just to destroy it to make it prove its loyalty. But I wasn’t expecting the reality, which is that Diana is deeply, deeply sick. She tortured her employees just for washing her doll’s clothes, for pete’s sake — she’s not just unstable, she’s dangerously psychotic. I know that Young-gu is “only” a robot, but after seeing what Diana did to her first android companion, and watching her play with human beings like they’re her possessions, I’m terrified of what she will do to Young-gu when she gets her hands on him.

From what I’ve observed, this drama seems to be one that viewers either love or hate, with no in between. I can understand why it’s not some people’s cup of tea — it’s an older story that’s been told several times in several ways, and it’s also visually different than what we’ve come to expect with current-day dramas. Personally, I’m firmly in the “love it” camp, both for nostalgia’s sake and because I love the changes that have been made to the story, which I feel enhance and deepen the characters themselves. I like that Da-da and Wang-joon are flawed and flailing, and that Young-gu isn’t perfect despite being a robot. I’m very much looking forward to all three of them learning what it means to be human.

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