Here’s what we did not see: Tae-min racing to the airport to stop his wife from leaving the country. So much for that relationship. Nor did we see Hyo-do deciding that he should reconcile with Tae-hui. The first one reflects a serious lack of imagination (or energy?) by the writer. The second turns out to be a case of Noble Idiocy on the part of Hyo-do (also not too imaginative)- but for once it was a surprise in its own way.

On the other hand, we finally did have a solid explanation for Dragon Lady- her total insecurity as someone who did not have a son for the Kang family (nor really give them even a daughter?) and why she wanted to marry Tae-hui off to another Chaebol family.

So, as Unit notes, Tae-hui plucked a hair from Mr. Yeom’s head to confirm by DNA testing that he is really her biological father. Given that this writer has come to depend upon surprises rather than romance I am going to hazard a possibility the next big birth secret reveal may be that he is not. Writer-nim has not delivered much on the potential secondary romances (even Hyo-jun and Mi-rim are not that romantic) and so has come to depend upon such surprises. Right now, we all think that Mr. Yeom is baby daddy so the big surprise would be if he were not. I am not saying that this will be so- just raising the possibility.

The brightest spot in this week’s episodes has to have been the visit of Ruby and Philip to the Indangsu Loan Shark. It was wonderful to see him teaching Ruby a lesson by proving to her (beyond a reasonable doubt) that he (who was 300th in his class- an academic failure) was actually a very good son to his parents while she has just been draining her parents financially. He calls her a ‘money sucking machine” while in contrast his mom owns over 80 acres in the countryside.

I'm here for the bromance of Taemin and Taeho. 😍
Taeho is now full of admiration for his Hyung 🙂 and ready to fight for him... and Taemin needs someone who will support him wholeheartedly.
And perhaps Taehee will join them?

Yes, @unit , Mirim the Top Lawyer serves now as a comic relief. 🤦‍♀️ Why? 왜??

“How much money in gifts did you squander” just when I thought Hyo Shims mom couldn’t get any worse. lol
With episode 42 I lost a lot of respect for Mi Rim. More specifically the writer who wrote her scenes. Not that there was a lot to start off with. But seriously wth?
Finding HS’s father doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. Is it just me? I mean it’s good they find him, but there is nothing nail biting about it

Yay to the awkward TM/TH bromance scenes. They make a formidable team. Tae Min was trained to run the company so has the experience, but lacks any emotional intelligence or empathy. In his own words, he was not able to see things objectively at all. Tae Ho has all the emotional intelligence and empathy and kindness that Tae Min lacks, but was not trained to run the company and does not have any real power within the company the way Tae Min does. Have the two working together at last and we have an A team, as each has what the other lacks. Tae Min can finally appear on screen without annoying the hell out of me now that he is no longer a blind puppet to his parents etc. etc. He has also very finally apologised to Tae Ho, who bless him, holds no grudges now and is just happy to have a hyung.

Like most, I suspect there was more to the accident than what Tae Min's "dad" recalls, as he was passed out for a bit. Nevertheless, he did drive head on towards them with every intention of killing them all, is convinced that he did cause their deaths and yet lied about it over and over again. No wonder he is a guilty mess. The way he drove at them, even if he swerved at the last minute, could very well have caused their deaths. Therefore, even if ultimately someone else was involved while he was passed out, he is still culpable for the intention to murder, carrying out the act (albeit swerving at the last minute), running away from the scene and then lying about it over and over again. He is still not at all innocent and Tae Min v.1 was still wrong to protect him at all cost while throwing everybody else under a bus. Tae Min v.2 will do the right thing and allow a proper investigation.

The all-nighter bro-bonding to meticulously solve all the pressing legal and public relations disasters was as expected as TH appears to finally have some respect for TM. It leads to women’s fan service sauna time (TM pending). And to further show the awkward paradox between the two - -- they order a bottle of breakfast soju to go with their hangover soup!

As Mirim and HS wander the neighborhood for Lost Dad, my eye was drawn to a mural of legendary Korean major league pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin but with his head covered by a flyer. (No TV appearance fee for you!) Their detective work leads to many dead ends, including the realtor not recognizing the CGI picture of Lost Dad, who is using agents to buy and sell his residences.

HS’ mom continues to be a one-note money-on-the-mind cardboard character. But she seems more reasonable than Hyo Joo and Mirim’s juvenile fighting. (How is this supposed to endure them to the audience?) The writer/director have made a huge mistake by turning Mirim into an obnoxious cartoon character who for weeks has not gone back to her law office. Meanwhile, the mature couple, Hyo Sung’s family, is teetering on an anger meltdown as distracted Rubi decides revenge on Taesan.

It was a slight surprise that Tae Hee signed the divorce papers and left the restaurant to fail under Hyo Do’s lack of competence. Yeah, he will know he screwed up big time. Tae Hee returning home to her blubbering, victim crying mother was hard to see. They both blame each other for the divorce. But as bad as Evil Mom’s conniving plans have been, the idea that she conceived to get a “real” son that turned out to be a hated daughter is beyond reproach. (The scene further confirms Yeom as Dad.)

TM finally has serious talk with Evil Mom and asks the serious question: why did you hide the secret for so long? Her reply that she “adopted” him as her son (not in a legal way) because of Grandma. But then she says she had a hard time raising him by blaming his real parents for taking an interest in TM. TM cuts off her rant to ask why she ruined Taesan. She blames her incompetent husband to make sure all his projects would be successful so she had to have a slush fund. (Could not a huge corporation hire competent managers to help him?) Evil Mom spoke a lot of truth in their talk, but TM plays his worn martyr card once again to say TH will take over cleaning up the company. The final question was about locking up Grandma where she states the reason was that her husband killed his birth father and Grandma knew all about it. With his outside breakdown, will TM’s cathartic moment change him?

Yeom getting Tae Hee fried chicken from her divorced husband’s place was insensitive (probably because Yeom lacks empathy and sympathy due to his 40 years as being the family fixer/enforcer.) Tae Hee figured out the first birth secret when TM was crying outside her room then asks for confirmation of her own parents.

The cliffhanger is a man who remembers Lost...

Episode 43 opens with Hyo Joo suddenly being the super caring boyfriend to Mirim. Their relationship is too out-of-whack to be invested in. And speaking of being too invested, HS drops everything to go 25 miles north of Seoul to meet the man who knows Lost Dad. But the cliffhanger was another misdirection; Dad is long gone. (Are we going to have a game of hide and seek until the conclusion of the series?)

Tae Hee continues to remark that her family is a mess; and jabs Yeom that he could have blackmailed the family to own his own company and live in luxury. She then speculates that Evil Mom and Yeom really wanted to take over Seojin Group (the same size as Taesan?). Tae Hee tells Yeom the nuclear bomb truth: once TM finds out that she is not his sister, everyone, including herself, will be booted to the streets.

Evil Mom side-blames TH for the family mess since he failed to get his doctorate degree and become a California university professor. TH does put a little arrogant spin on his statement Evil Aunt’s reign of Taesan is over, but she is right that if she goes down so does TH (as I mentioned last week, TH confessed to his own embezzlement to the prosecutor). Then, Evil Mom blames Yeom for all her problems. That is a tiresome whine. She then shocks him with compensation if he takes the fall for everything! So much for 40 years of loyal personal service to the queen.

Rubi’s hot-headed misbehavior has her going to the loan shark for no apparent reason. A crying Pilip and defiant Rubi entrance was bad, makjang bad. Once again, it is the loan shark that brings common sense and truth to the people he talks to (he is the unsung hero of the series so lacking in common sense.) HS gets her extra daily steps running to the loan shark’s office.

After hours, Yeom goes to TH to “confess” to all the Taesan crimes. Of course, TH knows better. Afterward, Yeom looks like he knows this plan will not work so the alternative solution that comes to mind is to get rid of TH. But a play date with Tae Hee puts him off track and out-of-character, including drunken bonding time with his daughter --- her plan to get a DNA sample.

Did Hyo Do ever say he loved Tae Hee to her face? At least he is starting to realize that being a leech can hurt other people. And Pilip took the loan shark’s words to heart and tries to give up golf lessons to save the family money. Good for him. Rubi did make an excellent point: where was TH when Dad lost his job and got beat up by company men? Rubi calls her dad great which is another daughter-dad bonding moment (something that HS clearly needs, too.) She also takes the loan shark’s words to heart to cut back on academy costs for the sake of the family.

TM has his own character reversal happening as he is now repulsed and detests Evil Mom. Chairman Kang has given up and is ready for full doom to punish him. TM presses him with the details of the Pass accident. He says he planned to kill them in a murder-suicide event...

I do wonder which way they will go though? After they clean up the company together and send the baddies away, will they a) have them continuing to work as a team, b) have Tae Min step down and run an art gallery as his heart desires and hand the company to Tae Ho, or c) Tae Min becomes chairman as intended and Tae Ho is just happy to be little brother and take a step back. I am rooting for (a) mainly because the brothers look very good together......

It could go either way though as Tae Min may want to take a break after the shock of his life and finally do something he likes, Tae Ho never really wanted to be chairman and was only really doing it because he did not want his evil aunt to get what she was after an destroy the company as a result.

While I am enjoying the brothers’ bonding, I am having a hard time with what caused it. Nothing changed aside from the fact that they’re not cousins, they’re biological brothers. So TH is willing to overlook everything for a brother but not a cousin?

Deconstructing the Tae Min/Tae Ho scenes in Ep. 42/43.

Since I’m planning a trip to South Korea sometime in the future, it was important – critical, dare I say – that I learn the intricacies of Soju Etiquette. But I went down a rabbit hole when it comes to business/elder/ chaebol etiquette. If others have a different take (especially the soju etiquette part), I would enjoy hearing it.

1. Office: After an all-nighter and expression of gratitude by TM, TM tells TH to get some rest – this is his only chance. When asked, TM says he is “getting a shower”. TH follows (like the cute puppy that he is.)
2. Sauna: Tae Ho is fidgeting (like a puppy!) and TM tells him he’s making him dizzy/nervous (Kocowa/Viki). Tae Ho begins to blabber about. . . nothing and TM lets him. Add a bit of mentoring: he doesn’t really like saunas, but it helps him after an all-nighter. When he’s done, he’s done. And again, Tae Ho follows. Tae Ho is behaving like the “junior”.
3. Breakfast: TH learns that TM frequently has all-nighters with the directors and that’s why he has “hangover soup”. TM suggests a bottle of Soju and TH shouts the order. And here is where it got interesting to this Westerner. Tai Min grabs the bottle and begins to pour both glasses and says “It’s okay”, meaning, (I think?) TH didn’t need to treat him as his senior or elder.
4. The Elevator: again, I might be wrong, but I believe the normal practice (at least based on my kdrama viewing) is that the junior would press the floor button. But TM didn’t stand on protocol – they are equals.
5. Finally, when the two men entered the office. Everyone stood up and bowed for TM (perfectly normal) and he also slightly bowed and said “hello”. Tae Ho? Hahaha, the guy waltzes in, no bows, gives his cheerful puppy greeting and tells them to get to work, which they are already doing.

Writer-nim makes it clear that Tae Min is THE Leader of Taesan Group. Tae Ho can’t do it on his own and he knows it and there is no way he will let Tae Min walk away. Of course, if he really wants to be the good brother, he should tell TM to fly to the USA and bring Su-kyung back!