Crap. It’s good. What to do? There just aren’t enough hours in a day for all these dramas!
Fusion action historical drama Warrior Baek Dong-soo premiered on Monday to 10.1% ratings (with Baby-Faced Beauty in the lead at 14.2% and Ripley close behind at 12.9%). This was one we were keeping an eye on because the premise is so cool—two young warriors trained together, one to protect the king and one to kill him—but stayed cautious about because this kind of drama is all in the execution.
Happy to report, it’s definitely slick. It’s epic in a good way, and though it begins as all sageuks do—with the fateful birth of the hero, the journey to that point is actually quite gripping. I don’t know that it’s grabbed me heart and soul yet, but it’s a classic origin story of a hero, made well with cool effects, heart-pounding music, good acting, and an emotionally centered narrative. All in all, a very strong opening.
It definitely takes the let’s-start-in-the-middle-of-the-action thing to the hilt, with no sense of easing us into the universe. But once we get past the flashy intro and settle into the story, it feels more organic as the epic fated birth of future warrior Baek Dong-soo begins to unfold.
It does one thing I hate, which is introduce a million characters via chyron (names, titles onscreen) which I know is commonplace in sageuks, but I still hate it. Because it’s lazy writing, to forgo introducing people in a way that we will understand, via context clues, dialogue, unique setup. I don’t mind being helped along if things are confusing, but I dislike being introduced to every character this way, as a crutch and a substitute for character intros. But once we get past the first ten minutes there’s a little less of that and we settle into the plot with fewer interruptions.
The first episode totally belongs to Jeon Gwang-ryul, who usually plays Evil Father in every k-drama ever, but here he’s the big hero, a righteous swordsman with a heart of gold. He’s delightfully badass but also a law-abiding warrior who is loyal to the king. With the death of his brother in arms, he becomes surrogate father to the unborn Baek Dong-soo.
Leading the opposition is dark warrior Choi Min-soo, who is channeling some Jack Sparrow, that’s for sure. He’s constantly drunk, all swagger and mystery, but equally hardcore when it comes to the sword. His epic battle with Jeon Gwang-ryul can only be described as Badass Vs. Badass-er. I hope there’s at least one of these every week.
I have no idea if Ji Chang-wook and Yoo Seung-ho will be able to carry the same weight and heroic badassery as the adult leads, but the drama’s stylish enough that I trust it’ll pull through on that front. I do like that they’re young enough to play both the teenage and adult versions of their characters, so I’m hoping we’ll see the main leads faster than we would in other sageuks. Sometimes other shows spend weeks with child actors, and as good as they might be, it leaves us chomping at the bit for the stars to take to the stage.
At its core, this is a stylized action drama—it’s blood, guts, and glory—so if you’re squeamish about chopped off limbs and flying knives, this isn’t the show for you. But it’s stylish and well-made (aka high-budget), which is sometimes the make-or-break thing for sageuks, at least for me anyway.
The verdict: I like. As soon as my DeLorean on backorder comes in, I’ll get right on the recaps. Sigh. If anyone out there either (a) wants to school me with their own recaps of Baek Dong-soo; or (b) owns a DeLorean I can borrow, hit me up. We might be able to deal.
Source / Image Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/07/warrior-baek-dong-soo-first-impressions/
from Dramabeans
In this episode Seung-jo ups his game and starts to show some interesting colors, and everyone goes to the hair salon in preparation for college. Some come out better, while others…do not.
EPISODE 6 RECAP
Ha-ni wakes up in the hospital, with a cast on her leg and a shadow over her mood. Her overwhelming guilt makes her keep everyone at bay, most of all Seung-jo, who doesn’t know why she’s so upset. Duckie and Min-ah come to visit, but she kicks them out, wanting to be alone. Seung-jo stands by her bedside as she cries.
After leaving the hospital, Ha-ni continues to feel so guilty that she can’t face anyone in Seung-jo’s family. She asks Dad if maybe they should move, and he says that they’re more worried about her. She keeps skipping dinner and never coming out of her room, and Mom worries that she isn’t eating.
Seung-jo says he talked to her, making Mom perk up. He says that he thanked her for making it so he couldn’t go to his interview. Mom frowns and takes away his dinner, saying that he can’t eat either. Ha.
Ha-ni decides in a fit of angst to run away from home (where’s she planning to go, the restaurant?) and packs a suitcase with a heavy heart. She sneaks out past the front door, only to find Seung-jo lurking in the yard.
He asks nonchalantly if she’s running away, and when she insists he not stop her, he doesn’t even pretend to try. He offers to carry her bag, in fact, since it looks heavy. He then hands her an envelope from her university, and it’s a full-ride scholarship letter. She reads it, realizing that it’s not for her, but for him.
They’re basically offering him the moon to go to school there, and Ha-ni notes that while it’s such vastly different treatment than what they gave her, he must be getting such offers from every university ever.
He muses that this past year was the most disruptive, crazy year he’s ever experienced, never knowing what to expect and always encountering something new. She starts to say that she’s sorry, but he adds, “…it was fun.” Ha-ni: “So…you’re going because of me?” Seung-jo: “Not because of you. Because of me.” He borrows her own words, saying that until he finds what he wants to do with his life, he plans on having some fun. Aw.
She asks to come back inside, and he carries her bag back upstairs. She asks if he’s known all this time while she was feeling guilty that he was going to the same school as her, and he nods like it’s no big deal. Ha-ni: “Why?” Seung-jo: “Because it’s fun. Why? You don’t like it?” Ha-ni: “No! I do!” Seung-jo: “I know.” Gah. Cheeky!
She does a silent dance of joy by herself to celebrate. How cute are you? She conveys her youthful crush with such embarrassingly true girlish antics—I love her.
Duckie begs for Ha-ni’s dad to teach him his noodle ways, and ends up helping out at the restaurant. Ha-ni picks up a part-time job at a convenience store because she lacks the money to buy Seung-jo a proper present. Shouldn’t you be working at your dad’s?
She tires herself out working late every night, until one day Seung-jo walks into the store. She gasps and hides, not knowing what to do, and by the time he comes up to the register, she greets him looking like this:
Hahaha. He’s startled, especially when she asks him to take his own change, since she can’t see anything with her hood zipped all the way up. Her boss happens to walk in right at that time, so she gets fired immediately.
Luckily, she comes upon a chicken shop with a Help Wanted sign. She starts going on deliveries right away, earning more money than she was before. She heads on one last delivery for the night, and ends up at her own house, delivering chicken to Seung-jo. She doesn’t know what to do, so she greets him one more time, hood zipped up, scaring the beejezus out of him. Hahaha. This gag is hilarious because it’s all visual.
On her way home that night, Ha-ni gets a call from Min-ah, saying that she hasn’t been able to get a hold of their friend Ju-ri for days now. She hasn’t been around much, ever since they both got into the same university, and now she’s MIA. Ha-ni runs all over town searching for her.
She and Min-ah finally find her at school, angsting over what to do with her life. They encourage her to do what she’s really good at and loves, so she decides joyfully to ditch her books and go to beauty school.
Ha-ni finally gives Seung-jo the gift she worked so hard for: a head massager? He rebuffs her as usual, but overhears her telling Mom that she worked part-time jobs to earn the money. He cracks a smile at that, putting the pieces together from that weird night.
It’s graduation day. Already? We sure are moving quickly, Show. The principal announces that both Ha-ni and Seung-jo will be going to Parang University, and Seung-jo takes the stage for his valedictorian address. He gives a nice little speech, ending with Ha-ni’s grandmother’s words, to live a life that’s fun and makes others happy.
Ha-ni then gets called up to join him, to receive their diplomas as representatives for their classes. What kind of a graduation is this? Well, it’s an excuse for them to stand on stage together, and of course Ha-ni fantasizes about it being their wedding ceremony instead. She shouts out, “I swear!” (The Korean version of “I do.”) Duckie objects, Mom objects to Duckie’s objection, and everyone has a good laugh.
To top it off, Seung-jo wants to get off the stage as fast as possible, but on her way down, Ha-ni slips and lands on his back. You should’ve just piggybacked her the first time. Now you owe her double from dodging the first. The universe will always collect on piggybacks owed.
Everyone wants to take pictures with Seung-jo post-graduation, but he pretty much ignores all of them, even leaving Mean Girl’s side mid-shot. Mom wants Ha-ni to go ask him, so she stands near him and looks up expectantly. Aw, I so distinctly remember being nervous to take a picture with a boy I liked. Such a huge deal, for such a little thing.
He scoffs that she has the gall to ask him for a picture after today, so she slumps down and starts to walk away. But he pulls her back and puts his arm around her for a picture. Everyone around them gasps, and while Mom takes the picture, Seung-jo repeats Ha-ni’s words in the convenience store, to take his own change. She looks up at him, horrified, as he smiles devilishly like the bastard that he is. Haha.
The first class and seventh class end up partying at the same restaurant, where Duckie is about to start a serenade for Ha-ni. She stays slumped down in embarrassment, Duckie sings and dances his heart out, and Seung-jo looks on. He laughs at first, looking down on Duckie the way he does, but then when he gets close to Ha-ni during the song, Seung-jo starts to get jealous. Love it.
Ha-ni’s dad gets swamped at the restaurant, so he calls Duckie to come and help. He’s torn because he wants to stay with Ha-ni, but he decides to make the classic second-lead mistake: he decides to help her silently, in the shadows. He goes to the restaurant to play the dutiful son-in-law. Tsk, tsk. You’ll never get the girl that way!
Seung-jo starts to publicly humiliate Ha-ni for disrupting his life and having a crush on him. Okay, that’s just mean. Knowing she likes you is one thing, even if it’s public knowledge, but teasing her for it publicly is awful. He relentlessly points out that she’s written his name all over her books and everyone laughs, at which Ha-ni finally has enough and takes out her secret weapon:
She passes the picture around and Seung-jo freaks out. He snatches it and grabs Ha-ni by the wrist (gah) and drags her outside.
He leans in close, and Ha-ni starts to get scared, so she announces that all she did was get revenge because he took the fact that she likes him and used it to make fun of her in front of everyone. I approve. That deserves bigger retribution than an embarrassing photograph, I say.
She tells him that she’s done harboring her crush, and that with the end of high school comes the end of her feelings for him. She vows to forget him.
Seung-jo: “Forget? You’re going to forget me?”
And with that, he leans in for a kiss. Ha-ni’s eyes widen in surprise, and Seung-jo leaves, turning back to challenge her, “Try to forget me now.” Ack! He adds the equivalent of “neener” at the end, just to make it extra adorable. Gah, how can you be such an ass and so cute at the same time? It hurts my brain.
Ha-ni slides down the wall in utter shock. In disbelief, she thinks to herself, “I. Kissed. Baek Seung-jo.” Her reaction is so great because it’s such a shock wave to her. He may have just kissed her to pull her strings, but it shakes her to her core.
The next morning, she wakes up with a girlish squeal. God, I love that feeling of waking up the morning after something amazing happens. It’s the best feeling in the world.
She wonders what to say, and how to act, thinking about how awkward it’s going to be to see him. He comes out of the bathroom so she’s forced to confront it head-on, but he’s as mean to her as before, like nothing happened. She frowns, confused and hurt that she’s the only one who’s turned upside-down and he’s the same as before.
He dashes off to school without her, and she meets up with Min-ah and Ju-ri on campus for lunch. Everyone’s sporting a new look for college, and they aw at each other’s grown-up changes. Ha-ni blushes at the sight of another couple kissing, and her friends get it out of her that she kissed Seung-jo.
On their way out, Ha-ni almost gets hit by a car. The driver gets out, and it’s our introduction to Yoon He-ra (Lee Shi-young). So far all we know is that she’s an upperclassman, and she’s lookin’ good.
Ha-ni goes to find Seung-jo in his lecture hall, and is forced to do the awkward, “I was just dropping by…” when He-ra appears in the doorway. She asks if Ha-ni is his girlfriend, to which he replies the equivalent of: “As if.”
Ha-ni can’t believe his answer. But…what about…the kiss?
He-ra invites him out for tea, but he declines and leaves. Ha-ni can’t help but smile, and when He-ra sees her reaction, the claws come out. Ruh-roh. It’s the birth of Mean Girl 2.0.
EPISODE 6 RECAP
Ha-ni wakes up in the hospital, with a cast on her leg and a shadow over her mood. Her overwhelming guilt makes her keep everyone at bay, most of all Seung-jo, who doesn’t know why she’s so upset. Duckie and Min-ah come to visit, but she kicks them out, wanting to be alone. Seung-jo stands by her bedside as she cries.
After leaving the hospital, Ha-ni continues to feel so guilty that she can’t face anyone in Seung-jo’s family. She asks Dad if maybe they should move, and he says that they’re more worried about her. She keeps skipping dinner and never coming out of her room, and Mom worries that she isn’t eating.
Seung-jo says he talked to her, making Mom perk up. He says that he thanked her for making it so he couldn’t go to his interview. Mom frowns and takes away his dinner, saying that he can’t eat either. Ha.
Ha-ni decides in a fit of angst to run away from home (where’s she planning to go, the restaurant?) and packs a suitcase with a heavy heart. She sneaks out past the front door, only to find Seung-jo lurking in the yard.
He asks nonchalantly if she’s running away, and when she insists he not stop her, he doesn’t even pretend to try. He offers to carry her bag, in fact, since it looks heavy. He then hands her an envelope from her university, and it’s a full-ride scholarship letter. She reads it, realizing that it’s not for her, but for him.
They’re basically offering him the moon to go to school there, and Ha-ni notes that while it’s such vastly different treatment than what they gave her, he must be getting such offers from every university ever.
He muses that this past year was the most disruptive, crazy year he’s ever experienced, never knowing what to expect and always encountering something new. She starts to say that she’s sorry, but he adds, “…it was fun.” Ha-ni: “So…you’re going because of me?” Seung-jo: “Not because of you. Because of me.” He borrows her own words, saying that until he finds what he wants to do with his life, he plans on having some fun. Aw.
She asks to come back inside, and he carries her bag back upstairs. She asks if he’s known all this time while she was feeling guilty that he was going to the same school as her, and he nods like it’s no big deal. Ha-ni: “Why?” Seung-jo: “Because it’s fun. Why? You don’t like it?” Ha-ni: “No! I do!” Seung-jo: “I know.” Gah. Cheeky!
She does a silent dance of joy by herself to celebrate. How cute are you? She conveys her youthful crush with such embarrassingly true girlish antics—I love her.
Duckie begs for Ha-ni’s dad to teach him his noodle ways, and ends up helping out at the restaurant. Ha-ni picks up a part-time job at a convenience store because she lacks the money to buy Seung-jo a proper present. Shouldn’t you be working at your dad’s?
She tires herself out working late every night, until one day Seung-jo walks into the store. She gasps and hides, not knowing what to do, and by the time he comes up to the register, she greets him looking like this:
Hahaha. He’s startled, especially when she asks him to take his own change, since she can’t see anything with her hood zipped all the way up. Her boss happens to walk in right at that time, so she gets fired immediately.
Luckily, she comes upon a chicken shop with a Help Wanted sign. She starts going on deliveries right away, earning more money than she was before. She heads on one last delivery for the night, and ends up at her own house, delivering chicken to Seung-jo. She doesn’t know what to do, so she greets him one more time, hood zipped up, scaring the beejezus out of him. Hahaha. This gag is hilarious because it’s all visual.
On her way home that night, Ha-ni gets a call from Min-ah, saying that she hasn’t been able to get a hold of their friend Ju-ri for days now. She hasn’t been around much, ever since they both got into the same university, and now she’s MIA. Ha-ni runs all over town searching for her.
She and Min-ah finally find her at school, angsting over what to do with her life. They encourage her to do what she’s really good at and loves, so she decides joyfully to ditch her books and go to beauty school.
Ha-ni finally gives Seung-jo the gift she worked so hard for: a head massager? He rebuffs her as usual, but overhears her telling Mom that she worked part-time jobs to earn the money. He cracks a smile at that, putting the pieces together from that weird night.
It’s graduation day. Already? We sure are moving quickly, Show. The principal announces that both Ha-ni and Seung-jo will be going to Parang University, and Seung-jo takes the stage for his valedictorian address. He gives a nice little speech, ending with Ha-ni’s grandmother’s words, to live a life that’s fun and makes others happy.
Ha-ni then gets called up to join him, to receive their diplomas as representatives for their classes. What kind of a graduation is this? Well, it’s an excuse for them to stand on stage together, and of course Ha-ni fantasizes about it being their wedding ceremony instead. She shouts out, “I swear!” (The Korean version of “I do.”) Duckie objects, Mom objects to Duckie’s objection, and everyone has a good laugh.
To top it off, Seung-jo wants to get off the stage as fast as possible, but on her way down, Ha-ni slips and lands on his back. You should’ve just piggybacked her the first time. Now you owe her double from dodging the first. The universe will always collect on piggybacks owed.
Everyone wants to take pictures with Seung-jo post-graduation, but he pretty much ignores all of them, even leaving Mean Girl’s side mid-shot. Mom wants Ha-ni to go ask him, so she stands near him and looks up expectantly. Aw, I so distinctly remember being nervous to take a picture with a boy I liked. Such a huge deal, for such a little thing.
He scoffs that she has the gall to ask him for a picture after today, so she slumps down and starts to walk away. But he pulls her back and puts his arm around her for a picture. Everyone around them gasps, and while Mom takes the picture, Seung-jo repeats Ha-ni’s words in the convenience store, to take his own change. She looks up at him, horrified, as he smiles devilishly like the bastard that he is. Haha.
The first class and seventh class end up partying at the same restaurant, where Duckie is about to start a serenade for Ha-ni. She stays slumped down in embarrassment, Duckie sings and dances his heart out, and Seung-jo looks on. He laughs at first, looking down on Duckie the way he does, but then when he gets close to Ha-ni during the song, Seung-jo starts to get jealous. Love it.
Ha-ni’s dad gets swamped at the restaurant, so he calls Duckie to come and help. He’s torn because he wants to stay with Ha-ni, but he decides to make the classic second-lead mistake: he decides to help her silently, in the shadows. He goes to the restaurant to play the dutiful son-in-law. Tsk, tsk. You’ll never get the girl that way!
Seung-jo starts to publicly humiliate Ha-ni for disrupting his life and having a crush on him. Okay, that’s just mean. Knowing she likes you is one thing, even if it’s public knowledge, but teasing her for it publicly is awful. He relentlessly points out that she’s written his name all over her books and everyone laughs, at which Ha-ni finally has enough and takes out her secret weapon:
She passes the picture around and Seung-jo freaks out. He snatches it and grabs Ha-ni by the wrist (gah) and drags her outside.
He leans in close, and Ha-ni starts to get scared, so she announces that all she did was get revenge because he took the fact that she likes him and used it to make fun of her in front of everyone. I approve. That deserves bigger retribution than an embarrassing photograph, I say.
She tells him that she’s done harboring her crush, and that with the end of high school comes the end of her feelings for him. She vows to forget him.
Seung-jo: “Forget? You’re going to forget me?”
And with that, he leans in for a kiss. Ha-ni’s eyes widen in surprise, and Seung-jo leaves, turning back to challenge her, “Try to forget me now.” Ack! He adds the equivalent of “neener” at the end, just to make it extra adorable. Gah, how can you be such an ass and so cute at the same time? It hurts my brain.
Ha-ni slides down the wall in utter shock. In disbelief, she thinks to herself, “I. Kissed. Baek Seung-jo.” Her reaction is so great because it’s such a shock wave to her. He may have just kissed her to pull her strings, but it shakes her to her core.
The next morning, she wakes up with a girlish squeal. God, I love that feeling of waking up the morning after something amazing happens. It’s the best feeling in the world.
She wonders what to say, and how to act, thinking about how awkward it’s going to be to see him. He comes out of the bathroom so she’s forced to confront it head-on, but he’s as mean to her as before, like nothing happened. She frowns, confused and hurt that she’s the only one who’s turned upside-down and he’s the same as before.
He dashes off to school without her, and she meets up with Min-ah and Ju-ri on campus for lunch. Everyone’s sporting a new look for college, and they aw at each other’s grown-up changes. Ha-ni blushes at the sight of another couple kissing, and her friends get it out of her that she kissed Seung-jo.
On their way out, Ha-ni almost gets hit by a car. The driver gets out, and it’s our introduction to Yoon He-ra (Lee Shi-young). So far all we know is that she’s an upperclassman, and she’s lookin’ good.
Ha-ni goes to find Seung-jo in his lecture hall, and is forced to do the awkward, “I was just dropping by…” when He-ra appears in the doorway. She asks if Ha-ni is his girlfriend, to which he replies the equivalent of: “As if.”
Ha-ni can’t believe his answer. But…what about…the kiss?
He-ra invites him out for tea, but he declines and leaves. Ha-ni can’t help but smile, and when He-ra sees her reaction, the claws come out. Ruh-roh. It’s the birth of Mean Girl 2.0.
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| Photo Credit: Asiae |
Ha-ni mutters to Seung-jo not to misunderstand — she had nothing to do with this. He grumbles that she’s a public menace, but sighs and tells her to go ahead and claim her piggyback ride. If everyone’s going to assume he’s a flake, he’d rather just get it over with.
Three-year crush notwithstanding, being called a public menace can go a long way in quashing the warm fuzzies, and Ha-ni refuses. He grabs her wrist (oy), and protective Joon-gu arrives on the scene at just this moment, seeing Ha-ni struggling against Seung-jo’s grasp.
Joon-gu steps in and offers the piggyback ride instead, and while Seung-jo hadn’t been eager to carry her, damned if he’ll be upstaged by this guy. What ensues is a double-wrist-grab competition of whose back she’ll climb on. Oh, that we all had such problems.
Joon-gu’s more aggressive, and (literally) sweeps Ha-ni off her feet to carry her outside. Ju-ri and Min-ah reproach him for interfering, and he’s so dense that he thought he was being helpful.
Now he asks suspiciously if Ha-ni still likes Seung-jo, to which she blurts that she doesn’t. He’s cold and mean and lacks any spark of humanity. She totally hates him now.
Suuure. That totally explains her fit of jealousy in special study hall when another girl tries to flirt with Seung-jo, right?
Ha-ni’s the odd duck out in study hall, where we hammer in the stereotypes inherent in this drama: that all humble, average-brained folks are nice and friendly, while smart people are rich snobs. But how does that explain all the dumb snobs I’ve met? And poor jackasses?
Ha-ni is cheered when Seung-jo rejects the girl’s offer of a soda. You’d think she would have a little bit of sympathy for this predicament, but she hasn’t learned the lesson from her own humiliation and bursts out laughing at the other girl, even pointing a finger literally as she guffaws. Wait, drama, aren’t we supposed to like her?
Ha-ni’s presence in the study hall is such an anomaly that you can practically hear the minds being blown as people try to figure out how she got there. One such example: the vice principal, who takes great pride in Seung-jo as the school’s star pupil and therefore can’t understand how Ha-ni squeaked through.
He asks Class 7′s teacher Kang-yi if she finds that odd, but she answers simply that hard work can yield good results. The other teachers are unconvinced, however, particularly the pretty teacher (whom I suspect will be Kang-yi’s rival, or at least her foil) and Class 1 teacher Ji-oh. They even go so far as to speculate about cheating, though they make no accusations.
Each class has an upcoming outing planned, and Classes 1 and 7 get stuck in an athletic competition at Kang-yi’s suggestion, because she’s determined to prove that her class can beat the snooty Class 1-ers at something. Class 7 isn’t terribly enthusiastic, but are won over with Kang-yi’s bribe of pizza if they win all three events.
Motivated by pizza — and yeah, beating Class 1, although mostly the pizza — the class practices for the competition, performing drills and running through relay simulations. It’s pretty cute how enthusiastic they are, so of course haughty Seung-jo has to rain on their parade by sniffing at how silly they look.
He says indifferently that Class 7 is sure to win, because his class just doesn’t care. Riiiight. You care so little that you have to announce just how little you care, in case they thought you cared. (I sorta love how Seung-jo tries to pretend he’s so superior to Ha-ni, but he can’t resist poking and prodding at her, when a truly indifferent person wouldn’t bother.)
Worse than insulting them is his air of “Oh, we’re so above that,” and Ha-ni has to hold back Joon-gu from launching into a fight. But when Seung-jo goes so far as to call them “pathetic,” she has to speak up: What’s pathetic about working hard? She gives Joon-gu an inadvertent compliment by saying he’s super fast and athletic, which makes his day. She was just saying it to warn Seung-jo not to be so snooty, but Joon-gu is, adorably, thrilled.
What I enjoy about Ha-ni and Seung-jo’s budding dynamic is that Ha-ni knows how to push his buttons right back. She gets a rise out of him by saying the losing chicken makes more noise — effectively calling him both a chicken and a loser. Two birds, one stone.
There’s a cute but ultimately irrelevant scene (which is beginning to be Playful Kiss‘s hallmark) when Ha-ni heads out to the field dressed in a mascot’s costume. She takes advantage of her momentary anonymity to sneak up on a passing Seung-jo and pokes him in the butt. Saucy!
Her brief satisfaction (and getaway) is ruined when she trips. He has to help her up, and flings off her mask to get a good look at the offender.
On to the first event. The two classes line up for a 15-person, 16-legged race, and the smarties (in blue) stumble along badly, since they didn’t bother practicing or figuring out strategy. In contrast, the yellow-vested misfit team marches forward in unity for an easy victory.
Misfit Class erupts in cheers, and Ha-ni and Joon-gu clutch each other in celebration. Seung-jo would very much like not to notice, but he sneers at the sight. Totally what a non-caring person would do, right? I’ll posit that Seung-jo has actually got it pretty bad to be envious (though reluctantly, and in denial) of being hugged by a butternut squash in pigtails.
Seung-jo’s mother arrives during the second event, a team tug of war, taking care to stay out of Seung-jo’s sight. She runs into Jang-mi, who is leading her team of cheerleaders in chants for Seung-jo.
Jang-mi is eager to play up their acquaintance, but Mom’s puzzled reaction shows that Jang-mi hardly registers in her memory. Mom brightens to see that Seung-mi’s cheering for her son, as she was having a hard time deciding who to root for. (This leaves her free to support Ha-ni. Aw.)
The last event is a relay race, which both Seung-jo and Joon-gu are anchoring. Ha-ni is also running a leg, as is her teacher, who enjoys rubbing in her class’s imminent victory to Ji-oh. Although Ji-oh had shared his class’s indifference, he can’t abide Kang-yi’s side bet to call him oppa if he loses. She even teases him about losing on purpose in order to be called oppa, and he shudders at the thought. This gives him new motivation to win this event to prevent such a horrific outcome.
But not without suffering some indignities. Min-ah gives the misfits a nice head start in the first lap, but Ji-oh, determined not to lose, makes up the difference in the next. Kang-yi flails and reaches out as he passes her, accidentally grabbing his pants as she does.
She goes down, and loses precious seconds that she attempts to make up for by throwing the baton at the next runner, Ha-ni. (Impeding an opponent and throwing the baton — nobody’s gonna call cheating? Just sayin’.)
Thankfully, Ha-ni is a fast runner and she blows by her rival, clearing the way for Joon-gu to carry them to victory.
But then, a curious thing happens: Seung-jo smiles directly at her, and this messes with her mind. Suddenly thrown into confusion, the two boys blur together in her mind, and her tunnel vision narrows to one point: Seung-jo.
The sign of an effective bit in a comedy is when it makes you cringe so badly for the heroine’s behalf that it kind of hurts, and you have to pause the video to lessen the impact of the moment. Hypothetically speaking.
With her mind messing with her eyes, Ha-ni misses the hand-off to Joon-gu and instead reaches for Seung-jo. He’s awaiting his own teammate’s baton and doesn’t accept it; as he succeeds in his own hand-off, he thinks, “Idiot.” Ouch. But he’s not wrong.
Seung-jo is the toast of his team, but what warms Mama’s heart is the smile on his face as he takes a moment to bask in the victory.
Ha-ni’s team, on the other hand, is bummed to lose, particularly the pizza. The team clamors for Ha-ni to buy it since she lost the race, at which point Joon-gu totally wins my heart for jumping to her defense. He takes the blame for the race, apologizing to Ha-ni for bungling their hand-off. Aw! Joon-gu, you win one free pass for future boorish behavior with this move. (But just one! That’s one wrist grab or forced back hug — but not both — so use it wisely, buddy.)
His acceptance of blame means the class wants HIM to buy the pizza, then, and unfortunately he doesn’t have a spare hundred bucks lying around to do that. Saving him from the wrath of a pizza-craving horde, Seung-jo’s mother makes her appearance and offers to treat them. Instead of revealing who her son is, Mom introduces herself simply as “Ha-ni’s fan.”
That night, Seung-jo asks Ha-ni about the baton pass, guessing that she got ragged on by her peers. Even so, Ha-ni’s in a good mood, saying that it was all okay because his mother bought them pizza, which surprises Seung-jo.
He sighs that Mom’s always causing trouble, which he means affectionately. Even so, Ha-ni speaks up to say she really likes her, and that his mother’s presence brought her happiness today. Mom, listening just around the corner, is gratified to hear it.
Ha-ni explains that her own mother never came to her school, since she died so young. Her father and grandmother did, and “I was thankful for that, but I don’t think it was happiness.” Today, it felt like her mother came to school.
Perhaps mention of her mother rouses some sympathy in Seung-jo, or maybe it’s just his growing interest in Ha-ni, but in any case it’s becoming clear his feelings are changing. (Albeit against his will.) Example: Ha-ni says she has to help prepare dinner, and he starts to blurt that she should rest. Catching himself, he amends his words to say that she ought to earn her keep since she’s mooching off his family.
Ha-ni interprets Seung-jo’s comment about her costume as more mocking, since a compliment, even a grudging one, is completely beyond her expectation. Therefore she thinks that he told her “You had no ears” (gwi-ob-da) rather than what he really said: “You were cute” (gwi-yub-da).
Dad comes upon Mom as she’s updating her blog with her new photos, and Mom says with satisfaction, “Since Ha-ni’s been here, it feels like real people live in this house.” She takes particular notice of a photo of Seung-jo after winning his race, because it’s been a long while since he’s has smiled like that.
The two families have dinner at Ha-ni’s father’s restaurant, and as usual, Seung-jo is the sourpuss of the group, with little bro doing his best to be Sourpuss Jr. (I’m convinced that his constant iPod fiddling is just an affectation, so he can pay attention while pretending he doesn’t care. When clearly he cares, YA BIG FAKING FAKER.)
Dad thanks Seung-jo for helping Ha-ni with her test results, and Seung-jo politely plays down the compliment. Mom jumps in and says that it’s more impressive that Ha-ni taught Seung-jo how to study, and the parents engage in a round of Thank-you, oh no, thank YOU.
Everyone has a glass of makgulli to toast Ha-ni’s accomplishment… which means Ha-ni gets tipsy. With her tongue loosened, she reveals that Seung-jo’s a big fat meanie who treats her like she’s nothing and called her a public menace who mooches off his family. The guilty look that flashes across his face is pretty gratifying; put that way, he comes off as quite the bad guy.
Ha-ni slurs, “Even if you’re so great, can you just look down on people like that?” This declaration disappoints Mom, who had thought the kids were well-matched and hadn’t realized that Ha-ni hates Seung-jo so much.
Seung-jo retaliates by reciting Ha-ni’s confession letter, which swiftly turns the tables and mortifies her. She reluctantly admits that it’s true she wrote it, but vows that she’s just wiped out every last bit of lingering affection for him.
Ha-ni’s proclamation is tested immediately when Seung-jo is pressed to carry her home, because the half-cup of rice wine hits her hard.
Seung-jo says sarcastically that she got what she wanted in the end with the piggyback ride. That jolts her out of her tipsy haze and she wants to be put down, but he points out that it shouldn’t bother her to be carried since she’s soooo over him, right?
She hurriedly agrees, but Seung-jo can feel her heart racing against his back and can’t resist commenting on it, which makes her pull back self-consciously.
He also teases her about her “severe condition” — will she be able to nurse when she has babies? Meaning, of course, that her chest is flat. Man, he really knows how to hit a pubescent girl where it hurts.
Ha-ni remembers that taunt when she wakes in the morning, now painfully aware of her flat chest. An idea seizes her, and she stuffs her bra with socks, pleased with the more robust silhouette this produces. When Seung-jo’s gaze takes note of her newly augmented chest, Ha-ni smiles with satisfaction.
At breakfast, Seung-jo tries to teach his brother how to jump rope for an athletic test at school, because Eun-jo’s having trouble. Ha-ni offers advice, but Eun-jo sneers, loath to take suggestions from such a dimwit. Ha-ni, to her credit, doesn’t take Eun-jo’s constant insults to heart and keeps treating him with friendliness.
Demonstrating how to jump, Ha-ni’s skills earn grudging respect from Eun-jo. Seung-jo, always the Debbie Downer of the group, is reluctant to give Ha-ni any props and sits there with his silent grumpyface. I particularly enjoy the Harrumph expression at below left. Totally the face of someone who doesn’t care at all.
Of course, all this jumping has an unintended side effect, which Seung-jo is the first to notice. Something lies crumpled on the ground, and it looks like… a sock?
Ha-ni looks down at her chest, then squeals in protest as she dives to retrieve the fallen sock before anyone else gets to it.
At school later that morning, the kids hang out before class begins, and Ha-ni reaches for her book, not noticing that a photograph flutters down from inside it. It’s the snapshot that Seung-jo’s mother had stuck in there earlier.
And let’s just say that without any context, it’s pretty incriminating: it shows Ha-ni and Seung-jo asleep at the table during one of their tutoring sessions in the previous episode.
As if that weren’t bad enough, there’s no faster way to attract the rest of the class’s attention than to exclaim loudly, “Why are you sleeping with Baek Seung-jo?”
With the photo posted on Mom’s blog, it takes no time at all for the news to spread through the school. Ha-ni tells her friends the truth, while bratty Jang-mi stews in indignation and Joon-gu nurses a broken heart.
As for Seung-jo? Yeah, he’s not happy either.
Source / Credit: Dramabeans
Well, to begin with there was no legally binding agreement in that arrangement between the two families . It was all based on friendship that the parents agreed they will now live together under one roof. How about the children ? Were they amenable and comfortable with that set-up ?
Seung Jo , surprisingly, did not seem to mind that there are two additional people in their household specially HaNi who he had a tiff back in school . Ha Ni was a little unsure things will work out , she was always looking for signs, any sign from Seung Jo to indicate his displeasure . The sign of displeasure came from Seung Jo’s little brother , Eun Jo . Understandably so because he lost his room to HaNi . The little boy’s room became a girl’s haven with its pink bedspread , pink pillows , pink curtain . In fact, everything in the room was in pink. Mrs.Baek made sure the feminine touch had been in place . She had shown very early on her special fondness for HaNi . On their first night in her house she even gifted her with a nice pair of shoes .She was happy to share some things with her such as family pictures and photo albums .
Living together always must have rules . Seung Jo’s main requirement was for HaNi not to tell anyone in the school about their unusual situation . And oh yes, not to be forgotten , was not to walk along with him .Better to maintain distance from him when walking . Ha Ni was unhappy by the Baek Seung Jo regulation . But there is nothing that she can do but to abide by it .
At home Seung Jo was not speaking much, just eyeing Ha Ni most of the time . Maybe it was this uncertainty of what was in Seung Jo’s head led Ha Ni to make her imagination work . In her mind she became a powerful lady in a black cape who attacked Seung Jo with the two pink pillows . Her attack caused Seung Jo to have a nose bleed and to look helpless. At least in her imagination, she toppled down the school’s demigod . Reality checked in soon enough and HaNi found herself beating the daylight out of the pillows against the bed frame instead . In the bathroom , she now will share with Seung Jo , HaNi looked lovingly at the toothbrush Seung Jo uses .
For all that nonchalance exterior of his , Seung Jo could be both annoyed and worried at the same time for Ha Ni. Earlier, he saw a male pervert lurking around in the neighborhood . The night when HaNi was not yet home even though it was late , Seung Jo found an excuse to buy something just so he could do a lookout for her . True enough, Seung Jo’s sudden appearance saved HaNi from witnessing the pervert’s display of his wares. Seung Jo became her knight in shining armor shielding her from harm. In spite of Ha Ni’s gratefulness Seung Jo would not admit the true reason why he was out on the street that night.
But speaking and dealing with each other cannot be avoided between Seung Jo and HaNi .One time their gym uniforms got switched . When they exchanged uniforms HaNi took this as an opportune time to show Seung Jo she had his funny picture .She had this idea when Seung Jo’s Mom showed her his picture as little boy. Naturally , Seung Jo got pissed and tried to grab the picture from her . They had a brief chase , Seung Jo eventually pinned down HaNi against a tree in an attempt to use his boyish charm for her to give up the picture . Unknown to the two, their classmates had been in the balcony watching their interactions . Both Joon Gu and Jang Mi conspicuously worried on what was actually happening .
HaNi had earlier thought of blackmailing Seung Jo with that picture .In exchange for surrendering the picture to him she asked Seung Jo to tutor her at home so she can pass her examinations.
Seung Jo did not readily agree to do it.
“Are you expecting me to perform miracles ? I’m not God, ” he reasoned out .
“Besides , if you pass your exam and you make it to the special study room, I will have to piggyback you.” Seung Jo demonstrated his good logic to HaNi.
Hani was quick to offer she is cancelling the piggyback deal . To sweeten the new deal she even said “I don’t like you anymore.”
Thus, HaNi got herself a tutor- Intelligent , good looking ,available and most of all he does not charge any fees . Ah ,she should have gotten a medal for coming up with this clever idea . Actually, it should be Seung Jo who should be given a medal for possessing the virtue of patience and courage to attempt the almost impossible .
It was not that Seung Jo did not try to discourage Ha Ni from all that studying.
“Why don’t you just give up? How come you don’t know so many things ?” Seung Jo asked to test her resolve.
Ha Ni’s response was a classic . “ Do you know everything ,do you know who they are ?” she points to the members of Super Junior in a picture .She then she proceeded to name them one by one to the dismayed Seung Jo. Seung Jo collapsed on the nearby bed quite drained with latest manifestation of HaNi’s attention deficit . Unwittingly, Ha Ni was wearing Seung Jo down.
This episode could have been aptly titled Tutoring HaNi. For this is definitely the ardous task to anyone even to a genius like Seung Jo to tackle . Ha Ni’s number one problem seemed to be her weak power of concentration . But how could HaNi concentrate on her mathematics lessons when her resident tutor happens to be this handsome ? Just looking at this special person across her , his tantalizing eyes, lips that looked soft and inviting , hair that partly framed that angelic face , and with the voice that can calm the most tempestuous sea barred her from absorbing any learning . The lesson was hard enough for somebody who seemed to have moved from one level to another without knowing the basics more so when she was distracted by her heaven sent tutor .
Contrary to his image in school , Ha Ni learns that Seung Jo was not harsh and not heartless. In fact, he was very patient with her foolishness . Tutoring her left Seung Jo tired that he would just slumped on the study table at times . HaNi was touched by Seung Jo’s efforts and felt guilty for making him lose his sleep. The tutorials carried well into the night , that Mrs Baek bringing snacks to them found the two already asleep on the study table . Mrs. Baek could not resist taking photographs of the two . To her, they were simply irresistibly cute and by the looks of it their actions are within what she has planned .
The torturous progress of the tutoring sessions , must have made Seung Jo many times feel like giving up but his desire to get back his picture must have been a stronger motivation to keep going.
Their parents were thrilled to see the two getting along so well (if only they knew what was going on ). EunJo, was definitely not thrilled . He could not even asked his hyung for help in his assignment . “Why don’t you go back to your house ?” he snorted at HaNi . EunJo had become more sullen as the days passed by.
Thankfully , Ha Ni managed to steady herself and proceeded to do her reviews well .While this earned smiles from Seung Jo , when she is not looking of course, her two friends JooRi , Mina and Joon Gu were worried about Ha Ni’s dark eye circles .
The day of the examinations came .Ha Ni looked prepared answering the questions in the test sheets . She was alert and combat ready for the test .Previously, Seung Jo had told his Mom to prepare midnight snacks that are good for the brain for two people . The night before, Seung Jo prepared questions that he thought might appear on the tests for her to study. He also advised her to go to bed early . Before her examination Seung Jo even wished her good luck .
Taking the test had always been like going to the battlefield for her and her classmates . It was the day they dreaded most . Joon Gu who always sit by the window looked perplexed at the question as usual . He shook his head seeing what he needs to answer . By the looks of Joon Gu he seemed to have already hoisted the flag of surrender .
The examinations results were soon out . Seung Jo came to find many students already crowding the area he had to strain his neck to check the results . He was not interested at the outcome of his own examinations, as he would have topped it any way . His eyes scanned the list .Then he called called Ha Ni who seemed oblivious to what was going on. He motioned her to look at the newly posted board . Ha Ni saw her name on the list–she made it! –she was elated to have made it to number 50. Her teacher also saw this achievement and happily called out her name.
But HaNi did not hear her for she had gone to Seung Jo to thank him. Tears brimming in her eyes , she grabbed Seung Jo’s hands when he appeared as if he was extending it to her . But Seung Jo did not have the intention of congratulating her. He only wanted to get his picture. As promised Ha Ni took out the picture from her pocket to give to Seung Jo which he quickly snatched away. With a slight smile he started to walk from where HaNi stood.
HaNi ‘s teacher called out to Seong Jo . She reminded him with a loud voice to fulfill his promise in spite of Ha Ni ‘s intervention that the deal was already off . The students who were attracted by this noise soon chanted , “ Piggyback ! Piggyback !” Seung Jo’s facial expression changed.
English Translations: Layzzie/Mel (Hyunnies Pexers)
Episode summary written by Aprilstar
Full recap by hyunnies pexers @ http://hyunniespexers.wordpress.com
We open on a fantasy sequence, set in what looks like an enchanted meadow in a fairy tale. The CG is exaggerated, but it has that overtly whimsical sensibility of Pushing Daisies or Big Fish — dreamy, romantic, and girlish.
In the daydream, a handsome young man dressed all in white comes upon a sleeping girl, kisses her lightly, then walks away. When the girl wakes, she sees a white horse and follows it through the forest to another meadow, where the horse turns back into her mystery man.
He approaches her and leans in. This time, she anticipates the kiss and purses her lips in readiness…
Which is when she wakes up. At school. Late for class. Oh Ha-ni, waking from her latest crush-induced fantasy, races off as the bell rings.
The dream sequence is admittedly very pretty to look at, but since we know it’s a fantasy from the very get-go, it does go on and on. My feelings on the opening went from “This is lovely” to “Hm, I wonder where they’re going with this” to “GRAHH, WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW.”
In class, Ha-ni’s teacher attempts to exert some authority over her sluggish pupils, but this ain’t the last-place class without a reason. Students nap, zone out, and generally slack off. Ha-ni and her friends aren’t worried about their latest grades, though — they’re always at the bottom, so what else is new?
While Ha-ni, Ju-ri, and Min-ah hang out in the lounge, a student comes by and loses a coin in the soda machine. She’s HONG JANG-MI (Jang Ah-young), who’s basically a Mean Girl, despite being younger than Ha-ni.
With a flourish, Ha-ni steps in and kicks the machine to get the soda to pop out, and enjoys basking in the moment. Particularly since it momentarily puts a cork in Jang-mi’s superior act.
Ha-ni moons all over Seung-jo, which seems to be a pretty common occurrence. Her friends are used to it, and only shake their heads when Ha-ni shares her daydream and calls him a spirit of the forest. She goes into raptures over his perfection, saying that now she understands how vampires feel — such is his beauty that it makes her want to bite right into him.
Speak of the devil: Seung-jo makes his appearance, calm and cool as you please, blithely ignoring the squealing of girls who ooh over his entrance.
Ha-ni freezes as Seung-jo approaches, victim to the vicissitudes of adolescent infatuation, and her heart thumps wildly. Jang-mi flutters over to him offers her soda instead, chattering on as though they’re close friends. Apparently their mothers are friends, and Seung-mi tries to use this to ingratiate herself, fawning all over him.
Seung-jo ignores her, but when his coin also gets stuck in the machine, Jang-mi calls out to Ha-ni to employ her fix again. She particularly enjoys putting Ha-ni on the spot, making the latter reluctant to comply but also reluctant to refuse.
So Ha-ni goes up to the machine, studiously avoiding his gaze, and delivers a kick. Afterward she cringes in embarrassment, not wanting this to be his impression of her, but I say there’s something satisfying in the way Seung-jo gapes; he’s not exactly impressed, but eliciting any reaction at all from his stone-faced demeanor is probably an accomplishment.
Seung-jo turns to leave, and Ju-ri, trying to help her friend, calls out her name loudly so that he’ll hear it. Seung-jo turns and starts walking back toward them, and Ha-ni readies herself in anticipation — surely he’ll thank her, or say something? But no, he retrieves his change from the machine.
Her friends urge Ha-ni to confess her feelings, since they’ll graduate soon enough. Despite her earlier embarrassment, Ha-ni bounces right back and clings to the new hope that perhaps Seung-jo isn’t expressing his feelings for her because he doesn’t know hers, and decides a confession is just the thing. But how?
To prove her utter lack of common sense, Ha-ni likes Ju-ri’s joke suggestion about dressing as Gollum and addressing Seung-jo as “My precious.” Min-ah’s suggestion is better, but not by much: a mating dance, like animals.
This leads us into another fantasy, wherein Ha-ni dances in Swan Lake, joined by Seung-jo. Again this goes longer than necessary, but at least the punchline saves it (sort of): Seung-jo partners Ha-ni, lifts her in the air, and then tosses her aside.
Poor girl. Even in her own daydreams she can’t catch a break.
Next up is drawing class, and Joon-gu (whom I’ve taken to calling Duckie in my head) is tapped as figure model. Anyone with half a brain would be totally onto how very much he’s in love with Ha-ni (or at least in grand infatuation), but I suppose half her brain is perpetually fixated on Seung-jo, so she brushes his attentions aside.
That means all his efforts to look cool are wasted, although he doesn’t know it. As the pose becomes harder and harder to maintain, sweat beads drip from his forehead but Joon-gu vows to stick with it, since Ha-ni is looking at him.
Ha-ni does draw, but in a mechanical way as she doodles the words “Confess… mating dance… Gollum…”
Adding salt to the wound is when Joon-gu peers at the drawing at the end of class — to see that she has drawn his body with Seung-jo’s face.
We don’t see much of the teachers in Episode 1, but I suspect they’ll have their own storyline, so let’s introduce ‘em: At left is SONG KANG-YI (Hwang Hyo-eun), and Kang Doo plays the Class 1 teacher SONG JI-OH. Both are “Teacher Song,” but are polar opposites — kind of like Ha-ni and Seung-jo, in fact.
I wonder if their storyline will mimic our main one, since it appears Kang-yi may have a crush on Ji-oh, who is just as cool and superior as his star student.
Ha-ni becomes engrossed in thought, trying to figure out how to confess her feelings to Seung-jo. Dad picks up on it, and understands that she’s got a crush on a boy even though she describes it as the situation of “a friend,” and shares how he made his confession to her mother. (Stealing, by the way, a famous line from I’m Sorry, I Love You.)
So that launches Ha-ni into another reverie — really, drama? Number 3 already? — wherein she corners Seung-jo with her motorcycle gang, looking like a bad girl out of Grease while a pale imitation of “Beat It” serves as background music.
(Gah, these extended fantasies that never end! I love you, director Hwang, but you could really do to watch some episodes of Scrubs. ‘s all I’m sayin’.)
Badass Ha-ni confronts Seung-jo, who backs away meekly, and she recites her line, which offers him the choice to either be with her or die.
And even in her fantasy, Seung-jo picks the coffin. Aw! There’s something really endearing about Ha-ni in this.
Thankfully Dad has more practical advice than her friends, and suggests that a sincere love letter might just work best. Ha-ni decides he’s right, and delivers a letter to his locker, then waits nervously for his response.
When he walks by the lounge and shows Ha-ni no recognition at all, Ju-ri shouts her name loudly, determined to make her friend known. Min-ah joins her, and this time, they have a reaction.
Seung-jo asks, “Are you Oh Ha-ni?” He makes his way back to them, and holds out a letter to her. Students gather round curiously, and Ha-ni barely contains her excitement as she opens it, telling him she hadn’t dared hope for a reply.
Yet as soon as she starts to read, her excitement fades, replaced by crushing disappointment.
Jang-mi has to live up to her designation as Mean Girl, so she swipes the letter from Ha-ni’s grasp, then crows about its contents. Seung-jo hadn’t written her a reply — he’d graded hers! The letter has been marked up in red pen, and he’d given her a D-.
(For what it’s worth, I think this moment would have been better had I not seen it done more cutely in Will It Snow For Christmas.)
Jang-mi positively exults and talks about it loudly for all to hear, while Ha-ni can only stand there, humiliated. Meanwhile, Seung-jo just stands there and tells her, “I’m sorry to say this, but I hate dumb girls.”
Joon-gu — bless him — comes late to the party but has sized up the situation, and confronts Seung-jo for his rudeness. He demands that Seung-jo apologize, to which Seung-jo smirks, “For what, correcting her mistakes?”
Joon-gu retorts, “Do you only see the mistakes? Don’t look at the letters, look at the contents!” (Aw. You’ve officially won me over, ridiculous hair-boy!)
He challenges Seung-jo to fight and takes a swing, but the latter swiftly evades the punch — cool as you please, his hands not even moving from his pockets.
The vice principal interrupts, and as Seung-jo is the golden child, he is dismissed while Joon-gu is called in for disciplining.
Finally, Seung-jo deigns to speak and levels a finger at the board that has been posted of the recent test results — Ha-ni and her friends occupy the lowest status of the school. He points to a second sign, which marks the 50 top students who are admitted to a special study hall each month.
Turning his scorn to Ha-ni, he calls her thoughtless for choosing to waste her time rather than caring about more important things: “I hate thoughtless, impudent girls.”
Ha-ni is devastated. Worst of all is probably the fact that he’s not wrong — she IS the lowest scoring student. Still, she hardly deserves such a drubbing from him.
She takes out her frustration by running around the school, exhausted and stumbling by the time she reaches lap 34. Her friends urge her to stop, but she insists on running two more laps. In a lovely moment of solidarity, they stand up to give her a hand (literally) and support her through her last lap.
Word of Ha-ni’s encounter with Seung-jo spreads through the school, making her the laughingstock. Is it worse to be mocked by your peers, or pitied by the cafeteria and cleaning ladies? Thankfully we’ll probably never have to know, but Ha-ni has to endure.
As she and Dad settle into their newly remodeled house, unpacking their things, he notices her glumness and guesses that the confessing didn’t go so well. He tries to cheer her up, and in the unpacking process he finds an old plaque that had been made when she was a baby — it bears the handprint of her parents, as well as her baby hand and footprint.
Ju-ri, Min-ah, and Joon-gu come over and marvel at the spacious digs and the newly built second floor. They sit down for a delicious meal prepared by Dad, who sighs that Ha-ni didn’t take after him in the cooking-skills department. Joon-gu takes that as his cue to assure Dad not to worry, since he’ll take care of the both of them.
The others laugh at Joon-gu’s over-the-top declaration and tease him, which makes him cry out in an exaggerated gesture and bang his head into the wall. Which sets of a series of creaks… and rumbles…
…and leads to the house crumbling down.
It’s not Joon-gu’s head-butt that causes the damage, but a small earthquake that shakes up the neighborhood. However, where all the other houses experience no more than mild rocking, Ha-ni’s house has inexplicably caved in on itself.
That’s one more reason for Ha-ni to become the focus of unwanted attention at school, and as she walks with her friends the next morning, they catch sight of a strange woman snapping photos of her. And for some reason, passing students keep looking at her and whispering.
The reason becomes clear moments later as they hear Joon-gu on a megaphone, who has taken up a spot at the school’s entrance calling for donations for a needy student. He means well, but one hardly wants to be called pathetic and a charity case in front of her peers, so the girls slink away in mortification.
Alas, Joon-gu spies Ha-in and drags her into the circle, continuing his appeals for donations — just as Seung-jo walks by. She’d like to ignore him, but misguided chivalry drives Joon-gu to engage, and he blames Seung-jo for being the cause of all of Ha-ni’s troubles.
Seung-jo points out that it was the earthquake that felled her house, and Joon-gu sputters in reply, saying that while that’s true, Seung-jo’s guilty of an “earthquake of the heart,” and for hurting Ha-ni.
Seung-jo shrugs and offers to contribute, then, and pulls out his wallet. He starts to put in 20,000 won (about $15), which is when Ha-ni finally speaks up. Indignantly, she tells him to put his money away — she wouldn’t accept his help even if she were a beggar under a bridge.
That affects him not at all, and he starts to leave. But now Ha-ni’s really worked up and she bursts out again:
Ha-ni: “Who are you to look down on people like that? I bet to you, all the kids here just look like idiots, huh? You think you can just mock us. Are you so great? So you have a high IQ? You’re a good student? So you have a good-looking face and you’re tall!”Uh, that statement took a turn, and Ha-ni realizes she’s started to lose ground here. So she fumbles for a suitable retort, and insists that she CAN study. It’s just that she hasn’t bothered to!
Seung-jo tells her to prove it. What does she propose, and how will she show it?
Gulp. Ha-ni can’t back down now, so she says she’ll score high enough in the next exam to score one of those seats in special study hall. Clearly not believing she can do it, Seung-jo agrees to carry her piggyback for one lap around school if she succeeds.
Internally, Ha-ni does a little giddy dance at the prospect of being carried on his back, then tamps that down to coolly agree.
Thanks to the news broadcast about the earthquake wrecking their house, Dad’s old friend had seen him on TV and called him to offer his house while the Ohs figure out what to do. Dad is thrilled to be reuniting with his old best friend, with whom he’d lost contact after they’d moved to Seoul.
When they arrive, Ha-ni marvels at the grand house; his friend must be a rich man.
Dad (Ki-dong)’s friend is Su-chang, who is married to Geum-hee, both of whom are very friendly and give Ha-ni a warm welcome. When Su-chang notes that she’s “even prettier in person,” Geum-hee has to fess up that she was so curious about her that she couldn’t wait and sought her out at school this morning. Ha-ni recognizes her as the mysterious photographer outside the school.
Geum-hee offers the services of her son to bring their luggage in, and sends him outside to the car where Ha-ni is gathering her things.
And really, it’s no surprise at all when the two kiddos discover just who they’re about to spend the next days, weeks, months, living with.
Credit pictures and Recap: Dramabeans
