Agh – these two episodes were emotional roller coasters. I felt happy, then sad, then heartbroken, then happy again, then euphorically happy, and then sad again. SHOW – WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!?!? The best part is? Episode 18 had twowonderful performances. I couldn’t bear to write about them as two separate recaps…
What?! Jae Hun leaving?! Wait what?! Who has cancer?!
Two bombshells happening to two very different girls, with their male-best friend/sidekick as the bearer of bad news. While Doo Ri is stunned into silence, Tae Hee doesn’t want to be the one to stop Jae Hun from leaving. She hates that everyone is using her as Jae Hun’s kryptonite, like he’ll do anything for anyone if Tae Hee asks it of him. Do Sung practically yells at her – is she ok with not seeing Jae Hun – ever!? again!?
OK – maybe forever is a strong ultimatum, but it sure convinces her to start running with Do Sung to the bus stop in an attempt to stop Jae Hun. He even sweetly holds out his hand to support her so that she can catch up; too bad this may be the only time he can ever hold her hand.
As for Doo Ri, she’s hyperventilating while choking back tears, screaming at Prof. Yang’s assistants for Sun-Man’s address. She may be a crazy lunatic, but deep down, she’s shaking and crying, barely able to control her emotions.
Armed with his address, she knocks on his door. Her stalking wonders never ceasing to amaze him, Sun-Man tries to get her to go outside for their talk. Instead, she barges in and starts hitting him again and again. “Tell me it’s not true! That it’s not cancer! That I got it wrong. That I’m just acting crazy right now!”
Sun-Man’s face freezes into a look of concerned curiosity – “How did you know?” So itis true! He confirms it’s liver cancer, but he can’t get surgery because it’s progressed much too far. So yes, he will die. Doo Ri: “Liar…” Sun-Man: “You wanted the truth, so I told you the truth, and now you call me a liar?!”
Do Sung gets a text message from Jae Hun; it’s Jae Hun’s address, and he quickly shares it with Tae Hee. Now she can go and bring Jae Hun back! But she makes excuses that she is too busy with school work and “Fame” to even go see him. So Do Sung writes the address on the back of her hand and instructs her to relay a message:
“Tell him on my behalf that Soo Bin and I wrote a song together. But don’t worry because that song is just pure awesome. And Doo Ri said that she’ll be done with the script by the weekend, and we can start immediately once he gets here. Tell him that we haven’t given up on him yet.”
Jae Hun calls up Detective Cho for one more day as a free man. The detective is suspicious that Jae Hun may want to skedaddle, but then again, would a wannabe fugitive actuallycall asking for permission for an extra day?
He arrives at the address written on that fateful piece of paper that Mr. Park held on the day he died. An older, prim-looking woman leaves the house, and Jae Hun interrupts her before she gets in her car. Does she know a man named Park Young Soo? Awkwardly, Jae Hun reveals that Mr. Park was in an accident. Worry fills the woman’s face, and she asks if Park is ok. Jae Hun: “He passed away…” The woman stumbles against her car.
TAE HEE’S MOTHER! I’M CALLING IT! I’M CALLING IT!
Back at school, Byeong Gun is singing the “What’s Up” song a little differently for Soo Bin, with a little too much pizzazz that seems to annoy Soo Bin more. Heh. He spots the Red Tracksuit ghost out of the corner of his eye and chases after him. The ghost disappears (around the corner, not into thin air), and Byeong Gun whispers a small “Thank you.” Aw – he knows who his lucky charm is!
Jae Hun heads home, and he spots Tae Hee wandering around near his area. She’s freezing, having gotten lost while looking for Jae Hun’s home. In typical Tae Hee fashion, she couldn’t tell which crooked street was what and kept walking around in circles for two to three hours. Jae Hun calls her an idiot, and immediately wraps his scarf around her. Then he grabs her in a tight hug. I say it’s ’cause he missed her. He might say it’s ’cause he wants to warm her up.
They go into a small cafe, where Jae Hun buys her hot chocolate. Tae Hee thinks he’s going to enlist in the military, but he denies it. (LIES – Im Joo Hwan you bum – your military stint is preventing a What’s Up Vol. 2 right now! Ahem…)
He’s not going abroad either, but is just going somewhere very far away. Tae Hee assumes he didn’t say goodbye because she would have stopped him, but still scolds him for not saying anything. She tries to figure him out – there are moments when Jae Hun is really nice to her, and then moments when he’s just so mean. She counts his comment, “You look really bad – are you sick?” as a mean comment, especially since she put on makeup just for him.
Despite her pleas to make him stay, and after relaying Do Sung’s message, Jae Hun still refuses to go back. “Before I met you guys, I made a huge mistake. I thought it was a mistake, but it became a huge crime. So I have to go tomorrow and turn myself in.”
Tae Hee: “What’d you do? You can’t ask them to forgive you? I’ll go with you. Do you think I can go with you and ask for forgiveness? I’m really good at that.”
*CRAAAACK* That was my heart shattering. Oh, if Tae Hee only knew that he really didn’t have to go far to ask for forgiveness. Jae Hun smothers her in another hug, begging her to stop talking. Gah – it kills me how much he loves her.
He waits outside with her in the cold for a taxi, and tucks her hand inside his pocket. Because he doesn’t know her cell number, Jae Hun gave Doo Ri’s number instead to this “person” who will call for her. Tae Hee asks who it’ll be, and he just says to ask that person later. He hands her some money for the taxi fare, because he won’t be needing it for where he’s going, and sends her off.
Tae Hee doesn’t get into the cab right away, not wanting to leave just yet, so Jae Hun makes the decision for her by leaving her first. Tae Hee slowly steps in, and next thing you know, Jae Hun’s back – AND GRABS HER FOR A KISS!
Shocked, Tae Hee slowly closes her eyes, and that’s when Jae Hun pulls away and leaves.
As for our other couple, Doo Ri hasn’t left Sun-Man’s bedside, even though he’s already gone to sleep. He wakes up from the pain in his abdomen, and she quickly hands him a cup of water and a packet of pills. Pain slightly relieved, Doo Ri helps him back under the covers, and then writes up a list of things he may need – towels, underwear, pajamas. Sun-Man: “What the hell are you doing?” Doo Ri proudly announces she’s going to buy some supplies and be back once the sun rises.
Sun-Man: You’re telling me a female student is going to go in and out of a single male professor’s house? What will others think?Doo Ri: You know why I came to college? So I could do whatever I wanted regardless of what others would think. So stop thinking about that stuff. Just go to sleep. I’ll be by your side.Sun-Man: Please don’t. Just go back hooooooome!
Doo Ri settles in, sitting beside Sun-Man’s bed, but she takes up a bit too much space laying her head beside his bed. Since they’re both awake, she asks if he’s scared of dying. He isn’t, mainly because he’s hoping to see Eun Hye there.Doo Ri: “Now I feel like messing it up for the both of you.”
She promises to do anything he wants for him because she doesn’t want to live with regrets. So Sun-Man sits up. His wish is to see their performance; this class is his first and last class, and he wants to see Jae Hun direct and show his version of a musical. He wants to hear Do Sung and Soo Bin’s music. He wants to see Byeong Gun do a solo on the stage. If everyone wins an award, he wants to be thanked in the acceptance speech, that without him the performance wouldn’t have existed. And then in the after party he wants to have locally produced Korean meat.
Doo Ri puts a stop to his ramblings – the meat is too expensive! He starts laughing – and Doo Ri realizes he just said all that to distract her from the inevitable, and cheer her up. His real wish? He just wants to see everyone laughing.
Great – now you just put tears in Doo Ri and my eyes. How am I supposed to laugh now!?
As for the “Fame” performance, everyone has broken down into small groups practicing, and Ji Eun watches jealously as Chae Young sings “Remember My Name” (quite out-of-tune if I may add) with the pianist. She storms out of the practice hall, with Chang Jin calling her back angrily to go practice.
Prof. Yang’s assistant bumps into Ji Eun in the hallway and notices her crying. Ji Eun: “Am I really that bad of a singer? My singing is that terrible isn’t it?” When Chang Jin sees Ji Eun crying, he realizes it’s because Ji Eun’s part was cut and given to someone else. That “someone” is Chae Young. Ji Eun cries, “Sunbae – just tell me honestly if my singing is terrible. Then I’ll just quit singing altogether.” Outraged, the assistant asks why her part was cut, and Chang Jin explains that the agency probably just wants to be “creative.”
Chang Jin is no idiot. He knows that it’s because of Chae Young that the story is being changed around to suit her. I’m so glad he’s becoming disenchanted with his idol. He mentions as much to Prof. Yang, but Prof. Yang doesn’t care. They’re all pros, so they must know what they’re doing. Chang Jin insists it’s no longer a musical, but Prof. Yang thinks differently. People come to watch musicals because of the star in it, not because of the story. There’s no such thing as “art,” and even if Chang Jin produces something original in the future, if there is no audience, he’ll make no money. And he won’t succeed. “Art” is something that is successful and written about by journalists. And to be successful, he needs to bring in a star so the audience will come, and the money will come.
Ew – she is so jaded and totally hurt by the system.
Chang Jin: “So. Are you happy like that?” YEAH, ARE YOU?!
Tae Hee runs back to the practice hall and finds it completely empty save for Chae Young, who is still looking over her song sheets. She quickly gets up to leave, not wanting to listen to Tae Hee chatter on. But Tae Hee has a question for her – is it OK if she just does Sun-Man’s musical instead? It’s a conflict of interest with their agency, but she’d rather work on Sun-Man’s musical. She hopes that perhaps Chae Young can help smooth things over with the agency.
Chae Young: “Do you get everything you want in life just because you ask for a favor?” Tae Hee doesn’t, so Chae Young rejects her flatly. But now Tae Hee wants to cancel the contract with the agency. Ever since she signed on, she hasn’t felt happy about performing. Chae Young reminds her that if she breaks it, she needs to pay double or triple the amount. Tae Hee: “Can I pay that in installments?” Even if she may be blacklisted from the entertainment world, Tae Hee thinks that if she lies low for several years (and waits for Jae Hun), it’ll be OK.
Chae Young thought it was Tae Hee’s dream to be a musical star, but Tae Hee replies, “My dream was to be happy. Not to become ‘something’.”
Doo Ri arrives in her classroom/practice room the next morning and proceeds to text the entire freshmen class to come to the room at 12 noon ASAP. She has the scripts ready. The only people who answer her call are Soo Bin and Byeong Gun (Ha!) She hands them a copy of the musical’s script, titled “What’s Up Vol. 1.” I’m guessing ‘Vol.1′ is referencing the students’ lives in school, as they are in their first year, and the play is all about them. All the moments from their freshmen year are included, from their conversations in classes, to their imitations of their professors, to their conversations on the posters. The characters’ names are also all their names, with just the last names changed.
Byeong Gun immediately sees a problem though. The director is listed as Jang Jae Hun, but he’s not around – what to do? Doo Ri says they all have to get him back no matter what; it’s an emergency, and it’s Sun-Man’s last wish. Problem number 2: Where’s everyone else? Most of the class is in the “Fame” production, so why would they come and do this musical?
Doo Ri’s already ahead of him. She sent the script to everyone, and sooner or later they’re all going to be flocking in. They won’t be able to resist talking about themselves. She’s up for any edits they may have, but any stupid requests will be ignored.
She gets a call, expecting that it’s one of the other freshmen calling about the script. However, it’s someone else, asking for where Tae Hee is… Doo Ri points the person in the direction of the school cafeteria.
Tae Hee may still be working at the little cafe shop, but she’s so distracted that Young Jin suggests she just quit. She has no pity for Tae Hee, whether Tae Hee is tired from practices with her agency, or depressed about Jae Hun’s departure. Young Jin notes that every year there’s someone who leaves when he/she realizes he/she may not get very far with an acting career; Jae Hun’s just another one of “them.”
They notice a lady – the one Jae Hun met with – sitting at the cafeteria, watching them. Neither recognize her, but she looks away when Tae Hee looks over. Young Jin sends Tae Hee to tape up signs on the windows, but she struggles keeping them in place while ripping off tape.
The lady comes over and helps hold it up for her. Tae Hee looks at the lady a little closely, but doesn’t think too much of it. Lady: “You’re Park Tae Hee, right?”
DUN DUN DUN!
They sit down, and the lady hands over a yellow piece of paper. Tae Hee’s “friend” (cough*Jae Hun*cough) had given it to her, saying that he picked it up from Mr. Park’s accident scene. Tae Hee wonders if the lady knows her father, but she just says she’s the friend of the mother.
YEAH RIGHT. What “friend of your mother” would ask to hold your hand and gush over how tiny it was – and then add, “Or so I heard…”? Also, what “friend of your mother” would have the same habit of not being able to drink things that are too hot?
The lady then explains what Tae Hee’s mother had done, putting it lightly because Tae Hee doesn’t want to hear the cold brutal truth just yet. Tae Hee’s mother had been very naive and young, falling in love with Mr. Park despite his poor background. She ran away from her rich lifestyle to be with him, and had a daughter. Those three years together were her happiest, but she had figured that it might be for the best to just leave them if her rich parents ever came looking for her.
It was an unforgivable move of abandonment. Tae Hee’s mother even went on to marry another rich man and had another two kids. She probably won’t ever come see Tae Hee either, unable to face her. The lady calls the mother “an evil woman.”
But Tae Hee is forgiving – even if her mother did abandon her and went on with a happy life, she doesn’t begrudge her for it.
From: Dramabeans
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