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Operation Proposal: Episode 8

We end our week with a lighter episode that doesn’t quite pick up until the end. Hearts continue to be broken (out of chronological order) and unexpected friendships are formed. Baek-ho learns that this time, if he doesn’t confess his feelings now, he may never get the chance again.

EPISODE 8 RECAP

Yi-seul raps on the window, calling Baek-ho’s name. No response. She stops herself, telling him to stay where he is and leans into wall, reflecting on their 14 years together. She starts, “Kang Baek-ho, actually…” turning to the window…

And the phone rings from inside his apartment. Oh boy, that was anticlimactic.

The constant ringing makes her wonder if he’s inside and she opens the door, which clicks open. Yi-seul turns on the light, but finds no one at home. In shock, she falls to her knees, fighting tears.

Aw, Baek-ho why did you have to run out? He runs with the shopping bag in hand, mulling over how this opportunity could change her life like how her letter changed his. He doesn’t want her to live with any regrets and that wanted to believe in her dream as much as she believed in his.

Baek-ho arrives out of breath, asking for Jin-won’s contact. They can’t reveal his room number due to confidentiality, but just then, the agent appears in the lobby.

Baek-ho gets held back by a few burly men, but the agent agrees to hear his proposition, since it’s Christmas. So Baek-ho hurriedly explains that his understands that it’s past the deadline for the contest, but if he waits a few more hours, his friend will hand in her report…

And the agent cuts him off, saying that keeping deadlines is a given. Should he give a fair chance to someone who can’t do that? Baek-ho argues that he honestly doesn’t know what the qualifications for a good agent is, but he knows that she’s impartial and encouraging. She uplifts her players, is their strength, and helps find dreams that were once lost.

The agent listens, and then asks who Baek-ho is. He follows up by saying if he’s a player that fits the description of the team manager he outlined. Baek-ho stammers, clearly unable to say yes, and the agent agrees to postpone the deadline to midnight.

Baek-ho calls Yi-seul right away, leaving her a message not to give up. But Yi-seul waits outside the middle school with the old letter in hand. She muses, “I’ve been crushed again.”

Should it surprise me that her phone is out of battery? She thinks aloud again, “Kang Baek-ho, there’s no answer for us.”

She trudges back to campus, where Jin-won’s been waiting for her outside. Unable to contain her tears any longer, Yi-seul finally breaks down in his chest. He silently comforts her with a soft pat on her shoulder.

When she gets her cry out, he tells her that even though it’s a challenge, it’s best that she doesn’t take it to heart. He mentions that it’s only the first inning; there are eight more to go. Yi-seul replies that life is more complicated that baseball.

Jin-won: “No, life is very similar to baseball. That’s why I like it.”

With a few more encouraging words, Yi-seul wipes her tears and he sends her off with a smile. Before he goes inside, however, he places a hand over his heart, breathing deeply.

The clock strikes 12, and Yi-seul is a no-show to the hotel. One of the men sends Baek-ho away, having no business with him any longer.

At the snack shop, Jin-ju excitedly waits for Chan-wook with her finished red scarf. He comes by to greet her, which is when she notices a new scarf around his neck.

Chae-ri and Tae-nam notice too, asking where he got a brand name scarf from. They don’t believe that it was a meaningless gift from a co-worker. Chan-wook gets up and spots Jin-ju crying in a corner, oblivious that her tears are about him.

Thankfully, he finds the scarf resting on the counter and he tries it on. Jin-ju is surprised that he’s wearing it and he tells her that he’d like to have it, adding, “Forget about that guy who always makes you cry. That kind of guy doesn’t have the right to own something like this.”

Come on, pretty boy – put the pieces together! He places a hand on her head, and Jin-ju breaks into a smile, her scarf having found its rightful owner.

Baek-ho darts to campus after he hears that Yi-seul stayed up all night to finish writing. He passes Jin-won, who is on his way out to deliver the report, but neither notice each other. Baek-ho sees Yi-seul fast asleep and he ponders that he couldn’t give Yi-seul a proper Christmas gift this year either, nor the words he wanted to tell her.

As he brushes her hair aside with his hand, he softly tells her, “The greatest Christmas present in my life… is you.”

He drapes her in the coat, and falls asleep by her side.

Meanwhile, Jin-won successfully drops off Yi-seul’s report to the agent, and Jin-ju indirectly gives Chan-wook a Christmas kiss by kissing her finger and then pressing it on his lips.

Morning. Yi-seul startles awake at the sight of Baek-ho, fast asleep. Noticing the red coat on her back, she pieces together Baek-ho’s thoughtful gesture. She whispers, “Idiot. Whenever I want to give up, you make my heart waver again.”

She takes a camera to capture a picture of him sleep. No, no! He’s going to go back!

Present day 2012. Baek-ho enters the snack shop in his baseball uniform and the others arrive, except for Yi-seul. They see both her and Jin-won on television, which Baek-ho watches with silent acceptance. Looks like Yi-seul got her foot the door for sports consulting after all.

His ears perk up when Chan-wook mentions the day that Jin-won told Yi-seul he liked her. Tae-nam laughs that he should have taken into consideration the location and mood, instead of telling her in a noisy amusement park.

The arrival of a few soldiers jog Chan-wook’s memory – Baek-ho was serving in the army when it happened. They couldn’t even visit Baek-ho to bring him a homemade meal either because he was so stubborn about it.

Baek-ho drops by Yi-seul’s house to chat with Mom, telling her that it’s unsafe to leave the front door unlocked. But Mom tells him that they’ve lived here for decades, which sparks the question as to why they’d never moved. She tells him that her daughter insisted this house was like her hometown, and stubbornly refused to move elsewhere.

Inside, he recalls that the day after basic training when she came to visit, and comments that her food was so delicious that day.

We flashback to see the other mothers join their sons and Mom had called Baek-ho, much to his surprise. He had asked how she came and she told him that he didn’t tell her NOT to come. As he ate, tears fell from his eyes, moved by her tender affection.

Remembering that prompted him to visit her, and he compliments Mom that it was the best lunch he had. Mom says, “It was better than the one Yi-seul packed for you after that time, right?” She explains that she went to visit him at his base, and that she stayed up all night to pack that lunch.

Baek-ho is stunned at this tidbit and leaves. He’d been training that day, and saw a glimpse of someone in a red coat. Thinking it was a shimmer of his imagination, he thought nothing of it.

He scours through his things at home, frantically searching until he discovers a wooden cross necklace tied with his dog tags. He’d carved it himself while thinking of her, and he planned to give it to her. But that winter, she heard Jin-won’s confession instead.

If he’d only met her that day, if he told her first…”I want to go back, I want to turn back time, I want to change it…”

A voice pipes, “It’s funny how your earnestness about the things you regret doesn’t seem to wane.” Baek-ho greets him with a smile and the Conductor wonders in awe – regrets don’t easily pop into people’s heads either.

Baek-ho lowers his head in embarrassment, but the Conductor assures him that it’s a compliment towards him, that there’s something to be seen after sending him back so many times.

The Conductor is lost at the time period Baek-ho wants to return to: “How can someone want to return to the time they were serving in the army? Especially when they were a Private?” But Baek-ho insists that he wants to, no has to, go back.

The Conductor comments that the army is an athlete’s grave, but if someone could come back from it and make it to the pro league, there must be hope for Baek-ho. He tells Baek-ho to hang in there, tossing another vial his way before vanishing once more.

Baek-ho renovatios his way back to army life, a boot and shoe polish in his hands. It takes a few moments to fully register where he is, when his portly superior barks at him. He asks if Baek-ho thinks less of him because he’s short and looks older and Baek-ho yells that he would never… because he has a friend who is short and looks old for his age too. HA – did you just sell out your buddy?

He realizes that returning to his live as an army private also meant living at the bottom of the food chain, serving under a man who uses saliva as a polish.

The coveted day when soldiers can see their loved ones is fast approaching, and his superior asks who will be coming to see him and he replies a friend. Gleefully, he asks – a girlfriend? A boyfriend? When he confirms that she’s a girl, his superior corrects him that he should call her a lover, not a friend.

But he can’t call her that since they’re not lovers, and that he hasn’t been able to confess his feelings. “How long have you been seeing each other?” Baek-ho: “I’ve known her since I was eight.”

Potbelly Superior physically freaks out and asks what Baek-ho’s been doing, waiting around for ten years. He adds that Baek-ho will tell her how he feels tonight, and that’s an order. He can follow it or experience a new level of hell.

Baek-ho gives himself a little pep talk before dialing.

Yi-seul picks up the ringing phone and then steps outside to meet… Jin-won, who innocently claims that he was in the area. She spies that he’s here to say something, and he breaks into a smile, completely transparent.

In the car, he shows off the published thesis they both worked on and Yi-seul excitedly says that this means that their plan will come to completion. He tells hers, “Thanks… for calling it ‘our plan.'” Eeeee!!!!

Yi-seul takes a moment before casually saying that of course – she had a part in it too. Before she goes inside, she wonders how long it will take for them to start building their own dream team.

He sees her off, but before Jin-won gets into his car, he sighs, “Coach. Teacher. Boss. All names that I don’t particularly care for.”

The call picks up and Baek-ho calls for Yi-seul’s name in excitement. Alas, it’s Mom who tells him that Yi-seul stepped out. Mom says that Yi-seul forgot to pack him his favorite food the last time she visited, and promises to make it for him when he’s on leave. She asks how he is, and to take care of his health, and he wishes the same in return.

Baek-ho hangs up, realizing that though he returned to the past, Yi-seul had already come and gone.

Potbelly Superior declares that it’s a failed mission – so hello life of living hell, and immediately sends him off for an errand. As he runs, Baek-ho curses the Conductor in his head for sending him back to the wrong time.

Tae-nam arrives at the snack shop to witness the middle of Intern Jerkface, wait make that Resident Jerkface’s drunken plea to Chae-ri to take him back. He says it was so hard and lonely for him and Tae-nam looks on with a pained expression.

In his drunken stupor, he whines about how he has to constantly take care of the unfortunate, and points to having to treat people like it’s a burden. Even though he wanted to apologize to her, he couldn’t. Ugh.

Chae-ri listens patiently and offers to take him home. He asks if that means they’ll get back together and everyone, especially Tae-nam waits in anticipation for her answer.

Before she can, however, the ex shows her the locket containing a picture of the both of them still hanging on his keys. He claims that he never forgot it and that it was always in his hands. No Chae-ri – don’t fall for it!

But she embraces him in a hug and Tae-nam looks away, finding it too hard to bear to watch. But as the good man he is, he helps Resident Jerkface to his car.

As Chan-wook watches the three of them leave, he wonders if loving someone means going to such great lengths. Jin-ju answers that she understands Tae-nam’s heart and that she’ll always be cheering for him.

Baek-ho finds his superior throwing some practice pitches and asks if he has an interest in baseball. He’s surprised to hear that he used to play, for the Hanbit Thunders (the baseball team Baek-ho would play for in the future) no less.

Knowing that the claim is a big fat lie, he plays along anyway, and agrees to throw a pitch in exchange for ice cream.

Baek-ho readies himself for the pitch and it sends his superior straight to the ground. HA. He admits that he was a baseball pitcher and his superior remarks that he was just all talk earlier.

With a little courage, Baek-ho asks if he’d be willing to catch one more pitch – he hadn’t realized how much he loved throwing the ball. He lights up when his superior suggests they play ball every once in a while, adding, “Then YOU pay for the ice cream.”

It dawns on him that he never knew he could find a commonality through baseball, especially with his superior.

Baek-ho beams when he receives a letter from Yi-seul. In it, she expresses her concern about his brutal army life (and his superior asks if it’s from his longtime valentine). She tells him that she and Jin-won are working in an office, Chan-wook is a maknae lighting director, and Chae-ri and Tae-nam are busy working at the amusement park.

She mentions that they’re planning a trip there soon, and that it’d be a miracle if he could join them. He gripes in his head about how his friends could have fun without him but he re-reads the line again and remembers that Jin-won confessed his feelings to Yi-seul… at the amusement park.

He flatly denies that he doesn’t miss Yi-seul and his superior calls him outside.

After a few practice pitches, his superior asks him flat out if something’s the matter. When Baek-ho doesn’t answer, he throws the glove to the ground, suggesting that they end their friendship.

Baek-ho asks for a special leave and his superior barks at him – the army isn’t a place he can come and go as he pleases. Baek-ho insists and the superior agrees to hear his reason.

“That girl is going to get married.” Baek-ho confesses. “If I don’t do anything, she’s going to marry someone else.”

At the amusement park, Jin-won shares that he finds amusement parks to be uncomfortable, and that he prefers exercising. Yi-seul thinks for a second, before dragging him to another location of the park.

For someone is so good at baseball, Jin-won is absolutely terrible at ice skating. They land on the ice and Jin-won stops moving, which alarms Yi-seul.

Which is when he pulls her close, her face inches to his.

 

COMMENTS

Even though this episode largely circulated around the idea that Baek-ho has a last shot at telling Yi-seul how he feels before Jin-won does, I felt that need to do so took a back burner in this episode until the very last five minutes or so. Instead, the show took time to explore other relationships and unexpected pairings, which I liked.

One of these is between Potbelly Superior and Baek-ho. Maybe it’s in the writing, but I love how side characters are never fully stock, but are carefully developed and interweaved into our main characters’ storylines. His larger-than-life meanish persona was just a thinly covered veil of someone who needed a friend, and I liked how it is characters like him who challenge our hero’s perspectives – they have to step it up to get what they want.

I like how Jin-ju is developing in this series. She started off as the extremely shy, slightly scary girl in the background, but now she’s already started to emerge from her cocoon, taking small risks to let Chan-wook knows that she cares. It’s hard to say whether he knows that the boy who hasn’t accepted her heart is him yet, but he’s starting to see her in a new light. Also, their moments together are absolutely adorable.

The story isn’t perfect, and keeping up with the changes, especially the consequences of Baek-ho’s past actions can be confusing to watch and write. I get that Baek-ho is disoriented when he time travels, but how he remembers the memories that happen in the interim between these journeys is something that isn’t explained, if ever. Do these memories just pop into his head as needed, or is his brain reworking itself through these time jumps.

For instance, we see the results of Yi-seul pursuing sports consulting with Jin-won, which effectively changes her career’s future (and his) but that didn’t change her visiting him in the army and in the red coat? Really the question is how far does the butterfly effect spread and who knows how much it can affect?

My head hurts now. Only this man knows for sure.

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Thank you

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Thank you for the recap.

I'm glad things don't get too repetitive like I feared it would after the first few episodes.
What I don't like are how the cliff-hangers at every episode are continued anticlimactically in the next eps, and the previews! that keep showing the LAST MINUTES of the next episodes! instead of sticking to the conflict escalations, making me wait two episodes! before I can find out what happened AFTER it, dammit.

Looking forward to next week~

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I agree on the cliff-hanger/preview problem.
Badly done, Show! Badly done.

Although I try to avoid the previews because of the spoilers, I cannot resist!

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yeah remove the previews stat!!!
spoilers makes my heart hurt!!!

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I haven't watched this episode yet but the recap sounds nice, thank you for the hard work.

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thanks!! :) I likey the red coat

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Kamsahamnida for the picture of the Conductor! Lovely way to start off my morning :) I wait for the moments when he appears.

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Thanks for the screenshot of the conductor! Umm, I really like his characterization and the way he functions thematically in the . . . oh forget it. he had me at the dimple.

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Thank you for the recap!
I was wondering what you thought of this one, as it was a little different than the others.

We see further rapprochement between JW and YS. They keep getting closer and I keep getting worried. He understands her. He comforts her. He skates with her. THAT alone usually leads to marriage inevitably.

JoAnne, (I think it was you) brought up a good question before about the BH we don't see between these visits back in time. Are we to understand he reverts to his old cold attitude towards YS, or do they remain in warm mode, or at least less cold mode?

Army scenes upset me. After seeing The Unforgiven, I always worry about what these little boys go through. I know they are in their 20s, but still, institutionalized bullying at any age should stop.

The scene with BH eating the lunch with the mom in the Army was my favorite. Actually, I am glad they are finding ways to put him with her as she clearly adores him, and treats him like a son. It seems he may not have been as aware of her kindnesses in the past. If his visits back make him more grateful to her, I would be satisfied with the story.

I am not reading any fangirling over how beautiful YSH is in these comments. Is it because he is too young, or is it that his acting is good enough that we don't see a handsome young man any more, just a sad, lonely, mending boy-man?
Every frame of him in these last two episodes could be photoshoots for something.

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Jomo, I'm still mid-Ep 7 but I just had a thought and I knew you'd be here...what if the Conductor is Baek Ho's DAD? Or his SON?

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If it is son, it brings up the question if any of this was necessary.
That he and she could have ended up together anyway.

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Jomo, re son: I was thinking more along the lines of - son exists because it happened, but wouldn't have happened if he didn't go back, so son has to make sure he goes back. It's a mobius strip of reality!

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So the Conductor is the Marty McFly, not Back Hoe.

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No, not the son making sure he (the son) goes back, but he (the father) goes back. I don't have a lot of hope for that version of it, though...I'm liking the idea that the Conductor is his dad, or that the Conductor is Jin Won...or even that the Conductor is that baseball player that they keep talking about.

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There was a comment last episode that he reverts to cold self when he's not trying hard and is somewhat lazy--but he's been "getting warmer" as he's been getting older.

I think also that the writer is playing towards, "just remembered." as he comes back. Because there was some under the radar indication of that. He's moving forward in his timeline, so it's not as many headaches, I think.

As for fangirling over YSH--

1. He's playing a younger character for most of it which is off-putting to the older crowd.

2. He's been with PEB in other dramas (Queen Seon Deok/The Legend/Music video), and people probably don't want to get past the fangirling on that from fans who want to pair them up. They played a married couple. =P She was most likely his first kiss too...

3. He doesn't have hair like a girl covering his eyes and a hand towel around his waist. ^.~

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Haha, I enjoy your interpretation of lack of fangirling. But PEB is not YSH's first kiss. His first kiss (on screen) is with Kang Sora (the lead in Dream High2) in 2009 when he was 16... But PEB is for sure YSH's first kiss after he turning adult, ^^.

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Then most screen time as a couple/possible couple?

Anyhow, who wants to compete with the shippers of the fan girl world? They are harder to deal with that the ones who want an actor to themselves. ^.~

Which is why I say Yoon Eun Hye has to be on Running man... but preferably with "competition"

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I agree with your thoughts on JW and YS...it's like YS and BH are soul mates but fate keeps pushing them in opposite directions, while JW and YS could be and will be in love with each other because they both have so much in common. It's all a matter of timing and assertiveness (which BH lacks; it's like he keeps getting knocked down by JW and keep getting up but he doesn't know how to beat him).

Oh I'm definitely fangirling over YSH...Just not in the comments<3 Considering he's older than me, I'm happy that he's an amazing actor that's relatively normal-aged :P

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He's adorable, but his appeal is warm, rather than 'hot' - and he is a couple months younger than my daughter. With one notable exception involving red Docs and aviator frames...that kind of ruins it for me.

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The show to fangirl YSH is definitely Warrior Baek Dong Soo. With his Mane of Glory, even Ji Chang-wook ends up choosing him over the Nun.

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I was saying on OT that I catch YSH in Una moments, when he looks so serious and sad and it breaks my heart all over again. I have that show's sadness seared into my memory.

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"I have that show’s sadness seared into my memory."

...same here....so much so that I rather not 'talk' about it. Otherwise, I'll start ranting...I mean, he did such an outstanding job! It wasn't enough that they destroyed his character (I despise the last 15 min. of episode 29!!!!!!!), but he wasn't even nominated for an award! ...ok...I'll stop! ARGHHH!!! (Can't stand Chorip...he still makes me cringe!) :(

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As far as I'm concerned, WBDS ends on episode 29 at 45 minutes! The rest is...!
(...ok...I'll really stop.)

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YEP! Me, too.

(Although the ending, as unhappy as it makes everyone, may be why WBDS is so memorable.)

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Thanks for the recap.

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wonderful recap gummi! now i am looking forward to the posts of the other commenters haha...

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Just started watching ep 8, but to be honest, after watching all 7 eps of it, the plot is getting tiresome...Can the relationship between those two change a little? Yes, we see character changes, mainly in Kang Baek Ho...but the relationship between those two....are so static, I am starting to lose enthusiasm.

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arrghhhh jin-won is soooo annoying!!!! just go away and then they can be together!!!!!! anyhooo thanks for the recap!

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Thanks for the recao!

I've also been scratching my head for a few episodes about how all these new memories are suddenly available to him - he's confused for a bit, but then he explains via voice-over all the things that happened to his friends in the intervening years. He obviously didn't ask them about it, so how does he know? I wish we would get an explanation about this, but I guess we are just to assume that the new Baek-ho with the altered past also has altered memories.

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sigh, confess already baek-ho.... its not very repetitive yes, but, but, every week it raises my hope up only to crush it down...

how ineffectual is he? idk, seriously, the more he failed, as captivating as his emotions towards her are, right now, unless he actually fix this, i rather yi-seul go with jin won...

to be loved is better than to love... :s

i hope next week they will stop dragging this and we move on to something better...

i am not a fan of japanese dramas, so i have not watched the original technically i don't know how this goes but really, baek ho ssi, buck up!

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Baek-ho has been too frustrating for the past 8 episodes. He keeps asking to go back and "confess his love", but he never manages to do so.

Jin-won is starting to look so much appealing than Baek-ho, I mean, does Yi-seul HAVE to get together with Baek-ho just because she's 'loved' him since childhood? She's much more compatible with a real MAN that understands her and knows when to step up. IMO, JW is way hotter than a wimpy man-child who's only coasting on his 'history' with Yi-seul...

Just my two cents.

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Agreed, but I can understand why the writer would do so. Also, though it is frustrating, it's clear that just confessing (or even kissing her like he did in a previous episode) isn't enough. He has to first transform himself into a man deserving of his love. Thus, I feel like he'll end up confessing at a stage where he's more mature and deserving of her love. (Like you said, currently, he's still a wimpy man-child.) I'm looking forward to his journey, partly because I think that the writer wouldn't make the secondary lead so charming if the first lead didn't eventually become his equal.

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“Coach. Teacher. Boss. All names that I don’t particularly care for.”
I know I'm supposed to be Team Baek-ho, but that line is so sweet! Oh Jin-won why so perfect? And why don't you exist in my life?

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nononononononoononononononooooooooooo =(
BaekSeul OTP FTW!!!

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Now Im losing my patience and rooting for jin won instead...wth baek ho dilly dallying around..

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can I say that this drama is giving me false hope...T_T

it's playing with my feelings .... waaaahhhhhh!!!!

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I have the same question I've asked before--why does it have to be the man that confesses? Clearly Yi Seul aslo likes Baek-ho, but something is holding her back. Why does the man have to do all the work? (in kissing, chasing the girl, etc.)

I think Jin won looks good on paper, but not so appealing up close and personal. He's robbing the cradle... We don't get much of his personality--he's the type that looks really good when you have him on screen--shiny and a bit immaculate, but I haven't seen anything like how he leaves his socks in the couch, or anything that constitutes a personality other than he loves baseball a whole lot.

The original was very good at portraying that though the main couple's love and way of communicating is unconventional, it still is a form of love and it doesn't have to be with the perfect stud that you get with rugged good looks, a hand towel and girlish hair.

I'm also waiting for Yi Seul's reasoning for not confessing herself... it's almost as if she surrenders to Jin Won...

Oh and Baek-ho, for those who don't know also translated to the White Tiger--one of the heavenly directions. Which happens to be one of the guardians in "The Legend" where YSH first met PEB--I wonder if that was on purpose... I'm guessing it is considering the nature of this drama.

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I love the Legend and their interaction in it. But that was not the first time they met each other. They met way earlier when YSH was 6 and PEB was 7 during a photo shoot for an endorsement of Maru. They are the perfect choice for best friend first love story!

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Sorry, not for Maru, but some other brand. But I am sure that you can find that photo of them on google. Just search their names.

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I agree, it was actually Yi-seul that was driving me a little crazy this episode. She always wants fate or Baek-ho to make the decision for her. I understand her fears, but it isn't fair to only blame Baek-ho for the fact that they never got together. She has a part in it too. Like the thing with the button. She just asked him for it, and expected him to remember to give it to her 3 YEARS later, which is a heck of a long time when you're 15. And she never even told him what it meant - and yet she pouted and sulked when he didn't give it to her, and once again BH was totally clueless about the whole thing.

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Exactly.

And she says, at the beginning of the episode she can't say it face to face. O.o; That's like confessing through a telephone message. She definitely plays a role in this whole mess.

I think she went with the coach because it was easier to be with him and he comforted her with Baek-ho's feelings... more I see them together, the more it feels like a business transaction with the coach. She still calls him the coach too even though she's getting married to him (in the present time)....

Is Baek-ho supposed to be psychic for her? In addition to having time traveling powers?

Anyway, we don't question if someone is a woman if they don't confess, but for the man it's man up? Double standard.

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Yup. Total double standard. It's all "Be a man and tell her how you feel!" I hope we see some movement on her part this week.

Love all your comments, by the way. :)

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"...but how he remembers the memories that happen in the interim between these journeys is something that isn’t explained, if ever."

Did our author wanna see this drama had side effect like in "Butterfly Effect"? ^o^

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One key thing with the original ProDai is that it's as much Rei's inability to accept a relationship as it is Ken's inability to communicate. She's plain afraid of losing him, and she doesn't want to risk having a relationship.

When he tries to confess, she more or less takes it as a sign of confirmation of their special bond, but not as a gesture to move their relationship forward. Also, she's always rationalizing their relationship in a business-like (read: safe) way. She is his childhood friend. She is his manager. She is his agent.

Now, what I like about this adaptation is that Yi Seul is already self-aware of her own fear. What if he turns her down? What if he says let's be together?

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FRAAAAAAAAAAAAK! </3

I absolutely LOVE every single character in here that means anything. Except ofc for Chae-Ri's fail boyfriends. Besides them, every character is just so endearing. I'm having a hard time disliking anyone D:

Thanks for the Recap hun

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Totally agree! Even the cameos are awesome. The grandpa was GOLD.

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If I try and contemplate the butterfly effect too much, my head hurts. So I really suspend my disbelief on that one, and sit back to enjoy the ride. I was worried the time travel would get repetitive but it doesn't, probably largely due to the wonderful cast of side characters we get. Like you said, gummimochi, even Baek-ho's superior gets a little fleshing out so he doesn't end up in stock territory. It's the little touches like that which really endear this drama to me. I'm not as much rooting for Baek-ho and Yi-seul to get together (I know) as much as I'm just rooting for Baek-ho to get the life he wants and works hard for. Whether that includes Yi-seul or not is up to both of them. Loved the recap, by the way, it made me laugh all over again at some of the cuter moments. ;)

And because there isn't a lot of fangirling over Yoo Seung-ho in this thread, allow me:

OMG YOO SEUNG-HO. Why are you so alarmingly good-looking for your age?! You should just be professionally good-looking for a living. Oh wait...

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Er, I'm afraid to ask this, but how old IS he? I've been seeing him a kid in this drama, he's just so darn cute I feel like it would be wrong to covet him. ;)

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I meant "as a kid"

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International Birthday System: 18
Korean Birthday System: 20

...& he's apparently enlisting in the Marines (South Korea) early...as in next year...he already did his physical this year. Even though it is a requirement for all males to serve 2 years in the military, he is choosing to serve early.

...& as for 'fangirling'...after watching/ reading recaps of Flames of Jailbait (Ambition) and WBDS, it's clear that you're either part of the ICOMYM club (Inappropriate Crushes of Much Younger Male club)...aka Noona Fan, or a young Yoopie...lol. Even though he's 18, he still has an adorable baby face at times, but with great acting skills!

BTW, THANKS for the recap Gummi!!! :)

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Thanks for the info! My goodness. Too to young!

LOL @ "Flames of Jailbait".

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heads
Your "alarmingly good-looking" reminds me of TBDaW, when NSM says to LJK, "You are so handsome, frighteningly handsome."

He is so good in this unsure, confused and vulnerable role, he tricks me every show into forgetting that he really could just be good-looking for a living, ie THT.
The creative team seems to agree.
I don't know if it is because of his age, the styling team has never presented us with a hot YSH, and for that I am thankful. Keep putting him in ball caps, army caps, Garanimals, please!

To be so young and able to carry a show with a repetitive storyline, puts YSH in a class of very few actors his age.

It also brings up the point that there ARE many coming of age stories to be told, and wouldn't it be nice if we could keep the youth cast for an entire series? I am looking at you MEtS.

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i don't understand YS.she loves BH. but why she always speaks and acts indirectly and expects BH to understand and remember it even after years while her relationship with the coach is more logical and she acts like an adult with him?

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I KNOW, RIGHT?

This is a hot button with me.
Talking through a window?
Putting a love letter in a time machine that won't be opened for a decade?

OK, OK, I get it, like in 9 End, 2 Outs, sometimes you are afraid of losing your best friend if he/she doesn't feel that way, but at this point? There is more that enough evidence for her to suspect he does like her.

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the Conductor is a troll period. LOL

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An endearing one. He's quite an interesting fellow

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This seems to suffer some of the problems with the Japanese version, mainly how repetitive some things are getting.

I wish instead of a remake this could have simply been a story that takes place in the same universe.

More like, there are these "conductors" all over the world and they help and guide people.

That way they can move away from the Japanese version of the story and do a more k-drama feel to it.

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personally i would like for BH to move on from YS and let the coach have her. i would like to see a female enter his life that is to him what coach is to YS and for YS to feel her heart breaking slowly to have to watch BH getting closer and closer to someone other than herself, and for her to have that feeling of being forgotten or replaced slowly but surely. Maybe then she will wake up and be more assertive about her feelings for BH and want to do something about it or give up all together.

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Sounds like a plan...hmmm...who could be the girl to add some spice?!

...cute...
IU
Jung So Min
Kim So Eun
Park Shin Hye

...or the very beautiful...
Nana
Choi Soo Young
Shin Min Ah

They're all older though...hmmm

Geez...can't think of any younger -than him- actress (preferably) or idol that could fit the bill...I mean, she should be very beautiful to make it very competitive...lol

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I can't understand who says "Baek Ho is not doing anything, coach deserves Yi Seul" comments. OK, he's clueless and missing his chances but Yi Seul is not any better than him. She gave up after couldn't see him in the house when she was going to confess her feelings to him in the last episode. Then saw her in the morning and the his Christmas present to her, she said "when i almost gave up, you are showing yourself again." LOL, actually Yi Seul is more annoying than Baek Ho. And the most important is that Baek Ho simply doesn't give a fuck to other girls while Yi Seul is marrying with coach. I mean, actually it's not that "Baek Ho doesn't deserve Yi Seul, coach deserves her", it's just more like "Yi Seul doesn't deserve Baek Ho."

Just my two cents.

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“Yi Seul doesn’t deserve Baek Ho.”
I agree with you and she is really grating on me now and has done for a while now.

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i thought it would be interesting if another character also got the chance to travel back to the past other than BH.. looking for a bit more spice in the story.

and YS is kinda annoying me.. from slapping BH after their "first" kiss to IMO a half-hearted attempt to confess to him.. really, if anyone of them had liked the other person enough, cut the dilly dallying! say it! what is worse, afraid of losing your good friend or not having the chance to love him/her at all?

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hmm...this show has its pros and cons. a bad thing is definitely that it keeps relying on the time travel to move things forward. Sometimes I just wished the present Baek Ho did something now, rather than piling up his regrets!

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