125

Big: Episode 7

Feelings just got a shade realer, which in this great big muddy mess of an identity-swap, leads to confusion and blurry lines. It’s one thing to wonder what the heart wants; it’s another thing entirely to be unsure on who it wants that from. I’ll spare us the confusion and just say we all want Gong Yoo.

SONG OF THE DAY

Epitone Project – “이제, 여기에서” (Now, Here) [ Download ]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 
EPISODE 7 RECAP

Mari figures out the soul swap and hugs Kyung-joon, and then passes out. Da-ran figures it’s the shock from the realization and her injury, since she’s sporting a gash on her arm from the broken window. Kyung-joon averts his eyes and steps out, still squeamish about blood. Some dead Mom trauma, I’m guessing?

Choong-shik’s calls to Mari go unanswered, so he heads out to find her and ends up at Yoon-jae’s house. Eyes wide at the broken glass, he asks noona what happened, looking worriedly at unconscious Mari. Da-ran tries to usher him home quickly saying that Mari was helping her clean when she accidentally broke the window.

Mari wakes up, bolting up in bed suddenly. It’s zero to sixty for this one, which I suppose suits her character. Mari asks after Kyung-joon and starts running through the house looking for him, which confuses Choong-shik who knows Kyung-joon to be lying comatose in the hospital.

Da-ran says Mari must’ve seen him in a dream or something, and as Choong-shik watches her running around calling Kyung-joon’s name, his face falls like somebody just ran over his puppy. Poor lovesick boy.

Then to make his night even better, in walks Kyung-joon, only in Choong-shik’s eyes this is the bastard who dumped his noona. He growls, “Doctor Seo!” and swings his fist… which doesn’t connect. Instead Choong-shik gapes in pain, then slowly sinks to the ground. Behind him is Mari, her let outstretched in her trademark crotch kick.

Mari rushes to hug Kyung-joon, but Da-ran claps a hand over her mouth and drags her away. Choong-shik refuses the doctor’s help, but Kyung-joon tells him sympathetically that he’s the only one who can understand how he feels: “Those women don’t know that pain.”

Da-ran walks her brother out, asking him not to tell their parents about her getting back together with the doctor. Choong-shik can’t understand her, but she tells him it’s okay if he doesn’t.

Mari wails at Kyung-joon, “Why didn’t you tell me?! Why did you pretend to be ajusshi?!” He pushes her away with a finger to the forehead and says he can’t look at her right now, thanks to his blood phobia, so Mari crouches behind a sofa to spare him the sight. Okay, that’s sweet.

Kyung-joon explains that Da-ran is the only one who knows about his condition, and that he’s waiting for the re-swap but thinks it may take a while. Mari vows to protect both Kyung-joons and promises to keep this secret.

Choong-shik comes home after teachers Na and Ae-kyung have gone, and his parents are over the moon about the gym teacher. Choong-shik thinks how that the dream of “Na suh-bang” (as future son-in-law) is going poof in the span of one night and sighs, “One night… stand?” Haha. You lovable dimwit.

Mari leaves for the night with promises to return tomorrow. Da-ran sighs that there’s no stopping her, and now Kyung-joon wonders why she came back after they decided not to see each other again. Da-ran tells him she’ll do as he asked and meet Yoon-jae’s mother; it’ll be hard to face him with Yoon-jae’s face, but she figures the grown-up thing to do is to deal with it anyway.

Kyung-joon thanks her, and promises to help ease Da-ran’s pain… by treating her badly. HA. The hilarious thing is that he’s totally serious, not just using it as an excuse to be rude; he promises to be mean and cold and make sure to stomp on those eye-hearts if she’s in danger of feeling anything for Yoon-jae again: “I’ll make sure your feelings aren’t swayed, that you’re not attracted—I’ll behave like a dog!” Bwahaha. He says completely sincerely, “You’re going out of your way to help me, so I should at least do that much for you.”

With that, he tells her to clean up. He might want to help her, but that would only confuse her feelings. He tells her good luck, then remembers that he shouldn’t say those nice words of encouragement: “It’s not easy having dog manners. I’d better go and study.”

Se-young hears from Aunt and Uncle that the doctor was the man who saved Kyung-joon in the accident. Se-young is surprised at the extra connection and wonders if Yoon-jae’s interest in the kid is just because he saved him.

Aunt and Uncle are worried that make demands for money, since the doctor alluded to Kyung-joon’s funds. They assume Yoon-jae had Kyung-joon investigated and fear that he’ll start making threats soon. Uncle wonders, “Should I meet him, or avoid him? Or act like I’m meeting him and then avoid him?”

Mari shows up at the house with suitcase in tow, making the very generous concession to use the second floor and leaving the first for him. Kyung-joon finger-pushes her away, asking her not to do this, but Mari the Bulldozer will not be deterred.

She’s having trouble adjusting to the whole Ajusshi Kyung-joon concept, though, and holds up a fan bearing Kyung-joon’s face, asking him to use that when talking to her. In all the fairy tales, even if the prince turns into a beast or a frog, if you keep loving him he ends up coming back to himself: “You’ll come back.”

She tiptoes up and surprises him with a kiss, looking at him expectantly. Then, disappointedly: “You’re supposed to come back with a kiss.”

Kyung-joon tells Mari firmly that she can’t stay here. Holding up Kyung-joon Face: “You sticking around here is tough on me…” Revealing Yoon-jae face: “…but you can’t stay here. This is Gil Da-ran’s.” He tells her Da-ran is going to be his shield, so she can go—and if Mari doesn’t heed his warning, he won’t respond to her ever again.

Mari concedes, but holds up Kyung-joon Face and chirps, “But this one’s mine!” She asks if he was lying when he said he liked Gil Teacher, but he says nope: He told Da-ran how he felt and got rejected. That cheers Mari up, and her reaction just rubs salt in that wound as she calls Da-ran a really good person for helping him and rejecting him. For really rejecting him. He really got rejected, right? Rejected.

At breakfast, Choong-shik tests the waters by asking his father what he’d do if “Seo suh-bang” came back. Immediately Mom and Dad tense up in suppressed wrath, and Dad asks, “What’s a Seo suh-bang?”

The parents deliberately mishear and twist the wordplay [bang = room] as Mom warns, “Da-ran, if you hear about a new room like that and start hanging around it, I’m going in with a mop to clean up that room. Got it?” Oh, Hong sisters, how I’ve missed your punning.

At school, Na Teacher thanks Ae-kyung for her help in yesterday’s successful meet-the-parents excursion and declares he’s going to throw the first pitch, aka finally make a move. Well it’s about time; the only thing fast about him is the pitch he just threw. That has the side effect of making him look cool to Ae-kyung, though, bringing her Na Teacher crush to step two. He asks her to be the umpire, so that his pitch can find its way into Da-ran’s heart.

Kyung-joon and Da-ran dress up pretty to meet Mom to tell her they’re back on. He needs to be free of her helicopter parenting in order to carry out his plans; he doesn’t clarify what those are, but just says that he didn’t come back to play doctor. Thank goodness for that.

Kyung-joon pours Da-ran warm tea to help calm her nerves, which makes Da-ran think back to the first time she met Mom in this restaurant. She’d been nervous and trembling, but Yoon-jae had taken her hand in his and smiled encouragingly. Da-ran remembers how his warm hands soothed her anxiety, and in response to her fond nostalgia Kyung-joon pours her tea right back into the pot and tells her to drink cold water instead. Dog manners to the rescue!

Mom is not pleased to see Da-ran back in her precious son’s life, but Kyung-joon explains that he pleaded with her to come back to him. Saying that he needs Da-ran, he asks Mom not to go chasing her away.

Mom orders rare steak, the sight of which has Kyung-joon looking away queasily. She insists that it’s something he used to enjoy, and if he wants to return to himself he should keep encountering the things he used to like. Kyung-joon agrees, saying that’s why he’s back with Da-ran.

Da-ran clocks Kyung-joon’s reaction to the bloody steak, and finally puts an end to the misery by covering the platter. Mom is horribly offended at her lack of manners, which Kyung-joon says was his instruction—that they should leave if Mom got pushy.

Mom can’t understand how her well-mannered baby turned so rude, and Da-ran tries to smooth things over by taking his hand in entreaty. Kyung-joon holds it up for Mom to see, though: “In the past I held her hand and asked her to bear it. Now, I’ll hold her hand and leave.” Yay! Funny how Kyung-joon is more of a grown-up with Mom than Yoon-jae was, though yes, it helps that he has no vested interest in keeping Mom happy.

Da-ran protests all the way out, annoyed that Kyung-joon ruined her intention to show Mom a more composed, refined image. She threatens to give him a little taste of his own dog manners and swings her bag to hit him. He whirls her around, back to wall, smoldering. My my, did it just get hot in here?

But it’s for show, since he sees Mom out of the corner of his eye. She turns around clutching her pearls, and Kyung-joon figures that Mom won’t barge into his home willy-nilly after witnessing their passionate clinch. He thanks Da-ran for playing along, and she’s all, Derrrrr. Playing?

Mari turns to a shaman for help, because of course she would. I love her and her absurdity. In a Moon/Sun parody featuring Jung Soo-yung (remember oddball Kang-ja in Fantasy Couple?), Mari writes down the names of the swapped souls and looks to Choong-shik when the shaman requires a young man to receive the bad energy. Choong-shik: “Isn’t that a bad thing?” Mari: “I’ll deduct all the remaining pizzas.” Of course she’d see that as a fair trade.

Choong-shik is sent to the corner to receive the bad energy, while the shaman asks for the link between the men. Lovers? Brothers? Friends? Mari says no… but they do like the same woman. That’ll do; the shaman declares, “Rivals.”

At home, Da-ran finds the fridge stocked with beer. It’s courtesy of Mom, supplying Yoon-jae’s favorite things of yore, and Kyung-joon assures her he hasn’t drunk any of them. He offers them to her, and as they sit outside drinking (beer for her, Vitamin Water for him), she hesitantly asks about his aversion to blood. Why study medicine?

He explains that he doesn’t necessarily want to be a doctor, but he wants to understand what’s happening to his comatose body; he may have to look after it for a long while. Da-ran asks if he was ever in a big accident with lots of blood, and he answers that his mother died that way. They were mugged one night after closing up Mom’s restaurant, and Mom was shot.

Feeling pity, Da-ran offers the only thing on hand: a strip of dried squid with a dab of hot sauce on the end. He declines, saying he doesn’t like spicy things, so she sucks off the hot sauce and offers it again. Ha. That’s so cute. And she’s a little tipsy, so I won’t hold it against her.

He asks where she found it, and realizes it’s old stuff from over a year ago. Da-ran spits out her mouthful and asks worriedly what to do. In dry doctor mode, Kyung-joon directs her to stick out her tongue and touch her nose, and it takes her a good while before she catches on that he’s pulling her leg.

Kyung-joon goes to the hospital the next day, dressed in his doctor’s gown and giving himself a pep talk about how he can see injured patients, no problem. He can’t, though, and gratefully heads off with a doctor friend to escape the sight.

The doctor takes him to the pediatric ward, where the kids latch onto the friendly doctor, to Kyung-joon’s chagrin, and he flinches when a little boy shows him the boo-boo on his arm. But seeing the small cut doesn’t make him feel sick, so he figures that little kids mean little injuries. This, he can handle.

Se-young finds him, and Kyung-joon tells her firmly that he’s back with Da-ran so she can back off now. Se-young says it’s like he turned into a different person after his accident, and he says sure, he almost died and it changed him. He turns to go, and she calls out, “Kang Kyung-joon.” Freeze. Uh-oh, is the cat out of the bag?

Se-young finishes her thought: “He’s the patient you were in an accident with, isn’t he?” Fakeout! She’s relieved at the confirmation, because his interest in the coma boy makes sense if it’s because he’d saved his life.

Kyung-joon retorts, “Are you complaining because I didn’t seek you out first? I’m telling you plainly, you’re wasting your time. The Seo Yoon-jae you dated is gone.”

Kyung-joon sends Da-ran a text while she’s at school, which makes her grumble because his words are “short,” aka impolite. The follow-up makes her smile it’s the aegyo version of the loooooong (gil-da-ran) way to say it, and Ae-kyung guesses from her reaction that she must be dating.

Mari catches up to Da-ran to give her a talisman, saying that as the link, Da-ran has to pray fervently with it for the spell to work. Does it also time-jump? Mari thanks Da-ran for helping Kyung-joon and promises to stay out of their hair; she’ll focus on sticking with Little Kyung-joon.

Having deducted his pizza debt, Choong-shik is ready to stop being pizza slave and start being love slave. (His words, not mine.) He strikes a manly pose and perks up when Mari comes running at him in all her slow-motion glory… then breezes right by him. Thud goes his heart, crashing down to his feet.

Aunt and Uncle sit down to eat at a local hotspot, wanting inspiration for recipes to try at their own restaurant. They bought an Italian place after selling Kyung-joon’s house and wonder why it’s not doing as well as they hoped. In comes Da-ran’s mom carrying plates of food, and the sight of her has Uncle literally slack-jawed in shock. Flashback, really? Groaaaan. Okay, it’s the Hong sisters, we could have guessed this was coming.

The blast to the past depicts Mom in school uniform and Uncle in army camo. He’d been besotted with her back then, too, while she’d seen him as a friendly oppa.

At the house, Mari and Kyung-joon wonder how to get a body swap going. Mari says that since the ajusshi saved his life and lent him his body, Kyung-joon can return the favor. So simple when you say it like that.

Mari asks Kyung-joon for a favor, since her grades came out and her homeroom teacher wants to call Dad for a consultation. That can only be bad news and Mari fears being dragged back to the States, so she asks Kyung-joon to pose as her uncle and take care of the teacher meeting.

And then, she has an even better/brighter/more horrifying idea: “If you’re my uncle, I can live upstairs!”

Da-ran comes in while Kyung-joon’s arguing with Mari, and sees his wallet with the picture of the cherubs—is this another talisman from Mari? Kyung-joon drags Mari back downstairs and tells her to go home and study. Mari: “I’m pretty, why should I study?” HA. Kyung-joon retorts, “I’m good-looking AND smart.”

Choong-shik mopes over Mari, then has a bright (for him) idea. He plies Mom with back massages and wheedles her to send him to study in the States, so he can follow Mari there.

Da-ran drops off groceries at the house, saying that stocking the fridge full of healthy food is one way to tone down Mom’s visits. Kyung-joon points out that she only bought ingredients, which means she’ll have to come by every day to cook for him. Da-ran considers.

Off to the supermarket they go, this time loading the cart with junk food. She urges him to eat decently, and Kyung-joon brags that he’s a good cook—she’ll have to come over to judge his skills for himself. He picks a chicken for his first menu and they pile more groceries into the cart like a cute newlywed couple, and Da-ran even shields his eyes from the red meat cases.

But wait, just around the corner is Mom, doing her own shopping. Thankfully Da-ran sees her first and Choong-shik diverts Mom’s attention, so Da-ran is able to step back and hurry Kyung-joon down the aisle, warning him of the danger.

He guesses that if she’s scrambling to hide this from her parents, she intends to just do her shield duty for him, no more. He points out that they’re bound to be together a lot, so perhaps it’s worth facing the parents: “If you want me to confront them here, I can take the beating.” Tear. Kid’s all growed up.

Da-ran is conflicted about the thought of entangling Kyung-joon even more in her affairs, and asks for him to stay out of it today.

Da-ran joins her family as they check out, and feels a pang when Mom points out the chicken they’ll have for dinner tonight. Thinking of Kyung-joon’s dinner, she excuses herself and searches the store for him, coming up empty. He’s waiting at the exit, though, to her relief, and they go home together.

Kyung-joon prepares his chicken for roasting, and they sit down to wait for the hour and a half it’ll take to cook. Da-ran muses, “It sure takes a long time for that little thing to cook [also grow].” Kyung-joon says, “If you have patience and wait for it to cook/grow, the day will come when it’s ready to eat.” Rawr. That’s one coy smile he’s shooting her way.

Na Teacher psychs himself up to throw the “pitch” to Da-ran, and tells Ae-kyung that he’s ready. While quaking in his boots and stuttering. Ready, piffle. I do enjoy the fact that the cowardly teacher is getting in tons of unintentional dating practice with Ae-kyung while preparing for his “real” dating, though of course he’s too dense to realize that.

Ae-kyung calls Da-ran out, now that Na Teacher is supposedly ready to pitch. (He’s trembling and praying in the background, ha.) Kyung-joon’s face falls when he realizes she’s heading out, but she promises to be right back in time for dinner.

He spends the time glaring at the oven clock, muttering that she’d better be back soon. He cheers up adorably when the door sounds, but it’s only Mari, here to pick up something she left.

At the cafe, the three teachers sit in awkward silence while Na Teacher tries to muster his courage. Ae-kyung excuses herself, accidentally taking Da-ran’s phone with ther. She turns right back to return it, but an incoming caller piques her interest—it’s “Big,” the mystery possible boyfriend.

Ae-kyung answers the call and recognizes Kyung-joon’s voice (as Yoon-jae’s). She decides that he should know what’s going on, and explains the whole “first pitch” idea in a convoluted baseball metaphor, saying that the man Da-ran’s with may hit a home run and she’s the umpire and it’s Yoon-jae’s job to see if the game should continue or not.

Kyung-joon isn’t following and starts to hang up, but Ae-kyung bursts out, “Da-ran hasn’t been able to forget Seo Yoon-jae!” Ouuuuch. Just stab me in the heart, why don’t you. She says that Da-ran has become giddy and excited with Yoon-jae’s return, and asks him to step in here.

Mari shows Kyung-joon the diamond ring she found in one of the rooms, and they realize it must have been something Yoon-jae bought for Da-ran.

Kyung-joon tells Mari to go home, turning down her requests to join him in chicken-eating. He makes her day by saying resignedly that if he comes back to his body, he’ll make it for her then. Aw, the smile that that brings to her face warms my cold heart.

Da-ran fidgets in her seat and decides she ought to head back home, telling Na Teacher that she has to get going and will talk to him some other time. That finally jolts him into speaking, and he bolts up (with a red rose sticking hilariously in the back of his waistband) to declare, “I like you. I have liked you for a long time. All this while, I have only stood by watching. Today, I have summoned my courage with difficulty.”

Da-ran gets over the initial shock to let him down gently, saying she has promised to be by somebody else’s side. Poor bunny. Na Teacher is on the verge of bursting into tears, but just then, Ae-kyung pops back to chirp, “Did he tell you? He likes me. We’ve decided to start dating.”

In his initial confession, pronouns are left out so that it could just as well have been, “I like her” as it is “I like you”—although, naturally, nobody would mistake his meaning in such a context. Except that’s what Da-ran assumes now, that she jumped the gun and embarrassed both of them. She apologizes and congratulates the happy couple, and Ae-kyung tells Na Teacher that she stepped in as umpire to stop the game.

Da-ran runs home while Kyung-joon contemplates the ring moodily and keeps one eye on the clock, ticking down the minutes.

With four minutes left, she calls to tell him she’s almost home. He tells her not to come—she should go home and buy herself a chicken instead. She doesn’t understand his change of heart, but he asks, “Is your heart fluttering as you’re running here? I said I’d make sure that didn’t happen, so I’ll just let the chicken go.”

He hangs up, and Da-ran wonders if that’s true.

At school, Choong-shik tells Mari that he miscalculated; he still has 30 pizzas left on his tab. Mari awards him for being honest by taking one off, but he balks—she can’t be so frivolous with the deductions! Mari agrees, with the exchange that he’ll butt out of Da-ran liking Yoon-jae.

Kyung-joon presents the ring to Se-young and tells her to try it on. Ah, so he was afraid of Yoon-jae being even more of a bastard about that ring. The ring is way too small, though, and Kyung-joon figures with some relief that it wasn’t meant for her.

Se-young wonders why he’s clinging so hard to Da-ran when he can’t even remember buying her a ring. Is he going to give it to her now? She muses that Da-ran will probably be touched, and regret letting him go.

Kyung-joon asks point-blank, “Just how far did you go with a man who bought another woman a wedding ring? Since I can’t remember.” She tells him he hesitated to marry, “But now I don’t know if that’s because you liked me, or just that you stopped liking her. Please come back to yourself and tell me.”

Mari finds Kyung-joon staring at the ring at home and says Da-ran would love knowing that Yoon-jae bought it for her: “She’ll want to marry him right away.”

Yoon-jae’s mother arrives at the mandoo restaurant, and lets the cat out of the bag. When Da-ran comes home that night, her parents are in Deep Disapproval mode.

Yoon-jae’s mother tells Kyung-joon about her visit, and guesses that this was a tactic to get her to step back from her meddling: “But stop that now. That family was in an uproar.”

Da-ran confirms that she and Yoon-jae are dating again, and asks for some time. But her parents point out the absurdity of “just dating” someone you’d almost married and set up house with. If they’re going to insist on dating, then marry. If not, Dad has no intention of seeing Yoon-jae ever again—or Da-ran.

Kyung-joon asks Da-ran to make the decision: keep seeing him, or never see him again? He counts down and asks for an answer, then pulls the ring out and puts it on her finger. It fits perfectly, and he tells her that Yoon-jae bought it for her.

Now it’s okay for her to let her feelings sway toward the doctor, he tells her, because while she’s wearing that ring, Kyung-joon won’t go to her. “I, Kang Kyung-joon, won’t ever love you.”

 
COMMENTS

What a great way to up the conflict, or twist that knife in our hearts a little more; same difference. It was a nice complication when Da-ran decided she didn’t want to subject herself to playing the girlfriend of the guy who broke her heart, but this takes it to the other side with Kyung-joon trying to protect his heart and feeling trapped by the very ruse they need to use to handle the mess in the first place.

His is similar to Da-ran’s conflict, but just that much more painful. While she wants to protect herself from reopening wounds and falling for Yoon-jae again, Kyung-joon’s got to shield himself from being loved for the wrong reason. It’s more bittersweet, because even if Da-ran fell for him in his current state, he’d never be able to know whom she really loved. Heck, she might not even be able to figure that out. It’s tempting to let yourself believe the illusion is real, but quite possibly a crueler blow than not being loved in the first place.

So he gives her the ring to soothe her heart, but deals himself a blow in the process. Because now that she has one more bit of evidence that Yoon-jae cared for her, she’s safe to go ahead and love that shell, who’d be her husband in name after the swap came to an end. And Kyung-joon would be cast adrift. (Granted, I’m not convinced that the ring is really such a strong statement of anything, though at least it wasn’t meant for Se-young. ‘Cause they’re already engaged and setting up house, so it’s not like she didn’t think he was planning to marry her. But we’ll roll with it.)

I’m really enjoying the side characters in the drama, which isn’t always the case in rom-coms like this where they’re played for comic effect or purely as plot manipulators. And granted, Mom and Se-young (or should we just call them Horribles No. 1 and 2) fall into that category. But I’m loving Choong-shik, the dummy with a heart of gold, who’s played by Baek Sung-hyun with this core of genuine heart that makes him seem less farcical than he could have been. And Mari, despite walking the line of crazy-creepy, totally amuses me with her bold sassiness. I’m waiting to hear more of her story with Kyung-joon, because I think there could be something poignant there, too.

RELATED POSTS

Tags: , , , , , ,

125

Required fields are marked *

Thanks!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

YAY!!!!!

HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY FOR MONDAY!!!!
WAITING FOR YOU ALL DAY! THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

"I’ll spare us the confusion and just say we all want Gong Yoo." - Hahahaha! This is pretty much where I'm at.

Thanks for the re-cap JB.

0
10
reply

Required fields are marked *

Ha! I second that!

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Yup.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Ditto. Thanks for the recap!

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Lol I'll take Gong Yoo and Shin.
No one ever said we couldn't have two.

0
6
reply

Required fields are marked *

Yes, I am def on board the 'Gong Yoo's van of screaming fan girls'. How many others reading this recap are joining me?

As usual, fantastic recap. Gracias!

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

We all want Gong Yoo, indeed ;) I'm stunned to realize that his portrayal of Choi Han Gyul in Coffee Prince may not be the single most attractive fictional character of all time, after all. His Kyung Joon might be even more handsome and swoon-worthy.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I know! I thought no one could top Han Gyul, but Kyung Joon is creeping up my list fast!

0

yes I 'm in xs 100!!! Great recap.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

True. Why only settle for one when we can have both?

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

true!...I love him!

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

The reason I look forward to Mondays nowadays. :)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thank you javabeans! I'm sooo loving this drama :).

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

thanks for the recap! :)

the sexual tension in that scene when KJae drag DR out of the restaurant... :O

the two should get a room! :D

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

"I’ll spare us the confusion and just say we all want Gong Yoo." <-- ROFLMAO THIS!
you're right JB ^^ deep down in my little twisted heart, (though i want Kyung Joon to be happy, though i want YunJae to be happy too coz he's stiff but still down right sweet with Da Ran, and i want everybody to be happy in the end), as long as the guy is Gong Yoo, i don't give an effin' damn who would Da Ran ended up with hahahaa! *biased*
again, thanks for the super fast recap JB. <3

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Gaad Suzy, how lucky can you be.

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

taec yon, kim soo hyun, gong yoo.... GRAWR!!!!

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

and lee je-hoon too, will be coming soon Baek Sung-hyun I bet..

Very lucky 17 year old girl.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Forreals. And she's so young still!

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I’ll spare us the confusion and just say we all want Gong Yoo.

Me! Me! I would second that. Oh rats I can't. Which body do we want Kyung Joon to be in at the end?

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I have been refreshing for this all night! THANK YOU!!! Now if only tomorrow can come quicker...

Only Gong Yoo is ADORABLE! I may have to watch Biscuit Star Candy Teacher now while waiting for subbed episodes...

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I have no idea why I typed "Only"... all the characters are adorable (except for Horrible Nos. 1 and 2 and the uncle and aunt)

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

"Choong-shik refuses the doctor’s help, but Kyung-joon tells him sympathetically that he’s the only one who can understand how he feels: "Those women don’t know that pain.""

I actually loled at this part because of the song that was playing when KJ offered to help CS stand. Cue lyrics, "I wanna hooold you" and... he pat his butt. bwahaha...

I like the cute budding relationship that KJ & DR shared in this episode. Although I'm still doubtful about DR's feelings. Does she like him or not? Was she being excited because she wants to see KJ or because she is still attracted to YJ. Because throughout this episode, she was being nervous her heart every time they shared some skinships. Like that scene in restaurant, and when they went grocery shopping together.

Btw, how did Mari find that ring, and still didn't notice the Miracle book amongst YJ's stuffs? (Yes, I know that the writer might drag this mystery a little bit longer, but I really want to see other development that might give us clue on how they can switch back, or at least to get YJ awake. Because I'm still puzzled on why it has to be where one is in comma, while the other can walk freely in the former's body).

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I dunno.

I like this drama, I really anticipated *loving* it, and am sort of sad it hasn't gotten to that point yet.

The acting is strong, the plot isn't all over the place, editing seems pretty good...

For me, I think there is a lack of a clear sense of direction for any of the characters (excpet Mari, who is completely focused in one Kyung Joon direction only).

I do agree, JB, that the side characters are great. I'm actually pleasantly surprised at Se-young being something other than evil ex girlfriend. It seems like she might help put the puzzle together in a significant way, when it comes to the body swappage.

I'm hoping the halfway point will somehow have me lapping up the crack. I so desperately want to love this show.

0
4
reply

Required fields are marked *

I'm with you-- I'm in like, but not in love, with this drama. I did feel more invested in this episode, so there's hope. And there are elements that I love-- like Choong Shik and Mari.

I enjoyed the Moon/Sun parody and the QIHMesque talisman. Though I thought they missed a great opportunity for a cameo-- I would have gotten a kick out of seeing KJ drinking Dokko Jin vitamin water.

Thanks for the recap.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I had a QIHM moment too with the talisman. I think I'm going to have to watch Moon/Sun now.

I've got mixed feelings about this episode. I understand why the mood has to be more melo, but I don't enjoy that all the time.

I love Choong-Shik and MaRi so much. I never thought I would enjoy the crazy-obsessed girl character. Usually, that type always comes off as annoying or plain evil to me. MaRi is just too funny; I am anxious to see what she will do next. Choong-Shik is just cute in his clueless way.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I feel same as you.

Talking about the characters...I noticed the reason why I feel unsure about KJ/DR couple is not only age gap or teacher/student relationship, but more like their characters and the situations how they met (to me KJ's love to DR is more like lonely boy who longing motherly/family love…and DR give up YJ without knowing truth…etc etc…).

Even "BIG" is not only KJ/DR love story but also their grow up story, thinking about their characters, I can't believe they will give any positive effect each other in the future (as a couple but also mental progress)...

I do love side characters, especially Mari and CS (he is funny and cute!) as well.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I like this, that this isn't really so much a love story as it is a coming of age/finding yourself story. Both characters need to grow up and this situation is allowing them to do so. I think that may be why it's a bit difficult to attach to this drama, because a lot of us are still waiting for a love story, and that's not the story they're trying to tell.
If that's the case then this won't have a romantically satisfying ending for a lot of people because it will be about what they've learned about themselves from the experience. That's actually pretty risky for the Hong sisters to try for that.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Omg. The ending. I think my heart broke a little.

Btw, thanks for the recap JB!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I was s excited at the beginning of the show and now it is boring me. It's becoming clear that it's going to be KKJ and GDR and one reason could be is that I want YJ and DR to be end game. Hahaha. That's one thing for sure. I hate the girl doctor that I want that DR and YJ being together is a big slap on her fugly face.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thanks for the recap!

You know, when Ma Ri found the ring and gave it to Kyung Joon, I immediately thought, oh, she planted it to drive Da Ran further away from Kyung Joon. I think it's my dislike of Suzy's character that I thought this way, but wouldn't it be interesting if that was really the case and Yoon Jae didn't really buy that ring for Da Ran?

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I don't think so. Mainly because its not in her character to do it. From the start she was all "KJ" so would only ever focus on him. Even when KJ told her "KJ" liked DR in episode 4, instead of attacking DR she backed down and conceded that KJ would only upload a picture of DR if he liked her.

When she found out DR is helping KJ, even with knowing KJ likes DR and was rejected, she still treated DR normally.

I like her character, I think she's the most honest person in the whole charade.

I did want to slap her when she hurt CS to save KJ, mainly because I think KJ's a bastard and hate his guts, my love for GY be dammed!, but in all, she's not a bad kid.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I LOVE Jang Mari. She's the most consistent characters and i love her guts.She seems very naive when she believes about the fairytales story and yet so bold when declaring her loves for KJ. One thing i like about her is she listened to KJ well but she's still trying every way to get what she want without KJ saying no.I love how persistent she is about her moving in KJ's house.Adorable Mari~

Choongsik is just adorable.I hope him and Mari work out tbh.I can already imagine what kind of couple they will be. XD So cute~

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

It's a fine line she's walking: obsessive yet sweet, naive yet intelligent, scary yet funny, whacky yet brainy.

I'm having a second-lead-syndrome attack. I really prefer Mari as a character than the lead Gil Teacher.

If only that tenacious gal could obsess over studies the way she obsesses over a boy, she'd be a genius.
In k-drama universe this would translate as: "doctor" in a year.

0
2
reply

Required fields are marked *

hahahahaha

Mari's character is actually an interesting concept for a lead female.

I also love the fact that she's not cutesy with all the colorful headbands and matching outfits ala Gaga.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

didn't you hear her? why should she study when she's pretty?

LOL.

If you can convince her being pretty and smart will get KJ's attention she'll ace her exams for sure.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

The "beanut" gallery...LOL

Thanks for the recap, javabeans! Gong Yoo is so very handsome. I agree, we ALL want him. :)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

My god. I know I shouldn't concentrate on this, but I am so jealous that Suzy got to kiss Gong Yoo's lips. It doesn't help that I'm only a year younger than her.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

With each episode I love this show a little more. I wasn't really feeling it for the first couple and was enjoying A Gentleman's Dignity and I Do, I Do more. But now it's switched. I actually care about the characters in Big and have emotionally invested in them. I want to know how it works out because I want the characters to be happy. With I Do, I want to know the end, but there's no emotional tie. With AGM, I'm not sure I care anymore.

I'm so glad Big is taking a different tone than Best Love. I generally like the Hong Sisters but I BL was so over the top I couldn't finish it. I think they're doing a great job without the excess slapstick and cutesy factor.

I know a lot of people don't like Da Ran and think she's rather dumb and naive. I do think her character could have been better written. She's not very well developed. I'd like to see more of her outside of her interactions in KJ/YJ related stuff. Like teaching. She passed her license. How is she growing as a teacher? But overall she doesn't bother me that much.

Thanks for the recap.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

Don't think BL was any more over the top than "Big."

Sure the character of Dokko Jin was over-the-top, but not anymore than Mari and CSW played him w/ not only to great comedic affect, but w/ a lot of emotion as well (both the comedy and emotional scenes were done much better than what Suzy is doing w/ Mari).

And DJ was only over-the-top as a spoiled K-celeb who hadn't developed feelings/come to grips w/ what really was his wanting more than the superficial, despite his facade and bravado - which in way, was totally believable (unlike the character of Mari).

And overall, the storyline and dialogue of BL was much better developed than "Big" and unlike MGIAG, didn't have weaknesses w/ secondary characters/plotlines.

And the relationship btwn DJ and the kid "Ding Dong" is worth the admission alone.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Gong Yoo is AMAZING and AWESOME! Loving this show!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I'm glad you brought up the music, the music that was playing in the cafe in the back ground Big Bad World, when teacher Nah was trying to confess was perfect "...No body Loves a Chicken" I enjoyed how it matched up with his hesitation.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thanks for the recap!!

I'm impressed at how the Hong sisters have Yoon-jae vie for Da-ran's heart even though he's technically not there and you know, the Hong sisters love having the two male leads vie for the heroine. Sure there is always "the other woman", but the two-guys-one-girl love triangle is always the more compelling of the two. The ring signals Yoon-jae's sincerity towards her.

I loved loved loved the scene where Kyung-joon took Da-ran's hand and said “In the past I held her hand and asked her to bear it. Now, I’ll hold her hand and leave.” I swooned. This is exactly what all guys should do when the gal is being intimidated by a scary mother.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Choong-shik speaking in English was so hilarious and cute. I love him, and Mari too.
I love this drama, I like the way everything is developing, even the necessary angst

Thank you for the recap!! (Yes me!! I want Gong Yoo! )

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thank you javabeans for this amazing recap! <3

This drama is currently keeping me on edge and on my toes and it's EXACTLY what I love about it! The fact that idk if I want KJ (in YJ's body) with DR or YJ with DR and the fact that it is not 100% clear where the endgame couples are headed is really exciting. And I have to agree hands down, that yes... in the end, all I want for me is some Gong Yoo!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Gotta love the pizza-buying/slave relationship between Choong Shik and Mari!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Marie :the bull dozer: hahaha ,describes her perfectly.Am i the only one who supports Kyung Joon?

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

I love Kyung Joon......

in YJ's body :D

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Nope. I support you on Kyung Joon boat whole heartily.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I'm with you. I love Kyung Joon too.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thank you for the recap.

I think the only thing keeping me reading is my wanting to know how this ends. But that is sadly it. I don't know why this wasn't able to grab me fully.

0
2
reply

Required fields are marked *

I agree. And you're soo not the only one who feels that way. I bet the recappers, judging from the way the recaps run, are not into it either.

It just disappoints me that the story is not about YJ but KJ.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Same here again!

Since I don't care about main couple anymore, my only curiously is how they end up KJ/YJ swap body. I just hope they don't end like YJ or KJ goes forever sleeping after body swap...

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Insightful recaps as always. Thanks JB! :D

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

actually I already read the recap from ockoala blog, but I think DB writing is a little bit different because it is more complete, Thanks DB..

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I thought otherwise. I also read ockoala's recap; hers is more detailed in that there are some scenes that she described which were not mentioned in DB, and she has some insights which can supplement those of JB and girlfriday's.

There are a lot of things to be taken from this drama, and I love that it focuses more on character development than mere storytelling. I also like how it keeps my brain a-mess: the hard thing for me right now is who to root for, now that YJ seemed to have "stepped up" along with the appearance of that ring--which, I think is NOT part of MR's ploy, otherwise how would she able to know DR's finger size?
Anyway, although we have another "clue" that YJ is not the cheating cheater that we initially thought him to be it's still unclear as to what went wrong with his relationship with DR. And it seems likely that KJ had also realized this, that's why he somehow gave YJ another chance when he said to DR that he's letting her feelings swayed by YJ again, at his expense. Which is really sad and heartbreaking, but kinda mature thing to do in his situation.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Am I the only one here who's more interested in the Kyung-joon - Mari plot line than Kyung-joon - Da-ran ? I'm more of a KJ - Mari shipper. They're like a couple straight from a shoujo manga. Maybe that's why I like them more. :D

0
5
reply

Required fields are marked *

i'm with you :D

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Shoujo Manga? sounds good to me. Both kids are good-looking.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

No, you're not the only one, I ship Mari - Kyung-joon too. They have adorable chemistry. I wanna see more of them. And I really do wish coma Kyung-joon wake up soon!! So that we can really see him handle Mari.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Kyung-joon and Mari are adorable together. I also want to have the souls swapped back soon, so we can see Shin as Kyung-joon with Mari. In fact, let's just forget Da-ran and her Yoon-jae, shall we ? :D

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Oh, I totally agree!

When he was chasing her around and Da Ran walked in and looked sort of surprised but happy to see him being able to act his age... I loved that scene.

I think he needs Mari more than he realises.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Is it weird that I really don't want Da-ran and Kyung-joon to end up together? I mean he's still a boy, even if he's very mature he hasn't lived half the life of Da-ran, I really wish he switched back at the end. That he just formed a great friendship with Da-ran. I have no problem with the age difference but it doesn't feel right, I would love it more if he jus gained knowledge from this experience. And that he realized that even though his mom passed away they're are still people like Mari and Da-ran who still love him

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

That's what I said last week, I prefer an open ending, I don't want to see Kyung-joon end up with Da-ran, I'm not comfortable with that, though I can see how much Kyung-joon has mature. I want to see him realize that although he's an orphan and his aunt-uncle are evils, he has Mari who truly cares (despite her craziness) about his well being or Da-ran, that he's not alone and lonely in this world.

I hope they speed up the story a little bit, because so far we don't get the explanation of Miracle connection between Kyung-joon and Yoon-jae or Kyung-joon and Mari backstory or about Kyung-joon estranged father. It's already half the episodes but we got nothing in term of body swap. So episode 8, I want more!

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

i DO want gong yoo!!! there, i'm saying it!

.... *hides from girlfriday*

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thanks for the recap.

"But I’m loving Choong-shik, the dummy with a heart of gold, who’s played by Baek Sung-hyun with this core of genuine heart that makes him seem less farcical than he could have been."

I second, third and fourth this!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

LOL at
Choong-shik is sent to the corner to receive the bad energy...

I really thought this was for sure(!) going to be my new drama crack, but for certain reasons, I just did not feel with this episode. It left me wanting so much more. I even watched the preview! Now that's bad. I think 7-8 episodes is quite a long time for the story to not have any further progress of the switch/souls and that's really bothering me. I want Kyung-joon's body to wake up already and I want to hear the real Yoon-jae to tell his side of the story. It's getting tiring watching everyone/the plot go back and forth and although a lot has/is happening for Kyung-joon, I'm really just waiting for the souls to miraculously go back into their own bodies and actually get some mysteries solved.

Not drama crack, but I'm definitely going to continue seeing what lies ahead for the characters.

As always, I enjoyed reading your recaps and thoughts on this! Thanks javabeans!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

thanks so much for the recap! cant wait till the next episode :D

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Oops. I find it necessary to clarify that I meant that it left me wanting more FROM IT.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Baek Sung Hyun :') My perfect oppa every from stariway to heaven which got my love of kdramas and the word "oppa" going. So happy to see him get a good high profile role, he's so adorable and grew up hot :D

and LOVE Mari, she is just so cute and devoted, it's hard not to like her. great conflict but at this point I'm so invested in Kyung Joon as Yoon Jae that I fell like I won't ever like the real Yoon Jae as much even if it turns out he did love Da Ran etc. His personality was just reserved perfection and that's not much to connect to, as opposed to Kyung Joon who's super relatable. Never cared for Gong Yoo before but I swear it's the hair, they HAVE to have to perfect hair before I fall, ala Lee Min Ho in City Hunter or otherwise I'll just move on.

Thanks jb for the recap :)

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

omg...a kindred soul!

I still remember Beak Sung Hyun from Stairway to Heaven as well!

I fell for his little prince character so hard that I wanted to cry when Kwan Sang Woo took over.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I busted out with laughter every time MoonSun's theme song shot out of nowhere in this episode. =)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I’ll spare us the confusion and just say we all want Gong Yoo.

-- AMEN sistah!! GY as Kyung joon or Yoon jae or Choi Han Kyul... i'll take them all! lol

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thanks for the re-cap

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

This has become a favorite thing to do -- reading the recap and comments. It gives me a better appreciation of the drama. Thank you to all who put in their 10 cents. You make me enjoy the drama a hundred fold ;-)

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I'm with you!! some are really analytical and insightful and gives further depth and enjoyment to the story

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Thanks for the recap! This is just too good. I should have watched Biscuit Teacher & Star Candy & everything else with Gong Yoo in it before this. After this ep, I don't think I'll be able to watch Gong Yoo in anything else without comparing him to this. He's just too awesome. This is just too awesome! Singing G-dragon's "Breathe" I can't breathe, I can't breathe...I can't breathe no more!" Ahh!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

thanks! great recap! been waiting for this!!! :)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

YAY! At last, we finally find out that the ring was meant of Da-ran and not for Se-young.
Unfortunately, we still don't know why Yoon Jae bought the airplane ticket to LA or if he really had developed a deep enough relationship with Seo-young for her to gave him her apartment key.Maybe Yoon Jae was a cad, and it wasn't a one sided love on Seo-young's part. But only Yoon Jae who is comatosed in Hyung Joon's body knows for sure.
Hyung Joon's admission that he will never love Da-ran while he's in Yoon Jae's body I think he will regret saying that. I'm not convinced because he always said he loved her, so why the sudden change? Is he shifting to Mari who a borderline psycho?
The plot is getting messy and confused.
Sleeping Beauty Yoon Jae has to wake up soon.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

just a small thought of mine :) i defintely do not believe that kyung joon ends up being with mari :/ or maybe it's just that i dont want them to. mari will do well with choong shik,dont you think? plus, kyung joon never really showed any signs of lovin mari anyway :] i think the whole drama conflict would be to love the body/shell of a person or the soul within, which is certainly a very difficult thing to decide on, for that i can relate to da ran ha. however, da ran was more herself when she's with kyungjoon and im still holding on to that slim line of hope that she has the same feelings for kj as well. :0 honestly, i do not ship the yoonjae-daran couple seeing as to how far we have come, Drama doesnt convince me that itll happen, so i hope daran learns to see kyungjoon for who he really is, just like how hes so very invested in her. and yes, Drama's gotta make some new moves, we've been waaiting too long :\

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Agree with linda.
So basically the story repeat the same thing all over again with a slightly maturre KJ(who look eager to become a better version of SJ)..yawn..
Pls wakEe SJ up!!..
Cant root for KJ-DR..i like GY but still..

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

"I’m waiting to hear more of her story with Kyung-joon, because I think there could be something poignant there, too."

I do too but I have mixed feelings if the drama us going to take us there.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

AMEN...AMEN...AMEN Rashel! can't wait for the next episodes but i don't want it to end soon :P

thanks for the recap!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

"Does it also time-jump?"

HAHHAHAHA~ totally reminded me of Queen InHyun's man... ('cause i still can't get over it)

This drama is goooood :D

I didn't like Hong sisters' "You're beautiful" but i'm totally in love with this! :) even my sister agrees with me :D

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

is it possible that kyungjoon and yoonjae didnt switch their bodies but instead they merely switched memories? >:) so their still themselves >:D and they'll come to realize that soon :9

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *