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Big: Episode 9

Hurrah for major—or should we say, big—reveals, which throw a twist into the story. There are two significant developments in this episode, one of which we were waiting for as our main couple finally get onto something resembling the same page, and the other which frankly comes as a shocker. That excites me.

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EPISODE 9 RECAP

Kyung-joon has an out-of-body moment when his soul decides to take a brief trip home, and that gives them hope that perhaps the other body also experienced something. So the newlyweds ditch the honeymoon to hurry to the hospital, where they’re let down to see that Little Kyung-joon’s still firmly in a coma.

However, he had been discovered slumped on the ground and was taken for more tests. Se-young says there’s no change in his condition, but Kyung-joon finds a flicker of hope in the fact that Little Kyung-joon’s body moved.

Aunt and Uncle are also called, and wonder why that particular doctor has so much interest in Kyung-joon. Aunt’s mind always jumps to the mercenary reason first, and figures it’s about all the money he’s going to demand because of the accident.

Da-ran figures that at least Kyung-joon had his soul-blip moment before they went on the honeymoon: “What if I’d gone on the trip with you and gotten all nervous and excited?” Whoops, that’s a little more honesty than her conscious mind is ready to deal with, and she overcompensates with the backpedaling, which hurts Kyung-joon’s feelings, till they’re in a heated round of bickering.

Da-ran clarifies that it’s just because he looks like Yoon-jae, and Kyung-joon retorts that she must be sooooo disappointed he swapped back right away, and she says she must’ve been crazy to want to go on a honeymoon together.

They decide to go on their separate vacations after all and snipe at each other, “Have a nice trip!” “Don’t you dare call, I won’t answer!” Aw, don’t leave all angry! Don’t you know it’s Opposite Day and you really mean the antithesis of what you just said?

Mari packs her bags and sadly addresses her phone picture of Kyung-joon (photoshopped to look like he married her, of course) and says that although he’s married Da-ran in body, she’ll consider herself married to him in spirit.

Na Teacher takes Ae-kyung out for drinks after the wedding, calling today the last of their fake-dating excursions and thanking her for playing along. He’ll take care of all the rumors; this round’s on him. This does not make Ae-kyung happy; she’s gotten a little too cozy with the girlfriend act and doesn’t feel like saying goodbye. She orders soju. This can’t end well.

Da-ran has four days to kill, so she heads to a jjimjilbang for the saddest solo honeymoon ever. I mean, already “solo honeymoon” rates pretty high on the pathetic scale, but holing up in a jjimjilbang (and ordering Chinese drinks as a consolation for not, you know, going to China) kind of takes the cake.

Except… the Gil family has also decided to take a family outing to the sauna. This will also not end well, will it?

Kyung-joon arrives at the house and finds a talisman posted inside the refrigerator. It’s full-on horror-movie mode with eerie music, darkly lit set, and the shadows moving unseen behind him. Mari’s voice calls out his name, and he looks up to see… Mari hovering above him, wearing a white dress with her black hair down, looking like the classic ghost. Scream.

Cut to: Lights on, back to normal. Mari’s happy he didn’t go on the trip and credits her talisman for working its mojo. He crankily tells her to go back to that other country, and she’s all, can we consider the second floor another country? I suppose this makes sense to the girl with no understanding of boundaries.

Kyung-joon heads upstairs to see that Mari has put her stamp all over the bedroom. It’s ♥ Mari ♥ Kyung-joon ♥ everywhere, with collages and photos and posters and silkscreened pillows. All the stuff of teenage stalkers with one-track minds; we should really just be glad Mari doesn’t have a criminal bent, ’cause she’d be really good at it.

She clarifies that it’s not that she set this up for herself; it’s a physical reminder that he is not Da-ran’s husband in real life, and that if he ever feels confused, he should come into this room to remember the truth. And if she happens to live here too, well, that’ll be a big help. To him, she means. It’s all for his benefit!

He escorts her out, giving her a firm Aw, hell no.

Choong-shik calls his sister to check that she’s having fun on her trip to China, and Da-ran replies with half-truthy answers: It’s hot and crowded here, and she’s eating (Peking duck) eggs. Choong-shik catches sight of her across the room, however, and gets suspicious—she wouldn’t be lying about the trip, would she? There’s this girl who looks a lot like her in this jjimjilbang…

Da-ran realizes she’s in trouble and darts away, and Choong-shik chases her yelling, “Hey, lady with the eggs! Let me see your face!” He chases her right into the ladies’ locker room, which (1) gets him kicked out amid screams, and (2) makes his mother scold, “First the porn, and now this?!” Haha. Poor little bro.

Kyung-joon looks through Da-ran’s guide books and pulls out a large poster of the Great Wall, and starts doodling on it. He hums to himself about how it would’ve been fun to go together, then draws stick figures of them holding hands. So cute.

But then he remembers that the one to make Da-ran smile is Yoon-jae, not himself. Now his stick figure gets angry eyes and steam lines (depicting a fuming head), and he wonders, “Why isn’t she coming home?”

Kyung-joon heads outside to wait, then wanders along the street… just as the Gil family car drives by. Oops.

Kyung-joon tells the family that he got a last-minute case at the hospital, and that he sent Da-ran on the trip alone. This inadvertently makes him sound like the hero and Da-ran the selfish one, which, by the way, he is not above exploiting for sympathy points. Choong-shik grumps that noona has no loyalty, and Kyung-joon assures the family that he sent her, so she did nothing wrong. Brownie points up the wazoo.

Kyung-joon then calls Da-ran to tell her she can leave the jjimjilbang now and go to the house. She asks if he got in trouble with her family, and to squeeze even more sympathy out of the deal, he says yes. Then scampers off to eat the special dinner Mom makes him.

There’s a spicy seafood stew on the table, and Dad takes a sip and calls it refreshing. It’s one of those common sayings in Korean that is sorta counterintuitive, and Kyung-joon points it out now: How strange to call something hot and spicy “refreshing” when its characteristics are more likely to bring pain, and therefore Dad’s enjoyment of such a dish makes him a masochist, and Mom’s preparing of such a dish makes her a sadist. Choong-shik chimes in, “It’s a perverted dinner table!” Ha.

The parents ask him not to hold this trip against Da-ran since she can be a little dense, and Kyung-joon asks, “Why are you insulting your own daughter?” Haha. Just when you think he’s jumped the last hurdle, he finds a new one, dusts it off, and sets it up in front of himself. And who’re you calling the masochist?

Kyung-joon says that if they’re acting like this out of consideration for Yoon-jae, they really needn’t, since he’s not such a great guy and after buying the house he’s out of cash and he doesn’t make much money and all he does is play with kids at the hospital. Mind you, he’s also speaking of Yoon-jae in the third person, which makes him sound even stranger.

The whole point of the fish stew conversation is to point out that Kyung-joon still has kiddie taste buds, so when Mom offers to make something else, he asks for fried egg with ketchup. So does Choong-shik, fist-bump. Aw, they’re choding brothers.

Yoon-jae’s mother decides to go back to America sooner than expected, which probably has to do with that “child” she and her husband have located, sorta. Se-young tells her Yoon-jae skipped out on his honeymoon, and Mom scoffs at how silly that is—who on earth could be so important a patient to prompt him to do that? Except then she recognizes the name with shock, and confirms the other details: Yoon-jae was in an accident with him, he’s in high school, and his parents are gone.

Mom confirms that Kyung-joon is the name of Kang Hee-soo’s child. Mom doesn’t want to find Kang-joon but Dad’s reaction is the opposite, which gives me an abandoned-love-child vibe from the scenario. So… Kyung-joon and Yoon-jae may be brothers after all?

Mom looks at the Miracle book and wonders if Yoon-jae managed to find the child after all.

Da-ran and Kyung-joon chat on the phone that night as he looks around her old room, where he’ll be sleeping tonight. It’s cute and homey, the way they fill each other in on their days like a real married couple, like how her father gave him his prized herb liquor and how she’s about to eat ramyun. He tells her not to eat it, couching it as That’s mine, don’t touch! although it’s really more like, Don’t eat that junk. Which is the cutest switcheroo ever, considering how she used to be the one trying to get him to eat right. She has no food in the house, but he tells her to sit tight; he’s on his way.

Kyung-joon runs from one house to the other, skipping along with a huge grin on his face while she waits for him at the front gate. When he arrives, he puts his blasé attitude in place and hands her a bag: “I’m just gonna throw it out—or you wanna eat it?”

She digs in to the chicken stew her mother made for him, and pours herself a cup of Dad’s 20-year-old liquor: “Hey, this liquor is your hyung.” Haha.

Kyung-joon says Dad gave him the bottle “to give him particular strength,” which cracks me up because the herb’s root is known for its health- and vitality-boosting properties, and when you give that to the man who just married your daughter, it’s basically a greenlight to go forth and populate the earth. Keke.

Kyung-joon seals up the bottle, which he calls Hyungnim, and tells him this isn’t the time/place for his powers. ‘Cause if Da-ran throws herself at him with all that excess vitality, “I don’t think I could refuse.” Rawr.

As expected, Ae-kyung gets drunk and Teacher Na ends up piggybacking her home. She slurs out that they’ve gotten along so well all this while, so can’t they keep getting along well? She demands a reply, but he’s got her bridal bouquet (won in the toss) in his teeth and can’t answer, which makes her think it’s a rejection. She storms off angrily and pitches her bouquet at him, calling a strike-out.

Kyung-joon asks Da-ran to come for him tomorrow, saying that she got back early from China, and she agrees to come by in the morning. She gives him the go-ahead to read her books or listen to her music, so when he gets back to her room, he starts looking around and comes upon her Yoon-jae box: all the photos and mementoes she’d packed away after breaking it off a year ago. He addresses a photo, “Ajusshi, come back soon. Before I don’t want to leave.” Too late for that, I’m pretty sure.

Yoon-jae’s mother visits Little Kyung-joon in the hospital, her emotions rattling her as she tells him, “I didn’t even look at you when you were born. I’m seeing you for the first time now. Kyung-joon-ah.”

Mari’s thrilled that her talisman worked (to keep the newlyweds apart), and tells Choong-shik—her evil-absorbing virgin—that she’ll deduct another pizza. He balks, of course.

Kyung-joon hears from a nurse that a well-dressed middle-aged woman dropped by last night, and wonders who it could be. Mari bursts in, and he asks her to direct him to his uncle’s new restaurant, which is a direct rip-off of his mother’s—which was named Miracle—although uncle’s lacks the reputation, good food, or clientele.

They’re here so that Mari can demand Kyung-joon’s belongings returned, but Aunt and Uncle duck for cover, assuming that the doctor is sizing up their worth so he can milk ’em dry. Kyung-joon gets Uncle to show himself by baiting him with the name of a chef—the Russian cook at his mother’s restaurant. If Uncle hands over Kyung-joon’s things to Mari’s keeping, he’ll get Chef Sergei’s phone number. One musty-smelling bag of Kyung-joon’s belongings, coming right up!

Turns out Kyung-joon’s a softy after all since he gave the number on purpose, hating to see Mom’s inheritance go up in flames for nothing. Hilariously, now Aunt and Uncle have to revise their opinion on the doctor, and wonder if he could have been sent to secretly help them. “Should I ignore him? Should I be friendly? Should I be friendly while ignoring him?” Ha. So while the Aunt and Uncle tend to be silly characters I care nothing about, I do enjoy their constant befuddlement as they scheme their way in circles and never get anywhere.

Kyung-joon is summoned for a talk with Yoon-jae’s mother, who tries to suss out how much he knows about that kid in the hospital and how far their acquaintance goes.

She seems relieved that he doesn’t seem to know anything about the big secret, but she tells him that prior to his amnesia, he’d been looking for somebody. She admits that she didn’t want him to meet that person, and if he were to meet him by chance, she’d like him not to get to know him. Kyung-joon just says, “I’m not interested in the past.”

Uncle returns to the mandoo restaurant to moon over Da-ran’s mother, and finds that VP Kim has also returned, to moon over Dad. They comfort each other (but mostly themselves) by saying that it’s a good thing the married couple can’t recognize them, ’cause they sure would regret letting go of such a younger hottie (Uncle) and/or an understanding hoobae (VP Kim). Sour grapes are sour.

At Mari’s request, Choong-shik shows her where Kyung-joon spent the night in Da-ran’s room, which is still home to his porn collection, as she notes. He’s all, “No, this is my sister’s!” which is one step below on the believability ladder than his last scapegoat, Dad. Haha. Mari sees the Yoon-jae box and perks up at this evidence of Da-ran’s love of her fiancé, and decides to return the box as a reminder.

Da-ran makes her fake-return from her honeymoon, and Mari gives her the box and wedding album, telling her to keep it nearby so she doesn’t get confused. Kyung-joon greets her with adorable enthusiasm, until he clocks those items and then deflates. He storms off to his room, barking at her to clear out all of Yoon-jae’s things because there’s no room for his stuff here. Aw. Symbolic statement is sad.

Kyung-joon smooshes all of Yoon-jae’s clothes into a suitcase and dumps it in Da-ran’s room, sending her memento box falling. Da-ran blames him for breaking her Walkman—Yoon-jae recorded things for her to help her study—and this sparks another argument-that’s-not-really-about-the-thing-they’re-arguing-about.

They toss sarcastic comments at each other and she accuses him of “confusing” her, which in a normal circumstance might make him perk up at the underlying meaning—that she’s starting to confuse her feelings for Yoon-jae with her feelings for him. But he’s too angry and he retorts that they should just live their separate lives.

She points out that he had a good time with her family, but he returns, “I have to keep my distance so that stuff doesn’t confuse me. I’m not the one who’s part of that family!” Oooof. And suddenly, this is no longer about romance, but family.

Kyung-joon retreats to his room and puts up his wall, literally, whiting out the glass between them. Da-ran notices the framed photo of Kyung-joon and his mother.

In the morning, he’s still peevish despite her attempts at making peace with breakfast and smoothies. Aw, and she even knows his favorite egg-ketchup dish.

But Kyung-joon is gone, having headed to his office at the hospital. Apparently his medical brain is smart enough to have saved a doctor buddy with seminar research, who gives him tickets to a show.

Choong-shik also has tickets for Mari, asking if she wants to see a movie. Mari happily accepts… and takes both tickets. Poor Choong-shik.

Kyung-joon takes his usual spot in the kiddie room at the hospital, and watches as a girl tries to get a boy to play with her and “eat” her plate of plastic vegetables. The boy refuses to play, and Kyung-joon tsk-tsks, telling the kid to just go with it. Then he gets a phone call from Da-ran asking him to buy bread so she can cook for him and he barks, “No, I won’t eat it!” and the kid tsk-tsks right back at him. Haha.

Pint-sized message received. So Kyung-joon gets up to go grocery shopping, and the boy shoots him a smug, knowing look. He arrives home to find all of his old clothes washed and hanging out to dry. The photo of his mother is now in his room and Da-ran has organized his shelves. He loves it, of course, though he feigns the attitude of “Why’d you touch my stuff?”

Today’s Da-ran’s last day off work, which gives Kyung-joon an idea. He tells her he’s going to “throw away” something underneath the bread, so be sure to check under it. What, you can’t just give a gift like a normal person?

With that, he puts the ticket under the bag and tells himself, “Well, I’m just throwing it away, so I can’t help it if she follows me there.” At least she shares his logic; she finds it and figures that she can’t just let this discarded ticket go to waste.

While Da-ran gets ready, Kyung-joon takes the broken Walkman to get fixed. She leaves the house just as Mari arrives, and explains that she’s on her way to meet Kyung-joon.

Mari offers her movie tickets in an exchange, pointing out that she has no need to act the couple for this show… unless she wants to go with Kyung-joon. It’s a question that backs Da-ran into a corner, since she’s not ready to admit she does want to go, and reluctantly she gives the ticket to a happy Mari, saying he’d probably have more fun with her.

Se-young drops by the hotel to see Yoon-jae’s mother on her last night in Korea, and overhears her end of the phone conversation as Mom tells her husband, “That child isn’t my son! My only child is Yoon-jae. That child was only born to save our Yoon-jae! I do not know that child, Kang Kyung-joon.”

Whoa. So this isn’t a straight-up love-child story, but a full-on My Sister’s Keeper? To make things worse, this crucial bit of information just had to fall into Se-young’s lap, of all people.

Kyung-joon waits at the concert hall lobby with the fixed Walkman, not exactly thrilled when it’s Mari who shows up and says she swapped her movie tickets for Da-ran’s. He doesn’t care to see the show after all, saying that it was his way of making amends after breaking her recorder.

Mari asks him not to make amends with Da-ran at all, but he answers that he can’t keep behaving at a child’s level, and his response makes Mari wonder if he’s still in love with Teacher.

Da-ran heads to the movie theater, feeling glum. And then out of nowhere, Kyung-joon joins her and asks, “Are you happy I came? Unhappy? Should I leave?” She stops him, and he offers to stay after all, then returns her recorder. Putting one earbud into her ear and taking the other for himself, he teases that the lecture notes sure are exciting, and they stand there listening to the boring voice and grinning big goofy smiles at each other.

Da-ran starts to feel the pull of the moment, though he remains oblivious. She looks at him intently, starting to make sense of her reaction as she leans ever so slightly closer to him.

“Kyung-joon-ah, I feel strange. Why am I so happy that you came?”

 
COMMENTS

Yay, Da-ran finally clues into her attraction! I don’t actually blame her for taking this long, because of the very blurry line of Kyung-joon looking like that other guy, but it’s what I’ve been waiting for. Plus, it’s important that it comes at a point where it’s fairly clear that her reaction is for Kyung-joon only, not for the shell.

And also: Holy crap, Kyung-joon is a donor baby? A baby born out of cold calculation, to be raised purely for whatever use he could provide the “true” child? That’s all kinds of fucked up, lady, and pretty much confirms that Yoon-jae’s mother is not only Horrible No. 1, but maybe also 2 and 3. Se-young will have to settle for being No. 4. (Unless she actually uses her knowledge for good instead of evil, in which case I will have to reconsider, but let’s face it I’m not holding out a whole lot of hope for her.)

To clarify: Yoon-jae’s mother doesn’t specify Kyung-joon’s exact purpose for being conceived, and since he seems to be a healthy and whole young man (well, coma aside), and possesses all his parts, at least we’re not dealing with an Island-esque scenario of sci-fi grotesquery. So I’ll try to hold back on the dramatics—at least till we get the particulars of the situation. Mom doesn’t specify who did the birthing, necessarily, but it seems probably that she did—if only for the fact that a genetic sibling has a much higher probability for helping a sickly child than, say, a cousin or a half-sibling.

This also explains why Mom wouldn’t look at him when he was born, and has steadfastly resisted seeking him out over the years. All series long, Mom has called him “that child” instead of “my child” or by his name, so she’s maintaining a conscious distance from Kyung-joon. I get Miss Ripley vibes from her; pretending the child doesn’t exist just makes life a lot easier.

This turn may be a bit dramatic, but it’s a heckuva lot more interesting than secret love-child or abandoned orphan, so I’ve just gotten a lot more interested in where this is heading. Granted, the Mom storyline is always my least favorite in this kind of drama (and these writers have often pulled out the secret identity card in many of their projects), but where it has me invested is what it means for all our characters. And amazingly enough, it has also made Yoon-jae a smidge more interesting by association, because him being the recipient of Kyung-joon’s unknowing sacrifice, dealing with a combination of guilt and gratitude? Well, that gives him a lot more dimension.

All of this is compounded by the fact that Kyung-joon has now lost his mother, and is all adrift in the world. I fear for the blow he’ll feel (1) If Horrible No. 1 is his bio-mom, (2) to realize she gave him up without a second thought, and (3) to lose out to Big Bro Yoon-jae twice now, after Da-ran and now Mom. Ouch. I don’t know if I can take seeing him fall apart like that.

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thanks for the recaps! :)

waahh!!! what to do!
I think KJae didn't heard DR!

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Does anyone know who the little boy is (who plays one of Yoon Jae's kid patients)?

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OMGSH he is SOOOOOO cute with his little dimples!! i think it repeated that scene about 293847 times right now.

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love the kid too! dimpled cheek and all. keke. can i say that's my favorite scene of the episode? Together with Gong Yoo's other giddy moments of course.

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Thanks for the recap! This show is dragging now.. I really want Yoon Jae to make up more than ever. I'm not feeling kyung Joon. Sorry! :-(

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Thanks for the recap! This show is dragging now.. I really want Yoon Jae to wake up more than ever. I'm not feeling kyung Joon. Sorry! :-(

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Thanks so much for all the hard work with your recaps!

My friend and I use them for our podcast, the After Show Show: Korea. We just released episode number 3, which covers episode 5 & 6 of Big. We are both guys, so if you are interested in the male perspective on dramas and you love to laugh then please give our podcast a try.

Also big thanks for all the Dramabeans visitors that listened to episodes 1 & 2 of our podcast. I know this is pretty spammy, but we just want to get the word out however we can.

Episode 3: http://aftershowshow.com/releases/2012/7/2/the-after-show-show-korea-ep-03-big-ep-5-6.html

iTunes link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/after-show-show-korea/id540711868

Thanks!

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going to download you podcast... :)

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Listening to the podcast right now.

It's so cool to listen to you guys talking about kdrama.... esp Big. Keep up the good work.

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Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy our future releases as well :)

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i love the recaps.

thank you.

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Thanks!

I still can't get enough of Gong Yoo.
humonahumona.

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Yes! She finally realizes her feeling for him. Now I can totally see Dan Ran and Kyung Joon pair working.She used to take care of him like a mother to son, and she thought of herself as one, but now she has finally realizes that she probably has more feeling for Kyung Joon than YooJae. This makes me feel really happy.

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Really? Because it pissed me off. It turned into a typical drama and what's more creepy is that she's his teacher. I don't understand these teacher-student relationships. It's so frustrating and stupid.

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Can he stay in Gong Yoo's body forever?

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This is what I'm saying. LOVE Kyung Joon as Gong Yoo. Not so sure about Kyung Joon as Shin. He's so YOUNG. Everytime I see his sleeping body that's all I can think.

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Me too. I kept thinking about that... Haha. Still, I want YJ to wake up though, and explain his side of story and his real feelings towards Da Ran.
Again, hurrah for the major reveal! :)

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It won't be fair for both YoonJae and Kyung Joon.

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I agree with Shiku.

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all of this happening is already unfair for Yoon Jae.

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IKRRR.

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I think he will stay in the body forever. The miracle book is about 1 child saving another child so that he can save *another* child. So YJ is sort of paying back KJ by letting him have his body. Seems like YJ really cared about his brother before his accident and was going to to to LA to find him.

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They did manage to surprise me with the birth "secret". It didn't occur to me that Kyung Joon would be a whole brother to Yoon Jae. I guess now we know what the "miracle" book meant about one child saving the other and then that child saving the first. (Or whatever it said exactly.)

I must admit that while I LOVE Kyung Joong as Gong Yoo, I'm having a hard time with the idea of Da Ran and Kyung Joon once he's back in his own body. He looks so young laying there. And part of me does feel sorry for Yoon Jae that his whole life is being taken from him and their is nothing he can do about it. But maybe that was the karma for taking from his brother and then their parents just discarding the "unwanted" child.

I do worry how the revelation will effect an already fragile Kyung Joon. That kid is dealing with enough already. The concept of being born just as spare parts for a child your parents actually loved and then to just be discarded once you'd served your purpose is just about the most viscious thing I've ever heard. As a mother the concept makes me sick. I don't know how you could do that. No wonder the parents didn't stay married. What horrible people.

I am invested in this drama finally. And I love the couple moments we are getting. I'm just worried about the switch. I guess, like with Da Ran, I'm worried I love the shell and not the soul. But in my defense the shell is GONG YOO!

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"And part of me does feel sorry for Yoon Jae that his whole life is being taken from him and their is nothing he can do about it. But maybe that was the karma for taking from his brother and then their parents just discarding the “unwanted” child."

But why should YJ pay for what his parents did though? It's just all really unfair to him...

Idk I just have a lot of feelings for YJ. I need for him to wake up soon and explain his side of the story. :(

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How about instead of paying for what his parents did to save him as a child, he is paying back the baby who saved him?

I agree with JB "to lose out to Big Bro Yoon-jae twice now, after Da-ran and now Mom. Ouch. I don’t know if I can take seeing him fall apart like that."

The only way I can see ME being happy is if:
the body that KJ saved ends up being the body that saves KJ.
I still have not worked out why KJ couldn't just sit pretty in his own body, and YJ's body and soul passed after saving him.
Unless, it is DaRan who saves KJ and in order for DR to do this, KJ had to be in a body DR loves more than herself? Seems a bit much.
Or, there is something wrong with KJ that we don't know about because Cherub Angel Magic is hiding it. That could be.
They keep saying "There is nothing wrong with KJ physically, why doesn't he regain consciousness?"

The same magic that facilitated KJ's soul entering YJ's deceased body is actually shielding KJ's very wounded body from passing, too.
That HAS to be it. Both KJ and YJ are dead, and currently being held in this world by angel wing dust.
Once DR truly loves KJ, to the point of giving everything up for him and swearing to be by his side forever, KJ's body dies. YJ ghost talks to him in one of those blurry dreams that only the two of them see, and thanks him for his marrow transplant before he goes to the next life.

DR and KJ live happily ever after, and the only other person who knows about the soul swap is Mari, who opens a pizza parlour with CS.

YES!

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Ok, I'm too confused to understand....

but I YES with you!!

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wow,JOMO, you have been really thinking about this, haven't you!!! I like it!

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But then poor Kyung-joon loses his youth and has to live in someone else's body forever. (granted, it's Gong Yoo's super-hot bod, but still.)

:(

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I like your ending of the drama hahaha

I'm really enjoying this drama so much now, I laughed so much during this ep.

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I agree. But isn't it the way that the sins of the father are visited on the child. I think that's biblical, but don't quote me on that. I'm not really all that up on my biblical references.

But I also have a lot of feelings about Yoon Jae. He got caught up in this trying to do the right thing by saving a life. And now he's stuck in a body that doesn't work, while the soul of another uses his body to live his life. I really want him to wake up and explain everything too. His story interests me too.

And grammer note - I hate that I used the wrong there. I swear English is my first language. Sorry.

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"But isn't the way that the sins of the farther are visited on the child".

Sorry for "quoting you on that", but actually every individual is responsible for his own sins. It is not always possible to see those sins within the span of one lifetime. They might have taken place in the person's previous lifetimes, "waiting" for the suitable situation to be worked out, from life to life.

In this situation, the parents will have to pay for their misdeed, but YJ has his own bad reaction requited.

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Hey is the same Redge that I know? If it is, hullo!! Haven't seen you around in a while.

Anyway, quite a lot of people picked up on the My Sister's Keeper vibe so this doesn't come as quite a shock to me, but yeah like you said, I'm actually feelin really sorry that the one person in this whole story who knows most of the truth is...well...dead or in a coma (who knows?!) and can't tell us what's going on! Like GF or JB said before in a recap, they present us with different sides of how they have interpreted Yoon Jae's actions but like Rashomon, the audience has to put together what really happened and what the true story is like. It is making me really curious cos I want to know YJ's backstory too.

Being a great fan of the Hong sisters, one thing I wish they would improve on are the secondary leads... I'm actually starting to get really tired of hating on one person when the blame could have been contextual instead.

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anxiously waiting for this... you never fail me when it comes to recap... thanks JAVABEANS!!

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Omo! I didn't catch the reference but this story has just blown my mind. Could they even go sci-fi'ish & make him a clone. Like that movie with Knightley ummm (brainfart) oh yeah Never Let me Go brittish drama about donor babies. Now I'm hoping that KJ didnt lose GD... Dann they shouldn't have married...

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Wow...
That pretty much sums up what I have to say. This is getting good.

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Im worried of the angst that's coming..

Thank you for the recap.

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OH! The "Lie to Me" song! I LOVE THIS SONG! (LOL)

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My prediction is that, Kyung Joon's body will wake up soon, but their souls are stuck in the bodies they are in now.

As for Ma-Ri I see that she will eventually learn to give up Kyung Joon to Gil Da Ran b/c she sees that she makes him happy.

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I still don't believe Da Ran likes Kyung Joon. I believe Da Ran likes Gong Yoo... who doesn't exist in their world (tsk-tsk, what a sad world it is)... but in the close-proximity earbuds scene, I can't help questioning if Shin was the one standing in front of her, will she still have the same butterfly feelings? I think not. Which makes it hard to root for the OTP because they have to switch back. When Little Kyung Joon wakes up, I want him playing Kyung Joon because I want to hear the real story about Yoon Jae from Yoon Jae. Then who's going to get the happy ending? I'm torn...

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Maybe this time around there will be no happy ending (ie. no OTP). Which is fine by my book actually. This show could just be the growth of all the characters.

I'm itching for YJ to wake up too. I hope he wakes up in the next episode!

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The birth secret wasn't really a surprise to me. I always thought they might be brothers but as soon as the whole "one child saving another" hint was dropped, it was quite obvious it was a donor situation. The fact the both Yoon Jae's parents referred to Kyung Joon as "that child" made it more obvious. We knew Yoon Jae was going to America and IMO it was pretty clear he was going their to find Kyung Joon.

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That's what I'm thinking. His trip to the States was to find KJ. And that whole story might be tied into his seeming reluctance to act the part of besotted bridegroom. Not sure WHY...but it's ok.

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Well I guess this might explain Yoon-jae's plane ticket to L.A. If he was looking for Kyung-joon, chances are Yoon-jae assumed he was still in the States and was heading there to meet him.

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gah, i wish i could like this drama. tear.*

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Not sure if I missed it, but what is Kang Hee-Soo's relationship to Yoon-Jae's parents, if any? If Yoon-Jae's mother is, in fact, Kyung-Joon's mother, too, then how did Hee-Soo end up raising the child? Poor Kyung-Joon! If it's true, then Kyung-Joon clearly doesn't have any idea that Hee-Soo may not have been his biological mom. :(

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Surrogate mother who adopts the baby?
YJ's parents used their DNA to make a baby, but implanted it into that woman. She birthed and raised the baby.

I wonder if that ever really happens?

YJ's parents gave her enough cash to open a fancy restaurant.

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I found this articlewhile doing a search on Cancer & Babies:

To read about Born to save sister’s life, she’s ‘glad I am in this family’

Parents stirred outrage 20 years ago when they conceived her to donate bone marrow

Click on the link listed below:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43265160/ns/today-good_news/t/born-save-sisters-life-shes-glad-i-am-family/

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That's what I'm thinking. At least, it makes the most sense if they're full brothers. Or else, why would they give up their second kid considering they're rich and could have cared for him.

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Thanks for the recap!

Wow, I never actually thought previously that they would be full brothers!! I really hope that's the case and this is more of a "My Sister's Keeper" situation. Makes it much more interesting than a simple love-child situation. I can't wait to see what happens!

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Thanks for the recap.
I could feel your excitement reading this.

I love watching a confused DR fall in love with a very willing and hopeful KJ.

I don't see how she could end up with Shin as KJ, though.
It does make me all fluttery thinking about it, I must admit, but I doubt Korean tele wants a Lolita type ending, or from their point of view Harold and Maude.

tangent:
"Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are..."

LOVE that movie and OST.

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Aww, the Harold and Maude reference and ditty take me back... that was my favorite flick when I was in high school (which shows that I was just as dorky then as I am now).

"I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are *this*, yet allow themselves to be treated as *that*." Right on, Maude.

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Thanks for the recap! I like the theories and explanations which were suggested. So KJ helped his bro YK, so now it's YJ's turn to help KJ somehow. So interesting!

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I hope he heard her confession!!
I hope he heard her confession!!
I hope he heard her confession!!
I hope he heard her confession!!

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Me too! Me too!

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Are you Indian ?? (sorry for this off topic question)

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This episode was much more gentle than the previous, but I liked it--maybe for the feeling of a rising tide that it brought in me. I have to say for an experiment, the Hong Sisters are doing pretty well with this kind of comedy--there is still slap stick, and I still find myself laughing, but for entirely different reasons from their previous dramas, which surprises me a lot.

I really am not put off in this change of pace--probably because I love the variety out in the drama world (except for the makjang for the sake of it.)

Despite that, I have to say, I still miss the super funny sweeping romance and would have loved one for 2012 too. Makes me want to watch the older dramas with that effect.

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May be just me, but this part of the drama season seems to be a lot of gap-filler dramas. What I mean by that is that there is such a gap with the character set up that the whole point is overcoming that gap....

IDID, (or I did. Haha) has the age gap of a noona and a cold woman. The gap is Tae Kang's job to fill. He's constantly trying to narrow the gap.

Can Love become Money is similar. The gap to fill is trying to make a Chebal Chaebol buckle and see her as worthy.

Big is like that too... gap filler. Kyung Joon to defeat his older teacher to see who he is for the sake of him.

This is different from the last round of this year or last year.

Earlier this year there was more working together towards a common goal romance, where the romance came second. (History of a Salaryman, The King 2Hearts, Rooftop Prince).

Ahhh... I miss the sweeping romance where they meet as a random occurrence, and the whole story feels like you are swept up in those emotions. I also like the, "Not supposed to, but not quite forbidden, you amaze me, so I can't quite resist" romance too. Is it too much to ask for variety in the romance types?

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Gerrrrooooonnnnniiiiiimmmoooooo!!!

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First, thanks for the recaps and insights as always, JB!

Second, I'm actually not surprised at this twist because I've been lurking at Mrs. Koala's blog lately and she already hinted at the mysterious relationship between YJ and KJ. But JB added another interesting analysis in this sudden turn of events which adds depth to the story, and to the richness of the character of YJ and KJ. That's why I can't give up on this show despite of the negative impression it made on the others. I'd be lying if I'm gonna say that it's not about the OTP that I'm after when it really is (heh), but this new plot development makes me stick through. At least we're not dealing into the overused half-brother-out-of-an-illicit-affair trope.

Third, it seems that YJ's mom's reaction to KJ is rooted in guilt. If she in fact mothered KJ but used a surrogate womb just for the sake of saving YJ, she has all the reasons to feel bad about her actions. It's possible that she couldn't face "that child" because of the horrible motive that lay behind his existence and being very guilt-ridden that she was she chose just to deny what she did by denying KJ as her son. If that's the case then she could be the worst K-drama mother that I have ever encountered.

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so fast recap onnie.... thank youuu....

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what if Kyung Joons body DIES??? and maybe YoonJaes body along with KyungJoons soul inside needs saving? will the soul get the heart of the body?

and I just realized: kids´ doctor. helping himself "get better".

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Thank you JB for your recaps. I always enjoy your insightful comments.

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God, I love this song.

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The line will always blurry becoz its not KJ per se..so meaning DR can never be sure..n i can never accept the pairing..
Love gy n lmj..but not in this drama..
No wonder rating very low
If YJ wakes up in last ep whats the point..
Unless KJ is actually YJ with swapped memories maybe i will watch ths drama with better perception..retrospectively..

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Thank you forbeing just siblings the wonderful recaps n the clarifications..I can't wait till the subs come out n i do torture myself watching the epis RAW,but reading your recap made me feel good,cause i got the same vibe,while watching last night's epi..I knew there was more than KJ n YJ n related = brothers..n when i saw where the story was unfolding i figured the little one has been brought to life on purpose,so he can save the bigger one..It's not the first time seeing such kind og evil plot,but correct me if i'm wrong,it the first time being used in a k-drama ~? Anyways,i think KJ's fear of seeing blood has something to do with his past n what he's been used to for..in order to save his big brother !? And YJ was ab to fly to LA to meet KJ despite his parents,cause he might have found part of the truth or the whole truth n wanting a confurmation..Having two tickets make me think,he was planning to go along with Daran...But he was soo confussed n lost along the way of that latest discovery that he failed to tell her..That's simply my poor guessing,tho..But i'm loving the dramatic vibe already.two brothers,one of which concieved out of need in hope for a ''miracle'' finally finding te truth ab each-other's exsistance n falling in love with the same woman..How fucked up is this ?! I also believe the truth has been there all the time in the ''Miracle'' book..well,a bit fairytalish n maybe sugar-coated..but still..there..Even tho they never got the chance to grow up together,for God knows what reasons..They were always destined to make the 'miracle'' happen once or twice !? or till the rest of thir lives..Can't wait for tonight's epi..since i wanna know the details haha We all do,let's face it..I think everyone underestimated this drama frm the beginning..esp those,who considered it plain n not interesting..Sometimes it takes a story to develope to see if it's good enough or not..n you can't possibly say that from it's first 3 epis or it's rating..right ?! See ya around :)

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THANK YOU.... so interesting....

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No matter i put myself into this drama...i could'nt.

Great casts but for me the story is BLEH!

I would love to see GY and LMJ in a different lite of drama...wherein they both act on their same age...and confusion in seeing and loving someone else...

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Wow, this episode was fun and sad at the same time. I agree, all kinds of f'd up. Normally even if you have a child to save another, you keep both of them. Why would you give that child away, it's still your child. And as a mom, the bond between you and the baby is stronger so I'm curious to know why she would give up that child. There must be more to this for her to just give up a child without a second thought.

Now, torn over knowing that they are brothers for sure. Blood or half brothers it's all bad for KJ. How are they going to maintain this friendly relationship (post switch) if they have develop deep feelings for each other. And when YJ returns, is DR even going to want to be with him? YJ seems like such a boring person that I can't see her wanting to be with him now that she's seen a whole different side of what a relationship can be like.

And I love the 18 year old KJ in YJ's body better than the real YJ. I hope they give him a chance to redeem himself later on cause right now he is so boring. blah...

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Mom tells her husband, “That child isn’t my son! My only child is Yoon-jae. That child was only born to save our Yoon-jae! I do not know that child, Kang Kyung-joon.”

She probably needed the baby's bone marrow/umbilical cord blood. It's the only logical choice since you can't use a baby's organ for a 12 year old kid.

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agree about the bone marrow/umbilical cord....

the donor baby plot reminds me of Jodi Picoult's My SIster's Keeper.

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Iam not suprised either by the brother thing but how cruel is that if she is the real mother shes freakin rich she can raise both of them why abandon KJ thats the qs? And I also dont think daran is falling for KJ shes falling bec of his looks shes seing the doctor treating her right as a fiance/gf I want the doctor to wake up and let them switch already Iam not liking Daran and the teenage KJ being together at the end teacher and student relationship dont think Hongs will go that far but overall Iam not digging this story and next week is ep 10 /11 and I feel where not even getting there...what I dont like Hongs writing is they make the end to quickly that it sacrifices the whole plot I think for this story it should be atleadt end at Ep 24 not 16

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I'm guessing that KJ's "mom" was a surrogate.

So while KJ is technically Yoon-jae’s full brother, he was birthed by another mom.

That's the only way it makes sense since like you said, YJ's parents are rich, so taking care of another kid would have been easy.

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Iam watching Big all bec of Gong Yoo ohlala his so Hot cant believe that guy every angle is yummy

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... ... What in the world is with YoonJae's mother??? Couldn't she raise two kids??

Let's say KyungJoon was born solely to save YoonJae by having him unwittingly donate his cord blood or give part of his liver or something-something like that to YoonJae because YoonJae was dying of leukemia or whatever. While that alone is quite horrible, forcing one sibling to be the other's keeper, I understand the despair mom must be going through and how desperate she must have been to do that BUT THEN I don't understand WHY she could have raised KyungJoon too. It wasn't even as if she didn't have the resources to. Really, lady, was/is your heart only big enough for ONE child? Women in the past had to raise 18 kids at once!

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*WHY she could NOT

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Here's my take:

1. YJ is sick with a fatal disease. Only a genetically-matched donor can save him.

2. YJ's parents agreed to conceive another child, i.e. a donor sibling for YJ, but

3.a. YJ's mom may not be able to carry another child, or
b. she could not stand carrying a child just for the purpose of using it (it's like she wants to let the deed be done by someone else but not her), so

4. They looked for someone who's willing to be a surrogate and that's KJ's mom

5. Since technically the baby, "that child" did not grow inside the womb of YJ's mom she doesn't feel any motherly connection with him (and that is just plain horrible), or

6. She could not stand to face/raise the child she conceived for the purpose of saving the other as it will haunt her for the rest of her life (creation of a savior sibling is clearly an ethical issue). Her guilt over the matter may have kept her from acknowledging KJ as her own.

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Yes, I agree with point 5 and 6, and do see where you're coming from but while creation of a savior sibling is clearly an ethical issue, to create a saviour sibling AND throw him aside after "use" brings it to a whole different, worse, level. That is CLEARLY treating KyungJoon as nothing more than "a worthless animal".

What if KyungJoon's birth mother would not stand to raise him? Then is he supposed to be thrown into the bin and die or sent to live in an orphanage, with his right to happiness (I would assume that it would be to live a normal childhood like anyone else with normal parents) so brutally and purposely robbed from him for no more better reason than because his biological mother couldn't handle the guilt she called upon herself?

To me, what Mom has done is horrifying because "saviour sibling creation" aside, she is purposely potentially introducing one more sad, miserable soul to this world. It wasn't as if the birth was accidental. She asked for it.

Whether she saved her eldest son or not would result in consequences either way, so since she chose to save him, she should also be responsible enough to deal with the consequence that is KyungJoon. She can't just demand to have the best of both worlds, when it leaves at least one other party miserable.

Well, that's what I think.

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Perhaps Yoon Jae’s parents didn't have a choice?

I'm thinking, after Kyung Joon was born, the birth mother begged them to let her have the kid because she had grown attached to him. Perhaps she even threatened to just run away with him.

And perhaps his genetic parents felt guilty so in the end they agreed.

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Thanks for the recap!

I wonder what else was on that tape recorder. We've seen very few flashbacks of Yoon Jae lately-- it feels like his character is becoming less and less relevant. I wanna see more Choong Shik, including more scenes with the choding brothers-- they're so cute!

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Reading comments here I realize most of people here aren't shipping KJ and DR.

They are shipping GY and LMJ.

If you really shipped the couple DR and KJ, you wouldn't bother if he goes back to his old body.

People wishing him to be in YJ's body just show this.

You cannot accept the young and student KJ with DR, why?

Much easier to ship when he is at YJ's body, huh? Because you can't really tell he is afterall a teen and DR is his teacher, and this can make things very hard.

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MTE. :/

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I'm shipping DR and KJ.

The Hong sisters are making a point about loving the person, not their body... I don't care about their age gap. The visual age difference... well, yes, that's there but it will change over time (my grandma was 10 years old than my grandfather too. And if I hadn't been told this a child, I would never have known.)

The only thing that I find problematic is the ethics of the teacher/student situation. If they do switch back, then one of them should change schools at least. That said, with the one year time jump, it can't be all that long until graduation for them anyhow, no?

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Ha! I called the brother connection a long time ago since the matching cherub thingamajigs! Tho, I gotta say, that whole part about My Sister's Keeper is really a nice twist. Tho i still don't understand why Yoon Jae's mom couldn't raise two kids(maybe it wa bc of the guilt of compromising the second child's life?).

Well w.e. Thanks for the recaps, can't wait for the next ep! ^^

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If YJ will be a bad guy! KJ should stay! hahah well but i would love to see the grown up acting of Gong Yoo! ;) oh no...its going to end soon! *sob*sob*sob* noooo!

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I'm still having a hard time accepting Daran - Kyungjoon pairing, especially when Kyungjoon would be back in his own body.

Is Daran truly going to romance an 18-year old ? Her own pupil ? She has reached 30, right ?

*sigh*

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Thank you Javabeans, for the recap!

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Oh! Dear Javabeans that's really intersting.
Thanks a lot

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To be honest....

Every week when I see end of episode I feel "OK, next week will be better"....but every time when I see it....it's jus a disappoint. Sorry, but I had enough of that.

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Oh! Dear Javabeans that's really interesting.
Thanks a lot

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i really hope they use a surrogate mom, as a mother myself i can not see giving birth to someone with the same dad and everything and not being able to "own" him? EVEN if the reason for the pregnancy was to save the first child i would still love him, he is after all my child too? i think it be much more believable if it wasn't her that gave birth to KJ

and i just don't know how i would feel about DR and KJ together, i like them now but that bc KJ in an adult body. If they do ship this couple i would know how i feel once i actually see DR and KJ together in his own body bc you never know it might not be as hard to imagine as i think lol

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The best part was those two kids...they are adorable...

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The lil' boy . I'd like to place an order of two of him.
Sooo cute!

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I think I'm only going to pick up this drama again when YJ and KG switch back to their own bodies. I can't accept a chunk of the DR's actions because it doesn't make much sense considering we don't know enough about YJ's perspective on things. So until they switch bodies, I'll just be reading javabeans' and girlfriday's recaps. :D

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You've got a great point! I'll still watch the drama, but it's making me frustrated because it seems to me like she's cheating on her fiancee, Yoon Jae. I didn't get the feeling from the beginning of the drama that Yoon Jae didn't want to marry Da Ran, there were just some life problems (like having a mysterious little brother) that got in the way. Because of this, it seems like the OTP is still Yoon Jae and Da Ran, not Kyung Joon and Da Ran. I just don't understand what's going on without Yoon Jae's perspective.

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Yoon-jae was cheating on Da-Ran. If we're really going to pick a bone with something, cheating wouldn't be it. I'd say they're on same level right now.

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