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Nice Guy: Episode 14

This episode is chock-full of some really wonderful character moments, as Eun-ki’s journey to find her past proves to be a bumpy and unsurprisingly dramatic ride. It’s probably not helpful when the people around her want her to regain only her least painful memories, with none of them realizing that trying to pick and choose which memories an amnesiac should remember is not like programming one’s DVR. And even if it was that easy, I’m pretty sure her memories would come in an all-or-nothing package anyway.

 
EPISODE 14 RECAP

Despite repeated attempts to get Eun-ki to come back to her senses, she fends off Maru’s advances and chooses to wander on her own. She’s not playing around like Maru would hope – she really doesn’t seem to remember him.

Secretary Hyun runs to Doctor Suk for help while Maru trails Eun-ki as she walks through the city in only her hospital slippers. Anxiety is written all over her face as she soldiers on, and we hear Doctor Suk in voiceover telling us that shock can cause repeat memory loss.

Apparently it’s Eun-ki’s way of protecting herself from pain and fear, and if she can get over this last hurdle all her memories will return. Well, I’m glad he’s confident about that prediction.

Maru saves Eun-ki from getting hit by a car, and she finally asks him, “Do you know me?”

He brings her home and shows her the picture of them together at Aomori, but this Eun-ki is not the sweet flower girl of her first post-amnesia self. This version is angry and confused, as she calls the picture a lie before proceeding to destroy the room.

Her screaming wakes up Choco, and Maru tries to subdue Eun-ki just by physically overpowering her, and holds her still until she faints.

Naturally, Choco is frightened by what she just saw, and cries to Jae-gil for comfort. Both of them are worried about Eun-ki, since they consider her one of their own.

Jae-hee drinks alone and thinks over what Min-young said about disinheriting Eun-ki. Now that she’s seen firsthand what Eun-ki’s like, there’s no telling what she’ll do.

Maru’s spent the whole night holding Eun-ki exactly where she fainted, like he’s been too scared to even blink in case she might disappear. Jae-gil brings the bad news that Jae-hee’s at the door, and that Choco’s been assigned to keep her outside.

I love that she gives Jae-hee the most sour of expressions the whole time, and calls her a traitor for abandoning Maru for her chaebol husband. “You must be very happy,” Choco remarks sarcastically.

But Jae-hee seems to have a sincere moment when she says, “I thought if all my wishes came true, I would be very happy. But…”

She trails off for a moment once Maru comes outside, though she finishes her thought as she looks straight at him: “I am not really as happy as I thought.”

And it’s even better when Choco calls shenanigans on Jae-hee blaming her unhappiness on not having Maru next to her. Ha.

Once Choco is inside, Maru shoves Jae-hee against the wall menacingly, blaming her for Eun-ki’s meltdown. She fires back that they only talked about him, and she has no idea why Eun-ki was so frightened.

Maru isn’t buying it, and gets dangerously close to her as he grits out, “If you try to mess with her again even once, you will see for once what Kang Maru is capable of doing, and how far he can go.”

Jae-hee is unfazed. She sees through him and calls his “love” for Eun-ki a matter of conscience, just because he wants to return things to how they were before. To her that’s sympathy, not love.

“Love is what you gave me,” she says. “That was love, right? After I lost that, I realized how important it was. The reason why I’m now here in regret. Regardless of what happens, the determination to have it again… That is love.”

Her words have an effect, since Maru backs off. For what it’s worth, she seems sincere as she tells him that even with him coming back as Eun-ki’s fiancé, she was just happy to see him again.

Maru says nothing, and Jae-hee just smiles at him as she says that a world without him is no fun at all before leaving him with a flirty farewell.

She gets a call from Min-young on her way home with the real records from Eun-ki’s brain scans. He’s already on the case to disinherit Eun-ki, and after she hangs up Jae-hee says to herself:

“Don’t worry, Eun-ki. I will take care of you till you die. I won’t ever kick you out without a penny, just like the Chairman. As long as you know where you stand, as long as you stay stupid, pretty, and nice like now, then I won’t hate you. Why would I hate you? Because of Maru and I, your life became a mess. You’re the biggest victim. I am sorry. I am sorry with my sincere heart.”

There are so many things wrong with this speech that only point to Jae-hee’s dangerous state of mind when it comes to culpability for her actions. But damn if it isn’t a nicely loaded bit of insight into her psyche.

Eun-ki sits vapidly in her room, and throws a smoothie Maru brings to her across the room. He only expresses patience and brings her another one, which she throws again.

Again, he offers to bring her another one, and even changes the recipe up. Again, she throws it. At least when he gets up this time, Eun-ki tells him to stop trying because she won’t drink it. Maybe she’s starting to feel bad for him?

This scene is so simple, but so good. Choco and Jae-gil remain downstairs to try to talk Maru out of his cycle of repetition, and there’s something kind of frightening about exactly how removed Maru is from their conversation. They could say the house is on fire and he probably wouldn’t notice.

When he brings the next round, Eun-ki tells him she won’t drink it, and when he replies she has to eat in order to live, she throws the glass and shatters it.

Nothing but a small smile graces Maru’s face as he tells her that he has infinite patience, more than enough time (now that he’s on hold with Taesan), and that there are more than enough markets in the area to replace the supplies she’s throwing.

Choco’s had enough and wants to give Eun-ki a piece of her mind, but Jae-gil intervenes to physically cart her out of the house.

Up goes the next round. Eun-ki at least seems to think about it before she shatters the glass, leaving me commending Maru’s patience because I’ve already lost mine.

This time, she stops Maru from leaving by grasping his pant leg, her hand covered in cuts from the glass. As he treats her he tells her that he’s happy she’s lashing out instead of being always bright and happy, since it’s normal for her to be furious in a situation like this.

He asks her what she and Jae-hee talked about, as though she’d remember. He also seems aware that it’s because she’s running from memories of him that she’s punishing herself, and so he tells her, “Stop hurting yourself and hurt me, Eun-ki. Stop inflicting pain on yourself, and hurt me like this.” He takes her hand and holds it to his chest, showing her exactly where the metaphorical knife should go.

“You need to live properly in order for me to leave,” he says. “You need to get up properly so I can, without worries, disappear from your side.”

Eun-ki says nothing, and Maru goes to get yet another glass. By the time he makes it back upstairs, Eun-ki is sobbing pitifully and screaming. Well, Maru, you got what you wanted.

He leaves her alone this time, but his hematoma flares up on his way down, causing him to grasp his head in pain before vomiting. Lordy, these two. Free pain for everyone, come and get it.

She’s calmed down by nightfall, and an empty glass proves she drank the milk he left her. Huzzah, one glass survived – although you’d think by the third time he would have started bringing her drinks in a dixie cup.

By the next morning she’s all smiles again, and tells Maru that she had a dream where he was different than he is now. In it, he was a bad guy.

So, how much does she remember/not remember? Either way, he asks her what she’ll do if she regains her memories and finds that he really is the boogie man from her dreams.

“I won’t be able to forgive him,” Eun-ki replies. “He is the person I chose even after abandoning my father.”

Maru seems pleased with this answer, and urges her not to sway from that decision and never forgive him if it turns out to be the truth. Which, of course, it is.

Joon-ha meets Eun-ki in the coffee shop to ask her what Jae-hee said to her to cause her nervous breakdown, though she only remembers that she talked to her and not what was said.

However, she did regain some of her memories – like their last coffee shop conversation about Maru’s revenge. Eek. Except she doesn’t remember who he wanted revenge on.

You can see Joon-ha struggling on whether to tell her or not, though she’s desperate to know what kind of person Maru really is.

Maru’s back to work, and Jae-hee calls him inside her office to apologize for framing him. He doesn’t seem keen on accepting that apology, and Jae-hee’s face turns sober as she asks if she should kneel for him. “In front of you, I can kneel a thousand, or even ten thousand times.”

He seems to think it’s a bluff and waits her out with a smirk. But when she actually starts to kneel, he can’t stop her fast enough. There’s venom in his words and gaze as he tells her that she disgusts him, and he leaves her crying.

So it seems like Joon-ha doesn’t want Eun-ki to remember her past, since he denies ever having that revenge conversation with her. He even calls her memory a dream. All right, guys, I get that she’s fragile right now, but we’ve all got to shit or get off the chamber pot on whether we want Old Eun-ki back. You can’t be confusing her with “Oh, you dreamed that” when she’s actually trying to remember some pretty important details.

Whether she accepts his explanation or not is up for grabs, though she declares that she’s determined to regain her memories and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

Min-young updates Jae-hee on the Disinherit Eun-ki Mission, noting that it’ll be difficult to get to her with Maru acting as her shield. So Jae-hee proposes that they break the two apart and keep Maru once it’s all over.

Of course, she says it’s because his talent is too valuable to lose. Jae-hee: “I want him. I want all of him.”

They get a surprise visit in the form of Eun-ki, acting much more confident than before as she informs them that she’ll be returning to her company, and her people in order to do her job.

She assures Maru that she’s doing this to regain her memory, and that she can handle the work. Jae-hee doesn’t give her any breathing room when she calls with a task for Eun-ki to perform – meeting with the CEO of a cosmetics company she’d started brokering a deal with last year. This is their one meeting and one shot, so it’s all on Eun-ki now.

Secretary Hyun and Maru are there to help her, even though it’s going to be complicated with the Chairman from that company knowing Eun-ki so well. Maru urges her to get out of it but she refuses to back down, totally done with saying that she can’t.

She’s scared, but tries to pep talk herself into thinking that it’ll be all right as long as she memorizes everything about Chairman Min.

Maru drives her to the meeting while she struggles to remember all the facts Secretary Hyun gave her. She chooses to go inside alone.

Eun-ki recites the facts she’s learned to the Chairman politely, like how she hasn’t seen him in a year, and how his son is doing. He seems a little uncomfortable at that last mention, and a cut to Jae-hee reveals why: She lied to Eun-ki about who she was meeting. So she memorized facts about the wrong guy.

I have to give points to Jae-hee on this one, even though Min-young isn’t all that pleased since Eun-ki could end up ruining business ties with the chairman she is meeting.

But, that’s what Jae-hee wants. The more mistakes Eun-ki makes, the more reason they have to kick her to the curb.

Eun-ki keeps going on as though nothing is wrong, talking about a family that the man in front of her doesn’t have. He’s finally had enough and demands to know if she’s drunk before tearing into her over what she’s said.

By the time Maru makes it back to the room, Eun-ki’s alone. She tells him what happened with Chairman Nam, and how the chaebols were switched. To make matters worse, she’d been talking about his son (well, Chairman Min’s son) when Chairman Nam’s only son recently died. Eek, I’m cringing for her.

Jae-hee calls right on cue to tear Eun-ki a new one about her spectacular fail. Because of it, Chairman Nam’s pulled out of investing in one of their resorts. “How will you take responsibility?” Jae-hee demands to know.

Eun-ki’s eyes fill with tears as she starts defending herself by telling Jae-hee that she gave her the wrong information, but Maru hangs up before she can say more. “I think we fell into a trap, Eun-ki.”

Min-young tells a satisfied Jae-hee that the news is already making its way through Taesan, which will provide them a perfect opportunity to bring up her dismissal at next week’s board of directors meeting.

Even though Jae-hee finally won something, she sighs that taking down Eun-ki was too easy, and therefore no fun. Jae-hee, have you learned nothing from your string of karmic retributions throughout this show? Don’t tempt fate and just take this one quietly.

Eun-ki laments her inability to do anything right with Maru, more depressed than anything about how she failed her one attempt to be self-sufficient. She’s that much further away from finding her memories, though Maru wants to know why she’s in such a hurry. It’ll all happen in time.

“Because I want to remember you quickly,” she replies. “How much you knew me and loved me… Because I want to remember quickly.” This seems like Old Eun-ki, with Old Eun-ki suspicions. I like.

This failure has really got her down, and she cries that she’s ready to give up everything. She’s tired of trying only to fail.

Maru forces her out of bed the next morning to fix the mess she made, even though she’s adamant about quitting. He won’t let her quit until she remembers everything and reclaims her rightful position – if she doesn’t want Taesan after that, she can abandon it.

No matter how much Eun-ki says she can’t, Maru says she can, and that he’s proof that she can do anything. To prove it, he drops her off in front of Chairman Nam’s house without any warning and leaves her there.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t act quickly enough to get a word in before Chairman Nam leaves for work.

Joon-ha meets with Maru to confirm his suspicions that Jae-hee got ahold of Eun-ki’s medical records, and that they’re exploiting them to oust her from the company. It’s cute that Joon-ha looks to Maru for guidance on how to retaliate.

We know Eun-ki’s got a stubborn streak a mile wide, so it’s not much of a surprise when we find her in the same exact place outside Chairman Nam’s house when he returns home that night. However, he still ignores her.

Jae-hee goes home in a great mood and promises Eun-suk that she’ll buy him anything he wants in celebration. His answer? “Eun-ki Noona.”

Her face falls just a bit, and she asks him to name something other than Eun-ki. I love that his reply is: “Then, ice cream and Eun-ki Noona.” So. Cute.

Jae-hee can’t understand her son wanting something as simple as that when the world is so full of other, more luxurious and wonderful things. “I said I’ll buy you everything, that I’ll do anything. But that’s all you can think of?”

Her tone and words are too harsh, and Eun-suk starts crying. The maid comes to take him upstairs as he cries, “I hate you, Mom.” Ow.

Chairman Nam finally goes out to meet Eun-ki later that night, if only to tell her that her standing around won’t change anything. She tries a method she knows – honesty – and tells him about her amnesia and brain damage.

This news doesn’t move him to reverse his decision to pull out of Taesan, though she earnestly claims that she only wants his forgiveness. He’s curious as to why she’s trusting him with information that, if spread, could completely ruin her, and she replies that she told him because she’s sure she will recover.

“I came here, risking everything,” she admits. “Even if you spread the news, I can’t do anything. And… I did wrong.” She bows in apology.

And when she returns home that night she smiles, finally at peace with herself.

Min-young’s got everything ready to roast Eun-ki at the next board meeting, though their celebratory party of two is interrupted when Chairman Nam calls to resume the deal.

When Jae-hee sputters about his last failed meeting with Eun-ki, Chairman Nam acts like it never happened, and even wants to make Eun-ki his sole counterpart on this deal. “The late Chairman Seo really raised his daughter well. With Director Seo, whom I feel I have a connection with, I would like to start this deal again.”

This only pushes Jae-hee to disclose Eun-ki’s medical documents to the board of directors sooner.

Eun-ki’s present at the meeting, and Jae-hee wastes no time in bringing up her position for discussion. Before she’s able to go on she receives a note that reads: Let’s talk about your previous plans to murder Seo Eun-ki. Right now.

Those few words strike terror into Jae-hee’s heart as she calls for a break, only to see Jae-sik and Maru hamming it up outside. Oh, honey. You had to know your plan was going to fail.

Jae-sik saunters up to his sister and lets her know that he told Maru everything about her plan to make Eun-ki disappear, and how he only has to go into that boardroom and tell them the same for Maru to set him up for the rest of his life. Because Maru keeps his promises, and she doesn’t.

He leans in to deliver his next bit, about knowing how Maru took the fall for her murder and has kept quiet since then. Maru didn’t tell him, he was just able to pick it up from multiple signs, and wags his finger at her: “And this is exactly the kind of thing you would do.”

He’s terrible, but boy is he fun to have around. He certainly knows his conniving sister well, seeing as how they’re cut from the same cloth.

So it’s with resignation that Jae-hee announces to the board members that she wants to make Eun-ki… the public CEO of Taesan. Good gracious, that’s a huge concession.

Only compliments for Eun-ki’s business sense come out of her mouth, but Maru’s presence in the room as well as Jae-hee’s tense expression remind us of what’s actually going on.

She formally asks Eun-ki to accept the offer, and sends a dirty look Maru’s way in the process. He’s all smiles until he meets her gaze directly.

Then the smile fades.

 
COMMENTS

That look gave me goosebumps. Yikes. I mean… Bravo, Maru. Yours is a bad side I’d never want to find myself on.

I’ve been struggling with how I feel about Jae-hee, and though each episode reveals something new about her, it was this one that brought home the fact that it’s the antagonism Jae-hee constantly faces that makes me feel bad for her, even though most of that antagonism is a product of her creation. Which makes it one of the most vicious cycles ever, since she never gets to reap anything good from her villainy. I was pretty sure I was done with her after she tried to sell Eun-ki into slavery, but there’s just something about her that seems so unrefined, like she’s just trying to do right by herself without realizing that she does terrible, awful, truly unforgivable things to others.

We got some great character moments this episode all across the board, though Jae-hee took the lion’s share this time around. Her monologue in the car was especially telling and off-putting, just as much as last episode’s “If only you’d been nicer to me and Eun-suk, this wouldn’t have happened” bit. Jae-hee makes me want to believe that she wouldn’t be so bad if everyone around her did exactly as she wanted, like Eun-ki staying harmless and sweet, except she doesn’t realize (or doesn’t let herself realize) that the world is never going to work in just such a way that it will leave her with no choice but to do good.

As we’ve seen time and time again, plans she cooks up on her own rarely go her way. The sooner she realizes that, the sooner she can (maybe) start taking responsibility for her actions. I found myself strangely believing her when she told Choco that she wasn’t a bad person – not because she isn’t a bad person, but because she doesn’t believe herself to be bad. It’s an interesting conundrum for a character to be in, and it’s what makes it both gratifying and kind of sad whenever her plans go awry. Eun-ki was crying about being unable to do anything right, but it seems like that should be a realization Jae-hee comes to. She’s the one who really can’t do anything right.

Eun-ki’s re-amnesia left me pretty confused as to exactly which Eun-ki we’re seeing, and why she changed overnight from being sweet and shy to angry and sad. I get the trauma, I get the anger, but it feels like she went to bed one night not remembering who Maru was only to wake up and remember and I missed the step in-between where we either figured out that she completely forgot him or that she was just blocking him out.

She’s a little more like her old self in terms of being suspicious and wary of the world, especially when it comes to Maru. Though I’m not sure if it’s because she’s finally returning to herself or whether her breakdown caused a personality switch. Brain damage is bad enough, but Drama Brain Damage™ is an unpredictable and volatile thing. I’m just going to take a wait-and-see attitude on what exactly she’s figured out and what she hasn’t.

Here’s hoping that we get a little less broken glass and a lot more spunk from her, and soon. I want the cool, dirt-bike-riding, heart-on-her-bitchy-sleeve Eun-ki back already.

 
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Another really good episode. Although the headache of doom really pushes things a little too far. Loved the scenes between EunKi and Maru. But I thought it was a little cruel of JoonHa to tell EunKi that her memory was incorrect... She'll find out sooner or later anyway.

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My sentiments exactly, on all counts. I like the amnesia theme as a kind of play on "what everyone wants amnesiac to remember." It goes deep into the "we want people to be what we want them to be." Just like Jae Hee's: "I would've liked you if you hadn't been you." Or "I'm not bad but life did this etc." It's very human that we all want things and people to go the exact way we want. (Poor Eun-suk would be in mega-hell if in the future he gave up the company as Jae-Gil gave up his dad's company. Jae Hee would be mightily pissed that he didn't do what she wanted him to do.)

But that said, that hematoma lurking in the background is making me avoid getting too attached to the story. I'm just wary of getting attached to Maru if he's gonna die. I understand sometimes it builds suspense to have some potential disaster always lurking. But on the other hand, it just turns a person off because one doesn't like being manipulated and because all the convergence of sick folks with various illnesses is really just a bit too much.

The feeding scenes were really good. I thought we Jamaicans had a thing about feeding people, but wow! from what I see of Korean movies...food and love and memory are all intertwined.

Still liking my Joon-Ha but am thinking he should have better sense.

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yeah i don't know how jae hee thinks that eun ki should have acted nice to her, she should have expected that she is not gonna be liked by eun ki when she entered that household, just think about it who would like it when as soon as your mother who you loved deeply ran away your father brings home some young woman just 5 years older than you? Also, she clearly came for money and power not love and she expects eun ki to be
understanding of her and be nice to her? her clear goal was to takeover the company which does not even belong to her and she wants everybody to act like her friends? although in some scenes i do feel sorry for her because unlike most of the other dramas where villians win all the time except the end, she seems to be immediately punished for anything bad she does, still when i think about what she did to kang maru in the first few episodes i just get angry over her and feel less sorry for her. Anyway, i love maru to bits and hope his sickness just passes away after some operation or something, if somehow the writer tries to kill his character in the finale i would never ever watch melodramas again. I had enough of it with 'I'm sorry I love you' which frankly didn't give us any hope from the beginning that so ji sub is gonna survive but this drama at least gave some hope that if kang maru chooses to go to treatment early he will survive...

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Off to read.. Yeayy!!
Been waiting this. Adorbs maru =)

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I know I should have some deep reflection, but I just love this show so much it removes any ability for me to critically analyze it. Hopefully, I will get my brain back at some point!

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lol Eye Candy. I feel the same. I'd really rather check my brain at the door anyway for ultimate viewing pleasure!

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I absolutely get you. At some point, I've stopped analyzing the whole show. I'm just going with the ride.

And oh that sweet JoongKi behind when he sits down to give angry Eunki something to drink.

I'd put that as the last screen cap for this episode. Eye candy is always welcome :)

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yes...let's leave the analysis to Heads and just enjoy the Eye Candy that is Kang Maru =)

btw, thanks for the wonderful recap as always!

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here's the deelio---

we have Heads to analyze the show for us...i'm just grateful her virtual-vehicle has room for 'all of us along for the ride'. i trust Heads as the driver because i'm too busy watching the scenery. seatbelt fastened? check. sunglasses? check. Heads? drive...:)

very few kdramas grab me because of the storyline. this drama is 'in your face' unique. it's been like a food fight for me---food flying from all angles and when it hits me i barely get time to recognize the flavor of the food before something new hits me. stuff is moving too fast to recognize much less analyze.

i must say, the re-amnesia has me all "WTF". so...amnesia on top of amnesia means she's been jinned. dr. jin'ned? OY! really glad Heads drove really fast down that crazy street because re-amnesia is a bit much.

Thanks for being driver, Heads. <3

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I'm loving this imagery Awe! lol MY brain just started flashing pictures of a well-equipped sports car with a clown car's ability to seat a couple dozen screaming, sunglass'd fans blazing down the highway with Heads at the wheel yelling "Are your seatbelts fastened?"

And food fight? Hellz Yeah!

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Thanks for the recap!!!

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Wonder what numbwe commmenter I am...

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Jae Hee's self-justifications sound like those of an abusive spouse. Like, "If you hadn't burned dinner, I wouldn't have had to beat the crap out of you." Or, "If you weren't in the way of my son's inheritance, I wouldn't have had to sell you into slavery."

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I've just been saying that, she has no sense of responsibility for her own actions - her default response is to blame something/someone else and then cover up.

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Never been so happy to see Jae Shik appear before :D The actor really knows how to play up the sleazeball factor. It's fun to watch him.

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That's his second save. I keep thinking who'd have thought he could be a hero!

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I guess if the pay is right, he'll even be a hero. He's that cheap :D

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Aw, I can never ever look at Jae Shik's character as fun or a hero. Even if Jae Hee the adult is responsible for all her bad actions, Jae Hee the little girl was innocent, and that innocent girl abused and tormented by Jae Shik and her father. He really helped shape the character that Jae Hee has become now, but he's wondering why Jae Hee acting harshly towards him and isn't keeping her promises with him? Look in the mirror! And then what he tried to do with amnesiac Eun-ki - while Jae Hee told him to get rid of her, he only did it because he was to gain something from it, with no care for Eun-ki. So knowing what he was doing to an innocent girl and Eun-ki, I just can't ever enjoy his character even now.

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I agree that his character is SLIM, but that's twice now where we were lead to believe Jae Hee had a chance of getting away with her evil and then there he was, foiling her plans. The word hero was not a great choice, but I still felt like, heck yeah!!! when he showed up during those two scenes!

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Okay, that should be SLIME, not slim haha

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I haven't been watching the drama, but I hang on every recap!

Thanks!

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woa woa woa thank you!

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“How will you take responsibility?”

That's the essential difference between them - Eun-ki always owns up to her screwups and then does what she can to fix them, whether it was earlier with the union leaders, or now - no matter what material things she herself loses in the process. Jae-hee, on the other hand, was always more focused on covering up for her mistakes, no matter how much the process would hurt someone else.......

and if you think that adulthood and growing up are in large part about the ability to take responsibility for one's actions, Eun-ki would actually emerge as the more adult of the two, even now.

And then same goes for Maru too - it was flat-out horrible of him to use Eun-ki the way he did at first, and he did it without caring about the consequences to her. His new post-amnesia sense of 'doing right by Eun-ki' is actually a more mature response than what his earlier (pre-Ep 6) self had.

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"Jae-hee, on the other hand, was always more focused on covering up for her mistakes, no matter how much the process would hurt someone else……."

That is a great way of putting it. I know Jae-Hee has supporters who have found valid psycho-social justification for her behavior. I'm often on board to consider how a character psycho-social environment growing up affect their later behavior--but not this time.

The moment Jae-Hee lied to the police that Maru was blackmailing her, while staring at Maru was the moment she cross the line that made redemption impossible in my book. [Unless they can prove she has a huge frontal lobe tumor and isn't responsible for her amoral behavior[

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Agreed! And after she gave the order to Jae Sik to do with Eun Gi whatever he wants... she is pretty much on her way to hell.

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"I know Jae-Hee has supporters who have found valid psycho-social justification for her behavior. "

I find it interesting that her brother shares the same psycho-social background and so his behavior could be equally justified on the same basis, but those making this argument for Jae-Hee don't apply it to her sibling.

I've always thought there were indications that setting up scenes, like the one she did for Maru where she tried to frame her brother, is not something that just occurred to her. She has experience with these little fake scenes.

We have another clue with her brother telling her now that he figured out Maru took the murder wrap for her, and he didn't get that from Maru, but from Jae-Hee's own past history, because he knows it's just the sort of thing she'd do (he also told Maru this at the Karaoke bar when he first met Maru after getting out of prison).

I think we're going to find that other scenes from their childhood are going to turn out to be bits of theater she created for Maru's benefit, with her brother's help.

I'm also curious about just what other promises she made to her brother but broke.

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It's easier to explore psycho-social explanations for Jae-hee because we actually got to see her past as an abused girl and Jae-shik as the abuser. We never really got to see Jae-shik being abused in anyway. We never got to see a young, developing Jae-shik shaking in fear. I think if we did, we'd try to understand him a little bit. And any guy who would participate in the selling of a child to brothels or sex traffickers (Jae-hee was only a young teen)... there is a special level of hell for someone who would hurt kids in that way.

I think when Jae-shik refers to Jae-hee's bad behavior in the past, he is referring the time between Maru being sent to prison and when Jae-shik re-appeared. I think in that time, Jae-hee had framed her brother for something he didn't do or for a series of somethings he didn't do. When he called her while she was trying out her wedding dress, he had just been released from jail.
He was so pissed after he got out of jail, he had beat up Jae-Gil to get Maru's phone for JH's number. He also only just found out she had anything to do with the Taesan group, so he must have been gone for quite some time (6 years in prison, perhaps).

If she could land her brother in prison for a crime he didn't commit, it's not a huge leap of deduction to figure out that she could have done the same to Maru (the murder was unintentional, but she really did almost land Maru in jail twice on purpose). And she had proved that she could easily frame someone with her act in episode 11 - pretending like she didn't want Eun-gi hurt and sending the cops over to his gambling den- hoping to get him back in jail.

I think when Maru took the fall for her that night, it was not something she had planned. When she went to the Chairman with that information packet, her voice and expression shook with pain, disbelief, and horror. Not like she planned for that guy to try to rape her. Of course, then the Rich Chairman started protecting her and she got addicted to the taste of living as a rich madam.

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Agreed. I'm starting to wonder if even the murder was carefully staged, although she has shown us a memory to refute that idea. It showed us only a little bit of the aftermath of that night with President Seo from Eun-ki's perspective, and we don't know if she was already working for/sleeping with the President when she went to meet the guy.

I agree that Jae-hee is responsible for her actions. A psycho-analysis might show us some reasons for those actions, but it does not absolve her of blame.

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I like how we keep seeing a vast difference between what JH says, either to others or to herself alone, and what she does.

Let's say that years of abuse and trying to survive despite it have trained her to protect herself at all costs.

Time and time again, when a choice comes up between letting EG or MR have their way or doing what would benefit herself, JH picks the action that helps her. In other words, it is all about her. She cannot yield an inch ever.

Her defense, though, is always an offensive move. She is the one attacking them. How can that be anything other than evil?

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"How can that be anything other than evil?"

Exactly. How can it?

This drama is interesting is the way it is separating people's view on culpability.

There are those you seem willing to totally overlook Eun-Ki drips of bad behavior when compared with Jae-hee's Tsunami of evil. [that's my stand]

And there are those who seem to find an equivalency/comparability. [I may be misunderstanding that--]

This difference can make watching dramas together interesting, but life in the real world uncomfortable.

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This is an excellent example of us seeing what we want to see and hearing what we want to hear.

Both ladies are capable of destroying the other without blinking an eye, when really they would both be happier if they could forgive and yield.

To me it's about craftiness vs honesty.

I like EG because everything she has done to block JH is right out there. EG told JH that she has been trying to throw her out of the house since her mother died.

She is openly hostile to this woman and doesn't care who knows it. JH, on the other hand, keeps playing nicey-nice in front of other people, while making threats to EG in private. Neither are going to win an award for best step-daughter or best step-mother!

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Jomo, this is the biggest difference for me in EG and JH, which keeps me interested in JH's motives.

In the beginning, EG is clear in that she wants to erase JH from her life, she hates her guts and the guts of her son, and she is not willing to compromise and respect her father's marriage. For EG, JH is pure evil and nothing she does can be sincere or kind. When JH tries to warn EG about MR's true intentions, she does not believe her sincerity. Time and time again, EG disregards JH's attempts to help her.

JH is asking for a civil coexistence, for acceptance of ES as a little brother, for some respect as a wife. At times she sincerely feels bad for EG's health and tries to take care of her. She is mostly reactive at the beginning and only later becomes proactive in scheming and plotting.

I don't think it's fair to place a blanket judgment on JH as pure evil and EG as pure angel. It's telling how much embarrassment EG feels when she is told about her past presentation. They both have some things to work on.

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I don't know if some people overlook it, but JH's bad behavior as of late is not merely because her childhood past. Before she enter Eun Ki's family, she was pretty much kind a good girl (eventhough I notice her point of view has already twisted).

She undergrow some transformation from good to evil. And during the entire drama, some her attitude grew based on the way some people treat her. EK's behaviour towards her is no different. EK keep doing a bad thing to her that force her to do something bad . If EK accept her, Did JH would went that far?
Her self-seeking personality based on the way Ma Ru always helping her so she get used to it.

So when EK maybe is better than JH. But she is one of those people that affected JH's behaviour.

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For[ YUMI], JH is pure evil and nothing she does can be sincere or kind. When [Jae-hee fakes concern and ] tries to warn EG about MR’s true intentions, she does not believe her sincerity--[Rightly so] Time and time again, EG disregards JH’s [fake self-serving] attempts to help her.

JH is asking for a civil coexistence-[where Jae-hee owns everything that EK was meant to inherit, not just from her father but earned through her and her mother's effort ], for acceptance of ES as a little brother [and rightful heir to the conglomerate] for [power] respect as a wife [who betrays her husband and sleep with and underling to get/retain that power]. At times she sincerely [remembers] EG’s health and [is willing to let her live so long as she never recovers enough to challenge Jae-hee's power and take back what Jae-hee stole]. She is mostly reactive [and self-serving] at the beginning and only later becomes [pure evil].

I [think it is fair ]to place a blanket judgment on JH as pure evil. Whatever moments Jae-hee had that were less than evil happened before the story started-- that is before she called Maru to the hotel room to take care of the mess she made]

[And I don't feel the least bit guilty about thinking of Jae-hee as evil incarnate because it is fun, it is fantasy, and it has no real world consequence. ]

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Exactly. It's interesting how people are willing to overlook or give a chance of redemption to characters they like and place others firmly in eternal hell.

Yes, MR chose to go to jail on his own, but (insert rationalization here); he chose to sleep with women for money but (insert rationalization here), he chose to take JH down but (insert rationalization here); he chose to abandon his sister but (insert rationalization here), he chose to use EG but (insert rationalization here), he chose to swindle people causing suicide but (insert rationalization here), he chose to fight JH dirty but (insert rationalization here).

EG hated JH but (insert rationalization here); she bullied her little brother but (insert rationalization here), she chose to kill herself and MR resulting in brain damage but (insert rationalization here).

But they are changing, growing, and capable of remorse; they deserve a second chance. MR and EG chose to do bad things but they are granted an opportunity to choose better and to grow.

And then there is JH. She can never be afforded even a chance to earn redemption. She will not be growing, changing, or learning new things about herself and life ever. She is frozen in eternal hell of judgment. The judgment of what kind of person she is and will remain forever or even worse.

That's my main concern with "Big Bad Evil JH" posts. Human nature is fluid and dynamic; people are capable of changing and growing. Some do it in the middle of the drama and some can get it by the end.

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It's not just people's wishful thinking that makes them think JH is evil and horrible - the story itself is doing that.

She's given chance after chance to do the right thing and not hurt others, while she passes those choices up in favour of her own self-interest, every time. Yet at the same time we know that at heart, she doesn't think of herself as a bad person and knows that what she's doing is wrong, but her greed has taken her over now. And she's not moving off that path anytime soon. I would have said the same of Maru a few weeks ago, but he's clearly changed since - let's see if Eun-suk is enough to bring about that change in JH, since he's the only person in the world towards who she seems to behave somewhat unselfishly.

And like I pointed out before, the real contrast between her and Maru/Eun-ki is that their flaws (and especially Eun-ki's) are out in the open, while hers are not - I'm hoping for a redemption for her, myself but that doesn't automatically create an equivalency between Jae-hee's sins and Eun-ki's or Maru's, as you seem to think, especially when it comes to Eun-ki's pre-Maru behaviour with Jae-hee - I'd be shocked if Eun-ki had accepted or been nice to Jae-hee knowing that she had an affair with Eun-ki's father that ultimately broke up her parents' marriage and drove her mother to leave, especially when Jae-hee herself admits to it.

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Very, very well said. I agree 100%.

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Yumi, that's nice of you to lump together all the 14 episodes while I was talking about JH and EG at the very beginning. EG should also hate and despise her father who chose JH over his wife and chose to father a son.

I have been consistent in saying that JH needs to be taken down and learn her lessons.

I don't hate her that much and I don't think that she is evil incarnate, that would be giving her too much credit.

Nor do I think that being openly hostile is better than being passive-aggressive.

But hey, let's say JH plotted and killed a good man who tried to rape her, then she killed EG's mother, plotted a car accident to put the Chairmain in the wheelchair, cut the brakes on EG's bike, bribed her brother to beat her up when she was a preteen and then ran to MR's front yard to secure him for further use, then bribed the brother to beat her up again and give her a hip injury, and as long as we are at it, let' add global warming and gas prices. Because that would be all JH evil incarnate.

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"It’s not just people’s wishful thinking that makes them think JH is evil and horrible – the story itself is doing that."

Well said. In most forms of narrative the writer is god and if that god has skills, she helps shape the audience response to the morality of the story by highlighting or hiding information.

Maru goes bad things--yeah, sure, he does. But we rarely get see the human cost of his behavior before the car crash. I don't think sleeping with women for money who know you are sleeping with them for money comes close to anything Jae-Hee did. If those women were damaged they were complicit in their pain. They ran towards their pain. And the series never let us know them as full human being.

After the accident when the writer wanted us to understand that Maru had gone off the moral deep-end, she brought his victims before. Gone were the women who were complicit in their destruction, instead we saw people trying to resist the road to hell and Maru pushing them into a fire that he was living in himself.

Jae-Hee is set up as a villain because the lives she destroys are the lives of people we know. We know their hopes and fears and when we see someone hurting people we care about we tend to condemn them more.

My List of Jae-Hee's unforgivable sins are
1- allowing Maru to take the fall for her [he was complicit/ so this might have been forgivable early on]
2- lying to the police that Maru was blackmailing her. [Eun-ki has no responsibility in this--it was Jae-Hee's choice] Jae-hee's lack of gratitude [cannot stand ingratitude] to the point where she was willing to throw him under the bus again for her convenience.
3- gleefully hiring goons to beat the crap out of Maru when she realized that he wasn't as slavishly loyal to her as she assumed he'd be for life.
4- plotting to have Eun-ki killed or sold into sexual slavery to secure the resources that rightfully belong to Eun-ki
5- having no conscience or soul.

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@RealKdramaAddict

I do think that Jae-Hee is responsible for global warming, higher gas prices, hurricane Sandy and the ridiculous onslaught of negative campaign ads I'm being subjected to because I live in a swing state.

See we agree, Evil Incarnate.

BUT I don't think she cut the brakes on Eun-Ki bike. That would have been over the top even for Evil Incarnate.

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@Yumi:
I appreciate your point of view about JaE Hee and Maru / Eun Ki. and I won't force you to make you agree with me. Some of your reason you didn't forgive JH behaviour and the other hand Justified MR/EK action is abit bias or maybe the way we saw about morality in society is different. in my book, we, people, is a creatures where our behaviour is based on many factor, and one of them because of someone else behaviour.
I love MR and he is my fav character, but I don't blind to admit he also at fault for JH's road into evil.
But there is a point I agree with, while people and bad environment taking apart for her road into evil territory, her personality, her decision, is the one who make her like this. But I can't take all the blame to her. She is too vulnerable and actually someone need guide her constantly. Since MR went to jail for quite long, it seems she become loss.

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>people are capable of changing and growing

Of course they are. EG and Maru are good examples of that. Maru never gained from the things he did. He lost everything. His sister and best friend left him in disgust over what he had become. Choco returned the money and didn't want it. Then he decided to change and help EG. EG was kicked out of her house, missed her father's passing and almost lost her whole inheritance because of her actions. Her hating JH only led to her father being upset with her and making JH more desperate. She never accomplished much for it. Not to mention she is now going through amnesia and brain damage because of her choices.

JH on the other hand only seems to gain from her bad deeds. She lost Maru, but she doesn't seem to care much about that until just recently when she realized he wasn't there for her anymore. She's lonely, but money and power is more important to her. She is afforded the chance to change the same as everyone else is and you can see her nearly every episode feeling very conflicted about what she should do, but she always does the thing that benefits nobody but her. She's not beyond redemption because frankly I think her kid is a get out of jail free card, but she also never actually does anything to change herself.

She'll be redeemed at the end most likely. Frankly I can't feel too sorry for her when she says things like kicking EG out was too easy and it's not fun when it's boring. That makes her sound like she gets off on hurting others, not that she is doing it out of necessity for her own survival. From someone who constantly gets her ass handed to her you'd think she wouldn't be so dumb.

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I think Maslow's hierarchy of needs applies to JH. She's not quite reached self-actualization yet. She appears to be at the Love/belonging stage.

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Personally I totally root for EG because she is a bitch. But compared to JH, she doesn't hide it - she is a bitch and she thinks "so what?". She doesn't pretend to like JH because JH was the woman - no so much older than herself - who slept with a married man - her father - and her mother left them after it. She doesn't pretend to like ES because why should she? She said it... he could take away what's hers in the future. So EG might not be an angel but she is more honest about her intentions.

While JH is pretending to be an angel and a good girl who always tried to get along with EG. But from ep. 14 we know that JH would only accept EG if she stays weak and dumb.

I also think JH was never a good girl. Maybe when she was child but then something happened and I'm pretty sure her brother took the blame for it. Then she learned to fight her way through her life to get where she is now and she sacrificed Maru without batting an eyelid. Because she KNEW if she would play her role, Maru would never let her go to prison.

And all the choices she made, e.g. sleeping with several men while being in a relationship with Maru or sending thugs to beat Maru, led her further down the path of evil.

So, do I think JH is evil!? YES, she is! It COULD've been different if she would've been satisfied with her job as a reporter but she wasn't. So, do I pity her!? No, I don't. PERIOD.

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Yumi, haha, please no election talk in the lala land of Kdrama. Or move to the state of Washington; we are pretty quiet liberal state.

I guess we are running into psychological paradox of being versus doing. Judgments from moral superiority will never afford anyone a chance of redemption; that would be a terrible world to live in.

The writer is consistent in portraying JH's self-deception and two different realities she lives in; the one in which she justifies her choices and the other where she knows she is despicable and immoral.

Her two realities should collapse and result in a nuclear evaporation of JH. I cannot wait to see that. I want for JH to really face who she is and that it was her own doing, not the others.

I see the two realities of EG (pre- and post-amnesia) collapsing and changing her as well; hence the defense mechanism of psychological amnesia and the possible growth of new EG.

I am okay with waiting to see how everything and everyone will develop. I don't remember if the writer had an evil incarnate in any of her dramas. She is good with shades of gray and multilayered characters.

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@ RealKDramaaddict

I'm not sure I understand the "psychological paradox of being versus doing"

Perhaps the way you are using this term belong to a specific discipline. For me/in my work (story telling/ drama and performance narratives and performance) what you do is what you are, so doing=being.

I tell my acting student when they are creating a character, they need to mine the script for what the playwright/stage directions say about the character. What other characters say about the character. And what the character say about him/herself. But it is what a character DOes [despite his/her rationalization, justification, blame and apology]--that tells you who that character is. And the difference between what the character says about him/herself and what the character does adds dynamic tension to the performance of that character.

I apply that to my evaluation in the real world with some variation. What we SAY about ourselves [our self-concept] is what we aspire to being. What we DO is who we are. And the difference between the two indicates how self-deluded we are.

Jae-hee rationalizes her bad behavior what violates her image/self-concept by insisting she had no choice. Her behavior is in response to other. When she does this she can continue the delusion that she is a 'good' or at least 'acceptable' person. I have not seen her recognize her deviant behavior and accept responsibility for it. Whenever she has acknowledge her deviancy she done so as a part of a scheme bond with her morally bankrupt lawyer-lover or to manipulate Maru. So that is why I think she lacks a conscience and soul and is beyond redemption.

Just to be clear, this is an intellectual exercise for me. Because of what I teach I am always curious to see how the presentation of character elicit different responses from audiences. I'm always curious about the stories being told and how they are told and how they are received.

The creator/writer/director has only so much control over how a story is received. They can use all the tools in their arsenal to shape an audience experience, but ultimately each audience member's history and belief system will have determine what they see, and how much weight they give to what they see. Were Jae-Hee real and on trial, I would work to figure out what made her tick if I was on the jury. But she isn't and I not--so I don't have to spend the time.

Right now I'm more interested in what I see as the production staff's techniques in shaping the moral universe, and I'm curious why so many people see the story so differently. And is the difference of perspective proof of the drama's excellence.

When audiences see the "villain's" humanity and sympathize with the choices the villain makes it usually proof of a writer's talent. I'm not sure that's what's happening with Nice Guy--but I'll admit my bias, since I don't see NG'S villain's complexity.

And I must confess--I'm not usually a fan or anti-fan of actors. Since I don't know the actors personally being a fan is . . . . in my book

That being said, I disliked COFFEE HOUSE and Park Si Yeon's character and performance in it, and that 'antipathy' for her work remains.

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I think Jae Hee's a solipsist. She's just incapable of understanding the full humanity of other people, the idea that people outside of herself have full, real worlds in which they feel and imagine and operate and have agency.

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She is. I think she has narcissistic personality disorder which means everything is always about her. She will say or do anything to get what she wants because she does not consider that anyone's wants or needs are as important as her own. Unfortunately, personality disorders are very difficult to overcome, so I don't think she will be reforming any time soon. In fact, she seems to be unraveling a little as the episodes move along; her schemes seem less thought out and more reactive. I think she's starting to panic.

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I feel like Eun ki has already recovered good portion of her memory about Maru. She seemed too suspicious of him to not know about his deceitful days. Also the morning after talk with Maru about the dream seemed like such a old Eun Ki thing to do: to keep her knaowledge of him to herself and try to think it through and find more information before confronting him. I mean she has done that in the past.

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*knowledge

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That's a really interesting possibility. I took her statements literally, but who knows, she may be onto him already.

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Wow... what an episode.. like it when Maru really patience with eun gi... so next week this drama will be over? Hikss... T___T

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I think it is set as a 20 episode drama. I think. It could be 24. In any case, it is not ending next week.

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Ahhh all the glass wastage! :O Haaaha thanks for the recap!! ><

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oh, and did anyone else notice the way Maru and Eun-ki are both dressed in white when she's having her re-amnesiac breakdown? (second cap downwards)

Just when the truth (or some part of it) comes back to Eun-ki, and he's not being all guarded/walls-up in his response to her just then....I love it.

(also those two need to have some more skinship....sweet, endlessly-patient Maru is adorable but some passion would be nice, once Eun-ki gets her memory back. I mean, yeah, anger is passion too but I'd prefer it if she didn't throw things next time!)

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Yea, I agree with the skinship! I'm amazed he has the patience. He seriously must love her a lot, to be able to be that patient with Eun Ki.

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to be honest I don't blame Eun-ki for breaking all those things given her condition at the time, but any guy who is that patient and loving is a keeper for sure.

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Thanks for the recap.

the look on maru’s face from all smiles (more like smirk) to emotionless is just…goosebumps

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It sent chills up my spine! Also loved the way he spat out "it's disgusting" to Jae Hee.

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yup SJK has really great facial expressions. loving the show more and more. just please don't kill maru at end drama land (with all the vomiting going on) that would be like tearing my heart into tiny pieces

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I've watched that last scene several times and the way his face morphs still gives me chills! Daebak acting!

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Drama Brain Damage™! Another trademark for HeadsNo2!

Thanks for the recap and for your incredible insight into Jae-hee!

"although you’d think by the third time he would have started bringing her drinks in a dixie cup."---> I was just thinking the same too! or at least get her a sippy cup like the ones for little kids. Maybe kdrama characters living in nice houses HAVE to drink out of glasses instead.

Joon-ha lying to Eun-ki and telling her that her memory was a "dream" is putting him back on my "Joon-ha, you've disappointed me" radar. Maru and Joon-ha want her to remember, but they're really just obstructing her from remembering. Tell her SOMETHING to help trigger the other memories. This is important. Her company is at stake! Stop telling her it's a dream when it's not! She's going to feel super betrayed when she gets her memories back.

I do like that we're seeing glimpses of Old Eun-gi in her expressions (going a little back to her steely look) and her determination. I hope we get her memories back next week!

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Eun-gi and Maru moments here. The way he was so patient with her...the momentary sad expression on his face when Eun-gi said she wouldn't be able to forgive him if he really was like the bad person in her dreams. Then he put on a brave face to basically say "remember to do just that!" And when he helped her solve her problem with that offended President. He knew Eun-gi so well that he knew she will know what to do and had only needed to drop her off at that man's house.

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yeah, Cute Lawyer seriously disappointed me with that 'it was just a dream!' stuff.

I mean, dude just TELL HER already now that she's asking, if she's that furious afterwards then I'll take him if she won't.

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everytime Maru brought a glass up, i was all "dude! i have those same glasses too! Duralex: made in France-sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma!" but it takes a lot more to break them than slapping them off a tray...i should know.

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And the awesome continues...

I cried with Eun-ki.... I cried even more with Maru.

I love Eun-suk even more... He only wants ice cream and Eun-ki Noona... So Adorable. And there you go Jae Hee, your son even hates you now.

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Thanks Heads... Awesome recap. The dixie cup had me laughing.

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+1 to all you said.

..... This show owns me

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Omg, I love your name!

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Komapsumnida!!! :)

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“Love is what you gave me,” she says. “That was love, right? After I lost that, I realized how important it was. The reason why I’m now here in regret. Regardless of what happens, the determination to have it again… That is love.”

no Jae Hee, Maru gave you obsession not love and frankly you're suffering from a case of grass is greener/want what you can't have.

nothing Jae Hee or the writers can do will give me any sympathy for Jae Hee she made her decisions she made her bed so shut up already. I still want her to die, preferably in a giant fireball.

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That's exactly what I thought about Maru's supposed love for Jae Hee. He was obsessed to the point it was ridiculous, that was definitely not love

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I don't really have a take on this whole Ma Ru-Jae Hee thing (I don't even watch this drama anymore). But isn't obsession a huge component of romantic love? So his previous obsession with her might just be a proof of his former love.

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Agreed ... not love but obsession.

it's a crappy smelling perfume...that leaves you wanting everything BUT love.

and lol to your preference for JH dying in giant fireball. im kinda hoping she goes to prison and MaRu and EunKi send her videos of son growing up without her.

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I'm guessing Eun Ki actually in the process for re-gain her memory. I believe she has been re-gain her bad memory with Ma Ru. But deep down her soul couldn't accepted and try to deny it.
Her constant denial to refuse her painful memory with Ma Ru causing her back and forth pre - post amnesia memory and makes her seems like experiencing split personality.

But the result is finally she remember! ANd now I assuming she actually has re-gain her bad memory with Ma Ru and accept it. She just pretending to test Ma Ru. But it seems she hasn't re-gain her memory when,where, and why the accident occured.

But it just my assumption. LOL I don't know, maybe I'm in the wrong one. SInce she is capable and has the skill to pretending and test Ma Ru how sincere Ma Ru loving her.

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Hahaha I really like your trademark for Drama Brain Damage (DBD!)

Thanks for your insight and amazing recap on NG! =) Can't wait to see Eun-ki we know back.

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Brain damage is bad enough, but Drama Brain Damage™ is an unpredictable and volatile thing.

hehehe creative license and all that.

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haha kinda laughed at this.

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Eun-Seok is the one thing that makes me aww amidst this chaos.
Haven't finished this episode but hope to when I wake up tomorrow!
Thanks for the recap Heads!

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Thanks for the recap.

"Huzzah, one glass survived – although you’d think by the third time he would have started bringing her drinks in a dixie cup."

A dixie cup would indicate a lack of faith.

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Exactly, it would indicate that he doesn't take EunKi seriously, like she's an incapacitated patient. I thought it was good that Maru let her express her anger for as long as she liked.

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In my opinion, the morning after the breakdown, I think Eun ki already remembers most if not all her memories and she's just testing the waters around her on the people she knows, who are good or bad and who can she trust and not trust. The way she told Maru how he was before the accident seems like a test for Maru on his reaction and true feelings. And then there's the way she went inside the office of Jae Hee and how she greeted JH and the lawyer and she declared that she's coming for her company and her people.

It's the old Eun Ki!!!

And I hate how the lawyer seems to think that lying is a good way to help Eun Ki. UGH!!! Come on!!! Why can't he just tell her...

And I cried lots and the beginning scene especially when Eun Ki was crying while Ma Ru was inside the bathroom vomiting.. get the darn surgery Ma Ru!!

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"So it seems like Joon-ha doesn’t want Eun-ki to remember her past, since he denies ever having that revenge conversation with her. He even calls her memory a dream. All right, guys, I get that she’s fragile right now, but we’ve all got to shit or get off the chamber pot on whether we want Old Eun-ki back. You can’t be confusing her with “Oh, you dreamed that” when she’s actually trying to remember some pretty important details."

I know, right. What's up with that? I know his intentions are good but he is messing with her mind and her sense of self. When someone is struggling with memory, you don't tell them a true memory is a dream. Bad move. Could be as damaging as Jae-hee's dirty tricks.

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"All right, guys, I get that she’s fragile right now, but we’ve all got to shit or get off the chamber pot on whether we want Old Eun-ki back."

This just made me snort with laughter. HeadsNo2, this and many more are why I love your recaps. Awesome.

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Guys, I have a question.

When and why did Maru start hating Jae Hee? He was the one who said
he'll take the blame when Jae Hee murdered someone. Jae Jee didn't force him to.
Or we're assuming he hates her because when he's out of jail, he tried to find her only knowing that
she's married and was just using him to have a rich and luxurious life?

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He probably started hating her around the time when she framed him for blackmail in episode 2 (or rather didn't correct EunKi's faulty police report).

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IMO In episode 2, he didn't hate her... He just dissapointed, angry and felt betrayed at that time. What kind of world she live in that she dare to went that far. Initially, he just want to enter her world for using Eun Ki, and saw the world she had been yearn for. The more he saw her ambition and how she went, the more he want to stopped her. and still hoping one day she wil come back to him. but after episode 8, he give up on her and didn't care about her anymore. until Eunki come back and Jae Hee has become a threat to Eun Ki's life. Then he start hating her.

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I'm with you on that one. Maru had relinquished all his thoughts & feelings about Jae Hee post ep 8, he had finally realized the image he had of JH wasn't real & the pedestal that he had always held her up on, finally came crushing down with her "save me from my brother" routine.
The time jump just further drove it home that KM was over JH, the fact he never once tried to get into contact with her & is only back in her world now is purely because of Eun Gi, nothing else.
Eun Gi is Maru's world as simple as that, if anyone or anything tries to mess with her then all I can say is "Good Luck" cause Maru is going to eat you alive.

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Right. He gave up on his obsessive love after JH beat herself up and lied, but started hating because he saw JH was threatening EG.

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Aaaah I got it now. I was confused when I watched ep 2. When Maru said that "I'll go up there and bring you down" I thought it's because he loves her so much and wants to be with her - but then he said something like "You don't even deserve that (referring to the slums)" I was totally confused.
But yesss I loved ep 8. When I was watching it I thought "Ahhh typical drama where the guy falls for the trick (Jae Hee's)" and then...no he didn't! :D

Love this drama. I hope it will have a good ending.

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I'm not sure if Maru so much hates Jae-hee than he is disgusted by her. I think the timeline is something like this:

-Maru willingly takes the fall of Jae-hee: Loves her.
-Jae-hee starts abandoning Maru in prison: sad but loves her.
-Maru gets out of prison: sad, but loves her. No resentment. Manages to spend the next few years not seeing Jae-hee.
-Maru sees Jae-hee on the plane: the image of Jae-hee he had held onto is tarnished. Disappointment. Need to save her because he loves her.
-Jae-hee being horrible (not denying Eun-gi's accusations, trying to hide her association with him, belittling Eun-gi): Loves her. Obsessed with showing her the error of her ways.
-Jae-shik shows up: Loves her. Goes crazy when JS threatens to harm her.
-Jae-hee hires thugs to beat him up (and gives him a really mean phone call in he was in the middle of being pummeled): Starts to get a clue.
-Jae-hee calls for help because her brother had beaten her up: Tries to brush her off but gives in. Still has lingering feelings.
-Maru finds out JH was just faking it to get him to go to her: Has had enough. Makes the final break. Maybe some lingering romantic feelings left (hard to turn off feelings immediately), but has too much self-respect to deal with JH anymore.
-Year that EG was gone: Finally moves on from JH.
-JH orchestrating EG's kidnapping to steal amnesiac EG's position: Disgusted with her.

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Good breakdown.

"-Maru finds out JH was just faking it to get him to go to her: Has had enough. Makes the final break. Maybe some lingering romantic feelings left (hard to turn off feelings immediately), but has too much self-respect to deal with JH anymore."

I think around here he already had enough feelings for Eun-ki to want to protect her from himself --which is why I think he didn't just break it off with her, he broke it so the relationship was beyond repair.

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Yes, thanks for the timeline! I think when this drama is all over I need to re-watch it again. I don't know why, it gets confusing for me at times.

I love the way Maru moves on from JH. The conversation he had with Jae-Gil when he said he does not remember the times he spent with JH...that's just...beautiful. But then I saw some discussions that this could mean Maru is heading towards amnesia. I don't think it is. It is possible, but why does Maru remember everything else about JH?

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That last screencap to me, says it all. Not my favorite episode but solid where it really needed to be; awesome.

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Love the character beats but the plot machinations frustrate me.

- Wasn't Eun Ki dismissed from her post by a board meeting vote in ep11? How is it that she can just show up at a speech and resume her post that easily and potential investors like the Chairman Nam all seem totally fine with it?

- Is there no rule about sharing private medical records in Korea?

- How is it that amnesiac Eun-Ki was whisked away from hospital without repercussions when any half-assed police investigation of the car accident would suggest she was trying to off herself and Maru too? (And why isn't Jae Hee using the fact that Eun-Ki tried to kill Maru? she must have been notified, being mom and all)

- And did Eun-Ki inherit the company (prompting the incapacitated beneficiary scheme) or did the late Chairman's revised will magically disappear (as suggested by the fact that Jae Hee lets him die knowing his assets go to Eun Ki)?

Ergh. I'm annoyed only because the emotional plot elements are so good and I wish the technicalities were on par.

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for the last point, the revised will was never.. officially submitted (whatever it's called.. i don't know the word for it). joonha was going to make it the official will when the chairman died, and he was blackmailed after that, so he probably never made it the official will.

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1. EG was only dismissed from the resort project, I thought.

2. JH, being the guardian, was able to legally see the doctored (PUN!) records that covered up the severity of EG's injury. I believe they stole the correct records in some underhanded way.

3.We don't know how the accident occurred yet. We have never seen what really happened in the Tunnel of Doom, and in fact, it could have been a Tunnel of Swerve at the last minute. Some flashbacks suggest someone behind EG may have played a part in the collision.

4. moose else answered that.

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1. In episode 11, they dismissed her because she didn't appear for almost a year after the accident and Jae-hee convinced them Eun-gi had abandoned her post and Taesan to lead a normal housewife life with her bf (cue pic of Eun-gi outside Secretary Hyun's house). But by the end of episode 11, Eun-gi came back and explained why she was gone: she needed time to recover. Then she stated that she plans to lead Tae-san with her fiance. She was not going anywhere. I think off-screen that original dismissal was dismissed because it was made on erroneous assumptions.

2. I'm sure there is a rule. But in kdramaland, the default is that you can grab records and kidnap patients from the hospital and it's okay. I have seen a kdrama moment here and there actually adhere to the principal of private medical records. Looks like Jae-hee has a prosecutor in her pocket. Maybe it was not very hard to subpoena those records from the hospital.

3. I know, right?! Especially since Eun-ki isn't just a nobody. I do think they could have assumed it to be exhaustion on Eun-ki's part. Like she may have fallen asleep at the wheel and didn't realize she switch lanes. And Maru could have asked police to not investigate and told them he wasn't interested in pressing charges against Eun-gi. Or maybe they something else happened in that tunnel that we didn't get to see...

4.

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1. She was dismissed from her overall position, not just from the resort project (that was just the catalyst that pushed Jae Hee to remove her). But it makes logical (if not business-legal) sense that the "original dismissal was dismissed because it was made on erroneous assumptions."

2. Ah, I forgot that Jae Hee is legally the mom. I guess that would make sense. But Eun Ki is also an adult and I really doubt she would have listed Jae Hee as a guardian pre-accident. Maybe the closest legal family member get an all-access pass?

3. Head-scratcher still. I'm hoping for a really delayed flashback to explain it all when Eun Ki remembers everything.

4. Hmm, it makes sense that Joon Ha was blackmailed into not submitting the will as well as not reporting the real circumstances of the Chairman's death.

I don't really want the show to spend tiresome scenes explaining the nitty-gritties, but some quick paraphrasing to get us up to speed would be nice!

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were you replying to jomo, me, or the both of us?

The reminder that JoonHa didn't report the real circumstances of the Chairman's death --- still getting me upset! I wonder if they show will touch back upon that reveal that JoonHa's dad had something to do with the disappearance/death of EK's mom.

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Oh! Actually to all three of you ... Got confused by the bullet point comment system :(

And yes, hopefully resident cutie lawyer eventually volunteers the truth re. the death and also clears up the whole thing about pretending to be gay. A confession scene, however doomed, would be a nice change from the silently-harbouring-feelings second lead trope!

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Greets Far-P

what helped me with all the technical derps was to just let Heads drive the analysis of each episode.

She's got a virtual car...it's as big as a whale...so grab your jukebox money and come along for the tale.

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What is this NG extension I've been hearing?!

If this means, they're trying to wrap things up for Maru not to die, then I'm okay with it hahahaha ME AND MY SELFISHNESS.

If they want to kill him off they better not make it anti-climactic because I will cut someone.

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I will hold 'em down while you cut them!

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If they extend this drama, I will never go back and watch after stopping at ep 10.

They need to stop doing to their cast and dramas.

Greedy execs, eat shit and die.

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I am hoping the writer has enough clout to stop it.

She could say, "If you make me change this perfect script, I will only write really shitty things in the future."

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I wouldn't call their bluff! Then they'll actually make dramas out of the shitty things =( and put our favorites actors in them so we'd feel tempted to watch and then feel obligated to finish (though personally, I don't think favorite actors has never stopped from dropping a drama I dislike).

I hope that Moon Chae Won, Park Shi Yeon, and Song Joong Ki have obligations right after the ending of the drama that makes it impossible to continue past 20.

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LOL "Then they’ll actually make dramas out of the shitty things" Oh, like Spy Myung Wol?

And if they don't have obligations, I am sure they could rustle some up, STAT!

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It probably won't figure in on the plot, but I think Chairman Nam is dealing with his own memory issue and that made him more open to Eun-Ki than he might have been otherwise.

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I dont think Joon Ha did anything wrong not revealing the truth at that time. Granted, he obstructed Eun gi's memory revival a tiny bit, but it is because he realizes that Maru is truly helping Eungi out and that he is the best chance she has got to survive the dogs out there in the company(namely Jae Hee and minions). If Joonha's reveals the more harmful details prematurely and without Eungi having the complete picture, I am sure Eungi as she is now is going to reject Maru's help and thats why he did not tell her.
Also, Jae Hee character portrayal was awesome. She does not think of herself as "Hello I am EVIL. I will kill everyone in my way" type(true BTW), which I find quite believable, but seems to think of herself as a good person being forced to do bad things. Because frankly, that is how a truly twisted person thinks. They would never truly admit they were bad because they manipulate themselves that they were forced to and had to do it.

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I'll second that AND, you haven't truly recovered your memory if you need someone else to validate it.
I'm also on a bandwagon that says JH has been creating these dramatic poor me situations since forever. She manipulates people and situations, then plays the victim when they push back, or even totally fakes the assault/offense, and then sucks up the narcissistic supply from rescuers/empaths like Maru. Is there such a thing a masochistic narcissism? Ah, there is: "In this condition, pathologic narcissistic tendencies are unconscious vehicles for attaining masochistic disappointment; and masochistic injuries are an affirmation of distorted narcissistic fantasies."

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Eun Ki is like a yoyo. Somethings her spirits are up, sometimes its down. But Maru really has the infinite patience. I just hope that the ending won't be too heartbreaking coz from the way it is progressing now, it seems to be heading that way. But Eun Suk just saved the day. His mum should learn from him. You don't need expensive things to be happy!

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Hah! Eun Gi found a new dad in Chairman Nam!! Yeehee! I love that. I hope to see him more in the coming episodes.

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I can't seem to understand Maru...

I can see he truly loves Eun-ki now but... the way he was affected by Jae-hee's speech and immediately stopped her from kneeling, annoyed the hell outta me!!!

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I think he realized it was all just an act and was disgusted with it. I have a sister-in-law who is somewhat like Jae Hee in personality (without the money and murders) and feels the need to always put on the act of what she thinks someone wants to hear. It is very difficult to have any relationship with someone who is very self-centered and never sincere. It is hard not to get sucked into their crazy point of view.

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Thank u for the recap

maru does love eunki right??? he doesnt jst do all this cause he feels bad right??? please can someone tell me.

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"No matter how much Eun-ki says she can’t, Maru says she can, and that he’s proof that she can do anything."

This was the part of this episode that got me thinking the most actually. What proof is Maru talking about? I am inclined to think that Maru is referring to the fact that Eun-ki's stubborn-ess, her single-minded self and character has made Maru do what he once thought was impossible - to give up on Jae-hee and to fall in love with someone else - Eun-ki. But of course this could purely be my misguided interpretation driven by my insane love of this OTP, haha!

Would love to hear your opinions on what you guys thought of this scene! :)

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My guess would be that she had given him the will and reason to live on properly, where previously the only thing on his mind was to live recklessly in life, destroying himself to meet an early demise.

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This was my favorite line from Maru and shows that despite the fact he seems to be the one giving giving giving in this relationship, he values what EG gave him, the will to live, even more.

Which makes me want to call him up and yell:
Get your ass to the hospital if you want to LIVE!!

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"he’s proof that she can do anything"

Her powers of transformation!

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Agreed. The sincerity with which she bares her soul bypasses people's defenses and goes straight into even the most hardened of hearts. It's very healing and transformative. That's what I thought Maru meant. She was able to set up housekeeping in his heart, which no one else had been able to do. Not even JH, the narcissistic-masochistic.

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HeadsNo2, thanks so much for your recaps! Really enjoy reading them, and there should be a glossary of the drama terms you came up with in your recaps.

Actually, I am thinking that this post-amnesia version of Eun Ki may be the best thing to happen ... I can see the indomitable side of the pre-amnesia Eun Ki returning, and now coupled without memories of her broken past, she could well prove her mettle as a worthy heir of of her father's corporation. Pre-amnesia Eun Ki was tough, but she also made bad business decisions that cost the company due to the emotional burdens she carried. Now without these burdens, I would love to see how her role in the corporation will evolve with her pre-amnesia spirit back in play.

I do hope that Chairman Nam's role will not end after this episode. His approval, in place of her late father, may prove to be the ticket for Eun Ki to successfully take on her role as the chairman of Tae San Group

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I think Chairman Nam might protect Eun Gi in the process now that he knows Eun Gi's real condition. He had a deep relationship with Seo and since both Eun Gi and Nam are nursing some feeling of loss, they might end up being emotionally connected with each other more than what they'd except themselves to be.

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True, who knows they may just develop the father-daugher bond stronger than the relationship Eun Gi had with her late father. She may even end up being the heir to his legacy if he chooses to officially adopt her has his daughter

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Yes, I would like, too.
She needs more folks on her side.

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Major forboding...As Maru is puking his guts out in the bathroom toilet, he says that EK has to be able to live without worries so he can disappear from her. Maru finally admits his love for EK in the previous episode when he writes "happiness" on the bathroom mirror after showering, and they have a blissful breakfast.And Maru is so patient and caring when EK has her meltdown.
Maru is pulling Jae Hee's chain with her sleazeball brother, Jae Sik's . Hurray! Jae Hee had to back down! You want to believe Maru has been redeemed and changed, but that icy stare throws you for a loop every time. It's the same stare he had when he was the conniving cad at the very beginning.

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yeah, i agree on the foreboding..but then another thought struck me as well..what if at the end, MaRu decides to get surgery but then suffered brain damage as well (kinda like what happened to Vannes Wu in Autumn's Concerto) and had to start over like how EunGi did..and EunGi will be the one to help him re-learn everything..that's another ending that occured to me..

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Has Eun Ki been sort-of adopted by Chairman Nam? :)

When will Jae Hee ever learn. Even her own son doesn't like her now.

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Thanks for the recap! I am as confused as you concerning Jaehee and Eungi but also Maru.

For Jaehee, I see it like the antique tragedies. She is caught in this mess and can not do anything but keep going til the end, as she said to Maru previously.

Anyway, I hope that Eungi will come out a new leaf because of this brain damage. I mean not like she was after the accident, all innocent and full of trust toward people, but not exactly like she was before neither. I think that this brain damage can make her find the right center between the two so that she can be happy or at least less burdened. Well, like if she could learn from this.

For Maru, I have the impression that, during this episode, he hides himself behind his culpability again. Even more, with what Jaehee told him. Like, oh my! I almost forgot that I did bad things to her, I am the bad guy of Eungi's story! Just when he started to free himself a bit and be happy... Sighs

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I know they want us to believe that EG should NEVER forgive Maru for trying to use her for his own gain, but if you look at his actions, he failed miserably in that mission.

Sure, his intentions were to (hurt, save, win back JH) [still not sure on the plan], but his actions, at every moment with EG have benefited her.

He saved her life on the plane, knowing she was his ex's step daughter.

He followed her on his bike, in an attempt to win her by seduction, but ends up risking his own life saving her and her precious Barbie. THIS, by the way, is the moment of truth between them.
No matter how good a man is at flirting with a woman he intends to bed, falling off a cliff and possibly dying for a doll once he saw the look of anguish on EG's face is the act of a super good guy, beyond nice.
It would have been fine if he let the bike and the doll go. A slimier version of the character would have held EG, and sweet-talked her out of going for the doll. He could have said all kinds of things to convince her, promising to buy her a new one, etc. Of course, EG would have been gutted, MR would have never gotten injured, and the two prolly would never have connected as deeply as they did.

All of his words to EG after she started pursuing him have been true. She told him he was a slime. He suggested that he is only after money. When EG discovered the truth between JH and MR, he admitted it.

So why are we expecting EG to wig wig out once her memories return?

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"No matter how good a man is at flirting with a woman he intends to bed, falling off a cliff and possibly dying for a doll once he saw the look of anguish on EG’s face is the act of a super good guy, beyond nice."

I actually think any nice guy (stranger) would have done the same for the crazy lady crying for her dolly.

She was hysterical at that point and incoherent so yeah, many a man would have gone down that hill for the plastic rescue mission. I'm sure there are scores of stories of men rescuing dolls for little girls....That scene did not indicate "love" to me just showing us what a kindhearted guy KMR is.

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So we agree.
My comment was not that he did any of the nice things he did out of love, but because he is genuinely a nice guy.

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I agree with you, I just wanted to point the fact that he keeps hiding himself behind his culpability and that he seems to be completly blind about all the things he did for her, all those nice things... Well, in the end, I am really curious about the tittle, "Nice guy" or "there is no such thing as nice guys"... What should be considered as being a nice guy? Should we count the number of wrong and right doings? or should we considered the fact of being caring with others?

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I just feel like giving Maru a hug :(

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It's used to be so frustrating reading Nice Guy's recap. But now I like it :)
Thank you very much ;)

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When he holds her until she calms down then maintains that position was just too awesome!

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That smirk on Maru's face says: 'I said to don't mess with my woman, bitch'
And I love it!

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Thanks for the recap! Very funny and spot on, again.

Even though it looks like Maru here is being a puppetmaster with all his moves and countermoves, he is more of a pawn in the "game" between JH and EG than anything.

This story is more about who will win:
EG or JH- the Heir or the Usurper?

I found in Ep 2, a Voldemort/Harry Potter conversation between EG and JH:

JH: Once you become my match, I will be happy to play your game then. Let's see whether you win and I die, or you die and I win.

I am afraid, the one they both love or have loved, will pay the price for this struggle for power, and it is Maru who dies in the end.

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I like the Harry Potter reference :)

For Maru, I hope he isn't going to die because I find it too cliché. I am not in favour of the idea that Death is a sort of redemption or punishment. It's more interesting to see how people can come back on their own feet and continue live on after such a mess. I am afraid I am going to be desapointed if Maru ends up dying... If they did, I hope they will manage it well.

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I agree with you on this point, while death seems like the ultimate way out for redemption or punishment, it is also to some sense, too easy a way out, It would be a lot more fulfilling to see the person choosing to have the courage to live on and continue on down the road of redemption in his/her lifetime.

In Maru's case, should the writers choose not to write him off with death at the end (which is what I sincerely hope for), I could foresee him recovering from his medical condition, finally being able to finish med school and become a doctor.

To be honest, while like most, I will be giddy with happiness to our OTP get a happy ending together after all they've been through, narratively, it would be interesting to see Maru and Eun Ki moving on and taking their personal road of redemption separately, allowing their paths to cross again after they have achieved a measure of success in their lives (e.g. Maru becoming a doctor and Eun Ki elevating the company to greater success), and leaving the possibility open to whether they will end up together

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I think the possibility of KMR practicing medicine is nil. He perjured himself in ep 1 remember?

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Hmmm, maybe not a doctor, but something related in the medical field?

However, I do admit I'm not familiar with the overall employment culture in Korea to know if there are certain sectors that people can't be employed in after they served prison time.

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Not necessary, Maru isn't really guilty, isn't he? I mean the one who killed that man was Jaehee, Maru just has covered up for her. If the truth is revealed, he may be rehabilitated...

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I totally forgot!

I feel SJK is growing up before my eyes.
He has been pretty, and pouty, and sexy before - especially dressed as Dark Maru.

But the sexiest Maru to date is "I am going to kill you" Maru.
The only way he can feel that intense of hatred for JH is to match the depth of his love for her in the past.

Is it really his protecting EG that keeps him from being indifferent to JH, or is he really not over her (JH) yet?

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"Is it really his protecting EG that keeps him from being indifferent to JH, or is he really not over her (JH) yet?"

I'll bite: I think their perceptions are off. JH's willingness to apologize and recognize her mistakes makes her journey an interesting one.

It does appear that she's trying to change, and is going through the process of unlearning bad behavior from her youth and I think MR sees it and it catches him off guard so he steels himself. JH is baring herself and being earnest when she apologizes (to MR and EG) only it's like her crying wolf as she goes back to her comfort zone or familiar tactics when threatened.

I want to know more about their childhood because I think they both were a shelter and comfort for each other. In MR's letter he grew greedy having JH by his side. When MR was no longer by JH's side, she grew greedy for the both of them....

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"Is it really his protecting EG that keeps him from being indifferent to JH, or is he really not over her (JH) yet?"

I don't know if there would be a new character development that would change my assumption, as for now, I just want t believe Ma Ru has get over Jae Hee (his personal issue with her has end) , initially. There were no contact between them when Eun Ki dissapear.
Off course MR's main goal so far to make JH's plan failed. JH is a threat for EK's life. As long as JH has power, EK's life will be in danger. Unless EK want to give up her inheritance.

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"Is it really his protecting EG that keeps him from being indifferent to JH, or is he really not over her (JH) yet?"

My personal take on this is when Maru was in love with JH, his love has been on an obsessive level where despite being very aware of her intentions and motivations, he still yearned for her, always stepping in as her protector regardless of how she had treated him. I believe JH was aware of the obsession he had for her, and had fed off that obsession to her advantage, knowing that he was still there for her no matter what, which is why even though she has admitted as much that she lost that foothold over him by going too far in pushing his buttons, she is probably of the thinking that he will never love another person on the same level as what he had done with her.

On Maru's end, I am also of the belief that he has gotten over JH completely, but to be reminded by JH of that fact he was ever that obsessively in love with her probably threw him off balance there for a while considering that back in ep 12, he had confessed to Jae Gil that he could not remember the times he had spent with JH already.

Thanks to JH's reminder, for him, it is now no longer just about fighting to place Eun Ki back as a rightful heir to the corporation, but also bringing JH down completely as he is disgusted by her as a person.

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"...back in ep 12, he had confessed to Jae Gil that he could not remember the times he had spent with JH already."

I think he forgot due to the right hemisphere brain trauma.

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While that may be a possibility, so far, I have not seen signs of him suffering from amnesia. Also, his hematoma attacks don't seem be brought on by memory flashes, but mainly when under duress.

It would seem like with his personality, he loves at a 200% level, but when he chooses to withdraw that love, it's also a complete 200% withdrawal to the level of even forgetting the love ever existed in the first place.

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The symptoms rattled off by the doctor leaves me to believe that MR may be suffering from some memory loss due to damage in that sphere.

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While I won't exclude the possibility, I would be disappointed if they are going to go with the playing-the-musical-chair round of amnesia route for both leads, with one trying to recover from amnesia and one moving towards the possibility of amnesia.

Then again, with rumours of extension coming on, I won't be surprised if they choose to throw in that storyline in the mix.

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What one excludes or includes is irrelevant.

They've already given indications with MR not remembering dating JH and JG calling him
"crazy". Therefore, his responses toward JH are already suspect [imo] and bordering on a reemergence from memory loss. JH was the most painful episode in MR' s life and using her brother against will her will be their undoing because they are misunderstanding one another.

This love story is shaping up to be about loss due to whatever circumstances.....

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Since we there will be 6 episode left, It seems imposibble to bring MR's amnesia issues to the plot... But i don't know.. there is possiblity

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I love this show, I really do, but some things are just not right.

1. The character of Eun Seok. I seriously think he is a bit of a rockhead. First of all, a kid who gets demeaned and cast aside by an older sister repeatedly would definitely learn to stay away from her in the future. Secondly, how he has this deep attachment to Eun Ki after she's been gone about a year is seriously wtf. IMO, after a year, he might've probably forgotten quite a bit about her, being a kid and all. And yet he's still "Eun ki noona, Eun Ki noona" like a broken record. Don't kids have other things of interest than a sister who barely exists in his life? And I don't believe for a moment that Eun Ki managed to have such a large priority in his life than his own mother. Gimme a break, the girl despised him!

2. The amount of milk, tomatoes, electricity, glassware, and money wasted by Eun Ki's tantrum. I understand her situation but goodness, doe anyone ever think about the great deal of time spent in gaining these things? At least the floor wasn't carpeted or else there would be the issue of how to clean it and get the stench out which is such an annoyance. Lol, I'm just being facetious now.

3. Joon-ha withholding information from Eun Ki. I get it that he wants Maru to stick around longer until she gets better completely but still. He had the track record of being the most honest to Eun Ki and now he broke that. It kinda made me sad. I hope Eun Ki doesn't hold it against him when she does regain all her memories later. It's bad enough that he doesn't get the girl.

Other than all that, there were parts that I really enjoyed. But perhaps my most favorite one was Jae-Shik's arrival and how he and Maru were all in bro mode, LOL. Maru just has excellent timing and really knows how to corner Jae-Hee. Made me shiver in delight at the ending when Jae Hee had to change her tune at the last minute. But really, Jae-Shik....truly an excellent sleazeball.

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1--I am baffled about Eun-Seok's response to his sister. It makes no sense, unless there is more to the relationship than we have shown. I mentioned before that I thought how Eun-Seok and Eun-Ki fell into the echo game was interesting. I wondered if it was the first time they interacted well together or perhaps in the past when Jae-hee is not around Eun-Ki was softer to Eun-Seok.

2--I don't think it was too much time or resources to spend allowing Eun-Ki to deal with her trauma. She is physically ill, psychologically shaky and emotionally unsure. She is not having a tantrum. She is doesn't know who she is, confused and scared for her life. She has the right to break a few glasses.

3--Agree on Joon-ha. I just don't see any justification for doing what he did.

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About EunSeok, I think that he is acting like that because his mother is no longer with him as she used to, so he just grows himself attached to an image he has of his sister. He did say that he was feeling lonely because JaeHee was always busy.

About EunGi, well... we are not in a position to understand what she is really feeling deep inside, I am just in the understanding camp here.

About JoonHa, I am not sure it was a good move here but it's difficult to say : "hey, that's right, he used you" when he is the only one "she loves and trusts"

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1 - Agree with you on this one. Other than ep 1, I don't recall there were any other instances of interactions between Eun Gi and Eun Seok, maybe somehwere along the episodes pre-accident, Eun Seok's persistence did warm Eun Gi up enough soften her attitude towards him. Also, I would credit Jae Hee on not trying to overtly poison her son's mind from day 1 about Eun Gi. Although she has never encouraged Eun Seok's relationship with Eun Gi, she did not discourage it either. In that instance, I am of belief that she did mean it sincerely when she wanted a peaceful co-existence.

2 - Yup, will cut her some slack here since on top of her post-accident amnesia, she has to saddle a post-shock amnesia. On a sidenote, I wonder how many NGs and broken glass it took for them to complete the scene? The crew workers must have had a hard time cleaning up after that scene.

3 - He is probably of thought that after Eun Ki returns to her rightful place, she could handle the truth a lot better. Although in this instance, I'm more disappointed that he does not trust Eun Ki's mental fortitude to be able to handle this even after working with her for that long.

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Thank you very much for the recap - I really look forward to it and enjoy reading them every week :-)

It seems as if the old Eun-Ki is slowing reappearing.
E.g. The part when she entered the office and told Jae-Hee that it was her official 1st day back at work - the way she spoke and 'smiled' seemed so much like the old Eun-Ki...even though she was putting on an act... it felt real... hmm.

I miss the old Eun-Ki. I do love love love the new caring and bright Eun-Ki but she's too vulnerable... hopefully when she regains her memories again, we can have a combination of both of them! After all, they are the same person...

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This episode was so great and leaves me with so many questions. I love that even at this point in the show I don't feel 100% sure that Maru isn't still just using Eun-Ki to get back at Jae-Hee. I want it to be that he really does love her and wants her to have everything, and I think this is what he wants too, but there's still that niggling doubt. Is this really what's best for EK? Or is this still all about making sure JH has nothing?

At the end of the episode I was really hoping that JH's attempt on EK's life would have been the motorcycle incident. That's something they _still_ haven't explained, like 10 episodes later (unless I missed something) and it would have been crazy if Maru had evidence that JH literally tried to murder EK before. Instead I'm still left wondering how that happened. Did Maru cut her brakes? I don't think so because, as EK herself pointed out several episodes ago, that could have just as easily led to her outright dying as facilitating a meeting. Did JH do it? That's what I thought, but the show never really suggested that after the fact. Was it just a random malfunction? If so, I wish they had addressed that. I'm honestly surprised that EK never investigated why her brakes didn't work that day since at the beginning she was so untrusting and suspicious of everyone.

That's the one piece of this show where I really feel like I have been left hanging. What was all that about? Were they going to have it be a murder attempt and then just changed their minds? Or is that going to come back later and be a big deal? The car crash left us hanging a bit too, but it seems like they are moving toward resolving that. But if they never mention those motorcycle brakes again, it's definitely to bother me forever. The writing has been pretty tight so far, I would be so disappointed if they just left that hanging.

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I think the motorcycle accident was really just an accident. Sometimes brakes fail and she was really busy the day and weeks prior to the motorcycle scene, so she may not have gotten the brakes checked. She was also in a car accident days or weeks before she got onto the plane and didn't bother to get herself checked out properly -which was why she passed out on the plane and almost died.

And in kdramas where there are coincidences aplenty without explanation - like characters who have different interests and backgrounds bumping into each other coincidentally several times in a 4 day period in Seoul with no stalking behavior on behalf of either party. I think we can chalk it up to fate. Without the accident which had thrown the bike down the hill and put Eun-gi's doll in danger which had led Eun-gi to be upset enough to attempt to risk her life for it which had spurred Maru to actually risk his life for it which then had sparked Eun-gi's interest in him. And thus we have our OTP.

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