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Level 7 Civil Servant: Episode 7

Things are heating up rather nicely. When the mission is in danger of failing, it forces everyone’s feelings to the surface, and suddenly confessions come tumbling out left and right. The question is, who’s lying, who’s telling the truth, and who can even believe anyone who’s trained to beat a polygraph? Spies. Yeesh.

New Wednesday-Thursday shows premiered today, and we have a new leader: spy action sequel IRIS 2 led the pack at 14.4%, Level 7 Civil Servant took second with 12.7%, and the new Noh Hee-kyung melodrama That Winter, The Wind Blows brought in the rear at 11.3%. Guess it’s going to be a spytastic drama season after all.

 
EPISODE 7 RECAP

Hee, I can’t wait to find out how the scene that ended last week’s episode pans out. So Gil-ro and Seo-won get caught bed-wrestling by Mom and Dad, who has Gil-ro by the hair when Do-ha comes tumbling out of the closet. Good times.

So now we catch up to Dad who’s got each boy by the scruff (not easy, considering their height), and Mom drags Seo-won around her apartment, checking places like the refrigerator and tiny cupboards, in case she’s hidden away more men. Ha.

While Dad’s screaming and ranting, Gil-ro throws deathglares at Do-ha, demanding to know what he’s doing here. But Dad doesn’t like Gil-ro’s attitude—Do-ha stays silent, which is at least basic punishment-receiving behavior, but Gil-ro argues back, using clipped words.

Dad ditches Do-ha to grab Gil-ro with both hands, and Seo-won signals to Do-ha to get the hell out while he can. He starts tiptoeing past the group, when suddenly Gil-ro’s leg shoots out behind him and kicks Do-ha right in the ass. Pffft.

He wriggles away from Dad and then the two boys start fighting with each other, which hilariously devolves into this demented game of London Bridge, with Seo-won standing in the middle and fingers on the verge of breaking.

I paused and laughed for a minute straight, first at Gil-ro’s hair, and then at the bizarre configuration they end up in, like they’re holding hands and playing a game.

So then Dad gets even more pissed that they’re throwing fists instead of receiving punishment like well-mannered children, and rolls up a magazine to hit them over the head. (Like father like daughter?)

Gil-ro swerves out of the way over and over, raising Dad’s blood pressure. He finally starts to say that his daughter isn’t someone they can mess with, and he’s totally about to say that she’s a civil servant…

But Seo-won screeeeeeeeams at him to stop just in time, scaring everybody half to death. Whew, well one crisis averted. Now for the other 999…

They all calm down and sit, but of course Gil-ro is seated with his legs crossed, while Seo-won and Do-ha know to sit on their knees. Mom and Dad get all If this were Joseon, and Seo-won has to nudge him to kneel. The fact that he has to be taught that says everything about his upbringing, doesn’t it?

Mom goes off on a woe-is-me tangent about how she’s never heard of a daughter with two husbands, and where it all went wrong. She and Dad pass blame back and forth all the way to her conception, where Dad insists Mom was the one who nudged him awake for some nookie. Do-ha can’t hold in his laughter and gets a thwack on the head from Dad.

Do-ha tries to say calmly that it’s not what it looks like, and they’re just Seo-won’s college friends. Well that immediately sounds false to Mom and Dad, who ask, “You’re her friends but you don’t even know her name? Who’s Seo-won?” Oh crap.

Seo-won just jumps up and starts ranting loudly so they can’t get a word in edgewise, while she backs the boys up toward the door. She signals for them to leave, so Do-ha sneaks out, but Gil-ro refuses to go until she answers his questions.

She finally promises to meet him downstairs and kicks him in the family jewels to get him to go, and he tumbles out wincing in pain. Do-ha is standing in the hall waiting for him, and tells him to follow if he’s curious about why he’s here.

Meanwhile, Seo-won tells her parents the truth, and they’re suddenly very sheepish and sorry. I’m more worried about the fact that they now know you’re an undercover agent, which seems like a bad idea.

Down below, Do-ha says with a smile that he always wanted Gil-ro to finish training with them, so that he could show him he’d never win. Do-ha admits he likes Seo-won and kept contacting her even after she left the program, and Gil-ro immediately takes a swing.

Do-ha dodges a few punches, and then pulls out a gun. Not one to back down, Gil-ro tries to take it away, and their fight echoes the one in training.

Do-ha gains the upper hand, with the gun at Gil-ro’s chest. He declares the win, just like Won-seok would’ve done in front of the class, and Gil-ro asks for a rematch right away. Ha. But Do-ha stops, and says that he told Seo-won he liked her today. “But she told me… she likes you.” Oooooh. Smart.

He says he hid because he didn’t think Gil-ro would find him, and asks not to run into each other ever again. He walks away like the guy who just lost the girl. It’s brilliant—it plays into Gil-ro’s competitive streak against Do-ha and makes him believe that Seo-won really likes him. The sad part is, Do-ha doesn’t know how true his words actually are.

Won-seok calls Gil-ro to make sure he’s on Dad-watch, and acts surprised to hear that he’s with Seo-won, calling them a destined match. Gil-ro chooses not to say anything about her snooping around, and instead whines for a gun. Heh. You can’t ever lose to Do-ha, can you?

After the call, Won-seok says that Seo-won must’ve gotten her act together, and Young-soon says she knew all along she’d be the person for the job. She worries now though that Seo-won will actually end up falling for Gil-ro.

Won-seok says she’s not really agent material if that’s the case, and then Young-soon worries that Gil-ro will find out… that he’s not really an agent and that his father is the bad guy. Knew it. AUGH, Won-seok, you terrible man!

Young-soon says Gil-ro could report them, but Won-seok says that’ll never happen: “I will never again use someone and throw him away.” Hm. Well that tells us about your past, but not about how you plan to NOT throw Gil-ro out with the bath water.

Mi-rae and JJ argue as always, on the merits of slow-and-steady vs. kill-threaten-kill. He shows her a picture of Gil-ro with Seo-won and asks who she is, deciding that if she’s the girlfriend, she’ll prove to be just as useful as Gil-ro when it comes to bait.

Seo-won waits till her parents are asleep before sneaking out. She checks Do-ha’s message, saying that he told Gil-ro she likes him. He urges her to hurry up with the mission instead of dragging it out, and hurry back: “I don’t want to see you with Gil-ro for too long.”

She goes out to meet Gil-ro, who asks why she sneaked into his office when he wasn’t there. She stupidly denies it, which I don’t understand. If he’s asking you directly, doesn’t that mean he knows?

She denies it again, and his face falls. He says that if she had told him the truth today, it wouldn’t have been the end for them, and tells her he’ll show her tomorrow what kind of person she really is.

She’s on pins and needles when Gil-ro walks into work the next morning, but Mi-rae follows him in and purposely asks Seo-won to bring them coffee, smugly speaking down to her in banmal.

It’s a ploy, of course, to get a reaction out of Gil-ro. And it works, enough to make her suspect that they really are dating.

The NIS team uses the profile of Mi-rae to dig into her background, but find that she suspiciously didn’t exist until a few years ago.

Gil-ro finally confronts her about the snooping, and just hands her the video footage to watch. He discovered it was Mi-rae’s profile she took a picture of that day, and jumps to the most logical conclusion: that she’s using the skills she learned at NIS to be a corporate spy.

He erases the video and tells her not to live that way. She says it’s not what he thinks, but he remains unmoved. Gil-ro: “When you learned my name, I should’ve learned yours. I always find out who you are one step too late. So I’m always disappointed and hurt. I’m not going to do that anymore.”

He asks her one last thing: “Did you ever really like me?” She asks if he’ll believe her answer, and he says no. He doesn’t even wait for her to say anything, and tells her not to come back to work, and to change her address and phone number so that he can’t find her even if he’s drunk. Aw, Gil-ro.

He says the same thing that Do-ha said to him: “So that we never run into each other again…” and walks away coldly without looking back.

Seo-won packs up her desk and walks out, and Gil-ro doesn’t look up from his desk once. It’s only after she’s gone that he starts angsting over it.

She meets with Won-seok, who tells her to keep going. She says she can’t do it anymore—look Gil-ro in the eye and lie, knowing that his feelings are true, knowing how much pain she’s going to cause him.

Won-seok says he knows exactly what that’s like, and tells her a story. He says that once he had a mission to capture an arms dealer, and they used two men to do it. But the baddies found out and kidnapped those informants’ children—two sons of a man named Choi and one daughter of a man named Kim. Ah, so this is Woo-hyuk, Mi-rae and JJ.

He says the children escaped and came to them, pleading with Won-seok and the rest of the team to save their parents. This is the scene we’ve seen before in flashback, and Won-seok says they had to make a choice, between capturing the one man who helped to kill over twenty thousand people, or saving their informants.

We know what choice they made, of course, and Seo-won gapes that he let them die (he assumes the children died as well). He says he lived every day after that regretting his choice, but adds that if the same question were posed to him today, “I’d make the same choice.” Damn.

She can’t believe he’d betray his countrymen in the name of protecting country, while he thinks that choice is an agent’s fate. Seo-won: “That’s not fate; it’s an excuse.” He insists it’s her fate, and if she can’t handle it, to give it up. She declares that he’s changed her mind—she does want to do it, but not his way.

Gil-ro heads to the hospital to see Dad (with Mi-rae on his tail and JJ still posing as a doctor) but happens to arrive just in time to overhear Mom and Dad arguing over whether or not to call him there. He hears Dad insisting she not call, and he stops at the door, face falling. Poor puppy.

Seo-won gets ready the next morning with new determination, and changes Monkey’s position from punishment push-ups to tucked in bed all snuggly. She heads to work and Gil-ro reminds her that she’s fired, but she tells him what she’s here to say.

She admits to looking at Mi-rae’s file, and says that she was curious about what kind of woman he was rumored to marry, and more curious because he never spoke about her. He doesn’t believe her, and she tells him matter-of-factly that it’s okay and she might be lying anyway.

She asks him to believe one thing though, and we see in flashback that she told Won-seok she was going to be honest with Gil-ro about one thing.

Seo-won: “I think I like you. No matter what wrong I might do, the fact that I like you isn’t a lie. No matter what happens, my feelings are real. Even if you get hurt later on, I’ll stay with you till the end.”

Gil-ro: “We’re already over. I thought it would hurt, but it doesn’t hurt at all. I wondered how I’d live without you, but I feel relieved. Now, I’ve come to dislike you.” Sadness, after she just realized her feelings too. But I can’t say I blame him for feeling betrayed.

JJ finally makes his move and goes in to see Gil-ro’s dad and threatens him in plain sight, knowing that he recognizes his attacker. He just smiles and makes mention of his son like he’s being polite, and tells him to take care. Dad flips out and scrambles to leave the hospital right away.

Gil-ro arrives just as JJ is leaving, and he’s eagle-eyed enough to recognize JJ with one passing glance. He follows, and when JJ realizes he’s been made, he darts off. Chase!

He makes it down to the parking garage before Gil-ro catches up and they fight pretty viciously. They throw punches back and forth, and Gil-ro gets the upper hand, but JJ doesn’t seem very worried about it. He threatens that the people around him will get hurt—his parents, his girlfriend.

Gil-ro scoffs that he doesn’t have a girlfriend, when suddenly a car comes up from behind and HITS HIM dead on. Ack. It’s Mi-rae behind the wheel, and JJ smirks before climbing in for his getaway.

Gil-ro is left bleeding on the ground and writhing in pain. He manages to get up and finds JJ’s phone lying on the ground, and searches it frantically. There’s nothing there, except a few photos of him, and one with Seo-won.

He gets up and starts hobbling, and calls his parents to make sure they’re okay. He calls Seo-won and panics when she doesn’t answer.

She’s back at basecamp, where Do-ha asks if she worked things out with Gil-ro. She sighs that he doesn’t like her anymore, and says that it’s only because it was Gil-ro that he even put up with her vagueness and lies for this long.

She admits that she’s relieved not to have to lie anymore though, if the mission is a bust, and says she’s glad to have told the truth about one thing. Do-ha asks what that was, but she doesn’t say.

She’s shocked to hear Do-ha say the same thing that Won-seok did, about sacrificing the few for the many, and says that Gil-ro might in fact already be their enemy.

As he says that, we see Gil-ro call Seo-won desperately over and over and drive over to her apartment, limping and bloody. He bangs on the door and frightens her mom to death, and tells her to lock the door behind her as he leaves to continue his search.

Seo-won screams at Do-ha: “Gil-ro is not our enemy!” She turns away to hide the tears pooling in her eyes, and Do-ha says that if she fails in this mission, she’ll be put back on her last team, and he wants her to stay here. “Because I like you.”

She actually looks surprised at that, which is a little hard to believe, given how obvious he’s been about his crush from the start. In any case, she says the last thing he wants to hear—that he’s her best friend, her comrade, the person she trusts the most.

He asks her not to make decisions so hastily: “You don’t know yet… how much I like you.” Aw. She gets up to leave and he stops her with a wrist grab. She pulls her hand away and turns it into a handshake, making it clear that’s where she wants their relationship to stay.

She heads out, when Gil-ro arrives just outside, hobbling and still bleeding. He calls out her name and she panics when she sees his condition. Gil-ro: “Why aren’t you answering your phone? Why do you worry someone like that?!”

Augh, there’s just something you can’t beat, about a guy standing there bleeding half to death, worried about her.

By now she’s crying and screaming back, “Let’s go to the hospital! Let’s go to the hospital!” Instead he just pulls her in for a hug. He’s still mad, wondering (as if he’s talking to himself) who she thinks she is, muttering about not paying him back for the money she owes him.

From inside, Do-ha gets ready to leave when he looks up at the monitor and sees their embrace, caught on the security camera. Sun-mi sees it and laughs happily that Seo-won succeeded on her mission, but Do-ha isn’t as thrilled.

Gil-ro just holds her closer, saying with tears in his eyes: “I was wrong. Don’t change your number, and don’t move.”

She starts to cry, and slowly raises her hands. She hugs him back, and they just stand there in the snow, holding onto each other.

 
COMMENTS

Aw, I liked that ending. This episode was bookended with great scenes—first with the not-a-threesome fallout with Mom and Dad which milked the comedy, and then with Gil-ro’s reckless but really sweet concern for Seo-won over his own welfare after being hit by a freaking car. It was a nice way to confirm their feelings for the first time, stripped of all the anger and pride and lies that normally stand in the way. For one minute, it’s just concern and honesty in the face of danger. I don’t doubt that we’ll be back to spy hijinks and lies in no time, but at least it’s like Seo-won says—they’re honest about that one thing, just once.

I’m glad that feelings are out in the open, and that Do-ha confessed his own as well. I find it hard to believe given his personality that he’d have waited this long to confess in the first place (and just as strange that Seo-won wouldn’t have known he liked her all this time), but at least he isn’t the type to be quietly suffering without ever having told her. I don’t necessarily think he’s wrong for thinking very coldly about the mission at hand—he’s a company man who does exactly as he’s told, so he’s in no way a bad person for thinking of Gil-ro as an extension of his father and a mission to complete, rather than their friend.

But seeing them fight and then call the win like a sparring match, or Gil-ro asking Do-ha to go again because the didn’t like the result—that actually wrung my heart a little, and I thought it was a good way to remind us that they’re rivals, and yet really still two guys fighting on the same side, wanting to beat the other to be the cooler one. I hope that their relationship gets more attention, because it’s nicely layered and I want a friendship out of that, as begrudging and petty as it’ll be.

Now that we have confirmation that Gil-ro is being used after all, I just feel so bad for him—he’s like an abandoned puppy, rejected by his father, and then by the NIS. I don’t know if I can handle the inevitable double whammy of his betrayal by Won-seok, and then Seo-won. He’ll just break. For now I’ll have to go with the hope that Won-seok isn’t as terrible a human being as he seems right now, and that there’s another reversal down the road. Because otherwise it’s too painful to watch Gil-ro live out his dream of being Bond (though it cracks me up that Won-seok refuses to give him a gun), knowing that he’s risking his life in service of lies. Thematically, of course, it’s interesting to walk the line: If Won-seok (and NIS) in essence created Uhmforce the Revengey Terrorist by their choices, is history doomed to repeat itself with Gil-ro?

 
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I have been refreshing the site for 100 times hoping to see your recap on "Wind blows in Winter". Sigh.

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wow, this comment is just..

do you have to comment on this article about another topic just because they haven't recapped what you've been waiting for?

this is a recap for Level7 Civil Servant, not another drama. now, if know respect...

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Do you know of a direct way for "rorname" to communicate with dramabeans? I don't. But, if you do, please share.

Until then, if I had an urgent request for the bloggers of dramabeans, I have no way of doing so other than what "rorname" did.

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Yes, that's what this is for: http://www.dramabeans.com/contact

For what it's worth, I'm not offended by these comments. However, in the interest of keeping comment threads relevant to the post at hand, we do ask that recap posts not get hijacked. So I understand the frustration, especially as this is the first comment.

Thanks all. And yes, That Winter will be recapped.

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javabeans, you are so gracious and patient. And, also wise. Drama goddess, indeed! :)

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There is such a thing called email.
I know.. such a dying breed amongst the the social networks.

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So have I. You are not alone. So guys, how about it?

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wow obnxious much?
instead of thanking girlfriday for recapping a drama (which I'm assuming you don't watch) you come and "sigh" about how you've been waiting for another recap...geeze. Talk about ungrateful and demanding.
If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. Thank includes complaining and whining.

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Of course I am thankful to girlfriday and javabeans for their efforts in recapping Level 7 Civil Servant and I have high respect for fans of Level 7 Civil Servant. It was just because I was so much looking forward to a recap on Wind Blows in Winter. But I should have not shared my thought here. My apology.

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Don't apologize. What you did does not amount to an offense that requires an apology. Dramabeans invites us to come and rant or vent. That is a very broad permission.

Rather, it reflects more upon those who take upon themselves (quite unasked and uninvited) the task of policing the forum.

Really, who died and appointed them to be the iron chef?

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Hearted. Some people take themselves way too seriously.

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don't let the bullies intimidate you into apologizing. this is a public forum and while the blogger has every right to encourage commenters to limit their comments to the post at hand, it is inevitable that people will digress and/or talk about something else. i find it funny that so many ppl felt the need to defend javabeans when she is more than capable of defending herself and much more articulately than any of her loyal followers could. you weren't abusive and you did not use any offensive language, you were just a tad bit whiny. i think javabeans, girlfriday and the recap minions do a thankless job and they do it so well that the readers can be a little spoiled. i believe that's a backhanded compliment to their talent though . . . they make it look so easy and, as a result, i hope they take it in stride when we rush them to produce their awesomeness.

anyway, my point is i would encourage you to stand by what you say and how you say and defend yourself a little next time.

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I hope they recap this drama as well. It seems that girlfriday might have it wrong. Some people are reporting Wind Blows in Winter came in 2nd with Civil Servant bringing up the rear. So which one is it?

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it's up to them whether they want to recap that drama or not. i hope you respect them. instead of demanding, why don't you just wait patiently until they recap it? it has nothing to do with the ratings. they recapped this drama first, so what? be thankful. it this drama is not your bet, then don't just comment recklessly. show some respect to the people behind this blog.

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This." why not just wait patiently"
Recaps that are ongoing i understand are different if one does not show up, but we have yet to even know if a show will be recapped or not for it to be considered an "urgent" request.
And really that's been the standard for those who are new to DB. If a recap isn't up within 1-3 days of the first episode airing, chances are, it's not gonna be recapped.

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Hi, LoveIt!

I, too, heard that Level 7 Civil Servant came in last. So, it is a valid question to raise.

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Why are you here again? You really hate this drama, Choi Kang Hee and Joo Won so much, huh? That you will troll and be the party pooper whenever you see the opportunity. Unlike Loveit who seems genuinely puzzled about the ratings, I am suspicious of yours.

Many people have given up on this drama for various reasons and I don't see them commenting here. Why should they? They rant on a couple of episodes here then they move on to another drama which can hold their interest. But you? So predictable.

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Girlfriday has the ratings right. That Winter aired two episodes, and the episode that went up against IRIS and Civil Servant was in last place (11.3%). Episode 2 aired in the next hour and came up to 12.8%, but it wasn't against any dramas.

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Thank you!!!

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Thank you :)

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YAY!! Thank you for the recap!
I'm assuming you'll still continue recapping? :DD

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Just curious questioning (bc I'm weird and random), but how come javabeans wasn't able to write the recap today? Is it possible that she's working on one of the other 2 dramas for Wed-Thurs?
Should I just sit still and find out soon? lol

P.S- I hope that didn't come out weird, I love the way you both write your recaps !! Like I said, I'm random like that...

Happy Thursday!

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They take turns (:

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yeah; i noticed too that GF recapped an odd-numbered episode.
i thought perhaps there's another show in the works of being recapped.
Makes me wonder which show it'll be?

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Aha, I checked it after I commented =_= (since I skipped some re-caps). I dunno, maybe IRIS? And I think Heads has That Winter...

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Things are getting better and better, in my opinion. ^__^

Awesome, thanks for the recap!

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Thanks so much for the recap Girlfriday!!!
I'd been waiting all week to find out how that "threesome" scene ended LMAO.
I can't take the end of the episode...all my feelings are just screaming at me right now. If there turns out not to be a massive reversal later, I think my heart will break for poor puppy Gilro T___T

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Thanks!!!!

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Yes! You are still doing recaps!! thank you!!!!!!!!Since everyone else has gone to Iris & Winter.. I'm sticking to this show. I need my funny during the week.

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Count me in as well! I'm not going anywhere, I'm sticking with this as well. I need my dose of funny too :)

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Trying to refrain from reading because I haven't watch it yet but I can't resist....and I read the first few para to find out the outcome of last week's hair tugging scene.

I'm laughing so hard. I enjoy your recaps so much and now I really can't wait for the subs.

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Hah! Great comedy acting by first rate comedy actors, even without the subs.

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"demented game of London Bridge" PFfttt! I was wondering how I would describe this scene! I was watching this at work and cracked up so bad...
and then I yelled when he got hit by the car.. damn. that was unexpected.

thanks for the recap!

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uhmforce the revengey terrorist

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. . . And the recap explains a few things about Korean peasant culture and family relations for us foreigners.

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you get the hang of it when you watch a bunch of k-dramas, ha

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I don't think history is doomed to repeat itself with . Uhmforce the Revengey Terrorist (unlike Gil-ro) never wanted to become civil servants. They never knowingly/willing risked their lives for their country. While Gil-ro is risking his life in service of his country and also his dream. I think even if he felt betrayed and hurt beyond belief he would never hurt Won-seok, and then Seo-won for revenge. He may have his weaknesses but I think morally he is the strongest in this show.

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yes, i agree! even if he's supposedly this chaebol guy, he seems so far like the only person who has his moral compass set right.

that said, THANK YOU SO MUCH girlfriday for recapping this series, i love your turns of phrase and the 'demented london bridge' was exactly what i thought when i was watching, and you called it, hehehe...

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please continue to recap this drama, please 1000x pretty please

although the the actors and cinematography are not as pretty as TWTWB and Iris, but its storyline is interesting and promising!! the acting wise is also quite solid

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Yay for the quick recap!!! I just love this drama more and more. It's light and funny but at the same time there's some plot movement. I could do without Seo Won's annoying parents, but other than that I love this drama. Too bad they couldn't fend off IRIS2, but since that drama spent so much money traveling to different countries, I'm not surprised...

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I can't help but notice you're recapping an odd-numbered episode, GF! i wonder if there's somethin' going on for the switcheroo?
Anywho, this episode was alot better than the ones before it; hopefully level 7 civil servant steps up their game amidst this ratings race with the other two star-studded dramas.
And seriously. that first scene is hilarious.

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Even now, I'm still laughing at the first scene when I think of it.. And Joo won's Astro Boy hair is HI-larious :D

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I just want to say one thing that's been bugging me since the beginning of this drama.... WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP KICKING GIL-RO IN THE FAMILY JEWELS?!?! I mean, is that really necessary? The first time when Won-Seok did it, I'll admit it's funny. Second time when Do-Ra did it, I winced in pain a little. Third time, SEO-WON does it for NO GOOD REASON mind you, and it gets over-used and old. To kick him out of her house, she could've just punched him in the face or in the shin like before. Kicking him down there just makes her character seem very insensitive, and not to mention it gives me the feeling that the writer is just using this tactic over and over again because it was funny the first time. Seriously, I'm a girl, and I can't help but wonder if this wasn't a drama, Gil-Ro would probably be infertile by now. Three kicks to that region by highly athletic spies? No one can survive that! >:[ GRRRRRRRRRRRR (HULK SMASH)

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this time is different, I think it wasn't as bad as Won Seok's or Do Ha's. Maybe Seo Won just wanted to get her foot between Gilro's thighs.

Anyway, we probably won't see any more of this from her, she got legit reasons to touch him now and vested interest in that department

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Lol! Happy Valentine's Day Seo Won! Make good use of the time with Gil Ro...

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I would love to do that. Really. Looks fun to kick him 'there'. HAHA.

I wonder why Lee Kang To a.k.a Gaksitaaaaaaaaal never used that on Kimura Shunji. Hah.

Love the phase of this drama. Owh my, I must confessed.. I cried during the last scene. Emotional ending and fulls of heart. Love it.

My puppy when he is angry. He is no longer a puppy. He is a Werewolf. A sexy werewolf. Aaaaooooo.

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You sure it's fun to kick him there? I wouldn't mind getting my foot stuck between his thighs though. Lucky Choi Kang Hee. I demand a BTS of this scene.

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@Anon...too funny LOL.

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Put my name on that petition :D

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Thank you very much!
I really loved this episode. And I worry about Gil-ro so badly… Don’t hurt him!!

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I REALLY REALLY WANT TO WATCH IT!!! but i just cant... the leading lady just turns me off... she just look like his mother and i see no chemistry at all.. ugh this is frustrating...
btw thanks for the recaps..

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I must have missed it but really why are they having him spy/guard his father and then send in another agent to spy on him. I know is something about a safe in his father house..but why go to all the bother of a 'seduction' when they could just ask him to look in his own house for it?..or is there no reason really other than to bring the two lead into conflict again for drama/comdey reasons?

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May be the "secret" document would reveal to Gil-Ro that his Dad is not a good guy after all and that he has not been "guarding" him but tailing him?! NIS has multiple layers and if you peel it away one by one, only betrayal will be left behind. I guess this premise is all about can "Love" overcome "betrayal"?

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Poor Gil ro... Please don't hurt him no more... Being used and abused...

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Thank you for the recap

Okay, now it can remind me of The Recruit.
Poor Gil-ro... Hiks...

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Hmm so I guess I was right about the old guys (who sacrificed people for the country) were the "bad guys". I wonder how he will turn out. Obviously, something is eventually going to happen to his family..

I think this is going to be a drama where I really don't like the first half but will like the second half. I really, really don't like the lead girl.. she's reminding me of Cheongdamdong Alice chick who loved the guy but decided to make him into a fool.

I won't like this show until Gilro knows, but I read the recaps because I really want him to find out so I can start watching it

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funny how I feel more and more vengeful towards them cause they keep kicking Gaksital in the *place*. You will not do THAT again, drama.

I haven´t watched the episode yet cause I did not find it subbed and half the humor will go missing especially from the fight with mom and dad.

and speaking of letting your mom and dad know. moms dont care where and to whom they bring kimbap you know. just imagine her showing up at her office at some point. they will all be like "go home ahjumma please, we are trying to save country"

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ahh and btw I am so annoyed that beautiful coat got torn. wish I could clean and repair it, was just admiring what a nice material it was. dont throw it away, you dont realize how much effort really goes into the material.

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thanks for the recap! I just read it and now off to watch the episode in raw since no subs yet :)

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Thank you for recap! I love this drama. Awww! Ending episode great!
Please continue to recap this drama.

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arghhhhh i really hope this drama can come in first among the 3 good dramas with the same time slot. "That winter, the wind blows" is already getting a good amount of viewership for its 1st and 2nd episodes!! And from what i had found out, Iris 2 came in first with it's 17% viewership last night ): you can already see the decrease in comments for Level 7 civil servant on dramabeans... not a good sign. but still, let's all continue to support and fangirl over this rom-com drama everyone!!!!

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This drama's popularity on dramabeans or any blog/forum outside Korea, does not impact its ratings.

I think it's holding up fairly decent against the other 2 dramas. IRIS2 is a huge budget production with the word BIG written all over it. TWTWB has Jo In Sung in his first comeback after army and Korea loves SHK plus melos. So 7 Level Civil Servant is definitely the underdog here.

If it hovers around this figure, no one is going to say it flopped. But it wins against the other 2, that will be a total whopper.

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I will admit to liking to pace of the show and the tone seems somewhere between absurd & heartfelt, without veering too far either way.

It neither offends, nor overly excites.

Usually I like wandering around characters a little bit to see who they are..and this show doesn't appear to have much mystery in that area. 'The players personalities are pretty straight forward.

Unless it 'rides off the rails' in the mid-section, I'll probably watch it until the end. ......and I'm still waiting for the OTP to have anything close to genuine HEAT.

So far it feels like a BigOl'Noona crush because, "Golly, she makes the best Ramen!"...rather than
a Hot man and a Simmering woman on the brink of bodice-ripping & belt un-clasping.

I mean it IS a SPY DRAMA/ROMANCE....isn't it? 0.o

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I am yet to watch this series and just like you, I have to pause from reading the earlier part to get a good laugh out of it. Really oh gosh! I am still shaking and laughing while typing this, imagining that scene in my head!

"Demented game of London Bridge"!! OMG!!! -rolls in laughter-

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I know this is supposed to be a comedy, but I'm finding the female lead's frequent use of violence towards the male leads really off-putting and unnecessary. It makes the female lead look really weak, because any smart woman is able to communicate her feelings without resorting to violence. I don't think women have any more right to use violence against men, just because they are perceived as the "weaker" sex. But this show seems to think it's okay because it's "funny" and because she's a "tough" female.

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That is an interesting observation, and, if this had been the semi-serious drama I wanted it to be, I would say that ALL the characters are using too much violence. However, this is a comedy-drama with lots of slapstick humor. We can expect them to do all manner of things that would get them arrrested in real life. Even discounting the spy stuff.

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. . . That said, I've told friends that my idea of a really ground-breaking Kdrama would be one where the female leads tasered the male characters every time they pulled a "wrist-grab" on them. The last time anyone with twice my strength did that to me was, as I recall, my mother when I was about eleven years old. It was painful and scary. If I saw someone doing that to a woman in public I would either intervene or call the police.

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THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have been dying to know what happened after Do Ha fell out of the closet! I think I almost wet myself I laughed so hard! ;-D What fun!!!! <33

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Doesn't Joo Won look a little bedraggled, as if he is not getting enough sleep?!! I definitely like him better in this drama :-/

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Hey, its not just Seo-Won but even Su-Mi is dressed up frumpy in this episode with a similar hair do (boy cut with a pony tail). What now, Is this the NIS agent trademark?

May be the stylist should be changed and every one (girls esp) would lose 5 years automatically? I like Seo-Won's appearance in the ballroom dance and in the posters. Is this look reserved for the future?

And what are the PARENTS doing here, seriously? They are borrowing a lot of unnecessary screen time (they should leave once they have caused enough trouble for one night, right?)

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whew! i thought i was the only one not liking Seo-Won's hairstyle. seriously, the women need a bit of an overhaul especially Seo-Won. she looked better with short, straight hair. this pony-tailed curly do isn't doing a thing for her.

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Thank you so much for recapping! I watched the RAW episode yesterday and just made up my own dialogue in English..LOL. Now it makes sense!

I am SO enjoying this show :-)

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IKR! whats with the new dramas streaming in.... L7CS is being pushed back in line for the subbing, I guess. This recap really helps..

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IKR! i use to be able to w8 til the episodes were subbed, but for this show...i'm too anxious! thank goodness for dramabeans's recaps!

epi 8 is out......i just finished watching it! not understanding the korean language, i have lots of questions. lol. i'm w8ing patiently for the recaps :-)

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This, is gonna be heartbreaking.

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Agreed. T___T

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i agree too.......damn.

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thanks again...

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oh, oh, the mom, the mom: it is Lady Choi, right? Lady Choi. It is Lady Choi. Now I suddenly want to see more of her interference. It did not connect before although I think the casting was mentioned at some point.
awesome.

I still want to see that coat stitched together neatly. oh, mom should repair her daughters boyfriends´ clothes that would be awesome. imagine a fight between spies after with the mother of one of them orders to hand her their coats and takes out a needle and thread and fight halts till they are all repaired, and then get torn apart again

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....I think I'm going to give up watching this drama.

I was excited for it because I'm a sucker for action & comedy (I was expecting something like City Hunter), but this drama does not come close. And if the focus is meant to be more on humor, then it should do humor and do it RIGHT. I'd rather the drama focus on one genre, if it's not good enough to do two.
The action AND the comedy are just.. off.

Villains arent that intimidating. They just kill people and threaten people. I can't really connect with them..

The female lead...once again.. WHY? Sorry, but there are so many great actresses out there who are kickass at action AND comedy (even lesser known ones). Choi Kang Hee... sucks. I'm sorry, I said it.

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I thought the action scenes are great & believable. They were slick when necessary, sometimes clumsy to tie to the comical nature of this show.

CKH is physically quick & agile, she can act. She has good skin and looks unique as well, and she's great for the role.

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@momosa...agreed :-)

i've grown to like CKH. i like the normalcy she brings to her role, yet is quite credible in the action scenes...eg. when she beat up on Gil Ro; giving him a nose bleed haha! she's feminine, but is also tough when needed.

i may be of the few, but i find her very pretty and i love her facial expressions. :-)

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Who cut Joo-Won's hair, I know it has been this style for a couple of episodes, but it looks terribler today.

I thank the writers for answering my question regarding motive for Uhmforce and his band of misfit terrorists. I kind of sympathize with their mission now. Not the take down the country, kill everyone, and salt the earth portions, but the wanting the people who ruined your life to get their comeuppance by your hand, totally get it.

I don't know about the tone of this episode, it was like me after a night of drinking. Everything's all funny at first (hair pulling, loud yelling fisticuffs with parents), then something happens and you get all sad and angry and think you are going to die alone (why you lying to me Seo Won? I really like you, but I shouldn't), then you fall down and get hurt (in this case you kick a baddie's ass), then you are all like "i love you man (hug at the end)." I could not keep up. It does not fit as a black comedy for me, this is more dramedy with some kdrama cliches. So far at least.

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Given how Joo Won is supposedly so respectful of his elders in real life, it's funny to see him so out of his comfort zone when doing the scenes where he had to act so disrespectful to his sunbaes. Would love to see BTS of the beginning of episode 7.

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Thanks for the recap!
Too bad that subs comes in so late. That last part is totally touching, I even cry. I was about to ask whether Gil-ro is just being used and right now he is. Its so bad that they are toying on his brain and emotions.. sniff sniff.. At least at that last part Gil-ro had full 5 minutes of genuine concern from Seo-won and not a secret agent kind of way of concern.
Happy weekend everyone!

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Hmm.for me the worst part is I cannot understand why they like each other...so the love part is not interesting enough for me. Then , it is also not funny enough. It is also not dramatic enough because the spy scenarios seem childish compared to the huge drama in Iris 2.

For now, still watching though just because =)

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