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Trot Lovers: Episode 11

Well, it’s as we feared: That most dreaded and annoying of drama cliches has come to plague our new lovebirds, throwing Joon-hyun and Chun-hee’s relationship right back to the beginning. And rather than learn from her near-fatal mistake, Soo-in somehow manages to sink to even lower levels of horrible behavior, officially making her worse of a villain than her mother. Congratulations, I guess?

EPISODE 11 RECAP

An injured Joon-hyun is taken away in an ambulance with Soo-in accompanying him, having been mistaken for the person who was with him when the accident happened, while Chun-hee futilely tries to follow on her injured leg. She finally collapses, sobbing his name.

Joon-hyun is wheeled into surgery, and Soo-in washes her bloody hands in the bathroom, repeating to herself over and over, “It’s not my fault. I didn’t kill him.” Suddenly a terrible thought occurs to her: Joon-hyun saw her just before she released the rope securing the set piece. If he wakes, he’ll know what she did.

Chun-hee finally arrives at the hospital and sees on the monitor that Joon-hyun is currently in surgery. She stands outside the surgery room door and calls to him, “Jang Joon-hyun! Can you hear my voice? I’ll be right here!” She tells him not to be scared, as she fights off her own terror.

Director Wang informs Soo-in’s mother of the accident, assuring her that her daughter is okay. But he’s got footage of the CCTV at the theater that clearly shows Soo-in releasing the rope and causing the accident. Uh oh.

Chun-hee desperately tries to get into Joon-hyun’s room after his surgery, but two burly security guards are there to make sure he’s not disturbed. Barred from seeing him, Chun-hee can only sit in the hospital hallway and pray for Joon-hyun to wake up soon.

Soo-in is inside, having been appointed Joon-hyun’s guardian, and the doctors tell her that he’ll recover soon since he received excellent first aid (thanks to Chun-hee). As she waits by Joon-hyun’s bedside, Soo-in watches the news stories about his accident, which report that he was injured while saving Soo-in from the falling set piece.

Soo-in falls asleep and when she wakes, Joon-hyun isn’t in the bed. She’s startled to see him standing behind her, and he grabs her and shakes her, demanding to know why she did it. She begs his forgiveness, saying that she hates Chun-hee and didn’t mean for him to get hurt. Because that makes it better? She falls to her knees and begs him to keep it a secret.

She jerks awake, and sees Joon-hyun still laying in bed unconscious — it was only a nightmare. Soo-in’s mother arrives, and they go to the hallway to talk. Joo-hee asks if Soo-in is scared that people will find out what she did, telling her daughter that she saw her on the CCTV. Soo-in asks if she should turn herself in, but her mother says that the situation isn’t too bad yet (seriously?).

Mom says that she and Director Wang have already gotten rid of the CCTV video and spun the story to the press to make Soo-in sound like a victim. If Joon-hyun wakes up, he won’t be able to tell anyone the truth because it would mean also revealing his relationship with Chun-hee, which he can’t do in light of her scandal with the assemblyman.

Loan sharks Yoo-shik and Chul-man manage to distract the guards at Joon-hyun’s room long enough for Chun-hee to sneak in. She holds Joon-hyun’s hand and apologizes for not coming sooner, and pleads with him to wake up so they can go home.

Still unconscious, Joon-hyun imagines himself in a beautiful field with a faceless girl, singing the song he wrote for MJ, “Remember Me.” He hears a voice begging him to wake up, and in the real world, the fingers on one hand start to move the tiniest bit.

The guards catch Chun-hee and escort her from the hospital room, and Soo-in goes back in to sit with him. He wakes up, immediately complaining that his head hurts, and Soo-in frantically apologizes. He interrupts her to ask where the reporters went and asks where the “Medal Meddler” went, saying that he got hurt because of her. Joon-hyun asks if the scandal got leaked and asks to see the newspaper, and is shocked when he sees the date.

A doctor tells Soo-in and Joo-hee that Joon-hyun has dissociative amnesia, and has lost all memories from a certain date in time. He could regain his memories, but Joo-hee tells her daughter not to do anything to help that happen. Soo-in says that all he’ll have to do is get on the internet and find out everything, but Joo-hee says she’s ordered all news relating to him to be erased so that he won’t be able to find out anything. She instructs Soo-in to find Tae-song and get him to keep his mouth shut, but she doesn’t seem to think Chun-hee will be much of a threat because of her scandal.

Chun-hee hears that Joon-hyun has woken up and tries again to get into his room, but the guards stonewall her. Soo-in opens the door to tell her to leave and Chun-hee shoves her way in, accidentally pushing Soo-in down. Joon-hyun rushes to help Soo-in and yells at Chun-hee, calling her Medal Meddler. He treats her as coldly as he did when they first met, and when she tries to tell him that they like each other, he calls her crazy and says that he likes Soo-in.

He has the guards take her out, and reporters snap pictures of her being roughly removed from his room. Geon-woo arrives and gets the guards off her, and escorts her outside. Chun-hee is stunned, saying over and over that Joon-hyun was like a different person, and Geon-woo tries to reassure her that it’s just a side effect of his accident.

Joon-hyun and Soo-in talk, and he says that he’s scared of that Medal Meddler. A fan asks for an autograph and says how much she loves his new song “Remember Me,” which has Joon-hyun frowning in confusion. Tae-song visits, and is surprised when Joon-hyun greets him with a happy “Hyung!”

Joon-hyun asks Tae-song about the song “Remember Me,” and Tae-song thinks he’s upset because he uploaded it online without his permission. He says that Joon-hyun’s song is a hit and that he’ll rise again soon, but Joon-hyun is confused, not remembering that he ever fell. When Tae-song tries to explain, Soo-in interrupts and sends him on an errand.

She takes Tae-song aside and explains about Joon-hyun’s amnesia, and that he only remembers up to hitting his head on the van door after the sex scandal broke. She tells Tae-song not to tell Joon-hyun about his career tanking, or that he dated Chun-hee, pretending to be concerned that Joon-hyun may get upset about Tae-song betraying him and Chun-hee’s scandal.

Joo-hee phones another reporter to make sure the accident story is spun her way, and is shocked to find herself face-to face with Chun-hee’s father. They talk at a cafe, and they clearly have a long history together since they address each other very familiarly, and Joo-hee even seems pleased to see her “Myung-shik Oppa.”

But she immediately starts with the lies, pretending not to know that he’s Chun-hee’s father. Their conversation sheds a bit of light on Chun-hee’s mother, how she became ill after an accident and it took her singing voice. Joo-hee feigns innocence as she asks if he’s ever found the person who caused the accident. Chun-hee’s father says that he hasn’t, but he’s still determined to find and punish that person.

He says that he heard of Chun-hee’s scandal and asks if she’s okay, and Joo-hee says that she’s fine, it’s just how the business is. She promises to help Chun-hee but later when she’s alone, she worries what could happen if he talks to President Jo. Director Wang informs her that Chun-hee’s concert has been permanently canceled, and Joo-hee tells him to spread the rumor that the assemblyman is Chun-hee’s sponsor, determined to ruin her for good.

Geon-woo corners Soo-in at the hospital and asks her to tell him exactly how the accident happened. She says that Chun-hee was meeting Joon-hyun on stage, and that the set fell, but Geon-woo thinks there’s more to the story. He confronts her with the news stories that Joon-hyun was hurt saving her and that they’re dating. Soo-in admits that they’re not, but that she saw an opportunity to help her career.

Later, Soo-in shows Joon-hyun a news article describing Chun-hee’s scandal with the assemblyman, and they laugh together about Chun-hee becoming a trot singer and claiming that she’s dating him. Tae-song comes to tell Joon-hyun that he’ll be released within the week, and Joon-hyun asks him to make sure that Medal Meddler stays away from him. Tae-song agrees but throws uneasy looks in Soo-in’s direction, uncomfortable with lying to Joon-hyun but scared that she’ll tell him that Tae-song betrayed him.

Chun-hee catches Tae-song in the hall and asks if Joon-hyun remembers him, and wilts to find out that he remembers his manager and Soo-in, but not her. Soo-in pulls her aside to tell her to stay away from Joon-hyun, as his song is doing well and she’s under a scandal. How the tables have turned.

Chun-hee asks why Soo-in is doing this now, when just recently she was helping them get together. Soo-in says that she was confused, but when Joon-hyun got hurt she realized that she cares for him. She says that Chun-hee took her place temporarily, but it’s time to go back where she came from.

Chun-hee doesn’t believe that, and calls Soo-in on her lies — they both know that Joon-hyun got hurt saving Chun-hee, not her. Soo-in just smirks that that’s what Chun-hee wants to believe, and walks away.

Byul walks down the hall at school, and the same brat that objected to her winning the cooking contest bumps her and causes her ukelele to be damaged. Bratty says that Byul got it by lying anyway, and Byul insists that that Ahjussi is her family. Bratty snarls that her mom said Byul is a liar, and that her sister is a liar and worse, and gets her whole Mean Girls posse to gang up on Byul.

Coach Bang calls Chun-hee crying that Byul is missing, and they both search the school and the neighborhood, but Byul is nowhere to be found. Finally they find her, alone and crying, and Chun-hee is so relieved that she yells at Byul about how worried she made her.

Byul cries that she’s sorry, and Coach notices that she’s got cuts and bruises on her face and asks if someone hit her. Byul, ever the spitfire, fires back all, Yeah well, you should see the other guys! She says the other kids insulted Chun-hee so she beat them up, but starts to cry again because the other moms might come complaining to Chun-hee. OMG, this kid. Love her so much.

Chun-hee hugs her sister and says it’s okay, even if Byul hit the other kids really hard, which is so sweet. Both of them cry out their frustrations, glad to at least have each other.

That night at home, Byul asks if people don’t like Chun-hee now, and will stop listening to her songs. Chun-hee assures her with that Big Sister “everything’s great” smile that this will all be over soon. She tells Byul that she’s paid off Dad’s debt, and he’ll be home soon, and they give each other their trademark finger guns. So cute.

Joon-hyun is released from the hospital, and Tae-song has somehow arranged for him to go back to his old apartment, since he’s still unaware that his scandal got him evicted. He gives him a new phone with his same number, saying that his old one was destroyed in the accident — I assume to cover up any pictures and text histories with Chun-hee. Joon-hyun immediately looks for his guitar, which of course is now at Chun-hee’s place, and Tae-song pretends not to know anything about it.

The next day, Joon-hyun and Soo-in meet with Joo-hee, who tells them that the company cleaned up any problems and that they should just concentrate on their singing. She warns Joon-hyun not to tell anyone of his memory loss, since his song is doing well.

Joon-hyun and Soo-in run into Chun-hee in the hall, and it’s heartbreaking to see Joon-hyun flinch as if Chun-hee could attack him at any moment. He’s surprised to hear that Chun-hee is a singer at Shine Star, and he coldly shoos her away when her sorrowful expression bothers him.

Joon-hyun goes to meet with Geon-woo, which is so awkward since he thinks it’s their first meeting. He assumes that Geon-woo’s astonishment is because he’s such a big star, which just makes Geon-woo laugh.

Geon-woo is amused as he fills Joon-hyun in on why he’s here instead of his father, but his face falls when Joon-hyun sneers that he must have signed “that girl” because he knows nothing about music. He thinks Chun-hee joined Shine Star in order to stalk him, and says mean things about her until Geon-woo cuts him off and says that he’ll take care of her. There’s a funny meta moment when Joon-hyun leaves the office and grumbles that that guy looks like a psychopath, HA.

Chun-hee thinks of Joon-hyun as she and Byul tend to Byul’s lettuce, and later as she reads their dating contract. At the same time, Joon-hyun shows hints that he hasn’t completely lost everything that he picked up while living with Chun-hee, surprising Tae-song when he knows how to do laundry and asking him to buy a fan.

Having decided to keep to their dating contract whether Joon-hyun remembers it or not, Chun-hee leaves some balloon flower tea for Joon-hyun in his practice room. It’s both sweet and heartbreaking how she pats her own forehead the way Joon-hyun always does when he’s proud of her.

She tells a picture of him that this is all she can do, and she’ll bring tea for him every day, and pats the photograph’s forehead. She goes to her practice room, sadly thinking of the time when she and Joon-hyun played piano together.

Later Joon-hyun finds the tea and assumes that Soo-in left it there, which she denies. She takes it from him and pours it out, saying that they don’t know who left it there or what could have been put in it. Joon-hyun seems confused, but willing to follow Soo-in’s lead.

Chun-hee talks with Coach at the restaurant, deflecting Coach’s concern over her. A couple of customers notice Chun-hee and gossip about the rumor of her trying to get between Joon-hyun and Soo-in, and her scandal with the assemblyman. Coach jumps up to give them a piece of her mind, but is interrupted by a loud “Hey!” from Pil-nyeo.

Pil-nyeo aggressively confronts the gossiping customers, asking what proof they have of any scandal — did they actually see it? The customers leave and Pil-nyeo apologizes to Coach, who just says she did great.

Pil-nyeo brings Chun-hee an energy drink and they sit outside, moaning about their bad luck. They don’t talk about anything of importance, but it’s so great to see someone getting Chun-hee’s back when she needs it most. I’d never have guessed it would be Pil-nyeo, but I think they both could use a friend.

Chun-hee sits on the bench outside her home and sings while President Jo listens, and he says that he knows she’s been having a hard time. He tells her that he used to work in the music business (I forgot that she doesn’t know exactly who he is!), and reminds her that he once told her of a trot singer he used to like. He says that when things got hard, he let her quit music, and that he’s always regretted it.

Chun-hee asks if the singer also regretted giving up singing, and he guesses that she probably did. Chun-hee says that her mother also regretted giving it up, and President Jo just looks at her thoughtfully.

The next morning Chun-hee meets with Geon-woo and says that she wants to work, even if it means a small stage. She smiles like a champ, but finds herself singing for a group of unappreciative listeners, who throw things at her and jeer as Geon-woo watches in frustration.

He finds Chun-hee after the show and they both put on a smile as if it’s all fine, and Chun-hee says she’s got another show after this. He tells her that it was canceled, and asks her to hang out with him instead. They ride a swan boat where he lets her do all the pedaling, claiming it’s because exercise is good for relieving stress. HA.

They go to a club for ice cream sundaes, and Geon-woo suggests they play the dagger game they played before. He wins again and Chun-hee laughs, but it soon changes to tears, though she makes a heartbreaking effort to keep smiling even while telling him how much her heart aches. Oh, sweetie.

At a loss, Geon-woo just gets on his knees and hugs her, comforting her as best he can. Just then he sees Joon-hyun and Soo-in sit at a nearby table, and when Joon-hyun watches them curiously, Geon-woo gives him a glare that makes me worry that he’s going to ask after Joon-hyun’s health.

Geon-woo goes onstage and announces that there’s someone he wants to cheer up, and sings “Boiling,” a song that’s both ridiculously silly and a thinly-veiled confession, complete with embarrassing dance moves. It’s the cutest thing ever. Chun-hee watches and tries to cheer up, unaware that Joon-hyun is there and can’t take his eyes off her.

He muses that the Medal Meddler finally managed to seduce a guy, but that guy would probably date anyone, which upsets Soo-in and she leaves. Chun-hee finally sees Joon-hyun there, and he suddenly gets jumpy and follows Soo-in out.

Geon-woo takes Chun-hee home early to rest, but immediately gets a call from Soo-in. She’s at the same bar where they once drank together, and he finds her already well on her way to drunkenness again. She says that she blames him for everything, because if he liked her then she wouldn’t have felt like she needed to do all these horrible things. Because your ability to make good decisions depends on whether a guy likes you. What are you, twelve?

Soo-in cries that she doesn’t know what to do now, or how to get out of this situation. She feels trapped by her actions and knows that they’re keeping her from getting close to Geon-woo, and supposes that she’s being punished. Geon-woo just drinks and says nothing.

When Geon-woo gets home, he’s startled to see his father already in the house. President Jo asks about Chun-hee’s scandal and Geon-woo assures him that she wouldn’t do that kind of thing. President Jo asks why Joon-hyun isn’t doing anything and is shocked to hear he’s got amnesia, and Geon-woo just throws his hands up and makes a face like, “I don’t even know,” exactly like I did at the beginning of this episode.

The next day, Chun-hee drops off more balloon flower tea in Joon-hyun’s practice room, only this time he enters and sees who’s been leaving the tea. It only reinforces his belief that she’s stalking him, and he leans in close to ask what she put in the tea. Chun-hee takes a drink to prove it’s safe, but Joon-hyun isn’t convinced.

He cruelly says that this may work on Geon-woo and the assemblyman, but it won’t work on him, and pours out the tea. Chun-hee looks wounded and leaves, and Joon-hyun seems disconcerted by her reaction.

He takes a call and goes to the jewelry store where he ordered the medal necklace that he was going to use to propose to Chun-hee. He takes out the necklace and sees an “MJ” woven into the chain, which the salesgirl assumes must be his nickname for Soo-in. Joon-hyun stands in confusion, sensing that something is wrong but enable to remember the truth.

COMMENTS

So, my instinct is to just go off on a long rambling rant about lazy writing, tired old drama cliches, and wasting a great premise and an amazing cast. But I think it’s safe to assume that we’re all thinking the same thing, so I’m going to do us all a favor and not do that. I’m going to keep it to a short rant about lazy writing, tired old drama cliches, and wasting a great premise and an amazing cast.

First and foremost…AMNESIA? ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?! I think we all saw this coming when Joon-hyun was carted off in an ambulance with a head wound at the end of Episode 10, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was holding out hope that the show would pull a twist on us and NOT do that. Sort of like odilettante‘s excellent example of Dream High, when Sam-dong was hit in the head and instead of getting amnesia, lost his hearing. That would have been great… take that trope and twist it into something clever and supportive of our story. But no, we got generic amnesia, which just feels like a cop-out, as if the writer ran out of ideas and just wrote the first thing they could think of. I’ll admit that it’s kind of interesting to have Joon-hyun actually remember Chun-hee, but only as that insane girl who tried to steal his marathon medal. It makes their interactions after he recovers a bit more frustrating that he actually does know who she is, but he only remembers hating her.

But still, I’m mostly just disappointed that this was the best the show could do. And I’ll admit that a lot of my disappointment is because I was so, so looking forward to this show before it started. I have counted Ji Hyun-woo and Jung Eun-ji among my favorite actors since I first saw them in Queen In-hyun’s Man and Answer me 1997. I was so excited to see Shin Sung-rok play a role completely opposite to murderous Jae-kyung. I was thrilled to be seeing these fantastic interesting actors in a drama about music, one of my very favorite things in the world.

But instead of getting a drama all about quirky characters navigating the music business, what I got was the same old show about the Candy and the arrogant rich guy who hate each other, then like each other, then get torn apart, and so on. The whole music business overarching plot could be anything and it wouldn’t matter, because the things the characters are doing and experiencing could be done and experienced within any theme at all. And while I still appreciate that the show is fast-paced and doesn’t bog down in any one trope for too long, it’s frustrating because each time we get out of one drama cliché, it only leads to another. There’s just nothing new, and it makes me sad.

I know, the show isn’t over yet. I can’t help but be the optimist that I am, and hope against hope that the writer does have a plan and is actually going to make all this worth it. And I have to clarify that I still don’t think this is a bad show — in fact I still enjoy it for what it is, which is a cute drama with mostly cute characters and an OTP that I can cheer on as they try to find their way to (and back to) each other. I still enjoy the quick pace and the music the show does give us. It just could have been so much more, if it had just tried a little harder. It has all the right ingredients, but is failing to use them. But we still have 5 more episodes, and who knows, the show could surprise us.

But in the meantime I’ll lower my expectations and try to enjoy the show I got, instead of wish for the show I had hoped I would get. And maybe afterward, when it’s all over, I’ll revisit Boong-do and Shi-won and reminisce about the good old days.

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WHY.. WHY ... WHY

i thought they're weren't going to go that route :S

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Yeah, pretty much my thoughts exactly. The only plus I found to the amnesia was what you said about Joon-hyun not completely forgetting Chun Hee; I haven't seen amnesia approached that way...

It seems another show is looking to jump the shark in this way this week as well :( One that I was really enjoying. I'm still holding out hope that it WON'T almost completely do what I'm thinking it will... only because it's based on another drama so it doesn't NEED to go in that direction. But I digress. I agree that Dream High did it best. Although I must remember it wrong because I didn't think his hearing loss was a result of the accident though it did come pretty soon after. I'll have to rewatch... not that I mind lol _< /rant

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Amnesia was played most realistically in I Can Hear Your Voice, the painful scene in Secret Garden (though he shouldn't have been driving or moving), and My Princess (how they overlaid the memory recall was pretty close).

If you combine those three, that's pretty close to perfect.

This kind of amnesia from head injury... you have to be in a coma for a long time kind of injury and an injury to the frontal lobes, not the back of the head with a small bit of bleeding. This American Life covered a real life case.

Amnesia doesn't generally work like they are describing. It's only selective around psychological reasons to forget. In cases of actual head injury it's more likely to erase *time* rather than specific memories. In the case of psychological reasons, it will erase *specific* types of memories, to try to protect the person from further trauma.

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I agree that the writers are lazy. The whole drama has just been one, mean guy hitting at the nice guy, scene after another. They could have went more in-depth into each character instead.

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Honestly, I was fooled a in thinking they were going to pin the accident on choon hee since she left the scene but I forgot too soon that amnesia was a staple of kdramas!

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Lollypip ~

Thanks for the recap. I had to quit the show. It's strayed into the Crapjang Zone.

Poor Eun-ji. Better luck on your next project.

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Beautifully put.

About the makjang (or crapjang - love that word!) devices, is it a chicken-or-egg riddle? I mean, is it the K-drama writer or the K-drama viewer who demands them?

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Have not seen the drama and never plan to but I have to admit to be immensely enjoyed all the comments here :) keep up the good work babes. Gotta love the new vocab Crapjang.

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Thanks for the recap!!!

Ugh, hate Soon In so much, I better see her in an prison outfit soon or Imma just go bats hit crazy.

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I agree! Not just her...but her mom too!! Two of a kind! !

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I tuned in to see if he really got the dreaded A. I quit 5 mins into the ep w/o finding out. Seeing CH refused entry to his hosp room, and Soo-in being in there w a group of docs was too much for me to stomach.
One less show to follow!

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BTW, I like the little sister a lot. The pint-sized actress was great in Hyun Bin's latest movie--King's Wrath. She was noticeably littler a year ago.

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Seriously - Choon Hee is standing around limping and covered with blood, both when the ambulance came and then later in the hospital... AND NOBODY FREAKING NOTICES!!. And our Candy is so freaking dumb that after a dozen or so episodes of her getting screwed over she STILL does not have a clue.

This was the last episode I watched, ep12 is up but am skipping from here on except for recaps here.

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I think ep 12 is definitely a lot better than ep 11 and the amnesia issue will be wrapped up pretty nicely. Don't have your hopes up, but ep 12 won't be as much of a pain to watch than ep 11.

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But the president! How adorable is he? I'll tell you. He's so adorable, that I don't even wanna talk about amnesia. Plus, I love Jung Eun Ji. I don't know what it is about her, but when she cries, I wanna cry for her too. And when she sings? Awesome. I'm not saying I'm going to ignore the big elephant in the room, but I'm not watching this particular drama to be epically (is that even a word) moved. I'm here for the fluff!!! Hehehhh. So instead of focusing on its flaws (and there a LOT, i don't even wanna start), I'm just going to focus on the good parts that make we tune in week after week. Besides, anything is possible in dramaland (hello, amnesia). Maybe the show will redeem itself. So far, the pace isn't bad. They don't dwell on the issues too much/too long. Maybe this one will be resolved in a way that will justify why they had to resort to the damn memory loss in the first place.

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"Geon-woo gives him a glare that makes me worry that he’s going to ask after Joon-hyun’s health."

Ha. I laughed so hard at this, more than I should.

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"How is your health? You know I care about you"

*runs to dog shelter to smuggle drugs*

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I was practically BEGGING for it to not be amnesia before watching and even when I was watching and it still hasn't been revealed whether it was amnesia. But no matter how many times I thought about it before watching, it makes sense to make it amnesia at this point in the drama when all you have is the rival throwing a glass of wine at the TV screen and drinking her woes away, the rivals mom plotting some evil schemes to ruin the heroines career, and the cuteness that is the main couple. Kdrama laws state that there can't be too much cuteness overload for more than 2 ep. (Maybe even one) without there being some kind of conflict, but I still hoped it wasn't amnesia. And what do you know? Amnesia. Maybe we should protest the clichéd use of amnesia... But I watched Ep. 12, all I can say is thank God.

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My thoughts on this episode/drama:

1. To the writer of Trot Lovers - [INSERT EVERY CURSE WORD AND INSULT KNOWN TO MAN]

2. That Disney music is really off-putting. I feel like tinkerbell will show up any second and sprinkle everyone with fairy dust.

3. I feel sorry for all the actors/actresses involved. They deserved better than this.

4. I can't even enjoy Tae Song's antics since he's been pegged as a liar and a betrayer.

5. Eun Ji's singing is awesome as always.

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2. I actually like the Disney music, as I find it quite amusing, but I am 99% certain that it is incredibly illegal for them to be using it. There's no way Disney licensed that to them. Which sort of makes it even funnier to me.

4. Also bummed about Tae Song. The writers kind of shafted his character and it's so unfair to us as an audience because I love him but the way he's acting makes me wanna strangle him. It also doesn't follow any kind or normal logic for him to be acting that way, which is frustrating on a whole other level.

But then again, "logic" doesn't actually seem to be a word these writers are familiar with, sooooo................

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I'm holding out on my Tae-song judgement because I'm SO HOPING he will redeem his latest selfish mistake and be the one that gives Joon-hyun his home made music video for "Remember Me" that is still clearly in at his officetel! Once Joon-hyun sees that there will be no doubt about the kind of relationship he has with Choon-hee.

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Thanks Lollypip for the recap! I hope your palm didn't leave a mark on your face after watching that episode. hehe

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Yes indeed, the Disney music is off-putting. Everytime the I hear the Disney music in Trot Lovers, I ask myself did I just miss picking up on a meta reference to a Disney movie or character?

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Really, amnesia? REALLY?

If the effect of the head wound was that he somehow discovered his hidden love for trot, I would have fully accepted that, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

Because afterall, the title of this show is TROT LOVERS not Amnesia Lovers.

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I feel sad, mostly 'cause we know Eun Ji can do so much more than she has been given. I wish she can land some tvN indie-oriented drama soon.

As for trot, I hope they can be a bit more creative, because it's getting predicatble and it would not be a surprise at all that the climax reaches somewhere between Joon-hyun having his memory back at a crucial time where Choon-Hee's life is in danger and the secret about her mother's murderer gets out. I don't see anything different happening, but I'll keep my hope until it's done.

Btw, I'm loving Sung-Rok's acting here. Such a versatile actor.

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Amnesia

We all called it. ::facepalm:: Never in my life have I so badly wanted a female lead to bag the entire drama and run away to open a fruit stand.

Between this and "Shut Up! Flower Boy Band", I guess we know why Chun Hee's mother quit the music business. ::eyeroll at Shine Star's ridiculous excuse for management::

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ngl literally the only characters I like are the president, the sister, and Pil-nyeo...and sometimes Chun-Hee. I feel like the writers were like 'oh shit she's successful and fell in love how do we expand that to 16 episodes. I know! Amnesia will do the trick" *sigh* I guess it's the old go to

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My mom was following this show and really liking it, but she completely rage quit about 5 min into this episode, which she has NEVER done before. Really a shame.

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Honestly, I started this drama with mediocre expectations. And so far, I got what I expected so I'm still enjoying it despite its endless flaws.

Despite the fact that I wish Eunji could have been part of a drama with less flaws, I must say that I am blown away by her acting in the drama. She was great in 1997, and as effortless as her dialogue and comedic timing was, I couldn't connect with her on the finer emotions. However, in this drama, when she cries, I'm almost in tears for her. I applaud her for her improvement!!

Oh, and she has the voice of an angel.

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Ditto for me. Still enjoying this show. For some reason, You're All Surrounded was SUCH a disappointment to me that I'm not at all bothered by Trot Lovers' plot in comparison. (Sorry, don't kill me, YAS fans.) The only thing that made me facepalm in this episode was Soo-in's mom erasing the internet.

I think Eunji is going to put out a solo album, yay! Hopefully it showcases her voice instead of being just bubblegum pop.

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"The only thing that made me facepalm in this episode was Soo-in’s mom erasing the internet."

hahaa! I know. I roll with a lot of the crazy in this drama (mostly because I have little to no expectations for it), but how is it possible to just erase All the articles about him from the past few months? So ridiculous I laughed out loud. And wouldn't he ask what he's been doing for the past few months...?

ps. I also agree that I was more disappointed with YAS, but that's because I had higher hopes for it. It started off well, and I wanted that to continue. This one, basically from the first episode I knew to just turn my brain off.

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Why isn't she SINGING more? Wae-wae-WAEEEEE!? This is a drama about Trot Music, and they've got people with great voices, and the singing part is TRIVIAL!

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Sigh.

So much potential. So little faith in the story, the characters and the audience.

I'm in the "walk away" crowd. I'll follow the recaps.

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I'm still watching, but I'm sooo disappointed. I was counting the days until Ji Hyun Woo got back from the military, and I was thrilled that he started a new drama so soon, but this show frustrates me more and more. From the first episode, I hated his hair, his straightened teeth, his terrible costumes, and the fact that his body was less fit than when he went in, but I kept hoping his talent would make up for it all. Alas, I'm losing hope, even though he (and the rest of the cast) is doing as well as anyone could with the material they are given.

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I would be lying if I said I'm not disappointed, like they didn't even give us two episodes as them as a happy couple they could have given us that but nope straight back where we started.
"it’s frustrating because each time we get out of one drama cliché, it only leads to another. There’s just nothing new, and it makes me sad."
This is my exact feeling especially when its compared to fated to love you which thus far isn't going down the cliche routes just yet anyway or marriage not dating. I don't get why the writer seems to have regressed completely and in the process is making me not care to make time for the show.

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In all honesty the amnesia doesn't bother me frankly while it usually annoys me every once in a while when the conditions are right, like now when I saw it coming, I can stand it.

No what bothers me is the ending I see coming what I consider the most annoying type of ending. I call it the quitter special, where the plucky heroine retires from the job she loves and lives "happily" ever after with her family and the man she loves. I put happily in quotes because I don't believe for one minute that someone who truly loves to sing or act or whatever job they're doing that their rival has forced them out of, could live and be happy for the rest of their life without singing.

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I don't see that happening. She knows her mom regretted quitting, plus the man she loves is a musician himself. I see more of the two of them continuing their careers with dad at home watching the grand-babies, and little sister going to college. At least I hope so. If not, I'll jut pretend that's what happened and ignore the tv ending. ;D

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I agree that it's not the amnesia thing that bothers me, but all the other logic defying writing that happened to conveniently line up to create these so called obstacles at this time.

Everything can be found out on the interwebs? Noooo problem! Lemme take care of that for you.... just how exactly? If there was a way to magically disappear everything related to you from the internet in an instant, maybe we should have done that for Soo In's scandal?

The Disney music is perfect for this show. It's living in it's own fantasy world now where everybody is beyond gullible and dumber than dirt.

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Ouch! Haha! I hope the writers of this show is reading your comments...it should be a slap in the face for them!

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Sadly, I can't comment on this because I haven't seen the total episode. My monitor somehow broke in the first 6 minutes of this week's episode when I hurtled myself into it in FRUSTRATION AND ANGER!!!

Geesh.

And aigoo.

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Am I the only one that isn't completely annoyed over the amnesia plot line? Or, let me correct, I'm annoyed that this is what we got but prefer this plot to any other that the writers could have given us considering how the story progressed thus far. I think it works for the story given how quickly our leads' romance progressed and the fact that we still have some of the plot/episodes to go through (Will Joon-hyun rise back to the top? What did Evil-Bitch 1st Gen do to Momma Tro? How far will Soo-in fall? What will happen when the truth about Gen 2 following Gen 1 comes out?) and I would MUCH RATHER see Joon-hyun fall in love with Choon-hee all over again than have what would be even worse scenarios: a more prolonged Noble Idiot OR a we-get-together-and-we-come-apart-in-every-other-episode situation.

Perhaps my indifference towards the amnesia plot "twist" (more like, obvious turn in the road) is because up until now I have been able to successfully avoid most dramas that use this device so I'm not as fed up with it as are almost everyone else. Also, this allows us to the (hopefully soon to be realized, I hope they do it!) opportunity to see Joon-hyun struggle with the fact that he misses Choon-hee not only for HER but for the family he had by merit of being part of her life. It's like, this guy no longer remembers realizing how lonely he was before and yet here are these people (including his adorable bestie Byul, who we all know he can't say no to regardless of his state of assery towards everyone else) being a family to him regardless and him FEELING it but not understanding why. Hopefully the writers play out the emotional depth that this amnesia plot point can give instead of having it be a crutch the fell back on to fill in 3 episodes.

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I groaned aloud when I realized they were going in the amnesia direction, but ended up really liking these two episodes, and feeling like they'd made the best of a bad plot twist.

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You are not alone. I sighed A LOT at fist, but like you was relieved they did not toss in another 4 episode Noble Idiot path. After watching ep 12, I felt much better. It seems more like they are cementing the relationship, plus, if it keeps up the pace, it should be cleared up in a couple of episodes. I like the sins of the mother being visited on the daughter plot. It really feels like the girls are somewhat revisiting their mothers' past.

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Yeah! And in the case of Geun-woo, it also seems like he's reliving his dad's past! I get the distinct impression that Hawaii Grandpa more than just "cared" for that Trot singer he mentioned from his past... and since we all know who she is, we know that she clearly loved another man.

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*SIIIIIIIIGH*

This episode just wasn't interesting AT ALL. The show has a lot of cliches but I still find myself enjoying the episode. But this episode was definitely disappointing.

And another thing I was confused about: who knows JH has amnesia? In all the dramas I've seen (with amnesia), the characters don't really find out about the amnesia until it's blatantly told to their face that a certain character has amnesia. I just find it weird here that there's no scene that shows that GW or CH finds out that JH has amnesia. Or is it because hitting your head and getting amnesia is super common in Korea? -___-

Here's hoping that the last episodes will be a whole lot better!

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I wonder if the past two episoded were to make viewers hate soo-in.
Ep.11 and 12 were so frustrating to watch, especially the end of the episode.... spoiler....he regains his memory, maybe.

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LOL! LollyPip - Thank you so much for this hilarious recap. I had to stop at ep 6 due to family, travel, and getting turned off by what seems to be drama cliche train wreck. I've been meaning to go back and catch up but it felt like too much of an effort. I don't usually read recaps if I'm not watching, but I decided to see if it was worth my evenings by reading the latest. I think I will save it till I have those days where I need to yell at something and can appreciate the absurdity. I really enjoyed some of the charaters; the young pres, the main female lead, her sister, the loan sharks, and the ex manager when Shin Bo Ra was around. I may just go back and read your recaps. Thanks for cracking me up and keep up the great recaps. :)

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Thanks for the recap LollyPip.

Hwaiting Jung Eun Ji!
http://www.allkpop.com/article/2014/07/a-pinks-eunji-revealed-to-have-gotten-an-iv-shot-due-to-exhaustion-after-filming-for-trot-lovers

"It just could have been so much more, if it had just tried a little harder. It has all the right ingredients, but is failing to use them."~LollyPip

Word!!!

Choi Choon-hee needs to learn a lesson from her little sister Choi Byul on how to handle/stand up for yourself and give the Mean Girls a beatdown when they attempt to bully you.

I just didn't want to believe (or accept) that Trot Lovers
better yet - the writer Oh Sun-Hyung - would go there even though I knew the chance (probability) of "Amnesia" was high. (:

Jang Joon-Hyun in Surgery as Choi Choon-Hee is denied access to him - Trot Lovers is NOT Best Love (aka The Greatest Love)!
Jang Joon-Hyun's subconscious being drawn to Choi Choon-Hee - Trot Lovers is NOT The Master's Sun!

To the writer, you really had to resort to dissociative amnesia:

• Did you forget that Jang Joon-Hyun was involved a sex scandal which led to his original downfall? (Pictures Mr. A with Ms. B at a hotel were fabricated by the CEO of his former music agency and a form of retaliation...)

• You introduced this storyline in the first few episodes but apparently decided to drop it like a hot potato instead of exploring the repercussions of having blind faith in the people around you that are "paid a generous amount of money" to promote and advance a musician's career!

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Lollypip, thanks for the recap and the short rant. I think we all feel the pain anyway. And you're awesome, btw; thanks for:

"President Jo...is shocked to hear he’s got amnesia, and Geon-woo just throws his hands up and makes a face like, “I don’t even know,” exactly like I did at the beginning of this episode."

LOL!

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Yes, and thanks for including the screencap of him doing it.

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Even after all this drama has put me through, i'm still enjoying every bit of it. Sure it's gone a little... frustrating but i'm still having fun watching our characters interact with each other - even if it's lacking in cute moments between our 2 leads. Come on show, don't fail meeeeee ~

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Tbh, when Geun-woo and Chun-hee were at the club and he hugged her, his face had this one expression for a split second and chills ran down my spine. Looks like I'm not completely over YFAS lol

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Reading the last two recaps has made me feel a lot better about dropping this drama when I did. I at least got out before all the crazy happened!

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Thanks for the recap, Lillypip. Hilarious as always.
I'm in the making-the-best-of-this-amnesia-bs-camp.
Because, I mean, really. So many contrivances to do with the amnesia cop-out that I did kind of want to rage-quit. But I didn't and I ended up glad that I stuck with this drama through episodes 11 and 12.
I found that making fun of the amnesia contrivances helped my viewing pleasure enormously. A side effect was having to care less about most of the characters (mostly Joon-hyun, poor guy. Spends the better part of both these episodes being pretty maliciously tricked by everyone he knows/trusts.)
But then I realized something and was able to enjoy myself, despite Chun-hee's pain:
While Joon-hyun is amnesiaed he won't be hurt or jelli about all the time Chun-hee is now free to spend with Geon-woo!
And Geon-woo? Amazing!
I was pretty much ready to forgive this drama for anything when I finally, FINALLY got to watch SSR perform that adorable song. Fangirl SQUEE!
I also loved Geon-woo's interaction with his father. And his heroic holding when Chun-hee's heart hurt after the dagger game.
I also continue to enjoy spunky Byul! She is always a welcome little scene stealer.
One non-amnesia beef: where the hell is dad? If Chun-hee paid off his debt to the loan sharks who, as we have previously discussed, are acting more like quirky and supportive uncles at this point, anyway, why hasn't he come back? Ugh.
Anyway, I'm going to stay in optimist-land with you Lollypip, and hope for the best: the actors are all so talented, I just want good things for them!

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If I can name one positive thing about this episode (and I really can only name one thing, since the show is turning into a mess), it would be Geon-woo's gaping-open shirt. Professionalism be damned! Maybe his thought process went something like: "Buttons? What are those? I don't understand the concept..."

The color looked gorgeous on him, too :D

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this drama is really disappointing me

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I have no idea why they could not avoid this.
Maybe the writers have amnesia.

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"Maybe the writers have amnesia". Love it! Good one, Lilly!

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lol!

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Hi, sorry for the promotion, but if you guys want to watch Korean, Taiwn and Japanese Drama, please try Dramafire.com. It's an awesome site, it's quite fast and moreover, they don't cut a drama into 4/5 videos. Please try.

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I like Dramafire. I watched Gap Dong on there. What a wild drama ride that was! Best show of the year so far to me.

I would have missed it if I had not looked over at Dramafire because the sites I had been watching do not have it.

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Honestly, I think theser writers took a "paint-by-numbers" scriptwriting class offered at the back of some catalog.

The clichés in this storyline are dumber than dumb - NO ONE in the stage area before the show...Amnesia (seriously)...and on and on.

The writers have created a very stupid world of very stupid logic, and these poor actors are trying to jump into the suspension of disbelief, but it is just to glaringly dumb.

My favorite scene in this episode is the one with Geum Woo and his father, President Jo:

"President Jo asks why Joon-hyun isn’t doing anything and is shocked to hear he’s got amnesia, and Geon-woo just throws his hands up and makes a face like, “I don’t even know".

That was the the best line of the whole episode, hands down.

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Maybe it's because I'm an extreme optimist or I am super bored in the summer, but although this "amnesia plot twist" thing came up, it didn't disappoint me too much. The characters are still lovable, and seeing them react to the new situation still gets to me rather than if it was another one of those conflicts with Soo-in's mom trying to bring Chun-hee's popularity down. It's also nice seeing how Joon-hyun's life is without Chun Hee, he realizes he is missing someone in his life badly, and it hurts to see Chun-hee sad but she's strong for still keeping the black bow pin, for making him tea everyday, believing she can still be near him in some way.
Sometimes you just gotta take the couple apart to realize how much they really do need each other. Plus, if this episode doesn't show how low Soo-in can get, I don't know how much worse she'll turn out to be, and hopefully that means she'll figure out theres not much else she can do to bring Chun-hee down. This drama started out so cute and happy, so please don't walk away just yet! Only a few more episodes left and you might be satisfied with the ending:)

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i was so waiting for that moment where he goes "jk im sorry i lied i didnt wanna hurt u, I really didnt lose my memory" -.-

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These two leads should stick with TvN drama instead. Queen Inhyun's man and Reply 1997 are so much better than this.

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This drama. OMG. Besides the amnesia being completely disappointing, the whole mom getting rid of ALL of his scandal articles on the internet is just ridiculous. ABSOLUTELY ridiculous.

And why does Tae Song go along with this BS? After his betrayal the first time, you'd think he'd learn. SMH. Seriously!

I get why the President does, but lord, thin ground drama, thin ground.

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I came here first to see if the amnesia thing is happening or not. This means only one thing. Trot lovers officially jumped from my watching list to my 'reading recaps' list. Forever.

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Four episodes left...they are going to fit everything mushed together. Oh with a cliff hanger ending. It could have been a good drama....*sigh. Coulda. ..whata. ..shoulda. ..

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Amnesia or not I was disappointed with the drama since the very beginning. At first I thought it just needs to get started and then it will roll on smoothly. Heck no. This show is full of boring cliches, I do not mind cliches but please, just give me something original. GW who was a very interesting character at first has become bland and boring. All he does anymore is drinking at the bar... In my opinion the lead couple fell in love too fast, sort of out of the blue so it didn't feel real enough. Soo In is a whiny, childish puppet of her psychotic mother. Chun Hee became popular way too fast. Then comes the amnesia... After watching episode 12 I realized there are still 4 episodes to go yet there is not much left to talk about. So whatever, all I do anymore is fast forward every single episode because I am bored.

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The only thing I cheered for in this episode was little Byul's fierce loyalty to her sister.

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I love your recaps but I have to be honest...They are way too delayed. Coming out after episode 12 aired already diminishes the power of a well timed recap. When we were watching YFAS/MLFAS - we anticipated the recaps and they always came out just before the next episode which kept us all on the same page. To read the comments on ep 11 when we've already watched 12 makes it rather stale. #IJS #IMHO

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I appreciate your feedback and believe me, I wish I could get my recaps out faster! Only problem is, my boss really likes it a lot when I show up for work :)

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Don't you hate it when work interferes with your fandom real life? ;)

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Real life is NO an excuse LollyPip.

It's not enough that your recaps are well-written, funny, and offer insightful and accurate commentary . . . we, the readers, would also like them on demand. Please keep that in mind in future.

That's all. *in my Miranda Priestly voice* (^_-)

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*NOT* an excuse, lol

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I am totally screaming at the writers. I was really upset at Taesong too. How could he not tell him???
Honestly, i don't know whom i am mad at. It's not because of amnesia. I think its because of the characters. When the brought the amnesia part in BOF, I never had a problem with it. But here, i am literally crying with chunhee.

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