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The Man Living in Our House: Episode 12

The (loan) sharks are circling ever closer, and tension reaches a critical point. It’s time for Na-ri to face some cold, hard truths, and decide how she wants to proceed with her life and her relationship with Nan-gil. And with everyone grabbing for her land, Na-ri will need to start standing on her own two feet to protect what’s hers.

 

EPISODE 12 RECAP

When Nan-gil learns that Wan-shik is in the house with Na-ri, he runs to catch a taxi. He gets a call from Joon at that exact moment, whose kidnappers instruct him to have Nan-gil meet them. Nan-gil is torn between rescuing his friends or rescuing Na-ri, but then Joon pretends Nan-gil says he’s at the restaurant, and Nan-gil understands that his friend is telling him not to come.

Wan-shik closes in on Na-ri, and she stands up to him, asking where Nan-gil is and if he knows Wan-shik is here. Wan-shik’s phone rings with a call from Nan-gil, which he ignores. He warns Na-ri to stay away from Nan-gil, to just pay Dada Finance what she owes and leave.

Nan-gil calls Na-ri, who answers and thrusts the phone at Wan-shik. Nan-gil bellows at Wan-shik to pick up his phone, but Wan-shik only snarls into the phone that he won’t, and orders Na-ri to hang up. He grabs Na-ri’s arm when she tries to walk away, but she yanks her arm back and goes anyway. Good girl!

Yeo-joo ends up at the police station with Deok-bong’s friends from the club, looking like there’s been a mighty brawl. Her date calls Deok-bong to yell at him for setting him up with Yeo-joo, and tells him that the other clubbers were talking bad about Deok-bong, so Yeo-joo started literally flipping tables. HA.

Her date threatens to get Yeo-joo locked up, but Deok-bong warns that if he does, he’ll be in even bigger trouble. Evidently Deok-bong has something on the guy, and the threat works.

Na-ri escapes outside, but she doesn’t speak to Deok-bong, too distracted by what just happened inside. Nan-gil arrives and looks relieved to see Na-ri okay, and he runs in after Wan-shik without a word. Deok-bong wants to know why she came out of the restaurant just now, and whose strange car is in the street. Na-ri snaps that she doesn’t know what’s going on.

Nan-gil finds Wan-shik waiting patiently for him, and delivers a solid kick to the chest. He adds a few good punches just to make his point, then hands Wan-shik his phone with an order to tell his people to let Joon and Han-yi go.

Wan-shik smirks and says that Nan-gil hasn’t changed, that he’s still just a thug that uses his fists first. He says that Nan-gil should be thanking him, since he didn’t tell Na-ri that Nan-gil killed her father.

While Joon and Han-yi wait with their captors, Nan-gil asks Wan-shik what they plan to do with his chefs. Wan-shik only says that Nan-gil should stop before people get hurt, so Nan-gil calls CEO Bae and poses the same question. He asks if he should tell Wan-shik what he knows, and tells CEO Bae to let his boys go.

CEO Bae says it’s not that easy, so Nan-gil says he won’t send Wan-shik back, either. Nan-gil wins the standoff, and CEO Bae tells Nan-gil to send Wan-shik back to him. Nan-gil does, but not before telling Wan-shik to make his own choices, and that he can come to him if he’s scared.

Joon and Han-yi are set free, and Wan-shik can’t drive away from the restaurant fast enough. Deok-bong watches him leave, and angrily goes inside. He confronts Nan-gil, saying that if he can’t control these guys showing up, then he should at least keep Na-ri safe from them.

Na-ri quietly enters the restaurant in time to hear Deok-bong say that it’s time for Nan-gil to hand Na-ri’s land over to her and leave. He asks if Nan-gil thinks this is easy for him to watch, the way he feels about Na-ri.

Nan-gil says he’s jealous of Deok-bong, because he wishes he could look at Na-ri the way Deok-bong can. But protecting her mother’s land is all he can do for her, so that’s what he’s doing.

Nan-gil finds Na-ri at the house and asks if she’s okay, and she puts on a brave face for his benefit. He makes them some tea and asks if Deok-bong is mad at Na-ri because of him, but she avoids answering, then burns her fingers on her hot teacup.

Nan-gil jumps up and hovers, but Na-ri tells him not to treat her like a child. He moves to leave, but Na-ri remembers him saying he’s jealous of Deok-bong, and calls him back. She tells him not to worry about her because she’ll be fine.

Deok-bong goes to the police station in the morning as Yeo-joo’s lawyer. She’s still fuming that she’s the only one in trouble, but the cop tells Deok-bong that she hit several of the clubbers. She’s lucky they decided not to press charges, and that she’s only being charged with vandalism.

Deok-bong signs the settlement agreement on her behalf, which makes her angry because she can’t possibly pay it. Yeo-joo grumbles that this is all his fault for calling her easy — she was upset and drank too much, then overreacted when his friends said negative things about him.

Deok-bong figures that Yeo-joo was upset when he said that she’s simpler than Na-ri, and calls her pathetic for competing with someone who doesn’t care. Yeo-joo loudly denies that she’s competing, but Deok-bong isn’t buying it.

He’s surprised when Yeo-joo hops into his car and asks him to take her to the department store. She says she needs to replace the clothes and bag his friends destroyed, and mentions that he could use a style update to something that Na-ri likes.

Na-ri goes to the restaurant when Nan-gil doesn’t show up for breakfast, but finds the back door locked. The outdoor takeout stand isn’t set up either, because Young-gyu hasn’t shown up to work yet. Na-ri tries to chip in and bus some tables, but Nan-gil immediately stops her.

She grows upset when he tells her to leave and won’t answer her questions, and tells him that she’s seeing Deok-bong later. She asks Nan-gil to go with her to settle the land issue, and he just glares at her.

Yeo-joo dissolves into giggle fits when she sees Deok-bong dressed like Nan-gil, in an oversized sweater and ripped jeans. He whines that he can’t dress like this, but Yeo-joo threatens to change his hair, as well.

Young-gyu is lurking outside the restaurant, still traumatized from the night before and hurt that Nan-gil didn’t call him. Deok-shim walks up and nearly scares him into a backflip, and tells him to stop slacking off. Ha.

Deok-shim finally gives Na-ri her apology in the form of a USB file. But instead of a letter, it’s a series of photos of Nan-gil, captioned with whatever Deok-shim was thinking when she took the picture. The last photo is of Nan-gil staring up at Na-ri’s room, the longing on his face nearly palpable. The “letter” explains that this (her crush on Nan-gil) is why Deok-shim locked up Na-ri, and ran her off the road on her bike.

Na-ri calls Deok-shim to the playground, and says that that wasn’t an apology letter — she knows Deok-shim wants her to show Nan-gil those pictures. She asks if Nan-gil is a good person, and Deok-shim answers that he’s like the breeze in May.

Na-ri asks why Deok-shim lives here and not with her parents, and wonders what happened in Seoul. Deok-shim jumps up, kicks the swingset, and bolts away.

Deok-bong’s father bursts into Deok-bong’s office in a rage, having heard that he helped Nan-gil keep the land his father wants. Deok-bong asks why they can’t just make the land a park, reminding his father that their company buried explosives there which killed a whole building full of children.

Dad says that Deok-bong’s grandfather is dead, and there’s no evidence that they did any such thing. But a voice calls out, “I know,” and Dad whirls to see Secretary Kwon entering the room. She tells him that she’s the only survivor of that fire, and Dad looks stricken.

Na-ri shows Nan-gil the photos that Deok-shim gave to her. He flips through the pictures, and something in one shot catches his eye — the ajumma who claims that Na-ri’s father is dead, standing in front of Hong Mandoo. Na-ri tries to say something, but she stops when she realizes that Nan-gil is preoccupied.

Na-ri eventually says that she thinks she shouldn’t have suggested they end things so easily. She realizes that she doesn’t know much about him, so she tells him that she wants an hour a day so that they can learn more about each other. Nan-gil agrees, though he complains about her habit of switching from jondaemal to banmal and back, and Na-ri just says that’s family.

Deok-bong feels terrible about making Secretary Kwon do research on her own life tragedy, and she tells him and his father to leave that land alone. Dad leaves, telling Deok-bong to pay her off. She overhears and quits on the spot,

Na-ri does some research on panic disorders, and Deok-bong calls to remind her of her appointment with him. She says she’ll come by later with Nan-gil, since she’s going to meet with Uncle now, so Deok-bong insists on going along as her lawyer.

Nan-gil goes back to the dry cleaners where the ajumma works, but it’s closed. He leaves behind a note, saying that he knows she’s been to Hong Mandoo and asking her to call him.

CEO Bae orders Wan-shik’s accounts investigated, and of course Wan-shik assumes this is Nan-gil’s doing. In retaliation he calls Uncle, and orders him to tell Na-ri about Nan-gil’s involvement in her father’s death.

Deok-bong and Na-ri meet up with Uncle and Dada Finance’s lawyer. The lawyer says that Uncle intends to appeal the court decision, and Uncle pulls Na-ri aside to speak privately. He tells her right away that Nan-gil killed her father, and Na-ri freezes in shock.

She asks Uncle why he’s even here if he killed her father, hoping for a way not to believe it’s true. Uncle explains that Dada Finance covered everything up, but he can’t explain to her satisfaction why he hasn’t said anything before now. She wants to confront CEO Bae right now, and takes Uncle with her.

Young-gyu mentions the television show which is airing today, and asks where Nan-gil plans to watch. He wants to have a viewing party at the house, and when Nan-gil says no, Young-gyu chirps that he’ll just ask the real boss, ha.

Nan-gil ignores him and takes Deok-shim outside to tell her he saw her apology letter. He compliments her on her photography, but he tells her not to take his pictures secretly anymore — it’s not okay, even if she likes him.

He gently says that the way she feels about him, is how he’s felt about someone else for his whole life. He explains that he considers Deok-shim an adult, so he’s being straight with her, and she sadly nods her agreement.

CEO Bae sits down with Na-ri and Wan-shik, who confirms that he saw Nan-gil kill her father. She asks why he wasn’t punished, and CEO Bae explains that they said it was suicide and got the woman he was living with to agree. He says with great emotion that it’s not the first time Nan-gil drove someone to suicide.

He tells Na-ri that that’s why he canceled the adoption and let Nan-gil go. He says that Nan-gil is just trying to get control of her land for his own ends, and says that Uncle is free to go whenever he wants, but he’s scared to live with Nan-gil.

Deok-bong is led into the room, having followed Na-ri and Uncle. He introduces himself as Na-ri’s lawyer, and demands to see the documents on Na-ri’s father’s and uncle’s debts. CEO Bae clams right up.

Deok-bong takes Na-ri home, where she finds Young-gyu still excited about their TV show. He asks if they can have a viewing party at her place and she agrees, so he invites everyone over. HAHA, he’s so excited, but they’re all playing on their phones in their own little worlds.

Na-ri goes up to her room and finds a box of photos of herself and her father. She doesn’t know what to believe, between Uncle’s claims to have seen her dad last year, and CEO Bae’s story that he’s dead.

Yeo-joo joins the group downstairs, having come for Deok-shim and found the restaurant closed. Maknae Han-yi invites her to stay and watch the show with them, earning eyerolls all around when he happily calls her “Noona.”

She pops upstairs to see Na-ri, and isn’t the least bit hurt when Na-ri tells her to get lost. Nan-gil comes up next to ask her what’s wrong, and she pouts that they can talk later. He asks when they’re going to do their one hour a day, and Na-ri sighs that they may as well do it now.

CEO Bae discovers Wan-shik’s freelance deals, and slaps him hard across the face. Wan-shik says that he just got tired of watching Nan-gil run the show, and CEO Bae snarls that Wan-shik could never beat Nan-gil.

Wan-shik retorts that CEO Bae always liked Nan-gil more, and asks if that’s why CEO Bae believed Nan-gil and tracked his accounts. CEO Bae says that they’re all pocketing money on the side and he knows it, and asks what Wan-shik has to hide.

The lawyer hands Wan-shik a document and CEO Bae tells him to sign it, which will make him Dada Finance’s new CEO. CEO Bae tells him that all he has to do is go to prison for a few years, and the company will be his when he gets out.

We don’t see if Wan-shik signs the document, but later one of the other lackeys tells him that CEO Bae is hiding their money-laundering ledger. He asks if Wan-shik will be okay, and Wan-shik just says that once you start suspecting each other, both sides will die. He calls Nan-gil and says he sent him an address, but that’s all he can do.

Nan-gil and Na-ri sit to talk, and Nan-gil says that Na-ri’s silence is making him nervous. She tells him that she’s alone now that her father’s passed away, and that she went to Dada Finance today and heard another lie — that Nan-gil killed her father.

She wants him to deny it, but Nan-gil can’t do that. She asks why he looked for her father if he knows he’s dead, and he says that not one hospital has a record of him being brought in that day, so he wanted to believe her father is still alive.

At a nursing home not too far away, the ajumma from the dry cleaners saunters into the building and finds one of the janitors. He approaches her and they both smile widely — it’s Dad, and he is alive!

Nan-gil tells Na-ri everything about the day (he believes) her father died — the fight with their rivals, chasing her father to the roof, and how he’d jumped. He remembers the fear in the man’s eyes, all because of Nan-gil. He tells Na-ri that he saw the blood, and that it was his fault her father jumped.

Nan-gil says in a shaking voice that he tried to convince himself that he wasn’t to blame, but he can’t forgive himself. Na-ri cries silently for a minute, then walks away without a word.

The TV show airs while Nan-gil and Na-ri are talking, and the chefs find Nan-gil to report that their website is blowing up. Nan-gil leaves without comment, and Young-gyu is the only one who doesn’t realize that something is wrong.

Na-ri’s dad seems to be living in one of the unused rooms in the nursing home, where he’s set up a small television. Dad and the ajumma catch the cooking show on TV, and the ajumma tells Dad that she has his daughter’s phone number. He reminds her that they agreed to forget all that, but the ajumma is moved by Na-ri’s wish to find her father.

Na-ri walks past Yeo-joo and Deok-shim on her way to her room, and they follow her upstairs to see what’s wrong. Na-ri doesn’t answer Yeo-joo though, and her door is locked.

Nan-gil calls Joon to say that he’s found the ledger that will help him take down Dada Finance for good. He tells Joon to send all of their files to the prosecutor, and vows to end things once and for all.

Na-ri is lost in memories of her father, recalling how he used to push her on the swings at the playground. She gets a call from the ajumma, who says that she knows where she can find her father. She sends Na-ri the address to the nursing home and tells her to come alone, because her dad is afraid of people.

Na-ri tries to tell Nan-gil where she’s going, but finds his office empty. He doesn’t answer his phone either, so she heads out on her own. She finds the nursing home, and almost immediately sees her father walking towards her. She recognizes him, and as he nears her, his eyes flick up to her face.

Nan-gil has gone to Dada Finance, and he braces himself before entering the bar room. His thoughts are full of Na-ri’s confession that she loves him, as he walks into the fight of his life. He takes on all of Dada’s thugs at once, and he’s holding his own pretty well until one sneaks up behind him and cracks a bottle over his head.

Nan-gil goes down, and his last conscious thought is an apology to Na-ri for making her cry.

COMMENTS

It’s no surprise to learn that Na-ri’s father is alive, and I’m very curious to hear what really happened to him and why he’s still in hiding. I want to know his reasons for running in the first place all those years ago, and why he’s still running now. I have no doubt he’s hiding from Dada Finance and his old debts, but I do wonder why he never once tried to contact Na-ri and tell her he’s alive. He seemed like a loving father when he still lived with his family, so whatever is keeping him from his daughter so many years later must be pretty horrific to have him faking his own death and planning to avoid her for what seems like the rest of his life.

I agree with many commentors that I wish we’d seen why Na-ri fell in love with Nan-gil (beyond his obvious attractiveness and just the fact that they were together a lot), because it does feel like we were just told that she fell for him, but not shown. It’s lazy storytelling, especially when the drama had plenty of time to show us Na-ri falling for Nan-gil. When that happens, there’s a disconnect between what we as viewers are told to believe within the story, and what we feel on a visceral level. So we know she loves him, because she told us she does, but we never really saw it happen and were never given any reasons why Na-ri loves Nan-gil. It’s hard to believe in a couple when you don’t feel in your gut that they belong together. In real life, things happen that way, and sometimes you just love someone for no real specific reason, and that’s okay. But it’s confusing in a show like this, where we were shown why Nan-gil loves Na-ri, so we’re really invested in his love for her, but it doesn’t evolve the same way on the other side of the romance.

That said, it’s not like Na-ri is a weak or badly written character — I really like how Na-ri never loses her spine of steel or her determination to go after what she wants. She never gives up or lets go, and she’s decided to stay and fight for Nan-gil in whatever way she can, even if it’s only as a close friend and “family” member. But again, because she’s such a strong character who tells us straight out what she wants and how she intends to get it, it makes it that much more difficult to believe why she loves Nan-gil because it’s the one thing she hasn’t told us. She even said she doesn’t know why she loves him.

I think that I’m suffering from a case of Be careful what you wish for when it comes to the plot of the show. Early on, I really enjoyed the light, breezy humor and cute shenanigans of our characters, but I wished for the plot to give us something a bit more meaty to sink our teeth into when it came to Nan-gil’s reasons for marrying Mom. Then the show gave us exactly that, a unique and interesting backstory that I find pretty compelling. But now I’m missing the fun, lighthearted humor of the first few weeks, when the most Na-ri had to worry about was why this handsome stranger was saying he’s her father.

It’s not that I feel like either sides of the coin are lacking — in fact, I like the show as much now as I did when it started. But the tonal shift from easy comedy to dark and brooding melo is just so abrupt and final, it’s like we lost everything that made us fall in love with the show in the first place. It’s possible to delve into some deeper topics without losing that spark of fun and romance, as some recent shows have proved, but for some reason it’s like all the sweetness and cuteness and fun were just tossed out the window in favor of loan sharks and thugs. Even the token characters who are just there for humor, like Deok-shim and Yeo-joo, have faded in both interest and spirit. So while I do find this section of the plot necessary and interesting, I don’t look forward to the show like I did just a few short weeks ago, because all of the brightness is gone. I only hope it comes back soon.

 
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Ah, this episode! Come on y'all, there's not much time left to fix things. Get a move on it! *Cracks a bull whip, Old West stage coach style*

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ok, I don't know, I'm still enjoying the show a lot! I can see what everyone means by how we don't understand quite as deeply why Na-ri fell for Nan-gil, but from what I remember in the earlier episodes, I gathered it was a combination of her simply being attracted from him + unveiling the shared connection with her mother..and hearing about those stories made her feel more attached to him? But I hope the show itself might also be questioning her love for him by putting in that rule for one-hour a day talks so she can get to know him better (instead of using it only as a plot device for Nan-gil to tell Na-ri that he thinks he killed her father). Probably her love for him will become reinforced after this.

I found Yeo-joo to be more bearable in the recent episodes. Her scenes with Deok-bong are pretty funny! And Deok-shim's apology letter wasn't really an apology letter, but I appreciated the captions attached to her pictures because it helped clarify what she was thinking. I always thought she was kind of hard to understand at first, and her crush on Nan-gil (although taking pictures of him IS creepy and weird, I'm not justifying that) was sweet.

I'm sure that the show will come full circle and bring back the light comedy from the beginning after all of this trouble ends. We still have four episodes!! We can still make it!!

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Let's spread the positive spirit and cheers for the pretty casts..

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I never had trouble understanding why Na-ri was in love with Nan-gil. Maybe because I was in love with him myself, hahaha

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You and me both lindl

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I'm with you. I mean, there was a lot of physical attraction, there were a lot of sparkles and tension in the beginning while they were bickering, which sparked her interest. Then she saw his caring, thoughtful, kind side. That he's a man of his word, a man who can be trusted, a man unlike any other man she's met before - and especially so unlike her previous boyfriend. A sweet person with a tragic story, a person her mother trusted with her life, a person who is willing to sacrifice his happiness for her well-being.
Then she found out that he's hot and mysterious and a little bit dangerous, with a dark past.

What's not to like? Who wouldn't fall for him?

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Agreed!

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Thanks for another great summary and commentary, LollyPip!

Things are looking bad for Nan-gil after he gets coshed over the head at Da Da Finance. Hopefully that's just a misleading cliffhanger. Reminds me of one of the best opening lines in rock:

"When you hit me on the head with your beer bottle,
Something in my chemistry changed..."

Pousette-Dart Band - "Amnesia" (title track)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm6AFag8SdY

Given how debilitating certain of his memories have been, Nan-gil might actually benefit from carefully-targeted amnesia.

This episode is more like it. Now we're cookin' with gas... Nan-gil and Wan-shik have been in cahoots all along to take down Da Da Finance -- and the Greenland ledger will be the final nail in Da Da's coffin -- and maybe Greenland's as well. Knocking out Boss Bae is Nan-gil's endgame to ensure Na-ri's safety as well as the land's. Greenland is a company that Deok-bong's family has control of, IIRC. It's apparently being used for money-laundering purposes. I can envision a mutually-beneficial three-way partnership springing up between Nan-gil, Wan-shik, and Deok-bong, who has stated how much he hates his family and their evil ways.

*rubs hands in glee*

It was great to finally see the connection between Secretary Kwon and the other Kwon family. Now will we find out that SHE is an illegitimate child of Deok-bong's late grandpa? So many possibilities, so little time in the remaining four episodes.

Deok-shim's surreptitious photos of Nan-gil are actually paying off. I'm glad he saw them... but if he hadn't, digging up information on Alterations Lady and Na-ri's biological father would have been that much more difficult. I wonder why the woman went to Hong Mandoo in the first place. It sounded as if she knew about Daddy Hong's past, but they were purposely staying away because of Da Da Finance.

I have been feeling kind of put off by Na-ri, actually. As LollyPip noted, she's a very strong character, and it's difficult to really buy her falling for Nan-gil because the audience doesn't see it play out, she only talks about it. To me, she also sometimes comes across as contrary and harda**, which confounds me occasionally. Her tone sometimes seems cross, and I cannot tell if she's busting Nan-gil's chops, bantering, or just playful but sounding cranky.

Maybe it's the subtitles I've been reading (DramaLove and KissAsian). Or maybe I'm suffering from Live-Watching Exhaustion... I survived MOON LOVERS, along with MOONLIGHT, and am also glued to RDTK, while watching other dramas and films in between episodes of MLIOH. My brain cells may be well and truly cooked. -- Maybe it's the way the character is written, or the darkness that seems to have doused the light and fluffy humor that existed early in the drama.

At any rate, that unseasonable typhoon seems to have breathed some fresh air into the drama. Yay!

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Finanally and Thankfully Na Ri's father is found to be alive by Na Ri by this episode because I wouldn't be able to handle watching her and Nan Gil going through the pain and guilt in Nan Gil's part over that man's fake death any longer!! I want him now to take responsability for all the things he run away from and then vanish avain because I really don't want to see him around them nor will tolerate him acting like a father now after all these years and all the pain and troubles he caused Na Ri's mother, Na Ri and Nan Gil!!
I'm really proud of Na Ri for standing her ground with Wan Shik and for remainin the same person we already knew who would go fter what he wants and belies in and to look for her question's answers herself without taking doubtful words for granted!! and I feel depressed for Nan Gil that I can lose my mind but I'll keep hoping for the best and that things will get better and he'll be able to put an end to Dada Finance and get his happiness with Na Ri!! and hopfully really soon!!

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i'm really so interested in nan-gil & wan shik's relationship. i feel like every week gives us a moment of them at each other's throats & then a moment of wan shik secretly helping him out! i want to know more about those two but i know it's not as important to the plot.

honestly i really hate the way nari treats deok-bong. i have commented before that i don't understand why he started liking her (just like it's hard to understand why nari loves nan-gil!) but she really treats him badly. when she said she was thankful to him in this episode, i was like WOW FINALLY! she barely ever thanks him for all the stuff he goes out of his way to help her with.

i really love nari as a strong female character, like you said! but i hate how she becomes so rude to everyone around her when she's distracted about something nan-gil related.

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I'm very curious about NG and WS too. It just seems like WS wants to get out from under the father like NG has.

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I fully agree with you. Maybe it's a bit of resentment and admiration? It takes guts to step away from a life you've ever known.

Honestly I don't think WS is unredeemable. There's still some good deep down in his heart. I hope he leaves and joins the Hong Mandoo gang. Now that would be a much better family....

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yes! i definitely see resentment. & i agree that he can come back from this... even tho i felt nervous when wan-shik was approaching nari & she was backing up... i was like "but... he's not gonna /really/ do anything! he doesn't seem EVIL."

honestly i've never seen the actor who plays wan-shik well, but he does a good job of keeping me scared of him (maybe more credit should go to the background music) but never letting me forget why he is this way. those poor boys being forced to grow up in that environment with no one to turn to... it's amazing they're not MORE sadistic tbh.

now you've gotten an image of him filling mandu wrappers in my head & it's hilarious >__< i hope he comes over to the good side too!!

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i'm with you on the Na ri- deok bong part. DB has truly helped her multiple times for no profit to him but she always treats him rudely, less than a friend. her attitude might make sense when he was still hounding her for the land but not recently- this thing is making me like her less and less

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Na Ri doesn't give Deok Bong a second thought because her mind is always on Nan Gil. When she left Nan Gil, all she could think about was missing him. DB told her to call him and she forgot all about it. I'm not even sure if she heard him because her mind is elsewhere. Na Ri doesn't treat DB well, but she's true to her feelings and she feels nothing for DB other than a friend who helps her out.

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I don't know if it's just me but the more screen time they give YJ the more I can't stand her. From her scheming trying to get DB to her forcing herself on NR. She is annoying at best and can't be redeemed at worse. I don't want her to "get the prize" after all of the relationships she set out to ruin. Especially because her only reason for going after NR's fiancè was because she didn't like that NR showed her sympathy. The only thing she can be of use of, to me, is to help the Kwon siblings connect.

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Even though she was kinda defending DB, she gets on my nerves cos she's always blaming other people for her actions - first it was Nari being too nice to her, now it's DB 'insulting' her. And she's always using her looks, which I feel is shallow.

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Oooooh, I'd like to know the lyrics and song title to the same song, too!

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That's a really good question about the dad being declared dead; could she have divorced him for abandonment? That would still be valid.

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Lol, that's what I had been wondering myself. How did Nan Gil and Na Ri's mom get legally married? Because Na Ri doesn't seem like she knows her dad passed away so I always assumed her parents had divorced.

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Hadn't Dad been gone for something like 20 years? He'd abandoned them... and I suspect there's a legally-specified period of time that could lead to a person's being declared dead or a marriage ended due to abandonment. I'm sure we'll get an earful of legalese soon.

If Na-ri's parents were divorced, Dad's reappearance will not have the desired effect of rendering Nan-gil's marriage to Mom null and void, thus removing Na-ri from his family register.

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In my part of the world, when someone has been missing for a continuous period of at least seven years, one can go to court for a declaration of presumption of death of said missing person. His effects and affairs will then be treated as if he's truly dead. Not sure of the position in SK although I'd expect a similar provision to exist.

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Beside the story of Nari, the sorry of YJ and DB put me off.

It kind of irritating to see the possibility that the home wrecker might have a chance with good person like DB.

If the bad person get the nice karmar in the end, it seems like the twist of the good moral. What is good come from messenging the moral like this to the public.

I don't see how repent or regret YJ feel of her action to others. She is not obviously punish either. For her character and how she get DB attention to her, it feel like 'oh it is ok to be kinda bad person and shameless. Keep making the victim and one day everything will work out for me. No guilt need to those I do wrong to'. This is kind of message I feel for YJ character.

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i dont really like how they're hinting at a yeo joo and deok bong romance...like WHAT? come on!! dude! she friggen stole her sunbae's FIANCE during her sunbae's mom's funeral. like how much more despicable can you get? lol :X and she only knows deok bong THRU her sunbae and she pretty much kept throwing herself at him. i dont want a thing to happen between them!!

i dont get why the father's new wife went to such lengths and pretended not to know nan gil, but...she's willing to call na ri and to let her meet her dad like its no biggie? probably will get answered in the next couple episodes but just throwing it out there

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Seems like Yeo-joo is slowly/easily to fall for Deok-bong, but Deok-bong isn't showing he is interested at her. He is really hard to impressed dude.

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There is no dude harder to impress than the dude who is already in love with someone else.

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I can't say this drama is perfect or doing everything I want or whatever, but it's still the highlight of my TV week and I thought this was a great episode. I loved the scenes not between the main couple in this episode: I can't believe it's happened cause boy did I hate her when the show started, but I've come to love Deok Shim; the way Nan-gil confronted her about her crush and spying made me love him even more. The scene of Deok-bong trying on the "Nan-gil style" clothes and asking himself "what am I doing" also really resonated for me; who hasn't done something pathetic hoping to be loved in return? I love Joon and Han-yi and want to know why they're with Nan-gil; I love that in this show, even smaller random characters have unexpected depth. I'm also really interested in the relationship between Wan-shik and Nan-gil, and I actually find the whole story of Dada interesting and compelling (for once; usually I couldn't care less about the evil figureheads.) Finally, the scene where Nan-gil admits his responsibility in the death of Na-ri's father was, I thought, really effective. Now for long wait until next episode...

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The scene of Yeo-joo and Deok-bong "What I am doing?" is totally happened to us or some of us that hoping others to return our feeling... *sigh*

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Yes and to see a character who is very good-looking and typically acts cool (including being really sharply dressed) fall prey to that kind of weakness was funny and touching.

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I caught up on all episodes of this.... I actually don't think Yeo Joo is that bad now? Yes she did something bad and is immature as a person but I like her progression with Deok Bong, something about how Jo Bo Ah plays her makes me sorry for her because she looks pathetic, rather than hate her.

I think it's ok for female characters to be flawed people who sometimes do wrong things, and for second lead females to be treated with sympathy instead of only being a figure of hate. The show is not trying to say YJ is some great person, only that she is not evil and there are issues in her life too. I rather see this kind of character than some perfect pure Candy persecuted by the world.

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Yeo-joo character reminds me of the second female lead in Protect the Boss by Wang Jihye. She is no evil but got no friends to hang around. For the first time I like second female lead character.

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Me too. I actually like Yeojoo. I did not see her well first but she seems better every time i see her and much more suited for Deokbong than Nari. Just my opinion

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I do sometimes find it hard to believe the romance in some kdramas (ie. the second half of W), but I don't have a problem here. Nostalgia and childhood feelings are very powerful, and even though she doesn't place Nan Gil directly in her childhood, he kind of represents the community she grew up in. His shared connection with her mom must be very comforting for her in her mom's absence, the townspeople only have good things to say about him, and he has done numerous things to show he quietly cares about her with no expectations. For me the big thing is that she takes his little gardening proverbs to heart and even repeats them to others. Someone who touches you like that is hard to forget, and knowing that you were his first love and that he likely still cares about you is pretty much game over.

Na Ri has only been with Dong Jin, the man who got upset that she was grieving for her mom. Contrast this with Nan Gil who tells her to take her time and heal. I see Na Ri as someone who intuitively understands Nan Gil's feelings and actions, even if the rest of her mind may not have caught up yet, so while it's easier to see Nan Gil's loving and longing expressions, I still buy that Na Ri has a depth of feelings for Nan Gil as well.

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yeah i agree the romance in the 2nd half of W is less believable

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Okey, this show is really great, and yes the show did not really show us how Na Ri fell in love with Nan Gil. But i think the show wanted to throw in some kind of fate, to show us that NaRi and NanGil are fated for each other. If you think about it, Na Ri got over her 9yrs relationship so quickly, and that was after she met Nan Gil.

Don't you think???

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It was a relief to finally get some insight into the motivation behind Deok-shim's horrible treatment of Na-ri: raw teenage jealously unencumbered by the thought process and untempered by awareness of safety ramifications. Toss in her family's dysfunctionality, and I can buy it...

I really liked Nan-gil's heart-to-heart with Deok-shim, and how he said that he was speaking to her as one adult to another. He's the only one who doesn't speak down to her. And he does it in a way that she can understand: You know how you feel about me? Well, that's how I've felt towards someone my whole life... I thought it was a compassionate way to let her know that it was time to give up on him. Watch out, ManDoods! I have a feeling one of you will be next...

He also told Deok-shim that her photography was good -- just don't do it without other people's permission. Her secret photographic diary turned out to be a beautiful memory book that helped Nan-gil in his defense of Mom's land... I have a feeling the images will work some magic in other ways, too.

Speaking of ManDoods: I was surprised by Han-yi's enthusiastic "Noona!" when Yeo-joo waltzed in to crash the TV viewing party... He may end up inadvertently running interference for Deok-bong! ;-)

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The recap is spot on. I agree that they spent too much time on the gangsters rather than exploring more deeply the relationship between the main leads. The story is like a total U turn from the beginning, especially if you compare now to the beginning. Didn't anyone vet through the story first? I find this episode very absurd, especially the scene with Yeo Joo in the police station. I am beginning to wonder is it to bring down the ratings or what, so that the competing dramas get higher ratings?
All the irritating elements that you can think of are all there. The writer also killed off all the romance elements between the OTP that the viewers experienced in the last few episodes. What is she trying to do?

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Since the two leads have decided, after the trial, that they are step-father and daughter, what romance did you expect in this episode? It would have been completely out of place. Still we do see how much they struggle with this decision, and how much it costs them, and their love is clearly shown. Especially Na Ri, being rude and distant, then running to him, and then rude again, and then thoughtful... It was clearly shown that her heart is in turmoil.

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lol so true! they killed the OTP romance

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I loved both of Nan Gils conversations this episode, first the gentle one with duek shim about the stalking, because well yeah, he did the same thing, so he understands.

And then secondly where he told na ri that while he didn't outright kill her dad he feels responsible. I feared that he would just say "yes, i killed him" leading to another 2 eps of angst...

After the return of dad I feel like we walked through the valley of melo and will be back to some lightheartedness again..

and lastly i lurve han-yie, he's like the cutest puppy :) they should have given the mandoods a bigger role for some comedy in all that loan shark sadness.

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I like how this drama answers a lot of my questions for me.

Question: Why are the dumpling boys hugging and running instead of calling the cops?
Answer: They want to "Protect the Boss."

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