20th Century Boy and Girl: Episodes 13-14

by LollyPip

Of all the different kinds of love portrayed in this drama, I think that the love between Jin-jin and her friends is probably my favorite. They seem to know each other’s needs without having to ask, whether it’s support, laughter, or just a new handbag to cheer up a friend on a rough day. That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of romance in this episode as well, as the brothers step up their game and Jin-jin suddenly finds herself spoiled for choice.

 
EPISODE 13: “P.S. I Love You”

Ji-won watches Jin-jin sleep, after having been locked in her room together all evening. Eventually her brother Min-ho comes looking for them and lets Ji-won out. Ji-won closes Jin-jin’s door and whispers goodnight, and in the dark, Jin-jin hiccups. She’s been awake the whole time, and Ji-won looks back at her sadly, almost as if he knows.

Jin-jin’s mother makes Ji-won’s bed the next morning, chattering about the seasons changing and getting older. Ji-won asks if people believe her when she says she’s Jin-jin’s mother, since she looks more like her sister, and his shameless flattery earns him the promise of his favorite breakfast tomorrow.

After Mom leaves, Ji-won spots a box in Jin-jin’s closet marked “Four Bongos.” Inside he finds a treasure trove of keepsakes from their school days, and the jackpot, the notebook that the Bongos used to write notes back and forth every day.

While riding the elevator to her apartment, Jin-jin backs into a corner to avoid the CCTV cameras and unsnaps her bra. She’s got it off by the time she gets home, and she tosses it onto the couch just as Ji-won walks in the connecting door. He sees the discarded bra, and he makes a valiant effort to look anywhere but at Jin-jin’s liberated chest as she swans over to sit on her bra with all the dignity of royalty. OMG, this is hysterical.

Ji-won turns his back and stammers an apology, holding up the Bongos notebook to explain why he burst in without knocking. Jin-jin tells him to wait, then scurries to her bedroom to put her bra back on so they can look at the notebook together.

Young-shim arrives home from work to find her father drunk and demanding food, but he’s in a good mood for once because he’s landed a job as a security guard. Looking embarrassed, Young-shim avoids her parents on her way to her room.

Jin-jin and Ji-won get over their awkwardness and look through the old Bongos notebook, laughing at the funny pictures and notes. Talk turns to an old snack stand that had a poster of the movie Titanic, which reminds Jin-jin that Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movie is out.

Getting an idea, she asks Ji-won if he wants to see it together. He says yes distractedly, and Jin-jin looks a bit disappointed that he responded to her movie invitation so casually.

Ji-won finds one page in the notebook where a teenage Jin-jin had written a paragraph about how much she hated her older sister. She’d wished all sorts of destruction on Ho-sung, from illness to being tossed in a firepit. Ji-won asks how Ho-sung is doing these days, but from the faraway look in Jin-jin’s eyes, he can tell that the answer isn’t going to be easy to hear.

As they walk to the park to meet up with her friends, Jin-jin explains that Ho-sung ran off when Jin-jin was still in school. Her parents searched for her sister for years, but they never found her. Aww, that’s so sad.

Jin-jin tells Ji-won that she became a celebrity because of Ho-sung. She explains that she wasn’t interested when CEO Jang first approached her, but her father had urged her to give it a shot. She believes that he was hoping that Ho-sung would see Jin-jin on television and decide to come home. But she never did, and they still don’t know whether Ho-sung is alive or dead, though Jin-jin says that her mother trusts that no news is good news.

Jin-jin wonders out loud what love is, then she asks the question again directly to Ji-won. He sighs that he’s not qualified to answer, since his engagement broke off a week before the wedding. Jin-jin apologizes, but Ji-won grins at her and says that he meant to comfort her. He adds thoughtfully, “The people we love always leave us. I hate that.”

They continue to the park, where Ah-reum tells them of her decision never to marry, saying that instead, she’ll just get a dog and travel the world. She notices that Young-shim seems down and checks out her plain briefcase. Ah-reum asks Jin-jin to buy her a new bag, and one for Young-shim while she’s at it.

Anthony talks to his mom on the phone, fending off her attempts to set him up. She accuses him of having someone special already, but he chuckles and says that’s not the case.

Min-ho mock-complains when Mom makes Ji-won’s favorite soup the next morning, playfully accusing her of treating Ji-won better than her own son. He notes that she’s even using the good plates, holding up a fancy teacup like royalty and making them all laugh.

He tells his parents that he plans to take them on a trip the following week. Ji-won backs him up when they assume that Min-ho got in some kind of trouble, explaining that Min-ho won a trip (oh right, the golden soy sauce!).

Breakfast at Young-shim’s is uncomfortable as her father loudly demands dried seaweed even though they’re out, until her mother caves and says she’ll go to the store. Young-shim stops her mom from getting up in the middle of her meal, insisting that she’ll go instead, and she overhears her father yelling at her mother as she leaves.

Ah-reum’s mother serves her only half as much rice as usual in an attempt to get her to lose weight. Her adorable dad argues that Ah-reum wouldn’t be as pretty if she were thin, but Mom continues berating her until she loses her temper. Ah-reum jumps up from the table and grabs an entire loaf of bread, ripping into it with her teeth.

On their flight today, attendant Ji-hye tells Ah-reum that Song Joong-ki just boarded another of their flights, and she hopes they get a celebrity passenger, too. Looking into the cabin, Ah-reum gasps, “It’s Jung Woo-sung!” But it’s not that Jung Woo-sung—it’s her old classmate, though it’s obvious he thinks he’s hot stuff by the way he struts onto the plane.

He’s excited to see Ah-reum, who motions to him not to let on that they’re friends. But Ji-hye saw the way he was looking at Ah-reum, and she squeals to Ah-reum that Woo-sung was obviously flirting with her.

Ji-won takes some sandwiches up to Jin-jin since she missed breakfast, and he finds her fresh out of the shower. He blow-dries her hair while she eats, which might just be the swooniest thing I’ve ever seen.

He asks her plans for the day and starts to ask if she wants to go see that movie, but Jin-jin says she’s got her We Got Married press conference today. Ji-won just wishes her luck.

Her press conference is a big deal, as it’s the big reveal of this season’s couples. Anthony’s manager fusses at him for not taking medicine for his cough, but he brushes off her concern.

Mi-dal stops Jin-jin for not having her wedding ring on, and Jin-jin lies that she can’t remember where she put it. But when she runs into Anthony in the hallway, she panics when she sees that he’s wearing his ring. She rushes back to her dressing room to retrieve her ring from her coin purse.

The press conference begins, and the first two couples are revealed to enthusiastic applause, but the reporters really get excited when Jin-jin and Anthony are introduced. They pose for some adorable couple shots, though it’s obvious that they still feel awkward and stiff around each other.

Ji-won’s assistant is surprised to find him in his office on a Sunday. He tells Ji-won about his failed blind date, then invites him to see the new DiCaprio movie. Ji-won declines, but he gives his assistant the tickets that he apparently bought some time ago. Awww.

As the press conference continues, Anthony notices that Jin-jin keeps tugging on the hem of her short dress, and he quietly removes his jacket and gives it to her to put in her lap. Sweet. A reporter asks Jin-jin about her recent public confession that she’s never dated, which doesn’t mesh with her “marriage” to Anthony, and she jokes that she figured that if she couldn’t date, then she may as well marry.

Another reporter mentions the popular story that Anthony is the reason that Jin-jin debuted as an actress. She explains that CEO Jang tempted her into becoming an actress by promising that she’d be able to meet and take a picture with Anthony, and she confesses that she still has that picture in her bedroom.

The reporter addresses Anthony next, bringing up the fact that he’s ranked first in the real-time search engines, for the first time in a long while. He asks Anthony if he plans to get a free ride by being paired with Jin-jin.

The air tenses in the room and Anthony looks uncomfortable, but when Jin-jin reaches for the microphone, he stops her hand. He says honestly that it did occur to him, because he knows that he’s not on Jin-jin’s level.

He admits that he was surprised to be paired with Jin-jin when he agreed to be on We Got Married, and that at first he did think that it could boost his career. He continues: “But after I met Jin-jin, I didn’t think about that at all. I had no time to think about that, because I became her fan.”

EPISODE 14 RECAP

After the press conference, Jin-jin takes time for pictures and autographs with the other We Got Married couples (cameo by actor Ji Yoon-ho playing himself). Anthony’s cough seems worse, but when the show’s PD invites him and Jin-jin for drinks and food later, he squelches his manager’s objections and agrees to go.

Unluckily for Ah-reum and her crew, there’s a pervert on their flight who keeps inappropriately grabbing the flight attendants. They don’t say anything, since he’s infamous for getting them into trouble if they so much as glare at him. But when Handsy tries grabbing Ah-reum’s behind, she snatches him by the wrist and informs him, very professionally, that that’s not the call button. She leans in close to whisper that if he tries that again, she’ll break his wrist.

A few rows back, Woo-sung stands as if to come to Ah-reum’s rescue. But he sees that she’s fully capable of dealing with Handsy all by herself, and he takes his seat again, regarding her with appreciation.

Ah-reum’s handling of Handsy makes her a bit of a hero among the other attendants, and she tells them to call her if they ever have problems with a passenger. Ji-hye hands her a note from one passenger in particular that just says, “I’m watching!”

In the terminal in Busan, Woo-sung follows Handsy off the plane and whacks him hard on the back. He pretends it was a mistake, but when Handsy stomps away, Woo-sung chuckles at the note he just stuck to the man’s back that says, “Touch me and I’ll bite.” So childish, I love it.

When Jin-jin arrives at the crew dinner, she sends Hong-hee and Mi-dal home, telling them that she’ll get a ride later. As the PD pours Anthony shot after shot, Jin-jin notices that the alcohol seems to be making him feel worse. She begins sneakily switching his shots with water and drinking them herself, never letting on when Anthony notices that he’s not drinking soju anymore.

Later, Anthony realizes that Jin-jin isn’t at the table anymore and goes looking for her. He finds her outside on her way back from a store run and asks if she’s okay after drinking so much. She’s more concerned about him, worried that he’s sick and should be resting.

He offers to grant her a wish in return for drinking on his behalf, but Jin-jin says that she’s already received so much from him in the form of memories, which makes him chuckle shyly. She mentions a particular concert on Christmas Day in 2000, when it had snowed and the band had sung carols, and Terius had kissed Anthony because he was so cute.

Anthony says that he wants to know what Jin-jin’s wish is now, not back then, because it’s the present that’s important. Jin-jin calls a cab and tucks a packet of medicine in his pocket, telling him that her wish is for him to go home and rest. Reluctant to leave her alone since she’s been drinking, Anthony promises to grant her wish another time and insists on making her take the first taxi.

Woo-sung calls Ah-reum to invite her out to eat, thinking they’re both in Busan, but she tells him that her crew took an immediate flight back to Seoul. They hang up, and Woo-sung looks genuinely disappointed that he won’t be seeing Ah-reum tonight.

All that alcohol hits Jin-jin hard on the ride home, and she drunk-dials Mi-dal just to tell her what a good mood she’s in. Ji-won is returning from an ice cream run when the taxi lets Jin-jin off at their building, and he can see that she’s three sheets to the wind. He watches her fondly as she crouches to admire some flowers, and she picks one to take home.

In the elevator, she puts the flower in Ji-won’s hair, making him laugh. Her eyes start to fall closed as she asks sleepily, “Ji-won-ah. Do you know what the cosmos flower means? Not what it actually means… the meaning my sister made up. ‘I love you.’”

Ji-won stares at her, stunned to the core at hearing her say those words. He stands there speechless, looking at himself in the mirror with the cosmos flower in his hair. He turns back to Jin-jin to say something, only to find that she’s leaning in the corner, half asleep.

Ji-won gently lowers her head to his shoulder and tilts his face into her hair. He still has the flower after taking Jin-jin home, which he hides behind his back when Min-ho comes to fuss at him for taking so long that the ice cream melted.

The next morning, Anthony wakes feeling much better after obeying Jin-jin’s orders to take his medicine and get a good night’s sleep.

Young-shim rushes to work without breakfast, finding herself in the elevator with her father on his way to his new job. They’re painfully stiff around each other, though her dad does ask if her new job is going well. He takes a squashed pastry from his briefcase, muttering that it’s not that good as he offers it to Young-shim, but she declines.

She’s running late as she races to meet Kyung-seok for a meeting, and she skids to a halt and bows so low that her face nearly smacks into her knees. He doesn’t comment and just leads her to their appointment, confirming on the way that she’s got all the paperwork ready.

They arrive at an office building, which just happens to be where Young-shim’s father now works. He’s talking to his new coworker, bragging loudly about Young-shim, obviously bursting with pride at how smart his lawyer daughter is.

His laughter dies as they lock eyes, and the stilted awkwardness snaps back into place between them. During their meeting, Kyung-seok notices that Young-shim seems preoccupied, but he characteristically says nothing.

Back at the office, Young-shim asks for a short break, retreating alone to the stairwell. She tries calling Ah-reum and then Jin-jin, but Ah-reum is busy at work and Jin-jin hangs up to take a call from Ji-won.

He’s calling to see how she’s feeling this morning, and Jin-jin wails that she doesn’t remember anything from last night after paying the taxi driver. She asks Ji-won if she did or said anything strange, and he tells her that she just fell asleep. Relieved, she resumes her shopping, choosing a pair of designer bags for her friends as requested.

Young-shim works up the courage to call her father, who slips into a back room to answer. He’s oddly cheerful as he reminds her to eat and take care of her health, and he looks deeply moved when she says softly, “You too, Dad.” He thanks her for calling him, and Young-shim hangs up and tries to fight back her tears.

Kyung-seok sends Young-shim home early for the day, watching her go with a compassionate expression on his face. It’s pouring down rain as she steps off the bus and nearly collides with two people standing under an umbrella. She stammers an apology, then looks up to see Jin-jin and Ah-reum standing there beaming at her. Awww, best friends ever!

The ladies walk home in the rain, Young-shim sandwiched protectively in the middle. She remembers that they used to do this while she was studying for the bar exam and always forgot her umbrella. She tells them about her father’s job, and she’s cheered by their enthusiastic reaction and the news that Jin-jin got her a new bag.

In the morning, worried that Handsy is going to report her and get her fired, Ah-reum announces at the breakfast table that she’s going on a diet. Her father says she doesn’t have any weight to lose (love him), and although her mother tells her that she has to lose weight no matter what, there’s extra rice in Ah-reum’s bowl this morning.

The elevator ride downstairs isn’t quite so fraught with anxiety for Young-shim and her dad today, though they have a long way to go before you would call them friendly. Dad tells Young-shim that he gave the pastry to her mother, but he pulls a box of soy milk from his briefcase and offers it to her. She accepts it, and she exits the elevator with a giant smile on her face.

It’s the day of Min-ho and his parents’ vacation, and Jin-jin and Ji-won gather to see them off. Min-ho tells Ji-won to be careful in case Jin-jin jumps him, pfft, earning a kick from his sister and a punch on the arm from Mom. Ji-won offers them some money for their trip, which they try to refuse, but Jin-jin makes Mom take it.

They all head out, Jin-jin smacking Min-ho one last time for good measure. The door hasn’t been closed for three seconds when Jin-jin trips over a shoe, goes flying through the air, and lands with her lips plastered to Ji-won’s.

COMMENTS

LOL, the trip-and-land-in-a-kiss move is such an old trope that I can’t help but laugh, because we all know that in reality, that situation would end in broken noses, not accidentally romantic kisses. But this drama somehow manages to dish out all the familiar tropes without making me annoyed with them, probably because the characters are just so darn cute. Honestly, I’ll forgive any ridiculous setup if it ends with Ji-won and Jin-jin locking lips.

I’m worried now that Anthony is starting to show interest in Jin-jin, though he’s still closed-off enough that I can’t tell if that interest is romantic, or just that he finds her fascinating and he wants to get to know her better. The way Jin-jin and Ji-won are sparking so intensely at each other, I’m not really concerned about Anthony becoming a true rival for Jin-jin’s affections—I’m much more worried about what it will do to the brothers’ relationship if Anthony does become romantically interested in her. I can see Ji-won feeling compelled to step back and give Anthony a chance, if only because Anthony seems so lonely, which can’t have escaped Ji-won’s notice. Or if Ji-won doesn’t step back and the brothers end up fighting, which I’d hate to see happen. Anthony is at his most relaxed and comfortable around his siblings, and I don’t want anything to threaten their close relationship.

I really enjoyed seeing more of Young-shim in this episode, because I think that she’s been sadly underutilized until now. I’m unfamiliar with Lee Sang-hee’s acting work, but I find her portrayal of Young-shim downright adorable, and I knew she’d be able to make me cry too, if it came to that. I wasn’t disappointed once we did get a chance to learn more about her, particularly since her story in this hour involved her relationship with her father—daddy/daughter love stories get me every time. To say that their relationship is strained would be a gross understatement, and it’s not as though her father has shown any kindness or interest in Young-shim in the past. He comes across as a very old-fashioned patriarchal type who probably loves his daughter very much, but feels let down that he never had a son.

He’s never been able to be emotionally close to Young-shim, even though we’ve seen a few moments that prove that he’s clearly proud of her. So to see her father push through those walls and reach out to Young-shim multiple times was so moving, because you get the feeling that it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done in his life. And her reaction, though understated, was just perfect—you could feel her longing to be closer to her father and her confusion as to how to make that happen. Having him be the first to make overtures was absolutely beautiful.

But by far my favorite scene was the one with Jin-jin and Ji-won in the elevator, when she said “I love you.” Yes, she was drunk and talking about the flower, but I’m a firm believer that drinking brings out the truth in people’s feelings. I’m convinced (and hopefully not just trying to convince myself) that on some level, Jin-jin was telling Ji-won how she really feels about him. And I loved his stunned reaction… he looked as though hearing those words from her, even under those circumstances, completely flipped his entire world upside-down. If Ji-won wasn’t in love with Jin-jin before that moment, there’s no doubt in my mind that he is now.

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