Woohoo Waikiki 2: Episode 4

by LollyPip

A new housemate enters the mix, shaking things up in ways that not even those who know her expected. She manages to upset nearly all of the existing housemates, shaking up their lives with her unwelcome meddling. But her interference has one unexpected, positive outcome, which may very well lead to something pretty great down the road.

 
EPISODE 4: I Saw the Devil/The Story That Only I Didn’t Know

Everyone goes on alert when they hear that Woo-shik’s sister is on the way, but CHA YU-RI (Kim Ye-won) is already in the house, chirping a happy hello. Joon-ki and Ki-bong look terrified, and although Yu-ri greets them pleasantly, it soon becomes evident why they don’t like her.

She treats them roughly, pinching cheeks and pulling ears while cooing in a melodious voice that Joon-ki is a slacker, Ki-bong’s head has gotten bigger, and Jung-eun seems more manly these days. She grabs Soo-yeon’s cheeks too, before realizing that she doesn’t actually know her.

Yu-ri hugs Woo-shik, but he shoves her away and tells her to leave. Yu-ri turns on the waterworks, sobbing that she raised him after their mom died, but Woo-shik isn’t having any of it. She runs out of the house dramatically (Woo-shik: “Salt the front door!” LOL), but she stops one last time to try to tug at Woo-shik’s heartstrings. As soon as he slams the door in her face, the tears stop and Yu-ri whines that Woo-shik has gotten smarter.

Soo-yeon says that Woo-shik was harsh, but he assures her that Yu-ri was only putting on an act. Woo-shik declares this an emergency situation, issuing orders not to talk to her or answer if she calls, but alone in his room, he wonders if he was too hard on his sister.

He reaches up to scratch his head and feels the bandage that Soo-yeon put on his cut, which rekindles the memory of her standing so close to him. He asks Joon-ki why his heart would pound when a girl is near, and Joon-ki says that obviously, he likes the girl. Woo-shik says it’s a friend of his, and Joon-ki quips that Woo-shik has no friends because he’s a jerk, HA.

Ki-bong takes out the trash, tossing the bag over the railing, and he hears a yelp. He goes down to find Yu-ri, who makes a pitiful show of saying that her roommate ran off with the rent deposit so she got kicked out. Ki-bong tries to remember Woo-shik’s edict not to talk to Yu-ri, but her tear-filled eyes and sob story aimed right at his insecurity about his baseball talent weaken his resolve. They fall into each other’s arms sobbing that they’ll support each other, and behind Ki-bong’s back, Yu-ri grins a calculating grin.

Ki-bong sneaks Yu-ri into the house past Woo-shik (who’s sitting on the couch still worried about his pounding heart), and Ki-bong installs Yu-ri in a guest room for the night. Yu-ri asks who Soo-yeon is, then remembers that she was Woo-shik’s first love, which she knows because she read his diary. Ki-bong warns Yu-ri to be out of the house in the morning before Woo-shik wakes up, or they’ll both get kicked out.

In the morning, Woo-shik is super awkward around Soo-yeon, wondering to himself why he would still have feelings for her. She catches him squinting at her suspiciously, and he overreacts, snapping that he wasn’t looking at her at all. Soo-yeon asks Woo-shik why he’s always annoyed with her, and he says in an annoyed voice that he’s not, ha.

After she leaves, he decides that he’s just been single for too long, so any woman would have provoked that reaction. To prove his theory, he drags Jung-eun out of bed to put medicine on his forehead, but nothing happens when she touches him. Woo-shik figures that Jung-eun just reminds him too much of his army sergeant.

Ki-bong is alarmed to see that Yu-ri hasn’t left yet, .but she tells him that she’s decided to stay. It makes Ki-bong angry and he says that he doesn’t care if Woo-shik kicks her out, but Yu-ri pulls out her phone and plays the recording she has of him from last night, promising that he’s on her side even if Woo-shik isn’t. She tells him sweetly that she wants him to convince Woo-shik to let her stay, and poor Ki-bong is stuck.

Joon-ki spots them, and to keep him from seeing her face, Yu-ri grabs Ki-bong and plants a big ol’ kiss on him. Joon-ki thinks that Ki-bong is molesting a guest, but Yu-ri waves him away, and Joon-ki doesn’t see Ki-bong’s eyes begging for help. Ki-bong is scandalized that she kissed him, but she says that if he doesn’t want to feel even crazier, he’ll persuade Woo-shik quickly.

When Ki-bong sees Woo-shik, he says he’s worried about Yu-ri and asks Woo-shik to let her stay at the guesthouse. Woo-shik is insistent that she can’t, and Ki-bong flounces off in a huff, Joon-ki latched onto his back demanding to know who he was kissing.

Woo-shik finds a female guest to apply medicine to his cut, but even though she does it exactly like Soo-yeon, he feels nothing. Really stretching now for excuses, he thinks that it’s probably because this lady is Japanese and Soo-yeon is Korean.

Awww, the reason Ki-bong is so upset is because Yu-ri stole his first kiss! He spends ages in the shower trying to wash it off, while Joon-ki is downstairs with Jung-eun squealing about the passionate kiss he witnessed.

Jung-eun complains about a coworker who keeps following her around even after she turned him down. She says he looks like a rabbit, with long teeth and huge ears. Joon-ki says that she’s exaggerating and that the important thing is what’s on the inside.

Joon-ki heads upstairs to take a call to Ki-bong and almost runs into Yu-ri, so she slips into the bathroom and hides in the shower with the very naked and very traumatized Ki-bong. She motions for him to answer Joon-ki (and don’t think I didn’t see your eyes flicker downwards, Yu-ri!), so he stammers that he’s busy. Joon-ki sees two pairs of feet below the shower curtain and makes the natural assumption, and Yu-ri sticks her hand out to wave him away again.

Joon-ki chases Ki-bong downstairs asking about the girl, but Ki-bong pushes him over the couch and practically attacks Woo-shik to beg him to let Yu-ri stay. When Woo-shik says the answer is still no, Ki-bong screams that he’s a selfish jerk. He goes to his room and hides under the blankies, wailing that Yu-ri stole his first kiss and saw him naked.

Jung-eun and Joon-ki are having pizza when a voice calls out Jung-eun’s name — oh no, it’s Rabbit Boy. She dives under the table, and Joon-ki cringes when he sees Rabbit Boy, who actually does look just like a rabbit, hee. He drops his phone and sees Jung-eun under the table, so she tries to make a run for it, but gets blocked by guests.

She finally escapes into the guys’ bedroom, where Ki-bong is still pouting in bed. Rabbit Boy tries to get in, so Jung-eun dives under the covers with Ki-bong.

Yu-ri is growing hungry, but her texts to Ki-bong go unanswered, so she creeps downstairs and almost runs into Joon-ki. She yanks Rabbit Boy out of the way and lets herself into the guys’ room, where she also jumps in bed with Ki-bong. When Joon-ki comes in, he sees two extra sets of legs sticking out from under the covers and almost loses it, but Yu-ri’s hand waves him away yet again. He goes, but only after giving Ki-bong a big “fighting!” LOL.

When a Korean houseguest fails to make Woo-shik’s heart race, he assumes that it’s because she’s from Jeju Island while Soo-yeon is from Seoul. He goes looking for a Seoul girl and overhears a woman say while on an interview that her name is Han Soo-yeon, her father was conned and went bankrupt, and she canceled her marriage. She’s perfect.

Somehow Woo-shik talks her into putting medicine on his cut — nothing. Woo-shik is forced to consider that maybe he actually does like Soo-yeon. On his way home he passes by a girl handing out flyers for a school uniform store, which reminds him of his high school days and makes him grin like an idiot.

He imagines Soo-yeon feeling his forehead to see if he’s sick. Woo-shik’s heart starts thumping again, but he yells in Soo-yeon’s face that this can’t be true, and he runs screaming.

Jung-eun and Yu-ri are still trapped in the guys’ bedroom, and Yu-ri instructs Ki-bong to go take care of Joon-ki and Rabbit Boy. Ki-bong offers to tell Joon-ki everything upstairs, and they drag Rabbit Boy up with them. Jung-eun makes it to her room, but Woo-shik comes home, still screaming, and Yu-ri is forced to turn around and hide under his bed.

Thinking that he’s alone, Woo-shik complains that he thinks he does like Soo-yeon, which Yu-ri hears. He knocks a pen under the bed, and it comes rolling back out on its own. Woo-shik says it’s a different pen, and the original one rolls out, ha. He looks under the bed and Yu-ri gives him a sheepish smile, but he barks at her to get out.

Yu-ri asks why she has to go when Soo-yeon, who also did something wrong to him a long time ago, gets to stay. She pulls out the big guns, saying that he still likes Soo-yeon, and when Woo-shik denies it, she shows him that she recorded it on her phone.. and that’s how Yu-ri secures not only an invitation to stay in the guesthouse, but a loyal slave, hee.

Over pizza, Joon-ki distracts asks Ki-bong who the girl was that he shared his first kiss, his first shower, and his first… well, yeah. Yu-ri asks if that was really Ki-bong’s first kiss, making him huff off to his room.

Some time later, Woo-shik tries to practice his guitar at the club where he works, but all he can think about are his lingering feelings for Soo-yeon. Yu-ri drags Soo-yeon in, giving Woo-shik him the winkyface and saying awkwardly that he and Soo-yeon look like a couple, so he drags her away for a little chat. She says she’s trying to help him out, but Woo-shik says he doesn’t want to make a fool of himself anymore and asks her to keep out of it.

Joon-ki is offered a role as the stand-in for the male lead in a movie, and the director promises him a big role in his next movie if he does it. He’s blown away to learn that the star he’ll be standing in for is Yoo Min (cameo by Im Kang-sung), a well-known top star. Yoo Min is rude, declining to shake Joon-ki’s hand and saying that he doesn’t need to know his name.

Over tea, Yu-ri immediately crosses a boundary by mentioning that Soo-yeon is Woo-shik’s first love and asking if the feelings were mutual. Soo-yeon says that her first love was much handsomer than this loser, and Yu-ri asks what’s wrong with her brother.

Woo-shik is saved by his boss, who introduces a new singer at the club. Woo-shik knows the guy, whose name is Seo-joon (cameo by Byun Woo-seok). Woo-shik talks with Seo-joon comfortably, pretending everything is fine, but he remembers accidentally seeing Seo-joon kissing Soo-yeon back in school.

He’d been planning to sing her favorite song, “I Love You,” at the band concert that night. Instead, he’d dropped his sheet music and run out of the building. Yu-ri also notices the atmosphere between Soo-yeon and Seo-joon, so Woo-shik tells her that Seo-joon is Soo-yeon’s first love.

Joon-ki rehearses a scene from the movie on Yoo Min’s behalf, then Yoo Min steps in to film the scene. Yoo Min suggests they use Joon-ki for the fight scene since he’s filming a commercial later, then bullies the director into making the scene much more violent than originally planned. Yoo Min also makes Joon-ki film the scene where he’s on his knees so he doesn’t get bruises, and an eating scene since he’s bad at using chopsticks.

Poor Joon-ki is so banged up that he can barely move, but he tells the housemates that he’s doing it for the movie role. He runs off when Yoo Min calls him over to his house for a favor.

Seo-joon wanders into the house, saying that he’s here to see the guys, but Woo-shik notices how Soo-yeon lights up. He slinks off to his room in defeat, but Yu-ri decides to do something about this.

HA, Yoo Min makes Joon-ki bring him jjajangmyun, dressed like a delivery guy on a scooter. Joon-ki makes his way in through the crowd of fans and paparazzi, and Yoo Min asks for his outfit so he can sneak out of the house. Joon-ki reluctantly agrees to spend the day at Yoo Min’s house, afraid of losing the movie role he wants.

Ki-bong tells Jung-eun and Yu-ri how Seo-joon was the leader of Woo-shik’s band in high school, and Soo-yeon says that all her friends had crushes on him because he’s so good-looking. Yu-ri argues that Woo-shik is much better looking, and when Ki-bong disagrees, they make a bet on it.

In private, Yu-ri tells Woo-shik that Seo-joon seems to still like Soo-yeon. She says that Woo-shik needs to make Soo-yeon realize that he’s the handsomer of the two, so she’ll take an interest in him.

Everyone in the house votes, and the winner of the Most Handsome Guy contest, by a landslide, is… Seo-joon. Womp, womp. Jung-eun accuses Woo-shik of casting the one vote for himself (ouch), and he loudly denies it, but when he stands, the same red pen his vote was written in falls out of his pocket.

While waiting for Yoo Min to return home, Joon-ki watches an interview on TV that Yoo Min gave about their movie. Yoo Min claims to have refused a stand-in out of respect for his fans, and Joon-ki gets upset. Yoo Min calls him, and Joon-ki hears the woman he’s with refer to him as “that scarecrow” standing in for him.

Back at the guesthouse, Ki-bong buys food for everyone with the money he won from Yu-ri. Seo-joon apologizes for ruining the mood and offers to show them something fun. He does a trick with a coin, a shot glass, and a tissue, impressing the housemates.

Yu-ri brags that Woo-shik is better at tricks, and makes another, bigger bet with Ki-bong over it. Woo-shik drags her into another room to object, but she says that Soo-yeon’s face lit up when Seo-joon did that trick, so Woo-shik needs to do something even more impressive. He admits that there’s one thing he’s good at, and soon he’s showing off his recorder-nostril trick to the entire house.

Yu-ri stops him when she realizes that everyone looks either disgusted or bored. She tells him to trust his noona, then she lifts his shirt for everyone to see his bizarre nipple placement. Welp, that certainly got their attention. Yu-ri tells Woo-shik that he won, but seeing the horrified look on Soo-yeon’s face, Woo-shik runs from the room. Again.

Joon-ki has Ki-bong bring his fake autographed bat and a couple of costumes to Yoo Min’s house. They dress up as Catwoman and Harley Quinn, and proceed to cavort in front of the windows where Yoo Min’s fans and the paparazzi can see them. By the time they leave, Yoo Min’s odd fetish is all over the internet, hee.

Yoo Min calls Joon-ki to order him to explain that he was at his house as his stand-in. Joon-ki cheekily reminds Yoo Min that he said having a stand-in is disrespectful to his fans, and he vows to become famous and make Yoo Min his stand-in one day. Awww, Ki-bong is so proud of his friend.

Woo-shik sits on the swings at the park, sobbing out his embarrassment. Soo-yeon joins him and asks why he did all that, and he agrees that he made a fool of himself in front of her first love. She says that Seo-joon isn’t her first love, but Woo-shik calls her a liar and says that he was planning to sing her favorite song until he saw her kissing Seo-joon.

Soo-yeon sighs, “How could a guy like you be my first love?” Startled, Woo-shik stammers that she said he wasn’t, but she says she couldn’t admit it in front of him. She recalls the day they met in the music room and says it was no coincidence, and a flashback shows how nervous Soo-yeon was before going in to talk to him.

Still confused, Woo-shik asks about the kiss he saw on the day of the concert. Another flashback reveals the truth — Soo-yeon had gone to the green room with flowers for Woo-shik, but Seo-joon had mistakenly taken them and kissed her. Woo-shik saw that part, but he didn’t see Soo-yeon angrily shove Seo-joon away.

She’d snatched back her flowers, and the note inside had fluttered to the floor: “Cha Woo-shik, you fool, I like you. I was waiting for you to confess, but have decided to confess first. Good luck with the concert, fighting!” Soo-yeon says that she didn’t tell Woo-shik about this because he never spoke to her again after that day.

She asks if that’s why he’s still prickly to her, and she believes his denial. She heads home, and Woo-shik stays behind, beating himself up for misunderstanding and resenting her for the last ten years. He throws a whiny baby tantrum, falling off the swing and flailing in the sand in his self-loathing.

 
COMMENTS

This show just gets cuter and cuter. I read that Woohoo Waikiki 2 is already getting higher ratings than the early episodes of the first season, and I’m not surprised. It carries the same tone of ridiculousness while managing to tug at your heartstrings with the extremely likable, earnest housemates, not to mention the hilarious inside jokes, parodies, and cameos in every episode. Season One holds a very special place in my heart, but I already suspect that this season could easily surpass it, because something about this group of housemates appeals to me even more than the originals. They just seem a bit more lost and bewildered about how to manage life and adulthood, and I find them incredibly endearing.

I’ve said before that Joon-ki, who is still the same bumbling but dedicated-to-his-dream actor, is my hands-down favorite, and that hasn’t changed. But I also love Woo-shik for his grumpy rumblings, because no matter how bad a mood he’s in, he’s never actually mean to his friends. Ki-bong is adorably dumb, but he’s not stupid, if that makes sense – he’s just got his own innocent way of looking at the world. I like Soo-yeon quite a lot, as I’ve previously noted, because even though she’s spoiled and ignorant of how the world works, she’s still a nice person. And even though we know the least about Jung-eun, I appreciate her way of saying what everyone else is thinking but too scared or polite to actually voice.

And this is going to sound weird, because she’s not meant to be likable, but I absolutely love Yu-ri. She’s just so unrelentingly manipulative, it makes me want to see how far she’ll go to get her way. She seems to be impulsive and competitive and willing to say anything to win, but that just makes me even more curious to see the lengths she’ll go to when pushed. It’s actually a refreshing change to have someone who isn’t sweet and hardworking and earnest in the house. Yu-ri’s attempts at playing matchmaker crack me up, and it also makes me like her even more, because she genuinely does seem to care about Woo-shik. But I can also understand why he’s so done with her, because she put him in some pretty embarrassing situations, so I don’t blame him for initially not wanting her around.

It’s so cute that Woo-shik has already figured out his feelings for Soo-yeon so early. I dislike when a character doesn’t understand what they’re feeling for too long, because it’s not realistic that someone in their late 20s wouldn’t recognize attraction. And besides, the part where they try to hide it from the person they like is so much more fun. The show didn’t drag it out, letting Woo-shik figure it out in half an episode, so now we can get to the good part. And I love that he found out that Soo-yeon used to like him, too, because this knowledge will give their interactions a lot of layered meaning going forward. Woo-shik and Soo-yeon obviously have a lot of history together, and a lot of misunderstandings because they didn’t just talk to each other. I’d love to see them change that this time around.

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