Smile is hitting exactly the right notes for me. Though not wildly innovative, there’s something organic and sweet about the pacing and tone that I really enjoy. When there’s as much chemistry & development as there is in these two episodes, reducing the repartee to a line of summary just doesn’t do it justice. So I apologize if these recaps get a bit long-winded!

The actors play off each other really well in small ways that are especially hard to capture, like the moment above when Jung-in makes an excited puppy-face at Hyun-soo. Out of context, it looks almost silly, but it’s the kind of unapologetically endearing moments that abound in this drama.

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Hyun-soo and his Jung-in fantasies! So hilarious and adorable. Of course, the best part is that the dream becomes reality.

As soyjoy mentioned in her last recap, a few episodes had dragged on, but Smile has come back in full force the last few episodes. And these two take the cake! It’s fun, sweet, with a bit of surprise thrown in. Totally loved it.

SONG OF THE DAY

Smile OST – Vis a Vis by Melo’ Breeze [ Download ]

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Tee hee! Love the scene above. Episodes 9 & 10 are pivotal (at last!). The episodes are full of fun moments, character developments and building anticipation in the relationship between Jung-in (Lee Min-jung) and Hyun-soo (Jung Kyung-ho). There’s a lot of ground to cover in these episodes, so without further ado…

SONG OF THE DAY

Smile OST – “웃어요” (Smile) [ Download ]

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How the mighty have fallen…

As soyjoy mentioned in her last recap, watching an episode twice makes the shortcomings glaringly obvious. This definitely isn’t a masterpiece that needs to be seen more than once. It’s not surprising for a 50-episode series to be drawn out, but I think some plot development/movement is in order. Fortunately, Lee Chun Hee’s entrance has infused a bit of energy and his love interest has been revealed, giving me some hope for the future. I still enjoy the goofy and sweet moments, so all is not lost.

[Just a little housekeeping note: Unfortunately, our 3rd partner in crime had to bow out, leaving 2 of us for the recaps. With the good ratings, I fully expect to see 50 episodes of Smile, leading to our decision to recap 2 episodes together going forward.]

SONG OF THE DAY

Smile OST – “안녕 내 사랑” (Goodbye, My Love) by Melo’ Breeze [ Download ]

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This episode is not so much a series of small lol’s as a crescendo towards one, raucous, side-splittingly hilarious scene (Thank you, Lee Chun-hee!!). In my opinion, it’s the funniest scene in this series so far.

Overall, the snappy pace and light fun of this series are getting a bit bogged down, but we do get a lot more Jung-in/Hyun-soo quality time in the latter half of this episode (yay!). In recent episodes, the two carried on about the slapper and traded barbs as they adjusted to the new two-family dynamics, but the actual relationship between the two of them for its own sake hadn’t developed much. Here, we get lots of “I care for you” looks from Hyun-soo toward Jung-in, which I appreciate even if he hasn’t actually mentally processed this yet.

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