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My Demon: Episodes 3-4

by alathe

The first rule of being a demonic bodyguard? Shirk every responsibility. The second rule? Try not to catch on fire. The third rule? Never fall in — oops, couldn’t hear you over the sound of all this convenient denial! Despite their best efforts to be prickly and emotionally unavailable, our leads keep getting thrown together in a series of delightful ways — and with peril brewing, it’s only a matter of time before our demon is forced to actually be helpful.

 

EPISODES 3-4

With a mysterious, rash-afflicted assassin dogging her footsteps, and acid flying at all intervals, Do-hee hits on a mutually beneficial deal with the man she is grudgingly willing to admit might be a demon. If he becomes her bodyguard, he can protect his precious tattoo! Plus, well, her. Alas, pride goeth before the fall, and Gu-won refuses to be her protector. What does she think he is — a Pokemon? I’ll walk you to the door, he adds, in a very dignified, non-bodyguardly fashion.

Do-hee continues to pester, once again threatening Gu-won with the dreaded Pororo cover-up tattoo… but it’s not very effective. Gu-won is content to wait out the problem. He’s reasonably convinced they can replicate the exact circumstances of the tattoo-transfer by diving into water on the next full moon. For now, he’s going to relax, smirk, enjoy his fussy hand-brewed coffee, and — wait, does anyone smell burning? Ah. That’s him. Soon, Gu-won, his bumbling butler, and the perpetually armed dancer who thinks he’s cute are all blowing ineffectually on his smoldering index finger.

My Demon: Episodes 3-4

With an ice bucket behind his back, and his whole hand trying very hard to set itself ablaze, Gu-won returns to Do-hee, offering to give the bodyguard thing a go… provided she help him in return. If he doesn’t make a deal soon, his future’s looking awfully fiery. Luckily, there’s no shortage of desperate humans. Soon, he finds a mother whose nine-year-old child is dying of cancer. Do-hee watches with growing disgust as Gu-won speedruns through his deal-with-the-devil shtick, convincing the woman to sign away her soul — and save her child — in record time. The flames recede. The child wakes. Gu-won, satisfied with a job well done, declares it’s time for cake.

… Only to be met with a hard look from our heroine. As far as she’s concerned, he’s a parasite, exploiting people’s grief. Well, she, for one, won’t be party to it! Gu-won, being a very unflappable demon, and above such pesky moral sophistry, is not bothered by this. Not one whit. Humans, he grunts half-intelligibly through a mouthful of cake, are so greedy! Still, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, he pays a visit to the child — whose only wish is that her parents won’t suffer for her sake. Oh. Oh dear.

My Demon: Episodes 3-4

Thus, after no moral turmoil whatsoever, Gu-won reappears at Do-hee’s side, offering an umbrella. The two stand together in the rain: Do-hee bone-dry; our demon getting his jacket wet. His justification for returning? Well, his life was so boringly peaceful till now. Do-hee’s excuse is similarly just-on-the-edge-of-plausible: it takes one scumbag to deal with another! Throughout the course of this emotionally stunted conversation, we learn how our guy became a demon. Basically, God, in need of someone to work in hell, pointed at the then-human Gu-won and said, “I choose you!” Yeah, he’s really not beating the Pokemon allegations here.

Amid banter, disaster strikes. Earlier, Do-hee had told Madam Ju that the now-dead Director Cha had tried to warn her about something important. Despite telling Do-hee not to worry, Madam Ju had looked grim — and hurriedly arranged an audit. Now, Do-hee receives an odd text from her not-quite-mother; hastily, she makes her way back. Turns out, she was right to fear the worst. When she steps into the greenhouse, Madam Ju is lying motionless. Do-hee bursts into tears, pleading with Gu-won to help, but our demon remains impassive. Even he can’t raise the dead.

The funeral is a harrowing ordeal — for Do-hee, that is. For Madam Ju’s blood relatives, it’s a party. The eldest son, NOH SUK-MIN (Kim Tae-hoon), is acting like Mirae Group has landed in his lap. (His mother let him go to jail for drunk driving, so there are some deep-seated issues there.) Meanwhile, Su-ahn is strutting about like she owns the place. Worse is the grandson, NOH DO-KYUNG (Kang Seung-ho), who sneeringly lights a cigarette in Madam Ju’s beloved greenhouse. Gu-won, seeing Do-hee look heartbroken, snaps his fingers and magics the brat into hitting the door.

Do you know, Gu-won asks Do-hee, why people wear black at funerals? It’s to prevent the soul of the deceased from recognizing anyone and following them. Do-hee is aghast. Gently, Gu-won takes her wrist, shifting her black suit to white. With surprising tact, he goes to wait by the door. Do-hee is too depressed to hope for much — but then, a butterfly very deliberately lands on her hand. Her breath catches. Thank you, she says, for finding me. If we ever get a second chance, let’s fight even harder… and love each other more dearly.

My Demon: Episodes 3-4

Unfortunately, even a demonic grief counselor can’t protect Do-hee from the revelations ahead. Turns out, Madam Ju died from a heart attack — with diclofenac in her system, a medication to which she was allergic. Do-hee is left reeling. She eyes each awful family member, all of whom knew about the allergy, and wonders which one is a murderer. Or were they all in on it? She’s too far gone with grief to keep her suspicions to herself. Instead, she publicly accuses them all of foul play.

There’s more. After all, what’s an upper-crust funeral without a sting-in-the-tail will? Do-hee is about to be hustled out by the security team — until Madam Ju’s legal executor tells her to stay. Because, yes indeed, she has been given ownership of Mirae Group. But there’s a catch. To inherit the company, Do-hee must register her marriage within a year of Madam Ju’s death. Outraged family members flock her, spitting vitriol. Do-hee’s response is flawless. The only way to stop me, she announces, is to kill me. Then, she approaches her demonic bodyguard. Jung Gu-won, she says, as cameras flash. Marry me. And in front of stakeholders, press, and every single person who scorned Do-hee, Gu-won utters the immortal words: I don’t want to.

So yeah, the car ride back is excruciating. Maybe it’s to do with the fact that the radio keeps unhelpfully blaring love songs. It cannot be anything to do with Do-hee, because she is personally very chill, and already totally over it. Yup. She hardly even meant to prop— uh, actually, proposal is such a strong word, no? Let’s call it an accident. She’s been tired lately. She was practically sleep-talking. Gu-won wants to stay single? That’s fine! She too intends to be forever alone!

Madam Ju left Do-hee a letter, which in her utterly unflustered state, she drops in the car. As Gu-won approaches her door to return it, he overhears a very chill, uh, rant, that makes him reconsider knocking. Quoth Do-hee: the next time he leads me on, I’ll drag him to our wedding with a tranquilizer gun! The elephant kind! As Gu-won scurries away with a whimper, Do-hee is interrupted by another guest: JU SEOK-HOON (Lee Sang-yi), the one relation of Madam Ju who might actually possess a soul. Sadly for him, he also possesses second-lead energy in abundance. He’s adamant that Do-hee come to him if she needs help.

My Demon: Episodes 3-4

Later, the unfortunately-named Bok-gyu gives our hero a crash course in the gentle art of bodyguarding. Rule one: never let her out of your sight. Rule two: never let your guard down. Rule three: never fall in love. Wait, is this just the tagline from classic 90s romance, The Bodyguard? Well, yes, but Do-hee’s proposal has proved utterly and definitively that movies are true. The point, Bok-gyu insists, is that people are more sincere when sleep-deprived!

Gu-won is half convinced — until Do-hee snaps that he’s the last man alive she’d marry. Of course, she’s feeling vengeful since Gu-won’s rejection made the gossip columns. It’s your name that’s the problem, she mourns in the car. Gu-won, for salvation. Just another sweet lie. You know, like love, happiness… those kind of childish myths. Wait, hold up, says our hero. Happiness? If you don’t believe in that, then why in the capitalist hell do you work so hard? Do-hee frowns. I think out of habit, she says. After my parents died, I worked to drown everything else out. As she takes a sad nap, Gu-won stares at her, moved. And keeps staring. And then, as the car behind him honks, he angrily explodes its airbag. Ah, romance!

As the day of Madam Ju’s burial dawns, Do-hee lets herself read her letter. I’ve left you alone in a den of wolves, writes Madam Ju. I know just how lonely that is — without you, I’d have drowned. I won’t have you suffer that same hell. And so, if you’re determined to take my place, you must find someone who’ll stand by your side. That’s all very well, decides Do-hee, but Madam Ju must trust her. She can manage on her own.

Doubtful. After all, there’s more going on than she knows. Firstly, there’s the assassin of a thousand faces who has his unnerving sights set on her death. His latest gambit is to approach the gang whose leader Gu-won killed. Meanwhile, lurking somewhere out there is a mysterious, leather-gloved killer who swapped Madam Ju’s painkillers with diclofenac… and all evidence points to the ever-resentful Suk-min.

You know who else’s life is hard? Gu-won! His troubles make Do-hee’s pale in comparison: after all, without his powers, our poor demon… is gradually aging at the speed of a normal human being. Woe! Misery! What if he gets, like, a wrinkle or something? No, that’s unthinkable. He’s got to recharge — meaning, he and Do-hee must schedule in some quality wrist-holding time. The two haggle with gusto. Do-hee declares that she will rescue Gu-won from the risks of eventual arthritis… once he helps her catch Madam Ju’s killer.

My Demon: Episodes 3-4

Glorious hijinks ensue. Gu-won blithely declares that he can find the culprit with a snap of his fingers — only for absolutely nothing to occur. Is something else up with his powers? In an effort to test them, he teleports them to a supply cupboard, where outside, Do-hee’s employees gossip. It takes serious force of denial to stay pokerfaced while pressed up close against your maybe-crush as bystanders extol the virtues of office romance… and our OTP fails miserably. It’s delightful.

None of Do-hee’s employees expected their boss to awkwardly rock up to the company dinner, but Gu-won snaps at an opportunity for some surreptitious wrist-grabbing. He’s not precisely subtle. Worse, when asked why he rejected Do-hee, his answer is nothing short of boorish. People who like pork, he says, don’t marry pigs! It’s entirely the last straw. Do-hee storms away.

Alas, this is the point at which the gang that Gu-won terrorized with a newspaper corner him, and without his powers, he’s a sitting duck. Luckily, Do-hee didn’t go far — and now, seeing him beaten and bloodied, she knows it’s time to act. Her secretary bought her a suitcase of sophisticated weaponry for this kind of threat. She has… a loud whistle! A taser that doesn’t work! And a fake gun that might just succeed in spraying tear gas! Facing down the goons, she utters the best line in an episode full of incredible lines: “I am… my bodyguard’s bodyguard!”

She reaches Gu-won in time for him to catch her by the wrist. Blood peels from his face. Shifting her into a dancer’s hold, he asks, almost tenderly, if she knows how to tango. As the lights dim, his magic takes hold. A bevy of armed criminals find themselves haplessly gyrating to the beat. Gu-won spins Do-hee forward — and a gang member goes flying. She gives a flourish, punches a guy in the nose, and lands in an elegant lift. As the two dance their way out of danger — bad guys dropping like bowling pins — we hear the eternal wisdom of The Bodyguard again. Rule one: never let her out of your sight. (Oops.) Rule two: never let your guard down. (Welp.) And rule three: never fall in love. (Uh oh, Gu-won.)

Folks, I am beside myself with glee. This show is everything I hoped for and more. You would not believe the number of times I have giggled at the screen, and squealed, “You’re so stupid! I adore you! And you’re going to be so in love!” What immediately makes this show special is how the writer takes equal joy in making you fall for both leads — and they’re just brimming with character. Gu-won is equal parts goofy, troubled, and struck through the heart with inconvenient feelings. Do-hee is a delight in designer heels; she’s all at once touchingly soulful and hilariously arrogant. And all this is cemented with some of the sharpest, wittiest dialogue I’ve ever seen.

I’m gutted they killed off Madam Ju so soon, even though I know it was necessary. That’s another strength of this show, though: they worked hard to make her relationship with Do-hee feel real and compelling, despite working with such limited time. The butterfly had me outright sobbing — it was cheesy, but they earned the right to their cheese! Very few things about this drama feel rote; it’s clear that so much enjoyment went into producing every minute of it. Granted, there are some background elements that don’t feel quite as fleshed out — Ga-young, for instance, whose only characterization is that she’s a) jealous, and b) scary — but we’re in such capable writerly hands that I trust they know where they’re going. Meanwhile? I’m going to be flashing back that Pokemon line at random points during the week, and laughing out loud.

My Demon: Episodes 3-4

 
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Tags: Jo Hye-joo, Kim Hae-sook, Kim Tae-hoon, Kim Yoo-jung, Lee Sang-yi, My Demon, Song Kang

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Another great week for uri pokemon and uri wireless charger! My perfect couple.

1. The proposal. I was so happy with Gu Won's answer. It was soooo him. 😆 A "yes" would've made me feel disappointed. That wouldn't have been fun.

2. The leads. I just love their dynamic. I like how they open up to each other in such a natural way. I love how they get angry or feel disappointed but they always talk things out and come to an agreement. And I love how they try to hide their emotions but it never works! And they have each other's backs!
Gu Won helping Do Hee get closure 🥺 and then Do Hee being Gu Won's "bodyguard" 🥺🥺

3. The funeral, or like Gu Won calls it the "party. Surprise party", was awful. The shameless "congratulations", the threats, the jokes... It was gross. I started to wonder if she actually was a horrible person, because I don't want to believe that people were acting like that just because of her money. That's just depressing.

And the surprise, wasn't a surprise. They all should've seen that coming.

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Gu Won trying to hide the Demon manual because his bestie told him he liked the challenge of searching for the book.

2. Gu Won and his human besties trying to stop Gu Won from burning and then packing some ice for him.

3. The police officer shipping our couple and then being all happy when Do Hee proposed to Gu Won.

4. Gu Won rejecting Do Hee and then saying "I keep my work and my personal affairs separate". LMAO

5. The word play with "Do Hee" (도희) and "Crazy" (돌아이) LOL

6. Do Hee repeating she's chill while acting the complete opposite. And then Gu Won telling her that if she lets him grab her wrist people will think she's chill, and Do Hee replying "I'm not chill". LOL
"You're treating me like a wireless charger", "you treat me like a Pokemon".

I just looooooooove this show so much.

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I can't believe I somehow missed your comment before!!

1. I was a teensy bit disappointed for a split second (only because it would've made one of the rich siblings faint had he said yes and then they walked out like a power couple) but then came to the exact same realisation as you - it wouldn't have been him if he'd said yes. Plus with how the episode ended, a contract marriage when both leads are well on their way to being in love is much more satisfying.

2. Totally with you on our leads being really 😍 with how they simultaneously try to hide feelings but also are very frank with showing the other exactly how they're feeling, especially when they're angry or frustrated.

3. YES THE POLICE SMILING WHEN SHE PROPOSED WAS SO CUTEE

4. Idk what was funnier the ice bucket or the way he tried to 'hide' it from Do-hee 😂

I'm so glad that it's getting this much love from you and all the other Beanies here!! It feels good when you can share your love of a particular show with so many other people 💕

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It would have been an incredibly short drama if he'd said yes.
"Marry me"
"Okay"

They exchange a handshake.
The End - Long musical sequence with the same shot from 12 different angles and, oh horror, we would have never seen the tango-dance-fighting scene (absolute best thing in K dramaland, especially after suffering from the less-than-epic brick-in-the-face humour of Nam-fucking-soon strong brainless brat with her violent cop fiancé)

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Word. Oh your comment slays me! 🤣🤣🤣

Since I was a wee child, I would watch TV dramas and tsk-tsk: "They should have called the police."
Mum: "The drama would end at Episode 2 then."
Our eyes meet. A beat. We nod sagely.
-- The End --

p.s. my suspension of disbelief has improved tremendously since then

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LOL

I spend an unhealthy amount of time ranting at the TV & telling the characters that really it's time to:

- call the police
- not separate while being chased in the dark by a evil mastermind with a dangerous weapon
- talk to each other
- apply basic logic
- implement breaking pads and drivers to trucks of doom
- less polite suggestions but nevertheless still relevant (Nam-Soon: apply fucking brain AT ALL TIMES ; Good Bad Mother: Stop drowning your handicapped child as part of his physio therapy your murdering git ; etc.)

We're obviously a match made in common sense heaven, @Joanna. But, unfortunately, common sense and k-drama writers are mortal enemies and we shall be constantly disappointed. Oh well... At least, we have each other now. Hold my hand, and rant with me, lass.

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@darkcc: I second your entire litany of bitter grouses LOL

+1 more: characters going into long impassioned rant / "why did you lock me in a closet when I was 6?!" whilst pointing gun at very-dangerous-serial-killer

PLEASE. You wanna do a soapbox harangue? Book an appt with your therapist at 5pm.

Just shoot serial killer in his knee caps first. THEN ask your burning questions ("where did you bury her body?!")

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hahahahhahaah okay VALID point 😂 PD and omg yes I absolutely feel your frustrations on SWNS too

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*PD called out there for the 12 angles of same shot (also valid 😂)

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Oh, it isn't you. I sent my comment the second the recap was posted, but DB ate it. That happens to me a lot. Apparently the few words that I know in English are not appropriate for this site. LMAO My comments are always getting delayed.

1. Yes!! I think we'll get something like "they're in love but they won't admitted, so even if they say the contract marriage is just a strategy, the truth is that they're secretly enjoying it soooo much".

2. I think we won't get any annoying misunderstandings with these two. Because a misunderstanding between the guy that says stuff like "just because you like pork, doesn't mean you're gonna marry a pig", and the girl that keeps denying everything only to expose herself two seconds later, doesn't make sense. A misunderstanding between them would last just 2 minutes, not two episodes. 😂

3. Yes!! I love how the police officer instead of being all noisy (like any other police officer in kdramaland), he just ships the main leads from afar. LOL

4. IKR? Everything about the ice bucket was hilarious.

Same here, I'm glad we're having so much fun. 💚

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Ahhh! No wonder! I was like how on earth did I miss seeing the first comment?!

hehhehe yes to 1 - it'll be very much 'oh no gosh I guess we'll have to get married' and I can't wait *cackles* and also very true with your second point 😂 these two must be a match made in heaven!

police duo becoming my favourite supporting characters - back in the second ep when Gu-won and Do-hee were arguing about lasering the tattoo off/getting a pororo one instead, and the cops were like "'laser and pororo' make sure you get that down in the notes", that was such a small moment but so very funny.

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On the same page as you @alathe with how gleefully smitten I am with this show! The plot simultaneously like ‘it’s all a joke’ but also ‘stakes are real and someone could die’ and I LOVE IT. The tonal shifts are being pulled off well I think, and I like how it makes things feel surreal sometimes. Some further thoughts:

- Do-hee is such a kickass FL!! I absolutely love how straightforward and resilient she is. Literally did not bat an eyelid when she found out Gu-won was a demon and then the proposal omg (you best believe I watched that like five times over). I like that she’s cold but not unfeeling and she’s not ashamed to acknowledge her feelings out loud, rather than thinking of them as a weakness. Also the ending when she rushed into save Gu-won was so adorably brave, I think I fell in love with her too then.

- THE HUMOUR! Him rejecting the proposal was so unexpectedly jarring after the build-up, it got a good laugh out of me and the laughs only continued in the aftermath like when they were in the car and there was marriage song after marriage song and the lyrics came up on screen like it was karaoke. The airbag bit also 💀

- I’ll shout this from a rooftop: that tango scene was ICONIC. It was so really random, but also so hilarious and also kind of quite romantic??

- Was unexpected that they killed off Madam Ju & I like this quasi-Agatha Christie vibe we’ve got going with the whodunnit. I thought it might’ve been the grandson who was behind it, BUT it’s never the person you most suspect right? So my money is on Seok-hoon. Very interesting though that it seems like Madam Ju wasn’t exactly a good person/had clean hands.

- Very much seems like it’s a ‘she fell first’ kind of OTP so hoping that we get ‘he fell harder’ over the next few weeks.

- Another Beanie mentioned it I think last week (apologies I’ve forgotten who!) but it’s also refreshing to have a supernatural ML who isn’t tired of his immortality or ‘monster’ status - not just not tired but actively wants to preserve his lifestyle. I feel like in fantasy set ups like this, you usually have a scenario where the ML is the more ‘wiser, older’ one of the two so it often feels like there’s this imbalance in maturity levels between the OTP - I like that here, Gu-won might have 200 years on Do-hee but he’s on the same page as her if not a few steps behind in maturity level, so they’re almost unknowingly learning to sort their feelings out and grow together? And it helps that their personalities aren’t that different either so they’re forced to reckon with that when they go head to head. Like every time they both stomp off after an argument, they usually double back on it to meet half way (sometimes literally or metaphorically) and it’s high-key adorable.

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1. I love that about Do Hee too! She always says what's on her mind and heart. She isn't afraid of expressing how she feels.

2. Yes! That tango scene was iconic. 💯👌

3. My money is on Seok Hoon too, but I don't want it to be him. 🥺

4. Same! I enjoy watching Gu Won trying his best to preserve his lifestyle. And I like that he knows he used to be a human, but he doesn't really cares about that. He isn't tied to his past. At one point that past will probably become relevant for the plot, but for now, it's nice to see him only care about getting old or burnt. LOL

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Yes!! I love that she basically had like a stream of consciousness monologue post being rejected, and the whole like 'I'm not thinking about it at all but also let me keep ranting about it for the next few hours' thing is the most relatable vibe ever.

I also don't want it to be him but I can just smell the 'underdog rejected/pushed around by everyone villain origin story' .....

And yes, it's kind of funny how superficial he is - I'm looking forward to him unlocking all those emotions and feelings he's no doubt repressed somewhere.

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Yeeees!! When she kept saying "it's fine, I didn't mean it". "I understand everything because I'm chill" but she just kept acting like the total opposite of a "chill person" 😂 I love her.

You're right. It has to be him. The real plot twist would be that it wasn't him.

I hope it isn't too painful for him tho.

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Hahaha! Somehow I did not mind Nevertheless. Too many healthy relationships on screen (these days) and too few in real life. I didn't mind me a dose of realistic toxicity. :P

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Who wouldn't be superficial and also fiercely protective of their looks if they had the visuals of Song-Kang?! I am just loving him in this show. I have often found his looks and demeanour distracting (with the exception of Nevertheless where again it was used well in service of the story). He often comes across as immature with his pouty delivery but it all seems to work in this show and I am so here for it.

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I'm not sure if you watched Sweet Home but there I didn't find him distracting in terms of visuals and his acting had much more range & versatility there too I thought. And agree about Nevertheless!

Also funny the first part you mentioned - I was watching the 'confessions' game that the Sweet Home 2 cast played (the game where someone is made to wear headphones and others have to answer questions about them, if the headphone wearer wants to listen in on what their castmates are saying they have to drink a shot of vinegar or whatever) and the cast mentioned that SK often would either look at himself in the mirror and ask them if he was still pretty/is pretty 😆 I'd do the same if I was him though!

For the question of which character his actual personality best matches, the cast were like 'either a pampered dog brought up in a rich family or Yeong-su - the little boy who cries a lot in Sweet Home 😂 so his pouty delivery - which I agree works well here - might be him tapping into his own irl personality hahahahah

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I hate Nevertheless with a vengeance. And this is an understatement.

Song Kang has been wronged. He is utterly luminous in Love Alarm. LUMINOUS.

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Epiphany: I just realized this story is almost identical to Angel's Last Mission: Love - beat for beat (you just swap the angel out for a demon).

1) Taking reference from Angel's Last Mission, I guess how they sort out the theological tangle of a cross-species romance and land this story well will hinge on how they treat his past life memories of being a human (which we are getting glimpses of this week).

2) Parity in maturity level: I like your point here, it helps me accept this pairing better. Initially because Do-Hee was set up as the "devil in Hermes" it cranks up a really high Miranda Priestly notch that the young KYJ is struggling to meet. Now that I have jettisoned my audience expectations (baggage) out the ship, it's sailing better. They are childishly adorable and immature in their antics! (like when they "chakaman" parry and thrust each other in a battle of one-upmanship 🤣)

3) Seok-Hoon: woah...I can see an informal betting pool forming here....

4) Fall Last, Fall Harder trope:
cut to his brutal quip "I like pork, but I won't marry a pig."
That was a caustic stinger (this is like the verbal version of that earlier motorcycle acid attack. Ouch)

I get why people recoil in horror from the sheer heartlessness of this line. But to me, it makes perfect sense. He is an apex predator. That self-disclosure isn't even in fine print; it's bold typeface.

More importantly, I feel it may well set us up for comedy / pathos /dramatic conflict later on in the plot -- along the lines of Edward who has to fight off every last vampiric bloodlust not to predate Bella because her scent is his "exact personal brand of heroin." 🤣 so yes, fall last, fall harder.

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1. Yes! I was thinking of Angel's Last Mission too because of all the existential questions being raised (and also thought of Tail of the Nine Tailed, because I feel like Gu-won is very Lee Yeon/Lee Rang adjacent).

2. Love the nautical metaphors 😂! I always thought Do-hee was working really hard to make her image come across very unapproachable and Miranda Priestly-esque, as both a method of survival in chaebol land but also as a form of repression of her past and the feelings associated with it, but you could tell that she was just a young, lonely and somewhat scared girl just trying to make it by creating this facade. Though, whether this whole able to 'see through' the facade here is because of intentional in writing or accidental because of acting I'm not sure, but I think either way it matches well with Gu-won's suave but immature vibe. The end result is working and provides some hilarious arguments like the ones you pointed out 😂

3. Time to revive the 'where is the gold buried in Heartbeat' squad and make a new office pool on 'who killed Madam Ju'!!

4. Great comparison to the acid attack! I'm totally with you on it making sense, I think he was being full sincere here and didn't see it as an insult in the slightest, just as a fact. As you perfectly put it, the self disclosure has been in bold typeface font size 666 for the past few episodes! AND YES I'm LIVING FOR THE TWILIGHT REFERENCE! 😍 (this movie had some really wild lines 😂) but you're so right about it setting up well for future comedy and cuteness as our apex predator tries to come to terms with the fact that he's falling hard and fast for a human .

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Re: Time to revive the 'where is the gold buried in Heartbeat' squad and make a new office pool on 'who killed Madam Ju'!!

come and sit right next to me LOL.

I LURVE unscientific straw polls & illegal betting pools on Beanie threads *evil laugh*

First up: Are we going nail it on one perpetrator (Seok Hoon seems to be the crowd favorite now) OR diversify our killer(s) portfolio?

contenders:

1) Seok Hoon (he who possesses second lead energy in abundance LOL)

2) smoking first-born son of first-born son (his off-the-charts douchebag quotient is already a crime anyway)

3) first born son (one strike against him - Madam Ju herself recriminated him for having killed someone before. SO, it wasn't just DUI eh?

4) random red herrings (henchman variety) -- the man with a thousand masks / the guy furtively videotaping the alley rumble / the bloodied-neck waiter who slipped the photo of Gu-Won to triad boss as tip-off

5) Sorry, I have to put the stone-faced female secretary of hers on this "Persons of Interest" list as well. cos oh well, everyone is suspect!

6) I suspect the catholic priest Madam Ju always visits to make confessions to. It makes perfect sense that he is at least a corroborator. You have been hearing years and years of criminal confessions from her. (also cos the tip-off envelope to triad boss contains a Bible verse from Proverbs 8:17)

7) I also wanna put it out there on record: I don't think Madam Ju killed Do-Hee's parents. That's classic misdirection. Her gnawing guilt all these years lies in protecting the real killers with her silence. The real killer must be a family member.

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7. Perhaps the first born, who was in jail for DUI and killed someone?

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My bet is on 1) or 2)! option 4) works with the killer

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You are, quite simply, the best! Unscientific polls are the best, and the more tin-foil hat-esque the options are, the better!!

I think diversifying is much more fun, also because there's a the motorcycle person, the lighter person, the person who was in dealings with Madam Ju to do 'bad stuff' and also the guy with the mask. Not sure if this is all one person or two/or more people so the more contenders the better!!

I like your list, agree with everyone there! Catholic priest is not one I thought of but your reasoning is solid. Will add in the screechy sister as a possibly contender also because she seems like such a red herring that she might not be a red herring at all.

Also yes with you on 7 - I don't think she did either but I think she had indirect involvement, whether it be in protecting the real killers or something she did that domino effected it's way to Do-hee's parents dying 👀

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OMG this is hilarious.
As a Beanie once said: "There is logic, and then there is K-drama-land logic."

And here, is the compilation of best K-drama "who-dun-nit logic" on DB:
(1) The one we most suspect cannot be the killer right?
(2) So the unlikeliest person must be the killer!
(3) The real plot twist is IF it isn't Seok Hoon
(4) She seems like such a red herring that she might not be a red herring at all

We can have a field day doing logic syllogisms on this...

P.S. In OTHER news!
We also need to note that the killers 12 years ago (of Do-Hee's parents) would likely be different from the ones who killed Madam Ju (and trying to kill Do-Hee) in present day

12 years ago the boys would be mere adolescents; I don't think this story is taking a tonal shift to the dark genre territory of Juvenile Justice.

Likely done over two generations -- father and son. Hence Madam Ju's bitter words: "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Ok, over and out -

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You don’t think she did one of those ten year deal things ?
With a demon…

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@joanna okay actually solid point about the timeline thing because I didn't take that into consideration at all. Must be different people but would be absolutely wild if it was over two generations or something 🤯

So tentative theory - Madam Ju had something to do, indirectly or otherwise, with the death of Do-hee's parents ➡️ she's caught in a cobweb of criminal behaviour as a result, whether to hide her involvement and/or prevent Do-hee from getting hurt also ➡️ someone who had underground dealings with her switched teams or gained the upper hand somehow and killed her off and now is trying to kill Madam Ju off.

I did contemplate the theory of, Madam Ju being the person who tried to hurt Do-hee initially but I highly doubt she would do that so the only plausible explanation for this theory would be if Madam Ju was trying to target someone and that someone turned out to be Do-hee, which Madam Ju then found out about, panicked and tried to abort mission and this all backfired on her (I'm getting real crazy with the red string on a cork-board of "facts" here ahhahahahah)

@narrativeaddict if you're talking about Madam Ju - I don't think she did because then Gu-won would've shown up to claim her soul OR if you're saying maybe she died before her 10 years was up, he would've recognised her surely right in the greenhouse (and be notified through some magic that a contractee of his had died early or something idk) ?! I also did wonder if she'd made a deal and was holding my breath during that greenhouse scene to see if Gu-won would be like OH YOU.

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RE: "You don’t think she did one of those ten year deal things ?"

A: That was my first thought - mainly cos they said she died of a heart attack (all those who sold their souls to contract with Gu Won die of cardiac arrest). So I went, OMG, is she one of the first in the story to sell her soul (hence meteoric rise to wealth)?

2) BUT then, it was later revealed she was killed by a fatal diclofenac allergy so nah. This violates cosmic M.O. of soul claiming - since it is clearly effected by a human agent.

3) Also, the math doesn't square. Those Faustian bargains are cut for 10 years, she took over the company 12 years back since DH's parents died in car crash. Madam Ju's life should have been claimed 2 years ago if she did sign on that dotted line.

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I'm starting to notice that each time I watch a drama with Kim Hae-sook and her character dies, it is always in violent circumstances. There's something about the actress; writers constantly want to murder her!

Unlike Kim Young-ok (Hometown Cha-cha-cha's nan) who more often than not is cast in roles where she is doomed to die of old age. I wouldn't enjoy being the old character who's brought to the plot to remind everyone of their own mortality...

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wow great observation, I didn't realise till you pointed it out!! same though on your last point, idk how I'd feel being reminded that and also being a reminder of that either...

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RE: "I wouldn't enjoy being the old character who's brought to the plot to remind everyone of their own mortality..."

This had me in stitches 🤣🤣 I have visions of KYO being wheeled out at appropriate moments in script (like some memento mori leitmotif) littering the mise-en-scene -- just to remind people they will die LOL
#rainonmyparade #killjoy

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Haha #rainonmyparade is glorious! I want editors to flash it on screen each time she's wheeled in to die.

#killingjoyoneKYOatatime
#fightingKYO
#thisisntmylastdeathscene
#keepondying
#laughlovedierepeat

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They can do it like a crawling bottom banner on screen #rainonmyparade

neat companion piece to the LOL wedding ballads karaoke guided track on-screen lyrics in the car scene

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4.9/10? What? 😂

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I wondered about that as well. Surely not?

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Aigoo , it started at 7 before it aired…. 🤔🙄😓

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Before replying to lapislazulii it was 5.0 and after I replied it dropped to 4.8 LOL it feels like a game.

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😭 😭 😭

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I feel like rating shouldn't be allowed until we get past the first 2 weeks.

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Ratings here are crazy.

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They are. 😆

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And Nam-soon stands tall despite all of her shortcomings with 6.3/10, which is approximately 6.2 more than what I would have given it.
So, ratings are ferociously wild and therefore completely irrelevant. I shall ignore it.

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💀 😂 💀

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😂😂😂

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I lost all ability to concentrate on this drama when I started day-dreaming about Song Kang playing Beefy Smurf (???) with Kim Yoo-jung as Smurfette.

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Lol

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Oh, don't get me wrong I absolutely adore this drama. It was the first one I watched on Saturday morning
...before PMR (which was amazing, everyone go watch)
...before TSoPMC
...before LYOL
...before Samdal-ri
(still haven't gotten to these last three)

I'm just sayin', imagine that Tango scene...only with two SMURFS.

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I can with the mushroom homes, lol.

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Well, this might seem completely unexpected and random (because, brace yourself, it is), but the tango scene with Smurfs would completely resonate with me because this is pretty much how I bonded with my partner.
Tango.
Smurfs.
Ungodly amounts of cakes.

So far, I'd say My Demon is ticking absolutely everything on my rather uncommon romance list. Thank you, writer-nim, for making my little brand of madness more mainstream.

Anyway, Beanies, I've got the Smurfs (seriously, I've got probably 6 or 8 fighting each other at the bottom of my rucksack; because you can't have any dainty handbag when you're carrying your Smurfs around, you need an XXL military bag).

I'll put @attiton in charge of the Tango because why not.

Soooo... Who's bringing cake?

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Well, I can Tango, so I've got your back--well, your waist--there. 😉

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Beefy Smurf refers to the Genie from Aladdin (1992)

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which is by far the most accurate description of the Genie.

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HAHAHA I CAN'T UNSEE THIS NOW HELP (not yelling, just laughing really loudly at this comment) 😂

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🤣🤣

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I really want to like this as much as everyone else does, but it is missing something for me. There are a lot of lingering camera shots and situations that simply don't warrant it. The supply closet scene, why not just snap themselves away, the tango scene too, why? Snap yourself away. I don't dislike it enough to stop watching though, it has its moments, but the humor is not landing for me.

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I agree with you on the lingering camera shots. I'm liking it better this week than last week, but I think some of the lingering to emphasize romantic chemistry is too cheesy and is working against their natural chemistry and against the humor. My rom-com style is more "snappy repartee" so I loved the car scenes and the scenes where they take turns trying to get the upper hand.

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but nothing can beat the l-i-n-g-e-r-i-n-g camera shots in *drum roll*.. King the Land.

They need to invent a whole new year-end award category for egregious perpetrators of this sort in Kdrama.

I cannot even bear to post on KTL thread once, lest I spew vitriol like a vengeful demi-god (if I were the acid attack biker here, I would have to ride 10 times around the block lol)

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lol, I wasn't able to finish that drama. Hmmmm, I see there is a theme for me here, where I don't believe the romance, so the lingering shots bother me a lot.

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Apparently, @kafiyah-bello you aren't so impressed by the sheer beauty of this couple that you realize these lingering shots are important narrative points. Please, start watching this show with the seriousness it deserves!

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You are right, apologies. I shook myself and will get it together.

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He could've snapped himself away but he's too smug and a show-off arrogant demon, wants to show off his abilities regarding the tango and as for the supply closet he wanted to prove that his abilities are still fine and secretly he want to learn about human without him owning to that.

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I dont like ff scenes, but I have to do that a lot for this one bcs all the slowmotion, closeups, random tango sequence... it feels like they are trying so hard to recreate a goblin-ish vibe

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Thanks for the super fast recap!!

This show is so much fun! Who knew Song Kang can be so funny. I am loving him here. Scenes between him and his side kick are hilarious. The whole horror on his face when faced with the reality of 'aging'.. he he..

Do-Hee delivers the swoon-iest line and I can literally see Gu-Won's heart skipping a beat. How can he not fall for her.

I am actually liking the the contract marriage is getting delayed. Because right now I find their relationship less forced and more organic. I love that they are sharing so much about themselves and are getting to know each other. Bickering yet trusting each other.

Gu Won is the most reluctant yet adorable body guard. What would happen when he becomes 'husband'!! gasp!!!

And that Tango!!

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Thank you alathe for your wonderful recap. 
This show is just delightful and I look forward to the new episodes the most out of all the shows airing on the weekend. 
The characters are fabulous and the lead actors are doing a wonderful job.
It helps that the writing is very clever also.
 I loved, loved, loved the tango scene. Like others have mentioned - what an iconic scene. I can only imagine the time and effort that would have taken.
Well done show for giving us something absurd but wonderfully imaginative, original and funny that fit in with the tone of the show and worked. 
I think alathe summed up My Demon up well with the word glee.  There are some dark undertones but overall it is such a gleeful watch, long may this continue. Hwaiting. 

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My Demon is so much fun!
It got deep and sad with the well portrayed death of Madam Ju along with her cutthroat adult children.
My tears haven’t even dried yet as it moved to one of the zaniest Tango Dance Attacks that I’ve ever witnessed.
4 episodes in and I think I’m hooked.

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Tango Dance Attack >>>>>> Flamenco Dance Attack.

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Did we ever see a TRUE Flamenco dance attack in 19th Life? No. That's exactly why that show fell apart.

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I'm enjoying every moment of this show. GuWon and DoHee's back and forth is so funny and refreshing. It's getting better as they are getting attracted to each other. I do feel that a lot is getting lost in translation and it would be more funny in Korean. Still, we make do with what we get.

I look forward to these two dodos realise their feelings, and then the forced cohabitation that contract marriages bring. It's going to be oh so delicious!!

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The only thing that I remember is that could be lost in translation are the way the saved each other on their phones and the scene were Do Hee said Gu Won's name is too sweet or something (unlike him).
Gu Won's means "salvation", that's why she said that. And I think she has him in her phone as "또구원 again Gu Won, and I guess it has something to do with all the times he has rescued her. She always talks about that.

And Gu Won's saved her number as "도라희 Do Ra Hee/Hui" and that's because it sounds like "돌아이 crazy/idiot".

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I would never have guessed an ML just holding an FL's wrist could be so hilarious. His smug, getting-away-with-something expression while he does it is perfect.

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Yuppp, his smug look during the team dinner shennanigans takes the cake for me 😂 I'm so glad they gave SK a bit more of a cheeky devil-may-care character, because there's a fair few blink and you miss it 'smug/exasperated/focused/fearful/brain is buffering' expressions throughout the episodes from Gu-won that are equal parts endearing and funny!

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I do agree, his micro expressions are hilarious

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The thing that stood out to me was Do-Hee's bravery
despite being overwhelmed with fear to the situation Gu-won was in. I found it endearing when Gu-won said her name and that's when it occurred to me how this is probably the first time Gu-won was ever recused as a demon.
a side note: I'm really surprised at the current rating here 👀

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Yes 💯, I loved the look he gave her when she was fumbling between the taser and the spray but still holding her ground 💕

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I second that!
THAT, was the best line for me in all the episodes thus far.
"I am my bodyguard's bodyguard!"

I have to confess, I thought the actress was totally out of her depth and not landing the interpretation of the FL well UNTIL she uttered this line. and. it. landed.

and then, I feel like that the judge on The Voice during the blind audition who spins round in their chair and slams the button for a YES!

That was the note. The clincher. The last drop that broke the dam for me.

It disarmed me. Courage isn't fearlessness; courage is still doing the right thing even in the face of fear.

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Ok I think I can *finally* put my finger on WHY I wasn't onboard this ship until this moment in Ep 4.

Circling back to the dance analogy as a commentary on their relational dynamics: up to this point they are just doing the flamenco to me -- lots of circling each other in a cagey manner, strutting preening. Foreplay, sizing each other up.

Enter: tango. This levels up the emotional game. The intimacy and dexterity demanded by this dance requires you to trust your partner.

When Do-Hee thrusts herself into the thick of that fateful back alley melee, they suddenly *both* have skin in the game. and THAT, is the beginning of true love.

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Very well said! 👏 I love the extended dance analogy and also the Voice judge metaphor (this made me laugh out loud, you literally nailed what it felt like watching that scene). I agree that that's when the real partnership - and subsequently, the real love story - feels like it kicked in!

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Actually continuing on this because your comment gave me a 'ooooh lets dive into this' moment - I think the other reason why that specific scene feels so real is because that's the most 'unmasked' Gu-won and Do-hee have been around each other. They've had moments before when they've let their guards down a little, but it's always been when they're on their own or when the other can't see/is asleep lol, but the alleyway was the first time they've been genuinely real towards, no calculations or smugness, and that's what makes that scene land so well I think.

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So much to enjoy in these episodes! I particularly liked the charger idea - Gu Won behaving like a child trying to swipe sweets out of his mum's bag behind Do Hee was hilarious, and his not-so-subtle attempts to grab her wrist at the awkward team dinner had me chortling.

One thing this drama has done well so far is giving us the right amount of time with the characters we need to spend time with. I've become increasingly aware with other dramas over the last few weeks that timing is everything - if an unimportant character or event is given 3 minutes too much time, the pace of the drama drops and it starts to drag. But My Demon seems to have got this right - I feel I know all my side characters, but they are being served in portions that compliment the mains rather than smothering them.

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TBH - the first 3 episodes were more "meh than mesmerizing" for me as we trundle through tired tropes territory

(notable highlight and exception was the crackling snark and affection between Madam Ju and Do-Hee) But the comedy, energy and chemistry really lifted off the runway from Ep 4 (finally!).

I like the WIFI charger story beat for a couple of reasons:

(i) forced intimacy and *legit* reason for skinship -- probably the second best excuse since the immortalized skinship plot device & golden standard in "The Master's Sun". It's a rich comedy minefield waiting to explode 🤣

(ii) The resultant sexual innuendoes just had my inner 5-year-old snorting. Gu-Won gasping after Do-Hee in whiney protest: "You won't let me charge when there are people around, and you won't let me charge when you're in one of your moods! So WHEN do I ever get to charge??" 🤣🤣 (read: the perennial lament of every deprived horny husband when wifey is PMS-ing)

(iii) It levels the playing field in our OTP couple dynamics. Do-Hee gaining leverage in this game is setting up some delicious cosmic comeuppance for Gu Won. (C.f. the recently concluded Destined with You - the reason why the love spell kicking in for Jang Sin-Yu was so satisfying hilarious was precisely because the power gradient between the OTP was so steep in the first place)

so.... keep charging away, WIFI charger!!!

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I had not thought of that sexual reference, but as a long time husband I found this hilarious! (Not that this EVER applied to me, no NOT AT ALL). Thank you!

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I loveeee point 3 especially, very spot on with your analysis there!

AND I'm glad I'm not the only one who had the same thought when he was whining about charging 😂

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"Sadly for him, he also possesses second-lead energy in abundance."

@alathe: I legit guffawed when I read this line, and immediately scrolled up to check who the recapper is. (I remember you fondly for your hilariously wicked recap on my beloved AoS)

Kudos on MD: reading your recaps is a riot. Probably funnier than watching the show!

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Thank you for your spirited recap!

RIP Madam Ju. Even as she resented her kids, she must have been so disappointed seeing how messed up her kids are. I suspect Suk-min's son more than Suk-min.

I'm enjoying My Demon a lot more this week as we get equal parts emotion and humor and finally getting to the story. I love the part where our leads they try to each get the upper hand on what to pursue first - the killer or preventing Gu-won from aging.

"You're aging even as we speak" LOL - that is a terrible video ad to put in an elevator - even for humans.

The after-work drinks handhold was pretty hot though.

I think what is stopping me from fully immersing myself in this drama is how the camera lingers a bit too long enough to make a scene come off as trying too hard to be romantic when the characters already give off enough natural chemistry.

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“It’s not a great few weeks for people I like in kdramas. First it was Kim Min Seok as a pretty disgusting villain in Dog Day and now it looks like Kim Hae Sook seeming quite negative in My Demon. Please, writer, don’t make her the villain. Make it so it’s a head fake. “ - I was thinking this until the second half of episode 3.
There was just so much packed into E3.
Do Kyung is scary weird.
I am having a hard time deciding if Seok Hoon is a good guy or bad. He’s so cute I want him to be the good guy
There were some funny moments like Song Kang’s fake innocent smile(“I keep my professional and personal lives separate” lolol), the airbag, Gu Won waking her up by revving and then breaking hard, “you don’t trust me?” “No”, “jamkkanman”, “People who like pork don’t marry pigs”, the Tango, etc

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I predict, pretty confidently in fact, that Ju Seok-hoon is the bad guy.

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Yeah I think the probabilities are high

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Great recap!

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This drama keeps getting better and better.

I burst out laughing at "I'm not your wireless charger!" (Note to self: Do NOT drink anything while watching this drama HAHAHAHAHAHHA!)

That Tango Fight Scene - whoever thought of that is GENIUS! Song Kang is a rising star but that iconic scene's gonna cement his star power, methinks. It's so meme-able!

The two of them bickering and trying to get out of scrapes is gonna be the highlight of my weekends now.

For the love of the K-Drama Gods thought - Please showrunners and writer - STICK THE LANDING! Do NOT pull a BEAUTIFUL GONG SHIM on us!

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Thought = Though

Stupid autocorrect...

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Yes, please, K-Drama Gods, please stick the landing!

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I was lukewarm for the 1st 2 episodes but this week sealed the deal for me and I am in. My hubby was convinced, too, especially when he heard this is from the Mr. Queen's writer as we remember having laughed so hard then. True to form, the finger on fire, the wireless charging and the tango were hilarious enough to keep us watching. My only issue here is the screeching sister - i fast forward all her scenes.

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But even her screeching is interrupted before she gets her point across because of the sudden appearance of Austin and Justin, who run away with her chasing them. This has happened twice now that I've noticed, so I'm on the lookout to see if it will be a 'running' gag.

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I would love to see Tweedledee and Tweedledum used more expediently to advance plot.

e.g. they run and knock into a hidden mechanism -- a door opens, revealing the Mass Graveyard of Buried Bones (c.f. Adamas)

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This show is so clever and so tongue in cheek - but the tango 'fight' - I actually clapped out loud when it was done!!!!
As to what everyone else is saying. But the tango was so out of left field and just so much fun. Love love LOVING this show.
And the butterfly part had me crying a bit I will admit.
yeah our 'demon' has a few things to learn methinks.
Now off to watch an old 1997 move called "The Tango Lesson"

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The tango won me over as well. I was laughing out loud, which is actually pretty rare for me with kdramas.

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The other time I laughed (okay one of the many times I laughed) was when our demon 'hid' the manual a few rows higher on the bookshelf. And the look on the butler's face was so funny.
They must be having a ball making this show!

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It would be great if the finger that burn is the middle one XD

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I have nothing to add here, except, as always I want to thank @alathe for the recaps. I have said this many times, but whenever altathe is recapping, I'll always follow the show, even if I'm not watching it.

For this show, while I appreciate the thematic connection between corporate machinations and the selling one's soul, I think the key to its appeal is how much one likes the personal connection between the two leads. And even though there is a LOT of staring, so far, I think its there. Of course, it helps that they are both so beautiful!

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"connection between corporate machinations and the selling one's soul" - brilliant, didn't even put this 2 and 2 together omg

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True. I also love to read the recap, sometimes even more than watching the show. I missed those long-written recapper many years ago and totally glad that @alathe join the bandwagon here 🥹🥹🥹.
My vocab was increased ten-fold while reading every beanies comment here for years! That's how much Dramabeans impacted my life here🥰.

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So far we've seen our Demon scanning the horizon for new clients and doing the approaching. He picks the lives he wants to interfere with.

But ... what happens if Seok hoon, Seok min or Do kyung (all looking for an angle) works out who/what Gu won is and approaches him when more than just his finger is on fire? Would he accept them to save himself from spontaneously combusting even though it puts Do hee at a disadvantage?

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@alathe, I think that the gloved kiler is the eldest child's son, the one who was trying to smoke in the greenhouse. He was holding the same lighter as the gloved guy in episode 1(I went back and checked 🙈). It might be too obvious and it may actually turn out to be lee sang yi's character because I can't trust any member of that awful family.

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Thank you my dearest @alathe for weekly recap 😍.
Most highlighted in this ep is definitely the tango scene🥰🥰🥰.
I absolutely adored the head gangster's hand and feet motions when they were "forced" to dance while fighting 😂😂😂..I need it so much BTS of this scene!
This is the first time I enjoyed SK as a male lead, I have a blurred memory about him in The Love Alarm (I believe that was the last drama of him that I watched).

I know the track record of the writer would bring so much fun in whole series, only wish for better closure then. Till.next.week.beanies😉

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RE: "I absolutely adored the head gangster's hand and feet motions when they were "forced" to dance while fighting"
THIS! 🤣
and in comic anti-juxtaposition --- triad boss barking frantic orders to his goons: "Get your act together guys! Don't fall for his tricks!" (doing groovy hand movements) I. cannot. 🤣

p.s. for all the Beanies who love the tango - go watch Bollywood dance sequences, they are a SCREAM. We're talkin' hundreds of extras in lavish costumes who would pop out from behind a coconut tree dancing in perfect synchronicity at the drop of a hat -- in the middle of a scene.

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Haven’t enjoyed a Kdrama as much for a couple of years. In fact I’ve watched a few Cdramas and for the first time in years binged the amazing “Hidden Love” which was absolutely beautifully acted and had me in tears even at one point. As did the butterfly scene in My Demon! But My Demon is absolutely hilarious and I have laughed so much. The writing is brilliant, the story just rushes you along, and the two leads are outstandingly attractive. Male lead finally has a great haircut and the girl is simply gorgeous. I can’t wait fir their wedding! The acting at all levels makes the whole Demon concept perfectly normal. The Tango was hysterical. Please, drama, keep it up!!! My life is difficult at the moment and this is perfect escapism. And clearly, they are having a blast making this too, I bet they lose a lot of time with the actors unable to keep a straight face!

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I am loving everything about this drama. Fantasy + contract marriage+ rom-com +deliciously devilish Song Kang = The perfect year-end drama one could ask for. I am loving how the drama has all the traditional tropes but is managing to freshen things up. So its not just a contract marriage but a demon who has lost his powers first acting as a bodyguard and then getting into contract marriage. Even the fight scenes are not boring- loved the newspaper use and now tango! Great chemistry between the leads too. I am just stupidly grinning throughout the episodes!

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Did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did! These two are delightfully flawed!
I am on the Ju-Soek-Hoon-is-the-villain train. He is the most likely to be involved in peculations... Also, it is time Lee Sang Yi had a meatier role than the "sportive SL"😁

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I like a lot the humor writing but I'm not 100% convinced by Song Kang's delivery.

I liked Madam Ju and I'm sad she won't be with Do-Hee anymore. But I can't help to think if she was nice as grandma, she wasn't so nice with her own kids and kinda failed them. She showed them they needed to learn the consequences of their acts but what about the rest?

Do-Hee and Gu-Won's scenes are fun to watch.

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I am as smitten as several beanies here. I re-watched that tango scene 5 times I think. I will always remember it. It was so unexpected, and I am very impressed with how they pulled it off, as it had magic, romance, mystery and top notch humor. Second favourite scene was the closet scene. I mean it is a tried and tested trope, but the chemistry must be there for it to work and it was there aplenty here.

I cannot wait for the next episodes, and that's quite something because I am also watching 5 other dramas... lo. But The Matchmakers and this one are the dramas I am most looking forward to, though I love all the other dramas too.

I was bothered by a weird thing though (it's nothing in the larger scheme of things, and doesn't affect my love for the drama at all, but still made me notice). As a mother of a 10 year old girl myself, I was surprised that the little child was celebrating her 10th birthday, she looked closer to 6. I wish casting people do a better job with child actors in general. Here it was a fail. They probably wanted the viewers to feel consoled by the fact that the child will be an adult (20 years) by the time her mom's time on earth comes to an end, but then they should have found a child who looked 10.

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you've got a good eye - I believe the child actress is 6/turned 6 this year!!

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Ahh really?! I am surprised that I got it so right.. lol.. but ya, mainly because I have a 10 year old girl myself.. I get a good sense of their ages..

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Thought: maybe it was a deliberate casting choice?

This girl is a terminally sick child who has probably spent years in hospitalization / chemo - her physical development would likely have been stunted. I won't be surprised if they cast for someone younger and smaller to look believably "frail".

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Yes, I agree. I thought it might have been deliberate too. It's more a pet peeve of mine (especially after Hidden Love, where I had huge trouble seeing that little girl as 13 or 14) (forgot what her age was supposed to be at the beginning). Again, I loved that drama too but wasn't happy about the casting of the child actress.

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I think the character is meant to be 14 at start of story, but the child actress I tag her at around 7-8yo IRL.

She is smaller than her purported screen age, but to be fair there's a lot of running jokes about how she is the smallest in her class, and so short the ML can pass off as her dad when he has to impersonate a brother/guardian to sort out her disciplinary issue in school.

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Oh yeah Hidden Love! That was an interesting choice, especially bc they kept the ML the same in high school

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RE: "they kept the ML the same in high school"

cos, well, he stopped growing lol

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I still enjoy this drama, but I liked the first two episodes better. I missed the darker scenes a bit this week.
The humour is definitely up my alley, especially when Gu-won and Do-hee are bickering. The two definitely have good chemistry.

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Poor Kim Hae Sook. Her life is a Will I Survive In This Drama? reality show. either that or she is evil or both.
I want to make a drama called "Kim Hae Sooks´Quest of Survival: Another Last Episode"

This drama is entertaining even if some things have next to no puprose and just for show like the tango. But I ´ll just take this as is, pure entertainment.

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She is an eternal in Tomorrow. I wished they would kill her off in SGNamsoon. But yeah...

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I still have to watch ep 4, but: Gu-won is actually the western equivalent of the Devil, right? My husband and I are a bit confused about that.

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I rather think he is one of the devil's many minions. Like the devil, he is a fallen angel.

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That's what I thought at first and what "demon" implies in the west, but then he says that God needed someone to run hell and he was chosen.

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Maybe he said it to sound cool or his arrogance believes he's like the CEO of hell, then we find out there are like thousands of other good-looking demons roaming about.

I wonder if Cha Chung-Hwa's (so happy to see her!!) homeless woman character is the true boss of hell or God.

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Yes, he did make it sound like there are other demons, which is why I AM SO CONFUSED by this, lol. I mean someone has to actually stay and run Hell if Gu-won's out making deals all of the time, right?

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of course there are thousands of goodlooking demons. I think I met half of them.

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"...CEO of hell, then we find out there are like thousands of other good-looking demons roaming about." HAHAHHAhahahahhah 😂

And yes omg I forgot about the homeless woman in all my fangirling, but great point - I also think the same!

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Did you notice that homeless woman was wearing a baseball cap that said " Good"....with one of the o's faded out?

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@Neolttwigi omg, I didn't notice! Went back and saw it. Holy smokes!

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@Neolttwigi: SUCH a go(o)d catch!

@ar_arguably romantic: thanks for flagging her - yes, I love her in this writer's last outing Mr. Queen (where she plays the long-suffering court lady who cusses her mistress out in the bamboo forest in a running comic gag LOL)

Deffo a planted Chekov's Gun as well: it will have to pay-off later down the road. Given this is a rom-com, I am in the camp that it's God in disguise, or at least an angel from His camp.

p.s. don't forget, in spite of all Gu-Won's devilish swagger and braggadocio, he is still marked by a cross (†), not a pentagram

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He's probably like that head salesman who exceeds targets every month and makes everyone else look like a failure. Which is also why he has 'lived' for over 200 years - because of how good he is at making deals.

Others who failed to make deals would have burned away. So this automatically makes Gu Won the longest living demon and the best at the business. It also feeds his arrogance 😆

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I rewatched that lil scene

It's loaded how the camera pulls out from her cap (GOOD) to a MCU of her grimy face. A beat. Then the line: "Good times are excruciatingly short."

It seems to foreshadow that his hitherto "good" times of the past 200 years (perfect life, youthfulness, superpowers) are fast expiring. With the 'o' faded out, these are now the God times era.

His days of reckoning are here.

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Yes, THIS. Think of him as a charming unctuous salesman, wheeling and dealing. Selling you franchise rights.

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It's confusing because it's not the Christian/western 'Devil'. They are just using that as a word and a name. The Christian/'Western' Devil was a fallen angel, and is incapable of Love. Gu-won just does contracts and used to be human

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So many parts were hilarious! I love their bicker and their moments. I did not expect Gu-Won to say that he doesn't want to marry her, and with the emotional buildup, the score, I was so expecting this to be such a beautiful, romantic scene, that he would grab the ring and they would run together ... which made the entire scene so much more hilarious when he casually said "I don't want to". Lol. I like how so far the show is balanced between those funny moments, the romance that is building up (the actors are doing so great in their role + they have so much chemistry) and the thriller elements. I am truly hoping that at some point the thriller elements won't overshadow the rest of the themes. I was in stitches during that last scene with the tango dancers-gang! L O L!

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So ever since King the Land, I've been waiting for a rom-com to get invested in and I have high hopes for this one. (the ML's name of Gu Won also gave me KTL flashbacks). The FL is someone I remember but the ML is someone that was new to me. That aside, I agree that the dialogue between the leads has been enjoyable to watch. I have to be careful about the possibility of re-using some of it with my acquaintances. "People who like pork, don’t marry pigs!" will quickly get me to the emergency room...

These two episodes also had be having old school "The Twilight Zone" flashbacks. The characters around Madam Ju's immediate family reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode called "The Masks", which gave me nightmares when I first saw it as a kid. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masks )

The one other character I also absolutely love is Ga-young. I hope she has more of a role in coming episodes. Had to look her up and I learned that I saw her on Reborn Rich.

Can't wait till Friday.

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So far, I'm so happy watching it!

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There has to be a connection between the psycho killer and the son of the firstborn. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they both have rashes and it seemed very intentional to show the flashback of Almighty Ju saying “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

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Song Kang is hitting it out of the park with this role. He should do more romcoms. He has good comedic timing. I was initially apprehensive when he was chosen as the ML opposite Kim Yoo Jung. I shouldn't have worried, he is really owning this role that I almost forget KYJ was on the scene with him.
Also that tango scene is my favorite and got me hooked finally with this drama.
As for the murder of Madam Ju, my first suspect is the grandson and his son is the next possible culprit. But the daughter in law and daughter is not far from my list of suspects. But Seok Hoon is also suspicious. Looking at the built of the person in the leather outfit, Seok Hoon is also a possibilty.
Gu Won just need to accept the contract marriage already. If anything was clear after that tango scene, they have a bigger chance of surviving when they are side by side. Marriage is the best excuse to get that done.

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Finished ep 4 and I'm in love with this drama. That tango scene - sighhhh!

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It made me cackle at first, but then I was lost in the beauty of the moment (because how gorgeously clean were some of those moves?)

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So, I am throwing this thought into the wilderness for now. I spotted a video in my social media feed of Seok-hoon being compared to Vincenzo's Ok Taec-yeon character, and I haven't stopped thinking about that.
I think the person initially made the comparison because they do seem to share the same hair stylist. But for now and until I can see anything else, I will keep this hypothesis open... and suddenly second lead energy gains a much darker intent (and I love it because, for some reason, who needs pink Barbie-ing scenes when I can get a psycho in disguise? But here's the -onemillion-dollar question: Can he tango too?)

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The tango scene was the second best tango after the one from The City Hall . Loved the clever manoeuvre of fight scene. Thank you for the wonderful recap @alathe.

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I ugly cried when Do Hee was talking to Madam Ju in the greenhouse after the funeral. My BFF of 20 years died suddenly on August 9th and, like Do Hee with Madam Ju, I was unable to say 'good bye' or so many other things I so wish I could've to her.

Gu Won can be an extremely hard, prickly, sarcastic. 'keep your distance' jerk, but he also possesses kindness, empathy, and the capacity to care for others. Much better at showing than saying. ;)

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