Oh boy! Wondering how the next eleven episodes will wrap up.
I'd move to see Uee in a wedding dress.

Thanks so much @unit for the highlights.

What what what what....whaaaaaat????

Wait...What...how? What a twist..Should I pick this again only for this makjang reveal? Will show have more? Is there any makjang twist about Hyo-shim's dad? Was he killed? Is he secret chaebol or agent? Is the mom Hyo-shim's real mom?

So here we were, speculating about the Darth Vader Secretary Yeom... and Drama Writer completely beat us, ha ha ha!!

Otherwise, I can't say I was excited about this set of episodes. Mom was back to being rude to everyone, especially to Mirim, and Taemin was stubbornly protecting his father ignoring Taesan and his duties as the Taesan's leader... and ignoring Taeho and and his pain from losing his parents

I was only enjoying Hyoshim and Taeho together (and yes, I like Taeho's joking, patriotism incuded 😄).

Episode 38: Grandma lecturing TM that his duty to protect the company at all costs has to be taken with a grain of salt. How dumb is Evil Mom’s plan to take out the evidence from TH’s account while he was in jail?! $2 million is a cheap way to get rid of him for good as an embezzler. The money would be returned to the company after the criminal case would end - - - I can’t believe a mastermind would that be that greedy to lose sight on the actual end game. TH is smug and arrogant when “leading” the investigation while in custody. Then his announcement that he will “sue” his aunt and uncle for their crimes is another legal blur of idiocy. Again, the rash idiocy of telling the reporters of the allegations without proof again confirms TH flaws and lack of strategic rational thought. TM should have fired TH after his release from jail than having to deal with his damaging behavior.

It was odd that HS could not quickly or directly answer her mom’s questions on why she loves TH. A non-passionate “He’s good looking” was the first answer? And how can she consider TH “meek?” He is the exact opposite. Then they banter about comparing him to HS’ father. Creepy. But it is HS who is meek as TH races forward with their marriage plans without her even saying a word. Later, HS seems to backtrack with the question “if we get married . . .” She is rightfully concerned about dragged into the cesspool of his family’s business scandals. How can he deny it? His arrogance to say he will run the conglomerate to make sure it does not happen again. But there are plenty of enemies already after him. And he has no experience or voting power to take over Taesan. His statement is like Hyo Do’s irrational statement to Tae Hee about his ambition and dreams (through his golden ticket with Taesan).

Suddenly Mirim is an emotional scatterbrain trying to find Hyo Jun? A pregnant scatterbrain! (Has it been two weeks since their hotel stay? 9 weeks since conception for morning sickness?). Hyo Jun (inappropriately dressed as a yuppie) accuses Mirim of seducing him. Right. Then his hiding Mirim from Mom (who already met her) and not going home when she had the chance was another failed comedy bit from the get go. The timeline seems all jumbled as Tae Hee asked for a divorce after 2 months of marriage.

TM terminating all his mother’s positions and titles probably violated all the company bylaws and procedures and the requirement of board action after some internal due process. But the show needs to race along so forget the formalities. And Grandma asking her son if he killed his brother - - - she should have already known the answer if she covered up the accident with the police. Episode 38 was filled with bad writing and pin-ball plot changes.

Episode 39: If I ever met TH in real life, I would just brush him off and tell him to sit at the kids’ table. The only thing in common for TH and HS is having terrible families. Misery loves company, but doubling down by marriage a good thing? At least HS indicated that they have to each resolve their family issues before getting married (or was this just another throwaway line?) Just dating is more sensible than TH’s reckless and impulsive desire to rush into things, including marriage.

TM “offering” a deal to stop investigations is also childish. TM “suing” is not really true - - he filed a police complaint to press criminal charges, but it is the state that will prosecute the defendants, not TH. Prosecutors do not need a complainant to investigate and charge people with crimes so TM’s bargaining with the wrong person. (I really wish simple clarity in these basic facts.)

Translation or continuity error? At cliffhanger Grandma asked if her son killed his brother? Now in next episode she asks “why” he killed his brother. Big difference. Chairman denies it. Another confirmation that Chairman’s father was abusive, turning the Chairman into a habitual liar. Grandma ends saying Chairman is the killer and she has proof (another red herring no doubt; we thought Yeom was probably the driver of the company car). Besides, Grandma taking the dash cam video is a crime of obstructing justice and accessory after the crime. Later, Chairman admits he was driving to the pass with the “intent” to kill his brother but he did not. (Again, it is hard to believe the chairman of the largest Korean conglomerate has this fragile mental state).

The cover up is always worse than the crime. Hyo Sung borrowing off his credit card to deposit his missing paycheck is a road to ruin. He should have told his wife the truth - - she would understand how ruthless Taesan could be since she worked there. Then she could get a grip on reality and save money to save the family.

TM idle threats to TH about his father’s health over the company is trash melo. TH “taking over” Tasean and cleaning it up is a far fetched premise considering he has no voting control over the conglomerate. See, later post.

When Yeom puts TM in his place by telling him it was Grandma who caused all the company woes. To some extent, he is probably right since Grandma apparently has all the brains not inherited by her descendants.

I was troubled by the fake memorial service on the same evening as Ga On’s mother’s service. Mirim's change to criminal law to find Lost Dad is another spin-the-roulette character direction change as bad as her law firm giving her a MONTH off after coming back to work for a month (is her parent a founding lawyer of the firm?).

The bombshell ending from Grandma is pure makjang: a stylistic, tonal, or narrative element in dramas that chooses to play up outrageous storylines to keep viewers hooked despite how ridiculous the stories become (LYOL is now trending...

This has bothered me ever since TH proclaimed that he would be the new conglomerate King: the Taesan stock control problem. Even if Grandfather founded the company, it grew 2.5 times larger than Samsung. If you use Samsung as the example, the controlling Lee family only owned less than 5 percent of holding company stock but controlled the conglomerate with approximately 30 percent ownership through voting subsidiaries. This amount seems to be the threshold of control as in the SM hostile takeover story. But to grow to a mega-conglomerate, Taesan would have to go to equity markets to gain capital (and dilute founder’s control shares). Thus bankers and equity funds probably would be largest non-family holders (and get board representation). In addition, Korea has cracked down on cross-shareholder affiliations so families using subsidiaries as voting trusts is no longer an estate planning or corporate management tool.

Let’s say that over time, Grandfather kept 50 percent of Taesan. But when he died, inheritance taxes would liquidate half. Grandma would by statute get 6/14 (10.7%) and her sons and grandsons 2/14 each (3.575%) When TH’s parents died, after taxes, TH would have (1.7875%). Unless TM earned stock as part of his compensation package, he would not have any more shares (except for his father’s voting them for him.) Gifting shares to TM would be senseless since inheritance tax would have to be paid on the transfer. In a real world, these shareholder percentage numbers would be a lot less. It is clear the Kang family no longer has enough shares to have voting control.

The idea of embezzling Taesan funds to buy Taesan shares to keep control is plausible, but very expensive and easily traced. The family could use other assets to buy shares but the desperation from the beginning infers that Evil Mom is juggling other major shareholders with favors, etc. to keep control of the company. The idea that shareholders would elevate TH to full control is laughable.

Thanks for the recap @unit. Very busy weekend here so I only watched the parts with Tae Min, Grandmother and a handful of others. But even before that ending, the drama was reaching it’s highest viewer rating: 22.1 And what an ending! I don’t have anything to add except some trivia.

For the record, Kocowa and Viki have slightly different translations of that last scene:
Kocowa: Tae Ho is your little brother. You two are brothers
Viki: Tae Ho is actually your biological brother. You two are brothers.

The question will be: are they full or half siblings. There are only a couple of explanations they could come up with that would make sense in terms of the abuse (both verbal and physical) that Kang Jun Bum heaped on TM or granny (who is on my s**t list for actually CAUSING the battle between "the kids" as she calls them) sending TH off to America in the 5th grade.

Finally, for fans of Im Ju Eun (Su-kyung) there was a cute little interchange on Ko Joo Won’s ig page where he posted photos of the upcoming episode at the art gallery:
Im Ju Eun: “It's a very desirable update lol Head of HQ Kang Tae-min”.
Joo-won: “Please come back”
She responded: “Oh my. Can’t help it if you talk like that. . .(. . 😉) [wink]". I know she will return, but afraid it will be some deranged attack on Hyo Shim 😥😥😥

I'm looking forward to reading theories. 😎

@unit, thanks for the hijinks, I mean highlights.
Alright, DNA tests for everyone !
The Birth Secret Reveal will certainly ruin someone’s day, who exactly, remains to be seen.
We would have to speculate as to who the mother(s) are at this point , as I wouldn’t take anyone at their word. K family will easily lie about this , they lie about everything else.
DNA tests for all involved .
Possible fathers :
Deceased Kang brother
Chairman Kang
Mr. Yeom.
Mr Choi (TV Land CEO)
Possibly someone else. 😉

Possible mother(s)
Deceased Mrs. Kang
Madam Jang
Possibly someone else. 😉

I did some researching the last couple of hours and here's some more trivia.

1983: Tae Min born (he supposedly turned 40 last year)

1985: The Art Gallery was established (Ep. 32, Mark 46) and Seo Min Jeong (TH's mom) was the first Director.

If Kang Jun Bum was not married in 1983, then my vote is that TM was the first grandson (illegitimate) and Grandmother insisted he be handed over to the oldest son and his detestable wife. It's one of the very few options that keeps TM a bona-fide Kang because I just don't see how they would take away a child if Seo Min Jeong was his bio mother.

Tae-ho is being a jerk with Tae-min- who has actually been trying, including having fired his mom from all her positions. Mi-rim is pregnant so what does Hyo-shim’s mom do? Another drama queen performance- Forget turning over a new leaf- this lady is determined to live her life as an infant. But Mi-rim puts her foot down and stops the habitual ‘memorial service’ which that mom has tortured her family with and simply asks her if she would not rather have her help in finding the missing husband. Grandma confronts the Chairman at the shoe shop and tells him to turn himself in but Mr. Yeom tells Tae-min that it was Grandma who started everything that led to the present mess. But perhaps not the way we thought because our episodes ended the week with a birth secret reveal that no one saw coming: Grandma tells Tae-min that Tae-ho is not his cousin but rather his brother. I guess what keeps us coming back is the mystery? Otherwise, this show is a mess. BTW: Grandma needs to tell this to Tae-ho as well, because he continues to be a loose cannon and a total idiot.

That latest news is unexpected. I can't believe that Tae Min and Tae Ho are bio brothers.

I get now why i am so drawn to the lead couple here and how they are written. They act like grown ass adults in a relationship, full stop. They support/help and give each other reassurance when needed, they communicate well about their thoughts and feelings and fears regarding their relationship. And best of all there is no psycho delulu second female lead proclaiming ML as her property like in way too many kdramas, be it regular or weekenders (Well SFL did that to TM but who th cares since HS was never interested in him to begin with) They face any crisis together (and sometimes on their own bc they must; HS with quitting her gym job and choosing TH here. Which turned out being the best option for her, in being a PT on her own now with enough time to study. And TH facing prison for setting his plan in motion and putting his shitty fam on medial blast) instead to run away in a fit of noble idiocy. In fact, the whole prison incident just had strengthened their bond and resolve to stay and be together. I even think that HS only became really aware of the depth of her feelings for TH after she faced the possibility of losing him for a long time due to looming imprisonment/criminal charges. It's also what made her discard her prior shyness and finally freely express her affection and love for him in hugging him at every turn, to tell him to not leave her alone again this way. She really was afraid to lose him and i am glad the writer nim made it clear to the viewers.

Like, an undervalued part this weekend in all the plot twist craze was how well they showed and voiced their fears, concerns and wishes for their future together and talked about it, like, gosh adults should do in a relationship? Which sadly is all too rare in dramas nowadays still. And the writer nim possesses such a good awareness of the viewers in regards of their relationship too. Because as all went to shitters on both of their fam's sides (and still is) I caught myself thinking... god are the both aware what they gonna have to put up with in the future? Are they willing to do so or will they give up? And guess what not only a few minutes later you see HS and TM sitting down and talk about how exhausting and toxic both of their fams are and how they have to deal with it, once married. How worried HS is about the gremlin getting to know about TH's rich rich riiiich chaebol bg, with her suggesting that maybe they should just date instead maybe but TH managing to lighten that fear with humor while reassuring her. Both act mature and realistic with their expectations and wish of having their own family together after what they lived through with their respective own toxic fams. Aka they know it will be hard at times but ultimately worth it. Also HS being aware what it means for her to be his wife with him being a conglomerate heir/son. Not a cinderella story at all, if anything this couple is the anti-trope of that, and very down to earth and realistic with how it is handled in...