Jang Bori Is Here! - Episode 9 (KimJiCap)

In this episode, there's not enough Kim Ji-hoon to do a halfway exciting KimJiCap. Therefore, I'm extending the main Cap to Bori (have to, since she's the heroine) and Jae-hee (for JoAnne. Even though I think her insistence on this guy partially stems from a sadistic urge to vex me) and Min-jung (because her character is actually quite interesting). That said, it must also be said that Kim Ji-hoon looks MIGHTY fine in this drama - so glad it's a funny role in which he gets to smile a lot. Sure, there's some crying ... but the smiles, the smiles!
JoAnne: After this episode, I was SO HAPPY to come here and comment on a squeecap that mainly focused on a person who does not annoy me - Jae Hwa. Because I'm about to poke redhot sewing needles in my eyes over Bo Ri... and oh look. Sigh. There's no escaping her. Although at least Jae Hee will be here. And hopefully some Auntie/Gangster action.

Episode 9

Ohhhhhh, I told you it was interesting! GooDIL offers to teach Eun-bi/Bo-ri everything there is to learn about the sacred art of Hanbockery - while Min-jung begs BaDIL to teach her all there is to Hanbockery, while adding the wish to become the next Head Seamstress. Wow, Ming-jung's greed knows no bounds - while Bo-ri has never dreamt big. But BaDIL declines Min-jung! I clap in glee. She has already chosen the next Head Seamstress - it is her daughter Eun-bi. Wow, this is harsh!
JoAnne: She never let that line slip once in all those years. I applaud you, Bad Daughter In Law! And Min Jung is still the same old Min Jung as she ever was.
GooDIL - whom I will now call Teacher or Hanbok Teacher when she is in that capacity - gets permission from VeggieAhjumma to teach Bori. She can only teach her at night though because Bori will have to continue to be a slave in the rice soup restaurant during the day. It's a near miss with her nephew Jae-hwa! (she seems to have stayed at the shop all day, because now, it is dark) He is strolling along, looking handsome. He is looking for something to eat in Jangheung (that's the name of the OtherTownWhichIsNotSeoul). By the way, Bori will be really pretty without that terrible hair and in better clothes.
JoAnne: Yes but will she still be annoying as f***?
"Yes, yes, give me better clothes! And give me my normal hair back!!!"
Bori is first doing a few aggressive moves against him (ha! now I see how TALL this actress is!!) and then, VeggieAhjumma throws water on his ... crotch. Lovely. And then starts brushing it off. Huh! She has good taste!! "I didn't touch you because I was trying to touch you" is my favorite line in this drama so far. Well, VeggieAhjumma is all over him until she realizes she has seen him before and asks Bori to go get the Makgeolli ... to throw on him, I guess. He tells them that he will ... boycott their soup. And then runs away. Lol. He is quite afraid of the Gangster Ladies ... but VeggieAhjumma almost dies when she hears that he is a Prosecutor.
JoAnne: She's cute but I can barely stand to watch her at this point. Something change in her behavior, quick.
kakashi: I will send you viewing templates, like: "In Episode 10, you can safely watch minutes X-Y, but then, you need to skip over X and Y and Z."
In the meantime, Min-jung is mourning the loss of money in the form of OppaNotOppa, who is no longer rich - and therefore, no longer interesting. And OUPS! The way she is touching her belly ... it can mean only one thing! She will be retching soon! When her mom calls, Min-jung starts sobbing uncontrollably, blaming her mother for even giving birth to her. Of course, her mother is worried sick afterwards. Min-jung is crazy, but I must admit that her storyline interests me the most at the moment. I'm a total sucker for makjang it seems! 
JoAnne: I don't mind a sad story, God knows, but I can't abide a bitch.
While Bori does well at sewing (and knows stuff she hasn't even been taught yet, surprise, surprise!!) and gets a ton of books to read, she mentions that there's a Dragon Embroidery just like the King's at her house. Teacher doesn't take it too seriously right away, but it does get her thinking about things ... elsewhere, BaDIL is also thinking about things, mainly about covering her own a$$, which means making sure that GooDIL doesn't return. Will that mean use Min-jung? It could.
JoAnne: They deserve each other.
At home, Bori looks at the pillow with the Yongbo ... and suddenly remembers something. Her Halmoni's voice, telling her the wolf story. Her head hurts though - and she decides to take some drugs against it. Oh, interesting. So her memories are slowly coming back? We probably need 40 episodes for them to fully return though.
JoAnne: MUST.SEW.ALL.THE.THINGS.
Back at Sodom and Gomorrah, Min-jung says very mean things to OppaNotOppa, about him being the worst kind of man: one who has nothing left but his pride. She dumps him in the meanest kind of way, while crying buckets. For her wretched self, I'm guessing. Oh dear, this really looks bad to her - it's history repeating itself! She already sees her own child living like she had to live.
JoAnne: Serves you right, scheming little bitch.
Hot Prosecutor on the prowl! He seems to be enjoying his freedom. He is also checking out girls ... currently, it's Min-jung's friend Yung-sook, who is riding a vespa. He says to himself that picking up a neighborhood friend never hurt! And he goes into girl-snatching mode. Oh my, I for one certainly couldn't resist. The other one on here, this JoAnne though ... you're safe from her, lovely Jae-hwa. He asks for the way to the District Court and Young-sook tells him to get on her motorcycle. Alright, I haven't said this yet: I love that he is always wearing suit-matching sneakers! He is a rebel at heart!
JoAnne: His face is lovely and we know his abs are solidly respectable but there's something about his cutesy way here that is off-putting because it's deliberately fake. I'll be glad when it goes away. Isn't there a happy medium between lobotomized fool and crybaby?
kakashi: It's his defensive mechanism against the bad, dark world. Remember how hard his childhood was
Oh friggin hell, he knows what he is doing ... Poor Young-sook. She is LOST. 
JoAnne: That really would not work on me.
kakashi: Doesn't work on ME, either, but I WOULD definitely start playing with this one. Oh yes. Play (Whyyyyyy did you not come to Switzerland last year, whyyyyyy!!!! Unmyeong, you're so cruel) 
Greedy little Jae-hee gets a chance to shine over a little crisis at the company. The crisis consists of their model not wearing any of their clothes to Cannes, but wanting to wear hanbok. Jae-hee has the great idea to hold a hanbok competition! Oh yes, those! We haven't had one in a while!! (And they go so well!) Only, he wants to rig the competition so that Bi Sool Chae will win in any case (them being "part" of the company in his mind). Sorry, JoAnne ... he is clearly of the Dark Side, your Jae-hee.
JoAnne: I'm not giving up. He wasn't a bad kid, in fact he was generous and kind. That spat with his brother when he was six does NOT translate into Evil Corporate Schemer automatically, so I'm reserving judgement. But Jae Hee...it doesn't look good.
kakashi: There's about 40 episodes time for redemption
At Jangheung's only rice soup restaurant, Jae-hwa's boycott is already leaving traces. When Bori goes out to find other customers, she comes across Jae-hwa and all of his colleagues ... at a different restaurant. Later (is it the same day?) the company of men are at the rice soup restaurant though! Bori "tells" on Jae-hwa in front of his superior, who immediately says he wants rice soup on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I think you lost, Jae-hwa!
JoAnne: I'm having an allergic reaction every time she is on the screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen. Make the overacting stop make it stop make it stop make it stop!
Also, Bori hands out little scent bags she made. Very reluctantly, she also hands Jae-hwa one. Of course, it's yellow. It looks like a miniature of the one he already got from her years ago.
JoAnne: Oh yeah those happy bags. Why an empty bag would make someone happy we never did find out. Perhaps it was symbolic for the airhead she'd become.
He takes notice how Bori kicks out a drunk customer, not taking his money but also refusing to give him more alcohol. She doesn't want to give alcohol to a man who beats his kids is what she says. We don't really know what he thinks about that, but when his boss tells him that Bori is the bestest, Jae-hwa just smirks angrily. No, definitely no love yet.
JoAnne: I'm going with he respected her stand. And yes, I'm FULLY AWARE that I will grow to love her just as Jae Hwa will but man right now I just want to push her into a mud puddle she's so irritating.
The little yellow pouch that looks so much like Eun-bi's has made Jae-hwa - who is very drunk by now - very sad. Uh-oh, there's crying coming up! Doooon't make fun of him, JoAnne, look how sad he is!!! He buys a kite and goes and flies it in a field, shouting for Eun-bi and his Aunt to come find him. He misses them so much he could die. Awww, Jae-hwa ... please don't be sad (though you look so good when you cry, Kim Ji-hoon ...).
Random Stranger: Look I don't know what's going on but there's a woman locked in a closet over there claiming her free speech has been repressed, and I don't want to get involved but she says she needs a bathroom and if someone knows what's good for her, she'll let her out.
kakashi: Shuk? Is that you??!
I do not know why she would, but I guess it's unmyeong that makes Bori walk that way too? She just witnesses how Jae-hwa (whom she doesn't quite recognize yet) collapses and runs to his help. But when she picks his head up, she DOES recognize ... and also realizes that he is very, very drunk. She tries to rouse him by shaking him violently, and he finally opens his eyes and calls her "Eun-bi", quite tenderly. At which she drops his head back to the ground. Lol.
JoAnne: I like him better dazed and drunk than crying, actually. I think I have residual rage from GoM.
She is convinced that some woman dumped him there and wants to leave, but I guess she is too good a person to not help him and turns back. She helps him up and ... he kisses her. Hah! That was a surprise!
JoAnne: Yeah, that didn't even look like the old 'oops I fell on your mouth with my mouth' move, it really looked like a deliberate kiss. What gives? Unintentionally unawkward choreography executed by Kim Ji Hoon, or a deliberate act on the part of Jae Hwa?
kakashi: In his drunken stupor, he seriously believes this is Eun-bi - and he is right! Maybe he is some kind of shaman. 
She is shocked (as any KDrama heroine should be), but he even backhugs her, constantly calling her Eun-bi. Well, since he doesn't let go, she simply picks him up and piggybacks him back to town.
JoAnne: Well if he is imagining her to be Eun Bi I'm going with deliberate. Ah, Korea: where men either love women faithfully without ever seeing them for decades, or they bring their mistresses home the day after their wives die.
There, they run into Young-sook who is just closing her shop. Of course, Young-sook immediately recognizes her sweet prosecutor and offers to just deposit him in front of the District Court. That's what Bori thinks she will do anyway - and binds him to her with some rope.
JoAnne: Explain to me how they get untied if she doesn't go along to do it.
kakashi: Scissors? This is a drama about hanbok after all

At the gynaecologist, Min-jung now wants to get an abortion. She lies to the doctor that her child's father has died. So cruel. But, alas, it's too late ... she is already 6 months pregnant! Well, drama ... I know that there are some women who don't show as much as others, but 6 months and flat as a pancake?! Pleaaaase! She also throws all the delicious side-dishes that Bori made for her into the bin. That is just mean.
JoAnne: I PRAY oh you have no idea how hard I PRAY that OppaNotOppa makes it very rich and then laughs in her face, the evil little troll.
She also takes the bus HOME (or rather, where her real mother is). I was totally ready to feel sorry for her, but when she sees the hanbok that Bori made, her eyes almost fall out. When Bori comes home, she shouts at her angrily, especially for the photo-stunt at her graduation. VeggieAhjumma immediately starts hitting Bori as well, believing she stole money to buy her the nice pink outfit. When Min-jung hears that Bori is making money with hanboks, she forbids her to ever make any again. WTF. The reason? Because she wants to make clothes. So Bori can't. WTF. And VeggieAhjumma says "if Min-jung says you can't, you can't". W T F!!!!????
JoAnne: At this point my venom spewed over on to Twitter. I hate them. I HATE THEM ALL. I know I'll learn to like Bo Ri who isn't hateful, just too chipper for goddamn words PLUS overacted terribly, but right now this little hovel could fall into the sea and I would wave goodbye to these women, laughing.
They even kick Bori out (Min-jung needs ALL the space, of course), but she cannot sleep at her friend Young-sook's place. Oh my, because Mr. Prosecutor is there?! He is out cold on the bed and she has only taken his jacket and his socks off. She also mainly admires his nose. We all know what that stands for.
JoAnne: I always like a good nose. Sometimes a pretty one is nice, but I also like them strong, and a little on the big side. Like Chicken Beak from 2AM. That hook. It gets me.
Poor Bori sleeps in their kitchen and in the morning, after evil Min-jung has left, her mother burns the hanbok stuff. That's so terrible!!! But yes! Bori will NOT be cowed this time. She shouts that she will continue making hanbok, even if her unni dies. Her Not-Mother throws water on her. If she says something mean against Min-jung again, she will throw feces next time.
JoAnne: There aren't words, mostly because the hate is clogging my throat.
Back in Seoul, evil the jury is undecided on evil or good Jae-hee is meeting with evil Min-jung and offers her a job at his father's company - to win the hanbok competition for them. Back in Jangheun, Bori is crying her eyes out in front of Teacher's house ... what is she to do! (Sew, of course!!!)
JoAnne: Annoying or not I will cheer the bejesus out of Bori in this competition.

The Rest

Ga-eul ... buahahaha, we will have to call her Ga "I like to play" Eul is put to work by her father. Little Kang is in charge of her. He should get a haircut soon, yes?  (Oups. So he is from a KPop Band? My bad. Supernova!) She has not much talent as a sales person. I'm pretty sure she also sucks at the rest.
JoAnne: Find them both irritating and boring. Not familiar with SuperNova.
kakashi: Oh, that's a surprise! You're basically queen of KPop! Well, I looked him up. And that's what it said on his profile.
 
Unmyeong has it that Aunt Jung-ran and HOT gangster Ahjussi Big Bro Kang meet again - or rather bump into each other. This time, she sprains her ankle. She still thinks he is a doctor, so she just nods knowingly when he explains that the blood on the sneakers he brings her to borrow are "from his work". Love those two!
JoAnne: The thing. He has the thing. He doesn't look like much but damn the thing, he is SEXY. And she's really, really pretty. And he's making me think of Oppa, our first good-hearted gangster, awww.
It took 15 years, but finally, Bong 2 is on to BaDIL and her lies. It may take him another 40 episodes to clear them up, but hey, it's a beginning. BaDIL still lies artfully though and the servant is on her side. She is also quite clearly wanting to be the only person with power at Bi Sool Chae. I guess she will not outright murder The Matron yet?
JoAnne: Oh but it's coming.

Comments

I am delighted to say that I don't hate a single storyline yet! I hate a few characters though, as we are supposed to. I find it interesting that current Head Seamstress, mean and lying BaDIL gets points from me for rejecting Min-jung, twice by now, even though I know she is a total and evil snake. The character I hate most is not Min-jung (I do feel sorry for her, a little bit at least), but her mother. Yes, VeggieAhjumma is the worst, for letting herself be bossed around by this terrible brat and for being so very very mean to her adopted daughter. It almost hurts to see it!
JoAnne: I also gave points to BaDIL for that, though. And while there are ASPECTS of MinJung that I can sympathize with, her nastiness is uncalled for. Her mother, I loathe. You know what? Those two come straight out of Charles Dickens. That's what this reminds me of, this drama.
kakashi: Good call. I though fairy tales. Frau Holle, for example (that's Mother Hulda for you English speakers) 


I know I also loved Kim Ji-hoon's character in Goddess of Marriage (yes, despite the violence and the shouting), so it probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone when I say I really, really like Jae-hwa so far! Great idea to make him break free of his family and to make him come to this town where his past and his future is. I like that he is a womanizer and I like that he still misses Eun-bi and his aunt like crazy. It fits him. Bless his soul. 
JoAnne: Objectively, I like these things about him too. And once I saw his real feelings in the rice field (before he started to cry and just set off my Pavlovian reaction to whiny-ness) I felt more for him as a whole. I'll get there. I did in GoM, I will here... but my dear 'friend' Kakashi is going to have months of laughing at me hysterically while I rage quit over and over because I hate everyone so much until nearly the end.