Jang Bori Is Here! - Episode 35 (KimJiCap)

"IT WAS SO GOOD" --- that's what JoAnne wrote into a yet empty blog post. And indeed, it IS. How exactly this show manages to keep us engaged like this, how it has turned into absolute crack, I don't know for certain. Is it the magical working of the Great Hanbok? In any case, the format of this episode is slightly different - since all the storylines merge this week, I couldn't single out any bits for "the Rest". Well, a tiny few bits. But very tiny.
JoAnne: I hate it when I watch an episode and then can't find you on Twitter, now. (yeah, sorry. Not my fault I need to sleep from time to time) I want to share my happiness at just how many people are screwing up MinJung's terribly laid plans. Right away! 
Episode 35

"The wolf ate the sheep ... I'm so very scared" says Bori, before she collapses into Bong2's arms. The famous final words? "You're Eun-bi, you're my Eun-bi", Bong2 stammers (his acting is growing on me - blame Yoona's Street!!) and I'll be dammed!!! She answers with a stammered "Appa ... are you my appa"? And he sobs and sobs, saying yes, it's him - and he is so sorry he couldn't recognize her. Uhm, show? You want me in tears, right?
JoAnne: So it's all set, then right? She's Eun Bi and she knows it now?
kakashi: Maybe in 20 episodes?

Bori/Eun-bi passes out right then and there and Bong2 hurriedly carries her through the torrential rain (too bad the sun is shining really brightly at the same time). Inside, she soon wakes again ... and babbles more about the wolf with red eyes who ate sheep. That was a quick few seconds of wakefulness, because she passes out again after that.
JoAnne: I was so shocked to see that he wasn't rushing her off to hospital, hahaha - I mean, come on! She's babbling nonsense and passing out and experiencing tremendous pain. I assumed he was taking her to the hospital! Brain tumors! Blood clots! Psychotic breaks up ahead! Blindness! Premature death!
Then, BaDIL makes an appearance, urging her husband to come to the wedding of their "daughter". But Bong2 will absolutely NOT go. How can he? Bong2 asks his wife several times to look at Bori closely, but of course, the EVIL people cannot recognize Bori as Eun-bi. Matron doesn't either? Huh. Yeah, she was a little bit evil, too, or at least very doubtful.
JoAnne: Oh, well, THIS. He sees what he wants to see.  Up until 30 seconds ago he was blind as them.
At the church that's not a church but a beauty parlor, Veggie Ahjumma is hit by a motorcycle of almost-doom, and Min-jung wants to at least have a look, but Jae-hee doesn't let her. Since it's their day of blessing. What an asshole. When he has disappeared to get his make-up, she runs to the window and sees how Stalker Moon hugs her mother close. He calls her, and then realizes she must be close - yes, there she is, in the window. But she doesn't go down. Of course not. Priorities. Should we give her a liiiiittle bit of credit for crying her eyes out? That's before she makes sure her soon-to-be husband can never receive calls from Moony again (she blocks them on his phone, without his knowledge.)
JoAnne: In a corner of my mind that does not give a shit in the slightest, I am aware that MinJung lives with more pain and fear from her actions than anyone else does.  If you think about it, her life is probably one terrifying mess of pressure and fear. Why hasn't she died?
Okay, and then I'm slightly distracted by Moony, who is ripping his wet shirt off just to reveal another wet (and white) shirt underneath.
JoAnne: Now that I know Moony can be a tiger, I don't mind it at all when he's a pussycat. I'm having a little bit of a crush on Moony these days.  I just had to get over the sadsackness of AppaNotOppa and then his first few appearances here.
The ambulance is here and Veggie is taken away. Moony desperately tries to reach Bori but can't, so he calls Jae-hwa (who is at the wedding hall) next. Jae-hwa keeps a cool head and tells Moony to go with Veggie to the hospital. Moony hesitates a few seconds ... his revenge! But he is one of the good ones. The Min-jung-bitch is off the hook. For now.
JoAnne: I yelled at Twitter that Moony was 100% redeemed, no matter what he does, he's gold in my book.

When the bride and groom enter the wedding hall (Jae-hee looks so happy ...he does, it hurts my heart), Jae-hwa runs up to them and asks what the fuck happened? Bori's mother got hurt right in front of the beauty salon. Jae-hee goes "huh"?, Min-jung goes "I didn't see anything" and I go "you fucking hateful people!" Jae-hwa wants to rush to the hospital, but Jae-hee tries to hold him back. Of course to rub it in his face how happy he is. Jae-hwa shouts at him and calls him a fool: How eager is he to wreck his life?! Remember this was his own decision - and better not regret it.
JoAnne: I feel SO BAD for Jae Hee. Sure he's got a chip on his shoulder and he didn't grow up to be the NICEST person, but he's not a complete loss, and he really doesn't deserve MinJung.  NO ONE deserves MinJung, except maybe MinJung.
Everybody (minus BaDIL) sits at Bori's side, waiting for her to regain consciousness. Bi-dan is sad to see her mother lie there like a very sick person, but GooDIL says it's okay: it was one of her dizzy spells that have something to do with her lost memory. Bong2 rightly deducts that the lost memory is to blame for the fact that Eun-bi doesn't recognize her parents. Braaavo. (Hey Bong2: Stop sniffing the paint thinner.) But he is now absolutely certain: that story she remembered with the wolf and the sheep? It's unique, cause Bong2 made it. Alright. Bong2 says he will redo the DNA test.
JoAnne: The third time I said 'how does repeating a children's book tell you anything? Any kid who read the book could do the same.' they trotted out the conveeeeeeeeenient explanation that he wrote the book for Bori. Err, Eun Bi. Dammit that's going to be hard.
We could call her EunBoBi? Or ... BorEunbi?

At the wedding hall, Min-jung's own private hell continues. Hehehe. BaDIL has arrived and tells her about Bong2 - so Min-jung must now assume her "father" knows about the Eun-bi/Bori connection. When she is about to totally dispair, that thug from the previous episode comes in, with the brown envelope! Duh, no ... :( I wanted him to give it to Jae-hee directly!
JoAnne: Still laughing over that whole 'fine, take it from me by force, give it to Jae Hee'
Oh, but Moony has something else up his sleeve ... from the hospital, he calls someone and tells him/her/it to prepare the material he gave them. The wedding is already falling apart (no brother of the groom, no father of the bride) and now, Min-jung is desperately trying to prevent any of Moony's preparations from becoming reality. It seems she succeeds? Anyway, it's THE WEDDING! The wedding of the bad people that is. I want the other. The otherS.
JoAnne: Just thinking about what's coming makes me grin, though.
Bori wakes up! Does she remember? Does she?! Oh fook, she does! She remember her terrible, real mother. Very confused about that, she lies about not remembering anything about a wolf or sheep. Hm. That's a smart move, I'd say. Bong2 doesn't want to let her leave ("what if 27 years pass by again?" awwwww) but GooDIL thinks it's better she does leave. Not sure why. Leave she does, remembering all kinds of things! She also asks for a picture of Eun-bi - which GooDIL acquires in the form of the missing child flyer Bong2 made. By the way, there seems to be new, very excited background music?
JoAnne: I like the music they do with the gayageum, that one.
Right after, Bori learns that her mother was in an accident and rushes to the hospital. Veggie is quite fine, though, but Bori is worried sick - she can't even give her a liver or something since she's not her biological child! Uhm, woooot? says Jae-hwa, who didn't know she was adopted. And then he hugs her really close.
JoAnne: All these little things coming out just make it better and better for him, really.
Yup, but he doesn't care at all. That's so nice about him. He loves her unconditionally.  
Moony finds the two rings in Veggie's hand and gives them to Bori later. Of course, Bori knows immediately what that means: Veggie was there to see her daughter - and now, Bori is about ready to kill the Witch. I love their exchange that follows: it's about sinning and forgiving, and the end of forgiving. Well done, show. And then, Bori tells him to take Bi-dan back home; A kid shouldn't be staying at the emergency room for too long. Awwww.
JoAnne: His face. I cried.
Bi-dan is currently with a quite upset Jae-hwa, who knows the full extent of Veggie's sins now. She hit and abused her, didn't send her to school, exploited her as cheap labor - just because she wasn't her real child? Bi-dan tells him to take good care of her mother - and by the way, it's not sewing she likes best; it's Jjajangmyeon! Now COME ON, pretty. You can do it! But before he puts the pieces together, him and Bi-dan tearfully promise to be extremely good to Bori, so that she never has to cry again.
JoAnne: I love that they're a team. Just thinking about them happily spending their lives trying to make up for all the hardships she suffered, it's so sweet.
Veggie wakes up! And runs out. WTF, haha.
JoAnne: She's another one who suffers a lot from the choices that she makes; back her into a corner and she gets aggressive, like a rat or a raccoon. I feel sorry for her more than MinJung because her choices were ignorant, mostly, and once she realized what was important, she wanted to stop.  At this point, she's afraid of screwing up Bi Dan's life, and she thinks she can only protect Bi Dan if MinJung succeeds in her plans.

Gae-eul picks up the Eun-bi picture that fell out of Min-jung's suitcase, wondering who it is. Min-jung, of course, is what Dumb Mom thinks. She did her whole face then?! The plastic surgery gets everybody thinking, but here comes Jae-hwa! What is everyone doing with Eun-bi pictures??! He realizes that Min-jung was the one who stole them. And btw? He is taking them all. He brings them to Bi Sool Chae. Where he got them? They were in Min-jung's new room at home. Oupsie.
JoAnne: I can't wait to hear how she gets out of this one, because sadly, I have no doubt that she gets out of this one.
Min-jung is currently trolling Jae-hee at the wedding suite. Oh waitaminute ... I hope she won't get pregnant? They're lovey dovey. Only that everything about her is fake! As soon as she is alone, she calls her mother - but it's Bori who answers. And Bori is quite merciless: come and see if you want to know how your mother is - and just wait, I'll expose all your lies and will leave you with nothing. New Bori is a tiny little bit scary.
JoAnne: A little, but someone should tell her it's ok to blink while you're making threats.
When Min-jung learns from Dumb Mom that her pictures have been found and been taken back to Bi Sool Chae, she rushes out of the honeymoon suite to ... lie her ass off, of course. Well, I hate to break it to you, Troll, but by now, EVERYBODY knows who the girl in the pics is. Oh, and Moony is also there, at the hotel (he must be able to beam himself around, because seconds ago, he was at Bori's).
JoAnne: Long legs and determination. Plus God is on his side.
He tells her he now understands what she has been doing all along: she has stolen somebody else's life. And since she keeps adding sins to her list, he will keep torturing her. Hey, I don't mind! She also shows certain signs of madness when she proclaims that she is the true and only Eun-bi.
JoAnne: Yes, I smell the insanity card and that is not welcome.
GooDIL gives Bi-dan the Eun-bi flyer - to show to her mother. But Bi-dan falls asleep, and Veggie takes the flyer from her. Because Bori gets home that very instant, she puts the flyer into a blouse, throws it across the room and pretends to be asleep. Bori sits herself down, right on top of the flyer and starts talking to herself about remembering - but not being able to tell anybody.
JoAnne: Which Veggie shows no signs of hearing, although she is right next to her.
Min-jung arrives at Bi Sool Chae - where Jae-hwa opens the door, cheerfully informing her that everybody is waiting for her. When she asks what he is doing at her family's house he says, well, not for much longer. Wait for your adoption to be nullified, bish. Well, he doesn't say "bish", but I'm sure he wants to. 
JoAnne: Oh he wants to. I don't. I want to write it on a post-it note, stick it on a brick, and then smash the note into her face.
When Bi-dan wakes up, she remembers very well that she had something to show her mother - and they find that something: an Eun-bi picture. But why is it in her mother's pocket? And ... is she really Jang Eun-bi? Her mother ....... knew about this??!
JoAnne: These are not the brightest people to ever fall off a turnip truck.

The Rest

Bi-dan tells Moony that Veggie is getting her a passport - to go far away, once Bori got married to Jae-hwa. Right! I forgot about that! He gets really upset with her though and tells her she isn't alone and is not allowed to leave. I hope that's the end of it!
JoAnne: Nah, I predict an airport dash in episode 50. Maybe 49.
In the kitchen, bodyguard Big Kang bakes Jung-ran a new pizza. A bulgogi pizza. She destroys it in a blink of the eye by dumping a great load of kimchi on it. Very talented, this woman! He turns it into a new invention and praises it for its tastiness, not seeing Bad Dad behind them. Hijinks ensue.
JoAnne: There better be a baby coming.

Comments

How very clever! With 15 more episodes, this shows managed to a) surprise me and to b) prolong its central conflict. I'm in awe. Bori knows and remembers - but she will not expose herself. Why? Because she realizes something is off. At this moment, she doesn't know what it is, but she senses that it has something to do with that evil creature she remembers calling "mother" in the past. How long she'll be able to keep this a secret I don't know though. The only one who doesn't know yet seems to be Jae-hwa. Come on boy! You can figure it out!
JoAnne: I had the exact same thought - very clever planning!


I also feel the urge to say a few words about Moony. This really was HIS episode, wasn't it? He did so very well! If I'm not mistaken, his acting has greatly improved since the beginning of this drama and I feel oddly proud. We have discussed before that he is a very good character. But in this episode, he got surprising depth, too. That talk with Bori about sinning and punishing and all that kind of stuff was simply awesome. I still fear he might die, though. Far too much talk about sacrifice etc. But would they let him die, now that he has found his daughter? It would be very cruel ....
JoAnne: They can't kill Bi Dan's real dad. But he may go to jail for a while.