Birth of a Beauty - Episode 16 (A WookiCap)

Noble idiocy is here! But Joo Sang-wook looks GOOOOOoooyumyum. Also. In a weird way - and I guess I must blame some weird end-of-the-year sappiness - this episode touched my cold, snarky heart. A bit. When the episode wasn't teeeeeeeeeeeerribly draaaaaaaaagy.
S@ki6: the noble idiocy was strong, but I thought she could've played it off better.
becca: So. Funny story. I was going to be a good girl and catch up before commenting on this episode - I even started the episode! - but I had some loading issues, and, well, that's got to be a sign, right? So because I don't want to get on unmyeong's bad side, I haven't seen this episode, either. Ha. Haha... ha....
JoAnne: It's okay, I haven't watched in weeks. I do it for art's sake, of course - my responses are completely fresh and captured here for your entertainment.
Lafer: OK, I have never done this before - I always watch first! But I have just arrived in my happy place in Florida and haven't had time - so I will give this a try!

Episode 16

Tae-hee is not quite dead (SURPRIIIIIISE) but only half-dead, so he is rushed to the hospital. I never get how they almost die from a mere whack over the head with soft wood? At the station, they're going crazy over finding the AWOL Sara - and Chae-yeon gets quite seriously worried over her Tae-hee oppa.
He's Chaeyeon's dream chaebol now that she knows who he is.
Is that weird to anyone else? Kang-joon isn't a chaebol, and Tae-hee obviously does pretty well for himself (well, I think he does, but I'm basing this off of how he spends money because I've never actually seen him work). So why did she choose Kang-joon over him? They seem to be equals financially, or at least not very far apart.
It's weird to me too, but I think it's because he's an intense narcissist. He was very hung up on having a pretty girlfriend/wife who was also an announcer and someone others wanted to date for his own image. Which meant that he was very focused on Chaeyeon when they dated. Which meant, she thought he was massively in love with her. But in reality, he's just in love with himself.  
What exactly is he the son of? I forget. Winner Group is the big money 'round these parts, and right now that's Dough Boy but could soon be Tae Hee. Wasn't Fuck Ears just the fan favorite for becoming the CEO of a television station?
Lafer: I'm still trying to figure out how the side of your head can be bleeding when you got hit on the back with a stick. Not even the back of the head, but the back by your shoulders.
Or course, Tae-hee Oppa is in very critical condition - in fact, he's in a coma. Which is worsened by his Broken Heart Syndrome. Whatever. (Oh! Do we have amnesia coming? YES PLEASE! ((Note: actually, we don't :( - Boooh! I want amnesia!!))) Halmoni comes and comes to the conclusion that this is all Sara's fault. Of course, who else could it be? She tries to remove Sara from the hospital, but Tae-hee develops tachycardia that very moment. Halmoni runs to Tae-hee's bedside (Chae-yeon and Ji-hoon have also arrived) and temporarily forgets about Sara.
Halmoni = incompetence.  Tsk tsk.
Halmoni has to be evil. I will not be satisfied if she gets a happy ending.
But how can we break Tae Hee's heart?
She'll probably change her mind and become Nice Halmoni.
Everybody gets sent home, only Ji-hoon stays to keep watch. And he finds Sara in the corridor, praying. Awwww, he tells her to go in - he is against her, but he believes that she might be the person Tae-hee would want to see the most. And indeed ... her closeness, her holding his hand is returning his pulse to normal. And in the morning, what a miracle! he wakes up. Sara saved him. It's truu wuv. Also, the doctor says Tae-hee needs Sara to stabilize. So Halmoni gives her permission to nurse him until he's discharged. But only until then. What a horrible woman.
With Halmoni... Oh, I don't care.
Where did that doctor go to school??
Yeah, let's avoid its associated hospital by all means possible. 
Sara, the medical miracle who drops tiny medical miracles everywhere she goes.
I hate these control-freak type of Grandmothers. I'm more the cookie baking, whatever makes you happy type.
A weakened but all-the-more cute Tae-hee thinks that the broken bracelet (oh, right, that happened) was a dream - no, my dear. It wasn't. And we all know what it means ... but he says that they just need to buy a new bracelet. One that doesn't break. It's really, really sweet ... especially when he tells her that he missed her. Even when he was asleep.
Buy a stronger bracelet, and maybe stop being superstitious idiots too.
Better yet, don't buy a bracelet at all. If you don't have one, it can't get broken, and we won't have to hear about it anymore.
And run away so that all these idiots aren't around to screw up your lives, you idiots.
And be a little more discreet so everyone won't try to stop you this time.
Evil Han is evil. He pretends to care very much for his brother and promises to do everything in his power to investigate this. In truth, he wants to destroy Winner Food and take everything away from Tae-hee ... including Sara. But before that, Tae-hee convinces Sara to go and finish what she has started ... the Chef Competition! The topic of the last round is "food you want to make for your family" and Sara cooks a stew - while thinking of Tae-hee, telling him in her head how he is already family. We don't see what happens (and don't find out in this episode at all), because Evil Han orders Sara to him as soon as the show is over. His evil plan: send her abroad to study. It's a condition for becoming Winner Group's main model. How lame you are, Evil Han... He also casually mentions her false identity. And how that was used to hurt Tae-hee.
See here is where I would've had Sara tell Evil Han exactly who she was and why she got involved in Winner in the first place, to get her ex-husband back, only to find he killed her once her memories came back.  And then throw herself on her number 1 fan's mercy saying she needs him to put Kangjoon away behind bars before she can comfortably leave Tae Hee, since KangJoon outside of anything except solitary confinement will make everyone unsafe, no matter where Sara goes.  In other words, be a noble idiot for a good exchange. 
If he is evil, does that make him sour dough?
And half-baked at that.
Therefore, Sara comes to the conclusion that indeed, Tae-hee's almost death is her fault. She comes to that conclusion at least five times over the next twenty minutes, just in case we shouldn't get it.
I didn't get it.  What was that again?  Kidding - but I still unreasonably blame Kangjoon.
There's Fuck Ears, too, who really wants to get back with his wife - now that she is so sexy.
(I had kidnapping, false imprisonment, slavery and duress all going through my head.) Ahahahaaaaaa, that's a total fail, show! Anyway, he adds to the threat: the more she clings to Tae-hee, the more he will hurt him. When not-Awesome Assistant sends another assassin to the hospital, Sara knows it's really, really, really her who is to blame for the danger Tae-hee is in.
Okay, if you say so, Sara, then I won't stop you leaving. I'll even pack your bags for you!
Byyyyyyyeeee, Sara, don't let the door hit that sweet ass on the way out.
Go forth and be hot.
But before the noble idiocy, we get super cute. At the hospital, Tae-hee has come to the conclusion that the best painkiller for him is touching his ahjumma. Later, she even climbs into bed with him for some spooning. In all honesty, that must be among the sweetest scenes I've ever seen in any KDrama.
He does look good, I'll give you that.
I want to pinch his cheeks.
Which ones?
Any and all, I think.
Then, it's time for Tae-hee's discharge! What the poor man doesn't know: Sara is preparing to leave him. To a top top top secret place that nononobody can ever find out. (Oh, puhlease. Once he finds out she's being sent abroad, it's really only Italy, France and Japan as options for cuisine.) (There's always a possibility of that plane to Florida, the one from King of Dramas.) It's sad to see how happy he is once he's back in his house (she even fixed the plastic tree!). She cooks for him and does the cryptic "if I leave, you should get a different house"-talk.
Why, why should he get a different house?
A good question, JoAnne.
To make it harder for her to find him and so he wouldn't remember her.  I suggest everyone watch Time To Love with Supernova and T-ara, and pay particular attention to the boy's part where he says exactly this: I changed all the ways to contact me so I would forget you. 
And then .... she dumps him. She never wants to marry again, since a husband is just a hindrance. The shellshocked him begs her to stop talking about breaking up, he'll do anything for her. Marriage? Not necessary. Living together is fine as well. But she claims she wants to live a different life now - a free one. He doesn't get what's going on, the poor man ... and with a few more "I am sorry"s, she leaves him. Alone in her room, she has a complete break-down.
Oh. Oh, he looks so broken in that bottom left gif. Now I'm sad, too. :(
If you're gonna be a noble idiot, I vote for the disappear in the middle of the night/leave a note version.
And get something in writing for the trade-off with the baddies.
Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb. That is what I think of noble idiocy. No matter who uses it.
The next morning, she's gone. Tae-hee starts a frantic search for her all over sorry ... in vain. That is THE opportunity for Chae-yeon to make a move: She organizes a press conference at which she announces her divorce (tearfully and because her husband is having an affair) and then smirks at the enraged Fuck Ears. She wants the building or else she'll tell everyone about Sara/Geum-ran. Ahahhaa, the villains in this show are complete idiots, right?
Actually, this was the smartest thing Chaeyeon did this entire episode, if only because it made the Ears go red. 
Tae-hee isn't well :(( And seeing his grief hurts... And then, Awesome Assistant finds out that Sara's flight departs today. Tae-hee rushes to the airport ... but ... too late. She's gone.
Cue sad violin.
Come snuggle, my beautiful man.
Maybe he's lost more sense than we thought from his head wound. He could not have figured out what she was planning to do and then stopped her? But how do they get their flights so quickly? That is what I want to know.

Comments

Apart from the fact that this episode was about 30 minutes too long, it wasn't bad at all. The biggest surprise for me was to realize that I actually (still? again?) care about the OTP. Their long goodbye was touching and their scenes together very, very sweet. They seem like a true (old) couple. There's a reason why I only like 30+ actors. They're just so much better at displaying affection. I also realize that I've been craving for a different kind of female lead. She is that. I demand more ahjummas as leads!
Ahjumma Power!  I was annoyed she didn't leverage her false identity and true identity to get KangJoon behind bars, though.
She's just not very smart, you know.  She can protect Tae Hee or she can exact revenge, but her brain cells can't handle both.
I hate noble idiocy. But of course it is necessary since they are giving us an extra episode. Yeah (said flatly and quietly.) Although next time I will watch first because the snarking just isn't as vehement without it.