When A Man Loves - Episode 17 (A SqueeCap)

Oh Oppa... If you had only followed the wise story below, you would have been so much happier ...

Episode 17

Shuk: The Emergency Department doctors work feverishly on Chang-hee, and, for once in a KDrama, managed to bring him back. 
kakashi: Yes, this came as a (major) surprise. But then, we should have known people don't die easily in the WAML universe: If #WhenAWomanFlies survives that, uri Chang-hee can easily survive a drop on concrete. Headfirst. Easily.

Shuk: So maybe SK medicine isn’t so bad. He’s in a coma though, with fluctuating vitals.
JoAnne: Called it.
kakashi:  yeah. There's evidence of this on Twitter. I wasn't serious though. You? And let me note that Oppa is doing a good job, worrying. No bulgy eyes, but genuine sadness. Why is he so much better in this than in basically everything he has done before?

Shuk: As Tae-sang sits next to him, Seon-joo calls Chang-hee’s phone. Tae-sang answers with monosyllabic impatience, but she over hears the conversation with the doctor. Don’t why she even cares, but I hope she goes off a cliff driving to the hospital. Or impales herself on a Pilates machine.
JoAnne: They’ve been friends for years. Remember her watching them play basketball? COME ON, Shuk.

She does have problems figuring out which balls she likes better.

Shuk: The birthday party is going on without Tae-sang. Birthday Biatch is still wearing the magic shoes. Her friends discuss who they like more: President Han or Manager Lee. Evenly split, of course. Some of the coworkers are there, and the Secretary tells Mi-do the appointment Tae-sang set up with a hospital famous for treating paralysis patients. Yeah, take that, You-Who-Always-Thinks-Badly-Of-Oppa.

JoAnne: Now taking applications for Team PissyWishyWashyFace. Please be prepared to provide proof of your lack of spine upon request.
kakashi: Man, those shoes look SO uncomfortable! Poor little toes and how they're squashed in ... (not that I really care)

Shuk: Jae-hee tries to reason with Roy Chang for one more time, but the investor isn’t interested. Jae-hee offer to speak with the Chairman directly, but Roy dismisses that as useless.
JoAnne: Somehow I get the feeling that Roy REALLY doesn’t like Jae Hee. Why is that? Does he know that Jae Hee only listens to what he wants to listen to, also?
kakashi: It's instincts. Or Roy really doesn't like anybody. I'm going for the second, because he looks about ten times more pissed off than PissyFishy ever looked.

Shuk: At the hospital, Tae-sang is maintaining a bedside vigil. He tries to call Jae-hee, but his phone goes to voicemail. He doesn’t leave a message.
JoAnne: An entire scene where nothing happens, but at least we got to look at Oppa. Writer: there is no point in putting in a phone call that goes to voicemail if you don’t, you know, actually LEAVE A VOICEMAIL. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing and you gotta have something if you wanna be with me.
kakashi: I disagree, JoAnne. Oppa on the phone? That IS the point. If I happen to get bored one of these days, I'll calculate how many minutes we have seen oppa on the phone in this drama. Not a single moment wasted. This particular scene is made particularly interesting by the blood.

Google Fu: “Nothing From Nothing” is a 1974 Billy Preston song. Did JoAnne unni just show her age?
JoNote: Showing my musical PROWESS, more like.
kakashi: I wasn't yet born back then. Just stating that for the record. In case people think I'm a lusty old woman. I am not old. But I admit to being a bit lusty. At times.

Shuk: Everybody stayed overnight at the hotel. Mi-do has a nightmare of the impact, and, in her confusion, stood up from the bed. So now everyone knows.
JoAnne: Did everyone join me in laughing HARD at her ‘oh fuck what do I do now?’ face?
kakashi: I just hate her even more for being so stupid. This writer must really hate women. How else could she write a character like that?! #WhenAWomanMakesADumbface

Shuk: Chang-hee is undergoing a CT Scan of his head, and Tae-sang remembers the letter Chang-hee wrote. The doctor comes in; they are still determining if he is brain dead. Okay, I lost my faith in SK medicine again.
JoAnne: Well. I remember a real situation where they said they thought that’s what was going on because X and Y but sometimes things change…and then after a couple days they were like no, it’s not going to change. So maybe this is that. And it’s not Korean medicine. It’s that weird Korean anatomy that makes them impervious to actual damage from serious situations but wrecks them forever if they study too hard. On the plus side, it also gives them great abs.
kakashi: Uhm ... ok. Maybe the writer doesn't really know what to do with the character, so she just makes him potentially brain-dead. Can't argue with that, really.

Shuk: Our Whiny Witch and our Villain are having coffee. Seon-joo wonders how Chang-hee got injured, and Yong-gap gleefully pipes up that Little Weasel must have done something to him. For the record, the newspaper was the English version of the Korea Times, May 2, 2013!
JoAnne: Poor little Little Psy. They pick on him because he’s half Vietnamese. I think it’s Vietnamese. In related news, SM was kicking ‘foreigners’ out of line yesterday while they waited for the release of Exo’s comeback, ‘Wolf’. Having seen it now, I can only say that SM must have wanted to save face in front of strangers.
kakashi: ... and they do that by showing the English version of the Korea Times?! JoAnne, I'm amazed at how your brain works. A little. And he is, too!

Shuk: Tae-sang is outside the hospital room, when the little traitor plasters on a blank face claiming he was drinking all night and acting stupid for all his questions. Once Tae-sang leaves, though, he weasels his little weasely butt into the hospital room. He eyeballs the oxygen tubing, and proves even more he’s too stupid to live. Um, that’s not a ventilator and Chang-hee is breathing on his own, dumba$. He’s saved from looking even more foolish in my eyes when Jae-hee calls. The Little jerk tells him his brother is just hurt a little and will call him back. President Han doesn’t explain much more, but tells him to come home.
JoAnne: Still trying to figure out why he wasn’t the first person Oppa called, but whatever.
kakashi: Throw him off the roof already!!!! 

Shuk: The Seo family, happily rested after enjoying President Han’s largesse, arrive at the Alley Restaurant. Mom’s still touting the joys of her son-in-law, and Han Eomma tells here to bring him next time.
JoAnne: Girl, you just don’t KNOW.

Shuk: Tae-sang arrives at the apartment, just as Mi-do has finished packing. They share a quiet cup of tea, and he apologizes for giving her a hard time. He asks that she be good to Jae-hee since his brother is injured. Oppa, you’re twisting my heart into a little twisty shape. She tells him she is sorry and thankful and thinks he’s scary and pitiful. And she leaves.

JoAnne: No one ever mentions all the blood covering Oppa. 
kakashi: Seriously.
JoAnne: F*** you, writer. You’re an idiot. I know those two were sitting at the table reciting their lines and thinking ‘really? Really? REALLY?’ (OH PLEASE ADD SETH MYER AND AMY POHLER SHUK PLEASE)

Shuk: Seo Appa is surprised when Mi-do walks up to the bookstore, and they are getting things back together. Just when the Chalkboard of Cheese is put back up, they receive notice to vacate the place. Yay! Leave!
JoAnne: If PissyWishyWashy assumes this is Oppa I’mma kick her a**.
kakashi: Sorry, but this is getting boring. Abs or brutality, please, drama, or I'll stop giffing you. 

Shuk: Tae-sang goes to the Lee place and sees a frame of the brothers in a recent happy pose. He finds the picture of their grandmother, and pulls the back off, ignoring a call from Mi-do’s mother and throwing his phone on the couch. Inside is the business card from Roy Chang’s father, and the letter from Chang-hee. Now Oppa’s eyes kind of bulge when he reads the, yunno, eye-popping news about Jae-hee.
JoAnne: FINALLY Oppa has a legit opportunity to do the patented eye bulge and he doesn’t do it!
kakashi: How did he know to pull off the back? (this is not a rhetorical question. I am genuinely puzzled and interested)

Shuk: It turns out Jae-hee is the illegitimate child of a conglomerate’s daughter and a man in Hong Kong. Ah, even when he was younger, he ironed his little brother’s clothes. But wait! I digress. The Hong Kong man is, you may have guessed, Asia Star’s Chairman, Jang Ji Myung. Consanguinity! Another KDrama trope [checks off list]. He ends the letter with an entreaty for Tae-sang not to hate Jae-hee for loving the same woman. Oh, Chang-hee..
JoAnne: Um, there’s also the convenient half-finished sentence asking Oppa to remember the night they ran into Mom’s lover in a bar…
kakashi: Oh man, this is getting too complicated for my poor little brain. So ... who is whose father/mother/brother? 

Shuk: Jae-hee is at the hospital crying over his hyung when Tae-sang arrives. Immediately he transfers all his negative emotions to his benefactor, and tells him he will kill him no matter what. He gets dragged out of the room.
JoAnne: I got nuthin.
kakashi: HIT him already, Tae-san, seriously. Don't be such a passive wuss. 

Shuk: Tae-sang talks to his comatose bestie; how is he going to explain things to Jae-hee?
JoAnne: Oppa looks good all whiskery, doesn’t he? But is anyone else admiring how smoooooooooooth Chang Hee’s face looks? Who shaves him in the hospital? In related news, I would like to shave Chang Hee’s face. And watch him sleep. But not in a creepy way.
Shuk: [feeling creeped out]
kakashi: There is a recent influx of moustaches in KDrama. Surprisingly, I like it, at least on most of them. 

Shuk: Idol Boy gets two dance numbers in this episode. [snooze] Except for the song, which is “Black Paradise” by Beast.
JoAnne: Tryin’ to come up with a Beast or IRIS connection to anyone in the show but failing. It must just be because it’s topical and helps anchor the show in the recent past. I guess. Nope, nope, nope, I have to play Six Degrees here. Let’s go with Oppa, first. Oh, it’s too easy. Oppa and Kim Tae Hee were in My Princess. Eh, but wait, that was IRIS, not IRIS II. Oh wait, that really WAS easy. Oppa and Lee Beom Soo, Dr. Jin. Really, Writer? Really. Of all the shows, THAT’S what you want to link to yours? *shakes head*
kakashi: Yum. One of the only good things in IRIS2 (apart from Jang Hyuk's crotch) was Yoon Doo-Joon.

Shuk: Tae-sang shows up at Han Eomma’s restaurant. Yay finally! Except they don’t make eye contact. But they both know the other is there. After tasting his mother’s soup, he drops a big bill on the table aand leaves, while she collapses on the ground, crying.
JoAnne: So I saw the bill and it was like, 100,000 won. Which Other Idol Boy said was a thousand bucks. But then later Eomma says it’s a hundred bucks. I notice that this happens a lot in dramas. Does inflation really rise that quickly in Korea, that it in the course of an episode the value relative to the dollar changes that significantly?

Shuk: Nope, it's 1 000 000 KRW
Google Fu: As of May 30, 2013, 0205 GMT, 1 000 000 KRW is $888.54 or €681.52
kakashi: All I see are MAAAAAANY zeros. wantz.

Shuk: A much-calmer Jae-hee is by his hyung’s bedside when Seon-joo shows up. She entreats him to not blame President Han, but, as usual, he only listens to his own internal logic. (JoNote: Which is as twisted as his intestines.) She asks him if he had confirmed Roy Chang’s identity as Tae-min, but there’s no information on that front.
JoAnne: Any time this comes up Jae Hee gets this really weird constipated look on his face.
kakashi: Hahaha. 

Shuk: At his place, Jae-hee collapses on the couch. Tae-sang’s phone is still on the couch and buzzing. It’s Mi-do and Jae-hee accepts the call without saying anything. Mi-do, assuming it’s President Han, thanks him for releasing her and tells him he’s not at fault for Chang-hee’s injuries. Jae-hee throws the phone in disgust. Ooh, did PissyFace just join the ranks of the enemy in his mind?
JoAnne: It certainly looked that way to me. PissyWishyWashy, better watch out. 
kakashi: Yeah ... he has anger management issues. That much is clear at this point. 

Shuk: Jae-hee all but tosses the phone onto the President’s desk the next day. Tae-sang explains he was in the apartment to retrieve a letter. Our egocentric loverboy demands to read the letter now, but it’s not at the office. He demands to know the contents, but Tae-sang states he needs to read it himself. He asks if Tae-sang ordered Chang-hee to attack Mi-do, but President Han refuses to answer any questions. Instead, President Han asks him about the Hong Kong investors, and he has to admit the negotiations fell through. Tae-sang tells him to meet with Jang Ji-myung directly.
JoAnne: Why, when asked a direct question, does Oppa always refuse to give a direct response denying what he has absolutely every right to deny? Why?
kakashi: Cause he is noble?

Shuk: He tells Jae-hee that Mi-do is free to go to whomever she loves, but Jae-hee switches to Pity Party mode – Mi-do won’t go to the man whose brother tried to kill her. Way to go, Jae-hee, deciding how Mi-do thinks. Hell, the audience can’t even figure that one out. There’s a staredown and Jae-hee leaves.
JoAnne: That is a valid point. And Jae Hee has always decided what MiDo thinks and then operated in accordance to his decision, so why change now?

Shuk: Ddol shows up at the bookstore to tell Mi-do and her mother that Tae-sang and Han Eomma have finally met. Hmm, what is the expression on Mi-do’s face? “Did I leave the iron on?” Something like that, anyway.
JoAnne: PissyWishyWashy was displaying PissyPity.
kakashi: Bleh. 

Shuk: At The Golden Tree, they go through what they know of Asia Star’s chairman, while Tae-sang thinks about the content of that letter. After the meeting, the secretary pulls the president aside and tells him about Dong-yoo’s skimming of the company funds. President Han has the little traitor meet him on the Rooftop of Retribution, to make him squirm, especially about Chang-hee.
JoAnne: Yeah, sort of. Oppa. Do something.
kakashi: Here we go, JoAnne. He is showing someone who the boss is! Unfortunately, it's a flashback scene. 

Shuk: The cops find and process Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for evidence of Mi-do Flying Ability.
JoAnne: HOW, exactly, Writer? Are they going building to building inspecting all vehicles under tarps?
kakashi: She is doing it again ... trying to approach this show with logic. *shakes head in disbelief*

Shuk: Tae-sang is alone again in his apartment, and wanders through the bedroom Mi-do used. He finds a book of poetry, and texts her about it. She tells him to keep it, and remembers when she first read a poem from it at the beginning of their relationship. It’s a playful flashback with flirting on both sides.
JoAnne: I am reminded that there were moments when PissyWishyWashy genuinely liked and felt comfortable with Oppa, and then I am filled with rage because if Chubs had just minded his own goddamn business NONE of this would be happening right now.

Shuk: On impulse, she pulls out another copy, and ends up reading it at the bookstore, at the same time he is reading it in his apartment. Nooo! I don’t want connections!!!
JoAnne: You do. You do so. And do they find a way to work Oppa’s eyelashes into EVERY drama he’s in? I mean, they’re truly spectacular. They are, indeed, the Glittery Abs of Eyelashes, but still.
kakashi: I am glad you bring them up. If you had a choice between seeing his eyelashes forever or his abs forever, which one would you choose? 

Shuk: Seon-joo shows up at the restaurant, and finally admits to Han Eomma that she knew about Tae-sang the whole time. Suddenly the restaurant door slides open and Mi-do shows up. Seon-joo wastes no time in telling Tae-sang’s mother that she loves her son, but that he was recently dumped by a two-timer 12 years his junior. Mi-do pays and leaves, but waits for Seon-joo outside.
JoAnne: KICK HER F***ING A** Pissy….PLEASE. Just letting you all know that when it comes to these two I will champion Pissy so hard Chang Hee will get up from his coma bed and kill yet another person who dares cause our Oppa emotional distress.
kakashi: Cue emotional distress and wonderful yellow light gif. 

Shuk: They are both in black and white as they square off outside. Seon-joo is cruel for knowing about Tae-sang’s mother and never telling him, but Mi-do is cruel for what she did too. I think Mi-do is beginning to realize what types of scum our little Oppa Lotus Flower was rising above.
JoAnne: He really is just the sweetest guy ever. He learned to be a bad ass. He can unlearn it, because he hates it and never wanted it. We all have the evil in us. Oppa is a good person. He IS.
kakashi: Bleh. 

Shuk: Jae-hee is outside when she makes it back to the bookstore. She inquires about his brother, but their conversation is interrupted by Mi-do’s mother, who goes fish-wifey on Jae-hee. They both escape to the hospital, and he is still on that same old chesnut: did her ex-finance order the hit? He gets the same answer from her as from Tae-sang: hear the answer from his brother when he wakes up.
JoAnne: What happened to disgusted I hate you face, Chubs?
kakashi: This is the only gif this stupid mother will ever get and ONLY because she is hitting Jae-hee in it. And I know how much some of our readers hate Chubs. This is for you, folks!

Shuk: The president shows up, but before things go bad, the cops show up, and grandly state that Chang-hee is the suspect. What are they going to do, arrest a comatose patient? Stupid officers.
JoAnne: Seriously. I mean, WTF. Hahahah…I was going to write what are they going to do, cuff him to the bed? But what started to come out of my fingers was glue him to the bed. I’m tired.
kakashi: [is out of comments]

Shuk: In desperation, Jae-hee meets with Yong-gap and Seon-joo, but they both refuse to go to the police at this time and implicate Tae-sang.
JoAnne: I liked her dress. He’s a dirt bag.
kakashi: Uhm ... why do they refuse?! Don't they both hate him? I don't get it. 

Shuk: PPL!! I wondered when the camping company would show up again. Tae-sang buys a colorful outfit and goes hiking? Not sure why, but he looks colorful against the rainy-wet bridge.
JoAnne: Really? You’re not sure why? Could it be because he was wearing 17 different colors?
kakashi: Not sure why he is hiking of course, JoAnne! But who cares ... he is SO Beautiful and Glorious. And I particularly like the little puff of breath ... *love*

Shuk: Time skip? Jae-hee appears to be back in Hong Kong and finally meeting up with the Chairman and Roy Chang. Jae-hee comes up with a new plan: Why doesn’t Asia Star just buy out and take over The Golden Tree?
JoAnne: I thought that’s what he must have said. Jae Hee…dude. Your big plan of revenge is to make Oppa even more of a millionaire?
kakashi: ? is this making sense to anyone ? 

Shuk: So we have two sets of related people all tangled into this little tableau. Jae-hee arranges a meeting between Roy Chang and Tae-sang, and the two possible blood-related brothers meet for the first time…
kakashi: Wait ... could all of them be brothers? And Mi-do there sister? All a big incest fest? Yes? No?

FINAL THOUGHTS

Shuk: Well, it hasn’t been as bloody as I thought it would be, but the flow of the story is still going smoothly. I haven’t really felt any severe lag that sometimes affects the middle of even the strongest storylines. On the other hand, we have been struggling with lazy writing throughout the series’ run, so maybe we just never noticed. So here we have a possible hostile takeover, two birth secrets, a resolved amnesia and paralysis, an angry woman friendzoned, a vengeful 2nd / 3rd / 4th lead?, and an unresolved coma that equates to a big mixture of WTF as we wind down to the final three episodes.
JoAnne: Three episodes left…wow. You’re right, there hasn’t really been a discernible lag for me, either. It’s been rollercoaster Wtf-ery since the beginning. Let’s take bets! In the end, who do you think is Oppa’s brother? Since everyone is either going to say Roy Chang or Jae Hee, I’m going with Chang Hee. Haa, no, not really. IDEK.
kakashi: I came for oppa's abs and stayed for the WTFery. WTF-on, drama, WTF-on. You do this much better than many a drama I have seen. Watch them give us a happy ending, who is in for a bet?