Bride Of The Century Episode 10 (A SqueeCap)
Shuk: We finally get our confrontation, and proof that all the manifestations are, in fact, one ghost in desperate need of a Lithium cocktail with a Depakote chaser. How will our intrepid heroine react to this happy news?
JoAnne: That depends on whether she drinks the KoolAid, I guess.
EPISODE 10
Shuk: The Lady In Black finally confronts Bubbles in her true guise. Just for a split second. When Flunkette makes it to the restaurant, our girl is looking shell-shocked and wiping tears. Flunkette is ready to text FirstBorn, but decides to let everything stew and see how it pans out.
JoAnne: She could at least buy some soup.
Shuk: At FBRS, Jang Oppa is waiting. They go outside to talk. He’s upset that she went to see Kang-ju, and tells her the entire sordid tale of the Jang Family Shenanigans. Doo-rim is incredulous, but Ki-hyun is adamant and worried, afraid Doo-rim will get hurt even if the curse isn’t real.
JoAnne: Because the rest of his family inherited the murder gene?
Shuk: Kitten Prince is listening to his father’s records when ChoiDad comes into the study. He remarks on how much he hates the Chaconne, since the music turns his father into a stranger. He realizes that his dad was in pain from losing his first wife, and he didn’t want to live his life the same way. But it seems he’s decided to walk the same path. His father smiles at the statement, but Kang-ju is serious.
JoAnne: I seriously need to understand the rest of the dad's story. Because right now it looks like he's encouraging his son to take a foolhardy risk.
Shuk: But ChoiDad doesn't believe the curse is real, so he thinks his son is making the right choice.
Shuk: In bed, Doo-rim is going back over her convo with the spirit, asking her if she will marry him even if it means her life. With tears streaming down her face, she said yes. So, the curse is real?
JoAnne: I'm guessing the curse is real in the same way that Santa Claus is real.
Shuk: Granny’s looking swanky in a new spotted coat as the pair goes shopping, and eat han-u at a fancy steak place. It looks like Doo-rim is cramming good memories in before she takes the big step. She apologizes for never following through with her promises to put her grandmother in the lap of luxury. Granny poo-poo’s the sentiment; she worked her granddaughter too hard in the past several years. All she wants is for Doo-rim to find a nice man and settle down. Granddaughter asks if it’s okay if she just lives with Granny forever. I’m guessing she’s thinking of stepping back for Yi-kyung. Granny says categorically no, she’s too wonderful not to find a good man. Doo-rim tells her she has to go to Namhae tomorrow, using the excuse that Auntie had been spotted recently.
JoAnne: And I think it looks like she's saying goodbye.
Shuk: At the President’s office, Flunkette stops by. She’s a little busybody as she freely admits she trailed him and found out he’s taking vacation time and that he’s purchased couple rings. Okay, is there anyone you’re NOT stalking there, missy? She asks if he’ll regret his decision; he says no. She warns him that there’s some cray cray in the world he doesn't know about, and his trust will be tested, and to give her regards to his first wife.
JoAnne: When I was dating my husband he introduced me as his future ex-wife once. He never made that mistake again, but I really should have just shot him on the spot anyway.
Shuk: The Doppels are having a final conversation too. Bubbles will take on the weight of her decision, without knowing what the future holds. JB asks if FirstBorn really means more to her than her life, and Bubbles simply replies why shouldn't she hang on to such a man? Yeah, JB, she’s got more conviction in her pinkie than you have in your entire colon.
JoAnne: And yet she is dumber than a door nail, and very close to being dead.
Shuk: Mouse and Bubbles have a final night, and she’s smart enough to know her friend isn't going to Namhae. She admits they are eloping.
JoAnne: Well, if that's what you want to call it.
Shuk: FirstBorn talks to his dad, and admits to the elopement too. ChoiDad gives his blessing; ChoiMother overhears. Is she happy? Sad? Who knows. Who cares. She watches him leave the compound, and as he strides away, she thinks that everything will reset after tonight.
JoAnne: She is shockingly blase about the fact that she fully believes this girl is going to die.
Shuk: Granny is oblivious as Doo-rim asks Jin-joo to take care of her grandmother. She looks back and smiles before heading for the bus stop. The medium happens to walk past and sees this. Granny sees him and hustles him into the restaurant. He tells her that her granddaughter is leaving on a long trip, but then admits it’s through the one-way door to the light. Granny chases him off with a broom, and he yells he told the truth and what she does with it is on her head.
Shuk: Bubbles is outside the Jang offices to see OppaNotOppa. She feeds him the Namhae line and hands him a food bag. He believes it. She gives him a hug, and tells him how warm and supportive he’s been to her. Yeah, Oppa, that’s a farewell.
JoAnne: Bye Oppa, you were snuggly but too sad.
Shuk: JangMa flounces out of JangHouse, and Oppa watches with a thoughtful look.
JoAnne: It's as if she were headed off to a party!
Shuk: In a green jacket inspired by the Hand Grenade movement.
Shuk: Our couple is at a Catholic Church with an invisible choir singing Schubert. It’s just the two of them as they walk together down the aisle. In front the altar, they exchange vows and rings. She uses her real name only in her head. As they kiss in front of the stained glass, virtual glitter flies off the couple.
JoAnne: This is that one Catholic Church in all of Seoul. One wonders, in the absence of an actual wedding, if the curse can even apply? She's not his bride if they're not married.
Shuk: She runs out, sans flowers, remarking on how fresh and beautiful the world is, and the shiniest is Kang-ju. They walk hand in hand, and someone is secretly photographing them.
JoAnne: I'm guessing it's not the ghost.
Shuk: Inside the car, she hands him her gift: hand drawn coupons for various actions. They end up at a pojangmacha, eating street food and wearing couple outfits: sweatshirts, scarves, earmuffs, gloves. A little girl is eating there too, who tells Oppa he’s too good for Bubbles. LOL. A bit of rearranging and Bubbles is now between her oppa and that 10-year old hussy. FirstBorn can’t resist teasing Bubbles a bit.
JoAnne: The scene is very cute, yes, but where are the hormones, people?
Shuk: Yi-hyun is taking out the food Doo-rim left, and reads an attached letter. He starts crying in his office. It must be a Dear OppaNotOppa letter.
JoAnne: On top of the several Dear OppaNotOppa speeches?
Shuk: Kang-ju is whining about peeling onions; Bubbles chides him that any other man would peel a truckload for his woman.
JoAnne: No, that's not true.
Shuk: The meal is ready, and Bubbles diffidently tells him that fish dishes are her specialty, but somehow she burnt it on this this special day. He gets a big smile and compliments it all. Maybe she hopes the way to his heart is through his stomach. She broaches the subject: if he found out someone was lying to him, who didn't have a choice... He counters that he hates lying the most, and probably would never speak to that person again.
JoAnne: Well that's encouraging.
Shuk: He wonders if she has a deep dark secret she’s hiding from him. She denies, but he wonders if there’s something because she’s stuttering. She deflects him with more food.
JoAnne: Because it's so much more romantic with a food baby gurgling between you.
Shuk: It’s late, and for some reason she’s in formal attire. They share wine in front of the fireplace. She asks him at what point did his heart race for her? For her, it was when he princess-carried her to the wheelchair in the hospital. She tries to guess him, and he laughingly tells her that most of their moments together were so outrageous that they couldn’t qualify. He promises to tell her tomorrow.
JoAnne: Dun dun DUN
Shuk: A worried Mouse calls Ki-hyun and spills the beans to him. He quickly tries to call Doo-rim, but the phone is turned off, and he remembers his mother heading out that day. He heads home to confront JangBitch, showing her all the evidence of their perfidy: the officetel lease, CCTV footage of her and Mom going in and out of the complex. JB is adamant Doo-rim went into this with her eyes open. Yi-hyun tells her she’s crazy, their mom is crazy, and he is going crazy, and she had better tell him what the plan is. She tells him, but then calls JangMa and tells her she told him. Ma’s got Plan B, and is fact parked outside the villa where our couple is.
Shuk: ChoiMother is re-re-re-reading that journal, and notices that pages have been torn from the back of the book. Those flowered pages have ended up in the hands of The Root of All Evil, who reads them and promptly collapses. At the villa a wine glass breaks. Portents! Portents!
JoAnne: So I guess the Root of All Evil has been nipped in the bud?
Shuk: And time for bed for our honeymoon couple, no doubt spooked a little. It’s kind of creepy that Jang Ma and Assistant Park are watching, but spiritual narco-gas floats by and knocks them unconscious.
JoAnne: It's also creepy that they're in bed in their wedding clothes. Maybe he demonstrates proper umm...safety precaution application....by rolling that turtleneck up over his head.
Shuk: There’s a touching moment of just simple hand holding, before our couple gets down, but all we get is a backlit kiss and a voyeuristic ghost.
JoAnne: Fine, yes, it is very sweet, I'll behave.
Shuk: There’s a flashback to the bride scene in Episode One, and now I realize that the bride looks just like Doo-rim / Yi-kyung. But the person experiencing the nightmare is…Granny??? She gets up and grabs a gold cloth package from the wardrobe – it’s a red shoe! The mate to the ChoiMother has in her possession? Is this some twisted Cinderella tale now?
JoAnne: Well shit I wasn't expecting Granny to be part of it.
Shuk: It’s the morning, and Doo-rim apparently has walked in a daze to the edge of the cliff. Kang-ju wakes up, but he’s alone in bed. The carnelian bracelet is left on her pillow, and he immediately panics. He runs through the trees, almost like that first episode.
Shuk: Doo-rim opens her eyes at the edge of the cliff and calmly looks out, with just a single tear. We go back to her meeting with the Lady, who whispers that she won’t die; it was just a test of her resolve and love. She passed; however, now she has to face reality; the lie of her identity and the greed of people that want to destroy her. Is she ready for the tough and lonely fight, in order to create her future?
JoAnne: So then why disappear with the bracelet laid out like that, why stagger to the cliff in a daze, why scare your poor lil not-really-a-hubby that way, if you knew you weren't going to die?
Shuk: And with that, the spirit reaches out with her braceleted arm and touches Doo-rim’s braceleted arm. Then what bracelet does Kang-ju have? We’ll go with dream sequence. In any case, the spirit disappeared in white light. Doo-rim’s eyes clear just as Kang-ju reaches the rock she’s on. Big hug time; they made it to the next day. But, you know, it hasn't been 24 hours or anything. Bubbles tells him: there’s no such thing as pre-destined future.
JoAnne: Not to be a party pooper but she's also not his bride.
Shuk: Maybe they stopped by Seoul City Hall to get the license and play in the fountains with Mike and Om-Am! It could happen!!
Shuk: Evil wakes up in the morning light. Yi-hyun arrives at the villa as well. He barges into the house, but our couple is still on the cliff. He starts roaming the grounds, and spots the pair walking back arm-in-arm. Then WHAM! Park knocks him out.
Shuk: Their happy walk is interrupted by the Jang car. Kang-ju formally addresses his mother-in-law. She cuts him off; her daughter is safe and she will drive her back to Seoul.
JoAnne: Why does no one say 'Back off, biatch. We're adults and we're married.' Oh right. *whispers* not a bride.
Shuk: As they are packing, he promises again to take all the flak regarding their elopement. Bubbles asks him to trust her and not hate her, for what she's about to tell him. He tells her he's used to her surprising him. She haltingly begins; the person he thought was her, wasn't her. He is puzzled, but before she can explain further, they are interrupted by his cell phone with the news of Evil's collapse.
JoAnne: My Souffle d'Evil avec Champignons! Quelle Horreur! Eet ees, how you say, roo-eent?
Shuk: JangMa comes up with the excuse that her daughter will need to change and be presentable, even if she's going to see someone in the hospital. No Bubbles! Don't get in the car!! And since Evil wants to see both of them, why doesn't FirstBorn just make them go together??? Oh well, no tension, I suppose.
JoAnne: In this drama, car=basement.
Shuk: Jang Yi-hyun wakes up from his assault.
JoAnne: What am I supposed to do with that? ohhh, look, he woke up. How nicely his head was cushioned on that rock, wow!
Shuk: Once Kang-ju is out of sight, JangMa tells Bubbles to get in the car to discuss further arrangements. Yi-hyun arrives too late to stop them. Mouse calls him looking frantically for her friend.
Shuk: Once in Seoul, the JangMobile pulls to a curb, and JangMa coldly tells her her work is done. Luckily, Yi-hyun is behind them. Assistant Park gets out, a couple of thugs get in, JangMa sneers at her naivete, and steps out.
JoAnne: The fact that she did not expect this just floors me.
Shuk: The thugs drive off, closely follow by OppaNotOppa. JangBitch is all coiffed and ready to step into the role. She takes the hospital elevator, and when the door open, FirstBorn is there, all smiles. Did JangMa grab the wedding ring? Or the bracelet? Or the necklace? Ominous Latin Chanting ensues: another trope checked off!
JoAnne: That's my favorite trope, the one about Latin chanting.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Shuk: Well the stakes have been upped. JangOppa has been pretty useless at stopping his family's evil, so this is a good chance to play The Lancer. I hope he doesn't fumble.
JoAnne: The Lancer?
Shuk: Yi-hyun, the side kick and loyal retainer.
Shuk: It shouldn't take Kang-ju too long to figure the switch. Yang Jin-sung has done an excellent job playing two distinct roles, and showing the personality differences between the two girls. The Expositional Hair helps, of course, but the stance and attitude separate them too. Onward to next week!
JoAnne: Nope, it's gonna be the question of when his heart first raced for her.
JoAnne: That depends on whether she drinks the KoolAid, I guess.
EPISODE 10
Shuk: The Lady In Black finally confronts Bubbles in her true guise. Just for a split second. When Flunkette makes it to the restaurant, our girl is looking shell-shocked and wiping tears. Flunkette is ready to text FirstBorn, but decides to let everything stew and see how it pans out.
JoAnne: She could at least buy some soup.
Shuk: At FBRS, Jang Oppa is waiting. They go outside to talk. He’s upset that she went to see Kang-ju, and tells her the entire sordid tale of the Jang Family Shenanigans. Doo-rim is incredulous, but Ki-hyun is adamant and worried, afraid Doo-rim will get hurt even if the curse isn’t real.
JoAnne: Because the rest of his family inherited the murder gene?
Shuk: Kitten Prince is listening to his father’s records when ChoiDad comes into the study. He remarks on how much he hates the Chaconne, since the music turns his father into a stranger. He realizes that his dad was in pain from losing his first wife, and he didn’t want to live his life the same way. But it seems he’s decided to walk the same path. His father smiles at the statement, but Kang-ju is serious.
JoAnne: I seriously need to understand the rest of the dad's story. Because right now it looks like he's encouraging his son to take a foolhardy risk.
Shuk: But ChoiDad doesn't believe the curse is real, so he thinks his son is making the right choice.
JoAnne: I'm guessing the curse is real in the same way that Santa Claus is real.
Shuk: Granny’s looking swanky in a new spotted coat as the pair goes shopping, and eat han-u at a fancy steak place. It looks like Doo-rim is cramming good memories in before she takes the big step. She apologizes for never following through with her promises to put her grandmother in the lap of luxury. Granny poo-poo’s the sentiment; she worked her granddaughter too hard in the past several years. All she wants is for Doo-rim to find a nice man and settle down. Granddaughter asks if it’s okay if she just lives with Granny forever. I’m guessing she’s thinking of stepping back for Yi-kyung. Granny says categorically no, she’s too wonderful not to find a good man. Doo-rim tells her she has to go to Namhae tomorrow, using the excuse that Auntie had been spotted recently.
JoAnne: And I think it looks like she's saying goodbye.
JoAnne: When I was dating my husband he introduced me as his future ex-wife once. He never made that mistake again, but I really should have just shot him on the spot anyway.
Shuk: The Doppels are having a final conversation too. Bubbles will take on the weight of her decision, without knowing what the future holds. JB asks if FirstBorn really means more to her than her life, and Bubbles simply replies why shouldn't she hang on to such a man? Yeah, JB, she’s got more conviction in her pinkie than you have in your entire colon.
JoAnne: And yet she is dumber than a door nail, and very close to being dead.
Shuk: Mouse and Bubbles have a final night, and she’s smart enough to know her friend isn't going to Namhae. She admits they are eloping.
JoAnne: Well, if that's what you want to call it.
JoAnne: She is shockingly blase about the fact that she fully believes this girl is going to die.
Shuk: Bubbles is outside the Jang offices to see OppaNotOppa. She feeds him the Namhae line and hands him a food bag. He believes it. She gives him a hug, and tells him how warm and supportive he’s been to her. Yeah, Oppa, that’s a farewell.
JoAnne: Bye Oppa, you were snuggly but too sad.
JoAnne: It's as if she were headed off to a party!
Shuk: In a green jacket inspired by the Hand Grenade movement.
Shuk: Our couple is at a Catholic Church with an invisible choir singing Schubert. It’s just the two of them as they walk together down the aisle. In front the altar, they exchange vows and rings. She uses her real name only in her head. As they kiss in front of the stained glass, virtual glitter flies off the couple.
JoAnne: This is that one Catholic Church in all of Seoul. One wonders, in the absence of an actual wedding, if the curse can even apply? She's not his bride if they're not married.
Shuk: She runs out, sans flowers, remarking on how fresh and beautiful the world is, and the shiniest is Kang-ju. They walk hand in hand, and someone is secretly photographing them.
JoAnne: I'm guessing it's not the ghost.
JoAnne: The scene is very cute, yes, but where are the hormones, people?
Shuk: Yi-hyun is taking out the food Doo-rim left, and reads an attached letter. He starts crying in his office. It must be a Dear OppaNotOppa letter.
JoAnne: On top of the several Dear OppaNotOppa speeches?
Shuk: Kang-ju is whining about peeling onions; Bubbles chides him that any other man would peel a truckload for his woman.
JoAnne: No, that's not true.
Shuk: The meal is ready, and Bubbles diffidently tells him that fish dishes are her specialty, but somehow she burnt it on this this special day. He gets a big smile and compliments it all. Maybe she hopes the way to his heart is through his stomach. She broaches the subject: if he found out someone was lying to him, who didn't have a choice... He counters that he hates lying the most, and probably would never speak to that person again.
JoAnne: Well that's encouraging.
Shuk: He wonders if she has a deep dark secret she’s hiding from him. She denies, but he wonders if there’s something because she’s stuttering. She deflects him with more food.
JoAnne: Because it's so much more romantic with a food baby gurgling between you.
JoAnne: Dun dun DUN
Shuk: ChoiMother is re-re-re-reading that journal, and notices that pages have been torn from the back of the book. Those flowered pages have ended up in the hands of The Root of All Evil, who reads them and promptly collapses. At the villa a wine glass breaks. Portents! Portents!
JoAnne: So I guess the Root of All Evil has been nipped in the bud?
Shuk: And time for bed for our honeymoon couple, no doubt spooked a little. It’s kind of creepy that Jang Ma and Assistant Park are watching, but spiritual narco-gas floats by and knocks them unconscious.
JoAnne: It's also creepy that they're in bed in their wedding clothes. Maybe he demonstrates proper umm...safety precaution application....by rolling that turtleneck up over his head.
Shuk: There’s a touching moment of just simple hand holding, before our couple gets down, but all we get is a backlit kiss and a voyeuristic ghost.
JoAnne: Fine, yes, it is very sweet, I'll behave.
JoAnne: Well shit I wasn't expecting Granny to be part of it.
Shuk: Doo-rim opens her eyes at the edge of the cliff and calmly looks out, with just a single tear. We go back to her meeting with the Lady, who whispers that she won’t die; it was just a test of her resolve and love. She passed; however, now she has to face reality; the lie of her identity and the greed of people that want to destroy her. Is she ready for the tough and lonely fight, in order to create her future?
JoAnne: So then why disappear with the bracelet laid out like that, why stagger to the cliff in a daze, why scare your poor lil not-really-a-hubby that way, if you knew you weren't going to die?
Shuk: And with that, the spirit reaches out with her braceleted arm and touches Doo-rim’s braceleted arm. Then what bracelet does Kang-ju have? We’ll go with dream sequence. In any case, the spirit disappeared in white light. Doo-rim’s eyes clear just as Kang-ju reaches the rock she’s on. Big hug time; they made it to the next day. But, you know, it hasn't been 24 hours or anything. Bubbles tells him: there’s no such thing as pre-destined future.
JoAnne: Not to be a party pooper but she's also not his bride.
Shuk: Maybe they stopped by Seoul City Hall to get the license and play in the fountains with Mike and Om-Am! It could happen!!
Shuk: Their happy walk is interrupted by the Jang car. Kang-ju formally addresses his mother-in-law. She cuts him off; her daughter is safe and she will drive her back to Seoul.
JoAnne: Why does no one say 'Back off, biatch. We're adults and we're married.' Oh right. *whispers* not a bride.
JoAnne: My Souffle d'Evil avec Champignons! Quelle Horreur! Eet ees, how you say, roo-eent?
JoAnne: In this drama, car=basement.
Shuk: Jang Yi-hyun wakes up from his assault.
JoAnne: What am I supposed to do with that? ohhh, look, he woke up. How nicely his head was cushioned on that rock, wow!
Shuk: Once Kang-ju is out of sight, JangMa tells Bubbles to get in the car to discuss further arrangements. Yi-hyun arrives too late to stop them. Mouse calls him looking frantically for her friend.
Shuk: Once in Seoul, the JangMobile pulls to a curb, and JangMa coldly tells her her work is done. Luckily, Yi-hyun is behind them. Assistant Park gets out, a couple of thugs get in, JangMa sneers at her naivete, and steps out.
JoAnne: The fact that she did not expect this just floors me.
Shuk: The thugs drive off, closely follow by OppaNotOppa. JangBitch is all coiffed and ready to step into the role. She takes the hospital elevator, and when the door open, FirstBorn is there, all smiles. Did JangMa grab the wedding ring? Or the bracelet? Or the necklace? Ominous Latin Chanting ensues: another trope checked off!
JoAnne: That's my favorite trope, the one about Latin chanting.
Shuk: Well the stakes have been upped. JangOppa has been pretty useless at stopping his family's evil, so this is a good chance to play The Lancer. I hope he doesn't fumble.
JoAnne: The Lancer?
Shuk: Yi-hyun, the side kick and loyal retainer.
Shuk: It shouldn't take Kang-ju too long to figure the switch. Yang Jin-sung has done an excellent job playing two distinct roles, and showing the personality differences between the two girls. The Expositional Hair helps, of course, but the stance and attitude separate them too. Onward to next week!
JoAnne: Nope, it's gonna be the question of when his heart first raced for her.