Jang Bori Is Here! - Episode 2 (KimJiCap)
Such a sad KimJiCap without any Kim Ji-hoon :(( I'll try to be a bit briefer in this post (since there still is no Kim Ji-hoon (PS: I failed to be brief)), which should be easy, now that we've got to meet all the characters and JoAnne explained how they are all related so well.
JoAnne: Most of this episode is me marveling at how sincerely people who behave terribly believe that THEY are the ones who have been wronged.
In case you're new to this, here's a summary of episode 1: we learned about the upcoming succession-competition. The winner becomes a quasi-royal seamstress. There are two daughters-in-law fighting over the crown and while one of them is extremely nice and boring, the other is corrupted, greedy and quite insane. That's the future heroine's mother. But there's a switcheroo coming up in a few episodes, and we got a taste of that at the very beginning of episode 1. The switcheroo will swap the nice kid from the rich family with the bitch-kid from the poor family. Of course, the bitch mother from the currently rich family matches the bitch-kid much better and the nice rich-kid matches the poor mother with the terrible clothes much better, so it really sounds like win-win to me, but it will take everybody at least 50 episodes to realize that as well.
JoAnne: Awwww, look at his smooshy lil face!
kakashi: I knooooooooow! ♥♥♥♥
Second Son tells the Matron about the stolen fabric - he really seems to hate his wife a lot - but First DIL lies that she has found it again, between the other fabrics. No, JoAnne, I really cannot like her. Why didn't she dare tell the Matron about it? Grow a friggin backbone, woman! A flashback informs us that Matron saw Second DIL creep through the courtyard yesterday (of course! everybody always sees everybody else or conveniently overhears stuff) and out come the broken scissors again. Matron knows she needs to use another method to find the truth: the culprit will certainly not admit it. Lol, you don't say?
JoAnne: I go back and forth on why she wouldn't want the MIL to know. Part of me thinks its because she values peace and does seem to genuinely care for her sister-in-law, but part of me wonders if she believes that MIL, who is a stern taskmaster, will just look at it unfavorably as an excuse.
Yikes, Second Son and Second DIL really, REALLY hate each other. She tells him to go to the US already, he tells her that he will not have her greed destroy his family. He goes to have a drink with his brother, First Son. Can we call them the Bong-Bong brothers from here on? So sewing destroyed the boys life, and sewing shall not destroy Eun-bi's life. Wanna bet it will?
JoAnne: Why the Bong-Bong Brothers? (because they are called Hee BONG and Soo BONG). Also, cannot help but laugh over the INTENSITY! and EMOTION! over sewing.
kakashi: Have you ever seen The King of Kong? (Not a KDrama). If not, go SEE IT. It's brilliant: the real-life intensity and emotion over a stupid arcade game!!! Insane.
Young Kim Ji-hoon who cannot act runs through the streets ... and meets Eun-bi, who is pressing her nose flat, watching people eat Jjajangmyeon. He is already crying again. She asks him for money, he says he doesn't have any. He thinks again, though ... and trades his watch?! Woah, that's love! She gets her jjajangmyeon (finally!) and I must say, I really wouldn't mind having some myself! She is very happy and so is he, just watching her, but then, she sees a grandfather on a nearby table, drooling over watching his kid eat ... too poor to buy noodles for himself. The little angel gives him her untouched bowl, much to young Kim Ji-hoon's surprise (and anger).
JoAnne: The amount of importance this family places on insignificant things is amazing, LOL. You would think that child had never eaten in her life. What's next? Does she spend her adolescence eating her feelings? When we meet her as an adult, will it be in a fat suit?
First DIL, whom JoAnne likes, hears about her dead sister's husband's (uhm, sorry, her Brother-in-law = Evil Dad) new wife. She cries and wants to go kill him. Hehehe, no, but tell him off she wants. Her kind husband comforts her and tells her there's no use in that. Eun-bi hears it all. Drinking game! Whenever somebody overhears something, one shot! Oh, down another, because Second SIL is also listening. Everybody is plenty miserable in this drama (except for the evil bitches), man, it's going to be a lot of FUN. Maybe I totally love makjang after all?
JoAnne: The little girl cries well.
Little Eun-bi goes back to the Jjajangmyeon restaurant and gets little Kim Ji-hoon's watch back. D'awwwwwwwwz. I bet she never gives it to him though and it becomes that THING that makes them recognize each other in the future.
JoAnne: Oh, I bet you're right.
Mistress is wearing the same make-up day in, day out? She also does terrible aegyo-stuff and I start feeling a bit sick. Overhearing this (one-shot!) is young Kim Ji-hoon. I like his slippers. And I also quite like Jae-hee, who is street smart and cute and righteous. Hm. Nono, this is a KimJiCap, kakashi!
JoAnne: No, I really like the little boy. He seems to have his anger in the right place - meaning, he has a right to feel it, and he knows that, but it doesn't make him hateful toward the sudden new hyung.
Things are getting tense before the competition. Both SILs sew like the devil (wait ... does the devil sew?). The drama doesn't waste more time, the day of the competition has come. The two girls - that's good kid Eun-bi and bad kid Min-jung - are to be the models. Eun-bi has to go as the "man"-version, whereas the little Devil Min-jung gets to be the girl. She doesn't even talk to Eun-bi, but she destroys her belt (by ripping it off). Can we slap her? (get in line) Eun-bi pushes her, and Min-jung hurts her wrist - but she doesn't care at all, all that matters is the modeling. And model she does. And she lied about the hand, OF COURSE. Eun-bi needs a moment, but then, she quickly improvises with a hair-band that she turns into a belt. Still, the missing belt costs Eun-bi Omma a point.
JoAnne: Aww, she makes a cute little boy.
kakashi: Wait for her in the future, she'll be the Queen of Crossdressing Dramas!
Mistress - whom I kinda thought was kinda likable - discovers all of the deceased mother's old clothes in the wardrobe. Little Kim Ji-hoon tries to save them, but alas ... Mistress has a few tricks up her sleeves, and while the good boy runs out to buy her medicine, thinking he caused her to fall and hurt herself, she starts burning the beautiful hanboks. Little Jae-hee feels bad about it. Awwwwww. Will I have a hard time hating you later? Or are you not even meant to be hated? Oh dear, sorry kiddo, but little Kim Ji-hoon must be among the worst kid-actors I've ever seen. I know it's terrible, but I also wish the kid would stop wailing and crying all the time. Or he will be known as CryBabyProsecutor in the future!
JoAnne: I liked her too, but that's done with. What a bitch. And her son is adorable. If we follow the tried and true path, he should be the likeable one and your Kim Ji Hoon boy will be spiteful and jealous. So sayeth Baker King Kim Tak Gu. So sayeth we all.
kakakshi: Hmmmmm .... interesting. He smiles in the teaser, though. A lot. I think, I hope, I believe that both of them will be kinda nice! It'll be hard to not like them. We might have recapper-wars about it. I'm Kim Ji-hoon ALL THE WAY just so you know. I even defended him in Goddess of Marriage, until everbody saw that he wasn't an evil brute.
Oh dear, JoAnne, what are we watching? There's a lot of crying behind the stage, too, because of the belt. And why would First DIL want Second DIL to get the point?! Seriously. When Min-jung leaves - she gets the hanbok she wore as a present - Eun-bi follows and calls her out on doing the thing with the belt on purpose. The little bitchy bitch just laughs at her and calls her stupid: the smart ones always find a way to win. Eun-bi grabs the hanbok, they fight ... the hanbok flies into a pond. Of course, little Bitch goes in and gets it out. She has balls!
JoAnne: For a moment I thought, oh! a wish fulfilled! Because last episode I said there were one or two kids I wanted to drown. But no. She'll live to be a bitch another day.
There is an old woman approaching the First DIL - can she borrow a hanbok for a wedding? It's her daughter's that she abandoned 25 years ago. She begs and begs and even takes a ring from her finger and a few crumbled bank notes from her pocket. Kind First DIL goes in and gets the hanbok she made for the competition - to give to the old woman. Mean Second DIL is very surprised. So am I. I wouldn't let her win - she doesn't even take this competition seriously!
JoAnne: *shakes her head at Kakashi* She takes LIFE seriously. Clothes are made to be worn by people. You have to love people to make good clothes. I can tell you only watched two episodes of Baker King.
Evil Dad does the only sensible thing and kicks his pregnant Mistress and her son out again, after she did what she did with the clothes. Yeah, that's too much, even for this Ass. Err ... I don't mean to say that kicking pregnant women out is a good thing. But she really is taking things too far. As for him, he is a despicable human being. Bleh!! I'm shaking my head, over and over. Has this guy ever played a good character?!
JoAnne: Not that I've ever seen. And I am so glad this woman got called on her scheming ways. She didn't need to be like that. And it isn't enough that the man is claiming the illegitimate son outright, planning to give him a good life? No, she needs to depose the older boy completely? why?
Of course, Mean Second DIL has used Kind First DIL's kindness to her advantage: she has sent a servant to tell the old woman that she can keep the hanbok. Cut to Auntie DIL going crazy, while Mean DIL is doing her mean-face. Yes, that one. Hehehe, but not for long ... cause there's a piece of her hanbok missing as well! Oh, but look who has it ... her husband. Damn. Who isn't even there at the competition, but in his studio, painting.
JoAnne: And not very well, I might add.
Mean DIL gets over her panic quickly and starts sewing a new top quickly (from undergarments!!). In the meantime, Eun-bi has run to the wedding, to help her Auntie ... who is stepping out onto the stage, with nothing. That's like a death sentence in this crazy world. Behind her, Mean DIL saunters in, wearing something ... well. Christmas-treey? The second round goes to Mean DIL! They need a third round now ... which is life-sewing. Dun-dun-dun.
JoAnne: That is one fugly dress.
Eun-bi recovers her Aunt's hanbok, but it seems it's too late ... the women are on the stage, little tables in front of them. They need to sew on collars. Inside the sewing box for Mean DIL, the broken scissors lie ... she drops them like they're burning hot. You did it, you did it! Kind DIL gives Mean DIL her unbroken ones. Wow. Are all makjangs like fairytales? I think I like this!! When Mean DIL gloats and looks at Kind DIL with a smirk, she pricks herself and a little bit of blood gets on the things she's sewing. I'm sure that's not particularly good. But the judges declare themselves unable to say who has won - so the Matron gets to have the last word. And of COURSE, she chooses the Kind DIL.
JoAnne: And it was the right choice.
Mean DIL starts complaining immediately, surely she cannot lose just because of a tiny little blood stain? But no, not the blood ... everything. And in comes the old woman with the hanbok, with a broadly smiling Eun-bi next to her.
JoAnne: I despise a sore loser. I get that this was genuinely important to her and that separate and apart from the CRAP she pulled, she also worked hard legitimately on her submissions, but still. Making excuses makes you cheap.
Not only has she lost, but Mean DIL also gets a scolding from Matron, for being greedy and too ambitious. Without love, she cannot be a good seamstress, says Matron. But Mean DIL isn't listening and still complaining, so Matron tells her to stop sewing immediately. Forever. Because that makes total sense. And she is no longer her apprentice. Mean DIL begs on her knees, but Matron doesn't want to hear it. Sewing isn't only about talent - it's also about the heart. And we all know what's in Mean DIL's heart ... snakes. And stuff like that. Mean DIL In-hwa? D e s t r o y e d.
JoAnne: She's right though. I try to make sure that I only buy clothing made by children in HAPPY sweatshops because you can totally absorb their emotions through the clothing that they make.
Yikes, the next confrontation isn't pretty. Eun-bi is in the kitchen when her mother corners her and demands to know what she did with her garment. Eun-bi admits she touched it - she wanted to practise, to help her mother. But Mean DIL doesn't believe her - she thinks her kid wanted her to lose. Kind DIL interferes and drags the kid out. Jeeeeeez. Chill, people.
JoAnne: But hanbok are her life!
Poor kiddo ... she goes to her father's studio next and asks him why he did bring the upper garment to the competition. Didn't he promise? She says she hates him and storms out. In contrast to little Kim Ji-hoon, THIS kid actress is quite good. The crying really gets to me. It's the beginning of the end: I think I like makjang. I'm doooooomed.
JoAnne: *giggling* I do love it.
Kind DIL is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders in the meantime and OF COURSE cannot be happy about the win.
JoAnne: Well, I can see her point a little bit. It dulls your victory when your opponent is screaming about the raw deal they got. Ideally neither of them would have had any issues and would have met in competition head on so that it was only about the garments they created. Except we know it was NEVER about that, right?
Mean DIL sees that her husband had the upper garment. They have another argument and she says a few things that sound quite right to me: that he also doesn't care about Eun-bi and that he just wants to order her around. So he married her because he thought it was the right thing to do after she saved him - but he is also trying to save their marriage, at least that's what he says. He hugs her close, forcefully and tells her to stop - he saw her burn Kind SIL's clothes. It's their last chance: she should leave with him. He loves her. Well, that comes as a surprise ... But to her, this is nothing: Sewing is her life.
JoAnne: So, I was just thinking, you know - if you grow up hating sewing because it kept your mother so busy, why would you then marry a woman who works for your mother?
kakashi: Oh, because she saved his life! That's the only reason! Why he says he loves her is beyond me though and I think he's insane. Look at the faces he pulls.
In the yard with the wonderful cloth, In-hwa sobs and sobs ... she doesn't understand what she has done wrong. And in a flashback, we see how she got in contact with sewing. She tried to steal from Matron's house, to be able to bury her mother in beautiful clothes. She gets punished by Matron, but the woman also brings the garments to the coffin.JoAnne: So how did that girl grow up to be this woman? Oh right, not her show. We'll never know.
Back in the present Mean DIL is just bitter, thinking her MIL never liked her. Which is clearly not true. The servant comes out and gives her a sewing box that he just got from the Matron to give to her. And Mean DIL realizes that the scissors she had inside the box during the competition were THOSE scissors. So it really was her that did the whole thing to get close to that particular man, who happened to be the son of the most powerful seamstress in the history of mankind? She runs into the house and comes face to face with the Matron who looks like she can breath fire.
JoAnne: Ooh, can't wait to see this.
Comments
kakashi: 48 episodes to go. Unless this gets an extension. OMG, I just remembered ... Goddess of Marriage got one! There's still no Kim Ji-hoon (yeah, I know, I repeat myself), many things are still very, very bad, but I wasn't bored at all. In fact, the whole competition thing was quite entertaining and I now like the Kind DIL/SIL as well. At least a little. It's even possible I like the whole drama, but that's maybe because I'm extremely tired and can no longer think straight. Goodbye!
JoAnne: We've been here before. She won't like it for long. Although it is quite entertaining so far.
kakashi: How do you know???? This might be my favorite drama of the year! Which would be a good thing because this thing? It's going to be with us until September or October or I don't know ... but for a long time.
JoAnne: Most of this episode is me marveling at how sincerely people who behave terribly believe that THEY are the ones who have been wronged.
JoAnne: Awwww, look at his smooshy lil face!
kakashi: I knooooooooow! ♥♥♥♥
this is somewhere in our future! Let's discuss the hair when we get there.
Episode 2Second Son tells the Matron about the stolen fabric - he really seems to hate his wife a lot - but First DIL lies that she has found it again, between the other fabrics. No, JoAnne, I really cannot like her. Why didn't she dare tell the Matron about it? Grow a friggin backbone, woman! A flashback informs us that Matron saw Second DIL creep through the courtyard yesterday (of course! everybody always sees everybody else or conveniently overhears stuff) and out come the broken scissors again. Matron knows she needs to use another method to find the truth: the culprit will certainly not admit it. Lol, you don't say?
JoAnne: I go back and forth on why she wouldn't want the MIL to know. Part of me thinks its because she values peace and does seem to genuinely care for her sister-in-law, but part of me wonders if she believes that MIL, who is a stern taskmaster, will just look at it unfavorably as an excuse.
JoAnne: Why the Bong-Bong Brothers? (because they are called Hee BONG and Soo BONG). Also, cannot help but laugh over the INTENSITY! and EMOTION! over sewing.
kakashi: Have you ever seen The King of Kong? (Not a KDrama). If not, go SEE IT. It's brilliant: the real-life intensity and emotion over a stupid arcade game!!! Insane.
Young Kim Ji-hoon who cannot act runs through the streets ... and meets Eun-bi, who is pressing her nose flat, watching people eat Jjajangmyeon. He is already crying again. She asks him for money, he says he doesn't have any. He thinks again, though ... and trades his watch?! Woah, that's love! She gets her jjajangmyeon (finally!) and I must say, I really wouldn't mind having some myself! She is very happy and so is he, just watching her, but then, she sees a grandfather on a nearby table, drooling over watching his kid eat ... too poor to buy noodles for himself. The little angel gives him her untouched bowl, much to young Kim Ji-hoon's surprise (and anger).
JoAnne: The amount of importance this family places on insignificant things is amazing, LOL. You would think that child had never eaten in her life. What's next? Does she spend her adolescence eating her feelings? When we meet her as an adult, will it be in a fat suit?
JoAnne: The little girl cries well.
JoAnne: Oh, I bet you're right.
JoAnne: No, I really like the little boy. He seems to have his anger in the right place - meaning, he has a right to feel it, and he knows that, but it doesn't make him hateful toward the sudden new hyung.
Things are getting tense before the competition. Both SILs sew like the devil (wait ... does the devil sew?). The drama doesn't waste more time, the day of the competition has come. The two girls - that's good kid Eun-bi and bad kid Min-jung - are to be the models. Eun-bi has to go as the "man"-version, whereas the little Devil Min-jung gets to be the girl. She doesn't even talk to Eun-bi, but she destroys her belt (by ripping it off). Can we slap her? (get in line) Eun-bi pushes her, and Min-jung hurts her wrist - but she doesn't care at all, all that matters is the modeling. And model she does. And she lied about the hand, OF COURSE. Eun-bi needs a moment, but then, she quickly improvises with a hair-band that she turns into a belt. Still, the missing belt costs Eun-bi Omma a point.
JoAnne: Aww, she makes a cute little boy.
kakashi: Wait for her in the future, she'll be the Queen of Crossdressing Dramas!
JoAnne: I liked her too, but that's done with. What a bitch. And her son is adorable. If we follow the tried and true path, he should be the likeable one and your Kim Ji Hoon boy will be spiteful and jealous. So sayeth Baker King Kim Tak Gu. So sayeth we all.
kakakshi: Hmmmmm .... interesting. He smiles in the teaser, though. A lot. I think, I hope, I believe that both of them will be kinda nice! It'll be hard to not like them. We might have recapper-wars about it. I'm Kim Ji-hoon ALL THE WAY just so you know. I even defended him in Goddess of Marriage, until everbody saw that he wasn't an evil brute.
JoAnne: For a moment I thought, oh! a wish fulfilled! Because last episode I said there were one or two kids I wanted to drown. But no. She'll live to be a bitch another day.
JoAnne: *shakes her head at Kakashi* She takes LIFE seriously. Clothes are made to be worn by people. You have to love people to make good clothes. I can tell you only watched two episodes of Baker King.
JoAnne: Not that I've ever seen. And I am so glad this woman got called on her scheming ways. She didn't need to be like that. And it isn't enough that the man is claiming the illegitimate son outright, planning to give him a good life? No, she needs to depose the older boy completely? why?
JoAnne: And not very well, I might add.
JoAnne: That is one fugly dress.
JoAnne: And it was the right choice.
JoAnne: I despise a sore loser. I get that this was genuinely important to her and that separate and apart from the CRAP she pulled, she also worked hard legitimately on her submissions, but still. Making excuses makes you cheap.
JoAnne: She's right though. I try to make sure that I only buy clothing made by children in HAPPY sweatshops because you can totally absorb their emotions through the clothing that they make.
JoAnne: But hanbok are her life!
JoAnne: *giggling* I do love it.
JoAnne: Well, I can see her point a little bit. It dulls your victory when your opponent is screaming about the raw deal they got. Ideally neither of them would have had any issues and would have met in competition head on so that it was only about the garments they created. Except we know it was NEVER about that, right?
JoAnne: So, I was just thinking, you know - if you grow up hating sewing because it kept your mother so busy, why would you then marry a woman who works for your mother?
kakashi: Oh, because she saved his life! That's the only reason! Why he says he loves her is beyond me though and I think he's insane. Look at the faces he pulls.
JoAnne: Ooh, can't wait to see this.
kakashi: 48 episodes to go. Unless this gets an extension. OMG, I just remembered ... Goddess of Marriage got one! There's still no Kim Ji-hoon (yeah, I know, I repeat myself), many things are still very, very bad, but I wasn't bored at all. In fact, the whole competition thing was quite entertaining and I now like the Kind DIL/SIL as well. At least a little. It's even possible I like the whole drama, but that's maybe because I'm extremely tired and can no longer think straight. Goodbye!
JoAnne: We've been here before. She won't like it for long. Although it is quite entertaining so far.
kakashi: How do you know???? This might be my favorite drama of the year! Which would be a good thing because this thing? It's going to be with us until September or October or I don't know ... but for a long time.