My Beautiful Bride - Episode 7 (A ThisKicksAssCap)

A desolate episode, which leaves our main protagonist without any hope and no further leads and shows us just how brutal the world of the Shadows is. Ruuuuuuun, Do-Hyeong, ruuuuuuuun! No, actually: to bed with you! Mend! Heal! Rest!
Come here, rest with me. I have a lovely view.

Episode 7

Somewhere on a dirt road, a car speeds along. Inside, there is RoboBanker. He wakes up (his head seems to hurt) and takes it all in - the guy next to him (still unconscious), the two guys in the front, the country road. Unfortunately, one of the gangsters realizes he is awake and puts a plastic bag on his head. No poop trick this time though.
For a moment I was lulled into admiring the country road, so I didn't think too much. Why DIDN'T he poop his way out of it?

They get to some kind of storage facility (the sign reads 림목재 상사 or something) (Google Translate says that is 'Wood Forest boss' so...) and our two prisoners are dragged inside and roughly pushed to the floor. Look who's there! It's Tracksuit Boss' right hand man, who goes by the name of Secretary Kim (played by Choi Byung-Mo). He isn't pleased that Bank Guy got dragged along, him being a civilian and all. One of the baseball hat wearing gangsters has wild ideas about killing Do-Hyeong, but Secretary Kim just wants him away, and as it seems, unarmed. Do-Hyeong is led back to the car and driven away.
Doesn't that seem odd? I mean, don't gangters just generally kill everyone, just to be done with it?

Secretary Kim turns his attention to Lee Jang-Ho, who doesn't seem to be Song Hak-Soo's killer after all. It also seems that Secretary Kim knows exactly who killed him - and we gasp, as we realize that Secretary Kim is another traitorous bastard when he calls Seo Jin-Gi and tells him to come get Jang-Ho. Jin-Gi seems a bit afraid of him, which is interesting - but he also seems to be the man he has inside Chairman's Kang operation.
I totally missed that he was Tracksuit's right hand man. I thought he was some kind of third-party. He doesn't seem very gangster-ish at ALL.

And flashback! In Seo Jin-Gi's head. Song Hak-Soo enters an empty warehouse ... well, almost empty. There is a chair and there is Jin-Gi, kneeling and beaten up. He grabs Hak-Soo's hand and is crying (pleading?) as the older man smiles (triumphantly?) - (so wait ... does he think Seo Jin-Gi betrayed him?). But that smile is wiped off his face when he realizes that Jin-Gi has just handcuffed him to the chair. The door opens and Janggab comes in and cuts Hak-Soo's throat. Lee Jang-Ho witnessed it all.
Interesting... so Jin Gi either did something and get caught at it and then this maneuver got him out of it, or he set it up to look like he was doing something so that he COULD get caught and do this. Either way, he allowed himself to get beat pretty bad to make it happen. That's a dedication I don't really understand.

Lee Jang-Ho tries to get away (so futile! His feet are injured and he can only crawl)(they cut his Achilles tendon (and OCN censored the wound), which made me wonder why gangsters don't just routinely do that when they grab someone they don't intend to let go eventually, which made me think I was pretty bloodthirsty, or maybe just too practical), which brings out the worst in Secretary Kim, who seems to enjoy hurting people. Lee Jang-Ho thinks he has information to bargain with, which is about the "tremendously powerful man" behind Song Hak-Soo (and reason why he got out of jail so early). That's hardly news to Secretary Kim, though. And he tells Lee Jang-Ho that Song Hak-Soo didn't deserve to live. In another flashback, we see how Song Hak-Soo severely humiliated Secretary Kim when he had the chance.
That was some seriously fucked up shit, there. Wouldn't you just assume a person you'd so thoroughly humiliated would be at least planning your death from that moment on?

While Seo Jin-Gi and his boys make a move (he keeps his doings a secret from Lee El ... why?)(I'm telling you, there's more to her in this story than we think), baseball gangster drives Do-Hyeong further away from the storage facility, and Park Hyeong-Sik arrives where Do-Hyeong disappeared and joins forces with Cha Yoon-Mi. There are no surveillance cameras but Yoon-Mi does have an epiphany: there are other shadows and they are after Joo-Young because she knows about them. Also: Kim Do-Hyeong is in danger. You don't say.
File this under the category 'DUH'.

The baseball cap gangsters have stopped and get out of the car, to get Do-Hyeong out. Who has managed to get his bound hands from his back to his front, making him much more mobile. Wow, this is a clever fight! He first blocks the one door with the one guy and when the second one runs around the car to get in through the other door, he slams that door into second guy's face. Well, second guy has a knife, which gives Do-Hyeong a second of pause ... but only a second. He is victorious about ten seconds later.
I CHEERED. Feebly, but I did. Seriously, I prefer this to the poop option, although I remain in absolute AWE of the poop option.

Everyone, take a moment to admire the skill of our giffer!

Meanwhile, in Seoul, the police are trying to track Do-Hyeong's cell phone but there is no signal. Yoon-Mi sends Park Sunbae to Lee Jang-Ho's apartment while she wants to check the security cameras at the station upstairs (where the phone call was made).

Do-Hyeong is forcing Knife Guy to drive him back to the facility - but the guy refuses to tell him anything more, for fear of his life.

On the surveillance tapes from the station, they cannot identify the attackers because of their baseball caps. Yoon-Mi is pretty sure that they are not in the city but somewhere mountainous or farmery and she orders her colleagues to search for the black car they were in.

Do-Hyeong is back at the facility and goes back into the warehouse. (Why would he do that?! He is crazy! Somebody tie him to the JoAnne's bed!) Secretary Kim is still there alone, but Do-Hyeong does not even get near him because Lee Jang-Ho grabs his ankle when he walks by and starts begging for him to help. That gives Secretary Kim a chance to flee - still, Do-Hyeong catches up to him outside. Kim warns him not to get involved (of course, Do-Hyeong doesn't listen) when baseball cap gangster wakes up in the car and rams it into Do-Hyeong (who does a little jump though, thankfully, so it's not a full hit). We Do Not Like! Kim gets away. Do-Hyeong is in a lot of pain. And there is his mobile phone on the ground! (not sure where it came from... heaven?). The battery is out so they couldn't track it.
Give a hip, get a phone? This guy is made of titanium (Adamantium, actually). They're finally going to get together and all will be well and they'll go to bed in their nice little apartment and he's going to wake up dead from delayed pain/trauma.

Do-Hyeong drags the wounded Lee Jang-Ho out and calls Yoon-Mi, who is out somewhere, looking for him, and asks her to get him. As soon as he has hung up, Lee Jang-Ho goes: "Hey, banker guy!". O_______o HOW DOES HE KNOW?! (oh wait ... Song Hak-Soo could have told him about Do-Hyeong). Anyway Jang-Ho tells Do-Hyeong to make a quick move, cause more trouble is heading their way.
Jang Ho was the one providing info to Hak Soo in prison - he had photos of them both.
Oh, you're right. 

Do-Hyeong starts dragging Lee Jang-Ho down the dirt road. Both collapse. Do-Hyeong has figured out what I figured out, that Song Hak-Soo must have told him who he was, but Jang-Ho denies that. It was the other way round, he claims: he told Song about the sweet love birds. And then, he starts to say something he deems "very important" to Do-Hyeong, but before he can, he faints. Well, almost. He attempts again and says "the one who did that to Hak-Soo is .... is ...." and now he's really out.
I was quite touched that he even considered rescuing Jang Ho, but then I realized he probably had no idea at the time who the guy was. Even so.

Time for a bit of piggy back! But not of the romantic kind, really.
Where's a farm truck when you need one!

In the meantime, Seo Jin-Gi and his boys have arrived at the storage facility. They're wearing the most silly masks EVER, which are even more useless than they look because nobody is there anyway. A phone call to Secretary Kim informs them about Do-Hyeong's little stunt and they go on the hunt for him. A few moments later, they have already found them. So unfair ... car against piggyback ride.
He'd have been fine if it weren't for that weakling Jang Ho.

Seo Jin-Gi pretends to be a friendly and concerned passer-by (wearing a mask because of "the dust") and I go "don't truuuuuust him!", but Do-Hyeong asks for a ride to the bus station, because the paramedics should be able to see him there ... and yes, he called the cops, too. That's when Do-Hyeong notices the hand behind Jin-Gi's back ... and the shadow of a knife. Too late! Jin-Gi attacks, stabs Do-Hyeong, who goes down. He then grabs Lee Jang-Ho off his back and stabs him repeatedly. Do-Hyeong intervenes, but Jin-Gi presses him against a wall. He is interested in what Mr. Bank Guy knows - very interested (nasty stuff with his wound there). Luckily for Do-Hyeong, sirens get closer and Jin-Gi leaves him alone and drives away.
That scream. *shudders*

Yoon-Mi finds Do-Hyeong there, his hand pressed against Jang-Ho's horrible neck wound. It's clearly futile, but points for trying, man.

Yoon-Mi chases after the criminals, but that is futile too, because they switch cars and are gone with the wind. When she gets to the hospital later, she finds Do-Hyeong sitting in the waiting area, looking like death warmed over. Well, at least he's alive! (His wound seems to have been minor, too, probably already stitched up). Not alive: Lee Jang-Ho, who takes his secrets to the grave. Our good guys are back to square one. 
J to the F'ing C, man. When does the poor boy catch a break?

No wonder Do-Hyeong goes somewhere quiet to cry. Simultaneously, Joo-Young stares at one of his socks that she washed, remembering his words to go somewhere far away where nobody knows them. And she remembers how he gave her those beige shoes and said: "You cannot run away. Wherever you are, I will find you". It makes her cry, too.
They were SO happy... and now we know what effort it took for even THAT.

Lee Jin-Sook returns from what seems a fact finding mission and tells Joo-Young that her bank guy is safe. But also going crazy trying to find her. Joo-Young thinks she cannot tell him that she's safe, because that would just put him in (more) danger. And then, Jin-Sook tells Joo-Young about Song Hak-Soo's death - and about where his body was found. Right, she didn't know know that yet!
I am desperate to know this lady's deal. She seems like she's for Joo Young in a tough-love kind of way.

It also means that Do-Hyeong knows about her and Hak-Soo and that shakes Joo-Young very badly. I think she's also shocked to learn how deeply Do-Hyeong is already implicated in all of this.
Now she knows pretending is over, no matter what.

For whatever reason, Seo Jin-Gi still thinks that Bank Guy is "harmless". Hubris? Stupidity? Something else? (Could it be... laziness on the part of the writer?) Well, Secretary Kim warns him to be careful at least and to find Joo-Young as quickly as possible. Oh, but Mr. Kim ... why do you think you'll get away with simply losing Lee Jang-Ho? Chairman Chang suspect he lost him to "The Bank Guy" (huh! He knows him too!) and Secretary Kim starts to looks very uncomfortable. Chang then asks, whether he knows what it means to drown in a bowl of water ... as he pours more and more mustard into his soup. He then orders Kim to bend down - and presses his face into the soup. For not telling the truth. And for lying. Well, shit. Kim survives, but he is definitely on Chang's shit list. I don't want to see it when Chang finds out what Kim has really been up to.
Everyone knows the neighborhood banker, apparently? No, but seriously: WHY is everyone so dismissive of this guy? Is it simply for the same reason we had for calling him Awkward Robot? Because until you see him in action, you think snooze.

At the hospital, Yoon-Mi is giving Do-Hyeong his quiet crying time, waiting out of sight. Phone call from Jung-Hwa! She's at the police station for protection (is that a good idea?). Yoon-Mi orders a detective Han (not Dumb Face!) to get her a motel room. At another motel room, in fact Lee Jang-Ho's hideout before he met with Yoon-Mi: Park Hyeong-Sik. He finds the deceased's cell phone under the bed. Clever.
*mumble mumble good-for-nothing mumble better mumble GOOD fucking explanation mumble mumble mumble KILL him*

It's an old phone with no pin (I guess). Park sees photos on there ... and phone contacts. Seo Jin-Gi just gave Janggab the order to go get Park Tae-Gyu now that Lee Jang-Ho is dead, when his phone rings. He picks up this call even though it's coming from a dead person's phone (I wouldn't have!). "Seo Jin-Gi?", Parks asks ... and Jin-Gi goes: "Who are you?" And then hangs up, troubled. And then angry. Cause he's always angry.  Park has a name now and he has photos. He is obsessed about this one, clearly ... we still don't know why.
He looks kind of dumb there. They both do. I hate them. And not in that oh-I-hate-you-let's-have-hot-angry-sex kind of way, either.

Do-Hyeong has emerged from the staircase of sorrow - and promptly gets a nosebleed. THIS IS NOT GOOD! Is this the show's way of telling us that there is something seriously wrong with him?!  He goes to the bathroom to wash the blood away - but it only makes him think of Joo-Young and the blood on his kitchen floor.
My brain went into immediate Danger Danger Will Robinson overload and I just assume internal bleeding, brain damage, etc.

There's a feeble attempt by Yoon-Mi to go and have him "recuperate" (as I mentioned on Twitter, I think he needs to be tied to the JoAnne's bed), but he doesn't listen. And she doesn't press the point. When they're in the car together, he tells her about the mask that his assailant wore - and that they all knew him. He also suddenly remembers that he spoke to Seo Jin-Gi before (on Tae-Gyu's phone - and again, when he lay bleeding on the docks in Incheon). It also makes him realize that there is one guy that most definitely knows that Seo person: Park Tae-Gyu.
While I think that recognizing someone's voice like that after one brief conversation is questionable, I applaud someone actually voicing a possibly reasonable reason for why they suddenly make a leap in their thought process. YAY KDRAMA YOU CAN DO IT!


How to find him? Go to where his underlings live (that run-down building he went to before), find out he is at his girlfriend's house and go there. Awwwwwww, it's Tae-Gyu! I missed him. He's ready to make his big move (out of the country, I guess?) but his girlfriend is a slow packer. When somebody rings the bell, he knows immediately that it means danger. But when Bank Guy and Miss Cop get there, Tae-Gyu is gone. Taken by force and now in the hands of Seo Jin-Gi's gangstas.
Were you as touched as I was that his Miss was someone pretty normal looking? He's so jealous of her I was expecting some experienced bar girl kind of Lee El woman (although clearly not as attractive as Lee El because come ON) but no, he's all hung up over the cute girl next door.
Yes! And I was so happy to see him again! Best comeback of the year! 

And Do-Hyeong loses it. The Shadows came and they took his last straw. And it seems he finally realizes WHAT it is he has gotten himself into. And what danger Joo-Young is in. In a very sweet moment, Yoon-Mi snaps him out of his panic attack and tells him that Joo-Young is probably safe right now. And that he will definitely find her. And it looks like he allows himself to hope.
Thank God for Yoon Mi and the voice of reason.

But then, we see Joo-Young standing there in the bathroom, remembering the sweet moments with her Banker - and knowing that he knows everything about her past after high school now. She says: "I'm sorry ... I'm sorry, Do-Hyeong oppa". The camera moves down her arm to reveal a razor blade in her hand.
Do not do the thing. Well whatever, she's going to do it but she won't die it's not the end yet. If anyone dies, it's him. You realize this, right?

Comments

Ouf. We've hit rock bottom. Death and despair, it's all that seems left. This was definitely not my favorite episode, but not because of the desolation - rather because it felt like it had no clear direction almost until the end, when it hits Do-Hyeong like a ton of bricks. I understand that Do-Hyeong had to meet Seo Jin-Gi in the flesh (and that took a while to set up in a believable manner), but the overall problem with the "reveal" is that we, the viewers, have known all that stuff about the Shadows for quite a while. While I "enjoyed" watching Do-Hyeong's meltdown and struggles, we did not learn anything new at all in this episode. Frankly, I had to pause and think about what Do-Hyeong (and Yoon-Mi and Joo-Young) didn't know before this episode to understand what this episode was about for them. In comparison to episodes 1-5, this is just extremely clumsy storytelling. 

Very true. There was a lot of stuff I simply forgot they didn't know. The show has been GREAT at skipping past details that aren't necessary to the story, so I wish we could have gone on just assuming that they figured some stuff out or left it for later or something, and moved the story forward.

At this point, I am not sure where this drama is going. We are almost at the halfway mark, which is happy-happy hour in any normal Kdrama, but this one isn't normal at all, thankfully. At this absolute low point for our main protagonists, how are we going to go forward? There are no more trees to shake for Do-Hyeong. Everybody that knew something about Seo Jin-Gi is either gone or dead. Joo-Young feels that her own death is the only solution: as a way out of her shame and to protect Do-Hyeong. Which is silly, of course, because he is SO on the radar of those people already.

Doesn't her girlfriend from the bar know him, too?

OH YOU'RE RIGHT! SHE DOES! 

I do not know how Do-Hyeong and Joo-Young are ever going to get out of this.  

Now's when we get into the mama issues.

And finally, to lighten the mood - look at these gifs from the OCN blog. Awwwwwwww. 

Awwwww.