My Beautiful Bride - Episode 8 (A ThisKicksAssCap)

Sorry for the delay, Squeeglets, I was on holidays with no internet. Wow, everybody should try it, it's lovely! But now I'm back and have some serious catching up to do. 

This episode gets 100 non-smiley faces :-( from me. It's just as desolate as 7 if not more so: There still is no hope - no hope for anybody. And there is no reason to hope either.

I'll be honest. I know I watched it, but I'll be learning what happens in the recap, same as the rest of you.

Not to worry. Given the novels I tend to write, you'll remember every litle detail :) 

Two big buttheads

Episode 8

Blood flows over the bathroom floor. It signals an end to this miserable, failed life full of shame - and it's a sacrifice, to make the danger to sweet Kim do-Hyeong stop. All of this is useless of course - and like so many suicide attempts, it (thankfully) fails and ends with Joo-Young being rushed to the hospital, alive.
I was fascinated, watching the blood flow along the tile lines. He wouldn't have stopped, she was dumb to think that. Desperate, I guess. Poor kid.

Unaware of this tragedy, Kim Do-Hyeong returns to the place where it all started: Park Tae-Gyu's old office. It's the only place he knows to come to, he says. Poor man. Yoon-Mi is trotting behind him listlessly. Is she his watch dog now? Good luck, woman. I told you to tie him to a JoAnne's bed.
Please POLICE. Please, please, do the police thing. You are a cop. BE ONE. Stop letting your guilt turn you into a puddle of feeling sorry. Stop feeling guilt at all, and just HELP the guy, for the love of all that is holy!

But when all seems lost and finding those Shadows seems an impossibility, somebody we have forgotten about suddenly pops up behind one of the desks. Literally. Hahaha, this is funny (though not deliberately so, I guess?): it's factory owner and daughter-seller President Jo! He is completely drunk - but still hoping to find his daughter. It's the shadow link! The shadow link! Well, it might be, but Do-Hyeong does not yet realize it. Yet.

It was funny, I agree! So he just goes there and drinks and waits for someone to show up?

At the hospital, a nurse and a cleaning lady recognize Joo-Young from one of those "Missing"-fliers that her brother prepared. I guess a reward is promised seeing how they both scramble to call first? The cleaning lady wins the race, gets to the flyer first and calls the number on it. Joo-Young's brother answers!
This was also funny.

President Jo is slurping noodles in Park Tae-gyu's office like he hasn't eaten for days (which he probably hasn't) when Do-Hyeong's phone rings. And out he runs (Yoon-Mi in tow) upon hearing the news! Is it Christmas already? Joo-Young has been found!
...and the drama is over and they live happily ever after! Hahahahahaaha, no.

Nooooo, but look who's already at the hospital! Lee Jin-Sook! She saunters in like she owns the place, but she also just found out about Joo-Young's suicide attempt. On the way to Joo-Young's room, she comes across the nurse/cleaning lady, who are fighting because of the reward. She gives them quite a bit of money (so full of contempt) but adds a warning: no talking. Or else.
They're worthy of contempt.

But when Jin-Sook gets to the room, Joo-Young is no longer there. The woman can barely walk, but she is determined to leave before her family can find her. Stupid woman. Now, Do-Hyeong has arrived! Joo-Young sees him downstairs - and instinctively hides. She then sees Yoon-Mi running after him ... which gives her even more pause. Why might that be?
I think she just wasn't aware that they had connected, and Yoon Mi knows things about Joo Young that JY still thinks are a secret from Do Hyeong.

Upstairs, Joo-Young's brother is causing a scene. Actually, it's understandable ... I wouldn't be very happy if my hurt and weak sister was able to just walk out. When the nurse calls Joo-Young's sister-in-law ugly, things get out of hand. That's when Do-Hyeong appears - sorry, dude, you still don't have any luck. Downstairs, Joo-Young runs into Lee Jin-Sook... and follows her willingly. I guess because it means a kind of safety? And because she wants to protect Do-Hyeong? I'm not sure I understand her fully.
What nurse would EVER behave that way with relatively little provocation? As for Joo Young's thought process, I can only assume that she's doing what she thinks she must in order to keep that ugly world away from Do Hyeong. She still thinks he's in the dark, and she has NO idea of what he's been through to get to this point.

Joo-Young claims she won't regret her decision, but when she's in the car and it starts driving away, she sees Do-Hyeong ... running. Searching. And not seeing her. She cries. If this isn't regret, I don't know what is.

If she has a regret, it's that she got him involved at all. She is not regretting her decision to disappear, not even a little bit. She's sad about it, she wishes it weren't so, but she isn't thinking she made a mistake when she did it. Not by a long shot.

They have no idea where Joo-Young disappeared to and they cannot have a look at the CCTV files without a warrant (hey, they DO have privacy in Korea!). The nurse is also tight lipped .. until Joo-Young's brother has a go at her because of JY's pregnancy, which would require extra care. But she wasn't pregnant! The nurse shouts. Oh no ........ :((
Oh dear. This is something he DIDN'T know...

I really didn't want this to happen :((((( On top of everything he has gone through, Do-Hyeong learns about Joo-Young's miscarriage this way.
Back a ways, there was speculation that he knew from the blood in the kitchen that she'd had a miscarriage. I thought that was quite a mental leap, but somehow forgot between then and now that all this time, he's been searching desperately for the woman he loves, who is the mother of his child. Thinking about that additional level of fear he must have had, and now watching him learn that his child is gone...man, that hurts.

And thus he grieves on the rooftop at night. His sadness breaks my heart ... Yoon-Mi follows him up there eventually after what seems hours - it's pitch dark now. You know when you're incredibly, terribly sad ... and suddenly, you're exhausted and there is this hollow feeling inside of you, but no more tears come? That's the point he reaches. 
He howls, there's no other word for it. It's sort of like when Gaksital's mother died and Joo Won just lost it. Not quite, but pretty damned close.

He starts functioning again, kinda ... and continues where they left off. The next possible clue: the ambulance. They must have an address! But they don't - just a guy's name as guardian. Jin-Sook shut them all up with money, it seems.
This woman is very competent, I'll give her that.

At Jin-Sook's mansion, Joo-Young realizes her foolishness. Her unni tells her that Bank Guy will not stop if she dies. He will continue ... until his own death. She has to clean up her own mess - all of it. There is no easy way out (meaning hiding). 
And just how is she supposed to do that? And are you offering help?

The ambulance was just another dead-end ... this calls for another discussion on the rooftop. This is what they decide: a) Yoon-Mi wants to distribute more of the "missing person"-flyers tomorrow, there could be a chance somebody has seen her. And b) she is quite sure that whoever brought and took her means at least marginally well for Joo-Young. But Do-Hyeong is not buying this consolation-attempt. His woman attempted suicide - for him, this is the worst. Yoon-Mi tries to lift his spirits again by pointing out that the repeat rate in case of failed suicide is very low, but that just makes him more angry. Him basically believing Joo-Young a lost cause makes Yoon-Mi angry in turn. Angry is good! It's much better than despair.
Seriously. Maybe she'll get off her metaphorical butt and try THINKING.

Yoon-Mi drives Do-Hyeong home. He tells her that he will never be able to stop now. Even if he finds Joo-Young and reunites with her: he cannot forget the Shadows. Yeah, great. Bye, bye, Do-Hyeong. If they kill you at the end of this drama, I'm going on strike.

I sorta feel like he's going to die, but I want to be wrong.

There are little things that tell us that Yoon-Mi really cares for Do-Hyeong ... it's kinda sweet. She had his door repaired - and there is a new code. But when Do-Hyeong is upstairs, he remembers setting the prior passcode with Joo-Young. It was the date they moved in together. The promised each other to remember forever. That there is a different code now just drives home what they have lost.

So set it back to what it was. Sheesh. There's more important things to do, man.

And we get no break. He starts disassembling the crib when he's inside ... talking to Joo-Young, apologizing for her hardship. "Please trust in me ... and wait", he sobs. Oh the fear and anguish ... sometimes I wish, he were a slightly less convincing actor :(
Could you please just suck a little bit, dude? Give us a break?

In the parking garage, Yoon-Mi still sits in the car ... remembering his anger on the rooftop. She looks at her wrist ... where there are scars. From a suicide attempt.
Finally some Yoon Mi background?

And she remembers ... and we learn. Her parents died when she was a teenager. Her father was a vicious loan shark. A client burned down his office. Everybody knows about her father's source of income and she becomes an outcast at school, soon hiding her face behind her long hair. She attempts suicide. When the police capture the man who killed her parents, she demands to know whether they really were that evil ... but the man only screams at her and pushes her to the ground.
Interesting...

To her rescue comes ... Park Hyeong-Sik!
Wow, so he's quite a bit older than she is. And took advantage of her in her youth and vulnerability? Do we add this to his crime of being a deceitful fuck?

Who is meeting Lee El at that bar again in the present. Smiling her typical smile, she asks whether he wants to sleep with her tonight (what do you think ... do they have a history? It's quite possible) At the police station, Yoon-Mi is waiting for him ... and finally calls him. But he does not answer.
I don't know about you but I don't think they ever have. I don't think he likes her at all, and I think she does this to see if she can get a rise out of him. For a guy who's colluding with the enemy, I actually think he's a good cop and a loving boyfriend and that somehow he's done this one thing, but I don't know why, and I think he pretty much hates having done it.

He has come to confront Lee El about her boss once again. She is very surprised he knows his name, but keeps a straight face. She denies remembering the name Seo Jin-Gi even after he shows her some photos of him and her (he got them from Lee Jang-Ho's phone). He wants her to tell Jin-Gi he no longer wants to do "shit jobs". Hm. I still can't figure him out!!
Yeah, same here.

As soon as he is alone and in his car, he gets in touch with Yoon-Mi and they meet in a restaurant. She is feeling very low tonight and that is why she asks him for an hour without any case-related talk. We learn that he does not remember that he has met her when she still wore her hair in front of her face. And we also learn that he is quite a sweet guy ... on the surface, I guess. 
I'm glad he didn't take advantage of the child, and somehow, I hate to say it, but I don't think the sweet is an act. I don't know what he's mixed up in, and he could prove to be a person of weak character, but right now it feels like he made a bad decision a while ago and has no idea how to turn it around.

What he does not know: Seo Jin-Gi is not one to scare easily ... and while he leaves Park Tae-Gyu and his honey with a few of his guys (and President Jo's daughter! Who is a servant for them! (I hope that's the only thing she is, but I also know it's wishful thinking)) he makes his move. Which starts with a phone call - and ends with the realization on Park's part that Seo Jin-Gi is inside their apartment. Okay, that's pretty scary. Jin-Gi warns Detective Park to stop fighting him and threatens to tell Yoon-Mi about his involvement with the bad guys. Park seems in deep. Very deep. And it's probably a matter of a few episodes until Yoon-Mi catches him lying.
I did not realize that was Jo's daughter. I know they had placed some visual emphasis on her a couple of times so I knew she'd be important at some point, but I didn't realize who she was.

Do-Hyeong is at Yoon-Mi's brother (and mother) place, where he curls up in her bed. And cries. :(((

He needs kisses. Many many kisses.

The next day (or after some few days, seeing how all his cuts are healed), Do-Hyeong returns to the bank. But not to work ... he asks his boss for some time off and gets it. Two weeks. Do-Hyeong is quite suspicious of his boss, by the way, seeing how he clearly has a link to the loan sharks or rather, to Park Tae-Gyu's shadow company. It's likely tax fraud on a large scale! His friend promises to help him look into the accounts.
And all of a sudden I'm suspicious of him again but I think that's just because KDrama has conditioned me to suspect the nice friend.

At Lee Jin-Sook's, Joo-Young remembers a name she has heard: 딱새 (Ttaksae), which seems to be a guy's gangster or code name. She thinks he is responsible for betraying and killing Song Hak-Soo. Is she just trying to fool Jin-Sook here? I guess so, since she knows fully well who is after her. Anyway, Lee Jin-Sook knows the gangster world well enough to realize that Joo-Young knows something that could be dangerous to this Ttaksae guy because there's somebody higher up the ladder who wouldn't like to hear about that thing she knows. Someone known simply as "Chairman" - that's all that Joo-Young knows (she claims).
So is the Chairman the guy in the tracksuit? Or is the Chairman Banker Mom? Banker Dad?
Also, Jin Sook's living room (below) looks like a boat.
Tracksuit guy goes by Chairman Kang - but you're right. It could be anybody.

Jin-Sook goes out and leaves Joo-Young alone. With a phone and after getting her promise to stay put and not to call Bank Guy. As soon as she can, Joo-Young calls her hostess friend - who is at a hotel. She is asking her about a recorder she asked her to get, but hostess friend does not have it. Thus, Joo-Young puts on a baseball hat and goes ... to Do-Hyeong's apartment building! Bloody hell. (Do-Hyeong is out, distributing "missing person" flyers :((
So silly, these promises. Why even bother filming them?

She calls his landline and when nobody picks up, she goes up. It seems he has changed the passcode back to the date they moved in. Once inside, she gets emotional, but determination wins. The recorder is among her panties. She is about to run out when she sees the crib standing there. :(((( The pillow cases on the bed read "I Promise I'll Be There For You".
And thus, she learns that he found out she was pregnant. Oy, the tears. She hasn't even had a moment to mourn the loss herself, and now she has his pain, too. I need these kids to make it, Kakashi. They have to make it out of this.
YES :(((((

When Bank Guy gets home, he immediately realizes that someone was inside (instinct? smell?) ... and then he sees freshly washed white shirts on a rack by the window. He stands there, not quite believing his eyes, when his phone rings. "It's me", she says. She is standingon a balcony across from him - far away.

I didn't realize that at first he couldn't see her over there... I loved this scene. Next episode, though!

Comments

Well, at least she can explain her noble idiocy now. That's good, because I hate noble idiocy. It's always idiotic. In this case too, unfortunately: It's absolutely clear that he is already deeply caught up in this whole mess, how will removing herself from him be of ANY help? She should know him better. She knows he knows everything and is still running after her like a crazy person. Does she think he'll ever stop?
I think she hoped, but this episode killed that illusion for her.

I liked that we got some backstory for Yoon-Mi in this episode, because she remains an overall lifeless character with little true purpose. But why would she become a cop to rat out loan sharks if her parents were loan sharks? Guilt? I hope we get to know more of it. As for Detective Park, he still remains hard to figure out: why is he doing all this? Money was mentioned, so it could be he or his family is in debt? He had to tell Yoon-Mi a couple of pretty bad lies in this episode and I am certain she'll get suspicious soon. It won't be pretty when she finds out.
I'm actually not looking forward to it - imagine how devastating!

Have some more BTS pics and gifs from the OCN blog:

oooh he's a handsy guy, I like that