My Beautiful Bride - Episode 14 (A ThisKicksAssCap)

As we rush towards the end, we get to see less and less Banker and more and more other people.

I don't mind much, because the story remains gripping and I'm dying to see the bad guys punished. Still, we know this is the home stretch and so does the drama: everybody becomes more reckless as the urgency increases. Still, it will be alright. Won't it? 
I'm no longer willing to entertain the idea that Banker dies and Joo Young morphs into The Incredible Revenging Woman and takes down all the loan sharks. No. Banker must live. He MUST. And because his happiness is important to me, Joo Young must live, as well.

Episode 14

Seo Jin-Gi is down - and possibly dying. That would normally be a moment to cheer loudly, but nobody witnessing it seems particularly happy? In the early morning light, he is rushed to a hospital and straight into emergency surgery. Janggab is taken to the police station and into custody. He is giggling merrily (or maybe Banker hit him a bit hard?) at the thought of his boss dying. Yoon-Mi is frantically washing Jin-Gi's blood off her hands ... and off her face. Finally, the truth of her Lover's betrayal seems to sink in. But maybe she needs another episode, who knows.
I'm very frustrated with you, Yoon Mi. Get your shit together! DO something. And not something stupid.

He is there, waiting for her in the hospital corridor. She looks like a sleepwalker and he is quite concerned about her well-being, but she needs a few seconds to collect herself until she can answer him. She's pretending that nothing between them is amiss ... but tells him she wants to be alone. Well, that suits her listless character. I would have kicked him where it hurts. And her too, because her character really annoys me.
They really have no idea what to do with this character. She could have been AWESOME. I'm so distressed about it, you have no idea.

"Being alone" in her case seems to mean be with Do-Hyeong. Hehe. They meet in an empty hospital room, keeping the usual distance between themselves. She informs him she found the rat, and that she is very sorry. She will have to find evidence of his wrongdoing and arrest him now, right? It's interesting, she seems to (correctly) assume that Do-Hyeong already knows who it is. Surprisingly, Do-Hyeong shows a bit of compassion for Park's plight. He says that it's up to her to decide what to do to him.
He's a compassionate man and he's demonstrated with Joo Young that he doesn't try to impose his will on people, so I think leaving it up to her is very much in line with his general behavior.

Throwing his spoon onto the table when he gets the news about Director Seo's hospitalization: Chairman Kang. They better get ready if he lives, he says, and Secretary Kim quickly suggests to kill Seo off, misunderstanding him. That amuses the Chairman. It's not Seo he loves, but the bank loan he needs. And that means keeping Seo alive.
At this point, the fact that this man is eating every single time we see him just makes me laugh.

Bank Guy meets with Park Tae-Gyu, to tell him that everything is over now: Seo is half-dead, Janggab will testify against him, and Tae-Gyu's name is cleared. But Tae-Gyu is of a different mind: nothing is over. They only have Janggab's word and no evidence. If Janggab disappears, they have nothing. Does he not know how scary the shadows and the ones behind them are by now? That gets Do-Hyeong thinking and he runs out (still not telling Tae-Gyu anything about his Mi-Sook >.<). He calls Yoon-Mi to warn her about the danger to their prime witness.
This is what I mean! Why hasn't Yoon Mi thought of this already and arranged protective custody? Does Korea not have witness protection?

At the hospital, Judas Park hears from the surgeon that the operation went well. Seo Jin-Gi will live.

At the Tracksuit restaurant, Secretary Kim gives the order to kill Janggab - protecting the loan (=Seo) is the top priority. And then, Glove is put into a police car (he looks terrified) and driven we-don't-know-where. Chief of Police's order. DAMN. On the street, the police car is rammed by a black car ... and while the guys in the car still recover from the impact, a motorbike pulls up and Janggab is strangled with a wire.
So the Chief is dirty, too. (Aren't they always?)

At the hospital, Detective Park meets Secretary Kim for the first time and a little chitchat in the parking garage follows. Park is quite surprised (and suspicious!) to hear that this guy wants Seo Jin-Gi dead as well. Secretary Kim guessed Park wouldn't trust him - but he refuses to explain who he is. He brought a bag of money, instead, and that seems to work. He also gives Judas Park a syringe to inject Seo Jin-Gi with. Back at the hospital, Judas Park gets ready to do just that.
Judas, you are hopeless. Weak, morally bankrupt. Undeserving of the sadness Yoon Mi feels over you.

But how to get past the guard? Well, when Judas approaches the room, there IS NO GUARD! He takes the opportunity and sprints into the room ... only to find the guard handcuffed to the bed and Seo Jin-Gi gone. Lee El kidnapped him! She sure is dedicated to Mr. Asshole.
I never thought she cared about him at all, and even here I assumed she just knows which side her bread is buttered on... but later I change my mind.

Do-Hyeong and Yoon-Mi don't know about this, yet. But they realize that this hit and run had nothing to do with the Shadows. This was Top Dog's doing aka Chairman Kang of Myeongdong. And then, they get the news about Jin-Gi's disappearance (and a video to see). Yoon-Mi seems to recognize Lee El ... but lies to Do-Hyeong about it. That's not good! They go to Jin-Gi's office, which is empty, of course. Yoon-Mi thinks they're back to square one, but Do-Hyeong does not. He tells her this is about a certain bank loan and some construction scam - they will find Seo.
Why would she lie to him?

His friend calls and he goes to meet him at a restaurant. Damn! He did something stupid (sent under qualified clients to the loan sharks ... we're reminded once again how bankers and loan sharks are quasi only different on paper) and Branch Manager has him for that. It means no more investigation, especially since Shim's wife is pregnant. Well, that restricts the Kang-catching options a bit.
I had worked out all my suspicions of him already, so now that I see this, my assumption is that the guy has no idea how ruthless the sharks are and just thinks he's offering a ray of hope to people who are in a bad way. They didn't mention any kickbacks or anything, right?

Should have been shirtless here

Yoon-Mi meets her sunbae at a pojangmacha - and asks him full out whether he knows Lee El. He denies all knowledge of her. Park ... stop lying. It's pathetic! Yoon-Mi shares with him that Lee El is most likely the one who knows where Seo is - and then tells him about her younger self and that cool detective who caught her parents' murderer. "Sunbae - Please go back to then", she adds and leaves. Damn. It must hurt.
Why would you keep lying, you fool? You weak, pathetic excuse for a man. Yoon Mi may not be the smartest cop in the precinct but she's a good woman and you have BLOWN IT.

When Do-Hyeong gets home, Yoon-Mi is waiting for him in the lobby of his apartment building. In their frankest conversation to date, she asks him how he can get by like this. "I hurt", he answers. But he knows that Joo-Young is thinking of him too. And he can't let her down - that is why he endures. And that's probably how Joo-Young gets by too. What he's saying, Yoon-Mi, is this: suck it up. 
Yep. Stop moping around and DO SOMETHING. If she does do something smart and effective, even if she dies doing it I will feel better about her.

Lee Jin-Sook asks her protege what she intends to do now, knowing Do-Hyeong knows she's alive. Joo-Young says she can't go back - she has no right. THAT again, bleh. Jin-Sook tells her that Bank Guy quite clearly doesn't give a damn about her past. Joo-Young seems to know that too - but she cannot help hating herself a lot and feel ashamed and embarrassed. Because of how great he is and how useless she is. Blablabla. She wanted to rewrite everything, but now, that chance is gone. He knows everything. Ahhhh, honey ... he always knew.
Seriously, she KNEW he knew. How could she not know that he knew? Is she an idiot? Be done with this foolishness!

Sitting outside his apartment with Yoon-Mi, Do-Hyeong repeats the lie that he only got to know Joo-Young three years ago. He will keep lying about this until he dies, because he promised, won't he? He also shows Yoon-Mi the photo of Lee El that Park Hyeong-Sik gave him. I'm not entirely sure what Yoon-Mi makes of it, but she seems agitated.
Well, it's proof he lied to her again, if she wasn't sure before. How much proof does she need? I'm seriously irritated with her this morning.

Lee El is keeping watch over Seo Jin-Gi in a nice apartment before she needs to head out. What she doesn't know is that Lee Jin-Sook has sent Joo-Young to find her, well knowing that this will lead them to Seo too. Joo-Young shadows Lee El as she enters a building (looks a lot like that bar-building to me). Joo-Young follows her in an elevator and almost gets recognized by Shim Han-Joo! What is he doing here??! It's some fancy bar with private rooms and Han-Joo is here to meet with Branch Manager and Lee El, who introduces herself as from "Song Jin"-Interior Design. Damn.
Oh geez, that's a neat tie-up right there. Also, this was the part where I began to think Lee El actually has feelings for Seo. You know, she looked pretty anxious sitting there by his sickbed, and the look she gave him before she left... I dunno. I began to think she does care about him.

Joo-Young leaves and goes to sit in her car, to think about her next move. (More like to think about thinking about whether thinking about a move feels like something she might want to think about.) Upstairs, Banker Friend is still loyal enough to Do-Hyeong to call him and tell him where he is. At about the same time, Joo-Young calls Yoon-Mi and asks for her help. Too late .... because Park Hyeong-Sik has just entered that private room and drags Lee El out with him. She screams at him and his silliness, that they're almost at the end, they just need to run away now! But for him, this is not the end. They would have to run away forever, living a lie. He threatens to arrest her again if she does not tell him where Jin-Gi is - and it seems she tells him.
So what the hell, then. It seems like she has some feelings for these guys both? I don't fool myself into thinking she wouldn't turn either of them over if it saved her own butt, though.

Now, Do-Hyeong arrives. Upstairs, he meets his Banker friend who is quite upset about what just happened. And here comes Yoon-Mi. Only she sees Lee El walking to her car, breaks hard, and arrests her. Haha, she handcuffs her to the passenger assist handle (I had to google this word, I don't even know what it's called in German). But she isn't taking her to the station! No, she is going where Seo Jin-Gi is. Where Park also went.
Well, I give Yoon Mi credit for consistency. On those occasions when she does do something, she always does the wrong thing. The stupid thing. The reckless thing. I'm getting very tired of her.

Oh, Park ... he breaks in, goes against the two guards, successfully. But when Park turns his head, Seo Jin-Gi's bed is empty! In a moment of inattentiveness, one of the guards manages to hit Detective Park over the head hard and he goes down, bleeding. Yoon-Mi is racing up the stairs. There are a lot of them. Park sees Seo Jin-Gi approaching him. He picks him halfway up and then he stabs him in the abdomen. Goodbye, Park Hyeong-Sik. Yoon-Mi is still racing up. Jin-Gi (he is shaky) gets ready to leave.
In that moment of inattentiveness the man who'd been deeply asleep/unconscious after surgery managed to silently get out of bed, quietly put on street clothes that were what? hanging in the closet? (Because they weren't in the room when we saw him in bed.), then marshal the brain power and energy to clobber a cop. Impressive.

Yoon-Mi has finished racing and arrives at the right floor. The door is ajar ... and then she finds her sunbae in a pool of his own blood. "I remembered", he croaks, "your face back then." Struggling for breath he adds: "Don't ever hide your face behind your hair again. You are too pretty". And then, he closes his eyes.
Since neither of them ever actually do anything decisive, he won't die.

Outside, Lee El is sitting hand-cuffed in the car, when Seo Jin-Gi stumbles out. Barefoot. When she seems him, she tries to hide her face, terrified ... yes, she betrayed him. He sees her and lifts his hand with the gun he took from Detective Park, but he does not fire, he drops the gun and gets into his own car. He is hurting a lot, probably also emotionally. 
Awww, did da poor baby gangster get his widdle feewings hurt?

Off the car goes ... but here comes Banker, it's perfect timing. He blocks their car with his car, and while his two gangsterlings take on Do-Hyeong, Seo Jin-Gi flees on foot (and with shoes now). Seo Jin-Gi is a smart little devil, he goes back to Yoon-Mi's car and with a "Glad to see me?", he drives off, with Lee El next to him. Once again, Do-Hyeong is chasing a car by running after it, but nope, no chance, unless he grows wings or uses rocket shoes.
Lee El's character must have been shitting bricks right about then.

He catches his breath when another car pulls up next to him. It's Joo-Young. Hell YEAH.
NOW WE'RE TALKING.

Comments

I won't lie, I'm glad the Park-arc is over. Don't get me wrong, he was a well-played and well-written character (actually one of the more interesting in my opinion), but the dilemma was dragged out too much, mainly because Yoon-Mi is such a BORE. Seriously, can somebody inject her with adrenaline or something?! She took 3 or more episodes to come to terms with his betrayal, which may be how normal human beings would react to such a shock, but it took too long in drama-terms. It just reinforced her constantly wavering, unassertive character to the point where I wanted to scream at her.
He was interesting. I liked him in that sense. I wish we'd been privy to a bit more of his backstory, but it wasn't really necessary so I can't complain about that. I liked that in this very understated way they just had him KEEP making the weak decisions, digging himself ever deeper into that pit.
Yes, he was thoroughly human and believable. R.I.P., Detective Park.

Now we "only" need to find Seo Jin-Gi and Chairman Kang, kill them or arrest them, and we'll be done. Well ... not quite. I do hope Joo-Young will get over her shame when he tells her he has always loved her and always knew exactly who she was. They deserve their happiness and I really hope they get it. I'm not as afraid anymore that Do-Hyeong will die by the end of the drama, but I remain weary. I know this writer.
If she keeps this up I'll get pissed. The thing is, when they first met? All she had to be 'embarrassed' about was that she was POOR. She wanted to rewrite the scenario and be someone he'd be proud of? Then work your ass off, go to college, get a decent job, and hope you run into him again. When are they going to explain why she decided that the best way to get over her 'shameful' past of being poor was to become a BAR GIRL and then the girlfriend of a CRIMINAL? Had she given up on that dream? How come we aren't getting any of that story?
Wasn't it about her useless brother and that loan he got? He couldn't pay that back, hence the little sister had to go work as hostess. No? Would make sense though, cause not paying loan=shadows move in and take you and your loved ones.