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Witch Amusement: Episode 12

Ah, my Witch Amusement is back on track! (Ish.) Granted, by now I know the show isn’t what I’d hoped it would be, but this was a much more enjoyable episode than some recent ones have been. If only they could have compressed the last six episodes into two.

EPISODE 12 SUMMARY

Mu-ryong and Yoo Hee find themselves locked in the warehouse where her CF was filmed earlier. Having lost her phone (again), Yoo Hee uses Mu-ryong’s to try to call for help.

I’ll admit it gave my cynical heart a little thrill to see that Mu-ryong has Yoo Hee programmed as number 1 on his phone. Aw. I myself have my own voicemail programmed as 1, so I wonder what that says about me. In my defense, Cingular doesn’t allow you to designate your own number 1, creating chaos nationwide for couples in need of romantic affirmation from their inanimate objects. Anyway, it’s probably a subtle hint that the person Yoo Hee calls first (with no answer) was NOT Joon Ha, as she calls him second. Furthermore, she seems hesitant to impose on him — you know you’re not that close to your boyfriend when your sentences start out, “Um, I wonder if I could ask you a favor? Could you maybe come down here? You see, I’m locked in a strange place.” I don’t know about you guys, but I’m pretty sure I would’ve led with “Help! I’m locked up somewhere!” before worrying about how my imprisonment was inconveniencing my boyfriend’s leisure time. Just sayin’.

Unfortunately, the battery cuts out and she’s unable to direct him to her whereabouts, and it’s also telling that Joon Ha only seems mildly concerned about her plight until he learns that Mu-ryong is there with her, at which point he rushes out with his jealous game-face on. (I’d wondered why they needed to lose Yoo Hee’s phone again, but now it makes sense since they can’t both have their phone batteries die simultaneously. Now that would just be too coincidental.)

Yoo Hee takes out her anger on Mu-ryong, accusing him of loitering and causing them to get locked in. Mu-ryong defends himself, as he was the one doing her a favor in the first place. She says he could’ve told her no; he didn’t have to come. Mu-ryong: “Yeah, I know. I really regret coming enough as it is.”

Annoyed, Yoo Hee heads off alone, and sees something she might be able to use as a tool, on top of a tall shelf. She climbs up on a small chair in her heels and attempts to pry it loose — and do I even have to continue? She falls, Mu-ryong catches her, and he takes the brunt of the force when a box dislodges and falls on top of both of them.


(Seriously, though, it might’ve been a bit more impressive if the box contained something slightly more dangerous than teddy bears.)

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Seung Mi looks for Mu-ryong and hears from shirtless Johnny that he’d gone to do something for Yoo Hee, so she goes to Yoo Hee’s apartment. On her way out, she runs into a very pissy Joon Ha, who decides to wait frustratedly in his car.

To pass the time, Mu-ryong shows Yoo Hee some magic tricks (making things disappear, card tricks, illusions), which thoroughly entertain her. It’s very cute.

They lapse into conversation, starting with listing memorable foods they’ve eaten. Mu-ryong mentions his father’s cooking, Yoo Hee says Mu-ryong’s soup, and Mu-ryong says Yoo Hee’s spaghetti.

Yoo Hee: “Liar.”
Mu-ryong: “For real. It was your first dish ever, so how could I forget?”
And just as Yoo Hee’s about to be touched by the statement:
Mu-ryong: “Such awful spaghetti is truly hard to forget.”

Yoo Hee asks how he got into cooking, and Mu-ryong says he’d always loved it, because of his father. He only briefly tried to be a doctor because his mother wanted it so badly, and he happened to be pretty smart. But he always felt it was wrong for him. Mu-ryong asks why she refers to her father as President, and she says it’s how she was taught — “Before he was my father, he was the President. And before I was his daughter, I was his successor.”

Seeing Yoo Hee awkwardly dozing, Mu-ryong rests her head on her shoulder. She mumbles “Sorry” in her sleep, and Mu-ryong says, “I’m the sorry one. I lied earlier, when I said I regretted coming here. I missed you. I don’t regret coming.” Not realizing Yoo Hee’s awoken to hear it, they just rest there…

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After they’re let out in the morning, they rush to make it to the gathering put on by Yoo Hee’s father to celebrate the MK Group’s anniversary. Seeing them arrive together, hand in hand, Joon Ha’s jealousy and alpha-male ego flares, and he blames Mu-ryong for whatever perceived wrongdoing he’s committed. Yoo Hee breaks it up and assures Joon Ha that she’d just sent Mu-ryong on an errand and they got accidentally locked in together.

Mu-ryong rushes to get to work, where Johnny’s been worriedly wondering why he hasn’t shown up. I really like how Johnny’s concern overshadows any annoyance he may have had that Mu-ryong arrived so late.

Paran is fantastic as he takes the opportunity to grind some pepper into Joon Ha’s wineglass. It’s great! Joon Ha knows that Paran’s the guilty offender (tipped off when Paran sticks out his tongue at him, then pretends he was merely licking his lips), but can’t do anything about it.

I love Paran. I wish they’d explore more of the brotherly relationship he’s developing with Mu-ryong and Song Hwa, because that’s somehow more touching to me than any of the other romantic stuff. I can see Paran walking that line between diverging in two very distinct directions — one good, and the other very astray. In the beginning, he was cold and lonely, with a decided lack of fear and even respect for authority, in the way that very intelligent (and smart-assy) kids are. He was reaching out for warmth, but didn’t find it — not in any adequate form, at least. Had that continued, who knows what kind of detached, unpleasant person he could have become. But after meeting the Chae brothers, he’s found an outlet to be a kid, playing with bikes, arcade games, roller coasters and bumper cars… and some of his possibly-alarming tendencies have been curtailed into playful mischievousness. Like peppering his sister’s douchebag boyfriend’s wine! Witch Amusement is obviously about Yoo Hee’s transformation from a “witch” into a real, caring person because of Mu-ryong’s attention, but in some ways I feel his effect on Paran has been so much more significant.

::: End digression :::

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Unfortunately, due to the mad rush and bad timing, Mu-ryong is unaware of Johnny’s special instructions that there’s one guest who’s allergic to almonds — which you know is going to be a problem since the main dish is a lobster with almondine sauce. The guest collapses at his seat, prompting Johnny to flash back to possibly the funniest segment I’ve seen so far — although it’s entirely unintentional in its cheesiness.

I’m guessing from the flashback that Johnny suffers some emotional baggage due to the case of a patron dying at his restaurant from something he made. It’s so ridiculously melodramatic it could almost be a parody, but alas, it’s completely straight. Still hysterical though.

Irate at the turn of events, President Ma slaps Mu-ryong and insists that Johnny fire him. Johnny tries to take responsibility for the mistake, but Mu-ryong steps up and takes the blame.

Seung Mi chases after Yoo Hee to ask her: “Shouldn’t you take responsibily for what’s happened to Mu-ryong? He’s become like that because of you. He’s not the kind of person to make such a careless mistake. If you hadn’t called him yesterday — No, if only he wasn’t late today, none of this would have happened.” Mu-ryong interrupts to say it wasn’t Yoo Hee’s fault, but Seung Mi continues: “This woman has ruined your life!”

This is by far my favorite version of Seung Mi — because honestly, Yoo Hee is a little responsible. Not entirely, but it’s not fair if she escapes any criticism — she was being selfish calling Mu-ryong the day before. It was his decision to come running to her rescue, so it’s not like one person’s the villain. But I like that Seung Mi, despite being upset at Mu-ryong herself, tries to make Yoo Hee own up to her part in the mess.

Joon Ha tells Yoo Hee, while sneering at Seung Mi and Mu-ryong’s retreating backs, “Don’t worry. Those kinds of people are all alike. There’s no reason to give them any thought. Ignore them.” I wonder if she’s starting to think that having gotten what she wanted all along, he’s not so great after all.

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So Mu-ryong resigns. Johnny accepts the resignation despite liking Mu-ryong, because he recognizes that his mistake was big. I like this response, and the way that you can tell Johnny still likes Mu-ryong as a person, but his friendship doesn’t get in the way of professionalism. Mu-ryong understands that as well. Johnny thanks him for his work, and Mu-ryong leaves.

And doesn’t this feel like it would’ve made a fantastic midpoint to the series? If only this were in episode 8 and not 12, you’d have wondered with anticipation, How are they going to take the series from here? All these relationships are changing! What’ll they do now?

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Yoo Hee attempts to convince Johnny to take Mu-ryong back, feeling a large responsibility for what happened, but Johnny flatly refuses. Mu-ryong’s mistake was too big, and it’s only natural he pay the consequences.

While they’re talking, Joon Ha calls repeatedly, prompted by the President’s words earlier to marry Yoo Hee soon. That’s the only way Joon Ha will get the hospital he wants. (Although it’s not explicitly stated, I’m guessing from the conversations that the President has offered to set up a new hospital and appoint Joon Ha as the director, as long as Joon Ha fulfills the President’s wishes.) But in any case, Yoo Hee ignores his calls.

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Mu-ryong goes back to his parents and faces up to his failure. Despite how obviously saddened Mu-ryong is to disappoint them yet again, his family is supportive — and the Chae family gives me the warm fuzzies. They’re so weirdly functional. For instance, his mother tells Mu-ryong not to worry, he can always go back to medical school. Mu-ryong starts to protest, but she tells him she’s just using that as a saying — it means that he has options, not that he actually has to go back into medicine. And that shows she does get him in a way that she doesn’t always seem to have in the past.

Seung Mi brings up the topic of marriage, which Mu-ryong’s parents seem surprised at but happy to discuss, but Mu-ryong contradicts her and tells everyone, “No. We’re not getting married.” Clearly not the reaction Seung Mi was looking for, she leaves, angry.

Although this is yet another repeated conversation we’ve had a dozen times before, at least a new element is introduced this time: Seung Mi doesn’t care about his lack of stability or job and wants to get married, and asks him flat-out why they can’t. Is it because of Yoo Hee? Ever since he met her, he’s been acting strangely. Because of her, Seung Mi can’t rest easy — and Mu-ryong bursts out, “Stop it already!” Calmer, he says, “Stop it. I’m not going to get married.”

Seung Mi shows some (scary) mettle by telling him, “No. We’ll see about that. I’ll make it happen.”

…Creepy! Hide your bunnies, people. (But is it weird that I like her more now?)

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Home alone, Yoo Hee sees the notes Mu-ryong had left her and gets busy concocting an excuse to call him. She tells him to drop by and retrieve some plates he’d left behind.

Mu-ryong reminds her that those dishes were there even before he moved in, seeing through her excuse, and asks if she used it as a reason to call him over. She denies it, but suggests he stay for a bit. He could at least have some tea. Since he came all this way and everything.

Arriving at the door at that moment, however, is Joon Ha. Mu-ryong hides himself while Yoo Hee lets Joon Ha in, and as he tries to escape unnoticed, he overhears their conversation. Joon Ha tries to bring the conversation around to marriage (I presume), since he says, almost out of nowhere, that being together feels like they’re already married. He continues, saying he’s never felt so comfortable with someone before, not even with his ex-fiancee.

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A slight plot detour takes us to Song Hwa, who’s up for his model audition with MK Group. He looks the part, and everyone is pleased with his appearance. However, once he’s tested on his facial expressions, Song Hwa can only come up with one look for all three fake scenarios — whether he’s acting as an army soldier who’s dropped his precious, sole Chocopie into the toilet; or someone who’s won the lottery; or someone who’s had his heart broken.

One look may have worked for Zoolander, but Song Hwa fails. To compensate for his weak expressions, he’s asked if he has any hobbies or skills — and when he’s asked to demonstrate his Taekwondo, he can’t even lift his leg.

His mother explains to his girlfriend that he’s been unable to practice Taekwondo since high school. He was picked to be a member of the national team, but accidentally injured his best friend and fellow athlete with a stray kick, crippling one of his legs.

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Mu-ryong takes Seung Mi out, saying it’s to make up for all those times they’d postponed or cancelled. At dinner, though, he takes on a serious tone and tells her: “Let’s rethink our relationship.”

Leaving us hanging, we go to Yoo Hee’s surprise date with Joon Ha, where he presents her with something very closely resembling her fantasy date from a prior episode. Of course, Yoo Hee can’t help but think back to her simpler, cheaper date with Mu-ryong instead.

Anyone else feel like it’s a weird “ideal romantic date” location to pick a stage in an empty auditorium? To be sure, it creates a nice visual image, but I’m not sure if we’re to take meaning from the fact that there’s nobody present, and yet the two are up onstage in front of the empty chairs as though they must maintain their act.

And Yoo Hee looks on in surprise when Joon Ha presents her with a ring.

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Thank you so much! I love Paran and all of them. I wonder if she's going to say "YES!". I still want her to be with Johnny!
lol. First to comment!

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This episode makes me excited for the next one.=) I wonder how things will turn out.... Thanks for the summary Javabeans.

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First time commenting...your summaries are wonderful! As well as your beautiful caps. Even though I understand Korean pretty well, I always end up reading your summaries afterwards b/c they're so enjoyable.

I've always found JaeHee to be attractive, but he was so skinny in the beginning of the series and the elfin hair wasn't working. It's amazing what a little bit of "lift" in the hair and some extra meat on his bones can do...he's HOT, as your last two caps of him show. How I've missed seeing him on my screen...I hope he has a new project in the works when this series finishes.

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Maybe this time round, Paran will be the support for Song Hwa and the lil angel that convinces him to do Taekwondo again...
It is a little frustrating that Yoo Hee is always in this state of "what-she-thinks-she-should-feel". First she believes she's still in love with Joon Ha (ok I admit she probably was) and hurts many people in the process, and then prepares to accept Johnny, and now that she's with Joon Ha, she's not answering calls.

[Sidetrack]
I agree with your stand on how Kim Jeong Hoon can make the audiences love the bad guy.. But comparing the path he's taken to the one of Joo Ji Hoon after Goong, it's just really ironic. Personally, I feel Mawang's script is so much more powerful, besides the lovely art direction (as you have pointed out), yet Witch's Amusement still proves to have better ratings. Of course they are in different genres, but Witch's Amusement could have been a lot better even as a romantic comedy act.

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Thank you for the summary! I had to take a moment and ask myself "I'm reading summary for Witch Yoo Hee, right?" when I saw Eric's picture.

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If Mu-ryong was more forward with Seung Mi earlier, I probably would have liked him. But seeing how he is such an indecisive person and made so many excuses for his behaviour before - I think very little of him.

I like reading your blogs for this show since I can't force myself to watch it past episode 5. It started off really cute so I want to know how things work out.

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thanks sarah for this ep! i was waiting for it. gossh, this would have made a good ep8 as you put it. i hate to say it, but i knew it. SM couldnt be that perfect. impossible. i mean really now, she's like made a huge 360 and such a pushy person it seems. plus the impending introduction of johnny's gf is only distracting the story somemore, i dont know they are ending and they add a character??!? i love paran here, im sure he'd love the chae brothers. this shows MR isnt the type to get riled up a YH for that. he's happy to do it i think. gosh, i hope the JH and SM angles clear up sooner coz they cant end like this. and its 16 eps. i dont think they'll extend any. waaahhhh.. appealing to the writers and PD. pls wrap this up nicely.

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if you become to hate SM's character a bit. I'm pity her. She was a kind girl before, but she is now blinded by love, by MR, she loves him so much, so she becomes like that, she won't give him up. I blame the writer, why do they must make them like that?? everybody is sad because of love.

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Great summary!! I was laughing out loud while reading..love your side comments about certain scenes..made my day!! =)

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Thanks for your summary. I enjoyed reading it as usual!

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WOW, i like this film...., where i can get DVD ?
You are good writer, hehe..he...

Thanks for your info
best regards

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Wow.....Reading your sums are almost as satisfying as watcing the drama themselves....Thanks a bunch, my friend!!

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Thanks for episode 12. It's really great....can't wait for 13th.

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haha...its funny because i think i enjoy reading your summaries more than the actually drama...hehe "Hide your bunnies people" lol

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Thanks for the summary!! I can't speak Korean so I have to wait oh-so-patiently for the english subs from d-addicts. About SM, she did say that she and Mu-ryong where friends first until she wore him down into being her boyfriend. So I'm not too surprised that she'll "make it happen" with the marriage thing. Witch amusement is amusing eventhough it's freakin' episode 12 and Yoo hee STILL has not "officially" fallen in love with Mu-ryong yet. JaeHee is not traditionally attractive but when he smiles...ohhh mama! He's why I'm still watching the show. Can they just hook him up with Johnny?? LOL They're the only ones with chemistry around there.

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I can predict what's gonna happen!

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I'm so confused about what you're saying about Eric's face. Is there a picture somewhere in the wrong place?? If so, please tell me where so I can fix it!

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haha. i think u got mixed up with other dramas as well. when i saw Eric's face, i went to watch the drama, but couldnt find him anywhere. later, i went to see that it's MBC channel. =P
i think that's The Devils?

thanks for the summary. it helps to calm me down while waiting for the subs to come out.

i want JH+YH, but i think it's gonna be MR+YH.
JH is such a baddie. he wants YH for a hospital? does he even think that president ma might be lying?

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I so look forward to watch the scene where Paran grinds the pepper into Joon Ha's wineglass!

I'm still waiting for the English Hardsubs ep 8, so looks like I'm way ahead now!

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sorry, i was wrong [bcos i dont watch, so im just guessing]. =P

it's que sera sera.. [i got to know aft googling in wikipedia]

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thanks for your summery.

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conniving sneaky Joon Ha. hate him!

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Thanks for the summary! It's great, especially episode 12...can't wait to watch it here in the Philippines!!! =...) Please continue doing the summaries!!! ;P

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Javabeans, kudos and thanks for the wonderful and hilarious summaries of the episodes. I also got a big kick out of simi's comment above about hooking up MR and Johnny. It's true; it's seems like those two have the healthiest relationship out of everyone!

Nevertheless, I'm still rooting for WYH and MR to eventually get together (although if these two characters had existed in real life, they would really be a pair of immature losers).

;-)

Cheers all!

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"Creepy! Hide your bunnies, people."

Hahaha... love it! Thanks!

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lol... I'm totally stalking your blog for WA updates. I can't wait!

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What is this whole "Allison" plotline nonesense all of a sudden? Thanks javabeans for great summaries, they really are more entertaining that the actual drama, i know korean so i could watch the raw, but like a lot of ppl who have already posted, you're posts are way more fun and you weed out the snoozy parts.

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