I Am Legend: Episode 12

by kaedejun

After the epic-ness that was the MoaE vs. Seol Hee face-off, I felt that this episode was on the boring side. There were too much Seung Hye, MoaE, and law-jingo that I was craving for more performances and more music. And yes – I am nearly bald after all the hair pulling. There was only one highlight though, which is also the song of the day:

I Am Legend OST – “You” Duet by Lee Joon Hyuk and Kim Jung Eun [download]

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The appearance of MoaE merits a meeting at a cafe. MoaE rightly observes that the family must have been burdensome for Seol Hee, since her personality is back in full force. Ha! No kidding. She gets right to the point: Seol Hee needs to back off from the case, especially if she’s trying to use the market lawsuit as a way of revenge. *Sigh – there appears the Dratted Excuse again.

MoaE warns Seol Hee that she can never win, especially since with this case she will be going up against the entire Cha family. But Seol Hee isn’t interested in winning: “A long time ago you told me to behave like a member of a family involved in law, right? If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to cheat money from poor people because it’s embarrassing.”

Oooh – MoaE gets up to slap her, but stops midway. Seol Hee stands right back up, and it’s a stare-down. I love that Seol Hee even leans forward just a bit, as though daring MoaE to slap her. It doesn’t help MoaE that Seol Hee is also taller than her…

Seol Hee wins – sort of – and leaves first.

Back to the band! The girls go out for a round of drinks and celebrate the success of their first performance. But wait – what is Ah Reum doing there when she’s supposed to be practicing with Red Punch? What if she gets kicked out? With much bravado, Ah Reum says it’ll just be their loss. Wooh! A round of cheers and Soo In wonders why Tae Hyun isn’t at the bar yet.

Just then, Seol Hee gets a call from Professor Jo’s daughter, and she rushes out to meet her. As she gets into a cab, Tae Hyun drives up to the bar and sees her leave. So Tae Hyun – will you stay at the bar or will you go see what your lady is up to?

Seol Hee reaches the deserted marketplace and sees the daughter – Jo Eun Ji – waiting for her. But just before they can make any headway in their conversation, they are interrupted by three hooligans in suits. Even though they want to “talk,” they move in threateningly on Seol Hee.

She wraps her mini-dress’s train around her arm, and when they lunge, she attacks! She punches and kicks – in heels! – and starts to drag Eun Ji to run away. A hooligan grabs her hair and she head butts him! Now free, she runs for the exit with Eun Ji – and Tae Hyun flies right past her to sock a punch into those guys. Huh – what is up with musicians and fighting skills? Plus, he is definitely not one to stand by the sidelines.

He tells Seol Hee to run for it, but she spies a stick and starts helping Tae Hyun beat the guys back. The watchman arrives with one of the market ladies and the hooligans run for it. During this whole time, Eun Ji has run away.

Seol Hee tries to call her back, but the girl hangs up on her right away and shuts off her phone. With much concern, Tae Hyun tells her she should stop worrying about others, since she still has to take care of herself. But Seol Hee states that there are a lot of people who depend on her, and she seems quite proud at the fact that she is needed and wanted.

Not willing to back off, she goes to find Eun Ji as the girl gets off from school. Eun Ji doesn’t want to talk anymore, and Professor Jo appears to grab his daughter and tell Seol Hee to butt out. It’s mighty suspicious, so she goes to Jin Bae. They notice that Professor Jo received $500 more in moving expenses, but it’s not significant enough to make him sell out the other merchants. Jin Bae wants Seol Hee to find out if any of the other merchants were threatened by some force, and he hands her car keys so that she can get around more easily.

Woohoo! Sun roof time!

Accolades flow in through the uploaded video of the Comeback Madonna Band singing at the festival. Some people start wondering if there’s a recorded version of it, and Kwang Yul suggests that they make an official version at a recording studio. Yay! But what about Ah Reum?

Ah Reum’s manager is NOT HAPPY that she appeared in a performance with a bunch of ahjummas without telling her first. One more roguish act like that and Ah Reum will be cut from the contract and have to pay the contractual fee. But when Ah Reum gets word that the girls need a guitarist, off she goes!

They go to the guitar store that Min Kyu now works at to pick out their instruments. Min Kyu stops Ah Reum to find out what’s going on – isn’t she playing hooky with Red Punch? – but Ah Reum just shrugs him off. Looks like she wants to cancel her contract.

What follows is a nicely cut montage as the girls sing “We Will Comeback” in the guitar store and the recording studio (with Tae Hyun watching behind the glass window). The recording is a success and Tae Hyun gives the gals a thumbs-up each.

Now in regards to the case… Ji Wook expresses his wish to wrap up the market case ASAP, which shocks Seung Hye. If it’s supposed to be a family matter, he should be working harder at it to win, rather than wanting to get it over with. Seung Hye suspects that Seol Hee’s involvement is the reason why he’s making less of an effort, but Ji Wook shuts her up with, “Let’s not talk about that.”

To up the stakes, MoaE visits Ji Wook and tells him that she’s personally involved in the case. I assume that means that if the case gets to court, MoaE will be under investigation as well. The family will be under great scrutiny because the uncle did make some shady deals, and for a family that aspires to get into politics, this will be quite a stain on their reputation.

Ji Wook stresses – and I actually feel bad for him. He doesn’t want to face his ex-wife, who is stubbornly going to go through with the case, but he has to go through with the case. His and his family’s reputations are on the line.

However, MoaE has a backup plan. She calls Seung Hye out for a meeting and frankly tells her that she wants Seung Hye to take over the case and make sure it never reaches court. With an unapologetic sneer and the added compliment, “I feel like you could do anything,” MoaE pretty much forces Seung Hye to take the case. Of course she would take the case, since she needs to impress MoaE so that she can become a worthy daughter in law, but also because she doesn’t like the fact that Ji Wook is getting swayed by Seol Hee.

Back at the market, Seol Hee finds out that there was a fire a few months ago that affected 5 stalls. It was reported to the police, but not much came out of it. At the same time Seung Hye approaches the director of the market and the protesters, and offers 5x the moving expenses to each of the stall owners. That’s a hefty amount, even though Seung Hye reiterates that the construction company will not be paying back the premiums since they are not obligated to do so.

The director bravely says that he will not take a cent, so Seung Hye adds another layer of threat: do they all realize that even if they win the case, the money that each of them will receive won’t be as much as their premiums, or even what she’s offering? The protesters do a collective round of “EH!?!?” They thought the lawsuit was going to make them richer than before.

Seol Hee bursts in just in time and tells them not to accept Seung Hye’s terms. She pleads them to come to their senses – they need the marketplace so that they can continue with their livelihood; even if they receive the compensation money, it will be difficult for them to start over from scratch. But the protesters and stall owners care about one thing: how much money will Seol Hee and Jin Bae get them if they go to court? (Aish you money hungry people!!!)

And then the annoying *itch named Seung Hye says, “Why are you leaving all your trust to the office assistant of a small law firm…and to the ex-wife of the lawyer of this side? Jun Seol Hee just recently got a divorce after a scam marriage… What Seol Hee wants to receive through all this isn’t your success, but revenge for not getting a cent of alimony.”

Oh no you didn’t girlfriend. You just made me lose that little ounce of sympathy I had for you for being the new neglected woman by playing dirty like that.

Unfortunately, Seol Hee cannot protest, because it’s pretty much true (except for the revenge part). The market owners all start talking crap about her and no longer trust her. She tries to explain, but they don’t let her. (Argh! Why can’t people listen to each other first before jumping to conclusions!?!?) She goes back to Jin Bae with the bad news, but he tells her to perk up – she should act more like the go-getter she is instead of resigning herself to the fact that she can’t help them anymore.

On the other hand, Seung Hye goes back to Ji Wook with good news: because she dropped the teensy-weensy fact that Seol Hee was Ji Wook’s ex-wife, the market owners will now sway to their side. Ji Wook is actually pissed that she did that.

Ji Wook: What do you think you are doing?
Seung Hye: What do you mean? Don’t you realize that this is all for your own good?
Ji Wook: You call that an excuse?
Seung Hye: You getting upset – isn’t that weirder? No, how about we become more honest? After the trial, I knew that you were moved by Seol Hee. I let it go because I thought it was sympathy. I am being really patient right now, but there is a limit. Don’t test me any longer.

Ji Wook calls Seol Hee, but she ignores his call. She gets a text message – from Tae Hyun. He’s got the finished copy of the recording and will meet her at the practice studio.

Seol Hee gets their first, and she starts playing on her piano, softly singing “You” – which Tae Hyun had sung in a cafe before. Her singing is clearly not as strong with this song, but her version is far more sweet and mournful than his version, which sounds like a power ballad.

Tae Hyun comes upon her and asks how she even knew this song. Are you really asking your number one fan that question? He wants her to continue, so – since the star is asking – she obeys. He can’t keep the smile off his face as he listens to her sing. Seol Hee gets him to sing the second verse, and we have a duet!!

AND she misses Ji Wook’s call.

Ji Wook waits for her outside her apartment to apologize about the market case. Seol Hee sarcastically remarks, “I must have lived a while to hear an apology come out of your mouth.” She doesn’t want to hear anymore excuses, to which Ji Wook replies that if she continues pursuing the case aggressively, he can no longer sit back. He will fight back with equal intensity, if not more. Hmph – tell the girl something she doesn’t already know.

As for Hwa Ja – Duk Soo can tell that Hwa Ja has something to share just by the look in her eyes. She whips out the CD and asks him to listen. Her excitement quickly dissipates when Duk Soo realizes that she’s been playing with the band behind his back the whole time and lying to him the whole time. But with this couple – a little lovin’ is all they need to smooth things over. (And again – Hwa Ja throws Duk Soo onto the bed and he goes a-flyin’ – whooosh!)

Seol Hee returns to the marketplace but gets no headway. All the stall owners are unwilling to talk to her. Eun Ji witnesses this, and that evening she’s finally ready to spill. Seol Hee records the conversation.

A few months ago, her father came home with a lot of money – enough to pay for her surgery. After the surgery, she found out that her father had received $50,000 from the construction company, Mujeong Development. At first she didn’t know how he got that money, but she figured out that he had sold out all the stall owners to pay for her surgery. Eun Ji had grown up at the marketplace, so everyone there is like her family. She feels awful and guilty knowing that she had ruined these people’s lives with her surgery.

The next day, Seol Hee approaches Professor Jo and lets him know that she knows the truth – Eun Ji told her. But Professor Jo is in denial to the end – he berates Seol Hee for sticking her nose into his business (oh like the people who offered you the surgery money weren’t doing that either?). He yells at Eun Ji for trusting Seol Hee, since he too believes that Seol Hee is only using the market owners for her own selfish intentions. Look who’s talking, dude – you were on the side of the people who were using you for their own evil plans too.

Ji Wook and Seung Hye visit the director again and give him the new contracts. He just has to have all the stall owners sign the documents and they can all get $15,000 for the moving expenses. But Seol Hee bursts in, grabs the documents and cries, “If you quit like this, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life! Mujeong Development is fooling all of you!”

And then she glares at Ji Wook and says, “How could you do this to get your stomach full and look down upon the market people like this? Were you always this cowardly and this much of a cheat?”

Comments:

Most anti-climactic end for an episode. I really couldn’t care less that it ended on that note. But on to other things…

I was so completely shocked and pissed off that Seung Hye had to mention the divorce. My first reaction was, “Really? We’re back to THAT again?” But in some hindsight, it’s kind of interesting that Seung Hye’s only ace card is that divorce card. Sure, she has money to convince the market sellers to give up the place, but Seol Hee can appeal to their pride. To fully defeat Seol Hee, she needs to use the divorce card – which is so cheap. (Then again – Seung Hye’s tactics are all about cheap moves.) It’s kinda sad that Seung Hye’s lawyer-skills are reduced to just cheap tactics. Plus, after the divorce card, what else will Seung Hye do? Is her argument going to go from “We are not obligated by law to pay” to “It’s all Seol Hee’s evil machinations so this lawsuit is another scam.” Oh I would love it if the judge presiding over the divorce case presided over this one too.

I hope this is just a small slump in the drama and that it will pick up right away again. It’s getting tiresome to see Seung Hye and MoaE plot Seol Hee’s downfall based on assumptions that honestly make them look pathetic. And if Ji Wook is going to be presented with an opportunity to redeem himself, he better take that chance fast before the other two women in his life bring him down.

Also – love really makes Tae Hyun go all mushy doesn’t it? I know the band has definitely earned his respect, but his biting remarks on how badly they play is completely gone. I just noticed it in this episode, but everything that comes out of him is just so supportive. Even Hwang Tae Kyung was still a tad condescending towards Go Mi Nam after he fell for her. Heh. Tae Hyun – you’re too cute.

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