Dream High: Episode 7

by girlfriday

It’s Showcase vs. Showcase, as the Rebel Misfit Mafia takes on the Top Dogs. And the teams don’t shake out the way you’d think. There’s shifting alliances, crossing love triangles, and best of all, the stakes get raised all around. Dreaming High has never seemed so tough, or so rewarding.

SONG OF THE DAY

“어떤 이의 꿈” (Dream High version) by San E [ Download ]

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EPISODE 7 RECAP

Jin-gook gets slapped by Daddy, and hauled away for some private yelling. Hye-mi grabs Jin-gook’s arm, worried and wondering if she should call the cops. He smiles at her and says it’s nothing like that; it’s his father.

Dad threatens Jin-gook again, and tells him to go abroad if he’s going to do silly, embarrassing things like sing and dance. But Jin-gook holds his ground, and tells Dad that he’s worse for throwing away his son over his career. He tells Dad to just disown him—he’s never asked to be taken care of, and it’s unfair for Dad to throw him away and pick him back up, whenever he pleases.

Look at you, standing up to Daddy. It’s not going to make you any less tortured, by all means, but good for you. Not that I’d want to miss out on you dancing out your daddy issues. Those are good times.

Dad moves to strike him again and Jin-gook winces. But Dad sees that and breaks, putting his hands on his shoulders, feeling remorseful for throwing Jin-gook and his mother away. And then he pleads that he doesn’t want to do it anymore. So then don’t do it anymore, and stop making it contingent on your son’s choices. WTF, Dad?

He even goes so far as to offer to give up his political career and just live as Jin-gook’s dad. Which turns out to be a totally manipulative emotional ploy. Gah. Jin-gook lets out a tear and shakes his head no, basically agreeing to live quietly again for Dad’s sake. He’s told to wrap things up and get ready to go abroad.

He goes to school and starts singing the beginning lines of “어떤 이의 꿈,” (Someone’s Dream) an 80s song by 봄.여름.가을.겨울. (Spring.Summer.Autumn.Winter.) [Original version here.] Baek-hee finds him there, saying that she really likes that song too, and wanted to sing it at the showcase, as a duet. She adds wistfully that it doesn’t matter anyway, since no one’s coming to see her. She explains that her mom doesn’t know what her dreams are, and doesn’t really care to know. Jin-gook finds a connection with her over indifferent parents.

The next day Jason dances alone instead of practicing his duet with Ria. Kyung-jin interrupts to tell him that he needs to practice for the showcase, and Jason just breezes that it’s no fun, and that he’d rather sing it solo, or with a different partner.

Ria overhears as Kyung-jin gets in his face and cuts him down to size: sure he’s got some talent, but he’s not good enough to be up there on his own. He should be thankful for someone like Ria, and be grateful that if he’s up on stage with her, while the cameras are photographing her, he’ll get noticed too. She spells it out plainly, that skills and talent come after notoriety, and adds that if he wants to sing for fun, he can go to a noraebang (karaoke).

Jason stalks out, fuming, and takes it out on his locker, punching the door a few times. Pil-sook, who’s there for her daily lollipop delivery, ducks behind the staircase. Jason whirls around to her: “Hey, Sushi, are you free?”

Aw, yeah! Noraebang bonding time. I love that Jason takes Teacher’s backwards advice literally out of spite, and uses the noraebang as therapy of sorts. Pil-sook just swoons at first, watching him sing, but then ends up joining him, starting with 2PM’s “Heartbeat,” complete with dance moves. Hahaha.

At school, Jin-gook broods and Baek-hee approaches, as Hye-mi and Sam-dong walk up behind them. She asks Jin-gook to come to the showcase for her, since everyone else will get flowers from their families, and she’ll have nobody. He thinks about Dad’s words to quit everything, and agrees. Hye-mi notes Baek-hee with a jealous eye and Baek-hee scurries away.

Hye-mi and Sam-dong interrupt to remind him that their showcase is on the same day. He tells them that he’s backing out, and to do well on their own. Hye-mi hesitates, and asks if it’s because of Baek-hee. He says no; he was always going to drop out anyway.

He walks away and Hye-mi chases him down, asking what happened yesterday to make him do this. He says that he just got sick and tired of chasing after a fake (meaning impossible) dream, and getting excited, and happy, and nervous like a fool.

He plans to drop it all—everything they had started. He puts his headphones on to end the conversation, but Hye-mi knocks them off his ears and grabs the other end of the cord, reminding him that she knows his trick of avoiding the world. Heh.

With angry tears brimming in her eyes, she asks what he meant last night then, when he said he wanted to stand up on stage with her someday. He pretends not to remember and shrugs it off, as Hye-mi turns to him angrily: “Then I must have been the only one…to be excited, and happy, and nervous…like a fool.”

AW. I never thought I’d say this, but my heart is totally breaking for her. How adorably vulnerable is she right now? She turns to walk away, but comes back for one last thing—a swift kick in the shin. Hahaha. Jin-gook watches her walk away sadly, like the Silent Idiot that he is.

Back at the noraebang, Jason wants to go another round, but Pil-sook regretfully has to leave for Rebel Showcase practice. He pouts, making him look even more like a little chipmunk. That’s it. You’re just Chipmunk from now on.

Chipmunk offers to drop her off where she’s going, but she jumps up to stop him, since he can’t know about their super-secret showcase. He just gets more and more curious that she won’t let him accompany her, but she begs him not to ask questions, and rushes out. She adds that she had a great time, and he says he did too.

She heads out but has a moment of crisis, debating between her professionalism: practice is important; and the chance of a lifetime: date with her crush. Oh, the dilemmas of youth. She goes back and forth about ten times (ha) and finally decides to go to practice. Chipmunk sees her and breaks into the biggest smile, as he trails after her. Cuuuuute.

At practice Pil-sook sulks that she had the debate of a lifetime to come, and Jin-gook’s just dropped out like it’s nothing. Jin-man worries that they can’t pull this off without Jin-gook, not to mention the risk of doing the Rebel Showcase at all. They all start to cave, but then Hye-mi stands up, ignoring his protests to be heard, and decides that they can rework it.

Jin-man whines that no one is listening to him, until Hye-mi tells him that he should replace Jin-gook in the dances, dangling the carrot that if he puts on a uniform, he could pass for a high school student. HA! Jin-man immediately melts at that, insisting that it’s true, while Oh-hyuk just scoffs at the absurdity.

They rally together and start practice, as Jin-man decides that he should dance a little badly, since he’s supposed to be a student…but then wonders how he’s going to pull that off since he’s so naturally awesome. Pffft. I’m loving Park Jin-young in this. So. Much.

Jason’s followed Pil-sook all the way there, and peeks in to watch them practice. Yay for Chipmunk jumping ship! Jump ship! Jump ship! He heads to his own practice for now, as he and Baek-hee learn their moves from Kyung-jin.

Jin-gook, meanwhile, gets his paperwork in order to go abroad, as Daddy beams in delight. Baek-hee’s mom ponders her showcase invitation. Pil-sook presents her parents with her Rebel Showcase invite, and they squeal. Sam-dong’s mom puts on her finest hanbok (Aw, how cute is she?) as she prepares to head to Seoul.

Hye-mi and Sam-dong stay up late to cut the paper confetti for the show, and Hye-mi starts nodding off. Sam-dong thanks her for doing all this, and she replies that it’s to repay him for everything he’s done. He starts to tell her that the debt’s been repaid already, so she can just be comfortable around him now, as she falls asleep and starts to fall…

He catches her and she lands with her head on his shoulder, as Sam-dong has the most adorable moment of OMG-OMG-OMG to himself as he tries to figure out what to do. He can’t quite bring himself to touch her hair or look directly at her, so he sits awkwardly like that, basking in the moment.

Jin-gook comes home and walks in on them cuddling sweetly like that. Serves you right for bailing. It’d be awesome if jealousy is the thing that brings him back. Heh. Sam-dong shushes him and Jin-gook broods.

At the studio, Jin-man walks in on Oh-hyuk playing Sam-dong’s song, and they play around with it, adding a verse and a bridge. It brings them back to their high school days and all the songs they wrote together. Love these two.

It’s Showcase Day, and Ria makes a point of reiterating Kyung-jin’s words to Jason, angry because he doesn’t like her back. She tells him that he ought to stick close to get any attention, and that performing with him is a burden. Well that’s a great thing to tell your hot-headed duet partner just before the show.

He walks out, just in time to overhear a teacher on the phone, saying that he has to go to the school to pick up a CD. He remembers that Pil-sook’s showcase is going on at school and they can’t be found out, so he offers to pick up the CD himself, making up an excuse about forgetting his costume.

As he rushes off, the teacher yells, “Eee-son-ah!” which cracks me up, because Jason in Korean is three syllables: Jay-eee-son, so the teacher is treating his one name like a traditional Korean name, thinking Jay is his surname and Eee-son is his given name. I am perhaps the only one who died laughing at this, I know.

Oh-hyuk is surprised to find that scary debt collector guy is actually being quite generous and helpful with the showcase, adding a giant professional banner to make everything look legit. He says he feels like Candy, adding that he’s just like Terius, helping him out…and then the two grown men realize the awkward of that statement and break away. Heh.

Oh-hyuk rushes out to meet Sam-dong and Hye-mi, and has them listen to this song they just finished…Sam-dong’s eyes widen to hear the song that he wrote, completed. Oh-hyuk says that he and Jin-man finished it, and that it’d be nice to finish the showcase with a song that Sam-dong wrote himself. Hye-mi can’t believe that Sam-dong wrote a song, and Sam-dong just beams at Oh-hyuk’s proposition.

Kyung-jin arrives at Kirin to pick something up, noticing that there’s people about. Ruh-roh.

Jason sends the music that they need for the other showcase, saying to himself that Pil-sook ought to thank him. But he’s stopped in his tracks by the sound of her voice ringing in the halls.

She’s practicing her duet-turned-solo, as Jin-man (actually dressed in uniform, HA) laments that Jin-gook’s part would really make it so much better. He then offers to sing it with her, and Pil-sook jumps to say no. Jin-man: “Why…don’t you want to sing with me?” Hehe.

But before he can finagle himself into the duet, Jason appears to save the day. Jin-man shrieks and hides his head under a desk like an ostrich, as Jason offers to sing the duet with her, since they’ve already practiced it together at the noraebang. Pil-sook floats on cloud nine. Yay for Chipmunk saving the day, and jumping ship! The Misfits welcome you.

Hye-mi walks up on the empty stage and thinks back to Jin-gook’s declaration that he wanted to stand up on stage someday with her, and she starts to text him the same words…but decides against it.

Both showcases get under way with final preparations, as things start coming to a head. Baek-hee gets a call from Mom, who’s there in the audience, but wondering when she’s coming on, because she’s asked someone to watch the store for her. Baek-hee overhears the teachers fretting over Jason’s disappearance and Ria’s tantrum, thinking that they have no opening act anymore.

Jin-gook shows up backstage to wish her luck and head out, but she stops him, pleading that she really wants to show her mom once that she’s really good, and stand up proudly in front of her. She asks Jin-gook to help her. Aw, yeah! Jin-gook and Jason switch places? Love the dramatic twist. The Misfits are going to be SO pissed when they find out where you really are.

Meanwhile, Kyung-jin gets the call that Jason is MIA, so she heads back into Kirin to find him…only what she comes upon is a filled auditorium, with Oh-hyuk pulling the strings. She tells him that what he’s doing isn’t good for the kids or their parents, since if they have no chance of living their dream, he shouldn’t be filling them with false hopes. She thinks he’s being far crueler than she is.

While that’s not untrue, it’s also just as cruel to judge a couple of freshmen who have yet to spend a semester at your supposedly stellar make-a-star school now, isn’t it? Oh-hyuk pretends to give in, and then scoops her up over his shoulder, and carries her kicking and screaming into the janitor’s closet. He locks her in there, telling her that she can hit him all she wants later. Ha.

The shows start, with both showcases doing different renditions of “어떤 이의 꿈,” / “Someone’s Dream.” Pil-sook and Jason do the sweet earnest ballad version with a little funk, while Baek-hee glams it up for the showy updated version, with Jin-gook as her partner. Well, there goes your good relations with Papa, not to mention the girl you like. Whoops.

“어떤 이의 꿈” as sung by Pil-sook, Jason, Baek-hee, Jin-gook. [ Download ]

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While Baek-hee’s rendition is flashy and well-choreographed (and the slick overall package), Pil-sook’s vocal chops win by a long shot. Backstage, Baek-hee thanks Jin-gook for helping her, especially since she got a standing ovation from her mom. But Jin-gook in turn thanks her, since he really came here to run away. He’s now realized what he really wants to do, and who he really wants to be with…

He thanks her and leaves, and Baek-hee scoffs: “So the person you want to stand beside…isn’t me?” On his way out, Jin-gook gets stopped by a manager, who recognizes him by his proper name, and as one of the special entrants hand-picked by President Jung.

At Kirin, Sam-dong gears up for his performance, and Hye-mi asks if his mom is here. She asks what he actually told her about them as a couple, and he sheepishly replies that Hye-mi is head over heels; that she’s the Chun-hyang to his Mong-ryong. Ha. (Think: Juliet to his Romeo.)

This kid and his lies. Heh. Hye-mi sighs, and agrees to be his Chun-hyang for a day, putting up her hand for a high-five. Hilariously, he ducks for cover thinking she’s going to hit him, and she has to teach him how to high-five. Oh, country boy.

They head out to the stage for their duet of “Maybe,” which they start by meeting in the middle of the stage and holding hands. Gah, so cute! They’re adorable, of course, and close out the showcase with a bang. A rip of their performance:

“Maybe” as sung by Hye-mi, Sam-dong. [ Download ]

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After the show Sam-dong sits in the dressing room, still reeling from the excitement. Oh-hyuk finds him, happy that he had a good time. Sam-dong tells him, grinning from ear to ear, that he can see his dream so clearly now, and the path to it, and all of it looks so bright and happy. Aw.

But just then, he starts to lose consciousness, as all the sound around him dies out, and he struggles to keep his eyes open. OH NOES. Oh my god, if you go tragic artist on me, my heart might not be able to handle it! Noooooooo.

He almost goes down, but then regains focus and the feeling goes away. He shakes it off like nothing happened, thinking he’s just heady from being onstage. But Oh-hyuk, shouldn’t you know better and have him checked out, on account of his very recent head trauma? No? Grarrrrrrr.

Kyung-jin starts to cry in the janitor’s closet, tired and scared of being locked in. She finally takes a deep breath and runs at the door full force, running smack dab onto Jin-man. She mistakes him for Oh-hyuk and starts bawling, asking why he came now, and Jin-man stares up at her in shock. She screams when she realizes who it is, and walks off pretending to be fine. He swoons. Uh-oh, I smell adult love triangle. But their bromance was just getting back on track!

Oh-hyuk takes to the stage, and to everyone’s shock, he confesses to the audience that this is a fake showcase, put on by students who were kicked out of the real one. He says that parents always ask him if their child has potential, if they’re able to fly, or just jumping off a cliff with no wings. (Using Kyung-jin’s words from earlier.)

Oh-hyuk: Truthfully, whether these students have potential…I don’t have the answer. But of one thing I’m certain. That these students, more than anyone here, want to fly. … Because they love the stage like crazy, because their dream is so beautiful, they believe that their road is a happy one. Telling them not to start because they might get hurt…is cruel, is it not? I think loving something like crazy is potential. I saw that potential today. So trusting that potential, I want to tell them to try and fly. I don’t know how big their wings are, but I want to tell them to start. And to make sure the road is happy, I’m going to put my full strength behind them.

Yay for rousing speeches! Goosebumps, really. (Even Jin-man cries.) He adds that they’ll all need safety nets, to break their falls—family, to support them and love them no matter what. He asks them to cheer them on, and thanks them, and the audience breaks into applause. Aw, so loving Teacher right now.

He’s greeted in the dressing room with high fives from the Misfits, and comes up to Hye-mi, who hesitates. She puts her hand halfway up, and it’s enough for Oh-hyuk to meet it with a high-five. She smiles, probably for the first time ever, directly because of him.

Jin-gook presents Dad with his papers to go abroad, apologizing. He says that he’s sorry for going to Kirin in the first place, since it really was an act of rebellion, and he didn’t really take any of it seriously. He apologizes for knowing that Dad had a dream, but messing with it anyway.

Jin-gook: I’m sorry for not taking your dream seriously. Once I had a dream of my own, I realized…that there are no dreams that should be laughed at in this world.

He tells Dad that he won’t be going abroad, and that he’ll stand up on stage someday; that this isn’t a rebellion, but a true dream. Dad reacts as expected, declaring that he’s blocking his path. Jin-gook tells him that he’s going to root for Dad and become a son that he can be proud of, and asks Dad to root for him too.

He leaves the office in high spirits, texting Hye-mi that he has something to tell her, and to meet him at the studio. But once outside, Jin-gook is greeted by Dad’s toadies, who cart him away. What, are you going to lock him up till he complies? Sigh, kdrama fathers.

 
COMMENTS

I just love this show more and more each week. I love the rousing underdog-to-soar-to-new-heights speeches, I love the song and dance, the funny moments, and the dramatic turns. My heart totally lurched when Sam-dong almost went down, and now I’m just on pins and needles about where this kid is headed. I had a feeling that if he wasn’t K and they went with Hye-mi being K in the future, that Sam-dong might become her songwriter. But now with this looming over them, there’s this sense of urgency in everything because we don’t know how long he’ll…be able to hear…or (gulp) stay alive… … No. You wouldn’t do that to us, Show, would you?

Aaaaaaargh. Did I mention that this show is my new crack?

And just a reminder: no Episode 8 tomorrow, as Korea is playing in the Asia Cup semi-finals, against Japan. Talk about a ratings sweep. Even my grandma’s gonna watch that.

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