The Musical: Episode 3

by kaedejun

And the cute continues! And by “cute” I really mean Daniel Choi. Is it so much to ask for a refreshing and frank conversation about everyone’s relationships with everyone early in the series? Before people can start misunderstanding other people, and drive each other mad with assumptions.

Park Ki Woong – thanks for not being an ass throughout this episode. No really, I mean it.

SONG OF THE DAY

“You Sing” by 길구봉구 from The Musical OST [download]

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In the darkness of her home, Eun Bi looks sadly at a family portrait of her, her grandmother, and her father. Her decision of letting them down also reminds her of Jae Hee’s kiss, and she quickly shakes her head away. Must! Wake! Early! And deliver milk.

At one of her stops, Jae Hee finds her, and they wave at each other awkwardly.

Breakfast time! – with Jae Hee serving up pancakes with whipped cream for her. (Danggit – I want that!) She swears that she’s going to go for training later that day, but Jae Hee knows she’s still feeling awkward after the kiss: “It can’t be your first kiss at 23.” She spits out her water, but Jae Hee blocks it with a napkin in front of her mouth first. He tells her to think of it as a smooch between middle school sweethearts; cue awkward laugh.

She brushes the kiss off as a mere greeting, and Jae Hee bows his head – he doesn’t just kiss anyone, much less just as a greeting, because he’s not that easy. But the kiss was his way of cheering and encouraging her on. With that explanation, hopefully the two can just move past it without any further awkward “Hahas.”

Yoo Jin meets with a musical director who appears to have embezzled funds from him. A lot of money went out, but no musical came out as a result to recoup the losses. He threatens the director to fess up, but the director has no fear. After all, can Yoo Jin prove that he was the one who spent all that money? He had gotten the funds from the previous Yoo – Yoo Jae Joon (who is not Yoo Jin’s brother, but his older cousin).

Jae Hee meets with Gu Jak to convince him to hire Eun Bi as an actress. Gu Jak is adamantly against it – he doesn’t even know this girl! She may not even be hot! But in the face of Eun Bi, he quietly says hi – it’s the only way to get Jae Hee to write songs for his musical.

Private training session begins. Jae Hee hands Eun Bi a vocal score for the theme song. It’s about the lead actress singing about the love that got away. It’s the first run for the song, but it’s enough to get Jae Hee’s heart racing. He grabs her hand and makes him feel his chest – he hasn’t been excited or stirred up by a song for a long time.

Eun Bi awkwardly pulls away. (I think that’s her “thing” for the episode – be AWKWARD.) Just then, Kang Hee waltzes into the room, since Jae Hee’s front door was open. I wouldn’t be surprised if she somehow knew his key code. Eun Bi is stutters excitedly at seeing her biggest idol before her, but Kang Hee asks for her to leave so that she can speak with Jae Hee. Eun Bi is only willing to do so.

After some wine, Kang Hee wants Jae Hee to come back to the musical world with her instead, rather than giving it to Eun Bi and going through that musical competition. But Jae Hee doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore; it’s too loaded with meaning if people find out that the two of them are collaborating again. A glimpse in their history shows that Kang Hee and Jae Hee were lovers, before and after she got engaged to Sang Won. They loved each other passionately, but he left because things got much too complicated. No matter how lustily she comes after him now, he wants to move on and be free of any association with her.

At the Yoo Mansion, Jae Joon whines to his father that his embezzling might be found out and laid before the Musical Fund’s board of directors. He wants to cover it up, but his father tells him to shut his trap because Jae Joon is an idiot. When Yoo Jin arrives, the uncle tells him that Jae Joon made “mistakes” early on, and the best way to deal with it is if Yoo Jin accepts the blame and just salvage that fund. According to the uncle, it’s better to help save the face of the predecessors and move on, than to put the blame on the rightful person that deserves it.

So Yoo Jin goes into the meeting amid hostile glares. To explain for the large amounts of money gone from the budget, Yoo Jin says that he invested in the “potential” of the companies to create more musical productions. However his language raises the others’ suspicions; they know Yoo Jin wouldn’t invest like this and so what is he trying to cover up for his family? Yoo Jin promises that the musical competition they’re investing 10 million in will recoup the losses of 50 million. Sounds impossible – but Yoo Jin will make it happen.

That evening, Jae Hee and Eun Bi walk home after dinner with the rest of the company. Eun Bi doesn’t want to practice at his home anymore, finding it a bit uncomfortable with guests coming and all. Jae Hee says point blank that Kang Hee used to be a special person but she isn’t anymore. Therefore, Eun Bi should just forget about it. But she has another excuse – she must consider Bok Ja’s feelings! And with an awkward, earnest laugh, she dashes away. Jae Hee smirks to himself – he must have her all hot and bothered to have caused her to say all this. Arrogant much? Hee.

Eun Bi’s friend Kwang Suh arrives back in Seoul carrying a box full of food from her grandmother. He promises to drop it off at her home since she’s at her part time job, and she warns him about her house guest – but he hangs out before she can tell him more. “Warn” probably wouldn’t have been sufficient to describe the force of Bok Ja – because she starts inspecting the contents of the box. Next thing you know, she’s eating all the fruits from Granny, all in the name of “We live together, so we share everything!” Kwang Suh watches helplessly. (He looks like a young Kim Min Jong too!)

As for Eun Bi’s part time job, she helps out one of her sunbaes, who’s now a coroner, by cleaning the bodies before they do an autopsy. It’s actually illegal, and both could get fired, but it’s not the first time they’ve done this.

And guess who picks her up after work? Yup – Jae Hee. I swear, he must have an Eun Bi antenna or something, always showing up where she is.

They go to Han River for a serious conversation – he’s willing to give her a loan, as long as she stops taking on part time jobs that interfere with her training. He is also insanely grossed out by the fact that she washed the dead bodies with her hands. Aw. Wuss.

Eun Bi rejects his offer. She’s just trying to make a living, and she has an able body. It’s not like she’s in desperate need or anything, so she has no need for a loan. Also – she has her pride to protect.

One evening, Ra Kyung goes over to Yoo Mansion, where she has dinner with the whole family. Jae Joon “good-naturedly” insults Ra Kyung by saying that she has everything to lose by not marrying Yoo Jin. (Dude lacks TACT; someone SMACK him.) And then Uncle says that Yoo Jin should get married since he’s not contributing in any other way. (OK – now I know where Jae Joon gets his bad manners from…)

With restrained anger, Yoo Jin comments that Jae Joon should have gone to the conference and defended himself; it made Yoo Jin look bad to make “excuses” for his cousin. However, Jae Joon laughs it off, saying that Yoo Jin was the one so eager to take over the fund. Grandfather sits in silence, reading his book, ignoring Uncle and Jae Joon dissing his favored grandson.

Now in the countryside, Yoo Jin’s mother (yes – not stepmother, but mother with memory loss), casually tells the father to go back to the family business. Father thinks that she’s regaining some of her memories, but it’s actually just her regressing back to when they were first married, and he had left the family business to be a painter for her. Mother looks at a photo of her, Father, and a young Yoo Jin fondly… She simply doesn’t recognize the older Jin.

Later, Yoo Jin explains to Ra Kyung that his Uncle hates him and his father. His father was always better than Uncle, and Grandfather never acknowledged Uncle. When his father left everything behind to paint, Uncle finally managed to gain the upper hand in the family.

It’s the day of the auditions for the various musical companies! Gu Jak tells everyone not to be nervous, but it’s clearly HIM who’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Each musical company does an ensemble piece (with choreography) and a solo from the lead actress. For Gu Jak’s musical “Chungdamdong’s Gumiho,” the ensemble piece has all the men dancing around Bok Ja, and it’s a ridiculous, comedic little piece. It actually brings a smile to Yoo Jin’s face.

Bok Ja ends the song on an ear-splitting shriek. Um – really, she’s not out of tune?!

Then it’s time for Eun Bi to go up with her solo. Yoo Jin, Sang Won, and Kang Hee all slowly recognize her. Speech bubble above the boys’ heads: “What. Is. She. Doing. Here…?!?!?!?!” Speech bubble above Kang Hee’s head: “(Insert Evil Laugh)”. Gu Jak explains to the judges that Eun Bi is a young woman who falls in love for the first time, and then sings this song professing her love for the man.

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Yoo Jin is entranced. Kang Hee is amused, but in the arrogant sense. Eun Bi has given the performance of her life with her pure, clear voice. It’s set at a lower key than usual for female musical singers, which Kang Hee points out. She has the pianist raise the key a couple of times, belts out a few of the lines (show off), and then challenges Eun Bi to sing it at a higher note. After all, Eun Bi must be able to sing that high if she is to be a musical actress. What. A. Bitch. (Excuse my French.)

Eun Bi doesn’t back down, and she sings it at that higher key. Suffice to say, it’s terrible, and her voice cracks because she can’t hit the high notes. She becomes the laughingstock and embarrassment of the room. Kang Hee says it’s impossible to sponsor a song if it’s been made specifically for Eun Bi, because there is no way they plan on hiring such an “untalented” actress. Only, Yoo Jin is unfazed. He sees past this, and is still intrigued by her. And by the mysterious composer of this song.

Kang Hee takes a ten minute break from being a biatch and storms into the office, followed by Sang Won and Yoo Jin. Eun Bi chases after them; she wants Kang Hee’s autograph. Even though she was just insulted and embarrassed by everyone, she wants Kang Hee’s autograph. Yoo Jin has the grace to not even look down on her, and lets her into the office.

Despite what Kang Hee had said, Eun Bi cannot deny that Kang Hee’s biography didn’t have an impact on her. She was inspired about it, and dreamed of being in musicals because of it. All she ever wanted was to get an autograph from the person she idolized the most, and had hoped to leave a good impression with. Her tearful confession moves Kang Hee enough to sign the book.

Yoo Jin watches Eun Bi stumble out and sit on the stairs, despondently looking at the book. Ra Kyung happens upon Eun Bi as she’s going up to the auditorium, and asks if she’s alright. Eun Bi: “I sang happily in front of the person I respect the most.” Hmm – I like that she meets Ra Kyung on good terms.

That evening, Yoo Jin and Ra Kyung review the DVD of the entire audition process. He only wants to watch the 7th group – which means, Eun Bi. Ra Kyung watches Yoo Jin watch Eun Bi with intense concentration.

Yoo Jin can visualize the entire musical with Eun Bi’s song, and informs Sang Won and Kang Hee that he wants to invest completely in Gu Jak’s company. However, he wants to know who the composer is first. Kang Hee smirks – Yoo Jin might not like it if he finds out that the writer is none other than Jae Hee.

Jae Hee visits Eun Bi at her autopsy workplace, insisting that Eun Bi did well and that he wrote the song specifically for her, and no one else. She should henceforth ignore Kang Hee’s nasty comments. Eun Bi wants him to make the song more accessible for any actress to sing because that way, the song and the musical can get sponsored.

Gu Jak calls up Jae Hee right then, and informs him that Yoo Jin wants to co-produce the entire production. Yoo Jin’s one condition is that Jae Hee write all of the songs – ill-feelings aside.

So Jae Hee storms into Yoo Jin’s office. What does he want?

Comments:

I got a taste of everything in this episode – music, dancing, history, character development, relationships, and more awkward laughs than I could have cared for. Plus – Jae Hee is a pretty direct guy, so he tries to minimize misunderstandings as soon as they pop up! Woohoo! One less drama to deal with.

I am not a musical person, being tone-deaf and opting to “scream nicely” all karaoke songs, so I find it interesting that Gu Hye Sun’s voice is kind of high, but of low pitch. She has definitely improved since the last two episodes, which makes me excited for what’s to come. On top of that, Yoo Jin is interested in her (as an actress) and the song. He looked down on her in episode one, thinking she was completely untalented, but now she just totally blew him away. At least he’s not a one-dimensional character where he’ll start of hating a person and continue hating them. He changes, and shifts to see what is most advantageous for him. While I still think he can be manipulative, I hope he uses it to bring down his Uncle and Jae Joon.

Kang Hee is also such a rich character. At the end of the day, Kang Hee tried to sing Jae Hee’s song for herself at a higher key, but it didn’t sound right. Way back when, Jae Hee had promised to compose a song that would be for Kang Hee alone, and become so iconic it would be synonymous with her name. I’m guessing she’s just jealous that he’s now done the same for Eun Bi. As Jae Hee noted, Kang Hee is a selfish person, and so I find her a compelling antagonist. I do believe that she is aware of Eun Bi’s talents, but is just in denial of them.

I don’t want to comment too much on Gu Hye Sun’s acting, though I saw a lot of comments about it. I have only seen her in Pure 19, and even then I didn’t care much for her (not when you have Suh Ji Suk on the screen!!). I do think that she overdoes the whole awkward-tomboy bit, but right now, I can easily justify it with the fact that she’s just nervous, and that she hasn’t met a guy like Jae Hee before who is so direct about his feelings and so willing to help her (while being her idol at that). She definitely plays “awkward” very well, but after a while, I hope she matures, because I don’t think I want to be rooting for an “awkward, spunky girl” for all 16 episodes.

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