The Musical: Episode 10

by kaedejun

ZOMG! You know what the biggest bombshell of this episode was?! JAE HEE HAS A SISTER. Uh-huh. You read that right. A sister. Who holds the purse strings. And has the bank manager wrapped around her pinky. Yup.

Let the showdown begin. I can’t wait for a smackdown in the likes of Tsubaki versus Tsukasa in Hana Yori Dango.

Oh and the other bombshell? Park Ki Woong sings. Yes – the world is unfair.

SONG OF THE DAY

Park Ki Woong and Gu Hye Sun “This is My Moment” – The Musical [download]

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Puzzled, intrigued, and secretly gloating, Kang Hee ends her practice and has Eun Bi wait for her to finish showering, dress in a brown suit, and put on makeup. She stares at herself in the mirror, perhaps looking at where her youth has gone as she is now forced to compare herself to Eun Bi. Meanwhile, Jae Hee is racing towards her home.

Kang Hee is mighty curious that Eun Bi changed her mind, especially since she’s not used to being rejected. However, Jae Hee has brilliant timing and interrupts this meeting. Ha – kinda like how Kang Hee expected. Back at his home, Jessie is acting all offended that Jae Hee ran out on her for another actress/singer, and she storms out on Gu Jak.

Kang Hee doesn’t want them to make a scene in her home. She tells Eun Bi to come back to the practice studio in two days, and Eun Bi leaves, not wanting to make further fuss. Now left alone, Jae Hee confronts Kang Hee – she just doesn’t want anyone other actress to sing his songs, right? It is simply her being completely selfish, even if it won’t change their relationship, right?!

Yes – but it’s more because she doesn’t want to see someone else make Jae Hee happy. She wants Eun Bi next to her, and in that way protect Jae Hee’s love for her (Kang Hee). That’s really dumb, because she abuses him like heck – dumping him when it’s convenient, and chasing after him when she can. Kang Hee argues that just because she chases after every opportunity that comes to her, that she puts “being an actress” ahead of love, does not mean she loves him any less. Yeah man – get over it!

He finds her words cruel and selfish. She finds her words honest. To-may-to, to-mah-to. But she’s the one who ends up crying on the floor in her room, trying to convince herself that Jae Hee’s words about her not understanding love won’t hurt her.

As Jae Hee leaves, he spots Eun Bi waiting at the foot of the stairs for him, and they go back to his place for a serious talk. It’s so clear that Jae Hee thinks of how they first met, and every interaction to heart. He’s really in love with her, and yet she still can’t believe in him for that? He takes her hand to his heart, and says, “I love you. I never thought I could say that ever in my life.”

Oh – so you never said that to Kang Hee then?

He wants to go all the way to the end with her, but she’s the one who’s resisting. She pulls her hand away quickly, and muses about the end – the end of the musical, the end of his love, the end of her love. A bit pessimistic, aren’t we? Eun Bi is still affected by the fact that her mother left her at an early age because she couldn’t sing or dance; that abandonment convinces her that people can leave those they love easily. It’s not that Eun Bi doesn’t trust Jae Hee, but she just doesn’t trust people, and she doesn’t want to do a musical where she has to depend on people, all of whom are fickle creatures.

She sees Jae Hee as the person who opened the door to the world of musicals for her. He’s her guide, her mentor, her daddy-long-legs – not her lover. And she refuses to think of “What if there were no musicals between us?” – that’s how much she distances herself from Jae Hee. Poor guy.

Yoo Jin may have started out as the one with serious trust issues, but now it’s Eun Bi. Speaking of which, he is already privy to Kang Hee’s plans of making Eun Bi her understudy, and he has his secretary draw up a contract that would be favorable for the actress, rather than the production company. HMMMMMM. Methinks it means that if anything unfair happens to her (cough*gets kicked out*cough), she will be protected from the fall out… He even gets Sang Won to sign off on it, reasoning that Eun Bi is a special person.

A new day has come, and Eun Bi heads out for practice with the cast of “Count Monte.” Bok Ja is also getting ready for another round of rehearsals with “Gumiho” cast, but Eun Bi doesn’t want to hear a word about it. She’s still smarting from the pain of having to leave that musical. She heads out early to the studio and starts cleaning it up; ummmm – I don’t think understudies are supposed to be janitors either, but ok… During rehearsals, Eun Bi watches Kang Hee electrify the “stage” during one of the scenes. Yoo Jin also watches it through a TV in another room, and he smiles at the sight of Eun Bi.

Back at “Gumiho” rehearsal, Jae Hee returns with renewed vigor. Eun Bi had told him to share the beauty of his songs with the world, and put up the musical no matter what. With little choice, he focuses even more on the musical, which is good for the cast and Gu Jak.

But there’s also bad news – Joon Hyuk comes rushing in with a newspaper. Jessie has gone to Japan for an extended tour. That girl is not going to come back for the musical. They run over to her studio, where even her backup dancers are stunned by the news of her sudden departure. However, a dancer assures them that she’ll be back for practice, no matter how late it is. Time to just sit and wait!

The cast of “Count Monte” wraps up practice as well, and Eun Bi hurries to give Kang Hee some water – she brought cold water and lukewarm water for her to pick. Wow – according to Eun Bi, she’s just being sincere rather than kissing ass. Sang Won picks up his wife, and Eun Bi stays behind to practice some more, as she has a lot to catch up on. Like, singing and trying to hit the high notes, and failing. She practices so much she finishes off all the water in the cooler. Suddenly her savior arrives – Yoo Jin – with another water bottle and food.

Eun Bi is grateful to Yoo Jin, who asks only for a song in return. So she plays her favorite song, “This is My Moment” on the piano. And then invites him to sing. Yoo Jin’s eyes widen – him? Sing? No way! She keeps insisting, and starts off the song for him.

And he joins in. KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA* Oh sorry – did your computer screen just crack from my squeal?

He’s just so adorable because he’s so earnest and embarrassed at singing. He’s also having so much fun he’s forgotten to get in contact with his worried girlfriend, who’s wondering where he is.

After a few hours, Jessie finally arrives at the studio and sends away her entourage. With no one around, she asks for a smoke, and her high ditzy voice is gone. Well look at that – not only is she older than 21, but she also can’t sing. All her singles went up the charts because they digitally fixed her pitchy voice. Oh yay. She’s backing out of the musical now, since she knows that she’ll be found out as a fraud sooner or later.

So why did she want Go Eun Bi out of the picture so badly? Because if she were to sing alongside Kang Hee, the crowd would forgive her for not being as good as Kang Hee. But if she were bad next to an amateur like Eun Bi, her popularity would fall sharply. She also didn’t think they would willingly cut out someone who was so passionate for the project. That just enrages Jae Hee.

But that’s the price of fame: people expect her to have a nice body, get plastic surgery, be a little dumb. It’s a little sad how transparent and fake celebrity life can be. Suddenly Chairman Investor – President Huh – calls her, and like a switch, Jessie puts on her sweet baby voice. Disgusting.

In another studio, Yoo Jin leaves with a big smile on his face. Ra Kyung also arrives to pick him up after finding out his location from Sang Won, but then she hides behind a pillar at the sight of Eun Bi. They’re laughing and joking like friends, and he offers to walk her to the subway. He was to take the train because his car is broken. OH REALLY now?

Jae Hee and Gu Jak drink away their stress at their favorite pojangmacha by the river. Nothing they can do but to return the money and find another investor. He already knows that Gu Jak spent the investor’s money, which surprises Gu Jak. Jae Hee brushes it aside – he just spent about $100,000 right? They’ll just ask for President Huh to be patient for the money.

They get a call from President Huh and meet him at a private room in the bar. Turns out, Huh heard a different story – Jessie told him that she wants to debut in Japan first, and will do musicals later. Say whut? Jae Hee counters that claim, saying that Jessie doesn’t want to do musicals at all. Huh: “Jessie told me that when I meet you guys, you’ll say that she had no interest in doing musicals in the first place. She said that you will blame it on her.” And of course, Huh will believe his little plaything over his friends.

Well. This little lie helps ensure that Jessie will continue having a sponsor who will help her keep getting more popular.

Huh just wants him to pay back the money by the end of the week. He doesn’t mind waiting a little longer for the already spent 100,000, which is only 10% of what he gave them total. Yup – you did your math correct – Huh was actually only going to give them 1 million, instead of the promised 4 million. That’s a surprise to Jae Hee.

But wait! Gu Jak finally falls onto his knees and admits the truth. He only has 100,000 LEFT. Good job boy. Huh doesn’t give a damn – he wants the money back in one week.

Jae Hee leaves Gu Jak behind and drives off on his own. He heads over to a deserted field and lets out his frustration by punching his car (which hurts him more than it hurts the car) and screams out his anger. Falling to his knees, he cries, feeling like he’s being punished for not being as sincere about musicals as Eun Bi was.

Meanwhile Eun Bi nd Yoo Jin stroll down the train station and then head to different platforms. They head for opposite sides of the track, but Eun Bi is puzzled when she doesn’t see him on the other platform. That’s because he’s hiding behind a pillar, out of sight. He waits for her train to leave, and then exits the station. And goes back to the studio. Where his car is parked underground. On top of that – he hangs up on his girlfriend, who’s calling him.

WHAT THE HELL?!

Moping in her office, Ra Kyung gets a call from Joon Hyuk, but she doesn’t pick up. He leaves a video voicemail about the moon – about how beautiful it is, and how he thought of her. Feeling slightly cheered up, she goes out to the courtyard and looks up at that very same moon.

The next day, Jae Hee goes to the bank and checks his account – he only has a little over $21,000. The bank manager offers him some tea, and he snatches the opportunity. Since he’s a VIP member of the bank, shouldn’t he have a lot more money in his account? Does he have assets that would total up to say, 900,000? The manager is surprised – why does he need that much money all of a sudden?

Unfortunately he can only access $21,000 because the rest of his money is tied up in savings accounts and equities and such. His sister Jae Shin has control over all his assets; that was the sole condition when they put all his money there. Jae Hee: “But this is my money!” Bank Manager: “If you touch money other than the money in this account, Jae Shin will fly here from America, and then you and I are dead Jae Hee!!!”

HAHAHA. That sis sounds awesome.

So Jae Hee contacts his last resort – the girl group producer from episode 2. The producer wants Jae Hee so much that he’s willing to comply to any condition. Jae Hee wants $1 million by tomorrow. That’s such a hefty amount that the producer has terms of his own as well – Jae Hee will have to write the girl group’s entire next album, and take charge of their debut in America. It will mean he has to sell his soul for the next four to five years. Ouch.

Back at home, Eun Bi picks up a call from Yoo Jin. He wants to meet before practice and take singing lessons from her. The two of them are so chummy over the phone that it raises Bok Ja’s suspicions. Eun Bi just thinks he’s looking out for her because she joined the production late. Really – are you this painfully naive? Or perhaps she just doesn’t want to think of the other option (that he likes her). Either way, Eun Bi likes to keep all relationships around her simple and tidy, categorizing them into either “mentor” or “friend” but never both, and certainly never “lover.”

Jae Hee sits at his piano, deep in thought. He can’t even play the music in front of him in peace. He looks at the contract with the girl group beneath it, and then rips up the score for “Do Hwa’s Song.” And with that, he signs the contract.

Comments:

Highlights: Jae Hee has a sister. And it looks like everyone is afraid of her. I am seriously hoping she makes an appearance in this drama, even though Jae Hee solved his monetary problems by signing on with the girl group. Who doesn’t want an older sister who will knock some sense into her romantic younger brother? Second highlight was Yoo Jin singing. He’s got the most charming smile, he’s opening up his heart to art, and he can sing!? Next up – Yoo Jin must tap dance for us.

However, while I love Yoo Jin for opening up, he’s become so mean to Ra Kyung. I can’t say I didn’t know this would happen, since he’s been kind of standoffish to her from the very beginning, but seriously. It’s a bit unfair and it reminds me of a kid who got a new toy for Christmas, so he drops his raggedy, comforting teddy bear for the shiny new truck. It’s good she’s getting some love and attention from Joon Hyuk – maybe she can use that as leverage against Yoo Jin.

Another highlight is we finally see Kang Hee crack. She’s been the Ice Queen Diva for so long that to see her break down and cry was a nice change. What I liked most about it was her trying to convince herself that she isn’t alone. Loneliness is her greatest fear, and its interesting to see how she tries to prevent that from happening, but all her methods are actually pushing people away from her.

I can’t say much else for this episode, other than I’m just waiting for Eun Bi to go back to “Chungdamdong Gumiho,” which I predict will happen in episode 12. Then something is going to happen in the “Count Monte” production, so she’ll leave. And then she’ll be back on “Gumiho” for the final episode. And all the while, Jae Hee will continue to suffer, doing things just so he can fulfill her wishes, and hopefully see her back onstage for his production. This pattern is starting to get tedious.

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