You From Another Star: Episode 13

by javabeans

Only one episode this week! To mitigate the withdrawal shakes I’m sure many of us will be feeling tomorrow, we can take comfort in hearing that the show is (expectedly) considering the one-episode extension to even out the broadcast schedule. I would even suggest that they need not add more story or draw out existing conflicts—an episode of epilogues would do me just fine. Fanservice, skinship, cuddly times? All reasonable ideas for an Episode 21. Totally. Yup.

SONG OF THE DAY

JUST – “I Love You” from the drama OST [ Download ]

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RECAP: THIRTEENTH RECORD

Min-joon interviews that when he first came to Earth, he wanted to help people with his powers, even if it meant revealing that he was different. A flashback takes us to Joseon when a man is trapped underneath a boulder begging for help, and Min-joon uses his powers to levitate the boulder off his leg.

Instead of gratitude, all that earns him is a mob bearing literal torches and pitchforks, ready to hunt down the monster. Wearing a sad, resigned look on his face, Min-joon vanishes into thin air, leaving them even more spooked.

He explains that he becomes a source of fear even with long-established friends, as we see when Min-joon’s best friend pesters him to share his reasons for leaving, probably on the eve of another identity wipe. The buddy declares with conviction that over ten years of friendship, he has utter faith in him.

Min-joon confides that he’s from a different planet, and upon the friend’s request for proof, he floats a book into the air. The friend flinches away from Min-joon and tears off screaming for help, leaving Min-joon hurt. The lesson? “If I don’t want to lose somebody, I would have to hide my identity carefully.”

So in his interview, Min-joon admits that he revealed his identity to Song-yi in order to lose her, wanting to frighten her into leaving. Thus we resume their scene at the museum from Episode 12.

Min-joon shatters the glass case and advances on Song-yi, who backs away from him slowly. “You said you didn’t care who I was,” he says. “This is who I am. Do you still not care?” He adds that he could decide to kill her off at any moment: “So run while you can. Leave!”

But instead, Song-yi reaches for his hand. Aw, I love that she needs to hold onto something while her world tilts, and unconsciously she seeks stability in him, even if he’s the cause for the chaos in the first place. She asks why he went to such lengths to save her if he’s so dangerous. Coldly, he answers that it’s only because she resembled the other girl and he’d wondered if they were connected somehow. But if she is only Song-yi, “I’m not interested in what happens to you.” Shaking off her hand, he stalks out.

Song-yi tries to process his information and mutters to herself that he’s ridiculous… but has second thoughts as she recalls all the times he swooped in to save her life. When she finally exits the museum in a daze, Min-joon watches from a distance. Her heel gets stuck in a crack, and as she pulls off the shoe, she glares up at the stars and yells, “You’re from another star? You’re an alien? If you’re an alien, then I’m a vampire! I haven’t aged since I was twenty, I have the same face and same skin—everyone says so!” HAHA. (Jeon Ji-hyun’s amazing non-transformation over the past decade and half has been in all the headlines of the past week.)

In his office, Jae-kyung wonders aloud how the prosecutor found out about his connection to Yura, deducing that Song-yi was the only one who knew. He’s muttering in his maniacal way, but tonight he seems extra unhinged, and then he glares at the person in front of him and accuses, “It’s your fault she knows in the first place.”

It’s… Yura? Is she a ghost, or is he finally going crazy? (I mean, he was pretty much already crazy, but based on the wild-eyed Shakespearean soliloquy I figure he’s close to breaking past his shell of sanity.) Now that she’s dead, Yura finally sees Jae-kyung for who he is (better late than never?) and asks sneeringly if he really thinks he can cover up all his crimes.

Jae-kyung ponders the interesting stranger with unusual powers, finding Min-joon both fascinating and aggravating. He can’t beat Min-joon in a frontal attack, but he does know of Min-joon’s one weakness: Song-yi. That’ll be his trump card in this game.

Yura says in disgust, “You’d play a game with a person’s love for someone else?” Jae-kyung merely answers, “Yeah. You lost too, in that game.”

Yura spirit leaves (or Jae-kyung’s hallucination fades, potayto-potahto), and he murmurs to himself, “I want to see you guys for a long time. But why do you mess with me?” (Why do you make me hit you, indeed.)

In the morning, the museum discovers its shattered case, but ultimately is not too worried because nothing was taken. The director is more excited about getting a lead on who the museum’s mystery donor may have been, having dug up a photo of university supporters dating to 1914. Perhaps one of the men pictured is their anonymous benefactor, who popped up over the years to give generous amounts of money in times of difficulty. An employee suggests releasing this photo in conjunction with the school’s hundred-year anniversary, and a glance at the faded black-and-white photograph confirms that yup, Min-joon is there, looking exactly the same.

Min-joon fills Lawyer Jang in on last night’s events, and Lawyer Jang clucks that he didn’t have to go that far in outing the truth to Song-yi; he could have just cut off contact quietly. Lawyer Jang sighs that it would be nice if Min-joon could wipe memories like those aliens in the movies (ha, MiB), even pressing, “Are you sure you can’t?” Min-joon huffs his no.

The dilemma is weighing heavy on Min-joon’s mind, of being unable to stay behind with Song-yi or take her with him. The only thing he can do is disappear, he says, and enable her to at least live a good life after he’s gone. Lawyer Jang doesn’t quite follow his logic, but we know he’s thinking of his deal with the devil. In flashback, we revisit the scene where he offers to shoulder the blame for Jae-kyung’s crimes, in exchange for leaving Song-yi alone.

Song-yi still can’t wrap her head around Min-joon’s news, and confides in Bok-ja after making her promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone (replete with specialized pinky-swear, hand-slap, shoulder-wriggle, fist-pump sequence).

Bok-ja immediately laughs off the alien story, assuming it’s just one in a long list of crap excuses men make to blow off women. Her own first love confession was met with a “Sorry, I have to go to the army,” which was, of course, soon proven false. Another time, a guy swore he was possessed by spirits and had decided to be a shaman, then promptly got married in a church.

Song-yi considers that Min-joon may have lied, though she can’t quite reconcile the lie with all those strange incidents involving him. Bok-ja notes that Song-yi must’ve been really clingy for him to resort to that extreme a story… or maybe he’s mentally unbalanced.

Song-yi bolts up and decides she has to get harder proof. She takes a hike up to the cliffside where her car lost control, plants herself on the edge, and shouts, “Do Min-jooooooon! I’m in daaaaaanger! Come save meeeeee!” LOL.

Of course, it happens to be broad daylight and there are plenty of hikers around, who write her off as a lunatic. Her screams get no response, so she takes that as evidence of his lack of alien powers.

Next she walks into his classroom and sits through his lecture, intercepting him at the exit. She dares him to use his alien powers to leave the room, pestering, “You’re not, right? You’re not an alien!” Min-joon all but rolls his eyes and pushes past her, exiting in wholly human fashion.

She walks out of the building right at his side, drawing stares and whispers. “Fly,” she prods. “Or do you need your Superman clothes to fly?” Her pettiness cracks me up, as she counters his irritation with jabs like “Are you really annoyed? Do you think I’m joking and that irritates you? Well that’s exactly how you made ME feel!”

She warns him not to leave her, threatening to shout that he’s an alien if he does. Min-joon clenches his jaw and growls her name, but she chirps his own words back at him: “Why, did you trust me? You warned me so nicely not to trust you, so why would you trust me?” She threatens to alert the presses and the Blue House and NASA and tell them all about the alien, and demands the price for her silence: Have dinner with her. Haha.

Having won that battle, Song-yi points out that she gets to pick where, which results in a loooong drive to the beach. At dinner, Song-yi barrages Min-joon with increasingly absurd questions: Do aliens eat food? Do they recharge with electricity? Do they have a different body under that skin? Is their blood blue?

As they walk on the shore after dinner, Song-yi asks about Min-joon’s comment from early in their acquaintanceship, when he’d said there was no way Song-yi could be “her.” He confirms that he’d been referring to the girl with the hairpin, and Song-yi mulls this over, supposing the other woman must’ve been pretty if she looked like her. But was that really the only reason he was interested in Song-yi?

He answers yes, that he’d confused their resemblance for more, but realized at some point that Song-yi wasn’t Yi-hwa. And if he’d liked Song-yi on her own merits, he should have been able to feel something for her after realizing this… but he didn’t.

Song-yi presses for more: “You didn’t like me for one moment? You never once felt your heart flutter because of me? You never sincerely worried about me, not once? You never liked me just for me, without connection to that girl? You’ve never thought of a future with me?”

Her questions make Min-joon think of all the examples that belie his words—of taking care of her, of saving her life, of dreaming of being with her in a blissful future. But he hardens his voice to answer no, a little incredulous that she cares more about him liking her than the whole alien bit.

Song-yi replies, “To me, that’s a hundred, thousand times more important. Whether you’re an alien from another planet or a vampire or a monster or whatever your past is, it’s how the man I like—no, the man I liked—thinks of me that’s most important.”

Well, knock him down with a feather. But to Song-yi, this is all such obvious stuff, that none of that other stuff makes any difference when he’s the man she cared about. “I liked you, truly,” she says. “But if you saw me in place of another woman, you’re the worst. And if I know that and like you anyway, then I’m the worst. So I’ll get over my feelings.”

He tells her that’s the right choice, and she turns away and reverts to formal speech, apologizing for bothering him all this while and promising not to do so anymore. And if she weakens and calls him, he should cut her off.

The ride home is cold and silent, and Song-yi feigns sleep until the instant he pulls into the parking spot. She studiously ignores him and goes home without a second look in his direction, while Min-joon keeps sneaking sidelong glances her way.

Min-joon’s next lecture is on the five stages of overcoming grief, with Song-yi living out each of the stages in turn. The anger stage has Song-yi beating up her pillows, furious at Min-joon for saying he never once liked her. Denial has Song-yi scoffing at his alien explanation and hunting through her apartment for joke hidden cameras.

In the bargaining stage, Song-yi tries to convince herself that Min-joon wasn’t her type anyway, all old-fashioned and stuffy and probably a crazy alien to boot. Moving on to depression, she finds herself unexpectedly crying over dinner. Surprised at herself, she insists, “This isn’t crying. It’s just tears forming in my eyes. It’s not crying.”

Last is acceptance, where she vows to get even prettier (“Yes, I’m already incredibly pretty, but I’ll get insanely prettier!”) to show him and make him regret it.

Min-joon explains that there are gender differences in how men and women apply this to their romantic lives, as women frequently vow to improve themselves or meet a better match, while guys… well, they’re worse off. Cut to: Min-joon refusing to eat, completely depressed. Aw.

Lawyer Jang reports that Min-joon’s apartment will sell after all, despite those strange rumors circulating about it, and tells him the buyer is on his way over to take a look. Mention of a young rich man who jumped at the chance probably gives Min-joon an idea of who this could be… and sure enough, the guest at his door turns out to be Hwi-kyung.

Immediately, Min-joon tells Lawyer Jang to cancel the deal; he’ll return the deposit plus more. Hwi-kyung doubles his offer on the spot, only to have Min-joon tell him flatly, “I won’t sell to you.” Pfft. Min-joon shuts the door in his face and is so worked up that he shatters a mug in his hand without realizing it. Then his super-hearing hones in on the voices next door, as Song-yi approves of Hwi-kyung’s wishes to buy the place, and he spills water everywhere.

In interview mode, Min-joon explains a saying about missing someone so much your heart is buried in dust. He sniffs that this is the complete opposite case, with barely a speck of dust to be found: “Is getting over your feelings like cleaning a room? So fast?” Ha, he’s peevish at Song-yi for not being more heartbroken, is he? He insists that he’s relieved that Song-yi’s gotten over him so quickly, and insists, “I said I’m really not upset!”

Song-yi tells Hwi-kyung of the film offer she just received, looking at it optimistically even though it’s a supporting role. The character’s got a mean temper (Hwi-kyung: “That’s perfect for you!” Song-yi: “Right? I won’t even have to act”) and she’s happy to take a strong character that isn’t like all those samey-same heroines (“they’re all bright, nice, and righteous”).

Min-joon is still listening when she tells Hwi-kyung about the detective dropping by to ask about Yura, and whether she was dating Min-joon. Now she confesses that she knows the truth, and shares that Yura was dating Jae-kyung, and that she told the cop that info.

The investigators are hard at work tracking down neighborhood security cameras, hoping to spot Yura and Jae-kyung together. Jae-kyung watches them from his car, feeling the pinch, and sends Min-joon a text to hurry up their deal: He has three days to make good.

The investigators make a breakthrough when they find a coincidence in Jae-kyung’s and Yura’s cell phone records. During one stretch of vacation, Jae-kyung’s calls all originated from a particular region (where the family villa is)—and over the same span of days, so did Yura’s. Now they can narrow their search to that location during those dates.

Hwi-kyung acts on his own hunch and invents an excuse to slip inside his brother’s car. He looks through the GPS log, and finds the location of a particular mental hospital. Bingo.

Full of thoughts of her doppelganger, Song-yi returns to the museum and asks about the hairpin, which has been moved in the wake of its shattered case. The docent can’t answer her inquiry into the hairpin owner’s identity, but that doesn’t stop Song-yi from pelting him with additional questions: How old was she? Was she married or single? Was she pretty? Ha.

The 100-year anniversary exhibit is underway, and Song-yi pauses at the photo of the university’s early supporters. Immediately recognizing Min-joon from the 1914 photo, she recalls his outlandish claims of living for hundreds of years, and then goes out of her way to block the picture from other people’s eyes, plastering herself against the glass so that nobody can look at it. Cute.

Song-yi wrestles with the question of whether to inform Min-joon about that photo. He catches her on the door monitor pacing in front of his door, changing her mind a dozen times, and finally heads out himself. She scrambles out of view and leaves a Post-It on his door informing him to check out the museum photograph, adding the ineffectual warning, “Don’t try to find out who I am.”

Thankfully Min-joon’s powers are useful in this, and upon seeing the photo in the display case, he makes it disappear.

The two stage moms run into each other and snipe back and forth with their usual poisoned politeness. Se-mi’s mother sours to hear that Song-yi will be back on her feet with a new agency, and Song-yi’s mother makes sure to rub it in that Song-yi will be reclaiming all her CFs soon. But Se-mi’s mother gets the last laugh because Song-yi’s mother gets the rude awakening that she is no longer eligible for free services at this beauty salon, now that Song-yi’s sponsorship has been pulled.

That’s enough impetus to send Mom to Jae-kyung’s office to sign the agency contract. Sure, Song-yi still protests, but Mom deludes herself into thinking she can convince her later. Jae-kyung is happy to keep this a secret, and requests that Mom report Song-yi’s filming schedule to him. She assures him she will.

Song-yi prepares for filming, a little disappointed not to be doing a hard melodrama. But one snarky comment from her brother is enough to get her fired up to show off her action skills.

Ah, so this is how they’ll target Song-yi next. While the staff busily sets up the stunts, we see that Killer Secretary has earned himself a job as part of the crew. DUN dun dun!

Seok pursues his lead regarding the fountain pen, and stumbles upon a confounding discovery. Hoping to hear that the dead pen owner perhaps knew Min-joon, he instead finds that the dead man was Min-joon—or at least, he looked exactly like him, a co-worker confirms. Thus it’s with interest that he accepts Min-joon’s request to meet, curious to hear what he has to reveal about himself.

Song-yi and her mother show up to the set to zero fanfare, and only now do they realize that Se-mi is the lead. It chafes their pride to hear that Se-mi pushed for Song-yi to get hired, but they’re in no position to argue about it. I do appreciate that while Song-yi’s mom huffs to be condescended to by Se-mi’s mom, Song-yi tells her that she’s getting back what she dished out over all the years.

Lawyer Jang hears of Min-joon’s harebrained deal with the devil and protests, but Min-joon says that he has to either stop Jae-kyung or kill him. If he doesn’t, Song-yi might die, and time is ticking.

To that end, he surrenders himself to the prosecutor’s office, to offer his “confession.” Oh noooo. Ack. Nooooo!

Jae-kyung smiles to hear that Min-joon is complying so obediently, and anticipates that Song-yi will soon be “taken care of” as well.

Over on the film set, Song-yi prepares for her action scene. She wears her sabotaged wire, positions herself on platform many stories up, and leaps into the air…

 
EPILOGUE

On the cliff, Song-yi “tests” Min-joon by screaming for his help. When he fails to show, she scoffs at his ridiculous claims… and behind a tree, Min-joon realizes she was faking and grumbles in annoyance. “She can’t just call me anytime! She scared me!”

 
COMMENTS

Of course you would end there. Of course. Both lives endangered, lovers separated, villain twirling his mustache (nail ring)… Aughhh, New Year.

I find it interesting that despite being burned by history repeatedly, Min-joon still harbored enough hope to keep trying. The scene in the first part of the episode was definitely 20th century, so we know that 300 years of disappointment weren’t enough to completely jade Min-joon, and as we saw later at the bank, he was still able to forge a connection with Lawyer Jang. That’s why I wonder if his attempt to scare off Song-yi wasn’t rather half-hearted, because to him, revealing his identity has always been an attempt to connect. He didn’t look surprised by the Joseon man’s horrified reaction, which suggests that he’s always ready to deal with a negative response, though that expectation can never completely drown out the hope.

That’s why I love Song-yi’s immediate reaction to Min-joon’s revelation. Sure, later we get the whole gamut of denial and skepticism, but in the moment she’s only thinking of him as the man she loves. You almost get the sense that she’s annoyed with the whole alien bit for clouding the real issue, which is more along the lines of: You you like me? Circle YES or NO.

She also doesn’t immediately ascribe negative connotations to him being an alien, unlike the other instances we saw where he was instantly labeled monster and goblin. Granted, she hasn’t fully accepted the fact as truth yet, but there really wasn’t a knee-jerk fear response at the nature of his secret (aside from backing up because he was yelling at her, which I don’t really count). Really, in her book his worst offense is not loving her back. She already loved him enough to consider marrying him if he were a criminal (and I don’t even think there was too much joking in her thought process), so this weird thing? She can make it work, I’m sure.

I can’t recall if the drama has made this explicit, but I am assuming that Lawyer Jang and Song-yi are the only two people who have ever accepted Min-joon as he is, and able to see him beyond the alien label. I have no complaints about the focus of this drama skewing toward the romance, but I do hope we get more scenes of Min-joon’s impending separation with Lawyer Jang, because in a way they’ve been in a spouse-like relationship too, based on trust, confidence, mutual respect and warmth, and for generations, at that. In addition to being the person who knows Min-joon best, I’m also pretty sure that Lawyer Jang knows him better than himself. I love the glimpses we’ve seen so far, and would just love a little bit more. More. MOAR…

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