Entertainer: Episode 12

by LollyPip

There are some real game-changing moments in this episode, and it looks like the tables are about to be turned in a good way. It just goes to show that honesty and loyalty do pay off, and that the good guys can win if they just don’t give up. But it’s not always easy, and sometimes you have to go through some pain before you can start healing, as at least one of our boys is about to learn.

 
EPISODE 12 RECAP

Over ice cream, Seok-ho asks Geu-rin how she and Ha-neul came to be family. She tells him how their fathers were best friends, so when her parents died, Ha-neul’s father asked her to be his daughter.

Seok-ho asks who was her green umbrella when she was having a hard time as the head of the house after Ha-neul’s parents passed. Geu-rin says a good cry always makes her feel better, and Seok-ho offers to be there for her the next time she needs to cry.

Seok-ho walks her back to the band’s house and she gives him the umbrella for his walk home. They say their goodbyes and split up, and Geu-rin runs into Ha-neul outside the house.

He looks terrible, and Geu-rin instantly knows something is wrong. She fusses at him for being out in the rain, but the way he’s looking at her stops her. In the saddest voice I’ve ever heard, Ha-neul says, “I don’t have an umbrella.” Awww, puppy.

Geu-rin moons a little over Seok-ho’s promise to be there for her, but Ha-neul is fussed at again for going walking in the rain, this time by Kyle. Kyle is excited that their band might really get famous now, and is already casting himself as the lead in manga-based dramas, HA. Ha-neul puts on his happy face, but secretly he’s still fixated on seeing Geu-rin with Seok-ho.

Reporter Ma, the one who was scooped on Ha-neul’s story, gets wind of the rumor that “Luna” from Twinkle, Ji-young, is the one who framed Ha-neul. And how interesting, that that incident coincides with Jackson’s contract renewal with KTOP when they were supposed to follow Seok-ho to Mango. He asks Joo-han is Ji-young and KTOP were in on the “assault” together, and Joo-han utterly fails to innocent.

But Reporter Ma is a smart man, and he notes how Joo-han was so very helpful with details before when it was Ha-neul who was supposedly guilty, but now he’s strangely reluctant to talk. Meanwhile CEO Lee is stuck with having to compensate Jinu’s former sponsors, though he’s glad to hear that since Ji-young’s involvement is just rumor, there are no problems with hers, yet.

At least Ddanddara Band is gaining publicity from this, and Seok-ho plans to promote the boys hard while the public eye is on them. Geu-rin is put in charge of radio appearances while Seok-ho handles television, and Min-joo is left alone in the Mango office.

A girl comes in — it’s the sad girl who came to the fan meeting, and she looks nervous as she asks Min-joo if this is Ddanddara Band’s agency.

Yeon-soo catches Ha-neul looking at the couple rings he bought, and asks if they’re for Geu-rin. He gently says that she probably still sees herself as his family and manager, and a sudden confession could upset her. He advises Ha-neul to take it slow, take her on a date, and even offers to help him find a romantic spot.

Ha-neul asks Yeon-soo to keep this a secret, but Kyle bursts in all Secret? What secret? Ha-neul pretends he was talking about how nice Kyle is lately and that he didn’t want to embarrass him, and Kyle insists he’s always been this nice. And then he’s mowed down by Yeon-soo when he hears Min-joo’s voice at the door, HAHA.

But Yeon-soo’s excitement is short-lived when he sees the letter she’s brought for him from Chan-hee’s mother. They all sit around making faces at the letter, afraid to open it, speculating about what it could say.

Ji-young is furious about the new article speculating that she’s the girl in the video, and she gets in Joo-han’s face, accusing him of planning to betray her like he did Jinu. Joo-han tells her that he couldn’t stop the reporter, so Ji-young threatens that she won’t go down quietly like Jinu did.

She reminds him of the key chain, and shows him a new video, the one her brother recorded. This one shows the rest of what happened that night, when Ha-neul came in to “save” Ji-young and Joo-han had knocked him out. Joo-han can be clearly heard threatening to tell people that she set this up to get Jinu in trouble and blackmail KTOP.

He’d put the board he used to hit Ha-neul into her hands after wiping his fingerprints off, then stood there while she called the cops and reported being assaulted. It’s all there on the recording, and Joo-han is terrified of what Ji-young might do with it.

Seok-ho literally drags Man-shik into the KTOP building, and walks right into the middle of a Twinkle rehearsal. He shows Ji-young some interesting photos — the ones of her leading an obviously inebriated Jinu to a car while Joo-han watches in the background.

Ji-young snatches the pictures, but it’s too late, her group members have already seen them. Seok-ho sends the other girls out and tells Ji-young that what happened to Jinu will happen to her soon. CEO Lee will be coming after her, and since she doesn’t have the money Jinu had to pay off his sponsors, KTOP will probably sue her.

Ji-young says again that she won’t go down like Jinu, but this time she sounds a lot less confident. Seok-ho asks about her video and she’s horrified that he knows about it, and she screams, “Why are you doing this to me?!”

Seok-ho makes it clear that she’ll have no hope of recovery — she seduced a top star, framed her friend, and blackmailed KTOP. Nobody will be on her side. The only thing she can do is save herself from being sued… how could she use that video to save herself?

He tells her to give him the video, since she has no hope of fighting KTOP alone. He gives her until midnight the next night, and if he doesn’t hear from her, he’ll post those pictures on the internet.

Joo-han gets word that Seok-ho is in the building and confronts him on his way out, but Seok-ho just calmly asks him how long he planned to keep those pictures to himself. He warns Joo-han that it’s only a matter of time before CEO Lee abandons him, too.

Seok-ho goes back to the rehearsal room to find the boys still staring at Yeon-soo’s letter, and Jae-hoon summarizes the situation for him. Poor Yeon-soo is a bundle of nerves, dying of curiosity but too scared to actually open the letter.

Seok-ho is also curious, so he snatches the letter and opens it, ha. Yeon-soo finally reads it and sees that she wants to see Chan-hee. The boys all debate whether it’s a good idea or not, and I love how paternal they all feel about the little guy.

Yeon-soo’s confusion is written all over his face, and Kyle says he’s so easy to read, just like how he likes Min-joo. Whoops. But he says that Yeon-soo should let Chan-hee’s mom see him, and Ha-neul tries to shut him up while Seok-ho gets a laugh out of hearing his real name, Bang-geul, for the first time.

Yeon-soo asks Seok-ho privately what he should do, even though Seok-ho mentions that he’s never really dated much. Yeon-soo says that Chan-hee’s mother’s name is Ga-eun, and they met right after high school. When they found out Ga-eun was pregnant, they moved in together, and planned to get married after the baby was born.

He says that he’s not afraid to meet with her, and Seok-ho asks if he’s afraid he’ll want her to stay. Yeon-soo freezes up, and Seok-ho promises him that even if they get back together, it won’t affect the band. But even if it doesn’t work out, he thinks Yeon-soo should go see her.

Seok-ho says that he envies Yeon-soo because he knows what love is, and asks him to describe it. Yeon-soo says that you smile when you think of her, and miss her when you’re not with her.

Ha-neul sees his opening to take Geu-rin out, and he fibs that he’s got a bit of a headache and indigestion. She offers to go somewhere relaxing, but since he’s recognizable now they can’t go out in public, so he asks her to go stargazing with him.

He gets frustrated when she’s ready to go outside right now, snapping that they have to go away, somewhere nice, sheesh! Come on kid, you already know she’s more than a little bit dim, give her a break.

CEO Lee is all sweetness and light with Jinu, offering to pay his sponsors off and send him abroad on a nice vacation. But Jinu isn’t here to chat — he asks about the video of that night, and how someone from KTOP could have known it was going to happen ahead of time and record it.

He makes a not-so veiled threat that he plans to figure out who it was and why they did it, making it clear that he won’t rest until the truth is discovered.

Seok-ho goes for a walk to clear his head, and without thinking he makes his way to the band’s house. Remembering Yeon-soo’s words that love is missing someone, Seok-ho laughs at himself, and turns to go, but he’s busted when Geu-rin sees him as she’s taking out the trash.

He tries to play it cool and asks why she didn’t come to the office today, but he’s stymied when she says she spent the whole day visiting radio stations. She’s exhausted, but she adds that seeing him makes her feel better, and she asks him if he wants to go on a walk.

Their banter while walking is light and cute, and Geu-rin gets all giggly when she mentions wanting to dye her hair, and Seok-ho says she’s pretty. Seok-ho gets a little serious and suggests that no matter what else they’re doing, they should see each other once a day. Geu-rin agrees, and Seok-ho’s happy face is adorable.

Joo-han tells CEO Lee that Seok-ho has pictures of Ji-young and Jinu from the night of the assault, and that he’s also in the pictures. Lee takes that in stride, but the news that Ji-young has her own video stops him cold.

But he’s not too worried, since Seok-ho doesn’t have that video, and as for the pictures they can say that Ji-young and Jinu were dating. Joo-han is on the verge of panicking, but Lee just says he’ll talk to Ji-young himself.

Seok-ho gets a tiny bit jealous when Geu-rin asks to borrow the car to take Ha-neul stargazing, and she barks at him teasingly that it’s his fault for losing his license so he can’t do it himself. She says that when he gets it back, he can take her to see flowers to make it up to her.

When Ji-young sees CEO Lee, he plays on her fears by claiming that Seok-ho’s and Jinu’s problems stem directly from not trusting him, and trying to go out on their own. He offers to protect her, but Ji-young doesn’t seem convinced that he can.

HAHA, Kyle and Jae-hoon tag along on the stargazing excursion, which sends Ha-neul into an adorable snarly mood. At least he makes the effort to cheer up for Geu-rin. Sort of.

Yeon-soo and Chan-hee have other plans — they’re seeing Chan-hee’s mother today. When Ga-eun arrives, Chan-hee seems to sense that something is up and goes shy, but they tell him that she’s just “Daddy’s friend” and send him to play while they talk.

Ga-eun appears to have mixed feelings about Yeon-soo continuing to pursue his musical dreams — I have the feeling this is an old sticking point. But she compliments him on raising Chan-hee well.

Yeon-soo suddenly asks why she left, and we learn that she went to get formula and never came back. He’s not angry, he just needs to know why. Ga-eun admits that her mother used to pressure her, and say she’d live in a tiny basement all of her life, and with a shaking voice Yeon-soo guesses that he was too poor to have the right to love her.

Ga-eun says that when she went to the store that day, her mother was there. She’d caved when her mother told her to come with her, and she ran away. Yeon-soo tells her that it’s not her fault, that he was too poor and incompetent to take care of her.

Ga-eun feels a crushing guilt, but Yeon-soo tells her that Chan-hee is fine, and that he’s finally realizing his dream. He offers to let her come see Chan-hee any time, but she can’t do that… she’s getting married. Oh, you can just see Yeon-soo’s heart break in that moment.

But he congratulates her bravely, and when Chan-hee gets hungry, they all go to eat together. Ga-eun’s hand twitches with her longing to hold Chan-hee’s hand like Yeon-soo does, but in the end, she keeps her distance. While they eat, Ga-eun rinses the spices off rice cakes for Chan-hee, and he notices that she acts a lot like the doting mother at the next table.

After eating, Yeon-soo tells Ga-eun to forget them, and go be happy. She says she’ll always be his fan, and asks if she can buy Chan-hee a gift. Yeon-soo draws a line, and says that it’s better to leave things here. She caresses Chan-hee’s sleeping face just once and goes, crying softly, “I’m sorry, Chan-hee. I’m sorry, Yeon-soo.”

Yeon-soo watches her go, and starts to walk home. On his back, Chan-hee rouses, and says in a sleepy, sad voice, “Mommy left. Daddy, is Mommy not coming back?” Oh dammit, that’s breaking my heart. Chan-hee bursts into tears and says that he knows she was his mom, and Yeon-soo can only hold him while he sobs.

They’re right outside the Mango office, and Min-joo hears Chan-hee crying and comes running like a mama bear. Yeon-soo is sobbing too, and tries to apologize for her seeing this, but Min-joo just holds Chan-hee, trying her best to comfort him. The sound of Chan-hee’s cries are tearing Yeon-soo apart, and Min-joo reaches out to comfort him, too.

Min-joo drives them home and says that she regrets giving Yeon-soo the letter, but he tells her that he actually feels better now that he has answers. But when he tells her that it was his fault Ga-eun left, Min-joo admonishes him not to say that anymore, never to blame himself or think he’s not good enough.

She lists his good qualities — handsome, good-hearted, responsible, talented, plus that amazing smile — and she forbids him to speak badly about himself anymore. She says for him to move on from his old love and prepare for a new one.

Seok-ho is still in the office waiting for Ji-young’s call when Mr. Byun comes in, whining that there’s nobody around (meaning, none of the pretty ladies are around). As they wait, Mr. Byun asks if Seok-ho is prepared for the storm that will rage when that video is released, specifically CEO Lee.

Seok-ho just says that he only knows how to run full speed ahead, and wonders who will win in a head-to-head, himself or CEO Lee. Mr. Byun regrets running away when he did, but he doesn’t go into detail, and offers to wait up with Seok-ho.

Ji-young also sits up late, trying to decide who to throw her hat in with, CEO Lee or Seok-ho. Just minutes before midnight, Seok-ho gets a text, and it’s a video file. He downloads it, triumphant, looking ready to go slay dragons.

As it turns out, CEO Lee has made a fatal mistake when he spoke to Ji-young — he’d told her that he would get rid of Joo-han, blaming him entirely for this mess. But by showing her that he’s willing to betray Jinu, then Joo-han, Ji-young understood that she could very well be next, and decided to side with Seok-ho.

Seok-ho wastes no time and goes straight to the police with the video. Before he turns it in, he calls CEO Lee, and says ominously, “Where do you think I am?”

Once at the observatory, Ha-neul takes some time to work up his nerve, watching Geu-rin having fun with Kyle and Jae-hoon. Eventually he finds Geu-rin on a balcony enjoying the night air, and take out the couple rings he bought, determined to confess tonight.

He goes to her and reveals the rings, and she asks innocently who they’re for. Ha-neul puts the smaller ring on her finger, and tells her, “Geu-rin, I like you a lot. Let’s date.” He gives her a big smile, while Geu-rin looks stunned.

COMMENTS

I don’t think this is going to go well for our Ha-neul, however much we want it to. He really didn’t seem to understand Yeon-soo’s advice… springing “Let’s date” on a girl who’s only ever thought of you as a little brother, when she’s given you exactly zero indication that she sees you in any other way, is bound to backfire badly. Especially since she’s showing clear signs of feeling something for Seok-ho (though she may not know yet herself what that is, exactly), I just can’t see this going anywhere good.

Not gonna lie, Yeon-soo and Chan-hee had me crying real tears in this episode. Yeon-soo was so brave taking the chance of letting Ga-eun see Chan-hee, and while it was a good and generous thing for him to let her go, it backfired when Chan-hee figured out who she was. The poor little guy is so smart and sweet, it would have been better, I think, if he’d stayed innocent. Seeing the two of them, father and son, grieving what they’ll never have, was just heartrending. But like Min-joo said, now Yeon-soo can truly let go of the past and move forward, and he can find love again if he wants it.

I can’t say I’m thrilled that the main love triangle is starting to take center stage, because I really think that this show’s strength is its lovable ensemble, but I guess this episode made it clear that we’re getting a love triangle, like it or not. I’ll stop whining about it soon, I promise. I just don’t think this show needs a lot of stereotypical drama love stuff, but I guess I’m just still holding onto a wish for the show to be just about the music and the band. But it’s time to stop wishing, and accept what is, and that’s a freaking love triangle. Fine.

At least it’s a cute one, and like I said before, Geu-rin seems to be maturing a little lately (if not getting any smarter about men), so I feel better about her being entangled in a romance than I did say, three weeks ago. She seems to be turning into a pretty decent match for Seok-ho, not so much because she’s having any character growth, but because the show is taking pains to show what a good match they are already. And they do seem to complement one another well, personality-wise. Seok-ho needs someone who can be an emotional anchor, to hold him down when he’s ready to fly off all emotional, and Geu-rin as his “green umbrella” is good at doing that. She knows what it’s like to hold a family together, and she’s a very mothering type who doesn’t mind pulling him back when he starts to go astray on himself.

And she in turn could stand to not be the one in charge all the time, and be able to relax and let someone else carry the emotional weight sometimes. Seok-ho is a fantastic caretaker — even when he was known for being a total shark of a manager, he still always protected and took care of his artists. I think he could easily be that for Geu-rin too, which would be a relief for her. My only real issue at this point with their potential relationship is the unbalanced employer/employee part of their relationship, and I do hope the show actually addresses that. An employer dating his employee could be problematic, especially in the scandal-happy music business, and goodness knows Ddanddara Band doesn’t need any fresh scandals!

I’m mostly interested in the conflict between Seok-ho and CEO Lee, and the clearing of Ha-neul’s and Jinu’s names (Yeah, I never thought I’d be more invested in business scandals than a love story, either), so I’m thrilled that it appears to be Game On. I genuinely never expected Ji-young to end up siding with Seok-ho, and though I have no illusions that she’s doing it for any reason other than self-preservation — because let’s be honest, she’s a self-interested little brat and that’s not going to change any time soon — it’s an interesting twist, and I look forward to seeing it play out. At this point I wouldn’t even be surprised if Joo-han went over to the good guys, and I would love to see CEO Lee find himself alone, facing a veritable army of people he’s betrayed. I love that the theme of the whole show, family and loyalty and trust, is being played out in so many way and on so many levels, and watching it unfold and take down the big guys is going to be sooo satisfying.

 
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