Strong Woman Do Bong-soon: Episode 3

by murasakimi

Bong-soon and her sidekick Min-hyuk return for another day of mysteries and “accidents.” Min-hyuk can pretend that Bong-soon is the Robin to his Batman, but he’ll soon learn that no toe (or countertop) is safe from her wrath. Gook-doo continues to investigate the string of crimes in Do-bong, but he’s not prepared for Bong-soon to present him with a brand new mystery to solve.

 
Episode 3: “That Guy’s Secret”

We return to the three-way wrist grab at Min-hyuk Manor, where Min-hyuk asks Gook-doo by whose authority he’s trying to extract Bong-soon from his house. Gook-doo cites the power of friendship and good ole’ patriarchy, and defends feeble Bong-soon’s chastity from the immoral clutches of a stranger. What, no judo flips?

Sensing an opportunity, Min-hyuk casually offers Gook-doo to join their sleepover. Bong-soon tries to refuse on Gook-doo’s behalf, but she doesn’t need to convince him, as he glowers at Min-hyuk and his flippant attitude.

Gook-doo quotes a law that prohibits employers from forcing their employees to work overtime. Mainly, Gook-doo wants to know what kind of “work” Min-hyuk needs Bong-soon to do at his private residence.

Bong-soon leaps up to tell Gook-doo that her work with Min-hyuk is top-secret company business, which only makes Gook-doo more curious to uncover the truth.

At an impasse, Gook-doo decides to let Bong-soon’s mother settle their disagreement. If Mom does not allow the sleepover, then neither will he.

Of course, Mom is Team Min-hyuk, and her eyes widen in delight to hear about the situation. Mom practically hands Bong-soon over on a platter, then even tries to hurry Gook-doo home so he can get out of the way.

Gook-doo gives the phone over to Bong-soon so that Mom can tell her to “do well,” adding that “things rot if you save them for later.” Rawr, Mom!

Now that his plan has backfired, Gook-doo tries again to ascertain the exact nature of Bong-soon’s job. Gook-doo explains that a dangerous criminal saw Bong-soon’s face, and also that she’s a key witness in his case.

On top of that, he adds, an officer was stabbed while protecting her. Thus, he concludes, since Min-hyuk was there during the stabbing, he also cannot be trusted.

Gook-doo tries another avenue, and asks Min-hyuk to come with him down to the station to be interviewed for the stabbing incident. Min-hyuk promises to go down the next day, and the boys agree on it.

Belatedly realizing what he’s done, Gook-doo looks up in shock after Min-hyuk tells Bong-soon that it’s time to head to bed (it sounds like he means together).

As Min-hyuk moves to leave, he lingers in front of Gook-doo and whines that he wishes Gook-doo would stay as well. He slowly drags his finger provocatively across Gook-doo’s abdomen, then winks, and throws him a seductive gaze. Omg, I’m dyinggg.

Bong-soon remembers that Secretary Gong had told her the reason Min-hyuk prefers a female bodyguard is to prevent further scandals since he’s gay, and his actions towards Gook-doo seem to confirm it.

Once Min-hyuk leaves, Gook-doo grills Bong-soon for answers on why she needs to stay over. She explains that she is Min-hyuk’s secretary, but Gook-doo still isn’t reassured.

Unable to convince her, he fastens an emergency pager to Bong-soon’s wrist and makes her promise that she’ll use it if she’s in trouble. He leaves her with a final warning: “All men are dogs.”

Afterwards, Bong-soon heads upstairs to find Min-hyuk, and when she can’t, she snoops through his expensive stuff until she finds a painting in the back of his closet, of that mysterious girl in the pink hoodie.

As she steps closer, the painting slides open and transports her to a secret room. Inside Min-hyuk is surrounded by all his toys and gadgets. He welcomes her in, then shows her the man he’s identified as the motorcyclist. Bong-soon is ready to confront him right away, but Min-hyuk tells her to wait till morning.

Although uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as Min-hyuk, she relents when he complains of being afraid. He then shows her to the couch where she’ll sleep, while he settles into a sleeping bag on the floor next to her.

When the lights go out, Bong-soon marvels as the ceiling lights up with stars. In a soft voice, Min-hyuk says that as a boy he believed that people became stars after they died, because it meant he could see his mother every night. Bong-soon remarks that she read that people become ghosts (har, har).

Min-hyuk reveals that when he was six years old, his half-brothers locked him in a closet, and though at first he was afraid, he later found closets to feel comforting, plus his hiding place allows him to hide from enemies and policemen.

Bong-soon points out that Min-hyuk seems to dislike the police even more than criminals, so he explains that his father was a thug and bribed officers and prosecutors to get away with doing bad things, and thus Min-hyuk could never trust cops.

Bong-soon insists that there are good cops too, which prompts Min-hyuk to ask why she likes Gook-doo so much.

We go back to Bong-soon and Gook-doo in sixth grade where it all began: Gook-doo transferred into her class and was fatefully assigned to the seat next to a sleepy Bong-soon. She woke from her nap just as Cupid’s arrows pierced her chest.

Later in high school, she watched entranced as Gook-doo played piano making all the girls swoon, and years passed like that, her feelings for Gook-doo growing with her.

Back in the present, she tears up as she tells Min-hyuk that she’s rendered defenseless in all things Gook-doo, frustrated with herself.

Unhappy to see her depressed, Min-hyuk tells her to get up so they can “do it”… and together they play video games late into the night. Aww. His jaw drops when she beats him, and then refuses a rematch.

The next morning, Bong-soon is startled to wake up to Min-hyuk curled up on the couch against her. She pushes him away aghast, so he explains that he was cold on the floor, and insists that he was the one terrified that she’d come onto him in the night, because what she’s thinking definitely wouldn’t happen. Sure, sure.

Downstairs, he’s stunned to see a veritable feast laid out on his table. Bong-soon praises herself before he can say anything, but then he clarifies that he’s shocked because all of her dishes are carbs. However, he agrees to do her the favor of eating her unhealthy food since she went through the trouble.

Bong-soon retorts that he’s the kind of person that would drive his future wife crazy… then again, she adds, that’s probably not going to be an issue for him.

The jab isn’t lost on him, so he decides to take it a step further, and says that her comment made him think of Gook-doo… and his butt. He proceeds to describe all the ways in which he likes Gook-doo’s apple butt, and relishes her look of shock when he wins the pissing contest. Bwahahaha!

Furious, she pierces the table with a metal chopstick, which makes Min-hyuk tremble in fear.

They head off to visit the motorcyclist and find out who ordered the stabbing. Bong-soon asks if Min-hyuk will hand the man over to the police, and Min-hyuk denies it, insisting that he’ll take care of his problems outside the law.

Bong-soon knocks on the motorcyclist’s door pretending to be a neighbor, and complains about the noise coming from his washing machine. He argues that he doesn’t have a washing machine, but when he tries to close the door on her, he’s no match for her strength.

She muscles her way into his apartment to look around. When confronted, she confesses almost straightaway that she doesn’t live next door, and then introduces herself (by her real name) and asks if he’s the owner of a certain motorcycle.

He confirms it, but when she attempts to lead him to Min-hyuk, the motorcyclist leeringly points out that he lives alone, and she brazenly barged in without concern for her own safety. Ew, ew.

He touches her face a couple of times, so she’s forced to slap his hand away, only for it to rocket back and knock himself out. She checks his breathing and thanks her lucky stars that he’s still alive. Hah.

Bong-soon goes back out to meet with Min-hyuk, looking annoyed as she drags the motorcyclist’s unconscious body through the narrow hallway, and grumbles to herself about how she barely touched him.

They relocate to the roof where Min-hyuk complains that the man looks like he was beat up, and Bong-soon asserts that he hit himself, but before she can explain herself fully, the man wakes.

Bong-soon takes the opportunity to tie the man up before he comes out of his daze. She places her taser in his bound hands as she ties his ankles, but then accidentally knocks his hands up, leading to some electrifying results.

Min-hyuk glares at her accusingly, but she swears that the man did it to himself. Again.

As they wait for the man to wake for the second time, Bong-soon tries and fails to bolt. Hilariously, when the man opens his eyes again, he immediately begins crying and explains that his motorcycle was stolen. Oh no, you dummies!

He launches into a sad story about how hard he worked to save up and buy his motorcycle. Moved by his story, Bong-soon quickly unties him (not before he flinches when she comes near).

Then she proceeds to gripe to Min-hyuk about his crappy investigative skills, revealing that she can’t abuse her powers, and it’s all his fault! Uh, you almost revealed your big secret, girl.

At the police station, the detectives interview the fiancé of the woman who was abducted. The detectives watch the interview from behind a two-way mirror and argue over whether the fiancé could be a suspect. They also disagree on if the two cases in Do-bong were committed by the same person.

Gook-doo contends that the criminal could be someone who thinks he can outsmart the police by orchestrating two different yet similar crimes. He adds that he’s certain that the abductee victim is still alive.

Min-hyuk and Bong-soon arrive for their interview, and Min-hyuk tells Gook-doo that the stabbing of the officer and the kidnapping in Do-bong aren’t related at all. However, when Gook-doo asks for more details, Min-hyuk keeps him at arm’s length and avoids disclosing what else he knows.

Gook-doo then heroically declares that he will be in charge of Bong-soon’s safety from here on out. Bong-soon interjects to explain that Min-hyuk is a crazy person and has a lot of enemies. She elaborates that the man attacked the officer by mistake and was aiming for Min-hyuk’s bodyguard.

This is new information to Gook-doo, and he says that Min-hyuk should’ve had a proper bodyguard then.

Min-hyuk begins to say that Bong-soon is his bodyguard, until Bong-soon lightlytaps on his foot, crushing his toe. She uses her aegyo to tell Gook-doo not to worry about her, but he gruffly denies it, stating simply that he is only protecting an important witness in his case. Meanwhile, Min-hyuk bends over in excruciating pain.

Ignorant of Min-hyuk’s visible pain, Gook-doo lectures him on keeping Bong-soon safe while she is at work. Min-hyuk repeats Gook-doo’s request for him to keep Bong-soon safe in disbelief, and even tries to call emergency for his foot until Bong-soon subdues him.

Min-hyuk inches down the steps after their meeting, as Bong-soon hovers around him spewing out apologies.

They go immediately to the hospital (the ONE hospital in this world) where Min-hyuk examines an X-ray of his foot, and his brand new very tiiiiiny fracture on his toe. The doctor tells him to rest and wear a cast for a while, while Min-hyuk dramatically repeats the doctor’s diagnosis to make sure Bong-soon can hear. Please be an itty bitty cast.

Bong-soon’s brother Bong-ki finds them in the lobby, and immediately surmises that she’s responsible for Min-hyuk’s limping. Min-hyuk demands to be admitted, and once Bong-soon downplays his injury, he asks pointedly if Secretary Gong is still recuperating from his incident.

As penance, Bong-soon wheels poor injured Min-hyuk in a wheelchair to Secretary Gong’s room. Bong-soon leaves the men alone to catch up, and Secretary Gong gets Min-hyuk up to date on all the hospital gossip.

He informs Min-hyuk that all the gangsters Bong-soon injured are staying on the same floor, and a resident doctor is her twin. The secretary wonders aloud that it seems like Bong-soon is the center of the universe somehow, while Min-hyuk muses on the poetic symmetry of how one twin breaks bones and the other heals them.

Coincidentally, Bong-ki confronts Bong-soon with a similar thought, and asks her if she realizes how many people she’s put in this hospital as of late, then begs her to be more careful.

He tells Bong-soon that he’s on his way to meet with Gook-doo and his girlfriend Hee-ji for an appointment. Curious to see Hee-ji in the flesh, Bong-soon invites herself along.

Upon seeing the couple together holding hands, Bong-soon turns timid and barely ekes out a greeting to Hee-ji. Gook-doo on the other hand is surprised to see Bong-soon wandering at the scene of the crime, unattended.

Bong-ki takes Hee-ji into a room to assess her symptoms. Hee-ji says she plays the cello and describes the pain in her fingers and wrist, which have worryingly expanded to her elbow, and she observes Bong-ki with a glint in her eyes when he’s not looking.

Bong-ki examines her wrist and as he holds her hand, they share a charged moment as their eyes lock onto each other. (Huh???) Eventually, they break out of it, but the air is suddenly different around them.

At the same time, Gook-doo scolds Bong-soon for following Min-hyuk around 24/7. He advises that she start drawing up boundaries with Min-hyuk so he doesn’t monopolize all her time. He lambasts her for being gullible and not understanding the true untrustworthy natures of men.

His fiery concern is more than she can take, and after only managing to whisper a few words during his tirade, once he’s done she has some questions of her own, and demands to know why he cares so much about her when he has a girlfriend.

Min-hyuk arrives in time to overhear her loaded question. Hee-ji passes them outside on her way to get her X-ray, and so Bong-soon looks away ashamed. Min-hyuk, reading the atmosphere, rescues Bong-soon from the consequences of her outburst.

They return to Secretary Gong’s room where he mocks her for being unable to conceal her emotions, and she storms out.

Bong-soon ends up back at her house, where Mom immediately asks if she did the deed. Mom clarifies that she doesn’t mean just sleeping next to Min-hyuk all night. Exasperated, Bong-soon reiterates that Min-hyuk isn’t interested in women.

To drive home her point, Mom compares her daughter to their family dog, and explains that before they got him, Mom’s favorite food was dog stew. She illustrates that people can change under the right circumstances.

Mom grouses at Bong-soon when she argues back that even though she’s poor she wants to live with some dignity (ha), and so Mom mutters that Bong-soon’s strength is wasted on her if she doesn’t use it to pin down the right opportunities.

The gangsters’ big boss BAEK TAK Im Won-hee visits his underlings in the hospital, with his right-hand man JAWS Kim Min-gyo. Boss Tak tries to get to the bottom of the situation that put out so many of his men, and seeks confirmation that a single woman was the cause.

The men are ashamed to admit it, but verify that the story is true. Minion Hyun-dong informs Boss Tak of Bong-soon’s personal details, and when he mentions her employment at AinSoft, Boss Tak muses aloud about the strange “coincidence.”

Though initially calm, soon Boss Tak’s veneer fades and he begins hollering at his underlings for bringing shame to their gang as rampant rumors of their defeat spread across the country.

Boss Tak tells his crew to bring Bong-soon to him, and if she proves not to be as strong as they claim, they’ll pay for their lies.

After her shower, Bong-soon reflects on the recent chaotic sequence of events, and she realizes it has become increasingly difficult for her to control her strength. Min-hyuk texts her to demand that she return immediately to his side, and irritated by his insolence, she thinks to herself that one day she might accidentally kill him.

On her way back to the hospital, she sees the boy whose shoes she destroyed, waiting for her. He meekly asks her to come with him to see his neighborhood thug boss who doesn’t believe the story he told him about her.

The boss harasses Bong-soon when she arrives, not impressed by her stature, as the other boys familiar with Bong-soon watch. He rifles through her bag after demanding that she pay for the broken shoe, and smacks her on the head with her own wallet. Hilariously, when Bong-soon steps forward, all the schoolboys back away instinctively, physically distancing themselves from their boss’s actions.

Short on time, Bong-soon picks the boss up by his pants and dangles him in the air before tossing him back to the ground, while she chastises the group for walking the crooked path. She then tells the boys to load up on playground merry-go-round nearby and receive their punishment. This will be good.

She warns them to hold on tightly and reflect on their actions, then sends them spinning. There’s some vomit, some screaming, and probably some crying too as they whirl in a tight circle. She releases them after a brief ride, and sends them flying out in all directions.

Bong-soon threatens them with another spin unless they pick up one kilogram of litter in one hour. They choose the second option, and thank Bong-soon profusely as she leaves them to their task.

Bong-soon returns to the hospital to escort Min-hyuk out. He continues to make a show of his toe injury and dramatically leans against her for support as he walks.

Boss Tak and his crew watch the display from around the corner, and it seems to be evidence enough for Boss Tak to believe his underlings’ story. He continues to observe the pair until they are out of sight, and he’s so lost in thought he doesn’t even notice the pee dripping onto him out of Kwang-bok’s drainage bag. Ack!

In the car, Min-hyuk assures Bong-soon that he’s calculating how much to pay her for her overtime hours, but in response she takes issue with the fact that he’s always complaining about her bad attitude. She tells him that her attitude is proportional to his disrespect.

Instead of responding to her complaint, he points out that she pronounced “attitude” wrong, and asks if she paid any attention in school. She shoots him a dirty look but then drives without murdering him.

Gook-doo meets up with Hee-ji after her appointment to give her some chocolates for White Day, since he will have to work on the actual day. She eats a piece after commenting on how nice Bong-ki was to her at the hospital.

Min-hyuk leads Bong-soon to his father’s house for an awkward family dinner, with his father, stepmother and three brothers, whom he names as his three chief suspects.

He texts her at the table to keep her eyes peeled for any strange behavior and not to obliviously stuff her face, and so she gives him the stink-eye.

CHAIRMAN AHN announces his intention to name his heir to the family company, before finalizing it with the family’s attorney. He also expresses his desire to have Ohsung Group grow into a major conglomerate in Korea, and thus has selected the son he feels has the best skills to achieve that dream.

That person is none other than Min-hyuk.

The room is thick with tension after the announcement, until Min-hyuk’s middle brother AHN DONG-SUK congratulates Min-hyuk and praises his father’s wise decision. Conversely, eldest brother DONG-HA and third brother KYUNG-HWAN vehemently express their disapproval.

Min-hyuk speaks up to declare his acceptance of the title, but remarks that he’ll need to figure out how to merge his company AinSoft with Ohsung somehow. His comment incenses the eldest brother, and his outburst prompts Bong-soon to begin examining each of the brothers’ battle stats as she would in a game, before doing the same for the parents.

The eldest voices his outrage, the second his support, and the third brother tries to trivialize Min-hyuk’s accomplishments. After trying to reason with his unsupportive sons, finally Chairman Ahn explodes and reaches for his golf club to teach them a lesson. Chairman Ahn’s rage identifies him to Bong-soon as the most dangerous of them all.

She says a much in the car as they leave, and it occurs to Min-hyuk then that he was foolish for thinking Bong-soon might give him some helpful insights. She maintains her stance, and says that his father has a criminal face.

With their mission complete, Min-hyuk releases Bong-soon for the rest of the night, and drives her home.

Somewhere in Do-bong, a man watches a woman leave a ballet studio from the shadows. He follows after her and waits until she’s finished having drinks with some friends, then approaches her as the designated driver she had called.

Bong-soon has Min-hyuk drop her off in front of a pharmacy so she can pick up some aspirin for her Min-hyuk-induced migraine. Mom appears out of nowhere and sees Min-hyuk leave, immediately jumping her daughter when he’s gone.

Mom comments on how Min-hyuk seems to always make time to drop her off at home, and thinks there’s something more there. She recommends that Bong-soon dress a bit more provocatively in order to entice Min-hyuk.

At the pharmacy, Mom sprays Bong-soon on the legs with some kind of bug spray, and the two are so distracted that they don’t really notice the suspicious man who comes in to purchase some bandages.

The man returns to his car, and dons his familiar-looking skin mask.

The Do family sits down for a dinner of fried chicken and beer. Dad asks Bong-soon if Min-hyuk is giving her any unwanted attention, and Mom has to remind him (to her chagrin) that Min-hyuk doesn’t swing that way.

Bong-soon adds that Min-hyuk seems more interested in Gook-doo than her. The family can’t believe it, remarking how someone like Min-hyuk would be wasted on Gook-doo (lol). Mom points out that Gook-doo really knows how to be a thorn at her side, and tells her daughter not to give up on Min-hyuk because she’s just as good as Gook-doo! Hahahaha, oh god.

Bong-ki then receives a call from Hee-ji (grrrr), thanking him for his help with her wrist. She guilts him into accepting a meal at her expense, and so they agree to meet the next day for lunch.

He reports back to his family, and Mom and Bong-soon smell a fish there right away. The twins bicker about how pretty they think Hee-ji is, and Mom butts in to tell Bong-soon to smile at Min-hyuk more instead of crushing his toes.

The abducted ballerina awakes in the car, and when she sees the now masked man, she jumps out and runs through the street as the rain comes down. The man follows after her and catches her easily, and then he lifts a large wrench over her fallen body… then swings downward.

Bong-soon heads out to refill their beer supply, and as she walks back home through the rain, she hears a woman’s scream echo out into the night. As she looks over the cityscape, she says to herself, “I had the uneasy feeling that the time to use my powers would soon come.”

COMMENTS

This episode had a lot of filler and spinning of wheels (literally). I think that the show would benefit if the writing were much tighter, and found the camera lingering too long on certain scenes. It seems the director understands that the actors are running away with their portrayals, but there’s only so much they can do with the dialogue they’re given, and the lack of character depth. I still found a lot of the episode to still be entertaining, but I think the show is walking a fine line between zaniness and forced humor.

I know that Bong-soon is basically a comic book character come to life, but at this point, I like Bong-soon’s gift more than I like the character, and that indicates a serious issue. I would think the show would want to make the argument that Bong-soon as a person is defined by more than her superpower. Actually, she’s more defined by her hopeless crush on Gook-doo. Based on this episode, it seems like her life until Min-hyuk showed up was about pining for Gook-doo, concealing her strength, and playing video games. Which, fine, a person can maybe fashion those three things into a rounded life, but I really would like to know if she’s passionate about anything else.

Speaking of her powers, I wonder about how Bong-soon calibrates her strength. For example, when she woke up in the morning and Min-hyuk was curled up next to her, she pushed him and that certainly seemed like a situation that would result in a body bag, but nothing happened. I understand that we don’t want to spend the next eight episodes in the hospital while Min-hyuk heals in a full-body cast, but I wish the show would delineate how it all works and address the inconsistencies.

Bong-soon’s cryptic comment right at the end hints to something more interesting about Fate’s plans for Bong-soon. Perhaps the gods are giving her some leeway to use her powers now, because she’ll need to take on the masked man later, and maybe make some sacrifices her selfishness would never have allowed her to make otherwise. In general, I think using her strength on accident doesn’t require any punishment.

It’s obvious that Bong-soon is not meant for Gook-doo, because Gook-doo is constantly criticizing and minimizing Bong-soon, and in his chauvinism has failed to even understand who Bong-soon is in the most basic of ways. I’m not a fan of how she clams up in front of him, but was encouraged when she finally spoke up for herself and questioned his great interest in her. I’m curious to see what kind of changes are in store of Gook-doo in the future.

Mom is growing to be my favorite part of every episode. She’s such an interesting and entertaining character to watch, and my sides are constantly splitting whenever she offers romantic advice to Bong-soon.

On another note, I’m assuming that Min-hyuk bought off that poor motorcycle owner because I can’t see how he didn’t report them for assault, kidnapping, and unlawful detention. I mean Bong-soon introduced herself, so unless he got that information whacked out of his brain when he slapped himself, she could be in serious trouble. I’m all for using her strength for comedy, but things are getting rather messy in this regard. That said, I still find the show to be incredibly delightful and I love these characters to bits, despite my complaints.

 
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