Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 28 Recap

by: Raine

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I have to admit. The way the writer’s are weaseling Soon-shin into a corner is pretty clever. However, using Mi-ryeong to do it is driving me bonkers. There is also not enough Joon-ho. I need more Joon-ho. MOAR. Like…yesterday.

AGB Nielson Nationwide had this episode coming in at 29.6%.

episode 28 recap

Mi-ryeong offers Jung-ae some cash for taking care of her kid and then decides that she wants to take Soon-shin back. Jung-ae is not happy about this, but Mi-ryeong says that things are different now. When Jung-ae points out that Mi-ryeong abandoned Soon-shin, Mi-ryeong lies that Chang-hoon took her.

This woman is delusional!

Mi-ryeong admits to be strangely attracted to Soon-shin and her talent and wants to nurture it. She also defends herself for treating Soon-shin like dog poop: she had to at that time. If she’d known Soon-shin was her kid she wouldn’t have done it. Then she blames Jung-ae for making her quit. Whatever. WHATEVER. This conversation is pointless without Soon-shin there. Actually, a piano should just fall from the sky and crush Mi-ryeong. That would be awesome.

Again, Mi-ryeong brings up that she wants to be a good mother now and wants to fulfill Soon-shin’s desperate desire to be an actress.

I know this is true, but it’s for the wrong reasons. And I hate it.

Luckily, foul-tempered comes home and hears the last bit of the conversation. Hye-shin has been eavesdropping but says nothing. Yoo-shin, however, is not that sort. She bursts into the kitchen, enraged by the offer of money. She checks the amount and scoffs at the idea that something that little could be adequate compensation. Jung-ae and Hye-shin try to shut her, but Yoo-shin says Mi-ryeong would need to pay at least a hundred times more.

Jung-ae gives back the envelope and says she will forget everything Mi-ryeong just say. Soon-shin is HER daughter and Mi-ryeong shouldn’t start acting like a mother now.

Amen!

Mi-ryeong is incredulous and has no choice but to leave. HA! She complains that Jung-ae is impossible to communicate with. Look who’s talking.

Yoo-shin is furious and wants to send Soon-shin back to Mi-ryeong. Granny and Soon-shin come home, but are told nothing about Mi-ryeong’s surprise visit. Soon-shin asks Yoo-shin about it and finds out that Mi-ryeong wants to take her and raise her.

Yeah, she looks as shocked as we are.

Jung-ae lies to Granny about Mi-ryeong’s visit, but Granny doesn’t buy the lie. Instead she guesses that Mi-ryeong wants her and warns Jung-ae to brace herself. Mi-ryeong will stop at nothing to take Soon-shin.

Time for an unwanted Gil-ja scene. Jung-ae tells her about the incident and Gil-ja tells her she should’ve taken the money. She needs it. Jung-ae snaps that she didn’t raise Soon-shin for money and then Gil-ja says it: Mi-ryeong is her real mother. You can’t ignore blood ties.

The words totally crush Jung-ae.

And then we see Mi-ryeong planning Soon-shin’s room. Guh, this means at some point Soon-shin WILL live there. I hate this. I really hate this. Not only is she planning the room, but she asks Yeon-ah for advice. Now I HATE Yeon-ah, but I pity her for adoring Mi-ryeong. The woman is cruel enough to ignore Yeon-ah when she mentions the article they were in together. She talks only about Soon-shin’s room.

When Soon-shin calls, she eagerly agrees to meet and sends Hwang to pick her up. Jung-ae sees her getting in the car. Uh-oh…

Instead of going to Mi-ryeong’s house, Hwang brings her to a television station where Mi-ryeong has been called for a sudden schedule change. Mi-ryeong is ecstatic to see her; Soon-shin is NOT. She demands to know why Mi-ryeong came to the house. Did she forget her warning already? Mi-ryeong wants to talk, but Soon-shin wants her and her family to be left alone.

And then IT happens. Mi-ryeong makes a valid point. Such a valid point, that Soon-shin is floored: is Soon-shin so uncomfortable with her family that she has to cut all ties with Mi-ryeong? Why is she looked down upon by her family? Mi-ryeong is her mother, too, and as such she can’t just ignore Soon-shin. She tells Soon-shin that she’s there for her now.

Oh no. This is going to put so much pressure on Soon-shin. Mi-ryeong is so insincere, but there are so many truths piled together that it makes her argument strong.

Soon-shin denies everything and Mi-ryeong apologizes, asking for a chance. She offers to give Soon-shin a tour of the studio and help her get back into acting. This time, Soon-shin hesitates before refusing. She heads outside where they are spotted arguing by a bunch of reporters.

Oh. NO!

Mi-ryeong tells them that Soon-shin is her daughter to Soon-shin’s horror. Of course, they ask for an interview. Soon-shin is completely cornered and when she tries to leave, Mi-ryeong stops her, begging her to understand.

Next thing we know, Soon-shin is sitting in front of a camera beside Mi-ryeong who takes her hand and introduces her. Mi-ryeong does all the talking while Soon-shin sits stiffly. After it’s over, she runs out and orders Mi-ryeong not to air it. Mi-ryeong promises, but we all know her promises hold no water.

Soon-shin leaves angrily and, as expected, Mi-ryeong tells Hwang to let the interview air. “Soon-shin is just worried her family will see it,” Mi-ryeong explains. “She’ll change her mind once she’s sees it.” Soon-shin will realize she is awesome and come back to her real mother.

I hate that Mi-ryeong has the blood ties to hang over Soon-shin’s head. That’s the only genuine thing about her as a “mother”.

Jung-ae trudges home and Soon-shin finds her. She lies that she went to a television station to meet Chan-mi and Jung-ae knows she’s lying, but says nothing. Aw, Soon-shin is trying to protect her and is instead hurting her more.

The next morning, Granny dotes on Soon-shin to Yoo-shin’s disgust. Soon-shin announces that she has an interview and promises to do well.

Jin-wook’s assistant tests him on English and he fails miserably. His assistant refuses to help him anymore – unless, Jin-wook lets him flick him in the forehead. It will inspire him to get the answers right.. HA!

Next thing we know, Mr. Assistant flicks Jin-wook’s very red forehead, probably for the millionth time. He’s enjoying it much too much and finally, Jin-wook blows up. Hye-shin comes in behind him and witnesses his temper tantrum. She also points out his red forehead and Mr. Assistant explains the reason. HEHEHEHEHEHE!

Hye-shin collects her baked goods and Jin-wook gives her more and asks her to tutor him in English. Hye-shin agrees to do it for no pay and Jin-wook nearly jumps out of his skin with excitement and starts to call her teacher right away. He hands her tons of baked goods as his enthusiastic thank you.

So. Flipping. Cute. I need way more of this and way less of…

…Mi-ryeong telling the PD to make her daughter look good in the interview. Movers are taking furniture upstairs while she’s talking. *RAWR*

Joon-ho makes his first appearance in the episode 32 minutes into the episode and I’m ready to pull my hair out. Where has he been? Why can’t I have more of him?

Anywho, he offers musical tickets to In-sung…and then rescinds the offer. Hehe. So petty. Love it. Just seeing him makes life better. He calls Soon-shin to ask her to the musical, but she doesn’t answer. She’s in her interview.

When she leaves, she hears her phone ring and it’s…Young-hoon. Although I’m sad it’s not Joon-ho, I’m all up for second leads making Joon-ho jealous! Young-hoon asks Soon-shin out on a date.

Yes!

Of course it’s to the musical. Joon-ho is there with business acquaintances and is surprised to see Young-hoon despite the fact that he gave his friend the tickets. Joon-ho wonders

if Young-hoon came alone and suggests the man get a girlfriend, which is when Soon-shin arrives, looking all pretty from her interview.

Both Joon-ho and Soon-shin’s faces fall when they see each other. Guh, you know you want to talk to each other and be friendly again! JUST DO IT and stop torturing me.

Joon-ho gets all jealous that they’re watching the musical together and watches them smile and talk easily.

During the show, he can’t concentrate and keeps looking at Soon-shin. She looks at him, too, betraying the fact that she cares for him.

His bet hurt her more because she did care for him. And then all this Mi-ryeong business was just icing on the cake. Now that Hye-shin has let her know Joon-ho is watching out for her, Soon-shin is starting to regain some of her earlier feelings.

Also, Soon-shin seems entranced by the musical, which makes me hope and pray she’ll want to be a musical actress and then IU can SING! And what about Jo Jung-seok? He’s famous in the theatre world! SING, OPPA!

Ms. I-can’t-take-a-hint Yi-jung shows up at the chicken shop to order a ton of chicken to please Gil-ja. She orders one of everything and compliments Gil-ja’s business.

Chan-woo waits outside Yoo-shin’s work place and they immediately get into a fight. It’s interrupted by her mother’s call. She wants him to come home because Yi-jung is there. Yoo-shin hears enough of the conversation to be disgusted. She guesses all the situations that he was with Yi-jung were out of his control, but doesn’t care.

Chan-woo is hurt and angry. He tells her that he doesn’t care about Yi-jung at all and Yoo-shin knows that. So why is she acting like this? They should just tell their families everything…

…and then they should get married.

WHAT?! Whoa, buddy. Slow down. That is no way to bring up marriage. Normally, I support Chan-woo, but this is retarded.

Gil-ja walks Yi-jung to her car and is pleased when Yi-jung calls her “eommoni”. After Yi-jung leaves, Gil-ja spots Chan-woo chasing after Yoo-shin.

After the musical, Young-hoon asks her to stop calling him “boss” and suggests calling him “Young-hoon oppa” or “Young-hoon ssi”. OMG OMG OMG. Call him oppa!!!!!! She tries out “Young-hoon oppa,” which he obviously loves. Joon-ho comes up and is all like “Oppa? Psh, what oppa?”

And then he totally crashes their date and wants to go eat. He asks Soon-shin what she wants, but she says she’s busy. When Young-hoon suggests they get tea, she agrees. He also tells Joon-ho to go eat dinner. Ha!

Young-hoon and Soon-shin are contemplating the menu when Joon-ho shows up. HA! He is seriously crashing their date. OMG, so immature, but I love it. This is what I have been waiting for. Give me MOAR!

When the trio take their seats, Joon-ho pushes himself into the seat across from Soon-shin. Pffft. Dude, you’re trying so hard. It’s so cute. Young-hoon goes out to take a call, leaving Joon-ho and Soon-shin alone.

Joon-ho watches her eat a mound of ice cream and then wonders why she has time to watch a musical with Young-hoon and no time to answer his call. Why did he call? she asks to which he merely clears his throat.

Pssssst. He wanted to ask you on a date!!!!!!

He asks what she thought of the musical – did she feel jealous of seeing other people acting? She denies it, but he says he can see in her eyes that she wants to act.

I want her to act, too. Just not with Mi-ryeong or her help.

Again, she denies wanting to act and before Joon-ho can push the point, Young-hoon comes back and tells her to do what she wants and ignore Joon-ho. Then he eats the ice cream with Soon-shin while Joon-ho watches them.

Yi-jung brings home the chicken and Dong-hyuk warns her to stop chasing Chan-woo, but Yi-jung is adamant. Before they can continue the discussion, Mi-ryeong and Soon-shin’s interview comes on television.

In-sung calls Joon-ho to tell him about the interview that Mi-ryeong conducted without his permission.

Granny and Hye-shin watch the interview. Yoo-shin comes in moments later. None of them seem happy.

Oh no. Are they going to ostracize her and force her over to Mi-ryeong’s house?

Gil-ja asks Jung-ae if Yoo-shin has a boyfriend and gets a negative reply. Then the interview with Soon-shin and Mi-ryeong airs on the restaurant t.v. Gil-ja wonders how Soon-shin could do that without telling her family.

Soon-shin walks home thinking about what Joon-ho said and gets a call from Chan-mi. She is stoked that Soon-shin did an interview with Mi-ryeong. Soon-shin is floored that the interview was aired.

Mi-ryeong couldn’t be happier and keeps receiving calls with positive feedback on the interview. And then she gets Soon-shin’s very unhappy call. Mi-ryeong lies that they aired it without telling her. She blathers on about how pretty everyone thinks Soon-shin and asks if she wants to meet the next day. Soon-shin hangs up on her self-absorbed, deluded ass.

When Soon-shin comes home, Hye-shin avoids talking to her. Yoo-shin calmly suggests she go live with Mi-ryeong. She’s still clinging to the dream of acting so she should live with Mi-ryeong who can make it happen. And why didn’t she tell them about the interview before it happened? Doesn’t she think about the family and feel guilty towards them? Although Yoo-shin says she doesn’t think Soon-shin did anything wrong, she and the family feel betrayed. Especially their mother. Yoo-shin tells Soon-shin about the money Mi-ryeong offered and how wounded Jung-ae is.

Soon-shin runs to the chicken shop to find her mother and check on her. She’s so distracted that she’s dropping things. A drunk customer assaults her and she shoves her off of him. Soon-shin arrives in time to see the man yell at Jung-ae and shoved him off of Jung-ae.

People in the shop begin to whisper that she is Mi-ryeong’s daughter and wonder why Soon-shin called Jung-ae “mom”.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

Soon-shin and Jung-ae walk home and Soon-shin explains that she went to see Mi-ryeong to tell her not to contact her anymore. They were bombarded by the PD and camera. Jung-ae resignedly says it’s okay and it’s something she had to do.

Hwang brings news that talk shows want to book Mi-ryeong and Soon-shin, which pleases the heck out of Mi-ryeong. She also asks Hwang to get Soon-shin’s name out to directors. They’re already making offers.

Jung-ae remembers Mi-ryeong saying she felt a special affinity for Soon-shin and that she had acting talent. A call from Mi-ryeong interrupts Jung-ae’s thoughts.

They meet at a fancy restaurant and Mi-ryeong looks smug as per usual as she mentions the interview and how well it was received. Reporters say they look alike. She asks if Soon-shin liked it and Jung-ae snarks that Mi-ryeong always does whatever she wants. Mi-ryeong apologizes for not telling her about the interview first and nastily points out, with a sickly sweet smile, that Jung-ae must be upset.

No shit, Sherlock.

Mi-ryeong wanted to meet to tell Jung-ae about a movie she’s been cast in. The director wants to cast Soon-shin in it. Mi-ryeong promises Jung-ae that she will listen to what Jung-ae wants on this one. It’s her decision.

Comments:

That offer is really cruel of Mi-ryeong. It is the perfect platform for Soon-shin and with all the pressure from Joon-ho and watching Soon-shin suffer over wanting to act, Jung-ae will probably cave. I mean, Mi-ryeong is setting up Soon-shin’s room. We know they’re going to end up living together for a little while. Plus, her sisters are now shunning her.

Yes, Soon-shin should’ve told them about the interview. But in this case, noble idiocy was seriously just idiocy on Soon-shin’s part that is UNDERSTANDABLE. She’s overwhelmed and doesn’t want to lose her family. She feels like she lost her identity as well. There’s just too much going on. Honestly, if I was Jung-ae, I’d support her acting, but not with Mi-ryeong or using that connection unless Soon-shin wanted to. And she really doesn’t want to. Of course, the show will make it be through Mi-ryeong. I hate how damned persistent Mi-ryeong is only because she’s selfish. If she truly wanted a relationship with her daughter, I’d be mad, but I’d totally understand and support that. But she is a narcissistic bitch who needs to DIE!

Yoo-shin. I hate how she treats Chan-woo, but at least she’s honest with Soon-shin. I think she’ll regret urging Soon-shin to go to Mi-ryeong, though. To Soon-shin it doesn’t feel like being sent; it feels like being rejected. Even Hye-shin is rejecting her now, which mean Woo-joo will, too.

If Soon-shin is going to move, I want Joon-ho to step in and be her pillar. With a little competition from Young-hoon, of course. I want Joon-ho to create opportunities for Soon-shin aside from Mi-ryeong. And I want him to drop Mi-ryeong’s contract. But I understand that that is an unwise business decision.

I’m just so fed up with k-drama characters that don’t understand when to give up. Mi-ryeong and Yi-jung. They’re only that way so the writer can make conflict. Why can’t we just deal with the emotional, social and business fallout without having Mi-ryeong create problems? There is enough fodder for some wicked character interplay here and all we get is makjang.

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

Character introductions.