Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 44 Recap

by: Raine

—

There was ridiculously juicy character development in this episode. Probably one of the best episodes in, like, 30 episodes. I approve. *stamp*

AGB Nielson Nationwide had this episode coming in at 26.0%.

episode 44 recap

Reporter Park tries to get Soon-shin to talk crap about her mother by saying that Mi-ryeong is a shady person with a shady past. But that doesn’t open Soon-shin up; it just pisses her off. She shuts down and glares at Park. IU is just one big ball of impressive in this scene. Park says someone witnessed her father with Mi-ryeong on the night that he died. Soon-shin’s face falls and she immediately says her father was on his way to see her. Park tries to interject but she refuses to let him insult her father that way. GO SOON-SHIN! On her way out he asks if Chang-hoon is her biological father and she says that he is.

But she is uneasy and when she runs into Hwang at home, she asks him if he knows Reporter Park. Hwang quickly says Park is out to get Mi-ryeong and warns Soon-shin not to meet him again. She agrees.

Joon-ho broods over what Yeon-ah told him: Chang-hoon died saving Mi-ryeong and she left him at the scene. No one knows about it. Yeon-ah threatens to turn Soon-shin into a Misfortunate Cinderella. She suggests he confirm with REporter Park if he doesn’t believe her.

Soon-shin calls because she’s worried about Joon-ho’s mother. He re-directs to her, asking if she’s okay, but she is ignorant and happy. She’s been paid and wants to treat him.

Granny asks Hye-shin about her relationship with Jin-wook because of the Ex’s nasty gossip. Hye-shin denies it and Jung-ae is relieved. Then Granny brings up his record and Hye-shin is disgusted by her ex. She defends Jin-wook. He got into a fight as a kid and is a good guy now. But that shows her more-than-passing interest, which worries the elders. Granny is disappointed in him and warns Hye-shin not to be nice to him and start rumors.

Joon-ho meets with Reporter Park about Soon-shin. He wants to know what Park is writing about and Park is all smirky. He wants to know why Chang-hoon and Mi-ryeong met and if it was just coincidence that Chang-hoon died just after they left. Park plans to keep investigating and wants Joon-ho’s help. Grr. Jerk.

Joon-ho waits for Soon-shin and is all broody. I don’t like him broody. Smile! Soon-shin grants my wish by scaring him into smiling and they head off to spend her first paycheck on gifts for her family.

At the mall, Soon-shin chooses a tie that would look good on her dad. Joon-ho thinks it’s for him, but she’s considering it for her late father’s birthday. Joon-ho’s face drops. Poor guy. He must be so burdened. Soon-shin wishes her father could see his youngest daughter finally making money.

Yoo-shin worries about coming home drunk the night before and angering Gil-ja. So she decides to have mother-in-law/daughter-in-law bonding time. She takes her shopping, for a makeover and some delicious food. Gil-ja is adamantly opposed, but Yoo-shin’s enthusiasm gradually wins her over. That, and Yoo-shin acknowledges that Gil-ja has worked hard in her life, which is a sore point for the old coot.

Gil-ja is really happy with her makeover and is really receptive to Yoo-shin during dinner. Yoo-shin feeds her and smiles and is really flippin’ cute. Finally, Yoo-shin admits she knows she’s not a good daughter-in-law and she’ll try harder. Gil-ja fights her words, but is secretly pleased. Yoo-shin piles on the flattery and says Chan-woo gets his good looks from Gil-ja.

Cut from nice dinner to:

Yoo-shin and Gil-ja stumble in singing like a pair of drunken fools. Gil-ja comments on the messy house and that’s why she has rough hands. Yoo-shin scolds the boys for making things hard on her. The boys stare at the unlikely pair. Yoo-shin orders them to apologize, but Gil-ja just wants to drink more. Hehehe. Love it.

Soon-shin gives Hwang and Mi-ryeong gifts with her first paycheck. I really love how Hwang is getting into the family thing, too. Don’t think I forgot his jerkiness though! Mi-ryeong gets a scarf for her delicate throat. She is touched and Soon-shin helps her to put it on.

Then Soon-shin tells Mi-ryeong she’s going to Jung-ae’s house and it’s a nice moment, when both women are awkward about it, but they accept that Soon-shin has that other family that means a lot to her. Finally.

The family gets their gifts and everyone is really happy that she spent her money on them. And in Jung-ae’s room, Soon-shin gives Jung-ae allowance. Aw! She’s always wanted to do that. Jung-ae asks about the boyfriend and gives her approval. The topic jumps from Joon-ho to Mi-ryeong. Soon-shin says she pities her because of all the hardship she’s suffered. She takes pills to sleep and suffers gossip. To change the mood, Soon-shin decides to give Jung-ae skin care.

A very sober-looking Joon-ho visits Mi-ryeong who is still happy over her scarf. But Joon-ho jumps in and asks about the accident. Mi-ryeong brings out her hated attitude: So what if it’s true? Whatcha gonna do about it? Joon-ho is baffled and asks how she could take Soon-shin from her family after that. Doesn’t she feel burdened being that spiteful? Mi-ryeong only asks if Yeon-ah asked him to break-up and Joon-ho swears he won’t. He says she’ll have to fix her mistake on her own and leaves.

Another bottle of wine for Mi-ryeong. She self-medicates like WHOA. Soon-shin comes in and works up the nerve to ask Mi-ryeong about her real father. She wants to know who he is because she’s ready to hear about it.

What follows is tears and overdramatics: Mi-ryeong declares that she’s a lousy person. (duh!) She was raised in an orphanage, made up academic background and parents. She doesn’t remember Soon-shin’s father’s name or face. He was probably lousy like her. She doesn’t want to think about him because her life was so hard back then. She had wanted to rely on someone, but he was a gambler and a drunk who eventually left her. She realized she was pregnant after and doesn’t know if he’s dead or alive.

Mi-ryeong asks if Soon-shin is disappointed by all the lies and tells her she can leave, but a teary-eyed Soon-shin tells her not to worry. She won’t be disappointed and it’s obvious she understands how hard it was. Instead, she thanks her for being brave and telling her about it.

Oooh, what a mature reaction!!! She also thanks Mi-ryeong for allowing her to be raised by great people, especially her late father. He’s the only father she has. She feels better to get things off her chest and thinks Mi-ryeong needs to do the same, clear her conscience. Soon-shin takes the wine glass from her and asks her to stop drinking. Then she leaves Mi-ryeong in tears. Mi-ryeong finally gets what she never had: someone who really cares and who really understands and who really listened.

Granny brings Jin-wook some corn. But her real reason for visiting is to ask about his relationship with Hye-shin. His smile falls off his face and Granny says Hye-shin is to nice to ignore people in need. Granny warns him to be more careful around Hye-shin because Granny wants her to get back together with the Ex. Granny apologizes and then asks him to leave. She quickly takes it back, but the damage has been done. It was obvious that his heart dropped to his toes. Poor thing.

Soon-shin’s words weigh heavily on Mi-ryeong and she calls Joon-ho to meet. She begs him to break up with Soon-shin and avoid the unpredictable Yeon-ah’s vengeance. She could ruin fledgling Soon-shin. Joon-ho asks why she was so stupid, but Mi-ryeong desperately begs anyway. He refuses and goes to drown his sorrows in a little green bottle.

Young-hoon joins him and Joon-ho’s somber mood shocks him. He wonders if Joon-ho fought with Soon-shin. Joon-ho drunkenly wishes he could fight with her over nothing like other couples. He wants to love her like that. Young-hoon says that they can from  now on, but Joon-ho doesn’t look convinced. And he misses Soon-shin. Yet, he won’t answer her call.

Soo-jung cooks a massive meal for herself and is all attitude-y to the only person on her side, Yi-jung. So Yi-jung confronts her father at the hospital and they go to the parking lot to talk. She won’t let him leave and wants to follow him to see how he lives and what he does. He wants her to stop and let him be alone. He’s tired of her and her mother acting like babies. Yi-jung demands how to know how he can be so selfish since he was never giving. All he does is work and he never listens to them. She begs him to care about them like he cares about Mi-ryeong. She says she doesn’t care if they divorce and that he’ll get his stuff by mail.

The one good thing she has done all drama long. She’s the only one who called him on his BS. I wish she’d done it sooner. Then maybe I would’ve liked her more and she could’ve developed more rather than just been an accessory character.

Woo-joo waits for her father who flakes because of his girlfriend. She trudges home and Jin-wook sees her and greets her with a smile. She tries to run from him, but ends up falling and scraping her knee. He immediately runs to her and she sobs. He takes her to his shop and cares for her scrapes. He tells her they will be fine, and pats her head, everything a good father should do. She watches him get her some snacks with longing in her eyes. Aw.

She refuses to eat his food and he asks if she really hates him that much. Then he assures her not to worry because he is moving soon. She is genuinely surprised and she pretends it’s better that way, but she is so obviously disappointed. She makes the excuse that she and her mother are going to live in Hong Kong with her father, but she knows that is bullshit.

Jin-wook seems sad about not seeing Hye-shin and Woo-joo. He advises her to listen to her parents and to be healthy and not make her mother sad. He says her mother is pretty when she smiles. Woo-joo snarks that her mother is always pretty. And then comes the gold: Woo-joo, you’re also pretty when you smile. AWWWWWWW! I knew they were my favorite.

Woo-joo comes home early and lies that she came home early from the amusement park. Then she asks if Hye-shin knows that Jin-wook is moving out.

Nope! She heads out and thinks about Granny asking him to leave and about him encouraging her not to just bottle up all of her emotions. She remembers the good times and gets emotional. By the time Jin-wook comes out with his last moving box, she’s all worked up. He’s already found a new place and signed the contract. Hye-shin says she’ll convince her grandmother, but he understands her grandmother. To remain friends, he has to to. Besides, he truly likes her and is too ashamed to stay. With tears in his eyes and voice, he tells her to be happy. He leaves and it takes the idiot a few minutes to chase him, but she FINALLY chases him.

She asks him not to go. He thinks she’s feeling sorry for him. With tears in her eyes she admits that because of him she can do so many things now that she never did before. And, the courage to confess to him. She admits to having the same feelings and the big ol’ blubberface starts crying and then fist pumps with a primal scream of victory. SO CUTE! Plus, Christina Perri’s “Bang Bang Bang” is playing in the background making it the perfect moment.

Soon-shin is filming a scene where she is sad and Joon-ho watches, realizing that her acting career could be over. He meets with Yeon-ah and asks what he should do to keep her quiet. He is so quietly desperate, but she mocks his willingness to do anything for his love. Then she tells him to come back to her. He asks if she thinks they’ll get along like before. Yeon-ah’s face changes into something desperate. She blames Soon-shin for the collapse of her relationship with Joon-ho. Pffft. He tells her that he wouldn’t have come back to her anyway. But she’s still in denial. She thinks he’ll return. He gives her this look of pity. It’s really powerful. He wonders where the Yeon-ah he used to know went. She wasn’t like this before.

Yeon-ah refuses to let him date Soon-shin no matter what.

That night Soon-shin calls Joon-ho and asks what was wrong. He makes up an excuse for ignoring her, but agrees to meet her tomorrow. It makes her giggle like a school girl in love.

The next day he promises to take her anywhere she wants and she’s so excited that he can’t help but smile despite the fact that we all know he’s about to be a noble idiot. They decide to go to the amusement park together and ride nauseating rides. I seriously don’t see how being flipped upside down is fun, but I have the opposite of an iron stomach. They are all cute and eat fun snacks and play with the toys and are so cute. But I keep anticipating the break-up so I’m sad…plus nauseas by proxy from those stupid flipping rides.

They decide to go for sundaeguk and he’s awfully quiet during the meal. I think he’s stealing himself. She notices that he’s a bit off and teases him that she wants to go to a nice restaurant sometime. Her treat.

Oh yeah, she has a Fan Cafe! They glory in that few moments and she acts so cute, putting food on his spoon. She says he always takes responsibility for her, so she’ll take responsibility for him now. His face drops and he can’t even look at her. I definitely think he’s about to cry and she notices it. But she thinks it’s too hot and blows on it for him and feeds it to him. Aw!!!!! Don’t do it Joon-ho. HAJIMAYO!

But on their walk back he puts on “the face” and asks if she’d be fine without him. He’s not taking care of actor management; In-sung will take care of her. If she wants to contact him, she should do it through In-sung as well. Soon-shin is surprised by that. Joon-ho promises to watch over her and she wonders if he’s going somewhere.

A beat of silence, then,

Let’s break up.

Comments:

He went there. I understand, there are some serious stakes on the line, but it would be better for Soon-shin to know and then decide from there. That’s a truth that needs to be known. Then at least he could tell her that he is being blackmailed by Yeon-ah.

Speaking of Yeon-ah, if we had spent less time on her selfish agenda, we could’ve had more time with Soon-shin reconciling with her family. This is a family drama, as my sister points out, and I want more of the family. Not just sporadic visits. Meeting Mi-ryeong doesn’t mean losing her other family.

Someone commented last episode that Joon-ho could’ve stopped a lot of things and he didn’t. I think had the character been allowed to run free without constraints, he would’ve stopped Yeon-ah. He did before. But this drama needs to fill up 50 episodes so they made him a fool.

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but IU has gotten so solid on her emotional scenes. Her timing is really improving and I was so impressed by her, especially in the scene at the very beginning of the episode with Reporter Park. Woooo!

I also loved Yoo-shin and Gil-ja getting closer. Gil-ja has a pretty hefty pride to climb over, but she did it, even if she had to use alcohol to do it. I wonder what will happen in the future, but for this episode, the two women finally found beauty in the relationship that they could have.

Let’s jump to Granny and her old-fashioned ideas and her judging. She hurt Jin-wook so badly and she knows she did. She needs to apologize. And why would she tell Hye-shin to get back together with the Ex when he’s still sticking it in that other woman? Does she not see that the Ex is a simpering liar? Guh. I’ve had it up to her with her meddling.

Because if she looked twice she would see what Jin-wook has done for the damaged Woo-joo. He’s always there for her, always treats her well, always cares about her. He let’s her get angry at him, but stop her when she goes to far. He unconditionally cares for her. He talks about HER with her. Not Hye-shin. He calls her beautiful. Now that’s real love right there. Forget blood. That’s just a love bond.

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, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44

Character introductions.