Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 7 Recap

by: Raine

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All three sisters’ romances are now firmly set on their paths. We got to dress up IU Lee Soon-shin. And finally…finally…she’s on the road to being an actress…this means IU will sing soon…hopefully. Please? Pretty please?

AGB Nielson Nationwide had this episode coming in at 23.3%.

“I don’t know” – instrumental of the song sung by Tahiti (from the Lee Soon-shin is the Best OST)

episode 7 recap

Yi-jung is pitching a massive toddler’s fit when Mi-ryeong comes in and puts a stop to it. Maybe she would’ve been a good mother after all…hrm… I’m KIDDING.

Anyway, Mi-ryeong drags a surprised Yi-jung away as Mr. Waiter tells Soon-shin that she’s one lucky girl. Young-hoon joins them, confused as to why his restaurant is in chaos. Mr. Waiter explains that goddess Song Mi-ryeong saved Soon-shin.

In Joon-ho’s office, Yi-jung is blaming Soon-shin for spilling stuff on her in her most obnoxious voice ever. Mi-ryeong tells her to use the opportunity for acting instead of fighting. Then they’re joined by Mr. Hotness himself (JO JUNG-SEOK!) who is not happy to hear that his sister fought with Soon-shin. Yi-jung is incredulous that he is scouting someone like Soon-shin. The news peaks Mi-ryeong’s interest – she wishes she’d known so she could’ve paid more attention. Sadly, Joon-ho does not look happy about it.

That means you’re doing this for the wrong reason! But since it means I will get to hear IU sing in a drama, I will bear with your idiocy…’cause that also means you will sing, Jung-seok oppa!

Jung-ae is packing up Chang-hoon’s clothes with Hye-shin for company. Hye-shin spies the old photo of Chang-hoon with a pretty woman. They wonder who the woman is – we know it’s Mi-ryeong. Jung-ae jokes that he had a lot of women before he met her.

Then Hye-shin asks about money: do they have the money to pay back Soon-shin’s debt. Jung-ae says there will be a way, but Hye-shin isn’t so sure. She wishes they hadn’t used Chang-hoon’s retirement funds for her wedding. Jung-ae shushes her daughter’s worries and warns her not to tell her husband so he won’t worry about them. Cue Hye-shin’s guilty face.

Jung-ae heads to the bank for a loan and considers using the house for collateral. Then she goes shopping for groceries and buys cheap. She asks the fish ahjumma for any job openings and the ahjumma suggests cleaning.

Then we have Joon-ho sitting in the cafe trying to catch Soon-shin’s attention by waving hs coffee cup around, dropping his fork and even changing seats. She oh-so-nonchalantly ignores him. I love this little power play. Finally, he calls for service very loudly and gets Mr. Waiter (whose name is Jae-yong. I’m still working on his family name! But Mr. Waiter is so fun to type…) Anyway, Mr. Waiter heads over and is annoyed when Joon-ho asks specifically for Soon-shin.

Well guess what, she’s annoyed, too. She’s not very happy to hear him apologize on his spoiled sister’s behalf. But she thinks they are perfect together: she assumes that when Yi-jung referred to him as “oppa” she meant romantically because of the whole hugging him in her bathrobe thing. Hehe.

He follows her as she stalks off to refill his coffee. But his ever loyal servant, In-sung, stops him and reminds Joon-ho of an investor’s meeting. In-sung manages to get Joon-ho to go back to his office and on the way, realization strikes: In-sung has seen Soon-shin before. She was swindled by the con man who was pretending to be Joon-ho and had come to the Gabi office.

Joon-ho realizes that Soon-shin believes him to be another swindler and…smiles. *SQUEEEE*

Soon-shin is setting up camp in her old bedroom where Hye-shin and Woo-joo are staying. She’s been staying there since Yoo-shin kicked her out. Woo-joo doesn’t like it and complains. Hye-shin comes in and reminds her daughter that they’re camping out in Soon-shin’s room. But Soon-shin, ever afraid to stand up for herself and make people hate her, takes her leave. She says it’s okay ‘cause Yoo-shin has already calmed, but it’s obvious she hasn’t when Soon-shin leans her ear against the door and she gets snapped at by Yoo-shin.

What are you going to about your debt? Yoo-shin demands angrily and when Soon-shin doesn’t answer, Yoo-shin sneers that she knew Soon-shin didn’t have a plan. Yoo-shin pushes past her sister and Yoo-shin heads downstairs. Hye-shin comes out right after, angry at Yoo-shin. She confronts her and tells her to stop treating Soon-shin badly or she and Woo-joo will feel badly. Nice Yoo-shin replies that they should just leave then. Hye-shin tries to convince her to be nice because the family is having a hard time, especially Granny and Jung-ae, but Yoo-shin refuses.

I have a feeling this is going to get to Yoo-shin later. She’s a slow learner on the “be nice to your family” front. Actually, I’m not sure she ever learned anything on that front…

Soon-shin sets up her bed in the living room. For all Hye-shin is defending her, she didn’t ask her to come back into the room with her and Woo-joo. Being nice is as good as being effective. Grow a pair! If you want to affect change, then DO it. Don’t just want it.

The next day, Soon-shin asks Young-hoon to work until closing from now on. She needs the money. He agrees and watches her leave thoughtfully.

Downstairs, In-sung braces himself to greet Soon-shin and formally greets her and hands her his business card. She doesn’t remember him until he says that he is Shin Joon-ho’s secretary. He asks Mr. Waiter to borrow her and promises to compensate him for the loss. Then he drags Soon-shin away, but not before she shoves a bottle of honey into a very confused Mr. Waiter’s hands. Mr. Waiter watches as In-sung shows her into a fancy black car, hands her into the back seat and drives away.

Then its time to make average Lee Soon-shin pretty. She tries on many outfits with a  mixture of embarrassment, amusement, and pleasure. In-sung, however, is more amused by the whole process because of her “average” looks. She gets her face and hair done did and In-sung seems to be a bit impressed by the transformation.

And we head to the event where Reporter Park and the rest of the paparazzi are photographing Yeon-ah in a really awesome white dress. It’s a press conference for her newest film. Joon-ho’s face drops when he sees Yeon-ah and then In-sung announces Soon-shin who is clumsily making her way down the stairs, but looking SO CUTE. SO CUTE! Joon-ho laughs at her attempts and I’m all giddy inside, waiting future romantic cuteness.

So In-sung helps her down the rest of the stairs and Joon-ho turns around so In-sung can call him “president” and show off his position. He cockily asks if she likes her stylings (and I’m thinking, “I like your styling. You look hot with your hair done spiked like that!”) Soon-shin is very appropriately surprised that Joon-ho is in fact, THE Shin Joon-ho and was not lying.

As she stares at him, he jokes with a charming smile, in JONDAEMAL (he’s been using banmal ever since she crashed into him first episode), that he doesn’t like her stylings. She stammers, “Ahjussi, are you really…” He stops her and turns her to face the stage where Yeon-ah had been photographed. He says that lots of people want to stand there and he will let her stand there in the future. She knows who he is now, right?

Yeon-ah approaches and he coolly congratulates her on the positive reception on her film. (In-sung so adorably straightens, knowing his boss’s rivalry with her.) She asks who Soon-shin is and Joon-ho smirks that she is a new trainee in his company. Yeon-ah thinks she has charm and Joon-ho laughs when he realizes Yeon-ah doesn’t recognize her but thinks she’s a date. He sexily leans over and tells Yeon-ah to wait for the signing of the contract, but Yeon-ah still doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

I’m too busy rewinding that sexy lean thing he did too care too much about Yeon-ah.

Joon-ho drags Soon-shin to meet Reporter Hong and Reporter Park, leaving Yeon-ah hanging. He promises to introduce Soon-shin slowly to the reporters later. And Soon-shin finally gets what is going on and she stalks away. Joon-ho sighs and goes after her – all while Yeon-ah is watching.

Joon-ho offers the cold Soon-shin a ride, but she’s pissed he’s treating her like an easy Cinderella case. They meet in his office and In-sung brings the contract. She remains silent and he thinks she’s shocked. He tells her not to treat everyone else as a scammer, earning a glare from her. He heard she’d been swindled and says that there is a lot of that going around recently. She scoffs, but says nothing.

So he proposes a contract and a signing bonus that can help offset some of what she lost. But she’s more curious about why he chose her. Joon-ho confidently says that it’s not that he believes in her, but in himself. He chose her because she’s hopeless and that he wants to test his ability.

Although this is incredibly douche-y, I’m glad he’s at least honest about that and doesn’t lie to her.

She refuses because she doesn’t understand his reasoning. He says she was swindled because she had a dream. Sadly, Soon-shin replies that she doesn’t even have a right to dream.

YES YOU DO! Even if she fails miserably, she deserves the right to dream. And since IU is playing you, you’ll be GOOD! I PROMISE!

Soon-shin tells him not to approach her again and he stops her before she gets to the door. He demands to know if she’ll continue to live this way. This is why she was scammed. Expecting to fail people’s expectations and disappoint them doesn’t mean she should kick this opportunity away. She tells him that how she lives her life is none of his business and leaves.

I know he was trying to get her to sign, but he was dead on about her. She expects nothing because other people have deemed her as failing and unworthy. I know these words will get to her…but when?

Soon-shin stumbles home in her high heels. She stops in front of a reflective window and gazes at her reflection, beautiful, but sad. Joon-ho’s words rings in her head: “Will you live like this in the future?” With tears in her eyes, she leaves the beautiful, sad reflection behind.

Mi-ryeong is wandering around in the dark. I meant to mention this before, but she always has old videos of herself playing. Maybe to remind her of her goals? Or to make what she gave up in her life seem worth it.

Anyway, she hurries through the house and turns all the lights on, then sits on the sofa to brood.

She heads to Chang-hoon’s grave. She asks him not to blame her. It’s not her fault, right?

Technically, it’s not. But I want to blame you and your selfish ass, so I will. IT’S YOUR FAULT!

Mi-ryeong tells her oppa Chang-hoon that she won’t be afraid even if he haunts her. Hwang comes to collect her, but she doesn’t want to leave. He forces her to leave in case anyone should see her. On their way to the car, they pass Jung-ae coming to visit her husband. Jung-ae turns back, but continues to visit Chang-hoon.

Hwang hands Mi-ryeong into the car and tells her to forget about Chang-hoon. It was his destiny to die. She didn’t hit him with the car, so she should stay out of it. People will find out that they knew each other if she keeps going like this.

Hwang is such a poisonous person. I think grieving is the healthiest thing Mi-ryeong has done…

Jung-ae visits her husband and asks if he is cold being alone at night. She’s started work and may not be able to visit as much, but she will live on without him. She appreciates how he worked for their family.

It’s a beautiful moment, but I don’t feel sad for her because she expressed those things to him while they were living.

Jung-ae gets to work as a janitor and gets her first taste of being handed a trash bag and being called ahjumma. On her way home, Gil-ja drags her into the shop and asks if Jung-ae got a job. Apparently, Gil-ja is the gossip hub of the town. Jung-ae admits she started the job today but it’s absolutely NOT to pay off Soon-shin’s debt. She gets depressed home all day and it will help the interest of the debt.

Gil-ja offers to lend her money, but Jung-ae refuses and also asks her not to tell her children. Bok-man comes in and asks if any witnesses have been found. There haven’t. Jung-ae leaves and Gil-ja bemoans her friend’s sad fate and Bok-man chides her for enjoying the excitement.

I think Gil-ja really does feel bad. She’s just a gossip.

Granny and Jung-ae have a chat. Granny has noticed that Jung-ae has been out a lot and warns her against seeming to already have gotten over her husband’s death. I don’t’ know why continuing your life is a bad thing…but whatever. Jung-ae promises not to seem too happy and Granny changes the subject to the photo of Chang-hoon and the woman, who Granny calls “Kyung-sook”. Jung-ae explains it fell out of a book. Jung-ae asks if she was his first love and Granny sneers. She hates her and calls her cruel.

Then Jung-ae notices that the woman in the photo resembles Song Mi-ryeong. Granny brushes it off. Jung-ae also tells Granny that she saw Mi-ryeong when she visited Chang-hoon. Obviously, Jung-ae hasn’t made the connection yet, but the news upsets Granny.

Granny goes to her room and notes that “that brat” kept wanting to be an actress too…

Yes show…we know Mi-ryeong is Soon-shin’s real mommy.

Sexy baker time! He’s sexily decorating a cake and feeling terrible about unknowingly being cruel to Hye-shin. His assistant notices he got rid of the cake. He gets all excited and gives his boss a very enthusiastic thumbs up, which is not accepted well.

And then Hye-shin and Woo-joo pass by and Jin-wook flips out, ordering his assistant to shove tons of pastries into bags. Then he runs out to offer them to Hye-shin and Woo-joo. Before he can hand it to her, Hye-shin gets a call and gives it to a surprise Woo-joo instead. He makes a funny jiggly face at her, smiles, runs away, makes another jiggly face and runs away before Hye-shin can thank him.

Aww, weird and awkward, but cute.

The call was from Gil-ja who is shocked to see Woo-joo unloaded two bags full of pastries. Gil-ja tells Hye-shin that her mom is working as a cleaner. (So much for secrecy.) Gil-ja admits it was supposed to be a secret, but felt it was best for Hye-shin to know. Jung-ae has never worked before and Gil-ja hopes Hye-shin’s husband can help Jung-ae out.

Eeeeek!

Then more eek. Yoo-shin asks Hye-shin where their mother has been and Hye-shin imparts the news. More shock. So Yoo-shin heads up to her room and is doing some work. Well, she’s trying, but can’t focus. Instead, she pulls out her bank book that has about $15,000. She hides the bank book when Soon-shin comes in offering white flag beer and squid. Yoo-shin blandly tells her to leave, but Soon-shin begs to stay. No, she refuses to leave no matter what.

Good for you.

Then Yoo-shin comes out with it: you’re important to this family. How could you have nowhere to go? Dad left you a cake saying that you are the best.

And the cruel delivery: you know mom started working for the first time in her life because of you. Yoo-shin tells her that she can sleep wherever she wants, Yoo-shin will just leave.

Jealousy, rage, blame, guilt. This girl is seriously in need of some mental help.

Yoo-shin does leave and goes to a pojangmacha to drink alone and that’s how Chan-woo finds her. He sits down to drink with her until her “other” drinking buddies come. He takes the drink she poured and orders octopus. She tells him to leave her be and find his favorite Soon-shin.

You’re jealous! Stop taking that shit out on my poor, adorable Soon-shin.

He tries to deny it and it’s here that I see he really digs Yoo-shin, which is what I initially thought. Soon-shin is just easier to get along with. Maybe he didn’t like that he liked meanieface Yoo-shin.

Chan-woo redirects the conversation back to how Yoo-shin treats Soon-shin. She tells him that her parents only care about Soon-shin since she came to live with them. Yoo-shin always feels one step behind and like she’s always giving into her.

Seriously? If you weren’t such a turd, they might like you more. Heh…I’m mean.

Chan-woo reassures her that she is so capable and that’s why she doesn’t get as much attention, which is exactly what Jung-ae tells her.

That is a parenting flaw: capable doesn’t mean in less need of care.

Yoo-shin tells him her mom got a job (for Soon-shin’s sake) and her father left a cake before he died that said “you’re the best, my daughter.”

I find it strange that Soon-shin’s parents loved her “so” much and yet she feels so inferior. There had to be something there to make her feel that way besides Yoo-shin. I do get Yoo-shin’s jealousy, although her behavior is still unacceptable.

Chan-woo assures her that Chang-hoon meant that all three of his daughters were great, but Yoo-shin doesn’t believe it. Everyone is blaming her for her behavior, but she’s feeling desolate because she didn’t see her father before he left. Then she sobs into her hands.

Several drinks later, Chan-woo tries to get her to leave, but she’s not going home tonight. She wants to drink more, but he won’t let her. She grabs the bottle but ends up falling on the floor. Chan-woo immediately cups her face in his hands, searching to make sure she isn’t hurt. She stares up into his face as he searches for injury and she impulsively kisses him. Smiling at his surprise, she kisses him again, being all cute and Yoo In-nah. I mean…Yoo-shin.

Then she falls over and he tries to pick her up, but she falls over on top of him. Heh.

At home, Soon-shin sleeps on the floor, waiting for Yoo-shin to come home. She wakes up early the next morning and Jung-ae is heading to work, but lies that she’s getting some exercise.

Soon-shin heads to work, knowing her mother lied about exercising. She runs into Chan-mi outside work and they see Joon-ho pull up. He gives Soon-shin a look and she quickly turns her head away. Chan-mi realizes that it’s Shin Joon-ho and that Soon-shin probably knows him. To distract her, Soon-shin asks if she’s heard that Jung-ae is working. Chan-mi is surprised that she knows her mother is a cleaner.

Cat’s really out of the bag. Okay show, everytime Gil-ja or chan-mi know something, that means the world knows. I get it.

Joon-ho stalks up to his office, muttering about Soon-shin. In-sung asks if he’s giving up on Soon-shin and Joon-ho bans her name from being mentioned.

Yoo-shin wakes up in a bed, partially clothed with a nekkid Chan-woo beside her.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! They’re in a hotel! He’s nekkid. They had sex! ACK!

Yes, I’m a middle school girl at heart.

EEEEEEEEEK!

It doesn’t take Yoo-shin very long to put two and two together and she books it out of the hotel. Chan-woo heads sleepily to work and his assistant worries about him since he’s late to work. He’s never late.

He slept with Yoo-shin!!!!!! @#$%^%$##%$#

Yi-jung sneaks back into her house and has her mom feed her and she eats like a starving child, all why bitching about Joon-ho choosing Soon-shin and not her. Soo-jung tries to convince Yi-jung away from the actor’s path and suggests she get married. There’s a handsome doctor at her father’s hospital.

Seriously, show? You need to entwine everyone, don’t you? I would love to see a Yoo-shin Yi-jung cat fight…heh…

Yi-jung screams and blows her mother’s eardrums out…and mine. She complains her mother isn’t taking her seriously, but…who would?

Hwang comes to pick up Mi-ryeong. He’s cancelled a lot of her schedule to visit the dermatologist because she’s looking haggard.

Of course the dermatologist is douchewad Dong-hyuk. He doesn’t want to see her and when Mi-ryeong hears that he won’t see her, she barges into his office. She notes wryly that he’s free and that under his father he was even busy popping pimples.

Delicious. Thank you for that.

Dong-hyuk wonders if she got home safely that day. Which day? she wonders. He says he saw her drunk and sitting with a companion so he suppose she got home fine. Suspicious, she again asks what he’s talking about. He tells her to forget it and starts talking about not messing with her skin. It’s bad for it. Same goes for life. Then he leaves her with that bad analogy to ponder over.

Soon-shin is leaving work and remembers her mother leaving early that morning. She somehow finds out where mom is working and sees her being treated like crap by one of the company employees and scrubbing the ground with a tiny brush. Then Jung-ae falls and hurts her ankle. Tears spring into Soon-shin’s eyes as she watches her mother working hard for her sake.

That night Soon-shin goes into to help her mother put a PAZ and some medication on her ankle. Jung-ae lies about how she got hurt. Soon-shin is really down and starts crying. She apologizes. Jung-ae tells her to stop, confused about where all this came from.

Soon-shin enters the shiny hallway of GABI and takes a deep breath. She makes her way inside and greets Joon-ho who is accompanied by an entourage. He is annoyed but then listens intently when she says that she will sign the contract: she’s gonna try.

Comments:

So she’s definitely signing that contract. We know that. At it’s episode 7 now. It’s about time that ball got rolling and she found out Joon-ho’s proper identity.

And I knew Mi-ryeong and Soon-shin’s meeting would be thwarted. I just knew it. Despite me not liking Mi-ryeong in the birth mommy role, I do want to see her in the mentor role. I really don’t care about Soon-shin discovering who her mommy is. I have a feeling Jung-ae will be doing that for her. Jung-ae is weak and I want to see her grow more over this whole process.

IU = awesome. This girl has more than fulfilled my expectations. She can act and she has GREAT chemistry with Jo Jung-seok. They are at ease on screen together. I don’t feel weird about the age difference at all. I’m not even focusing on it. I really love the depth they both give to their characters. Both insecure but both cope so differently. But he reads her SO well. I really like that.

I really like that Joon-ho was up front about using her but her still being able to benefit from it. Not that it’s an ideal situation by any means, but I still rather than than him completely lying about why he was signing her. I want to see him explain his reasoning to his investors…heh…

Sexy baker Jin-wook is so adorable. I love his temper. I want to see it flair again soon. Heh. You know, Hye-shin was honest with him about her father’s death. Maybe she’ll be honest with him about her husband and that will help her open up to the rest of the family. She really needs to. With everything out in the open, the family will better be able to lean on each other.

And what about how awkward Yoo-shin and Chan-woo will be next meeting. I’m ready. Bring it on. Let me see you embarrass yourselves!

As for Yeon-ah. I want her to trip and break that smirky grin into a thousand pieces. She just really rubs me the wrong way.

Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Character introductions.

Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 7 Screencaps.