Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 41 Recap

by: Raine

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Yeah, Soon-shin and Joon-ho are cute. All the people conspiring to keep them apart are not. But seriously, I could watch them take pictures in a sticker booth ALL DAY LONG!

AGB Nielson Nationwide had this episode coming in at 25.2%.

episode 41 recap

Soo-jung slaps Dong-hyuk in front of the entire set and then runs away. He chases her and she beats him with her purse, calling him a liar. He is embarrassed, but she is broken-hearted and furious. He demands to know what he did. She walks away.

Joon-ho stops his father and asks what’s going on. He sounds like a child. Poor thing. Then, Soon-shin comes to ask Joon-ho what just happened and he assures her that it’s nothing. His parents have been like that lately. He caresses her hair and tells her he has to leave. He does NOT look okay.

Joon-ho goes home to confront his mother. He admonishes her for making a public display and shaming Dong-hyuk. Soo-jung says she’s going to divorce and Joon-ho tries to convince her that Dong-hyuk doesn’t have a girlfriend – he asked him.

It’s really not your place, Joon-ho. But I think it’s less about who is right and wrong and more about the fact that a boy doesn’t want his parents to split up.

He asks who the woman is and is shocked and incredulous to hear it’s Mi-ryeong.

Yoo-shin and Chan-woo wake up in the tackiest newlywed bedroom ever. Bright pink bedding, hearts and cute pictures everywhere. Blech.

When Gil-ja comes out, she’s expecting Yoo-shin to still be asleep, instead she is shocked to find her in a yoga pose. She changes poses to a more risque one and embarrasses Gil-ja and Bok-man. Gil-ja is even more surprised to find Yoo-shin has made breakfast and it’s edible. She doubts this good behavior will last very long.

She’s still grumpy at the restaurant and makes Jung-ae call her by name instead of the formal title for in-law. Gil-ja wonders when Jung-ae taught Yoo-shin house work and Jung-ae says that Yoo-shin never learned. In fact, she’s worrying for Yoo-shin because of it. Before Gil-ja can chase the new scent she’s caught onto, Bok-man comes in singing Yoo-shin’s praises.

Mi-ryeong has made breakfast and Soon-shin and Hwang come in, surprised to find she’s cooked. She decides to make breakfast from now on. It’s not tasty, but Soon-shin lies and says that it is. Then Mi-ryeong tastes it and makes a face. Hehe. She says that if Soon-shin likes it, then it’s good. They all laugh. Aw, the first laugh since Soon-shin moved in!

At the company, Soon-shin runs into Joon-ho who was looking for her. She asks about his parents and he lies through his teeth that they’re fine. He asks about Mi-ryeong and confuses Soon-shin who has no idea about the love triangle.

So Joon-ho goes to the source and asks point blank: What relationship do you have with Mi-ryeong? Dong-hyuk denies it and says Soo-jung is being sensitive. Joon-ho double checks and assures his father he trusts him. He wants him to come home and pacify Soo-jung who wants a divorce. Dong-hyuk is fine with that – he tells Joon-ho to thank her for suggesting it.

Guh. Immature.

Adorably devoted husband picks Yoo-shin up from work. They act all cute and she asks him to drop her off. She buys all the banchan that she served up that morning! HA!

Gil-ja finds a bag under the sink and figures out that Yoo-shin didn’t cook. Just then, Yoo-shin comes home with a bag from the same place. Gil-ja confronts her about buying instead of making the banchan. Yoo-shin admits it readily. She doesn’t know how to cook and it’s easier for a working wife to buy than cook. She promises to make Gil-ja’s life easier and even tries to feed her a taste. Hehehehe. Gil-ja: foiled again!

The Ex gets caught hovering by Jung-ae and he gets presented to Granny. Woo-joo glows, but Granny hates that he’s there. He offers expensive gifts, but they don’t want them. The Ex tries to say that it’s all a misunderstanding and he didn’t want to divorce. He broke up with the other woman because she was a bad woman. Uh…and dating another woman is not a reason for divorce because…???

Woo-joo invites him to eat dinner with them and the Ex rides on his daughter’s affections to stay longer.

Hye-shin notices that sexy baker Jin-wook wears the shirt she got him a lot. He says he washes and wears it every day. Awwwwww. Then she spies a bit of dough on his shirt and takes it off for him, making him all hot and bothered by the minimal contact. His stuttering is adorable. What is he gonna do when they kiss? Pass out, probably.

The Ex weaseled his way into dinner and is somehow not keeling over from Granny and Jung-ae’s death glares. He mentions taking Woo-joo and Hye-shin back to Hong Kong to start over. Hye-shin comes in just after the proposal and is livid to see him. She drags him up and orders him to leave. Granny tells Hye-shin to calm down during dinner and Jung-ae tells the Ex to finish his food. BUT HE POUTS LIKE A CHILD and says he’ll get a stomach ache if he finishes now.

So he heads out with Hye-shin behind him to keep him from dawdling. They bump into Jin-wook and the Ex decides to have a dick-waving contest. He insults where Jin-wook lives and wants to exchange cards. When Jin-wook reluctantly shakes his hand, the Ex squeezes it ridiculously tight, but Jin-wook doesn’t take the bait. If he did, the Ex would be TOAST!

Once outside the gate, the Ex realizes that the shirt Jin-wook is wearing was the same one he saw with Hye-shin the day he duped her into having coffee.

Hye-shin and Jung-ae talk. Jung-ae is disgusted by his immaturity and pities what Hye-shin went through. Then Granny comes in and scolds Hye-shin for kicking him out because he’s Woo-joo’s father.

Okay, I get fatherhood is important, but all the Ex ever did was knock-up Hye-shin, then buy Woo-joo presents. He isn’t a real father.

Granny wants Hye-shin to reconsider her Ex for Woo-jojo’s sake and insists she understands how Hye-shin feels. If you understood, you wouldn’t suggest getting back together with a cheater, Granny. Hye-shin refuses to get back together with him.

Yoo-shin is working and Chan-woo rubs her shoulders for her. Gil-ja comes in with laundry and has a fit when she sees them being affectionate. So petty. You should be happy he’s happy! Chan-woo goes out to make Yoo-shin tea while she works and Gil-ja gets even more frustrated. Bok-man just laughs at her. Heh.

A t.v. host brings his crew to the set of Soon-shin’s drama to interview the leads. He blindsides Soon-shin and she can’t think of a thing to say. The hoity toity sunbae saves her. Then Soon-shin runs away, leaving the t.v. host to find another victim: Yeon-ah. She confirms the relationship rumors with Joon-ho while he is watching the interview! LIAR!

Joon-ho and Yeon-ah go for a little chat and he asks her why she confirmed the rumor. She makes the excuse that it’s better than way. Then she  brings up Mi-ryeong and Dong-hyuk as though it’s her business. Joon-ho tells her that it’s all a misunderstanding (which it’s not, but we won’t get into that). Yeon-ah confirms seeing Dong-hyuk and Mi-ryeong together on Wan Island and that they looked close. Yeon-ah threatens to start a rumor: Joon-ho and Soon-shin are dating while their parents are cheating with each other. He calls her on her attempt to threaten him and tells her to go ahead and try. He’s not afraid. GO JOON-HO!

Soon-shin calls Jung-ae to remind her that the drama is airing that night, but Jung-ae has already been waiting for it. So cute. I want them to truly make up.

On her way back to shoot, she gets stopped by nosy Reporter Park. He wants to interview her some time. Soon-shin is saved by Chan-mi. I have a bad feeling about him.

The family watches Soon-shin’s drama that night and Hye-shin and Woo-joo are uber impressed. Jung-ae cries out of happiness. Granny pretends to be unimpressed, but then smiles to herself while she’s in her room.

Hye-shin is happy for Soon-shin, but upset they keep calling Soon-shin “Song Mi-ryeong’s daughter”. She wonders if Mi-ryeong felt guilty because of the hefty contribution she made to Yoo-shin’s wedding. Jung-ae promises to take care of it.

Mi-ryeong is ecstatic about Soon-shin’s drama. When Soon-shin comes home, she hopefully asks if Mi-ryeong watched the drama. Mi-ryeong adorably says that she could only see Soon-shin. Aw, I like them when they’re cute. I haven’t forgiven Mi-ryeong yet, mind you!

Hwang takes them outside for some drinks to celebrate Soon-shin’s premiere. Mi-ryeong was worried because the role was small, but is happy with it now. Then Soon-shin calls Mi-ryeong “teacher” as she always has, which prompts Hwang to suggest that she stop. Mi-ryeong says it’s fine and hands Soon-shin a marked up script. It has notes on Mi-ryeong’s reactions to Soon-shin’s acting and some suggestions. Soon-shin is genuinely touched by the gesture.

Mi-ryeong was impressed with the song and the emotion behind it and Soon-shin explains that it was her late father’s favorite song. He would’ve been very happy today because of it – Soon-shin thought about him all day. Mi-ryeong realizes how close father and daughter were. Hrm…this is coming up again in the future.

Up in her room, Soon-shin peruses the notes Mi-ryeong made and smiles.

In-sung gushes over the positive netizen reception of Soon-shin’s debut; she has offers galore already. Joon-ho is smug about it, especially when In-sung mentions that people think she’s better than Yeon-ah. when Joon-ho asks what Soon-shin is up to, In-sung adorably teases him about his relationship.

Now we have to suffer through Soo-jung moping at Young-hoon’s restaurant. The kindly Young-hoo asks her what’s wrong and has to listen to her. Soo-jung is dropping cooking classes for now; she’s depressed lately and doesn’t know what she lived for. Young-hoon makes her smile.

Joon-ho rushes into Soon-shin’s practice room in a panic and drags her out. She’s all worried until he tells her the issue: if she becomes too famous they won’t be able to go on dates. So it’s time for a date. AW!

Unfortunately, Soo-jung sees them heading out and flirting. Bitchy mom intervention is coming soon, I can feel it.

But her nastiness doesn’t undermine the utter adorableness of their date: icecream, ddukbboki, arcade! The take some really adorable sticker photos and I honestly think the actors are laughing because Jo Jung-seok is such a goofball. His English is hysterical: “Yo! Wussup girl?” Then he kisses her cheek and she gets self conscious. They argue over who gets, which sticker. So. Cute.

More annoying Soo-jung who just needs to talk rather than pout like a child. Yi-jung offers to talk to their father, but Soo-jung decides snooping in Joon-ho’s room is the better option. She finds the picture of him and Soon-shin in a drawer. That is when Joon-ho comes in and she angrily confronts him. Soo-jung is incredulous that they’re dating so far and has a fit. He wants to know why he can’t date her and assures his mom that Dong-hyuk isn’t cheating on her.

Okay, you guys know how I feel about this whole thing. 1) Dong-hyuk IS cheating. Emotional cheating, is cheating. 2) Joon-ho needs to stay out of it. BUT, 3) He should be able to date Soon-shin!

Soo-jung points out how Dong-hyuk was looking at Mi-ryeong, in a way he never looked at her. She assumes Joon-ho is looking down on her because he’s dating Soon-shin. I don’t see that. But I’m not Korean.

Soon-shin gives Mi-ryeong a hair clip as a gift and it totally makes Mi-ryeong’s day. She treats the cheap pin as though it was worth a million bucks and immediately clips it onto her ponytail. She’s finally starting to understand what a mother is supposed to be. She is starting to cherish the little things as she should.

Jung-ae calls Mi-ryeong to meet and heads on over. As Mi-ryeong waits for her, Reporter Park makes an unexpected visit. She is immediately on her guard and denies avoiding him. But he goes in for the kill: Chang-hoon isn’t Soon-shin’s real father, isn’t he? She agrees and says that Soon-shin’s real father is dead and was a normal Joe. But Reporter Park isn’t satisfied and says that he discovered something interesting: the night Chang-hoon died, she was with him. He asks if she was at the scene and Mi-ryeong nervously denies it. Park says he will keep digging, which is when Jung-ae arrives. Mi-ryeong kicks Park out and is in a terrible mood by the time Jung-ae sits.

Jung-ae returns the wedding contribution because it was too much. Mi-ryeong is flustered and tells her to think of it as a thank you for raising Soon-shin. But Jung-ae didn’t raise Soon-shin for money. Mi-ryeong jumps up, agitated, and tells her that she doesn’t have to accept it. Then she goes upstairs to sleep. Later, when Soon-shin comes home, she’s actually disappointed to hear Mi-ryeong is asleep.

I’m still waiting for Mi-ryeong to apologize. I love the closeness developing, but I hate that there is no real depth to her motherhood…yet.

The director is pleased with Soon-shin’s positive public reception. Even Hoity Toity compliments her, which earns her a nasty glare from Yeon-ah. When Joon-ho arrives, Young-hoon asks him about his mother and warns him to be nice to her. Then Joon-ho gets distracted by Soon-shin and even flashes guns at her. So. Cute. Yeon-ah watches them act like a couple and I just want to poke her glaring eyes out.

Mi-ryeong gets drunk thinking over her issues as she is wont to do. The barkeep calls Yeon-ah to pick her up. Oh. No. She arrives, calling Mi-ryeong “eomma” only to have Mi-ryeong address her as “Soon-shin”. NO! Now something bad will happen for reals…

So Mi-ryeong sobbingly apologizes to “Soon-shin” and says that it’s not her fault her father died. It was just an accident.

(And is it just me, or does the music sound like the music from Final Fantasy VIII????? I LOVE FFVIII!)

Comments:

The best thing about this episode, besides the cuteness between Joon-ho and Soon-shin, is the developing relationship between Soon-shin and Mi-ryeong. I wanted this ages ago. Relationships like theirs are slow to develop. It needs more time.

I would also prefer if Yeon-ah genuinely loved Joon-ho and genuinely felt bad about what she did and is just unable to say it. Instead she’s just an annoying schemer. Me no likey.

I do like the Ex coming back so that we can compare him to Jin-wook. The Ex is “well-bred”, rich, well-educated and supposedly has it all. Except he sticks his dick wherever he damn well pleases. I need a mohel…who misses…heh.  Jin-wook, on the other hand, is an ex-con, but good hearted, hard working and loyal. It’s a nice contrast and I hope it doesn’t steer into makjang territory.

I would also like Joon-ho to develop his talent out of the selfish desire to hear him sing on the show again. The guy is an acclaimed stage actor. USE HIM. Make him sing with Lee Ji-hoon! Yeah!

I said everything else in the recap. What do ya’ll think?

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

Character introductions.