Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 42 Recap

by: Raine

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I like that there are no secrets between Joon-ho and Soon-shin. I hope it stays that way as the tension ramps up. I also want to see Yeon-ah stop being pathetic. But I’ll settle for cute.

AGB Nielson Nationwide had this episode coming in at 27.1%.

episode 42 recap

A drunken Mi-ryeong talks to psychotic Yeon-ah as though she’s Soon-shin. She sobs and swears that Chang-hoon didn’t die because of her. Yeon-ah takes in this information with an evil glint in her eye, then she hauls Mi-ryeong home. Hwang and Soon-shin help carry her upstairs while Yeon-ah watches.

The next morning, Mi-ryeong wakes up to a worried Soon-shin who looks like she kept a vigil. Aw. Soon-shin asks after her health and asks her downstairs to eat juk, a food they both love. After an awkward moment, she decides to bring it up to Mi-ryeong instead. The older woman enjoys it and looks at the pin. Then she remembers the nosy Reporter Park – he could completely destroy the tentative relationship they just started to build.

Chan-mi shows Soon-shin a positive article that came out with good comments from netizens. Soon-shin reads it with disbelief and her good mood gets SQUASHED by insincere congratulations from Yeon-ah. Lucky for her, she has to go film. Unluckily for Chan-mi, she gets questioned by Yeon-ah about Soon-shin’s father. Chan-mi lets it slip that he died in a car accident, but then she tells Yeon-ah never to ask her questions about Soon-shin’s privacy because she’s not sincere. The pensive look on her face let’s me know that Yeon-ah ain’t planning to do anything nice with the information she’s gathering. In fact, she decides to have her manager dig up even more dirt on Chang-hoon’s car accident.

Mi-ryeong asks Hwang to silence Reporter Park who could put a total stop to the happiness she’s been enjoying with her daughter.

Gil-ja makes breakfast because she doesn’t want to see Yoo-shin wasting money on banchan. Her husband comments that the purchased banchan was more delicious…heh! The newlyweds come to greet them and then leave early, making Gil-ja sputter with jealousy.

Gil-ja, you’re married to your husband. Not your son. Let him go already!

Then she heads into the newlyweds’ room and finds that it’s a mess and complains about all the cleaning. Um, why do you have to clean their room? Apparently, she comes to the same conclusion and decides to strip the bed and make Yoo-shin do it. She lies that her back hurts and gets Yoo-shin to come home early to help, grinning evilly all the while.

Bok-man comes home to Dalshabet’s “Supa Dupa Diva” blasting from the bathroom and Yoo-shin dancing on the laundry. She convinces him that dancing on laundry is fun and good exercise and invites him to try it. Soon, they’re both dancing and laughing. It’s cute, even though she’s devious.

This is what Chan-woo comes home to:

He is invited to join in and Bok-man is all for it. By the time Gil-ja comes home, Chan-woo and Bok-man are dancing on the laundry. Chan-woo asks his mom to take the laundry to a laundrymat next time so Yoo-shin can work. HA! Bok-man wants to do it because it’s fun and good for dieting. HA!

Gil-ja checks in on Yoo-shin who is asleep and snoring on her work. Heh.

After filming, Chan-mi and In-sung want to go for beer, but Joon-ho shows up to make eyes and Soon-shin. In-sung doesn’t notice that the new lovebirds want some alone time and invites them out. Joon-ho leans in and tells him to get lost. HAHAHA! Then Joon-ho hauls Soon-shin off on a date.

He takes her for food and she chooses to eat sundae instead of some fancy food. She silences him by shoving food in his mouth. It’s so cute.

And THEN!…a cute young guy comes up and says he loves her drama and that she’s prettier in person. He asks her for her autograph leaving her utterly flabbergasted.

Check it. She’s so cute:

Joon-ho is enjoying her shock and has to tell her to sign her autograph – she does it in the most adorable plain script. When her first fan leaves, she marvels at her very first autograph. Joon-ho congratulates her and enjoys her adorableness. Then he advises her to wear a hat and sunglasses because people are now staring at her. He don’t want no one checking out his woman! RAWR!

And then….a couple of girls come over to ask for her autograph and Soon-shin can’t stop smiling, which means Joon-ho can’t stop smiling, which means they’re still smiling in the car. ACK! CUTE! She wants to make a new autograph and starts planning for signing events and regretting how she signed her name before. She teases him about being jealous of her popularity and warns him to get her autograph now before the line gets too long. So he does the cheeky boyfriend thing and points to his cheek and says: sign here. He leans towards her and closes his eyes.

She grabs his face in his hands and plants one on his lips, leaving them both happy, speechless and very, very awkward. KYAAAAA!

Next scene is party-pooper Soo-jung mommy with a jealousy complex. She asks if Joon-ho was out on a date with Soon-shin. He freely admits it and says he won’t break up because of Dong-hyuk. Besides, Joon-ho defends, father isn’t cheating. He asks Soo-jung to understand Dong-hyuk because he seems lonely lately.

Honestly, that’s probably a good idea although suggesting that he’s not cheating is probably not the best way to go. The two are lonely because they don’t’ communicate.

Soo-jung points out that Dong-hyuk still hasn’t come home and he cheated on her with her friend. She feels backstabbed by the both of them and by Joon-ho. She tells him that going out with Soon-shin is looking down on her. She bets Soon-shin flirted with him like Mi-ryeong did Dong-hyuk.

Guh, seriously????

He admits he liked Soon-shin first, a one-sided love, shocking his mother. He offers to talk to Dong-hyuk, but she wants to divorce.

At the hospital, Dong-hyuk is looking at the advert that Mi-ryeong and Soon-shin shot and smiling like a lovesick fool. Joon-ho asks him what the hell is wrong and Dong-hyuk compares his time out of the house to the time when Joon-ho ran away. He just needed to get away. Joon-ho points out he’s the head of family and that Soo-jung only has him and only wants his love. Dong-hyuk says he needs time for him, not away from Soo-jung. Joon-ho wonders if he can trust his father. Just the question itself means that you DON’T trust your father, baby boy.

Joon-ho admits to dating Mi-ryeong’s daughter and Dong-hyuk gapes…not a good sign.

Jung-ae prepares bean sprouts on a newspaper and sees the add of Mi-ryeong and Soon-shin. Hye-shin feels weird about the commercial and Jung-ae denies being bothered by it. But she hides the paper when Granny comes in ‘cause lord knows she’ll have a kinnipshit.

Granny asks Hye-shin to get back together with the Ex for Woo-joo’s sake. She shouldn’t think about herself, but the child.

Okay, seriously. Healthy parents mean healthy children. The Ex is not a healthy second half for Hye-shin. He needs to drop off the face of the planet. Actually, that saying is scientifically impossible, so I’ll launch him into space and have it freeze him to death and suck the air out of his lungs. Heh.

Hye-shin refuses and leaves to pick up Woo-joo and Jung-ae tells Granny that she’ll go along with what Hye-shin wants. Alright! Good mommy! Granny wonders if Jung-ae will live with them forever.

Skip to Psy’s Gentleman playing while the “gentleman” the EX picks up his daughter without telling Hye-shin. Seriously? OMG if I would Hye-shin I would rip his balls off. That is NOT cool. Hye-shin enlists Jin-wook’s help in finding Woo-joo and Jin-wook is generally worried for Woo-joo’s safety. Another reason why he’s better than the Ex.

Meanwhile, Woo-joo is chowing down on ice cream with her dad and not even thinking to call her mom. The Ex asks Woo-joo where she wants to go and wants to call Hye-shin to join. Woo-joo isn’t sure but goes to call her anyway. She sees there are twelve missed called and looks guilty. GOOD. The Ex calls Hye-shin and she is furious to hear his voice. The ignorant fool invites her to the amusement park. She yells that he shouldn’t take her places without telling her.

All while talking, Jin-wook looks like he could kill the Ex for making Hye-shin worry and because he was scared for Woo-joo. He has to catch Hye-shin who is a bit woozy from the stress.

The Ex is depressed about being rejected and ignores Woo-joo who wants to go just with him. Then he gets a call from the woman he was cheating with. He asks why she’s calling because she said she didn’t want to see him anymore.

?! Are you serious? Your girlfriend broke up with you so your coming back to your ex-wife? BASTARD! Woo-joo eavesdrops as he talks. He says he’s going back to his wife and he’ll never forgive his ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. He’s a total prick. When she starts crying, he melts and hangs up before he’s swayed. He catches Woo-joo just outside “pouring water”. She wants to go to the amusement park, but he fakes an upset stomach. He wants to go next time with Hye-shin.

Assshole.

Jin-wook sits with Hye-shin and when she wobbles standing up, he puts his arm around her to steady her. This is when the Ex is coming back with Woo-joo and he gets all high and mighty, grabbing Jin-wook by his collar and hollaring. Jin-wook is calm, but the Ex is making a fool of himself. Jin-wook throws him off and the Ex whines about his arm being broken and drags him to the police station.

The Ex pathetically whines and the cop is completely annoyed by how stupid he’s being. The Ex starts naming political ties. Jin-wook wants her to go home and is really calm, until the Ex brings up his relationship with Hye-shin, then Jin-wook barks. Hehe. The cop asks for Jin-wook’s i.d. and he pauses before giving it. The cop is surprised to see he has a record, but the Ex is thrilled. He immediately lords over Jin-wook and when Hye-shin says she knows, he is shocked. Hye-shin says that Jin-wook is more of a man than the Ex will ever be. If he doesn’t drop the charges, Hye-shin will never see him again.

Jung-ae scolds Woo-joo for not answering the phone. Woo-joo didn’t want Hye-shin to get mad for her being with her father. Hye-shin comes home and wants to go upstairs, but Woo-joo only wants to talk about her father and how awesome he is. Aw, poor thing is in utter denial, especially after overhearing that conversation. Hye-shin is fed up with everything and tells her if she continues this behavior she can just go live with her father. Woo-joo asks if she’ll live with Jin-wook then. She runs upstairs and I’m left thinking that Hye-shin is an idiot. She needs to put her foot down and give that kid some structure.

Soon-shin is reviewing her script and overhears some women talking about how she stole Joon-ho from Yeon-ah. They pity Yeon-ah and say that Soon-shin is greedy. Oh gossip. You suck. Chan-mi comes looking for Soon-shin and outs both Soon-shin and the gossipers. But Soon-shin has no time to think on it because Joon-ho’s mom comes to see her.

After the shoot, Joon-ho comes for Soon-shin, but finds Young-ho instead. He wants to admit something to him. Young-hoon guesses immediately that he’s dating Soon-shin. Joon-ho is shocked that he knew and Young-hoon teases him for being an obvious dumbass. Turns out Joon-ho was nervous to tell him because he thought Young-hoon had a crush on her. Although Young-hoon doesn’t properly answer if he does or not, he does, more or less, give them his blessing and makes Joon-ho promise not to make her cry.

Young-hoon asks if Soo-jung knows about them dating because she came by to talk to Soon-shin earlier. Ruh-roh.

Cut to: Soo-jung asking Soon-shin dating Joon-ho. She immediately asks Soon-shin to break up with Joon-ho because she doesn’t like her because of all she’s heard about her. She’s not high enough class to date him either. She doesn’t like that she chose her real mother over her foster family or that she’s a fatherless child. And, she hates Mi-ryeong for a reason Soon-shin should ask about herself. She wants Soon-shin to switch agencies as well.

Wow, she based this entire thing on opinions heard from Yeon-ah and the media. She doesn’t realize Soon-shin was basically kicked out of her foster family’s house. But she doesn’t care. She’s selfish as shit. You can be shot into outer space as well…with a rocket ship full of rabid raccoons!

Soon-shin says nothing and leaves. As she dejectedly walks home, Joon-ho calls and she fakes cheerfulness. He immediately asks what his mother said and she denies that Soo-jung said anything special. He wants to meet, but she lies that she has an appointment. On her way home, she runs into Jung-ae, which cheers her up greatly. They go to the restaurant together and sit down for some beer with Bok-man. Gil-ja is cranky because he has been singing Yoo-shin’s praises but is happy to see Soon-shin.

Bok-man wants to hang Soon-shin’s autograph on the wall; he’s so sweet. He also says that Chang-hoon would’ve been happy to see it. It makes Jung-ae so happy to talk about her being on t.v.

Another happy mother is Mi-ryeong who hands the advert from the cosmetics shoot up on the wall as a family photo. It’s very beautiful and I like seeing Mi-ryeong getting excited over the little things. Hwang wants to be in the family picture, too. Hur. Mi-ryeong is more happy than ever having a family and she’s terrified that Soon-shin will leave her if she discovers the truth. Hwang says Reporter Park won’t talk to him. Just then Soon-shin comes in and sees the picture, smiling faintly.

When Joon-ho arrives home, he sees that Yi-jung has brought Yeon-ah. He gives her a cold reception and tells her to stop coming to his house. It makes no sense for her to come so often. Yi-jung tries to defends her, but Joon-ho sends her away and then walks inside.

Joon-ho confronts his mother about meeting Soon-shin and she assumes that Soon-shin told him about it. He doesn’t bother to correct her and instead asks what she said. She told her to break up because Joon-ho wouldn’t listen to her. She didn’t tell her about Dong-hyuk, but Soon-shin will probably find out anyway. Joon-ho is baffled at his mother’s cruelty. Soo-jung says he’s like his father and asks about the wounds she’s received from them. He doesn’t understand what it has to do with his father, but Soo-jung is adamant. Joon-ho refuses to break up.

They’re both going about this the wrong way. I understand from a Korean social standpoint where she’s coming from. And I also understand that it hurts to have her son defend a cheating father, but she’s so unreasonable, even normal conversation wouldn’t work.

Then Yi-jung comes in and reports that Joon-ho kicked Yeon-ah out.

Soon-shin films and afterwards the director compliments her and says that her part is getting bigger. Then he quickly tells the Yeon-ah and the other actresses good job. Soon-shin spies Joon-ho and walks over to him, allowing the hoity toity actress to wonder if Yeon-ah is really dating Joon-ho. Yeon-ah makes an excuse.

Joon-ho and Soon-shin go for coffee and he asks about the meeting with his mother. He tells her not to mind his mother because she’s in a bad mood these days. He apologizes on her behalf and Soon-shin assures him she won’t get hurt. But it’s obvious she is hurt. Joon-ho assures Soon-shin that time will heal all wounds and Soo-jung will eventually approve.

Then he grabs her hand and makes her promise never to be weak and never to run away and to stay with him. He holds up his pinky and after a long pause, she finally hooks her pinky into his. She promises. Then they act all cute. YAY!

Yeon-ah’s manager brings back information on Chang-hoon’s death and also tells her that Reporter Park is also digging up the same information.

Hwang reports that Reporter Park is just digging, but that he won’t be able to gather details. Park doesn’t want to meet Hwang at all. Mi-ryeong is worried that something will come out and for once, I really pity her. She doesn’t want to lose Soon-shin. She’s not worried about losing face, only Soon-shin. I can get behind that.

Hwang wants to ask Joon-ho for help. Besides, it’s not her fault, Chang-hoon was killed saving her. Of course, as he says this, Yeon-ah has come in for a visit and overhears. Mi-ryeong notices her. Yeon-ah immediately says that they’re family and Mi-ryeong shouldn’t worry. She also reminds Mi-ryeong that she admitted the truth to her. And although yeon-ah says that it’s okay to tell her, she looks evil. Mi-ryeong looks rightfully nervous.

Then it comes out: I really like Joon-ho. I was being selfish and wish I could turn back time. He likes Soon-shin and they are dating.

It’s news to Mi-ryeong. Yeon-ah begs Mi-ryeong to help her and make them break-up. Then she’ll take Mi-ryeong’s secret to the grave.

Comments:

What does Yeon-ah think breaking up Joon-ho and Soon-shin will do? It certainly won’t make him date her. And blackmailing isn’t too flattering. I want to see her fall, hard.

Speaking of, don’t hate me for saying this, but Joon-ho needs some retribution for hurting Soo-jung. I KNOW that she’s irrational, but he really shouldn’t be involving himself in it and taking a cheater’s side. I know that he’s basically a kid who just wants hi parents to stay together, but he’s an adult so he needs to think before he acts.

As for Soo-jung, grow up woman. Call your husband home and get some therapy.

The show has set us up for at least three big bumps in the road for our last eight episodes. 1) The reveal of Jin-wook’s past to the family and the repercussions of that romance. 2) Mi-ryeong’s involvement in Chang-hoon’s death and the repercussions with Soon-shin. 3) Mi-ryeong’s involvement with Dong-hyuk and the repercussions with Joon-ho and Soon-shin. The only one I’m really interested in is the first one. I should be interested in Mi-ryeong and Soon-shin’s relationship, but it hasn’t been long enough in the works. It should’ve started in the 30s.

Thoughts?

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.