Lee Soon-shin is the Best: Episode 45 Recap

by: Raine

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As Joon-ho ventures into the land of noble idiocy, Mi-ryeong reverts back into her narcissistic self. The annoying amps up as the family drama gears for its close in two weeks. At least the baker gives us something worth watching.

AGB Nielson Nationwide had this episode coming in at 23.7%.

episode 45 recap

Joon-ho is lame and breaks up with Soon-shin who demands to know why. She grabs his hand in both of hers and tells him that she doesn’t want to – they promised to stick together. With tears in his voice, he apologizes for breaking his promise and pulls away, leaving her to go home alone and dejected.

Not cool Joon-ho. You get -10 cool points. No, -20. Not even your tears while you drive home in your car can regain you your cool points.

Soon-shin is depressed on set the next day and won’t talk to Chan-mi. She and In-sung gossip about what happened between them. In-sung was put in charge of her entire schedule.

Joon-ho ignores Soon-shin’s calls and goes to drink his woes away…with Yeon-ah. MINUS TEN MORE POINTS! You are at -30 right now. He asks Yeon-ah if she’s happy that he broke up with Soon-shin. She has enough of a conscience to look guilty. He asks her to stop making trouble for Soon-shin and forget everything she’s heard. And then he has a request for Yeon-ah to love herself more without him as she used to.

Barf. He’s right and he’s the most effective person to say it, but still, barf. That, and it’s totally out of character for him right now. Whatever, two more weeks and we’re DONE.

Soon-shin keeps calling Joon-ho who ignores her. Mi-ryeong finds her moping in the living room and is anxious to find her teary. She falls silent when Soon-shin tells her what’s wrong. However, Hwang gets angry like a protective father and it’s actually kinda cute.

Mi-ryeong looks less cute when she sits down to talk with Hwang alone. She’s glad they broke up and says nothing good will come of it. She has that face on, you know the one where she thinks she’s always right. However, this time it’s a bit harder for her to keep up that facade. I hope she cracks.

Granny worries about being too hard on Jin-wook who she actually likes a lot. Jung-ae feels the same. Granny decides to go see him the next day.

Jin-wook is in a great mood after receiving Hye-shin’s confession. Then she comes in and they smile giddily at one another and make idle chatter. He tries to get her to sit for coffee, but she won’t. It’s just basically an excuse for them to get handsy and for the writer to have Granny see them flirting. She gets mad at Jin-wook and agrees with the Ex. Hye-shin tries to defend Jin-wook, but Granny won’t listen. Jin-wook apologizes and begs for a chance. He knows Hye-shin is too good for him. He promises to try hard. Granny refuses and says Hye-shin will get back together with Ex and forbids Hye-shin from coming back to the bakery.

They need to get together. We don’t have many episodes left.

Granny sits Hye-shin down for a scolding, but Hye-shin is firm. She decided to date while thinking of Woo-joo. She doesn’t plan to get back together with her ex, which pisses off Granny. What would her father say? Granny wonders. Hye-shin admits that Chang-hoon knew about her divorce and was patiently waiting for her to tell him why. She regrets being afraid to live how she wanted to live. But Jin-wook makes her feel free. He’s a good man with a good heart who makes her feel more comfortable than anyone. She just wants permission to date him.

Of course, Woo-joo has heard everything and is heartbroken. Hye-shin had said she didn’t like Jin-wook. Woo-joo tells her to live with him and she’ll live with her father. She storms out leaving Hye-shin to cry alone in their room.

Jung-ae tells Hye-shin that the Ex will watch Woo-joo, which is good because they haven’t seen each other for a while. She also doesn’t want her to date Jin-wook and she really needs to consider Woo-joo. Then she says what she should’ve said to Soon-shin in the first place when the whole acting debacle came up: whatever you choose, I’m behind you 100%.

Joon-ho finds his father who is surprised to see him. He asks his father to stop being a child and come home. Then he asks why Dong-hyuk liked Mi-ryeong. He sidesteps the question and says he won’t block Joon-ho’s love life. He just needed time alone to think. Mi-ryeong has a lot in common with her; it’s like looking in a mirror. He assures Joon-ho he’ll go home soon.

Now it’s time to work on mom who is still pissed at him. She thinks he’s trying to change her mind, but he tells her he broke up with Soon-shin. Yi-jung is happy about it, but Soo-jung seems more surprised than anything. He asks his mother to go see his father; they’re both lonely and will regret all of this later.

How about suggesting they, y’know, talk?

Soon-shin has trouble remembering her lines and Yeon-ah scolds her, which gets the director scolding her. Young-hoon senses something wrong and Chan-mi tells him about the sudden breakup.

After filming, Chan-mi wonders why they broke up and is disappointed in Joon-ho for giving up so soon. In-sung shows up and wants to go to the chicken restaurant to suck up to Chan-mi’s parents. He even hugs Bok-man in thanks for the fantastic service. Wow, you are trying way too hard.

Everyone notices Soon-shin isn’t feeling well and Jung-ae looks worried, but Soon-shin won’t say why.

Yoo-shin meets Chan-woo on the way home and they steal away to make out and get caught. HA!

The next day Soon-shin goes to her father’s grave with her family, which Mi-ryeong isn’t happy to hear about. She’s never happy to hear about Chang-hoon since she’s a lying McLiarFace who is getting all pouty again. I hate it.

Yoo-shin presents her husband to her father, Hye-shin apologizes for everything, and Soon-shin gives him the tie she bought for his birthday. In her mind, she tells him he’s the only dad for her and thanks him for raising her. Aw, it’s sad she can’t say it out loud.

Soon-shin walks in on Mi-ryeong drinking again and she’s not happy. She asks for a glass of wine because she’s sad today thinking about her father and Joon-ho. Why do the people she loves always leave her? She starts to cry and Mi-ryeong sees that she’s having a tough time. Soon-shin mentally understands what’s going on, and still she cries. Then she decides not to drink because it’s poison when one is sad. But Mi-ryeong can think of nothing else that makes her feel better and makes her forget her shame.

Then a huge moment: Soon-shin asks to sleep with Mi-ryeong since they both are feeling badly. Awwwww. Mi-ryeong stays up to watch her sleep.

Jung-ae prepares some kimchi for Soon-shin and Mi-ryeong. She hopes that Mi-ryeong won’t feel offended and strangely, Mi-ryeong is honestly thankful and envious of what Jung-ae gives Soon-shin. Jung-ae replies that Mi-ryeong does a lot. At first she hated Mi-ryeong a lot after her sudden appearance in her life. But now she wants to stop feeling that way and thanks Mi-ryeong for leading Soon-shin well. She thinks Chang-hoon would be happy to see her and decides to forgive him. MI-ryeong gets broody because her newly found conscience is battling with her “What did I do?” self.

Woo-joo goes to eat with her father who immediately starts in with questions about Hye-shin. Did Woo-joo tell Hye-shin that she wants to live with him? He is angry at how difficult Hye-shin is being. Then he gets a call from his girlfriend who has come to see him at the restaurant. He goes outside to argue with her and asks Woo-joo to wait. The girlfriend is a young, spoiled princess who wants to be introduced to Woo-joo because she might raise her later. He refuses and the girlfriend pitches a fit. Doesn’t he love her and find Hye-shin tiresome? Why can’t he break up with his wife?

Because his mom, the Harpy, won’t invest in his business if he doesn’t get back together with Hye-shin. BINGO! I knew you were an asshole.

He asks girlfriend to wait so he can get the money. Girlfriend can’t live without money. He ushers her out and they bump into Woo-joo who has heard everything. She stalks away. He catches up to her, but Woo-joo ain’t know fool. She knows why he came back to them. The Ex says it’s a misunderstanding and makes her promise not to tell Hye-shin. She asks him not to show himself in front of them anymore because he’s a horrible person and screams when he tries to go after her.

The Ex calls Hye-shin to ask if Woo-joo got home safely and Hye-shin is furious that he let Woo-joo walk home alone.

Woo-joo is crying and walking and stops in front of the bakery to glare at Jin-wook. Then she comes in a beats on him, letting all of her fury out on him, blaming everything on him. She hates her parents and hates him the most. It’s so sweet how he sees through her nasty words straight to her pain. He apologizes and hugs her tightly, letting her cry her pain out onto his shoulder.

Best. Scene. EVAR. She came to him for comfort. Words are not important. It’s that they came together and he heard what she was really trying to say: I’m hurting so badly right now I can barely stand it.

He piggybacks the exhausted child home and meets Hye-shin and Jung-ae on the way home. He carries Woo-joo home and awkwardly confronts Granny with a greeting. She thanks him and he quickly leaves. Take that, Granny. Your beloved son-in-law left his daughter and Jin-wook brought her back. Think about THAT. At least she tsks the Ex for taking bad care of Woo-joo.

Joon-ho gives In-sung a script where Soon-shin is the female lead and refuses to get involved. In-sung asks why Joon-ho is avoiding Soon-shin and gets ignored.

Joon-ho hallucinates Soon-shin and doesn’t take the hint and run back to her. He continues to be stubborn and refuses to apologize and get her back. -10 points.

He leaves the agency and gets waylaid by a concerned Young-hoon. He lies that he got tired of Soon-shin, but Young-hoon isn’t buying it. No one is. -10 points.

I think he’s up to -50 points. Is anyone else counting?

Reporter Park visits Dong-hyuk to pump him for information about Mi-ryeong and Lee Chang-hoon. He points out that Dong-hyuk was at the same bar and left at the same time as the other two. Dong-hyuk lies that he has no knowledge of the incident or the person. Park continues to press and asks to see the black box in his car. When turned down, he promises to come with a cop the next time.

Mi-ryeong takes Soon-shin out for a celebratory dinner to congratulate her on her movie. They go out and Mi-ryeong gives Soon-shin a gift, a bracelet with a rosary bracelet from the orphanage that raised her. She treated the nun who gave it to her badly, but now she appreciates her. It gave her strength for her first movie and Soon-shin can use it to give her strength as well.

Dong-hyuk calls Mi-ryeong to meet and she sends Soon-shin home first. While Soon-shin is waiting for Hwang to pull the car around, she sees Dong-hyuk arrive and follows him.

Uh-oh.

Mi-ryeong and Dong-hyuk meet and he tells her about his meeting with the reporter. He advises her to just tell the truth and ask for forgiveness and she pulls the “what did I do?” card. She asks him to take the secret to his grave and freaks out. Why should she ask for forgiveness? She hurries from the room and nearly crashes into Soon-shin who has heard the entire thing.

Comments:

It’s about time the truth came out! At least this one. I hope Soon-shin doesn’t let her get away with her selfish behavior anymore. I must admit, I’m really disappointed Mi-ryeong didn’t change more. She’s still extremely selfish and I was hoping she’d learn more selflessness as a parent. With five episodes to go, I think it will feel forced if she changes now, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

I’m annoyed at Soon-shin for keeping the secret about her biological father this whole time. It’s hurting her mother. Not that Jung-ae deserves any mother-of-the-year awards or anything, but she definitely still thinks her husband cheated on her. I know Soon-shin doesn’t want to lose her family, but the truth won’t constantly gnaw at her like her lie is.

I like that Jung-ae has finally learned to support her family. Granny will forever be set in her ways.

Young-hoon’s character has just gone to waste. I’m so sad. He’s literally just there to meddle in Joon-ho and Young-hoon’s relationship. He never really developed. I liked him better when he was romancing Soon-shin.

Favorite couple right now is Jin-wook and little Woo-joo. They are so precious. They are going to be so close when they become a family.

Joon-ho and his noble idiocy is so out of character. I hope it goes by quickly. I can’t stand the moping or him acting like that. Of course this means that Soon-shin is alone to handle the news of Mi-ryeong witnessing and covering up her father’s death. That is probably the primary reason. Soon-shin is no longer close enough to her family to go to them and she has a major lie keeping her from going there. I wish the show had had her reconcile with her family sooner. TRULY reconcile. Not visit every once and a while. But there’s a lot in this show that leaves me wanting. Hopefully the last five episodes will give me something good.

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, 45, 46

Character introductions.