Info for The Greatest Love

Admin Join date: 2010-09-06 Age: 19 Location: Greece

The Greatest Love

Details

Title: 최고의 사랑 / Choegoui Sarang

Also known as: Best Love

Previously known as: 애정의 발견 / The Discovery of Affection

Genre: Romance, comedy

Episodes: 16

Broadcast network: MBC

Broadcast period: 2011-May-04 to 2011-Jun-??

Air time: Wednesday and Thursday 21:55

Synopsis

Ae Jung was once the most popular member of girl band The National
Treasure Girls. However 10 years ago the band broke up and she received
most of the blame. Despite her warm personality her career has
suffered ever since and she now spends her time fighting for air time on
variety shows. Dokko Jin is a top movie star at the height of his
career. The two meet and become involved in each other's careers. Yoon
Pil Joo is a doctor of oriental medicine who has no interest in the
entertainment industry but agrees to make a dating show. Dokko Jin
helps get Ae Jung a role on a new reality show called Couple Making.
Pil Joo is the bachelor being set up on Couple Making. Both men fall
for Ae Jung both off and on the screen.

Cast

Gong Hyo Jin as Goo Ae Jung

Cha Seung Won as Dokko Jin

Yoo In Na as Kang Se Ri

Yoon Kye Sang as Yoon Pil Joo

Extended Cast

Choi Sung Min as Kim Eun Ho PD

Kim Mi Jin as Producer Han Myung Jung

Jung Man Shik (정만식) as Director Jang

Hyo Young as Ha Roo Mi

Han Jin Hee as Goo Ja Chul

Jung Joon Ha as Goo Ae Wan (Ae Jung's brother/manager)

Park Won Sook as Pil Joo's mother

Choi Hwa Jung as Representative Moon

Lee Hee Jin as Jenny

Im Ji Kyu as Kim Jae Suk

Bae Seul Gi as Han Mi Na

Yang Han Yeol (양한열) as Goo Hyung Kyu

Cameos

Lee Byung Jin (이병진)

Jang Hang Joon

Jung Doo Hong (정두홍)

Kim Goo Ra (김구라)

Lee Hwi Jae

Park Mi Sun

Lee Kyung Shil

Jo Hyung Gi (조형기)

Kim Ji Sun (김지선)

Jo Hye Ryun

Ji Sang Ryul

Kim Hyun Chul (김현철)

Park Kyung Rim

Kim Shin Young (김신영)

Production Credits

Producer: Kim Jin Man

Screenwriter: Hong Mi Ran, Hong Jung Eun

Director: Park Hong Kyun, Lee Dong Yoon (이동윤)

Trailer

~~~~~~~~~~

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Admin Join date: 2010-09-06 Age: 19 Location: Greece

Best Love: Episode 9

Did they switch the cameras all of a sudden? Because this episode is GORGEOUS. As if I didn’t love this drama enough already.
Angst can sometimes be frustrating, sometimes satisfying. This is my
favorite kind, when it moves the plot — and the emotions, and the
character development — swiftly along and gives rise to lots of
satisfying moments. Plus! For once a Hong sisters cameo is hilarious AND
adds to the drama. I love that they continue to improve their skills
and keep surprising viewers, even when we’ve watched all of their work
and know all their old tricks.

Episode 9 RECAP:

Jin announces that he’s totally over Ae-jung, proud to have conquered
what he calls aftereffects from the surgery: “The moment I realized it
was because of that song, my heart came out of its hypnosis.”
Disbelieving, Ae-jung has to check for herself, pressing her ear to
his chest: “See, it’s beating!” Jin: “If it doesn’t beat, I die.” Ha,
true. He adds, “It’s beating kong-dak-kong-dak like normal, it’s not pounding all woo-lung-woo-lung~♥~! like before.” HAHAHA.

Then the realization hits him: “Are you…disappointed?” He
gloats at this delicious reversal, and she mutters that she was worried
about his “sickly azalea.” Since it’s back to normal, well, bully for
him.
Ae-jung points out that it’s odd that his heart would act up ten
years after surgery, but he declares that it’s not weird, but unjust.
(The word he uses doesn’t have a direct translation, but is used when
you feel like you’ve been treated unfairly. Shortchanged by somebody, or
fate.) In Jin’s case, he feels the injustice of mistaking his heart’s
pounding for love and shaving off his cow mustache.
Looks like both Ae-jung and the cardiologist are smarter than Jin
(not surprising, if his IQ is on par with his EQ), as the doctor also
notes the oddity of a heart acting up ten years later because of a song.
He wonders if the song, used initially to revive a dying heart, has now
become necessary to that heart. Okay, maybe not so smart then.
(Unless…OH HONG SISTERS. Are you gonna give us gumiho bead v.2.0, except
nonsensical-er?)

Ae-jung asks Pil-joo for his medical opinion on a hypothetical
scenario: If a person’s heart pounds while the person happens to be
looking at a certain other person, could he fool oneself into thinking
it’s love when it’s not? She’s eager for him to agree that it’s silly,
but Pil-joo supposes it’s possible, and refers to studies about roller
coasters causing speeding heart rates that translate into spikes of
emotional attachment. If the stimulus repeats, it may be possible for
someone to confuse the physical feeling with love.
Just then, Ae-jung’s cell phone rings, and the sound of her ringtone
clicks the theory into place — that every time it rang, Jin connected it
with her. Now she’s the one to think bitterly, “I feel really wronged.”

Jin meets with Se-ri to declare the CF back on, assuring her that
there’ll be no need for more “injustice” to arise, as he is now free of
the “weakness” Ae-jung had been holding onto. Se-ri asks if this means
it’s untrue that he likes Ae-jung, and immediately he asks, “Who’s
saying that? I’ll sue.”

He overhears Jae-seok telling President Moon that Jin was dumped by
Ae-jung and is pleased that she says she’ll sue any rumormongers, until
she admits she’s a leetle bit satisfied to see Jin brought low. Jae-seok
agrees, since they’ve both been on the receiving end of his difficult
behavior. President Moon claps: “Gu Ae-jung — good job!”
Pouring salt on that wound, Jae-seok confides that even Ae-jung’s
family isn’t that keen on Jin. So what does he do? Bribes Hyung-kyu with
ice cream, of course! He assures Ding-Dong that he can speak frankly
about what his family says about him.

But the moment the boy says, “Dokko Jin is a butthole—” he shuts him up with a firm, “That’s enough!”
Hyung-kyu holds up a strip of magnetic toys and asks, “Do you want to
be stuck together like this with my aunt?” Jin replies, “I thought I
did, but I don’t now.” Separating the two blocks, he explains, “I
thought I was drawn to her by some incredible force, but that’s
disappeared.” Flipping the magnet so the poles repel each other, he
demonstrates, “See, it doesn’t stick!” I love that his mode of
communication with a 7-year-old is via toy metaphors. How appropriate.
Hyung-kyu takes his magnet and holds it up to Jin’s necklace, which
reacts to it, and says, “It sticks!” Jin jerks his neck back and says he
won’t be pulled along anymore.

When Ae-jung comes to pick up her nephew, Jin pulls her aside for a
chat. Showing her the magnets, he demonstrates his point: “According to
rumors, I was chasing you, who didn’t like me, and you ran away.” The
magnet with the stick figure of a girl whirls around and “rejects” his
boy magnet. Turning the boy magnet around, he continues, “My situation
has reversed. I’m going to go on my way.” Click! Now the girl magnet sticks to the boy magnet. “But look, Gu Ae-jung is pulled along.”
He asks if she’s drawn to him, and guesses from her reaction that she
is. She protests that she’s not the magnet, and Jin pulls off his heart
monitor, eager to see for himself if she’s telling the truth. She
refuses, and he gloats that this means she is totally attracted to him.
What they don’t see is that the heart-rate counter, bereft of a wrist
to monitor, starts to blink oddly. When Hyung-kyu takes the magnets
away, the blinking stops.

Pil-joo’s mother withdraws her objections to his plans to study in
China, because it’s the lesser of two evils, and tells him to quit the
broadcast. He tells her he’ll stay, which makes her burst out that she
hasn’t been able to show her face around after his grand TV gesture with
Ae-jung.
I love Pil-joo’s responses, which are kind but firm — he says, “Since
you’re so sincere in your opposition, my feelings must have come across
sincere, too.” And when she moans about being turned into a loner, he
offers, “Then I’ll hang out with you.” Such a good boy, but smart too —
’cause what can Mom say to that?
So Mom goes to Ae-jung’s house, intending to find “proof” of her real
situation to kill Pil-joo’s liking for Ae-jung. She puzzles over the
address: “A yakuza’s girlfriend is supposed to live in a palace.” (Ha,
Ae-jung lives on Dandelion Road. Hee! What new flower metaphors will
that bring?)
Here she runs into Dad, who confirms that Ae-jung lives here with her
family, not in some separate (more lavish) residence. She turns around,
worrying, “This isn’t right. It’s much easier to get rid of a girl with
secrets. The hardest is the shabby kind.”

Jin tells his managers that his behavior was spurred by his heart
surgery, and President Moon welcomes his return. He tells her to hand
off the sneaker donation project to Ae-jung — may as well compensate for
hassling her, and improve her negative image while he’s at it.
Jin generously adds the use of his van to the deal, and Jae-seok eyes
him suspiciously, testing him: “She’ll ride that van to go film herself
on dates with that doctor.” Jin nods approvingly: “If needed, tell them
to drive it around together.”
Ae-hwan confirms Ae-jung’s acceptance of the reality show with
producers, so thankful for this opportunity that he cries. He explains
that she’d suffered people’s curses for ten years and finally has landed
her first solo show: “As her manager, this is important to me, but as
her brother, our Ae-jung is such a good person, please help her do a
good job.” Aw, it’s sweet. It almost makes up for his babbling
foolishness at other times.

Jenny has come with him and offers to accompany Ae-jung on events
from now on — it’ll give her a chance to keep Se-ri in line. Ooh, I like
this idea. Ae-jung’s too sweet to put Se-ri down, but I love Jenny’s
sassiness, so this could make for some entertaining clashes.
Ae-hwan says eagerly, “Then after we’re married, will we trade places
and I’ll watch the cafe?” At which point an indignant Jae-seok bursts
out, “No! I’M going to watch noona’s store!”
Jenny enjoys this attention, and cheers Ae-jung’s good fortune:
“She’s putting out an album, and doing a variety show. All she needs is
to act, and she’ll be a triple crown!” Ae-hwan: “Who do you think she
is, Lee Seung-gi?” HAHA.
Cue: Lee Seung-gi!

Jenny rushes over with stars in her eyes and asks for a handshake.
Seung-gi receives her praise graciously, but then Ae-hwan notices that
they’re both wearing the same scarf. Jenny beams (just as Ae-jung once
had), while Seung-gi laughs awkwardly and pulls his sweater over the
scarf self-consciously (as Jin once had). HAHA!
Jenny, Ae-hwan, and Jae-seok watch Seung-gi walk off, marveling at
how polite and well-mannered he is — just like his image! Jae-seok sighs
that he’s the complete opposite of Jin; choking on a sob, he cries, “To
think, when I first met hyungnim, I thought he was just like
[Seung-gi]!”
Little do they know that as soon as Seung-gi is safely out of sight,
he yanks off the scarf with a grimace and thrusts it at his stylist. His
voice even changes into that drunk grandpa drawl: “Is this something
that can be worn by all dogs and fish?”

Heehee. This may be my favoritest Hong sisters cameo ever. Lee
Seung-gi playing Lee Seung-gi, whose real-life image is just like Dokko
Jin’s golden boy image, whose supposed “true” backstage personality is
just like Dokko Jin’s… Plus, there’s the fact that Seung-gi was
originally cast in this role, and now affects a Cha Seung-won-esque
nasally growl. AHHH I’m in meta heaven.
It gets even better when Jin steps out of the elevator, and Seung-gi
whips his good-boy persona back into place, bowing respectfully to his
“sunbae-nim.” Jin mentions the program Seung-gi is MC-ing these days, Steel Heart. (Pwahaha! Kang Chul Shim Jang = Steel Heart. Kang Shim Jang
= Strong Heart, Seung-gi’s real-life show.) He suggests that Seung-gi
invite Ae-jung to the show, which Seung-gi smoothly deflects, saying
it’s up to the writers and producers.

Jin is not to be outdone at his own game, and says that stars like
them have pull — “Or are you not at that level yet?” Seung-gi agrees to
broach the topic but adds, “Is that so important that it needs my
efforts?” Jin counters that if Seung-gi does this, he won’t steal away
his refrigerator CF.
That raises Seung-gi’s hackles, and he declares, “I’m Lee Seung-gi!
Even you’re not somebody who can just steal my CF so easily!” In that
sneer, he orders Jin, “Don’t enter my safety zone!”
Just as they’re going back and forth with the “You’ll do it”s and “No
I won’t”s, a crowd gathers to gush over their two favorite stars
together. Jin gives the 1-2-3 count, and the men turn on the charm in a
flash.

OMG I love this. I can hear a pouty girlfriday stomping her feet from
miles away, cursing the manager who scheduled Seung-gi for an
odd-numbered episode.
At the bookstore, Pil-joo’s eye is caught by instructional titles
like How To Win Her Heart and Dating Techniques. Oh, you adorable nerd,
you. He hunkers down to read tips like “Show her an activity you want to
do together using a gift.” He thinks of possible activities to do
together, a little surprised to catch himself looking at a red bra. Hee!
The innocent doc isn’t that innocent.
But no, he opts for a camera instead, thinking they can take pictures together.

Team Ae-jung has received the Steel Heart invite, plus other
promo activities and Jin’s van offer. They surmise that Jin must still
be clinging to Ae-jung, and she sighs (hiding her smile) that this is
soooo annoying, but she’ll have to meet him in person to deal with this.

Too bad Pororo knows when she’s lying, and declares her annoyed act a fake.

The doctor calls Jin in over worries that his pacemaker isn’t working
properly, only to have Jin announce that he’s perfectly fine. Smart
Doctor counters, “Rather than liking her because heart pounded, isn’t it
possible your heart pounded because you like her?” Or to rephrase: Is
he sure the chicken came before the egg?
At home, Jin takes a refreshing drink of Vitamin Water and rubs his
face against the cool bottle…upon which he imagines Ae-jung’s face. He
jumps in shock, but a quick glance at his monitor shows he’s still at a
safe 87 heart rate.
He sits down for some “mind control time,” and hums a meditative
tune, which soon turns into the lyrics for Ae-jung’s “Thumping
Heartbeat.”

Ae-jung comes to confront him about his motives for helping her — is
he being capricious with his affections again? He says no: “I felt
awkward, thankful, and sorry. Awkward for making advances to you,
thankful that you turned me down, and sorry for you for liking me after
the fact. The things Loser Ddong-ko [butthole] Jin did, the Proper Dokko
Jin is straightening out.”
Ae-jung turns to go in disappointment, but changes her mind, frankly
telling him that her disappointment and attraction keep her from
leaving: “You were right — now that the Loser Ddong-ko Jin who liked me
is gone, I’m disappointed, and now that I see the Proper Dokko Jin, I
admit I’m attracted.” She asks for ten seconds to confirm that he’ll
remain in his safety zone, and clings to his chest.
Going along with it, he holds her tightly. Then he turns her around
to back-hug her, while directing her steps toward the stairs that lead
to his bedroom.

Panicking, Ae-jung puts a foot out to halt them — so he turns her
around and pushes her toward the door, telling her that she can’t even
throw herself at him properly.
She asks, “When you were clinging to me, were you intending to stay
with me properly? Did you mean to stick with me through the end, without
leaving?” He considers this, and she deduces that his heart turned away
of its own accord, “without the need for those complicated, realistic
thoughts.”
She goes…and his heart thumps. He thinks to himself that he was so busy he didn’t have time for those complicated thoughts.

Jenny hears from Jae-seok about Jin’s change of heart (har), and
decides she’ll help Pil-joo in earnest, inviting him to the cafe that
night.
Se-ri comes in for an appointment looking tired, dropping hints about
the reason for her depression. She reminds Pil-joo that Ae-jung has a
bad image and likes somebody else, to which Pil-joo says, “I’m thinking
that if I like her even more, it may work out.”
All together now: Awwwww. You are in for a world of hurt.

Se-ri says dispiritedly that it hurts seeing him liking somebody
else, which I suppose may be true, but sounds suspiciously false coming
from her. That’s the problem with being the manipulating brat who cried
wolf; it’s hard to know when you’re not being that.
As Se-ri leaves, she recognizes another patient — Mina, whose smile
turns sour the instant she recognizes Se-ri. From Se-ri’s own
half-fearful, half-curious response, it’s apparent that she feels
lingering guilt, and she slowly approaches Mina. But Mina turns her
back, and Se-ri falters.

Even Jin is surprised at how unresponsive his heart is to Ae-jung,
and taps it curiously, wondering why he’s not reacting. Perplexed, he
asks, “Why do I feel ashamed that it’s behaving so properly?” He decides
he has to restore everything to its original state, and takes out the
wine bribe returned by Peter Jason, calling it the origin of all this
trouble.
He arrives at the cafe, where Ae-jung sits with Jenny and Jae-seok,
awaiting Pil-joo. Still stung from earlier, Ae-jung regards him with
crossed arms, asking if he’s here to offer more compensation.

He says that he forgot one thing, and announces, “Sorry.” He repeats
it loudly and the word echoes in the air — she pointedly ignores it —
and he tells her that he hopes she can recover from her hypnosis, as he
did. He snaps his fingers, saying he can end it with a count to 25. I’m
guessing Jin never played a doctor in a movie. Or a hypnotist.
Instead, Ae-jung pulls the stopper out of the wine bottle and chugs
it defiantly. She finishes off the whole bottle in one go, announcing,
“I’m all recovered now.”

He worries that she’ll spew it right back out, but she says, “I won’t
throw it up. I’ll eat up everything that happened with you, digest it
all, and turn it into crap.”
Stumbling, she leaves his table while Jin gapes in concern. Jenny
tells him with disdain that he’d better leave, since Pil-joo is on his
way: “He’s a truly good man who cares for Ae-jung. Even though Ae-jung
lost something precious to him, he was afraid she’d feel upset and
bought a new one, lying that he found it. That’s how much he cares for
her.”

Now he realizes, “She didn’t buy the pen and lie about finding it?” Jenny informs him that that assumption was all his own.
Pil-joo is still at his clinic, tending to Se-ri, and mentions her
comment about watching somebody like someone else. She thinks he finally
understands her hint, but deflates when he guesses she’s having a hard
time watching Jin liking another woman.
He says that her wan appearance suggests her feelings are genuine,
and she sighs, “Yes, they are. I didn’t know they were to this extent,
but if I keep looking at him, I keep liking him.” He encourages her to
cheer up, and says he’s in the same position.

Jenny loses track of Ae-jung at the cafe, worrying that she’s
wandered off in a drunken state. Jin overhears and recognizes the
telltale ringtone when Jenny calls Ae-jung, following it to a bench,
where he finds her swaying unsteadily. He asks if she’s okay, only to
have her repeat his words back at him like a taunting child.
Jenny frets that Ae-jung’s drinking habit will emerge, which would be
a Very Bad Thing. Her old scandal about a drunken fight occurred when
she had the bad luck to get stuck repeating the words of an easily
offended ajumma, who’d spoken rudely to Ae-jung — and when Ae-jung
repeated the words back (without malice), the ajumma had created a huge
scene.

Thankfully, Jin understands this is just her drunken habit, and asks,
“Why didn’t you explain about the pen?” Her drunken garble spouts back,
“…didn’t explain.”

Jin: “You didn’t trust me, did you?”
Ae-jung: “Di’n't trust you.”
Jin: “Then those words about not liking me back — you were really going to cancel them.”
Ae-jung: “…wassss gonna cancel it.”
Jin: “And you brought those potatoes to give to me.”
Ae-jung: “Brought to give you.”
Jin: “And you came to feed the fish.”
Ae-jung: “I came.”
Jin: “I’m sorry.”

Oh, this is so sweet it hurts a little. He knows she’s just parroting
after him, but at the same time he also understands that it’s the
truth. He’s purposely wording his questions so she’ll confirm his
suspicions, but he can recognize the truth of the words, which only
serve to emphasize that he was an ass.

He holds her to him, and checks his monitor again — which stays firmly in the safe zone.
When Pil-joo arrives at the cafe, Jenny tells him that they’ve lost a
drunk Ae-jung. Pil-joo steps out to join the search, and finds Ae-jung
hunched over on the front stoop.
Jin keeps out of sight as Pil-joo attends to her, and quietly walks away looking miserable.

She falls asleep on Pil-joo’s shoulder, and he asks her, “Tomorrow,
you’ll take hold of my hand, won’t you?” He sees her hand resting in her
lap, and links his pinky with hers to seal their pinky-promise. Awwwww.
How can I want so much for one guy to get the girl, and then a second
later want so much for his rival to get the girl instead? My heart, SO
TORN. Between two fictional men.
Jin goes home to his fish, realizing Ae-jung had fed them after all,
and says, “I should’ve raised pets who can talk.” Haha. He says that a
dog would’ve barked a response, but accuses them of not making a peep,
actually sounding wounded at their betrayal.

Se-ri asks Manager Jang why, ten years ago, he’d readily agreed to
Ae-jung’s decision to break up KBSN. Manager Jang is convinced Ae-jung
had been backed by somebody, who’d bribed the production company
president to agree without a fight. Se-ri’s surprised to hear this, but
not even Manager Jang knows who it is.
Se-ri tests out a new budding suspicion, asking whether Mina would
know. Manager Jang says that he has a lot of things he’d like to ask
her, and that if Se-ri can find her, he wants to be in the loop,
promising to make sure that Se-ri’s protected.
Jenny brings a hungover Ae-jung medicine in the morning, left by
Pil-joo. She says that she knows why Ae-jung’s feeling conflicted, but
she wants to see her happy from now on, and will therefore pretend not
to know about that source of conflict. Which…seems woefully backwards to
me, but whatever. Jenny’s adorable and loyal, but maybe not the
sharpest tack.

Ae-jung sees the Vitamin Water at her bedside and picks it up,
holding the bottle to her cheek. She notes, “It’s cold,” and then picks
up the packet of medicine, saying, “It’s warm.” OH THE METAPHORS, they
are endless.
Her Couple Making shoot is today, and as she’s leaving the
house, she stops short to see that Jin has arrived. Concluding that he’s
here because he feels uncomfortable after her drunkenness yesterday,
she decides that she’ll have to put a clean end to everything. She tells
her brother to go without her, and he tells her anxiously that he
trusts her to show up for the filming. She nods.

Ae-jung tells Jin that she’s still hungover from his wine, and asks
him to help cure it. That’s done with hangover soup, and Ae-jung says
that with this meal, she’ll treat all of her physical and mental pains.
He muses that they’ve never just sat together like this before, and
she reminds him that it’s because he’s always chased her out. She tells
him it was good that he did; if he’d stuck with her, they’d have ended
up in the gossip rags. He agrees, saying that the popularity drop
wouldn’t have been so bad for her — not like it would for him.

Ae-jung: “If you knew that so well, why didn’t you hold back and not let on that you liked me?”
Jin: “I liked you so much that it didn’t work.”
Ae-jung: “Did you even really like me?”
Jin: “Yes. You saw me, being Ddong-ko Jin in my
pathetic one-sided love. I can say this honestly because that’s not the
case anymore, but if I hadn’t come to my senses, I would’ve really hit
rock bottom and broken my heart.”

She chuckles, and assures him she’s not laughing at him: “It’s just —
you turned away not because I was pathetic, and you did like me that
much. That feels good.”
He shows her his wrist monitor, saying, “Even if you smile like that,
it doesn’t affect me at all.” After all, he’s a master of mind control.
Amused, she says jokingly that his heart’s so very proper that she
hates it a little, and playfully bites his hand — “I’m just checking to
see how good your mind control is. I’ve confirmed that you’re not
affected at all.”
With that, she turns her attention to breakfast, saying, “I should
eat this and get all better so I’m not affected at all, either.”
Gah, I simultaneously love Jin for the way he looks at her with
tenderness, and want to hit him over the head for always checking his
monitor, like that hunk of metal has more power than what he suspects
his heart is actually feeling. Oh, you stupid, silly man-child-robot.

The romantic scene is set for today’s shoot, wherein Ae-jung is to
give Pil-joo her answer. Se-ri tells Pil-joo she doesn’t think Ae-jung
will show, and he tells her that he’s nervous enough already without her
making jokes.
She says, “You were flustered at first, and now you’re feeling angry,
aren’t you? Don’t forget that — be sure to remember how it feels, to
make the explanation easy later.”

Jin drops Ae-jung off near the set, and she hesitates before saying:

Ae-jung: “Just as you spoke honestly to
me before, I’ll be honest with you now. To be honest, you made me feel
aflutter. After meeting you, cherry blossoms bloomed in my heart, and
camellias, and even azaleas. But whenever flowers bloom, they also fall
at some point. So even though I was excited and happy, I was afraid to
hold out my hand. I could only approach you one step at a time, but
fortunately the flowers fell on their own. For showing me some really
beautiful flowers on a nice spring night, I thank you.”

Throughout this speech, Jin looks completely gobsmacked, and steals
several glances at his stubbornly static heart monitor. He can’t
understand it: “It’s strange — my heart’s palpitating…”
She turns to leave, but he grabs her wrist and says urgently, “I
think something went wrong. I have to confirm it for myself, too.”

He surprises her — and even himself, I think — with the kiss. Yet when he pulls back, his monitor is still stuck at 88.
He can’t believe it, and says disbelievingly, “It didn’t have any
effect.” He disagrees with that assessment, but to Ae-jung’s vulnerable
heart, those words hurt. She tells him with an edge to her voice, “Thank
you for confirming that you don’t feel anything.”

She walks away. Jin can’t accept it, and takes off the monitor — finally, like a sane person. Running the stopwatch, he starts a manual count of his pulse.
And by the time his minute beeps its end, he’s at 130 heartbeats.
Filming commences, and Se-ri introduces the question of the day:
whether Ae-jung will show. Then she turns to Pil-joo, addressing him
without her words being caught on the microphone.
Se-ri: “You’re feeling nervous and excited at starting a relationship
with Ae-jung unni, aren’t you? But I don’t want to stand by and watch,
so I’ll have to tell you. The feeling I told you to remember — that’s
how I feel right now. Because I like you.”

Shocker! But that’s the moment when Ae-jung appears at the end of the
bridge, kicking off the show. Se-ri resumes her MC duties, posing the
question of whether Ae-jung is here to accept, or reject.
Ae-jung walks slowly toward Pil-joo, but at the last minute stops, turning around to look back…
She doesn’t see Jin, who’s on his way, and turns back to face
Pil-joo. While she stands there in place, he looks at her with a
serious, tense expression. Finally, she resumes her steps and meets him
in the middle of the stage. He steps forward and holds out his hand to
her, as Se-ri narrates, “Gu Ae-jung, please make your decision.”

Ae-jung takes his hand tentatively, almost reluctantly, and joins him
inside the heart-shaped wreath, the moment commemorated with a bright
burst of fireworks.
Se-ri watches unhappily, MC-ing in a flat voice, while Pil-joo breaks into a smile.

Jin arrives at the edge of the bridge, just about to call out
Ae-jung’s name when the fireworks explode. He clutches his chest
painfully just as the background song (posted at top) narrates,
“Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.”
He gasps out, “Gu Ae-jung, it hurts so much. It feels like I’m dying.”

Credits:dramabeans.com

~~~~~~~~~~

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Best Love: Episode 10

It’s just the way I like it: Superheroes Over Flowers, as the boys
step up their game and leave us all spun around in the process. Will
Iron Man get a new heart? Will Spiderman sell his friend up the river
for pastries? Will this drama ever stop being awesome?
Best Love hit a series ratings high with today’s episode at 18.4%, followed by City Hunter 12.8% and Romance Town 10.3%.

Episode 10 RECAP:

Ae-jung takes Pil-joo’s hand and the fireworks go off, to the great
dismay of Se-ri and Jin, who both watch with long faces. Jin clutches
his heart in pain and Se-ri can’t hide her disappointment, though she
has to continue her MC duties for the happy couple.
Ae-jung quietly tells Pil-joo that it must be awkward to continue
holding her hand like this, and tells him to try and pretend like no one
else is here. Pil-joo: “I already am. Because that’s how I made up my
mind from the beginning. I told you that this was real for me. What I’m
holding now is Gu Ae-jung’s heart, who came to me.” Oh, swoon. How can a
guy be this perfect? It’s downright unnatural.

She tells him that she’s sorry for making him jump into such a crazy
mess, and he tells her, “Now that I’ve jumped in and grabbed hold, I’m
not going to let go easily.”
The shoot ends and everyone starts packing it up, but Pil-joo and
Ae-jung stand off to the side, still holding hands. Ae-jung tells him
that the shoot’s done, so he can let go now, so he does… only to switch
to interlocking fingers as he holds on tighter. Omo!
Pil-joo: “I don’t think it’s a shoot. I think it’s for real. So I’m
just going to keep holding.” Eeeeeeeeeee! He says it with this totally
dry look, and then breaks into his trademark dorky smile. Seriously, I
think I love him.

Ae-hwan purposely ditches her at the shoot so that she’ll have to get
a ride from Pil-joo, and calls to lie that the whole family is out, so
she can take her precious time getting home. She’s embarrassed by the
blatant lie, but Pil-joo feels bolstered by the Gu family being P-line
(as in, Pil-joo Line, aka Team Pil-joo).
He tells her that she ought to get onboard too, and she asks what the
benefits of P-line are. He names: “Safety, comfort, and knowing you
won’t be shaken.” Oh, honey. I already want to give you a consolation
hug. Those things are all true, but damn are they unsexy.
Jin sits outside Ae-jung’s house, wondering what he could possibly
say, and cursing at his heart rate monitor (as if it’s the inanimate
object’s fault for not correctly deducing human emotion, heh).

Hyung-kyu finds him there, having run out of Jenny’s, and when Jin
tells him that he’s hurting, Ding Dong invites him in. It just occurred
to me that this grown man’s only friend is Ding Dong. I would say that’s
sad, except they seem to be on par, maturity-wise, so… match made in
heaven?
Ae-jung comes home to find Jin sitting in her living room, sipping
tea out of a Pororo mug. That visual is just so wrong. He totally
overplays the heart trouble to gain sympathy, which doesn’t work, so
then Hyung-kyu plays the “He’s MY guest” angle. Ae-jung treats him like a
playdate then, and tells Hyung-kyu that his friend can play till his
bedtime.

Hyung-kyu asks why Jin’s always getting scolded by his aunt, and he
explains that he’s wronged her, but doesn’t know how to apologize. Ding
Dong thinks it’s easy—you just say, “I was wrong. I’m sorry.” But Jin
says that what’s easy for a seven-year old to say is not so easy for a
thirty-seven-year old.
That’s when Ding Dong passes over his notebook, which has a box at
the bottom of the page: “The Things I Did Wrong Today.” Jin scoffs, “You
want me to write an apology in a children’s notebook? … … … Ding Dong,
you’re a genius!” Heh.
He makes a bunch of false starts, clearly very new at this apology
thing. Ae-jung makes kimbap for Hyung-kyu’s class picnic tomorrow, and
tells him to pick out what to wear. He shows up in his Spiderman
costume, and Jin can’t contain his laughter, making Hyung-kyu
self-conscious.

Ae-jung scolds him, so he turns to Hyung-kyu and says as Dokko Jin
the Fashionista, that confidence makes the outfit. He tells him that he
always wanted to be Iron Man when he was little (because of the man-made
heart), which is Totally. Adorable.
Jin keeps trying to stall Hyung-kyu from falling asleep because he
hasn’t found his window of opportunity yet, but he’s run out of time. As
a last ditch effort, he tells Ae-jung that he never got to go on
picnics when he was a kid, and asks her to go on a picnic with him
tomorrow. “Pleeeee-aaaaaase?”
Ae-jung: “No. Dream on. I will never go on a picnic with you, because
between us, there will always be rain.” Jin: “Then I’ll wait, until the
rain clears. Then there’ll be a rainbow. THIS BIG.” Hahaha.

The next morning, it actually does rain, and Ae-jung comforts a
totally deflated Hyung-kyu. The doorbell rings, and she grumbles
thinking that it’s Jin, and opens the door at the height of her
annoyance.
Only it’s Pil-joo, here with the digital camera, as a gift to thank
her for showing up last night. Hyung-kyu asks if Pil-joo liked
superheroes when he was a kid, and he says that he liked detective
comics more. He sees the kimbap that Ae-jung made for his picnic, and
offers him a trade—anything he wants in exchange for his lunchbox.

Pil-joo takes him to the doughnut shop, and tells him to get whatever
he wants. Hyung-kyu hesitates, and then blurts, “Iron Man, I’m sorry!”
Pwahahaha! I love that this kid is old enough to know that he’s selling
his friend out for a bucket of doughnuts. Love it.
And then? Pil-joo pitches a tent in the middle of their living room,
and they have a picnic anyway, which is just the sweetest thing on
earth. I love that both men know that getting in good with Hyung-kyu is
the way to Ae-jung’s heart, and that they’re both so blatant about it.

Jin calls, his number saved today as “Proper [or Perfectly
Mannered],” and he happily announces that he’s prepared something for
Hyung-kyu’s picnic because of the rain. He’s outside her house, with an
RV parked behind him. Aw. It’s just kind of perfect that Pil-joo shows
up with low-rent tent and Jin shows up with flashy RV.
She tells him that there’s someone already here, and he
heartbreakingly guesses that it’s Pil-joo. She mentions what he told her
last night—that people always forgave him when he behaved badly because
he was sick, and adds, “But even if you’re sick enough to die, it won’t
matter to me.” Oooof. He just sits outside her house in the rain like
that, still stinging from her words.
The proposal episode of Couple Making airs, and Jin watches
it for a while, finally turning it off angrily. He clutches his heart in
pain, deducing that with CG and background music, it’s extra
heartbreaking. HA.

I’m beginning to suspect that just as he had confused rapid heartbeat as causing love, he’s confusing real heart pain for heartbreak. Stop clutching your heart. It’s worrisome!
The new segment of Couple Making is a big hit, and Se-ri
whines at her MC role now reduced to useless opening/closing and
commentary on the happy couple, which is secondary to the real
rub—losing the man she wants to Ae-jung. She whines that it’s just like
their KBSN days, playing fourth fiddle and losing everything to Ae-jung.
Pil-joo finds her and asks why she said that she liked him the other
night, and she gets defensive, saying that if he thinks she was joking,
he can take it however he pleases. He tells her that she must’ve been
joking, to say something like that, at a time like that.

She says that it’s because she doesn’t like Ae-jung, which is neither
true nor false. That’s part of it, sure, but I do think that she really
likes him, on his own merits, outside of the fact that she always wants
what Ae-jung has, or doesn’t want her to have him.
He tells her that she’s a bad person, almost scolding her like a
little girl. He obtusely just tells her not to play pranks like that
anymore. Se-ri cries in the bathroom, amazed at Pil-joo’s complete
obliviousness toward her feelings.

She overhears a girl group member (the one managed by her old KBSN
manager) sneaking in a phone call to her boyfriend in the next stall
over, and muses that idol stars are still dating secretly, same as ever.
She flashes back to her idol days, when she was busy crushing on an
idol boy (cameo by Brian Joo).
Ae-jung had helped her try to sneak him a secret love note, but when
they were almost caught by their manager, Ae-jung had run over and
chewed it up, to cover for her. She got an ink-stained tongue in the
process, and they had a good laugh over it.

She thinks of it fondly now, wondering if she had offered to help
Ae-jung date Dokko Jin secretly like the old days, then she might have
had a chance with Pil-joo. She finds Manager Jang scolding the idol star
as expected, and he complains to her that managing idol stars’ love
lives is the hardest part of his job.
He compliments her for never giving him that kind of trouble, and she
just smoothly says that she never got CAUGHT is all. Heh. He says that
Mina was the real trouble back then, ’cause she was dating the hottest
idol boy of the day, and their agency was basically at war with his
agency, to manage the situation.
He recalls that Ae-jung played a big part in all that, and Se-ri
wonders if Ae-jung helped Mina date secretly too. Hm. Interesting.
Pil-joo’s mom decides to visit Ae-jung’s house to see how she lives
for herself, and meets her family, discovering that Ae-jung basically
supports her father, brother, and nephew. Mother is so not pleased.

Jin’s agent tells him that Jerry Heimer (Pfft. As in Bruckheimer?) is
doing a new superhero movie and wants to cast him. Looks like he might
be going to Hollywood after all. Jae-seok tells Ae-jung and Jenny the
news, that he’ll be meeting the director and making his decision soon.
Ae-jung muses to herself, “He’ll really get to be like Iron Man.”
Hyung-kyu goes over to offer Jin some doughnuts, apologizing for
accepting them in a moment of weakness. Ha. Jin sweetly tells him that
he’s only seven, and therefore needn’t feel such guilt over snack foods.

He tells Ding Dong to eat up, and then exercise, and then wonders how
much he’ll grow while he’s away. Hyung-kyu asks if he’s going
somewhere, and he says, “I’m going to be a superhero.”

Ae-jung cleans up Hyung-kyu’s room, and discovers Jin’s apology, written under “The Things I Did Wrong Today”:

Saying that I made the mistake of thinking that my heart beating caused me to like you… was a mistake. I’m sorry. –Dokko Jin ♥

She sighs, and begs him (aloud, to herself) to leave her alone and go to Hollywood and protect the earth. Aw.
Jin picks up his potato plant, tears welling up in his eyes. “If I
leave you here like this, I suppose you’ll naturally wither and die…”

Jae-seok comes to pick him up the next day for his meeting with Jerry
Heimer, except his heart starts racing and he clutches it in pain.
“Jae-seok… Hospital…” Finally! Gah, does it take a full-on heart attack
for you to go see a doctor?
Jae-seok rushes him to the hospital in a panic, Jin clutching his
heart in pain the whole way. The doctor examines him and the verdict is
in: “You’re broken.” Why does everyone speak of him like he’s the
Dokko-Bot?
The doc tells him that he’s rejecting the pacemaker, and Jin asks if
he’s back to square one health-wise, like he was ten years ago. The doc
confirms that he is, and that it’s a good thing he’s been monitoring his
heart rate as closely as he’s been lately (thanks to the KBSN
song)—otherwise he could’ve gotten much worse and just collapsed out of
nowhere.

He needs surgery, and soon. Jin asks what his chance of survival is.
Doc says 50-50. At home, the potato plant withers, as if magically
linked to his heart. Jin sits in a daze, musing, “My heart really WAS
breaking.” He struggles to hold back his tears.
People start recognizing him in the hospital lobby, and as he hears
their whispers, “It’s Dokko Jin!” He takes a deep breath and puts his
star persona back on, which sort of breaks my heart. He puts his
sunglasses on like armor, and greets the growing crowd with smiles and
signs autographs.
Ae-jung goes to Pil-joo’s house to shoot a housewarming date, and as
they cook dinner together, she encounters a potato with a frown. Pil-joo
asks if she likes them, and she says she “Really really really
doesn’t,” so he puts it aside. Aw, poor potato.

Jin accepts the movie deal, and tells his agent that he’ll go to
Hollywood after the MBS Daesangs, where he’s up for a Best Actor award.
He declares, “I will remain at the height of coolness.” Implication
being that he’d like to die leaving behind the best version of himself.
Gah, now I’M broken!
His agent then meets with the Couple Making PDs, who tell
her that they managed to get Ae-jung onto the Daesangs as a presenter,
to bolster their show and improve her image. They ask for the agency’s
help in glamming her up for the event.
They also add that they’d like her to switch cell phones to a new
brand so that she and Pil-joo have matching couple phones, and President
Moon notes that it’s the same one that Dokko does the CF for, while pointing out its features,
and the meta-on-meta product placement in this show just about kills
me. It’s smart to hang a lantern on it because it’s so blatant (and best
to acknowledge that you’re selling your airtime rather than pretending
that we’re dumb and don’t notice, like most shows) but damn, it’s
getting ridiculous.

It’s time to pick out awards show couture, and Ae-jung runs into Jin,
literally gobsmacked by his be-tuxed hotness. He chases after her and
notes that she cleans up nicely too, though gotta say, nothing beats Cha
Seung-won in a tux. Siiiigh.
He tells her that he heard she was presenting at the awards, and asks
if it isn’t the Best Actor category. Ae-jung: “No, as if. Best Child
Actor. You’re not… going to win in that category, are you?” HA.

She worries about tripping on the red carpet, and he takes her by the
shoulders and raises her chin. Jin: “You walk the red carpet by
confidence.” Aw. He tells her to think of herself as the best in all the
world as she walks.
She says that she doesn’t look cheap today, so she’ll have to pretend
to be all that, and he looks at her sincerely, “You didn’t when you
were wearing the frog either. Of all the frogs I’ve ever seen, you were
the most luxurious. Keep running hard.”

He stops to ask how he looks, since he’s got to look the best, today
of all days. She looks him up and down and says that he looks handsome,
adding that even when he was petty and clingy Butthole Jin, he was still
handsome.
Jin: “Remember me that way.”
Waaaaah. No dying! No remembering, no leaving, and no dying!

It’s awards show time, and Jin walks the red carpet with flair. He
joins Se-ri in her dressing room and tells her that he’ll be announcing
his Hollywood movie as he accepts his award.
Ae-jung arrives and Pil-joo stops in to cheer her on and calm down
her nerves. She and Jenny run into Manager Jang with his idol girls, and
when she offers up a nice greeting for them to perform well today, he
sneers that she’s telling the girl who got booted off of Couple Making because of her, to do well.
He belittles her for overstepping, and says that she’s not at the
level where she can do anything and be forgiven for it. Ae-jung takes
Jin’s advice to heart, and says, “Today, I won’t hang my head for no
reason,” and walks away, head held high.

But Manager Jang is a petty rat bastard, so he decides that he’s
going to get his revenge. He purposely spills his coffee all over her
white dress, and chides her for being dirty, and playing dress-up.
A PD scrambles into Se-ri’s dressing room to ask her to fill in and
present the Child Actor award, and Jin perks up at that, realizing that
something’s wrong with Ae-jung. He sees Jenny arguing with Manager Jang,
and then finds Ae-jung sitting at the bottom of the stairs, alone.

He looks at her tenderly and sees that her arm is burnt from the
spill. She just puts up a brave front, saying that dressing up like this
doesn’t suit her, and that she should just stick to frogs. That just
kills me even more, when she’s all stiff-upper-lippy that way.
The awards show gets underway (with footage from the actual Korea Film Awards, with Song Yoon-ah as MC, and the likes of Won Bin, Kim Tae-hee, and Song Ye-jin giving unwitting cameos).

Jin walks out and discovers Manager Jang laughing about his evil
petty victory over the phone, and follows him into the stairwell with a
determined look. Once no one else is around, he socks him with a punch,
and Manager Jang goes down. Damn, that’s satisfying.
Ae-jung comes home and Pil-joo tends to her wound, wrapping it in a
bandage. They come out to see breaking news, that Dokko Jin did not
attend the awards, and now speculation over bad blood between him and
the director of Fighter is blowing up.

Jae-seok gets bombarded at the agency, and President Moon tells him to fend them off, while she takes care of the real problem…
She’s at the hospital, where Manager Jang is being treated in the
emergency room. Holy crap. He beat the bloody hell out of him. Oh, dear.
This is bad. Bad, bad, bad. I thought it was just one punch, but it
looks like he went to town in a rage, and we all know how Manager Jang
is going to twist this whole thing around. Eek!
Jin is holed up at home but unreachable, so the agency asks Ae-hwan
to sneak him out while he can. He tells Ae-jung that Jin hit somebody,
and worries if he’ll listen to him, if he goes over there. Ae-jung
offers to go instead, because there’s something she needs to confirm.

She heads over to his house, and finds the lock code the same. He
comes out, weary but looking perfectly fine (looks like he did all the
hitting, which is kind of worse, if you think about how the press is
going to spin this).
She asks what happened, but he tells her that he has no interest in
having a press conference with her, and says he’s tired. She chastises
him for messing up, reminding him that he’s supposed to go to Hollywood
and fulfill his lifelong dream to be a superhero and protect the earth.

Jin: I’m not going. Instead of the
earth, which spins fine without my protection, the thing I have to
protect, while looking totally cool and awesome, is right here.

SPLAT. *jumps ship, hangs head for being so wishy-washy.*
He takes a step closer to her and adds, “I was so severely awesome today, that I’m tired.” Ha.
He leans into her for a hug, almost propping up his tired body on
hers. She asks what he’s doing, and he holds on, “Stay still. So I can
keep being awesome.” HA. He sighs with his chin resting on her shoulder,
“I need strength. Rechaaaaarge.”

Credits:dramabeans.com

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Best Love: Episode 16 (Final)

It’s over! Did Best Love topple my long-standing No.
1 from the top of my personal Hong Sisters favorites list? Maybe not,
but it did give the list a pretty decent shakeup.
As a straight-up episode, this one was admittedly light on drama —
but as an epilogue, it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen in a while. (Coffee Prince will forever be a big ol’ letdown, falling flat in its final hour thanks to that unnecessary extension, while Boys Before Flowers
also ranks high for awkward fast-forward jumps.) And it’s definitely
one of the better Hong sisters epilogues, given that they usually make
the couple angst through the end, giving them about ten minutes of happy
at the end. I’ll take an hour of hugs, kisses, and declarations of love
over that any day.

Episode 16 RECAP:

Jin makes his public declaration that he and Ae-jung are in love, to
the shock of everybody, including Ae-jung’s own crew. The restaurant
ajumma asks if it’s true, and what makes this moment, as girlfriday
pointed out yesterday, is her reaction: Ae-jung tears up and answers
proudly, “Yes. That man is my boyfriend.”
Even Jenny has to concede that this was a pretty cool move on Jin’s
part, and Pil-joo gives a sad sort of half-smile. Agh, my heart, it
twists for you.

President Moon, on the other hand, is less pleased, although I do
love the professionalism with which she tackles the new problem: She
just sighs that they’ll have to leap right into the fray again. And when
her phone lights up with a call from the media, she assumes PR mode and
answers brightly that it’s true, that the two are happily dating.
Asked (on television) why he likes Ae-jung, Jin answers that she’s
beautiful: “I fell in love like I was caught up in hypnosis, and as
though I was broken, I couldn’t control it.” That causes Ae-jung’s smile
to fade a bit, until he adds, “Enough to feel that even if this were my
last moment, I’d be happy — she’s the best. Gu Ae-jung is Dokko Jin’s
best love. Gu Ae-jung, I love you.”
Jin waits outside her house that night, wearing his silly red bow.
When Ae-jung comes home, he makes his “Dokko is Ae-jung’s present!”
speech without the ridiculous aegyo voice he’d been practicing with (to
my great relief, since this is a serious moment), and says that because
of her, he’s had to beg again.

He declares, “Take responsibility!” and points a finger at her, with
his flower ring stuck on the end. He says, “This is the future I can
give you. Accept it.” [I don't know if the Hong Sisters invented the man saying "take responsibility," (they used it in Gumiho) but I'd like to give them credit for it because it's my favoritest thing EVAR. -gf]
Ae-jung holds out her finger, and he slides the ring on. He warns her
not to run away again, and she replies, “Run away? Don’t even dream
about it. I’ll never let you go.”
They review the slew of news articles that announce their
relationship, and she’s a little miffed at the strong language
(“shocked,” “flabbergasted”) used to describe the public’s response. On
the other hand, Jin says that if the response were any milder, HIS pride
would be hurt. Haha.
He shuts the computer before she can read the comments, though, which
run the gamut from disbelief to “Oppa, come back!” and “I’m gonna kill
Gu Ae-jung!” and “Dokko Jin has gone totally crazy.”

He assures her that he has well-wishing fans too, and uploads a photo
of them online to await their response. Which results in even more
demands for Ae-jung to get lost, statements of disappointment in Jin,
and references of her as a gumiho who seduced him.
I love that Ae-jung bears the criticism with a sigh, while Jin…is not
so graciously accepting. He vows to sue every one of them, and pleads
with her to write comments defending him. HAHA. When you’ve been coddled
your entire career, I guess it’s hard to get used to curses overnight.
President Moon says that as a woman, she found his broadcast
appearance pretty cool — but as his manager, he’s in for rough times.
His current situation is “the worst,” with most of his projects
disappearing into the ether. Jin isn’t particularly worried about the
loss of CFs, because his next movie should attract a new wave of them —
but is shocked to hear that all his movie offers are gone as well.

Ae-jung shows her ring to her family, telling them that she’s truly
happy, which prompts Ding-Dong into a Jin imitation as he mimes a
peekaboo gesture and declares, “Happiness!”
Se-ri reports news of the couple’s engagement to Pil-joo, and tells
him cheerily that she’ll see him soon in China, since she’s shooting a
movie there. Pil-joo goes from annoyed at her gnat-like buzzing presence
in his life to satisfaction as he tells her that he’s going to a place
that requires a two-day train ride from Beijing (where she’ll be):
“China is a very large country.”

At least Ae-jung’s career is doing fine, although the reason given
for her program’s doubled ratings is attributed to people watching it to
curse her. Still, she enjoys the work, and has earned the nickname of
“Mat Jang Geum,” where the “mat” means “taste” (the original “dae” meant
“great”).
Jin is pleased to hear it and asks for her autograph, then produces a
document for her to sign — a marriage registration form, already filled
out by him. Aw, that’s cute. (It also recalls the Jae-seok/Jenny origin
story, when he was the fan who’d sent her a marriage registration form
asking for her autograph. So immature and adorable. No wonder those two
boys get along so well.) [Oh, I'd forgotten about that origin story. Drats, another hook left dangling. -gf]

The marriage news takes the nation by storm (again), and President
Moon asks Jin the reason for his constant flurry of revelations. He
answers that this way, “all the arrows will be directed at me.”
Altogether now: Awwww. [*singsonging* Awwww. -gf]
But again, the idea is easier stomached in theory than actuality, and
Jin’s jealousy spikes to hear that his Cannes movie will now go to that
actor Kim Joon-sung. (Hee! It’s Kim Nam-gil, in a shout-out to Episode 1 when Jin turned down Queen Seon-deok, which in this alternate Best Love universe was a dismal failure of a drama and dragged down Kim Joon-sung with it.)
In fact, now it’s Joon-sung’s face decorating the Vitamin Water bottles, not his.

Jenny gripes with Jae-seok about all the negative internet responses,
which includes speculation of a Jin video floating out in the
interwebs. Jae-seok confirms that there does exist a video starring Jin,
but tells Jenny it’s not what she’s thinking — as in, it’s nothing
dirty. Alas. [Sigh. But I've been such a good girl! -gf]
This goes overheard by the worst possible person, however: Manager
Jang, who’s here at the broadcast station for some more schmoozing with
producers, who figures this oughtta be interesting. Aie, it’s too late
in the series for a new conflict, right?

The newlyweds head out for their first public date at the movies,
where they’re surrounded by curious fans. They try to continue with
their date normally, although they do make it a point to hold each other
to demonstrate that they are, indeed, quite happily married.
Ae-jung picks out a movie based on the dog on the poster, saying she
likes movies featuring dogs, which is HILARIOUS because (1) it’s Phungsan Dog, starring Perfect Doctor Man Yoon Kye-sang,
(2) it’s not a fluffy dog movie, but a dark thriller about a badass
silent smuggler, and (3) Jin doesn’t correct her, just saying that since
the lead doesn’t speak throughout the movie, it’s almost the same as a
dog hero. LOL. [So funny. How can they cram so much meta into two throwaway sentences? -gf]

It’s sort of adorable how much Jin enjoys holding Ae-jung close in
public, even though his mood sours when a few peevish girls scorn him
loudly. Ae-jung calms him down by singing her song to him, practically
despoiling his ear in the process, and he joins in on the lyrics as she
essentially describes their courtship (“From the beginning we weren’t
right for each other…” Full lyrics here).
In response to the malicious gossip about the supposed Dokko Jin
video (which hints at homemade porn), Jae-seok asks President Moon for
the video Jin recorded prior to his surgery — the one that he’d made in
case he died.
Jae-seok thinks it’ll be a satisfying surprise to get people all hot
‘n bothered about an ero video, “only to find Pororo” instead. (Meaning,
of course, something innocent and uneventful, not Pororo literally.
Although that’d be pretty hilarious, too.) [And now I'm dying
because "porno" sounds like "pororo" in Korean, and I'm pretty sure
there's an entire internet conversation between Lee Seon-kyun and Uhm
Tae-woong on that very pun. *runs off to find it* -gf] This
suggestion strikes a chord with President Moon, though she dismisses
Jae-seok and tells him not to tell anybody about the true nature of the
video.

Jenny uneasily informs Ae-jung of the top 3 speculations regarding
the video’s contents: (1) She’s cosplaying as Sailor Moon in the
bedroom, (2) They’re into bondage play, or (3) Wait, this is the most
absurd! But no, Ae-jung doesn’t want to hear it. But what about us that
DO? [Yes, what about US? -gf]
Jenny says something that is sadly true: “They must want to see you completely ruined in order to feel good.”
At home, Ae-jung finds Jin in a sullen mood — he shuts off the TV the
moment she walks in, saying “Something came on that I don’t want to
see” — and she figures he heard that Kim Joon-sung is up for a Best
Actor prize at an upcoming film award ceremony. (In actuality, he’s
watching Pil-joo on Couple Making — heh.)

At first she thinks of leaving him alone to sulk, but tells herself
that this time she’ll cling (the opposite of her usual M.O.), and grabs
him in a hug: “Recharge!”
Jin admits that the thing he’s annoyed about isn’t the award, but that MBS, those bastards, seem to be playing Couple Making
nonstop these days. Damn them, capitalizing on the publicity and
showing that Anybody Doctor onscreen all the time! I love that that
bothers him more than getting upstaged for a Best Actor award.
Jin also reveals the signed hat he’d won from the show, back when
he’d voted for her in that online poll. Now that the mood has lifted, he
asks her, promising generously not to get mad, “You didn’t really have
feelings for that Anybody Oriental Doctor, did you?”

She muses, “Hm, maybe a liiiittle…?” and he clenches his teeth,
trying to force a happy expression. Alternately scowling and smiling
like his facial muscles are at war with themselves, he grits out, “A
little WHAT?!” and “I’m not upset!”
Ae-jung is on the road, heading to an assignment with her crew, when a
car cuts hers off and causes a truck to swerve. That sends her own van
swerving off the road, and Jin gets the alarming call and races to the
hospital.
She’s fine, just laid up in bed with an injured arm, but he’s so
overwhelmed with relief he grabs her in a hug and thanks her for
surviving. He says he thought his heart was going to burst and she takes
a listen, worried that it’s thumping too fast, and advises him to try
some of his mind control powers.

Jenny grimaces at the continuous stream of hateful comments online,
even in the wake of Ae-jung’s accident. Jin takes a look, his face
hardening to read things like “Why didn’t she die?,” “This is Dokko
Jin’s chance to come back solo,” “Don’t you think Dokko Jin’s regretting
it and hoping she’ll die?” “Maybe this is the curse of Dokko Jin’s
fans, kekeke.”
This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and Jin declares that
he’ll sue — public furor be damned — which has the effect of bringing
in schoolgirls to the police station for questioning. And salarymen. And
ajummas. Totally normal people, subdued at being caught, not the
hateful, militant types of anti-fans that they’d anticipated.

President Moon tells Jin that the offenders want to meet him in
person to apologize, and now that the gossipmongers have faces and
personalities, Jin is more confused than anything: “Why did they do it?”
President Moon utters another sad truth: “They said they just tossed it
out without really thinking about it. They’re sorry.”
Ae-jung tells him to drop the lawsuit, but he’s determined to see it
through, deciding he’ll trade his image as the Good Dokko Jin for one as
the Righteous Dokko Jin.
Then, more scandal breaks — this time the video, which has leaked
online. Assuming it’s something salacious, the whole country gathers
round computer and smartphone screens everywhere, eager for a looksee at
the famous star brought even lower.
Instead, they get:

Jin: “If this video is circulating, it
will mean that my heart surgery has failed, and I’m no longer of this
world. The many of you who have loved me, I wish to entrust to you the
person I love. You could say that I am the well-made Dokko Jin who was
loved by many. The woman I love has been misunderstood by many of you
and disliked, but if you get to know her, you’d know she’s a truly good
woman — Gu Ae-jung. Because she is the recipient of so much scorn and
misunderstanding, I am leaving this proof behind. That Dokko Jin truly
loved Gu Ae-jung — please ensure that such a thing isn’t scorned, or
misunderstood. I ask this of you.”

*Tear*
Jin finds Ae-jung as she’s watching the video all chocked up with
emotion, and says he’d left it behind “just in case.” She cry-teases
that he confessed his love for her in life and in death, and he smiles
with his trademark quip, “Consider it your honor.”

The video is so popular it gets over a hundred million hits, which
makes President Moon smile in satisfaction. I love how Jae-seok gives
her the side-eye, wondering how such a video happened to be leaked,
smelling something fishy.
She just tells him, “Watch and learn, Kim Jae-seok,” calling herself the “best image-maker” in the biz. That she is.

The KBSN girls gather as Ae-jung’s bridesmaids, tacky matching pink
dresses and all (Se-ri’s words), and note that this is the first time
since their breakup that they’ve been linked together in good news.
Mina’s flown back from the States to be here, and Se-ri puts up the
front of being a grudging participant, although it’s obvious she’s happy
to be in the fold.
For instance, Jenny suggests regular reunions, which Se-ri balks at
given her superior top-star status…but then Jenny admits she’s a tiny bit
proud of Se-ri for rising to such heights, and Se-ri replies that
she’ll consider the reunions, as long as they recognize that she was the
core of the group. Mina brings out a box of their favorite old snacks,
the clover-shaped bread that they share to ensure good luck.

Ae-jung runs into Pil-joo on the street, and their conversation about
her formerly twisted ankle stands in for the bigger meta conversation
about the state of her heart. Pil-joo: “I’m glad that you aren’t in pain
anymore.” Ae-jung: “I don’t hurt now.” Pil-joo: “It’s a relief that the
last time seeing Nina is when she’s smiling.”
He tells her he’s leaving to go study soon, not as an excuse or to
run away, but because he wants to. He has one last thing to request of
her, though, and he asks her to feel his pulse: “Now I’ve gotten over my
feelings.” He thanks her, saying that he’ll remember the feeling of
traveling to a strange land, and that every once in a while he might
feel a bit of pain, but that it’ll fade in time. Ae-jung thanks him for
caring for her.

Now, time for the wedding. The ceremony itself is closed to the
public, but that doesn’t stop the reporters from milling around outside,
and they’re the top news item of the day. Perhaps month. Probably not
year. (Hey, this is showbiz. Memories be short.)
For some pre-ceremony well-wishing, Jin shows Ae-jung the video sent
in by their fans worldwide congratulating the both of them on their
marriage. No longer the disliked Gu Ae-jung of yore, she’s managed to
turn her image around (finally!) and is enjoying some favorable
responses for once in a long, long time.

Some unspecified time later, both their careers are on the rebound,
with Jin back in top-shelf CF land. He turns down an invitation from his
sexy co-star to go to a fancy dinner together, opting instead to head
home for “a really important event,” which takes him to the grocery
store first — to buy diapers! Eeee!
Moreover, it’s Jin who stays home with the baby while Ae-jung heads out for a shoot. Gotta love it.

Jae-seok receives a promotion, which causes Jenny to fawn over him
while Ae-hwan scoffs that he’s way above his level already. The two boys
start arguing over their professional statuses — who’s better, and
whatnot — which makes Jenny intercede to urge them to act “like usual.”
By which she means: Fight over me instead!
The boys tell her to stay out of it, too caught up in their rivalry
to heed her, and she pouts. It strikes me that this is the best
retaliation for her — nothing so serious as an actual smackdown, but a
much-deserved taking down of a peg or two, since she’s been so puffed up
in pride over their adulation.
Yet another of Pil-joo’s ajumma clients tries to set him up with her
daughter, so he plucks a resumé from his desk and hands it to her. The
flipside is empty, to be filled out with the daughter’s information, and
within a week of receipt, Pil-joo’s mother will return the call.
Apparently he’s been bombarded with so many requests that he’s
streamlined the process, HAHAHAHA. I love that the Perfect Doctor is
modest…to an extent. He’s not dumb — he knows he’s a catch. [He must've caught wind of Dramabeans. -gf]

Se-ri continues along in her top-star career, still pining over
Pil-joo and trying to make headway with him. For instance, she knows
he’s headed hiking and plans a trip accordingly, timing it to match his
ascent — only he’s wise to her ways.
Disappointed, she asks, “Then did you see me standing there watching you and choose this other path on purpose to avoid me?”
Pil-joo holds out a hand and offers, “This path is steep and rough so it won’t be easy to climb. Do you want to try it anyway?”

It’s only the teeniest of openings, but she’ll take it, and she
accompanies him to the summit. I don’t see romantic interest on his
part, but I don’t mind seeing Pil-joo softening a bit toward Se-ri,
since she’s shown herself to be petty and bratty, but ultimately not
evil. (Though he’s still way too good for her.)
All in all, life is pretty happy at the Dokko household, even if
Ding-Dong is less than impressed with the baby’s level of intelligence.

Ae-jung points out that the latest gossip has them in a three-month
separation, so Jin decides that the best way to counter those rumors is
to go out on a picnic in front of lots of witnesses. Ae-jung disagrees,
though, calling that line of action a little weak: “These days,
celebrities with lots of children are treated with affection.”
Jin: “Ding-dong! Gu Ae-jung, then let’s get into image control mode immediately!”
Rawr! Ae-jung: “I’ll have to recharge your batteries to full.” Double rawr.

JAVABEANS’ COMMENTS
Best Love isn’t perhaps my absolute favorite Hong sisters
drama, but I do think it’s the best-written. I don’t know that any of
their future shows will be able to topple Delightful Girl Chun-hyang as my sentimental favorite, but I’d have to put Best Love
as No. 2 for its crackling dialogue, incredibly fast-flying puns and
metaphors and cultural references, its wonderful lead actors, its
adorable Mr. Second Lead, and the tons of humor crammed into each
episode from top to bottom.
(For the curious, I’d rank the rest of their dramas, from No. 3 to 7, in the following order: My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, My Girl, You’re Beautiful, Hong Gil Dong, and Fantasy Couple.)
I’ve read that the Hong sisters shy away from cheesily romantic dialogue (what they call dalk-sal-ment
for its tendency to give you goosebumps for its corniness), which is
why they pile on the metaphors. It allows you to get out the sentiment
at the core, while masking it in wordplay. It’s kind of boring for a
character to say plainly, “I like you. Let’s date.” But when a hero
jumps through verbal hoops to talk about blooming potatoes and
scattering flowers and a literally broken heart, and the miffed heroine
retorts by telling him to shut his butthole of a mouth? It’s clever,
funny, AND effective.
Sometimes I’ll watch a mediocre rom-com (and I’ve seen a lot of
those), and the on-the-nose fighting and the even on-the-nosier love
declarations can make me cringe. So I delight in the sense of whimsy and
pure fun that the Hong sisters’ writing brings to the table. They’ve
always been good at that, but they completely upped their game with this
drama and took their delightful wit to new heights.
Best Love is not without its flaws, and I’m certainly aware
of some loose ends that remained untied. For instance, Mina’s secret,
which I thought would play a bigger role than merely bringing Se-ri back
around to Ae-jung’s side. I’ll be the first to say that the Pil-joo
character actually isn’t that strong — on paper, at least. Honestly, you
can’t credit the writers too much with making him such an adorable,
endearing character because frankly, he’s written just like every other
Hong sisters second lead: Overly kind, understanding, and left nursing a
wounded heart. Like You’re Beautiful’s Jung Yong-hwa, or My Girl’s Lee Jun-ki.
This character owes a huge debt to Yoon Kye-sang,
because played by a different actor, I think Pil-joo was very much in
danger of falling flat. Like how I felt no sympathy for the Gumiho
Hunter, and cried no tears over Shin-woo hyung. Perhaps if you didn’t
feel the Yoon Kye-sang pull (who ARE you, and are you alive?), you may
have felt little for Pil-joo; for me, I was completely drawn to him and
wanted him to get the girl, except for the moments when I wanted her for
Jin instead. Not gonna lie, sometimes those moments overlapped and I
was left nursing a wonderfully tortured dilemma.
Speaking of Pil-joo, I like that the drama didn’t conclusively pair
him up with Se-ri. As far as second leads go, I found her benign since
she never posed a danger to our main couple, but after some of her petty
pranks in the middle, I found my desire to see her happily paired off
drastically diminished. So while Pil-joo looks at her as an
exasperating, possibly slightly cute pest, I don’t see interest there on
his end — but there’s enough of an open ending that fans of the pairing
can hope.
I also appreciate how they made President Moon into the source of
conflict, because her actions make sense to me in that she sincerely
believes she’s doing what’s best for both her clients. As a level-headed
businesswoman, she’s making her judgments without emotion, as she
should. It’s a step up from the irrational
mother/grandfather/ex-girlfriend opposition, for sure, whose
interference often flouted reason.
But all this would be moot if it weren’t for Cha Seung-won playing his role with complete gusto (even if he went so far in the beginning to seem mildly deranged), and Gong Hyo-jin
bringing her trademark natural charm to hers. They gave life, sparks,
and zazz to these crazy lovebirds — and that, coupled with the zany,
meta-filled plot, makes this a keeper rom-com for me.

GIRLFRIDAY’S COMMENTS
This is perhaps the best straight-up rom-com I’ve seen in a long while. Though it certainly doesn’t knock My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho
off its pedestal as my favorite Hong Sisters drama (I consider them to
be very different beasts altogether anyway), it is by far one of the
most satisfying zippy comedies I’ve seen in many a drama-watching moon.
It’s a testament to their writing skills that the Hong Sisters can
evolve and up the ante on their own repertoire.
I’m a firm believer that genre work is actually extremely tricky —
though you always have a stable of tropes, clichés and devices, writing
within the expected structure while keeping things fresh is extremely
difficult. It’s why time and again so many rom-coms fall totally flat,
even though they appear to have the EXACT same ingredients. Tough hero?
Check. Plucky heroine? Check. Doofy second lead? Check.
But it’s not an Easy Bake Drama Oven. You can’t just toss in the
stuff and hope it comes out Dramacakes. And a show like this, solid
through and through and laugh-out-loud funny while being poignant,
heart-tugging, and just plain sweet, is why we watch and always search
for that next great rom-com.
I agree that a large part of this drama’s success is the main cast
stocked with experienced actors. You can’t beat a cast like this, with
such a wide range of dramas, films, and genres under their belts. They
made everything just that extra amount of funny / heartbreaking /
lovable, to draw us into every moment, and made even the silliest of
potato-love confessions the best a girl could want.
The show does have plenty of flaws, namely the way that many a plot
thread that was once gripping got dropped like a hot potato. And I still
find some of the Hong Sisters dramas’ tonal shifts hard to swallow (the
romantic-to-funny undercutting is pitch-perfect, while the
funny-to-suddenly-melo sometimes leaves skid marks on my screen). But
the strengths outweigh the flaws, bar none.
The thing that deserves the most praise is really the fantastic meta
setup — not just the one-off jokes and puns, but the entire world of the
drama. The way this world was drawn, with one foot in reality and one
foot in the fictional celebrityverse, came to mirror the fandom and the
real entertainment world and the making of the drama itself. It was all
done with a wink and a nod, but with an often incisive view of the
showbiz machine, which gave the show a unique, of-the-minute feel, like
it captured the feeling of the dramaland that we know and participate
in. It’s the strongest combination of the Hong Sisters’ strengths — they
turned their flair for meta into the world of the drama itself, which
is why it’s their most clever, sharpest drama to date.

Credits:dramabeans.com

~~~~~~~~~~

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