This is the going to be the shortest recap madcap ever. One word.
Melodrama.
Seriously, let’s wait for the subs. Maybe we can salvage something from this week’s episodes after we watch the subs.
See you later. You can post your rants and raves for this episode here.
Melodrama. Word. @packmule3—Good advice to wait for subs because the OTP separation is depressing. I’m jonesing for my oxytocin (love hormone) burst and Show isn’t delivering!😝
I prefer my fluffy rom-coms and melodramas to stay separate. I signed up for a light and frothy romance and Fluttering Alert delivered with a delightful OTP pairing who make me smile until my face hurts. I forgave all the production sins because I’m in love with Yoo-Jung and Woo-Hyun. But this melodramatic part is killing me.** Hopefully, Show will cap it at three episodes of OTP separation and give us the satisfaction of watching the OTP and their allies kick ass together.
**Drama writers must have this down to a science. What is the algorithm to manipulate the audience emotions? How do you balance having a little bit of sweet angst before you go off the rails?
After watching Asian dramas for a little over a year now, I’ve come to understand something about my own taste as it relates to melodrama.
I didn’t start watching pure melodramas until recently because I just didn’t have the emotional stamina to watch them live. I have only two pure melos under my belt, watched with ample use of the fast forward button. This year’s Money Flower (24 eps) drew its power from a smexy central character and his complex relationships. The 2014 I Have A Lover felt like a 50-episode fan service for viewers excited to see the OTP reunite ten years after their last rom-com. (I actually skipped the firsts 10 episodes and don’t feel I missed anything.)
I finally see the delicious appeal of revenge, thwarted desire and I-can’t-quit-you love but it pays to be selective. I’m live watching Fate and Furies, which started last Saturday. It stars Lee Min-Jung and Joo Sang-Took, who were terrific together in Cunning Single Lady (2014). This is full-on melo; the OTP is hungry, the second lead female is nasty and I’ve already lost count of the slaps. Three? Four? Might be time to start a GIF collection as I watch.
Four slaps already ? Nononononono. I don’t want to watch that.
Yes, I agree drama writers have got this down pat. The arm-tugging in this episode (and last episode, too) was a perfect example. The writer did that scene to crank up:
a. sympathy for the suffering of our poor heroine YJ
b. antipathy for the violent, self-entitled, delusional Wannabe
c. exasperation with WooHyun. Okay. I saw that he told off Wannabe when she clung to him…but could he be a little less gentlemanly and shove her?
d. outrage and indignation at BFF’s interference. What right did he have to punch WH and grab the YJ? Ugh. The caveman tactic was so over-the-top.
The whole scene left me frustrated. Will somebody just call time-out and rewind their actions? lol.
And then those missed calls? Ugh! She saw his missed call and returned his call. It wouldn’t have hurt her to follow up with a text, “Hey, whassup? Sorry to miss your call earlier.” Same with him. Text her back after seeing that she returned his call. It wouldn’t hurt him too to follow up and text her, “Hey, I’m sorry for what happened earlier at the shop. Are you okay?”
I’m trying to wrack my brains to understand the point of the writer for delaying their communication. Of course, she/he can just be trying to run out the clock.
This love triangle…no! this love parallelogram exasperates us all.
😂😂😂😂
Please check for me whether WW looked at BFF and that’s when she clung to WH like a koala 🙄😏
It’s like they talked beforehand! 🤔
Thanks for your posts @packmule3. Yup it was a melodrama!! 😂 I was hoping episode 12 would be the end of gloom so I tried to watch it raw even though I don’t understand what they are saying… but it seemed like we will have to wait till the end of episode 13!
I haven’t watched episodes 9 to 11 with subs because of the melancholy mood. I am hoping to watch them as a set so I can appreciate those gloomy scenes better. I was reading your recaps and insights which helped me appreciate episode 10. Couldn’t make out what episode 11 is about.
I thought there were two points which they could have reconciled… When YJ was ill, someone would call WH to take a look at her and they would hug, kiss and make up! It didn’t happen! 🙄.. Then the scene which they were at the hospital, as he was leaving and she stopped him saying she was hoping he would be there, Hugged and made up! Didn’t happen too!😢
I thought this episode is about who would let their pride down and reach out to the other to clear the misunderstanding. It happens when you misunderstood someone and you don’t know how to clear up the mess then the misunderstanding just deepens… I guess that is how relationships become strained like YJ and her dad. Like WH and his stepbrother. Like WH and his stepmother. Sometimes we think by giving the other party time and space to think through issues will help clear the misunderstanding but what the other party needed was you to explain yourself and give the other party an opportunity to vent their frustrations and everything is well.
Yup I will wait for the subs and your insights to appreciate episodes 11 and 12…
Oooohhh you’re good! 😘Let me check that.
It isn’t far-fetched at all bec they spoke to each other on the phone. Who knew what plan they hatched up! It was a win-win for them!
😘
😘
Yes! Even if BFF told Unnie about WW calling him to make himself look innocent, they would’ve planned it already during that call. It’s perfect because he was avoiding YJ then all of a sudden he was there. What the? And why punch WH? You, you…….. bad guy! 😡
WH and YJ could have talked already while they were both thinking of each other while in their bedroom. Waste of brooding and feeling sad.
I thought usually it’s all happy till episode 12-14 where all hell breaks loose but not in this drama. They better have all good stuff for the last 2 episodes. Just sayin! 😃🤞🏻
I haven’t checked the scene. I couldn’t find a site showing Ep 12. 😂
And you know what else?
When Unnie was stabbed, I wondered again if BFF was under that mask. He was the right height. The man was taller than Unnie, and she’s tall even without heels.
He would also have access to her schedule; how did he know when she was arriving and where she’d park?
And he had motive, too. With Unnie incapacitated and Donsaeng in NY, YH would rely on him again. Too bad, YH didn’t read that management book. 😂
My only problem with BFF as suspect was the sideburns. The masked man’s sideburns were trimmed but BFF has long hair. 😂
Okay, I’ve worked through most of my rage. My hope is that Writer-nim has set us up to rail against the injustices our gentle OTP because they’re going to astound us by transcending their usual behavior patterns. Woo-Hyun will learn to stop denying that “everything’s okay” and learn how to ask for help. Yoo-Jung has already noted that she’s too old to play the naif. It’s time to start acting like a grown-up and take agency in her own career and love life. It’s the only way her circle will stop infantilizing her.
How did Fluttering Alert end up becoming such a stabby show? Half their production budget went into IV bags.
Looking at the previews for next week, Unnie makes a beautiful patient. Who the heck looks prettier in the hospital? Actress Han Go Eun is crazy gorgeous.
I agree with @Anne Tan’s assessment about the OTP’s missed opportunities and misplaced pride. Number one rule of dramaland: Giving people their “space” only leads to festering feelings, not enlightenment. As @packmule3 noted, it doesn’t make sense that the OTP just doesn’t text each other. Jebus—they did it before! Drama logic is killing me. I’m dead and not in a good way.
For the sake of Yoo-Jung’s memories, I’ve been resisting @agdr03’s conspiracy theories about BFF (Sung Hoon). It makes me queasy to think he’d be involved in the stabbings or in cahoots with Krazy Kang Wannabe Wife. I’ve been sticking my fingers in ears chanting “lalalalalalalalalalalalala!” Why would he hurt the people he professes to love? Then again, looking at the real world, it happens all too often. Plus, he grabs her wrist when he pulls her away. In the past, that move’s been enough to make me drop a show. Since he’s a second-lead, I’ll treat it as a character flaw.
Plus, @agdr03’s eagle eyes definitely caught something fishy when BFF strode down the hallway. At around 2:39, Kang scuttles over to koala Woo-Hyun the moment she catches sight of Sang Hoon. (Still, how would she have known that WH would be there? Wasn’t in Little Brother who told him where his sister was?) Aaaargh! 😤
Never underestimate a determined waif, even one as brittle as Kang Hye-Joo. I don’t know how she’d do in a street fight, but she was surprisingly strong when grasping on to uri Yoo-Jung or pulling her out of the way to tend to Woo-Hyun on the floor. Am I the only one thinking uncomfortable thoughts about her?🤯
Last rant: It drives me nuts when people just stand around with their maws open after someone’s committed an act of violence. I don’t understand Korean but I feel like Woo-Hyun’s language is too gentle towards Kang. 👿
WW is very thick! She got left behind at the bridal shop then got shown the door at WH’s clinic but she’s still going for it. So rude to just walk straight into WH’s office 😏 Unnie is right, she’s not normal! 😂
I wonder who bought the building where the clinic is? I’m guessing the stepmom. She’s doing what she did to WH again.
On the man who stabbed Unnie, could it be the stepbrother? I looked at his sideburns when WW was walking out some place and he was about to go in. It looks the same?
The set up could be done by stepmother but does it make sense for him to actually do it? I’m not sure.