When A Man Loves - Episode 7 (A SqueeCap)

SHUKNOTE: This week there were elections in SK, so our actors has some of their pretty bits covered with tickertape and chyrons. But not to worry! They will be back in fully beauty and villainy next week! 
JONOTE: Either they have more elections in that country than any other, or I somehow only ever choose to watch dramas that air during election periods.
KAKANOTE (what? kakanote??): The gifs are gravely affected by it. Elections during gif-fest-dramas should be forbidden. Nonetheless ... I made tons of gifs. What else...

***

Shuk: So we have the stage set; Seon-joo smirking on the couch, Tae-sang aiming those lovely lovely lashes at Mi-do’s neck, where the couple ring is hanging by a chain around her neck, before his face lights up and he lets go of his pent-up breath.
JoAnne: Meanwhile Delusional Girl has this smirk on her face that I swear to GOD I want to climb right into that tv and slap her into next week. Plus she’s WRONG WRONG WRONG and I can’t wait until that blows up on her.
kakashi: As the giffer, I must say that every episode of this drama starts with scenes that don't make for good gifs. Therefore --- I give you this: 

Shuk: The moment is broken when Manager Lee arrives, looking natty in his linen suit, to talk to Tae-sang. Seon-jo uses the opportunity to arrange herself on his desk for maximum visual impact (gagging noises).
JoAnne: In stereo. Note to Oppa: Have someone disinfect that when they clean tonight. The couch, too.
kakashi: #WhenIJustIgnoreHer

Shuk: Mi-do turns to leave, but Jae-hee detains her, and Seon-joo gets in some digs on how well she matches Tae-sang, as well as talking about his heartbroken scene at the chapel in Guam. Everyone is uncomfortable, and her petty revenge finished, she sits back down to gloat.
JoAnne: I seriously wonder about her sanity. And where are Oppa’s BALLS, by the way? Why does he let her talk that way? (I volunteer for the search party, by the way.)
kakashi: #WhenAWomanBlushesALittleUponReadingThis

Shuk: The three left discuss the CCTV that shows Mi-do getting manhandled by Yong-gap’s thugs, as well as footage of our resident hero defending her honor. Jae-hee mentions how cool the President looked beating up the baddies, and a blushing Tae-sang changes the subject. When the two younger ones leave, Tae-sang tells Seon-jo not to seek out Yong-gap anymore. She counters by telling to remove the couple ring.
JoAnne: Hahahaha just joking! NOT. Oppa. OPPA. SAY SOMETHING

Shuk: Ominous latin chanting starts playing in my head as Seon-joo goes to Cartier and gets the same ring as Mi-do. My Creepy-o-meter pegs as she tells the manager she was replacing the one her boyfriend gave her.
JoAnne: This reminds me of something. Hopefully I will remember before we’re done squeeing. But was I the only person who wondered how you could buy just ONE couple ring? Don’t they come in pairs?
kakashi: #WhenKDramaSeldomMakesSense - and #WhenIContinueToIgnoreHer

Shuk: Team Han looks over the CCTV footage and everyone agrees to use it to quell the media problems. After the meeting breaks up, Jae-hee sidles up to Mi-do for a chat. And she, inadvertently spills the beans about his brother (the thugs were there for an apology for the behavior of President’s right-hand man, who just got out of prison for murder).
JoAnne: I felt bad for Chubs. He should stop talking to her, immediately.

Shuk: Jae-hee heads up to the standard KDrama Top Deck of Rumination to look out over the city while he puts together all the pieces of his hyung’s puzzle. His reverie is broken by Tae-sang, who comments that it’s his thinking spot as well. Jae-hee finally asks the big questions – what really happened seven years ago. Tae-sang comes clean, and tells him a short version of the situation.
JoAnne: Chubs looks like he debated hatin’ Oppa there for a sec. Didn’t he? But the power of the lashes won him over to the side of goodness and light. Thank goodness, that drama trope almost landed in our laps! Close call - I don’t know about you, but I need my lap for Oppa.
kakashi: #WhenAWomanLovesTheseCityShots!

Shuk: Chang-hee and Dong-goo visit our Baseballing Baddy, now practicing his throws. Chang-hee tries to end the fuel by appealing to his human side but Yong-gap states he’s not human enough for that (as if we couldn’t tell by the hair). He incites Chang-hee to violence by admitting he hates Tae-sang for having loyal dogs at his beck and call, and Dong-goo has to again hold his buddy back.
JoAnne: You pusilanimous, peurile, pugnacious, pathetic, putrid pissant!!
kakashi: #WhenAWomanIsAlmostScaredToAdmitThatSheFindsPinkyKindaHawt ...

Shuk: Purple Pitcher wonders out loud how devastated Chang-hee’s little brother would be to know Chang-hee’s. So, his amber eyes filling with tears, Chang-hee kneels before the Ryu Hyun-jin wannabe, and asks him to leave Jae-hee along. Yong-gap agrees, but pings Chang-hee in the back with a baseball to keep him off balance.
JoAnne: You loud-mouthed, lying, lacking, lame-assed, low-down lightweight! Plus, Jae Hee knows.
kakashi: #WhenTheresADerpFace...AndAVeryFunnyScene. haha. I loled.  

Shuk: Our soulless Seoul temptress bumps into the chaebol biatch from the party / restaurant, and offers to have her meet eligible bachelors. She’s got some scheme in mind, you just know it.
JoAnne: I hate them. Do not show me their faces.

Here's a picture of two poodles eating ice cream instead. 
#WhenDogsShouldNotEatThat!!!

Shuk: At the office, Manager Lee snaps his fingers at Mi-do like she’s some kind of pet. She keeps walking, but tells him she’s going to the library.
JoAnne: Bet he follows her.
kakashi: He is weird. 

Shuk: In fact, she’s meeting Tae-sang outside, who is adorably waiting for her. He grins as he touches her ring, and asks her about dinner. She is uncomfortable at the idea of meeting Jae-hee as Tae-sang’s girlfriend, so they agree to keep it secret at work. Their stolen moment is disrupted by other employees, and Tae-sang gives her the universal “call-me” sign before leaning back and smiling at the sun, which is smiling back.
JoAnne: Oooh, it’s hot sneaking around at work. (Loses self in memories of 24-hour duty in a big empty building with dinner and ‘dessert’ provided by a particularly yummy boyfriend…) I mean, when Oppa kind of ran his finger along the edge of her collar to get the necklace out, did you feel it too?

Shuk: At the Lee apartment, a combination of homemade and store bought food awaits our bachelors, and Jae-hee gives his boss a brief tour of his room. Tae-sang sees the teddy bear, but Jae-hee covers that he took it from a secret someone.
JoAnne: Are we SURE we’re sure that Chang-hee chingu isn’t gay? I mean, he’s always angry - that’s got to be about something he’s repressing. For the record, I’d be cool with it if he were. In fact, I would MUCH rather watch Chang-hee and Mi-do fight it out for Oppa than Mi-do and Seon-joo. (Loses self in mem….NO.)
Shuk (to herself): Make note to ply JoAnne with liquor and have a recorder handy....
kakashi: #WhenAWomanIsImpressedByHisCooking

Shuk: Later that night, a slightly tipsy Tae-sang is at the bookstore, and Mi-do learns Jae-hee has an older brother. There’s some cheesy cuteness and hand-holding; he wants to know what she eats to be so pretty. She strokes his hair, and his Werewolf Boy face shows how much he’s affected by her.
JoAnne: ‘Some’ cheesy cuteness and hand-holding? That’s like saying Oppa‘s not that bad looking. You might just as well say that the leads in QIHM ‘kinda’ had chemistry, or that Dr. Jin was ‘sort of’ ridiculous.
kakashi: Why is he so red in the face? 

Shuk: He asks her to call him Oppa, she refuses and then he counters with Appa. I’m getting diabetes from the cuteness overload, especially when he steals a cheek kiss before stumbling out the door.
JoAnne: Oppa’s cheeks were PINK. He was giggling. She told him he was stuck at 17 - that actually happens to be true - and when he hemmed and hawwed and leaned in to ask with his hopeful voice for ‘Oppa‘ I LITERALLY SQUEED. We don‘t often talk about this, my friends: We say we squee, but really, for me at least, it‘s more a mental ‘state of squeeness‘ than actual presence of squee in my life. HOWEVER, this time, I actually, involuntarily, completely unexpectedly made that noise. And I may have wiggled in my chair a little bit, too. Because he HEARD ME. He knows he’s my Oppa, and that was a message. TO ME.
kakashi: #WhenASceneDeservesAMovieClip! 

Shuk: And I think, by the look on Seo Mi-do’s face, that his kiss doesn’t compare to Jae-hee’s. BOOOOOO!!!
JoAnne: That is SO not what I got from PissyFace’s reaction. We shall discuss on Twitter. But I am right, and you are wrong.

Shuk: Uncle Cabbage proves he’s a overacting loser when he gambles away the money he took from our ramyun ahjumma (should I start calling her Han Eomma?) and hits her up for free food and Tae-sang information.
JoAnne: You craven, cretinous, creepy, cadging, CRAP HEAP.
kakashi: Who is this guy? I should probably watch this with subs ...  He is too green, he doesn't get a gif.

Shuk: At the office, Jae-hee tracks down Mi-do, and pouts that he couldn’t find her at work yesterday. She counters that she actually met with her boyfriend, and if he wants, he can meet the guy in question. Jae-hee backs off. His invitation to lunch gets rejected, but he receives another offer from Seon-joo.
JoAnne: And here I begin to shake my head because all this secret keeping will not end well, and she WANTS Chubs to know. She is trying to push him away, she‘s not trying to play them both. GAH. How do I find myself DEFENDING her? This show is good.
kakashi: #WhenAManIsOverlyStalkyAllOfASudden  

Shuk: This lunch includes our vapid chaebol chick. Jae-hee immediately zeros on the matching couple ring on Seon-joo’s hand, but she states she bought it because it was pretty. Come on, Stanford, don’t overthink it. He sees Mi-do outside the café, but loses her in the crowd.
JoAnne: Miss Delusional notices that, don’t you think for a minute she didn’t. She’s got something brewing inside that evil little pea brain, I just know it.
kakashi: Oh yes. KDrama 101. 

Shuk: After lunch, Seon-joo stops by Han Eomma’s restaurant, but its closed. Some plainclothes police officers stop by as well. She is actually at an acupuncture center with our ramyun boy. He’s getting a treatment similar to one she once gave Tae-sang as a youngster.
JoAnne: LEAVE BRITTNEY ALONE. Wait, wrong drama. But still.

The Two Taes

Shuk: Seo Mi-do meets up with President Han at what is now their secret spot, and they make plans to do those standard Korean Mating Dance rituals: movies, amusement parks, cherry blossoms, etc. He strokes her hair but nervously jumps when he hears other voices, and they go off in different directions.
JoAnne: I don’t know about you but there’s only really one or two situations where a man was ever inclined to stroke my hair. This is not one of them.
kakashi: cute.

Shuk: They have a few goofy exchanges throughout the morning, until President Han’s mood is destroyed by the arrival of Uncle Cabbage. The exchange is chilly at best; Uncle promises to find his mom with some monetary assistance, and Nephew says no way. It becomes an argument loud enough to hear outside, and Greeny storms off, leaving Tae-sang to try and calm down.
JoAnne: There once was a man dressed in green. To see him was bad for my spleen. He bothered my Oppa at work, that jerk, and towards him, I’m not at all keen.
kakashi: Why is he green? And what's with the hair? Green hair, purple hair ... what's next? Blue hair, orange hair? Anyways, here is oppa, in white, and sad, against the window:

Shuk: Mi-do forces him to open a report folder that says: “Smile! Let’s go play!” and, with a touch of aeygo, he agrees, and signs his chop.
Enter the amusement park montage, food, funny hats, roller coasters, vomiting…
JoAnne: They totally had me right up until the vomiting. I even laughed at him passing out on the rollercoaster. I swear it was affectionate laughter, Oppa. I love how wussy you are about stuff like this. Mostly because I am, too.
kakashi:... and some weird blurring of ... something. Several times. And anyways ... 
#WhenAwomanIsOverwhelmedByTheManyCuteMomentsAndStoppedMakingGifsHalfwayThrough

Shuk: At the end of the date, Mi-do brings up the incident at the office to “Tee-tee”; but Tae-sang says it’s nothing.
JoAnne: I violently reject ‘Tee-Tee’.
kakashi: I don't. It's better than Hand Towel! 

Shuk: Dad is at home and horrified by the fight video, but both his wife and son defend President Han’s actions. Mom wants to go drinking, just when the couple pulls up. So it’s pojangmacha time!! Seo Eomma is three or seven sheets to the wind and little bro ends up piggybacking Mom to the bookstore. We have another close up by our OTP, and he again closes his eyes, expecting a cheek kiss, but she just leans in and asks if he was scared riding the rides at the amusement park.
JoAnne: Eomma wanted Han(dsome) to piggy back her. Can’t say I blame her! Season 2 of this is totally an appearance on Jerry Springer for Girls Whose Mothers Are Inappropriate With Their Sons In Law.
kakashi: #WhenAWomanJustSighsAnnoyedByHowChildishThisIs. Come on ... grown ups! 

Shuk: At his place, Tae-sang looks at the ceramic dolls Mi-do and he made that day, and thoughtfully taps the “DO” and “MI” keys on the piano, until Uncle Cabbage’s words come back.
JoAnne: Those dolls are cute. But why don’t they color in the back?
kakashi: The dolls are cute? Wow, oppa is cute!!! So ... he looks particularly good in white in yellow light (takes notes)

Shuk: Time for more bad stuff. Gu Yong-gap is jogging in full baseball regalia, and we see a flashback. He had a lunch conference with a group of businessmen, twisting the incident at Golden Tree back to his advantage.
JoAnne: And no one in the room even giggles at his hair. WHY does no one in this show ever mention this guy’s hair? There has to be a reason for purple. There has to be a reason for the headband. I kind of expected them to pan down the length of his legs and show us he was wearing stilettos with the baseball gear. Honestly, why have a thing in the show and not USE it?!
kakashi: Hawt. 

 

Shuk: Seo Mi-do choses fashion over safety when she loses one of her high-heeled pumps at the construction site (and I look at my sensible shoes and wonder). We have a Cinderella moment when Jae-hee gallantly retrieves the errant footwear and reinstalls it to its proper place. He also gets a flash of the ring before Mi-do tucks it back under her blouse.
JoAnne: Stop looking at her boobs, Chubs.
kakashi: Seriously. A woman who wears shoes like this to a place like that is disqualified. 

I know which one I would chose.

Shuk: Jae-hee is thinking with the wrong brain when he purchases a set of shoes for Mi-do and brings them to work. At the office, Jae-hee sees his brother enter the elevator, and the other employees, Mi-do included, talk about their fears of working with a convicted felon.
JoAnne: Chubs, if you start slighting your lovely brother for this girl, I will hurt you. Plus, dude - everyone knows if you buy someone shoes they will use them to walk away from you! Wait, that’s a good thing. Buy more shoes.

Shuk: That night, Tee-Tee and Mi-do are enjoying an outside concert. Enter another trope as Tae-sang wraps his jacket around her. She, unfortunately, finds his list of “50 Ways To Be A Gentleman”. She teases him but promises to circle the ones she likes. They perform a # 42 backhug, which gets a #1 in my book!
JoAnne: No calling him Tee-Tee. I did like her when she said to only do the things she circles. I love that she appreciates his efforts and sees them for the innocent, honest expression of his feelings. And it’s kinda hot that she’s wearing the pants so far.
kakashi: Cute. Well, him, not her. I don't like her. 

Shuk: After the concert they set up a miniature Christmas scene at the bookstore, with a small tree, and lights draped across the books. They share a single glass of wine, and Mi-do rests her head against his shoulder as he reads out loud. Later, she wakes up, still against him, when Tae-sang stops talking. He asks her to close her eyes, and then…..kiss!
JoAnne: Your lips puckered just like mine did, admit it.
Shuk: [shifty eyes]
kakashi: Hey, I'm so pleased SSH is good in this. Really. #WhenAWomanIsProudofOppa! 

Shuk: And Jae-hee, with the shoe bag, gets an eyeful from outside the bookstore.
JoAnne: FINALLY.
kakashi: When will somebody die? I'm waiting. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Shuk: I’m finding the recent dynamics a bit puzzling regarding our male leads. Clearly, Mi-do is showing her preference for Tae-sang, even spelling it right out to Jae-hee. He was willing to cut all ties with her before working for the company, but, now, I’m getting an uncomfortable feeling that he is starting on a power trip of some time. The finger-snap really bothered me; it’s almost like he expects her to fall in line with him now that he is her boss, and it is this fall towards the Dark Side that seems a little jarring to me. Still, this episode was just so chock full of good cheesy moments between our main couple, it gives me the feeling a big, sticky cinnamon bun: warm, very sweet, and definitely bad for you.
JoAnne: I think the fingersnap thing was playful - he’s ‘acting the part’ when clearly it’s really a reminder to both of them that he and she have a relationship set apart from what the others see, and he can ‘pretend’ to be just her boss in a sly way of bringing the two of them closer with the shared secret. And you didn’t mention her wink at Oppa on the stairs and him responding with the heart thump!
Shuk: I fully expect a gif from our wonderful chingu on just that scene!
kakashi: Here you go, chingu!