Golden Era of Daughters In Law - Episode 1 (KimJiCap)

 
OMG I'm doing it ... I'm really doing it! In my post-GoM craze/sadness, I have decided to take on a major recapping project ... the 2007/2008 drama Golden Age of Daughters-in-Law/ 며느리 전성시대! It has 54 episodes (goodnessgracious!), and was a ratings' hit back in the days. It is hated by many and thus, was never recapped (kakashi The Brave is going to change that). It is hard to get your hands on, but I can tell you where to get it if you are interested (although, it is a hard-subbed version). And ... there is Kim Ji-hoon. So, in a nutshell, this is like Goddess of Marriage, just longer and much funnier. I hope so, at least!!!

But let me introduce you to the cast, before we get started (copy & pasted from here).

Kim Ji-hoon (김지훈) as Lee Boksu (이복수): The only son among four sisters, Boksu is the apple of his mother's eye. He is the "jang-son" of his family - the oldest son of the oldest son who is expected to carry on his family's legacy, and he feels the weight of that responsibility on his shoulders. Although he is handsome and graduated from the prestigious Seoul National University, he does not hail from a fancy background, as his family owns a pig's feet ("jok-bal") restaurant.

Lee Soo-kyung (이수경) as Cho Mijin (조미진): Mijin has such a silly and cute personality that her husband's nickname for her is Dooly. But she is also very ambitious and capable at her job at SOPY Fashion, a clothing design company. She grew up in an affluent family. She meets Boksu at work, and marries him. Although very independent and modern, she abides by tradition and moves in with his family to live behind the pig's feet restaurant, to the dismay of her mother.

Lee Pil-mo (이필모) as Cho Inwoo (조인우): Mijin's older brother. Studied at NYU Stern School of Business, but dropped out and returned to Korea to become a filmmaker. Currently works as a production assistant for a serial drama.

Seo Young-hee (서영희) as Lee Boknam (이복남): Boksu's younger sister. All her life, she felt overshadowed by her brother. Unlike her new sister-in-law Mijin, she doesn't care about her appearance, frequently dressing slovenly, and always wearing her owl-like glasses. Her mother is proud of her, but her grandmother doesn't think any man will marry her. She currently works as a writer for a serial drama where she meets Inwoo.

Extended Cast: The Lee Family

Kim Eul-Dong (김을동) as Oh Hyangsim (오향심): Mother of Soogil and Myunghee and Grandmother of Boksu and Boknam. As the matriarch, she handles her family with an iron fist, and everyone lives in fear of her. Although she is a scary mother-in-law, she is wise. Holds the secret recipe for the pig's feet dish that she intends to pass down to her children.

Park In-Hwan (박인환) as Lee Soogil (이수길): Father of Boksu and Boknam. Works at the pig's feet restaurant. Lives in fear of his mother Hyangsim, who he never disobeys. Appears easygoing, but can also have an explosive temper like his mother.

Yoon Yeo-jeong (윤여정) as Suh Misoon (서미순): Served her family and raised her children like a good, traditional daughter-in-law for decades. Very devoted to her son, Boksu. When Mijin becomes her daughter-in-law, she looks forward to ordering Mijin around like Hyangsim ordered her around, but things do not go her way.


Extended Cast: The Cho Family

Kim Bo-yeon (김보연) as Yoo Inkyung (유인경): Stylish and flamboyant mother of Mijin and Inwoo. Frequently dresses in mini-skirts and heels, she is a popular "karaoke therapist" for housewives. She is dismayed when her daughter marries into a common family like Boksu's, and constantly finds them not up to her standard of elegance and luxury. She is also very disappointed by her son for dropping out of business school.

Lee Young-ha (이영하) as Cho Minsik (조민식): Easygoing and good-humored husband of Inkyung. Quit his corporate job to fulfill his dream of opening a French restaurant. Does not have a problem with his in-laws like his wife does.

Extended Cast: The Ko Family

Kim Hye-Ok (김혜옥) as Lee Myunghee (이명희): Daughter of Hyangsim and sister of Soogil. Married into a rich, prestigious family, and uses her status and wealth to get what she wants. Despite her wealth, she takes great pride in how well she serves her husband with meticulous housework and cooking skills. Very disapproving of pretty much everyone. Probably the most abusive mother-in-law in the series and an all-around cold-hearted bitch.
Yoon Joo-sang (윤주상) as Ko Yeonjoong (고연중): Husband of Myunghee, and father of Joonmyung. An accomplished doctor and the director of a hospital. Although he has a much more easygoing personality than his wife, and loves to laugh, he has somewhat neglected his family over the years due to his focus on his career.
Jang Hyun-Sung (장현성) as Ko Joonmyung (고준명): An only child, he is also a doctor who works at his father's hospital. Fell deeply in love with Soyoung, who was a nurse, and married her against his mother's wishes. Soyoung left him after a year of marriage because she couldn't take her mother-in-law's abuse. Then Joonmyung marries Soohyun. Although he tries to be a good husband to his second wife, he remains very resentful towards his mother.
Song Sun-Mi (송선미) as Cha Soohyun (차수현): Joonmyung's second wife, and the daughter of a former university chancellor. Soohyun is the head designer of SOPY Fashion, where Boksu and Mijin also work. Soohyun's mother died of illness a few years ago and Joonmyung was her doctor. Her husband praises her for having a calm and patient personality. But although Soohyun loves her husband, she comes to realize that his heart is somewhere else.

Other Characters

Lee Jong-won (이종원) as Kim Giha (김기하): A talented photographer who Soohyun hires to work for SOPY Fashion. He has a gruff, sarcastic manner.

Yeo Woon-kye (여운계) as Suh Ongsim (서옹심): Owns a neighboring restaurant to the Lee family, and loves to gossip. Very curious about the going-ons of her neighbors.

Kim Mi-Kyung (김미경) as Oh Sangsook (오상숙): Employee of SOPY Fashion, and Mijin's superior.

Lee Ha (이하) as Noh Seungyoo (노승유): Employee of SOPY Fashion. Recommends that Soohyun hire Giha, his friend.

Sung Eun (성은) as Huh Gina (허지나): A designer at SOPY Fashion who becomes interested in Boksu because of his good looks and high position in the company, but drops him quickly after discovering that he is the scion of a pig's feet restaurant. Even though she rejected Boksu, she continues to be jealous when Mijin finds happiness with him.
Got it? Ready? Go!

Episode 1

(For those of you not familiar with the concept of KimJiCap: KimJiCaps focus mainly on Kim Ji-hoon and Kim Ji-hoon related scenes - the rest is dealt with rather quickly. )

It all starts with a black piglet. Grandmother chases it through the streets with a stick, using foul language. She corners it right in front of her own restaurant ... but before she can catch it, the big restaurant sign over the door, bearing her stern face, falls on her. Haha, but it's just a dream! Her screams wake her son (Boksu's father), who runs to rescue his mother and steps on his wife in the process. After calming Grandmother down, he looks things up in a big dream encyclopedia and concludes that it wasn't such a bad dream: pigs signify wealth and fame. But grandmother thinks it's a sign that her time is up. It seems she dreams of pigs often, and she always thinks she is going to die. She shouts for her daughter-in-law and her kids, who are not there ...

... and Kim Ji-hoon appears! He is jogging. Ah, he is such a good runner. I cannot repeat this enough. He runs swiftly, jumps lightly, and swivels his well-proportioned arms sexily.
But back to the Grandmother. She is an evil dragon and gives Boku's mother a hard time. Her husband (Grandmother's son) supports his mother in all this. It seems to be a longstanding habit. How lucky that I have seen GoM. It will be easier for me to bear the abuse of the daughters-in-law ... I think.

When hottie gets back from his run, his father tells him to go to work quickly - grandmother isn't feeling too well. Boksu doesn't like to hear it.
Now fully dressed in his business attire (not a lawyer or prosecutor this time, though!) he steps out of the house and sees his mother, who is sitting outside in the alley, being sad. Boksu is angry that his mother is having a hard time because of grandmother - he wants her to change her life before she turns 60. He even threatens to leave home if she doesn't change something about her situation. OMG ... his mother is carrying his bag for him! I am not sure whether that's cute or scary.
Boksu works at Sopy fashion. Is that inspired from soapy or from soppy? He is annoyed/saddened/whatever by what just happened. (Red! I see red!)
He isn't given much time to think about things, because the greedy vixen approaches! She calls him (even though her desk is about 3 feet from his) and offers to bring him coffee. He slams the phone down faster than you and I can say Kim Ji-hoon. And you know why? Because he has a girlfriend!
She is also working at Soapy, but ... well... let's just say she has an explosive temper. She gets into a big (physical!) fight with two difficult (and curved) customers at the department store they sell their clothes to ("Kimbap doesn't just burst ... it does so because it is too fat!"). In horror, her colleague calls Boksu. It doesn't seem to be the first time she's causing a ruckus.
He gets to the scene of trouble and manages to drag his girlfriend Mijin out. He drives to the Han river and is very angry with her. She is talking non-stop about the wrongs the awful customers did - until he turns around and starts lecturing her. They are customers - and Elders at that. She goes into another rage about how Koreans always use their age when it is convenient and how these people haven't done anything but eat and get old, at which point Boksu interrupts her (he is yelling! Almost like Tae-wook! Ah, my beloved Tae-wook ...) and tells her how much he hates ill-mannered women. That shuts her up.
They go and have a meal together ... OMG they're cute! I think we're going to have fun together in the next 53 episodes ... His anger seems to have disappeared and she is so smitten with him, I melt. She tells him that he is sexy (oh yes! He goddamn is!) ... "you're so sexy eating soup and eating the rice dishes - you're even sexy sitting down" ... hahaha. Yes, we're going to have fun, this drama and I.
She wants to go on a date with him that night and he proposes a movie ... she seems to have hoped for something different though. And then she asks: "You love me, right? Right? Right?". But he says: "How can I love a woman who always fights?" but he smirks at it. Yes, he is in love with this weird woman. Hey, I can't blame him. Even I find her endearing.
Later, Boksu is at the department store, apologizing on his company's behalf for Dooly. Who is ... longingly staring at rings. Wedding rings. Unfortunately, the two round Kimbap-customers appear at the exact same time and start another fight. They push poor Dooly to the ground, right as Boksu appears! He stands there and watches as his girlfriend starts running for her target ... the second fight is on! 

The Rest: 

Dooly's mother is energetic and quite funny, but seems to be having a mid-life crisis of sorts. She also wants to set up her daughter with a former tutor of hers - and is looking for her son. She and her drama-husband are drama husband and wife in Love & Marriage as well (another Kim Ji-hoon drama)

Dooly's brother has run away from home (he is currently living in a Jjimjilbang), wanting to be a filmmaker. There are hijinks coming with Boksu's sister Boknam - who also isn't home as expected (because she has writer's block), but at the beach. She is wearing large, hideous glasses and clothes. And she is making funny-funny faces. I wish she wouldn't. 

The biggest biatch in da house: Boksu's aunt. 

The most heartbroken man in da house: Baksu's cousin. Nice change to see this actor NOT playing a villain. He is pining after his ex-wife, a nurse. And he works at the same hospital as his father (yeah ... who wouldn't want that). And he doesn't love his current wife, but we don't know that yet. 

The most annoying character in da house: The neighbor-ahjumma who is supposed to be nosy. Well, she is, but she is also annoying. So annoying I wish the restaurant sign fell on her.  

Final Comments

I don't always do well with Korean humor, but this show and I click. Maybe it's the slightly different set-up (he is from a poor background, she is from a rich background) - and it definitely is the rather unusual heroine. She is loud, with a foul temper, but very genuine and not at all niminy-piminy. Can't wait for her to clash with grandmother. This will be epic.