Asian Addicts Anonymous

After episode one, which I did like, episode two seemed a bit disappointing. The acting seems a bit off. A lot of the characters surrounding the main cast can’t seem to act their way out of a paper bag, especially Michael’s English-speaking assistant. What is it about Asian dramas employing English speaking actors who can’t act worth a darn (i.e. you can painfully tell they are acting)? It tends to help ruin what could otherwise be a good show and a stellar cast.

I do like Song Il Gook’s portrayal of Michael, but have to say he is a poser. As in this man strikes a pose so often it’s pathetic. In episode two, we get to see him posing a lot while practicing archery. Oh, and let’s not forget his posing when he is trying to attract the daughter of his next revenge target. It gets old. It’s like one of the campy children/teenage shows where they do this often (in the US at least). Another problem I am having as of now is how does Michael portray his father exactly? In the first episode, it was a hologram and they were working with a person they had drugged, in this episode, a very solid-looking man shows up who is really Michael in disguise. How are we supposed to believe that the svelte Michael is really portraying his more solid father? It doesn’t make sense.

Anywho, enough complaining.

In this episode, Jin Bo Bae finds out the true identity of her sunbae Hwang Woo Hyun. She had no idea that he was part of CIS until he warns her away from investigating the oil magnate’s death any further. He drops her off at her work, making her mad that he wasn’t going to stay and talk to her as they had not seen each other for awhile. But low and behold he comes back and takes her for lunch where she proceeds to get drunk and question him while also making him drink (one of the funnier scenes in this episode, it was cute as she imitated a buzzer when he answered a question right or wrong and then made him drink).

Their relationship is an interesting one. It appears that Woo Hyun likes Bo Bae and vice versa. When he takes her home (drunk of course), he tells her that she shows a really cute side when she is drunk. She says she can’t be drunk around him often and then says she’ll go the rest of the way alone. He walks back to the car, but she turns around and says (to herself) he is too cold. And of course, after she turns around again, he turns around and stares after her with a bit of a longing look. So frustrating. Since these two probably will never admit their feelings and move forward, we can all guess what happens to their mutual crushes.

Back to Michael and his cronies.

They prepare for the funeral of the oil magnate as they are looking for their next target, Jang Yong. Talking about not letting the dead rest in peace, Michael shows up in disguise as his father and causes an uproar at the funeral, getting in a fight with Jang Yong’s men. Jin Bo Bae is at the funeral as well, but is standing around outside taking pictures as she is not allowed in. She is surprised to see Vivian Castle came to Korea from Hawaii to attend the funeral. She is also surprised to see Michael, the man who stranded her on a reef in Hawaii when she was getting too close to the target. She yells at him and he takes off on his motorcycle. Ticked off, Bo Bae takes after him in her car.

For whatever reason, Michael leads her on a cat and mouse chase. Why, who knows? When he did manage to shake her, he caught her attention again by whistling at her so she could give chase yet again, finally causing her to get into a minor accident across the street from Castle Group’s office building. And Jin Bo Bae being Jin Bo Bae, she puts two and two together and goes to seek out Vivian who was upset that the nosy reporter showed up on her doorstep. Before Bo Bae gets kicked out of the building, she manages to snag an invitation to a party that Castle Group was holding that evening.

Vivian storms furiously to Michael, telling him that they should take care of that reporter before she continues to dig. Michael, for whatever reason, tells Vivian again to let her be. Ah, jealous much? Vivian obviously doesn’t like Jin Bo Bae for attracting Michael’s attention and leniency because she is in love (or lust) with him herself. If he doesn’t realize it, he would have to be a complete idiot, but then again, the guys (and sometimes girls) never seem to realize when a certain person is in love with them. It get’s rather old fast.

Bo Bae turns up at Michael’s party, only to be turned away at the door because the invitation expressed a strict dress code – dresses and tuxes – and she came in her everyday clothes. Here she bumps into Woo Hyun (looking pretty spiffy in his tux) who has been invited because besides being a CIS agent, he is also an heir to a wealthy family. He tells Bo Bae that they’ll go in together, but she states they won’t let her in. So he tells her to wait there. When she goes to protest, he puts his foot down and tells her again. Michael sees all this and whispers something to the man at the door. I think its pretty obvious what Michael’s planning and wouldn’t you know, I was right. The man at the door got Bo Bae set up in one of Vivian’s dresses so she could attend the party.

Michael is introduced to Jang Yong and family. Michael has decided that he will take on the whole family for his revenge plot and had already started his scheme by getting close to the daughter Jang Mi. Vivian is set to attract the bumbling son, Jang Ho (who is really an idiot). During the introduction, Woo Hyun comes up. Apparently he is close to the Jang family through his own family connections. Both Vivian and Michael know that Woo Hyun is the CIS agent hunting for Peter Pan (Michael’s alias). Michael also knows that Bo Bae and Woo Hyun know each other (having seen them talking animatedly before the party). Ties and relationships are starting to cross and tangle creating a rather large web.

Bo Bae enters the party. Vivian is furious, especially seeing Bo Bae wearing her dress. Michael tells Vivian that she is the most beautiful in the room and she shouldn’t worry or be angry. Vivian answers “of course,” but you know she is not appeased. Especially when Michael opens the dance with Bo Bae. (Another funny moment as he swings her around the dance floor like crazy). Woo Hyun doesn’t like this at all. (We all know he likes Bo Bae and he is already suspicious of Michael.) Bo Bae questions Michael who answers a few and then tells her to shut up. When the dance ends, Woo Hyun offers his arm up to Bo Bae, to be cut off by Michael. To make matters worse, Bo Bae takes Michael’s arm for the next dance leaving a somewhat stunned/hurt Woo Hyun.

Thus ends episode two. The questions just keep piling up with no answers in sight right now. The major question left for me this episode is just what is Michael doing with Bo Bae? Why is he leading he around and playing with her almost as if she was an amusing toy? What connection does Woo Hyun (his family, not himself as he was a child then) have to the people who murdered Michael’s parents?

Even though I wasn’t too happy with this episode, I give props to HaruHaru for getting the subtitles for 2 and 3 done for a double release. They have excellent English subtitles.