Asian Addicts Anonymous

Aye de mi. I guess if daily dramas have any problems, it is like the majority of problems found in kdramas, compounded indefinitely. Talk about all the near misses and tangles. It’s getting crazy! Plus, even without knowing the ending of this series, I do find it all a little predictable. The redundancy and the predictability can be a mood killer and all the near misses are annoying, but I still love this show. Now why is that, I wonder? I guess despite all of the drawbacks, I can’t help but become involved in the main Lee and Laker families’ lives. I do kind of wish that instead of being 159 or whatever episodes, that this was just a 20-50 episode drama [which if you did put the half hour episodes together it’d be a little over 50 hour-long ones].

So this episode shows how Saewa is progressing in her relationship with Do Jin and his family. She hits a rocky patch, but comes out on top oddly enough. Meanwhile, Donghae is desperately running around looking for Lee Kang Jae whom he believes to be his father and Bongi does her best to help Donghae while also preparing for her cooking tests. Oh, and we have Sae Young and Tae Hoon’s secret finally exposed.

So we start back up with the bathroom scene. I think Donghae is in too much shock to have finally managed to track down Kang Jae that he doesn’t immediately act after Kang Jae takes care of his business. Is Kang Jae really his dad? Well, some of the things that Kang Jae says makes Donghae suspect it is highly possible [like when he talked about exporting kimchi to New York where Anna lived]. I still don’t think that’s the case as I highly doubt Kang Jae ever went abroad, and since Tae Hoon is older than Donghae [30 vs. 27], I highly doubt that Kang Jae would have cheated on Sun OK. He just isn’t that kind of person. Kang Jae leaves the bathroom and Donghae chases after him, only to crash into a man on a bicycle. While he is helping the man pick up the fallen potatoes, Kang Jae meets up with Bongi and leaves. At this time, leaving Anna along in the market, Donghae jumps in an overly conveniently arrived taxi and has it follow Kang Jae’s truck.

While Donghae is running after his long, lost father, Saewa is in a tight situation when Hye Sook, Do Jin, and Jun come out of the office in time to hear the maid telling Saewa that she’d been there before. Saewa quickly laughs it off as the woman recognizing her from TV. Hye Sook and Do Jin seem to accept this, but Jun’s suspicions are starting to arise, especially after the mad mumbles under her breath that she was sure Saewa was the one who brought the wine on the day Hye Sook and Jun were in Jeju. She even mentions how Saewa asked if Do Jin was there son. The four sit down to dinner and Hye Sook comments about how nice it is to have an extra person at the table while Jun remains tightlipped. When Hye Sook mentions the coffee incident, Jun remembers the other announcer asking why Saewa called so suddenly as she accidentally spilt coffee on someone. Wow. That Jun is one observant cookie. Saewa then starts talking about becoming a part of the family and Jun just kind of snaps at that. Isn’t Saewa rushing things too much? When Jun begins grilling Saewa about how she didn’t know who his wife was, Do Jin snaps and drags Saewa out of the situation.

Kang Jae wonders if his daughter is working too hard. Besides spending all her extra time studying and practicing for the test, she’s working days and nights at the hotel. Bongi tells him not to worry as she is fine, besides she has the morning off tomorrow. Meanwhile, Donghae is right behind the truck. He borrows a pen and takes down the license plate number on his hand. They manage to lose Kang Jae when pedestrians decide to cross the street against a light. You’d think people in Korea would know better as most people I know who’ve been to Korea say you take your life in your hands when you cross even with a light. Frustrated, Donghae jumps out of the taxi and runs after the truck. He gives up pretty soon as there is no way he can catch it. DUH!

Back at the market, Anna helps an old woman but a load of something on her head. When the old woman falls into a truck, Anna rushes over and puts her purse down on the truck to help right the woman. Wouldn’t you know that the truck takes off with the bag which contains all their extra money and passports? Looks like they can’t leave Korea any time soon even if they wanted to. Donghae arrives at that moment and Anna breaks the bad news. Donghae tells his mother not to worry as they will find the bag somehow. Donghae then pulls out his wallet. He doesn’t have a whole lot of money left. Anna then asks if he found James. Enter a big sigh.

Back at the Lee home, Sae Young tries to earn brownie points by throwing away “trash.” However, it wasn’t garbage, but the radish leaves that Sun Ok dried earlier for dinner. Kang Jae and Bongi arrive home and Sae Young immediately tells them her good deed. Then out comes Sun Ok who notices her leaves are gone. She then yells at Sae Young for trashing them – is this Sae Young’s revenge over what happened with the strollers? Poor Sae Young immediately denies this saying that she did not know it was food. Back in their room, Sae Young complains about Sun Ok to Tae Hoon and then asks about moving out. Tae Hoon vetoes this as there is no way he can ask his parents to support him in an apartment of his own when he failed the exams. At least he has some sense and a conscience. Sae Young doesn’t really too much. Song Yi overhears about the exam and Sae Young bribes her with ice cream and promises of doing homework as long as Song Yi doesn’t tells Sun Ok.

That night, Sool Nyeo goes on the prowl to meet her handsome policeman. She still believes Pil Jae was sent her way by her deceased husband. As it happens, Pil Jae is just leaving the station [angry at the attitudes of the detectives] as Sool Nyeo arrives. Despite the fact he doesn’t like her, the two end up going drinking together. They commiserate over work and children, and being widowed. I love how Sool Nyeo discourages him from doing everything he can for Song Yi. She’s been burned by both daughters and she encourages Pil Jae to live for himself as well. Good advice, too. Don’t neglect your children, but don’t necessarily sacrifice your own happiness for them either.

Do Jin takes Saewa home and apologizes for what happened earlier. When he turns to face her, Saewa is crying. Why is she crying? She puts on a sob story about how Jun must think she isn’t good enough for Do Jin. Oh, seriously. We all know that isn’t the case. Saewa says she knows she doesn’t have the best background, but she didn’t think Jun would be as harsh as he was. Waaa, waa. Do Jin hugs her and tells her not to worry. After he leaves, Saewa quickly gets in her car and almost runs the maid down. She asks if the maid is certain that it was Saewa who visited earlier. The maid, flustered, can’t say she’s 100% certain. Saewa pounces on this and then says that since she will be marrying Do Jin soon, she has prepared a gift of money for the housekeeper. If the housekeeper thought she was wrong earlier, this should only have cemented that she was right, but whatever. Saewa also promises to double the woman’s salary later. I give up on that girl.

Do Jin gets home and immediately starts fighting with his father over how Jun treated Saewa. Hye Sook comes out and scolds her son for raising his voice to his father. This brings Do Jin to ask the question if his father even loves him. This surprises his mom and dad. Do Jin then explains that he sees his father get emotional on TV over some news story, but never has he seen his dad get emotional for Do Jin or Hye Sook. Hye Sook says that is just the way Jun is, but Do Jin is not placated. Jun then unveils his suspicions. Of course the maid comes in at that time and then says she was just confused. She recognized Saewa from TV and that was all. Do Jin storms up to his room and Hye Sook says that Jun made a big mistake before going her separate way as well. Sheesh. The man’s an ass, but he didn’t deserve the criticism since he was actually right this time.

Poor Donghae and Anna are out wondering the streets. Donghae promises to find a hotel no matter what and Anna just wonders why they can’t call Bongi. Donghae replies that he doesn’t want to burden her anymore as she has done so much for them already. They go to enter a hotel only to bump into a man and woman going in for… yeah. So Donghae doesn’t take his mother into that hotel. Instead, they spend the night at the train station. After Anna falls asleep, Donghae recalls seeing Kang Jae and he touches the harmonica his mom wears. He wonders if Kang Jae ever told Anna what his Korean name was?

The next morning when Donghae wakes up, Anna is coughing and has a fever. He tells her to wait for him there and he runs out to get some medicine. At this time, Bongi is on her way to the hotel. She didn’t do anything the night before, but is really tired [she even nodded off a couple of times]. So when Bongi sees Donghae, she thinks she’s dreaming at first. When she realizes that she isn’t, she quickly gets off from the bus. Of course, when she does, he’s nowhere to be seen. The two literally run into each other as Donghae runs out of the convenience store. Donghae is happy to see Bongi who is overjoyed to see him as well [Bongi even jumped up and down, holding his hands until she realized what she was doing]. Bongi then asks why he isn’t in the states yet.

Bongi gets to learn the whole story as she treats Anna and Donghae to ramen. She scolds Donghae for not calling her immediately and letting his mom suffer like that. Poor Donghae is embarrassed. He is even more embarrassed when Anna admits that she wanted to call Bongi, but Donghae didn’t want to burden her. It was soooo cute. It is something that a little kid would say because they didn’t know any better. You got to love how Donghae looks when his mom says that. Bongi just laughs and says she’s glad that Donghae knows. She then asks after money. No, Donghae doesn’t have much, but he’s willing to sell his skates and violin if he has to. So Bongi says that she will take Anna home while Donghae goes about taking care of reporting the bag missing. Donghae doesn’t want to impose, but Bongi says that even if things are a bit crowded, it will be okay.

At the station, Saewa goes into Jun’s office to deliver a report. Jun acts as if nothing is the matter. Saewa asks if things are okay and Jun is annoyed to hear Saewa bringing up personal things at work. She should know better how to separate the two. Jun then apologizes for raising his voice the other day. Well, that did little to comfort Saewa, but then she gets a call from Hye Sook inviting her out shopping. Saewa happily accepts the invitation. Jun may not be warmed up to her yet, but she has Hye Sook on her side.

Back at the Lee house, Sae Young is doing mommy yoga in skimpy clothes when Kang Jae goes to get Pil Jae’s boxers. This startles Kang Jae and he does his best to avert his gaze, grab the boxers off the rack and leave. Sun Ok comes out and immediately scolds Sae Young for acting so shamelessly. At this time, Bongi brings Anna in, telling her that her family is nice. When Sun Ok’s voice is heard from the outside, Bongi smiles reassuringly and says that they do raise their voices on occasion. She then brings Anna in as Sun Ok is still scolding Sae Young whose protesting not being able to do her mommy yoga. Bongi introduces Anna as a friend and asks her mom to look after her while Bongi is working. Bongi then lays Anna down in bed and reminds her to take medicine after eating. Sun Ok is curious, but Bongi just says its for the day only and that Anna is the mother of a friend.

Sigh. How long until Bongi and Donghae start a relationship? Bongi would be the perfect daughter-in-law for Anna as she is so caring and filial and we all know that Bongi likes Donghae.

Pil Jae wakes up and is shocked to find Sool Nyeo lying next to him. This freaks Sool Nyeo out when she wakes up as well. What happened? Pil Jae wonders if Sool Nyeo followed him all the way to the off duty room for officers to sleep in. Sool Nyeo vaguely recalls that is exactly what happened, but tries to bluff. Pil Jae falls for that bit since he can’t remember a think that happened the night before. When Sool Nyeo presses him to take responsibility, Pil Jae immediately says he won’t as he knows nothing happened. Even blind drunk, he wouldn’t do anything inappropriate with Sool Nyeo as she isn’t his type whatsoever. This angers Sool Nyeo who immediately leaves, running into Kang Jae. Pil Jae is surprised to see his brother and he tells Kang Jae that he doesn’t have to bring him clean undies. Kang Jae then tells his little brother to get a wife then.

Donghae leaves the station. He apparently tried to see if he could get information about Kang Jae by using his license number, but the police can’t help unless the truck was involved in some crime. It just so happens that Kang Jae is leaving the station at the same time so we have another convenient taxi coming at just the right moment that Donghae immediately jumps into to follow Kang Jae. This time, Donghae follows Kang Jae all the way to the Lee house. Meanwhile, Sun Ok is cleaning Pil Jae’s and Song Yi’s room when she comes across her niece’s diary and gets the shock of her life. Song Yi wrote about getting ice cream to keep the secret that Tae Hoon failed his exam and that’s where the episode ends.

Donghae is like a professional stalker now. First he stalked Saewa like crazy after she broke up with him and now he’s doing it to the man he *thinks* could be his father.