Asian Addicts Anonymous

This is a perfect example of not a single drama, but two very different dramas married together. Just like in Stars Falling From the Sky you have two plots, one that is rather good and another that just doesn’t seem to belong. I think in this drama, focusing on Han Tae Yang and the boys as they start fresh and work hard to make something of themselves is great. The whole hidden identity with Ga On really being Jin Shim…could have been left out altogether and I don’t think the drama would be missing anything much. I say this because I really don’t think the heavier melodrama storyline really belongs with the rest of the plot at all. But that is just my opinion. I kind of hate it when dramas have split personalities.

My apologies on the lateness of this. They have just released raws for 7 & 8 now. Ah, I am perpetually behind sometimes.

Ga On lies and tells Mok that she fell down a mountain when she was a child. Kang Sun feels horrible about it since she was at work. Mok accepts this [or does he as he looks really pensive when Ga On goes to take a shower] and that ends this crisis for the moment. Ga On goes into the bathroom and cries, heartsick at lying to Mok. Later, she goes into her secret room and takes out a box that had pictures that she took with Ga On before she died. Jin Shim wonders if Ga On cannot rest easily because Jin Shim has assumed her identity – is that why she continues to haunt Kang Sun?

Tae Yang tells his good fortuned to Tae In. He is one step closer to his dream of having his own vegetable shop. Tae In asks if he has finally given up on finding Jin Shim. The answer is no. If he hears news of her, he will immediately go check to see if its true. Hearing this, Tae In thinks it’s a good idea to keep mum about seeing “the witch.” Tae In wants to find Jin Shim as well, but thinks its best to keep things quiet for now until she can learn more. We also learn that Tae Yan has lost several of his hard won jobs because he ran out to search for Jin Shim whenever someone who looked like her appeared. It’s a first love that refuses to die.

Tae Yang goes to the market where he gets help from Captain in pinpointing potential suppliers for his startup. Captain warns him that it won’t be easy and it will be hard to get products, but Tae Yang is determined and will do whatever it takes to earn their trust and get the job done. That’s how he made it into the market and how he won the bet with Jung. The auctioneers, meanwhile, get a call from one of their customers requesting help. They decide to send the underling her way as neither wants to actually work. Ga On heads out and bumps into Tae Yang. He tells her that he is ok as he just had a feeling that she was worried about him in spite of her cold appearance when he took full blame. This surprises Ga On, but she quickly leaves to fulfill her new task. Her sunbaes come out and tell Tae Yang that she is going to help out at a persimmon festival and Tae Yang decides to go there as well since it was one of the places Captain told him about. Tae Yang sits in his truck and looks at the lunch bag Jin Shim made him. He promises that it has nothing to do with him being interested in Ga On. It’s really cute how he talks to her and is worried that she might misunderstand [truth is he does like Ga On, but Jin Shim won’t mind since it is Jin Shim].

At the persimmon festival, Ga On changes into work clothes given to her by the customer and begins helping out and preparing things. Turns out that Tae Yang is there as well learning from the woman’s rival! This starts a friendly competition between the two. It’s rather cute. Tae Yang and Ga On even have a seed spitting competition for clothesline rights and Ga On wins hands down. In the end, Tae Yang makes a persimmon soup that draws in the customers to both stands and even brings the rivals a little closer together, which makes him and Ga On both happy. When their day is done [and Tae Yang manages to land a truckload of persimmons], he wonders if he should give Ga On a ride, but in the end, he lets her find her own way back. Kind of surprising.

Back in Seoul, Hwang has a background check done on Ga On and what she learns really impresses her. Ga On is a hard worker who did well in school and started doing a whole bunch of odd jobs trying to work her way to the top versus just getting a position based on her status. Seul Woo comes to visit Hwang and she reveals that she already knew about the breakup a long time ago. Now she wants Seul Woo to go for Ga On. Seul Woo immediately rejects this idea, but his mother takes his car away. Since Monster is his greatest love, if he doesn’t bring Ga On home, then he doesn’t get his baby back. LMAO. Hwang knows how to get him to do what she wants. I also like how she wants him to pursue Ga On because she thinks it will be fun.

Seul Woo goes out to drink with Dan Bi where he complains about his mother’s edict. Dan Bi finds it amusing and wonders if Seul Woo doesn’t find Ga On attractive at all. He thinks back to seeing Ga On put on her shoes at the fashion launch and it seems he doesn’t think she isn’t attractive, but he still doesn’t want to do this. Ga On scares him. Dan Bi then gets a call which she ignores and Seul Woo realizes that today’s date is important. He had forgotten what day it is. Dan Bi says it is okay, but Seul Woo doesn’t want to drink with her when her heart isn’t there. What day is it? It’s her mother’s death anniversary. She goes home, gets into a big fight with her father [Jung – no surprises there]. Poor step-mother Boon Hong is caught in the middle. I wonder if she really loves Jung or not…if she does, what does she see in that hard ass who can’t be honest with his own feelings to his daughter? Oh, what am I saying, it’s those types that always seem to get the girls don’t they?

We then go back to Tae Yang traveling around Korea picking up produce and making new friends. Things seem to be going rather smoothly for him now. You know it won’t last for long, but its nice. Tae Yang then decides that he shouldn’t be happy alone and calls his three friends to celebrate and to get them to join him in his traveling vegetable shop. Of course, all three reject him. Tae Yang tells him that they can always find him at the market around 7 AM. Yoo Bong works hard on his farm and has only a fern for company [he has a dad, so where is he?]. Yoo Bong is lonely and sick of having no one to talk to. Ho Jae has another big failure in taking an employment test and can’t bring himself to tell his mother. Meanwhile, our would-be-idol Chan Sol becomes a temperamental host to earn money.

Tae Yang waits at the market, but none of the boys show up. Just as he is about to set off, up comes Yoo Bong! Tae Yang gets out and hugs him, happy to have his hyung show up. Yoo Bong accepts the embrace and promises to help until he is needed back at the farm. He also thinks to himself that Tae Yang isn’t a woman, but he’s warm and better than no one. Tae Yang then drops him and rushes over to his second hyung Ho Jae, happy to see him as well. Yoo Bong wonders why Ho Jae is there and Ho Jae offers his intelligence to the project. Ho Jae, like Yoo Bong think being with Tae Yang and doing this is better than being alone and suffering. Chan Sol is then brought by his noona who isn’t happy that he was working as a host [even though she was the one who told him to get out of the house and earn money]. She begs the three older men to look after her lacking brother and thus Chan Sol joins the operation as well. Yay!

We then have a montage of the quartet planning out marketing and strategies and truck design. They then work on prepping the truck for business and have fun working on painting it. We all know that their harmony won’t last too long and that their road ahead will be difficult, but it should be enjoyable to watch, ne?I would love this show even more if we really just focused on this part. I don’t really have a problem with Ga On being a wealthy heir who wants to prove herself and not be handed anything, I just hate her being an imposter and all the drama with the vile Kang Sun. Sigh.