Asian Addicts Anonymous

Saewa, Saewa, Saewa. She is EVIL, VILE, UNDERHANDED. Good job, Park Jung Ah, but I think you play her evilness much too well. I may never be able to forget this character which is both good and bad when you think about it.

Saewa drags the unwilling Anna off and Pil Jae sees Anna getting into a car and takes down the license number just to be safe. He did not, however, get a look at just who Anna was going off with. In the car, Saewa tells Anna that she is no longer the same Saewa as before. She then drops the bomb that she is getting married to someone else other than Donghae. As it stands, Saewa will marry into a rich and powerful family who will destroy Donghae if they ever learn of his existence. Omo. Well, Do Jin would and possibly Hye Sook if she knew just who Donghae really is, but I don’t think Kim Joon is really that kind of man. This of course terrifies Anna. Her precious Donghae might meet with another unfortunate accident like when he tried to protect Saewa? What really annoys me is that in order to drive her point home when the crying Anna says that they can’t leave as they are looking for Donghae’s father, Saewa abandons her on the side of  the road in an unfamiliar area outside of town.

Meanwhile Sool Nyeo is still fuming over Saewa getting slapped and decides to go and confront Sun Ok. Of course, Sool Nyeo doesn’t come right out and say what exactly she observed at first so poor Sun Ok is completely confused. This irritates Sool Nyeo and Sun Ok demands she tell her what happened so she can understand what the problem is. Sool Nyeo then says that Bongi went to their apartment and slapped Saewa. Sun Ok’s response? Well, Bongi isn’t the type of girl to act out or bully others, so Saewa basically must have done something to deserve it. LMAO. Nice! But, it’s true!  And what does Sool Nyeo do? She uses the same card her daughter did. Saewa is marrying into the hotel, so Bongi better watch her step. Sigh. Like mother, like daughter. Oh, and Sool Nyeo demands her money back, too. She then asks where Anna is as Anna did not go to work. Pil Jae comes in at this and is surprised to learn Anna isn’t back yet. He then says he saw her go with some young woman earlier.

Anna is freezing and crying and walking along the road muttering her son’s name. Saewa then comes back with a smile on her face asking Anna to get back into the car. Anna, not having any other choice, does as she is told. Saewa then plays the nice card and says she will pay for Anna and Donghae to go back to New York and get settled in once more. As her trump card, Saewa lies about finding James. As soon as Donghae and Anna are back in the States, Saewa will give them James’s number. She then tells Anna that Anna must convince Donghae to go back to the States and to no believe him when he says everything is okay. Oh, and of course, Saewa swears Anna to secrecy. Donghae can’t know that Saewa instructed Anna to say all of this. Of course not. That would bring Donghae’s anger on her head.

Sun Ok wonders if the young woman might have been Donghae’s ex-fiancée. Sun Ok explains the bare bones that they learned from Anna about the whole accident, etc. Sool Nyeo cannot believe such a horrible girl exists. She then tries to be all innocent in from of Pil Jae by saying how she only knew one man so she hates hearing of such women as Donghae’s ex-fiancée. If she only knew. Sun Ok then says that Saewa studied in New York for 6 years. Their boarder who was recently betrayed and dumped by his fiancée also was from New York and dated a Korean girl who was studying abroad. Is it possible that the horrible fiancée is Saewa? Omo, Sun Ok is one sharp cookie. How come no one else has figured it out yet? Of course this insults Sool Nyeo. How can Sun Ok say such things about Saewa? Well…they are true. Anna then arrives all pale and unhappy. Pil Jae rushes out and asks where she was and Anna just boys her head and apologizes before shutting herself up in her room.

Bongi and Donghae are doing a taste test in the kitchen and Donghae’s bean paste stew fails miserably. It seems he can do fusion food, but not authentic traditional Korean cuisine. This is a big problem, especially in light of the fact that the competition is highlighting Korean cuisine. What to do? Bongi suggests going to a restaurant on their break that has really good Korean food. Saewa then pops in to visit Do Jin who wonders what happened after she went home to see her mother. Saewa says an urgent work matter came up (lies, lies, and more lies – this girl has the lying disease). Saewa then wonders why Do Jin looks so unhappy. Do Jin replies that his mom keeps throwing him and Carl Laker together. Saewa then smiles evilly. She has ANOTHER plan. Since Do Jin cannot outright fire Donghae at the moment, why not give him a traditional Korean cooking test since he’s from the US and doesn’t have a Korean chef’s license. This makes Do JIn happy. He then complains about how thin Saewa is and takes her out to a restaurant—the same one Bongi and Donghae are eating at.

Needless to say that quartet is not happy to meet. Do Jin immediately asks them about their job and Bongi says they are on a break before the dinner rush and they are studying up on Korean food. Do Jin then tells Donghae he will test him to see how his Korean cooking skills are at the end of the month. If Donghae fails, he must leave the hotel. Donghae accepts the challenge. Now the pressure is on to learn how to make fermented soybean paste stew. Oh, and to make matters worse, Donghae will have to ferment the beans himself. Gulp. Can our hero do so in the time left? Anna looks over at the other couple after they sit down and smirks. Soon Donghae will be back in the States, just you wait. Riiight. Because all of Saewa’s plans have been going so well of late.

Back at the Lee house, Pil Jae goes to his room to change and worried about Anna’s paleness. Sool Nyeo then comes in as he’s pulling his pants down. She apologizes and he says he can’t get mad as they aer family after all. Sool Nyeo then hands him the present. She tells him its not much, just something she picked up at a department store. Pil Jae asks why she would give him anything, and Sool Nyeo replies there are no reasons for giving gifts to family. Sool Nyeo says she understand how difficult it is being widowed and she thought he might need the gift. It will help him feel pumped up. Curious, Pil Jae opens it after she leaves and is excited to find ginseng. LOL. So she still doesn’t know about the switched gifts yet.

Hye Sook is instructing her man on a rooftop garden construction and locking the roof to ensure no theft when Do Jin arrives with Saewa. Hye Sook says she sees the report that he will be testing Donghae’s Korean cooking skills and she approves. Hye Sook then gives Sool Nyeo’s present back saying they cannot possibly accept such a gift. Saewa is sruprised. What could be wrong with the gift. Saewa opens it and finds panties instead of ginseng. Another strike against Sool Nyeo. Meanwhile, Sool Nyeo is complaining about Sun Ok accusing Saewa of possibly being Donghae’s fiancée when she gets a call from Pil Jae thanking her for the gift. Of course, since they never say what the gift is, Sool Nyeo is still unaware the gifts were swapped. But she isn’t oblivious for much longer. An angry Saewa comes home and demands to know what her mother was doing. Sool Nyeo cannot believe that there was a problem with the ginseng and is horrified to open the returned present to find panties. Sool Nyeo explains about the mix up, but you know Saewa, she never gives her mother any quarter. Of course, this makes Sool Nyeo turn and blame Tae Hoon. This makes him angry and he kicks Sae Young out of their room so he can study hard and become a famous lawyer or judge and earn a lot of money and show Sool Nyeo he isn’t worthless. Good, Tae Hoon, stick to your guns this time!

Anna recalls Saewa’s warning that Donghae is in danger and asks her son to go back to the US. Donghae, not understanding why his mother is saying such things, apologizes for working and leaving her alone so often, but he will make sure they have a good life in Korea. Donghae then goes to the kitchen where Sun Ok teaches him how to ferment the soybeans for the stew. Donghae writes out all the instructions and helps Sun Ok prepare a big batch of beans. He is then warned that the beans need to be kept in a warm room under a blanket to ferment properly, so you know this is going to come into play when the time comes for his cooking test. Donghae takes the basket of beans bundled up in a blanket and tells Anna to put up with the smell for awhile as he needs this for his success. Anna again pleads with him to go back to the US, but Donghae again refuses to listen to this. He just holds his mother and promises to make her happy. Awww. Such a good son, but shouldn’t you listen to your mother so you can make her happy (not that going back to the States would actually make her happy necessarily).

Do Jin calls up Saewa to have lunch with him and his father. Saewa agrees. Meanwhile Donghae delivers the lunch for Joon to Hye Sook who says that it will be Donghae’s duty to personally deliver them to Joon. He does so and Joon is happy to see Donghae. The boy’s sandwiches really remind him of when he was studying abroad. As Joon goes to ask where Donghae is from, etc, Do Jin and Saewa arrive. Immediately the air tenses up. Do Jin throws Donghae’s food in a bag and says he is taking Joon to have a healthy lunch before they go to play squash that evening. Donghae is obviously upset by this. Who wouldn’t be as you know Do Jin is being more petty than he needs to be here.

Donghae, cheerful attitude regained, goes back to the hotel to work on cleaning cabbages when Dae Sam comes up and tells him to remember his place even if he has connections. Donghae promises to and then points out that the cabbages have gone bad. What to do? The chef tells Dae Sam to hurry and find a new supplier for the moment. Donghae immediately volunteers Kang Jae! He gives a call to Kang Jae and meets the older man in a taxi as Kang Jae has an important delivery to make. Kang Jae is sorry he can’t deliver the cabbages in person, but his happy for the business that Donghae drummed up for him.

When Donghae goes back to the hotel, Do Jin bumps into him while Donghae is carrying the cabbages. This leads to a verbal argument. Do Jin wants Donghae to be respectful and apologize, but Donghae refuses as he believes Do Jin bumping shoulders with him was purely intentional, spiteful and childish. This angers Do Jin and he wants to start a fight NOW. Donghae has work to do and doesn’t believe in doing such petty things, but he does agree to meet Do Jin after work on the roof. The delivered cabbages receive the chef’s seal of approval and he then says the night shift must stay to make kimchi and all other staff can go home. Dae Sam tries to get Donghae to stay behind and do the kimchi in his stead, but Donghae rushes off to the rooftop to meet Do Jin. Saewa again calls Anna to threaten her about Donghae. It’s at this time that Sool Nyeo goes into her daughter’s room and learns that Saewa really IS the evil ex-fiancee. Wowza. What will she say to her daughter?

Once there at the rooftop, Do Jin does his bratty little stint and Donghae is the bigger man (I want to say that he’s supposed to be older than Do Jin anyways) and says he will not fight with Do Jin. He wishes that his boss will not abuse his power and bully Donghae for no real reason. Of course, Do Jin won’t let this go and punches Donghae. In retaliation, Donghae shoves Do Jin down—on top of construction equipment so Do Jin hits his head. Donghae then goes to leave, but the door is locked! Do Jin rushes over, but it’s true, the door is locked. Donghae is shocked to see the blood on Do Jin’s head and he starts pounding on the door for help. I actually liked this scene because you can see the hotheaded Donghae that we’ve come to know and love. Oh, sure, he comes out now and then, but it’s nice to see that this hothead had a viable cause and it wasn’t just his misunderstanding.

Anna is worried about Donghae and Bongi tries to tell her that everything is okay, but Anna doesn’t believe this and goes rushing off to the hotel. This is where our episode ends.