Asian Addicts Anonymous

I said this on my Facebook post update that I laughed through the entire episode, and I meant it. I really did because we have entered into a land of absurdity where I can’t help but laugh, which is better than screaming in frustration. Sure, there were true comedic moments thrown in to ease the melodrama that were seriously funny, but I still laughed at the melodramatic moments and over-exaggerated acting of Jae Hee and the rather weak acting of Han Ji Hye. Oh, promising series, where did you run off to? And, contrary to popular discussion…I’m not really sure I want a third time jump. Isn’t two enough? But, whatever. Oh and talk about random and useless flashbacks. I mean, I get why dramas do it, but at times, I think they utilize that feature rather badly in this series.

Episode 17 picks up with Hae Joo finding Chang Hee and demanding to know why he’s resigned. Instead of answering that question, Chang Hee can only tell Hae Joo that they should break up. Hae Joo’s reaction? Okay, but you still shouldn’t resign from your job since you worked so hard to get there. Um…I get it. I mean, I do. Hae Joo doesn’t really want to show her shock and her “devastation” in front of Chang Hee as she knows he’s suffering as well. But…with that lackluster response and concern only over his career…yeah…where’s the love? Chang Hee notices this as well. Hae Joo does state that she’s of course hurt and surprised by Chang Hee’s sudden and drastic declaration, but it really isn’t too shocking (because she never thought she was worthy of him anyways). Chang Hee then roughly pulls her to him crying and telling her not to hold all the pain in. Hae Joo is actually the first to pull away, let go, and walk away. Why? Probably because she was getting ready to break down and didn’t want Chang Hee to see her “lose it.” Too bad Han Ji Hye’s crying scenes are lacking. Sure the girl can cry, but there really doesn’t seem to be any emotion behind it. I found these two scenes actually to be lacking emotion and to be quite silly.

Chang Hee goes home where he has a full meltdown and starts destroying the patio furniture. He has such a violent nature that he does his best to keep buried, but its there and now its rearing its ugly head and probably won’t stop until we near the end of the series. Jang’s men try to restrain Chang Hee as does Gi Chul, but Chang Hee refuses to calm down. Enter Geum Hee and In Hwa. Desperate, Gi Chul slaps his son and yells at him. This doesn’t phase Chang Hee. He just yells that he hopes his father is happy now since Chang Hee has broken things off with Hae Joo and walks away. In Hwa rushes after him while Geum Hee demands to know why Chang Hee is acting like he is. This woman…can she not understand what Chang Hee’s going though even given that she doesn’t know the whole situation? Something made him give up on the only woman he’ll probably ever love and that he’s clung on to like a lifeline all these years.

Hae Joo goes into work where she is immediately scolded by Jo and the other employee about taking a two hour lunch break. Hae Joo is then told Il Moon wishes to see her. Why? Il Moon is digging and trying to figure out if Hae Joo knows she is Geum Hee’s daughter. He then starts complaining about Hae Joo being a fox wagging her tail and seducing men. Is she after his father as well? Is that why Jang put her on the propeller team? Wow…Il Moon has such a filthy mind. Before Hae Joo can get really angry and start talking back, Kang San enters and tells Hae Joo to get ready to go to work with him. She leaves and San tells Il Moon to remember what they talked about. He then goes out into the office and announces that no one can order Hae Joo around but him as she is working under him solely as of now.

Hae Joo drags San off to the rooftop where she immediately berates him for making her life difficult. She doesn’t need his help as he will eventually be going back to America thus she needs to prove her own worth to her coworkers. San points out that given Hae Joo’s position and current knowledge, there is no way she can stand up and show them what she’s made of because she’s only good on practical work and not on the design and other aspects. Hae Joo then bursts out and says she’d be better off working in a manual labor job where she at least would be too tired at the end of the day to think. San immediately picks up that Hae Joo’s tirade is stemming from something else, but Hae Joo denies that anything has happened, however, San is not stupid. He picks up on most things rather quickly. This is also the first time that Hae Joo ever scolded San like she did with Chang Hee and I don’t really like it. Not one bit as San, unlike Chang Hee, has always had Hae Joo’s best interests at heart and doesn’t deserve her anger over the breakup (which she really has no right to be angry about since it was highly unlikely that she would ever commit to Chang Hee given her family and work situation).

In Hwa goes to Chang Hee and complains of Chang Hee being so weak and not following through with moving out determined to marry Hae Joo. She yells at him to marry her and marry her now and Chang Hee turns on her with a face that I don’t think In Hwa expected and shoves her hands away. Well, truthfully, In Hwa was acting like a little brat and hitting his back. She does need to wake up and realize that she is no longer a child who can get away with everything. I think somewhere they said Chang Hee and In Hwa would have an abusive relationship—you can totally see that happening in this episode. If that does indeed happen, I will hate Chang Hee. I just will and there is no redeeming from that.

We then cut back to Hae Joo and Kang San. They are at the shipyard again and San braves his fear of heights to go find Hae Joo. He sees her bent over and sobbing her heart out (okay, after one crying scene, I’m done and don’t want to see anymore—really, it gets old fast even though you know it takes time to get over such a hurt…it just gets tedious to watch—like all those scenes in Twilight where Bella basically spends an entire year almost as a zombie when Edward leaves her).

Jung Woo is busy working when Jang walks in. I loved this scene just because Jung Woo was awesomeness with his discourtesy towards Jang. Jung Woo refuses to shake his hand or offer him tea. Jang wishes Jung Woo to just drop everything and Jung Woo refuses to. He will not be bought off or intimidated like other prosecutors (like Chang Hee). Jang then mentions Hak Soo. This makes Jung Woo smile, whenever things aren’t going Jang’s way with Jung Woo, Jang always brings up Hak Soo. Jang denies this, but given his discomfort (and all the other scenes where he tried to talk sense into Jung Woo) you know it’s true. Besides, Jung Woo knows that even if he can’t get at Jang right now, he can still get at Il Moon. Jung Woo won that fight.

Speaking of the devil, we cut to Il Moon going home and meeting with Geum Hee who expresses concern over his health (he hasn’t been looking the best of late) and tells her son that she got him medicine. Il Moon then just snaps at her. Isn’t Geum Hee working at getting Il Moon deposed so that she can gain control of the company and hand it over to someone else? Bong Hee overhears Il Moon’s disprectful treatment of her sister and immediately rushes in and starts hitting him. Il Moon tells her to use words instead of actions and this irritates Bong Hee more. Geum Hee does manage to get her sister off of her son and Il Moon beats a hasty retreat. You just HAVE to laugh at this scene here…and what follows (even though it’s not a laughing matter per se). Geum Hee reveals to Bong Hee that Il Moon knows Geum Hee isn’t his birth mother and Geum Hee once again shakily collapses to the floor. Sigh. You know, even Geum Hee’s spunk of earlier episodes is gone. Before she would dish things out to her husband, but now…not so much. She’s even weaker than the weak Hae Joo and I have to laugh at her character’s plight now because he acting and character is just ridiculous.

Hae Joo then goes home where she is greeted with a really big surprise. When she walks in, party poppers go off and her whole family wishes her a happy birthday. She is stunned. This also makes Chang Hee’s breakup with her even worse—how can you break it off on that person’s birthday? Harsh. Anywho, they then go inside where Hae Joo is presented with presents. Jin Joo handmade her a boat keychain since the younger girl didn’t have any money while it looks like Young Joo might have bought her some nice underwear (it’s kind of hard to tell what it is, but some type of clothing) which she bought using her own money this time and not stolen money. Even Sang Tae unexpectedly gives Hae Joo a gift of skin lotion to help her skin from darkening since she works outside a lot. Hae Joo is just shocked. Add in Young Joo’s question about how Hae Joo’s birth went and Hae Joo does break down and start crying. She heads off to her room where Dal Soon follows. Is Hae Joo really upset that this is their first time celebrating her birthday? Wow. Poor Hae Joo. She’s been alive for 28(?) years and this is the first time that the Chun’s really celebrated her birthday? How sad. Hae Joo says that isn’t it and Dal Soon demands to know what’s going on, but Hae Joo, like always, refuses to tell her.

So what is Chang Hee doing? He’s drinking. And while morosely drinking he overhears a breakup conversation. A man is breaking it off with his longtime girlfriend. He complains of her status and her lack of education and when Chang Hee stares at the man in contempt, the man gets up and starts bugging Chang Hee who welcomes this excuse to vent his anger. He starts pummeling the man like crazy which leads to him getting taken to the police station where he refuses to talk. Gi Chul rushes down to bail him out. When they get home, Gi Chul expresses his displeasure and wishes for his son to snap out of this funk. Dude, you’re part of the reason your son is this sick and twisted. I mean, how much more of an arse can Gi Chul be? He even states he wasn’t that devastated when Chang Hee’s mother abandoned him and their son. Nice one. Chang Hee goes to his room and a box is delivered from the prosecutor’s office full of Chang Hee’s things.

Meanwhile, San calls Hae Joo and Sang Tae answers. He reveals its Hae Joo’s birthday. San had no idea. Not too surprising given just how briefly he knew Hae Joo 15 years ago. We then cut back to Gi Chul who is going through his son’s box. He comes across a box of letters where Chang Hee had kept all of his correspondence with Hae Joo. More useless flashbacks ensue, but something else happens as well. Gi Chul finally begins to realize just how much he’s destroyed his son’s life with his ambition, cowardice, and greed. Well, too little, too late, babo.

The next day Dal Soon once again tries to find out why her daughter was crying all night, but Hae Joo won’t tell her. Seriously, can’t Hae Joo learn to communicate her own problems to others? Dal Soon does then try to encourage Hae Joo to go after San since he’s so much better than Chang Hee. While very true, this is NOT the time to tell that to Hae Joo. Enter San. He has come to celebrate Hae Joo’s birthday. He brings his secretary, flowers, a picture of a cow, and a box full of beef. They then have a barbecue in honor of Hae Joo’s birthday. Dal Soon and family are happy to be finally able to eat beef, but do wonder just why San is doing this. Is it because he likes Hae Joo? San immediately denies this to her family. He tells them this is his way of ensuring his disciple’s good behavior. He explains it in terms of stocks and investments, but that totally loses the family—even Hae Joo. He then puts it in terms of fattening a cow for slaughter—this they understand, but Dal Soon doesn’t like the analogy. Dal Soon then broaches the subject of San getting Sang Tae a job to which San easily agrees. This excites Sang Tae as I’m sure he’s envisioning a nice, cushy job where he doesn’t really have to work.

Jang rushes to the Park house where he demands to meet with Chang Hee. Gi Chul tries to stop him since Chang Hee has been on a drinking binge of late and even refuses to eat. Jang doesn’t care. He storms into Chang Hee’s room and makes the drunkard wake up. He then tells Chang Hee that he must stop Il Moon’s arrest. Chang Hee blearily tells him that he’s no longer a prosecutor and has no power to stop Jung Woo. This is NOT what Jang wishes to hear. Does his dogs not know that they must obey his every order until the day that they die? They must spend their worthless lives making up for their betrayal of him. Omo. This guy needs to be slapped upside the head. He was always kind of ludicrous, but the show brings his absurdity to new heights in this episode.

Bong Hee delivers information to help incriminate Il Moon to Jung Woo who gives it back refusing her help since he doesn’t want to put her at odds with her family. Bong Hee doesn’t care about this. Then Jung Woo leans in close and says that he does, in fact, return her feelings. He cannot be with her though thanks to Geum Hee. If he gets together with Bong Hee, he can only hurt her sister which he is sure that Bong Hee won’t be able to stand. Bong Hee keeps quiet for a moment before hitting Jung Woo on the head with her purse. She’s already wasted most of her life chasing after him so there’s no one else. He’ll just have to deal with it. I LOVE this couple. They are the BEST couple in this entire series.

At the Chun house, San leaves and Hae Joo thanks him for doing his best to cheer her up. San does admit he wants her and Chang Hee to break up, but he does encourage to make up with him as soon as possible. Poor San. He knows she’s in pain because of Chang Hee, but he’s a little off mark in thinking it was a fight. He also says that if Gi Chul bother Hae Joo any more, just let him know and he will throw him off a high place. Hae Joo laughs at this as San couldn’t do so thanks to his fear of heights. San heads back to his place where he finds In Hwa desperately trying to get in (he’s changed the passcode on her). She tries it and fails, knocks, tries calling him. San hides, but he does peek around the corner and you can tell he feels badly over In Hwa’s feelings, but In Hwa is pushing her feelings onto him without considering San’s own feelings. And San…he never truly lead her on. He was always publically scorning her and her advances. Sure, he likes the girl as she isn’t a bad person, but at the same time, she’s horribly selfish.

Il Moon has once again called Young Joo out. These two…their relationship is priceless. I do think that if there is hope for Il Moon—its Young Joo. The girl who I thought was a hopeless brat, is really a strong woman who won’t sell herself short just for money and who can give as good as she gets. This time Il Moon tries to buy her with a watch since she keeps rejecting his romantic overtures. Young Joo keeps reminding him that she will not give her precious time and youth to an old man. Il Moon then broaches the subject of Hae Joo’s being adopted. Especially after the birthday party and Dal Soon talking about giving birth to Hae Joo, this annoys Young Joo even more. She leaves, but not before stomping hard on Il Moon’s foot. LOL. I love their scenes together, I really do.

At the Jang house, Geum Hee is sitting at the dining room table drinking. Wow. Jang comes down and comments on Geum Hee’s odd actions. When she makes mention of something, Jang picks up on it and assumes Il Moon said something again. Geum Hee denies this (probably recalling Il Moon’s words about her always tattling). She then lights into Jang and we get more of their history. One, she told Jang he should never have found her again and should have just left her carrying Yoo Jin in her heart. Two, her life has been miserable all of these years thanks to Jang cheating on her with Il Moon’s mother. Okay. So what I gather is this: Geum Hee and Jang were an item before she married Hak Soo. Jang did something stupid and cheated on Geum Hee with the kids’ mother. Thus she ended up with Hak Soo on the rebound. This also might explains Jang’s explicit hatred towards his first wife—she was the reason he lost Geum Hee. Well…lets say it’s a shifting of blame. It takes two to tango, but Jang can never admit his own mistakes. (I sincerely hope that Geum Hee did nothing with Jang behind her husband’s back—she doesn’t seem the type, but you never know.)

At the same time, Gi Chul has a heart-to-heart with Chang Hee. He reveals that his father was a slave during the war (the Korean war? the one in the 1950s?). His mother never talked of his father except to tell her son never to end up like him. However, Gi Chul, even though the class system had been technically cast off, still became someone’s slave. With Chang Hee’s intelligence, Gi Chul held the hope that Chang Hee would rise out of the slave station and bring vindication for all Gi Chul’s mistreatment. Gi Chul realizes now how wrong and delusional he was. Chang Hee laughs bitterly at this—well at least his father knows he’s delusional. Gi Chul then encourages Chang Hee to take Hae Joo and run away. This shocks Chang Hee. Him cut all ties and abandon his father? This is the last thing that Gi Chul wants his son to listen to him on. Take Hae Joo, run far away and never contact Gi Chul again. Chang Hee tries to encourage his father to just run away with him, but Gi Chul won’t. He wants his son to have the happiness he deserves and to live in the light—a free man. Wow. I’m impressed. I don’t hate you quite so much now. I didn’t think that was possible (even though he’s YEARS too late on this—I’m still happy he’s finally realized just how much damage he’s done to his son). I think it’s fair to say that Gi Chul has already gotten what he’s deserved—he now knows he’s the poison destroying his son’s life. There is no balm for that when a parent truly loves their child as Gi Chul does. Sure, it was a selfish love (which is probably why Chang Hee had an equally selfish love), but it was a real love nonetheless.

The next day San pays Jang a visit in the office. He looks at the map on Jang’s wall and asks when the older man became interested in things like petroleum. Jang wonders if San has interest in such things as well. San says he didn’t, but because of Jang he is starting to grow an interest. San then brings up Hak Soo and his father and tells Jang he heard about their relationship from Geum Hee. Jang denies ever knowing Kang Woon, but he does say he knew of a Korean who gave up his country to live in Japan because his family opposed his marriage—the man’s name was Akiyama. San is shocked to learn this. Jang then tells San to go and ask his grandfather. The younger man says he’s only asking Jang since his grandfather won’t talk about what happened. This makes Jang grin. Looks like he thinks this is a way to maybe bring San over or at least cause a rift between grandfather and grandson.

Meanwhile, Sang Tae is dressed up in his horrible white suit. Both Dal Soon and Hae Joo tell him that he better not embarrass them anymore than he already has and stick with this job at long last. The cocky arse then heads to the shipyard where he complains when a worker runs into him getting his pant leg dirty. Enter Kang’s secretary who goes to take Sang Tae to meet with Kang. Sang Tae hopes his position is hire than the secretary’s. Boy, is this boy in for a rude awakening. Sang Tae is shocked to learn that the foul-mouthed grandpa wearing work clothes is the president. He’s also horrified to learn that San has set him up with a welding job! Sang Tae tries to explain that there must have been a mistake and tries to leave, but Kang won’t have any of it. He hits Sang Tae (the cocky little brat deserves a beating) repeatedly and tells the disrespectful younger man that while he walked into the plant of his own accord, he cannot leave on his own. Assa! He then orders workers to come and strip Sang Tae of his fancy suit and put him in work clothes. Omo. I LOVED this scene! I really love this grandfather.

Chang Hee has finished packing (and copying some sort of files from his laptop onto a thumbdrive—revenge against Jang?) and tries once more to convince his father to come with him. Again, Gi Chul refuses. Chang Hee must abandon him and never look back. He must not call or write or make it easier for Jang to track him down. Gi Chul asks if Hae Joo knows yet, but Chang Hee won’t tell her as he knows Hae Joo too well—she would never agree to run away with him. The two embrace and Chang Hee heads off. Meanwhile, Il Moon tells his father about an arrest warrant. This infuriates Jang and he rushes to the Park house where he demands to see Chang Hee. He is livid when he discovers that Chang Hee has run away. When Jang threatens his son, Gi Chul goes a little crazy and ATTACKS Jang. I was kind of proud of him in that moment. Of course Gi Chul gets his ass kicked. And Jang beats him (nearly?) to death.

At this same time, San had come to collect Hae Joo to take her to work (since her bike is currently broken) and to encourage her to study diligently. Hae Joo has finally come to act more like her normal self and is even smiling and laughing with San when Chang Hee arrives and demands she go with him. This does not make San happy, but he does encourage her to go with Chang Hee and make up first. Of course, that’s not what’s happening. Hae Joo demands to know where Chang Hee is taking her, but he refuses to tell and the two end up at the airport. Chang Hee then asks her to run away to another country with him. Hae Joo is livid. One, she doesn’t have a passport, and two, how can she abandon her family? Chang Hee begs her to do it as it’s their last chance (this would be sooooo much better if he could explain why, but he can’t/won’t and Hae Joo probably wouldn’t listen or accept the reason any more than she does with his pleading). Chang Hee then gets a call from his father—only it’s Jang on the other end. Jang says he sent Hae Joo a text. It turns out that it’s a picture of the license plate and Hae Joo tries to figure out just what it is.

End episode.

A circus of absurdities that will continue on to the next episode where it looks like Geum Hee finds out her blood type just might match Hae Joo’s. Oh…and Chang Hee makes a move on In Hwa. Nothing like a match made in hell full of revenge and pain. Woohoo (totally sarcastic here). I will admit that I am looking forward to the Chun clan going to the Park/Jang residence intent on revenge and wreaking havoc. Can’t wait! Alas, that will be tomorrow.