You’re Beautiful: Episodes 11-12

By thundie • November 21, 2009

(yesterday)

Peeps, tomorrow’s D&D (dinner and discussion) confirmed. Same place, 6.30pm. I’ve made reservations. Homework: watch YB 11-12 by tomorrow. T’s doing that recap thingy and she needs your comments. T, if you want us to help, be early for once! OK, see you guys tomorrow. Don’t forget to watch YB 11-12!

(today; 45 minutes into dinner; T & J are sitting next to each other, facing E & F)

(J reading from T’s notebook) Okay, T has ten scenes that she wants us to discuss. I’ll read her description first and then we say what we think of that scene. Don’t speak too fast because T can’t eat and write at the same time. Right, Ms. T? (T nods, her mouth full of kimchi pancake)

As Shin-woo stands there, his arms wrapped protectively around Mi-nam, the entire auditorium is in an uproar. The reporters crowd around the couple, clamoring for answers as their cameras go berserk. Shin-woo says, “This is my girlfriend. I don’t want to reveal who she is, so please let us leave.” As the din grows, Tae-kyung strides toward Shin-woo, gives him his jacket so that Shin-woo can cover Mi-nam’s face, and then signals with his face that Shin-woo should leave.

(E) I love how Tae-kyung took charge there. He was so cool and quick-thinking. When they were at the changing room, it was his idea to have Coordinator Wang disguise herself as Mi-nam in order to lure the reporters away. Brilliant!

(F) Shin-woo’s the real hero in the entire scene. What would have happened if he didn’t pull Mi-nam to him? And look at how he pretended to be stunned and angry that Mi-nam’s a girl. When he said, “Mi-nam, YOU!” and when he pretended to be puzzled that she’s beautiful and yet he didn’t know all along, he was so funny.

(J) No, the funniest one is Jeremy. He was so gleeful, the silly guy. He must be thinking, “Phew, I’m straight after all.” You saw how he kissed her on the forehead? The entire episode he kept trying to hug her! When they got back from the auditorium, he refused to allow Mi-nam and Tae-kyung to share the same room!

(F) Mi-nam’s so lucky. She got kissed by all three guys in Episode 11!

(J) I think T wants us to talk about the other two kisses later. Right, T? (T nods, her eyes on the japchae at the far end of the table) Okay, the next scene…

(E) Wait! This part is important. Tae-kyung tells Mi-nam, “We’re on the same side now. We won’t allow you to give up and we’ll take responsibility for you. Likewise, you be responsible to us and walk as Go Mi-nam to the end.” Aww, would you just listen to him? Why don’t he run for president or something? He’s so good at resolving problems! Instead of things getting all awkward, his words made everyone feel at ease. Really, the guy’s too good to be…

(J) At this rate we’ll be here all night. Second scene!

Jeremy, who hasn’t stopped smiling since finding out Mi-nam’s gender, suggests a party to celebrate. So, over Tae-kyung’s protests, the foursome troop off to the supermarket to get groceries for the party. Obviously Koreans don’t shop late at night because the supermarket’s deserted. With no one gawking at them, the guys let their hair down and put on a series of skits to reenact their commercials. Unknown to the rest, each is keenly aware of the girl Go Mi-nam in their midst and thus for her they perform, her giggles spurring them on, her smiles warming them on this cold night, her mere presence lighting up their lives.

(J) T, you’ve got to make your sentences shorter. That last line went on and on!

(F) The supermarket scene is cute but don’t you think Tae-kyung is sneering too much? It’s seriously not funny anymore because now he sneers at the slightest thing. And did you notice Mi-nam’s doing the same thing? Of all things she’s got to copy his ugly sneer! Fortunately Shin-woo doesn’t sneer and he never will.

(E) Tae-kyung’s sneer’s not ugly! At least he’s expressive. Shin-woo looks the same all the time. Isn’t that boring?

(J) You can count on Jeremy never to be boring. Anyway, that supermarket scene was lots of fun. Isn’t it nice to see them doing normal everyday things? I loved it when they were clowning and pushing Mi-nam inside the shopping cart. All the tension’s gone. It’s like the auditorium scene never happened.

(F) That’s why I didn’t really like the supermarket scene. It feels unreal, plus their antics there were childish. I’m sure the staff there were whispering to each other: “What stars? They’re just kids!”

(E) But the scene is important because Tae-kyung sees a 3,000-won price tag stuck on Mi-nam’s hair and that’s how they get to talk about her missing hair clip.

(J) Ah, the hair clip. That, my dears, happens to be T’s third scene. T, you sure wrote a lot about the hair clip. (T looks up, her face flushed from the too-spicy seafood soup)

During the commotion at the auditorium as Shin-woo and Mi-nam are leaving, she drops her hair clip and it gets stepped on and broken. Tae-kyung picks up the clip but he doesn’t tell Mi-nam that he has it, only that he saw it on the auditorium floor. Distraught at losing Tae-kyung’s first gift to her, Mi-nam returns to the auditorium in the middle of the night to search for it. Suspecting that she might have done exactly that, Tae-kyung goes there to look for her. In a fit of frustration when he can’t find her, he flings the hair clip to the ground and then leaves. Mi-nam picks up the clip and returns home to mend the broken pieces. In the process she gets her fingers stuck together.

(E) Ah, I really hated it when they missed seeing each other! That could have been a romantic moment, she crawling on the floor searching frantically for the clip and suddenly his feet appearing before her. She looks up, he goes down on his knees, they hug, his eyes brimming with tears at the thought of her love for him…

(F) You mean foolish love? Crawling on that dirty ground row by row. Does it make sense to be so attached to a small thing like that? It’s pathetic, seriously.

(J) Oh, c’mon, F. Haven’t you been in love before? When I was fifteen and my boyfriend wrote this love letter to me and I lost it the very next day, I was so crushed. I searched for it everywhere, for days. I still feel a teeny regret when I think of how I lost my very first love letter! When someone’s important to you, every little thing from that person is precious.

(F) I get it that the hair clip is precious to her, but the whole fuss over the clip is just too much. It’s pitiful for her to be grasping at straws that way and it makes the plot draggy. Like when Tae-kyung can’t find her at home and he wonders where she might be and his mind is imagining these different scenarios, that part was silly and repetitive.

(J) That’s true. It did feel like the writers were trying to milk the laughs there.

(E) But the hair clip scenes are important because they lead up to the scene at home when he helps her to unglue her fingers. He’s holding her fingers, she’s giggling because it feels ticklish, they are both so comfy with each other. If only he had seized the opportunity to plant a kiss on…

(J) E, you’re a Tae-kyung goner, that’s for sure. Anyway, what’s also important in this scene is that Tae-kyung thanks Mi-nam indirectly for helping to take his mind off his mom. That makes her all the more determined to keep her feelings for him a secret so that he won’t feel burdened by her. Okay, let’s talk about the fourth scene, the one where Tae-kyung meets his mom. T, we’re not going too fast for you, are we? (T looks up in mid-chew and mumbles something inaudible)

While he’s looking for Mi-nam at the auditorium, Tae-kyung receives a call. Earlier, Mi-nam’s aunt had gone to Mo Hwa-ran’s apartment to discuss the royalties for her brother’s song. The aunt finds Mo Hwa-ran unconscious inside the bathtub. The aunt later sees a surgical scar on Mo Hwa-ran’s abdomen and suspects that she once had a caesarean operation. After the aunt leaves, Tae-kyung is called to the apartment where he learns from the mom that she is ill. Her words suggest that she doesn’t have much time left. She again asks him to remake the song that her love wrote for her and this time Tae-kyung agrees. She tells him that she knows he would agree since he is her son and he replies that no mother would ask a son to do what she’s asked of him.

(E) Gosh, I really hate that Mo Hwa-ran! When she said she’s sick of living and has nothing to live for, can you imagine Tae-kyung’s feelings? It’s like telling him that he’s worth nothing to her, that sicko woman. I hope she dies a miserable death.

(F) She’s truly deluded, but some people are that way. Like frogs in a well. She can’t see anything past her love for that dead songwriter. Tae-kyung is better off without her in his life. Just fulfill her last wish and send her on her way to purgatory. She can entertain the other sinners there with her eternal wailing.

(J) No, she’ll be too busy looking for Mi-nam’s dad! But seriously, I liked that mother-and-son scene. Quiet and affecting.

(E) Yes! Jang Geun-suk was amazing in that scene, wasn’t he? I love him when he’s funny, like the pig chase and Pig-Rabbit mutilation scenes, but I love him even more when he’s ruminating or just being serious, like in this scene with his mom. If I remember, he was pretty serious in Beethoven Virus, right? I really must pick up that drama. T, can you remind me? You love the lead actor in Beethoven Virus. (T’s eyes light up suddenly, not because of the galbi in her mouth but the mention of a certain Kim Myung-min)

(J) About the mom being ill… Not a terminal disease in this drama, no! But at least it’s confirmed that Tae-kyung and Mi-nam aren’t related. That’s a huge, huge relief, I tell you. Also, he will learn in Episode 12 that the man his mom loves is long dead and that the man has twins. I wonder how he’s going to react when he learns that Mi-nam is one of the twins. Oops, six more scenes to go. Okay, the exercise park!

The foursome do something that we’ve not seen in the last ten episodes: exercise together. Again Tae-kyung trudges along reluctantly, his mood soured by Mi-nam and Shin-woo’s closeness earlier during song practice. He is especially rough with her when they are sparring during badminton. Shin-woo intervenes and plays gently with Mi-nam. Determined to show Tae-kyung that she can excel in at least one sport, Mi-nam hangs from the exercise bar for as long as possible until Shin-woo suddenly startles her by kissing her on the forehead. “Don’t joke with me that way again,” she chides while Tae-kyung looks on, his face the color of an overcast sky.

(F) I don’t see why Mi-nam got upset. That was just an innocent peck on her forehead. Didn’t Jeremy do the same thing earlier?

(J) I think she reacted that way because of Tae-kyung. She doesn’t want him misunderstanding them. But in the end he did misunderstand. Even when she tries to explain to him later that she doesn’t have those kind of feelings for Shin-woo, he doesn’t listen. In fact he hurts her when he says he’ll feel extremely lousy if he’s Shin-woo and knows that Mi-nam likes him. That implies that he’s not going to reciprocate her feelings.

(F) Poor Mi-nam. That’s a big blow to her, isn’t it? I was almost teary when she said to Tae-kyung: “Is it wrong to like someone? To not hope for anything, to be careful never to be found out?”

(E) It actually irks me that Mi-nam’s so dense. T wrote in a previous recap that Tae-kyung’s dense, but the one who’s really clueless is Mi-nam. Do you see how she gets pushed around in Episode 12…

(J) Wait, we’re still at Episode 11. Speaking of recaps, T couldn’t get 11-12 out earlier because she was confused about her feelings about the two episodes. I thought they were all right. Not as awesome as Episode 10 but not random and all over the place like T said. That’s what you said on the phone, right? (T blinks, roused from her mulling over whether to take the last piece of seafood pancake lying forlornly on the plate)

(F) Are we getting to the kiss scene yet?

(J) One kiss scene coming right up! E, control yourself. Your eyes are about to pop out.

Shin-woo has booked a whole room in a restaurant. Everything is ready for him to finally declare his feelings for Mi-nam. He even practises what he wants to say to her in front of a mirror. All that’s left is for her to show up, under the mistaken notion that she’s going there to help explain Shin-woo’s feelings to the girl he likes. Manager Ma sees Mi-nam getting ready to go, getting ready to have her heart ripped into pieces, and he immediately berates himself for allowing things to get to such a state. He asks Tae-kyung to stop Mi-nam but the latter refuses, saying he doesn’t want to interfere.

Still, when Tae-kyung sees Mi-nam about to get into a cab, he grabs her and drags her inside the A.N.JELL building. A shouting match ensues. He scolds her for not having any sense of pride and she replies that it’s got nothing to do with him. “You make me so angry when I see you this way,” he shouts. ” Mi-nam screams back: “Why should you get angry because of a thing like me? Just ignore me, don’t watch what I do! You’re so bright and your surroundings are so dark, you can’t see anything clearly and you don’t know anything, so why are you venting your anger at me? Who told you to look at me?” Her eyes fill with tears, but before she can continue speaking, Tae-kyung pulls her to him and kisses her.

(E) Wait! Before he kisses her, he says, “I keep seeing you!” Ahhh, his face when he said that. To have a hot guy like Jang Geun-suk tell you that he keeps seeing you, just pinch me, okay? No, don’t pinch me, don’t wake me up ever!

(F) Just keep dreaming, you silly. By the way, does Jang Geun-suk have a girlfriend? T, do you know?

(J) T doesn’t know anything. She’s so scared of spoilers she doesn’t read a thing about You’re Beautiful and she has no clue what’s going on. If you tell her that YB has been extended to 50 episodes, she’ll believe you. T, YB is now 50 episodes! (T jumps and drops one chopstick)

(F) How do you all feel about the kiss? I thought the whole shouting match between them was really intense. They both acted so well. But the kiss itself… Hmm, kind of flat and anti-climactic. It looked so staged and we never get to see their lips touching.

(J) Yes, it looked like that fake kiss with He-yi and it shouldn’t. I really wanted it to be special. I wanted to see how he kissed Mi-nam and we never get to see it properly, bummer.

(E) Don’t worry, the guy can kiss, trust me. He’s a good actor and all good actors know how to kiss, it goes with the territory. Anyway, I’m sure that won’t be the last time he’s kissing her in the drama. More than the kiss, I was struck by his reaction after that. He looked so gobsmacked.

(F) Yes, he stared at her for a long time and then he said feebly, “I was so angry I lost my reason.” Then he ran off!

(J) It’s kind of cute how the two reacted. The fireworks going off above her head! She was completely dazed. Isn’t it great that your first kiss with the guy you like gives you fireworks? Unfortunately, He-yi then comes along and ruins everything. She sees Mi-nam and she deliberately gets Tae-kyung to say that the hair clip and clothes that he bought for Mi-nam meant nothing to him. Poor Mi-nam. To hear Tae-kyung saying that he doesn’t regard her as a girl right after he kisses her… What a hurtful thud back to earth!

(F) But before Mi-nam overhears that conversation between Tae-kyung and He-yi, she’s sitting in the courtyard wondering why Tae-kyung kissed her. I wished they didn’t have the scenes of her imagining his reasons. It’s that same “maybe” device that’s being used excessively in the drama. It’s silly and childish and unconvincing. Did you guys find it funny? I didn’t. I thought Park Shin-hye looked rather idiotic with her mouth open that way. 

(E) F, I know why you’re mad. It’s because of Shin-woo! Anyway, coming back to He-yi, I just can’t stand her. The way she clings to Tae-kyung, it gives leeches a bad name!

(J) She’s actually no match for Tae-kyung, don’t you think? I can’t wait to see her face when he announces to her that he loves Mi-nam. Please don’t let us wait till the final episode for that to happen!

(E) Oh, let’s not talk about He-yi. My poor Tae-kyung. He’s really confused now because he can’t understand why he kissed Mi-nam. Seeing how he’s so introspective, he’s not going to rest until he can understand himself. His mind is going crazy just thinking about it. Can you imagine, he’s even talking and smiling to himself! But the worst thing is that he thinks Mi-nam’s unaffected by the kiss and that really bothers him.

(F) He got to kiss Mi-nam so let him be confused and suffer for a while. What about Shin-woo? The poor thing’s waiting at the restaurant with flowers and all but Mi-nam doesn’t show up!

(J) That’s T’s seventh scene. Let me drink some citron tea before I read the scene. My throat’s so parched.

After waiting for a long time, Shin-woo calls Mi-nam. He then rushes to the A.N.JELL building to look for her. He finally sees her inside the dance studio. Heartbroken after hearing Tae-kyung say that she’s nothing to him, she cries like she has never cried before. Shin-woo comes in and wants to turn on the lights but she stops him. “I’m so ashamed of my heart that I want to hide it in the darkness.” “But for how long are you going to cry?” he asks. “Are you going to come to me after you’re done crying? You forgot completely about me and yet I waited expectantly for you. I’m the one who’s a total fool.” He tells her that he’s too tired now and he wants her to see his feelings. He switches the lights on, sees her tear-stained face, and at once his anger dissipates. His voice is gentle now as he speaks, “Don’t cry, it’s okay. I’m sorry I got mad.”

(F) Thus speaketh the angel. Can anyone be sweeter than that? Can we just clone Mi-nam so that there’s one of her for Shin-woo as well? The guy’s a saint! Even in his disappointed state he still sings for her…

(E) Don’t be mad, but wasn’t his singing weird? You would expect him to sing sadly, but he was so into the song and he seemed so carried away. It didn’t match the mood that he’s supposed to be feeling. The guy was positively giddy while crooning away!

(F) He’s trying to cheer Mi-nam up! You want him to sob while singing? He’s suffering inside and yet he’s putting on a brave front for the girl he loves. That’s fortitude for you.

(J) Yes, yes. And where is Jeremy in all of this? If there’s one glaring flaw in this drama it’s not giving Jeremy enough meaty scenes! Not only that, he’s getting these awful hairdos. The worst one was that fountain spouting from his head in the badminton scene.

(E) Tae-kyung’s hair in the outdoor photo shoot scene was just as awf…

(J) Wait, wait, that’s the ninth scene. Goodness, T, how long is this recap going to be? I thought you tweeted last week that you’re not going to break the record set by YB 10? (T glances up sheepishly from the side dishes that she’s been eying the last one minute) Okay, let’s get to the eighth scene quickly.

Tae-kyung returns from meeting his mom and President Ahn. His mind isn’t on what his mom said about her dead lover and his lost children, it’s on Mi-nam. He can’t stop thinking about her. Little things come back to him now. The way she hugged him on his birthday, the way their hands touched as he helped to remove the glue from her fingers… His thoughts still on her, he walks up to the house and sees her suddenly, but she runs on seeing him.

Back in her room, she sends him a phone message. “I’m all right,” she wants to say, but her fingers disobey and the words become “It was all right.” Oh no, he’ll think she’s saying the kiss was all right and she likes it! So she sneaks into his room to try and erase the message, but he catches her in the act. In the process of hiding from him, she tumbles off his bed and gets a bruise between her eyes. So he brings her downstairs so that she can apply ointment to the bruise, but she puts too much on her face, stinging her eyes. He brings her to the sink to wash her eyes but it’s still too painful for her to open them, so he holds her hand and leads her up the stairs to her room.

(E) T, I seriously love you. That’s a loooong description, yummy! The whole scene is filled with symbolism, isn’t it? Seeing and not seeing. Being blinded and regaining sight. He being her eyes even as he’s trying to see her more clearly himself. I love it!

(F) I knew you would. Tae-kyung looks happy holding her hand, doesn’t he? It’s so obvious from his sly smile. I must confess the entire scene was really quite sweet. But did you see the staircase? Someone better not be staggering up or down on it while drunk, that thing has no sides!

(J) Oh, I didn’t notice the stairs. I was paying more attention to his reply when she asked if he was still angry with her. He said, “You can’t even see, how do you know whether I’m angry with you? Anyway, about you being a nuisance and always maddening me, that’s all in the past. Now, to me, you’re…”

(E) That Mi-nam! She didn’t let him finish his sentence and instead interrupted and said, “Whatever I am to you is okay.” Seriously, the girl’s way too insecure. Now, if I had a guy like Tae-kyung about to confess what I am to him, I’ll…

(J) Tell us later. We need to move to the ninth scene now or the restaurant’s going to kick us out before we get to the last scene.

The A.N.JELL foursome and He-yi pose for outdoor photos in a verdant park close to the convent where Mi-nam used to live. Jealous of the attention that the three guys are lavishing on Mi-nam, and after learning from Coordinator Wang that Mi-nam likes Shin-woo, He-yi concocts a plan to make her a laughing-stock. She tells Wang that they should dress Mi-nam up so that she can look pretty for Shin-woo. It’s raining heavily so the coordinator brings Mi-nam to a greenhouse, away from the rest, and dolls her up. She even persuades Mi-nam to wear He-yi’s dress.

On the pretext of checking on the rest, Wang leaves and goes to look for Shin-woo. He enters the greenhouse and is stunned to see Mi-nam decked out as a girl. “Wow, you’re so beautiful,” he tells her. As they are sitting side by side, He-yi strolls in with Tae-kyung. “You two look great together,” He-yi says deviously. “You must be trying your best to look pretty for Shin-woo.”

Tae-kyung is outraged. Telling Mi-nam she looks laughable, he stomps off. Mi-nam is in tears and she tells Shin-woo that she indeed did a laughable thing and that she’s more foolish than a fool. He tells her to stop crying because of Tae-kyung. He’s known all along that she likes Tae-kyung because he has been quietly observing her. Does she want to reveal her feelings to Tae-kyung now? “No, it’ll confuse him. I’ll just continue to keep it all to myself, to go back to being a guy.” After Shin-woo leaves, He-yi returns to taunt Mi-nam, mocking her about being a nun. While they are still talking, the reporter suddenly barges in. He-yi asks Mi-nam to run.

(F) He-yi surprises me. I thought she would seize that opportunity to rat to the reporter about Mi-nam but instead she helps Mi-nam to escape. That shows she really isn’t that evil.

(J) I didn’t like the whole greenhouse scene. T didn’t, too. Right, T? (T doesn’t hear, being overly absorbed in the last few strands of glass noodles in the japchae) For Mi-nam to just go along with the coordinator’s suggestion, does it make sense? And I just didn’t like how Mi-nam looked. The hair, the makeup, the dress. They instantly aged her by twenty years! She looked at least 40!

(E) I agree totally. She looked so much prettier in the auditorium scene. But it isn’t just her appearance, it’s how contrived the whole scene was. With so many people outside, is it possible that Mi-nam will take that risk? Anyone can walk in at any moment! Since joining A.N.JELL, we haven’t seen her exactly pining for her old life or wishing she can wear a dress for a change. To suddenly be filled with that longing is unbelievable.

(J) Okay, final scene, phew! It’s really a continuation of the greenhouse scene.

After leaving the greenhouse in a huff, Tae-kyung sits with Manager Ma in the waiting lounge of what is perhaps the park clubhouse. Ma asks why he looks unwell, like someone who’s in pain after being hurt. Tae-kyung replies: “I was startled to see her in that state and angry that someone was with her. I felt painful seeing all that.” Ma is sorting through photos of the outdoor shoot and Tae-kyung sees one of Mi-nam pressing her nose. He learns from Ma that the nose-pressing is simply a coping device which Ma taught Mi-nam to use whenever she’s with someone that she likes and she can’t control her feelings. Putting two and two together, Tae-kyung realizes there’s a reason why Mi-nam has been doing that in front of him. It wasn’t to irritate him, it’s because she likes him.

That night, after crying in front of the Mother Superior, Mi-nam is sitting in the garden, still wearing He-yi’s dress, when Tae-kyung drives up. The headlights of his car are blinding her, but he tells her that he can see her clearly now. Has she always been crying that way when she thought he couldn’t see her? “I won’t cry anymore so just pretend you can’t see me,” she tells him. “How can I pretend not to see you when I can see you this well?” he yells. “Don’t stop looking at me. Keep looking at me. From now on I will acknowledge you liking me.”

(F) What a cliffhanger. And is that supposed to be a confession? Instead of saying that he likes her, he tells her he will acknowledge her feelings for him. What in the world is that supposed to mean? Why can’t he just admit his own feelings? Come on, Hwang Tae-kyung, be a man. You’ve got lots to learn from Shin-woo.

(E) How do you know he’s not going to admit his feelings? We’ll see that in Episode 13 for sure. It’s like how Episode 11 ended. It isn’t the whole scene.

(J) Confession or semi-confession, what’s weird to me is that she hasn’t changed out of that hideous dress! If it’s a scene where the two finally come clean about their feelings for each other, I want them to be at least wearing something more becoming. She looks like his aunt dressed like that! Anyway… WE’RE DONE! T, you still look hungry. You want to order anything else?

(T) Yes, please.

Tagged as: Jang Geun Suk, Jung Chan, Jung Yong Hwa, Lee Hong Ki, Park Shin Hye, UEE, You're Beautiful

Categorised in: K-dramas, Recaps

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