The drama god of love has rolled the dice! All the characters are now intermingled with each other, being cozy and close. Not that cozy and close. But more cozy and close than before. And no crazy family matters this time! Okay, maybe a little crazy. But it's Fashion King so I guess we should expect some craziness. Hell, what am I talking about.
THE EPISODE
Last time, we're left with Young-gul (Yoo Ah-in) sitting on the bus remorseful with no where to go. You'd think that at least he'll go somewhere far away from his problems. But here he is coming back a full circle back to his factory. It must've been one long bus ride. Or he ran all the way to the factory. Isn't that a waste of money?
Good thing he took that bus ride because things were empty when he came back. No chaos, no mess, which was questionable. But there was an addition to the factory: Ga-young's things. But she was no where to be seen.
As Jo Boutique was about to close, Ga-young (Shin Se-kyung) steps in all bloodied and beated up. Of course Madam Jo (Jang Mi-hee) wasn't all too happy about this. Ga-young wanted either two things: to stay at the boutique like old times or borrow money. The money thing is out of the bag, as Madam Jo is a petty as any drama stepmother would be. So Ga-young insists on staying, whether Madam Jo likes it or not. Also, for those of you who were confused about how Ga-young was back in Korea with no diploma, they say that she was accused of assisting a criminal and got deported.
Lo and behold, Ga-young's old room has been turned into a closet so she makes a makeshift bed out of a pile of clothes and a board of some sorts. She looks at a mirror and realized how ghastly she looks and is probably thinking, "Man, I need to get new friends" or something like that.
Young-gul is also left homeless and is forced to crash in his aunt's house for a while. This is the aunt that he was raised with, who was reluctantly placed responsible for the two kids of her problematic brother. Remember that Young-gul flashback with his sister? Well, apparently she has died a long time ago as Young-gul went out to work as a kid.
It seems now his main goal is to find where Ga-young is. He goes to his old Dongdaemun store and asks the current manager about her. Instead, all he gets is a belly full of noodles. At least you get something.
Ga-young's life isn't all too happy either. She is left clinging to a thin blanket and a bottle of soju as the room is unheated because, well, it's a closet. Do you need a heated closet? But she's not there just to moan. She goes to work on designs (which is drawn by a familiar manly hand. Is that Yoo Ah-in drawing?) and, even though the drawings look a little horrid to me, they're progress and progress is good. But she doesn't want to only draw, so she sneaks into the sewing room and makes herself a jacket with the left over material. It's one pretty jacket too, if I may add.
Drawings seem to be a running theme as Jae-hyuk (Lee Je-hoon) was also looking through Anna's (Yuri) own sketches. Are you sure they know how to draw clothes? Because to me they're spending way too much time on the face and not the actual clothes. Maybe it's just me. Anyways, it seems like Jae-hyuk isn't too impressed. Well, I'm not either, and I don't know much about fashion. It looks more department store and less houte couture. In the middle of that meeting, guess who called. Lee Ga-young, and she has something to discuss with boss Jae-hyuk. And, despite his busy schedule, he asks her to meet him tonight.
So what happened with that meeting? Not so well. Jae-hyuk is concerned about the success of their collection and Anna's designs aren't going to cut it. Anna storms out, throwing the pile of clothes into a bin. Man this girl has rejection issues.
Seems like Madam Jo (Jang Mi-hee) and her boutique is doing quite well because the reporters came in to interview her. And as a girl who knows good timing, Ga-young comes in for permission to go out during the interview. To be specific, she wanted to borrow money for cab fare. Seeing that there are reporters around her, Madam Jo couldn't help but be all nice to the girl she hates. I just love when things like this happen. When Ga-young was out of the room, the reported asks Madam Jo that the jacket is so pretty and if it's her design. Liar, liar pants on fire, of course she said yes.
It was finally time for Young-gul to see Hwang Tae-san (Lee Han-wie) once and for all. Sure enough the first thing he got is a fist on his face. It wasn't about the money, but mostly about the girl. Lesson learned: never make a man who throws a good punch jealous. And when Young-gul wasn't giving the right answers, loan shark master asks Jung Il-gook (Shin Seung-hwan) to cut him. Cut his what? Cut his suffering? Cut his hair? Or cut his ehem man parts? Gasp!
Not wanting to be cut, he shows Hwang Tae-san his fashion designs and how just this one design alone can rake in millions of dollars. He then comes up with a brilliant concept that involves Michael J. and Jung Jae-hyuk. But a concept is only a concept until something materializes. And that particular concept, you see, was made during a time of life and death so who knows the probability of it. Even Young-gul knows that.
As promised, Jae-hyuk went out to meet Ga-young that night at an apparently very fancy bar. After the obligatory chit chat, Ga-young gets up out of seat and starts walking. Just walking. Jae-hyuk was like "What? Did I just have a heart attack?" Apparently she wanted to show off her jacket. Should've said that in the first place. And just like every other conversation in this drama, all this is business related. She wants to show Jae-hyuk all her ideas but she has to pay back debt first. Not her debt, just debt. Her belongings that were in the factory? That was just for guarantee. Just as they are about to go home, Jae-hyuk offers Ga-young a ride. Ooh, this just got interesting.
Just then, Young-gul is also on his way to Jo Boutique thanks to the help of Jung Il-gook. As he was nearing the shop, a car rushes in the lot and successfully splashes Young-gul in the face. And that car just has to be Jae-hyuk's. But it wasn't only Young-gul who spots Ga-young coming out of Jae-hyuk's car. Madam Jo saw them too. Trouble is looming near.
Ga-young comes upstairs and was greeted, for the better of it, by Madam Jo. After perhaps years of eyeing Jae-hyuk to be her son-in-law, how can this muddy child so easily sweep him of his feet? If she gets the guy, might as well take that pretty jacket off her, right? Oh and what about the cab fare money since she took a ride on a fancy man's car? Whoops, it was left in said fancy man's car.
Young-gul came in cue and asks Madam Jo how much the change was and threw however much it was in his pocket on the floor to pay her. He then asks Ga-young if she really wanted to stay here, which she replies no, and takes her by the hand as they ran away with the wind. Okay, not like that, but scat they did.
The two took a ride on the midnight bus (in reality, it's probably just a regular bus) and discussed about why she wanted to take responsibility of factory when it was in fact his own mess. Not only that, why was she still seeing that dude Jae-hyuk? Don't you know he's my mortal enemy? Even though it's only strictly business, he isn't too happy about her meddling with his problems. And they grumble and cry all the way home.
Alas things are cheery once again when they managed to pick the lock to the factory. Of course after a couple years of abandonment, the factory isn't what it used to be. As Young-gul came out of his old apartment, he accidentally sees Ga-young changing clothes. He quickly turns his back but came for another peek? No, his eyes sees Ga-young's old notebook and their memories of what used to be hope and a bright future in New York City. The sight of it makes him a little too nostalgic perhaps hurt by what could have been.
Their next destination is Young-gul's old store in Dongdaemun who is now run by Chil-bok (Ra Jae-woong), who is his business partner, if you may say. It was the only place they could go and he's the only person they could trust. And Ga-young might learn a thing or two about the business of fashion while at it.
Anna and her team is now working on the next collection. In the middle of work, J Fashion chairman and Jae-hyuk's dad (Kim Il-woo) comes in and wants a word with Anna. The two starts talking about Anna's background and... her relationship with Jae-hyuk. The man wants no diddle daddle and goes straight to asking her if she has plans to marry Jae-hyuk. Her answer is even though she knows he doesn't want marriage between them, she came to work in J Fashion because she loves Jae-hyuk.
After a good morning jog, Jae-hyuk stopped by Jo Boutique where Madam Jo was in the middle of deconstructing Ga-young's jacket, which she later threw in the trash can. Madam Jo must've thought other things because when Jae-hyuk came only to find Ga-young, you could see flames shooting out of her eyes. While she's at it, might as well attempt to ruin Ga-young's image by tattling on her. Feeling betrayed, I suppose, Jae-hyuk hurries out of the boutique. You didn't even drink the expensive London Earl Gray tea!
Not only did he hear about Ga-young running away with his mortal enemy, Jae-hyuk comes home with his mother relaxing on his sofa. The mother and son dynamics in this family isn't all too good as the mother is a little too resistant to what the son wants. "Are you threatening me right now?" she asks when he says he might register for a marriage license right away. "I'm your son. Why wouldn't I be able to do it?" and he smirks away. Smirk away, my friend. But a mother can't be all too evil to her only son, and she feeds him herbal tea made from ginseng, Russian antlers, and Canadian seals. Ew?
Jae-hyuk goes to his room to check his phone and sees at least a billion missed calls from Anna. When he calls back, she didn't answer. What could this be?
Young-gul is at the bank trying to borrow money from the bank. Apparently with his history of credit, he was denied a loan. He brings up Michael J. and his designs in hope that it will convince the banker about his small business but to no avail.
He's back at his Dongdaemun store, still determined to get his hands on those $40,000 he needed. But instead of money, he sees a pretty girl. Choi Anna to be exact. Chil-bok thought she's just so beautiful, but Young-gul knows her too? Just when the two went out to go somewhere, they are spotted by Ga-young who is carrying a big-ass bag. With heels on. Man, that girl is torturing herself. Jealousy starts to bloom. Or re-grow.
As a way to reconnect for whatever it's worth (the answer may or may not be Michael J.'s phone number), Young-gul and Anna goes to a barbeque place. Of course, Young-gul starts the conversation with Michael J. and the possibility of him getting money off of that jacket of his. They start talking about money (Young-gul's obsession, as she refers it to) but as the drinks go down, things got personal. It was revealed that even though Anna has worked with Michael for years, she has never gotten any kind of respect from him like Young-gul did. It also seems like Anna isn't as talented as we think, as she says that she thinks the only key to success is hard work and, as we know now, she hasn't had much success. And sure enough one of them passed out in this drinking session, and thank goodness it's the girl. Of course, it's the girl.
And as a good drinking companion, the most sober has to piggyback the drunk to his or her apartment, which Young-gul did. He then calls himself a genius after figuring out how to unlock Anna's apartment, which is to use her fingerprint after trying out his own fingers (of course it isn't going to work, genius) and just about every single finger of hers. On top of that, he keeps calling her fat (or heavy or ate one too many pork belly, but that's the same thing).
Anyways, Young-gul takes off her shoes, later marveling at how pretty it is, and tucks her in. Tears run down her face, perhaps because of her previous confession to how sometimes she thinks of ending things because they're too stressful. But man her covers are a tad tacky. When he was just about to go home, he sees Jae-hyuk standing in the middle of the living room. Dun dun duuuuun.
THE COMMENTARY
Dear drama, thank you! This was the first episode that I was squealing in delight, and not just because of Yoo Ah-in. You don't know how long I've waited for this! I think this drama is really a character driven drama, not plot driven, although plot is also needed just like every other drama. The love story between the characters are going to be more important, and interesting, than any stepmother-back-stabbing-business-punching plot there is. Although the possibility of bringing in more of the family conflict is wide open, I hope they focus more on the main four because this is where the magnet is.
I'm so happy that Jae-hyuk isn't only this evil, eye brow raising villain that he was in the first few episodes. We can see how he's beginning to open himself, especially around Ga-young. He's also creating tension between himself and his parents which might later turn to be one interesting plot. Besides Lee Je-hoon as a smiley cute person is much more attractive than him being all angsty and evil.
Also, it seems like every character is two-timing each other. This is good. No one is the victim here. Because everyone is with everyone else, everything is even. The rivalry is also clearly seen between the characters of the same gender, professionally and romantically. And if this drama is really mixing a young adult's struggle to achieve success, this is really important to establish this.
Finally I can say that I am excited for this drama. It took them a little too long (5 episodes for freak's sake!) but it's better slowly but surely. I also heard episode 7 is when ball starts to roll real good. Okay, so let's get to it. Spoiler, in episode 6 there is one golden scene. You'll have to tune in tomorrow for what it is.
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