The circle is complete. If in episode 5 the sparks are just randomly flying, in episode 6 they are officially connected to each other. The relationships are also taken to a new level where not only are they strictly romantic, but are starting to become more business related. When you mix emotions with work, the game starts.
THE EPISODE
After tucking in Anna (Yuri), Young-gul (Yoo Ah-in) is startled to find Jae-hyuk (Lee Je-hoon) standing in the middle of the living room clearly angry. Without a warning, Jae-hyuk planted his fist on Young-gul's face. Young-gul then remembers the photo from Jae-hyuk's wallet. Forever my love, Anna. Ah, so these two are lovers. The two were inches away from a death match until Young-gul remembers that Anna is sleeping and they should keep quiet. Despite their tension, Jae-hyuk asks Young-gul to tell Ga-young to come by his office the next morning. After not getting the reason behind it, Young-gul tells Jae-hyuk he'll call Anna later also. Just to stir things up a bit.
Apparently he's still a homeless man because he comes back to his Dongdaemun store, only to find Ga-young (Shin Se-kyung) already sleeping on the floor. He sees Ga-young's shoes and realizes how beat up they are, especially compared to Anna's beautiful red stilettos. Feeling beat up himself, he lays down next to Ga-young to catch some shut eye. Ga-young notices he came back and shares the blanket with him.
It's early morning in Anna's apartment and she is still feeling hungover. Her "it's complicated" boyfriend is sitting so elegantly on the couch reading newspaper. He warns Anna about not making a mistake considering re-start of their relationship was rocky. Anna didn't tell Jae-hyuk about meeting his father, and saying that she told him they were to get married eventually. It was the right thing to say, Jae-hyuk says to her.
Young-gul also woke up with a hangover too, a mighty one he claims, and has breakfast with Ga-young where they talked about Anna, and Young-gul still sang high praises for her despite Ga-young evidently jealous. The two seem to always quarrel when they meet, especially Ga-young being overly concerned about the factory. She then shows him her sketches and how they are part of her plans in working with Jae-hyuk. Young-gul is impressed and began imagining his own Dongdaemun fashion show with her designs.
Excited about the idea, Young-gul helps Ga-young dress up for her meeting. And ends up picking things slightly more provocative than Ga-young have thought, to her dismay.
On her way up to the office, Ga-young bumps into Anna. Even though Ga-young greeted her, it seems like Anna couldn't recognize Ga-young.
Turns out Ga-young's gut feeling was right as Jae-hyuk found her clothes to be a little too... distracting, blaming it fully on Young-gul (you got it right, sir). Jae-hyuk can also sense Young-gul's own urgency behind this, and clearly states that he has no interest in saving the factory and only in her designs. Ga-young also declares her offer and only wants money up front to pay for that debt, which Jae-hyuk agrees.
Ga-young goes home and reports her meeting. Young-gul is suspicious Jae-hyuk likes her because no one in their right mind will agree to her offer. But the main thing now is that they could pay back their debt. They decided to start anew and names their business Young-young Apparel. A little cheesy, but we shouldn't expect a lot from dramaland.
In a truly material-minded world, all is fine when money is flowing. All those people who cursed at them were suddenly nice when they got their money back. To celebrate, he invites Ga-young and the three former Young Girl employees for a lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
Apparently Young-gul is such a ladies man that the three employees are all dolled up ajumma style complete with perms and red lips just to meet him in a Chinese restaurant. And while the employees were excited to see Young-gul, sitting in the corner is someone who isn't. Bong-sook (Yoo Chae-young) has come back to Seoul to seek revenge. After being kicked out of America for having connections with Young-gul who was then a criminal and after it was found she was an illegal immigrant, Bong-sook comes back to Korea with no jobs and no place to stay. It was originally supposed to be a confrontation with Young-gul, but after dissing the employees, it's a full on cat fight with Young-gul not able to do a single thing.
The fight eventually dies down and Bong-sook sits down with Young-gul to explain everything. While she's at it, might as well ask for a job right? Even though the other employees were against it, Young-gul is happy to have her on his team. Even though the other employees hates her, at least she's still best friends with Ga-young.
Jae-hyuk finally gets Ga-young's designs in the mail. Right off the bat he was impressed. Young-gul also has a copy of her designs, and the gears in his head starts spinning. He calls Chil-bok about something he said earlier, and is that an evil smile I see? What does he have up his sleeves?
In the J Fashion office, Anna and her team is in the middle of presenting the new collection concept which is not well received. Jae-hyuk then tells Anna his plans to put Ga-young's designs into the collection, but putting it under Anna's name. Even though Jae-hyuk has good intentions, Anna feels her being there is worthless at this point.
The bickering duo of Ga-young and Young-gul sees no end. Ga-young wasn't too happy with her fabric and material money being used for paying back debt, but Young-gul thinks paying $100 dollars for fabric is too much, considering it's only sample. Like a tennis match, the other employees can only watch back and forth as the argument progresses. As means of cutting the corners, Young-gul asks Ga-young to take some fabric from Jae-hyuk's office, which she is reluctant to.
Just then Jae-hyuk just has to come in the factory. He came to check the progress of his orders, which as of now is zero. Seeing there's no progress, Jae-hyuk suggests Ga-young to come be his employee until his orders are finish, or Young-gul has to give back the money Jae-hyuk gives him. Young-gul agrees, but only if Ga-young was given extra salary.
Anna comes in her apartment to see Jae-hyuk in the kitchen making them dinner. But after what happened earlier, Anna lost her interest. In said dinner. Despite his nice gesture, Anna keeps brushing him off. Which results in him blowing his fuse. He's disappointed she keeps making decisions based on her own interests and not even considering what the company has in stakes.
Young-gul visits a bigger factory and, what's this? He has Ga-young's designs in his hands? But why is he making the clothes without Ga-young anywhere in proximity?
It's a big day for Ga-young, her first day working in the J Fashion. And while she is busy prettying herself, her boss is still sound asleep. Despite not caring much about his own employee, he's still adamant in getting those free fabrics. As Ga-young steps out, Young-gul's phone rings (it's a Samsung phone but a Nokia ringtone. Weird I know). It seems serious, and seems like he's in big trouble.
Just before Ga-young starts to work, she meets Secretary Kim (Yoon Ki-won). He seems to be problem solver of some sorts in that family because most of the dirty work is done by him. He warned Ga-young since they were in America that she should stay away from Jae-hyuk or things will get messy. "But I'm here to work," she says. "That's how it all starts! You don't think that's how Miss Choi (Anna) started?" he replies. Ah, so Jae-hyuk has means of getting the ladies. I guess this is what happens when you have a big company under your name. He literally begs her to not start anything or else she'll be done for.
Ga-young is then asked to report to Jae-hyuk before she starts working, and I guess that's the reason for the pep talk. After giving a few commands to Secretary Kim, Jae-hyuk calls Ga-young over. She was literally only there to say her greetings before getting sent back. After the two left, Jae-hyuk smiled to himself in the most sincere way he has ever done in the drama.
After getting that phone call, the Young-young factory becomes busy again. They have project that they have to finish fast. Because they don't have enough money to buy fabric, they used leftovers to make... something. Something luxurious with silk and golden sequins. Not only were they making this luxurious piece of clothing, Bong-sook also made herself a very sexy mini dress. It all ties in together. Don't worry guys.
Young-gul is back in the headquarters of Hwang Tae-san (Lee Han-wie) and his henchmen. It was time for him to report his plans that he promised just a week ago before he was about to get cut. Or be cut. Depends what the cut is. His quickly made plan is to make a fashion brand that includes Hwang's name. Young-gul plans to make Hwang the fashion king of the fashion kingdom. That's right. The drama's title is now said in the actual drama. Cool right! Ehem.
But before their grand plan starts, Young-gul has a little gift for Hwang Tae-san. In comes Bong-sook, or um, Mademoiselle Bong, in the sexy dress that she made earlier. She rolls in the clothing that Young-young factory has been working hard on. A completely blinged out suit. Of course all the boys could see was the sexy Mademoiselle Bong. Young-gul claims this suit as the first project of YGM. Yellow Great Mountain. Ha! This is what cracked me up, because YGM is Hwang's name in, rather forced, English. Hwang=yellow, tae=great, san=mountain. This is comedy gold right there. Or maybe it's just me.
Despite their argument the previous day, Jae-hyuk calls Anna in his office offering an apology for the harsh words he said to her. Anna returned his apology, saying she was being too sensitive about it all. Perhaps because she also realizes she's not that talented to begin with. A little help could go a long way.
They later go to the design department where Jae-hyuk officially introduces Anna's so-called personal assistant, Ga-young. To his surprise, the two already knew each other back in New York. On paper, these two can make a good team. Anna has the experience and Ga-young has the ideas. But Anna doesn't agree and starts being harsh from the beginning, perhaps because of her connections with Young-gul or the fact that Jae-hyuk is a little too nice to her. It will get brutal later on.
Somewhere else, Madam Jo (Jang Mi-hee) and J Fashion CEO and Jae-hyuk's mother, Yoon Hyang-sook (Lee Hye-sook), is chatting about Ga-young for some reasons. As usual, Madam Jo uses every chance to tattle tale on the horrible things Ga-young has done, especially those related with Jae-hyuk. CEO Yoon only shrugs it off. She's only interested on how to get rid of Anna for good, especially since he's been more of a brat lately. Out of no where, sort of, Madam Jo suggests that the real problem isn't Anna, but Ga-young instead.
Madam Jo then goes to the bathroom talking to herself, I think something related to CEO Yoon but I didn't understand fully. Just then, Ga-young comes out of one of the stalls. Cue the awkward moment silent pause. Ah, seems like Madam Jo doesn't know she's even working there.
Young-gul is in his office talking to, my guess, Chil-bok about the sample progress over at the big factory. So everything was a secret, because he tells Chil-bok to make sure no one speaks of this to anyone else. Just then someone comes in the factory. Is it Ga-young? No, it's Anna. What's she doing there? And how can these people just go in and out of people's places like that? No manners.
Ga-young is still in the office. Actually, she's in the factory warehouse. Young-gul has persuasive capabilities, doesn't he. Sure enough, she is there to take some fabric. Most likely secretly, as she was keeping an eye on her surroundings at all time. She starts picking out some fabric, big bundles at a time. She then spots a fabric she wants, but it's on the highest rack. Not thinking things thoroughly, she steps on her cart, a cart that can roll, and tries to get that fabric. She's too short, and she attempts a few times to reach it. Just as she was about to get a hand on it, she slips and starts falling. Drama style. But the drama saves her from major head injury and, like a chivalrous prince, Jae-hyuk is there and catches her in his arms. I didn't hear you come in, sir.
THE COMMENTARY
The ball keeps rolling faster and faster from where it left off the previous episode. Not only do we know that each character is two timing each other, they are now in one bundle of mess. Everyone is working with everybody and the tension is high. Having everyone related to each other and has equally strong feelings, whether positive or negative, to each other brings a whole new dynamics. It's different than other romantic dramas where there is one or two passive characters in terms of jobs and the likes. But in this drama, not only are in each other's face quite literally, they are also trying to succeed in their own professions.
This was the biggest selling point of the drama and I can see why it's going to do them good. Work relations should never be to mixed with emotions, but this drama is taking that concept to a whole new level. And with all the characters working in the same industry, it just makes the clashing more probable and more frequent. Hopefully also more intense.
Each character was also given new light. Young-gul hasn't been your typical leading man since the beginning, but he's also starting to skew paths, especially with the whole using designs behind designer's back thing. Ga-young isn't the usual damsel in distress, only waiting for someone to come and save her. She's actually trying to make amends herself. With Ga-young in the picture, Jae-hyuk is starting to soften up and he's starting to show emotions more than just hatred. Anna is also starting to become that evil lady antagonist based on what we've seen today, but I get the feeling that she's evil with a purpose. Okay, so maybe evil is a little too harsh. But she has shown her more aggressive side and I can see how that can play up well in the plot.
I also appreciate that, despite bringing up the tension, the drama still managed to give me a few laughs. I could see how Bong could possibly provide us many laughs, especially when around Hwang Tae-san. I hope they become a couple or something because it will be hilarious. Although I think the probability of our class clown Young-gul acting up again is slimmer as the episodes go. It's okay, just still bring the laughs and all will be well.
The pieces is now starting to complete the puzzle. It took too long to get here, but I don't see how they can shorten it. It's disappointing that it's been dragging on though. I still think this drama still has many plot holes and oh so many cliches. I don't even think this will run away as one of the best dramas of the year. But I'll be glad to be proven wrong. Make your move drama. Impress me.
Oh, and is it just me or is Jae-hyuk's theme song similar to Byeon Hak-do's in Sassy Girl Chun-hyang? Oddly enough, Lee Je-hoon played the younger version of Uhm Tae-woong (who played Byeon) in the new movie Introductions to Architecture. No wonder those smirks look familiar.
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