Showing posts with label 2010 korean drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010 korean drama. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox: Episode 6

Next>>
Marveling at the ring on her finger, Mi-ho declares that she is Dae-woong’s girlfriend. And he can’t help but give a smile in response. They then bump their ringed fists together, sealing their deal. Immediately, Mi-ho jumps up and mentions that there was also always something she wanted to do once she got a boyfriend. She dashes off and arrives... dressed as a bride!

She starts to bow, but Dae-woong stops her mid-bow, horrified that she is trying to marry him when all he said was that he would be her boyfriend. He starts walking away, but stops midway when Mi-ho asks he wants to mate instead. He laughs nervously, and Mi-ho mistakes it that he wants to mate with her. He declares that he would rather throw up the fox bead than mate with a gumiho. But Mi-ho just smiles at his futile gestures of playing hard-to-get.

Left with no other option, Dae-woong decides to beat her at her own game: he grabs her and backs her up against the wall, leaning in close, asking her if thei is what she wanted. In his mind, she retreats shyly, saying she was just kidding… However, Mi-ho instead grabs him into a hug that sends him running away, begging for mercy.

Dae-woong tries to set some ground rules with Mi-ho, explaining to her that their arrangement is more of a contract than an actual relationship. She promises not to do anything he does not want, so he requests that she stop looking at him like she is going to eat him up.

In the middle of the night, Dae-woong is woken up by sounds of Mi-ho crying. It turns out that the reason she is crying is because she used a permanent marker to draw her wedding makeup, and now it would not come off. Dae-woong checks her face to see the damage, and then goes online to find a way to take it off. He manages to fix her fixes her face. She tells him she wanted to paint her face like that and get married five hundred years ago, but because of all the bad rumors, no one came, and she got locked up in that painting.

The next day, Byung-soo decides to tell the director about Dae-woong’s injuries, but he finds out that that Dae-woong is not only healed, but also performing action stunts that meet the director’s expectation. Dae-woong convinces Byung-soo that he is fine. Byung-soo notices the couple ring on his finger, which he promptly tells Sun-nyeo. Sun-nyeo runs to check Hye-in’s finger, to see if she’s got a matching ring. Hye-in huffs at the mention that Dae-woong would have another girl other than her.

Mi-ho visits Dong-joo, showing off her couple ring and telling him that people only give these when they like somebody. He counters that Dae-woong does not see her as a human, nor does he have any reason to like her. To try and prove him wrong, Mi-ho starts to lists all the things Dae-woong praised her for: like her super-speed and strength. He retorts that those abilities are not so important in a world with cars and airplanes. Dong-joo warns her not to rely too much on her looks and throw herself at Dae-woong. He advises her to try and do stuff that Dae-woong wants to do.

So back at home, Mi-ho attempts to ask Dae-woong what he wants, but he just wants her to be quiet while he learns his lines. Interrupted by workers ready to clear out the attic room where they are staying, they head out and run into the chicken shop lady. Dae-woong is surprised to see that Mi-ho has made friends in the neighborhood. He’s proud of her, until his phone rings and it is Dong-joo calling, he is looking for Mi-ho. Dae-woong’s jaw drops as she answers the phone cheerily to talk to this unknown man (to him).

Mi-ho tries to sneak off, but Dae-woong tells her to talk right there in front of him. But she steps away and is smiling and looking coy while talking on the phone to Dong-joo, causing Dae-woong’s blood pressure to rise. Dae-woong stalks over and wonders if they are really close as Mi-ho calls Dong-joo her friend. Frustrated, Dae-woong tells her that Dong-joo should not be calling his phone to talk to her. She agrees and says that she should just go visit him instead.

At the bus stop, fellow commuters are marveling Mi-ho’s beauty while she is busy staring at a picture of beef. One of the male commuters who is also waiting for the bus gets up to talk to her. Dae-woong steps up to Mi-ho, glancing sideways angrily, and puts his arm around her right in front of the guy, sticking his hand out to show the ring.

On the bus, they sit separated by the aisle, another guy sees Mi-ho and decides to sit next to her. Eagle-eyed Dae-woong notices him and beats him to the seat, silently taking her hand and holding it up, displaying their matching rings. Oblivious, Mi-ho asks why he is sitting next to her now, when he kept telling her to keep her distance from him. He replies that he is doing it selflessly to save humanity from her. Go Min-yeo, a high school junior of Dae-woong’s, interrupts them.

Now it is Mi-ho’s turn to stake her jealous claim. Min-yeo asks for Dae-woong’s new phone number, but when he reaches for his phone, Mi-ho grabs his ring hand and holds it up defiantly. Seeing the gesture and rings, Min-yeo apologizes for intruding when he was with his girlfriend, and leaves.

Mi-ho muses that the ring is quite handy, having the power to send any unwanted girls running in the opposite direction. Dae-woong assures her that he is not that easy, and declares that no matter how popular he always was he only ever had eyes for one girl, Hye-in. Mi-ho frowns and asks why he did not maje her his girlfriend. And he lets slip that he was going to with rings and all. It dawns on Mi-ho that the rings was not hers to begin with and pouts. Dae-woong tries to assure her that they are not rejection rings, as he never even got to tell Hye-in or give her the rings. He tries to apologize in a reverse-psychology sort of way by telling her that he will take off his rings than, which Mi-ho promptly stops him from doing so.

Dae-woong takes Mi-ho with him to class as he felt bad leaving her outside. Mi-ho is very excited, yet nervous, to be going to class like a real human. So Dae-woong goes to get her some bubbly water (lemon-lime soda). Outside, he runs into Hye-in. She tries to check out his ring finger, but he quickly hides his hand, pulling the ring off which causes it to drop to the ground. In a panic, he quickly kicks it under the soda machine. Upon seeing his bare hand, Hye-in smiles to herself. He fishes for the the ring once she’s gone, while she heads to the lecture hall with a sandwich for him, missing Mi-ho sitting inside.

Dae-woong lies to Hye-in that classes got cancelled and rushes her back out, when she offers to attend class with him. So Hye-in decides that she wants to take him out to lunch, so Dae-woong rushes back to Mi-ho and lies to her that he has an errand to run. Alas, to his dismay, Hye-in wants to drive out for lunch, he gulps, wondering if it’ll be okay.

Meanwhile, Mi-ho gets kicked out when she accidentally raised her hand in class while catching a fly. So she ends up waiting for Dae-woong outside. She heads home on her own when he does not show up. It is at this juncture, on her way home, that Director Ban spots her while dropping Sun-nyeo off. Mi-ho, recalling Dae-woong’s instructions, flees. Director Ban gives chase in his car, but she manages to give him the slip. However, her heart races, and she gets flushed, making her wonder if there is something wrong with her.

Back at the restaurant, Dae-woong gobbles his meal with lightning speed, and runs back to the lecture hall only to find it empty.

Clutching at her heart and saying that something is wrong with her, Mi-ho has gone to Dong-joo. He explains that she is slowly becoming human, and that is what it feels like to hurt, adding that human beings hurt easily, and often. He asks if she can endure it, and she smiles, happy to hear that she is taking on human characteristics, and insists that she can handle it. He cooks her a steak.

Back home, Dae-woong also prepares a plate of meat, and waits for Mi-ho. He even prepares an entire tray full of chilled bubbly water for her. Tired of endless waiting, Dae-woong finally heads down to wait for her outside. But on his way down the stairs, he sees Mi-ho walking in with Dong-joo. He is s surprised that Dong-joo looks like a normal guy. He sulks when he overhears Mi-ho telling Dong-joo how much she loved the meat he cooked for her. She asks if the meat was expensive, and when he answers that it was, she muses that Dae-woong would not be getting it for her. Dong-joo then puts his hand on her forehead to check her temperature, making Dae-woong jealous.

She runs off to find Dae-woong, and finds him grilling meat in a bad mood because she had eaten expensive meat elsewhere with another man, before coming home. She smiles, knowing that he overheard her conversation with Dong-joo. Dae-woong chastises Mi-ho for pretending to be a sickly weak girl, putting on an act to get expensive steak. While he’s busy being righteously indignant, Mi-ho notices that he no longer has his ring on. They head back to school and she lifts up the soda machine for him to retrieve his ring.

He tries forget why the ring was not on his finger, but Mi-ho relentlessly asks how did the ring end up there. Left with no other choice, Dae-woong tells Mi-ho that he took the ring off as he did not want Hye-in to see it. Realizing that Dae-woong had left her in school to hide her from Hye-in. Mi-ho is upset and hurt that he does not think of her the same way that she does. She asks him what he wants, and he declares that there is he would want from a gumiho. With a stricken look on her face, she wonders if all he wants from her is her fox bead. He asks her why ask if she already knew that that was the truth, and walks away, leaving her deflated.

Determined to find out the truth, Hye-in decides to head over to Dae-woong’s place to clear up this couple ring mystery once and for all.

Dae-woong, unable to sleep, looks outside, and is shocked to find Mi-ho drunk, with her tails hanging out. Dae-woong realizes that Mi-ho is heavily intoxicated, as there were even soju bottles amongst the beer cans. He asks her to keep her tails, and Mi-ho is so happy that she is finally asked to do something that she happily complies in her drunken state. She asks him what else he wants, and he gets her to hammer a nail with her bare hand, howl at the neighbor’s dog to shut him up, and kill the mosquitoes.

As Hye-in is on her way up, Mi-ho smells her coming and informs Dae-woong that Hye-in is on the way up. With that she steps up on the ledge with her hands out and declares that she is going to give him something that he really wants because she likes him. Just as Hye-in enters behind him, and when he turns, Mi-ho jumps off the ledge and disappears. Realizing that Mi-ho is gone, he rushes over calling her name. Although he sees Hye-in, he brushes past her to find Mi-Ho.

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox: Episode 5

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox > Episode 5 [Watch it]
The next morning Dae-woong assumes that Mi-ho is out scavenging trashcans. It does not occur to him that she has left him for good. As the beef remains untouched for some time, he slowly recalls seeing Mi-ho when he was drunk the night before. But he does not remember the part where he told her to leave. When he accidentally drops a bag on is foot, he wonders why it hurts and comes to the conclusion that he does not have the bead’s protection, which would mean that Mi-ho is gone. He rushes outside to find her, but to no avail.

He comes back into the house with a disappointed look and posture slumped, it almost looks like he is going to cry tear… of joy. He basks in his new found freedom and quickly packs his things ready to leave the place, just in case Mi-ho comes back looking for him. While packing he discovers Mi-ho’s hidden stash of chicken coupons that is just short of 1 (10 needed). Although he is touched by the gesture, he snaps out of it and heads off, unaware that Mi-ho is watching him. Suddenly, despite the clear skies, it rains and Dae-woong stops, thinking that it is Mi-ho, only to realize that it was just a man washing his car. When more rain pours down, he turns to complain to the car washer but there is nobody.

Even though he acts happy Dae-woong cannot shake off his unsettled feelings, that he actually misses Mi-ho. He tells Grandpa that Mi-ho left on her own accord and that he did nothing wrong. Grandpa is dismayed as he credited Dae-woong apparent maturity to Mi-ho. When Hye-in calls Dae-woong, he rushes to her side. She tells him not to get too involved with Mi-ho even is she were to return, and gets upset when Dae-woong complains that it was rude of Mi-ho to leave the way she did without even informing him. Although he insists that he is thrilled Mi-ho is not around, he is not quite convincing.

Meanwhile, Mi-ho, having found her way to the university and keeps out of the sight of humans, and even empties the soda vending machine. With her fox bead back, her powers are also back, enabling her to move speedily and glide in the air. This terrifies students who come across her in the darkened areas of the school: meat disappears and things suddenly fall over.

Mi-ho runs when she spots Dong-joo in the school. However, he manages to catch up with her and even knocks her out and extracts her fox bead. Dae-woong, unaware of what has happened to Mi-ho, is celebrating his movie role. His smile soon leaves his face when Byung-soo asks him if Mi-hoo knows the good news.

Night soon falls and Dae-woong drops by the action school in hopes of finding Mi-hoo there. He even brings along some beer. He tries to figure out what made her leave and starts to drink the beer.

Mi-ho awakens to find herself in Ding-joo’s apartment, where he presents her with 2 vials: one containing her fox bead and the other his blood. He offers her a choice: the read vial containing his blood will be able to kill her gumio side, while if she were to take the blue one she would have to return to the temple.

Dae-woong meets with a minor accident when a motorcyclist collides into him. At the doctor’s, he is advised to take it easy for his weak bones as he was recently in a huge accident. If he were to injure himself in this condition, he might never be able to walk again. Worried about his movie role, Dae-woong comes to the realization that it was Mi-ho’s bead that was keeping him healthy; he needs her.

Hungry, Mi-ho goes out to eat beef and packs away 10 servings. As she has no money to pay for it, she washes the dishes to earn her food. Meanwhile Dae-woong returns to the action school loft hoping to search for clues about Mi-ho’s whereabouts, but the only thing he finds are the chicken coupons. He then remembers that Mi-ho had left because he asked her too.

Hence, Dae-woong tries calling the temple to inquire if the missing fox from the painting has shown up. He even calls the number he got when Mi-ho first left him a voicemail in the first episode, but it is answered by the lady who owns the chicken restaurant.

Mi-ho finally finds a tenth coupon and heads back to the action school loft, to add it to Dae-woong’s stash. Glumly, she figures he won’t come back here anymore, and says, “I really, really miss Dae-woong.” While she is thinking, Dae-woong races back towards the loft, after having spoken to the chicken lady. Mi-ho catches his scent as he is running towards the school loft. She asks him if he was looking for her, and is happy that he says yes. He continues on that he was happy when she left initially, but it was only for a while, Mi-ho is touched, unaware that De-woong is doing this because he needs her fox bead.

Mi-ho asks him if he would like to hold on to her fox bead for a while longer, no bothering about the reason why Mi-ho is offering him her fox bead, he readily accepts. As the bead is with Dong-joo, Mi-hoo has to retrieve it from his apartment. So while M-hi is retrieving her fox bead, Dae-woong goes home to pack his stuff to move back in to the loft again.

Although Mi-ho has made her decision, humanity, Dong-joo asks what she would she do if Dae-woong runs to another woman during the 100 days he has to keep her bead. Mi-ho replies that she trusts him. Dong-joo tells her that the woman she resembles also answered in that way, but she died in the end, and asks again if she is sure of her decision. Mi-ho nods her head. Accepting her choice, Dong-joo advices her not to tell Dae-woong that she is trying to become human, in order to keep him from running away too readily. So basically, when she drinks Dong-joo’s blood she will slowly start to die:
her gumiho energy will slowly empty away while her bead will live in the human for 100 days, taking in his energy. When she reclaims her bead, she will become human.

Back at the loft, Mi-ho confirms with Dae-woong if e is willing to keep her bead again. He eagerly agrees, but she warns him that while he carries her bead, he cannot run far away, share his ki with another, cannot quit mid-way and stay with her for 100 days. Dae-woong is alarmed that he will have to stay with her for 100 days, as she is not even his girlfriend, to which Mi-ho exclaims that she will be his girlfriend! He refuses initially but finally agrees to this arrangement.

Dae-woong tells her, “Since I’m a human, I’ll do this human-style. Gu Mi-ho, please be my girlfriend.” And with that, he slides the couple ring on her finger, and she marvels at it happily. In fact, she’s so happy that her nine tails pop out.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Smile, Honey

Smile, Honey is a family Korean drama that revolves around 2 families and their interactions. First, there is the Suh family, who owe their riches and prestige to the now-deceased CEO/father/grandfather. There are 5 members in the Suh family: Suh Jung-gil who is the head of the family, his wife Ju-hee, Sung joon the eldest son who went to U.S. to become a pro golfer, Jung-Kyung the second child in the family and Jung-in, the youngest daughter.

Jung-gil is a snobbish man and looks down on people who have no money, his wife is more of an air-head that only cares about her nails and feels faint at the slightest sign of trouble of hardwork.

Bascially, the whole Suh family, except for Jung-kyung are snotty and out of touch with reality. Jung-kyung is the only one in her family that is rational. However, she is a little too rational and practical; that it would seem that she lacks emotion: she’s cool, professional, and detached. Her attitude causes strain to her relationship with her younger sister Jung-in. Jung-kyung chooses to focus on her career and at the start of the show, interacts or spends very little time with her family, preferring to stay at the hospital than go home. She does not think too highly of her younger sister who is the princess of the family and only dreams about getting married into a good rich family.

Then there is the Kang family. Kang Man-bok (Grandpd Kang) has been the driver to the Suh family since Jung-gil’s father’s time. Jung-gil is rude to Man-bok and disrespectful to him; he even fires Man-bok one morning because he felt that Man-bok was nagging too much. Gandpa Kang is not necessarily the lead character but certainly the central one who holds the rest together. It is though a twist of events that brings the two families together and mayhems ensues. It is good family fun and be the end of the (pretty long) series, almost everyone is paired up with everyone else and of course it is a happy ending.

This drama is recommended is you like the funny, the sweet and the happy family dramas that have a plot, no unrealistic drama and (yes) a happy ending!


Saturday, December 11, 2010

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox: Episode 3

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox > Episode 3 [Watch it]
Dae-woong rushes to assure Hye-in that Mi-ho isn’t his girlfriend, but she doesn't look too pleased at his clumsy insistence, either. Hye-in leaves and Dae-woong chases her trying to explain with enough half-truths to mollify her: He went to the countryside for a few days and Mi-ho accommodated him in her home. Mi-ho had followed him back to Seoul to escape her strict grandmother, which he didn’t realize till she was already here. He feels sorry for her because she knows nobody here, and she did help him out while he was in the countryside. Hye-in sighs that Mi-ho took advantage of his soft-heartedness.

Meanwhile, Byung-soo clucks in disapproval at Dae-woong’s disgraceful treatment of Mi-ho (his girlfriend) in front of his noona. Mi-ho, being from a previous era, doesn’t immediately grasp the meaning of “girlfriend”, but she guesses that the word signifies “the one you want for a mate”, and that Dae-woong’s reaction means “he has no intention of taking me as his mate.”
 
Dae-woong is happily escorting Hye-in to lunch when Mi-ho approaches. Hye-in’s easy attitude soon becomes pettish in the presence of a rival. Dae-woong hurries over to Mi-ho to tell her to stay away for a while, while while he goes out to lunch. But she gets straight to the point: “Do you like her? Are you going to mate with her?” He protests and asks if she’s jealous. Touching his chest, Mi-ho tells him he can’t carry her fox bead and “share his ki [energy]” with another woman, “because that hurts my fox bead.”

He asks for a definition of “sharing ki” and gets back the answer: “to mate.” She won’t allow him to go off with Hye-in, especially since she can see that he was ready to not only share his ki but practically give her his entire soul. Mi-ho decides she’d better go with him, or he’ll have to give back her bead. Not really much of a choice, is it? She simplifies the choice: “If you go, you die.”

While the two are having their discussion, Hye-in, tired of waiting, drives off, ignoring Dae-woong who chases after her car. He tries to look for the silver lining in being ditched: it would have been more embarrassing to tell Hye-in he couldn’t go with her, so it’s better that Hye-in left him behind first. Mi-ho perks up at this admission that he wasn’t going to follow her.

He barks at her in annoyance, but Mi-ho replies in a hurt voice that she’s just trying to save him, emphasizing: “I want to save you from dying, so I’m giving you my really precious fox bead.”

Upon hearing that, he feels a stab of remorse and exasperatedly says that he’s upset because his pride has taken a hit. Soon, Mi-ho’s hungry again, but decides not to tell him as she thinks that asking Dae-woong for more meat will just make him more angry with her.

On the bus, Dae-woong sits as far from Mi-ho has possible, casting sidelong glances as she literally salivates over an ad for a meat restaurant. She looks at him pathetically, but he pretends not to see and texts Hye-in an apology message.

Mi-ho watches the a mother-daughter pair seated in front of her: the mother tells her cute daughter that she just wants to “eat her up.” Upon hearing that, Mi-ho wonders why a woman would want to eat her own child. When the girl looks over at her, Mi-ho jokes that she might eat the girl herself. Dae-woong, having seen Mi-ho raise the girl’s hand to her mouth as though to take a bite, panics and drags her off the bus.

Mi-ho insists that she was just copying the mother’s behavior, reminding him that she doesn’t eat people. Realizing that he over-reacted, and feeling abashed, he soon thinks otherwise when she tells him, “If I were hungry, would I eat a little dog? I’d eat something bigger like you.”

As a result of dragging Mi-ho out the bus in a panic, he left his cell phone on the bus. In a desperate attempt to get in touch with his phone, he asks strangers to borrow their phone, hoping that a stranger will pick up. While he’s busy pleading with them, Mi-ho takes off running after the bus. When he successfully connects to his phone, he gets Mi-ho on the line. Due to her her superhuman speed and hearing, she managed to track down the bus, and brings him his phone.

Dae-woong notices that she’s out of breath, and is a little surprised that a gumiho would experience the same physical reactions as a human. She then explains that since he has her bead, she feels the physical exertion more than normally. It’s not until this very moment that he understands that he bead is very important to her.

Mi-ho gathers him up in a hug and tells him to pay attention, and he’s able to feel the beads pull. He finally understands that she’s a different being — even the passing of time felt different. Mi-ho reiterates that he has the most precious part of her inside him, requesting that he treats it carefully and make sure it isn’t injured. He promises.

That evening, unable to accept his friends’ invitations to party, Dae-woong is stuck at home lamenting that while Mi-ho is with him, he can't do anything.

He sneaks out quietly to talk with Hye-in outside when she drops by while Mi-ho is napping. With a perceived rival now on the scene, Hye-in asks him to declare his feelings for her, giving him encouragement — holding his hand and embracing him — to pressure him into making his declaration.

Dae-woong is tempted and leans in for a kiss… until he imagines Mi-ho sternly reminding him he isn’t free to do anything of the kind. In his horror-fantasy, Mi-ho growls, “I told you not to mate!”... And he wakes up from this nightmare.

Mi-ho soon starts to understand the whole money = meat situation. The chicken restaurant near their place has a promotional deal: 10 proofs of purchase can be exchanged for a free meal. She currently has 8, so she heads off to a streetside trash can to find more.

On her way, she darts in front of a car, which bumps her. It’s Doo-hong, who calls out after her to see if she’s okay. Unconcerned with his calls to her, she finds a coupon in the trash, but it gets sent flying in the air when a gust of wind comes, so she leaps up among the treetops to retrieve it.

Doo-hong can’t believe his eyes when he sees Mi-ho leap in the air among the branches to grab the coupon. He has found the “real action” heroine he has been searching for!

It is audition day for Dae-woong and he asks Mi-ho for her opinion on shirts. She chooses the brown one exclaiming that it is the color of cows. Dryly, he holds up his other shirts in turn, asking, “So is this pig color [pink], and this one chicken [yellow]?”

Mi-ho agrees, and goes one step further to rate them in order of preference: first place is cow, second is pig, third is chicken. She urges him to choose the cow color, to which he retorts that he’ll wear “grass color” so as not to appeal to her appetite.

As Dae-woong leaves for his audition, Grandpa arrives and overhears his conversation with Mi-ho. His words (that he’d better do well in order to keep her in beef) have a different ring to Grandpa’s ears, particularly when Dae-woong declares that this is all “to support you.”

At first Grandpa is dismayed, but he recalls scenes from Dae-woong’s spoiled youth: his younger version announced that since Grandpa’s so rich, he has no need to find a way to support himself. Or when he ditched school, saying he could just set up his own billiard hall with Grandpa’s money. Or when college-aged Dae-woong asked Grandpa to set up his own management company, so he could become a star, declaring, “I don’t like difficult things. I want to hit it big!”

So in that context, Dae-woong working hard to put food on the table for his girlfriend isn’t SO horrible. In fact, Grandpa’s rather pleased at this transformation.

Doo-hong’s assistant prepares him for the day’s auditions and points out the leading choice for female lead, but he’s distracted by thoughts of his mysterious real action heroine from the night before.

Hye-in is auditioning for a supporting character with a lot of action scenes, but she overhears the assistant saying that the director wants to cast a rookie for the lead — something about long hair and a white dress.

On the way to the audition, Dae-woong notices that Mi-ho looks distressed. She explains that they’re passing over the river, which is upsetting since large bodies of water are her weakness. He can’t do anything about it, so he hugs and puts her hand on his chest — to put her closer to her fox bead.

She smiles as she rests her head on his chest, then wonders, aloud “Woong, what’s a couple?” He asks why, and she says, “People are calling us a couple” — her sensitive hearing has picked up on the comments of the other bus passengers. Dae-woong balks and pushes her away, so she decides, “It must not be a good thing.”

He fumbles for an excuse to keep her at arm’s length, saying it sure is hot, oh ho, she’d better stand away from him. Wouldn’t it be great if it rained and cooled the heat?

Mi-ho answers that for rain to come on such a clear day, she’d have to cry. Dae-woong asks in surprise if Mi-ho cries, and she answers yes: “When it rains on a clear day, it’s because I’m sad.” She pouts that she’s about to cry… because she’s so hungry. Dae-woong is in an amenable mood, and suggests they stop by for lunch on the way, bringing a smile to her face.

How does Dae-woong propose to feed her? Supermarket samples! Since she’s not human, he tells her she doesn’t have to worry about being judged for eating more than one sample, and urges her to eat as much as she wants. Eagerly, Mi-ho makes her way down the aisle, chanting, “Cow! Cow! Cow!”

Dong-joo is also in the store, watching Mi-ho. With a smile, he thinks, “You must be enjoying human life, Ms. Gumiho.” And although he didn’t say it aloud, Mi-ho hears his comment and looks around for the source of the voice. He continues, “You’ve been locked up for a long while — the world has changed a lot, hasn’t it?” He tells her not to worry, as he isn’t intending to hurt her right now… although that suggests he does intend to at a later date.

He challenges her to try finding him, curious to know if she’ll be able to pin him down in the crowd. Following her senses, Mi-ho wanders up to the department store level, where she meets eyes with Dong-joo. The sight conjures up a long-buried memory of her past incarnation, and she makes her way toward him.

Mi-ho can feel their connection but doesn’t recognize who he is, and asks if he was the one who called her. He confirms it. She touches a hand to his face, then decides, “You’re not human, either.”

In turn, he raises a hand to her face and says, “And you’re not the girl I knew, either.” He explains that there was another supernatural being who looked like her, and she asks if that makes him one, too.

Mi-ho supposes that even so, she’s probably stronger than he is, but he contradicts her — while she’s missing her bead, he’s stronger than her. In fact, she has been weakened so much that she can’t recognize his true nature, and if he tried to capture her, she wouldn’t be able to resist.

Mi-ho displays her childlike faith in Dae-woong, assuring Dong-joo that her bead is nearby and safe. Shrewdly, Dong-joo asks if she really trusts Dae-woong not to run off or ditch her. He gives her one piece of advice — don’t trust humans. As he leaves, he promises he’ll come find her later.

Dae-woong is heading up to the cosmetics counter to primp while Mi-ho eats her fill, On his way there he runs into Hye-in. She has changed into a white dress and got hair extensions in hopes of fitting the director’s idea of a female lead. She greets him enthusiastically.

Remembering Mi-ho’s warnings, Dae-woong tries to disentangle his arm from Hye-in’s naturally, but she notices. When she suggests that they head to the audition together, he hastily makes up an excuse for her to go without him. She doesn’t understand why he’s playing hard to get, but she gets upset at his reaction.

Shortly, Dae-woong returns to the meat counter to retrieve Mi-ho, she’s upstairs in the clothing department. There, Hye-in sees her and guesses that Dae-woong had pushed her aside because of Mi-ho.

Hye-in approaches Mi-ho and offers patronizing comments about Dae-woong leaving without her. Mi-ho can sense otherwise and is confident that he’s nearby, looking for her, and cheerily contradicts her. Hye-in counters, “He stood you up. Are you saying I’m lying to you?” Mi-ho doesn’t register her snideness and replies simply, “Yes. There he is!” and points to Dae-woong off in the distance. Mi-ho adds without an ounce of irony, “You must be a liar!”

That riles Hye-in’s temper, and she takes a menacing step toward Mi-ho, who sidesteps her easily. This misstep sends Hye-in sprawling to the ground, coffee spilling all over her white dress. Dae-woong comes rushing to her side, and Hye-in blames it all on Mi-ho. She plays it up, acting the aggrieved party, saying this dress was specifically needed for her audition concept.

Dae-woong jumps to set things to rights, urging Hye-in to go ahead to her audition. He’ll find a replacement dress, then bring it with him. He even calls aunt Min-sook for an emergency transfer of funds.

After buying the dress, he races to the audition building, where Doo-hong presides over matters, displeased with the applicants. Hye-in had actually already decided against the white dress, having heard that the director had a specific girl in mind, and auditions for the part. By the time Dae-woong gets to the building, however, everything has ended. Worse than failing to come through for Hye-in, he missed his own chance at the audition.

Over the phone, he hears that Hye-in made her audition, and tries to say that it’s okay hat he missed his, although he clearly feels horribly disappointed. In all this excitement, he hasn’t even thought about Mi-ho, but thanks to her gumiho senses, she tracks him down to the lobby where he sits in dejection.

She doesn’t understand that he blames her for all this, starting with the meat and the spilled coffee — Hye-in had made it seem like Mi-ho pushed her and ruined her dress on purpose, and Mi-ho hadn’t protested. With grim determination, he leads her away and arrives at a tourist ferry docked at the Han River.

She doesn’t like it, feeling uneasy to be surrounded by so much water, and pleads to go somewhere else. But Dae-woong tells her firmly that this is where he wants to eat dinner. He leaves to go on a bathroom break, while Mi-ho anxiously stands alone, trying to play down her fears. When the food is set out, she helps herself to the dinner spread.

Being surrounded by water dulls her gumiho senses, leaving her feeling defenseless, but she doesn’t want to protest because Dae-woong is in such a bad mood, so she meekly waits. Hence, she can’t sense Dae-woong exiting the boat. She only notices when she looks out to the pier and sees Dae-woong speeding away from her.

Starting to panic, she cries out after him but he doesn't stop. Dae-woong doesn’t feel proud of himself, but he tells himself firmly that he doesn’t care what happens to her, that she’s the reason nothing’s working out for him.

On the boat, Mi-ho huddles off to the side, shivering. She realizes, “He abandoned me and left. And after he promised.”
 
Tears start to fall from her eyes, just as the clear skies suddenly cloud over and rain starts to fall. The rainfall stops Dae-woong in his tracks, realizing what this means: “Mi-ho is crying.”.... 

Saturday, October 23, 2010

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox: Episode 2

My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox > Episode 2 [Watch it]
As Mi-ho takes back her healing fox bead Dae-woong slumps to the ground. A dark black smoke surrounds him and e starts to deteriorate quickly. Mi-ho hovers above him, a little sad to let him die, but starts to leave saying that she saved him, but he tossed her away, so she doesn’t know him anymore. However, she has a flash back to the pig incident, remembering that he came back for her and tried to protect her from what he thought was a very scary pig. So she returns, saying that since he came back for her once, she’ll do the same.

Soon it is morning and Dae-woong wakes up in a daze. He is startled to see Mi-ho staring at him. He runs and hides. Mi-ho muses to herself that she’ll have to scare him to make him stick to her side. She watches with amusement as Dae-woong tries to action-sequence himself out of there, failing hilariously. Mi-ho even offers to 'help him".

He end up getting stuck in mid-air right above her. Just at this juncture, his grandfather calls and he drops his phone in his attempt to answer it. Mi-ho peers at the phone curiously, and hearing a voice, she answers. Grandpa asks where Dae-woong is, and Dae-woong responds with grunts and heavy breathing as he tries to hold onto the rope. Mi-ho replies in a matter-of-fact tone: “Dae-woong? Is on top of me.”

Mi-ho tells Dae-woong to come down now, but he insists he rather stay the way he is than get eaten up. She threatens to go get him down herself, and Dae-woong scoffs that she can’t pluck him like an apple. So Mi-ho demonstrates another of her gumiho powers, flying up to retrieve him.

She lands on top of himand Dae-woong acknowledges that she’s a gumiho. Dae-woong: “Okay. You’re a gumiho. Since you plucked me, you can eat me.” Mi-ho: “Can I really eat you?” Dae-woong: “You can eat me. But just know this. If there are gumihos in the world, then there must be ghosts too. So I’ll come back as a ghost and get my revenge!” He braces himself for death with false bravado, not listening to her question of why he never asked to be saved.

She says, “Okay, but if you asked me to save you, I would have let you live…” Immediately, Dae-woong gets on his knees and begs for his life.

Dong-joo the gumiho hunter, manages to figure out Dae-woong's his aunt. He pretends to be Dae-woong’s friend and asks to confirm Dae-woong’s cell number.

At the rooftop room above the action school, while Mi-ho chomps down on some chicken, Dae-woong apologizes for not being able to get beef at such a late hour. He reconfirms the fact that until she can safely retrieve the fox bead that saved him, she has to stick by his side.

He tries to figure a way out of it, but is scared back when he sees her tearing at the chicken bones with zeal. Mi-ho: “Dae-woong-ah, while you have my fox bead, I can’t let you go. You’re MINE.” She smiles, pleased with herself, while and Dae-woong laughs nervously. He starts calling her Gu Mi-ho-sshi, being polite out of fear.

He goes inside and decides that for the time being if he won’t try to eat him he keeps her well-fed with beef. He comes upon a movie costume of armor and wears it for protection. Mi-ho wonders if she’s really that scary, since all she did was save him. Dae-woong says that still, what if she sees his exposed liver and gets hungry? 
 
Offended she retorts: “Have you ever seen me eat a liver? Have you seen me scoop out someone’s liver and eat it?” Dae-woong replies that she is a gumiho, after all….to which she just sighs and gives up. Mi-ho: “Fine. I’m a gumiho. Watch your liver.” And with that, she goes to sleep.

Dong-joo, the gumiho hunter finds Dae-woong’s information easily online, and smiles to himself that it’ll be an easy hunt. He reveals a wall of gumiho-related information and takes out a mystical knife with ancient carvings. He wonders why the gumiho ran away to become human, instead of staying put where she belongs.

Dae-woong sleeps in his suit of armor outside. Mi-ho watches over him, saying that she had fun today because she got to be with him. She’s happy that while her fox bead heals him, she gets to stay by his side longer. Noticing mosquitoes hovering above him, she gleefully catches them all, telling the sleeping Dae-woong that neither the mosquitoes nor she will eat him tonight, She looks out at the city from the rooftop, and marvels at how beautiful the world has become.

Grandpa and Aunt Min-sook worry over Dae-woong. Grandpa bemoans the fact that while Dae-woong always caused all sorts of trouble, he’s never caused any girl trouble…until now. He tells her to cut off his credit cards. Min-sook wonders what on earth the girl said over the phone, and Grandpa says it’s not for her unmarried ears to hear. She leaves in a huff upset that he brought up the fact that she's still a single.

After Mi-ho eats her weight in meat, Dae-woong’s card gets declined at the restaurant so he’s forced to use what little cash he has left. She stops him to buy her a soda on the street.His coin gets stuck in the machine, so he starts kicking it, and she joins in. However, one swift kick from her and the whole vending machine comes crashing down, with the soda popping out. They grab it and dash away.

Dae-woong takes Mi-ho to school with him. She marvels at the university, having learnt from visitors to the temple that it’s a prestigious place where everyone wants to attend. She thinks Dae-woong’s pretty cool for going to one, which his fragile puffed-up ego enjoys very much. He tells her that people at university are very smart, so she’ll have to pretend to be human and not do anything to be detected. She promises to act human, and asks Dae-woong eagerly if she really looks human. She is please when he admits that she can pass off for a human, which pleases her 
 
He goes around to attempt borrowing from his friends. He assumes that it would be easy he has spent so much on them. But one by one, they lie that they’re broke. Mi-ho can smell the money in their pockets, so Dae-woong is doubly embarrassed to be confronted by the fact that his so-called friends aren't really friends...

Mi-ho wonders why he doesn’t believe her, and asks why he’s doing nothing when all his friends are lying to him. He tells her angrily that sometimes it’s better not to know things, and that pretending is less embarrassing. He snaps at her that she’s not human, so not to meddle in human things, making her pout.

She tries to follow him into the library, but he tells her she can’t go inside without an ID, so she can’t follow. She pouts again, telling him not to look down on her because she’s not human, He counters that he is afraid of her because she’s not human.

Inside the library, Dae-woong frantically researches the gumiho legend, looking for some way to make her leave him, thinking that it must be similar to exorcising a ghost. But he soon gets bogged down in all the ancient language and gives up.

Suddenly he remembers the temple and looks it up, finding a news story with the two scroll paintings side by side—the original, and the one with the missing fox. He then comes to the realization that he freed the gumiho by drawing the nine tails.

Outside, Mi-ho runs into one of Dae-woong’s lying friends. She returns his runaway basketbal at full-force aimed right at his head. Dae-woong asks her if she really is the fox from the painting. He remembers being so scared that night and making a mistake with his pen—and it turns out that the dot became a mole on her shoulder too.

Mi-ho offers that because he set her free, she gave him the thing that was most precious to her, as she puts her hand on his chest. She says to think of it like he’s taking responsibility for her.

His friends Byung-soo and Sun-nyeo burst in, only hearing the end of their conversation. Sun-nyeo runs off crying, taking the words to mean only what they could to normal people: she gave him her virginity, so now he has to take responsibility. while Byung-soo congratulates him.

He introduces Mi-ho to Byung-soo that her name is Gu Mi-ho, explaining that she’s staying with him for the time being because of extenating circumstances. Byung-soo seems to be Dae-woong’s only real friend, as he offers up the cash in his wallet to help him out, since he knows what being on the outs with Grandpa means.

Mi-ho overhears the conversation and asks Dae-woong why he called her Gu Mi-ho. He says that since she wants so much to be human, Mi-ho sounds nice and suits her. She beams, saying that she loves it when he calls her by her new name.

Dong-joo arrives on campus and distracts Dae-woong with a call to the administrative office. He awaits for Mi-ho to arrive with him, watching his mystical dagger for the glowy sign of gumiho-nearness. Dae-woong comes in alone, but once Mi-ho sits down nearby, the dagger glows and Dong-joo takes off running. Mi-ho senses something coming towards her…and she turns her head, and we cut back to Dong-joo running down the hall.

She takes off running after a chicken on a motorcycle. Dong-joo chases after her. He catches up, and as his dagger lights up in her presence, she turns to look in his direction, and he’s startled to see her face. Flashback to centuries ago, when he killed her the first time, and then held her in his arms, both of them crying as she faded away into ash. Back in the present day, Dong-joo convinces himself, with a tear in his eye, that she can’t be the same gumiho. No, he killed her by his own hand. She just looks the same.

Dae-woong tries to ask Mi-ho about the painting and where he can find the Grandmother Spirit that trapped her in there. She doesn’t want to give up any information, so he devises a foolproof plan: get her drunk and then she’ll talk!

Knowing her penchant for bubbly drinks, he shakes up the beer to make it extra foamy. He drinks maybe less than half of what she does, tossing his beer out while she isn’t looking, or playing rock-paper-scissors and telling her that scissors beat rocks, so she drinks. He even tries to teach her to crush the cans, which she does handily, but he struggles with.

Thinking that she’s probably drunk, he starts telling her how he feels really close to her now, and she’s much better to be around than his fair-weather friends. He says that she’s prettier than most girls, and that he was startled when he first saw her. She frowns, saying that she rather just be average-pretty.

He rolls out compliment after compliment, puting her on cloud nine. She wonders if they can be friends even if she’s not human. Dae-woong’s like, if E.T. can do it, so can we! She asks how they become friends, so he teaches her the E.T. handshake. She’s so excited that she does it over and over again. Dae-woong starts to feel a twinge of regret lying to her when she so clearly wants to be his friend. But that doesn’t stop him from getting to his objective. He starts asking her about her gumiho powers, and finds out that she’s weaker in her abilities because he’s got her fox bead, which must be the source of her power.

He asks if she’s got any weaknesses? Nope. Any fears? Yes—she says she’s afraid of large bodies of water, now that she doesn’t have her fox bead. He stores that tidbit away, wondering how he’s going to drop her in a lake somewhere.

In the following days, she demands cow for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day after day.

At the park, Byung-soo and Mi-ho play a guess-which-hand-the-coin-is-in game, which of course she wins every time. Byung-soo calls her “jae-soo-sshi,” which is a moniker for your brother’s wife, and what close friends call each other’s girlfriends or wives. Dae-woong sneers at that, but lets it pass, and wonders to himself if he threw her in a lake like this one, he’d probably end up dead.

Byung-soo tells him to stop feeding the carps so much because they’re rare fish, and Dae-woong says they’re not the rare kind, like the ones Grandpa raises. Another light bulb goes off— he goes home to steal Grandpa's expensive carp. He sneaks in and manages to catch one, but Grandpa catches him in the act. He takes off running, with Grandpa and Aunt Min-sook chasing behind, and then while he’s not looking, a truck comes screeching to a halt in his path.

Aunt and Grandpa scream, and the fish goes flying… At the hospital, where Grandpa begs the doctor to do something to save him. The doctor says nothing can be done. Dramatic music plays… And Dae-woong comes walking out, just a band-aid on his forehead, and we see that Grandpa was pleading with the doctor to save his fish.

Outside, Grandpa tells Dae-woong to come home, and he refuses, finally shouting out, “If I don’t stay with that girl, I’ll die,” which is a great use of a phrase that all love-addled teenagers say in earnest, except he actually means it literally. He asks for money so that he can stay with her and take care of her, and Grandpa is furirous that Dae-woong’s lost his mind over a girl.

Finally, Grandpa and Aunt tell him to bring the girl over, so that they can meet her, and decide if Dae-woong can marry her. Now it’s Dae-woong’s turn to freak out, insisting that he will not marry her. Grandpa slaps him in response. This action jolts all of them, as this the first time Grandpa has ever shown any really harsh discipline towards Dae-woong. Grandpa tells him to live however he wants to, and gets in the car.

As Dae-woong walks the whole way back with his hand on his cheek, reeling from the disappointment, Sun-nyeo runs into him. She informs him that she doesn’t want him living at the action school with his girlfriend, so she kicks him out. She adds that Hye-in came by and ran into Byung-soo and Mi-ho, at which he takes off running.

Hye-in meets Mi-ho, who is introduced as Dae-woong’s friend, but Hye-in reads between the lines and asks if Mi-ho's his girlfriend. Dae-woong runs toward them, telling Mi-ho not to say anything, but Mi-ho answers “Yes.”Just at this juncture Dae-woong arrives, declaring loudly that she is NOT his girlfriend...
[Watch it]

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Gumiho's Revenge / Grudge: The Revolt of Gumiho

In this story, the legendary gumiho or nine-tailed fox, Goo San Daek, leaves her husband after his betrayal renders her unable to shapeshift (gumiho lore includes their abilities to transform themselves to look human), or to become human. She takes her nine-year-old daughter, Yeon Yi, who has yet to gain the ability to use her gumiho powers, to a village in order to protect her. As Yeon Yi turns ten, her physical transformation begins, putting her in increasing danger of being discovered by her neighbors.

San Daek decides to take revenge against a human when Yeon Yi dies at the hands of the human.


Episode Guide