Birth of a Beauty - Episode 2 (A Wooki-Short-Cap)

Long have I pondered, mulled and thought - should I recap, should I not? I will, I decided, but with a slightly different format: these will be short-caps. With lots of Joo Sang-wook pictures and gifs. Anybody complaining? No? Thought so.
This episode doesn't waste much time: we're now trying to get revenge. Only revenge is much sweeter than it usually is, because who wouldn't want to get close to an (ex)husband one is still in love with?
JoAnne: He's got elf ears. Don't expect me to be nice about him.
Lafer: The shallow part of me just doesn't like him. And it's not just his ears.
becca: I wanted to like him here, but I just can't. Also, his face is puffy. It didn't always look like that.
 

Episode 2

Operation “Become a woman with a sexy brain” is ON. Studying, working out, you name it! Since breast implants are suspected to have ruptured, breast touching is also part of the program - but! Oups. Tae-hee isn’t a doctor. Nope. You heard it correctly!! The doctor on the TV show Change is his younger brother. O-M-G.
JoAnne: How did she find him, anyway, whether he's a doctor or not? (ahahaa, JoAnne, I think you haven't paid attention: he is living in his younger brother's apartment and he is the doctor and of course, he would be listed as such somewhere) 
Lafer: Ok, I don't know what difference it makes if he's a doctor or not. Honestly, nothing makes any sense about the whole operation part of the drama. And somehow I doubt that this will be the last thing we're supposed to blindly accept.
becca: I'm expecting crazy at this point, so I'm just rolling with it.
Will you look at his arms!!! *swoooooooon*
Asshole husband becomes CEO and announces his marriage to Asshole announcer. Urgency switch is on! Our unlikely couple has three weeks to stop it (Oh please stop it. I hate them so much. And after seeing Jung Gyu-Woon on Running Man, I like him even less. Sawry >.< Her on the other hand … awww. Can't really be angry with her!) Anyway, so Tae-hee and Chae-Yeon go waaaaay back. Very one-sided though. Conveniently, Sara doesn’t much care to be lied to when she finds out about that connection - they have common ground, let’s break the wedding. Let’s!
JoAnne: Can't Wang Ji Hye be the girl who GETS the guy, just once? Not this time, though.
Lafer: No, I cannot hate her. Although I prefer her in a more comedic role.
becca: While we're making wishes, can she also not be the awful second lead who goes around stealing husbands? Not that she isn't good at it, but she can do more.
They won't get any pictures, those two.
Operation seduce Asshole Husband ON! Attempt No 1: Fail. She may think about what she likes best (food) to get over her extreme nervousness to face her husband or she might practise with a willing Tae-hee (who, by the way, claims to be a chaebol’s son!), but Asshole husband walks away with his Asshole bride in the end. Looking happy.
JoAnne: They, um... seem to genuinely care for each other. Like, it's not political or social climbing, but actual emotion.
Lafer: Boy, if he would be swayed that easily, he really is scum.
becca: Two thoughts: A) I don't think they're in love - maybe they don't dislike each other, but they're definitely using each other, and B) I want Han Ye-seul to get a haircut. Or at least pull it back. I don't know, super long, loose hair drives me nuts, on myself and others. It looks so messy and distracting. I had the same problem with Pervy Mermaid.
Attempt No 2 (After a VERY HATEFUL interlude with the VERY HATEFUL family (minus Bad Dad who is Good Dad in this (and he sings!)): Not fail! She lures him while fishing, just as Tae-hee told her to do! With skinship. Skinship of the hands, but hey, that's something! Or does he lure her? Hearing the demented grandma she cared for recently passed away, she almost blows her cover. So, hm .... her asshole husband ... what's up with him? He feels warmth when he is with her, he says. Hm. Hmhmhm.
JoAnne: That grandma was the only good thing about that family, though. Dad can sing, Mom sucked donkey balls. Big ones.
Lafer: It always cracks me up when these older actors start belting out songs and do it really well. Makes me wonder if they started out as lounge singers or something.
becca: Aw, I'm sad grandma died. Also, I'd like to stick a sock in Mom's mouth.
I thought it was also quite unexpected that grandma died. I was sure they'd milk that. Like: demented granny recognizes her daughter-in-law, despite the 100% change.
But before there can be more warmth, somebody is starting to feel warm. Poor Tae-hee.
Lafer: I honestly thought they'd draw that storyline out a little more. I wasn't expecting him to start falling for her yet. Although men will be men.
The plan: Sara is to attract her husband physically and expose him as two-timer in front of everybody. Ah, but Sara is wavering. She still loves him and wants to be his wife again. Ack!
JoAnne: So she really IS stupid, then.
Lafer: But so adorably stupid. And so tinily stupid. Which makes me wonder, did they take a few inches off of her during the operation, too?
becca: In moments like this, I find her frustratingly stupid. He treated her like dirt! And he's not even pretending to mourn her! She does realize that he doesn't love her (as in, the old her), right??
Little brother Ji-hoon (In Gyo-Jin) gets back. Oupsie. Ahahahahaaa, Tae-hee has squatted in his little bros apartment! It's not even his! He and Sara move in right up the street from her ex-in-laws. And operation "worm your way back into into in-laws family" begins.
JoAnne: Clearly I dozed through this part. I heard about it the other day and was completely surprised. Is he cute? Will I feel grabby?
becca: *shrug*
Hm. Is Asshole Husband getting suspicious? It is a loooooot of coincidences. He phones Sara and asks to meet. They do. In the park. Can it be love? Also there: Tae-hee. And Chae-Yeon.
JoAnne: What is this, the one park in all of Seoul, and everyone has to go through it to get anywhere? I realize now I didn't watch this entire episode.
Lafer: The rooftops were all taken, so the park is the next best place.
becca: And we haven't found the One Restaurant to rule them all, yet.

Comments

Ahahaha, he isn't a doctor!!??? What the heck is he? A chaebol's son with a few lose screws and a broken heart? Or a total scam?! It's an uncomfortable alliance and I wonder how long until it'll start to go very wrong. This is episode 2 and he is already developing feelings for the woman who is still very much in love with her dick-of-a-husband. That said, what's up with him? I can't read him. He keeps his grandma's bracelet? He treats Sara's hiccup like his wife treated his? Interesting.
JoAnne: Dick Ex-Husband isn't entirely a dick, huh? Oh well, even a little dick is still a dick, though.
Lafer: I think he is a dick. Just my gut feeling. No second lead syndrome here!
becca: He's a dick, all right, but a dick with a story, which I am very curious about.

The show hasn't quite found its tone yet and the few short Geum-ran interludes are once again very sad and so humiliating. I hope the family gets to suffer. They're the lowest of the low.
JoAnne: Everyone keeps saying how funny it is. I keep waiting for it to make me laugh.
kakashi: This is a laugh-out-loud drama for me. In both episodes, there were scenes that made me chuckle ... and even laugh. It's mainly him ... in combination with her. So silly. Both are giving this their all. So glad grumpy Teamjangnim has decided to let his inner dork out. Man, that laugh! 
becca: I can't decide which family is worse between this one and the one in Legendary Witch. And that's saying something.

What I liked: 
  • The lengthy workout scene in the beginning. What was that, PPL? But so funny! And Joo Sang-wook's arms ...... to die for.  
  • All of Han Ye-seul's and Joo Sang-wook's scenes together. They're a hoot. 
  • Finding out he's a sham. 
  • Finding out he cannot resist her beauty.
  • Him always hovering near when she and Kang-joon meet. 
  • Ditto on Joo Sang Wook's arms
  • Appreciate Han Yi Seul's willingness to go for the ridiculous
  • Really like Han Yi Seul in this.
  • Can I just say Joo Sang Wook's face? Cause yes, that is what I really like. And his body. That too. (ahahahaaaa, lafer is in luuuuurve!)
  • Joo Sang-wook's various disguises
  • And his voice
  • And his chest. Yes, I'm shallow, but it is broad and firm. I demand a broody shower scene!
  • Uhm, you do all know that he is MINE?! Like ... years ago?!  
What I didn't like: 
  • Not only do I hate them, but I also find the family (mother and sisters) too over the top. Who is like that?  
  • Jung Kyu-Woo's ears. 
  • Ditto on Elf Ears
  • Ditto on family
  • The plot, actually (do we even know what the real plot is? Or maybe I'm coming from the perspective of having already seen the next episode.)
  • I agree on the family, but the mother still has a ways to go to be 100 Year Inheritance or Royal Family hate worthy yet (*shudders* That is true.)
  • Geum-ran/Sara is an idiot for wanting dirtbag husband back
  • Jung Kyu-woon's puffy face
  • Jung Kyu-woon in this role. It's just not working. I liked him so much better as the lovably dim athlete in Dr. Champ. If we're being perfectly honest, I miss the abs, too.
Quotes: 

“We have three things: Korea’s top beauty, a genius brain and the hole in our hearts"
"I must be losing my hearing. All I hear is buzzing"

"I think I might comment on the recaps without actually watching."
"OK, now that I know the routine, I will write down quotes each episode."
"What she said."