FRIDAY UPDATE OF MADAM ANTOINE

Hye Rim (Han Ye Seul) arrives at a café where Soo Hyun (Sung Joon) is waiting, and all she wants to do is greet him with a flying kick. She suppresses her desire to punch him repeatedly in the face and gives an excuse about how busy her café I is, so she cannot stay. He offers to drive her, and she turns him down with more excuses. Just before Hye Rim leaves, Soo Hyun gives her the cotton candy that she had wanted during one of their walks. Hye Rim looks uneasy as she accepts the gift, then throws it away outside. Yoo Rim (Hwang Seung Eon) runs into Hye Rim’s apartment to frantically warn her sister about the experiment, which she just learned from Ji Ho (Lee Joo Hyung). Yoo Rim is in a rage, and accuses her sister of schadenfreude, since she can now have Ji Ho to herself. An incensed Yoo Rim suggests that Hye Rim is getting her just desserts, and leaves. Hye Rim summons Ji Ho and Seung Chan (Jinwoon) to confront them about their participation in Soo Hyun’s experiment on her. She orders Ji Ho to give a rundown of the experiment. Both men insist that they had reservations, but since they ended up participating and kept Hye Rim in the dark, she remains angry at both of them. Hye Rim orders Ji Ho and Seung Chan to remain silent about her knowledge of the experiment, and to do her bidding without hesitation from now on. Soo Hyun calls at that moment, and when Hye Rim answers, her voice is practically dripping with honey. Ji Ho and Seung Chan look apprehensive. Hye Rim is summoned by the Chairman (Byun Hee Bong) to have his fortune told. While in transit with the Chairman’s employee, Hye Rim learns that the sickly young woman she had spotted at the Chairman’s home is his daughter, and that a number of people close to the Chairman have died. When she arrives, Hye Rim asks the Chairman about the possibility of meeting his daughter in person. Hye Rim learns from Ji Ho that Soo Hyun is doing a follow up interview with the BBC about his Madame Antoine experiment. She shows up in the middle of the taping, and Soo Hyun is forced to remain mum about the second phase of the experiment, but is compelled by the interviewer to give the results of the first phase, which backed up his hypothesis that women are incapable of true love. Hye Rim grips her handbag as she smiles sweetly. Soo Hyun is surprised to find Hye Rim at the studio, and tries to ascertain how much Hye Rim found out about the experiment while watching the taping. Hye Rim gets Soo Hyun to explain his actions by presenting the experiment as a hypothetical situation. Without taking responsibility, Soo Hyun explains that he started out intending to hurt Hye Rim, but has grown to love her. He even apologizes to her in this hypothetical context. An appeased Hye Rim advises the hypothetical man to confess to subject as soon as possible. Seung Chan offers to take Hye Rim out to dinner to apologize for his role in the experiment. She proposes that he make her dinner for a week, and Seung Chan happily accepts. While they eat his rather sad ramen dinner, Hye Rim reveals that Soo Hyun has virtually admitted to his misdeeds, but she is holding out for him to claim responsibility. Seung Chan has his doubts that Soo Hyun will ever acknowledge his mistake. He reveals the extent of Soo Hyun’s passive aggression when, as children, Soo Hyun agreed to let him play baseball only to pitch the ball at Seung Chan’s head without remorse. In contrast to Soo Hyun’s claim that he felt ganged up on by his stepmother and Seung Chan, Seung Chan claims that his mother treated Soo Hyun better than him. When Seung Chan returns home, he is confronted by Soo Hyun who wants to know if he leaked any information about the experiment to Hye Rim. Seung Chan decides to do his brother the favour of strongly advising that he confess to Hye Rim and beg for forgiveness. Soo Hyun responds by mocking his brother, and Seung Chan feels comfortable about letting Soo Hyun suffer Hye Rim’s wrath. Soo Hyun, his mentor, Mi Ran (Jang Mi Hee), Ji Ho and Hye Rim review what they know about the parents of his six year old patient, So Dam. The father is an entertainer, and the mother is a former pageant queen, whereas So Dam is academically inclined. When it is decided that more observation is required, Soo Hyun asks for Hye Rim’s help, but she claims to be too busy and suggests that he bring Ji Ho, instead. When Hye Rim suspects that Ji Ho is about to give her up to Soo Hyun, she manhandles him and threatens him with violence. Soo Hyun finds out So Dam is in the hospital after her mother discovered beans lodged in her nose. Soo Hyun asks So Dam why she stuffed beans in her nose, and it becomes clear that she is starved for attention from her parents. Soo Hyun recalls how hard he tried to please his stepmother, but was hurt when he saw Seung Chan receiving attention from her. He hugs So Dam in sympathy. Yoo Rim is punishing Ji Ho by throwing him around at the martial arts studio, while he apologizes. She demands that he do the same experiment on her, because she likes him. Ji Ho bluntly states that he has no interest in her. Yoo Rim leaves outraged and heartbroken. Hye Rim comes home to find the laundry piling up. She berates Yoo Rim who is lying under her blanket. The two shout at each other, feeling terrible about their lots in life, but not receiving any support from the other. Yoo Rim angrily claims that she always comes in second to Hye Rim, whether it be in their parents’ love, or in attracting men. A remorseful Hye Rim offers to do the laundry as Yoo Rim sobs under the blankets. Soo Hyun finds out from So Dam’s teacher that she does not exhibit any of the antisocial behaviour that her parents have experienced, other than singing to herself when the classroom gets too quiet. The teacher traces the date that this behaviour started, and Soo Hyun finds out that the funeral of So Dam’s grandfather’s took place around that time. During the family gathering, So Dam became the center of attention when asked to sing. Soo Hyun diagnoses So Dam as having impulse control disorder, and she is desperate for attention from her parents. He advises the parents to appreciate their younger daughter. Seung Chan decides to get Mi Ran to do weightlifting as part of her exercise regime. Mi Ran reluctantly agrees, and ends up collapsing from the exertion. At the hospital, Seung Chan is apologetic for pushing her too hard, but Mi Ran claims that she had a lot of fun, and would like to continue working out with him. Soo Hyun rushes to the hospital where Mi Ran is admitted, and is shocked to learn that Mi Ran has thyroid cancer. When he enters Mi Ran’s hospital room, he sends Seung Chan away before confronting her about the cancer. Mi Ran lies to Soo Hyun, claiming to be receiving treatment. Soo Hyun can only offer to help her fulfill her bucket list. While collecting some of Mi Ran’s belongings to bring to the hospital, Hye Rim comes across the older woman’s bucket list. At the top of the list is getting close to Seung Chan. Outside of Mi Ran’s hospital room, Hye Rim catches Mi Ran primping and practicing how to act when Seung Chan returns for a visit. The next day, Hye Rim suggests to Seung Chan that he visit Mi Ran at home. Hye Rim decides that Soo Hyun is not becoming overwhelmed with guilt as quickly as she would like. She decides to apply more pressure on Soo Hyun. When Seung Chan asks why she does not just confront Soo Hyun, she admits that she holds out hope that he will confess on his own. Seung Chang and Ji Ho agree to help When Soo Hyun returns to the office,Seung Chan reports that Hye Rim has been asking a lot of questions about the experiment. Then, Ji Ho hands him a note supposedly found on his desk in which the writer cryptically claims to know everything. Soo Hyun decides to review security video footage to identify the person who dropped off the note, and discovers balloons blocking his view. He questions Ji Ho and Seung Chan, but both have already been coached by Hye Rim and have answers at the ready. Shortly thereafter, Soo Hyun is summoned by Hye Rim, and she tries to provide him with an opportunity to confess by couching her misgivings in more gibberish about Marie Antoinette. Soo Hyun asks Hye Rim not to hide behind Marie Antoinette, then attempts to cast doubt on whatever Ji Ho, Seung Chan or Yoo Rim might have told her. He asks her to trust him while Hye Rim wavers. Ji Ho asks Yoo Rim why she is no longer filming him for her documentary. When she points out that he rejected her, Ji Ho wonders why she does not follow her own advice to keep personal and professional separate. However, Yoo Rim liked Ji Ho too much to proceed with her work. A woman enters Soo Hyun’s office and asks Seung Chan how old Soo Hyun is, and his birth date. Just as Seung Chan wonders why she asks these questions, Soo Hyun comes out of his office. Thinking that she is there for a consultation, Soo Hyun asks her to fill out some forms. The woman does so, but she tears up as she regards Soo Hyun speaking English on the phone. Hye Rim gets pelted by a snowball by Seung Chan while taking out the garbage. They end up in a snowball fight that draws Soo Hyun to the window to see what the commotion is about. He immediately texts her to ask that she save the snowballs for him. Despite the experiment blueprints that Hye Rim saw with her own eyes, Soo Hyun has managed to plant doubts in her mind. She asks Seung Chan to confirm that he and Ji Ho are not lying to her. Hye Rim then tries to come up with excuses so that she can trust him. Seung Chan is exasperated that Hye Rim continues to give Soo Hyun the benefit of the doubt. Hye Rim gives the cold shoulder to Soo Hyun when he comes looking for her to have that snowball fight. Later, Soo Hyun tries to take Hye Rim out for dinner, and she sets him up for the impossible task of finding her a watermelon in the middle of winter. To her surprise, he manages to find one after driving for three hours. Hye Rim looks chastised as he hands her some watermelon and promises to be better to her. She concludes that the experiment is over. Hye Rim directs Ji Ho and Seung Chan to stop playing espionage on her behalf since she believes that the experiment is done. Seung Chan is about to protest, but Hye Rim does not want to hear any more negative comments about Soo Hyun. She believes that Soo Hyun will confess to her eventually. Then, Ji Ho reveals that there is a Phase 2 of the experiment, and outlines all the possible tests that Soo Hyun will put her through if it proceeds, enraging Hye Rim. Seung Chan once again suggests confronting Soo Hyun, but Hye Rim is already moving on to vengeance. Ji Ho and Seung Chan look scared as Hye Rim loses her mind. She decides to turn the tables on Soo Hyun and turn him into her experiment subject.