THURSDAY UPDATE OF MADAM ANTOINE EPISODE 14

Both Seung Chan (Jinwoon) and Ji Ho (Lee Joo Hyung) admit to Soo Hyun (Sung Joon) that they told Hye Rim (Han Ye Seul) about his actual experiment on her. Seung Chan is not sorry about undermining his brother’s research, and advises Soo Hyun to beg Hye Rim for forgiveness. Soo Hyun goes looking for Hye Rim, but finds out that she is holed up in her apartment.

Yoo Rim (Hwang Seung Eon) makes porridge for the first time in her life, but discovers that she is unable to wake Hye Rim up to feed it to her. Soo Hyun shows up at the door, and offers to check in on Hye Rim, but Yoo Rim angrily refuses his help.

The next morning, Hye Rim continues to sleep as Yoo Rim departs for work. The sun goes down and Hye Rim finally wakes up. She is alarmed to realize that she slept for two days, then remembers the reason for her unnaturally long sleep, and starts crying.

Soo Hyun is relieved to see Hye Rim back in the café, but she acts indifferent towards him. When he arrives at his office, a worried Seung Chan alerts him to Mi Ran’s (Jang Mi Hee) continued absence. The brothers decide to visit Mi Ran’s apartment, but she answer neither the door nor the phone. It turns out that Mi Ran has already departed from Seoul for an indefinite amount of time.

Soo Hyun reveals to Seung Chan that Mi Ran is dying from cancer. He suspects that her bucket list included walking on a Jeju Island beach with Seung Chan. Seung Chan appears perturbed by this revelation.

Soo Hyun announces to Hye Rim that he plans to investigate the Chairman’s (Byun Hee Bong) surroundings, and asks if she will help, since it is for the benefit of the Chairman. Hye Rim agrees to provide assistance, however, she chooses to take the bus rather than ride in Soo Hyun’s car or drive the car he gave her.

While Soo Hyun explores the Chairman’s home, Hye Rim meets with the Chairman’s secretary, Lee, who makes it clear that he will not divulge any confidential information. Hye Rim unnerves him by tapping into his fear of ghosts, and finds out that the Chairman’s son committed suicide while attending a boarding school against his will, then the Chairman’s wife descended into alcoholism and also committed suicide. As for the Chairman’s younger sister, she died in a car accident after being forced by the Chairman to marry a man who was unfaithful to her. Even Secretary Lee must admit that the Chairman appears to be liable for all three deaths.

Soo Hyun can do nothing for the Chairman until he willingly submits to counselling. He provides Hye Rim with photos of objects in the Chairman’s home to refer to when she meets with the Chairman.

Just as Hye Rim is about to leave, Soo Hyun attempts to convince her that his feelings for her were genuine, even as he was experimenting on her. Hye Rim can barely contain her rage as she calls his entire courtship a lie. When Soo Hyun loudly insists that not everything was a lie, Hye Rim asks why he proceeded with the experiment after promising that he had ceased operations. Hye Rim had always hoped that Soo Hyun would independently choose her over his experiment, and confess his misdeeds. Hye Rim breaks down as she asks how he could request the third task after she had sent him the video message. She concludes that he never loved her, and leaves.

Ji Ho tackles the next task, assigned to him by Yoo Rim, of sitting in a sauna for 12 hours. After failing to reach Ji Ho, Yoo Rim rushes to the sauna to stop him. She is trying to describe Ji Ho to a sauna employee when they are told that a man has passed out in the sauna. Yoo Rim rushes heedlessly into the men’s sauna and meets up with Ji Ho as he is being carried out by other patrons. Ji Ho announces that Yoo Rim now has an ending for the documentary that she was filming about him. He declares his love for her then passes out.

Seung Chan shares Mi Ran’s cancer diagnosis with Hye Rim, and speculates that Mi Ran might have returned to her hometown. Hye Rim advises Seung Chan not to track Mi Ran down out of pity. When Seung Chan says he wants Mi Ran to be a friend, a mentor and a soulmate, Hye Rim encourages him to go find Mi Ran.

The Chairman has agreed to receive counselling from both Soo Hyun and Hye Rim. Hye Rim would prefer that they meet with the Chairman separately, but Soo Hyun points out that they need to work together. Hye Rim does not protest when Soo Hyun directs her to come to his office shortly before the Chairman’s appointment.

As usual, the Chairman is dismissive of his OCD, and becomes defensive when his dead family members are brought up. Soo Hyun bluntly tells the Chairman that he is suffering from guilt about the death of his family members, and from fear of driving his daughter, Yeon Woo to an early grave. The Chairman insists that he feels no guilt nor grief about the deaths. Hye Rim, who has served as a silent witness up to this point, announces that she spoke with his family in her dreams. Using the items that Soo Hyun had photographed in the Chairman’s home as clues, Hye Rim prompts him to remember the special moments with his family. The Chairman finally acknowledges his guilt while Soo Hyun and Hye Rim reassure him that the deaths were not his fault.

Seung Chan purchases plane tickets to Jeju Island, and arrives at Mi Ran’s family home. Mi Ran lets Seung Chan in after he threatens to sleep on her doorstep. He cheerfully greets her as if nothing is amiss, and presents her with a gift of ramen and onigiri, which Mi Ran hesitantly accepts.

The Chairman visits Yeon Woo’s hospital room with Hye Rim, and she directs him to be honest about his feelings. The Chairman tells his unconscious daughter that he takes responsibility for the deaths of her mother, brother and aunt, though he could not admit it until now for fear of self-destructing from the guilt. He sobs his apology to Yeon Woo for barring her from marrying, and gives her permission to do as she pleases. Yeon Woo suddenly wakes up and recognizes him, though she is now able to perceive how old and lonely he is. She apologizes for leaving him as they huddle together for a good cry.

After dinner, Seung Chan suggests playing Go Stop, and when Mi Ran admits that she has never played, Seung Chan proposes wagering with real money. Though she initially loses $11, Mi Ran quickly gets the hang of the card game, and Seung Chan finds himself owing Mi Ran almost $5000. Mi Ran reassures Seung Chan that he can work his way through his debt, starting with a cup of tea. By the time Seung Chan returns with the tea, Mi Ran has passed out on the couch. He sits down beside the couch and stoically watches her sleep.

Yeon Hui, Soo Hyun’s biological mother, visits him outside of his office hours, but he accommodates her, because it seems urgent. Yeon Hui gives him the scarf that he had helped picked out as a gift for her son. Soo Hyun is initially confused, then slowly realizes that the woman is his mother. She apologizes as she confirms her identity, explaining that she wanted to take him with her, but she had lost custody. Soo Hyun tries desperately to make sense of the situation then, unable to cope, he walks out of the office.

Soo Hyun directs Ji Ho to bring his certificate of familial relations along with Yeon Hui’s file to his home. He assesses the documents and finds that they appear to support Yeon Hui’s claim. He attempts to compose himself and is about to arrange another meeting with his mother when he is interrupted by the arrival of his former classmate, Clare.

Soo Hyun belatedly remembers that he had a work meeting with Clare, and gets down to business. Clare confesses that her reasons for finding him were not strictly professional; she wishes to reconcile and try again. However, when Soo Hyun sees Clare off, it would appear that he has turned her down as they wistfully hold hands before pulling apart.

Hye Rim returns to the café, and is irritated by the sight of Clare. She approaches her and offers to read her fortune. Hye Rim does her usual shtick of speaking French, but rather than gibberish, she specifically asks about Clare’s relationship with Soo Hyun. To Hye Rim’s horror, Clare understands French. Clare freely admits to having dated Soo Hyun, and even knows Seung Chan – both claims later confirmed by Seung Chan. Hye Rim is outraged that Soo Hyun lied about never having loved anyone before her, and contemplates hindering Clare and Soo Hyun’s expected reconciliation.

Soo Hyun is desperately trying to convince himself that his experiment was not a failure when he receives a call from Hye Rim proposing that they go on a date at noon the next day. Soo Hyun seems numb with disbelief as he agrees to meet up.

The next day, Hye Rim primps herself up then offers Soo Hyun a ride in the car he purchased for her. They go to a bookstore where Soo Hyun admits that he can’t believe that she has forgiven him. He hesitantly asks why, and Hye Rim claims to feel sympathy for his difficult situation. She pointedly buys a copy of Cinderella.

Hye Rim takes Soo Hyun to the college theatre where she used to perform. He asks her to do a scene from “Romeo and Juliet” and she alters the lines to accommodate Soo Hyun’s name and their situation. Soo Hyun is fooled when Hye Rim collapses after feigning the swallowing of poison. Hye Rim asks if she is a good actress, and gives Soo Hyun a sly smile.

Yoo Rim is tending to an ailing Ji Ho, and reprimanding him for actually following her careless directives. Ji Ho is just happy to have her by his side, and be her sole documentary subject. When Ji Ho continues to suffer from chills, Yoo Rim climbs into bed to help warm him up, and soon, they are heating things up with kisses under the covers (YES!).

Over an open fire, Hye Rim tells Soo Hyun that she loves him. Soo Hyun is in the middle of expressing his new found belief in love, when Yoo Rim glances at her watch, and sees that it is midnight. She abruptly announces that she lied to him today, and whips the copy of Cinderella at his lap. She reminds him that what he suffered for half a day is what she went through for four months.

Soo Hyun looks devastated as Hye Rim returns the car he bought for her along with all his gifts in the trunk. She announces that she will be at a friend’s fortune telling café until she works out her feelings. As Hye Rim prepares to go, Soo Hyun is reminded of his mother leaving him. He silently calls himself the problem that must be eradicated as he watches Hye Rim walk away.

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THURSDAY UPDATE OF JANG YEONG SIL EPISODE 4

Yeong-sil continues to struggle with authority this episode, as the climax involves him getting into a violent altercation with an official and eventually using the power of science to spring an elaborate trap. As good as Song Il-gook is at action scenes, I can’t help but find it a tad absurd how “Jang Yeong-sil – Drama” is apparently taking the position that Yeong-sil could have or should have used his scientific abilities to win fights. That much sounds like a running sketch idea for a late night comedy program.

Matters aren’t helped by the tone whiplash. In addition to action scenes, we also have rice riots. While the rice riot isn’t an exceptionally graphic scene it does feature people getting stabbed as the peasantry gets into a mad rush for food and, you know, while I get all of this was happening at the time, most of the background we’re getting in “Jang Yeong-sil – Drama” is getting to be increasingly incidental to Yeong-sil’s story.

I’m having more trouble making sense of the palace scenes all the time, for example. I think King Sejong (played by Kim Sang-kyeong) is the King right now, but it’s hard to tell because King Taejong keeps walking around wearing the exact same red robes, owing to the weird political situation where King Taejong abdicated even though he still held most of the actual power. It’s times like this where I wish there were better places to learn about Korean history than from watching Korean dramas.

That much is mostly due to genre convention. In addition to action and rice riots, there’s also awkward pathos as we have to endure extended death scenes. “Jang Yeong-sil – Drama” keeps trying to be a character-driven drama even though the only place Yeong-sil could possibly end up is as a successful scientist. I feel like that should really be the actual focus of “Jang Yeong-sil – Drama”, rather than all of this extraneous plot.

Am I going into “Jang Yeong-sil – Drama” with unreasonable expectations, wanting it to adhere to that standard? Possibly- but the thing is, the parts of “Jang Yeong-sil – Drama” that engages with science are in fact by far the most entertaining aspect of the program. The whole thing with the water wheel looks like an elementary school science project, and it is, yet at the same time all of this is really important because as noted, accurate portable timepieces don’t really exist yet. That’s pretty interesting on its own without having to drag Joseon officials in as the bad guys.

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THURSDAY ON THE IMPOSTER

At the Altamira’s house, Eduardo confronts Raquel about all she’s done. He tells Raquel that she killed their father and also tried to kill Blanca. Raquel says there’s no proof about all he’s accusing her for. Eduardo tells Raquel that he knows that she’s an arm dealer. Raquel laughs and tells Eduardo to stop saying nonsense. Eduardo shocks his mother by telling her that Blanca posed as Leleya’s interpreter. Raquel can’t believe this. Sh remembers her meeting with Leleya. Back to reality, she tells Eduardo that it doesn’t change anything because she never signed any documents. Eduardo tells his mother to confess before it’s too late and leaves. Raquel feels betrayed and hurt. In tears, She tells Eduardo not to ever come back again.
Meanwhile, Jorge and Cristobal find some documents that could incriminate Raquel.
Tita is having a bad feeling about Rafael. She sees the police coming into her shop and she breaks down before they even speak. She says my son is dead right and the detective confirms her worst fears. The customers around hold her as she weeps. Later she calls Karina who’s with Blanca nd informs her that Rafael is dead. Karina breaks down and flashes back to the last time she saw Rafa. She tells Blanca the sad news and leaves to go and be with her aunt Tita. With a heavy heart, Blanca shares the news with her siblings. Simona freaks out and says it’s a lie, Rafael can’t be dead. Blanca holds Simona and says she knows Rafael was her friend but Hugo tells Blanca that Rafael was Simona’s boyfriend. Simona breaks down and says Rafael can’t be dead. Blanca hugs her sister and consoles her.
Eduardo instructs a guard to take care of Valentina. He tells Valentina he’s leaving but he will come back for her. He and Sofia are packed and ready to leave Raquel’s house. Sofia bids her grandma goodbye and they both leave. After the leave, Raquel breaks down saying “not you Eduardo. I did everything for you. Don’t leave me” She goes up to Valentina’s room and shoots the guard. Raquel tells Valentina that she knows she can speak and pierces a pin into Valentina’s skin but Valentina remains quiet. Filled with rage, Raquel slaps Valentina and Valentina screams. Raquel says finally, you speak. Valentina begs Raquel not to hurt her and tries to get up from her chair but Raquel wheels Valentina out and throws her off a flight of stairs. The new maid comes out and asks Raquel what she’s doing but Raquel orders Analdo to take the maid away. Seeing Valentina is still alive, Raquel puts her back in her chair and wheels her to the poolside.
Eduardo meets Blanca and tells her he’s with them. Cristobal and Jorge are happy that Eduardo has finally realized who Raquel is. Adriano asks Eduardo about Valentina and Eduardo tells Adriano that he left a guard with Valentina. Adriano is upset that Eduardo left Valentina alone in the house with Raquel and he goes out to save Valentina.
Meanwhile, Tita mourns the loss of her son. Karina tries to console her but Tita is inconsolable as she remembers the moments she shared with Rafael.
The Altamira brothers goes to the police station. Eduardo tells the commissioner that Raquel killed Rafa but no arrest has been made. He tells the commissioner that Raquel needs to be arrested for arms trafficking. The commissioner listens to them as they each take turns to say what Raquel has done but the commissioner says there’s no sufficient proof to arrest Raquel. Blanca calls Eduardo and informs him that Tita found a note written by Rafa and it says” She did it.” she tells Eduardo that Tita also found a ring and she believes it belongs to Raquel. Eduardo informs the commissioner that there’s proof Raquel killed Rafael.

Adriano arrives at the Altamira’s house and begs the guards to let him in. Arnaldo is at the gate and tells Adriano he can’t come in. After Arnaldo leaves, Adriano begs the other guards to let in. After much persuasion, They finally allow Adriano inside.
Meanwhile, Raquel tells Valentina that she took everything away from her including their mother. She tells Valentina that their mother died giving birth to her and instead of their father to hate her, he loved her. Valentina begs Raquel and tells her not to hurt her but Raquel turns deaf ears on her sister. She tells Valentina that Eduardo will never find out Valentina is his real mother and then, she pushes Valentina into the pool. Valentina struggles to swim but she can’t as she’s seen drowning as Raquel watches

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