Pretty Man Episode 9 : That Green Eyed Monster

So we have officially gotten half way through the drama.  I am still enjoying it but there are just a few things that are nagging at me and I feel like I should get them all off my chest at once.  Especially since I try to ignore the things that annoy me in my reviews just focusing on my favorite parts.  OK so here goes.  WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH ALL THE WOMEN???  Writers why did we need to give a specific number (just in case you had forgotten the number is 10) to show the progress of Mattai's emotional growth.  Instead of a case of the week we get a bimbo of the week instead (ok I know they are not all bimbo's but when you have a character introduced and he connects with her then we never see her again after an episode or two I count them in the bimbo category).  And if the plastic wicked witch was the one who gave him the number of women and originally and was letting him know who they were, do we still keep count even though there is no way that these women could have been prepicked to enter his life.   And then there is the wicked witch herself who is slowly disappearing from the show all together.   It is as if she is one of those characters that you bring out once or twice just to fill in a plot point (although the lack of sense to the plot does makes her character completely pointless).  Mattai starts talking about the code word again but REALLY  how is that at all relevant.  And now there is some kind of connection with the evil queen through a mysterious watch?  Are they trying to indicate that Mattai is related to her instead of the dad?

 And talking about the Dad..........  How many illegitimate offspring do you have out there in the world.  Did you just decide to become the biggest loser you could be by impregnating and ditching every women you came across.  While I do like the fact that Mattai and David are now half brothers (unless the show decides to do something stupid like Mattai the evil Queen biological son somehow..............remember if David is Dad's and an unknown women's child that means we are still missing a son somewhere.) it just makes my head hurt with the thought of all the complications that  come along with this big reveal.  I wish that when they were plotting out this drama the writers had decided to cut out all the extra fat on the script.  Just focus on the love triangle, Mattai's attempt to rise and find his birth father, and maybe have a couple females come into his life that help shape it and help him realize his interest in Bo Tong (NO MORE THEN 5 WOMEN...... IT IS GETTING RIDICULOUS).  I understand that this is originally a Manga series but unless you make it a really long drama you are going to have to cut out some stuff anyway.  They could have cut out things to make it a more even plot instead of trying to throw everything and the soup sink into the script.  OKAY............. now that I have that off my chest lets start discussing episode 9 which I really really enjoyed (mostly because it was about the main triangle and kept all the extra characters to a minimum.)

The theme of episode 9 was clearly jealousy!!!  FINALLY We have some progress in both our OTP's relationship as well as the secondary relationship between Bo Tong and David.  I was starting to fear that we would get nothing and then have them trying to cram the whole "my true love was always Bo Tong" storyline down our throats at the very end.

If you remember we left off in episode 8 with double confessions for Mattai. One from the actress/fake girlfriend Myo Mi and the other from Bo Tong who was interrupted mid confession by David letting her know about Myo Mi.  Poor girl is totally devastated about yet another female threat and is moping at work.  Mattai walks in and starts asking what she was thinking confessing that way to him, doesn't she know that she is not in the league of the other women after him.  Fed up Bo Tong snaps back at him that maybe he should be with those other women who had confessed rather then with her who meant nothing to him.  This of course leaves him speechless and confused since he had not realized that he had rushed to her side instead of Myo Mi.  Saying that he had just come back to work because of some papers he grabbed the first files he saw and booked it out shaking his head about his weird behavior.

 Myo Mi not only comes clean about her secret child from before she was famous, but manages to blackmail the evil Connections Ahjumma from ever bugging Mattai or her again, (looks like Mattai is saved from male hookerdom!!  YAY for easy solutions) and we see yet another women disappear from his life.  A very grateful Mattai thanks the actress for helping him out of his bind and easily jokes around that it is a good thing she is such a great actress since he almost believed her confession was real (Ouch.....  He is not easy on a girls heart).  Just then Bo Tong and David walk in joking and laughing up a storm.  Mattai's head starts to steam and he obviously gets pissed.  Snapping at them about being professional he starts to bicker with Bo Tong who says how is it professional that he is on a date in the middle of the workday.  Seeing a way to piss her off he grabs Myo Mi and asks her to have lunch with him sending a snarky glance back at Bo Tong as he leaves the room.

Bo Tong is again depressed because of Mattai's behavior (poor thing is having a harder time keeping a cheerful facade) and David uses this time to make his move.....  His move being a car ride to the lake, having the car break down, and then getting some cute cuddle action in when they decide to camp overnight to relieve Bo Tong of her Mattai induced stress.  I personally loved the cinematography of these scenes and felt that the directer really lucked out with a fabulous sunset helping set the mood for the scene.

Poor Mattai (dude you brought this on yourself by being a totally jerk) is left searching for his wayward employees.  He calls Gold Digger Jr asking when he got off of work and did he leave with "everyone else".  Cute little Jr totally calls him out on it and tells him that if he is interested in where Bo Tong went then to just ask outright.  This of course sends Mattai in a rush of denials that were so obviously over denied that even he was wincing at his actions.

Not wanting to call Bo Tong directly (because that of course would be beyond embarrassing when you are still claiming that you have no feelings for her) he instead calls her mother and invites himself over to her new restaurant for dinner.  Handing her an envelope of money, he says he wants to help repay her for all of her help in the past with his family.  Clearly overwhelmed mom thanks him but says it is not necessary and that David had already loaned her money to help buy the restaurant.  You can imagine how this goes over and Mattai insists that she take the money and repay "that guy" back instantly, and when she refused yet again he demands that she give it to Bo Tong.  Mother finally thanks him and tells him that despite his looks he really is a good boy and then asks that he not tell Bo Tong about the money from David since it was a secret.  Mattai just grins and says that Mother is welcome to tell Bo Tong that he gave her a lot of money and that would like it if she called her right now.  LOL  Subtle mattai so subtle.  However the grin is wiped off his face when he finds out that her phone is turned off.

The next day Mattai shows up to work with a lot of crazy energy.  He buzzes around David's desk asking lots of random questions and for things that had already been taken care of previously.  David asks if he could take with Mattai for just a second.  Mattai ushers him into his office and David asks him if he is curious as to what Bo Tong and he did last night.  Mattai instantly denies any such interest and David smirks and starts to walk out the door.  Unable to stand it anymore Mattai yells for him to just tell him already.  To which David replies "no" and starts to laugh manically.  LOL  I knew that I was going to love Mattai's comeuppance.

Finally after nine hours of show we see our hottie hero start to put some effort towards our heroine.  Planning a night of wooing (all right so it is just a special night out with his friend in his mind but we have been getting zilch out of him effort wise so I am going to call it WOOING just in the hopes that it will come true sooner then later) he buy her a snazzy Bo Tong approved outfit and invites her out to dinner Christmas Eve.  I love that her initial reaction is to burst into tears accusing him of getting engaged again since he is only nice to her and feeds her when he has to break engagement type news.  He just rolls his eyes and orders her to be ready for a night out with him.  This of course makes her ecstatic which makes Mattai happy!

Unfortunately Bo Tong had forgotten that she had already made plans with David that night.  He had made her promise to come watch his band perform since he had something very important to tell her .(David,, David,, David............  maybe you would have a better shot at winning her heart if you just told her you liked her rather then planning some big "event confession".)  Agonizing over her decision she just cant decide until David gives her permission to go to dinner with Mattai since she truly loves him. 

 

Christmas eve arrives and we see both men....alone and looking oh so sad.   Who is Bo Tong going to choose.  The oppa that she loves above all others or her new BFF who gets her in a way that not many others can.  We await with bated breath and see her finally send a text to Mattai saying that she just did not feel right about not keeping her promise.  She arrives just in time for the final song which is dedicated to her, the women he has fallen in love with.......................  Poor Bo Tong of course is blindsided (that girl is one clueless puppy when it comes to anyone's feelings other then Mattai's)  Telling her that she does not have to like him back, David says that he is just happy to be behind her since she is the only bright party of a life that was not worth living.  Bo Tong of course understands where he is coming from since she is in the same situation with Mattai and says she feels very sad that she can not change the way she feels.  Both leave the situation feeling a little awkward but still friends.  As they arrive home who should they encounter but a very upset Mattai who grabs Bo Tong and demands that she move in with him immediately.  When she objects he yells that he does not care where she lives as long as it is not with "that guy"..........AND SCENE.....................

I am so happy to see Mattai finally taking a more aggressive role in his relationship with Bo Tong.  As she has become more short tempered with his antics, he has become more aware of her as a women as well as her role in his life.  I also like that he is doing his whole pretty boy vogueing schtick less and less.  Rather then performing to get what he wants he has started working hard and actually being a man who works ..... kinda sorta.  That is not to say that he is a hard worker ( he still tends to take the path of least resistance) but at least he is willing to attempt to think of others and work even if it is mostly ceremonial.  And of course the best thing about this episode was the lack of extra women.  Unfortunately the preview for 10 lets us know that we have another bimbo of the week so I will have to brace myself for more non OTP action.  Come on writers, we are getting towards the home stretch of the show and our OTP are still in the pre-relationship phase.  Lets speed things up and at least get an almost kiss under our plates.

Sincerely,
Kmuse