I Need Romance 3 Episode 2- Fantasy VS Reality

Its amazing in life how often our expectations and reality are two completely different things.  In this episode our intrepid hottie learns this first hand as he meets his Shing Shing after 17 years and she is not the sweet, shy, and generous girl that he remembers.  Now he has to make the hard decisions of whether she still qualifies as his "dream" girl or should he cut his losses and move on from his first love.  

Fantasy

Episode two opens with Joo Wan being interviewed about his rise to fame.  He recounts his teenage years and how he discovered his joy of composing music which led to his rise as a songwriter and eventual producer.  He tells the reporter of how he learned to play the piano when he was young, and that there was a special person who taught him not only how to play the piano but also how to express his emotions through music.  When asked if it was a female, and would he be seeing her while he was in Korea, he gets the cutest smile on his face and says " I will be seeing her soon".  (Just FYI for anyone who was wondering about the whole growing up with Joo Yun situation.  After watching it a separate time on a different site I was able to deduce that Joo Yun's mother actually babysat him while he was growing up to make ends meet.  Hence the resentment about being poor and the reason he moved to America was with his family.)

Reality

Having just missed Joo Yun at the club, Joo Wan promptly goes to her house.  We have a beautifully edited scene where he is going up the stairs and then we have a flashback of the last time he saw his Shing Shing.  Sobbing uncontrollably a 9 year old Joo Wan forces a small stone??  tooth?? into Joo Yun's hand.  She gives him a weird look and asks why he is making her hold this dirty thing.  Joo Wan is barely able to sob out that he has nothing else to give her.  And since he is going to America to live he needs her to keep it so he has a reason to come back to her some day (this must be the promise he is planning to keep).  A younger sweeter version of Joo Yun tells the poor boy that he needs to calm down.  That it is important to not get hysterical when you are feeling sadness and instead be honest and sincere.  I like that we get this flashback so that we can see how much she really has changed.  Because the last thing she does now when hurt is be honest.  As he says about her in the voice over "she is a women who isn't polite in the least......A Women's who has made a habit of hurting other people......A woman who spits out venom every time she opens her mouth...that kind of women... a cruel and awful woman."  Now it is at this point that most men would run fast and far away.  But not a Korean kdrama hero... oh no... they are made of sturdier stock (or are at least genetically made to be crazy when it comes to romance.......or revenge....or about eating.... I guess we can just say they all are a tad bit crazy).  Instead of running he starts the process of finding out why she turned out the way she did.

Damsels, Drinking, and Pajama Parties

As he is leaving her house he hears a drunken ruckus coming from a nearby restaurant.  Sure enough it is his soul mate, a very drunk soul mate, complaining that she is being cut off from her soju.  He joins her and she drunkenly starts to flirt, he asks if she even knows who he is, and she answers of course..... you are Allen Ju (which makes him a bit sad since she did not recognize him right away).  He then asks if "her personality has always been like this?"  She falls silent and and replies eventually that it is because "she is not loved" and that there is no one she trusts to love her, but that is ok since everyone is alone in the end anyway.   Joo Wan is silent and gazes at her as if he wants to give her a giant bear hug until everything is all better.  Like any good stalker......oops I meant wannabe boyfriend, Joo Wan follows her home (she must be drunk if she does not notice the tall hottie following her) and makes sure she arrives safely.  We also get a bit of humor when she drunkenly looks back and forth declaring (in a very loud voice) that she has to be careful not to let people know her door code.  She covers the pad and then sings the code very loudly as she pushes her way inside.  I love that he now has access to her (and soon to be his) residence.

Now luckily for our snarky heroine, she is not all alone in the world (even though she seems to feel that she is).  Before you can say designer handbag, the Fashion Squad has arrived to cheer her up.  And what better way to cheer up your bestie then by having a PAJAMA PARTY!  Because when you are in your thirties you are all about the pajama parties.  LOL

You Gotta Love A Good Cat Fight

Joo Wan discovers the next day the truth behind what happened at the club.  It turns out that Se Ryung and our main girl were BFF's in high school.  Things went terribly wrong when Se Ryung stole Joo Yun's first boyfriend away from her with no apologies or shame.  Is it any wonder then that Joo Yun loses it when she is at her ex boyfriends house and in walks Se Ryung wearing the necklace that she had expected to receive.  To say she does not take it well is an understatement as we are entertained by the traditional "wronged women slap fest" which turns into a full fledged hair pulling, leg kicking, all out cat fight.  Luckily Joo Wan (who had just dropped off Se Ryung) was around to pull Joo Yun away and out of the house.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Which leads to my personal favorite scene of the episode.  Hilariously, Joo Yun looks very put out as Joo Wan drags her away.  She starts to get really upset that she might have lost the fight since she was pretty sure that she got hit one more time.  Determined not to lose the fight Joo Yun eyes, what she assumes is Se Ryung's car, and in a blink of an eye she is kicking it.  Ignoring Joo Wan's screech she starts kicking the side mirrors breaking one, and about to break the other when she is literally tackled to the ground by Joo Wan.

In the scuffle she manages to injure her hand, and before she can start reigning vengeance against his car again, Joo Wan finally gets out that it is his car she is destroying.  He then threatens to do the same to her car but she quickly talks back to him saying that since she was injured when he tackled her they should be even.  That everyone knows that this is how it works in Korea.  HAHAHAHAHA  I love that she is trying to talk her way out of the situation rather then apologizing (she does stay true to her diva ways).  He finally grabs her car keys away from her and before she can say Cute Hottie in my car, she is whisked away to the pharmacy where he makes her buy her own band-aids.

 He then totally ruins his tough guy demeanor by applying the antiseptic and band-aids to her wound.  He also subtly asks if she is OK after finding out that her boyfriend cheated on her (just a side note, I am getting the vibes that maybe he was not cheating and there is some other reason for the evil nemesis and the ex's connection).  She breezily says that she has already forgotten it since it happened long ago, a whole twenty minutes or so.  I would also just like to point out that the camera man really captured his hotness in this lighting...... What?  It had to be commented upon or the poor cameraman/directors would not think their work is being appreciated.  We end the episode with him saying goodbye to her at her car, but before she leaves he tells her his hotel.  She asks if he is hitting on her right now and wants to sleep with her (laughing to himself and wondering if she is for real) he sexily asks "and if I am"?

 SQUEEEEEEEE  How hot is he.  And how sad that we have to wait a week to see the end of this scene.  I am really really liking the writing when it comes to the main couple.  It is as if they switched personalities with their younger and older selves.  He has to teach her everything that she taught him as a youth, and she is wild and impetuous and completely self absorbed (like a 9 year old hehe).  His self assured and calm demeanor is perfect and pretty much everything you could ask for in a man.  And it cracks me up that the writers did a switch with the Kdrama stereotypes and she ends up being the TKJ (Typical Korean Jerk) character that is usually played by the main guy.
I can't get enough of how beautiful this drama is shot.  It almost eclipses the actual characters and I have to force myself not to be sad when a amazing reflective scene is replaced with dialogue.   My only complaint is that the friends continue to just be extra filler and still have not really fleshed out as real people.  But I am guessing that will change within the next week or two.  After seeing the preview I am especially excited for episode 3 since it looks like Joo Wan has made up his mind to storm the castle (both of her heart and actual castle) when he moves into her apartment.  I personally am really looking forward to her reaction when she finds out who he is.  It should be pretty epic and possibly embarrassing but I am sure she will have some funny way of getting out of an apology.

Till next week,
Sincerely, Kmuse