Surplus Princess Episode 2 - There Will Be Consequences

Quote of the day:  “Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape the consequences of his choices.” - Alfred A. Montapert 

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After the previous episode prologue we are back at the river way where Aileen is waiting for her chance at Ma Nyeo’s pouch which she is sure has the desired potion she needs to become human. She spots it unattended and as she makes her attempt at snatching the prize she’s spotted and captured {Uh Oh!!!}.

Psych!!!  It’s just a nightmare which makes her all the more antsy to get a hold of the potion from Ma Nyeo.

{Title Credits}

Jin Ah and her co-worker are unloading items from a van for the upcoming party. Said co-worker is complaining about doing the grunt work when Manager Kim (played by Kim Jae Hwa) appears {queue theme song to Attack On Titan – I guess this will be an ongoing gag}.

Manager Kim barks instructions and preparations for the party commences.  Mr. Apple Butt, Chef Kwon, still manages to pause long enough to send a selca (selfie for those of us in the West) to himself.  Narcissist much maybe?

Meanwhile, Hyun Myung is awaiting his interview nervously.  But, when he does go into the interview, all of the execs pretty much ignore him.  When he objects they pointedly ask why an arts major would even bother applying and is he any good.  One interviewer eggs him on to draw something to show how good he is and when he complies the execs inform him that he is good and should just stick to art.  He states to them that perhaps they aren’t looking at the picture properly.  He brings it closer and leaves it on the table upside down.  {Well that’s one way of flipping someone off}. It’s a sure bet he didn’t pass the screening process.

Jin Ah gets a frantic call from the guys at Surplus House that Hyun Myung hasn’t shown up at home and he’s not answering his calls.  They are concerned that he may have gone to the Han River to drown his sorrows and perhaps jump in.  Apparently he’s done this before.  Jin Ah is less than pleased to leave work to go find him.

Hyun Myung is at the Han river totally plastered and has just taken the first few steps towards water when something streaks across the sky and crashes behind him.  We are now back to where we left off last episode complete with soundtrack from The Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger's classic pose in that movie.

Aileen is ecstatic with her new legs.  Jumping around on them not fully realizing she’s butt naked from the waist down. You know mermaids don’t wear pants right?  Hyun Myung is completely nonplussed {my dictionary word of the day} and stares at her in a drunken stupor.  She knocks him out with a punch and he wakes up to her trying to steal his clothes straight off of his body. In the ensuing struggle, him to keep his clothes and she to take them, they are discovered in an extremely compromising position by Jin Ah and some neighborhood ahjummas.  The ahjummas pull him off to ‘save’ Aileen. 

Hyun Myung proceeds to plead his innocence but the ahjummas are having none of that.  While trying to call the police, Ma Nyeo walks in and carries her away on his shoulders.  Hyun Myung tries to get Jin Ah to believe him but this was the last straw.  She breaks up with him saying that coming there was a mistake and that her mother was right about him. 

Ma Nyeo hands Aileen some clothes to change into but she ends up nearly killing them stripping him of his outfit while he’s trying to drive.  {You know, at this point I really wanted to take her to task and administer a good spanking.  Aileen is acting like a very spoilt child.} She strong arms him into taking her to the party where she gets in with no problems since she has the Virtual Invite handy.

When she spots the object of her affections, Kwon Shi Kyung aka Apple Butt, she has one of those fantasy dream moments where time stands still except for them straight out of the TV show My Love From Another Star.

  

Aileen comes back to reality and tries to get Shi Kyung to remember her but Jin Ah butts in with his missing phone as if she had it the entire time.  Seems that Aileen dropped it during her “fantasy” moment and Jin Ah both recognizing her from earlier and seeing her opportunity with Shi Kyung via the dropped phone takes advantage of it fully. A fight breaks out between the two girls and Shi Kyung ends up telling Aileen that a girl like her doesn’t belong there and kicks her out.

Aileen is completely outraged and disenchanted from her “Prince” and tells Ma Nyeo she’s done and is ready to go back to the sea.  They are interrupted by another woman who she recognizes as Prilly, the other mermaid that turned human.  Prilly is distraught when she finds out that Aileen drank the last of the potion and proceeds to dissolve into before Aileen’s eyes. A shocked Aileen is then informed that she has 100 no make it 99 days (since she wasted a day chasing after Shi Kyung) to find true love or suffer the same fate as the previous mermaid for failing to do so.  Reality comes crashing down on Aileen as she realizes the consequences of her impulsive actions.

Cut to Surplus House and an adorably awkward exchange between house owner, Lee Sun Kyu, and Ma Nyeo.  Seems that they are old friends but the interaction between them is priceless.  The delivery from these two actors was amusing.  Looks like Ma Nyeo has provided her with a new identity.  She is his neice, Kim Ha Ni.  She must now live as a human for the next 99 days whilst trying to find true love or dissolve away.  (BTW – The following sets of pics had me laughing in all of its cheesy photo shopped glory.  The last one killed me.)

Ma Nyeo (Note:  apparently Ma Nyeo translates to witch or wizard in Korean) ends up taking Ha Ni (aka Aileen – I’m using her human name from now on) up to her new room in much the same way he took her away from the river the night before, carried on his shoulders. He settles her in and leaves her to get some sleep.  She goes through a couple of nightmares, one where Prilly comes back as a ghost {reference to Saeki Kayako from Ju-on and its American remake The Grudge} to kill her and the other where Shi Kyung tries to choke the life out of her.  

Ha Ni’s new roommates stop by her room to invite her to eat ramyun with them.  When she downs the whole pot they proceed to instruct her on the house rule of “Mommy’s Not Here” and we run through it like a newbie quest in a video game (Describing it will do it a disservice.  You just have to watch it, trust me on this.).  Ha Ni then asks them about true love and it’s adorable how awkward they are about it finally stating that the best person to ask is their roommate, Hyun Myung, who is currently not there.

Meanwhile Hyun Myung is desperately trying to convince Jin Ah of his innocence.  She’s having none of it though and basically blows him off. He goes home dejected and notices that there’s a new occupant in Jin Ah’s old room but he’s in no mood to be sociable. He and Ha Ni miss meeting each other by seconds.  While pondering their respective issues they finally step out onto their balconies…

T-Minus 98 days to go...