My Secret Hotel ep 14: You Asked for It

So, it has come to this. I can't decide which cliche to go with here. "I told you so" or "you asked for it, you got it"? Remember when everyone was up in arms because the whole "marriage for the sake of the hotel" issue seemed to be dropped no sooner as the "I dos" were said? How everyone in Kdom was crying foul? I told you it would be back, and back it is. For better or for worse. No way, no how were they going to let that one drop. Nuh uh.
Sure enough, after the article by Ms Buttinski (seriously, is journalism in Korea really this tacky???) is published, tongues start a-waggin' and, once again, for the "sake of the hotel", Sang Hyo is back at Hae Young's flat, begging him to let her come and stay again. Ms Buttinski's constant meddling in their relationship made me realize that, instead of being the home-wrecking force she intends to be, she is actually acting as the catalyst to bring our two lovers back together each time she tries to separate them. Haha. If only she realized that. Anyway, Sang Hyo comes crawling back to Hae Young who is about done and ready to give up. There's only so much a heart can handle after all, right? Kudos to him for at least initially saying no. He's tired of these games (aren't we all?). He's tired of having his heart broken time after time as he desperately pursues someone not interested in being pursued. When he begged her to stay, she left, only to turn around and come right back. Does she return for his heart? Of course not. No, of course it's all to save her precious hotel's reputation. Good gravy! Who the freak cares about their job this much? If it were actually her own personal hotel, then sure, go for it honey - marry a guy, ditch your boyfriend to play house, whatever - knock yourself out. But it isn't your hotel. You are an employee.  Em.Ploy.EE.  Ridiculous. Seriously people, run a sale or something. Put your hotel up on any Korean equivalent of a hotel booking site. Maybe weddings are scarce for a bit until memories fade and people stop freaking caring about some lame rumor and superstition. Host some bar mitzvahs or something instead until it all dies down. And, you know, people stop dying and falling from ceilings or into bathtubs. This is really starting to be a very lame premise to base an entire drama on, let alone a love story. I keep waiting for there to be more....

As far as the love story here, I'm so over the round-and-round angst of it all and don't care to go into detail on all the back and forth of this drama. Suffice to say, Sang Hyo is still waffling between two gorgeous guys. I differ slightly from Kmuse on my view of her. I guess I'm just as wishy-washy as our heroine, but I can understand her position. She genuinely is confused and she's not trying to hurt either one. I know she was sincere when she accepted Director Jo and assured him that she had no lingering feelings for her ex-not-ex husband. She really thought she had moved on. She had been hurt. Deeply. Those scars have been reopened. She's flailing about trying to come to grips with it all. Meanwhile, these two guys are both fighting hard for her heart. And both are winning. Guess what? Despite the social stigma against it, it is possible to love more than one person at a time. Does this mean that I think it's okay for her to have a boyfriend and a husband? No, of course not. She's going to have to pick one. I just wish they'd both kind of back off and give her a chance to figure out her own heart. I know I can't choose and I'm just watching ;) Okay, I lied. I really don't want either one of them to back off. I love the intensity with which they are pursing her. It's really fun. Until you try to write about it. Then it's a little annoying. Because we're all over the place here. Or until the angst starts. When angst starts, fun stops. Poor Sang Hyo. She's just a sweet girl that everyone loves that just wants to make everyone happy and not hurt anyone. Except that that is exactly what she is doing. Everyone is hurting here. In her defense, however, she is not misleading or toying with their hearts unbeknownst to them. They are grown men who know very well about the competition and are choosing to stay in the game. All's fair here as far as I'm concerned. If she were being deceitful (to anyone else besides herself), I'd have a really big problem with her, but she's not, so, yeah, I give her a pass. She can be wishy-washy all she wants. Let's just not spend more screen time on it, k? Ha.  As if that's going to happen. Or not happen. You know what I mean. I hope.

I want to start by mentioning a couple of important plot points first and then I'll mention a few favorite parts of the episode.

What is up with Director Jo's mom and her part in all this? She shows up and is all sweet and nice when her son tosses out the "hey ma, I'm in love with that girl that just walked you in here", at least until she learns the girl's name, and then she goes all crazy. Huh? What in the world does she have against Sang Hyo? Why does she know the name? To make things even weirder, she has an obvious relationship of some sort with the General Manger dude. And has for many years. Like back to the time when her husband died. Is it just me, or did she act mighty fishy when her son asked her about his father's death? She told him to drop it. And then begged him to leave the hotel and come back to the States with her. Uhm, overreact much? So yeah, new theory - Mom was somehow in on the whole thing. Maybe she offed her husband. Or at least had him offed. Maybe she and the General Manager had an affair and the security guy that's killing everybody is their love child.

Speaking of which, they pretty much painted the head of security as the killer in this episode. Of course we are to believe that he did not work alone, but in tandem with the General Manager, but yeah, at this point, he's Suspect #1. The cancer lady is also somehow tied up with all these convoluted weirdos. I had actually been thinking that cancer lady and the General Manager had been the ones involved with each other in the past and that the security guy was their love child, but now I just don't know. Who is GM involved with and who's love child is the security guy? Sigh. So many unanswered questions here. So many questions, so few episodes left to answer them all.

The Housewarming Party
Ever the meddlers in his love life, Hae Young's staff decides to throw a "surprise" housewarming party for he and his bride. The goal is to get her drunk so that things can "progress" in their "relationship". Really? And Hae Young goes along with this? Oh brother. Give me a break. Lame. Kinda cute in a way as only these silly staff members can be, but still.... So they all show up and the drinking game begins. It's your basic spin the bottle - bottle lands on you, you drink. Your basic spin the bottle that has been practiced by that one guy until he can get it to land in the same spot (i.e. Sang Hyo) every time. Game starts out, and sure enough, bottle points to Sang Hyo. Only, instead of drinking, she calls on her Dark Knight, aka Hae Young, to take the shot for her. Uh oh. Can we see where this is going? Sure enough, by the end of the night, we have a very drunk Hae Young and an incredibly sober Sang Hyo. HY is dragged to bed, with the evening an apparent failure. That is, until we see Sang Hyo lovingly sit by his bedside staring at his gorgeous face. This scene is reminiscent of an earlier scene in which roles were reversed - a sleeping bride with her adoring ex-not-ex lovingly kissing her on the forehead and telling her that he loves her. When HY wakes in the morning, he is greeted by the sight of his beautiful sleeping bride's face. This obviously makes him very happy and encourages him on.

Future Mother-in-Law Train Wreck
If everything else were taken out of the equation and I were Sang Hyo's BFF advising her on which guy to choose, I'd urge her Hae Young's direction if for no other reason than the whole MIL issue. Director Jo's mom is obviously one to be avoided. After finding out that Sang Hyo is the one her precious son has his heart set on, she immediately gets on the phone with the GM and invokes his help in separating the two. Rather emphatically I might add. Yikes. Hae Young's mom on the other hand gave her a car. Just sayin'. Love is all fine and good, but family, family is forever. If MIL is crazy now, there's no assurances that she'll ever be un-crazy. I'd stick with the guy that comes with the nice in-laws. But maybe that's just me. Crazy Momma Jo's request sets the GM into motion, and before long, Sang Hyo is in his office with him telling her to give up the Director for the sake of the hotel. Because her love life always comes down to "for the sake of the hotel" as we well know by now. To his credit, Director Jo immediately knows where Sang Hyo is getting her marching orders when she, once again, pulls away from him. I'm sorry - I just can't hate the man. I can't. I don't want her with him, but I sure want him happy. I adore him and all his manliness/maturity/sensibleness. Maybe Ms Picasso stands a chance. There is something cute about them, now that she's not being all kinky with her talk of tie ties in the bedroom. I thoroughly enjoyed, as did he, the part where she dresses all demurely in order to suck up to meet his mother. I like where they have taken her character. And I almost even feel bad about the nickname. Almost.

Sang Hyo is Next
After agreeing to back off from her for the time being, without giving up entirely, Director Jo asks SH to go somewhere with him. She hesitates as she knows HY is home waiting for her. And, he's just not simply home waiting for her, no. No, in true HY style, he has taken the encouragement of waking up with her beside him and is running with it once again. He's cooking this fabulous home cooked meal for her. How cute is he as he prepares, reading the recipe off his phone, obviously a total newbie to cooking? He proves himself to be skilled in this as in so many other areas of life though, and by the end, a beautiful spread is on the table. It only misses one thing - Sang Hyo. Meanwhile, SH is out with D Jo. He takes her out to a nice restaurant for dinner after signing papers for an apartment for himself (showing her that he intends to settle down and is not going anywhere). Sensing her anxiety to get home, he changes his mind and offers just tea instead, which she readily agrees to. Still watching the clock and incredibly preoccupied with getting home, SH isn't much of a companion and D Jo picks up on that rather quickly. He tells her that it's okay if she is wavering towards HY the same way she is wavering towards him. Yes. Really. He tells her it's okay that she can't make up her mind and loves two men. What drama guy ever says that? He confesses that his feelings towards her are very sincere and unchanged and that he will wait for her in hopes that she returns to him once she has her heart figured out. Really. See?!?! How can you not like this guy??? As they leave the restaurant and have just parted ways, we see headlights gunning towards the ever-oblivious SH. Oh! Did I forget to mention earlier when the head security guy promised the GM to "take care of Sang Hyo"? I did. And he did. And apparently this is him "taking care of her". It's him behind the wheel. It's her he's aiming for. Not a whole lot of room here for confusion. Except for the confusion written all over SH's face as she stares at this car barreling towards her. True to drama heroine form, she just stands there like an idiot instead of taking the one or two steps backward to safety. And, true to drama hero form, Director Jo sees the danger and rushes to her rescue. Before we know what's happened, Hae Young is on the phone with the hospital, hears that there has been an accident, and is running out the door, symbolically knocking the bottle of wine to the floor.

Do you see how close she is to the curb there? Seriously, one or two steps backward and she would have been fine. If he had time to run back ACROSS the entire street, she had time to take a step back and save her own life. *smh*

When he arrives, it becomes quickly apparent that SH is safe and that D Jo was the one injured. Fortunately, neither were struck by the car and the injury to D Jo happened when he landed on the ground. Of course, he's hiding his true injury - the glass in the back - until SH leaves. HY is pissed off. And can you blame him? He makes this fancy dinner only to have his lady love sitting with some other man in a hospital bed. I'd be a little hurt too.

The Talk --- Sort Of.
You know how all along we've been screaming for these two to sit down and talk? To have an actual conversation about their history and what all transpired? To talk about their feelings and hash everything out? Well, we finally get it. Sort of. For all we have gone through to get to this point, I feel that it left us wanting. Too little too late. They finally address though, sort of, the part where he left her 7 years ago. He tells her that his feelings for her have never changed, that they are the same now as they were then. She starts in on him about how he left and he counters back, asking the question as to who really left who. Yes, he left for New York, but she didn't follow. Or wait for him to return. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Hold the phone here. Are they really trying to turn this around to make her the one that actually left the relationship? That's what Hae Young is claiming. I'm sorry, but no. No, no, no, no, no. He left for NY without a word. No goodbye, no nothing. Just a plane ticket, knowing full well that she had her own life there in Vegas that she was working towards and didn't feel she could leave. I don't blame him for leaving, just as I don't blame her for staying. I still hold to my stance that they just weren't meant to be back then, that there wasn't a solution for them to stay together. Right person, wrong time, wrong place. I still hold that they are now the right people in the right time and the right place, but this whole idea that it is somehow really her fault is pushing it for me. Except for the fact that he is right on one thing - I don't think that she was as invested in their relationship. I suspect that she didn't have the same trust in it that he did. Not because of him or her, just for whatever reason, she didn't feel like there was any way this could be for real. She has personal issues not allowing her to accept his heart fully. She's now starting to see it though - his sincerity, even after all these years and separation - so I think she's more ready now to accept him. Yes, she has to come to terms with her part in what happened 7 years ago in that she needs to accept that she didn't trust in him enough, that she let her self-doubt stop her from fully believing in their love. She focused so much on the little time they had had, believing that there was no way it could be real or that this dream guy could really truly love her the same way she loved him. That's her own insecurities talking there, and yes, I believe they played a role in the breakup. But to say that because she didn't follow him she is therefore the one truly responsible for the breakup? Nuh uh. If that's the way they go with it, I'm out.

Anyway, all that aside, yes, they talk. Things are finally said that needed saying. Not enough, but at least it gets the ball rolling and our heroine self-reflecting. Maybe by doing so, she can start to forgive him, and herself, and start fresh. That's my hope. I still would have liked to see and hear more from them though. I feel let down and empty.  *sniff*  We end the episode with a depressed Hae Young drinking at a bar and a crying Sang Hyo standing there, staring at the evidence that her ex-not-ex husband really does love her as he claims. And I am given hope that the final two episodes will leave us with at least some semblance of resolution after all they have put us through. Fingers crossed!

Okay, that was like way wordy. Sorry. What are your thoughts on this episode and/or this drama as a whole as we are about to begin the final week?  I'm so curious to know! Share in the comments or come chat with us on our FB page about it. :) And until next time, may all your days be filled with lots of wonderful drama!












Some bonus Director Jo love...just because :)

He stands up to the GM and his mother and vows to protect the woman he loves. Awww!!!!  How can I not love him?!?!