Pretty Man Episode 7: Time to make the tough choices.

In this episode we see Mattai having to put on his big boy pants and make some serious decisions.  In the past his actions have only affected himself and he was able to be confident in what he decided.  However now that he has Team Sock (lets all admit that when he is worrying about letting down Team Sock that really means Bo Tong) to worry about his decisions and the resulting consequences suddenly become more important. Thankfully it is in no way a melodrama so we don't have actual death and despair to worry about, but Mattai would be in debt, and Bo Tong would be sad.  And it seems in this drama letting down Bo Tong is the equivalent to death.
When last we left off we saw Team Sock's sophomore attempt at cleaning socks failing dismally flat.  It seems that cleaning socks were a one hit wonder and Mattai is going to be stuck with some large debt if they continue to not sell.   In desperation he calls Kim In Joong the Queen of Connections to save him (since he does not want to let down Bo Tong and all the hard work she has done).  She coldly tells him that one of the most important things about connections is to never use them to sell product.  She is about to hang up when he (in desperation) offers himself up to be her lover if she will save him.  Smiling she agrees and uses her connections to have a famous actress blog about the cleaning socks.  Just like that the socks are again sold out and Team Sock is saved.  So on the upside - Team Sock is successful again.  On the downside, its president has just become a gigolo.

 OKAAAYYYYY.................. It is better to sell yourself then disappoint a girl that you don't even admit you love?  Again a moment of thin plot line for this drama.  But I am still highly entertained so I will let it go and run with it.

Consequences
So Mattai is called out to a slinky bar by Kim In Joong in order to "pay up" since she kept her end of the bargain.  They lights are low, the wine is flowing, In my head I am imagining Barry White singing "Lets Get It On" in the background.......and Mattai (Mr Pretty Boy Suave himself) freaks out like a teenage boy seeing his first bra.  HAHAHA  Instead of being the really smooth operator we know he can be, he starts to get jittery and freak out.  Luckily a very drunk Bo Tong chooses that moment to call him.  Saved with a lie of Bo Tong having appendicitis he rushes out of the bar yelling that he will call her later.

What is a man to do when he is running away trying to keep his virtue intact.  Why go straight to his super cute stalker who is passed out drunk at home.  He smiles down at her and brushes her hair off her face telling her thank you for saving him.  And then he glances over at the giant photo of himself wondering if it is a tad to small.  LOL  But before he can order her a bigger photo she starts muttering in her sleep, cursing him for being so shallow.  Then she yells (while still sleeping) does he think he is going to stay pretty forever, looks fade and then what will he have.  Huffing under his breath he stands up then gets his trade mark snarky smile on his face.

Waking up hungover, Bo Tong stumbles out to have breakfast with David.  Turns out Mattai being the mature man that he is got his revenge for her comments the night before.  Did he give her a Hitler Stache?  Pluck her eyebrows?  Paint her face Blue?  In fact he doodled over the whole of her face making her even cuter then she was before.  I love that even their revenge against each other is always all kinds of adorable.  When David shows her a picture of her face she just gets a silly grin on her face and says that "Oppa must have touched her a lot to draw that much and she was never washing it off"  Seriously people could she be anymore adorable?

So the Wicked Witch of Plastic is still plotting and drinking tea in the background of this drama.  It just so happens that she has had someone looking into the Evil Queens past (looking for any week spots to attack her) and finds out that she disappeared in the US for 3 years twenty some years ago.  And you all know what disappearing in America for anytime means in a kdrama............  YUP We have a hidden birth situation on our hands.  I sometimes imagine that if dramas were true then how many thousands upon thousands of Korean children have super secret birth identities.  Is there anyone out there without a secret birth story?  And since we switch instantly from her scheming witchiness in all her plastic glory to Choi David, I am taking a huge leap of logic and announcing that we have found the hidden heir.  Who knew that such an adorable cutie nice guy could spring forth from the loins of the evil queen.

Now that the initial selling of the socks is over David does not have the excuse of hanging out with his Bo Tong every minute of the day.  And is he ever so sad and depressed.  But never fear because Mattai has decided that he needs David to help run the company.  But when Bo Tong says they should scout him Mattai shoots her down.  "He has a solid job and does not need to leave to work for a start up company.  The trick will be getting him to come to us."  And Mattai being the Machiavellian type comes up with a sure fire plan to push David's button and get him begging for a job.  His brilliant idea?  Work Bo Tong to death searching all over Seoul for a good office for Team Sock and then when she comes back to the dormitory exhausted, David (her white knight) will beg to work for him to save her.  It works like a charm and before one day is over David is begging to be hired.  I truly love how Mattai is primping and letting his inner Ahjumma out as he does a face mask while his plan unfolds.

 
Did anyone else totally get a whole evil plotting Korean mother in law vibe from this scene. HAHAHAHA  I love him.

Now that he has his team together his only problem is that whole "promise to be your slave boy toy" issue.  Getting more direct threats from Kim In Joong he starts to stress on how he is going to get out of this situation.  And then he gets yet another light bulb moment!  (He sure is having an episode of amazing ideas).  He takes her out to one of her favorite restaurants turning up his charm to full blast.  Grabbing her hand and doing his super sexy sizzle look they are caught by the local women's league which results in some serious embarrassment by In Joong and includes some loss of business.   Furious that Mattai has figured out to wiggle out of her web, she demands satisfaction of another type in the form of a favor.   She tells Mattai that all of their situation can be made even if he agrees to get in a scandal with the current #1 actress Yo Mi.  He just sits there trying to catch and figure out why she wants her ruined.

Evil Prince????
 I am going to end this post on just saying that "I WAS RIGHT!!! BOOYAH!! All signs are pointing to David Choi being Mattai's stepbrother (or at least they would be if both were not illegitimate and hidden by their respective parents).   Lets count the facts as we know them.  Evil Queen has a hidden child who she wants to put as the heir of MG Comp.  David has a huge house but is comfortable enough about his wealth to Glamp outside for the heck of it.  He has money that he can put into that fortune sucker of a car he owns (It might look like a total lemon but unless he had money to put into it then that car would have died and gone to car heaven long ago).  David works at GM (can we say secret boss working his way up from the bottom), And most importantly, (other then this is a drama and does there ever really need to be a logical reason) he knows who the Wicked Witch is by site and is very concerned about her being connected with Mattai.  Yup I am telling you all that he is the secret heir.  It is only a matter of time before he "comes out".

 My thoughts:
 I really liked the plot movement of this episode.  We had a nice transition into female #4 and I am sure we can look forward to yet another hairstyle change in episode 8.  I also like that instead of having the wicked witch constantly picking the next girl he needs to charm, he instead is introduced to them by each previous girl.  I understand for the narratives sake she has to declare that each new women is indeed the "next number girl" but at least we are saved from her always popping up and saying "find this girl, she is so and so, you need to do steps 1..2...3...etc" more then she already does.  I would like to just comment though on Mattai's sudden change from being a comfortable gold digger to terrified virgin sacrifice. When my mom told me about this part before I had watched it, I was pretty easy going saying that he was probably upset that he had previously been in a relationship and although he was a gold digger he was not really a gigolo.   I personally think that there is a distinction.  After watching the episode and I get where she is coming from.  I still think that he  was not sleeping with women just for their money but this scene seemed just a little off.  For a man who is used to using women and having them fawn over him he sure was totally freaked out.  I think that for laughs the director went a tad to far in his portrayal and therefore made it stick out more.  But again I am willing to overlook a lot of flaws if a drama can make me laugh.  And that scene was super funny so once again you are forgiven writers for having a slightly weak plot.  I am now off to watch episode 8, everyone have a wonderful kdrama filled week and chat with you all soon.

Sincerely,
Kmuse