Jekyll, Hyde, & Me Episode 1 - We Have A Biter

YAY! So excited for our new recapping project!  I know we have only been gone for a week after completing "Pinocchio", but for some reason it has felt like much longer.  


For those of you just discovering our awesome blog, I am Kmuse, one of the two main bloggers in The Crazy Ahjummas.  I am a mother of three and an avid kdrama watcher, in that I love to watch literally everything.  There are very few currently airing dramas that I am not watching so if you have any questions about them (or really any drama since I have seen an insane amount) feel free to ask me in the comments.  Or better yet come like our facebook page and ask me there. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-crazy-ahjummas/336988683021748?fref=ts For those of you who have not read my past recaps, I am one of those bloggers that really likes to just discuss my opinions on certain scenes or concepts of the drama.  We don't go step by step through the whole thing.  So if you are looking for a more complete recap you might have to look elsewhere (and then come back and read ours of course).

So you might be asking how does one "Co-recap" a drama? OK, you probably are not asking that, but I will explain anyway.  Since my awesome co-blogger Dongsaeng is insanely busy with real life, she is not able to recap a drama by herself so we decided that if we split the recaps then she would be able to continue blogging (which is one of her favorite things), and hence the CO-Cap was created.  Our first attempt was for "My Secret Hotel", and while neither of us loved the drama, we did discover that it was a lot of fun doing alternate episodes.  Especially since we are two very different kdrama viewers so instead of a boring recap, it turned more into a fun debate of ideas.  Hopefully that will continue onward so if you find yourself disagreeing with one of our takes on the drama, be sure to check back the following day since there is a good chance you might find yourself clicking with the other Ahjumma. So without further introduction let's jump into discussing episode 1!  

DISCLAIMER

Before we officially start I just want to share that I am currently a HUGE fan of the multiple personality drama "Kill Me Heal Me" airing against this drama.  I will do my utmost best to separate the two and hope that I can love each of them in their own unique way.  Like the love for two personalities that inhabit one extremely delicious korean hottie.  (Psttttt, by the way if you are not watching "Kill Me Heal Me" then start ASAP.  It is crazy meat rolled up in a tortilla of good plot and drenched in hottie sauce.) 

Our opening scene is the famous amusement park that is featured in all of the dramas.  How do we know this?  Because it is inside (coming from the land of rain, I think that would be an epic idea here in Portland).  Children race around carrying balloons and one straggler bumps into a hot stranger.  IT is our Hyun Bin (WOOT He is actually back, on my screen.  The screen I am staring at right this minute!  I am so happy), but not a happy Hyun Bin (I promise I will learn his name by the next paragraph), a very grumpy Hyun Bin who is being slapped in the face via balloon.  Hmmm is anyone jealous of the balloon right now.  It is mighty close to his fine lips.  We see the back of a girl walking towards a small elevated stage.  A shimmering disco style ball is bouncing light off its prisms and we see our lead gasp as the link gives way (seriously?  How would he ever see that?) and with no time to spare he pushes the girl out from beneath the falling disco ball of death..............and then he wakes up gasping for breath.  Is this a memory? Vision of the future?  We don't find out as Goo Seo Jin pushes his fancy tech glasses on his face (I think this is also the season for super high tech computer glasses since we see something similar in Healer) and stalks into his meditation garden.  Its kind of hard to find him uptight and in control when he is wearing flower laden pajama bottoms

He angrily begins to meditate, but instead of saying whatever phrase the tape was saying, he inserts curse words.  Bwahahaha.  He continues, and eventually does relax (I am pretty sure that I could meditate just by sitting there watching him meditate.  Talk about a happy place.) and his glasses show a lowered heart rate, which rapidly increases again the instant his memory flashes back to his disturbing dream.

It seems that it is a huge deal for his vital signs to go haywire hence the constant surveillance of his pulse and other vitals.  Not to mention his secretary rushing to his side while discussing all the numbers with Seo Jin's physician.  Seo Jin gets reassurance from his underling that everything is ok and that he has not gone into the danger zone (which for this show is a pulse rate of 150), only to reply that his pulse was over 150.........in his dream.  I also thought it was funny that he clarified that there is no way it was him in the dream since he is not the type to save somebody.  Hahaha, at least our lead seems to know himself well.

Flash to the airport where a very casual heroine (Jang Ha Na) is making her entrance to our drama.  She shines (I love her red hair) as she distracts a child who is in front of her on the escalator, doing magic tricks.  Ha Na pauses at the advertisement for the theme park, a soft smile upon her face.  Let's go down our leading lady checklist.  Soft and approachable....check..... loves kids.....check....... doesn't look rich........... check.  I think we have a kdrama leading lady winner!  DING DING DING.

Just as our leading lady marks all the correct boxes, so does our leading man.  We watch as Seo Jin freaks out (in his own subtle way) over the approaching balloon that is floating through the air.  A child races after it and just when you think Seo Jin is going to hand it back, he fakes past the poor whipper snapper, taking the balloon with him.  Hahaha, dislikes kids.....check.  Rich (of course)........check.  Our chaebol hottie is so freaked out that he promptly demands that all balloons be banned, as well as the selling of balloons, and the ride that has seats shaped like balloons.  It is going to be a balloon free zone until Seo Jin gets past this pesky feel of fate that is freaking him out.

Other than the balloons all seems normal at the amusement park, that is except for the 500 pound gorilla rampaging its way down the thoroughfare.  I kid you not, they obviously spent a crazy amount of money CGIing in a runaway gorilla.  A gorilla that made me laugh at the obvious reference to an old king kong film.  A female runs in front of the gorilla screaming bloody murder and tried to hide behind Seo Jin who is frozen in terror (his heartbeat monitor moving upwards).  Seo Jin tries to pry off the would be damsel in distress, but that chick is sticking to him like duct tape on a wall.

Stuck that is, until Seo Jin LITERALLY BITES HER.  Yup, he bit the damsel in distress.  Boy he was not kidding when he said he is not the type of person to save someone.  He not only bites her, but he then pushes her down towards the gorilla and runs.  Runs away to one of the kiosks which he has his underlings heft him onto.  Seo Jin then puts on some headphones and begins to meditate.... wow, I applaud his ability to meditate (even if it is necessary for his heart) in that situation.

Stuck in traffic outside the amusement park, our heroine becomes aware of the terrifying gorilla antics happening inside and goes rushing towards the crowds which are standing there watching the gorilla.  Really people?  If there was a gorilla attack, which most likely would rip me apart like a cheap single ply toilet paper, I would be getting myself out of there.  Not grabbing my cell phones to tape this for youtube.

It looks like someone is going to end up becoming roadkill via runaway gorilla when suddenly we hear a woman's voice yell "Bing Bing".  The gorilla stops in its tracks and we see Ha Na waving her arms towards the gorilla.  As the primate starts racing towards the girl, our leading man's heartbeat elevates quickly.  He begins to gasp and collapses, that is until Seo Jin sees that the gorilla is not going to harm the girl and then his heart beat instantly drops and he is able to breath.  Seo Jin speaks for all of us when he wonders what is going on.

I kind of want to find out how crazy this "Robin" character is that both Seo Jin and his secretary are so concerned he might emerge.  The secretary goes so far as to question his boss on what he had for lunch the previous day (I assume it is to make sure that it really is his boss) and when he answers sprout bipimbop the secretary pulls out a taser.  SWEET!!!  Tasers, always funny.  Secretary (really do have to think of a fun nickname for him), juices up his weapon and states "wrong Robin, it was beef bibimbop."  Only to have Seo Jin crankily tell him that was what they had for dinner.  Bwahahaha.  Seriously, if someone gets tasered I will be one happy ahjumma.

Determined to get to the bottom of his haywire heartbeat, Seo Jin demands that the perp that increased his pulse rate be brought forth posthaste.  Ha Na enters, introducing herself as the new head of the circus, come to take over since her father passed away.  She had been in Vegas and just recently returned from the US.  Ignoring her words, Seo Jin disregards any personal bubble that she might possess and pulls her very very very close.  

Wow. I don't know how she does not pass out from joy since being that close to Hyun Bin would be overwhelming for most mere mortals.   

Seo Jin continues to hold a struggling Ha Na way too close for her comfort and it is only when he registers his consistent heart rate that he releases the lucky girl.  He turns away with a smirk, confident that it had been a fluke and that she had nothing to do with his health issues.  Seo Jin then does what any total complete chaebol jerk does, he fires Ha Na and her circus. 

Ha Na is not going to take this lying down and luckily for her, one of the circus employees taped the director's less than gentlemanly behavior (bwahaha still cracks me up that he threw her towards the gorilla), and attempts to blackmail him into rescinding their fired status.  She leaves happy, abet minus her phone/video since Seo Jin requested that Ha Na leave it so he could reflect on his actions.  Ha Na is positive of the groups renewal, but is epically stupid, since Seo Jin promptly orders his secretary to delete the video from the phone and continue to kick the circus out.  I am starting to be concerned for the intelligence of our leading lady.

Chasing after Seo Jin in order to confront him over his underhanded actions (I still say that she was so stupid, she kind of deserved what she got) Ha Na is stopped at the hospital boundaries by the CEO's driver/bodyguard.  When Ha Na demands that he let her pass since this is public property, she is promptly told that Seo Jin owns the land the hospital is on, so technically it is his.  Hahaha.  Ha Na gazes at the hospital and then at the adjoining building, muttering to herself -"Fine I won't step on your land, you're in trouble Seo Jin".

Seo Jin is obviously trying to contain his hope for the separation of his unwanted self (His psychiatrist had called saying she had a cure that should fix his mental issues).  Walking down the hallway, Seo Jin glances out the window, just in time to see Ha Na zip lining across the next door building into the hospital.  His gasp of "is she crazy" along with his expression is pretty hilarious.  Ha Na successfully enters the hospital through an open window but is shocked upon entering the room with a dead body (or at least what appears to be a dead body) on the floor and a scary man dressed in black coming towards her.

A Murder Mystery!!!!  Who knew there would be a sense of mysterious intrigue involved with this drama.  To be honest I was pretty much expecting your standard candy girl meets chaboel kdrama trope, albeit with one extra personality thrown into the mix.  Instead we find that Seo Jin's shrink has been murdered by a man dressed in black. Murdered just minutes before the good doctor was going to "cure" Seo Jin of his extra personality.  Does this crime have anything to do with Seo Jin's case?  Or was this more a case of the wrong place at the wrong time for our plucky acrobat?

Image by Moorea Seal on her blog {link to http://www.moorea-seal.com/} - See more at: http://www.indiemade.com/resource/how-credit-your-website-blog-images#sthash.hzdADala.dpuf 

Image by Ian Summers (link to http://iansummersillustration.blogspot.com)

Seo Jin hears Ha Na's scream and his heartbeat instantly begins to increase as he witnesses Ha Na running from the shrinks room with the murderer hot on her trail.  He races ahead and reaches the elevator, gasping for breath.  Ha Na reaches the elevator right as the doors begin to close, screaming "save me" but Seo Jin pushes her hand out the door and leaves her to her fate.  Only to fall to the floor in a deadly fight of his own.  

Poor Ha Na has been caught by the killer, and for some unknown reason is dragged to the rooftop to be choked to death.

Ok, lets take a little pause here for the logic train (sometimes it comes barreling in even when I am attempting to suspend reality).  Why does the killer take her to the roof?  There is already a dead body via the professor.  It is not like he can really kill Ha Na off and make people think that it is just a coincidence so there goes the suicide card.  So if you were going to kill her anyway why not just do it where you caught her?  Why go through all the extra time of dragging her to a roof (which cuts off any multiple escape routes) to choke a girl.  Especially when there was another witness that escaped to send security.  Take her into one of the million empty offices that are in that building.  Since there seems to be a surprisingly lack of people considering it is the daytime and you are in a hospital. 

Have turned off my brain and we are back in action......on the roof.........man in black.........choking our heroine.  Check!  And he continues to choke her.........still choking........... imagine the music from jeopardy playing in the background...........still choking.  You might be wondering why it is taking so long to choke this pesky girl and then attempt a stealthy getaway?  It is obviously because Seo Jin Robin, needs to take his time and switch his style now that he has taken control of the body (and what a glorious style it is.  That white shirt does wonders for his sex appeal.).  But at least once he sees the situation through a window he rushes headlong into the fray.  Fighting off  the killer he turns around just in time to see Ha Na slip (in a very odd way) over the edge of the roof and being the crazy hero type guy that he is, he jumps right over the edge with her.  Lucky for our OTP (one true pairing) they fall off the roof into the deepest reflection pool in the history of reflection pools.  And while I roll my eyes at this moment, I still feel a bit of a warm fuzzy as I realize that he protected her from the impact by pulling her into his arms and falling first.

I stand corrected, in the hospital as Ha Na awakes, we learn it was a lake that they fell into.  A lake that had a huge 12 ft plus edge so they did not have any brain damage from smacking their heads upon the bottom.  That is if they actually survived the fall in the first place.  I am pretty sure that impact would at least break a bone or two.  (go away logic train..... this is Hyun Freaking Bin... Logic has no part in his dramas.  If I can believe that he possessed the body of a girl every time it rained in "Secret Garden" I can totally suspend belief that he could have fallen off a roof, grabbed the girl mid air, and somehow landed far enough out in the lake that the depth would not have killed them automatically.  Hmph.)

Seo Jin also awakes in a hospital bed and is devastated to find that he had lost 6 hours and his five year Robin free streak had ended.  More than that, he had actually risked himself to save a lowly girl.  Gasp.  The horror.

Random Characters

Squeee it is my favorite flower boy smile brought to us by Lee Won Geun (Wild Chives and Soybean Soup).  I don't really have much to say about his character so far, but that smile is dazzling.

We have our resident jerk, and all around pain in the tukas, played by Han Sang Jin.  I have to admit that i am still fresh from hating him in "Birth of A Beauty" so while we only know that he oozes insincerity, I am ready to hang him up and play pinata.  Those of you who sat through that drama, know exactly what I am feeling right now.

My Thoughts:

Hyun Bin is looking amazing.  I have always enjoyed his acting, but it used to take some time before I would fall for his character since I was not overly attracted to his looks.  But obviously he matured well over his four year hiatus since he now looks the part of a man, and not a skinny boy playing grownup.

I really like that we are getting a very well developed feel of Seo Jin and what motivates him.  I find his need to stay in control fascinating and I love that he literally refuses to let girls touch him because they bring emotions, and hormones and raised heartbeat levels.  This guy is so wound up tight that it will take a cannonball to even make a dent in his armor.  I look forward to seeing what makes him begin to soften towards our leading lady.  Considering that he is willing to throw her to a killer rather than share an elevator, it is going to take some serious battling before they find their soul mate groove.

As for Ha Na, I feel that she has not really filled out as a character yet.  I still don't get a feel of where she is coming from and what her hopes and dreams are beyond creating a circus show.  I hope that we will get a bit more depth and charm.  A thing I do appreciate is that she brings a lot of energy to the role.  I can realistically believe that she has a backbone and can stand up to our cranky lead, even if I doubt her intelligence when it comes to tactics.