Hey Itaewon Class: Episode 6
Disclaimer: If you intend to watch Itaewon Class do NOT read any further. Plot spoilers likely.
And the story moves forward in a steady clip, with a surprising twist from Sae Royi who has obviously spent the last 7 years well.
Event 1: Right before the ironic but funny ‘defense’ scene we find out a little bit about Oh Soo Ah’s background. Her mother left her at an orphanage and she has an intense dislike towards pity and sympathy. And I mean weirdly intense — she actually drops a well meaning fellow student’s belongings in the loo because she shared her lunch with her. Um. She remembers all the understanding the Sae Royi showed her over the years and wishes he screamed at her instead. And when she steps in for a kiss — that is when ‘Defennssse’ happens. Soo Ah manages to take revenge by cleanly inserting herself into a team dinner where Sae Royi declares that he intends to take over Jangga’s #1 position in the food industry.
Event 3: Cliche villian son goes on a blind date set up by daddy (She is the daughter of Jea foods — another food conglomerate) where he gets queasy looking at chicken thanks to dad’s helpful life lesson many years ago. Soo Ah gives update to Jang Dae Hee about DanBam and lets man know that Sae Royi is foolish but doggedly persistent and will not work until he reaches his goal which is to franchise DanBam and upstage Jangga. Cliche son laughs at this lofty dream.
Event 4: Yi Seo’s mommy discovers that her child didn’t join the prestigious university that she should have and is working in a pub cos she is in love with the owner. Mommy goes berserk and kicks her out of the house. Yi Seo asks her to be sad just for a little bit — but she will prove herself successful and achieve her dreams (which she insists aren’t about her boss). Yi Seo stands on the Namsan facing bridge with PPL face mask. Sae Royi jogs by and asks why she is standing on the bridge early in the morning. He tells her that he needs here and with her on board, DanBam can become the big company that her mom dreamed for her to work at. They then talk through sunrise to this lovely song.
Event 4: A timid Park Sae Royi and a super critical Yi Seo interview a bunch of of oddball candidates for the second part time waiter position. After some intense misfits, Yi Seo decides to hire Kim To Ni — an African looking gentleman who insists he is a Hangu Saraam.
Event 5: A TV appearance in a show called ‘ The best pub’ that Yi Seo wrangled through her connects and charm falls through thanks to cliche villian son’s interference. Sae Royi gets upset at this loss and even more upset for being called inconsiderate towards Soo Ah by villian son.
Event 6: Yi Seo decides to let Sae Royi know that it wasn’t Soo Ah who called the cops on them. Sae Royi then decides to run after the constantly ‘ Don’t like me’ Soo Ah and tell her that he is sorry for making her choose between Jangga and him and that she should make her own choices. Though he will do all he can to ensure that Jangga is destroyed so that she doesn’t have to make a choice at all. And then.. dan dan daaaaaan.. he gives someone a call and asks them to invest all the 1.9 billion Won in Jangga.
(Sa) 사: Whatay. So he wasn’t all brawn and persistence after all. He has been planning and plotting for the past 7 years. I am not at all convinced in the Soo Ah Sae Royi love story. Sae Royi obviously hangs on to it with a nostalgic attachment to the good times he had. She seems to jerk him around. It was interesting to see that despite all the spoiling Yi Seo felt deeply about her mom being disappointed in her. It was also nice to see that she decided to give up on her ‘handicap’ and come clean with Sae Royi. It was an episode with a lot of growth for her. She is so obviouosly crushing on Sae Royi, its hard to see how much her doesn’t look at her as a woman but an asset to his firm. It was refreshing to see uri god-like Sae Royi being selfish about needing her. In a show with few comic moments, i enjoyed the waiter interviews. PSJ reminded me of Dong Man with his constant timid looks being shot at Kim Dami’s fierce Yi Seo.
(Ga) 가: The 1.9 billion won Janga stock order at the end of the episode definitely made it for me. Till then I felt like the episode was wandering. The revenge plot was getting distracted by an unconvincing love triangle in a disjointed narrative. The whole Sae Royi being selfish about needing Yi Seo is a clue and a point in favour of him finally coming down on Yi Seo’s side when it comes to true love. Or maybe not. I have yet to see a k-drama where the new heroine wins over ‘first love’.
