Uncontrollably Fond 함부로 애틋하게 2016- Korea EP. 1 Review

I do know who you are, you son of a bitch - Uncontrollably Fond - EP. 1 

  

The final lines of Uncontrollably Fond Episode 1 definitely leave you with many questions. Like what happened? Why is he a son of a bitch? What happened between Shin Joon and his mother? Why is No Eul in so much debt? But I am getting ahead of myself.

Summary (Spoilers if you haven’t seen it):

The first episode starts off a little confusing. In the first scene, Shin Joon is getting married (foreshadowing anyone?) but it’s all part of a drama within the drama (talk about inception).  Shin Joon is an actor and he is in the middle of filming one of his scenes when he stops saying that he doesn’t want to die after some pretty hard core fighting scenes. We think he is referring to the movie plot but it turns out….he’s dying in real life! Le gasp. Apparently he has a disease that’s hard to cure and he doesn’t even have a year left to live.

After a scene with his doctor, Shin Joon listens to his messages. We hear “Can’t you just die without putting up a fuss?”. Poor Shin Joon looks so broken in this scene. His manager is referring to the drama but coming off of that conversation with his doctor, it feels as if he is referring to Shin Joon actually dying. Sad face.

The story skips to No Eul who is hanging out in the rain filming an illegal toxic waste dump while her friend is crying on the phone about Shin Joon dying. For a minute No Eul looks panicked until her friend tells her his character dies in the drama. Annoyed, she hangs up the phone to finish filming only to be caught by the illegal waste dumpers, dun dun duuunnnn.

Scene cut to No Eul locked in a room. She threatening to pee in the room if they don’t open the door. Finally, a man with the company enters to room. He brings back her camera with the erased footage, but that’s not the only footage she has (or so she says). The man passes her a bribe which she ends up taking. Turns out she owes a ton of money, and I mean a TON, to some loan sharks. I wonder how she ended up in so much debt?

Back to Shin Joon, running on the treadmill getting his fitness on. He answers a call from his lawyer. Turns out he is looking for a girl…I wonder who she may be? He wants to find her and know if she went to college, what she is doing, where she is living now etc etc, but most importantly if she is married.

We see No Eul again. She took 500 won from the bribe (the rest she deposited in the bank of the loan sharks) and it looks like she donated it? After she donates the money, she looks up at a billboard of Shin Joon. It’s a clothing ad and he says ‘You worked hard today Honey’. No Eul looks forlorn. Is she the girl that Shin Joon is looking for?

Now we see a super cute and fluffy dog trotting around a house (to some really cute music). He starts licking his owner awake, it’s Shin Joon (should’ve seen that one coming). There’s a really cute scene of him talking to his dog about what’s going to happen to him after he passes – how he will have to learn to eat cheaper food.

There’s a scene with No Eul doing chores with two kids poking her and her landlord threatening to increase her rent. The only thing we gain from this scene is her landlord lives with her and she's strapped for money, plus there are two annoying kids in the mix.

Skip to Shin Joon at a ramen place. He wants spicy noodles but the owner refuses to feed him and asks him to get out. He asks for 100 bowls of spicy noodles but she keeps saying no. They have a standoff with people taking pictures and videotaping on their phones. Is this Shin Joon’s mom?

No Eul worries about her brother and how she will pay for the things he needs. She gets a text saying that she is fired. Did they find out about the bribe?

We find out that the spicy noodle lady is Shin Joon’s mom. From what we gather, she is upset because he became a celebrity. A man, who we don’t know yet, is talking to Shin Joon’s mom explaining that he earns more money than the judges and is more famous. I don’t think this guy is Shin Joon’s father. Stepfather? Uncle?

Shin Joon debates whether to tell his mom he is dying. His manager comes in and asks why he isn’t doing the documentary. He says he is not going to do things he doesn’t want to do anymore, throw his ramen into the sink and stalks off.

No Eul rushes into her office with drinks for her coworkers. Her boss says she was fired which No Eul ignores. They ask how much she’s going to accept this time to not write a story and she explains that they were a first time offender and contribute to society. Her coworkers and boss tell her to leave. She mentions the bribe that her boss took and what her coworkers took, and that she will be careful not to get caught like they did.

Cut to No Eul drinking. I guess she still got fired. There’s a man, who No Eu just calls ajusshi (Mister/Uncle), who reprimands her. Who is this guy? The store owner reprimands her as well and says what would her dead parents think of her now? What happened to her parents? Is this how she got into debt?

After yelling loudly about dying, another guy in the bar speaks up and says that she can die after him. Turns out they work for Shin Joon and are upset about not doing the documentary.

No Eul offers to convince him to do the documentary. They ask if she knows him and she replies that she is there anyone who doesn’t know him. They tell her to get her drunk-self home. She says if she does convince him that they need to hire her. Is No Eul the girl that Shin Joon was looking for? Does she know him? All the while, the ajusshi is in the background watching.

Jump to a woman cooking and a girl looking at Shin Joon online. A man walks in and they continue talking about Shin Joon. He’s a prosecutor and the girl is his daughter. He jokes around that he wouldn’t want to have Shin Joon ass a son-in-law because he is so handsome. I feel that this man in Shin Joon’s father and the girl is his daughter in law. If not, I’ll be curious to see who he is and how he fits into the story.

We skip over to Shin Joon’s mom peeling some leeks. She moves some dirt over on the newspaper and sees a photo of the prosecutor – the possibility of the prosecutor being Shin Joon’ father is getting more and more likely.

Back to Shin Joon, who is staring at his security screen. No Eul is there, asking to come in. His manager mentions that that is the woman who said she would convince Shin Joon to do the documentary. No Eul asks to discuss the documentary and Shin Joon tells her no and cuts off the camera. He goes to give Pororo a bath

No Eul, seeing a security camera outside, writes down saying that she knows he is busy and she will wait for him (Did we somehow skip to the movie Say Anything?). Shin Joon sighs and goes to give Pororo a bath. It’s a super cute scene!  Shin Joon watches TV and continues with his day. No Eul waits outside until she gets a call from her brother. Prompting her to leave, though she makes a snowman and says she will be back. Shin Joon gets ready for bed, sees she is no longer there, looks disappointed and goes to sleep.

The next morning, Shin Joon leaves with some crazy workout equipment. No Eul jumps in front of his car and gets in. Shin Joon says she will give her to 3 to get out, she doesn’t, and he takes off. His driving skills are, let’s say it, crazy. I guess he isn’t afraid to die since he is about to die anyway, or he is making a point to No Eul.

After almost hitting a truck, No Eul dry heaves outside in the snow. Shin Joon, like the jerk that he is, throws money at her, tells her to buy medicine and leaves. No Eul just lays down in the road and lets the snow fall on her. A small tear slips out as she lays there.

Shin Joon hears a news report about an accident. A truck slid on the road and hit a woman, he sees the ambulance drive pasts and a moment of concern crosses his face. He makes a U-turn and stops at the place where he left No Eul. She’s not there.

Shin Joon continues to drive when the lawyer calls saying he found the girl that Shin Joon was looking for. As the lawyer says this, Shin Joon pulls over replies “Me too. I think I found her too.” He looks up and sees No Eul limping down the road ahead of him.

Getting out of the car, he runs to her. She asks him if he change his mind, and she tells him she is doing this just to make money. He asks her “Do you not know who I am?” Being coy, she says of course everyone knows you.

“No Eul. Do you really not know who I am,” he yells.

She replies, “I do know who you are, you son of a bitch”.

[End]

First impressions:

I wasn’t too sure about this drama until I reached the ending. The drama moves a bit slow until we get to the end but that’s needed to set the stage. I’m hoping that this drama isn’t too predictable but if the acting and the remaining plot lines are good, I can deal with the predictability.

I was thoroughly convinced that the actors were their characters. Although I will say I enjoy watching No Eul's character the most. She is a go-getter, and knows how to stand up for herself. I like strong female leads and No Eul is looking to be one of those. I am curious to see if she stays this way throughout the drama.

I will say that the prosecutor and the unknown ajusshi were a bit awkward. I don't know if that is their characters or if that is bad acting on their part. I will need to watch more to come to a conclusion. There is something about that prosecutor that gives me bad vibes, I guess I will find out why. Maybe it's the glasses? Something is out-of-place.

The ending makes up for the slowness of the drama. It's all dramatic in the snow with them staring at each other and getting emotional with a very beautiful mountain backdrop. Very KDrama-esque. The reason we all watch these. Anyway, how can I not be curious after a mini cliff-hanger like this one? I have many questions, that I am sure will be answered soon, but like the hopeless romantic that I am I just want more of the romance! Bring it on!

The stage has been set, and it has the potential to be super cute, but I don’t want to make any decisions yet, so I’ll decide how I feel after Episode 2.

Burning Questions:

Who is the ajusshi? Is the prosecutor Shin Joon's father?  What happened between Shin Joon and No Eul? Why is No Eul in debt? Will No Eul get a job? What happened between Shin Joon and his mother?

Star of this episode:

Definitely the dog. He was so fluffy and cute, plus his name is Pororo! How adorable. I am guessing he is named after Pororo the Little Penguin which is a South Korean cartoon. Don't get me wrong, I loved No Eul but Pororo was just so adorable he had to be my first pick.

Music:

So I am now obsessed with this song in the drama, go listen!

Find the difference by Kimsum & Lim Seulong

Predictions:

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those he’s dying, wants to find the girl, finds said girl, they push and pull until she caves and falls for him, and he either A) ends up dying or B) they find a way to cure him.

The prosecutor is going to be Shin Joon’s absent father – what happened here?

His ‘dad’ may be able to save his life

How did you like the first episode of Uncontrollably Fond? Was it what you were expecting? Leave your thoughts below in the comments :)

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Thank you!

Allison

Meet Allison!

こんいちはみんあーさん！ My name is Allison and I have known Whitney for over a year when we met at our Aerial Silks class.

So about me, I got my BA in International Studies and Anthropology and I minored in Japanese. My area of focus was East Asia. I was first introduced to Asia via a friend of mine in Middle School and it’s been an obsession ever since.

I love the culture, music, TV, books, food, history, and language of East Asia. I started off with Japan, as that was the first country I was introduced to, in Middle School. I started taking Japanese classes in High School and wanted to continue my education in College. When I went to college I added on China since my East Asian studies major was geared a lot towards China (Japan as well). I tried to take a two Koreas class in college but it was cancelled. I was really upset about this because I wanted to get to know Korea as well (Driven mainly by Kdrama and the movie 200 Pound Beauty). Then I met Whitney and my love for Korea expanded.

My goals in life are to travel far, live healthy and happy, see and learn all that I can, and survive the zombie apocalypse. I am hoping to one day live abroad teaching English