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Castaway Diva: Episodes 7-8
by quirkycase
Our heroine deals with professional gains and personal setbacks this week thanks to certain revelations. But she’s not the only one with difficult decisions to make. Our pair of brothers find themselves disagreeing on how best to deal with a complication, and our reinvigorated mentor struggles to accept the consequences of her actions.
EPISODES 7-8
First off, a major correction: in last week’s recap, I incorrectly said that Ki-ho was the one with the head injury in the flashback when it was actually Chae-ho. That means Chae-ho is the amnesiac Woo-hak and Ki-ho is the hot-and-cold Bo-geol. I was having an off week and obviously dropped the ball with this. Sorry for the confusion!
With that cleared up, this week’s episodes give us the rest of the backstory on the brothers, so no more guesswork. Huzzah! We learn that after Chae-ho’s head injury, Ha-jung stayed with him at the hospital while Bong-wan took Ki-ho with him to Chunsam. Ha-jung told Ki-ho to find them secretly in the spring – she planned to change their identities and wait for him. It took a while for Ki-ho to successfully escape his father, but he eventually made it back to them. At that point, Sang-doo had assumed the role of their father, and the happy family was complete.
Bo-geol’s happiness intensified his guilt toward Mok-ha. He never stopped looking for her, hence the island cleaning group he founded in college. Despite his feigned indifference to her when she returned, Bo-geol is the one who asked his parents to let her stay with them after he discovered Woo-hak had stashed her in their house.
In the present, Bo-geol sticks to his guns about the performance and pushes Mok-ha toward her dream. Ran-joo’s fear initially gets the best of her, and she declares to Mok-ha that she won’t let her take this from her. Not that she has anything to fear from the overly loyal Mok-ha who has no intention of stealing the limelight. Still, Ran-joo does the right thing in the end and instructs production to get Mok-ha stage ready.
Underdog Mok-ha is given plenty of support before she goes head-to-head with superstar Mo-rae. Bo-geol has sweetly set up the stage to look like the ocean. Ran-joo, for her part, makes a public apology for having Mok-ha sing for her this whole time. She pleads with the audience to vote for the best voice, not their favorite singer, giving Mok-ha a shot to win.
Mok-ha finally makes her debut as herself and against all odds, she wins. Ran-joo looks on proudly from the sidelines while Mok-ha stands shocked and joyous as the crowd chants her name. From the production room, her first fan Bo-geol watches with a smile.
Her joy is short lived, however, when she hears Bo-geol and Woo-hak fighting in the stairwell. The boys have switched stances, and now it’s Woo-hak who worries about their father locating them and Bo-geol arguing they can’t live in hiding forever. Lying might be new to Woo-hak, but Bo-geol has been doing it for 15 years and is tired.
Mok-ha, still reeling from the revelation, spots Bong-wan outside the studio. She turns off her phone and marches out to meet him. Eek! Naïve Mok-ha is no match for shrewd Bong-wan whose confidence that she knows Ki-ho grows with every denial. She’s scared to go back to their house and lead Bong-wan to the family, so she texts Ran-joo goodbye and takes the first train out of Seoul.
The brothers go after her and find her location pretty much immediately. It’s hard to hide when you’ve become famous overnight and people post about you in real time. They split up to search the area, and once again, Bo-geol finds her first. He tells her outright that he’s Ki-ho and how much he’d wanted to thank her for being alive when he saw her on the island. He pulls her into a hug as she cries and Woo-hak watches conflicted.
Woo-hak is all ready to tell her to stay hidden for their family’s sake… until he comes face-to-face with her and her unwavering selflessness, at which point he’s upset she’s so self-sacrificing. He’s so frustrated he just walks away, unable to crush her dreams and make her lose everything again. Echoing his younger self, Bo-geol tells her to become famous enough to be untouchable so their father can’t threaten them.
Now that Mok-ha has well and truly been accepted into the family, secrets and all, Woo-hak decides it’s time for some fun. He calls his parents, and they have a family camping trip like when the boys were teens. Kind of an odd choice given Mok-ha has essentially spent the last 15 years extreme camping. At least he didn’t take her to the ocean.
During family fun time, Woo-hak plays the big brother and has a chat with Mok-ha and Bo-geol. He reminds her never to use their old identities and to be careful of what she says in public. Then, in the name of clearing the air, he directly asks Bo-geol and Mok-ha if they still have feelings for each other. Mok-ha says no way, but Bo-geol readily admits he does. (If only every drama character communicated so openly.)
It’s so nice to see Woo-hak taking everything so well since it’s clear he likes Mok-ha and even thought he was Ki-ho. His sweet parents know him well and notice his feelings for Mok-ha, so they gently (and awkwardly) ask him about it. He assures them that he only slightly liked her when he thought he was Ki-ho, leaving them abashed when he grows angry they thought he and Bo-geol would fight over a woman.
After beating Mo-rae on live television, everyone and their momma is interested in Mok-ha. The entertainment world is clamoring to sign her, including Seo-joon. Unfortunately for him, he’s burned that bridge. Remember that embarrassing phone call with Ran-joo all those years ago? Well, it’s making the rounds again, leaving Woo-hak highly amused. When Mok-ha explains Ki-ho is to blame for her not being able to sing on air back then, Woo-hak is appropriately aghast. (He’s that expressive friend who always gives the right reactions to your stories.)
The only person Mok-ha hasn’t heard from is Ran-joo. She took off to visit her mother who has Alzheimer’s and hasn’t been answering her phone. When Ran-joo is out, her mother answers her phone – she believes she is Ran-joo – and goes straight to meet Mok-ha. Ran-joo comes to pick her mom up at the house, but things are frosty between her and Mok-ha.
Mok-ha apologizes, but Ran-joo is like a different person. She tells Mok-ha that she’s not pathetic enough to waste her life on a “talentless” person. (Disappointing, but not surprising.) Mok-ha looks like she was slapped in the face. Mo-rae warned her Ran-joo would do this eventually, but Mok-ha had stood up for Ran-joo like always. Maybe this will help her learn to stop idolizing Ran-joo and letting her entirely control their relationship. Mok-ha is much better at standing up for others than she is for herself.
Meanwhile, the brothers continue to be entangled with their father both by accident and choice. Woo-hak coincidentally ends up on the story of the strange bee car crash, and he meets up with the victim’s wife Young-joo. When she mentions that she went to school with Mok-ha and her husband visited Bong-wan’s workplace, and he pieces everything together.
Bo-geol has gone on the offensive and decides to take the fight to their father. He starts making trips to Chunsam, but Bong-wan isn’t stupid enough to be lured. Instead, he has a friend convey a message saying he’ll find Ki-ho soon himself. Bong-wan’s fixation on Ki-ho is odd; the Chunsam neighbors don’t even know he has another son! And all this time, he’s talked of finding Ki-ho specifically. Maybe Ki-ho is the one who hurt his pride the most, so he’s targeting him.
Bong-wan, true to his word, manages to find out about the salon and locate his family. But before he can do anything, Bo-geol shows up at his front door and announces himself as Ki-ho. We end the week as Bo-geol enters the apartment and faces down his shocked father. (Imagine how much more shocked he’d be if he’d seen Bo-geol’s recent search history which includes questions about patricide.) Bo-geol clearly means business.
While I don’t know that going alone to ambush Bong-wan was the smartest idea, I am glad that Bo-geol is facing him on his own terms. I just wish he’d looped Woo-hak in so they could at least handle it together – safety in numbers. Bong-wan has made it clear he won’t stop harassing his family until he’s dead, so they’ll have to deal with it one way or another. Hopefully they’ll find a murder-free way.
Despite the affection I have for child Ki-ho, I have to say, I’m not feeling a romance between him and Mok-ha as adults. While I can see them ending up together because the all-powerful childhood connection, not every deep bond has to end in romance. And I love them as friends. If we’re going based off of the interactions she’s had as an adult, I’m on the Woo-hak train. They have such a cute, comfortable dynamic that sprung up very naturally. I always enjoy their scenes together and feel they have more chemistry. Maybe I’ll change my mind now that Bo-geol is emerging from his shell, but I’m not sold yet.
All in all, I’m glad the secret is out and no rifts were formed. I didn’t want them lying to Mok-ha for too long and going the miscommunication route. While I didn’t necessarily mind the identity mystery, I do wish we had focused more equally on Bo-geol and Woo-hak from the start. The show was pushing Woo-hak so hard as a red herring that the switch in focus to Bo-geol felt jarring. That quibble aside, I do like both brothers and find their whole little family delightful. Romance or no romance, Mok-ha has found herself a lovely set of people who genuinely care about her, and that’s what’s truly important.
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