Live Recap: Trot Lovers Episode 13

I want to rip that tuxedo off of him for more than one reason 😉

 

Live streaming link –

http://www.kbs.co.kr/player/player_playlist.php?ch=12#kbs

http://www.kodhit.com/kbs2-online

Character Key for live recap shorthand

Leads

 Jang Joon Hyun (JH)- Hot kpop star

 Choi Choon Hee (CH)- loves the unsophisticated trot music

 Park Soo In (SI)- singer in training at Shine Star agency

 Jo Geun Woo (GW)- Shine Star’s CEO

Leads’ families

 Choi Byul (CB)- Choi Choon Hee’s sister

 Choi Myung Shik (MS)- Choi Choon Hee’s dad

 Yang Joo Hee (JH)- Park Soo In’s mom

 Jo Hee Moon (HM)- Jo Geun Woo’s dad

 Shine Star staff

 Na Pil Nyeo (PN)- Shine Star trainee for 10 years

 Director Wang (Wang)- a director (not film, just a title at company) at Shine Star

Other minor characters

 Kim Woo Gab (WG)- Midas CEO

 Team leader Nam (Nam)- Heads planning team at Midas

 Seol Tae Song (TS)- Jang Joon Hyun’s manager

 Lee Chul Man (CM)- loan shark

 Lee Yoo Shik (YS)- loan shark, Lee Chul Man’s cousin

 Bang Ji Sook (JS)- Choi Choon Hee’s marathon coach and mentor

 Shin Ho Yeol (HY)- Jang Joon Hyun’s rival

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Episode 13 Live recap will be posted and updated as the episode progresses

CH and JH wait for the boat. CH complains about the hair pin being broken so JH offers to put in on for her. As he does, he ends up cupping her face and meets her eye. He coughs in embarrassment. He asks about yesterday’s story. He doesn’t remember the Little Mermaid story ending that way. CH replies, “What can you do when the prince can’t remember?” How does you want it to end?” JH asks, “Me?” and starts to lean in toward CH. Just when he is about to kiss her, people yell out the boat is coming, and he breaks off.

CH and JH get up to go and as JH tries to help CH up, she falls into his arms. With his arms around her, JH suddenly says he remembers how the story ended. She asks how. As GW and SI walk toward them, JH says to CH, “At the moment the mermaid was about to disappear, the prince’s memory came back.”

SI hears this and she looks shocked. JH notices SI. He says to CH in a light voice, “This is how fairytales are supposed to end. Happy ending.” He casually pats her on her back and walks to SI. He brightly asks her, “When did you come?”, and they off together. GW asks the disappointed and unmoving CH if she is okay. She lies that she is.

On the boat, off to herself, SI says, “It’s not over. Park Soo In, get a hold of yourself.”

The four have arrived at shore. SI asks for all of them to eat dinner together. She has something to tell GW, too. They sit at the restaurant. GW asks CH if she found her lost item. He asks what it was and before CH can answer, JH complains to GW, “It’s all because of that cheap hairpin you brought her.”

JH grabs the lettuce possessively before GW does, and both GW and CH stare at JH curiously. SI suddenly announces to GW that she and JH are getting engaged. She thought GW should know beforehand. They aren’t going to tell the media and are getting engaged quietly. GW congratulates the two awkwardly as JH looks over at CH. She averts her eyes.

Outside, SI asks JH if she shouldn’t have said anything about the engagement. JH reassures her that it was okay but he can’t help sighing.

GW drives CH home. CH says she want to go practice, though. GW says he wishes CH would rest today, but CH assures him that she is okay. GW says that at least in front of him, she doesn’t have to keep it in. She should do whatever she wants. Tears line CH’s eyes.

At home, CH stares at her hairpin and remembers what SI said about the engagement. CH stores the pin in a box and puts it into her drawer.

JH runs on his treadmill at home. He remembers CH’s smile in his dream, as well as when she found the hairpin.

JH goes the theater where his accident occurred. He gets flashbacks of the accident. He retrieves his cellphone from the theater staff.

TS calls him to asks where he is. JH replies he is going to get his phone fixed.

The guy at the store tells JH that it will take some time for this phone to get fixed.

SI comes looking for JH in his practice home. She notices his (new) phone. She digs through it and finds out he found his old phone. SI is worried. JH comes in. She pretends nothing is wrong and starts talking about engagement plans.

SI goes to the theater and finds out that JH picked up his lost phone.

SI runs to her mom, worried. JH will find photos of himself and CH in the phone! Yang tells SI to calm down. She will take care of the phone.

Yang calls JH’s mom. She asks if she heard JH and SI got engaged. Guess JH never told his mother.

GW takes CH to an exhibition of some sort where all the albums released by Shine Star are stored. GW tells her to pick an album of someone she thinks could be her role model. It looks like CH picks up her mom’s album. GW suggests that CH release a ballad album. “Think about it.”

SI goes to JH’s practice room. She hands him their engagement invitation.

Outside, they run into CH. SI gives CH the invitation and asks her to sing as a special guest. JH tries to stop her. CH refuses, anyway, saying she is busy that day.

JH runs into CH in front of the elevator. He apologizes for SI asking CH to sing. Inside the elevator, CH asks JH, “Are you happy?” JH replies, “What reason is there not to be?” He leaves the elevator and CH whispers to herself, “Then it’s okay.”

In his practice room, SI starts talking to JH about the engagement. JH suddenly says to her, “Please don’t misunderstand, but I want to confirm something before the engagement. Can we push it back?” SI asks, “Is there another woman?” When JH denies, SI pats his head and tells his not to worry, don’t be nervous. “Thank you for saving me from the accident before, too.”

JH’s mom (Hwa Soon) arrives. JH asks how she came. JH’s mom tells her that SI’s mom called.

The four have dinner together. JH’s mom is embarrassingly blunt and snobby and she asks which side will provide the couple the house. She says SI should since JH is a really good catch.

JH sits at bar drinking alone. He remembers back to CH’s question in the elevator- “Are you happy?” He downs the drink.

GW’s dad get report about JH’s engagement. His secretary also looked up the information he wanted about director Yang.

On the day of the engagement, JH looks at the “MJ” necklace as he gets ready.

CH sadly hugs JH’s guitar. She says to it, “You need to go back to your owner. At least you should be by JH’s side. I will miss you.”

JH finds the guitar card with CH’s message- “I’ll bring that guitar back for you.”

At the hotel where the engagement party is taking place, JH overhears GW’s dad tell Yang that he knows that Yang created the scandal about CH and the politician. Is it because CH is Sung Joo’s daughter? He says he has a debt to OH Sung Joo and will take care of CH until Choi Myung Sik returns. He warns Yang not to bother CH again.

Yang calls Wang to tell him GW’s dad found about about CH. “Let’s take care of CH once and for all if things go wrong.”

A hotel employee brings JH his guitar, saying a young woman left it for him. JH goes in search for that woman. He sees CH in the lobby and runs after her. He loses her outside, though. It’s because CH has hid. He calls out her name repeatedly, but she keeps hiding until she notices a motorcycle rushing toward JH. CH rushes out to save him. Both fall to the ground hard, unconscious.

JH wakes up at the hospital. He immediately asks for CH. She is next to him, sleeping. Nurse reassures him that she will wake up soon and both of them are fine.

JH stares at CH as he kneels besides her. He reaches for her face. He starts to remember- their duet by the tree, his goodbye date with her, his kiss, the accident at the theater. OH THANK GOD HE REMEMBERS! JH cries, “Are you okay? I’m a little late, right?” JH takes out the necklace he ordered for her. He drapes it around her neck and gently says, “This is yours.” He smiles.

JH wipes his tears and quickly takes the necklace off of CH when he hears his mom. He hides CH behind the curtain as. Hwa Soon, Yang, SI, and TS are all here. TS heard from nurse about the accident. SI asks nervously who JH was searching for before. JH says he was looking for a friend who lived far away and came to the party.

JH and his mom come home. Hwa Soon mutters that nothing good happens when mixed up with Yang- the stage accident before, today’s accident, and that accident with Sung Joo. When JH asks curiously about it, Hwa Soon just brushes it off.

By himself, JH remembers the stage accident and SI’s lies. He thinks back at what he overheard Yang say about CH.

JH holds up necklace as he calls CH. CH is just waking from the hospital, however, so she misses the call. She looks for JH and the nurse tells her that he is okay. CH is disappointed JH left first, calling him disloyal, but she smiles because he is okay. She sees her phone- missed call from JH.

GW buys some candy. Cashier asks if it is for his girlfriend and GW just give his signature sly smile.

GW brings the candy to Byul. At first, she is excited to receive it, but she soon puts it down, saying it is a bribe. She wants to maintain her middle ground between GW and JH. GW suggests that Byul take this candy from him and also from JH later. That way, she fairly took from both sides.

GW also hands her chocolate, saying it is for CH. But Byul can’t eat it since there is liquor in the chocolate. CH will need it today. Let her know she should eat this and take a nice long nap. Our Byul says she understands what he means. GW laughs, amused by Byul.

GW and dad talk. GW says he feels like his in the middle of a battle but the opposite just pulled out. Dad informs him the engagement never happen. GW says he will give opportunity for dad to properly act as a dad.

At the restaurant, TS sits staring sadly at coach. He regrets that he is now only able to stare at here from far away. PN comes in and coach notes that PN is looking well after the vacation. She teases that PN and TS are now officially a couple. TS wants to scream no, but can’t.

CH sits sadly in front of her house. GW’s dad asks for a fan meeting. They sit in a nice restaurant. GW walks in. CH asks why he came. CH finds out that the old man is GW’s dad and the chairman of Shine Star. She asks why he asked JH to help CH. He informs her that the woman he talked about before was her mom. GW’s dad says her mom was a good singer. GW says this is the first time he heard about the connection to CH’s mom. He asks if CH is a good singer because of her mom. Dad says yes. He hopes CH can fulfill the dream her mom couldn’t.

CH sits at home looking at her mom’s CD and says she wants to be an awesome singer like mom. She’ll help, right?

JH sits outside CH’s house. He remembers the first time he came to this house, when he told her to call him when there is trouble, when JH waited with dinner prepared for CH to come home  He goes up to the door and has to stop himself from pressing the key code to enter. He rings the doorbell instead. When CH opens the door, he enters without a word. Inside, CH hands him a drink in his cup. JH notices it. He asks CH if it was her that left the guitar at the hotel before. She confirms, saying he left it in her care when he was her manager. JH has to stop himself from correcting her- he left it with GW. CH asks what happened to the engagement and JH replies the date has been reset. He starts yelling at her for trying to save him before with the motorcycle. What if it was a bigger accident? What if she scarred her already not so pretty face? CH becomes annoyed. JH tries on the fan, but the fan won’t rotate. He can’t believe the fan is broken in the heat of the summer.

JH uses the bathroom and he sees the sign CH has left for JH on how to sparingly use the toilet paper. JH smiles.

CH asks if it was JH who called yesterday. How did he know her number? JH replies he got it off TS. He says he called to tell her he was thankful for yesterday. He leaves. Outside, he stares back at her house and thinks, “Thank you, CH, for saving me, for bringing me back my guitar.”

At coach’s restaurant, the loan sharks, coach, PN, TS, and CH are having a meeting on whether to perform at a event SI decided not to do and is in front of the homeless. CH wants to since she is reminded of her dad and she thinks she will be encouraged by the people being happy because of her singing. CM gets complimented from coach because he volunteers to be CH’s dancer.

In a dark room, PN “hits” on TS, making a grab for his pants. It turns out she was just pulling it all the way up his waste, making TS cry out in pain due to the bunching in his sensitive area.  She informs him that this is it- the vocalization he needs to be able to sing well. As PN demonstrates singing how to sing trot with flavor, TS starts to fall for her.

At the charity event, CH and her team are ready to sing. CH starts singing “My Way.” The homeless don’t want her to sing, however, calling it noisy. Not discouraged, CH tells them she wants to sing to give them a bit of comfort and strength. Just give her three minutes. CH starts singing.

CH singings with the loan sharks as back dancers, PN and TS as chorus. The people watching her start tearing up, moved by her singing. They applaud when she is done. CH’s dad is also there. CH doesn’t see him, though. CH’s dad gets call- a call from hospital. The nurse says to him, “You pushed back your surgery date. How should we reschedule it?” CH’s dad says he won’t be getting the surgery. He hangs up as the nurse worriedly says he has to get surgery soon.

JH sits in his house playing with the projector and looking at footage of CH at the stream. Surprised, TS asks if JH got back his memory. TS is very happy at first, but JH asks coldly if he is happy. JH tells him to kneel and TS begs for forgiveness. JH orders TS to keep this a secret or Yang might do something to CH.

SI comes to JH’s practice room. He holds her hand and asks, “On the day of the accident, why were you there? It wasn’t your stage, but CH’s concert.” SI hurriedly replies that she went to support CH as her senior because no one else would. JH responds, however, that he can’t shake he feeling that someone was targeting CH that day. Nervous, SI protests that she doesn’t want to think about that day, the day JH got hurt. She is just happy that JH is fine. JH continues pushing, saying if someone was targeting CH, it is fine, but if someone was targeting the person he loves, Soo In, he won’t forgive that person. He will continue to look for that perpetrator.

Yang quickly hides JH’s old phone in her drawer as JH comes in. JH starts talking about his accident, saying he was curious about a few things so he went to inspect and found out the CCTV recording of that day was stolen. His phone he left to get fixed also became lost. As he stares directly at Yang, JH says, “It seems I will have to dig deeper into this.” Yang tells him to rest from the accident, she will find out. JH insists that he will investigate, till the end. Yang asks why JH is telling her about this and JH casually replies that it’s because Yang is becoming family and family shares everything.

SI and Yang both worry about JH. They wonder if his memory is back.

JH waits for Byul outside her school. He sees a bunch of girls, the girl who bullied Byul before and her sister and friend, approach Byul. He saves Byul from the older girls by revealing himself as Jang Joon Hyun, the music god, and the girls are really excited. He tells them he is Byul’s family. Do they have a problem with Byul? The older girls immediately say no and force their little sister to say she will get along with Byul from now on. Byul gives JH a proud pat on the butt.

Byul and JH sit eating ice cream. Byul says she knows she has to keep today a secret.

JH searches for CH’s dad. He finds him in a room, clutching his stomach in pain. JH rushes off with him to the hospital.

Loan sharks are at coach’s restaurant again. She is pleased with CM at how nice and polite he is.

CH’s dad wakes up at the hospital. He and JH talk. Dad says he got beat up by the con men. He woke up in hospital and that is when he found out he has colon cancer and has six months to live. He couldn’t return to his daughters empty-handed like that, and hoping he could leave even just a little for his daughters, starting working his cleaning job. “But this unforgiving life…I’m still breathing.”

JH tells him the story of when he was in elementary school, he came back home one day to find out his dad had died. He regretted going to school that day, regretting not spending just one more hour with his dad. JH asks CH’s dad to return to CH, who is having a hard time because of the scandal. JH will return to her soon but till then, dad should try to spend one more hour with CH. He shouldn’t let CH regret like JH did.

CH goes to see GW at his office. CH tells him that she realized something at the charity event. She is happiest singing trot, and trot makes people of all ages and genders happy. GW says he understands,  CH doesn’t have to consider a ballad album.

JH goes to CH’s house. He enters it freely since he knows the key code.

SI and Yang go to the hospital and find out JH came in with CH on that day of the engagement. SI worries JH got back his memories or he fell in love with CH again. Yang says she will take care of it.

Byul and CH come home to find the cupboard door fixed, the fan fixed, and the ukulele string fixed. Byul giggles, knowing who fixed all these things, but CH wonders.

SI is at JH’s house, digging through his stuff. He comes home. SI pretends she was just waiting for him and she has the “MJ” necklace on now. She asks if this was for her and JH can only say it is.

CH sits at home, thinking about the things fixed inside the house and past memories with JH concerning those things.

At Shine Star, CH pours tea for him again at the practice room.

JH finds the tea. He says “I will drink it well, you sticky gum.” CH has been hiding behind door and when she hears this, she walks over to hug JH tightly from the back. Tears form in both their eyes. JH turns around and faces her. He says, “I’m back.”

No preview for episode 14

Comments:

Thank goodness the amnesia is over! And that Choon Hee knows that the amnesia is over! While Joon Hyun and Choon Hee still might not be together in the upcoming episode in order for Soo In to be kept in the dark, I am just glad that these two can fight a third party, not each other. They can focus their energy on bringing Soo In and her mother down, instead of wallowing in their misery and misunderstanding. Please make retribution sweet, drama, because Soo In and her mom, especially her mom, has no redeeming qualities.

While in previous episodes the drama explored why and how Soo In came this far, no such time was spent this episode, indicating that Soo In has gone to a place where there is no turning back. She doesn’t even seem to care anymore that she lost any chance with Geun Woo; she is merely desperate to survive.

As for Geun Woo, there was never any chance for him, was there? Our sweet but strange second lead can be as chivalrous and kooky as he wants, but Choon Hee’s heart is so far gone. The only thing left for him to do is continue to be her loyal knight and I suspect that is what his role will be reduced to in the future episodes. While I am happy for Joon Hyun and Choon Hee, I am disappointed to see Geun Woo so far from the spotlight.

I find it hilarious that Soo In’s mother, Director Yang, always she says will take of everything every time her daughter runs to her with a problem. Is there nothing this woman can’t do, including somehow intercepting Joon Hyun’s old phone? She sounds like a great mom at first, doesn’t she, the fixer-upper who can correct any problem you have? This only facilitates Soo In’s fall, however, as there is no obstacle in her way. Mom just keeps clearing the path for Soo In to fall deeper into the hole she is digging for herself.

Ah, I want to correct something I wrote in the first draft of the live recap. Soo In goes the theater to find out that Joon Hyun found his phone, not the cellphone store.

Byul continues to be one of my favorite characters, especially proving in this episode how smart and absolutely adorable she is. She is as wise and innocent as only a child can be, and for the sake of this child, I really hope her dad snaps out of it and comes back.

Speaking of Byul’s dad, what Joon Hyun told him might be the smartest thing he has said in this whole drama. I understand the pressure a parent must feel to provide for their family, how powerless and hopeless Choon Hee’s dad must feel. But when he has only six months to live, he is depriving his daughters time to spend with him, especially since they don’t have a mother either. Choon Hee and Byul wouldn’t exchange the time they have with him for all the money he can bring back, and when they find out he is dying, they are going to be doubly hurt because they lost all that time with him. Please, dad, stop being a fool and come back!