Secret Garden Episode 17 Recap / Summary / Link

Good morning!  Two more weeks to go until the end of the series.  :(  We'll have to see how everything unravels in the next four episodes. :)

Video link:
http://joonmedia.net/videos/play/30759/12

Recap:

Faced with Ju-won’s mother in her small apartment and the startling revelation, Ra-Im asks if her father really saved Ju-won, and Ju-won’s mother begs her to please release her son and not hold onto him with this piece of news. She reminds Ra-Im that she herself said with her own mouth that her father saved many lives. Ju-won just happened to be one of the many. When Ra-Im continues to cry with no response, Ju-won’s mom angrily tells her that what she’s promising—an untold amount of money to compensate for Ra-Im’s father’s life—should be enough to make her give up on Ju-won. If nothing else, Ra-Im should give up on Ju-won because the entire situation is distasteful.

             While Ra-Im processes the new information, Ju-won (dressed in his usual dapper wool coat and not his hilarious, signature tracksuits) mounts the steps of the action school and asks the action school people if Ra-Im is done with her shooting. When they give him puzzled looks, Ju-won seeks Ra-Im out at her apartment where she is being comforted by Ae-Young.

             Once in the apartment, Ju-won asks if Ra-Im’s shoot went well. Without batting an eye, she answers that she has to do well to get paid. Ju-won then asks if Ra-Im shouldn’t offer him tea or refreshments rather than ask what he’s doing at her place. At this, Ae-young asks him what he’d like, and in typically Ju-won fashion, he asks if they have tea or coffee. Ae-young answers yes to which he then asks if they don’t have any fruit. Ae-young regretfully tells him they don’t have any fruit, and Ju-won tells Ra-Im she should go buy some then because he has business to discuss with Ae-young regarding his secretary. Of course, once Ra-Im leaves, Ju-won tells Ae-young he’s really interested in discussing Ra-Im. He knows that Ra-Im lied to him about the film shooting and wants to know what happened. Ae-young explains that she doesn’t really know what happened but that Ra-Im’s probably sad because it’s her father’s memorial today. Ju-won asks Ae-young if that’s what Ra-Im asked her to say. He then follows Ra-Im to the fruit stand and watches a bit as she cries. Suspecting that his mother has sought her out again, he berates her and asks why she’s crying. She makes an outlandish excuse that she’s only crying because the fruit is so expensive (LOL). “Why would you ask me to buy something so expensive when I don’t have that much money.” Tenderly wrapping his muffler around Ra-Im’s neck and reminding her how expensive it is, he tells her to go home while he goes to seek answers from someone who will tell him since she obviously won’t tell him.

             At his mother’s house, Ju-won asks his mother’s secretary his mother’s whereabouts but gets no answer from the secretary. After several more attempts at trying to discover his mother’s location, Ju-won tells the secretary to relay this message to her and if she’s actually within listening distance, all the better: “I’ll do ask I please from here on out.” As he leaves the house, his mother descends the staircase, commenting on how smart her son is (for knowing that she’s still in the house when the secretary had lied and said that she had traveled to Hong Kong….without her trusted secretary).

             Meanwhile at Seul’s production company, Seul tells Oska that Han Tae-sung has left Korea. Oska then teases Seul, wondering why Tae-sung is acting even more jealous than any of his other girlfriends. (LOL). When Seul reacts to that, Oska teases her a bit more before he stops to urge her to discuss their relationship, that he came down quickly to her office because he thought she wanted to talk about them and not something/someone else. Can she really not forgive him? If she gives him one more chance, he feels that he can do a really good job this time treating her well. When she then says to go ahead and try to cling to her, he gets excited and tells her that he’s going to take her up on her offer, that every time they meet, he’s going to hang on to her. (LOL…so adorable, this man.)  

            At the airport, Tae-sung prepares to leave and stops a moment to glance at an Oska ad posted on the airport wall. When Tae-sung turns around, Oska shows up and chides him for trying to leave. Oska tells him that he told Tae-sung to come sign with him and retrieve his MP3 instead of leaving for China. He even went all the way to Icheon airport in order to try to find Tae-sung. When Tae-sung still doesn’t respond, Oska then tells him that if he doesn’t want to be groomed by Oska, then Tae-sung can groom him and stop playing hard to get. At Tae-sung’s stunned response, Oska prompts Tae-sung to admit that he wants to help Oska, especially with his new song that he had titled, “Oska.” “Weren’t you afraid I would steal your original song?” When Tae-sung continues to be non-responsive, Oska (in typical Oska style) slings Tae-sung over his shoulders and exits the airport. (LOL)

             Back at the action school, Ra-Im pounds into a punching bag while recalling her conversation with Ju-won’s mom. As she practices downstairs, the director receives a phone call from the Dark Blood director, Jackson who relays the news that Ra-Im’s been selected to play the role of Jin in his new movie. At the action school director’s confusion (sorry, forgot the director’s name…let’s just call him by his real name, Phillip), Jackson tells him that Ra-Im had a special audition in which it took him only five minutes to be captivated by her performance. Ra-Im, on hearing the news, is equally stunned. Phillip explains to her that Ju-won flew Jackson to and from several countries just so that she could have a special audition for the one she missed. She asks Phillip for permission to leave the action school for a few minutes and seeks out Ju-won.

             Unnoticed, she observes Ju-won while he goes about his business and tells him that she may not be able to talk with him much because of her location but that she wanted to tell him the big news. She relates the good news of how Jackson has cast her in his movie and thanks Ju-won for making it possible. Ju-won downplays the situation by telling her it was all due to her skills, though, that she got the part because Jackson only needed to see her for five minutes. He beams and says that he has that type of woman as a girlfriend. Ra-Im, with tears in her eyes, quickly tells Ju-won that she’s got to go film, so she’ll talk with him later.

             As she gets off the phone, she’s surprised by Seul who asks her if everything’s all right. Ra-Im and Seul then relocate to the museum and stand before one of the artworks there. When Ra-Im comments that it seems like she and Ju-won are so far apart, Seul encourages Ra-Im to run and shorten the distance between Ju-won and her. She (Seul) didn’t step aside just so that Ra-Im can give up like this.

             Back at Ju-won’s mom’s place, Ju-won’s mom receives news that Ju-won transported Director Jackson to several countries just so that Ra-Im could have a special audition and win the role in Dark Blood. She comments that it seems like she’s been targeting the wrong person and contacts someone to hold a special company meeting.

             Trying out clothes at his department store, Ju-won is surprised by his secretary who tells him that the mom’s called a special meeting to discuss the selection of a new department store CEO. Ju-won calls his mom repeatedly while the mother ignores his calls and instead talks to Ra-Im at her (mom's) house. The mother continues to pressure Ra-Im to break up with Ju-won, and Ra-Im earnestly begs if she can just be with Ju-won because they truly do love each other. At this, the mother finally answers Ju-won’s many phone calls and puts him on speaker phone. Ra-Im sits in shock as she learns through the conversation that Ju-won is facing getting fired at his mother’s own hand. Ju-won boldly tells his mother that “that’s fine. You can take everything you want, Mother.” He chooses Ra-Im. At the prospect of having Ju-won lose everything that he’s worked so hard for, Ra-im buckles and tearfully/desperately tells the mother that she’ll back away and leave Ju-won.

             At Ju-won’s office, the secretary is stunned that Ju-won is willing to give up everything for a woman, and Ju-won agrees that that’s how special Ra-Im is as a woman to make him want to leave everything to keep her. Then as a show of loyalty, the secretary tells Ju-won that he will tender his resignation, but Ju-won spoils the gesture by telling the secretary he won’t even have that opportunity since he’ll be fired along with Ju-won.  Why? Because he was selected by Ju-won, so when Ju-won has to give up his position, the secretary will have to leave as well. The secretary then tries to call Ju-won “hyung” (older brother in Korean), which causes Ju-won to threaten bodily harm on the secretary (LOL).    

             Quietly walking in Ju-won’s personal library, Ra-Im picks up Alice in Wonderland and slips a piece of paper/letter inside the book for Ju-won to find later when she’s not there. Oska interrupts her and asks her if she’s come to see Ju-won because he just stepped outside. Ra-Im replies that she knows he left. She then continues to tell Oska that their solo fan meetings will have to come to an end. Their cute banter goes on and ends as Oska tells her that she should celebrate her role in Dark Blood by treating him to pig skin BBQ (LOL).

             Standing in front of Ra-Im’s door with a bouquet of flowers, Ju-won tells her that she’s amazing to prompt a man like him to hold flowers in his hands. Then as he secures her worn out handbag with the cat brooch he had specially made for her, telling her that he had it fashioned after the cat her father gave her, she coldly tells him that she won’t be seeing him for a while and that she’s exhausted from dealing with his family. As he begins to rant about how much he’s had to give up for her, she tells him that he should have stopped before he lost much then. She tells him that since she’s going to be gone for a while due to filming, she’d like to not see him for the time being.

             Ju-won returns home and drinks and then, in panic, takes his medication. The next morning, he stands inside Ra-Im’s apartment, waiting for her. Ra-Im enters and they discuss their relationship. Ra-Im tells Ju-won that her father died trying to save him in the accident that he doesn't remember. She can’t meet him anymore because it wouldn’t be fair to her father who lost his life for Ju-won.

             Stunned, Ju-won sits in his personal library going through copies of old newspapers, trying to locate news of the accident. As he finally reads the article relating Ra-Im’s father’s death, Ra-Im’s father’s voice can be heard saying that when it’s time for him to die, that he hopes God will protect his family. As Ju-won digests the information, Ra-Im stands before her father’s marker and apologizes for loving the man who was responsible for her father’s death.    

             The next morning, Ra-Im takes a deep breath as she prepares for her first day of filming. Ae-young jokingly asks Ra-Im if she wants to buy Ae-young’s dream (Korean thing about buying other people's dreams) because she had this incredible dream in which Ra-Im and Ju-won were sitting in front of some delicious looking wine with a third person (my guess is the dad) and the heavens rained beautifully red roses down on them. Ae-young wonders who the third person is and Ra-Im replies that it's probably her.*
    

*Sorry, everyone. This is all I can do for now. I probably won't finish recapping since, by the time I return later tonight to finish watching and recapping the episode, dramabeans.com will have completed their recap. However, if they haven't, I'll finish.  Otherwise, I think this (two-thirds of the episode) should suffice for now.  Sorry...and enjoy the episode as well as the weekend!

Addendum at 11pm: complete recap has been nicely done on dramabeans.com.  Enjoy!
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/01/secret-garden-episode-17/