EPISODE 8 July 09, 2008

Na Hyun Sook: I wonder how much you love my son. You don't want to answer me Sam Soon?
Kim Sam Soon: Mother, there's this female writer. She'd write all night, and leave the manuscript on her husband's desk. Then he would wake up in the morning and read it before he goes to work. He'd be his first reader every day. I want Jin Hun to be the person to have my first cake every day. I want to give him the first and best cake I made. That's how much... I love Jin Hun.

Mrs. Roccio Ruiz: Gaano mo siya (Cyrus) kamahal?
Kim Samsoon Buot: (cellphone rings) Excuse me ho.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Mrs. Roccio Ruiz: How much do you love him (Cyrus)?
Kim Samsoon Buot: (cellphone rings) Excuse me ma'am.

------

Hyun Jin Hun (explaining to his mother why he likes Sam Soon): She's better than the ones you set me up with. She works hard for her dream. She's not like the idiots who wear designer clothes with their parent's money. She has a realistic perception of herself. She knows what she has to do, and how to live in the future. She has healthy values and principles. She's a great woman.

Cyrus Ruiz (explaining to his mother why he likes Sam Soon): Mabait si Samsoon Ma. Saka maasahan kaya nagustuhan ko siya.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Cyrus Ruiz (explaining to his mother why he likes Sam Soon): Samsoon is kind mom. And she's dependable that's why I like her.

It's kinda obvious with the script comparison what would be my overall verdict for this episode. But let's do this one by one.

-150 for the boring first part
A combination of Eliza's school scenes and Mrs. Ruiz and Marcus' evil tandem equals b-o-r-i-n-g.
At this point, even Jennica's screen presence is not enough for me to bear with her school scenes that are totally not related to Kim Samsoon. Yes, Yi Young have her own moments in MNIKSS but it was very minimal and not intercutting with Sam Soon's scenes.
Also, the Roccio-Marcus tandem is starting to get into my nerves. They are so evil in this episode, making their characterization as flat as a cardboard. I hope their characterization will develop real soon. I'm thinking if they are trying to do a parody or satire out of their evil-ish scenes together. However, if they are, it's not working for me. Both Carmi and John are good, but it makes me uneasy seeing a complete evil villain in Kim Sam Soon.

Pretty-woman scene
+50 for being funny
-25 enough of the old-school allusion
-75 what's the point?
-10 Maybe It's You - again?

Before, I've always wondered why MNIKSS doesn't have the common scene among Korean dramas wherein the very unladylike girl will have to wear something formal and feminine, then the girl will go out of the dressing room / fitting room / hallway, the guy looks at the girl - stunned, then the scene will turn into slow motion and the girl's background getting blurry while the guy stares dreamily.


My answer... because Sam Soon will never be pretty. She was not made to be pretty. She was made to represent the ordinary girl.



So in MNIKSS, in preparation for meeting Jin Hun's mother, Jin Hun simply picked up a decent outfit for Sam Soon. Done.
ASKSS on the other hand exerted an extra effort for this scene. They created the "newest" allusion - Pretty Woman.


But what's the point of the pretty-woman scene? Isn't it that in Pretty Woman and in it's hundreds of allusion in different forms of media (movies, dramas, programs, etc), she finally picked up the right dress that made her look pretty? Samsoon may have picked up the dress that looks decent on her, but not enough to make her stunning.
And I think there's so much of this Pretty Woman allusions already over the years (Kim Sun Ah had her share of this in her 1998 drama, Regine had hers in one of her movies in the 90s). I can't believe they are still doing it these days.
I don't see anything wrong with it, but I was actually half expecting that they will surprise me at the end. Maybe they will treat the scene as a parody, or at least they will show something new or different. But guess what? "Maybe It's You" was played once again as Samsoon goes out of the fitting room with her decent dress. The more I wasn't able to get the point of the scene.

But if we are talking about being funny. Yes, it's funny. With Regine's funny antics and Cyrus endless complain about Samsoon, it was indeed funny. And tell me about girdles and faces turning blue plus the wordplay between swan and suman* (*suman is a type of rice cake from the Philippines often steamed and wrapped tightly in banana leaves; it is often said that if a fat person wears tight clothes he/she looks like 'suman').

Meeting Mrs. Ruiz
+40 points promising
-400 points disappointing

The first scenes were actually promising.
I like it when Samsoon said that she's uneasy because it's the first time that she'd be introduced by her boyfriend to his parents. That was one of the traits of the ideal guy of the original Sam Soon. Although our local Samsoon did not include that in her ideal guy list on episode 4, I'm glad she mentioned it here. Meaning Harvey never introduced her to anyone as his girl (so... Samsoon agreed to marry him even without meeting his parents?)

I also like that Samsoon's weird imagination is at work again when she was being paranoid that Mrs. Ruiz might hurt her.


And when I heard the classic question "Samsoon, how old are you?" I prepared myself to witness a battle of wits between Samsoon and Mrs. Ruiz - but I was disappointed.
My expectations were a bit high because this is one of the unforgettable scenes in MNIKSS. Plus it is Carmi Martin and Regine, with Mark and Sweet in a long sequence together, so I was hoping for a good exchange of dialogues.


Although I appreciate the funny punchline of calendars and lotteries as the answer to Mrs. Ruiz question, I don't understand why Samsoon won't tell her age. She may not be proud of her age, but it's disrespectful not answering the question asked by your "boyfriend"'s mother.

I also don't like Samsoon's habit of looking down (I think Regine is trying to show her double chin to make her look fat) as compared to the Korean Sam Soon whose always in chin-up. It makes our local Samsoon appears weaker. It's very evident if we are going to watch this sequence side by side.




And of course, I missed Sam Soon's witty answer when she was asked how much she loves Jin Hun:
"Mother, there's this female writer. She'd write all night, and leave the manuscript on her husband's desk. Then he would wake up in the morning and read it before he goes to work. He'd be his first reader every day. I want Jin Hun to be the person to have my first cake every day. I want to give him the first and best cake I made. That's how much... I love Jin Hun."

I was not expecting the local Samsoon to answer with the same level of profundity since it was not established in her characterization - yet (something that was already evident with the Korean Sam Soon as early as MNIKSS' first episode). But I was expecting an equally witty answer... okay... witty or not, I was expecting AN ANSWER at least.



On top of that, I missed Jin Hun's description of Sam Soon:
"She's better than the ones you set me up with. She works hard for her dream. She's not like the idiots who wear designer clothes with their parent's money. She has a realistic perception of herself. She knows what she has to do, and how to live in the future. She has healthy values and principles. She's a great woman."
Hearing it coming from Jin Hun's lips makes my heart melt. He may be telling this to her mother to prove to her that he really likes Sam Soon, but if you listen carefully and made a reference on MNIKSS's previous episodes, what Jin Hun was saying is really how he can best describe Sam Soon.

Cyrus' explanation to his mother why he likes Samsoon did not melt my heart, and unfortunately that's the best way he can describe Samsoon based on her characterization in the previous episodes - as simple as being kind and dependable. But I like his attempt to defend her in front of Nicole by telling her that Samsoon is not a mere cook but a pastry chef.

Samsoon defends herself
+40 for the script
-20 for the execution
Finally I saw a hint of strength in Samsoon. I thought she will just keep quiet while Nicole bash her. I'm glad she finaly speaks-up. Yet, just a little softspoken. It could be better if her voice was a bit strong too. It's just ironic that when it comes to her shameless behaviors she talks relentlessly, but when it comes to defending her self she tends to be reticent.

Counting 1-10 with Samsoon +100 points
I simply love this scene after Samsoon walked out. She can't decide if she'll stay or go home. So she told herself she'll count 1-10, and if she reached 10 and Cyrus won't be there to take her back inside, she'll leave.

isa... dalawa... tatlo... (one... two... three...)
Although this scene was non-existent in the original MNIKSS, it gave me the same feeling of sadness for Sam Soon and disappointment in Jin Hun as I did in MNIKSS' Episode 7's Jeju Island sequence (SPOILER: when Jin Hun left Sam Soon in the middle of a highway) and Episode 15's ending (SPOILER: when Jin Hun did not return).

pito... walo... siyam... sampu... (seven... eight... nine... ten...)
The episode ended with Samsoon reaching number 10... without a glimpse of Cyrus.

RATINGS: 31.3% vs My Girl 21.3%
(ratings courtesy of: aria_Productions of RVMM)