allkpop TV Guide: ‘To the Beautiful You’ (Episode 12)

Official Synopsis:
This drama draws on Hisaya Nakajo‘s manga series “Hana Kimi“ that was published by Hakusensha from 1996 to 2004. The Korean interpretation centers on Goo Jae Hee (Sulli), a Korean girl who live in the States, but transfers to an all-boys school in Korea.

Jae Hee decides on the transfer after watching a track and field competition on TV, and becomes inspired by high-jump athlete, Kang Tae Joon (Minho). 

She begins to idolize the young athlete and eventually transfers to Korea to go to the same school after he experiences an injury that may potentially end his athletic career.

However, as Tae Joon attends an all-boys high school, Jae Hee must disguise herself as a boy to enter.

Ratings:
MBC‘s ‘Arang and the Magistrate‘ (starring Lee Jun Ki and Shin Min Ah) dropped in ratings again, from 13.8% to 13.1%, coming in sixth for the night.

Meanwhile, KBS‘s ‘Nice Guy‘ (starring Song Joong Ki, Moon Chae Won, and Park Si Yeon) dropped slightly from 13.8% to 13.3%, coming in fifth.

SBS‘s ‘To the Beautiful You‘ (starring SHINee‘s Minho and f(x)‘s Sulli) rose slightly from 4.2% to 4.6%, but still remained in last place..

Recap of Ep. 12:

This episode opens with a confession, ends with a confession, and brings the long-simmering love triangle to the forefront, despite Jae Hee’s efforts to prevent that from happening.

Jae Hee visits Han Na, and before she can really say anything, Han Na promises to keep her secret thinking that’s what Jae Hee came for. Jae Hee, however, takes her hand and tells her not to give up on gymnastics, and gives her a card with Tae Joon‘s famous quote on it- “Miracle is just another word for hard work.” Jae Hee says she’ll visit a lot, whether Han Na likes it or not.

Seung Ri overhears Han Na explaining to Director Jang that she and Tae Joon “broke up”. Later, he sees her looking at a picture of Tae Joon and leaning on the edge of a balcony. She drops it and reaches to try and catch it, he misunderstands the situation and thinks she’s trying to jump. He grabs her, and she elbows him in his fresh appendectomy scar, sending him back to the OR.

Meanwhile, Coach Byeon gets jealous of Dr. Jang when it looks like he might be hitting on Teacher Lee, and attempts to make an impression on her, but ends up embarrassing himself.

Hyeon Jae has a meeting with the sponsor who had originally offered to sign Tae Joon. He says Hyeon Jae’s a fresher face and better talker, but will only sign him on one condition- he has to beat Tae Joon in the upcoming competition. Unfortunately for Hyeon Jae, Tae Joon’s returning to top form, while Hyeon Jae’s actually doing worse. Coach tells him it’s all in his head and he needs to get his mind back in the game.

As for our golden trio? Eun Gyeol‘s confession threw Jae Hee for a loop. She winds up visiting Dr. Jang, the only person who knows the whole story, and asks him what she should do. She says she doesn’t have feelings for Eun Gyeol, but she feels bad for causing him distress. When he asks about her feelings for Tae Joon, she just answers that she knew from day one that she couldn’t go there. He tells her that she knew her days were numbered, and it’s time to work on an exit strategy.

Eun Gyeol tries to treat Jae Hee the way any guy treats someone he likes, but Jae Hee keeps shutting him down, clearly upset. Meanwhile, Tae Joon does his best to take care of her without making her suspicious. When they find out she’s going on a weekend volunteer trip with some of the teachers, they both volunteer to go to.

While on the trip, Eun Gyeol explains to Jae Hee that he’s liked her for a long time, so nothing has really changed in their relationship and he wants to go back to being friendly. Despite a few awkward moments, they pretty much go back to their old, noisy ways, which worries Tae Joon. While they’re on their trip, Eun Gyeol gets a call from his coach- someone’s dropped out due to injury, and he’s the alternate, meaning he made it to nationals! He has to leave right away, but stops to tell Jae Hee that he owes his place on the team to her.

As Eun Gyeol leaves, Jae Hee starts making dinner for Tae Joon and herself. Tae Joon stops her in the kitchen, telling her he has something to say. There is a definite tension in the room, and Jae Hee looks very unsure. Suddenly, she hears Eun Gyeol calling to her from the yard. Although she tries to duck away to find out what’s going on, Tae Joon stops her.

“Don’t go. When you’re with me, don’t think of Eun Gyeol. I’m not letting you go to America. Stay by me.”

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contagion’s Thoughts:

[ Note : This post reflects the opinions of the author, not necessarily those of allkpop ]

I feel weird about a romantic comedy that gets less interesting as soon as the romance heats up. When Daniel showed up a few episodes ago and scolded Jae Hee for coming to Genie, accusing her of throwing away her hopes and dreams, I got defensive- who says she can’t pursue her hopes and dreams in Korea? Now, I kind of see his point. This episode made it abundantly clear that Jae Hee has no goals for herself.

It was somewhat masked to this point because she was always doing things. She made friends with Sangchu and got the tennis ball. She chased Tae Joon around and tried to make him practice. She saved the day by running a marathon in the dorm competition, getting injured in the process. She performed in a drag show and nearly had her secret discovered. But everything she did was part of the Get-Tae-Joon-to-Jump-Again plot, and we learned nothing about her own interests.

She can fence a little- does she like it? Does she care about it? She can sing- is this something she does for fun? Does she have a secret desire to be a musician? She runs, but does she have any real aspirations as a runner, or is it just a hobby (remember, we never see her practicing or doing anything related to running unless Tae Joon is there)?

Eun Gyeol has his soccer aspirations and SNS hobby, Tae Joon has the high jump and his photography, Johnny has his photography- all of the guys who are interested in her have something unrelated to their love-lives to occupy their time. Jae Hee has nothing but her relationships with Tae Joon and Eun Gyeol (and, to a lesser extent, Johnny and her brother). Heck, her best female friend, the blonde girl back in the States, doesn’t even have a name! The only thing we know about Jae Hee’s life aside from her taste in men is that she can sew, but it’s not like she makes a hobby of it- she sews once to encourage Eun Gyeol and once to help Tae Joon, and that’s it. Even bit-character Chal Soo/Charles has more development that she does, as we know that he is a dorm leader, does sports, and is interested in (but largely ignorant of) western cultures and languages. It’s not a good sign when your bit characters are better developed than your main character.

This whole episode magnifies these problems, as we witness a lot of things happening to Jae Hee, but Jae Hee actually doing very little. Eun Gyeol confesses, and she doesn’t respond. She looks up ticket prices to the U.S., but doesn’t make a decision. Dr. Jang takes her on the volunteer trip, where she does exactly as she’s told. Tae Joon confesses, and she doesn’t respond. The only things she initiates are a visit to Han Na in the hospital (where she basically starts doing the same thing for Han Na that she did for Tae Joon), and sewing Tae Joon’s pants. Even in the flashback where Jae Hee shows us how she let Johnny down, we find out that Johnny stopped her before she could say anything and just told her he knew it was coming.

It’s great that the story is moving along and we’re seeing Tae Joon finding himself again, Eun Gyeol making the national team, Hyeon Jae struggling with his own mind, Han Na facing what could be the end of her career (though, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not too fond of the way she’s written, either), Seung Ri attempting to make moves on Han Na, Coach Byeon continuing to try with Teacher Lee, and Director Jang trying to cope with Han Na and Tae Joon’s mess. However, it’d be great if our actual main character got a little, you know, characterization. Take some of that time we spend watching flashbacks to things that happened three minutes ago and give Jae Hee a hobby besides doing Tae Joon’s laundry!

I hope that we see some changes in the upcoming episodes and actually learn who Jae Hee is, but for now I’m not holding my breath.

As for the good news- J-Min‘s video for “Stand Up” came out. It’s reminiscent of Paramore‘s “Decode“, but more awesome because the song is better and has nothing to do with Twilight. I know I’ve complained before that the soundtrack to this drama is overwhelming- there are SM Family songs blaring almost constantly in some episodes- but the OST itself is pretty good.

Credits: http://www.allkpop.com/2012/10/allkpop-tv-guide-to-the-beautiful-you-episode-12