Big Episode 1

Big Episode 1

The episode opens up with Gil Da-ran running to deliver a bridal bouquet.  When she finally arrives, Bridezilla is about to unleash some wrath as the bouquet is late.  That is until she, and actually the twenty friends taking the photo with her, realizes that they all know knows Da-ran as a former classmate.  Oppsie she accidentally on purpose didn’t invite Gil Da-ran to the wedding but half heartedly asks if she would like to be in the photo.  Gil Da-ran declines as she feels out of place but as she is leaving she decides to stay and get a meal out of the deal.

  

 

 

 

While eating, she gets a call from her boss telling her that an accident was made and the bride got the wrong and more expensive bouquet.  Now Da-ran is charged with the task of getting the bouquet back.  She decides that catching the bouquet is the only and less embarrassing way to get it back without any added drama.  She almost would have succeeded if someone didn’t bump into her causing her to fall down a flight of stairs.   We get to watch it all unfold in typical drama slow motion action while getting out first glimpse of Seo Yoon -jae who was the accidental bumper.

Flash forward a radio host recounts the story of how the couple meet as Da-ran is boarding a bus.  We find out that Gil Da-ran broke her wrist and tailbone when she fell down the stairs but don’t worry Seo Yoon-jaw is a doctor who stayed and treated her through the whole process.  In the end he asked her to marry him.  As well, she is studying to take her civil servants exam while working as a high school teacher.  Oh and for her story she wins a rice cooker.  Score she can now cross that off of her list of things the newlyweds needs.

 

 

 

 

Gil Da-ran notices a  youngling staring at her and is slightly flattered.  Gil Da-ran gets off the bus and opens her umbrella as it has started to rain.  The young man gets off the bus and grabs on to the umbrella as well while intensely staring.  Da-ran doesn’t know what to do.  She tells him that she noticed that he was staring and he retorts back everyone was staring at her due to her excitement over the free rice cooker.  He claims the umbrella is his and she finally concedes asking him to give her umbrella to her then.  He scoffs saying he would not take someone else’s umbrella.  That is crazy talk.  She finally decides to make a dash for it seeing as that she is at her destination; the high school she works for.

 

 

 

After getting chastised by the vice principal for coming to school wet, a new super smart transfer student who studied in America is introduced.  Surprise surprise it is the boy from the bus Kang Kyung-joon.  Oh and who gets to show him around……Gil Da-ran.  Kyung-joon is completely not interested in the tour and Da-ran keeps correcting him on his informal speech.

He also teases her about the radio story that she entered under the name “Miss K” as he puts two and two together listening to a phone conversation between Da-ran and Yoo-jae.  Yoo-jae is busy at work therefore needs to cancel their plans.  Eventually he gets completely bored and jumps out a nearby window.  Luckily it was just the first story. 

Kang Kyung-joon  is stopped by three students obviously trying to be way cooler than they probably were.  Then begins the who can speak the better English challenge.  Really none could. Kyung-joon calls them stupid and walks away.  On the first attempt to attack Kyung-joon the leader misses and falls and the second his punch is stopped by Gil Da-ran.  Da-ran starts laying into the leader who we find out is her brother Gil Choong-shik.  Kyung-joon watches intently at the exchange between the siblings and you get the feeling that something is missing from his life.

We get to see Kyung-joon at his rather huge and empty house.  His fridge is filled with frozen pizzas in which he microwaves one himself.   He then lays quietly on his bed knocking wooden figures to the ground.  The suspicions are correct; he seems to be alone.

Gil Da-ran is bringing food to her busy fiancé at the hospital where she bumps into a Lee Se-young,  a female colleague of Yoon-jae.   Se-young asks about the wedding and Da-ran tells her that the invites will be passed out soon as they are in Yoon-jae’s possession.  Hmmm…..did we just meet the rival love interest?  Does it mean something that Lee Se-young is pictured on his bulletin board and not Da-ran?  Probably not but Da-ran does rectify that by adding one of her and Yoon-jae.

As she waits for Yoon-jae, she has a lovey dovey flash back of a moment that they had in that room.  Unfortunately it is marred when she realizes that under the bed are the wedding invitations that he has yet to not only pass out but even open to see what they look like.  A scene or two later Yoon-jae returns to his room finding that Da-ran has left.  She penned a little note reminding him that they are going furniture shopping the next day.  He looks upset about standing her up but you are starting to wonder if this is more of a one-sided relationship.

Kyung-joon’s uncle buys him a motorcycle.  Kyung-joon says technically he means he bought it with the money his mother left for him.  Now we know why Kyung-joon feels alone.  His mother is dead but we don’t know why yet.  His aunt and uncle talk about him getting a smaller place and a new bed seeing as it is a child’s bed.  Kyung-joon’s says no on both accounts because his mother bought him both.  He does realize that maybe it is time to buy a new bed because he is kind of tall for it.

 

 

 

Kyung-joon goes shopping for a bed the next day and tells the clerk that he needs to be able to sleep in the bed.  He clearly intends to take try to take a nap and the clerk is confused by all this.  Kyung-joon does put the salesman at some ease saying that if he does fall asleep he will buy the bed today.  Da-ran is in the same shop ready to buy the exact bed same bed.  Oh No…..it’s the last model in the store and the clerk tells her that it is as good as sold.  Da-ran goes to look at the competition and realizes it is Kyung-joon.  After she wakes him up, Da-ran tries to convince Kyung-joon not to buy the bed breaking it in the process.  Well now it is hers as the shop has a you break you buy it policy.  She takes Kyung-joon out to eat to sweet talk him into buying the bed now for a discounted price.  He says no; he was really just trying it out.  Trying another angle, Da-ran asks about his parents buying him a bed and Kyung-joon tells him that he is an orphan.  Da-ran gets a phone call from Yoon-jae.  Guess What??? He is standing her up again.  Wow did not see that coming.

Se-young spots the addition of Da-ran’s photo to the bulletin board at the hospital.  She grabs it off the board and tosses it in the garbage.  So I am guessing she has feelings for Yoon-jae.  Yoon-jae enters with fellow surgeons and Se-young asks him if he got the wedding invitations yet.  Yoon-jae looks away and says no he did not.  She smirks and is mentally going Se-young 1, Da-ran 0.

 

 

 

 

At school, Da-ran sees Kyung-joon get in trouble for not having a uniform and digs one up for him.  Kyung-joon laughs to himself that he said he was an orphan not poor.  Though he happily puts it on.  Kyung-joon also happens to have the same angel image with the word miracle on it in his wallet as Yoon-jae has on a book on his desk.  We also find out that Yoon-jae has a ticket to L.A.  Hmmmm…….perhaps this is why he has been so reluctant?

In the classroom the students got Da-ran a cushion  for her seat.  She is flattered until she realizes that they all know about the radio segment and are teasing her for it.  She tries to get them to calm down but does not succeed as more and more students are joining in.  Eventually her brother steps in to shut them all up.  Da-ran confides in another teacher, Ae-kyung, about the teasing.  Ae-kyung tells her not to worry as the whole story is romantic.  It makes Da-ran question whether or not Yoon-jae loves her or is marrying her out of responsibility.

As Da-ran is waiting outside for Yoon-jae to go look at houses together, she gets a phone call.  You guessed it.  It is Yoon-jae and he won’t be able to make it.  Da-ran, already having a bad day, starts to cry but in her typical fashion says it is alright.  To his credit he, did realize that something was up and asks her about it.  That breaks the dam holding back the tears as  she tells him no everything is not alright.  She then asks him if he is really in love with her or not.  Da-ran hangs up the phone without an answer.  Kyung-joon sees this and  is impressed.  Da-ran on the other hand is completely freaking out wondering what she did and how she should fix it.  Kyung-joon saves her from herself by grabbing her phone.

He drives her on his motorcycle to some park out of the way.  She realizes that he saved her from doing something stupid and thanks him for that.  Da-ran also mentions that  she realizes that it was him who passed around the radio story and she forgives him.  Kyung-joon is upset over being accused over something he didn’t do.  They start teasing each other back and forth.  As she is trying to make him say the catchphrase “poing poing”, Da-ran gets a phone call from Yoon-jae.  He asks Da-ran where she is so they can discuss the answer to the question of his love for her.  She is completely excited as this must mean good news.  As she is trying to figure out where the hell she exactly was, Kyung-joon goes to leave.  He checks his wallet to see if he has the gas money.  Really it is a ploy just to remind us of the miracle angel picture in his wallet and on Yoon-jae’s desk.  Me thinks it is coming in to play real soon.

As Kyung-joon is driving away from the park in his motorcycle and Yoon-jae is driving towards the park, there is an accident between two cars which block the entire road.  Both having to swerve to miss the accident end up driving into the river.  Kyung-joon being on a motorcycle becomes unconscious immediately when he hits the water.  Yoon-jae on the other hand works hard at trying to get out of his car that is rapidly filling up with water.  He succeeds and starts to swim to the top.  He stops and turns around to try and save Kyung-joon.   Of course this ends up recreating the pose on the miracle card.

Yoon-jae and Kyung-joon end up side by side at the  hospital with a team trying to resuscitate them.  Unfortunately Yoon-jae doesn’t make it.  He is brought to the morgue as Da-ran is getting the heartbreaking news.  She is asked to identify the body but breaks down on the way there.  The nurse leaves her as Da-ran clearly needs a moment.

In the morgue, Yoon-jae jerks back to life.  He seems confused as he checks out his body in the mirror.  Wrapped in a sheet and walking down a hall, Yoon-jae runs into Da-ran still sitting in the hall way.  She watches him coming closer trying to figure out what she is seeing.  Eventually it all becomes clear; Yoon-jae is alive.  Da-ran runs to him saying she thought he had died.  Yoon-jae asks who did she say he was but Da-ran keeps talking about almost losing him.  Finally he gets her attention when he says “Gil Da-ran who did you say I am?  Teacher, I am Kang Kyung-joon.”  A confused Da-ran is wondering how Yoon-jae could know about Kyung-joon.  He explains about the accident but he runs off back towards the morgue.

Kyung-joon realizes if he is in Yoon-jae’s body then where is his.  He thinks the worst when he sees the gurney with a body on it next to the one he rose from.  He shuts his eyes and turns while pulling back the sheet unable look at what he might find……………..but it is just a recently passed older gentleman.  Da-ran still trying to get some answers asks him what he was going to tell her before the accident.  Surely that will clear up the confusion on who he his.  Clearly expecting some sort of words of love, Da-ran only a gets “poing poing” from Kyung-joon.  Da-ran was like yeah not what I want but Kyung-joon reminds her that at the park that was what she was trying to get him to say.  A nurse interrupts all this with a scream because I guess she did not find it normal for a women to be sitting in a morgue talking to a recently pronounced dead man.

 

 

 

Da-ran talks to a doctor about Yoon-jae.  She mentions how he seems very different but the doctor chalks it up to the affects of the accident but they will keep monitoring the situation.   While Kyung-joon is checking his new face out in the mirror, he over hears his uncle asking about his location.  He follows them to finally find the location of his body which is unconscious.  It is a hard image for him to see as he doesn’t not realize when a patient being wheeled by gets blood on his hand.  When he realizes the blood, it brings back a rather traumatic image for Kyung-joon; his mother lying all bloody on the ground.  A visibly distressed Kyung-joon quickly wipes off the blood.

Da-ran realizes that Yoon-jae has disappear and goes looking for him.  She can’t find him anywhere in the hospital but along the way happens upon Kyung-joon’s aunt and uncle.  After over hearing the same details of the accident recounted that Yoon-jae/Kyung-joon told her, Da-ran starts to put the pieces together.  She realizes that it is impossible and resumes her search of Yoon-jae by going to his apartment.  Realizing that he is no where to be found in the places that Yoon-jae would be, she calls a fellow teacher for Kyung-joon’s address.

 

 

 

 

At Kyung-joon’s house, Da-ran finds a trail of hospital clothing leading to him.  Kyung-joon is curled up on his racecar bed sleeping.   When she gets to the bed, he opens his eyes and they stare at each for quite awhile.  Da-ran finally comes to terms when she asks “Kang Kyung-joon?”  He answers “Yes Gil Da-ran Teacher.”  And Scene…….

-The Drama-
So far I am really into Big.  I will admit it usually takes me a few episodes for me to get into a Korean Drama as most first episodes don’t grab me right away.  There have been a few exceptions along the way (Coffee Prince, Protect the Boss) but for most I am not instantly invested.  With this one, I really do want to know what is going to happen next and have many questions that I legitimately want to know the answers to.   I do like the balance of humor and drama so far.  A lot of romantic comedy dramas start of  with more humor in the first part of the series and then humor drops off for dramatic drama in the second half.  I myself am more of a comedy person and love a good laugh so when it significantly disappears after several episodes I start to lose interest.

The character I think I want to know the most about is Yoon-jae.  Besides a few scenes of breaking plans or denying wedding invitations, I really do not know what he is about.  Does he love Da-ran or is he marrying her out of responsibility?  Is his reluctance about the wedding because he likes Se-young , the ticket to L.A. or both?  It doesn’t seem like I will be getting any answers any time soon as I don’t know yet where Yoon-jae’s spirit is.

So I will see how this goes as I delve into more episodes.  It will be interesting to see how the body swapping plot plays out.    Sometimes it works and you completely get why it happened in context to the story and sometimes it is overdone and doesn’t make sense.  Though I did enjoy Secret Garden, they probably could have cut out the random body swapping and still had a good drama.  All I know is I really must have liked this episode.  I was just planning on writing a small little mini cap but it ended up way longer than expect.  Opps…….