Sons of Sol Pharmacy, Finale

How sad am I that this funny drama will finally end...but what a hysterical episode! It starts off with a big surprise when Bokshil decides to live with the Song family. Daepoong returns after his cross-country trip to mend his broken heart, all dusty and tired. When Bokshil comes out of the living room, he shouts: "Who are you? Who are you living in my house?" The Song family return from the bathhouse and sheepishly say hello to Daepoong. Daepoong grabs Bokshil's hand and walks with her to a playground. There, he says "How can you do this after all the affection I showed you?"

Here's where it gets hysterical. We are finally shown what happened at the end of that kiss in Episode 52. After Daepoong kissed Bokshil, he grabbed her hand and tried to take her to the bedroom, upon which she flung him against the wall, slamming his face and giving him a bloody nose. Then, she flounced into her room and closed the door. He stayed on his knees half the night, the other half in a traditional punishment stance (sort of like an arched push-up position), apologizing for all the wrongs he has done: calling her Bokshil puppy, making her pretend to be his wife in front of his girlfriend he wanted to get rid of, kissing her when he was drunk....in the meantime, Bokshil fell asleep!

While Daepoong is yelling at Bokshil, Bokshil says: "I thought you had learned to repent, but you haven't learned anything. I will just return home" and she walks away.

The next scene opens with Eunji crying as she enters her home. The doctor has just confirmed that she's pregnant. When Sunpoong says that this is happy news, she cries more and says that she will lose her part in the drama she was just cast. Then Eunji says it's all her mother's fault for starting the war of the sexes in the family, for when Eunji and Sunpoong finally made up after the internal family war, they were so happy that they had sex unprotected. In the study, Euji's father is putting away all of Eunji's mother's paints. When the mother asks what he's doing, the father says that all the paints are toxic and not good for the baby. The father gets his final revenge by telling the mother she's going to be a grandmother. She screams.

Back at the Song household, the father talks on the phone with Sunpoong and Eunji to get the good news. When he gets off the phone, the father and grandfather recount all the good things that have happened: Eunji being pregnant, Jinpoong getting married, and Bokshil coming to live with the family. Then the grandfather says: Daepoong probably taking her to a good restaurant right now to smooth things over.

Well....Daepoong took Bokshil to the Korean Chinese restaurant where their old pediatric clinic used to be. It turns out that Daepoong used to go to eat jajaangmyun (which he doesn't like) whenever he wanted to see Bokshil. Then, with his lips stained with jajaangmyun sauce, he tells Bokshil that he really loves her. He says, "I have something for you, I bought this and meant to follow you to the U.S." It's a diamond ring. Bokshil is so surprised that she takes her hand out of his and runs out the restaurant. Daepoong quickly follows, and Bokshil cries with her head on his shoulder saying: "You are too much, you are too much."

Of course Bokshil agrees to marry him.

Next is a very cute tableaux of Eunji and Sunpoong shopping for baby clothes. While looking at strollers, Sunpoong's cell phone goes off: his mother in law asks why he hasn't shown up at the park as they agreed? When she finds out he's shopping with Eunji for baby clothes, she tells him it's okay, that he should remember to buy delicious food for Eunji too. Then, she gets off the phone, looking all desolate as the wind blows around her. Suddenly, a bluesy song begins (I love the use of genre music in this drama) and her husband appears in a trench coat. He says: "If you are alone, may I join you?" Then, "How can a grandmother have such a good looking backside."

Back at the Song household, the mother has Soojin and Jinpoong come into her room for a talk. She's decided that the only thing to do is have Soojin and Jinpoong live at Brutus' house so that Soojin can help with the children. Soojin says that she can't do that. But the mother says that nowadays, parents live far from their children, so how bad can it be given that it's only next door. She says that as long as Jinpoong and Soojin come every evening to say hello to everyone and eat twice a week at the household, she can let them go. She tells Soojin that as long as Soojin thinks of her mother-in-law sincerely and with warmth and helps her when she needs it, she can let them live outside the family. Soojin starts crying and the mother tells Jinpoong to go out with Soojin so that the whole family doesn't think that she made Soojin cry. When Soojin and Jinpoong leave, the mother cries too.

Yongcheol and Minpoong have finally found Soohee. Soohee has been managing to get by by popping little eyes onto stuffed animals. Minpoong and Yongcheol sit down to help Soohee put more little eyes onto more stuffed animals. While they are all doing this, Hana starts crying and all of them cry with her (lots of crying in this episode....so far, Bokshil, Eunji, Soojin, the Song mother, Yongcheol, Minpoong, Soohee and Hana have all had a go).

Next scene opens with Miran stepping off a bus. Grandfather is waiting for her as she's broken her curfew. But Miran explains that she was out late drinking with a production crew because she finally got a part in a musical. Then, we are shown Miran holding to Grandfather's back while the grandfather is furiously pedaling a bicycle. Grandfather asks what musical it is. Miran answers Beauty and the Beast and the grandfather answers that she must be the beast because she can't be the beauty. But it turns out that she's the mother teapot. At this point, Grandfather is all tuckered out, so they change positions, with Miran pedaling and grandfather holding to her back. Grandfather apologizes for setting Miran up on a date with Brutus. Miran says it's okay as long as grandfather is aware of what he did wrong. Then she tells grandfather that she's stilling going to have soju with Brutus to be "neighborly."


Daepoong and the Song parents go to meet Bokshil, her father, and her half-sister for the official meeting of the parents. Of course, the Song father is shocked when he sees the Director. During the meal, the Song father makes loud noises with his fork and knife (they are eating steak) and rude in general. Finally, he asks the Director why he came to his oldest son's pharmacy. Did he intend to spy on the Song family? The Director says that he was curious about the neighborhood and family that Bokshil lived with for so long. Then, the Song father asks: "Well, and what did you think?" At this point, the mother and Daepoong are both trying to get him to stop, but the father replies: "Be quiet the both of you. The Director is still talking and what he says next can decide whether there will be a marriage or not" to which Daepoong looks pretty glum. The Director continues: "It wasn't the cleanest or nicest neighborhood, but there was a warmth and a human scent. And I thought that maybe this is what I couldn't provide for my daughter so I want to thank deeply the people who were able to provide that for her."

This answer completely wins over the Song mother who is very taken with the Director. However, the father is still upset with the Director. Daepoong and the father go to the restroom. Daepoong is about to leave the restroom and opens the door to hear his mother tell the Director that his voice is so wonderful he should be a radio announcer, at which point the Song father is so incensed that Daepoong has to forcibly restrain him.

The next scene is so cute. All the brothers come out to the courtyard of the Song household with their wives to watch Daepoong go off for his wedding photos. You have to see the great wedding photo shoot which includes various role playing scenes of Daepoong getting scolded, of having to be nice to Bokshil and serve her. At the end of the shoot, there's a voiceover with Bokshil's voice saying that they were married and lived happily ever after.

"How did they live?" she continues. We are shown Eunji at the hospital giving birth to a child. Soojin and Jinpoong already have a child and are about to have a second child. Mipoong didn't succeed at his college exams that year, but did the next and then went to the army. There, Soohee and Yongcheol visit Mipoong with Mipoong's "girlfriend" Hana. Bokshil's hair is back to being permed badly after she lost a game of GoStop to Daepoong. As for the Director and the Song father, they've made up so much that they go out drinking together and do love shots. Miran and Brutus are just "friends" but there's still the potential for romance with Miran asking Brutus what he would do if he found her irresistibly attractive.

The last scene is of the Neighborhood meeting with Daepoong and Sunpoong arguging while Jinpoong intervenes. The three wives are peeling and cutting fruit with their mother in law, and they ask her what it's like to raise son. She says I will only say one thing: sometimes you really want to meet them up.

It's really sweet at the end because Sunpoong and Jinpoong stay over at the end of the meeting with their wives. The Song mother sits outside by herself telling herself that she did a good job after all.

This last episode really reminded me of all the things I loved about this drama: the little touches, the funny moments, the sweet moments, and the strain of humanity through it all. I am sad the drama is over. If anyone has a good recommendation for a drama just as good, please leave me a comment.

Sons of Sol Pharmacy, Episode 53

Only two episodes left...and the writers fool us! Episode 52 closed with Daepoong kissing Bokshil, and I was sure this meant that Episode 53 would be a wedding episode. No, instead Episode 53 starts with Daepoong leaving the Director's house, tripping and falling as soon as he leaves the gate to go to Jaejudo where he has to give the Director's talk (since the Director is in the hospital with his heart condition).

Daepoong calls his father from the airport to apologize, to say that it didn't work out. His father says he's pretty much a loser. Daepoong replies that he and Bokshil were able to tell each other they loved each other but that Bokshil will be leaving on the 3 o'clock flight to the U.S.

Next scene is back in the Song household where the mother and Soojin are washing dishes with Soojin eyeing the mother. Finally, the mother says, "Why do you keep looking at me?" Soojin says she isn't.

The mother replies: I know you want to go to your brother's to take your niece and nephew to kindergarten. You should live your life the way you want to and not worry about me. Otherwise, everyone will think I am a bad mother-in-law.

In the midst of this, Jinpoong comes in the kitchen and asks if there's a problem. Soojin says no, but the mother replies, Yes, yes there is a problem. And then she says that she's scolding Soojin and is Jinpoong going to get in the middle of it. Jinpoong says no, but can't she scold Soojin gently gently gently...and the mother says "Gently! Do you want a scolding too?"

Soo Jin and Jinpoong go off to Brutus' house where Brutus is suffering from a flu.

In the meantime, back at the Song household, the father finally tells the mother that he had sent Daepoong to "hold onto" Bokshil but Daepoong has failed at that too (it's quite funny because the father says to the mother "Why else do you think I sent my cute son away?") The mother replies that it's not a matter of "holding on" but of fate. And then she tells the father her exchange with Soojin and how much stress she feels because of Soojin and her brother, that when she sees Brutus he's so shabby and pitiful as a widower.

At the airport, Bokshil shows up to meet Hyunwoo, but without her luggage...with this enticing bit we are moved quickly to the next scene at the hospital where the Director has gotten through his heart surgery successfully.

Mipoong meets Yongcheol at the bus station; Yongcheol has taken a furlough upon getting a call from Mipoong that Soohee left with Hana. Yongcheol looks for Soohee at all the places Mipoong has already looked, and realizing it's futile, they end up at a pochangmacha and drink soju. Yongcheol regretfully says that he should never have burdened Mipoong with Soohee and Hana and then....His voice dies down and Mipoong yells, and what, and then what! Mipoong tells Yongcheol that he's not even as mature as Hana, to think that he and Soohee would use the situation to date. He asks Yongcheol if he even knows what it is to be a dad, to put Soohee and Hana in a house with strangers where they aren't comfortable and then accuse Soohee of such wrongdoing that she was forced to leave. Yongcheol apologizes and tries to call Soohee.

Brutus' flu is quite bad so Soojin and Jinpoong plan to spend the night taking care of Brutus and the children. Soojin calls the Song household to let the mother know, and even the mother says it's okay, she snaps at her husband.

Bokshil returns to the hospital and the Director wakes up when Bokshil caresses his face. He asks what woman would be touching the face of an old man? Bokshil replies, It's me. Bokshil tells her father that she didn't fly to America because he told her that she should cherish the things that are important to her. He tells Bokshil that she's a better person than him. Then, he says, "This weekend, should we eat the Bolognese pasta you like so much?"

There's a brief glimpse of Daepoong on the back of a truck, riding with a glum look on his face. Then we see the Song father walking in the neigborhood with a soliloquoy on autumn, on Bokshil flying off into the autumn sky and Daepoong taking a cross-country trip across the countryside to mend his broken heart. The father goes on further to say how the mother says it was okay for Soojin and Jinpoong to say at Brutus but she's upset and how life is hard and tiring.

At the Sol Pharmacy, the Director walks in and asks about the pediatric clinic. Jinpoong says, "Well, yes there was one, but my brother ran into the ground...anyways, it doesn't exist anymore and he works for a large hospital." At this point, Jinpoong's father enters the pharmacy because of a problem with his eye. As soon as he sees the Director, the music switches to a Western duel sort of theme. Jinpoong's father asks the Director why he's loitering at the pharmacy. The Director replies that he's having his drink. Jinpoong's father mutters "Unlucky fellow." Jinpoong returns with the medicine for his father's eye at which point his father farts, right in the Director's direction. Then the father murmurs to himself "He really is an unlucky fellow. I had bean paste soup for lunch."

Chased out by the smell, the Director leaves the shop and is walking back to his car when he runs into Eunji's father. It turns out that the two of them went to college together, that the Director is a past alumni association president while Eunji's father is the current alumni association president. Eunji's father invites the Director for drinks and grilled meat at a neigborhood place, and saying there's a friend he would like the Director to meet: the Song father, of course! After a few drinks, the Director asks his chauffeur to bring a special drink, the best whiskey from France: Marie Antoinette.

All this makes the Song father even more suspicious. Walking back with Eunji's father, he says he even dislikes the Director's "bathhouse" voice (it is a very pronounced baritone). The Director, in the meantime, is laughing in his car. He asks his chauffeur what he thinks of Daepoong. When the chauffeur says he thinks Daepoong is a nice young man, the Director laughingly says that Daepoong takes after his father.

At Eunji's house, a piercing scream interrupts Sunpoong and his mother-in-law painting away happily: Eunji is pregnant and very very upset!

The Song grandfather convinces Brutus and Miran to meet him at a restaurant, unbeknownst to each other in an attempt to set them up. Eyeing each other, the two have simultaneous thoughts through their respective minds: "Can it be?" "No" "Oh no" "Oh my god, Jesus Christ!"

Returning home, Miran cries to her aunt that the grandfather set her up with a widower. Brutus returns home to find Soojin and Jinpoong helping the children with their homework and is too abashed to say anything to them. However, when Soojin returns to the Song household she sees Miran in the kitchen who blurts out everything about being set up on a blind date with Soojin's brother who is a widower and has two children. Soojin goes to cry in her room.

The mother asks her husband and the grandfather if they should let Soojin and Jinpoong live with Brutus. She tells her husband and the grandfather that she feels confused and conflicted, that she feels badly for Soojin and for Brutus.

While stepping out into the courtyard after this conversation, the door opens: it's Bokshil.

Next frame, we are shown Daepoong returning home after his long cross-country trip to forget Bokshil. Except that Bokshil has taken up residence in his home. Great mirroring of plot!

My Too Perfect Sons, Episode 50

My Too Perfect Sons (The Sons of Sol Pharmacy) is slated to end with episode 54. Really, I am having a hard time understanding how the writers will tie up all the loose ends in four more episodes.

Episode 50 leaves us with these storylines:

Miran, on her way to yet another musical audition, has another glowering run-in with Bruce. Most of these confrontations include a couple of fat jokes made at each other's expense, with Bruce feeling intimidated by the formidable Miran. Surely, the beginnings of an auspicious romance.

Songpoong and his mother-in-law go off to a museum without telling Eunji or the father-in-law. There's even a line of dialogue when Songpoong says to the mother-in-law that they are on a date. Hmmm...how will the neglected Eunji take this? Will she feel forced to mature or will she sulk?

Mipoong, playing hooky from college cram school, goes to the army base to talk with Yong Chul who tells him that Soohee likes Mipoong and that he intends to give up on Soohee.

Bokshil is surprised by her father, half-sister, and Daepoong who join her at her mother's graveside for her final goodbye before leaving for America. On their way to the cemetery, Bokshil learns that her half-sister's mother was also ill for a long time, with the father rarely being at home. At the cemetery, Bokshil's father pulls out a photograph of Bokshil's mother when she was 25. When Bokshil asks her father for the photograph, he tells her that he cannot let her ever go back to America, that he plans on spending the rest of his life with her by him. This episode reveals more depth of feeling on Bokshil's father's part, with him even admitting how he is the cause of problems for both Bokshil and her half-sister. On the way back from the graveside to the car, Daepoong takes Bokshil's hand on the pretext that the path is rocky.

Soo Jin, out to prove herself as a perfect daughter-in-law, gets up early in the morning to cook breakfast for the Song family. However, she doesn't even get to enjoy her breakfast as she rushes out the door to check up on her niece and nephew before going to work. Poor Soo Jin...is she just adding on more responsibilities to an already large burden now that she is the Song family's oldest daughter-in-law? There is a great scene where Soo Jin and Jinpoong decide to say goodnight formally to their elders before going off to sleep. Unbeknownst to them, the father is only in his underwear as he's trying to convince the mother that they should make love. When Soo Jin and Jinpoong knock on their door, the father hastily dresses into a white shirt and tie!

One of the things that makes My Too Perfect Sons a fantastically funny drama are the actors playing the mother (Yoon Mi Ra) and father (Baek Il Sub). The mother is brisk, sarcastic, energetic, and prone to a little bit of hitting when the sons are behaving badly. The father is laid back, a lover of Korean dramas, and the opposite of his wife. Whenever things are going badly or his wife is upset, he says "Okhee [elongating his wife's name's last syllable], it will be okay."



In episode 50, a new theme rises where the family begins to insinuate that Soo Jin is going overboard on daughter-in-law perfection because of the mother's harshness!

My Too Perfect Sons often include scenes with food. In this episode, Soo Jin cooks kalbi jim.

My Too Perfect Sons and Rabokki

My Too Perfect Sons (Sons of Sol Pharmacy), Episode 49, came out over the weekend. A brief recap is as follows:

The second son, Daepoong, moves into Bokshil's house at the invitation of her father, the hospital director.
The first son, Jipoong, is now happily married. The one difficult spot is with Soo Jin's niece, Mari, who is struggling to understand that her aunt will no longer live with her.
The third son, Sunpoong, has made up with his wife in the epic war of the sexes in his in-law's houseehold and is now trying to make his father-in-law reconcile with his mother-in-law.
The fourth son, Mipoong, is about to go eat dokkbukki with Soohee, Hana's mother, when his friend and Hana's father, Yong Chul shows up. Watching Jipoong and Soohee interact, Yong Chul realizes that the two are developing a romantic relationship. Yong Chul picks a fight with Soohee.
A sideline that's also developing is increased pressure on Miran, the mother's niece, to marry. The obvious foreshadowing is a relationship between Miran and Soo Jin's brother, Bruce (whom the Song family keep calling Brutus).

I have been waiting with eager anticipation for the Daepoong and Bokshil relationship to be resolved:



However, I felt that the Sungpoong scene stole the show. Sunpoong, when he cannot convince his father-in-law to sleep in the same bed with his mother-in-law, checks up on his mother-in-law who is reading a poetry book. It turns out that the two have a favorite poet in common. So while the father-in-law and Sunpoong's wife, Eunji, fall asleep, Sunpoong reads poetry out loud with his mother-in-law. It's an unexpected and delightfully comic scene.

At the end of episode 49, I was intrigued when Daepoong makes Rabokki. I've never had it before, and it's something that I would love to make. I looked over a couple of recipes and found one that looks like the one Daepoong makes with boiled eggs. This is another recipe, without boiled eggs, but that clarifies most of the ingredients as it is written out along with visuals.

Currently Watching, with recommendations

Sons of Sol Pharmacy, My Too Perfect Sons
A hilariously funny family comedy centered on a family with four unmarried sons, with the oldest being 40 (by Korean age) and the youngest being a high schooler who failed his college examinations. Perfectly cast and great fun.

Queen Seon Dok
A historical saga about the first female ruler of the Shilla empire (one of three kingdoms that unified to make the current Korea). Fast paced with good war action and lots of political intrigue. If you want an intense historical drama, this is it.

The Return of Iljimae
Another historical drama. Based on a famous Korean graphic novel, Iljimae is about a young man who has learned martial arts in Korea, China and Japan and uses his skills to steal from the corrupt rich in Korea to give to the poor. Although there's action in each episode, this is radically different from Queen Seon Dok as there is no political intrigue. Additionally, while there is a storyline about Iljimae's life continues throughout the series, this series has more of an episodic feel. Lighter fare that's pleasant.

I Love You, Don't Cry
I tried to keep with this...but I couldn't. Oh, the drama...talk about overboard and forced plotline. A waste of time.

I will elaborate further on all four in future postings.