Dong-baek wasn’t the most forthcoming when she said that she only saw Gabuli’s back. That makes it seem as if she just kind of saw him running up the street and only later on figured out that he was Gabuli. Or, at least, that is what I thought. Home girl was in the room when the murder of her friend took place, heard him breathing, and was almost the next victim if those sprinklers didn’t go off. Talk about traumatizing!
The biggest mystery to me right now is – who is setting off those sprinklers? It does not look like the killer knows who it is, right? So it must be someone who knows what Gabuli is up to and yet does not want to turn them into the police? Could it be Ja-young?
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Caution: Be wary of typos
Shorthand Character Chart: Coming soon!
How we do this: We update the post around every 10 minutes. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on the scene. There will be typos which we have fantasies of fixing once the episode finishes airing. Also, there might be lovely updates at the bottom, so check back in!
Recap Countdown: Recap starts now….check Twitter for updates!
KOREAN DRAMA WHEN THE CAMELLIA BLOOMS EPISODE 6 (or 11&12) RECAP
——-dramamilk.com——-
#1
Yong-sik runs after this mysterious person who drops drinks in recycling. Its a chase through the alleys!
He finally catches up to them and graps their arm as he breathes hard and stares at them.
News – The last victim was a man in his 30s with a good physique who was attacked on his way home.
Dong-baek turns off the news and sits to eat with Pilgoo, she tells him not to go to Deok-soon’s place and eat a free meal anymore. He asks, so she is not on our sie anymore? She smiles and says that it is always you and me.
TITLE: AUGUST 29, 1986 – BORN TO BE A HIPPO
On the way to school, Deok-soon waits outside as if she is waiting to see Pilgoo and Dong-baek. The two come walking up and have an awkward conversation about going to school. Pilgoo asks if he can still say hi to her?
On a rocky waterfront, someone texts Hyang-mi. The text says that no one runs away from me with my money! the text also had a lot of cursing in it. Hyang-mi sighs and thinks that she has to save a lot of money to go to Coepnhagen.
On the beach, Kyu-tae really wants to take a picture with the mayor and makes a big deal about it. So the mayor lets him take a photo with him. Though it looks like everyone there is annoyed.
Hyang-mi runs up the beach yelling OPPA-A-A-A-A-A-A-. She keeps yelling Oppa and runs all the way up to him. She also calls him honey and says it is nice to see him out. So the mayor thinks this must be his wife. Kyu-tae is caught in the middle of this awkward moment.
DEOK-SOON’S PLACE
Dong-baek prepared a lot of things for Deok-soon so this makes Deok-soon think that Dong-baek is not going to see her anymore.
POLICE STATION
Meanwhile, Yong-sik sleeps on the couch at the precinct. The other three cops wake him up to find out why he is sleeping at their place. Yong-sik tells them that he arrested someone last night who is sleeping in their rest area right now. But he does not know who it is.
The Captain is all like, whaAat! You should not arrest someone when you are drunk! That is kidapping! Yong-sik says it is not kidapping.
Then the door opens and the woman comes out. The Captian wonder who she is. Then we finally get a good image of this woman. (It’s the owner ajumma from Strangers From Hell!).
Flashback to when Yong-sik caught her, she smiled and dropped her bracelet.
The woman just stands quietly so Yong-sik says that she has not said anything since she has been here and she has this bracelet. They think this woman might have demential because the bracelet has a number on it.
Yong-sik wanted to get her fingerprint, but she does not have any. They are all worn away. Then we see that the phone number on her bracelet is the Camellia phone number.
#2
CAMELLIA BAR
Meanwhile, deoksoon and Dong-baek continue to talk. Dong-baek says that she knows what Deoksoon wants to say. Nothing you worry about will happen, so don’t worry. She tells her to find someone better than Yong-sik. She doesn’t want to change Dong-baeks luck and she knows it is not easy because she knows how she lives. She feels bad about it.
Dong-baek tells her that she wished she had a mother like her. Then the phone rings. It is the Captain.
VO – that name I forgot, I heard it after 27 years.
27 YEARS AGO
Dong-baek saw her mother as a kid. Her mother gave her a lot of energy drinks.
VO – Why didn’t she abadon me earlier. Seven years old is to late to abandon.
Her mother tells her that she needs to tell people that her name is Dong-baek. Dong-baek thinks that 7 is old enough to remember her name and smell and what she looked like when they separated. But don’t say that you know your mothers name.
VO – that was too harsh a thing to ask of a 7 year old.
Dong-baek goes to the police station and tells them that she does not know that woman.
VO – I wanted to abandon her just once. Umma is smiling.
Dong-baek takes a deep breath and walks away. Her umma smiles and relieves herself all on the floor. Yong-sik runs up to cover her.
Then Yong-sik and Dong-baek sit to talk. Dong-baek says she does not know what year she was born and says her mothers name. It is Jong-suk (?). Yong-sik says that he will find the guardian. Dong-baek does not think that she would be able to come there by herself. Yong-sik wants to tell her something. But Dong-baek just stands and tells her mother to stop drinking that energy drink. her mother grabs another one.
BEACH
On the beach, Hyang-mi and Kyu-tae talk on the rocks. He tells her to just go home. She tells him to take her to a motel. He almost trips.
They go to a motel (oh good Lord). Hyang-mi says it is so difficult to pretend that she is going home after she leaves Dong-baeks for work. Then she asks Kyu-tae if he can pay for her to stay there. She is doing this for him, not for his back. So he pays for two more days for her to stay there. She asks if he wants to eat ramen with her? He tells her that he does not want to die eating ramen. He storms off. Hyang-mi looks at the CCTV.
POLICE STATION
Dong-baek talks to her mother about how she can gain weight, how can a woman that abandoned their own daughter be so chubby? If you had a lot of wrinkles then I would give you a break. But you make me so humiliated. The mother keeps eating.
DB – Umma, because of you, I had a super hard life. At school, kids ostracized me and people told me I grew up without parents and they all hated me. Because of you, I lived my life as an unlucky woman.
She keeps talking about having Pilgoo and how, after having a kid, she really could not forgive her.
#3
She tells her that she is not a human being and says that she can go anywhere. Don’t call me, even if you die. Dong-baek gets up to leave. Her mother tells her, you are pretty. Like a woman in love. Your face is pink. Dong-baek walks away.
CAMELLIA BAR
Hyang-mi tells Yong-sik that Dong-baek came home alone. She doesn’t say anything about it and just continues to work. Yong-sik smells something burning. They both run to the back where some clothing is burning, perhaps she was boiling some clothes and all the water boiled away.
Dong-baek is standing there as if she does not notice anything and then tells him that she took her revenge. She abandoned her mother today.
Cut to the mother still sitting at the bus station. Two workers come up and think that they need to call the police because this woman is not talking. They try to get her to talk, but she doesn’t.
Then we see Dong-baek come back to get her, right at that moment. She tells her mother to say something! Cut to the two of them walking back together.
VO – Dong-baek who always has rumors, has another rumor to add.
Meanwhile, Ja-young works out at home and reads an article about a murder of a woman who had an affair and the body was never found. Her husbands phone starts to go off so she slowly walks to it. But then her husband ru-u-u-uns and grabs the phone from the shower. It was Hyang-mi via text message with OPPA, OPPA, OPPA.
Then she sends a photo of them at the motel together that was taken from the CCTV. He tries to hide it. Ja-young asks him if another friends wife died? He kind of gets away back to the bathroom. Ja-young wonders if she should kill them all?
In his car, Kyu-tae waits for Hyang-mi and imagines that she is hit by a truck. But she isn’t, so they go to the rocky beach to talk again. Hyang-mi says that her dream is to go to Copenhagen. She needs $100,000. He asks why she is talking about that to him? Are you threatening me? She says that she has a brain, she knows that he cannot give her that much money, what would he say to his wife.
But he says that he likes to take photos and donate money, so why don’t you do that? You know, I am a poor woman without parents.
CAMELLIA BAR
Yong-sik and the Captain stand outside the Camellia bar, Yongsik explains that she did not pick up the phone and did not call.
Dong-baek is at home with Pilgoo and her long lost mother. They are having a meal together. Dong-baek thinks that her mother is trapped in her 7 year old life. She asks her mother why she is giving Pilgoo side dishes when she did not give them to her. Why are you pretending?
#4
While walking to school, Pilgoo finds out from his friend that his father saw that the shutters were down, but the light was on. Maybe it was Hyang-mi noona. Maybe you should check.
Then Yong-sik comes running up behind him and lifts him up like an appa lifts up a kid high in the air. Pilgoo loves it. His friend asks him if he can do it to him? Pilgoo tells his friend to ask his own appa to do it and then asks Yong-sik if he can do it again??? He is so excited.
At home, Dong-baek watches her mother cleaning and straightening up. She relized how she made a living before, as a maid or house servant, because her mother keeps calling her boss and asking if she can go home. Dong-baek tells her to just go home. This continues as the mother asks for her salary and what she should clean next.
VO – Having a good life or bad life always makes me mad.
Meanwhile, it looks like JR is trying to buy the Camellia building. The woman says that it is not for sale, but it is up for rent. The Camellia is actually kicked out so she cannot open her business. JR is pretty shocked about this. he wants to call the renter to see if he can look around.
Cut to DOng-baek explaining that the owner listed the building, she will talk to them later. She rets her head on her pillow and then looks at her calendar that has one day blacked out.
DB – That day is coming, that is why everything is unlucky.
She turns and sees her mother scrounging around for something. She gives Dong-baek something and tells her to take it. It is almost as if it is money, but it does not look like money.
END PART ONE
#5
PART TWO
Ah, it is money! Umma tells Dong-baek to take all that money and buy a house with it. She gives her more money and tells her to buy a car. Dong-baek tells her that she does not want to be like her.
AJUMMAS
The two main ajummas talk about how you have to be careful with your son around Dong-baek. She was an orphan and a single mom and now she has a mother with demensia? Deok-soon tells them that Dong-baek is stronger than her luck, she has something, she will find a way.
Cut to Dong-baek telling her mother that she will not pay her mother even though she is her mother.
POLICE STATION
The Captain asks Yong-sik if he has ever seen the profiler movie? They had PhD’s! Do you think studying over this case will work? Go to the Camellia, it is open. Yong-sik stands up in excitement. Really!
CAMELLIA
At the Camellia bar, Dong-baek says that seeing her mother is a wake up to her life. She wants to make a lot of money now. She will not meet Yong-sik at all, that is all done. Hyang-mi asks why she is like this? Dong-baek says that she will not include Yong-sik into her dangerous life. She is an orphan and single mom and has a mother with dementia. So she will give him a break, he is too cute to be involved in her life.
Then Yong-sik shows up with a lot of bags and tells her that he was dying! I missed you so much! Dong-baek!
Dong-baek is all like, um, why is he like this? Cut to Yong-sik bringing a lot of senior clothing and diapers, just in case, you know, and slippers and lots of things. Dong-baek starts to say something so Yong-sik tells her that if she talks about nonsense, just peal the garlic.
Dong-baek tells him that she hates him now. He asks why, he is not doing anything. She says that it is embarrassing because he knows everything about her now. Even though she is dongbaek, she has her own pride. I am telling you that I don’t like you.
He tells her that it does not matter. Where you are at is on a landmine, so have to do this.
She walks him out and says that if she dates a man, she wants to have a fresh start. Someone who does not know anything about her poor and depressing past. So you are the most unqualified. He says he shouldn’t be the most unqualified. He says that when she sighs, his heart drops and if she sees JR on the TV, she will have to worry about him. So, she can’t be happy in front of him.
He kind of stifles a chuckle and says that she decided so he will leave. She tells him not to come back.
YS – Dong-baek, I am a timid guy. My heart is not stone. You can dump me this much today. Goodbye.
VO – The curse of day 29 kicked Yong-sik out of my life.
Yong-sik walks away.
#6
Later on, Dong-baek tells her mother that tomorrow is the 29th, it is her birthday. So aren’t you going to make me Miyukguk (sea weed soup). The day she dumped her off at the orphanage, became her birthday, so scary right?
Flashback to the orphanage. Dong-baek did not say anything except that she is 7 years old. So they made that day her birthday.
In the present, Dong-baek says that the birthday that people liked so much, became the worst day in her life. So umma, please remember what you did to me when your mind comes back. I am mad because you even forgot about that and are happy.
It seems as if the mother realizes this.
Mother – Baby, I can do at least one thing for you and leave.
DB – Okay, do whatever, I want to receive anything.
Elsewhere, Hyang-mi looks at sunglasses with Kyu-tae and tells him that if he gets divorced, the divorce moneyw ill be more than $100k. Your wife is a divorce lawyer you know? You should thank me that I am not greedy.
Kyutae is all lost and thinks this is bad luck. She says it is all his fault, someone like me is like the emperor without clothes. Good guys cannot see someone like me. I am like those clothes for that emperor. SO why did you do that? You have a precious thing at home.
He looks at her in disbelief and tells her that he is screwed. Cut to him at a psychologist. He looks horrible and says that he did not sleep for the last 3 days. The doctor says that he will give him medicine, but the side-effect is that you will become violent. So if you feel something strange, stop taking it.
Kyutae says that if he does not want the sound of bugs, then he should remove the tree right? I think I should remove the cause.
In the market, we see Hyang-mi shopping with Dong-baeks umma. Yong-sik walks up to them happily and finds out that today is Dong-baeks birthday. The mother says that this is her paper birthday. Her real birthday is sometime in the winter. The owner of the orphanage made her abandoned day her birthday, she looked like a nice person, but she was a b***h. Umma walks away.
#7
CAMELLIA
Kyu-tae talks to Dong-bae at her place and says that when he becomes mayor and appoints this street as crab restaurant street, then, um…
Dong-baek tells him that his wife told her. He is all like, huh? DB says yes, his wife told her to leave. She is meeting with Kyu-tae just in case he has another idea. Kyu-tae asks if she expected something from him?
He grows upset and says that if she was a little friendlier to him then this would not have happened. You and my wife look down on me so that is why I went to someone else! I will drink a soju! I don’t want any peanuts!
Cut to a Kyu-tae about 4 bottles into the night and very drunk. He says his wife is King-Se-jong and he does not get peanuts. that is why I am taking tranquilizer medicine. Dong-baek tells him that he is too drunk. He asks if she is listening to him? He grabs her wrist and we see that she is not wearing her regular bracelet.
He starts to talk about how if she gave him peanuts then he would not be like this! Do you think I am happy to kick you out? I pity you…I think you are the neighborhoods sister….I pity you….*drunk*
Dong-baek says that if he holds her arm like this then she will put a post in front of the door that says No Kyu-tae zone (which is also like No Kid Zone). He is all like, so no kids can come in? She says, no kids, no smoking, and No Kyu-tae.
Cut to her telling Kyu-tae that the american president failed hitting on his secretary. And now you want to be mayor? Cut to a reminder from the doctor that the tranquilizer can make him aggressive. Kyu tae starts to get verbally aggressive. Dong-baek stands up and is about to yell at him. But she stops. He tells her to continue!
She tells him to just leave. But he holds her wrist again and say just curse!
Yong-sik yells YooKaaaab! (Which is a curse word that Dong-baek did not say). He runs and kicks Kyu-tae in a jumping kic while yelling at him and then starts to punch him in the most child like fight ever. They are pulling hair and push kicking eat other and jump kicking each other and falling on the ground and hitting each other with pots, it is all over the place.
Soon after, we see Yong-sik sitting one one side of the room and Kyu-tae all bloody on the ground on the other. Yong-sik yells at him for touching DOng-baek. Kyu-tae spits out a tooth and says that his implant came out. Then he holds it up to the polcie man and says that he took out his implant! The future mayors implant! Your going to get it!
Yong-sik yells probably the biggest insult to Kyu-tae as he says, I AM NOT GOING TO VOTE FOR YOU! Dong-baek sighs.
The police come to break this up. All the street people watch. The two ajummas put two and two together and realize that an unmarried man and a married man fought over Dong-baek, wow, she is like out beauty pageant winner.
#8
Dong-baek goes back inside her place and starts cleaning it up with her mother and Hyang-mi. Hyang-mi thinks that Dong-baek should help Yong-sik so he does not get fired. Kyu-tae’s wife is a lawyer, so Yong-sik should have someone on his side. Dong-baek does not want to go, she is sick and tired of rumors.
Meanwhile, Kyu-tae is yelling in the precinct as he tries to explain it all to his wife. Yong-sik stews on the couch. His captain tells him to say something, anything, did he touch Dong-baek? Was this provoked? Yong-sik thinks back to how much Dong-baek is tired of being in rumors. He tells the captain that nothing happened, dont’ involve DOngbaek.
The captain tells him that the other guy looks drugged. It looks like the wife thinks the same thing. then Deok-soo comes in. Yong-sik is super surprised momentarily.
Back at the camellia, Hyang-mi tells DOng-baek that Yong-sik is not saying anything, he was protecting you but he has become a violent police officer. Hyang-mi tells Dong-baek that it is a more serious crime if a police officer hits a civilian.
In the station, Kyu-tae keeps yelling a bunch. Deok-soon tells him that her son is not crazy, he does not just hit anyone. There was something, that is why he did a flying kick!
Yong-sik finally says that he just wanted to hit him! Deok-soon starts to hit her son and starts to pull him to the Captain.
At the Camellia, Dong-baek is starting to think that perhaps she should go to the precinct. Then she sees arrows on the ground that say “Dong-baek road” so she follows all the arrows which lead upstairs.
Yong-sik opens the doors to her rooftop and we see so many flower petals and candles everywhere. there are signs on the floor that say that this is for you, it is Dongbaeks road, go a little father, just one more step…one more step….closer….tada!
She gets to the final location and sees a happy birthday cake that looks more like a wedding cake that is surrounded by roses. He also put heart photos of himself up and wrote her a letter.
Letter – If you don’t love your birthday, then you can make every day your birthday. I will make every day of your life a birthday. You did a great job for 34 years of your life.
DB – Why is he doing this to me? I am nothing…
Her mother comes as well and looks at all the Camellia flowers every where She says tat her Dong-baek was born when the Camellia flowers were blossoming.
Dong-baek says that it is her mothers fault that she bowed her head everywhere. He is the one that raised her head and made her walk straight. He always says that she is great, he makes me feel like that kind of person. It makes me mad. I don’t want to suppress myself anymore!
She gets up and walks off on a mission.
Dong-baek walks though the Camellia building and grabs a black notebook. Hyang-mi is all like, what? Are you going? She says yes, close The Camellia today.
She takes off up the street.
Hyang mi tells Umma not to worry, Eunnie is born to be a hippo. When the hippo is angry, all are conquered. Those people that lookat that hippo as nice, are all stupid. The hippo doesn’t even bark, because they just hit and their business is done.
Dong-baek pushes the doors open to the precinct. Everyones heads turn to her.
#9
The Captain tells Dong-baek that it is good to see her there, she saw everything.
DB – no, I am not here as a stupid witness. I am here to sue.
Captain – Huh, sue?
Dongbaek opens her books
DB – 2016, Dec 13, he came to my store to check the water leak on the roof. He did not fix the roof. He touched my shoulder twice. On another day, he came to get the bill, but he touched my hand twice even though he does not have to touch me at all. On 2018 in May, when he was eating Tofu and kimchi, he said the tofu looked white like DOngbaeks skin, two and a half times. The third time he threw up while eating! This is sexual harrassment right? And last time, he did not pay $8 and left.
The captain asks if this book has everything? Wow, this can draw a lot of blood.
DB – Seual harrassment, drinking, violence, not paying and leaving. I am going to sue him with all of this.
Ja young – (I realized that she is not having an affair with my husband).
BD – Arrest him! Not Yong-sik
DS – (They will have a love relationship)
YS – Dong-baek, let me see all the men you have written there
DB – Why are you here? You did not do anything wrong!
he steps closer to her.
YS – Are you protecting me, Dong-baek *chocked up*
DB – Why do you make me worry about you! *choked up*
They acting is so funnya nd yet so heartfelt.
They both get all chocked up and looks at each other and try not to cry and pout their lips.
DB – Are you crying!
They both start to cry.
EPILOGUE
We cut to the scene at the harbor where the woman’s body was pulled out. A police officer gives the wallet of the victim to the Captain. We don’t see the image of the person, but we do see that this person was born December 24, 1986. The officer asks, so that is the person right?
Yong-sik says, no….not dead….
Fade Out
——-dramamilk.com——-
COMMENTS
Okay, the mother storyline pulled me out of the story. I did not like it at all as I felt like it was heavy handed in trying to pull tears. That was basically the majority of the episode so I tried to keep focused.
But I loved the ending, it pulled me right back into what I love about this show. So hopefully they won’t go too heavy into Dong-baeks backstory in future episodes. I get it, her life was and is hard, I don’t need it verbally repeated to me every 3 minutes, okay?
I do like that she has finally accepted Yong-sik. Even though he is the man that just cannot get a clue and leave a woman alone. At least he continues to give her appropriate compliments. The breaking and entering to decorate her business…I don’t’ know about that. if he can get in so easily, then Gabuli definitely can too.
The two birthday’s mentioned in this episode do not match, but they are probably both for Dong-baek. The birthday on the photo could be Dong-baek’s birthday because Camellia flowers blossom in the winter and Dong-baeks mother said that Dong-baek was born when the Camellia blossoms. However, the birthday that she always thought she had was August 29, 1986.
PREVIEW
KT – this is all a political attack. It will not scratch my future!
YS – Dong-baek will take care of No Kyu-tae and Yong-sik will catch gabuli
Ajumma – *they are talking about Gabuli*
Jessica – Do you have something in Ongsan? Behave yourself, do not touch my pride.
JR – I should not go there.
JR – You don’t read people, you can’t read people, that is why your life is…
DB – Why do you decide my life?
YS – Dong-baek!
JR – Are they dating?
YS – We…
DB – Lets have some
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THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE HIPPO DONG-BAEK!!!
Author
I love Hippo Dong-baek too! That scene saved the episode for me!