I was cautious before I started watching My Daughter, Geum Sa-wol because I can’t really tolerate weekend dramas, so I was ready with the possibility of having myself screaming at the screen. But then, I find the first week tolerable and entertaining. Although I am here for the young cast, the story of mommies and daddies is interesting, and I can’t wait to see how these people will make an impact in their children’s life later.

I don’t think this will be a proper recap…just a shabby review and a place for me to rant while mentally throwing stones at the computer screen, should anything annoying happens in the drama!

 

In less than three minutes, we witnessed Shin Deuk-ye, who was happily married to Kang Man-hoo, tried to save her mother in the fire which broke out at their house. Later, Deuk-ye struggled to give birth inside a store-room at the hospital as her mother-in-law searched for her frantically, while Man-hoo accompanied Ma-ri while his mistress was also in labour. Deuk-ye’s daughter and Ma-ri’s son were safely born on the same day, and those babies would grow up to be Geum Sa-wol and Kang Chan-bin.

(I bet Deuk-ye’s “Are you my daughter?” line will come into use again…later.)

 

Episode 1 officially begun with an architectural design competition between Oh Min-ho and Kang Man-hoo, but Min-ho came out as the winner. President Shin Ji-sang and his daughter Shin Deuk-ye went to congratulate both of them for advancing to the final round, but Man-hoo felt left out, because Min-ho would soon marry Deuk-ye. Looks like he’s got a crush on Deuk-ye….

 

Man-hoo himself had a complicated family: his mom So Guk-ja worked as a housekeeper at Deuk-ye’s house, and she’s always at odds with Madam Kim Hye-sun because of many things: her granddaughters’ habit of hiding the chocolate in the doghouse was just one of them. Guk-ja decided to send them to their mom Choi Ma-ri, who divorced Man-hoo because she wanted to live her life on the stage dancing and singing. Na-ri sent the kids back to their daddy and the kids seemed cool and used to such situation.

(No…money isn’t a talisman to make her go away…

…but it might work if you put more effort into it!)

 

Man-hoo was sooooo shady and a pair of father-son (who happened to spend the night at the construction site) came into the mix when Man-hoo was doing his shady job. The unfortunate Joo Ki-hwang and little Joo Se-hoon were dragged to the police station, but President Shin decided to trust Se-hoon that they were just spending the night there, not stealing anything. He even gave them a small space to live and a job so that the family won’t have to wander around anymore. Little Se-hoon promised that he would never steal anything in his life. Oh, kiddo..if only you knew what will happen later..

 

Madam Kim’s diamond ring went missing and Guk-ja was upset that Madam Kim implied she was the one stealing it. It turned out that the ring fell onto the floor and Man-hoo’s daughters, Dal-rae and Jjil-rae, took it with them. Jjil-rae swallowed the huge ring and ended up in hospital. Deuk-ye was grateful to find her mom’s ring and bought the cheeky kids some presents. Man-hoo probably wished that he could build a complete family with Deuk-ye..but she’s going to be Min-ho’s wife soon! Even President Shin was aware of his feelings but he’s not suitable for Deuk-ye.

 

President Shin handed over to Min-ho the top-secret blueprint of their mega-project because he only trusted his soon-to-be son-in-law, but the president was so terrible at keeping the secret from Man-hoo. Jealous Man-hoo figured out what they were discussing from the CCTV and came out with his own plan. He switched the container full of pine tree logs with another container, and little Se-hoon picked up something Man-hoo dropped: his shoe decoration. Plus, the smart boy saw the container number and recognized the man’s gold watch.

 

Deuk-ye and Min-ho’s wedding ceremony was to be held on the same day as the groundbreaking ceremony of the project, and President Shin found it suspicious that Man-hoo knew about the pine tree. The ceremony turned awry when it was revealed that there were no pine trees, and President Shin passed out. The angry investors trashed the company like gangsters and Man-hoo played hero there, protecting Deuk-ye. To make things worse, Min-ho was arrested because of a shady business he supposedly conducted behind everyone’s back. Man-hoo, you’re the shady one!!!!!

Little Se-hoon tried to inform the police about what he saw on that night, but his dad knew that nothing good would come out from interfering. Luckily, the kid was bright and went to President Shin’s house looking for him. When he found out the president was hospitalized, Se-hoon left a letter for him. Atta boy!

 

Deuk-ye’s quest for truth only took the turn for the worse (I bet Man-hoo paid everyone involved to shut their mouths!) and she got into an accident on her way back from the wood factory. Man-hoo played hero again, saving her from drowning with the car, and offered himself to go to the jail in Min-ho’s stead (YEAH, RIGHTTTT~I’m rolling my eyes so hard right now!). Deuk-ye seemed to believe him (NOOOOOOO) and Min-ho, after being released from the police, was kidnapped. It was all Man-hoo’s plan!!!

One year later, Deuk-ye had married Man-hoo and it was indeed the WORST. DECISION. EVER. He saw the news about Min-ho surrendering himself for the case and managed to hide it from Deuk-ye. Time had changed, and so were the people around Deuk-ye: President Shin’s hand was paralyzed; Madam Kim had dementia because of the shock; Man-hoo’s temper was even worse (as if he wasn’t bad enough >.<); Guk-ja’s playing madam now that Man-hoo took over the company; and the kids became even brattier.

Guk-ja seemed to have a good time avenging her hard time working under Madam Kim, because she’s dragging the poor lady along with her like her servant. Madam Kim mistook a dog as her dead dog from years ago and ran after it, while Guk-ja was so engrossed in her card game. Deuk-ye and President Shin had to search for Madam Kim everywhere, and Deuk-ye managed to find her at their old house, sleeping on the newspaper. She saw that news about Min-ho and went to meet him secretly at the penitentiary, but Man-hoo found out about it.

 

I’m actually worried for Dal-rae and Jjil-rae because their mom seemed like a bad influence to them. Ma-ri was fired from her job at the club and she made the decision to return to Man-hoo’s side, but the kids were reluctant to help her at first because they’re afraid to lose the comfort they had at the moment. They ended up being consoled by Ma-ri, but Man-hoo was mad that she used their children for her own agenda. Ma-ri threatened to commit suicide but Man-hoo was unfazed; to him, Deuk-ye was his only love. YEAH, RIGHTTTT~

Min-ho was released from the prison and he went to meet President Shin. Then, he went to Man-hoo, who had kidnapped him and threw him onto a remote island to make it as if he was running away, but Min-ho had another piece of evidence to prove his innocence: another CCTV camera at the scene. Man-hoo was agitated about the turn of event but he appeased President Shin’s heart by buying back the old house.

It was Guk-ja’s birthday and Deuk-ye was the one preparing the feast, but Madam Kim was hiding there eating the food, causing Guk-ja to start complaining again. Deuk-ye was upset that her mom kept causing problems and refused the flower ring Madam Kim wanted to give to her. President Shin brought his wife to their old house and she momentarily gained her memory, apologizing for troubling him and their daughter. Dang, this is so not going to end well for her, right? President Shin finally found the letter from Se-hoon (after ONE year) and confirmed with his own eyes that the shoe decoration was indeed Man-hoo’s.

 

Seeing that Madam Kim was asleep in the store room after looking at Deuk-ye’s childhood photos, President Shin decided to go out. Guk-ja was told to remind Deuk-ye to fetch Madam Kim at their old house, but the partying birthday lady was too drunk and conveyed the wrong message to Deuk-ye; instead of taking her mom home, Deuk-ye ended up locking the door of the store-room. Madam Kim woke up and lit up the candles she pocketed before because she was cold, and the blanket caught on fire. DAAAANNNNG. Deuk-ye was worried that her parents weren’t home yet and that was only when Guk-ja vaguely told her about it. GRRRRRR.

Meanwhile, Ma-ri made up her mind to bear a son just for Guk-ja to look up to her and for Man-hoo to come back to her side. She went through painful acupuncture sessions and taking medicine for that reason, but Man-hoo wasn’t going to fall for her plan. He had another pressing issue: President Shin retrieved his secret bank storage. Predicting that he might have taken the top secret blueprint out to be handed to Min-ho, Man-hoo wasted no time to intercept their meeting.

Of course, Man-hoo was the one who reached the meeting point first, and President Shin didn’t give up easily. They fought near the cliff and President Shin fell down during the struggle. Unknown to Man-hoo, the president left something in Ki-hwang’s care to be given to Deuk-ye, and Ki-hwang saw Min-ho, who reached the place shortly after that. The scared Man-hoo went to Ma-ri, and she suggested for them to go on a travel as his alibi. That’s a smart move that will benefit her!

 

Deuk-ye reached the house but the flame almost engulfed the whole room. She broke the lock but the fire was too big. The next thing she knew, she woke up at the hospital and Madam Kim passed away shortly afterwards. Poor lady, she found her mom clutching the flower ring and she immediately regretted her action for being upset at her mom earlier 😥 Deuk-ye tried calling her dad but there was no answer, and Min-ho, who was there bearing another sad news for her, couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth.

 

He brought her to the cliff where President Shin was found and Deuk-ye saw the whistle she gave to her dad. He left a note telling her not to leave Man-hoo’s house, because he wanted her to finish the project. Deuk-ye recognized the shoe deco, because it was her present to Man-hoo. Now that Deuk-ye’s aware of everything, I’m ready to see her sharpening her knife and waiting for the right time to exact the revenge. Bring. It. On.

***

 List of Characters:

Shin Deuk-ye (Jeon In-hwa)

Oh Min-ho (Park Sang-won)

Kang Man-hoo (Son Chang-min)

Choi Ma-ri (Kim Hee-jung)

Shin Ji-sang (Lee Jung-gil)

Kim Hye-sun (Oh Mi-yeon)

So Guk-ja (Park Won-sook)

Young Kang Dal-rae (Kwak Ji-hye)

Young Kang Jjil-rae (Kim So-eun)

Joo Ki-hwang (Ahn Nae-sang)

Young Joo Se-hoon (Go Woo-rim)