Her Private Life: Ep 1
Intro:
“All children are artists.” This episode starts with a flashback of our main character exhibiting her love of art. Our main female lead is DukMi, played by Park Min Young…yes Ms. Secretary Kim. I am excited about this drama. I enjoyed her it’s What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. I wonder if this character will be a bit different. She seems to be playing that headstrong, taking care of business character again. DukMi set up a whole art exhibition in one day. Her boss took all of her credit, though…Director Eom is played by Kim Sun Young. I know her from CLOY (Crash Landing on You).
After working hard on the exhibition, DukMi seems to be rushing off somewhere. Oop. DukMi has a double life! She’s a stan! As an Army myself, I love this. DukMi seems to be a big fan of a boy group named White Ocean, and her bias is Si-AN. SiAn is played by One, who is actually a YG Artist. I’m going to go ahead and say if you aren’t into Kpop or fangirling, this might be lame to you. DukMi works super hard all day, then lays on her couch watching videos of her bias at night…same.
So we meet Director Ryan, and he is very…straightforward? Director Ryan is, I guess, the art guru. If he looks at a painting for 1 second, it’s bad. 2seconds, it’s not bad. 3 seconds, it’s good. He has only looked at a painting for 5 seconds once. Oh, and if he smiles at a painting…your art career is over. It seems like our Director Ryan may have a problem though. People keep asking when he will paint again then we see him in a therapist’s office. Director Ryan is suffering from Stendhal Syndrome. That’s when someone looks at art, their heart starts beating fast, and they go into a psychosomatic state…you learn something new every day. It seems that Ryan saw a painting three years ago, and his body went into shutdown, and now he can’t even hold a paintbrush…The counselor in me is so ready to unpack that. His counselor is tired of him, hahaha. He told him to stop coming to him, but Ryan says he won’t let him be an incompetent doctor. Their relationship seems funny. Oo, so Director Ryan is looking for a painting and our Kpop star, SiAn, has a copy of the painting. That painting, or the artist, is what caused his Stendhal Syndrome. We are now on a mission.
We are back at the museum and DukMi talks with the crazy Director Eom. Director Eom tells her to stop trying to find rookie artists and find someone who is more established. She has to find this person at an art auction.
20 minutes in:
Here we meet DukMi’s mom. Her mom is 100% against her being a fangirl. She said if she catches her fangirling, she will shave DukMi’s hair off. DukMi’s mom (no clue what her name is) blames her fangirling for not being a successful artist. Apparently, DukMi broke her arm while fangirling at an event, and the parents had to spend the money on her health and couldn’t send her to art school abroad. However, DukMi (I think we got a strong female lead guys!) tells her mom that it’s basically their fault she’s a fangirl because they have obsessive tendencies as well. Mom is constantly knitting, and the dad has a thing with rocks…yeah, I don’t know. DukMi’s mom tried to send her home with side dishes but packed some of his rocks in there. Since she can’t carry them, she calls her brother. This is where we meet EunGi. Now EunGi is played by Ahn Bo-Hyun. I know him as the crazy spoiled son who ripped off the chicken’s head and killed SeoJoon’s dad in Itaewon Class…but that’s just me,
DukMi lives at the very top of an apartment complex. EunGi says she moved out just to fangirl. Her apartment password is SiAn’s debut date…and her apartment is honestly a stan’s dream. There is merch everywhere! Anyways, EunGi sort of breaks SiAn’s head off a cardboard cutout because it scared him, hahaha. Anyways he leaves and…straightens her shoes…it was a weird moment. I’m not sure. Maybe that’s not her brother?
Lead Characters Meet:
So DukMi and Ryan are both at this art auction, sitting next to each other. DukMi is creepily staring at him because she thinks he looks like Si-An. Ryan definitely notices. It’s ridiculous. He tells her his face was made in 1987 and has a perfect ratio. He calls himself an art piece and asks if she wants it. Duk-Mi is immediately freaked out, but like that’s her fault.
We finally see the art piece. Here’s what we know so far. It’s cute. The artist is Lee Sol. Now DukMi wants the art piece because Si-An likes the artist and wants to gift it as a birthday gift (classic stan). And Ryan wants the art piece because it caused his Stendhal Syndrome. Well, now they are in a bidding war for the painting. Ryan wins in the end. She is not holding up well.
35 minutes in:
We have a situation back at the museum. Prosecutor’s office is there. If you’ve ever watched any Kdrama…you know it’s not good when the Prosecutor’s office shows up. Director Eom is arrested for embezzlement, and DukMi is brought in for questioning. DukMi is on the verge of tears, and Director Eom is just like..meh…
Duk-Mi is finally released, and we meet a friend who is just sitting on her couch. Her friend’s name is Seon-Ju, and she is played by Park Jin-Joo, who is just great. I like her character in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay as the new young assistant who was very boisterous. Seon-Ju tells DukMi she works too hard. Duk-Mi is drunk and starts crying about how the artwork she was hanging up was being used for a slush fund, not to touch people’s heart. Duk-Mi clearly loves art and the museum and is heartbroken about the recent scandal. SeonJu starts crying because DukMi is crying. It’s a mess.
The next scene is of them at the cafe SeonJu owns. Well, her dad owns. We find out that SeonJu is married with a kid. She says she’s only married because she got pregnant. DukMi is doing an interview at the cafe for another museum. She absolutely loves it. She goes to tell Director Eom that she is quitting after 5 years. Director Eom starts to butter her up and tells her the only reason the museum has survived is thanks to Duk-Mi. Director Eom tells DukMi that she is resigning and basically says Duk-Mi will be the new director. Personally, I don’t trust Director Eom. Neither does SeonJu, who tells DukMi to take the other job.
DukMi is in her fangirl stan gear. She’s about to go see SiAn. So…DukMi has a tiny blue book of Si-An’s schedule. I feel like this would make her a sasaeng but let’s ignore that for now. SeonJu tells DukMi to not cover her face up so much so Si-an can recognize her, but Duk-Mi says she doesn’t want to be remembered as an ordinary fan. She wants them to meet professionally and have their fates entwined…okay girl.
At the airport, we get more into the fanbase of White Ocean. We have another fangirl named Sindy. She is definitely sasaeng. She got on the same plane as White Ocean to take pictures…creepy. The other fans think so too. Ryan happens to be on this same plane and notices this happening but hides his face, so he’s not in any pictures. The other fangirls are basically dissing Sindy and saying she would be nobody without “The Road to Si-an,” another fansite page. I’m guessing our DukMi runs this page. DukMi is SET to take these pictures. She is surveying the area and noticing undercover bodyguards talking to each other. She discovers that where the fans are standing is not where White Ocean will depart the plane. With a little ladder, Duk-Mi sets up in a different location than the other fangirls. Her camera snaps dozens of pictures a second. Our Ryan gets in the way of some of them. When the other fans notice that Si-An is at the other location, Ryan is caught in the middle and basically stampeded. Ryan knocks DukMi off her ladder in this scuffle, and she rips his probably expensive jacket and lands on his back. Ryan asks for an apology and to see her face. DukMi runs off but leaves her little creepy Si-An notebook.
Of course, The Road to Si-An (TRTS) is operated by Duk-mi. She is an advanced editor. While going through her pictures from the airport, she remembers where she knows Ryan from and basically despises him.
We are back at the museum, and Duk-mi is talking with a coworker. I haven’t discussed her coworkers yet, so let’s do it. There are two other workers besides Duk-Mi. One is Kyung-A played by Seo Ye-Hwa. In Vincenzo, she played the shop owner who was once a weightlifter. The other worker is Yoo-Seob, played by Jung Won-Chang. I’m not familiar with his work…yet. Anyways, this scene is when Duk-mi finds out she’s not going to be the next director. The next director is a foreigner. Duk-mi visits Director Eom, who is apparently in the hospital now. Duk-Mi basically screams at her and tells her to explain herself. Director Eom, who looks completely fine, by the way, saw Duk-mi talking to the other director at the interview in the cafe…remember that? Yeah, she saw that. Eom said she was insulted someone would try to take her dog away from her, then Duk-mi points a gun at her…oh my. Oh wait, that was a daydream. Lol, love when kdramas do that. REALITY: Duk-mi is holding a fruit basket and asking Director Eom how she’s doing. Director Eom says her husband told her to hospitalize herself to gain some sympathy points…When Duk-mi asks her about the new director, Eom tells her not to worry about it and continue doing a good job like she’s been doing. Duk-mi reaches back out to the other museum, but the position has already been filled…dang.
1 hour in:
DukMi is sulky at the cafe talking to SeonJu. SeonJu tells her that when reality sucks, you must go fangirling…I felt that. SeonJu suggests they go on a pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is going to the places your idol has been and feeling the traces they left. Sounds crazy, but I get it, lol. They end up at a hotel to visit a suite Si-An has stayed at. In the lobby, we see Ryan is staying at the same hotel. When the girls ask for the suite, the front desk receptionist tells them that Ryan just checked into it…I feel like that’s against some privacy violation, right? Seon-Ju, our wonderful extrovert, goes after Ryan to beg for the key. Seon-Ju tells him that she needs the room because she likes someone she cannot easily see, and having that suite would make it better. Ryan simply does not care.
Down at the hotel bar, our girls are drinking martinis and sulking. Duk-mi because Director Eom betrayed her and Seon-ju because she couldn’t cheer Duk-mi up by getting the suite. We find out that Seon-Ju was also a big-time fangirl before she was married. She clearly misses those days and questions why she got married. The girls decide to watch White Ocean videos at the bar. (I’ve definitely done this). Ryan walks into the hotel bar and sees Seon-Ju laughing close to someone (our DukMi, but her back is towards him). Ryan has a flashback to their conversation and thinks Seon-Ju is gay and wants the suite to be with her partner. He starts to feel horrible for discriminating and automatically assuming the person she wanted to see that she loved was a man. This wonderful self-reflection leads to Ryan giving the key to Seon-Ju. The girls are basically running around every inch of this suite and retaking pictures in the same poses he took. My fangirl heart loves it.
The next day, while rocking a wonderful magenta suit, Duk-mi opens the museum. She notices a lightbulb flickering and finds a ladder to fix it…while wearing heels. Some random feet appear behind her and ask what she’s doing. When she looks…it’s freaking Ryan! Oh, and she falls off the ladder.
What a cute first episode!
Prediction: Duk-Mi is probably going to get fired somehow. I don’t know. I feel like Ryan might be annoyed by her, and she clearly doesn’t like him. Maybe she might quit?
