I’m not quite sure what to make of 49 Days episode 6. In fact, six-episodes in, I’m not quite sure what to make of the drama so far. I need to think about this a little bit. With that in mind, here’s the recap proper, and I’ll share my usual after-thoughts later tonight after I have some time to marinate the latest plot developments in that Koala-sized brain of mine.

My first impression after I finish every episode of this drama is really just a shrug and a “oh, okay” reaction. I keep waiting for big moments to pop, but there aren’t any aside from the crackling Ji Kyung-Min Ho confrontations. It’s just a series of meetings and discussions between the various permutations of the characters in this drama, with the exposition so stingy that even the discussions become rather listless. I want a game-changer, and I think we all deserve one.

Episode 6 Recap:

Min Ho grabs Ji Kyung’s arm just as In Jung walks up to the restaurant. He wonders why she’s not just saying weird things, she seems to have this fear coupled with some sort of knowledge of him. He thinks she’s using tactics to arouse his interest. Ji Kyung tells him that he appears to not be in a good mood, and tries to break free of his grasp.

Min Ho tells her to stop now, since she’s already caught his interest. He tells her to not stare at him with that look in her eyes. Kang comes out and sees them struggling in the courtyard, with Min Ho refusing to let go. In Jung breaks the impasse by addressing Min Ho, and Ji Kyung finally breaks free of his grasp. She apologizes for her transgression and walks away.

Kang watches Ji Kyung take out the trash, while Ji Kyung is angry that In Jung would dare show up at the restaurant at the same time as Min Ho. She then remembers Scheduler warning her not to even think about revealing her true identity as the soul of Shin Ji Hyun. She vows to be more careful.

Kang declines to design the project for Min Ho, explaining that he’s tired and doesn’t want to do something he’s no longer interested in. He walks away and runs into Yi Kyung coming back to the restaurant. He asks her to go talk with him. In Jung asks Min Ho what just happened with the waitress that caused Min Ho to be so angry and upset?

Min Ho pretends that everything is just fine, but In Jung can tell that he’s not being truthful. Kang takes Ji Kyung to task for behaving poorly towards Min Ho. She tries to defend herself, saying that Kang has warned her not to be warm towards him. Kang corrects her, saying he asked her not to get too close to Min Ho, but that doesn’t mean she got the opposite direction and behave badly towards him.

Ji Kyung realizes that the first time she saw Min Ho as Yi Kyung, she was very nice to him because she didn’t know the whole truth. Kang again warns her that Min Ho is the fiancée of Kang’s friend, so she needs to keep her distance from him.

Min Ho wonders why In Jung is here, and she confesses that she can’t help herself, she wants to see him. He warns her to watch what she is saying, and gets up to leave. Kang returns with the design portfolio. In Jung pretends to not be well and asks Min Ho to take her home. Min Ho reminds Kang that the design project can only be done by him. Min Ho walks past Ji Kyung on his way out, and she politely bids him farewell.

In the car, In Jung asks Min Ho if he’s feeling guilty, since it’s not a big deal that she ride in his car. Min Ho explains to In Jung how he resolved the situation with the land sale. This means they have to wait a couple more months before their plan comes to fruition, and In Jung isn’t happy about it. Even though she’s waited two years already, it’s been hard since she’s had to sneak around in cars and hotel rooms just to be with Min Ho.

Min Ho reminds her that they have the rest of their lives to be together. Min Ho tells In Jung to quit her job at the company after the land deal project is completed, and he will handle the rest like they had initially planned. In Jung reaches for his hand just as Min Ho pulls it out of her grasp to pull on his seatbelt. This drama just loves hit-you-over-the-head symbolism, doesn’t it?

Ji Kyung is headed home on the bus, and she deletes the pictures from the camera that include Min Ho and In Jung. She wonders if it was all fake, and when it was that In Jung stopped being her friend. To her, In Jung has always been a true friend. Ji Kyung reaches up to wipe away a tear, and has an epiphany about how to accomplish her task. She wishes that she were only this smart back when she was Ji Hyun.

Ji Hyun calls Scheduler, who is strumming the guitar somewhere, and asks if this cellphone can be used to call people in the real world. He tells her that she simply never used it that way before, and then hangs up. She smiles as she realizes that the phone is not just exclusively for contacting Scheduler. Ji Kyung calls up Ji Hyun’s friend, and asks if she can call on her tomorrow to discuss Ji Hyun.

The landlady sees Ji Kyung walking and chases after her. Ji Kyung runs back into the apartment and lays out, whereby spirit Ji Hyun pops out. The landlady arrives and Yi Kyung wakes up. The landlady reminds her that she promised to pay her rent today, and why did Yi Kyung run away from her back there? Yi Kyung answers that she’s been sleeping this entire time, and the landlady wonders if she made a mistake.

Yi Kyung is also confused when the landlady tells her that she had been by yesterday and Yi Kyung told her to return today for the rent money. Yi Kyung pays the rent and heads back inside. She boils some water for her ramyun, and touches her hair again with confusion. She goes to a mirror and looks at herself. Ji Hyun is worried that Yi Kyung may be suspecting something, and calls Scheduler’s emergency button. Scheduler tells her it’s not an emergency and hangs up. Yi Kyung walks back to the stove.

Min Ho is working in his apartment and thinks back to Yi Kyung, angry at the possibility that he may like her. Ji Kyung arrives at work and hands Kang her notebook with times set out that list her work hours. He needs to sign off so that she can be paid her wages for the actual time worked. The other waitress wants to know what is going on, and is upset to know Kang granted Ji Kyung the right to work part-time hours.

Ji Hyun’s mom is in Ji Hyun’s room, touching everything and crying. At the restaurant, Ji Kyung finds out that the partner’s wife is making bone soup and confesses that she loves it so much she can eat the same meal everyday for a month. Ji Hyun’s mom has brought some home cooked food to the hospital, and she reveals to the dad that Ji Hyun’s friend had told her that Ji Hyun wanted to be a mother just like her. The two parents eat and cry over their poor comatose daughter.

The restaurant staff is eating together, and Ji Kyung is devouring her food. She asks if there is more rice, and Kang offers the rest of his bowl to her. The other waitress complains about a table of guests who brought a little boy that is running around. The little boy breaks a glass and starts to cry, and his mother is short-tempered and won’t take the time to console him.

Ji Kyung picks up a napkin and performs a magic trick for the boy, cheering him up. Kang watches this and is perplexed to realize that it’s the same trick Ji Hyun performed for him back in high school. Back then, Kang joined the magic club and Ji Hyun was a member. He keeps asking her to teach him the trick but isn’t really interested in learning it.

Kang looks at a smiling Ji Kyung and in his eyes, he sees a smiling Ji Hyun. He asks Ji Kyung if she knows magic, and she explains that she learned it from a friend. Kang tells his partner that everytime he looks at Ji Kyung, he’s reminded of Ji Hyun. Bright personality, needs to repeat things three times, likes to eat pasta with chopsticks, hates basil, has a fingernail clicking habit, etc. Especially the way she talks, using the same tone of speech.

Ji Kyung arrives to see one of Ji Hyun’s friends. She asks the friend if she can do an interview, and perhaps seeing familiar things will help Ji Hyun wake up. Ji Kyung tries to get the friend to share touching stories about Ji Hyun. The friend shares one about when Ji Hyun took care of her back in high school, but doesn’t shed any tears.

The friend would rather ask about Min Ho, and whether he’s broken off the engagement. Ji Kyung leaves, upset that a friend who cries easily over manhwas can’t shed a tear for her plight, and is more interest in gossip about Ji Hyun’s engagement. Ji Hyun’s mom is massaging her daughter so that her muscles don’t atrophy.

Kang arrives with flowers, and the parents invite him to visit with her. He talks to the sleeping Ji Hyun, telling her be brought her favorite flowers. He sees her feet are uncovered, and pulls the blanket over her feet. He confirms that she’s laying right here, so why is he confusing someone else for her? If Ji Hyun were awake, she would call him an idiot or crazy.

Ji Kyung goes to the bakery to see Seo Woo, who looks depressed and out of it. Ji Kyung buys the same bread that Ji Hyun used to buy, which makes Seo Woo very happy to be reminded of Ji Hyun. Ji Kyung wonders what kind of friend would make Seo Woo think so deeply about her. Kang is driving back to the restaurant while Ji Kyung is walking back with her bag of bread.

Kang drives by JI Kyung, and he initially slows down but ends up speeding up again and driving off after Ji Kyung recognizes him. Both arrive back at the restaurant, and Ji Kyung tries to chat with him but he ignores her and stalks off. He sees Ji Kyung in his office later, and she’s come to bring him a piece of bread. He yells at her that he doesn’t need it. He also refuses to sign the book, telling her he doesn’t care about her work hours, and to get a manager to sign it in the future.

Kang yells at her that she’s not his friend, and to leave his office when he asks her to. He’s just her boss, and she’s just an employee. He’s soooo mean to her, more than overcompensating for being so affected by her recently, and guilty that she reminds him of Ji Hyun when the real Ji Hyun is laying in the hospital in a coma.

Ji Kyung walks out, wondering what’s gotten into him, making him so testy. She wonders if it’s because of Min Ho? She looks at the bread, knowing that it’s something Kang likes. In Jung is texting Min Ho, and he texts back that he is working. In Jung gets a call from the Shin family driver, who arrives bearing a box of things for In Jung. She asks the driver where Manager Kang is right now, and is told that Min Ho is at home.

Ji Hyun’s mom has returned the food items In Jung bought for her, that Ji Hyun’s mom cannot eat. Yi Kyung is stretching in the courtyard when In Jung and Seo Woo arrive to have dinner. The manager comes out and suggests that Yi Kyung leave early today since she looks so tired, and there aren’t many customers tonight.

In Jung tells Seo Woo to go get Kang and have him join them for dinner. In Jung asks the other waitress if Yi Kyung is working hard, and is told that Yi Kyung can do whatever she wants since Kang likes her. The waitress also reveals that Yi Kyung is very arrogant towards Min Ho. Ji Kyung stumbles home and falls into bed, calling Scheduler and telling him to come pick it the money he lent her because she’s exhausted today.

Scheduler is composing a song and asks her to come bring it to him. Ji Hyun and Yi Kyung are walking out together, and Ji Hyun skips off merrily to meet Scheduler, not realizing that Yi Kyung suddenly feels like retching and has run back to the apartment to heave. Ji Hyun arrives at an empty lounge where Scheduler is signing.

When he finishes the song, Ji Hyun hands him the money he lent her. She confesses that she once thought about becoming a singer. He laughs at her, and she points out a verse where his pitch was off. She sings it perfectly for him, and impresses Scheduler. She concedes that her dad’s dream was to see her happily married off, which is what she ended up going along with.

Scheduler bemoans his current job, thinking it’s better to be Ji Hyun, who has a chance to reincarnate and start a life again. She asks him how he become Scheduler, and he says that he volunteered to do it. He doesn’t remember the reason, but knows that he died having left something important behind, and then he agreed to be a Scheduler.

After he completes his five-year term as Scheduler, he can go back to the task he left behind. That is the only reason he is the Scheduler. She asks him what the task is, and he yells back that if he knew, he’d go do it right now! He grabs the money from her in a huff.

The doctor fellow, Dr. Noh, arrives at the convenience store and asks why the night clerk Song Yi Kyung wasn’t here last night. The manager doesn’t know because she just didn’t show up. Ji Hyun is waiting in the alleyway and wondering why Yi Kyung hasn’t come home yet. She calls Scheduler using her emergency button, and they go into the apartment to find Yi Kyung curled up sick inside.

Scheduler tosses Ji Hyun into the body and tells her to take Yi Kyung to the hospital for a check-up. Kang is waiting for Ji Kyung to arrive at work, wondering if perhaps he crossed the line yesterday. At the hospital, the doctor asks what Ji Kyung ate yesterday? Ji Kyung lists a ton of food she consumed. Min Ho meets with Ji Hyun’s father and hands him some land sale financing documentation. Ji Hyun’s father gets ill and runs into the bathroom.

Ji Kyung looks at her watch and realizes that she’s missed her work hours. But she’s really not feeling well, and needs medicine. She comes out of the clinic and runs to the bus stop, and Min Ho happens to be stopped at the light and sees her stumble as she runs across the intersection. He almost gets out of the car to help her up, but stops himself.

Ji Kyung sits at the bus stop and drinks her medicine. Min Ho watches her from inside his car (stalkery much, Min Ho?). He finally makes up his mind and gets out of his car to approach Ji Kyung. He tells her to get into his car, since she appears to be sick. She declines, and he tells her that they are headed to the same place, since Min Ho was going to see Kang at the restaurant.

Ji Kyung declines again, and he wonders why she refuses to get into his car. She finally tells him that she doesn’t like him, and that is the reason. She doesn’t need a reason for disliking him. He pulls her up and tells her that even if she wasn’t Song Yi Kyung, and they didn’t dislike each other, he wouldn’t just leave a sick person he knows sitting at the bus stop.

Inside the car, Ji Kyung sees a picture of Ji Hyun and Min Ho, and purposely asks who that is. Min Ho says that she is his fiancée. Ji Kyung thinks that Ji Hyun looks rather dumb, and Min Ho defends her as being bright and sweet, which makes Ji Kyung even angrier that she’d fallen for his lies back then. Kang is waiting outside still and sees Min Ho pull up in his car and Yi Kyung getting out of it.

Min Ho asks Yi Kyung why she didn’t thank him, and she says that she doesn’t need to thank him since he forced her into the car. Min Ho smiles at the forced her comment, and then he looks up to see Kang angrily staring down at him. Kang stalks back to his office, and then interrogates Min Ho about why Ji Kyung was riding in his car.

Min Ho doesn’t see the need to explain himself to Kang. But Kang reminds Min Ho that he is Ji Kyun’s fiancée, whereas Min Ho wonders why Kang, who doesn’t like Ji Hyun, is so upset on her behalf. Kang is upset that Min Ho keeps asking about Kang’s feelings when it’s Min Ho who is being called to task right now. Min Ho confirms that he’s not interested in “that woman” and then leaves.

Kang calls Ji Kyung to come see him. Ki Kyung apologizes for being late, but Kang preemptively fires her again. He tells her that she keeps hanging around Min Ho, who is the fiancée of his friend. He has a duty to be loyal to his friend, and she’s really pissed him off this time. He throws down some money and tells her to never come back again.

Ji Kyung reminds him that he knows she won’t take the money. She tells him not to feel bad about this, because she will be just fine. She tells him that she’s gotten what she wanted when she sees how Kang is trying to protect his friend’s best interests. Ji Kyung leaves, and Kang is fuming and upset. Min Ho is still sitting in his car outside when he hears from the other waitress that Ji Kyung got fired.

Ji Kyung says her farewells to the staff and walks out. She looks around at the restaurant with a wistful and sad expression. She’s walking down the street when she sees Min Ho waiting outside his car for her. He stops her and asks whether she got fired, and whether it was because of him. He asks if she needs him to go explain? She declines, and he asks if she needs another job? He offers her a job to be his housekeeper, and she asks how much he would pay. He asks if she agrees, and she says that as long as he pays, she accepts the job.

Thoughts of Mine:

Am I overthinking things rather than going with the flow because I’m not emotionally invested in 49 Days? Probably, but it’s hard to get emotionally investment with the drama that is herky-jerky and has thus far moved at a snails pace and repeating scenes already. How many variations of the interminable Kang-Ji Kyung scenes where (1) he fires her or yells at her, and (2) he stares at her doing something Ji Hyun did I have to sit through? Hopefully with the move to working for Min Ho, it’ll turn the Kang-Ji Kyung dynamic around.

I do have to pat myself on the head for completely not being bothered by the arbitrary and completely nonsensical fantasy rules laid out for this story. I’ve made my peace with that, and am just waiting for the drama to reveal all the likely intertwined back stories of the various characters. Everyone thinks Scheduler is Yi Kyung’s dead ex-BF, and I haven’t a doubt that is the case, since otherwise it’s all just some random coincidence. And nothing in 49 Days is a random coincidence – everything appears loaded with significance and meaning. A little too much significance and meaning if you ask me.

I’m also going a little A Clockwork Orange with the drama’s continuing poor editing and scene transitions and its overwrought OST. Both have become like the air I breath, I barely notice it anymore, which is good for my sanity. I wished the drama could have clicked for me by now, but it’s really a pretty mellow watch and the one drama out of the Wed-Thurs fare that I’m even remotely interested in. For that reason alone, I’m sticking with 49 Days, and hoping the drama dials up the slow burn.