Prime Minister and I Episode 7 Recap

Guh, episode 7 of Prime Minister and I was soooooo good. Its ratings went up to 8.9% since there was no competition with MBC preempting Empress Ki and SBS did the same with Warm Words. No clue whether this bit of ratings jump will stick but for now I’m thrilled because episode 7 was funny and substantive and increasing the stakes all in one fantastic episode. I’m stunned at the shocking realization that Da Jung may have fallen for Yul way in advance of even their fake relationship and contract marriage. I don’t mean it was love at first sight, but it was something we (and she) didn’t have hammered home by the drama but actually makes sense in retrospect. She was always so good to him and his situation but without the usual heavyhanded foreshadowing that love is in the air and her heart pitter patters around him. Instead she just starts to care about him and his family and when asked why she is doing so much the answer is as much a surprise to her as it is to us. I love this drama’s soft details that unfold before us rather than through dummy exposition and obvious directorial flourishes. Yul is also falling for Da Jung but he’s both aware and fighting it and that is so in line with his personality. Their conversations and fights continue to be funny and meaningful, and even if Yul is harsh with Da Jung she doesn’t it take with indignation and instead actually processes what he said and tries to reason through it. The ending for episode 7 had me squealing like a banshee but the preview had me wanting to hurl a brick at In Ho for being both a evil tool behind Yul’s back as well as stepping up his completely pointless crush on Da Jung. Even without episode 8 airing tonight and we’ll have to wait until next Monday, I’m happy because I can re-watch episode 7 over and over again.

Episode 7 baby recap:

Da Jung falls asleep on Yul’s shoulder while reading him Arabian Nights and Yul reads the passage about how Scheherazade was sent to save the King and looks at Da Jung. He tries to tuck her into bed but she awakens and in her semi-asleep state she accuses him of being a pervert (i.e. wolf) in trying to take advantage of her and howls for good measures. He huffs off after being labeled a pervert and then he grows quiet and goes to the piano room. The next day, Da Jung gets a call from In Ho that there is an embarrassing situation at the Prime Minister’s conference (where Joon Ki made it so most people don’t show up) and she’s told to delay Yul for 30 minutes. She tries locking him in the bedroom and then does her patented fall on him maneuver, this time witnessed by the ahjumma. Yul rushes to work and finds his meeting empty save for two congressman who attended, with the media swarming to record this moment. Hye Joo goes to confront Joon Ki and says she doesn’t hate him (since he asked her not to hate him) but instead pities him for always being so underhanded.

Da Jung meets with the Scandal News team but won’t help them do an exclusive on the life inside the mansion but she does decide to step up as a wife to better help her PM husband. She finds a key in Woo Ri’s room and it opens the piano room so the two little ones one want to go in. She goes inside and plays the piano which is when the exhausted Yul comes home. He runs to the piano room and opens the door and imagines it’s his late wife sitting there playing with the two kids. The kids run out and Yul leaves as well looking distraught. Da Jung finds out later the piano belonged to his late wife. She later brings him hot chocolate as he broods in the study. Yul decides to take some sleeping pills and Da Jung finds him passed out the next morning and she hilariously freaks out and slaps him a few times before he wakes up. As she’s walking him out, she apologizes for yesterday and what she did wrong. He asks her what she did wrong and she explains the piano playing and the falling on top of him. After Yul is in the car, he thinks that the real thing Da Jung did wrong was make him think of someone he shouldn’t, his late wife.

Yul is in a meeting with Hye Joo and In Ho and they have differing opinions on how to handle the current situation. Later In Ho asks if Hye Joo is so sure Yul always makes the right choices, could there be one instance where he makes the wrong choice? He’s curious now how Yul will decide what to do. Yul goes home to brood and remembers Da Jung saying she wants him to be the people’s PM versus people thinking he always does things his own way. Da Jung comes to encourage him with her usual optimism and way of making things seem so simple. She drags him out to drink and eat outside and the bodyguards come along. They are bickering as usual at the soondae restaurant when Da Jung spots her Scandal News colleagues. She and Yul tries to sneak out but is spotted so they make a run for it. They end up running hand-in-hand through the streets and smile at the exhilaration. They lose their bodyguards and the reporters. After they get home, the bodyguards ask them not to run off again and mutter about how in love they are. That brings a smile to both their faces and the Da Jung tells Yul he has a beautiful smile and should smile more often.

In Ho finds Da Jung after she gets back and gives her a belated Christmas present which is a fountain pen that he thinks all aspiring writers should want and Da Jung does want one. He heard earlier that Da Jung and Yul went out together and isn’t happy but seems to have more to say to Da Jung. Later Yul is working in the bedroom while Da Jung offers to read to him again but he hilariously tells her to STOP and says he can’t handle her reading and falling asleep and calling him a pervert again. Yul then finds Da Jung’s nightie in his desk and she’s so embarrassed they end up fighting and she storms off to sleep with Man Se. Yul lays down on the bed and starts reading Arabian Nights again and this time falls asleep as Man Se sleeps happily with Da Jung.

Yul decides to continue with his review of the port construction project despite the set back. Hye Joo holds a press conference to discuss it and the Scandal News reporters ask why Yul was out drinking last night with his wife if something big happened at work and he should be dealing with it. Later Hye Joo asks Yul if he went out with Da Jung and blames her for the outing but Yul says he wanted to go and there is nothing wrong with a husband/wife going out drinking. Hye Joo agrees but reminds Yul he is not Da Jung’s real husband which seems to startle Yul that he sees Da Jung as someone special. Da Jung finds Woo Ri has a smart phone against his dad’s wishes and its a gift from Joon Ki and Woo Ri has been spying on his dad and reporting to Joon Ki. Yul comes in and hears this and answers the call from Joon Ki. He meets with Joon Ki who doesn’t admit to the spying but saying he feels bad for Woo Ri not having a smart phone and was just calling to find out where Woo Ri’s band performance was. We see In Ho is in the car with Joon Ki. Oof, you ass In Ho! Yul confronts Da Jung about her concealing Woo Ri being in a band and having a smart phone. Da Jung says she wanted Woo Ri to have the performance first and then tell Yul. He chastises her for overstepping her bounds since she’s not the kids real mom nor is she his real wife. Why is she so good to them?

Yul thanks her for all she’s done and he’s grateful but it needs to stop now. Yul pauses as he walks away but steels his heart. Da Jung thinks and agrees she’s overstepped her bounds but wonders why she did it? She hears from Na Ra that Woo Ri ran away and goes to find him at the band performance hall. He’s in a snitty mood and tells her to bug off since she’s not his real mom. He runs off on the street and Da Jung runs after him. She thinks to herself all that she’s done since meeting Yul – agreeing to be his girlfriend then wife, worrying about him, her heart hurting when she sees him tired and worried. Woo Ri runs across the street and the light turns red but Da Jung runs after him. A truck comes careening towards her in the middle of the road and she almost gets run over when Yul arrives and pulls her to safety. They roll and she ends up pressed on his hand while they lay across from and stare at each other on the street.

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