Hold me, I’m scared. Monday started off with a bang when extended video previews for Nice Guy episodes 9 and 10 were leaked. Trust me when I say I watched it with my jaw open. Aside from the major character twist we’ve been told about since the plot synopsis was released months ago, with Eun Gi losing her memory, everything else that went along with it is a doozy for me. I suppose this is cool because the trajectory wasn’t what I expected, but perhaps I was expecting magical happy unicorns when really everyone in this drama is still in a deep dark twisted place and can’t possibly be happy this early in the game when the drama hasn’t even hit the halfway mark yet. I think my affection for Eun Gi, her crazy candor, her painful cold environment growing up, her instant connection with Maru, all of that really speaks to me and perhaps I want her to find happiness even to the point of sacrificing narrative coherence to get there. Which is to say, if she and Maru eloped and the rest of the drama was them making babies and being happy, I would still declare NG a rousing success! Heh. Anyhoo, looks like that pipe dream of mine isn’t happening anytime soon, so check out the spoilers pictures and summary below at your election.
Eun Gi and Maru are at the beach laying out all the cards between them. Maru still insists everything he did towards Eun Gi was calculated in his quest to get close to Jae Hee. Eun Gi pokes through his bullshit, reminding him that he risked death to save her doll, and why would he do that? It’s clear Maru will not budge from her grilling to admit that he has genuine feelings for Eun Gi that developed during the course of using her. They part and she drives back to Seoul. Jae Hee goes to bargain with the Chairman but he suffers a heart attack and dies. She wanted to call for help but lawyer Ahn stops her. Joon Ha calls Eun Gi to tell her that her dad has died. Eun Gi makes a U-turn and she and Maru’s car drive towards each other in a tunnel.
After the car accident, an unknown period of time has passed. Eun Gi has lost her memory and has to re-learn some cognitive functions such as reading and math. Her personality is also very gentle and calm. Her company secretary has been taking care of her, and her condition is kept a secret from the public so she won’t get kicked out of Tae San. Eun Gi is visiting Maru because she saw a picture of them together and thinks he’s someone important to her in the past. Maru is cold and cruel towards her, telling her they are nothing to each other and merely took a picture together. Eun Gi walks through the courtyard and the house, hoping things here will help jar her memory.
Jae Hee, looking stunning with her new short hair, but clearly still a viper. Jae Hee is now head of Tae San Group, and is wondering if her lackey lawyer Ahn can help her find a way to remove Eun Gi from the company permanently.
Now even Jae Gil looks pissed with Maru. Turns out Choco moved out and cut off all use of funds from her brother. She’s not taking another penny from him, not after he goes from selling himself to being a financial swindler.
I hope this drama doesn’t jump the shark. I’m being sincere and not snarky, because I really don’t know how the amnesia twist will all shake out. Will it derail what has been a taut building narrative? Will it breathe new life into the story when the original arc couldn’t be sustained for much longer? Will even more hot and much-less-nice Maru and memory-less Eun Gi be as combustible together? Can Koala get some love story shippiness between the OTP before the Lee Kyung Hee mallet of doom descends once again? So many questions, so few answers. All I can do is hope for the best and be patient.
[Credit: all screencaps from DC Nice Guy Gallery]
I hate Jae Hae so much, now she even wants to remove Eungi from her father’s company.
Not only a bitch but a thief too!!!
Mr. Koalaaaa why do you do this to me! I’m supposed to be writing my thesis not going crazy waiting for Wednesday! Dramaland is conspiring against me!
Totally that’s my case!
Daaang. Maru continuing to be a prickly little husk of a man, I think I can take. It makes sense, sorta. As long as he’s not still obsessed with Jae Hee (SERIOUSLY). But I’m really not sure how I feel about Eun Gi’s personality transplant post-amnesia. I just loved her sharp-as-knives personality combined with her unapologetic sincerity.
I really don’t know where these new developments will take the show. I’m guessing that somehow Maru will end up protecting Eun Gi from Jae Hee’s machinations. At least, that’s what I hope for.
This show is simultaneously frustrating and amazing in how many little mysteries are woven into it. And it looks like there are more and more that will continue to emerge. I have no idea if all/any of them will be answered, but I sure am enjoying the ride.
Show, please don’t disappoint us!
Thank you so much for this, I’m so hooked up with this drama. My feelings are very close to yours, I’m perhaps fearing more & more after reading your post. I was pretty hooked up too with : Will it snow for christmas. I really love the first episodes, love it so much, but then things became weird and the plot became weak and nonsensical and my disappointment grew up. I ended up quite disappointed, so I really hope this time, things will be different: the amnesia twist at episode 10, why not. I’m ok, right now, with a cold MR. MR coldness is linked to : his guilt conscious (guilt concious in many ways and for several reasons) to : his need to feel afar from everything who could warm his heart, self punishment… Of course, I’m anticipating Lawyer Park and EG relationship, MR “awakening”, MR & Lawyer Park confrontation, MR & JH new “relationship”, EG’s reaction when she regains her memories could be thrilling… Ok, need to breathe and stop thinking (too much) about NG till wenesday 🙂
Oh my, first May Queen and now this. I need some lovey dovey moments bet my fav OTP’s. sigh….where to watch what?
Due to time constraints I’ve only seen bits and pieces of this show so am definitely THE last person who should be critiquing it. I do feel the writing seems to be a little weak…there are character inconsistencies and Maru got very frustrating around E5&6 (I got frustrated just by reading your recaps…am sure it would’ve been worse for those watching). This week will be kind of a turning point of sorts and how it paves the way for the second half of the show. Hope the writing catches up to the stellar acting & directing.
And I find it really frustrating but from your post JH seems to have become the typical female antagonist. mehhhh…
Just keep watching MR and OG, Mrs Koala. That’s the only safe way for a safe, happy and peaceful heart.
Btw I had completely forgotten!!! Seeing that pic of SJK and LKS together reminded me that the former used to be a Running Man regular when the latter belatedly showed up in the show. Imagine what could have been had he stayed amongst the cast to welcome MGY. 😀
I hate where this drama is going. I hope they snap EG out her amnesia quickly and not let it be dragged on and on and on.
I have really got to stop trying to predict where this show is going next. I’m usually only about 1/2 right.
Narratively, EG does not speak to me at all. Her character is not gripping and we’ve seen her do nothing…Why is there this affection toward her character apart from the actress? The drama has not shown us too much of anything about for me to even care. I wish her no ill will, but her and MR together is just blech! Dullsville.
Dressing her up in white is REALLY significant. *Hits us over the head*
LOL!
I don’t know about anyone else, but I like Eun Gi apart from her being played by Moon Chae Won, who I really don’t have a strong feeling for one way or another. She was blergh for me in The Princess’s Man but totally adorable and charming in My Fair Lady.
For me, Eun Gi is the most interesting character in this drama. She’s broken but that doesn’t dictate her decisions and she is the only one who consistently surprises me with her behavior and reaction. Park Shi Yeon is fantastic as Jae Hee, but Jae Hee is like a very colorful scorpion I see on the ground. I might look in curiosity but there will never be any way I can relate to it. I don’t feel any sympathy for her, because all her nasty vile acts have cancelled out any reserve one might have for her poor childhood. She’s the serial killer in court tearfully recounting a horrific abused childhood. One does not justify the other.
Eun Gi is like a broken bird trying to fly. I’m mesmerized and can feel myself in her shoes, how the desire to find release propels her even if its beyond her limitations.
Maru is all over the place, both likeable and hateable, and only interests me because Eun Gi loves him. Frankly I can write Maru and Jae Hee off the show and just spend it watching Eun Gi and Joon Ha run Tae San together.
oh wow, I really loved MCW on princess’ man, her acting was so good in the second half….
but her first episodes acting cute was bad, I admit, and her josean speak skills wasn’t the best… but Se Ryung was my favorite man gil from 2011.
Tbh, I cannot see your interpretation of her character. Nothing presented so far has shown how broken and wounded the character actually is let allowing being mesmerized by her. Apart from scenes where she’s mistreating herself and others or talking to a doll, she is really has not done anything except try to get a guy to love her back.
She does not even show love for herself, so why am I supposed to believe she is the best companion for gigolo MR, who is a douche? I do not consider the EG character nice or kind so I’m questioning her transformative capabilities at this point.
Wow, we are really different in many of views of K-drama.
She is excellent and gripping in TPM. As her first saeguk she captured hearts of many and gripping in her character.
However, in Nice Guy, I thought the amnesia plot can go and they should develop her character as you mentioned like a bird want to fly in her owl/old self. Well, THAT will be much more compelling and interesting.
I’m reading only the recaps now.
Thanks.
Ooops. Where’s the edit function when you need one. Oh well…
*let alone….
I’ve already put viewing this drama on hold and am about ready to put reading the recaps on hold as well. This show had the potential to be a good suspenseful melodrama, but I have no desire to wallow in the misery of such a downer of a show. I don’t find being dragged through all this sludge enjoyable. If the writers can’t manage to show us, in this weeks episodes, a glimpse of hope that something positive is coming, I’m done. Otherwise, this is turning into another Fashion King and I don’t want to waste my time any longer with another show that will turn out like that one did (ok, maybe Fashion King’s writers misled the viewers with more hints of hope for a happy ending, which I guess is even worse, but it’s like comparing misery with more misery…I’ll be happiest if all of it is avoided!)
I can try put this drama on hold but for a different reason: I don’t like to wait for a week to see what’s happening next. I want to have it all, no matter what the ending is… Those actors deserve to have all our attention and I have the strength to ignore the Gods-scriptwriters, whoever they are and whatever they prepare for us as the ending of this story…
Out of that long blog post and intense preview, this is what I got out of it: I LOVE everybody’s new hairstyles!!
Me too! Lolllll
koala, where did you watch it, please, please? Dying here.
Hi Koala,
Do you happen to have the links to these previews? please please share ^^
I think Maru’s coldness will be linked to the extreme guilt he feels. After all, him taking advantage of Eun Gi’s feelings and using her is what led to her going through a lot of this. In a sense, him pushing her away in his mind is probably the equivalent of protecting her. As long as he’s completely over Jae Hee, I’m okay with him being cold.
I hate that even through her amnesia, Eun Gi’s able to tap into her feelings for him but he still remains seemingly unaffected. It might be weird but for ONCE I’d like to see her reject him, or push him away, or yell and him open up. I’m praying that will be what comes of this memory-loss storyline.
But ummm…..where is Lawyer Park!?! Seriously if Maru is gonna keep up this cold facade for a few episodes, I’d like to see Joon Ha there protecting Eun Gi lol (……and I might find him super attractive)
MR didnt really used EG for revenge! There wasnt any revenge involved! MR was just obessed with JH and tried to piss her off with EG. This drama has soo much potential, but its not living up to my expectation! I wanted hardcord revenge not an obessed good looking puppy wailing his tail for love from his abonded ex-lover
I didn’t necessarily say he used Eun Gi for flat out revenge, I just said he took advantage of her feelings. He knew he was using a vulnerable girl, one that had completely fallen for him, and played her false just to make Jae Hee jealous. It makes it worse since he’s realized how far Jae Hee is willing to go to come out on top, and she’s Eun Gi’s step-mom. So yeah, if he’s feeling guilty, I’m thinking he has every reason to be.
this drama is like a party you never want to end, but the longer it drags, the worst it get. It could be a very solid drama if it is only 10 episodes with its original arc. Hopefully the second arc is just as wonderfully written
I think it should be much shorter too. We already know how MR falls in love by proxy in protecting DID. The amnesia makes me disappointed with the writer if this is her intent.
It was truly good up to this point and now it appears there’s nothing else to see, but I said I would watch up to the amnesia to see if I will continue, which looks unlikely.
Just maybe… maybe Maru is protecting Eun Gi… maybe he was threatened… maybe Choco is somehow included in that threat…
Anyway, whatever reason for his coldness, I just wish Eun Gi her happy ending.
BTW, I did get shivers in ep7 when that nice lawyer Park mentioned to EG father, that EG could find something better in her life and leave for ever… is he also trying to keep her in that cage???
Omg…
MARU looks so much younger with this hair cut….
I just fell in love with him all over again…
Fangirl for life…
And as for the path this drama has now taken its not a big surprise because we were expecting some bumps in the road we get to the happy ending ..
Do we really want a ‘happy’ ending at this point, though? The writer has not made me care enough about Maru to wish him anything but a future with Jae Hee. I hate how Eun Gi is so drawn to Maru that she forgets her strength to wallow in the uncertainties of an imagined love. I want to see her reclaim her position and boot Jae Hee out onto the street. That, in my eyes, would be a happy ending.
Did i the only one who sense this is the starting point of LKH to make NG as tearsjerking drama like MISA???
1st ~ amnesia
2nd ~ there was a secret of her amnesia
3rd ~ there will be Maru whose responsible of this accident
4th ~ there will be a lot of romance and romantic in amnesiac situation..
And now just thinking…what will happen when all of this have been reveal and back to it place..I think at that time my heart will burning and cut out in pain into the small pieces..That is how happen to me when LKH penned Misa..she trying to make NG look more beautiful..for the plot to going smooth..NG is The best KD of 2012!!
Where can i find these previews?????????
To other haters, well that’s why it’s called drama so don’t expect unicorns and rainbows all the way. Watch a romantic comedy instead.. However, seriously, the amnesia part kinda ruined the amazing flow of the story coz the drama can that be good w/o it. Oh well, it’s still exciting that this twist happend coz eun-gi now spirals down her life because of love & change of decisions it kinda similar now to what happend to Maru in the past. The symbolics and irony of the characters makes it interesting. I’m still hoping for the best for eun-gi&maru and hope they find their way back again. Fighting!
Well, @_@, Koren scripted TV shows are all called “Dramas” aren’t they? At least it seems like they are.
And it is possible to create a suspenseful drama with a happy ending.
I’m just at a point in my life where I don’t want to invest a lot of time in stories that spiral further and further downward to a depressing ending. With the poor economy (worldwide as well as here in the US where I live), personal financial problems, aging parents, etc. it’s not surprising that I’d want my entertainment to not end up being a downer as well.
I do like suspense, however, as long as the ending is a somewhat positive payoff. One of my favorite American TV shows is Fringe, which this season is set in a dystopian. totalitarian future, so it’s not like it’s all “unicorns and rainbows.” And one of my favorite recent KDramas was Bridal Mask – absolutely loved it.
I only started watching KDramas this year through my daughter’s recommendation. And most of what she steered me to in the beginning were rom-coms. Even the straight out dramas that I watched in the beginning had upbeat endings.
Then came Fashion King, which I watched as it was airing, as soon as the subs went up on Viki or DramaFever. It is…to this day…still listed under ROMANTIC COMEDY on DramaFever. I just hope that prospective viewers end up reading the reviews on DramaFever about that one.
And Fashion King started out with some sympathetic characters and a splash of dark humor, so I thought, OK, this one’s going to be twisty, but it will eventually come around with a satisfying ending. And as it got darker and darker, I just held on. It took me a long time to begin to become uncomfortable with how things were going, plot and characterization-wise, but I guess about four or five episodes from the end I started thinking, “this is not going to end well.” Even still, just how badly it ended shocked me, {SPOILER FOLLOWS]
…with one main character suddenly killed at the very end and the other an emotional zombie.
And I made a decision at that point that I didn’t want to get sucked into another drama that ended like that. Which is why I’ll stick to recaps from now on with Nice Guy till it’s clear whether there will be something positive to salvage from the ending or not.
I’m not judging people who see things differently, it’s just where I personally draw the line right now, what’s best for my own mental and emotional health.
Why is disliking or have a different opinions is count as haters?
People vary in many ways therefore, there is something for everyone. People also bond to their preferences and tastes.
People being affected so much on the story, hating, loving and being annoyed with the characters means that the it’s that good! The actors (esp. mcw) really portrayed their characters very well! Never been so attached to a k-drama like this before lol btw where can we find the leaked previews?:o
oh i love this drama! im for Eun Gi alllllll the way!
i dont usually watch series with serious themes. im all cutesey stuff =) this is the very first serious kdrama i’ve watched and i love it!
How can I watch nice guy eps 9-10 long preview?
Can you give me the link to it? I want to watch it realllyyy bad.
great job ms.koala.
some new things will come up soon.
can’t wait to see eps 9. thanks
aigoo! this has got me worried. what happens now? just when i think everything is going great with EG and Maru. well, i had also wished for Sang Yeob to get EG but not being a babysitter.:( i really hope this amnesia thing will bring forward everything.
Well.. I am just gonna go with the flow right now. I will watch it to see how the amnesia be on this week and decide if it is the same cliche kdrama or something new… If it is getting boring. There is always another kdramas that we can watch to enjoy it.. =)
really why just has everyone has this beliefe that we have to hate the second lady or the second male because they are bad people.even there are people when the read the names of the leading lady or man they start loving them without knowing his/her role.i wish in korean drama this beliefe change not only from the audience but also from the writers.
for me i love jea hee and i don’t love eun gi and even see her a bitch,as for some reasons jea hee has her reasons or fears to do these actions but what really make eun gi do this or being this harsh?
for maru i also can’t find how he was trying to have jea hee again and in one second he say oh i don’t love her anymore.actually it’s not in this serious it’s in all korean dramas start from (my girl- samsoon)and other dramas. the hero keep loving his herione for years as long as he can’t have her,and when she come back to him he found himself in love with the other lady or to be specific the leading lady.i hope this idea in korean drama changes one day
Same goes with you. Why can’t you, yourself love both ladies instead of loving one and hating the other? 😛
“really why just has everyone has this beliefe that we have to hate the second lady or the second male because they are bad people.”
Then, you mean we should love the bad people? and why should everyone love the manipulative backstabber JH? wow!
The JH character is brought to life in a way that is exemplary because it feels organic and not pedestrian…like EG, who feels unreal to me.
EG’s has become the traditional kdrama prop of a heroine who has lost any self-respect or brain power because she’s in love. There is no further journey for her because arrived at her destination and met the love of her life. Some flaky storytelling by the writer about women. She’s crippled the EG character to me and I find her anything but a likeable character and one I most certainly do not root for.
Now she’s truly broken and unable to function at 100% so she needs others to look after her like the little girl she is and has always been portrayed by the studio execs. This sucks big time from SK-ent and I do not root for this kind of hypocrisy in entertainment. I will stop this drama at ep 10 because the more I think about what they are communicating, the more I dislike the men behind the curtain….
hahaha organic…funny
i didn’t say we should love them when they are bad .what i mean is we hate them before even we know their characters .we have believed that always second lead will be bad or only the first lead who will end up together.
for jea hee i see she is acharacter who have suffered in her youth from her own family when she was still a child so her character was damaged and her will to make her son has everything so she doesn’t want him to suffer what she suffered,but eun gi all her suffering is because her first love left her.so all what i want don’t always bash the second lead and love the first one only for she took this role,we should at least try to symphsize with them
well it’s kinda the understanding of the character.. if eun-gi seems unreal, let’s see her pov— she grew up didn’t gain respect from her father, the mother left who’s the only one that has the chance to understand her then died, no friends, just being trained as the next CEO… that’s what made her like that. She’s vulnerable from the next person who really understood her and took care of her, promised her security, comfort and love. I actually see her as a strong woman who made a risky decision, followed her instinct and to trust the person who really understood her life also having a similarity with her life too.
If we really understand their characters, it’s really well written, the darkness in their lives that molded them of what they are in the present.
And may I ask you, what Eun Gi do? anything worse than JH?
Totally Agree with you. I love EG but I don’t even hate JH. I just pity her.
They are all cardboard cutouts. Personally, I like the fire in the JH character much better than the mellow feel to EG’s character.
EG is boring and the character can just disappear into the woodwork and the story would not miss a beat and be much better because of her absence.
EG has suffers from lost of her mother, lack of love and respect of his father, broken family. Doesnt that speaks something for you.
For me, at least she become a better person despite weaker and less compelling. However nothing can justify Jae Hee actions.
What ur view in a drama can reflect ur view in real life.
Such a downer my god! It just sound so heavy. I was expecting for a flicker of light after episode 8. And honestly, I don’t want Maru to fall in love with an amnesiac Eun Gi nor he’d realize love through an amnesiac Eun Gi. I want him to love her NOW that both of them are capable of saving their own asses from mess. Are we reinforcing the Maru with a messianic complex here? Just no.
If the writing go down traversing the messy route I’ve been dreading from the beginning, I’m done with this show.
How do you know that Maru doesn’t love her now? He’s not someone who say love out loud even with JH.
Maru is wayyyyyyyy too broken to love Eun Gi NOW. I’m not denying he’s feeling something for her, I do believe he’s in the process of falling in love, but his goal at the moment is pushing her away. He just found the resolve to get over the woman he’s loved for years, despite her ruining his life. It would be unrealistic if he suddenly was completely in love with Eun Gi.
I agree with Jushi. I’m a bit pissed that it seems like Maru is going to fall for her in her most vulnerable state, again reinforcing the idea that he’s got some savior complex. I don’t know if I’m really gonna like her having amnesia, unless they do something really unpredictable.
sometimes there are people who emerge in a story and they have these personal struggle, and it ends up like a Labyrinth there are many ways out in a story but what is exciting are the twist and turns like roller coasters….are we all enjoying the ride to get 40 or so comments….
you should’ve not watched it from the start that’s why it’s called “drama” dear.. don’t expect something that would be flowery and sunlight all the way.
I did not expect for sunshine and butterflies from this show. The reason why I watched it even is because of the premise that we are going to see broken yet strong characters.
If you’ve read through my comment, I am commenting and predicting on the possible direction of the character dynamics of Eun Gi and Maru. I am just hoping that there is this whole point of making her a sassy, kickass businesswoman in the first place and that the amnesia is temporary. Maru has a lot to learn about his ‘savior’ tendencies. I want and I think some of us here want Maru to re-learn LOVE and TRUST in a manner where he is not saving another person yet again.
Amnesia…again? Haeundae lovers also have that….what a lame way to develop plot. Nice guy has good cast. Dont spoil it with such a storyline plse.
Where i can watch it?
Maru and Eun-gi’s cars crashed. After hearing a phone call from lawyer park that her dad died she turn the car around and went into Maru’s lane and crashed their cars. woah!! She’s that mad at Maru that she did that. Also, Maru just seeing what she was about to do, he just let her do it and didn’t even avoid. @_@ This drama is awesome! :))