[Drama Recap] Fashion King Episode 20 *FINAL*

Here we recap and discuss episode 20 of Fashion King.  Caution, spoilers below.  Don’t read if you don’t want to know what happens.

Wow.  There was so much wrong with that ending that I don’t even know where to start.  I’m not even going to do a detailed recap just because I don’t want to waste your time or mine by reading it.  Here’s a very brief summary though.

Madam Jo’s “discovery” last episode was that Young Gul was leasing his car, his home, and bought an expensive apartment in New York recently.  Um, okay…  She goes to tell this to Jae Hyuk, who already knows about all this, and asks her what she wants him to do about it.  What she wants him to do is use all these extravegant purchaces to slander Young Gul to the press and spread rumors that he’s been pocketing money on the side.  Uh, of course he’s pocketing the money; it’s his own freaking company.  It’s not like he’s screwing over shareholders or anything.  He has operating expenses that he pays and he keeps the rest.  Isn’t that the point of business?  Madam Jo also wants them to charge less commision than them, which makes Jae Hyuk look at her as if this was a brilliant business strategy.  Hmm, charge less than the competition.  Only a sharp business mind could’ve come up with that; clearly she’s not a business owner for nothing.  Regardless, it’s a stupid conversation.

And now we basically turn back the clock and because of all the crap that Jae Hyuk’s doing, Young Gul’s business is no longer doing well.  Their creditors come take their stuff, everyone wants to know where Young Gul is, etc etc.  Ga Young, of course, is upset and goes to ask Jae Hyuk why he’s doing that.  At first Jae Hyuk pretends like he trying to forget her like she wanted, but she barely makes it out the door when he sprints after her to tell her how much he loves her.

While all this is going down, Anna decides that it’s time to jump ship and accepts an offer from Jae Hyuk’s dad to come back to work for J Fashion.  Chil Bok and Il Gook are nowhere to be found, and neither is Young Gul for that matter because he’s decided to go incommunicado to stare at his dad’s grave.  When he gets back, Young Gul decides to give Jae Hyuk his YGM shares in exchange for helping Ga Young put on the fashion show that he promised her and can no longer due because he’s broke now.  Jae Hyuk’s dad hears about this and beats the shit out of him for letting Young Gul trick him once again.

 

Afterwards, Young Gul vanishes to the wind, even though everyone of importance knows about his little New York apartment.  Ga Young is apparently all upset about it and hasn’t been getting out of bed lately, but immediately agrees to go to New York with Jae Hyuk, who apparently got approval from his parents.  He’s been busy playing creepy stalker and goes through her mail to intercept a letter from Young Gul to Ga Young, which asks her to come to the US and also includes a plane ticket.

Over in New York, Young Gul is moping around about Ga Young and thinks back to the misadventures here, including going back to their old apartment to cry on the stairs outside.  He finds out somehow that Ga Young is in New York and has returned to fashion school.  Young Gul goes to surprise her, but sees her smiling with Jae Hyuk.  Later, he gives her a call and she’s not at all surprised to hear from him for some reason.  After he says he misses her, some random guy in a suit comes up and shoot him.  Ga Young apparently did not hear the shot or is ignoring it as she just emotionlessly says she misses him too.

Final Thoughts

As I said…awful, awful ending.  The only reason that I’m not surprised by that ending not making sense is because this drama hasn’t made sense since they left New York the first time.  Ever since, we’ve been treated to the same drivel over and over again.  May as well have called this series Plumbing King since the fashion aspect of this drama could’ve been replaced with anything from how they used it.  Or hell, call it Douchebag King since both Young Gul and Jae Hyuk were both vying pretty hard for that title.  That particular contest certainly lasted longer than the travesty they did call “Fashion King”.  Jae Hyuk definitely wins by default what with Young Gul being dead and all.

 

I guess we can talk about that first.  So did Ga Young really not hear the shot being fired?  Why was she so emotionless after not hearing from him for so long?  Or has her character been warped to the point where she ordered a hit on him?  Jae Hyuk did say that he’d do all he could to make her forget about Young Gul, and it’s not like he couldn’t have found out about Young Gul’s address.  He already knew he bought a house; he could’ve probably had his New York team spy for him like he normally does.  Feel free to discuss your conspiracy theories in comments.

There were so many useless scenes and characters in here.  Take the flashback for example between Young Gul and Ga Young.  Even to the end, she still doesn’t remember meeting him way back when.  You’re telling me that they put that in just so Young Gul would have a deeper connection with her?  Yeah, that sure as hell did not come off like that.  Tae San was also a character that could have definitely been used better.  What happened to building him a fashion empire?   He just signed off on the money just like that?  Jung Ah was pointless as well and served no purpose other than to tattle on Young Gul early on to get him deported.  May as well have left her in New York for all the good she did in Korea when she showed up again.

 

Anna’s ending was a damn joke.  At the end, we hear her talking to someone on the phone saying that she’s on her way to Italy and that she hopes that they can still be friends when they see each other next.  I’m going to assume that she’s talking to Jae Hyuk so that she can have some semblance of closure.  Rather than the untalented girl chasing after the guy who doesn’t want her, she’s accepted her friend status and is doing something she wants.  More power to her for that, especially since she’s the one character I actually didn’t want to strangle.  Although, once again, I can’t believe I missed out on seeing her in New York so she could film this crap.

 

So much for loving Young Gul, huh Ga Young.  After just a month, she already gives up on him and goes off with the rival that’s caused the two of them so much grief.  She knows that he’s the one who caused Young Gul’s downfall, but I guess that’s okay in her book?  I’d also like to think that Jae Hyuk’s parents finally gave up on him doing anything business related and that’s why they allowed him to go to New York with Ga Young.  Douchebag King finally did get the girl somehow though so I guess that’s all that matters to him.  He certainly hasn’t been worthwhile anywhere else.

 

Young Gul I guess got closure on his issues, albeit in a random bloody way.  I mean I didn’t expect him to fulfill that idiotic vow of taking over J Fashion, but I figured they’d at least let him keep his little shop in Dongdaemun with Ga Young happily designing clothes at her little boutique.  But no, I guess logical endings just aren’t this writer’s thing.  His guilt over not reconciling with his dad could’ve been a great plot point if it hadn’t happened on the second to last episode.  Hell, there were so many different plot points that could’ve been used rather than us seeing whether he or Jae Hyuk could win the Douchebag King contest.  Alas, that was not meant to be, and he ends up dying sad and alone.  You’ll forgive me if I don’t feel any sympathy for him there.

 I’d like to discuss the acting jobs done in this drama, but the characters were so flawed and terribly developed that nobody could have done them justice.  I liked Yoo Ah In in “Sungkyunkwan Scandal”, I’m a fan of Shin Se Kyung, and I’m told that Lee Je Hoon is not as awful as I think he is from this drama so he can get a pass.  When you’re acting in the worst drama ever, it’s hard to standout.

 At any rate, this drama is finally done so we can finally put this behind us.  I’m definitely looking forward to “Big” with Lee Min Jung and miss A’s Suzy, as well as “A Gentleman’s Dignity” with Kim Ha Neul.  I’m a huge fan of the writer for the latter and I know I can at least count on proper character development and witty dialogue based on her previous works.  “Big” I’m sure will be your typical Hong Sisters’ drama so it’ll prob be entertaining at least.