Author: Diana Higashiyama Trudnowski from ECI
Picture credit as tagged
WARNING: If you haven’t watched this episode, please be aware of spoiler from reading this article.
Episode 5 finds Hong Yoo Ra trying to influence Mate with her sob story about her daughter being sent abroad. Mate seems concerned but not fully sympathetic, does he suspect something? Bo Tong sees the embrace between Mate and Yoo Ra and questions her relationship with Mate may be more like friends than romantic. She goes home, gets drunk and has a conversation with her mother that makes her mom think she has a job and a dorm to stay in, when actually she takes David up on his offer to stay at his house. David of course is thrilled to have Bo Tong close to him and meets her wacky family when he comes to pick her up and help smooth over the lies Bo Tong has told them. Bo Tong beating up her Karate Crazy brother is hilarious! You’d think he’d be a good fighter by now?
In the mean time, poor Electric Fairy has admitted to falling in love for the first time with Mate. She totally thinks he is pure and without an agenda (haha!), so she helps him by diverting Na Hong Ran by thinking instead of destroying Mate she needs to protect herself instead. Electric Fairy also finds out that Na Hong Ran was behind the attack on her parents food stand.
Bo Tong moves into David’s house and their chemistry together is so cute and quirky! David is trying to get air time for the socks with his manager and puts his job on the line if they don’t sell out. His manager is a hoot, really obsessed with his hands and a drama king! Mate meets Bo Tong and David for a meeting and wants to know why she didn’t answer her phone. He finds out she spent the night at David’s and gets put on the spot for assuming the wrong thing when he should know Bo Tong’s character. Mate is really unbalanced by this turn of events! When Bo Tong tries to explain later Mate is totally involved with how he is going to convince David’s manager to sell their socks, but tells her to move back home. So, of course she thinks he’s jealous-that’s our girl (in full Bo Tong mode)!
Mate goes to Electric Fairy for advice on his sock problem. Electric Fairy confides in Mate that her childhood was difficult because of her parents’ disabilities and that this is what made her develop her skills in reading and manipulating people; to find their “button”. While trying to figure out what the button is, Mate is wondering if Bo Tong has gone home or still at David’s house-and tries to convince himself he is not curious, hahaha! Bo Tong has not gone home and is having dinner with David. In his charming way he tells her she doesn’t need to watch her weight when she says she should. She’s so in love with Mate she doesn’t realize yet how sweet David is.
There is a cute scene with Electric Fairy waiting (just like a girl) for Mate’s call and she’s playing with her dancing monkey props. He calls and they arrange to meet at a cafe to work on finding a person’s button. Bo Tong calls Mate who immediately asks if she moved back home, kkk! This is a funny conversation, he is in total Mate mode and she is in Bo Tong mode!
While at the cafe, Bo Tong shows up after doing a stalker search. Electric Fairy sees “buttons” all over Bo Tong and leaves the two of them alone. Bo Tong actually has a reason to see Mate, she’s found out where the home shopping manager goes the same time every week. So Mate goes only to find out it’s a nail salon and has his first manicure.
In true eel form, the manicurist is of course wearing a leopard print top and going gaga over Mate’s beauty. She accidentally puts too much lotion on his hand. During this time Mate has been observing the manager enter and assumes he is gay by his actions. So Mate walks over to “share” his hand cream with the manager by intertwining their fingers and sliding them back and forth.
Mate is embarrassed as the manager says he has different taste and likes girls (Though he obviously enjoyed the hand action with the handsome Mate). This is the funniest and sexiest scene!
Mate reeling from his embarrassing encounter is at home with his friend Jang Duk Saeng who is looking to stay with Mate. Mate has a better idea and brings him over to David’s house as a helper for Bo Tong (more like spy I think!) Mate then goes to see Electric Fairy and says finding the button and doing the right thing is difficult for him. He wants to know if she can see his button and she replies yes. If she pushes his button he will want to kiss her. Electric Fairy calls Kim In Joong, the woman with connections, who will be Mate’s third challenge.
Mate and Electric Fairy look like they’re going to kiss but end up rubbing noses. Actor Jang makes this so sexy! Though it isn’t a kiss, it is still a very intimate scene. Eels all want to be in Electric Fairy’s shoes for that moment; OK maybe not the male eels-hehehe!
Electric Fairy and Yoo Ra meet again and Electric Fairy warns Yoo Ra that Mate’s path could be dangerous and that he seems to be her “soldier”.Electric Fairy also tells her that love/affection is more important than any message from the gods and will protect her daughter.
Mate sends Bo Tong to Kim In Joong with the socks, who agrees to register them and thus able to sell them on MG Home Shopping network.
In a funny exchange, Mate and David make snippy comments at each other because Bo Tong is unloading boxes by herself. Mate picks on her about a water can she is carrying around. David says that obviously it’s a purse. That amazes Bo Tong that he gets her style. Bo Tong and Mate share a close moment when she sees he is nervous just before air time.
Mate ruins David’s plan to have Bo Tong breathe on the socks as a good luck charm and does it instead! When the socks start selling Mate sees Bo Tong is crying and she said she was worried if the socks didn’t sell it would be difficult for Mate-so sweet! He was so touched he said he give her 10 pictures of him! Mate steps out of the studio for a few minutes to contemplate the end of this obstacle and reflect on his emotions of pride and self-worth in accomplishing this task and actually earning money and has feelings of thankfulness to Bo Tong. When Mate comes back to the studio he finds David and Bo Tong hugging and grabbing each others hands in the excitement of the moment. Watching them, Mate realizes Bo Tong is David’s button.
In conclusion, I see Mate using Bo Tong in the same way Yoo Ra is using him. We also see an awareness of feelings growing in Mate for Bo Tong. We see progress in Mate’s journey with each challenge. I begin to understand why JKS wanted to do this project. The experience and progression in Mate’s life is similar to what Actor Jang has been doing for 20 years to achieve his goals, so he understands and is able to give a genuine portrayal of Dok Go Mate. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share this episode with you!
[END]
the “hand lotion” scene is so hilarious…
I can’t stop laughing with that scene… 😀 😀 😀 😀
I had to watch that scene a few times lol! I felt really sorry for Mate to be so embarrassed!
Diana, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Woww….another awesome detailed Recap.
This drama is sooo funny, yet educational at the same time. This drama give me a roller-coaster ride every episode. Just in this episode also, I was……Aweeee “heart melts on the Eskimo Kiss” and smiling and laughing like Noonatic through out the whole episode…!!!
I laugh until I have tears in my eyes seeing so many “buttons” all over BoTong’s body. Totally hilarious!!! Then I was literally on the floor with the “sexy manicare” scene. ROFL
This drama is getting better and better as each episode progress. After finishing watching each episode, my feeling is…I want to watch it again and again. I can’t get enough of this drama. Love it sooooo much!!!!
P.S. Yeap….agree with you this story is Mangwa version of real Jang Keun Suk’s life story. For Jang Keun Suk, nothing is come easy in his life like everyone thoughts, he had worked sooo hard since he was young until now. Every things he earns and has NOW, all through his own hard earned sweats and pure determination. If Jang Keun Suk is not strong man, mentally, he won’t be able to withstand all the pressures and hates pressing on his name.
To Jang Keun Suk, Please don’t feel despaired or loss hope and trust in your own institution and confident with your choice. Awww….Jang Keun Suk-ahh, you definitely made the RIGHT CHOICE to play this role, Dokgo Matte!!! This role is so perfect for you, it seemed like the writer wrote the story with you in her mind all the times.
Please please…keeps continue producing it, please continue striving for it, please keeps fighting for it. Someday, you will reach your dreams!!!! ZiKzin!!!
Yes, there was so much in this episode to talk about! Actor Jang should not be concerned with Korean ratings, eels all over the world are watching and supporting his drama!
thank you Diana & Tenshi
Another great episode of Bel Ami.
Things I learnt from ep 5:
1. Everyone has one button, botong’s is an exception.
2. If tired after driving, leave physical job done by others
3. Quarelling with sibling in front of new friends is allowed, however keep the thing in classy finish
4. Never knew that one’s way of laughing is addicting and ringing in the ears forever.
5. Wanna know where pretty boys hang out? Search online now.
6. Two men bickering each other is a sign of BFF.
Cheers
lol rham! great learnings! hope u had fun watching the ep
This drama is literally about JKS and his eels’ love for him… Bo Tong speaks for so many of us lol!! Thanks Diana for your awesome virgin recap! Cant wait for the rest!
Farina, eels need to wear red buttons for JKS!
Farina! I agree… so writers made research about the EELs of JKS before writing the script kkkk.
or maybe the writer herself is an eel.kkkk..
Diana reading this was a pure delight. Thank you and I look forward to more.
This whole ratings thing I don’t understand but in the US, if the ratings are low, the show is cancelled. I hope that S. Koreans will tape The Heirs (since it’s their last two shows and they can save them). Also, I made this to show support for JKS: http://youtu.be/Y5euq4ScZ-E
Thanks Tamara! I think Korea would be amazed at how many people ate viewing this drama worldwide. The fact his fans broke the record for rice wreath donations at his presscon speaks volumes about his fan base right?
I hate auto spell check! Tamitra!
Reminds me of the US chain Staples, who had a commercial series called the Easy Button… for ordering office supplies.
*presses large Easy Button*
I’d like a Dokgo Mate of my own – stat! LOL
Haha Nan-YES! We should find those and wear them at his next Dmitry!
Fan meet
As I said, I want to be fair. In equal measure try to watch other shows. I think the only way I can judge right and can do comparison. The conclusion we reached is that after 18 episodes of the series that I just saw I was with many impressions of deja vu, without to touch me very much to feelings. I’ve seen much the same story in a series from 2009 in the lead role the same actor. But this is not a problem.
The problem is that JKS made me cry since the first episode and equally made me laugh. I always think that he can surprise me with something. Wrong! Always appear pleasant surprises!
So this is the big difference between appreciate an actor because it is attractive and appreciate an Actor for his talent.
I think Beautiful Man is the most beautiful Christmas gift that JKS made for his fans.
Only good thoughts to all.
Well said Adriana, I’m doing the same like you- watching both dramas. And I found difficult to put myself into the other drama, but Beautiful Man made me laugh like a crazy woman this moment and made me cry in next minute.
Judging from your description of the other drama it must be the same as the one my daughter is still watching…and complains about that the plot goes nowhere and the stiff acting of the leads is really not worth mentioning (positively)…the only reason she said she’s still watching it because she started it and continues for the second lead for he is far better in this drama…
So I mention your post to her and she agrees with you..she was also watching the one before BM simultane with the “other” and she found the one before BM to be a big surprise to her..and she loved it..
I must confess I have not attempt to watch the other drama because I saw some befores and some stills and it did nothing to me…Maybe it’s not a right thing to do but If I don’t feel it I don’t watch it; don’t care who is acting..I just don’t like the feeling….”see I was right with my feeling” and being annoyed all the time..
So next will be BM for her so I hope she can enjoy BM as much as I/we do…
Adrina, thank you so much for sharing your honest thoughts without bashing on the other drama that you watched. And thank you for not mentioning name of the other drama. We don’t want to create fans-war in this website, don’t we?!!!
Let’s us forget about other Drama while we are watching Beautiful Man. Let’s us enjoy watching Beautiful Man without worry….just as Jang Keun Suk told us to do so…just enjoy his gift to eels. Lets us with it with thankful heart that Beautiful Man is playing by him and it can entertain us to the point that our stresses or unhappy moods are totally wipe away when watching it..(especially ME). I always feel soo happy and joyful while watching this drama and still happy after finishing watching it..!!!
Beautiful Man is a diamond in a dirt….if people pay attention to it and look at it with unbiased heart, they should see the real values, life lessons come with a comedy/funny drama…!!!!!
OK, the “why” of this show is starting to make sense now. In showing that this was the first money he made for himself you see that in many ways he is just as naive as Bo Tong. I do have some concerns when it comes to David, though. We really don’t know enough about him to trust him, there is a fine line between quirky and mentally ill and my gut points to the latter in this situation.
I think how this show has been presented has been wrong. He’s charming women not seducing with the intent of learning business and people skills. These aren’t conquests, they’re relationships and he’s not doing any damage, he’s building upon and strengthening relationships. If he were a girl this would not even be an issue here. I think people assume this show is about some pretty guy using 10 women (stepping on them) to get ahead. If I wanted to see that I could go out on any given night to the coffee shop or a club to see that. He does not have that nauseating sense of entitlement that you see in most narcissists. This makes teaching him delightfully refreshing and he has been able to create win-win situations.
Now, electrical fairy, or at this point unethical fairy. She knows better. It is UNETHICAL for someone who is a healer to use people’s buttons for your own gains. Although it should, the same does not apply to the business world where people are greatly rewarded as we see. It’s much easier to manipulate when you hold everyone at arms length, but if you let someone in, hmmm…
Kudos for being able to pull off some of the scenes in this episode, hilarious.
Thanks Diana! Your recap is sweet and funny. Love the sizzling hot Eskimo kiss scene so much!! Does anyone have any idea whether the lotion scene was something that was lifted from the manhwa? Gosh this is so funny, I almost LMAO.
The more I watch BM, the more I like it. The script is simply so compelling and fresh, nothing like some other high rating but boring TV drama which recycled the same gimmick over and over and over again. As the show progresses, I realize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the plot nor the cast. I don’t think it’s anything to do with Korean Adjumma’s cup of tea for TV drama as well. The only thing that went wrong is the promotion – why on earth did they put the emphasis on Mate’s beauty and his seducing of 10 women??? This show has so much more to offer than just one evolving around a gigolo!! There is simply no gigolo involved, and in fact, it is very educational. It teaches us the value of money, the importance of finding people’s button (aka how to find their emotional weakness and thus to influence them to act in a way that will be to your advantage) and the importance of building up your network in just the first six episodes. Also, the “seducing” part is more like asking for advice from wise and successful women who are older than Mate in the normal social context. The show is about Mate learning how to do business, how to pull the right strings so as to enable him to regain his position as an heir to a conglomerate, and lessons he learns about life.
I guess they promoted BM the same way they did for the manhwa…not quite the same situation so they should not have just copied the tag line and idea they used for the manhwa… and even they did not promote the manhwa in such a way, the way they are promoting BM is obviously not Korean Adjumma’s cup of tea. I cannot emphasize more that the script is top shelf. Imagine this show is named something else instead, for instance, “The Heirs” (come on – Mate is an heir to the MG Group), and the tag line is along the line how the main lead regain his position!! The conspiracy, suspense and romance involved would be exactly what the Korea Adjumma is looking for!
Yes I agree with you about the promotion…
For Korea they should not have promote this thing as how you put it..
For most of us eels we know the value of JKS and that he would never pick up such a project as to play a “gigolo” just for playing a gigolo’s sake..We know we can trust him in that…and he has not dissapoint us..BM is everything we hoped for and far more than that…
Well I don’t know for the Korean Adjummas but I know this adjumma is pretty happy about Pretty Man…and we have to promote this drama the right way for the cast by complimenting about it in the forums…cheers and ZIKZIN
Hi Kenken/mamacri, you know what I have been wondering too since Ep2 why the marketing strategy was done that way for this drama, and just recently I realized that maybe is testing his real fan base. He wants to know if people would watch because they really want to see him act once more because he was missed as a great actor or because of the storyline of the drama. Fortunately for us eels we got the icing on the cake because this drama is just really amazing – all the emotions are alive in each episode and you get to take home life lessons specially if you open your mind to ponder on all the small details. What can I say – I just love it. Thank you Diana for your refreshing thoughts and recap! BM fightin’!
Sis Diana, thank you for the wonderful recap. I enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed watching this episode. This episode made me laugh so much… and beyond the exaggerated humour, some scenes seemed to reflect our reality that much. How many of us have experienced ‘misjudging’ others (or in line with this drama- seeing or pressing the wrong button) just because we only see them from the ‘surface’ and not trying to look deeper? Unless we’re the gifted/ well-trained ‘electric fairy’ or as obviously in love as Choi David, I guess we all have to learn as much as Ma Te did ;). And the more episodes we see, the more layers of Ma Te are shown… he is no longer this cocky gold digger to me. I started to have more affectionate feelings towards him :p. In the first episodes, esp. when he was still with Jaek Hee, to be honest, I kinda disliked him haha… well, JKS is such an awesome actor that he could actually make me, his own eel, had this mixed feeling about the character he is playing :)).
After 6 episodes now, despite the not so satisfying rating, I truly wish this drama, the production team & the casts all the best of luck. it has given me so much enjoyment so far and I do hope that there will be a good reward for them. Quoting what sis Adriana has written above: this is the most beautiful christmas gift from JKS to us, his eels :). Let’s keep supporting him & this drama as best as we can! zikzin!
Thank you NoonaEel! This drama is complex and has many layers! I think we press wrong button in others all the time because we are too self centered. The funny thing is Mate wasn’t mad, he was disappointed in himself and embarrassed.
Thanks, Diana! Same as you, I now understand why JKS chose this drama. That became clear to me around the 3rd or 4th episode – Dokgo Ma Te is JKS & JKS is Dokgo Ma Te. The drama shows a young man’s journey in learning the ways of the world and gaining wisdom and maturity in the process. This, he actually did learn the hard way in real life. It also shows the side of him that we usually see and lets us in on the side that we don’t. Presented in a quirky and comical manner, it is hilarious! But sans all the eccentricity, when you look beyond what you see and dig deeper, there is a lot to learn from it.
Exactly!
and all the while I have not even thank Diana for her precious recap…thanks sis
No thanks needed, it was my honor as an eel to participate!
Diana sis, thanks for the ep5 recap and I can see many eels seeing Mate is actually Suk now.. isn’t it this drama a perfect gift from Suk to eels…he will be the one and only actor who did a drama just for his eels… when I see up to ep5, I notice Suk actually has already learnt on these skills Mate will be learning in Suk’s real life.. really interesting drama for eels ^_^
Yes QQeyes007! JKS is so smart, eels will see new clues and messages no matter how many times we watch!
I think Sukkie knows his eels to be worthy of these life’s lesson…
He must be on the move again one of these days….for his show in Japan..
Maybe we get to see his Japanse and Korean eels decked with a lot of red buttons to show him our love and support…
How I wish I was there to participate..
That Jason guy must step up a bit for Sukkie is already reaching 15 million eels already on Weibo…
Jason is a bit lacking isn’t he!!!
MamaCri, I hate to criticize but Tree J needs to prepare more for international business yesterday! (They are behind providing fan servicel
Yes…that’s true…Tree J need to step up to this…Sukkie really has a lot of international fans and the numbers are growing very very fast…
I don’t know what kept them…If it’s shortage of personal…I’m sure a lot of eels would be very happy to help out even for free…; they are already very busy in all kind of blogs and forums..
Let’s say the first step is set…by opening up Cri-J for the international fans…
And now we get to tell Sukkie what we really want to tell him all along..
I can’t wait for januari to come quickly for my membership to open
Diana and MamaCri, I totally agreed with you!! Internal eels had been complaining for many years now about TreeJ’s lack of resources (or sorry to say not nice word… very incompetent) in many areas. Since Tree J company is very young company and ONLY has sole provider artiste, JKS, I tended to forgive them. But sometimes, their’s untimely responses or un-appologized actions make me bang head against the wall…loll.
I hope Tree J Company can recruit some English literate persons, at lease, with sound Business sense, so they can start to better serve Internal eels better since we are grow more and more in numbers. I truly wish Tree J Company to grow bigger and strong..!!!
Diana. Thanks a lot for making the recap for this episode. Reading this gave a feeling as if I’m watching it again for the nth time. After watching this episode I fully realized what Sukkie posted about ” He made the right choice of making this drama”. And its true, as Mate’s character evolved, you cannot only see Mate grown in wisdom,but you can see how Suk strive to work very hard, bear all the bad criticisms and made him what he is now. It seems that Mate and Sukkie are inseparable souls intertwined.
The Eskimo kiss, made me feel giddy as it so romantic. But that scene in the parlor made me laugh a lot, and I repeated it many times.
Daryl, I loved the Eskimo kiss and experienced great envy for the actress playing Electric Fairy!
I wonder when Bo Tong will find out about the relationship between Matae, Yoo Ra and her daughter & the MG president…. In fact they are family..
didnt suk once said he like to choose a character which really suit him and i think this Mate is the most similar with him among the other roles. as an actor..he like to show himself and his many sides frm each character he played.he want us to know him more through the character indirectly..and we can easily relate his character with his real self because he show himself more as JKS when he’s not acting.
Yes Mate, is so parallel with Sukkie. Mate seduces 10 women to be become successful, while Sukkie seduced more than 10 million women while working to hone his talents kkkkk…
Hahaha…only 10 m? Guess we are all walking red buttons lol
Diana you done a marvelous job in recapping episode 5. I enjoyed it very much. I love how much Mate grow up and learning in this episode. My favourite part is the scene with the ‘Eskimo Kiss’, l feel electric current running through my body with it. He was looking into her eyes all the way and slowly approached her then “BANG” the killer smile sooooooo close before his nose kiss her nose. I would die if I were her.
Thank you so much for the fun and detailed recap Diana!