Oohlala Spouses Episode 3 Recap

  Such a solid episode, and the comedy is rampant throughout. But especially in the first and last scenes. The latter brings in our male second lead. Yay! And awkward! More yay!

  The reporter runs in screaming "Sayuri! Sayuri!" He cradles her lifeless body and apologizes for making her like this. As he apologizes, her ghost comes up behind him and tells him she has no regrets, even though he can't see or hear her. "How many people in this world love someone enough to put their life on the line? Without you, my life would be empty. I'm happy." He touches her face and kisses her forehead. 

  He finds the letter tucked into her kimono and starts reading it, as her ghost also recites what she wrote. "Although we came separately to this world, let's leave it together. In the next life, let's live as husband and wife. Let's live happily. Come quickly. I'm waiting for you." 

  THUNK. He drops her body and jerks back. He apologizes and says he can't leave yet, much as he wants to. Ghost Sayuri's face falls. "I can't go, I have too much to do here. I have to fight for independence. If I go, who will save the country? You understand, right?" (Who are you, Batman? You know Gaksital was your last drama, right?)

  Ghost Sayuri argues that she already died, and she can't understand. "Men should die for their country. How can I die like this, for love alone? My ancestors wouldn't forgive me, either. So don't worry about it and go comfortably." As he dries his tears, her ghost tears start flowing.

  She answers "I can't forgive you. Go comfortably?! I only ever trusted you! Men are all the same, just like the freaking wind!" Ghost Sayuri swings at Reporter's face, but just keeps falling through him. A gust of wind blows in and carries the letter away. So hilarious!

  We're back to the hospital, where Yeo Ok and Soo Nam have just seen each other in their bodies. They start blaming each other for the switch, and suddenly Soo Nam comes up with a cunning plan. He drags Yeo Ok off to the tree where the ambulance crashed. He decides there's something special about the tree. Yeo Ok is skeptical. Soo Nam decides they need to run from opposite directions and crash into the tree, so they can switch back. 

  Soo Nam gets frustrated with his hair getting in his face, and Yeo Ok calms him by stroking it back behind his ears, but then ruins his calm by saying that this doesn't make sense. Soo Nam yells back that the whole situation doesn't make sense, so in a nonsensical situation the only solution is a nonsensical one. (Yay, Secret Garden!)

  They rev up and Soo Nam demands that Yeo Ok run full-out, or it won't work. Yeo Ok shoos the concerned bystanders, and they count down. Soo Nam runs full-force into the tree, and Yeo Ok waits until he's almost there before starting to slowly jog up and then just taps her head against the tree. Hahaha! They crash to the ground (Yeo Ok's faking it), still in the wrong bodies. Soo Nam yells that she should have run into the tree like lightning. 

  The second time they both do it for real, and Yeo Ok ends up with a bleeding head, but still in Soo Nam's body. She starts crying and throws some dead leaves at him, screaming for him to just leave. 

  Soo Nam gets back to his hospital room with a bandaged head, and MIL asks where he's been. He kicks his shoes off into the air and flings himself onto the bed. MIL keeps pestering him and he yells at her. She's taken aback and asks if her daughter-in-law will even yell at her now. Soo Nam thinks back to a conversation with Yeo Ok where she told him not to ruin her reputation. They agree to try to act like one another. 

  Soo Nam apologizes to MIL and realizes he's sitting with his legs wide apart. He grabs his knees and pushes them together. (A hilarious quirk that he does repeatedly from here on out.) He tells MIL to go to bed, then throws himself back and decides they'll switch back after sleeping. 

  No such luck, as Yeo Ok wakes up still a man. A fact which she checks for herself, and then laughs hysterically. Good thing Soo Nam isn't there to be humiliated. (Or maybe not. He pretty much deserves it.) He bursts in just then and tells her she has to go to work for him. She argues that she's never even been to the hotel, and he tells her he'll drive.

  Which he does. Like a maniac. He tells her she only has to attend one meeting, but she has to make sure to tell John that she's working hard for the hotel despite her accident, to help him become hotel manager. Yeo Ok answers that since they're technically strangers now, she doesn't care whether or not he gets the job. Soo Nam explains that he's made an appointment with a monk who specializes in conducting spirits and they'll go right after the meeting. All Yeo Ok has to do is report on the guests from England. And if she sees Kang Jin Goo, she needs to respond to any barbs he sends her way. And say as little as possible.
  Yeo Ok goes inside, complaining to herself that if he had just once shown her around or bought her dinner at the hotel, she wouldn't feel so lost. She remembers him telling her to bow to everyone, since she doesn't know who is a guest and who is an employee.

  She walks past registration, where Victoria pouts at being ignored, and then does a double-take when she recognizes Victoria. Victoria is overjoyed to be acknowledged by her love and smiles. Yeo Ok's face starts twitching and she glares, thinking to herself that Soo Nam promised Victoria wasn't an employee of the hotel. She thinks that Victoria is lucky she has business to attend to, and wanders off. Victoria is completely oblivious to the crazy looks and watches Yeo Ok hopefully as she leaves. 

  Yeo Ok marvels at the beautiful office and then practices her spiel for John. She just can't get it straight in her head if the guests are British or American, though. Victoria comes in and says how worried she's been, and wants to know how the divorce went. After glaring at her, Yeo Ok stands and grabs her shoulders from behind, asking "Have you missed me?" She answers that she stayed up all night, "and you know how bad it is for me to lose sleep." 

  She realizes Soo Nam might not be recovered from the accident (you should definitely go with that excuse, Yeo Ok), and asks about the divorce. Yeo Ok is angry she knows everything, and finally answers "Your wish came true." Victoria tries to kiss her, and Yeo Ok pushes her forehead, keeping her at arm's length.

  Yeo Ok thinks to herself that Victoria should enjoy this happiness while it lasts, because once she realizes what being Soo Nam's wife entails, she won't be happy anymore. "Like taking care of shrewish MIL, dealing with that vixen Il Ran, and raising our crazy teenage son. HA!" Victoria beams at the thought of living harmoniously with her love. Yeo Ok steps close, raising Victoria's hopes for some skinship, and spins her around, thinking about biting her. The image shifts from Soo Nam's body to Yeo Ok's, complete with red eyes and vampire fangs. Haha!

  Yeo Ok prepares for the meeting, repeating that the American clients are due (uh-oh!). Han Man Soo approaches to ask if she's okay after the accident, but she thinks he must be Jin Goo and calls him a rat, even making a rat face and little rat noises. She goes inside and he follows, totally throwing her for a loop since there are now 3 people in the meeting, instead of the 2 Soo Nam assured her would be there. Now she doesn't know which is her enemy. 

  She timidly slides into her seat and reports on the guests from the U.S., confusing everyone. So she repeats herself. Later, Soo Nam yells at her for not knowing the difference between Americans and the English, but she says they all look alike. (It's funny to me, as an American, because so many Americans say that about Asians. And yes, I do think it's very small-minded of them.) Also, I love that Soo Nam is still running around in his hospital pajamas! Soo Nam screams that he's going crazy. 

  Yeo Ok asks if he knows what going crazy feels like, because she's in a far worse state than he is. She met "that girl," and—"How did it go? Did you talk to her?" "I called her to the restroom and pulled her hair and punched her 3 times!" Soo Nam reveals that Victoria is a patient, but Yeo Ok just laughs it off. 

  They visit the monk, and he tells them about a case he saw 5 years ago. Except it was a woman and her husband's mistress who were switched, and he couldn't switch them back because the wife couldn't handle the red beans.

  He explains that for Soo Nam and Yeo Ok, their souls left their bodies in the accident and found the wrong bodies. So, he'll use black beans to chase the souls out and red beans to force them to the proper bodies. He grabs 4 giant bags of beans and explains that if they fail, he'll have to eat all these beans, and he's still working through the ones from 5 years ago. He starts peppering them with the beans, but he's not strong enough, so he gets out a contraption he made himself, which seems to be a pitching machine for beans. 

  Soo Nam returns to the hospital (with red spots all over his face from the beans) and tries unsuccessfully to hide from Lawyer Lee and Ae Sook. He confuses them by addressing them as he normally would. He makes excuses, grabs the gift basket they brought, and leaves. But Ae Sook grabs his arm and tells him this is a sign to not get a divorce. It's enough to show your man that you mean business. "After we pulled that knife on the other girl, my husband's like a different person, like a pet around our house." Soo Nam snickers at that and makes excuses to get away.

  Soo Nam meets with Dr. Wolhwa and nurse Bunny-tail Moo San to beg to be released. He tells them that he's a man stuck in this ahjumma's body, and they snicker to themselves. They discharge him, and Dr. Wolhwa warns him that no amount of pelting by red beans will change things. 

  Flashback to the monk waking Yeo Ok, who has a face and a mouth full of beans. Too bad they're not switched back. The monk starts crying because he doesn't know how he'll manage to eat all the beans. Soo Nam stirs and they ask if there's any other method. The monk suggests that they try sleeping together, an idea which makes Yeo Ok recoil in disgust. 

  Soo Nam drives MIL, and MIL clutches the emergency handle for dear life. She apologizes for treating her daughter-in-law so badly in the past. Eventually, she passes out. Soo Nam carries her into the house and lays her down in her room, collapsing next to her. Il Ran asks what happened, and he answers roughly. Then he realizes his mistake, sits up and pushes his knees together, and addresses Il Ran more respectfully. Yeo Ok runs in to give MIL some water, and Il Ran remarks on how they're acting like each other. MIL kicks Soo Nam and Yeo Ok out of the room.

  Soo Nam instructs Yeo Ok on the staff at the hotel. Yeo Ok points out that he told her she was worthless and that memorizing names and faces isn't going to make her suddenly able to run a hotel. They get in an argument and Soo Nam suggests she ask Victoria for help. Yeo Ok flips out at this, and Soo Nam tries to appease her and begs for her help. She refuses and he threatens to take back all the money and the apartment before they can switch back their bodies. 

  MIL summons them to her bedside and says she felt that they should stay together for the sake of Ki Chan, but now realizes that Yeo Ok needs to live her own life, out of this house. They both refuse vehemently and promise that she'll leave after the divorce is finalized. He even remembers to use the respectful -yo ending, even if his tone is not so respectful.

  They go to a park for a talk and Yeo Ok asks why she's the one being victimized by his family when all she's done is take care of them since the day they were married. At least he had days off from work, but her housework took all day every day. Soo Nam is completely disengaged in the conversation, but manages to tie some of his hair up with a long stem of grass. 

  We see their souls now, and Soo Nam's hair is still tied up with the grass. Haha! Yeo Ok says that yes, she went on strike just once, but she was making a point. After all these years of only depending on him, and he betrayed her for that other woman. She starts to cry, and he awkwardly pats her on the shoulder and says sorry. It's not enough, and Yeo Ok yells that if he's really sorry, he should get them switched back. He yells back that he wants to switch as much as she does, and she starts wailing. He yells at her that she's embarrassing him, and she falls on the bench sobbing.

  That night, Soo Nam decides they should try out the monk's final bit of advice, but Yeo Ok is absolutely against it. He insists that they're desperate, so they should at least give it a shot, and keeps groping at her. She repeatedly pushes him away, even kicking him out of bed, and giving him a bloody nose. She finally tells him that he has little to recommend him, even if he thinks he's all that, and he doesn't even know how to make a woman happy in bed. "It's all about how a man treats a woman." He finally turns off the light and tries again, but she insists that he's vulgar and disgusting and threatens to kick him again. 

  The next morning, Yeo Ok is asleep on the floor while Soo Nam is sprawled all over the bed. She wakes him up to make breakfast, which he clearly has little experience with. Il Ran tells him to wash some clothes, and he snaps at her to do it herself. . . since "the effects of an accident are no joke." He finally agrees to do it.

  MIL strokes a sleeping Yeo Ok's shoulder, muttering about her daughter-in-law being so unsupportive of her hardworking son. She continues badmouthing her and praising Soo Nam and finally Yeo Ok snaps, yelling that she doesn't even know her daughter-in-law after 12 years. "She's kindhearted, has a good body, is pretty and good at housework, and the truth is that I don't deserve her. So be nice to her, okay? And one more thing. You always talk about how uneducated she is, but you have less schooling than she does, so stop saying such things." MIL splutters at that, and Yeo Ok runs out.
  At the hotel, she heads through the lobby bowing to everyone (including a surprised bellhop, heehee) She remembers more of Soo Nam's instructions, including him giving her his phone and telling her to keep all phone conversations short. 

  Up in his office, Yeo Ok gets a call from Woman and wonders who it could be. When she answers, it's Soo Nam, and she yells at him for only being listed as Woman. She hangs up on him. She cries and decides that she was the fool for taking care of him all this time. She decides that it's the end of her helping him become General Manager. The phone starts ringing again, and she tears the battery out and goes to chuck it across the room, before realizing that it's expensive. 

  She heads back down to the lobby and stops dead in her tracks to see a nice-looking man. In her head she calls him "Oppa" and we see her take on her feminine form. With tears in her eyes she hugs him. The entire lobby stops and stares at them, Victoria starts to run over, and we see what they see: Soo Nam tenderly hugging a random male hotel guest. Hahahahaha!

  Comments:
  This is my favorite scene so far. It's hilarious to see Soo Nam hugging this guy, and the guy's expression is so great. Plus, the reactions from all the witnesses just make this so awesome. It's great that we begin and end this episode with such awesome scenes!

  I also love all the incarnations of Wolhwa and Moo San—first in the food stand, then as a security guard at the courthouse, as patients in the hospital, a random ferry passenger and now as doctor and nurse. They seem to be having a blast with their parts, and I really enjoy watching them, even if Narsha is basically there as an aegyo factor and nothing else.
  I'm confused by MIL and Il Ran, though. I can't decide if I should hate them for their treatment of Yeo Ok all this time, or if they really are starting to regret it. They've both had moments of defending her, but sometimes it's only for familial harmony or because they're worried about what other people will think of them. And my feelings toward them are only complicated by all the wrong ideas they're now getting since the body swap.

  I do love that Yeo Ok was able to stand up to MIL and defend herself, even if it was in the guise of Soo Nam. Hopefully she'll be able to do that as herself down the line, and demand the respect she truly deserves. Because our heroine has been a doormat for far too long, and really needs to learn to value herself, so others can value her too.