East of Eden

Since I am 100% going to watch this drama and I don’t think anyone else is recapping it… (:
I know this is totally not what I planned to recap nor is it probably what my past readers want, but I am really loving this drama so far and see no reason why I should recap anything else. (No other dramas have appealed to me lately but this one feels like its going to be very likeable ^^)
no screen caps because i still am not completely dedicated to recapping this drama yet. i might add a few later but there wont be 50 like i did for EoE. (at least not yet)

So. Shall we begin?
Episode one starts with a rich older woman getting a baby from an average person’s house.
Her employee (butler?) is the one who actually goes in to get the baby, and as he leaves with it, he hears the sound of another child crying from inside the house. He is in a hurry so he doesn’t really stop to think about that.
Fast forward into the future and we see Dae san (Kwon Sang Woo♥) hurrying through busy streets. He is opening a store in a cheap market kind of area. He suddenly gets a phone call and rushes over to a funeral hall.
(This confused me a little, how was the man already in a funeral hall before Daesan even heard about his death?)
Anyways, this scene is also where we meet the leading lady of the drama, Yoojin (SNSD’s Yoona). she cries with her mom until her mom suddenly collapses onto the floor. Daesan rushes over and ends up carrying the mother to the hospital.
(Yoona is getting some criticism for her acting in this drama, and although i somewhat agree, i thought she did a good job with the hospital scene. when she just sat down in the hallway i could feel her pain.)
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New character! But it’s Kwon Sang Woo again! This time as Joonhee, son of the rich family. As you can easily figure out, he is the baby that was taken in the opening scene, and Daesan is the child that was still in the house.
He is kind of a jerk and goes straight to his cool car, ignoring the butler. He practically runs over a woman who has also just come out of the airport. (We don’t see her again in the episode, but she is the second female lead, played by Full House’s Han Eun Jung. (I really like her, but her hair is definitely killing her image.)
Over at the grave site, the rich family leaves. We see the grandmother’s distaste for her step grandson. (And his mother’s distaste for the grandmother.)
Obviously not a happy family, especially with the death of the father.
They arrive at home just as Joonhee pulls up in his cool car. To really show his bad boy image, he is blasting… Simple Plan. (LOL i laughed my head off. That’s the music i used to listen to when i was.. twelve.)
The gradnmother slaps him. (So she hates all the grandkids. Maybe because neither one of them is actually blood related to her.)
The will is read to them inside. Joonhee and his older step brother Jaemin each get 40% of the company and the grandmother gets 20%. His wife gets the house.
Joonhee smirks at his step mother’s reaction and actually laughs out loud as he walks away up the stairs.
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Back to Daesan. He is at an expensive store trying to sneakily take pictures of the clothing so that he can copy them and sell his own cheap versions later.
Yoojin is in the hospital where she finds out that her mom will be okay but basically needs to stay in the hospital for awhile longer.
Over at the market, Daesan sees Yoojin sitting in the store sadly by herself. When someone tries to buy something, Yoojin fails horribly because she doesnt know what is going on, so Daesan rushes over to help. He happens to say that he is the store owner (because he wants the lady to buy the clothing) Yoojin interrupts to say he isn’t the owner. The poor customer is confused and leaves angrily. Clash number one between our main leads (:
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The grandmother returns to the family home. Jaemin’s mother is obviously unhappy while Jaemin manages to hide his feelings.
In his room, his mother asks him what his plan is now. He kind of avoids the question and pushes her out of the room.
Poor Jaemin ;_; I love his character.
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Yoojin arrives home and goes through the mail… only to find out that her father is so in debt that they are losing their home.
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The grandmother is in the office and is impressed at how organized everything is. An employee tells her that Jaemin has been keeping everything perfectly organized. She tells him to leave the room. (lol.)
She talks with the butler/sidekick, Seukhwan (Jandi’s dad from “Boys Over Flowers”; he was also in dramas “Delightful Girl Choon Hyang” and “My Girl”.)
She is pissed off that Jaemin’s family is secretly buying their company stocks. She doesn’t want a non-family member to take over. Her only hope is Joonhee.
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Daesan is trying to be sneaky and check out expensive clothing again, but one of the sales ladies seems to catch on. She pretty much tells him to get out when suddenly someone from another store rushes in and hands him his bags, asking him to please come again. Everyone is confused but Daesan seizes the opportunity (and the bags), rubs it in the sales lady’s face, and leaves the store.
In the bathroom he is excited to have somehow ended up with such nice clothes, but Joonhee is in the store and angry. The worker claims she gave the clothes to him, but he points out that is obviously not true.
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local gangsters (not very threatening, but a little scary for yoojin who is kind of in a daze) are trying to force yoojin to hand over the store. Daesan arrives and is shoved into the store. He tries to talk the gangsters out of doing anything but when that fails, he starts beating them up. They are both barely hurt, but afterwards Daesan still takes Yoojin to get medicine. He then takes her up to a tower where they can see all the pretty city lights. He yells some random stuff about his business succeeding and then tells her to yell whatever she wants and he covers his ears (and looks adorable♥. WHO SAYS HE IS TOO OLD FOR THIS PART?)
This scene is the reason I have hope for this drama. As cliche as it may seem, I thought it was lovely.
Yoojin yells out her frustration at her father and cries while Daesan looks surprised and awkward. They then drink coffee together and she thanks him. He offers to help her get a job.
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Joonhee is in an apartment talking to his father’s photo. Some resentment, some saddness. His grandmother arrives and demands that he return home.
He gets angry and their conversation gets to a point where he admits that he overheard her in his childhood say that she would have never taken him if she had known how weak he would turn out. He also tells her that he knows his mother is still alive, thanks to the letter his father left him.
She is surprised and doesn’t really have a comeback for that, so she leaves.
In the car she tells Seukhwan to find Joonhee’s birth mother asap.
Jaemin and Joonhee meet at a bar. Jaemin says he will support Joonhee in his dream to become a chef but Joonhee needs to just hand over his 40% of the shares like right now.
Joonhee doesn’t seem like he wants to. Jaemin says he will wait, Joonhee should think about it.
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Daesan takes Yoojin to a small store where the owner offers to hire her as a designer if she does a good job copying real designers. She, of course, completely refuses. Outside she tells Daesan that copying others designs is stealing. He is insulted (obviously; that’s his job) and points out that she went to school on money made from her father doing that exact thing. For people in this area that need money (like she does), copying designs is not stealing, its their only way to make money.
He leaves and while waiting for a bus (can’t afford a taxi) she sees an ad for Sopia Apparel hiring designers. (Note: Sopia Apparel is Joonhee/Jaemin’s company.)
Daesan dresses lots of girls up in the clothes he has made and sends them off~ (Walking advertisements?)
Yoojin goes to an interview at Sopia, where Jaemin is part of the commitee. She realizes who he is and calls him ahjussi as if she knows him closely. He tells her that her ahjussi is not there. She leaves, confused, sure that he is the man she knew in Paris.
Daesan is at some club advertising his stuff in a.. flirty manner. Sadly, the boyfriend of the woman he is selling to arrives. And starts beating him up when Daesan’s smooth talking skills fail.
Right as Daesan escapes, Joonhee walks in. The boyfriend thinks Daesan is playing a trick on him, and starts beating up Joonhee.
Daesan is forced back into the club by a scary guy with a bat (although the fight scenes in this drama are NOTHING compared to East of Eden, lol.).
Of course, Daesan and Joonhee end up backing up right into each other. They turn around and..
END
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cliff hanger (:
will watch and recap ep 2 tomorrow. if i am still loving the drama i will add screen caps.

my only issue is han eun jung and her hair. if her character is awesome despite the hair, this drama will be good. if her character is annoying, i may have to quit. loving jaemin and the double kwon sang woo though (:
yoona is pretty and i think she will improve a lot.