You Who Came From The Stars (The Recap)

Recap: Third Record

After dragging Song-yi out of her beauty salon confrontation with jealous rival Yura, Min-joon demands to know who the girl in Song-yi’s photo is. He’s already guessed the connection but needs the confirmation: “Who are you?”

A flashback to Joseon takes us to the aftermath of doppelganger Yi-hwa’s kidnapping. She asks him a string of questions about his identity, offering that she believes in other life forms (whether grim reapers or folk-tale creatures), and therefore he can be honest about his origins. Through it all, Min-joon just looks at her with an enigmatic smile.

Song-yi invites Min-joon home with her, wanting to take care of him in exchange for him saving her life, and leads the way.

Upon arrival, they find a crowd gathered in front of her gate as Yi-hwa’s in-law announces that the new bride hanged herself last night and will be remembered as a virtuous woman (for following her dearly departed husband). Ah, so it was her own family plotting to rid themselves of her—once she married into the family, she became one of theirs, but as she is a mere widow they literally have no use for her. Her mother-in-law directs the preparation of a coffin and orders her men to find and kill the girl before she is spotted and contradicts their lie.

Min-joon notes Yi-hwa’s stunned reaction as they overhear this exchange through the open window. Just then, the henchman looks up straight at them and Min-joon reacts swiftly, placing himself in the way to block Yi-hwa from sight. He whirls around her… and suddenly, they find themselves in the middle of a faraway field.

Yi-hwa finds her freshly dug grave and cries, “Where am I to go now?” Min-joon watches her with a mix of pity and sorrow, and she decides to return to her parental home. She thanks Min-joon for his help and turns to leave, whereupon he finally speaks: “Let’s go together. I will protect you.”

With that, we return to the present day as Song-yi shakes off his arm and reminds him that she’s Chun Song-yi. Min-joon says, more to himself, “Right, there’s no reason you’re her.” Song-yi wonders who he means, curiosity piqued, then shrugs that it’s quite possible the other woman is similar-looking because everybody gets plastic surgery to look like her. Ha.

Min-joon gets distracted by the sight of Song-yi’s glittery heels, which are the same ones from his vision of a woman teetering over a railing and falling into water. He mulls over the connection with his friend Lawyer Jang, who tosses out words like reincarnation and doppelganger, which Min-joon summarily dismisses as ridiculous. I love Lawyer Jang’s reaction: “Well, considering there are aliens…”

I also love that Lawyer Jang seems to understand Min-joon better that he understands himself—at least in some regards—and prods him about whether he’ll step in. Or will he ignore it like he does everything else, hmm?

Song-yi and Se-mi stand by for shoots on their drama, and Se-mi’s in sympathetic friend mode, asking about the beauty salon incident and the man who stepped in. Song-yi identifies him as her neighbor and professor, and puffs up a little at the assumption that he was hitting on her with the “You remind me of her” line.

Two hoobae actresses stop by to say hi to Song-yi, gushing over her and totally ignoring Se-mi, who feels the slight. Surprisingly, it’s Song-yi who speaks up for her, schooling the hoobaes on their lack of manners. She warns them of dire consequences should they continue to snub Se-mi, drawing them close to assure them that the rumors of her terrible temper are true.

At S&C Group, undercover chaebol Hwi-kyung bolts up as soon as his alarm goes off at 6 p.m., marking the end of the day. His co-workers’ astonishment is hilarious, since it’s the height of impropriety for the junior employee to take off before his seniors (even if the workday is technically over), but Hwi-kyung has zero understanding of office culture and doesn’t take the hint.