The Fabulous – K-Drama Episode 3 Recap & Review

The VIP and the Regular

Episode 3 of The Fabulous starts with Joseph recalling the night before when he picked a drunk Ji-eun from the bar. Do-young follows the two to their taxi and claims to be a big fan of Joseph’s fashion brand – Mr Joseph. He asks the designer for an autograph on his white shirt impressing Joseph.

Joseph starts singing Do-young’s praises and tries to convince Ji-eun to date him instead of Nam-jin or Woo-min. Meanwhile, Nam-jin is eating alone at his regular restaurant and thinks about his breakup with Ji-eun the last time he was there. Woo-min’s friend asks him to start working full-time for the VIPs and generate enough funds so that he can put his photos up for an exhibition.

At work, Ji-eun apologises to Ms Oh for causing trouble and getting the JD Photoshoot cancelled. Ms Oh is angry and reprimands her for spoiling the reputation of her brand – Audrey. Ji-eun promises to get in touch with another major client in order to make up for what happened.

At a VIP private fashion show, Seon-ho and Hye-na are walking together with two other models. As the four models display their outfits to the VIPs, one of the guests accuses Hye-na of sleeping with her husband. Chaos ensues as Hye-na denies the allegation but the woman continues to mock her.

In order to save Hye-na, Seon-ho steps in and warns the VIP against touching a model. The woman tries to attack Hye-na but Seon-ho pulls her aside causing the woman to fall to the ground. As Seon-ho leaves the venue, Hye-na follows her and thanks her for saving her. Seon-ho claims that the rumours about a model’s character will never stop and asks Hye-na to brace herself for more allegations against her that will follow this incident.

Joseph is still reeling over his interaction with Do-young from the night before. Woo-min is at his office helping him hand a curtain when Joseph tells the photographer about Ji-eun’s new “boyfriend” – Do-young. Woo-min injures his finger when Joseph mentions that Ji-eun would have hooked up with Do-young if it wasn’t for him interrupting them the night before.

Esther cuts their conversation short when she rushed into the room to tell Joseph that Ji-sun was at the store. Joseph tries to avoid meeting her but Esther forces him to greet the VIP client and have her buy their designs for JD. Joseph unwillingly goes to win Ji-sun over and starts sucking up to her. With Ester to his rescue, they manage to convince Ji-sun into buying 89 items from their store for JD.

Joseph and Esther decide to throw a party for breaking their daily sales record with this sale. On the other hand, Ji-eun is trying to get her hands on VIP clients for Ms Oh’s brand but does not find any success. For lunch, she meets Woo-min who has already placed an order for her.

During their conversation, Ji-eun gets a call from Do-young who claims it is Day 1 of their relationship. Ji-eun laughs about it and tells Woo-min how she will just date Do-young for fun because he was so funny and persistent. Woo-min is annoyed and ends up sprinkling a lot of chilli flakes on her meal before leaving. Seon-ho who has just arrived at the table is also shocked by Woo-min’s sudden dramatic exit.

Ji-eun and Seon-ho visit Joseph’s mother and convince her into talking to VIP clients asking them to represent Ms Oh’s brand – Audrey. Even with Mrs Jang’s connections, Ji-eun is unable to find a reputable client because word of mouth has ruined the brand’s reputation already.

Seon-ho, on the other hand, finds an old friend among the staff working on Mrs Jang’s advertisement shoot. Woo-min is at his first VIP shoot and co-incidentally the boy he is taking portfolio photos for is Do-young. Unaware that he is the same guy that Ji-eun is talking to, Woo-min takes photos for Do-young and the two hang out for drinks after.

Do-young is chatty as ever and starts talking to Woo-min asking him if he was seeing someone. He makes an assumption that Woo-min looked like he was single and continues to say how handsome guys like them are always left behind. Woo-min leaves Do-young alone and gets a text from Joseph about a party later that night.

Ji-eun is in a pissy mood but still makes it to the pool party with Joseph, Seon-ho and Woo-min splashing each other with water. Ji-eun joins them and with Woo-min away, she tells Seon-ho and Joseph about the issues she was dealing with at work. Woo-min appears out of nowhere in a costume and puts up a dance for his three friends that manage to cheer Ji-eun up.

The next morning, Ms Oh informs Ji-eun that the brand named Rublani has decided to represent Audrey. The team thanks Ji-eun for this and mentions that her boyfriend, Nam-jin was the CEO of Rublani and had decided to partner with Ms Oh’s brand. Ji-eun tries to tell Ms Oh that it wasn’t she who made the collaboration happen but she is too elated to hear Ji-eun out.

Ji-eun makes it to the restaurant to see Nam-jin and reprimands him for going out of the way to help her. Nam-jin states that he does not mix business with his personal life and that the collaboration was not for Ji-eun. Ji-eun claims that it doesn’t matter because, with Nam-jin in the mix, everyone will always mention that she sought help from her romantic partner instead of her own hard work.

She then adds how he followed her out at the Cheongdam Fashion House causing more people to talk about them but Nam-jin mentions that he only did so because he missed her. Ji-eun is left confused and deep in thought as she leaves the restaurant. In order to calm her nerves, Ji-eun sits on a rollercoaster all by herself.

A flashback takes us to the time when Woo-min and Ji-eun rode the same rollercoaster years ago. Ji-eun recalls how taking the ride with Woo-min made everything feel better for her. Just then, Woo-min calls her to ask her what she was up to. Ji-eun starts to dismiss him but Woo-min asks if she would like some ice cream.

Ji-eun agrees and meets her with some ice cream and the two friends have fun chasing one another for a while. Woo-min and Ji-eun get to talking and she tells him how she always chooses Pistachio over other ice cream flavours. He tells her that she does so because she picks comfort over the surprise and Ji-eun mentions that she probably feels too comfortable with Woo-min and this is why she can talk to him whenever she feels like it.

Ji-eun wonders if he ever missed her after their breakup and Woo-min states that they never left each other in friendship for him to miss her. He asks Ji-eun to treat him like a 24-hour diner and come to him with her problems whenever she feels the need to. Woo-min gives Ji-eun a hand asking her to call it a night but Ji-eun slams into him causing an awkward silence between the two. Woo-min diffuses the tension and runs along as Ji-eun follows her.

The next day, Esther tells Joseph that Ji-sun returned 88 out of the 89 pieces she purchased from them. Joseph is adamant about getting his revenge. Ji-eun is also at work and Ms Oh tells her that Rublani has decided to merge with Audrey on the basis of votes from the VIPs. She wants her to use her connection with Nam-jin to make the bid sway in favour of their brand.

Ji-eun is out working when Do-young spots her and offers to help carry a package for her. He keeps addressing her as Noona and states that the only other nicknames he would use for her are baby and honey which Ji-eun hates. She asks him to call her by name and states that she is too busy to joke around with him. She leaves Do-young behind and gets busy working as she starts decorating the venue for the event with Rublani.

Ms Oh praises Ji-eun for her work while Woo-min is busy on his first day as a full-time photographer. Joseph trying to cope with the fact that Ji-sun mocked him while Seon-ho is having a fun night at the club with her old friend. As Ji-eun is about to leave the venue, she runs into Nam-jin.

She apologises to him for overreacting the other day and thanks him for making the collaboration bid a voting process rather than a unanimous decision. Nam-jin tries to convince Ji-eun into taking him back and asks for her to reconsider getting back together with him. Ji-eun asks to be given some time since she is busy with the Rublani collaboration. As Nam-jin leaves the venue, he spots Woo-min entering it.

Woo-min is here to take Ji-eun home and starts talking to her about his feelings for her. He asks her to get back together with him but Ji-eun has already passed out in his car. Later that evening, Joseph and Esther celebrate a new post from JD where the influencer gave a shoutout to Joseph’s brand.

The next day, Ji-eun and her colleagues are getting ready for the event when Ms Oh and Ji-eun are worried sick as it starts raining all of a sudden. Ji-eun breaks down as the venue gets destroyed because of the rain. Woo-min recalls how Ji-eun had mentioned she would need his help if it were to rain and bolts to see her.

Ji-eun is still hopeful for the event and tells Ms Oh that they still had two hours before the VIPs would arrive. Ms Oh wants to call it quits but Ji-eun insists on making it work. Ji-eun gets busy making calls before the VIPs get there. On the other hand, the VIPs are at a private event and JD arrives with her stylist, Ji-sun.

Ji-sun is denied entry to the event but Joseph spots her and talks to Nam-jin asking him to allow Ji-sun inside the VIP gathering. The VIPs enter the new makeshift venue for Audrey’s campaign for the upcoming collaboration. The venue is bland but Ji-eun promises a fun night to the VIPs.

The event starts with Woo-min as the DJ for the night as he plays EDM music while Seon-ho and Hye-na walk down the ramp wearing Audrey designs. The show is a success and Nam-jin is happy for Ji-eun. After the party is over, Ji-eun walks out and thanks her friends for pulling up a fun night to help her.

She is particularly thankful to Woo-min and thanks him for being there for her. Ms Oh claims that their event was the most tagged event on Instagram and all the VIPs loved it. She takes Ji-eun away for a special afterparty that Nam-jin invited them to. Ji-eun goes with Ms Oh unwillingly as Nam-jin waits by the car.

Woo-min decides to not let Ji-eun go to the party with Nam-jin and pulls her away as the two run in the opposite direction. Joseph, Seon-ho and their friends join run along and Joseph tells Ms Oh that Ji-eun will be partying with her friends.

The Episode Review

We already know that Ji-eun and Woo-min are endgame but it’s obvious that they are taking their own sweet time getting together. I love Joseph and the energy he radiates. His relationship with Esther is really enjoyable and I wish together, Mr Joseph as a brand benefits a lot by the end of the show.

Seeing Seon-ho find an old friend so casually and him becoming a part of the group is chaotic and fun at the same time. I really wish it does not turn out that Hye-na is not involved with Seon-ho’s ex in any capacity because the two models being friends is a really amazing thing to witness.

The show is slow paced at the moment and does not have a lot of high-stakes elements making it a simple K-drama rather than an interesting story that one would want to watch in a single sitting.