The Fabulous – K-Drama Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Pop-up Shop and the Tailor Shop

Episode 4 of The Fabulous starts with a flashback of how Ji-eun and Woo-min started dating. At a Halloween celebration three years ago, Ji-eun, Woo-min as well as Seon-ho and Joseph were with a group of friends taking a photograph when Ji-eun accidentally ruins one of their friends’ costumes. In order to save themselves from the attack, Woo-min grabs Ji-eun by the arm and runs away from a mob following them.

Woo-min and Ji-eun sneak to a corner in order to hide away and due to their proximity, Ji-eun gives Woo-min a peck on the lips suggesting that they should date. Since Woo-min was too stunned to speak, Ji-eun backtracks saying she was only joking. Woo-min takes a minute initially but then pulls Ji-eun back and kisses her and agrees to date her. Seon-ho, Joseph and more involved spot the new couple and start cheering on them in the middle of the street.

Present-day Ji-eun is in the car with Woo-min as well as Joseph, Seon-ho and her new beau – Kang-woo as they jam to music on their drive away from the successful Audrey-Rublani event. The next morning, Joseph hears from his manufacturers that the exclusive diamond-studded handbag he designed was not very economical for a novice brand like his.

Joseph is heartbroken initially but his mother, Mrs Jung does not think it is any bad. She motivates Joseph asking him to continue producing the high-end product. Esther clarifies that the product may sell at a high price due to the cost of its production and the trio come up with the idea of a pop-up shop in order to sell the bags in high numbers.

Woo-min’s first day at work is co-incidentally a shoot for Rublani where he snaps photos of VIPs, including Nam-jin. After his boss praises him for taking amazing snapshots of Nam-jin, Woo-min and Nam-jin are left by themselves. They discuss his breakup with Ji-eun and Nam-jin claims that he now realises how important she was to him. He is adamant about getting her back and Woo-min claims that he should have apologised for what he said to Ji-eun during their breakup.

Nam-jin thanks Woo-min for the advice and hopes that Woo-min would support him in his endeavours to win Ji-eun back but the photographer politely declines the offer and steps away. At the show, Nam-hee talks to Ji-sun about a famous designer named Theirry Henry visiting South Korea in the days to come. She recommends Ms Oh as the ideal VIP to host him.

Nam-hee visits Ms Oh and Ji-eun to inform them that they will be in charge of hosting and entertaining the French-Korean designer on his visit to the country in order to buy a custom suit. During their meet-up, Ji-eun tells her three friends how worried she is about interacting with the designer. She tells them that Theirry Henry does not want to be seen or recognised by anyone. Joseph claims that the designer was a very charitable man in reality.

Meanwhile, in his own little world, Woo-min is reeling over his interaction with Nam-hee as they rode the elevator together. Nam-hee had asked the photographer for his designs and had followed him on Instagram asking Woo-min to participate in a street photography competition for The Q.

Following that, Seon-ho is out having a meal with her representative, Mr Gang. He informs the model that the VIP client had made a complaint against Seon-ho for her behaviour. He reprimands her for her tantrums off lately and Seon-ho orders some champagne to swallow the lectures from her manager. At the same time, Ji-eun is at the airport to pick up Thierry Henry with Ms Oh who did not get the memo and is dressed in a full outfit of hot pink clothes.

The petite-looking simple man – Theirry Henry notices Ms Oh greet him and yells loudly asking. He grabs Ji-eun, who is dressed in a comparatively less flashy outfit and runs away from Ms Oh. Nam-hee calls Ms Oh to check on Theirry Henry and tells Ms Oh that the designer hates the colour pink which usually sets him off.

In the car, Theirry is trying his best to make small talk with Ji-eun but fails miserably. On the other hand, Woo-min spends the day roaming about town and capturing photographs for him to display on at the show Nam-hee asked him to.

The next morning, Ji-eun visits Woo-min and asks him to act as a chauffer in order to accompany her on her day out with Theirry Henry. She gets Woo-min dressed in a black suit as they decide to show the designer around South Korea. However, Woo-min is confused when Ji-eun and Theirry lead him to the train station.

Ji-eun explains that the designer wanted to take the subway somewhere. Theirry is dressed in a completely not-so-suspicious outfit with a scarf covering his head and dust mask with sunglasses covering his face. Woo-min wonders why the designer was doing so because was drawing more attention on to him rather than disguising him in the crowd.

The designer decides to lead them to Cheongnyangni station with Ji-eun and Woo-min following the man on whatever mission he is set on. There he tries tteokbokki out for the first time which is similar to the one in his photograph. Woo-min and Ji-eun force Theirry to try a bite of the Korean street food but it is far too spicy for him which causes the man to run away from there, back to the train station.

The duo follow him where Theirry takes out another photograph from his pocket to match a train. A guy who is late for the train bumps into the designer and moves past him. It seems as though Theirry knows the man because he continues to watch him in slow motion.

Ji-eun and Woo-min arrive, guessing something was wrong with Theirry who is running away from them and in the direction of the train. Meanwhile, Joseph shows his purse to Seon-ho who loves the design in the first go. The model tries to push him to make things work because and deliver his hard work because “Joseph doesn’t give up”.

Seon-ho goes back to her old agency where she learns that the company is representing influencers instead of models like her because of their internet popularity. Over that, Seon-ho has been blacklisted by the company because of the VIP client she messed with on Hye-na’s behalf. The VIP mocks Seon-ho for being replaced by influencers. Seon-ho flips the old woman and walks away.

At the end of their day, Theirry invites Ji-ein and Woo-min to go out for the dinner Nam-hee prepared for him in his stead. Since the designer cannot eat the spicy Korean food, he enjoys the meal via the photos of the food Ji-eun and Woo-min send him. At dinner, Woo-min asks Ji-eun about his feelings for Nam-jin. She tells Woo-min that she still considers her ex to be a good person.

Woo-min promises to fight Nam-jin off if he hurts her. Outside the restaurant, the two coincidentally run into Nam-jin. He asks to talk to Ji-eun privately and after a small pissing contest between Woo-min and Nam-jin, Ji-eun asks Woo-min to take off while she talks to Nam-jin. During their chat, Nam-jin asks Ji-eun to consider his feelings for her and apologises for how he broke things off with her.

While Ji-eun considers Nam-jin’s feelings, Woo-min thinks about his own feelings for Ji-eun as he drinks some alcohol in his house. He looks at a book of photography while Ji-eun is back at her own house as she too is deep in thought. The next day, Joseph is looking at models to walk with his luxury bags but none of the male models make the cut for him.

He shortlists a female model and before he can call the audition off, Do-young shows up and models the bag Joseph designed. The designer is more than happy with Do-young’s walk and Esther immediately takes the hint and shortlists him as the model for his show.

On a second day out with Theirry, Ji-eun and Woo-min try to gues what the designer was doing as he followed a pattern of revisiting the places in his old photographs. They assume that he was here to revisit his old memories but Theirry gets emotional looking inside an old railway station. After Ji-eun tries to question him, Theirry loudly declares his identity.

A large mob of people start rushing him in order to take a photograph of the designer but Woo-min and Ji-eun are not able to save him. After being free from the mob, Theirry sobs while Ji-eun and Woo-min try to calm him down. Ji-eun tells Ms Oh that she was worried for Theirry and requests for him to be sent back to Paris. Ms Oh tells her that Theirry was in town not looking for his mother but a suit maker named Cha Vincent.

Ji-eun and Woo-min make it to Cha Vincent’s shop and pretend to get a new suit for Woo-min. Ji-eun tries to ask Vincent about his career as a suit maker who studied in Europe. Vincent claims that he was closing down his shop as tailored suits were no longer in demand and Woo-min would be his last customer. Ji-eun hands Vincent’s business card.

Ji-eun shows Theirry the magazine and tells him that the suit store was going to close down soon urging him to rush to see Vincent but Theirry hands her a letter for her to read. The letter is to Theirry from Vincent where the suit maker shares his experience in Korea with the Parisian designer.

Vincent asks his lover, Theirry to experience South Korea like he did which is why the designer went to the different places upon his arrival. Theirry visits Vincent and requests for a tailor-made suit to be delivered to him. Vincent asks Theirry to take it back from him by hand as a custom-made suit requires to be fitted.

Joseph and Esther are thinking of ideas to set the pop-up shop when he suddenly gets an idea to make things work. He will have the pop up shop give away tote bags with his designs for free so that more people come to enjoy the show. That is what happens when more and more people visit the Mr Joseph pop up shop.

Ji-eun is happy for Joseph but wonders why Woo-min was not there. Seon-ho tells her that it was a big day for Woo-min but before she could ask any further, Nam-jin arrives with Thierry. The designer is no longer angered by the color pink and wears a hot pink suit as he takes photos with Joseph outside his pop-up shot.

Theirry models the bag and praises Joseph for his design. Meanwhile, Woo-min shows his photos to Nam-hee who praises his work and takes the photos with her. Ji-eun and Nam-jin chat as they walk out of the venue of Joseph’s pop-up shop when he asks her to take him back. Ji-eun is still considering to answer his question.

Woo-min wears the suit tailored by Vincent and matches it with a tie that Ji-eun had gotten him during their first anniversary. Seon-ho takes Ji-eun back inside the pop-up shop and leaves her there with an excuse. Woo-min arrives inside the venue and confesses his true feelings for Ji-eun asking to get back together with him.

Ji-eun is emotional all of a sudden and recalls accepting Nam-jin’s feelings just moments ago. She starts crying and lashes at Woo-min for messing around with her. She tells him that they would be even better as strangers and walks away.

The Episode Review

This episode was chaotic from start to finish and I blame the makers for making Woo-min wait so long before he confessed his feelings for Ji-eun. It is clear that he always loved her but I am sure the two will find their way back together. The show is making Seon-ho’s character arc dull in comparison to the other friends and I am not happy with that part of the story.

There really need to be more Do-young and Joseph scenes because together, these two are a riot. Nam-jin seems like a typical good boy but I hate the fact that it took losing Ji-eun for him to realize how much he needed her.

Woo-min is somehow similar to Nam-jin but his character is more likeable because of how much he considers Ji-eun’s happiness over his own. Phew, one more half of the show to go before we will definitely know who gets Ji-eun after all.