Kathryn_51

First – the Project M team members were hardly on the screen together – no strategy discussions or team-work. No glimmers of intelligence or foresight. Depressing.

In the past, the board room antics with the various directors/CEOs were fun - the arguments, the drama. Instead, we got too many scenes of various directors playing games and avoiding CFO Ha. It was a plot device to compel Director Ha to try and sabotage Jun-ho, but it was boring.

Jun-ho finally met with his Sunbae, but no discussion about Jumbo Pharma and still no clear picture on what “The Plan” is although it now seems to be; (1) jun-ho becomes an executive and (2) demands opening up investigation into what happened with Jumbo Pharma to discover the real culprit behind the stock manipulation. He is now obsessed with selling the golf course, no matter what the terms may be, so that he can become a voting member of the BoD. Meanwhile Ha is coaching his minion to ensure the deal falls through.

It's a ridiculous premise and I will only be satisfied if it turns out that it was the Chairman who intentionally gave Jun-ho a presumably easy mission in order to goad CFO Ha into sabotaging the sale. Which is a fun idea – but it doesn’t get us closer to any insight on Jumbo Pharma – which is the main reason I’m interested in the drama.

Sunbae is supposedly putting together a team of ????. I’m guessing it’s people who lost their life savings due to Jumbo Pharma. If the team is made of people we have already seen (for instance the taxi driver or the copier repair man at PPF), that will be a lot of fun to watch.

Episode 9 was a major disappointment – banal dialogue; the Project M team didn’t do anything remarkable or intelligent; and far too many circular scenes with no movement forward. And a really stupid cliffhanger.

Mild spoilers below.

No, PFF/Samoel is managed by "David". Theo/Teo is "the future" of PPF. watch carefully - Theo is more interested in getting his hands on Sanin stock than making money for Samoel/PPF.

Counting down at this point - in about 12 hours, Ep. 9 will release (on Viki) and based on preview, we will finally understand some of Jun-ho's backstory and what went down with his brother (and wife).

Is it too much to hope that there might be a Season 2? (Yes, it is probably hopeless). I can't believe they are going to finally show us what happened 3 years ago (2021) AND wrap it up so that the bad guys are somehow punished.

I posted above my "theory/speculation" a few minutes before replying to your comment. I think Jun-no's wife betrayed him - it seemed so obvious to me in that Ep. 6 scene. Thus far, writer/director have not cheated us with a "oh, character X said ZZ in Ep3? Surprise - we were kidding" scene. Maybe I'm naive, but so far, script seems to be playing it straight w/no red herrings/misleading scenes. We shall see. 😊

I wouldn't mind a possible romance late in the drama, but for now writer is showing that these two people have very similar life experiences/style - lonely, no friends, don't even know how to make the finger heart gesture! The instinctively know what the other is thinking/doing.

I think the purchase of appliances is going to mean something later - perhaps his wife finds out. She's going to show up in Korea in Ep. 9 or 10.

I don't think Jun-ho was framed. Unbeknownst to him, his brother used insider information to invest in stocks based upon Sanin M&A activity. And yes, I think Theo was somehow involved because otherwise, his role in this drama serves no purpose whatsoever.

Assuming they stick the landing, this drama will go on my Top Five list.

I’ve done M&A work before. This is a guess what happened with Jumbo Pharma. It’s heavily based upon the rise and fall of Theranos, a US health technology company that promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a device called the "Edison. At one time, it was valued at $9 Billion. But their claims were false and data was manipulated. Private investors lost everything.

Speculation:
1. Jumbo Pharma claimed to have created some sort of game-changing medicine. Many people invested in the company. It’s unclear if it was privately funded (like Theranos) or traded on the stock exchange.
2. Jun-ho proposed an Acquisition Plan (see, for example, Ep. 3 re: ChaCha Acquisition Plan). A Memorandum of Understanding or Exclusive Negotiating Rights Contract was signed by the parties (also see Ep. 3) and due diligence commenced.
3. Jun-ho’s wife overhears (or, more probable, sneaks through Jun-ho’s papers/computer/phone) and provides the information to his brother, Yun Ju Seok. Ju Seok purchases stock based on insider information. (It’s unclear if is Sanin stock or Jumbo Pharma stock.)
4. Thru due diligence, Jun-ho discovers that Jumbo Pharma is “a sham” and decides that the acquisition should not go forward.. . . . . . but (??) CFO Ha went ahead with the acquisition anyway.
5. The acquisition almost destroyed Sanin because Jumbo Pharma was worthless.
6. Song Theo/Teo was somehow involved. (he showed too much interest in Yun Jun-ho’s possible connection to Jumbo Pharma).

The number one question is WHO GOT THE MONEY??. CFO Ha says that Jun-ho siphoned it away, but he doesn’t really know. Apparently over a thousand people lost their “life savings” and some committed suicide. Where did the money go??

Jun-ho isn’t going after CFO Ha – he’s going after the culprit that scammed people from their life savings.

THE END

In a past life, my job was to negotiate contracts. The number one goal was to have a win-win for both sides. Thus, to me - this is a perfect demonstration of the "art of negotiation" because Jun-ho spends the time (or is lucky) to discover what's important to the other side so he can reach a satisfactory deal. This strategy was demonstrated over and over again in the first episodes. Episode 7-8 was a bit different - and, in fact, it was Min Jeong who found a way (perhaps inadvertently) to bring about the final positive result.

I haven't watched "Hot Stove League", so I don't have a good idea of what you were personally expecting. I'm enjoying this drama because each weekend there is a problem/crisis that is explored, investigated, hits roadblocks and is resolved by the end of the weekend. In the background, several other mysteries are unfolding (what happened 3 years ago with Jumbo Pharma?; What is Jun-ho plan for retribution? who is the wife? what is PPF's real plan?. The last four episodes are going to be wild as all of these mysteries come together and intersect.

Chairman understands people - incentives, loyalty, etc. But his understanding of business in today's world is lacking. He's very perceptive about people, but still living a bit in the past (surrounded - and I mean SURROUNDED - by Chinese architecture/symbolism/language.

Chairman: has a son and daughter. Wife died and daughter is having a hard time as a result of life after that.
Question: does the son and daughter know eachother? Contact? Hang out? Dislike one another? Know about what the other does?
Daughter: no kids? Certifiable mental health case? Any chance at being a real manager/CeO?
ANSWER yo both questions: by the time you finish Ep. 8 you will understand the daughter's REAL problem. She's not certifiable. They appear to be estranged - that is, brother didn't know about the resort.

Son: is he one of the investors? If so which one the tiny one or the bigger one? Does he hate the chairman or is protecting him?

ANSWER: Son is "Theo" (Teo?). He is the "future of Private Placement Fund", but is apparently not THE top person (that would be David). Chairman has told everyone he won't leave the company to his children, so if one does the math - the son is NOT protecting Dad.

M&A team:
The intern: is he the rich kid? Does the team know? Clearly in epi 7 or 8 he knew how rich people act.
ANSWER: There has been no indication that the team knows he is chaebol, but Jun-ho has probably figured it out.

ML: is he really married?
ANSWER: According to JTBC website, Anna Park (who apparently lands in Seoul in Ep. 9 according to preview) IS Jun-ho's wife. Thus, viewer can trust that they were married at one time. I hope he divorced her - he wasn't wearing his wedding ring in one scene in Ep. 8.

Female team member: do we have any back story on her at all? JTBC backstory is that she grew up poor, oldest daughter that Mom places all burdens upon. Too poor to attend a University in Seoul even though a math whiz at a very young age. Afraid to commit - can't answer "no" or "yes". Jun-Ho trusts her more than anyone else and she is 100% loyal to Jun-ho. [from JTBC]

I have 20 min to go on epi 8

Hope you enjoyed the episode - this weekend's episodes were my favorite.

Yay!! Altho, I would have thought Kwon Yu-ri would have been a big draw. But perhaps Korea was watching the Elite Eight in NCAA basketball, lol.

He was also talking to him at the end of Ep. 2, although he didn't call him Sunbae - I thought he was talking to Mr. Lee at first. And whomever it is, he tried to talk Jun-ho out of "The Plan" because that's what the "deceased" wanted (which doesn't make sense if the "deceased" is his older brother, but. . . .I guess we'll find out how the dots are connected.

"David" is the top guy at the Private Placement Fund. "Theo" is younger and below him but introduced as "the future" of PPF. It's not clear to me that David knows who Theo is. In fact, I don't believe he does.

I LOVED this episode. I can't wait until tonight (my time) to re-watch both Episodes 7 and 8.

Kwon Yu-ri was magical - simply enchanting.

I thought that perhaps Ji-oh would be the catalyst for bringing Min Jeong out of her hard shell. But in the end, it was Min-jeong who was the catalyst for getting the deal done.

Finally, did anyone else notice that Jun-ho was not wearing the wedding ring (or his glasses) when he was outside in the view spot? He doesn't wear his glasses when he's alone - it was unusual that he wasn't wearing them while taking the view.

Next week - more personal drama as The Wife shows up and Jun-ho's sunbae also appears. I think (hope?) the business deal about the golf course will be minor distraction.

For future reference, It usually releases on Viki between 12:30-1:00 am (KST). About two hours after it begins airing on JTBC (10:30 pm KST).

Yu-ri is in today's ep as well - she is this week's "special appearance"/cameo. Today was about 65 minutes long.

No boardroom politics today, so no scenes with all of the directors arguing or scheming - I enjoyed all of that previously, but glad we are moving to more personal stories.

Well, I missed THAT part - need to re-watch. I'm glad the writer is pivoting to the personal stories now that the basics of M&A are put to rest.

This was my favorite episode thus far. Last week I hoped that writer-nim was done with laying the foundation of M&A work and would pivot to more personal stories and he came through (for me, anyway).

Right off the bat, in the 1st ten minutes we discover that both Jun-ho and Min-jeong share similar stories - lazy siblings always looking for the fast path to money, I know romance is presumably off the table since he's married, but I wouldn't mind if it happened. That wife is no good.

And FINALLY, the writer/director are beginning to let Min-jeong escape out of her shell and Kwon Yu-ri's character will be a catalyst. We got to see just how attractive the character of Kwak Min-yeong can be if they get her out of those boring, masculine suits. I was afraid they were going for the Ellen DeGeneres lesbian type reveal. The scene at the clothing store was perfect - no words spoken as Min-jeong pores through the "Sale" rack, looking at price tags and still afraid to try something on until the saleswoman encouraged her. And I could have cried watching her struggle with her old beat-up canvas suitcase while the men (including the intern) all had modern hard-shell versions.

That's why I love this drama - so many ways the director and production team SHOW the viewer something relevant without TELLING us.

Thursday Trivia - Art of Negotiation

● Jun-ho’s Sunbae is played by Lee Sung Jae (we’ve only heard his voice thus far). I’m not familiar with the actor but he’s pretty well known in Korea.

● In case you were wondering (I was), 50 Billion Korean Won = $34+ Million US Dollars

● According to JTBC website, “Anna Park” is Jun-ho’s wife and Oh-woon is Jun-ho’s daughter. I guess it's possible that Anna was previously married to the brother, but there's no reason for the drama to maintain that secret and keep the viewer guessing. I think she betrayed Jun-ho, but we'll find out eventually.