Head Over Heels: Episodes 1-2 » Dramabeans K-drama recaps
Head Over Heels: Episodes 1-2
by Unit
“Being a K-drama female lead is an easy job,” said no one ever. If you’re not helping your male lead overcome a childhood trauma, you’re probably running around trying to save him from impending doom. Head Over Heels is firmly planted in the second category, and our shaman heroine will do whatever it takes to snatch her unfortunate hero from the jaws of death.
EPISODES 1-2
We open with an introduction to our leading lady, PARK SUNG-AH (Jo Yi-hyun), a high schooler by day and a shaman by night. Business is booming at the Heaven and Earth Fairy shrine where Sung-ah lives with her spiritual mother, DONGCHEON (Kim Mi-kyung), and auntie (Lee Soo-mi), and Dongcheon would rather Sung-ah focus on her shamanic calling. But Sung-ah’s goal is to get into college and live the fun campus life — and that’s a very valid reason for going to college, if you ask me. But more than for the fun or the degree itself, she really just wants to be a student for as long as she can. Again, a valid reason, seeing how her student side is the only “ordinary” aspect of her otherwise extraordinary life as a shaman.
Dating is a very important aspect of Sung-ah’s dream ordinary life, and her ideal type is a handsome guy. Naturally, she is instantly smitten when our handsome leading man, BAE KYUN-WOO (Choo Young-woo), visits her shrine with his grandmother. “He’s even handsome upside down,” Sung-ah swoons. But that’s when it hits her: this dude is literally walking upside down in the spiritual realm! Upside-down people are plagued with misfortune that will eventually kill them, and sure enough, Kyun-woo has suffered many near-death experiences. He currently has 21 days left to live, and Sung-ah is one hundred percent invested in his case because the world cannot afford to lose such handsomeness.
Sung-ah’s ideal type is also a kind person who won’t ignore a stranger crying on the street. So when Kyun-woo answers her “what would you do if you see a stranger crying on the street?” question with a “I guess I’ll stand next to them,” he passes her ideal type test with flying colors, and she vows to prevent his impending death. Upside down people are a lost cause, and Dongcheon warns Sung-ah that she’ll be risking her own life if she tries to save Kyun-woo. But Sol did not need permission to jump through timelines to save Sun-jae, so why should our shaman’s case be any different?
The following day, Kyun-woo shows up in Sung-ah’s class as a transfer student, and she is mocked as an attention seeker when she jumps up in shock. He tells the class that she looks like someone he knows — and I’d believe him if he saw her face last night. But Sung-ah always wears a mask in the shrine, and Kyun-woo doesn’t know what she looks like. Then again, they might have met as children because you can never trust K-dramas when it comes to the childhood trope.
Afterwards, Kyun-woo admits he doesn’t know Sung-ah and he only pretended to, to get her out of the pickle. He further advises her to stop smiling when she’s being mocked, but the advice goes into one ear and comes out of the other. Sung-ah’s only takeaway from this conversation is that Mr. Ideal Type took her side in front of the class when he didn’t have to. Cue: delulu thoughts. Lol.
While Sung-ah swims in her Pool of Delulu, Kyun-woo drowns in his Pool of Jadedness. He has given up on fighting for his life, and he’s basically waiting for his spiritual aneurysm to rupture and kill him. Kyun-woo doesn’t flinch when he approaches a falling signboard, and Sung-ah — who sees the ghost furiously stomping on the sign — hurries to push him out of harm’s way. But this action puts her underneath the falling sign instead, and lends credence to Dongcheon’s warning of the danger involved in saving someone marked for death. Thankfully, Kyun-woo pulls Sung-ah away seconds before the signboard crashes to the floor. Phew! Kyun-woo is not at all grateful for her help, but Sung-ah is grateful that he saved her life, and she’s more motivated to prevent his death.
Sung-ah has a vision where Kyun-woo drowns, and her fear intensifies when she discovers a water ghost in the boys bathroom at school. She tries to cut a deal with the ghost, but Kyun-woo’s unfortunate aura is too tempting to resist. The ghost latches onto him and Sung-ah has no choice but to fight the water ghost with a talisman-powered water hose. She successfully blasts the ghost off her crush, but since all the action happens in the boys’ bathroom, she comes off looking like a stalker with a few screws loose. Sung-ah is punished for making a mess, but she doesn’t mind because she saved Kyun-woo’s life. But Kyun-woo is also roped into the punishment, and he tells her to stay away from him going forward.
How exactly is a girl supposed to stay away from her crush when she has to be hands-on in order to save his life? Enter: PYO JI-HO (Cha Kang-yoon), their classmate, and the only one who knows Sung-ah is a shaman. Ji-ho swipes Kyun-woo’s phone so Sung-ah can hide an amulet in the phone case, but Kyun-woo’s grandmother — who’s visiting the school — sees them with the phone. They lie that they found the phone and were going to give it back, and Sung-ah uses the opportunity to snag a meal invitation at Kyun-woo’s house. Sure, she wants to dispel Kyun-woo’s notion that people don’t befriend unfortunate people to the extent of eating with them. But her main goal is to stash amulets around his house.
Grandma is happy that Kyun-woo has made new friends, and he insists Sung-ah and Ji-ho are not his friends. But he is a reluctantly gracious host when they come over for dinner. While Sung-ah and Ji-ho hunt for amulet hiding spots, they stumble on a box containing gold medals and pictures from Kyun-woo’s archery days. Apparently, dude was a hotshot archer in his previous school, but it seems there are painful memories attached to those glory days. Sung-ah soon has to leave for her usual night shift at the shrine, and Grandma privately reveals that she knows Sung-ah is the shaman from Heaven and Earth Fairy shrine. (Granny saw her putting the amulet in Kyun-woo’s phone case back in school).
Rumor spreads at school that Kyun-woo was kicked out of his previous archery team — and school — for arson, and the students begin to actively avoid him. This works for Kyun-woo because he doesn’t want friends in the first place, but Sung-ah is unfazed by the rumor because she only believes what she sees. The Kyun-woo she knows saved her from a falling signboard and thoughtfully served her warm water when she went to his place for dinner. Besides, as Sung-ah tells Ji-ho, unavoidable accidents always happen to unfortunate people like Kyun-woo. The fire at his previous school might also be one of said accidents, and not the deliberate arson that everyone says it is.
Speaking of unfortunate accidents, a fire ghost traps Kyun-woo in the school’s storage shed, and sets the place on fire! Okay, what’s next? Death by earthquake from an earth ghost, or a tornado from an air ghost? We get a brief flashback to Kyun-woo and a female student trapped in the fire at his previous school, and in the present, Kyun-woo accepts his fate. But there will be no death in his fate today, thanks to the joint effort of Sung-ah’s shamanic salt against the fire ghost, and Ji-ho’s extinguisher against the fire itself. Phew!
This time, Kyun-woo thanks Sung-ah for saving him. But he refuses further help from her, and he also doesn’t defend himself when everyone assumes he started the storage fire. When Sung-ah complains to his grandmother, Grandma shares that Kyun-woo has difficulty opening up to others. His own parents abandoned him, and most people stay away from him as the harbinger of misfortune. Sadly, it isn’t the misfortune that does the most damage. “If a living person is treated like they’re dead, that person starts to fade away little by little. It is people that kill another person,” Grandma says, sadly.
Sung-ah reaches out to comfort Grandma, and that’s when she realizes she has been speaking with a ghost all along. Noooo! I should have known Grandma wasn’t going to make it after all that chest clutching from earlier. Grandma feels sorry for leaving her grandson all alone, and the week ends with shaman Sung-ah at the funeral home to keep her promise to stay by Kyun-woo’s side. Man, I hope Kyun-woo doesn’t blame himself for Grandma’s death. He is already weighed down by his misfortune, and he doesn’t need this additional burden.
The gloomy moments in this premiere were slightly heavier than I expected, but I generally had fun watching these episodes. Sung-ah is such an adorable character, and it’s bittersweet to see her maintain a sunshine disposition despite the disregard from her classmates. Even if their attitude bothers her, she refuses to dwell on it because she has more realistic things to worry about. Like her grades and her newly-found first love who’s destined to die.
Speaking of love, a triangle seems to be in her future with Ji-ho. Ji-ho is sweet. And thoughtful. And always willing to go along with Sung-ah’s shenanigans. But the few times he could have called out their mates for being mean to her, he didn’t. Or maybe he does that behind the scenes. Anyway, whatever romantic feelings — or not — Ji-ho might have for Sung-ah, he is firmly planted in her friend zone.
Kyun-woo is the definition of going through a lot, and it breaks my heart to see him so accepting of his fate. It’s sad how he pushes people out of his life before they can push him out of theirs, and because he doesn’t want his bad luck to affect them. Like Kyun-woo’s parents abandoned him because of his misfortune, I suspect Sung-ah’s parents left her because of her shamanic powers. Thankfully, she has found a family in Dongcheon and Auntie. And I hope Kyun-woo can equally find a family in Sung-ah, Ji-ho, and their school’s archery coach — who is determined to recruit him despite the famous “Bae Kyun-woo jinx.”
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