Recap: Search: WWW Episode 3
Episode 3 of Search: WWW explores the history of the women, their connections to each other and their relationships with men. Barro and Unicon continue to battle for portal supremacy. And of course, Jang Ki Yong makes an appearance or two.
Search: WWW Episode 3
The first scene opens with Director Song(Jun Hye Jin) standing on the roof of Unicon. She’s smoking using the cigarette holder ring that was gifted her by Bae Ta Mi(Im Soo Jung) for a past birthday.
She’s remembering how she slapped Ta Mi across the face after Scarlett(Lee Da Hee) had initially stopped her.
Returning to the present moment, we see that Ta Mi is also thinking about the slap from her former friend. She rubs her cheek as she looks in the mirror. She leaves the bathroom and heads up to the new Task Force office. The crew from Unicon are in the process of picking the English names which they will be known by at Barro.
From now on Choi Bong Ki(Woo Ji Hyun) will be known as Joseph; Jo Ah Ra(Oh Ah Yun) has decided to be called Ellie; Ta Mi chooses Tammy as her English name since it is so close to her real name. She and Scarlett return to the office at the same time.
The next scene takes us to the team’s first company dinner. Alex(Song Ji Ho) and Jenny(Ha Seung Ri,) the Barro members of the task force team, explain that Scarlett has never attended a company dinner. When Tammy arrives, Alex tells her how surprised they were to see her and Scarlett acting civil together after Scarlett stormed out.
Then Alex tells the Unicon crew a story about Scarlett’s violent history.
3 Years Earlier
On a day when Alex had made a rather big mistake, Scarlet gets on an elevator at work. A man gets on and stands behind her. He grabs Scarlett’s butt and she is NOT in the mood to let it slide.
Present Day
Tammy’s hand shakes as she pours herself some water. The other Unicon members look thoroughly shocked to discover that one of their team members is a criminal.
Meanwhile, as her team dines without her, Scarlett (known outside the office as Cha Hyeon) is eating with Song Ga Gyeong. They discuss the bad blood between Ta Mi and Director Song.
Director Song goes outside for a smoke and Scarlett follows her. We get a hint of the history between the two when Scarlett grabs Ga Gyeong out of the path of a bicyclist.
The two remember a time as schoolgirls when athlete Cha Hyeon rescued Ga Gyeong from a gang of boys.
On her way home from the team dinner, Bae Ta Mi sees Cha Hyeon and Director Song standing outside of their restaurant.
As Bae Ta Mi heads home, Park Morgan(Jang Ki Yong) works away in his office. Taking a break, he looks up Ta Mi on his computer and rewatches the video of her testimony in front of congress.
Park Morgan texts Bae Ta Mi a few times. She ignores him until he asks her why an unemployed person is so busy. This hits a nerve and Ta Mi immediately picks up the phone to inform him that she is currently employed, thank you very much.
The phone call ends with Park Morgan inviting Ta Mi out for lunch the next day. He suggests they go to a sushi restaurant.
The Next Day
Cha Hyeon is running on a treadmill and watching television. We learn that she has a thing for dramas, specifically dailies, more specifically a daily called “What’s Wrong With My Mother-In-Law?”.
Coming into the office after her workout, Scarlett is stretching her arms and Tammy puts up her own arms to defend herself. Feeling embarrassed by her over-reaction, Tammy becomes defensive and divulges her knowledge of Scarlett’s violent past.
The two women continue to butt heads in the office. Later at a strategy meeting, Tammy brings up a plan to change the public’s perception of Barro. Specifically, she wants to convince users that Barro’s search function is quicker and more convenient than Unicon’s.
Back at Unicon
Director Song receives a visit from her mother, who drops off a gift for Director Song’s husband, Oh Jin Woo(Ji Seung Hyun.) Director Song takes the gift to his office where we learn that he may have more feelings for her than we might have believed. He prioritizes her over an important client and voices a desire that the two of them were closer.
From Song Ga Gyeong’s response to him, we begin to see that their marriage is not one that has grown cold over time, but rather it was a business marriage of convenience.
At Barro, CEO Brian(Kwon Hae Hyo) is bored as usual.
The team suspects that there may be a mole at Barro leaking information to Unicon. One of Alex’s sources has told him that Unicon management already knows about the creation of the task force team, even though it has been formed for less than a day.
Around noon
As Tammy leaves for her lunch date, the revolving doors stop suddenly and she is rescued by an overly familiar stranger.
The stranger insists that the two of them know each other. He tells her his name is Pyo Joon Soo(Kim Nam Hee,) expecting that to jog her memory. It doesn’t.
Bae Ta Mi meets up with Park Morgan. He saw the exchange between her and Pyo Joon Soo and wonders if she already has a boyfriend.
Ta Mi grabs Morgan by the wrist and drags him off towards the restaurant. As she drags Morgan along, Ta Mi mutters to herself about the strange man touching and talking to her earlier. Morgan stops suddenly, pulling Ta Mi backward towards him.
They continue to walk like this, with Morgan’s hand on her shoulders. He asks Ta Mi if she’s sure than this Pyo Joon Soo person isn’t also swimming in her fish tank. She denies it and asks Morgan why he’s still holding her shoulders.
In the restaurant, conversation comes around to age and Bae Ta Mi is once again reminded that Park Morgan is much younger than her.
A ten year age gap is too much for Ta Mi. Whether older or younger, the emotional needs are too different for people a decade apart, in her opinion. She tells Morgan that she would like for this to be the last time that they see each other.
After lunch
Morgan asks her what her reasons are for not seeing him, other than the age gap. Ta Mi says that it is partially because of her new job. She has staked a lot on her move to Barro, and she is going to be very busy. Ultimately though, she confesses, it’s because she is uncomfortable with the way things began between them. She is embarrassed by her one night stand.
Morgan proceeds to tell her that he doesn’t think of it that way. That there are no wrong ways to start a relationship. He tells Ta Mi that he liked their conversation that night. Morgan liked sharing his music with her. He liked that she shared her secrets with him. Morgan doesn’t like that she is cheapening the night they had with her labels.
Mini Recap Pause
Recap Resumes
After parting from Bae Ta Mi, Park Morgan heads to Unicon for a meeting with the Gaming division. Director Song is surprised when she sees him. She remembers seeing him talking to Bae Ta Mi outside of her apartment on the night the Director returned Ta Mi’s resignation letter to her.
At Barro
Scarlett discovers something that their search engine will do that Unicon’s won’t when she searches for the closing time of her bank branch.
Meanwhile, Tammy brings up the idea of doing some direct comparison advertising against Unicon. Scarlett mentions that it could open Barro to being sued by Unicon. But Tammy is convinced that it is the right way to go. They decide that they will need a popular actor to star in their commercial. One who appeals to young people. The answer is instant.
Now they have a concept, they have a tagline (Barro is baro [immediate]), and they have a hot actor… all they need is one search function that they really do better than Unicon. Scarlett shares what she just recently discovered.
One Week Later
Everything is prepared for Barro to begin filming their new commercial. The set is ready, the script is written, the actor is hired… or is he?
Over at Unicon, hot young actor Han Min Kyu(Byun Woo Suk) is signing a contract with the company. He requests a meeting with Director Song, but is denied.
On set, Barro employees are still waiting for the actor to arrive. When word finally gets to them that he won’t be coming, everyone on the team panics. Everyone except Tammy, that is. She grabs the storyboard, scratches out a few scenes and tells the director to get a female hand model immediately. Then she takes Scarlett off for a private conversation. Scarlett is not impressed with Tammy’s line of questioning.
Meanwhile
Park Morgan has texted Bae Ta Mi that he is outside her office if she has time to see him. She ignores his messages and continues to work through the crisis at the filming set. Morgan waits for her to come out of the office building.
Bae Ta Mi finally returns to the office, and once again tells Park Morgan that she’s not interested. The boy takes the hint this time… maybe.
Another week passes at Barro as the team arranges the commercial and wait to hear back if it has been approved for airing. The regulation committee approves the ad and the team gathers together to watch it air for the first time.
At Unicon
They recognize Bae Ta Mi’s work and brainstorm what they can do to counteract this ad that has caused them damage in the eye of the public. Director Song suggests that the best thing for them to do is to do nothing for the moment. Anything they do to retaliate will only make Unicon look worse right now. But she has her own plan for getting back at Ta Mi.
A few days later
Tammy takes the bus to work and walks around spying on which internet portal people seem to be using most. She’s happy with her findings. Their marketing campaign appears to be working.
On her walk, Ta Mi passes by the video arcade where she first met Morgan. She remembers their night together, but shakes it off and continues on to the office.
Working late, Tammy keeps thinking about Morgan. She rereads their messages to each other. She tries to put him out of her mind but falls asleep at her desk.
The next morning
After waking Tammy, the team reports that Barro’s market share has increased 2.3% since airing their new ad. Later, Tammy confronts Scarlett and asks her if she still thinks the direct comparison ad was a bad idea. Scarlett replies that yes she does. She tells Tammy that she will always be the voice of reason. She will always be against Tammy, even if the ideas are good.
Later that day
Tammy retreats to the spot nearby where no WiFi or cell signals can reach. She thinks about what Scarlett said and it reminds her of times when she called out Director Song in a similar way. She wonders if she has become as bad as Director Song.
A former colleague from Unicon finds her in their retreat. They reminisce about the time they discovered the signal-less spot. The colleague works in the games division at Unicon. As they chat companionably, he reveals that out of the blue, Director Song has told him to fire the music team that they were working with. Bae Ta Mi realizes why immediately and sets off to confront her former friend.
Bae Ta Mi demands to know why Director Park was fired. Director Song tells Ta Mi that there is no reason for her to play fair in this war. Ta Mi asks what she can do to get him rehired, but Song Ga Gyeong just drives away.
Feeling guilty, Ta Mi calls Morgan to meet and apologize that he has been caught in the crossfire of her fight with Unicon.
She offers to find his company a new job to make up for it, but Park Morgan has a different idea for compensation.
He wants another chance with her. A chance to swim in her fish tank a little longer.
Final Thoughts:
Episode 3, and I’m still in it to win it. This drama has fantastic writing and beautiful filming. I’m fully invested in this story of a woman who is competent at her job and treading the waters of romance. Can’t wait to see what will happen next.
Personal Note: I switched devices this week and only realized later how unreadable the subtitle font is on the smaller pictures. It’s only on episodes 3 and 4 and then I fixed it for the future. My apologies 😔
What did you think of episode 3? What are some of your favorite scenes? Let us know in the comments!
More Recaps:
- Search: WWW Episode 1 Recap
- Search: WWW Episode 2 Recap
