Post by ajk on Oct 31, 2016 22:40:53 GMT -5
Most of this one was a step back, certainly not as good as the previous episode. And guess why...as soon as the Eternal Triangle returned, it threw a big wet blanket over everything else. And in this one it gets so frustrating, you almost stop caring.
Jung-hwa, at this point there's no good reason why she keeps turning away from JB. She says she has to dedicate herself to repaying the regent, and privately she says she causes JB too many problems when she's around him. But those are flimsy excuses and every viewer can see that. If she were a real person it would be obvious that she has terrible problems with self-esteem and doesn't think she deserves someone good who loves her like JB does. But this series isn't a deep psychological drama; it's just stringing out the non-romance to keep it going for as long as possible. I don't want to see any more of Jung-hwa pushing away her feelings. Watching people make themselves miserable isn't fun.
And JB, you lose respect for him. Jung-hwa dumps this nonsense on him and turns and walks away...and after two years of searching for her and wondering if she even survived, he just stands there and lets her leave? He looked like a weak, helpless loser. If he were a real person you'd say he doesn't know how to deal with women, and fair enough, plenty of guys out there are uncomfortable talking to women and trying to start relationships. But again, this series isn't going for depth. It's ridiculous to think that he wouldn't do anything other than run after her and pour his heart out and not let her go until she accepted him. And it would be a beautiful moment. But nooooo. Watching him standing there with that sad look on his face, I wanted to slap him. Sheesh.
You also lose respect for Soon-jong. There was that clever little interlude early in the episode where he sees the bodyguard and puts the pieces together, and then struggles with telling or not telling JB and decides not to because Jung-hwa had asked him not to. And you respect him for honoring her wishes. But then eventually he cracks and blabs the whole thing. And leaves his wife and son and business behind in Mujinju and goes all the way to Chunghae to do it. Puts himself and his family at risk. His loyalty to JB has always been admirable but this was bad.
The angle with the rich daughter, THAT'S the angle they should be going deeper into. She's a very interesting person, the way she's being so decent about her feelings for JB. So now she gives him that robe, and he's looking at her like he's starting to think about her since Jung-hwa won't have him. Hmm...but either way, it's hard to see this all resolving in any way that doesn't involve her dying somehow. Seems implausible but I can't shake the feeling.
"Madam Jami will abandon you someday." There's another interesting angle they should dig into. Interesting conversation between brother and sister. If Jung-hwa is really smart she'll talk her brother into flipping and helping her. You wonder how much Madam Jami trusts him by now anyway, now that his sister is her competitor. Maybe the guy is salvageable...or maybe she'll have him killed someday to hurt Jung-hwa.
"It's not that you can't afford to (help stop the pirates). It's that you don't wish to." Why did Master Sul go straight to Madam Jami and confront her like that? If he's figured out what she's doing, he shouldn't throw away that advantage and go tell her what he knows. JB did something similarly foolish earlier in the series. Yeah Sul is a straight-as-an-arrow type and maybe he figured he should call her out on it...but still it was foolish.
One up, one down: At least Madam Jami has moved on from the surrealist hairstyle. It was an impressive piece of engineering, but yecch. Much better. On the other hand, that dress Jung-hwa is wearing makes her look fat.
Wait, YM is known as the assassin and he's walking around town tailing Jung-hwa? No no no! Stop that! And can't JB and Jung-hwa be in the same place without YM spying on them? It's ridiculous.
So...I hope the recent upward trend wasn't an aberration. Bad things creeping back in. Need to keep them out.
Jung-hwa, at this point there's no good reason why she keeps turning away from JB. She says she has to dedicate herself to repaying the regent, and privately she says she causes JB too many problems when she's around him. But those are flimsy excuses and every viewer can see that. If she were a real person it would be obvious that she has terrible problems with self-esteem and doesn't think she deserves someone good who loves her like JB does. But this series isn't a deep psychological drama; it's just stringing out the non-romance to keep it going for as long as possible. I don't want to see any more of Jung-hwa pushing away her feelings. Watching people make themselves miserable isn't fun.
And JB, you lose respect for him. Jung-hwa dumps this nonsense on him and turns and walks away...and after two years of searching for her and wondering if she even survived, he just stands there and lets her leave? He looked like a weak, helpless loser. If he were a real person you'd say he doesn't know how to deal with women, and fair enough, plenty of guys out there are uncomfortable talking to women and trying to start relationships. But again, this series isn't going for depth. It's ridiculous to think that he wouldn't do anything other than run after her and pour his heart out and not let her go until she accepted him. And it would be a beautiful moment. But nooooo. Watching him standing there with that sad look on his face, I wanted to slap him. Sheesh.
You also lose respect for Soon-jong. There was that clever little interlude early in the episode where he sees the bodyguard and puts the pieces together, and then struggles with telling or not telling JB and decides not to because Jung-hwa had asked him not to. And you respect him for honoring her wishes. But then eventually he cracks and blabs the whole thing. And leaves his wife and son and business behind in Mujinju and goes all the way to Chunghae to do it. Puts himself and his family at risk. His loyalty to JB has always been admirable but this was bad.
The angle with the rich daughter, THAT'S the angle they should be going deeper into. She's a very interesting person, the way she's being so decent about her feelings for JB. So now she gives him that robe, and he's looking at her like he's starting to think about her since Jung-hwa won't have him. Hmm...but either way, it's hard to see this all resolving in any way that doesn't involve her dying somehow. Seems implausible but I can't shake the feeling.
"Madam Jami will abandon you someday." There's another interesting angle they should dig into. Interesting conversation between brother and sister. If Jung-hwa is really smart she'll talk her brother into flipping and helping her. You wonder how much Madam Jami trusts him by now anyway, now that his sister is her competitor. Maybe the guy is salvageable...or maybe she'll have him killed someday to hurt Jung-hwa.
"It's not that you can't afford to (help stop the pirates). It's that you don't wish to." Why did Master Sul go straight to Madam Jami and confront her like that? If he's figured out what she's doing, he shouldn't throw away that advantage and go tell her what he knows. JB did something similarly foolish earlier in the series. Yeah Sul is a straight-as-an-arrow type and maybe he figured he should call her out on it...but still it was foolish.
One up, one down: At least Madam Jami has moved on from the surrealist hairstyle. It was an impressive piece of engineering, but yecch. Much better. On the other hand, that dress Jung-hwa is wearing makes her look fat.
Wait, YM is known as the assassin and he's walking around town tailing Jung-hwa? No no no! Stop that! And can't JB and Jung-hwa be in the same place without YM spying on them? It's ridiculous.
So...I hope the recent upward trend wasn't an aberration. Bad things creeping back in. Need to keep them out.