dangermousie | Swallow the Sun ep 9 - in which the OTPs have a very VERY bad day and things blow up

I have only watched ep 9 of Swallow the Sun yesterday (busy with stuff) but what a wonderful episode it was! Chockfull of shippy angst, awesome BFFery of the male and female sort, and some really fun gunplay.

Back from her date, Su Hyun (heroine) is giddy but her roommie is boggled - why choose Jung Woo (hero) when Rich Boy is so devoted. Heroine shows her sanity by sticking to her guns and preferring hero. Probably because he hasn't stalked her across continents refusing to take no for an answer. Also she is no fool as she says "If he would just open his heart to me, I want to take care of him. But I don't think he wants to do that." She can sense your barriers, boy, just give up and confess!

Meanwhile Rich Boy finds Hero out, fakes contrition for his family's betrayal (seriously, that 'apology' made my blood boil - 'hey, you knew my father was ruthless, it's your fault' ugh ugh die) and tells him to leave Su Hyun alone. Oh, shut up and die already. Hero is pretty unfazed and tells him that he's still thinking how to take revenge and when he comes up with a plan, he'll let him know :P

Rich Boy is scared. Good, good.

Here for the pretty. (Maybe he knows by osmosis that back on Jeju Mob Boss had Cop offed because Cop was digging too much into Mob Boss' background)

Meanwhile, while Jackson is involved in another one of his underground gambling games, Amy is earning her money (yup, she keeps on stripping even after all that huge amount of $$$ he gave her - she is clearly working because of issues, not out of need).

Remember Big Thug? Guy Jackson won all that money from? Guess who's in the strip joint, enjoying the show and fixated on Amy. Guess. I squealed with delight when I saw the potential.

After finishing her shift, Amy is walking home, when a white van drives up and Big Thug and two flunkies drag terrified, fighting Amy into it. Clearly Big Thug has a major deathwish.

Luckily, Su Hyun and Roommie were driving up there to pick Amy up and they are just in time to see the kidnapping.

Being smart and awesome, they don't do anything stupid like follow the van or try to engage the thugs - instead they head straight for Jung Woo, Jackson and crew to tell them Amy has been kidnapped and to describe the kidnappers.

Ummm, Jackson sort of loses his mind. ~~Delicious.~~

Meanwhile, thugs drag Amy (who is still kicking and fighting and screaming) out of the van and thrust her into a really fancy limo.

And then you see the man in the limo - moneylender, Amy's father. She begs him to let her go but he tells her that if he doesn't take her home, he'll have to have her bf killed. "Would that be better?" Ummm, yeah, there is that. To be honest, I am kinda on Dad's side here. True love and all that but which parent wants to see his child turn into a stripper and shack up with a guy who can be dead tomorrow?

The gang goes off in search of Big (and clearly very deathwish-having) Thug.

Ummm, yeah. Jackson has seriously gone off the rails. (Also it seems clear that Big Thug just hired to do a random job, he had no idea Amy was Jackson's gf otherwise he probably would have stayed out of it. He's dumb but not THAT dumb).

"Don't worry, gals! We'll find her once we torture someone to death."

So yeah, Jackson is giving Big Thug the third degree.

And it comes out that Big Thug doesn't know any Amy - he was just ordered to kidnap this one particular stripper and bring her to her father. Why, it's positively charity on his part! I love that scene because Jackson just sags with relief - you can tell he was imagining her lying somewhere raped and with her throat slit.

And then he is all "It's for the best, the hunt is over guys, let's go home blah blah I am going to bash my head against a rock in private" and explains that Amy actually graduated from a top university in Korea but then she went to New York for graduate studies and they met and, well, living in a shack and being a stripper is no kind of life for a girl like that so it's good things returned to their proper place.

(I need a nickname for this thug friend - I am going to call him Cuddly). Cuddly is not buying 'yay, it's for the best' talk and neither are the rest of the guys but nobody wants to mess with Mr Crazy so they all go their separate ways.

Jackson goes to the strip club where Amy used to work and just drinks with his back to the dance area as if he can pretend Amy is still there. Awwwwww. ~~I need MOAR!!!!!~~

It's not much cheerier elsewhere - Jung Woo and Cuddly talk and Jung Woo reveals his greatest fear and the reason why he hasn't made more of a move on Su Hyun - he is afraid of the taint of his father in him - he can feel it. His father who was a gangster, murderer and (though the last one is untrue he doesn't know it) a horrible rapist - making Jung Woo a product of rape. How can he love a woman when he can feel all that rottenness in him? Poor kid. He already had huge unworthiness issues, now this.

Jung Woo and Su Hyun meet up!

She tells him the good news - she's been made an official employee of Cirque du Soleil!

She also tells him she is leaving tomorrow for 6 months and does he have anything to say to her? That's as clear an invitation as anyone can get but he just swallows, looks down and says he wishes her well wherever she goes. Oh babies! Silly silly babies!

She says she needs to get going, clearly, hurt. And stretches her hand out to shake.

They just don't let go.

And then, impulsively, she leans forward and hugs him! OMG.

For God's sake, grab her and kiss her! You are NOT unworthy, come on! (Especially since her other option is an over-obsessive murderer, k?)

And then they walk away, their separate ways.

Oh baby, don't slump and cry, please!

Well, luckily for Jung Woo and Jackson, they can't just sit and mope about their broken hearts because they have a job. And their employer, the African King, has just received a huge threat. Also, he's going to some deserted part of the desert for a religious ritual. That is going to end well.

Yup, bad guys attack and there is a lot of awesome shootouts and car chases.

Preive promises me a trip to Africa which contains Jung Woo sexy long hair:

Jackson's emo over Any in the middle of battle (yes, he keeps her picture in his wallet. EEE)

Oh, and Su Hyun coming all the way to Africa to unleash a can of whoopass on Jung Woo - she tracks him down all the way to a war zone to basically demand whether he was just born insane or is it a result of childhood trauma that he thought it was a good idea to become a mercenary! You go, gal!