Swallow the Sun - episodes 10-11

[dangermousie]

In these eps we have exotic travel, canon homosexuality of an awesome sort, gun battles, the most amazing love confession ever, a revelation of a huge secret, and a secondary OTP scenes of swoony achy perfection.



Jung Woo saves the King and seeing his capability, the King requests a favor - to rescue his son held by rebels in a fictional African country. He will pay a small fortune in diamonds for that.









After some delicious shirtless brooding, Jung Woo decides to accept the offer.



He talks to his posse - Jackson, Cuddly and Goofy. Jackson cautions him - he's been a mercenary in Africa - but if JW wants to go for it, he is in.









So, since off they went, when Su Hyun comes back, she finds out JW is gone, nobody knows where!





Meanwhile JW and crew are in an unnnamed African country where the first order of the day is to see Jackson's old mercenary buddy who could supply them with ammo. This buddy is tough and experienced. He is also gay, with a hot Black boyfriend and all - my jaw kinda hit the floor at the way this was handled completely matter-of-factly. Yeah, this guy is a mercenary and a bar owner. He also is gay, meet his bf. No comment by the drama or characters - not treating it any differently than if he introduced them to his wife. Not to mention the incredible novelty of seeing Black people as 'worthy' of desire in an Asian drama - Mercenary's boyfriend is tough and hot, Cuddly and Goofy keep drooling over the hot Black girls in the dance club, etc. And we also see Black people as mercenaries, grandmas sellin wares on the street, hot young things out to party, etc - anything. The thing that struck me so much is that you could have transported these scenes to some place in Korea and replaced the African characters with Korean ones and the treatment wouldn't have been any different - just all sorts of various people totally normally treated. I don't mean to carp on that except - I do. I have never seen this in a drama. Dramas are often very xenophobic - white people often exist only to menace the heroine or be slutty bimboes over hero and as for Black people - they are all thugs (remember the infamous scenes in Hanadan2 and Hana Kimi?) And though the real offenders are usually Japanese dramas, I have never seen even a kdrama that addressed non Asians in such a manner before.







That hair does Jung Woo not to many favors:



Cuddly and Goofy really enjoy hanging out at Mercenary's bar and trying to hit it off with hot girls (with varying success).



Seriously, so hot even with ratty hair.





I love Roommie so much!



Su Hyun tries to find out where Jung Woo went but in vain.



Meanwhile on Jeju, Cop confronted Mob Boss and revealed to him he figured out who Mob Boss was really. He also gave him a pic of Mi Yeon. It didn't go so well - seeing that Cop was the one responsible for getting MB caught those years ago. I admit I felt for Mob Boss here - his life would have turned out so differently if he were able to go away with Mi Yeon and have goodness and love in his life.



Rich Boy invited Su Hyun over for dinner with Daddy when she is over in Jeju on business. Say that for Mob Boss - he's quite happy for his son to be with a girl he's in love with. One problem - the topic of SH's parents comes up during dinner and you can tell Mob Boss is pretty uncomfortable. I bet he had them whacked all these years ago which would certainly put a crimp into the bonding-with-potential-in-laws time.



Hotness.







Yes, Mercenary has a pet cheetah. Heeeeee. Awesome.



He takes them to gun suppliers while wearing the most awesome shirts. Which nobody is going to comment on because otherwise he'd make them eat their teeth. With the rest of their intestines for a chaser.





Su Hyun is in Africa for work (as has been indicated for a while, it's not out of nowhere) and Jackson runs into her.





They have the most awesome conversation - Jackson is rather older than Jung Woo and Su Hyun (by a good decade, I'd say) and pretty perceptive/common-sense in a lot of ways - he tries to explain to SH that for JW leaving her was a way to love her and just generally tells her a few things to clear her head.







Ohhhhhhh. Here is Jackson missing Amy and stroking her picture. While she is thinking of him back on Jeju - they are going on my fave secondary OTP list for sure.

















Amy's father may have dragged Amy to Jeju and kept her there by threats to have Jackson offed but he isn't blind to his daughter being completely shut down and not living. (She was happier being a stripper in a seedy bar!) He mentions to Secretary that if only some man could win her over he'd give that man anything (you, old guy - I know just the man - his name is Jackson and he's in Africa brooding over your daughter! Hellllllo!). You can see the gears in Secretary's head begin to work.



Meanwhile Jackson distracts Jung Woo from his gun practice and also tries to knock some hard sense into him about Su Hyun. He also tells him he needs JW to pick something for him in the hotel (yesssss - playing Cupid!)









Have some Jimmy and hot sexy Henry.



JW goes to hotel as per Jackson's instructions, but SH can't make it on time for a variety of reasons, JW gets tired waiting for the mysterious supplier and comes back to the den to find out the rest of them left on the mission without him. He goes to Jimmy and demands to be taken after them. Jimmy is all 'does that mean you haven't seen your girl yet? It was Jackson's present etc' at which JW turns to stone.







Especially since he hears a voice behind him - "Jung Woo?" It's Su Hyun, she has come to track him down to Jimmy's - Jackson left his address with her. OMG, that scene made me hyperventilate. I especially loved the part when she asks him, with tears in her voice, what kind of foolish love is to only hurt yourself?



















The most awesome drama confession of love of all time follows. He tells her about his past - all of it - and when he first saw her when they were kids. And the gist of his awesome baring of the soul is that his grubby hands are unworthy to besmirch her and that to touch her would be a sin. Oh, hell, have the whole thing, it's too amazing not to put in there.

Jung Woo: There's this orphanage in Namwon Jeju. I was taken there immediately after birth...and that's where I grew up. When I was around thirteen, these people came to the
orphanage to do charity work. There was this man who owned the largest orange grove in Seogwipo, a very rich old man...and his granddaughter. All the orphans lined up, including me, to accept what they had brought. They gave each one of us a present and an orange. [the flashback to JW stomping on his present in front of SH] That day, the orphanage Director...took the switch to me until my calves bled. I didn't know why I did that. That night, I took some of the orphans to the orchard. I wanted that girl with the pure look in her eyes to become flawed. Because only then, she and I could be the same. My plans were to totally destroy that orchard. [flashback to JW being distracted by music and going to the source and seeing SH play inside the house] The moment I saw the girl playing her cello, I couldn't breathe anymore. I knew then how wrong my thinking was. She wasn't a girl that could be tarnished by someone like me. As I was running away, I found myself crying...without knowing why. Thinking back on it, I think that was the first time in my life that I felt ashamed. I made up my mind right there and then...that if I ever saw that girl again, it wouldn't be with that shameful feeling. My past, all the flaws in me, I will erase them all... and become like her, pure and without flaws. I had to meet her like that. It was more than ten years later...when I saw her again...in a classroom at the university. Even then, she was still the same. With that same clear look in her eyes, playing her cello. By that time though, I'd already sold my soul. To try and erase my past, I became as a dog who barked when told, and pretended to die when told to. Living the life of servitude. I was still ashamed of who I was. So I didn't reveal myself and I just looked at you...from a distance. Because for a person like me to love someone like you is a sin. I may commit a hundred, a thousand sins, but I would never commit a sin against you.

I was totally crying, you guys!





























OMG, how much do I love her response. She doesn't say anything - just hugs him and holds him and then holds his head in her hands and leans up to kiss him. I love how throught it all he won't even make a move or initiate anything - he doesn't even put his arms around her - the initiative is 100% hers, and only after she starts kissing him does he respond. OMG.



























YESSSSSS!



You know what I like so much? The makers don't want to have Su Hyun on a pedestal - she is allowed to be a flawed human in her own right, not just a perfect Goddess for JW to aspire. I love that she tells him: I didn't always live with a clear look...in my eyes like you think. Just as you did, I may also have sold my soul. And just like the hardships you've had in your life, I too suffered a pain that I can't bear to think back on...and am also full of flaws. We need to recognize the wounds...and tend to the pain in each other. So don't think those foolish thoughts anymore. And that is precisely why JW/SH can work out.



























She awakens in the morning to find him gone - he left her a love letter telling he can't leave his friends in the lurch and let them do that dangerous thing by themselves but that he will come back to her and be worthy of her.









Awesomeness of mercenary nature! (Dude, you owe Jackson thank-you cards for the rest of your life!)





Unfortunately, during the (ultimately successful) mission, JW gets wounded and can't get back in time to meet SH while she's still in Africa as he promised.







Meanwhile Secretary screwed something up and Mob Boss was a total bastard to him and threatened him which makes Secretary even more scared of Mob Boss and determined to find his own fortune away from him (that is why you treat your flunkies well, Mob Boss!)



So he continues trying to woo Amy. Pity all she wants from him is Jackson's wereabouts:



Su Hyun is on Jeju and turns down Rich Boy's proposal for the umpteenth time (seriously, creeper, get a hint!) She also flat-out admits she is in love with Jung Woo and basically Rich Boy only will have any chance if the rest of the population of the world will be nuked and, even then, not unless Su Hyun herself gets a lobotomy. Only she puts it more politely than that.



Jackson is back on Jeju (he periodically advises one of the casino owners) and casino owner's daughter, who is a friend of his, lets him know Amy is on Jeju. Jackson is all 'I gave up on her, that is the last gift I can give her' but inside he is basically one giant emo Nickleback ballad!





And one of the most awesome, glee-inducing, swoony scenes follows. He finds Amy and just watches her as she watches over the ocean at her favorite spot and never knows he is there.



















Guess who else is back! Jung Woo is ready to wreak havoc on the Mob Boss!





One slight hitch - as ep 11 ends, Cop informs him of the truth - Mob Boss is his father (now tell him he didn't rape your mother but istead loved her madly. Come on!)







I wonder why Cop didn't tell Mob Boss about JW being his son though - does he believe Mob Boss is too far gone to care? But he's seen the portraits he keeps trying to paint of Mi Yeon!

ETA: I have just finished ep 12 and my blood is boiling. I want to stab Jung Woo in his stupid stupid evil face! Ugh! What the FRELL is wrong with you, moron? You are going to throw away the love of your life and your lifelong friendships for a ghost of revenge? You are going to turn sycophant and traitor and expose your friends to danger and betray them just so you can get your plans started? Ugh ugh ugh hate hate die! Scumbag. Guess what, sweetheart? You are on the road to turn into the man you hate the most - your father. He too started out flawed but caring and promising and ended up betraying anyone on his way to his goals and throwing away his humanity. Now he's a monster. Enjoy becoming him. I hope before Su Hyun, Cop, Jackson & Co even ever consider taking you back you grovel on your knees. Through the Sahara desert.

SCUM SCUM SCUM. I should HOPE you feel unworthy of Su Hyun! I should frelling hope! Rich Boy is suddenly looking like a good prospect compared to you.

ETA2: Watched preview for ep 13 and have calmed down a bit. Still think Jung Woo is a total idiot but can't hate him too much because the guy is so seriously beyond messed up. And I think a part of him needs to shove away his friends and his lover - it's the whole deept-set belief he isn't worthy of anything good so perversely he wants them to hate him because that's what he believes he deserves. Still, he better snap out of it soon! I am looking forward to Su Hyun slugging him.

ETA3: Jackson, do I need to lock you and Amy in a room to work out all your angst? A room with a big bed? Come on!!!!! You awesome messed-up OTP! This drama is giving me TWO "I am unworthy of her" OTPs for the price of one! YESSS.

Comments

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

He has a pet cheetah?!

Oh, I have to agree with you about the xenophobia in Asian dramas. Taiwanese and Mainland China aren't so bad - they've had White people as supporting characters in dramas. But, Japan and Korea are really bad at the whole xenophobia thing.


Every time I see a non-Japanese or Korean person in a Japanese drama/film, I actually get excited. But, then, the person is usually a foreign businessman, a slutty woman, or a thug of some sort. It seems Japan thinks that all White people are CEOs and all Black people are street thugs.

Korea is slowly getting better with their xenophobia, which is odd considering how xenophobic the country is as a whole. Many films are showing White and Black people in minor roles now.

I've seen a couple of family dramas with Whites as supporting/main characters.

There was Golden Bride, the main guy worked at an American owned business and I remember many of co-workers were Whites. They were portrayed as nice people, who would invite him to go out for drinks.

Then there was Assorted Gems, which has a White man as a main character! He wanted to be a monk, but became a semi-love interest for the second daughter of the family (played Jackson's casino daughter friend). Sadly, the writer and PDs ignored the chemistry and were wary of older viewers reactions, so she married her wimpy ex - who left her twice and he went off to be a monk.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, a pet cheetah.

I cringe every time I think of Hanadan2. My God.

So, in Assorted Gems she didn't end up with the white guy? I was rooting for them, second-hand. Boo.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Oh, did I spoil you? Sorry! I was watching it on and off, and I spoiled myself my accident. It seems the writer went all crazy and ruined it all. She apparently became obsessed with one couple and ignored a ton of storylines. Then, at the end she rushed a lot of stuff. People have told me that episodes 34 onward are totally makjang.

She gets with the mama-boy wimpy doctor that dumps her early on. I have no idea why. And the younger brother is about to marry his girlfriend in the last episode, then something happens, and there is a flash forward to three years later and she's heavily pregnant and married to some other dude. The , second sister is pregnant and married to wimpy doctor. White guy is a monk in the mountains. Youngest brother is. . . somewhere. It's very much a 'WTF?' kind of ending. How could the writer not fill in these huge gasps? But, it seems that the second sister suffers major character assassin during the last five episodes. I'm still wondering how the younger brother and his girlfriend went from 'about the get married' to 'they have nothing to do with each other' in the span of five minutes. I was going to watch it all the way through, but not if there is lazy, makjang, writing for the last twenty episodes.

[village.livejournal.com]

LOL. Now you see why I was scared to watch and was getting very worried, right? Boy went off the deep end there. lol. My first reaction was, WTF?! NO IDIOT. DON'T DO IT.

But honestly, by the time I got about fifteen minutes into episode 13, I realized that it wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. JW is dead wrong but it's the decision he's made and while I personally don't think it's worth it, to someone like him, who barely escaped death, this is the only way to bring meaning back into his life.

JW isn't the type of person that could be happy with the fact that he has people around him who love and support him, there's just too much anger and hurt in him. He has to get rid of the demons first or he'll never be able to live freely.

Jimmy, his fashion sense, his eight-pack man candy boyfriend, and his pet cheetah = AMAZINGNESS. lol. Too bad he screwed them all over.

And you know how I feel about the lack of xenophobia in StS so far. I just love it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, even the preview for ep 13 calmed me down - he wasn't some plotting mastermind careening into evilness just a really really messed-up guy lashing out.

But I don't get the revenge thing - I understand that he meant to pay Mob Boss back a long time ago and I understand why he wants to - for prison and using and even treatment of his mother and abandonment of him (as he believes). But what motivated him to get started now? What I mean is when he and Su Hyun made love back in Johannesburg, he wasn't acting like some guy who was going to get back from safari-of-doom and go off on a revenge quest. No, he acted like someone who was going to get his job done, then come back to SH and live clean and honorably from then on and be worthy of her. So what changed? Why change like that? Is it just because he got shot and somehow being close to death made him think of revenge (as opposed to with any normal person where it would make them think of loved ones?)

I just don't get it. Why is he throwing away happiness and love and friendship now?

This drama is shockingly progressive for a kdrama - racially and sexual-orientation-wise.

[village.livejournal.com]

What I mean is when he and Su Hyun made love back in Johannesburg, he wasn't acting like some guy who was going to get back from safari-of-doom and go off on a revenge quest. No, he acted like someone who was going to get his job done, then come back to SH and live clean and honorably from then on and be worthy of her.

Really? I never got that he was going to do anything of the sort. I felt that he was going to go off, make his riches, come back for the girl while still having plans to get his father back after creating his own empire. I have never for one second believed that he'd thrown away thoughts of revenge. What made you think that he would?

Why is he throwing away happiness and love and friendship now?

To be honest, I don't think he realizes that he actually has anything to throw away. His life, his existence, is that worthless to him.

I'm not sure what episode he alluded to it, it might have been 12 or 13, but after he got shot, he had this "epiphany" of sorts, about what he was supposed to do with his life. The Africa experience made the desire for revenge even more pronounced for JW.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Really? I never got that he was going to do anything of the sort. I felt that he was going to go off, make his riches, come back for the girl while still having plans to get his father back after creating his own empire. I have never for one second believed that he'd thrown away thoughts of revenge. What made you think that he would?


The fact that in his letter to her he said he would be coming back to her and clearly meant it. He had to have been planning on living a decent life otherwise he'd never allow himself to be with her. He doesn't seek her out on Jeju (and didn't contact her earlier) because he is back to his "I am unworthy of her" because of his revenge - he may be messed up but he understands what he is doing isn't honorable and 'pure.' So he couldn't have been nursing plans of revenge and thinking he could be with her at the same time - but he planned to be with her, so he had to not have been thinking of revenge. Does it make sense?

(I suppose he could have been thinking revenge was honorable and OK but decided it was necessary but horrid after finding out who Mob Boss trly was but that doesn't gel - he didn't contact her even before finding out the truth so he clearly thought revenge was dirty even back then).

I guess the Africa epiphany changed him.

To be honest, I don't think he realizes that he actually has anything to throw away. His life, his existence, is that worthless to him.

I understand why he is that way - the kid is beyond screwed up. But it still makes me want to shake him until his teeth rattle - Su Hyun couldn't make it clearer to him that she loves him, all of him, demons and all, if she tattooed it on her forehead. And his three friends clearly would be willing to risk their lives for him (helllllo, leaving aside anything else, Jackson hooked him back up with SH!). But he won't allow himself to believe that - and even if he does, doesn't want them to feel that way because he isn't worthy and probably thinks they will find this out sooner or later and ditch him. I think a part of him perversely enjoys SH and his friends hating him and being treated as a dog by Mob Boss and his son - because that's all he thinks he deserves.

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

I HAVE TO WATCH THIS. I NEED TO STOP READING YOUR CAPS. IT MAKES IT SO AWESOME.

(btw, I loaded the first 2 eps of Resurrection onto my iPhone. The quality is amazing, and I can SCREENSHOT, hee! Black and White didn't make it, I tried like 3 times and the last one was at half speed. I have no idea. But at least I can watch another drama?)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yay! Let me know if you need links!