The Princess' Man - ep 10

[dangermousie]

This episode both made me ship the OTP harder and realize they are over.



He is pretty much gone. It all has been too much and he's snapped. Time is yet to show whether it's temporary or he's permanently broken.






She finds out he is about to be executed and bargains with the only thing she has left - her life. She tells Sooyang that if he executes Seung Yoo, she will slit her own throat. (It kills me that he will never know how far she went to save him!)







I found it telling that despite the fact that she is his favorite person in the whole world, that is still not enough to procure SY's freedom - sure, it bothers Sooyang, but not enough to stop. The only way SY escapes with his life is that the King finally gets fed up with the slaughter and gets some backing and orders a stop to the executions.



The thing that is so horrific about this scene is that he is too numb to care he is about to be executed and when he hears he is to be reprieved, he is so numb and grief-stricken he doesn't care either - he is almost disappointed (if you think about it, not only is his family dead in front of his eyes, his best friend participated in the murder and the woman he loves is his arch-enemy's daughter). Not that it is much of a reprieve - he and the other 'traitors' are turned into slaves and exiled to an island.








Points to Sooyang turning 'King ordered me to stop' into 'I didn't kill him for love of you, daughter.'



And this is the scene that convinced me that there can never be a happy ending for them even if both stay alive. There are some family issues one can get over. This is not one of them. Her family is right that she should do her best to move on and try to love Myun (except that Myun is fast turning into a monster attempting to prove to himself his betrayal was correct; and he knows she loves SY. But if it wasn't Myun but some random noble). Because when she visits him in prison, he sees her just as an extension of Sooyang, the one part of Sooyang he can reach for vengeance (I am sure self-loathing for loving an enemy enters into it - especially since he still loves her). And sure, he can become saner with passing of time, but that shadow will always be between them - she is the daughter of the man who killed his whole family in front of his eyes. Even though she is innocent and loves him, I can't see how they can get over that, even if he ever becomes sane enough to want to try.














Umm, yeah. If a guy is trying to choke you to death, your relationship is probably over. Just a hunch.

Comments

[cleobulle.livejournal.com]

I knew you would go crazy over episode 10! Isn't it heartbreaking?

I agree with you, there's pretty much no way for the OTP to get over their issues--well, maybe if she abandonned her family? I think SY loves her enough to take her if she does that and if all the misunderstandings are cleared. But I doubt it will happen. Mainly, I just can't see SY alive at the end of the drama. We all know he won't kill Sooyang and that's pretty much the only reason he has to stay alive. There's no way he'd ever stop trying to avenge his family. K-drama heroes just aren't like that. He'll either be killed in the attempt or take his own life if he sees that Sooyang is essential to the well-being of the country.

My wish for a "HEA" would be that they die at peace in each other's arms. I don't think we can hope for better than that. We might have a little interlude between them in the remaining episodes but I bet the end game will be death for our OTP. And I do hope there's a little interlude because we haven't much to hold on to OTP-wise in the midst of all this misery.

Unlike you, I'm very sympathetic when it comes to Myun though. I don't approve of what he's done but I don't think he had much of a choice. I've never seen a Kdrama man choose a friend over his family when it comes down to it. He did as much as he could by not killing SY in episode 9. It's not his fault that SY chose to come back to try and kill Sooyang. He probably thought SY would look for his sis-in-law and niece and disappear--if he survived his wounds that is. Because I don't believe he let him live so much as he left the decision up to fate. It could have gone either way. SY was in pretty bad shape when he left him in the forest.

So, I'm not excusing what he did but I understand him. And I always look forward to his scenes. I find his painful, unrequited love for SR heartbreaking. He's always been second-best to SY in everything but this issue was the most important to him and fueled his resolve--But I did appreciate that he did not betray SY only because of SR. His main motivation was his father and his Clan.

I'm still a bit ambivalent about the black and white portrayal of the political struggles in TPM. I've done some reading and, apparently, both Kim Jong Seo and Prince Anpyong were selfishly interested in power and not in protecting the king. KJS wanted to keep the young king because he would be more maleable and he could pretty much rule undisturbed and Anpyong wanted the throne for himself. Each had their own agenda. Maybe that's why I'm so sympathetic to Myun's plight. I'm having trouble separating what really happened from the dramatized version of the events. When Myun tells SY in episode 11 that he could very well have been the one behind bars, it rings true.

In a way he reminds me a bit of "Purple Vador" (can't remember his name at the moment) from Chuno. He sold his soul to protect his family and became a puppet used by powerful men. Once you start down that path, there's usually no way to stop. I wonder if their fates will be similar in that they both survive at the end while pretty much every one around them has died...We'll see.

And wait until you see episodes 13 & 14! It gets even worse for our OTP. In a way I want to rage against the Kdrama gods. It seems so unfair to the characters and you want to scream at your TV/computer screen: Why? Why can't they be happy?

And Se Ryung is turning into one of my favorite heroines of all time. She's smart, kind, bold and generous. She gave herself completely to SY and will do anything for him, even when she knows he hates her. Gah...they could have been so happy!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

But even if she left her family, you are right, he could never rest as long as Sooyang is alive. (it reminds me in its setup of Time of Dog and Wolf only set in a much more brutal time period).

I love how SR is both period-appropriate (she doesn't feel like a 21st century woman in period garb) and yet incredibly smart, loyal, tough and amazing.

Purple Vader = Lee Jong Hyuk :P I may not like Myun, but LJH's character was in another league entirely - he was consumed by jealousy and inadequacy so (and imo, homoerotic obsession) and more than anything what drove him was proving to himself that Tae Ha was not the hero he acted as. Myun is largely caught in the wheels of history - I don't think he would get a sick glee out of torturing SY.

But yes, I don't care for Myun. I don't blame him for picking his family over his friend - it's his attitude during the whole thing. Anyone who acts as if the biggest victim in this situation is him and not the guy whose family got murdered and who is about to be killed, is not someone I can like. (What would it cost him to reassure SY that he'd help his sis-in-law and teeny niece?) Also, I am not saying he should go and warn SY's father. But neither did he have to participate so personally. And there is his thing with SR. When he asks her at the end of ep 12 how long does he have to wait for her to get over SY, I wanted to smack him - it's been what, a couple of weeks max - he expects her to move on from her dead lover in two weeks? WTF. And once again, it's all about his feelings and his pain.

[cleobulle.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, definitely Myun has some huge faults. And I wouldn't trust him were I to meet such a person in real life. I guess that, since there are no such stakes for me, I'm more able to enjoy a character, flaws and all. The niece/sis in law thing *did* bother me a lot though. It wouldn't have cost Myun anything. At this point, I think they weren't even given to noble clans yet so he could have had them removed without too much trouble IMO.

You're right about Lee Jong Hyuk. I could definitely sense some repressence homoerotic tendencies there. I don't know if it was the intention of the writers or not though.

I just checked your post about episodes 11&12 and I'm replying here so that I don't flood your inbox with LJ notifications :o)

On the plus side, I don't think he's ever looked hotter.
Lol, yeah, isn't he gorgeous? And he looks even better starting from episode 13 when he dons his Vengeful Ninja outfit. The hair! The mean look! His stalking tendencies!

Se Ryung won't let you down in the next episodes. She continues to be made of awsome. As you said, they managed to make her both period appropriate and her own person (amazing for the times). She's an active participant in her relationship with SY and otherm atters, not just a pretty lady angsting and lamenting over her fate while pining away for the hero. She broke my heart in episode 14. I think you're going to freak out--in a good way.

This drama really surprised me with its pacing. At first I thought that we'd get to the "princess and her man" part about mid-way through the drama and go from there. But now it's pretty clear that we'll be lucky if we see Sooyang ascending the throne before episode 20. Which would leave all of 4 episodes of SR being a Princess. Yeah, not a lot. Which is one of the reasons I would LOVE an extension. I'm not often on board with extensions but here I think the plot could definitely support it. With the ratings raising steadily every week, I hope the producers will consider it. Warrior BDS has been extended to 30 episodes. It would be bliss to get the same for TPM but I don't even ask for that much. 26 or 28 would suit me just fine.

About the cuteness...I smiled at the pic of the two little monks. I LOVE the continuity here. They kept their personalities intact: the one with a soft heart for pretty girls and the grumpy one who thinks they're all nasty and ugly. That's some nice writing.

Ok. I'm going to stop now. I need to finish translating episode 14 into French. I'm starting work again tomorrow and won't have as mush time to translate during the week.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I think Myun is, despite his position and sword skill, a weak person. That is why stronger people around him (Seung Yoo, Seung Ri, his father, Sooyang) are always able to bend him this way and that.

Re: Purple Vader. :P I have no idea if it was in the script or LJH adding his own twist, but I loved it, because it added another layer of complexity to the whole thing.

I hate extensions. Except QoR where extension enabled PSH to get the girl, I have yet to see one that was useful. I dread WBDS extension. So we'll see.

[cleobulle.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think weak is the right word. He's always been second best at everything behind SY and it's a sort of weakness in his character that didn't enable him to shrug it off and be satisfied with his lot in life. Envy + weakness is a sure recipe for disaster.

I find it interesting that the one person that actually made him act "against orders" and be his own man so to speak is SR: he helped her with KJS's daughter in law although he refused when SY begged him to. And in episode 14 he went against Sooyang's orders to try and save her in his own way--with disastrous results though.

I'm not too fond of extensions as a rule either but I could really see a couple more episodes for TPM.

I was surprised that WBDS got a 6 episodes extension. That's a lot of hours and I don't know if the drama warrants it. I'm losing a bit of interest in it though so I'm not speaking objectively. I was always more onboard for Un (and the actor whom I like a lot) than Dong Soo and things really aren't panning out the way I hoped they would. There are a lot of wasted opportunities in this drama. I'll give it another go but I don't know if I'll be able to finish it. I have less time now that the holidays are over and I don't want to struggle with a drama when I could be doing something else.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am rapidly losing interest in WBDS. It's not bad but it's not grabbing me either. Part of it is my fault because it's suffering in comparison with TPM.

[cleobulle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, TPM grabbed me more than WBDS as well. It had great potential but I think they made a mistake by going "the safe route" with the relationships. Not that the relationships are really central to the drama anyway. I'm not attached to any character and the drama is a bit all over the place. I'll keep checking the recaps over at Thundie's blog just in case.

[puion.livejournal.com]

my God...I can feel PSH's pain from those screencaps...

He is so good at conveying pain to us as viewers...

WOW, i hope he gets an award for this!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I hope so too!