dangermousie | The Devil: ep 7 meta and picspam

It's all so very heart-breaking, isn't it? Because how easy would it be, if, as in Green Rose, the person(s) the revenge-driven protagonist wanted his revenge on were scum. Or if, as in any of a million crime shows, the 'avenger' was an evil/crazy person.

But it isn't like this here at all. While Lawyer is not a psychopath/sociopath and, in fact, has valid reasons for wanting revenge, the person he seeks to punish is actually a good person who had already spent his life trying to atone for a mistake. (And of course, unlike in Green Rose, where the ones revenged against were not just evil, but actively planning hero's downfall and directly causing him suffering, here Lawyer is a bystander to the bad past act that happened, in a sense. It was not directed at him).

And oh, how I adore Uhm Tae Woong in this. His Cop is by far my favorite character in the drama. So much love. He is so human and so struggling hard to be a good person and just...LOVE.

The reason I can't hate Lawyer are scenes like this, when he is alone and masks are down. He is driving with flowers to the place his Mother's and Brother's ashes are scattered:

And they are back up. I love when he is shot through glass and reflections:

Oh Soo confronting his past:

He is so shaken he almost crashes the car and looks like a sleepwalker:

The first time I felt genuinely awful for the Lawyer:

He drops her off but he is still in total shock:

His hands, and his whole body are shaking so badly he can't even open the car door!

(At this point I was all 'Invite him in and give him tea!' Yeah, I became sort of fangirly. Sorry)

In so many ways this drama is all about how revenge is worst for the perpetrator. It corrodes his soul. Because Lawyer had such a potential for being an amazing person. But he is trapped in the past. I wonder if that is part of his motivation: Cop has moved on and Lawyer hates it, he wants to trap him in the past as well?

He remembers himself as a kid:

And asks his dead Mom and brother how they've been:

Very thoroughly human:

Meanwhile Cop is also reliving the past.

Seung Ha's (Lawyer's) brother:

Is it wrong to find teenage Oh Soo hot?

And the situation quickly goes out of control, as it always does when brawling is involved:

And Oh Soo is dragged away by his friends:

Modern Oh Soo remembers it all:

Indeed.

As I said, I like the adulterous!otp, but it can't end well.

Back in school:

(I post a lot of caps of UTW because I can :P)

She comes looking for him but he is gone:

So she goes looking for her Mom in Church:

Only to find this. I read somewhere that psychopaths (or sociopaths, I can't remember) often feel the 'lack' in them, they realize something is missing, and try to overcompensate by volunteering or becoming scout masters or what not. While Seung Ha is neither a psycho nor a sociopath, I think in a way, all his charitable activities: soup kitchen, defending poor people, reading to Church children as here, are sort of driven by the same impulse: he realizes what he is doing is wrong, that is not what good people do, and he tries to compensate as much as he can for the bad he does. And the heartbreaking thing, he really does enjoy doing that stuff. It's all that potential for goodness wasted! It's not just the Cop's life he is wrecking, it's also his own.

He sees her:

He asks her what she thinks of him. SQUUEE. Yes, as I said, I ship killer lawyers and psychic librarians!

Cop resigns. He feels too guilty, too driven by remorse. His superior is awesome and tells him to continue, to catch the person cleanly, to continue being a good person, basically.

They walk home and discuss the story he was reading to the kids. And I wonder (based on what he says), is part of his revenge driven by guilt, because he didn't like his brother when he was alive? Or is the younger brother in the story is the Cop, instead. Hmmm.

Mom approves :)

The teacher remembers the past and how Oh Soo kept being despairing that nobody would believe him that it was an accident.

Grown-up Oh Soo, drinking:

This won't end well:

He ends up going home:

And a painful scene with his Dad follows, where he is all 'I didn't mind being beaten or going to jail, but I wanted you to believe me' etc. Dad, however, is his own bastardy self.

I think it was earlier, but at one point Cop was asking God if he'd forgive him, once, after all, he is God. Awww :(

In court at trial of guy who killed old lawyer:

Mmmmmmm...Joo Ji Hoon is basically perfect, isn't he?

Poor Cop:

Sora's Mom wants to leave her kid temporarily with Lawyer:

I love this scene SO MUCH (though most of it is in ep 8). Cop has come to the library and he begs her not to come around and he wants to tell her the truth about his past OMG. It was such a soul-shattering scene OMG.