dangermousie | Bridal Mask ep 7

Note: I won't be able to post about ep 8 until Monday as we are going to the beach. I won't even have a chance to watch it until then. But come hell or high water, I am going to talk about the wonderful ep 7.

I've seen comments that this ep was a bit slow but I thought it was a necessary breather. Sure, it was slower than ep 6, but pretty much everything in the world that could have happened, happened in that ep. We are switching into a new side of the story and it was good to have time to regroup. Overall, this drama continues grim - there've been cheerier funerals than this ep, though it is cheerier than ep 6 (but then anything is).

I loved the scene at the graveside - KT sounds like an animal in pain almost - unreasoning, hurt. He is wondering if the cause was more important than the family and I find it an interesting conflict - clearly Kang San and his mother thought so, but KT does not and, as a modern person, neither do I - I don't condone oppressing one's own people, but Kang To's preference of the well-being of his family over abstract ideals is something that resonates with me (only the ideals weren't that abstract - KS was after vengeance and the patriotism came as a side dish).

I loved that this time Dan did not need rescuing, she escaped all by herself. I love her (in fact, my sole quibble with this episode was that this was the second episode in a row where we had no Dan/KT interactions. We need more because for now, her crush on Gaksital is not crush on KT as Gaksital).

I was very amused that Shunji got upgraded to a motorcycle when he switched to being a bad guy (only, once again, things are complex, so not really - Kenji might have been evil but he also was Shunji's brother and revenge is understandable, that is what makes it so tragic.

I loved the intercut between Dan sensing something is wrong and Kang To in trouble. Meant to be, you guys! Well, if they aren't, I'd take Shunji/KT instead.

I love how you see throughout this episode how mild-mannered, gentle, civilized Shunji lost it - apply the right stimuli and anyone can turn into a savage. I confess that while Shunji's grief is both realistic and well-acted, it does not truly touch me because Kenji was such a psychopath.

Dan is in an interesting emotional state - she longs for 'young master,' she hates Kang To the Police Officer, she crushes on Gaksital as a result of Kang San's actions not knowing the new Gaksital is Kang To. She is going to lose it when she finds out all these men are one and the same (well, not KS, but you get the idea...) She is currently half in love with young master and half with gaksital who she thinks is young master.

I loved the borderline hallucinatory sequences of Kang To waking up in the hospital. It really conveyed the claustrophobic, sick feeling.

I know the man and his wifey are evil but I hope they will be saved for last because they entertain me. At least for once, the villains are happy in their villainy, as opposed to being dour broody sorts.

There are just here because this drama is gorgeously shot.

Of course, now she is convinced Gaksital is young master. Despite the knife, it's a hella conclusion to jump to, but I think it's a massive case of wishful thinking. Nobody, not even her, could believe gaksital helped her just because.

This drama is SWIMMING in hurt/comfort. Also, Abe is definitely in love with out good leutenant. Joking aside, I like that even now, after his family is dead and his friendship with Shunji about to sink under the weight of secrets, KT has someone left who cares for him uncomplicatedly.

The scene with Taro crying is one of my favorites - this drama allows even villains to have feelings, to be complex. Sometimes posthumously as with Kenji, who seems to have struggled to gain his father's approval, but it does it nonetheless.

The scene of him eating and people pressing their noses to the glass to look made me feel as if he was some caged animal at the zoo, for everyone's avid display (side note - when the guys at the market were all "Oh no, Gaksital is dead, woe!" I just wanted to yell at them "Yeah, and you set fire to his house!"

You know, BM is pretty much Joo Won's show and he is amazing in it. I want to give him every award possible. The scene with the little kid, unafraid of him (while the rest of the mothers drag their children away as if from a storybook monster) and both of them grieving for Kang San...my heart! It hits me that he is now utterly alone - there is no family left that will love him no matter what, that will say 'he is ours' no matter what he does.

Kang To starts yelling for the bastards who beat his brother and then you see the second it registers for him that he was one of those people. When people throw dirt and food and rocks at him, he not only takes it because he thinks he deserves it, he is almost welcoming it, as some sort of punishing atonement. Because you know KT could take them, but he doesn't even try.

Shunji hears KT is in trouble, races off to save him, and KT faints in his arms. This has put me on the slash train forever. But leaving that aside, I love how complicated their friendship is now, how it is both tainted and strong at the same time - behind the secrets and identities and vendettas, these two people care very much for each other (for KT, this is the only person left who cares, with the possible exception of simple Abe and the bodyguard who cares for him more as a symbol than as a person as he doesn't know the person much) and the fall-out of everything is going to be horrifying to watch.

The scene on the bicycle, oh my God, you guys, oh my God. They are both broken and grieving and seeking and giving comfort only they, or their people, are the cause of each other's misery. There is no peace anywhere.

I loved the conversation laden with hidden meanings in front of Shunji's house about revenge and living. As I said, there is no peace anywhere for Kang To, and it's entirely understandable why he can't come into Shunji's house (he may feel no remorse for Kenji but he does feel remorse for the pain Kenji's death caused his only friend) but I just wish he could find peace somewhere, somehow, even if only for a second.

At the batcave. Btw, in case you haven't noticed, there is an insane amount of Joo Won caps. He just looks so good tortured, I couldn't help it! In some ways, KT is freer to be Gaksital than his brother ever was - he has no family to protect or to lose. In some ways, he is much more trapped. For Kang San, being Gaksital was a choice but for Kang To, it is penance - he is becoming gaksital not to help Korean people (and frankly, I don't want him to become Gaksital to help them. Not only would that be out of character for 'close people over abstracts' KT, these are the people who burned his house down, mistreated his family, and were fine with his innocent family dying in a fire. He owes them zip) or even much as vengeance for his father, but because that is what Kang San was doing and he feels bound to carry on.