The amazingness that is Damo: I am done
Mar. 18th, 2007 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieSo.
Damo.
I am done. And![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
meganbmoore and alexandral, I'll always be grateful to the two of you for pushing this because I probably wouldn't have checked it out otherwise. But now this is definitely in my Top 10 dramas. And I simply must see the three leads in something else, but I am afraid, because I don't want to ruin my image of them as Chae-Ohk and Hwangbo Yoon and Sung Baek.
I think it maxed my angst capacity out.
But while I could do with fewer beards, I think this was an amazing amazing drama.
If I only could stop tearing up just thinking of it.
It's really hard to meta about anything else in light of that ending (one of the bleakest, heart-breaking yet fitting endings I've ever seen) but I'll try.
Two scenes really stand out: one is the one in which Hwangbo Yoon finally lets Chae-Ohk go. He brings her to a field at night and asks her to kill him (it's after she told him she loves Sung Baek). That whole scene is incredible. And she apologizes and raises the sword...and tries to stab herself. But it's arrested in midflight and she looks down and
and
and
HE IS HOLDING IT AWAY FROM HER BY GRABBING ONTO THE BLADE. And he doesn't even regard the blood that is seeping down. And he collapses, and tells her to go to Sung Baek, and she runs away and he just lies there, as if his strings have been cut.
And that brings me to the other scene that kills me. Because she comes to Sung Baek's camp and OMG OMG. After the whole time with her, Sung Baek was going to walk away from the rebellion and wander around and the 'leaders' didn't want their charismatic rebel (who is the one people follow because he is actually honorable and believes in better lives for them) to go away. So they killed this village where he knew everyone. Including the little girl who was the daughter of his dead best friend (who died saving him) and for whom he promised to care (not to mention it's like losing his sister over again. Another child he could not protect) and he just holds her and screams. And he thinks (understandably) it's government forces.
And the 'leadership' have this other secondary woman character they captured and her head has sack around it, and they tell Sung Baek that it's Chae-Ohk. And they tell him she is responsible for the deaths earlier in the village and now this village too, and they tells him he should excecute her. And he cannot. Because he loves her and she saved his life and because she is the same age his sister could be. But everyone wants the dead comrades to be avenged and they ask for it, and he struggles but finally...
he does.
As the real Chae-Ohk watches from the shadows. And she realizes this is the shelter she cannot have.
I really love when Sung Baek's second in command (who is a girl, and she is in love with him. In my AU, they leave the mountains and live happily ever after. She did want to come with him when he decided to leave) asks him why he used two cuts because one stroke of his sword would be enough. And Sung Baek answers that with the first stroke he killed his feelings and with the second one he took her life.
But of course it's a lie. That is another parallel between Hwangbo Yoon and Sung Baek: they decide they will let Chae-Ohk go and they cannot. Later, when Chae-Ohk comes back with the body (I love the scene where the body disappears and Sung Baek sees it and finds the ribbon Chae-Ohk has lost and he goes 'stop coming here, I killed you' it breaks my heart) and she asks Hwangbo Yoon for her job back and tells him she wants to kill Sung Baek?
That scene kills me. Hwangbo Yoon tells her that letting her go was the hardest thing he's ever done and he's never felt like this before, so much pain, so he cannot have her here again. And she leaves, and there is SO much pain for the two of them, and she is weeping outside, and his eyes get bright inside, and he finally tells her she can have her badge back but now she is only a damo to him no more no less. But like Sung Baek's comment earlier, it's of course a lie.
And it's proven, because when the bad guy sends him a note (all the plots have been foiled etc etc) that he has Chae-Ohk and if he wants her to live, to come alone? (btw, by that point, Hwangbo Yoon just learned that Sung Baek is Chae-Ohk's brother).
He comes.
He does.
HE DOES.
I couldn't breathe at that point.
And Chae-Ohk, who is tied up and gagged...you see her helpless horror, her life in her eyes (she's done everything she could to push him away, to not hinder him, to protect him, and look what happened). And the bad guy says he'll kill Chae-Ohk and OMG OMG OMG.
I am crying just thinking of it.
But Hwangbo Yoon goes down on his knees at the water's edge (this is on the beach). And you see that this is killing Chae-Ohk and Hwangbo Yoon begs for her life. He tells the bad guy it's his last wish.
But the bad guy is not interested of course and the situation looks grim when Sung Baek appears! (because he's come after the Bad Guy for reasons of his betrayal and killing of Sung Baek's friends).
An Bad Guy is all 'if you move closer, Chae-Ohk dies' but SB replies he's killed her already and etc etc etc.
To make long story short, Sung Baek and Hwangbo Yoon fight to the death as Chae Ohk watches, helpless as the two men she loves most in the world try their best to kill each other. Or at least Sung Baek is trying, Hwangbo Yoon is not. (btw a note about who Chae-Ohk loves: I think she loved HY but she couldn't have him, not without him disgracing himself which she couldn't have because he was everything to her, so she transferred her feelings to the 'permitted' Sung Baek, and I think she loved that transference, but it was always more for the shadows of HY and her brother in him. I am not sure if I am explaining it well, butmeganbmoore did it really well. If they all lived, she would have been happy to have him as her brother not 'oh woe, I cannot have forbidden love.')
And then, as HY kills the Bad Guy, SB who sees rebellion lost because Bad Guy drops all the gold, kills HY.
As Chae-Ohk sees
And her horror.
But HY tells SB that Chae-Ohk is his sister.
And Sung Baek, just walks away because everything is destroyed: rebellion, any personal happiness (because no way can he be with CO in any capacity now, not once he killed HY).
And still bound and gagged CO, who is screaming behind her gag, crawls to HY. And with shaking hands, he removes her gag and he tells her since falling for her he hasn't slept well but now he'll at least be able to rest. And he touches her cheek.
And dies.
And she is half sobbing-half screaming, telling him they should go back to the mountain, they should go back together (I wonder if it's a reply to his wanting to go away together earlier. She strikes me as too incoherent to think).
And then there is the burial and you hear CO thinking, wishing him to sleep well and that she won't disturb his dreams, but once she sleeps, can he come and find her again please. And her face is set.
And that is the end of flashback and SB sends all his followers away to live and we flash forward to the scene which started the drama, SB surrounded by troups and CO approaching, saying she must kill him herself. And he won't strike and he takes the sword and drives it towards himself. And as he spins, falling, he whispers 'I missed you, Jae-Hae' which is her childhood name and no one but her brother would know.
OMG
OMG
OMG
His face.
Her face.
She just realized she's met her idealized older brother. The one she's been in hopes of meeting, the one she's been searching for.
And he's killed HY. And he's died because of her.
And SB picks up the sword and raises it forcing the imperial troups to shoot him (I think to relieve CO of the guilt of his death) but
Chae-Ohk jumps in front of him, shilding him with her own body (too late of course) and OMG his face as he realizes his little sister is going to die for him and he cannot stop it.
And the soldiers stop firing but it's too late.
And they collapse together and you hear the voice over of their father saying (when they were kids) that they should stay together.
The end.
Oh.
My.
God.
Completely spoilery but awesome Damo MV:
Damo.
I am done. And
meganbmoore and alexandral, I'll always be grateful to the two of you for pushing this because I probably wouldn't have checked it out otherwise. But now this is definitely in my Top 10 dramas. And I simply must see the three leads in something else, but I am afraid, because I don't want to ruin my image of them as Chae-Ohk and Hwangbo Yoon and Sung Baek.I think it maxed my angst capacity out.
But while I could do with fewer beards, I think this was an amazing amazing drama.
If I only could stop tearing up just thinking of it.
It's really hard to meta about anything else in light of that ending (one of the bleakest, heart-breaking yet fitting endings I've ever seen) but I'll try.
Two scenes really stand out: one is the one in which Hwangbo Yoon finally lets Chae-Ohk go. He brings her to a field at night and asks her to kill him (it's after she told him she loves Sung Baek). That whole scene is incredible. And she apologizes and raises the sword...and tries to stab herself. But it's arrested in midflight and she looks down and
and
and
HE IS HOLDING IT AWAY FROM HER BY GRABBING ONTO THE BLADE. And he doesn't even regard the blood that is seeping down. And he collapses, and tells her to go to Sung Baek, and she runs away and he just lies there, as if his strings have been cut.
And that brings me to the other scene that kills me. Because she comes to Sung Baek's camp and OMG OMG. After the whole time with her, Sung Baek was going to walk away from the rebellion and wander around and the 'leaders' didn't want their charismatic rebel (who is the one people follow because he is actually honorable and believes in better lives for them) to go away. So they killed this village where he knew everyone. Including the little girl who was the daughter of his dead best friend (who died saving him) and for whom he promised to care (not to mention it's like losing his sister over again. Another child he could not protect) and he just holds her and screams. And he thinks (understandably) it's government forces.
And the 'leadership' have this other secondary woman character they captured and her head has sack around it, and they tell Sung Baek that it's Chae-Ohk. And they tell him she is responsible for the deaths earlier in the village and now this village too, and they tells him he should excecute her. And he cannot. Because he loves her and she saved his life and because she is the same age his sister could be. But everyone wants the dead comrades to be avenged and they ask for it, and he struggles but finally...
he does.
As the real Chae-Ohk watches from the shadows. And she realizes this is the shelter she cannot have.
I really love when Sung Baek's second in command (who is a girl, and she is in love with him. In my AU, they leave the mountains and live happily ever after. She did want to come with him when he decided to leave) asks him why he used two cuts because one stroke of his sword would be enough. And Sung Baek answers that with the first stroke he killed his feelings and with the second one he took her life.
But of course it's a lie. That is another parallel between Hwangbo Yoon and Sung Baek: they decide they will let Chae-Ohk go and they cannot. Later, when Chae-Ohk comes back with the body (I love the scene where the body disappears and Sung Baek sees it and finds the ribbon Chae-Ohk has lost and he goes 'stop coming here, I killed you' it breaks my heart) and she asks Hwangbo Yoon for her job back and tells him she wants to kill Sung Baek?
That scene kills me. Hwangbo Yoon tells her that letting her go was the hardest thing he's ever done and he's never felt like this before, so much pain, so he cannot have her here again. And she leaves, and there is SO much pain for the two of them, and she is weeping outside, and his eyes get bright inside, and he finally tells her she can have her badge back but now she is only a damo to him no more no less. But like Sung Baek's comment earlier, it's of course a lie.
And it's proven, because when the bad guy sends him a note (all the plots have been foiled etc etc) that he has Chae-Ohk and if he wants her to live, to come alone? (btw, by that point, Hwangbo Yoon just learned that Sung Baek is Chae-Ohk's brother).
He comes.
He does.
HE DOES.
I couldn't breathe at that point.
And Chae-Ohk, who is tied up and gagged...you see her helpless horror, her life in her eyes (she's done everything she could to push him away, to not hinder him, to protect him, and look what happened). And the bad guy says he'll kill Chae-Ohk and OMG OMG OMG.
I am crying just thinking of it.
But Hwangbo Yoon goes down on his knees at the water's edge (this is on the beach). And you see that this is killing Chae-Ohk and Hwangbo Yoon begs for her life. He tells the bad guy it's his last wish.
But the bad guy is not interested of course and the situation looks grim when Sung Baek appears! (because he's come after the Bad Guy for reasons of his betrayal and killing of Sung Baek's friends).
An Bad Guy is all 'if you move closer, Chae-Ohk dies' but SB replies he's killed her already and etc etc etc.
To make long story short, Sung Baek and Hwangbo Yoon fight to the death as Chae Ohk watches, helpless as the two men she loves most in the world try their best to kill each other. Or at least Sung Baek is trying, Hwangbo Yoon is not. (btw a note about who Chae-Ohk loves: I think she loved HY but she couldn't have him, not without him disgracing himself which she couldn't have because he was everything to her, so she transferred her feelings to the 'permitted' Sung Baek, and I think she loved that transference, but it was always more for the shadows of HY and her brother in him. I am not sure if I am explaining it well, but
meganbmoore did it really well. If they all lived, she would have been happy to have him as her brother not 'oh woe, I cannot have forbidden love.')And then, as HY kills the Bad Guy, SB who sees rebellion lost because Bad Guy drops all the gold, kills HY.
As Chae-Ohk sees
And her horror.
But HY tells SB that Chae-Ohk is his sister.
And Sung Baek, just walks away because everything is destroyed: rebellion, any personal happiness (because no way can he be with CO in any capacity now, not once he killed HY).
And still bound and gagged CO, who is screaming behind her gag, crawls to HY. And with shaking hands, he removes her gag and he tells her since falling for her he hasn't slept well but now he'll at least be able to rest. And he touches her cheek.
And dies.
And she is half sobbing-half screaming, telling him they should go back to the mountain, they should go back together (I wonder if it's a reply to his wanting to go away together earlier. She strikes me as too incoherent to think).
And then there is the burial and you hear CO thinking, wishing him to sleep well and that she won't disturb his dreams, but once she sleeps, can he come and find her again please. And her face is set.
And that is the end of flashback and SB sends all his followers away to live and we flash forward to the scene which started the drama, SB surrounded by troups and CO approaching, saying she must kill him herself. And he won't strike and he takes the sword and drives it towards himself. And as he spins, falling, he whispers 'I missed you, Jae-Hae' which is her childhood name and no one but her brother would know.
OMG
OMG
OMG
His face.
Her face.
She just realized she's met her idealized older brother. The one she's been in hopes of meeting, the one she's been searching for.
And he's killed HY. And he's died because of her.
And SB picks up the sword and raises it forcing the imperial troups to shoot him (I think to relieve CO of the guilt of his death) but
Chae-Ohk jumps in front of him, shilding him with her own body (too late of course) and OMG his face as he realizes his little sister is going to die for him and he cannot stop it.
And the soldiers stop firing but it's too late.
And they collapse together and you hear the voice over of their father saying (when they were kids) that they should stay together.
The end.
Oh.
My.
God.
Completely spoilery but awesome Damo MV:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 03:17 am (UTC)The scene where HY sends her away...I honestly don't think she even realized she was about to stab herself until she looked down and saw...what she loved in SB was the chance for freedom that he gave her, and she wanted it so desperately that she'd convinced herself she'd sacrifice anything for it, and then she looked down and saw that she was STILL trapped.
In my AU, SB and the girl ALSO go off to live happily in the mountains and make rebel babies. I actually think he did somewhat love her, but wouldn't allow himself to completely. I love the scene where she goes to him after being wounded by HY, and he instinctively goes to help her, but she forces him to stop, reminding him that, before anything else, he's her leader. Such a parallel between them and CO/HY.
Hwangbo Yoon's death scene was so traumatic...because...as soon as he learned the truth, it all made sense and he was able to understand why Chae-Ohk was drawn to Sung-Baek so much. And when he told SB, he understood it, too.
And then the final scene...it kills me because he thought he was both freeing her and giving her her revenge because, if you really pay attention, he let her win(barely, but still) and then he DOES turn to face the troops because, even though he let her have her revenge, he did want to make it so that what actually killed him wasn't her sword. But he didn't realize that he was literally stripping away the last vestige of a reason to live that she had. And...yeah...*needs her fluff*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 03:29 am (UTC)In my AU, SB and the girl ALSO go off to live happily in the mountains and make rebel babies. I actually think he did somewhat love her, but wouldn't allow himself to completely.
Oh, I kept hoping they'd go off. And I agree, that this is yet another parallel between Sung Baek and Hwangbo Yoon: the subordinate thing is similar. I love the scene where she is wounded and she is in his arms and he is screaming for a doctor.
Hwangbo Yoon's death scene was so traumatic...because...as soon as he learned the truth, it all made sense and he was able to understand why Chae-Ohk was drawn to Sung-Baek so much. And when he told SB, he understood it, too.
And it kills me that he tries to tell the truth to SB earlier but the Bad Guy interrupts. Because if SB knew earlier, the last tragic act could have been avoided.
it kills me because he thought he was both freeing her and giving her her revenge because, if you really pay attention, he let her win(barely, but still) and then he DOES turn to face the troops because, even though he let her have her revenge, he did want to make it so that what actually killed him wasn't her sword.
Exactly. It just makes me cry just thinking about it. And I think it is once again, a parallel with Hwangbo Yoon. Because HY would gladly die to save CO, to make it better, but what neither he nor SB could see (because they were incapable because they loved her so much) is that she would never accept the sacrifice, she would die for them instead.
Yeah, he was going to die from sword wound very soon so he thought he'd liberate her from the guilt but instead...and you can tell, by the look on his face when he sees her life given to protect him, that how hard he wanted to prevent this.
To make it angstier, I found this awesome SB vid:
And this one, HY/CO:
Now I am off to cry in a corner.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 03:42 am (UTC)Damo needed anachronistic blood testing. Then everything would have been ok.
*has watched many many Damo vids on youtube...just hasn't posted them because non-super spoilery ones don't exist*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 04:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 09:33 pm (UTC)In the spirit of Damo-loving . . . I finally caved in and started watching Damo. And I have to admit, I usually don't go for action movies or anything, but oh my god. I've only finished the first episode and it's SO AWESOME!!
The only thing keeping me from marathoning this series is the fact that it takes so long to download, lol.
But I love it so far. The filming's beautiful, and how awesome are all the guys practicing swordfighting shirtless??
no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 11:36 pm (UTC)all the guys practicing swordfighting shirtless??
Maybe that was the secret martial arts discipline? :D Just like the one that said only hot guys can be martial arts experts? In which case, I am all for it!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 07:50 am (UTC)I really thought that the first cut was to confirm whether or not it was really Chae Ohk (since he knew there should be a wound on her shoulder where she got shot by a bullet). And the only reason that he did not hesitate with the second stroke was that he saw no wound at all, hence it couldn't have been Chae Ohk. I don't think he would have the heart to kill Chae Ohk, even with all that pressure, if he didn't assure himself that it wasn't really her that was hanging there.
Hwangbo Yoon tells her that letting her go was the hardest thing he's ever done and he's never felt like this before, so much pain, so he cannot have her here again.
I cried here. I couldn't stand their obvious, cruel pain.
And the ending. I can't get over the emo of the ending. *weep*
Btw. I haven't actually finished watching the whole 14 eps since my DVDs konked out in eps 11 (and part of) 12. But I basically know how the whole story goes. I hate all these technical issues. It was the same case with The Legend with bad subs and all. I am just overflowing with emo and angst and need to devour the whole thing ASAP.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 03:02 pm (UTC)Hmmm, I never thought about it...
The ending killed me so much.