IRIS - episode 19
Dec. 20th, 2009 12:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieNOTE: SPOILERS FOR EP 20 IN COMMENTS
Episode 19 of IRIS was so very excellent.
But it was also so dark.
I found I was close to whimpering in the scene Hyun Joon basically beats/shoots Vick to death. Not because I felt sorry for Vick (who may have been human once but now is a shell without even normal emotions like fear or hope) but because I felt sorry for what it was doing to Hyun Joon. I did not want him to do that, not out of some noble desire to see his hands clean of blood or anything, but because doing this was destroying him bit by bit - coming back to all of this, whether as hunted prey or as an avenger is no good to him - it exposes all his breaks (psychic and physical) again and brings him back deeper and deeper into his nightmares.
Ep 19, insofar as it had a theme, really was about how futile, how hopeless revenge is. Hyun Joon takes revenge on Vick and it's black and bleak and does not fix anything and only makes it worse for him. And the scene with Baek San almost destroys him. He screams at Baek San to say he is sorry (for killing his parents, for wrecking his life and his sense of self even, for so many things) and Baek San's point that even if he said it, so what, is so true. But the thing is, even any small satisfaction in Baek San grovelling that Hyun Joon may have been able to have (and it would be small - it could never compensate or fix his life and he wouldn't be at peace even if he got it) is denied him - whichever way he fantasized about it, this is not it. Instead Baek San manages, as always, to break him a bit further, really. When he walks away, crying, wanting so badly to shoot him but not doing it - oh God.
I loved this scene with Hyun Joon and Seung Hee so very much. No matter what, I remain amazed by Hyun Joon's ability to love and to trust despite it all. It's incredible. And of course, opinions can differ if Seung Hee's explanation is all of the truth or if there is something more in addition to what she said, but there is no doubt she loves him more than anything. And of couse he doesn't even blink upon finding out her connection to Baek San - how would he? He loved Sa Woo even after Sa Woo did his level best to kill him and became a henchman for a man who turned Hyun Joon's life into living hell. This is not at all a big deal in comparison. When Hyun Joon gives his heart, he really gives it. His love is absolute.
I love the icredibly tender way he holds her. It's as if she is supremely fragile. Which, despite being the toughest heroine on record, in some ways she is.
Episode 19 of IRIS was so very excellent.
But it was also so dark.
I found I was close to whimpering in the scene Hyun Joon basically beats/shoots Vick to death. Not because I felt sorry for Vick (who may have been human once but now is a shell without even normal emotions like fear or hope) but because I felt sorry for what it was doing to Hyun Joon. I did not want him to do that, not out of some noble desire to see his hands clean of blood or anything, but because doing this was destroying him bit by bit - coming back to all of this, whether as hunted prey or as an avenger is no good to him - it exposes all his breaks (psychic and physical) again and brings him back deeper and deeper into his nightmares.
Ep 19, insofar as it had a theme, really was about how futile, how hopeless revenge is. Hyun Joon takes revenge on Vick and it's black and bleak and does not fix anything and only makes it worse for him. And the scene with Baek San almost destroys him. He screams at Baek San to say he is sorry (for killing his parents, for wrecking his life and his sense of self even, for so many things) and Baek San's point that even if he said it, so what, is so true. But the thing is, even any small satisfaction in Baek San grovelling that Hyun Joon may have been able to have (and it would be small - it could never compensate or fix his life and he wouldn't be at peace even if he got it) is denied him - whichever way he fantasized about it, this is not it. Instead Baek San manages, as always, to break him a bit further, really. When he walks away, crying, wanting so badly to shoot him but not doing it - oh God.
I loved this scene with Hyun Joon and Seung Hee so very much. No matter what, I remain amazed by Hyun Joon's ability to love and to trust despite it all. It's incredible. And of course, opinions can differ if Seung Hee's explanation is all of the truth or if there is something more in addition to what she said, but there is no doubt she loves him more than anything. And of couse he doesn't even blink upon finding out her connection to Baek San - how would he? He loved Sa Woo even after Sa Woo did his level best to kill him and became a henchman for a man who turned Hyun Joon's life into living hell. This is not at all a big deal in comparison. When Hyun Joon gives his heart, he really gives it. His love is absolute.
I love the icredibly tender way he holds her. It's as if she is supremely fragile. Which, despite being the toughest heroine on record, in some ways she is.
