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dangermousieAhh, the cheery cheery ep 16.
Throughout this episode we see the fact that in a lot of ways Mob Boss and Jung Woo are very similar - they could have had each other's lives if in each other's circumstances. And both MB and JW feel it too - while MB enjoys this sense of connection (this tough, capable, messed up, violent young man is a lot more like him than his own son - oh, if only you knew, MB!), JW, who can also feel it, is tormented by it - you are not supposed to grow close to your revenge target or see yourself in the monster you set out to punish.
And here I chant like a five-year-old: 'Cuddly has a gi-i-i-irlfriend'
Awww, boys.
While out karaokeing with their ladies, Cuddly and Goofy overhear Rich Boy scheme with a flunkie on how to bring Jung Woo down - they also learn he went to jail instead of Rich Boy. Goofy is still smarting from Jung Woo's crossing to the other side and wants nothing to do with it, but much more mature Cuddly believes that despite it all Jung Woo should be warned. So he calls JS out to meet and I love the following scene - the shadows of their past friendship, Cuddly's regret but treating it all as gone forever, and JW's palpable sense of loss and confusion - he's thrown away his friends, why do they still bother about him? Maybe incidents like this will help him to understand that he has value - to himself but also to others - that people do care.
But before things get better, they must inevitably get worse. Mob Boss reminds Jung Woo that JW promised to do anything to get his approval and asks him to get rid of a big trouble in MB's life - the Cop. Ohhhh.
And then Su Hyun seeks him out. She has learned that Cop stopped the investigation into her parents' murder at Jung Woo's request (couple eps back, JW was trying to protect the Cop) and understndably assumes that JW threatened the Cop and is just a total soulless flunkie of Mob Boss. She is so very angry, and JW cannot explain at all, and she flings at him that she will have no problem getting over him now and ohhhhhh. JW is basically dying inside by inches but can only stand there and take it and...argh.
I really loved the scene that followed, where Rich Boy's flunkie is idiot enough to try to goad Jung Woo (seriously - is he brain-dead? Flunkie is a secretary and JW is an ex-con and a former bodyguard and mercenary. Do you really want to mess with him?). Because JW is just so overwrought and frustrated with everything, he actually thanks flunkie for allowing him to vent, before punching him. MMMM.
Because Su Hyun is insanely brave, she confronts Mob Boss head-on but he of course gives a very bland answer.
Yes, Jung Woo is falling apart - he's been ordered to kill his father figure, he's pushed away all his friends, the love of his life thinks he's scum, and he feels an unwilling connection to his revenge target. Yeah.
He saves Cop, however, from a murder attempt by Secretary (he independently from Mob Boss decided Cop needs to be put down).
Cop meets with Su Hyun (who is about to leave for the US, fed up with all of this insanity and corruption) and lets her in on the huge secret - Jung Woo has changed so and is working for Mob Boss because he found out MB is his father. He doesn't inform SH that it's all part of JW's revenge plan (stop him, you idiot Cop, it's all your fault!)
Left alone, Su Hyun broods on these huge, everything-is-changed revelations.
Meanwhile, this scene broke my heart. Jung Woo, fresh from defending the Cop goes to Mob Boss and kneels. (I can't imagine what it must have taken to kneel to a man you hate so). And he begs for Cop's life, telling him Cop has been like a father to him. And Mob Boss...agrees. He tells JW "so you have principles" sounding oddly pleased and rather moved by the plea. And he tells him from now on he wants JW by his side and not as a servant. I really loved the wonder in JW's face at that - he clearly didn't expect much to come from his plea and certainly not that level of understanding. And he can't help but be drawn in - he is someone who has always yearned for a parent, to find them, so he can't help but crave the warmth from MB. And I sit there so upset because I just know something is going to happen to screw this new tentative rapproachment up and JW will go back to his shell and MB will lose a chance to find his son and aaaaaaaaargh.
Yup, I was right. Driving back from meeting with SH, Cop gets into a car accident and dies. And it's pretty clear it's a random car accident - Mob Boss didn't do it, and Secretary didn't either. Just bad luck. But nobody is going to believe it. I don't like the Cop (though I think we are supposed to like him) so my only thoughts are about the devastation this is going to cause to others. Have a cap of Cop about to be creamed. It makes me LOL because I am heartless that way.
Jung Woo comes into the office next morning in an excellent mood, so relieved, only to find out - Cop is dead in car accident.
Head mobster asks Jung Woo "you didn't do it, did you?" Oh. You can see Jung Woo basically collapse inside himself.
While Cop's friends mourn:
Jung Woo, looking so scary I want to take a step back from my screen, barges in on Mob Boss and Secretary to demand which one offed Cop. Both tell him they did not. MB points out he promised JW and have also independently decided it would be stupid to kill a policeman. Secretary is a bit more shifty - he admits to MB once JW leaves he tried earlier but failed - but still denies it. JW leaves.
At the funeral parlor, Goofy and Cuddly watch former friends who now work for Mob Boss pay their respects. Jung Woo is not there yet, though.
Su Hyun is still torn about what to do - to leave or not - when Roommie tells her the cop involved in her case has been killed in an accident and SH runs out to go to the funeral parlor. I am sure in large part motivated by the fact that she knows it's going to devastate JW but also to pay her respects.
Jung Woo is finally there and that was the hardest scene for me to watch in StS so far - because he is so utterly broken down and self-loathing and grieving that he doesn't even pay any attention when Goofy and Cuddly run in there and demand to know if he's responsible and start kicking him - he just lies there and takes it all, floppy like a rag doll, and he just lies there where thrown and won't stop weeping and Su Hyun sees it all and starts crying herself and...OK. That was so thoroughly depressing I need some chocolate just to continue with the recap. I wonder why she doesn't go to him though - it's too complicated to do so, or worried he'll push her away, or just wanting to give him some dignity so he won't know later she saw him when he was that vulnerable. I don't know. But I wanted so badly for her just to cuddle him so he could cry on her lap.
(Cop's widow gets in on the weeping fun)
He finally stumbles outside, totally out of it.
He watches the ashes being scattered from afar:
Ummm, yeah, he's a mess. Nighmares, shakes, the works. (Side note - notice the ashtray. That's the only indication he smokes - new dramas are really careful about that, not like the old ones where Ahn Jae Wook would smoke like a chimney in Goodbye My Love etc)
Putting on game face (and deciding to punish Secretary slowly, as he believes he's responsible for Cop's death):
But not everything is gloomy! Guess who's back? Yup, that's Jimmy, my favorite gay mercenary! Sadly without the cheetah.
Oh, and Mob Boss tells JW he will give him the new casino to manage! (Bet it's going to be hard to stab in the back someone who trusts you and treats you well - note he is eating breakfast with the family). Rich Boy is going to hit the roof.
Throughout this episode we see the fact that in a lot of ways Mob Boss and Jung Woo are very similar - they could have had each other's lives if in each other's circumstances. And both MB and JW feel it too - while MB enjoys this sense of connection (this tough, capable, messed up, violent young man is a lot more like him than his own son - oh, if only you knew, MB!), JW, who can also feel it, is tormented by it - you are not supposed to grow close to your revenge target or see yourself in the monster you set out to punish.
And here I chant like a five-year-old: 'Cuddly has a gi-i-i-irlfriend'
Awww, boys.
While out karaokeing with their ladies, Cuddly and Goofy overhear Rich Boy scheme with a flunkie on how to bring Jung Woo down - they also learn he went to jail instead of Rich Boy. Goofy is still smarting from Jung Woo's crossing to the other side and wants nothing to do with it, but much more mature Cuddly believes that despite it all Jung Woo should be warned. So he calls JS out to meet and I love the following scene - the shadows of their past friendship, Cuddly's regret but treating it all as gone forever, and JW's palpable sense of loss and confusion - he's thrown away his friends, why do they still bother about him? Maybe incidents like this will help him to understand that he has value - to himself but also to others - that people do care.
But before things get better, they must inevitably get worse. Mob Boss reminds Jung Woo that JW promised to do anything to get his approval and asks him to get rid of a big trouble in MB's life - the Cop. Ohhhh.
And then Su Hyun seeks him out. She has learned that Cop stopped the investigation into her parents' murder at Jung Woo's request (couple eps back, JW was trying to protect the Cop) and understndably assumes that JW threatened the Cop and is just a total soulless flunkie of Mob Boss. She is so very angry, and JW cannot explain at all, and she flings at him that she will have no problem getting over him now and ohhhhhh. JW is basically dying inside by inches but can only stand there and take it and...argh.
I really loved the scene that followed, where Rich Boy's flunkie is idiot enough to try to goad Jung Woo (seriously - is he brain-dead? Flunkie is a secretary and JW is an ex-con and a former bodyguard and mercenary. Do you really want to mess with him?). Because JW is just so overwrought and frustrated with everything, he actually thanks flunkie for allowing him to vent, before punching him. MMMM.
Because Su Hyun is insanely brave, she confronts Mob Boss head-on but he of course gives a very bland answer.
Yes, Jung Woo is falling apart - he's been ordered to kill his father figure, he's pushed away all his friends, the love of his life thinks he's scum, and he feels an unwilling connection to his revenge target. Yeah.
He saves Cop, however, from a murder attempt by Secretary (he independently from Mob Boss decided Cop needs to be put down).
Cop meets with Su Hyun (who is about to leave for the US, fed up with all of this insanity and corruption) and lets her in on the huge secret - Jung Woo has changed so and is working for Mob Boss because he found out MB is his father. He doesn't inform SH that it's all part of JW's revenge plan (stop him, you idiot Cop, it's all your fault!)
Left alone, Su Hyun broods on these huge, everything-is-changed revelations.
Meanwhile, this scene broke my heart. Jung Woo, fresh from defending the Cop goes to Mob Boss and kneels. (I can't imagine what it must have taken to kneel to a man you hate so). And he begs for Cop's life, telling him Cop has been like a father to him. And Mob Boss...agrees. He tells JW "so you have principles" sounding oddly pleased and rather moved by the plea. And he tells him from now on he wants JW by his side and not as a servant. I really loved the wonder in JW's face at that - he clearly didn't expect much to come from his plea and certainly not that level of understanding. And he can't help but be drawn in - he is someone who has always yearned for a parent, to find them, so he can't help but crave the warmth from MB. And I sit there so upset because I just know something is going to happen to screw this new tentative rapproachment up and JW will go back to his shell and MB will lose a chance to find his son and aaaaaaaaargh.
Yup, I was right. Driving back from meeting with SH, Cop gets into a car accident and dies. And it's pretty clear it's a random car accident - Mob Boss didn't do it, and Secretary didn't either. Just bad luck. But nobody is going to believe it. I don't like the Cop (though I think we are supposed to like him) so my only thoughts are about the devastation this is going to cause to others. Have a cap of Cop about to be creamed. It makes me LOL because I am heartless that way.
Jung Woo comes into the office next morning in an excellent mood, so relieved, only to find out - Cop is dead in car accident.
Head mobster asks Jung Woo "you didn't do it, did you?" Oh. You can see Jung Woo basically collapse inside himself.
While Cop's friends mourn:
Jung Woo, looking so scary I want to take a step back from my screen, barges in on Mob Boss and Secretary to demand which one offed Cop. Both tell him they did not. MB points out he promised JW and have also independently decided it would be stupid to kill a policeman. Secretary is a bit more shifty - he admits to MB once JW leaves he tried earlier but failed - but still denies it. JW leaves.
At the funeral parlor, Goofy and Cuddly watch former friends who now work for Mob Boss pay their respects. Jung Woo is not there yet, though.
Su Hyun is still torn about what to do - to leave or not - when Roommie tells her the cop involved in her case has been killed in an accident and SH runs out to go to the funeral parlor. I am sure in large part motivated by the fact that she knows it's going to devastate JW but also to pay her respects.
Jung Woo is finally there and that was the hardest scene for me to watch in StS so far - because he is so utterly broken down and self-loathing and grieving that he doesn't even pay any attention when Goofy and Cuddly run in there and demand to know if he's responsible and start kicking him - he just lies there and takes it all, floppy like a rag doll, and he just lies there where thrown and won't stop weeping and Su Hyun sees it all and starts crying herself and...OK. That was so thoroughly depressing I need some chocolate just to continue with the recap. I wonder why she doesn't go to him though - it's too complicated to do so, or worried he'll push her away, or just wanting to give him some dignity so he won't know later she saw him when he was that vulnerable. I don't know. But I wanted so badly for her just to cuddle him so he could cry on her lap.
(Cop's widow gets in on the weeping fun)
He finally stumbles outside, totally out of it.
He watches the ashes being scattered from afar:
Ummm, yeah, he's a mess. Nighmares, shakes, the works. (Side note - notice the ashtray. That's the only indication he smokes - new dramas are really careful about that, not like the old ones where Ahn Jae Wook would smoke like a chimney in Goodbye My Love etc)
Putting on game face (and deciding to punish Secretary slowly, as he believes he's responsible for Cop's death):
But not everything is gloomy! Guess who's back? Yup, that's Jimmy, my favorite gay mercenary! Sadly without the cheetah.
Oh, and Mob Boss tells JW he will give him the new casino to manage! (Bet it's going to be hard to stab in the back someone who trusts you and treats you well - note he is eating breakfast with the family). Rich Boy is going to hit the roof.
