Just watched episodes 19 and 20 of Hong Gil Dong.
So good.
What am I going to do when this is over?
1. Emo Prince, I'd feel sorrier for your romantic woes if it hasn't been merely a few days since Yi Nok had to give up Gil Dong. Seriously, do you have any patience? Yi Nok herself admitted she can't be with GD now (and vice versa). Give the girl some time and she'll be yours! It's not like she is still whispering his name in her sleep two years hence. It's been less than a week since she had to leave the guy she was going to marry. Give the girl some time to bounce from rebound. Yikes. Chill.
2. I really loved the revelation that the current nutter evil King was a progressive, reform-minded guy before. It explains a lot about Minister Hong, but also brings into play the whole notion the drama has, the one GD has: about evils of monarchy. Kang Hwe was good to start out with but ended up an evil nutter. For now, Chang Hwe seems like a cool, reform-minded guy too, but what happens if he goes bonkers ten years hence? The only way to get rid of a king is revolution and HGD et al are lucky this time because they have 'suitably well blooded' candidate CH around, what would they do if CH goes nuts? Seriously, democracy yay.
3. Awww, poor Yi Nok. She was so giddy and happy and in love, only to lose her Grandpa, find out her whole life was a lie, and have to give up Gil Dong. Nothing killed me as much as the scene of her meeting the scholars, clutching the glasses GD gave her (OMG, he bought her glasses so she won't be embarassed! And he actually paid!) for support.
4. Creepy Goth Girl was thankfully mainly absent. Except for one crazy scene where she bartered with Lady Noh, to get LN her Dad's support in exchange for making Gil Dong a nobleman and hers. Minor problem, Oh Crazy One. He doesn't want you, whatever his status! Good luck for anyone trying to get him for you.
5. Oh, poor Gil Dong. My heart broke for him. We start out so hopeful, and funny, and romantic and sweet with him and Yi Nok (preparations for marriage even), only for him to find out his father killed her Grandpa, she is really a super high-arisocrat (he was so worried she got caught and I can't bear to watch his relief knowing what is coming), for her to run him through with a sword (I nearly shrieked at the look on his face...so heartbreakingly open. And he tells her it's all right. OMG). Then the people he tries to save turn against him and try to turn him over to the soldiers and beat him up and he just lets them (the bit where he is lying in bed, with monk talking, and his lip is trembling, because he is thinking people are hurt because he is with them, just as Yi Nok was). Oh, and his father is publically executed. And we end on that heart-breaking meeting with Yi Nok and that hug. OMG.
Btw, I find it so interesting, how angry he is at the injustices of the world: that is what motivates him, which is an unusual thing in a drama hero.
We start on the kissing!
*melt*
They are both so happy!
I nearly LOLed to death during this scene:
Creepy ladies being creepy. But I love the background:
She is fixing the pouch. AWWW.
LOL, she is so clumsy because she is suddenly shy:
She is all 'I am embarassed,' so he gives her sunglasses
He asks her about forever. *melt*
Adorableness:
Sneaking a kiss:
Being reminded his actions might kill his father:
Yi Nok in shock after death of her grandfather:
GD learns his Dad killed YN's Grandpa:
Looking at hairpin her grandpa bought her:
Out of her mind with revenge:
GD realizes YN will try to kill his father, and also learning who she really is:
On vengeance bent:
GD tries to stop her and she throws him against the wall. I really think he stops her not just because of Daddy Dearest but because he doesn't want to live her life in vengeance, blood and regret.
But she won't be stopped easily:
OMG, I screamed!
And that brings her out of her berserker rage:
"Heo Yi Nok"
"It's all right"
I totally cried.
Asking the villagers to beat on him:
Thinking villagers got hurt because he was with them, and equating it with Yi Nok. His lip was totally trembling, too :(
Facing down the King:
Yi Nok is presented to the scholars:
And she clutches Gil Dong's glasses for strength:
The final scene with the two of them where his father has just been executed by the King and she tells him she can't tell him she is sorry or not to cry, because she isn't Heo Yi Nok any more, but she will keep watching him from afar because she will always miss him. Oh woobies, with your impossible love! It's like the drama is trying to compensate for being fairly light before.
And she touches where she stabbed him:
She starts to leave, but he pulls her hand and...
And he is gone:
And he goes home to burn her pouch and dangermousie wails...
Also, now that I know some of my flisters are enjoying Yi San, I will definitely check it out. Here is a neat MV: swords, pretty heroine played by the awesome Han Ji Min and angsty period-garbed Lee Seo Jin. What more can one ask?
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