Hell in a Handbasket never looked so good
I restarted my watch of Giant and ep 19 was the best episode so far. So many emotional wringer moments.
A quick summary/recap of the premise for those who do not know. Three Lee siblings, brothers Sang Mo and Gang Mo and Mi Joo, their sister, were separated in childhood after their parents got murdered by one super-evil dude and one less evil dude (who was only responsible for Dad's death). Oldest, Sang Mo, managed to get into good graces of Jo Pilyeon, the chief evil psycho, in order to wreck revenge. Gang Mo had no idea about any revenge issues and became a flunkie for Less Evil Dude and also fell into mutual love with his daughter Jung Yeon, and Mi Joo, the youngest sister, is sunny and hardworking bus conductor who dreams of reuniting with her brothers (and who eventually has an OTP with Chief Evil Psycho's son Min Woo. Lee kids have a problematic taste in OTPs). The three kids reunite as adults and kick revenge butt.
Without much further ado, caps and meta of the perfect perfect ep 19.
I really love how Gang Mo looks at Jung Yeon, with his whole heart in his eyes, as if she is his own personal miracle. That is why his repeated denials of any feeling towards her don't really work - nobody would believe him. Not with that look in his eyes. Anyway, Gang Mo has been framed for a murder he did not commit and is on the run, and the wealthy, privileged Jung Yeon has given up everything and came up to be with him, to finally tell him she loves him. This was the episode I finally fell for unyielding, reserved Jung Yeon (though, tbh, I still prefer Mi Joo).
There is an adorable scene where she cooks for him and it's awful (she's always had cooks) but he insists on finishing it all.
There is a minor problem. Jung Yeon has sort of forgotten her date with Min Woo. You know, her fiance? I can't help but feel badly for Min Woo all shiny and expectant with a huge bouquet only to have in vain all day. And here comes his second meeting with Mi Joo (the first was when she bumped into him and his suit got dirty and he told her she owed him dry-cleaning fees. Mr. Charming that he was). Sometimes the strongest delight comes, in part, from knowing future course of relationships - one of the premises of the drama was that at some point Min Woo and Mi Joo were going to fall for each other and so it's extra fun to watch their prickly interactions, without either of them knowing how it would all end up. I have to say I rooted for them as an OTP from this very scene. Because MW is doing this whole "I am so arrogant and forbidding and blah blah" and Mi Joo's reaction is to basically view him as this weird grumpy stranger she treats with a combo of pity and bemusement. His arrogance/poise/standoffishness doesn't seem to register with her at all. Unlike a typical plucky/poor heroine who will heal an arrogant woobie, Mi Joo is totally common-sense and no-drama.
She tells him she loves him. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.
Despite his denials, look at his face once he sees she hasn't left after all.
And after she forces him to open up, they go to a Church an perform an impromptu wedding. With smoochies! Oh, woobies.
Most adorable/realistic/romantic wedding night ever, with awkwardness and jokes and chemistry so thick I could feel flames come out of my screen.
But elsewhere, Min Woo is falling to pieces. I find his relationship with Jung Yeon fascinating because it isn't really love on his part - it's an obsession arising out of the fact that she does not seem interested in him at all, thus arousing his in-built desire to win but also because he seems to have little internal self-worth and needs to find it through externalities - such as a woman he chose having to like him back because otherwise he has to confront his insecurities. I find Min Woo really fascinating because unlike Gang Mo, who is always good and will always be good, even if you turned him inside out, Min Woo can go either way - he is all grey and either path is open to him, and you never know which one he will pick (though with Psycho Daddy, the odds are not good for the Good Side, but it's rather heartbreaking to see him try).
Min Woo is there as Mi Joo auditions and she has a killer voice. Even Mopey here pays attention for a second (side note - I am MAD about Mi Joo actress' singing voice. It's to die for).
Sang Mo tells Gang Mo that his "wife's" father is one of the two men who killed their father. So THEY CANNOT BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
So Gang Mo decides to leave without Jung Yeon after all. I frelling wanted to KILL him here. I don't care whose father killed whom, but you FRELLING slept with her! In 1980s Korea! Even if she doesn't have a baby (and hello, I didn't see you guys go for birth control), she is ruined forever, especially since she ran from home to be with you! Not to mention she will be scarred for good to wake up and find you gone even without the decency of a note. ROT IN HELL, SCUMBAG!!! She is owed at least some explanation!
He angsts prettily though.
In any event, any plan he has gets foiled for long plotty reasons and his brother has to arrest him. Gang Mo begs him, wanting to protect his brother. It strikes me a lot that if you compare this drama to East of Eden (which is does remind me off), it's EoE if there was no birth switch and Dong Wook was the main character with Dong Chul as supporting character of older brother. I stopped being mad at GM here btw, because he broke my heart.
Jung Yeon's poise is entirely gone.
Min Woo takes Jung Yeon home and asks of her if she's never thought what she's put him through. So Jung Yeon kneels to him (still managing to be utterly unbending) and tells him she is sorry to him, but to let her go. Min Woo, going a little crazy, tells her not to kneel to him (and by extension take her request back).
For a second there I feared Giant was going to go EoE and have Min Woo turn into Myung Hun, EoE's resident 'obsessed over a girl who loves another' torturer/rapist. Thankfully, Giant knows better. There are some things you cannot redeem a character after (when EoE tried with MH, I wanted to barf). I really loved the conversation: MW snapping after JY told him she and Gang Mo were married (and by extension slept together) and throwing her on the bed and starting to remove his jacket. JY calmly telling him that if he moves one step closer, she will kill herself. MW's tortured question of whether she hates him so much she'd rather be dead than be with him and her uncompromising reply that she does not hate him, she just loves Gang Mo (in a way, he'd prefer the hate - that way he'd at least be important in her world view). And then he just quietly tells her he won't touch her and walks off but then turns and tells her he will never give her up. Hon, you will totally give her up, I've seen bits of later eps, you'll get your own OTP, don't worry!
A quick summary/recap of the premise for those who do not know. Three Lee siblings, brothers Sang Mo and Gang Mo and Mi Joo, their sister, were separated in childhood after their parents got murdered by one super-evil dude and one less evil dude (who was only responsible for Dad's death). Oldest, Sang Mo, managed to get into good graces of Jo Pilyeon, the chief evil psycho, in order to wreck revenge. Gang Mo had no idea about any revenge issues and became a flunkie for Less Evil Dude and also fell into mutual love with his daughter Jung Yeon, and Mi Joo, the youngest sister, is sunny and hardworking bus conductor who dreams of reuniting with her brothers (and who eventually has an OTP with Chief Evil Psycho's son Min Woo. Lee kids have a problematic taste in OTPs). The three kids reunite as adults and kick revenge butt.
Without much further ado, caps and meta of the perfect perfect ep 19.
I really love how Gang Mo looks at Jung Yeon, with his whole heart in his eyes, as if she is his own personal miracle. That is why his repeated denials of any feeling towards her don't really work - nobody would believe him. Not with that look in his eyes. Anyway, Gang Mo has been framed for a murder he did not commit and is on the run, and the wealthy, privileged Jung Yeon has given up everything and came up to be with him, to finally tell him she loves him. This was the episode I finally fell for unyielding, reserved Jung Yeon (though, tbh, I still prefer Mi Joo).
There is an adorable scene where she cooks for him and it's awful (she's always had cooks) but he insists on finishing it all.
There is a minor problem. Jung Yeon has sort of forgotten her date with Min Woo. You know, her fiance? I can't help but feel badly for Min Woo all shiny and expectant with a huge bouquet only to have in vain all day. And here comes his second meeting with Mi Joo (the first was when she bumped into him and his suit got dirty and he told her she owed him dry-cleaning fees. Mr. Charming that he was). Sometimes the strongest delight comes, in part, from knowing future course of relationships - one of the premises of the drama was that at some point Min Woo and Mi Joo were going to fall for each other and so it's extra fun to watch their prickly interactions, without either of them knowing how it would all end up. I have to say I rooted for them as an OTP from this very scene. Because MW is doing this whole "I am so arrogant and forbidding and blah blah" and Mi Joo's reaction is to basically view him as this weird grumpy stranger she treats with a combo of pity and bemusement. His arrogance/poise/standoffishness doesn't seem to register with her at all. Unlike a typical plucky/poor heroine who will heal an arrogant woobie, Mi Joo is totally common-sense and no-drama.
She tells him she loves him. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.
Despite his denials, look at his face once he sees she hasn't left after all.
And after she forces him to open up, they go to a Church an perform an impromptu wedding. With smoochies! Oh, woobies.
Most adorable/realistic/romantic wedding night ever, with awkwardness and jokes and chemistry so thick I could feel flames come out of my screen.
But elsewhere, Min Woo is falling to pieces. I find his relationship with Jung Yeon fascinating because it isn't really love on his part - it's an obsession arising out of the fact that she does not seem interested in him at all, thus arousing his in-built desire to win but also because he seems to have little internal self-worth and needs to find it through externalities - such as a woman he chose having to like him back because otherwise he has to confront his insecurities. I find Min Woo really fascinating because unlike Gang Mo, who is always good and will always be good, even if you turned him inside out, Min Woo can go either way - he is all grey and either path is open to him, and you never know which one he will pick (though with Psycho Daddy, the odds are not good for the Good Side, but it's rather heartbreaking to see him try).
Min Woo is there as Mi Joo auditions and she has a killer voice. Even Mopey here pays attention for a second (side note - I am MAD about Mi Joo actress' singing voice. It's to die for).
Sang Mo tells Gang Mo that his "wife's" father is one of the two men who killed their father. So THEY CANNOT BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
So Gang Mo decides to leave without Jung Yeon after all. I frelling wanted to KILL him here. I don't care whose father killed whom, but you FRELLING slept with her! In 1980s Korea! Even if she doesn't have a baby (and hello, I didn't see you guys go for birth control), she is ruined forever, especially since she ran from home to be with you! Not to mention she will be scarred for good to wake up and find you gone even without the decency of a note. ROT IN HELL, SCUMBAG!!! She is owed at least some explanation!
He angsts prettily though.
In any event, any plan he has gets foiled for long plotty reasons and his brother has to arrest him. Gang Mo begs him, wanting to protect his brother. It strikes me a lot that if you compare this drama to East of Eden (which is does remind me off), it's EoE if there was no birth switch and Dong Wook was the main character with Dong Chul as supporting character of older brother. I stopped being mad at GM here btw, because he broke my heart.
Jung Yeon's poise is entirely gone.
Min Woo takes Jung Yeon home and asks of her if she's never thought what she's put him through. So Jung Yeon kneels to him (still managing to be utterly unbending) and tells him she is sorry to him, but to let her go. Min Woo, going a little crazy, tells her not to kneel to him (and by extension take her request back).
For a second there I feared Giant was going to go EoE and have Min Woo turn into Myung Hun, EoE's resident 'obsessed over a girl who loves another' torturer/rapist. Thankfully, Giant knows better. There are some things you cannot redeem a character after (when EoE tried with MH, I wanted to barf). I really loved the conversation: MW snapping after JY told him she and Gang Mo were married (and by extension slept together) and throwing her on the bed and starting to remove his jacket. JY calmly telling him that if he moves one step closer, she will kill herself. MW's tortured question of whether she hates him so much she'd rather be dead than be with him and her uncompromising reply that she does not hate him, she just loves Gang Mo (in a way, he'd prefer the hate - that way he'd at least be important in her world view). And then he just quietly tells her he won't touch her and walks off but then turns and tells her he will never give her up. Hon, you will totally give her up, I've seen bits of later eps, you'll get your own OTP, don't worry!