Sungkyunkwan Scandal ep 7 - why so amazing, drama? A really really long post
It's official, this is Chuno all over again. I woke up early so as to watch ep 7 before Baby Mousie got up and downloaded the raw just to cap.
I am your slave, drama!
Yoon Hee is such a goner for Sun Joon without realizing it. She wants his encouragement and praise so much. Before she shoots the final arrow and asks him whether he thinks she can win "because you don't lie," and he tells her no, because her shoulders and wrists are still too weak, and her face falls, and then he adds, but "I love your hand" because it's all calloused and bleeding from her practicing so hard and "even if you get disqualified or lose, in my eyes you, you Kim Yoon Shik, are already a champion" - and the way she lights up.
That is such an amazing scene, in part because this is a rare drama where the heroine falls for the hero not because he is an angsty bad boy she can cure with his love, or icy woobie she can melt or anything else which in real life is an awful foundation for a relationship however fun it is to watch. No, here Yoon Hee falls in love with Sun Joon because he believes in her and sees her potential and encourages her to be the best she can be but does not control her - he lets her make her own choices and victories and fight her own battles, he just opens her eyes to them.
And the bit where earlier he asks her why she is flushed and makes to touch her face and she flinches and withdraws. And he is just standing there staring at his hand.
So different from her horsing around with Jae Shin because she only sees JS as a buddy - when Sun Joon sees and remembers her flinching and looks so lost.
Awww, they are so in love without realizing it. Just watch them when she shoots the winning shots - the way she looks only for him, the way he grins when he's normally so reserved, the way they only have eyes for each other. Mmmmm.
And the scene where she sees HE put that belt on Sun Joon - the way she is so devastated and everyone disappears except for them, in her eyes. And the way Sun Joon keeps anxiously looking only at Yoon Hee during this whole procedure.
Guys, you are SO gone.
Also, how do I love that in this drama, Yoon Hee's fate depends only on her abilities - whether she stays or not is only dependent on her skills. It's not SJ or JS rescuing her.
To switch gears, you remember in the Harry Potter fandom those fanbrats who were all "despite scant canon evidence we worship Draco Malfoy and in our fanfic he is a woobie in leather pants who gets healed by the love of a good woman." Well, In Soo = my Draco Malfoy.
Someone talk me off that ledge, only I don't want to be talked down! I just find him so interesting - he is clearly very clever and good at politics and has some scruples but not many and is ruthless but has a line he won't cross (in this ep you see it when he gets mad at his flunkies for messing with YH's bow - he wants to win on merits). Also, he's so hot I go into hormonal overdrive. He makes such an fascinating foil to Sun Joon - it's an interesting comparison - both are sons of Noron leaders (SJ's Dad is N1 and IS' is N2), both are smart and competent. Yet SJ's Dad brought him up as some sort of Confucian ideal and In Soo...well, let's just say if he doesn't stab his father with a bread knife upon finding out he's blackmailing Choson into sex, he will have a brilliant future in court politics.
And speaking of Choson and In Soo's feelings for her.
Poor Yoon Hee just can't win - by now even if Sun Joon moved to Venus, In Soo would still want to murder Yoon Hee because Choson is in love with "him." Choson did not make it better by confessing her feelings to Yoon Hee in front of In Soo, in part because she's genuinely in love, but in part to "show" In Soo.
And that also leads me to In So missing that final shot. In Soo and Jae Shin are basically the best archers in school with Lee Sun Joon the close second (though seeing LSJ was that good when shooting with his left hand due to injury, maybe he's better than them. I vote we settle the matter once and for all through a shirtless archery contest. Hey, it worked for Park Shi Hoo in Iljimae!)
It's easy to see why Jae Shin misses his shots - he is badly wounded from his Robin Hooding and participating in the contest didn't make it any better.
By the last round it's a miracle he can hold a bow at all. But with In Soo - he kept hitting bullseye after bullseye and than that last shot which will give his team the victory - he looks over at Choson and shoots only a five which gives Yoon Hee the opening to win.
I suppose one could think he shot badly because he was so upset Choson likes Yoon Hee but I doubt it - if that was the case he'd be hitting ones and twos the whole match. Pretty clearly it's deliberate and ties to Choson's earlier words to him that she is going to wait for him to show generosity and virtue. Especially since the score he hits - i.e. a five - is perfectly calculated to give Yoon Hee an opening to win, but only if she hits bullseye herself. Anyway, when he stands there after his shot, with the tear rolling down his cheek, my crush went into overdrive and I have not yet calmed down.
Well, at least I haven't written down any leather-pants fics yet.
How adorable is Jae Shin, especially when he discovers YH is a girl? The hiccups? The adorableness? My God.
And earlier the way he bucks up after Yoon Hee teases and cheers him after his lacklustre performance at the context. If it wasn't for my rabid YH/SJ shipping, I'd ship them so hard.
In conclusion, at one point Yoon Hee was on course to become In Soo's stepmom instead of rival in love of a courtesan. SO BIZARRE.
Oh, and this drama continues to be so very pretty!
I don't know who this roommate of In Soo's is but mmmmmm.
