kdrama: Gye Baek eps 12-18
The thing about Gye Baek is that it's one of those things where, while the plot itself is solid, the acting and characters far outclass the script, which often seems to be written for "This will be dramatic! Do this! It doesn't have to hold up to critical thinking! Or any analysis at all!" without always considering the plausibility, or do things like "He is the queen's personal guard yet he manages to slip away all the time to train rebels in the secret village that no one knows exists despite it only being an hour or two travel from the capital and a short jog from the temple frequented by the nobility." Now, personally, I just indulge in a few eyerolls because I like the actors and characters and think it's still a good and involving series anyway, but some would likely want to know about that going in.
Non-spoilery comment: episode 18 wraps up most of what's been going on so far and would actually be a pretty satisfactory ending for a drama for the most part, so should you want to binge, you won't run out of subs on a cliffhanger.
So, I really like that the first major adult arc was a revenge drama? Particularly as that's not really common in sageuks, as far as I know. I'm glad, though, that we finally got into "this is why it'd be a good thing for the political coup to take place, instead of the protagonists wanting it to avenge their parents. This bugged me more with Ui Ja than with Eun Go and Gye Baek, since Ui Ja is the one they wanted on the throne. Ui Ja is growing on me. He just needs to pay more attention to his wife-who has seriously been through way above and beyond the call of duty for him-and quit mooning over Eun Go, who he knows is a one-man girl. (Also, even though they cast a young looking actor for the teen parts to downplay it, and that it wouldn't have been the same in that time as it is now, I'm still bugged that he fell for Eun Go when he was about 20 and she about 13, and got jealous over 2 13-year-olds hugging.)
I'm curious to see where it will go now that the revenge arc is over. Presumably, it will shift to the conflict with Shilla. But really, like I said, the end of ep 18 would almost have been a perfectly satisfactory ending to the series if it weren't for Ui Ja watching Eun Go and Gye Baek finally get to be happy and together and being all jealous. And, you know, the opening scene of the series, which we haven't reached yet in the show. I hope they aren't through with Sa Taek Bi yet. That character is too good to dispose of this early in the series. They can dump her father and son though.
But really, in this drama, I basically live on the hope of Song Ji Hyo and Lee Seo Jin making out. I make little squeeky noises when they almost/barely touch, much less over the few hugs they've had. Or when he tells her that he took away his reason for living (revenge) and asks if she'll be his new reason for living. Also, I'm glad for him that he's largely recovered from the PTSD and doesn't look like he's thinking about ripping your arm off if you touch him (or actually trying to rip it off) but I kind of miss when he was half-feral and Eun Go was really the only one he didn't almost flip out on and he was trying to pretend he wasn't still in love with her while internally going "EEEE! She's talking to me!"
Randomly: I wonder if he realizes "Throwaway" (I forget his actual name) is his brother, but couldn't say anything without blowing his cover, or if he was just reacting to someone who talked like an adult version of his brother. I kept expecting them to go "You can't kill him! I have to kill him to avenge my mother! Wait...you too?" when they were trying to kill the head assassin guy. I kind of miss that guy, BTW. I didn't care much for him, but I liked when Gio Gi was being all "I will be king and you will obey me" and he was "Screw you. Your mother is 5000 times as awesome as you and the only master I serve!"
(Ok fansubbers, all the other sageuks from this season except Tree With Deep Roots are over and completely subbed. You're 18 eps behind on this one and the last episode just aired. Time to get cracking and indulge my entitlement!)