Five Fingers episodes 15-16, Glass Mask episodes 6-8
Just got back into the house so haven't had a chance to watch (or even get) the latest Faith ep or go through the comments. Instead, I am going to talk about the dramas I watched on the plane - Five Fingers eps 15-16 and Glass Mask eps 6-8. While I think FF is excellent and GM not so, they do seem to belong to the same subgenre - protagonist wronged by monstrous family, surrounded by secrets, seeking revenge. Both feature an abusive mother, a somewhat psychotic sibling (though FF's In Ha is all sorts of shades of grey and has hope of overcoming his badness while GM's sister is pure unmitigated evil), birth secrets, and the OTP that is pretty much the sole light of sanity and happiness in a rather tragic world. FF's protagonist is male and GM's female, but other than that, in a lot of ways they are mirrors of each other.
(Five Fingers episodes 15-16)
OK, on to episodes 15-16 of FF, which were excellent and really upped the stakes and the dysfunction (I am not sure how my heart will bear the next few eps). Some secrets got revealed and some others (one of them a game-changer) showed up. I am beyond obsessed with this drama.
First off, before we get to anything else, if I had money to spare, I'd be willing to ber $20 that Ji Ho is Young Ran's biological son with her first love. Ha! I nearly screamed when it came out that she had a baby with her first love but her stepmom made her believe the baby (a boy!) was dead and dropped it off in the orphanage instead, as part of her campaign to get Young Ran to marry the psycho chairman. Because you know how kdramas love 'blood calls to blood' plots, and Ji Ho treated her all these years as his mother, even after he found out what a horrible person she was. Plus, it would make no sense to introduce some extraneous guy as a pivotal character this late in the game. And it would still make him and In Ha half-brothers. Oh, and YR's stepmom even drew a parallel, saying that YR's son could have ended up god knows where, and people whose family he came into could be treating him as badly as YR treated Ji Ho. And there is the fact that YR is looking for him but the drama is drawing it out. Ultimately, though, I am sure Ji Ho is her son because this is the perfect dramatic irony, and the perfect karmic punishment for her - to find out that the man she's been trying to torment and ruin is her own blood, her missing son. Plus, let's face it, it would be like the psycho chairman to bring in her kid, claim it's his from an affair with a woman he knows she hates, and then enjoy watching her being unknowingly a bitch to her own child, a child with the man the chairman truly hated (or I suppose it could be some sort of twisted atonement but I am not buying it). And the letter that Ji Ho treasures as his own in which the chairman gives him Boosang, I bet that one was directed to In Ha. After all, they just knew it had to be delivered to 'chairman's son.' So yes, I am willing to bet money Ji Ho is her biological son and oh, payback is a bitch, Young Ran, because this loving person is well way on the road to hating you - you have done a great job to destroy his familial feelings for you. It's going to be beautiful, you evil evil woman, when you discover what you've done.
I am back on the liking and feeling sorry for In Ha train, because he seems to have dialed back the crazy and is now actually acting like a human being around Dami. He's still cheating to win over Ji Ho in the piano building thing, but discovering his father loved him seems to have make him turn a new leaf and actually act human. You know, if his parents weren't psychos, he'd probably had a good chance at a decent life.
Here for adorableness, as Ji Ho introduces Dami to his stepgrandmom. You know, they are so sane and sweet and happy together, of course the rug is going to be yanked under them. Because I am pretty sure a good chunk of this story is about Ji Ho going full bore revenge, and I don't think he could ever fully give himself over to the darkness if he had Dami by his side.
Evil Mother from Hell finds the note the Chairman gave to Ji Ho (which I think was meant for In Ha) about Boosang being his and not trusting his Mom and goes apeshit. You know what kills me? Even this late in the game, knowing she didn't mean the loving things she said, knowing she didn't mean to save him from the fire, knowing she framed him for things, Ji Ho so desperately yearns for her love - when he asks her if it's some flaw in him, and if so, he'll try to change it, my heart breaks for him. If I am right and he is her son, oh you are going to so regret your life, Young Ran!
In Ha's streak of acting like a human being continues. He seems to have accepted he won't get Dami's heart.
When Ji Ho did the little sign language thing, my brain jumped back to Mawang!
OMFG! He pretends to be clumsy just so he can kneel and give her a ring. Made out of piano wire. Oh, Ji Ho, you KILL me!!!!
He loses the piano thing and his shares. But I think what really gets him is not this but Young Ran's giant gloating bitchiness. Oh, you poor guy.
No wonder he's packing his bags just to get the hell out of there (why not move out permanently, Ji Ho? You must be a masochist!)
But heee, stepmom got Dami to go along with him. ILY, stepmom! And he goes from miserable to grinning...
I feel pretty bad for In Ha. He's seemingly gotten what he wants - the company, victory over Ji Ho, but he is still not happy. Nothing really will make him happy - he is pretty much a mess as a person and all this doesn't fill the void inside him. I do love it when he pictures Dami and clings to her and cries but it's the Prof's daughter...(On a shallow note, mmmmm, Ji Chang Wook is gorgeous!)
You know, Ji Ho's description of his childhood as one constant competition with In Ha after another makes me want to time travel and call Child Protective Services on that insane household. But I love how happy and comforting they are with each other, and how she talks about her childhood, full of love, but difficult in other ways, and how he promises to always be with her and to take care of her always, even the care she should have gotten from her father but didn't because he died. Oh, darlings! Your hearts are about to be trampled into a million pieces.
Dami's brother is all 'dump Dami because your Mom framed our Dad for your Dad's murder and oh, btw, she killed your father.' Ji Ho takes it as well as you'd expect but he also, with common-sense, not sure he believes it.
Poor poor darlings!
I liked this because while In Ha still yearns for Dami, there is no obsessive 'must possess' there any more.
Hooray for a sane sibling relationship!
She is freaking out because she found out he's looking into Chairman's death and he's freaking out because he doesn't want to believe it. And that about sums up the difference between them.
Oh, poor angsty woobies!
If you thought it was bad, Young Ran decides to ruin Ji Ho utterly before he looks into the murder some more - she frames him for embezzlement and bribery, releases fake info on plagiarism and fighting - she's taking away both the company and musical memberships from him - she's trying to strip everything - money, music, honor. Oh, I am praying he is her actual son, because I want to see that psycho's face when she realizes she's been doing all this to her own flesh and blood.
And then she is luxuriating in music and wine, almost purring, as she knows she's wrecked the person who treated her as a mother. You are officially even freaking out In Ha, psycho!
She learns that Ji Ho is the son of the woman who framed her Dad for murder (they didn't tell her who the real murderer is).
Meanwhile, Ji Ho, in interrogation, is falling apart in every way possible (and not taking her call, though staring at it with longing, poor thing).
I feel kinda bad for In Ha here. Dami assumes that the plagiarism frame-up was his job and tells him he is rotten to the core. Good-bye even nascent friendship. Still, the only reason she believes this of him is because he threatened it in the past. You reap what you sow.
Can someone kill that slimy lawyer please? Ji Ho, please go Mawang on his ass!
You know how to make a mad day even worse? To have a recording that recounts how your mother figure murdered your dad thrust in your face.
Oh. my. God! My heart! But you know what I love? No noble idiocy or lying or hiding for this OTP! They are common-sense even in utter misery - she refuses to believe until she confirms with him, and he doesn't try to hide or dump her horribly for her own good or anything else idiotic. He just tells her he is sorry, crying, when she asks if it's true about her father and his mother. Oh, darlings! Darlings, darlings, darlings! Though hey, at least in this incarnation of a Jin Se Yeon heroine, it's just family issues - it's not as if her OTP had her tortured and her father hunted. Things are looking up :)
Oh, lady, be very afraid! I don't think you can cope with what you've just unleashed, especially since he doesn't have Dami any more to hold his darkness in check. I am going to enjoy watching you fall, Young Ran!
Meanwhile, everyone except the heroine, her OTP and the nerdy sweet glasses guy in Glass Mask continue to be wastes of space. I am pretty much in it for the OTP (at least until Seo Woo goes nuclear) - they are so adorable, I have no words. Plus, the male lead makes the best faces. And since I largely skip everything but the shipping, each ep doesn't take too long :)
I told you, ridiculous faces:
And a too-cool-for-school act:
But seriously, they are so dorky-cute together.
His revenge for her roughing him up and 'arresting' him is to moon over her:
And get jealous...
And moon some more...
And follow her around like a puppy...
And then he overhears her horrible family being horrible and her crying and is all :(
And they bicker as she bosses him around.
Oh, her sociopath stepsis has fallen for him, so while I was cheering for his public confession as he turns from cool rocker boy to lovelorn dork (with a very sweet confession), I was pretty much dreading Psycho McBitch's reaction.
Anywho, I am still in, but just for the OTP...