You’re All Surrounded: Episode 19
by girlfriday
The pressure mounts on all sides, and our team gets backed into a corner with nothing left to do but lean on each other. As far as finale setups go, this is a pretty good one—it’s plot-heavy since we have to set the stage for the big takedown, but we stop to let the reactions sink in, and well, if you’re anything like Dae-gu, you’re gonna need a moment to keep your head from exploding. The blatant injustice of this dramaverse would be enough to break anybody, but with a finale on the horizon, there’s hope yet that the law will prevail just once in our hero’s life.
SONG OF THE DAY
Eden – “One Love” for the You’re All Surrounded OST [ Download ]
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EPISODE 19: “I’m the desperate guy above that guy”
Dae-gu and Soo-sun run alongside the stretcher as Chief Kang gets wheeled into surgery. They pace back and forth out in the hall, and soon Pan-seok and the other department heads arrive.
Soo-sun confirms that Chief Kang lost a lot of blood, and they’ve been waiting for the results of her surgery. One of the other detectives says he looked into the traffic accident, and the driver of the dump truck was found to be falling asleep at the wheel. My foot.
The surgeon comes out and says the surgery went well, but they don’t know if she’ll ever wake up because she was in such bad shape when she arrived. He prepares them for the worst, and Sa-kyung can’t contain her tears.
Dae-gu pulls Pan-seok aside and admits that he was right about Chief Kang being their mystery Detective Seo. She confessed everything to him, and even told him about the recorder that Boots left behind.
What’s more is that he and Soo-sun followed her today, and she came out of a meeting with Assemblyman Yoo looking frustrated, and minutes later she was driven off the road by the dump truck. It was no accident—they saw that truck come barreling toward her.
Dae-gu says he thought about it the whole time she was in surgery: If they want to catch Assemblyman Yoo for this, does that mean they have to drag Chief Kang’s name through the mud as well? He grits his teeth and says with determination that they need to catch that bastard, even if it means letting the world know what Chief Kang did. Pan-seok agrees.
Dae-gu and Soo-sun go straight to Chief Kang’s house to look for the recorder, and find the place already ransacked. Well, at least it backs their murder theory. Dae-gu sighs in defeat, but Soo-sun urges him not to give up—they could’ve still missed it after searching the whole house.
As they rifle through her home office, Soo-sun finds a whole box full of letters from Dae-gu. He tells her now that the benefactor he mentioned who helped him go to college was actually Chief Kang. In the box, she finds a little sticker picture of Dae-gu and Chief Kang, and she suggests he put it by her hospital bed. She heard once that people can hear while in comas, and tells him to say everything he wants to say while he has the chance.
Pan-seok goes to Chief Toad and tells him the whole truth, going eleven years back. To the silly toad man’s credit, he declares that they’ll do whatever it takes to put Assemblyman Yoo behind bars for what he did to their leader. He realizes now why Chief Kang has been acting so weird lately, putting all her affairs in order and constantly speaking in hypotheticals about taking care of the police force in her absence.
Chief Toad gets all fired up, and volunteers himself to lead the investigation. Ha, it’s written all over Pan-seok’s face that the offer is more pain than help, but he lets the toad have his moment, and thanks him for lending his detective skills.
The team gets to work in combing through the accident scene, and Chief Toad gets to bust out his best NYPD Blue interrogation tactics on the dump truck driver. Meanwhile Tae-il takes Boots’ black box camera to the tech team, but all they get is fuzz, due to rain damage.
Pan-seok and Tae-il search Chief Kang’s office to see if she might’ve hidden the recorder there, and Pan-seok finds a letter addressed to him tucked away in a drawer. She writes that in a few days’ time the bill will be passed, and she’s prepared to reveal everything and receive her lawful judgment.
She admits how scared she is when she thinks of the trauma that Dae-gu will experience when he learns the truth. She asks Pan-seok to look after him if she ends up going to prison: “I can’t stand the thought that I’m going leave that child with pain he cannot handle once again.” She ends the letter by apologizing to Pan-seok sincerely.
Dae-gu spends the night sitting by Chief Kang’s bedside, and he talks about his appendix surgery a few years ago. He remembers how he told her it was no big deal, but she came anyway and held his hand all night long. “Truthfully, I was so happy then. It really felt like you were my mom.”
That’s why he brought her carnations that following parents’ day, and insisted they take that silly sticker picture together. He shows her the picture now to remind her, and then adds, “But right now everything, including this picture, feels like a lie. So you can’t die like this. There are still so many things you haven’t told me.”
He tells her she has to wake up and leaves the picture by her pillow. And though she doesn’t stir, a tear falls from the corner of her eye.
Chief Toad greets the team with the news that he cracked the case wide open, making a big fuss over his indefatigable detective prowess before finally telling them that he found the dump truck driver on a traffic camera waiting for three hours before getting behind the wheel just five minutes before supposedly falling asleep and causing the crash.
During the meeting, Pan-seok gets a call that stops him cold, and everyone waits on pins and needles for him to tell them what happened. He starts, “Chief Kang…” Wait, this is a fakeout, right? She woke up?
But then we cut to a procession of uniformed officers marching in the rain. Dae-gu leads the way, carrying Chief Kang’s picture. Ugh, nicely played, Show.
It’s a beautiful sequence as they bury her in the rain and salute their leader one last time.
Behind them, a car pulls up to join the funeral belatedly, and out steps Assemblyman Yoo. Wow, you would dare to show your face here. Dae-gu snarls and lurches forward like an angry pit bull, and Soo-sun grabs him hurriedly. She whispers that now isn’t the time, and he holds onto her hand with a death-grip, like he might snap and kill someone if she let go.
The whole team watches with utter incredulity as Assemblyman Yoo walks past them and lays a flower on Chief Kang’s grave, acting the part of grieving friend. He shakes Chief Toad’s hand, and then turns to look Dae-gu right in the eye, with a freaking smile on his face.
Pan-seok swallows back his reaction and Soo-sun holds Dae-gu’s hand even tighter. The rest of the force ushers Assemblyman Yoo back to his car respectfully, but our team and those who know the truth remain with their feet firmly planted by Chief Kang’s grave—our lonely few who will make sure she didn’t die in vain.
The rain stops, and Sa-kyung finds Pan-seok standing alone on the hill. He tells her about the first time he ever wanted to give up on a case, when he’d exhausted all leads and grown weary of the victim’s family’s cries for justice. Back then Chief Kang was his team leader, and he asked her how long he was supposed to remain on the case; she said as long as it took to make the victim’s family understand. He decided then that he wanted to become a detective like her.
He says that Chief Kang apologized to him in the end, but now he realizes that he’s the one who’s sorry, for letting her fall into this trap and for not trusting her until the end. It was only when he saw Dae-gu’s unwavering faith in her that he saw how jaded he’d become by comparison.
Sa-kyung reassures him that he’s no lost cause, and says that Chief Kang was a true police officer whose loyalty to the force was unmatched, and that she’s sure she’s in a good place.
Tae-il and Dae-gu wake up the next morning greeted by an enormous breakfast spread. Gook cooked all morning (though he eventually admits that Mom sent him up some food, heh), and urges them to eat and keep up their strength.
Soo-sun sends Dae-gu a text to say that she’s downstairs at the playground, and he lies to the guys that it’s a spam message. He heads down, where she follows his massive breakfast with more breakfast, thinking he hasn’t had anything to eat. He very sweetly eats again anyway.
As he eats, he turns to her and says out of the blue, “Don’t betray me.” He tells her to give him advance warning if she’s ever going to like another man, and she agrees with a smile. He adds, “But more than that, there’s something else you can never do… Don’t die in front of me.” Oof.
He can feel the tears welling up in his throat, so he starts to stuff his face with rice balls. She tells him to stop, and gives her word that she won’t ever die in front of him. As soon as she says the words, his tears come spilling out.
Soo-sun asks in return: “Then you have to tell me you’re hurting when you’re hurting, that you’re having a hard time when you’re having a hard time, when you want to cry, when you’re mad, when you want to yell like crazy.” She walks over to his swing and wipes his tear away, and he clutches her hand to his face and cries.
The team gets Boots’ black box camera repaired, and footage from the day before Boots attacked Dae-gu shows him receiving money in exchange for an envelope. The man making the exchange is Assemblyman Yoo’s attorney.
Then Chief Toad bursts in to say that he finally broke the truck driver, and he confessed that the person who ordered the hit was the very same Lawyer Kim. Eung-do calls Lawyer Kim in for questioning, and the smug bastard says that in both instances, he was working under Madam Yoo’s orders.
The team knows this makes no sense—Assemblyman Yoo is clearly trying to pawn his crimes off on his daughter. They wonder what the plan is, and then discover that Madam Yoo has already been transferred out of prison and into a mental institution. They guffaw at the obvious ploy to away with all of this on the insanity plea.
A commotion in the precinct draws the team out of their conference room, and they find Madam Yoo’s son Ki-jae standing there screaming for Dae-gu. I love that he still calls Dae-gu “jjang-jjang man” even though he’s angry. He shoves the DNA test results at him and says that they’re totally unrelated (ohthankgod), and demands to know why Mom would kill anyone when they aren’t even half-brothers.
Dae-gu flips through the results, shocked to know that he isn’t part of that wretched family after all. Ki-jae points out that something’s terribly wrong here—his mother is someone who gets the other party to sign a waiver before beating someone up, so does it make any sense that she’d kill a person before making sure of the facts? Well now things are getting a little more interesting.
Ki-jae asks if Dae-gu knows where his mom is, and Dae-gu wonders why he’s coming here to ask. Sweet naïve Ki-jae just cries that of course he’d come to the police station to look for his missing mom—isn’t that what cops do?
Ki-jae wails that Mom disappeared after being transferred to the mental hospital, and Dad, Grandpa, and Lawyer Kim are all ignoring his calls. Sa-kyung takes over and tells him to report his mother missing first so they can look for her, and he pleads for Dae-gu to find his mom as he’s being pulled away.
The team lets the latest revelation sink in, and they posit that Madam Yoo must’ve killed Mom under a mistaken assumption, since she clearly believed Dae-gu to be her husband’s son.
They plan their next course of action, and Pan-seok grudgingly gives permission when Sa-kyung asks to take Tae-il along on her search, and Gook jumps at the chance to help Soo-sun go through Chief Kang’s house one more time. Both Dae-gu and Pan-seok pout silently.
Dae-gu goes to see Director Shin and shares the DNA test results with him. His only purpose in approaching Faux Bio-Dad is to find out where Madam Yoo is, and Director Shin asks for some time to figure out what’s going on. You’re as useless as ever.
He goes straight to his father-in-law to ask where his wife is, pretending like he wants to see her because he’s sorry and feels responsible. Assemblyman Yoo scoffs at his sudden concern after ignoring her for decades, and adds bitterly that she might’ve chased after her husband like a fool, but her father was her true provider.
Director Shin shows an inch of spine and points out the hypocrisy of acting like the saintly protective father when they’re cut from the same opportunistic cloth; he at least doesn’t plan on also taking from his child.
Meanwhile, Sa-kyung and Tae-il find a witness who saw Madam Yoo being forced into an ambulance against her will. That’s when it occurs to them that she might not be in on it—her husband and father could’ve had her committed.
Soo-sun goes through Chief Kang’s home office again, and this time she reads a few of the thank-you cards that Dae-gu sent over the years, and smiles at the pictures of him as an adorable nerdy pre-law student.
She puts them back in the box, and then it occurs to her that this might be the place she’d hide something meant for Dae-gu. She empties the container and hears something still rattling inside, and cuts open the bottom… There’s the recorder tucked inside.
They bring it back to the precinct so the team can listen to it together. In the audio recording, Boots asks specifically what the instructions are, and Assemblyman Yoo tells him to reproduce the DNA test to show the opposite results. Boots asks if he’s going to give his daughter the falsified test showing that Ji-yong is Director Shin’s son.
Assemblyman Yoo says it’s the only way to get her to support him again in time for the election. He says bitterly that she’s so fooled by her shell of a husband that she’s dared to cut the company purse strings for his political campaign, and he won’t have it. Wow, all that for money. They look over worriedly at Dae-gu, who mutters in disbelief, “That’s it? That was the reason that my mother died?”
They file out of the room to give him some space, and as soon as he’s alone, Dae-gu lets out a yell and tears the room apart. Soo-sun stands just outside the door, determined to listen to his cries no matter how painful it is, and she refuses to let Gook and Tae-il drag her away.
Dae-gu’s screams and furious furniture-smashing can be heard loud and clear by everyone, and Soo-sun just stands guard resolutely by the door, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Pan-seok gets up from his desk with determination, but he’s cut off at the door by Prosecutor Han, that nasty piece of work who serves corrupt politicians. He relishes telling Pan-seok that he’s here to take over their investigation, and orders his staff to confiscate everything that belongs to Pan-seok’s team.
Soo-sun can’t contain her anger and challenges the prosecutor, asking what they were supposed to do when they’re putting their lives on the line to find the truth and getting stabbed to protect evidence, when the prosecutor’s office just covers up the crimes in the end.
He just ignores her and orders a staffer to get the stuff in their locker room too, but when he opens the door, he backs out slowly in terror, as Dae-gu steps out. Everyone’s eyes widen as he comes out to face Prosecutor Han looking like he might kill someone. And then we see that he’s got a baseball bat in his hand. Whoa.
He goes apeshit and just starts breaking everything with the bat, slamming it down over and over, and busting every single one of their laptops in the process. Things go flying and everyone flinches, from the prosecutor down to his own teammates.
In between smashing everything in sight with the bat, he mouths off that the prosecutor isn’t going to investigate with the stuff they take anyway, so what’s the difference? Oh snap.
He finally throws the bat down and goes back to the locker room to start packing his things, and Prosecutor Han blusters that he’s totally leaving right now because he feels like it, but will be back to collect the rest of the stuff. He adds that Pan-seok should hand over every last bit of evidence with both hands if he doesn’t want his whole team to be reprimanded for obstruction of justice, and promises to send an internal affairs team to inspect his team’s conduct shortly.
As soon as he’s gone, the team rushes in to stop Dae-gu, but he tells the boys to get out of his way. He’s determined to quit, and screams that he’s fed up with being a powerless cop. They beg him to hold it in just once more, and he cries, “How much more? Until when?!”
They have to tackle him to keep him there, and then Pan-seok calls out, “Don’t hold it in!” He says it’ll make him sick if he holds it in any longer, and tells him to let it all out instead of being patient. That calms Dae-gu down, one hothead to another.
Pan-seok asks if Dae-gu is confident that he can reveal the truth in this case, and Dae-gu says he’ll do whatever it takes. They all chime in that they’ll solve it no matter what, and Pan-seok agrees that they will. He says that in exchange, they have to trust him no matter what he does from this point forth, and follow his lead. “Have you forgotten? I’m the legendary Seo Pan-seok.”
The team gets to work calling a roster of reporters, and then they watch as Prosecutor Han gives a public statement on TV naming Madam Yoo as the culprit in both murders. The team calls a small press conference of their own at the precinct, and Pan-seok gets dressed in his uniform in preparation. Eung-do tries to stop him, pleading with him to find another way. But Pan-seok just asks how he looks and gives Eung-do one last pat on the shoulder before going in to meet the press.
Eung-do and the kids stand in the back as he addresses the room and says that today he can’t abide by the law and order of a police officer. He takes off his hat, his badge, and even his jacket—the literal “taking off of clothes,” a metaphor for being stripped of one’s title and job.
He says that the reason he’s taken his clothes off today is so that he can take someone else’s clothes off. It’s not as sexy as the words make it sound, since he means he’s going to bring someone down with him as he goes.
COMMENTS
I’m with Eung-do on this—I wonder if it’s absolutely necessary for Pan-seok to hand over his badge when technically, his job is on the line anyway, and he could maybe accomplish some things before getting fired and forced to leave. Though perhaps it’s semantics, since the second he accuses Assemblyman Yoo of being a murderer, he’ll lose his job anyway. I think it’s a case where the metaphor trumps all, because he needs to make the sacrifice as their leader. Also, I’m hoping that by resigning before they can lock him up, he can just work the case from home.
I came into this episode expecting Chief Kang to be dead, so when she survived the surgery, I totally thought they were going to cop out and have her wake up and give Dae-gu all his answers. But it’s so much better this way, with the bittersweet regret lingering there, and all the unrealized potential of her mother-son relationship with Dae-gu gone with her. It makes me feel better that she specifically asked Pan-seok to look after him (though if we don’t get a proper resolution to him taking up the mantle and being Dae-gu’s guardian in her place, I’m going to be sad about it). She was a lovely character, and her sendoff felt appropriately dignified and epic.
I’m so glad Dae-gu isn’t a part of that horrid family, not that it fully makes up for the weeks spent dangling that birth secret over our heads. At least the result takes the edge off, and he gets to bring the whole house down without having to make peace with a spineless bio-dad, or think that Mom was made to suffer and lie to him his whole life because of pressure from rich crazy people. I’m annoyed at the birth secret merry-go-round, but I do like that the truth ends up being so deflating—all of that for campaign money?
I always like when the motive for murder ends up being so base and mundane as to be laughable. Because the elaborate schemes are made even more ridiculous by comparison, and there is no justifying a killer’s actions as pitiable in a case like this—nothing drove him to do it except for pure selfish greed and desire for power. Not that our villain was complex to begin with. I mean he’s basically the most wooden cardboard cutout of a baddie you could invent, which is a shame since we end up spending so much story time chasing him, and the central mystery could’ve been more compelling had he been given some layers. On the upside, maybe his clear-cut villainy means the case will be solved in record time in the finale, and we can spend lots of time with our characters doing cute things.
Dae-gu’s outburst in the precinct was pretty cathartic, especially after weeks of watching him get beat down by tragic circumstances. But more importantly it’s Pan-seok who knows how to get through to him. It’s great that he learns something from watching Dae-gu with Chief Kang—how to put his trust in someone till the end—and in the end he entrusts his kids to get the case done without him. The rookies could still screw it all up, but somebody has to take the first leap. It’s the chicken-egg conundrum of putting your faith in someone hoping that they rise to the occasion. They’ve proven that they can actually be detectives, so now it’s his turn to trust them and let them swim on their own like a good mama duck.
And we see that the second Pan-seok chooses to back them up and let them fight for what they believe in, their attitudes change. Dae-gu goes from wanting to give up on everything, to looking up to Pan-seok with genuine respect for the first time. I just love that while the legend has so many things to teach the rookies about being good cops, there’s one thing he can’t beat—their shiny, untarnished idealism—and in this case he learns something from them. It’s a great way to bring the team full circle… yunno, as long as the rookies don’t muck it up in finale. No pressure!
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Tags: Cha Seung-won, featured, Go Ara, Lee Seung-gi, You're All Surrounded
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1 lee suengi n yoona supporter
July 16, 2014 at 8:37 PM
me first..real good job at recaping quickly for you're surrounded n joseon gunman
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2 Mrs.Jang guem suk
July 16, 2014 at 8:52 PM
Lol I keep forgetting that yonna and seung gi are dating lol ???
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3 lemondoodle
July 16, 2014 at 8:55 PM
As simple as the reason was, the reason for the murder is pretty fitting for the villain and seriously makes me feel bad for his evil daughter for once. Her husband is still a spineless wuss of a man as well. Of course she's still totally violent and crazy, but her dad encouraged her to be that way and ruined her life by falsifying the DNA results to feed her delusions. He knew how she'd react and used that again her.
So, he ruined how many lives for money? Go die already.
I wish Chief Kang would have woken up to talk to Dae Gu before she passed, but I'm actually glad she got a nice send off and he got to say what he wanted to say. He didn't get that chance with his mother so I think it was important here he did. Also loved her letter to Pan-seok about Dae Gu :(
I am pretty happy that Dae Gu isn't part of that family (that we know, unless the son isn't really the son... ), so that's one happy thing to come out of the episode. The villain is a cardboard cutout, but I am so looking forward to him getting caught.
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shaynanigans
July 16, 2014 at 9:03 PM
"...I am pretty happy that Dae Gu isn’t part of that family"
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, the DNA test was done with Dae Gue and Ki Jae.
But we now know Director Shin isn't Ki-jae's bio-dad. That doesn't mean he isn't Dae Gu's dad.
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lemondoodle
July 16, 2014 at 9:21 PM
Wait, I don't think we know that Ki-Jae isn't Shin's son? Did I miss that? Dae Gu's not related to Director Shin, but either Ki-Jae isn't bio son of Shin or Yoo is Dae Gu's dad I suppose. So he'd still be apart of that family. Though hopefully his dad is some random guy his mom met after she broke up with Shin.
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lulu2050
July 16, 2014 at 11:05 PM
while they were in the investigation room playing the recording Yoo Moon Bae ordered boots to toy with the DNA test as if Dae Gu is Shin's son so that in the election his daughter would support him with the money instead of giving it to her husband. but they really are not related
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crazyahjummafan
July 16, 2014 at 9:51 PM
Did I miss something? Since when was Director Shin NOT Ki-jae's bio dad?
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OhSoEnthusiastic
July 16, 2014 at 10:55 PM
You've gotten it backwards. The second DNA test (the only real, legit test) was with Dae Gu and Ki Jae. But Assemblyman Yoo had a DNA test falsified (back when Dae Gu was a teen) to say that Dae Gu was Director Shin's son. Assemblyman Yoo did that so he could show it to Madam Yoo, because he wanted her to hate her husband and give Assemblyman Yoo money for his campaign (it's more complicated then that, but honestly? Who even cares?) She saw the (fake) DNA results and then killed Dae Gu's mom out of rage.
So no, he's not part of this crazy as bananas family.
And there was much rejoicing!
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memyselfandi
July 17, 2014 at 3:47 PM
But Shaynanigans is technically correct. The DNA test done by Ji-Kae shows that Ji-Kae and Dae Gu do not share parents. One interpretation of that is that Director Shin is Dae Gu's father but not Ji Kae's father. We need the supplemental information from the recorder to eliminate Director Shin as the father. I have been wondering if we will find out that Dae Gu's mother wasn't his biological mother, either. But no potential candidates have been presented, so the drama would really strain our credulity if it took that twist.
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4 shaynanigans
July 16, 2014 at 8:57 PM
What a heart-wrenching episode. Seriously, how much more can Dae-gu take before he finally snaps.
“But more than that, there’s something else you can never do… Don’t die in front of me.”
Drama gods, if you even think of killing off Soo-sun next episode, we may hve to have words.
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Pollywood
July 17, 2014 at 12:04 AM
It's a comedy, it's a comedy ... I say while I'm sobbing in the corner every week.
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5 Athena
July 16, 2014 at 9:02 PM
Chief Kang, that lady. R.I.P. I lub you. *sob*
And dude, girlfriday, so fast!!How? I am half convinced that you and JB have a time machine hidden somewhere.
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6 ChanceOfRain
July 16, 2014 at 9:11 PM
Agreed. Though I would like Soo-sun to be in danger somewhat. We've had so many scenes of her comforting Dae-Gu, lovely as those were, I would like to see more facets or developments to their relationship. Nothing like mortal danger to kick up dramaland romance a notch or two.
Seems like the writer saved up all the drama for the last 3 episodes. I am almost afraid that there won't be enough time in the final episode to bring down the bad guy satisfyingly, AND wrap up everyone's stories with healthy dose of bromance and romance. Let's see... there's Assemblyman Yoo (not complex), the prosecutor (a little harder), that police bill (difficult). Then there's Pan-seok and Sa-kyung (where did that plot go?), Dae-gu and Soo-Sun, and of course rest of the team. I am both looking forward to and afraid of how it will all end!
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Sayee
July 16, 2014 at 9:23 PM
And Pan Seok and Dae Gu!! Come on, THAT is what made me start this show in the first place. I swear if they don't become bros for life in the last episode, I will punch somebody. No, seriously. I will.
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crazyahjummafan
July 16, 2014 at 11:07 PM
You've got your wish! The preview for ep 20 says that both Daegu and Soo Sun are kidnapped by Yoo.
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OhSoEnthusiastic
July 16, 2014 at 11:17 PM
What? What?! My Lord this drama, lol.
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Athena
July 16, 2014 at 11:39 PM
Are you effing kidding me? Don't go batshit crazy, drama.
Don't.
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lemondoodle
July 17, 2014 at 1:32 AM
Kidnapping and danger will lead to good romance. :D Just don't kill either one of them.
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Athena
July 17, 2014 at 1:42 AM
Lol, that is true. But, wouldn't it be highly predictable if Soo Sun is in the verge of being murdered in front of Dae Gu and finally karma decides that it needs to give Dae Gu a break and spare her. And then Soo Sun is all like 'See, I promised you that I won't die in front of you and that I will never leave you yada yada yada.'
If at all that happens, then I called it! :D
Suzy
July 17, 2014 at 1:03 AM
Really? I don't think they got kidnapped...where did you read it from? This is the preview I saw for ep 20 and eng subs is in the description.
[Eng]You're All Surrounded Ep 20 (final) Preview: http://youtu.be/AUikpkEhKMo
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crazyahjummafan
July 17, 2014 at 1:22 AM
It's in the text preview.
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Missa
July 17, 2014 at 1:07 AM
Omo! Please writer-nim don't let SooSun die in the end... its too much and its unbearable for Daegu-yah!
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7 coco
July 16, 2014 at 9:19 PM
Thanks for the recap
I was kind of happy that the reason for mom's murder was something else besides a birth secret, but at the same time i feel like the real reason for this whole charade kind of fell flat. I mean the old man had two police officers become corrupt, people's deaths on his hands and he made a criminal out of his own daughter JUST so she would have to support him financially. I mean come on all of THIS MESS for money?!
And maybe i missed something, but why is it that she is the only one who has money i mean isn't the company a family business?
And in the end he sent his daughter to a mental institution i mean i know she did wrong but i feel kind of bad for her. If she didn't have the father she does maybe none of this would have happened.
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lemondoodle
July 16, 2014 at 9:31 PM
It falls a little flat since the son-in-law is such a spineless person. Like really, he couldn't have just manipulated her in a way that didn't involve the murder of an innocent woman, an orphaned child and ruining the lives of his daughter, Chief Kang and PS and SK (and the dead oft heir son) by association.
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Elle
July 16, 2014 at 9:41 PM
IMO sending Yoo Ae-yun to a mental institution should've been done long ago.
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lemondoodle
July 16, 2014 at 10:22 PM
Yes, well it's where she belongs though he didn't help her any by feeding her delusions. Truthfully she could use the help and to get away from her father. I can't believe I'm saying this and it's more because her son seems like a nice kid, but I wouldn't even mind if she was able to get better, pay for her crimes in jail and go rejoin society (technically she didn't murder anyone in the end anyway) and live a decent life with her son in the end.
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Elle
July 16, 2014 at 11:35 PM
The sense of entitlement she and her father share is in the blood, I suppose. It's too late to cure her of that. She really should spend the rest of her life in a mental ward. While she didn't kill anyone in the end, she has gleefully considered it so long as it suits her needs.
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lemondoodle
July 17, 2014 at 1:34 AM
Yeah, definitely. After Dae Gu lost two moms I kind of hope the kid doesn't lose his mom too as crazy and mostly evil she is. Maybe he can just visit her in the hospital.
Anduril
July 17, 2014 at 5:03 AM
I agree she needs the help. If she were in a good hospital with the correct diagnosis, there might be hope. But she is in a corrupt hospital diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia. I know that in drama rules, taking schizto medicine when you don't need it, only messes a person up.
I don't feel that sorry about her father's betrayal. He told her a lie; she's the one who went homicidal over it. But her poor son; that kid deserves better.
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Nana
July 16, 2014 at 9:59 PM
Haven't you heard of the saying "Money is the root of all evil"
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crazyahjummafan
July 16, 2014 at 10:11 PM
Correction: The LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Please don't misquote.
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geese
July 17, 2014 at 1:41 AM
yeah the love of money....it can do ga-zillion of bad things in one's life and it won't stop till someone realize it's really wrong to love it...the reason for that crime was simple but it remains the fact that people are really amazingly bad when they do things the wrong way...it is a kdrama but honestly in society it sure does exist...
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windsun33
July 17, 2014 at 12:22 PM
We have all heard it, but that does not make it true. In fact money is not the root of all evil - power is. The biggest mass murderers in history - Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, and all the rest were not after money.
And though we know that Koreans are perhaps a bit more obsessed with money than some countries, I would not take what is shown in dramas as a true reflection.
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Kimmie
July 16, 2014 at 10:53 PM
Family business on her mother's side. That's why she is the major stockholder. SIL told the old man that they were both the same, married for money out of their greed for power.
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OhSoEnthusiastic
July 16, 2014 at 11:15 PM
It's not that it isn't logical motivation. (Plenty of people will do anything to get more money, more power.) It's that we had all this build up for something much, much bigger.
It just wasn't big enough. Now we're all left wondering why Dae Gu's mom had to Die.
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Awe
July 17, 2014 at 5:49 AM
Have to agree. All of this just to manipulate daughter into manipulating her husband for campaign monies? OY. And that was the big secret that DaeGu's mother was nervous about testifying over? I'm having a really hard time connecting dots.
Use small words for me and please speak slowly with exaggerated hand gestures. Because Assemblyman Yoo is one complicated dude...not just in this drama, but in his other's as well. (Currently watching Nine: nine times travel--and Assemblyman Yoo is even MOAR batshit scary compounded over a 20 year period).
Sigh. Episode 20 is on the horizon and we can all exit this mega-monster ride for some cotton candy.
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Jig
July 17, 2014 at 7:26 AM
Dae-Gu's mom wasn't testifying against Assemblyman Yoo for anything. That was an unrelated case. It "just happened" that the two events coincided so that Yoo could use that as a cover.
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8 Athena
July 16, 2014 at 9:20 PM
I loved this episode btw. I think it is always better when an ordinary feel good show is elevated by a touching ending (à la Dream High). I really really hope that is the case with YAAS, because I love each and every character including Chief Toad and Ki Jae. And if there is any hero in dramaland who deserves a happy ending it's Dae Gu.
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9 BB
July 16, 2014 at 9:44 PM
Thanks for the great recap, GF!
Another episode that makes me glad that I"m sticking around til the very end! still lovin' it!!--whoa, was that a ppl? lol
This goes to show that some characters don't have to be complex to work. In this case, Assemblyman Yoo is just that. It works because he is just simply EVIL and it makes me wanna bash his head in every time he smirks! His callousness towards everyone and his thirst for power knows no bounds that he could do that even to his own daughter. It also makes it easier for everyone of our heroes to try to take him down without any ounce of remorse and I, for one, will be glad to see him finally fall and for that smirk to be finally be wiped from his face.
This episode gives me a bad feeling that it is a setup for Soo Sun to get hurt somehow in the finale, especially with her and Dae Gu getting kidnapped by Yoo's goons. Maybe I've been watching way too many dramas!! LOL!
I'm hoping the finale won't disappoint, unlike some other dramas with stupid endings! I hope it'll be a happy ending!
--on a side note--Toad was actually useful for once!
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10 Eli
July 16, 2014 at 10:13 PM
It may be about money, but it's more about power. Though I don't think he realized that his daughter will go apesh*t and kill Dae Gu's mom. He just want her not to support her husband and support him instead. And why he has no money, he married into one and probably used it up and now wants access to his daughter's to further his political life.
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11 Miho
July 16, 2014 at 10:17 PM
Argh! What an episode!! Poor Daegu. I almost died here from all the heartbreak that too just reading the recaps. Now i wonder if i'll actually be able to watch this drama. I might really die. Thank goodness we have soo sun. Daegu could have gone insane way back if she wasn't there. I hope we get lots of cute in the final episode to make up for all the trauma we have suffered along with our Daegu.
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12 bern75
July 16, 2014 at 10:59 PM
Girlfriday! You are amazing! This came out before noon my time, which is a record. Thanks for all the hard work, and do get some rest after YAAS is over.
What an intense episode? ride on to the last leg... YAAS Episode 20, FIGHTING!
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13 maddragonqueen
July 16, 2014 at 11:02 PM
I spent most of this episode thinking about how good Cha Seung Won looks in that formal police uniform...
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14 OhSoEnthusiastic
July 16, 2014 at 11:06 PM
They're not related! And there was much rejoicing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enSYlCEz5VI
There was some beautiful cinematography during that funeral. I didn't realize how much I missed having beautiful cinematography until the cameramen suddenly decided to up his game. For a scene and a half, lol.
Poorly plotted mystery aside, there are so many things about this drama I'm disappointed with.
The romance was late and a little slow. (Practically non-existent in Sa Kyung and Pan Seok's case.) Our secondary and tertiary characters kind of got the shaft a lot of the time. (I particularly loved Chief Toad this episode and wish his character had been utilized more throughout the drama. He could have provided so much comic relief during all of the plot angst.) We just had to spend sooooo much time on a mystery that wasn't even mysterious at all.
Dae Gu’s relationship with Chief Kang was so foundational to who he is as a person, and I really wish we could have actually seen them interacting together more as he was growing up. Her betrayal and eventual death would have been so much more poignant and heartbreaking.
But when Dae Gu went cray cray on everything in sight with that bat, I was egging him on, lol. That part, the writers definitely got right.
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Riya
July 16, 2014 at 11:42 PM
I was fist bumping the air and cheering him on when he lost it. I was like, damn right you can destroy everything in sight. You deserve it.
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15 Missa
July 16, 2014 at 11:11 PM
Thank God! Our Daegu is NOT part of the wicked family. Anyhow, I feel bad for Madam Yoo for being the victim of her own father’s scheme. Truthfully, GREED comes any form to the point of using your own blood and flesh just for the sake one’s covetousness. This drama proves that such things really do happen in real world.
Thinking of Daegu’s misfortune in all aspect, this episode gave me heartbreak. Though this drama shows variety of injustices and bribery (which really do happen in reality) I just hope that in the end, justice will prevail.
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16 Osi
July 16, 2014 at 11:24 PM
Dae Gu Dae Gu hang in there, dear.
So, who's Dae Gu real dad? Why did Sa Kyung blame Pan Seok for signing the divorce paper? What's Dae Gu's reaction when he knows that Pan Seok's son died at the same time of her mom's murder. I hope I get the answers in ep 20. I also hope I can see more romance and bromance. Please writer-nim.
Thanks for the recaps, GF.
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Osi
July 16, 2014 at 11:37 PM
Also, when did Dae Gu change his name? I'm sure chief Kang help him with the name changing and the documents needed. Why did he choose Eun Dae Gu? Why Eun, not Lee, or Kim, or something else? Why did he decide to become a detective when he went to law school? Can't wait to watch ep 20. Oh that's the last episode? No Dae Gu Dae Gu next week? :(
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crazyahjummafan
July 17, 2014 at 1:40 AM
I was wondering too. If Director Shin is not his father, then who is? There wasn't much time for his mum to form a relationship after she left Seoul n had Daegu.
This is what has transpired so far: Daegu's mum and Director Shin were in a relationship. For some reason, she left Seoul. I can think of 2 probabilities:
1) Shin told her tt he was to marry Mdm Yoo. So heart broken she left.
2) Shin and Mdm Yoo were arranged to be married. Mdm Yoo actually liked Shin at the beginning (Moon Bae said something to this effect). Finding out about the relationship, she approached Daegu's mum and told her to stay clear, etc.... as we saw in ep 17 or 18.
How then did she manage to get herself pregnant and deliver Daegu? She met an old sympathetic friend, got herself drunk to forget her pain and end up sleeping with him? Of course, she didn't tell him about the pregnancy. Or he could have somehow died before she could tell him or before they could get married as she had said. That would explain the lack of photos.
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Osi
July 17, 2014 at 2:51 AM
1) Shin told her tt he was to marry Mdm Yoo. So heart broken she left.
My I-hope-it-doesn't-come-true thought:
Heartbroken not only because he was to marry Madam Yoo, but also because he did something unforgiven. Mom left Seoul and gave birth to Ji Yong whose father (I hope really not) Shin Ji Il. She didn't lie to him about his father died because for her he already died in her heart. That's why there's not even a single photo found because she's buried her memory with him. She also wanted to protect Ji Yong because she knew how evil Yoo's family could be. Melodramatic? Hehe. Ki Jae is Madam Yoo's son but not Shin Ji Il's. That's why he's not related to Dae Gu. So, Shin Ji Il is really Dae Gu's......dad? What?! Noooooo. *erases her thought*
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OhSoEnthusiastic
July 17, 2014 at 10:40 AM
I don't think we're ever going to find out who his real dad is, and honestly, I don't think we need to. It's not necessary to the plot, and it doesn't seem like Dae Gu has any deep need/desire to know either. And now that he's got his little cop team family, he doesn't really Need a dad anymore. Pan Seok's already the perfect daddy anyway, lol.
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17 Missa
July 16, 2014 at 11:48 PM
I agree with Osi.
There's a lot of untold story of the characters. I remember also, when they out the relationship chart for YAAS there's this Daegu's friend who is looking for him? do u guys remember???
I hope that the finale will clear everything out. :-)
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Osi
July 17, 2014 at 12:04 AM
I also remember, in the relationship chart, Tae Il and Sa Kyung would have a love relationship, and Pan Seok would have a crush on Soo Sun. Or maybe, the relationship chart that we saw isn't the official one? But if the chart is official, I'm sooooo glad writer-nim didn't go there.
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Pollywood
July 17, 2014 at 12:29 AM
I just looked it up, since I've never seen it before. And you're right, that's what it says. It also already tells us that DG is the illigitimate son of Spineless Man, who is married to Birkin Bitch. Did that come out before the show started, because that is a crazy ass spoiler (at least regarding the characters) right there. I'm confused.
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Osi
July 17, 2014 at 12:46 AM
If I'm not mistaken, it came out after a couple of days after ep 2. But the one I saw wasn't from SBS, that's why I thought it might be not official.
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lemondoodle
July 17, 2014 at 1:37 AM
I think that chart wasn't official. At least SBS/HB didn't release it. Though I'm pretty sure the writer was definitely thinking of going there (see how PS looked at SS at his apartment, I still cant' see that as any way but awareness in a romantic way), but fans were so pissed off about the thought it was dropped pretty quickly. SS was also PS' biggest fan and now she really has no scenes with him at all.
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18 Pollywood
July 16, 2014 at 11:53 PM
When Puppy cries, I curse this cruel sadistic writer for making him a hero in a K-drama-world … and want to band-aid him up from head to toe.
But when the legendary PS shows even the slightest hint of sadness, I just can't stop the tears from running down my face.
I didn't think him that impressive in Greatest Love, but this show totally changed my opinion of him! Give that man ALL THE AWARDS! Shower him with them! They are so deserved!
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Anitha
July 17, 2014 at 12:15 AM
That man. It doesn't matter if he has five sentences and fifteen minutes of solid screen time. He is just brilliance personified.
*tries to forget that his son is older than me while drooling over him*
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Missa
July 17, 2014 at 1:13 AM
haha! I really like PS... after this, I surely gonna watch greatest love. Coz I heard its daebak! :-)
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Ek Ladhki Thi is Kim Eun-sooks no 1 fan
July 17, 2014 at 6:36 AM
Even though I stopped watching this show 7 episodes ago, I still come back for recaps because of my unshakable love and admiration for Cha Seung-won. Just looking at the screencaps of his face while mourning Chief Kang, I felt like my heart was about to be ripped to shreds. His emoting is so nuanced and on the spot every time.
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19 soyummay
July 16, 2014 at 11:55 PM
I had been wondering why the physical conflict between the prosecutors and the police had just disappeared. I was frustrated at the drama for just getting rid of this prosecutor conflict after that one case with the guy who killed the kid. Though the drama has addressed this conflict through Chief Kang and how she became corrupt to get the independence-from-prosecutors bill passed, I guess I was seeking a more concrete conflict so that the resolution could be more clearly displayed. This episode was highly satisfying in that regard :) Anyway, I'm almost certain this won't happen, but I really hope they don't butcher the finale! Can't wait to see it how it'll all be wrapped up :D
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20 Cooler
July 17, 2014 at 12:22 AM
In real life I'd probably be disgusted to see the chief eulogized like this. You know, seeing as how she did help get his mother murdered. Tried to assist in his murder. For at least 11 years kept the murderer from being discovered. Then still had the audacity to ask Dae Gu to let it ride just a little bit longer... And actually got all this started because of guilt from punking-out on her partner 27 years ago... But I guess in this case, the sympathy her character evoked is just a testament of the acting prowess of the actors.
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Sayee
July 17, 2014 at 1:36 AM
I think it's a combination of both, the way she was written and the brilliant actress who played her. I think the character was set up to evoke empathy from us viewers since we do kind-of-sort-of-maybe understand her twisted crazy goal and her genuine love for Dae Gu. But you are right, it could have gone horribly wrong if the role hadn't been acted out as well as it was.
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August
July 17, 2014 at 7:54 AM
Seo Yi-Sook struck gold with her character Chief Kang Seok-Soon. Chief Kang’s motherly love for Eun Dae-Koo versus her being conflicted and grappling with being Assemblyman Yoo's vassal, moral dilemma/greyness, and commanding presence continued to be one of the high points for YAS.
Regrettably in certain industries and career fields, where men dominate in positions of power, it can be extremely difficult for female employees to work their way up to the top of the career ladder. For all her faults, no one can accuse Chief Kang of being a shrieking harpy or earning her position as Chief of Police because she slept with her superiors/bosses.
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21 Saya
July 17, 2014 at 1:41 AM
So I'm sort of hijacking the recap thread (THANKS FOR ALL HARD WORK, GIRLFRIDAY). I was a bit disappointed that the OST was missing a whole bunch of my favourite instrumental pieces. So I was (absolutely not) crazy and went through a bunch of episodes trying to find good uninterrupted stretches of them, and I am here to share. BUT a note: these aren't nicely polished and properly cut and contain a fair bit of dialogue (some of it is just plain horrible I'M SORRYYYY). They're very rough, and I might redo them later when I have time (sigh this bothers me because while I am a perfectionist, I am also lazy...I mean busy). But in case anyone else wanted them for now, click on the link in my name for the share folder.
If anyone does a better job, please share!
(also if anyone does this for God's Gift, I'm interested, because I LOVED its instrumental OST, and they didn't release that at all that I know of. Also Golden Cross. I'm planning to do GC later, anyhow. When I have time.)
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coby
July 17, 2014 at 3:51 AM
I hope you will not have time for GC. I mean the first part is ok but the episodes towards the end gosh! I don't know.
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22 Stuart
July 17, 2014 at 3:09 AM
"says that Chief Kang was a true police officer whose loyalty to the force was unmatched"
That whole scene was "throw up in my mouth" awful! To hear him APOLOGISING to a woman who was a career criminal for nearly 3 decades and then have his ex-wife laud her as "a true police officer" when she'd spent all those years violating and contemning the very Law she was sworn to uphold was just vomitously ludicrous. Even my very much more laidback wife couldn's stomach it, grabbed the remote and FF'd through the whole nauseating twaddle.
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coby
July 17, 2014 at 4:17 AM
yea.. I don't get her either.
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23 dramalover
July 17, 2014 at 4:29 AM
I was hoping for Shin Jae (mad woman's son) and DG to spark off some bromance, and hope that the spinless father can give DG some fatherly warmth and prove his worth by helping DG crack the case.
In fact, these 3 people are innocent in this dark scheme, but are tied to the case somehow, of course DG and mum being the most affected. So why not let these 3 console and support each other?
So where and who is DG's father at the end??? DG's mum did confessed that his father is not there when he was born, so is his father really dead??? Although this question is not the most important question to be solved, i hope it has some sort of answer no matter how convenient it can be.
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24 CattyEve
July 17, 2014 at 5:39 AM
Dae Gu is not related to the crazy-chaebol family! Hurrah!
That is one very satisfying outcomes, considering all the fuss we go over the cheesiness of that kind of ending. And I'm getting curiouser and curiouser over what impending doom is dawn upon Madam Yoo. Let's hope it is pretty horrible, so I can practice Seung-Won devilish laughter at the right moment. Oh, and Dae Gu's tantrum is priceless, I can tell.
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CattyEve
July 17, 2014 at 7:29 AM
And, that straight-to-the-camera glare you gave us had me snort rice out of my nose, Chief Toad.
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25 Miinnn
July 17, 2014 at 7:42 AM
Heeyy!! No wayy!! why there's no any kissing scenes..???? T^T, it's already ep 19!! T^T
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26 cubby
July 17, 2014 at 12:33 PM
Thanks for the great recap, girlfriday. While I'm hopeful for the payoff of a good episode 20, it'll be a day or so before I get there. Some random thoughts:
- The bunny shirt. That is still too cute by half. Can you imagine being the "sleepy" truck driver being told you're under arrest by a police officer in a shirt covered in adorable bunnies?
- No desk-slapping by Assemblyman Yoo this episode? Rats. If they put out a line of action figures based on these characters, that would be the best action for him*.
*Real item. It sold in stores! Parents bought this for their kids! (well, maybe, if all the collector nerds didn't buy them all up): http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Jonah-Jameson-Pounding-Action/dp/B00005U2HT
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27 Mia
July 17, 2014 at 6:59 PM
So they were throwing us hints of a birth secret only to find out there was none, and the Dae gu's mom was telling the truth? Twist!!! Nicely done drama! Though I'm still curious who Dae gu's father really is.
Thank you for the recaps!!
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28 Cheryl H.
August 25, 2014 at 9:10 PM
Yoo just acquired another thick layer of scum in my mind. There is no word I can think of, vulgar ones included, that do him justice. He's beyond reprehensible. It's obvious why his daughter is the way she is.
Speaking of Bag Lady, I wanted to throttle the writing team for going the route of having her institutionalized as mentally ill. That and murder are the two biggest ways women have been dealt with when they've become inconveniences/embarrassments for the men in their lives (read: husbands, fathers, etc.). Just what we need, the double whammy of husband AND father shoving Bag Lady into the mental ward because she's an inconvenience. Thanks for the misogyny, show! xp I'd love to see her sprung from wherever she's being kept and dumped on the doorstep of the Yoo homestead, shrieking her head off and pounding on the door to be let in.
Everyone looked very sharp in uniform at the funeral, even with getting damp in the rain. I loved the expression on Tae-il's face when Yoo was at the gravesitse, like a cross between profound nausea and intense rage.
What is Bag Lady's son, other than a hyper plot and exposition device? If that's all he is, I hope he conveniently trips and falls into a plothole and vanishes forever. He's annoying, and the fact he did a DNA test on Dae-gu without his permission and Loudly announced the results in the middle of the police station pissed me off. I'd have cheered if Dae-gu had slugged him for those multiple violations of privacy (and we all know how much DG loves his privacy) and ignoring that he did not want to take a DNA test.
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