IRIS Episode 20 Review
Jan. 9th, 2011 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI think I need to go watch a bunch of happy romantic dramas for a while. The last seven minutes of this series were pretty heart-breaking and draining. I mean would it have killed TPTB to give Seung Hee and Hyun Joon a happy ending? Would it?!
Episode 20
• Sa Woo’s death was pretty horrifying. I mean the sound of him choking on his own breath, and then it just went on and on. It wasn’t like the usual death scene where they seem in pain but bear it in order to give a final goodbye – this was him slowly and painfully dying and barely able to speak at all because his lungs were full of blood. D: It was hard to listen to.
• “I know your feelings. You don’t need to strain yourself to say it. I never once doubted your true feelings, Sa Woo, even till the end. I know all your feelings, Sa Woo. I know.” – Hyun Joon That was so sad. Also completely true, isn’t it? Even after Sa Woo tries to kill him multiple times Hyun Joon never actually gives up on him. The last sentence does imply that Hyun Joon knows and accept the anger/hate/jealousy Sa Woo felt as well as the love and friendship. Poor Hyun Joon – people keep dying on him. I don’t know if it’s better or worse for it to happen when it seems like he might just get Sa Woo back.
• I felt a lot more for Hyun Joon than Seung Hee over Sa Woo’s death. We just didn’t get enough about Seung Hee’s feelings for Sa Woo for me to buy her being completely destroyed like Hyun Joon was. I mean with Hyun Joon we got their bonding in the beginning and we’ve had a thread throughout the series of Hyun Joon thinking of Sa Woo and always wanting to believe in him. He never gave up on Sa Woo, nor was Sa Woo far from his thoughts. Plus this isn’t the first or second time we’ve seen him crying over Sa Woo. It’s been clear throughout that he loved Sa Woo and just wanted him back no matter what. So his grief was understandable and heartbreaking.
Compare that to Seung Hee and her relationship with Sa Woo – he was in love with her but she never loved him and unfortunately their friendship was never as strong as I hoped in the beginning it would be (this was never a viable love triangle). Compare Seung Hee telling him that she would never forgive him for trying to kill Hyun Joon to Hyun Joon forgiving him over and over. I found her reaction to him being a bad guy very cold instead of her being emotionally affected. So I buy her being sad but I don’t buy her being grief-stricken.
• Okay, wait – how the hell?! I get the terrorists forcing the hostages to dress like terrorists but how did they get them to shoot at Hyun Joon and Sa Woo? Or did they kill them themselves?
• I knew from the last episode that Seung Hee wasn’t as free from IRIS as she said. I was actually all prepared for this to end badly so I loved her sniping the other two snipers. I wonder if she would have done it if Hyun Joon hadn’t kept calling her? I did notice that she took out the snipers and then left instead of offering cover and helping to take out the other terrorists. Why was that?
• I would have thought it would make more sense for the North and South Korean agents to work together to get their charges to safety. By keeping the president and the comrade chief together it would have kept more people between them and those shooting at them, and it would have left it open for more of them to shoot back.
• It would have been nice if Seung Hee had been the one to save the president instead of Hyun Joon.
• I really liked the last Sun Hwa/Hyun Joon scene. Sun Hwa saving his life by taking a bullet for him is so something she would do but I wasn’t worried for her since I knew that she is in the second series. I loved Hyun Joon cradling her in his arms and pleading/demanding that she be alright and actually crying for her. Anyway, back to that last scene – I really wish we’d gotten a little more with them. It feels wrong that Hyun Joon/Cheol Young get a longer and more solid goodbye scene then them. I did love Cheul Young calling Sun Hwa “the Republic’s greatest warrior” (aw!) and admonishing for giving her only a bundle of flowers and saying thanks.
• I really love how accepting Hyun Joon is of Seung Hee. She almost killed the president and only changed her mind at the last moment and his response is a supportive ‘I know your gratitude towards him is strong and I will be here to help you get past your dark past’ – aww.
• Seung Hee and Hyun Joon were adorable at the end! I just smiled through the whole thing. I loved the bedroom scene so much. When Seung Hee is all ‘this is not nagging’ and he falls back down and goes “Oh My God.” in English I laughed. How are they so cute? And then Hyun Joon with wanting five kids and Seung Hee being all “that is not an acceptable proposal” = adorable x2.
- Also there was actual innuendo! He makes fun of her and calls her a ‘single celled organism’ because ‘she whines when she’s hungry but then goes all happy when he feeds her’ and Seung Hee shoots back that he’s not any different and pointedly says “Yesterday, you didn’t even let me sleep...” before he interrupts and grinning she takes his arm and says “Well, I’m satisfied.” I really wasn’t expecting that in a Korean drama but I love it. I guess if any couple could get away with innuendo it would be this one.
- As the scenes of them being happy together kept going on and on, I found myself suddenly getting tenser and tenser, especially once they ended up separated with Seung Hee at various places and Hyun Joon driving. It was a bit unexpected because I’d been all calm and happy with them getting a happy ending and then suddenly I found myself all tense and waiting for something horrible to happen to one or both of them. Maybe it was because there was still seven minutes of the episode left and it felt like the end already so I knew something had to happen? So, yeah, I was tense but when Hyun Joon was shot it was still kind of unexpected.
Hyun Joon lying there in his car staring at Seung Hee standing at the lighthouse, so close but so far, and then crying as he remembered all their time together and knowing that he, they, weren’t going to get their happy ending after all. D8 Sniff. Damn, TPTB. Especially since they kept intercutting it with Seung Mi standing there so happy and completely oblivious that Hyun Joon was dying right then and there... that was just so cruel. They didn’t even get to say goodbye! She didn’t get to hold him in her arms! He never got to give her the ring and propose properly. And now she’s going to wait for him to come and he never will and eventually she’s going to find his body and... sniff. It’s just so cruel and wrong. Thus far I have been very lucky with the dramas I’ve watched – they have all ended with the OTP together and happy – so even though I’ve certainly read a lot about how Korean dramas tend to end in pain, angst and death really often this is actually the first time I’ve really experienced it. I... don’t really like it. I want them to have a happy ending! This just really blindsided me.
I feel so horrible for Hyun Joon. How he died was so brutal. It’s like... here’s your happy ending, oops, nope you don’t get it after all. After all he’d been through he damn well deserved that happy ending!
I feel so horrible for Seung Mi. She's going to find his body. I don’t know how she is going to recover from this. I mean the last time she thought he was dead she was hospitalised and completely broke down.
There is just not enough D8 in the world. There were a lot of tears. To make it worse it was only after the series ended so tragically that I realised just how much I loved and shipped them.
- I want a grief-stricken and enraged Seung Hee to team up with a grief-stricken and enraged Sun Hwa and for them to go hunting for revenge and destroy IRIS (... or take it over and use it for their own ends.) I want them to become true partners the way that Sun Hwa and Hyun Joon had been, and I want them to trust each other as much as Seung Hee and Hyun Joon had. I want them kicking ass and killing people together, and I want Sun Hwa to help Seung Hee to grieve and to heal, and in the process to heal as well. And then I want them to fall in love and be happy.
I can’t imagine Seung Hee ending up with anyone except Sun Hwa after Hyun Joon’s death. Sun Hwa I can see because she knew and loved Hyun Joon just as much but anyone else... it just wouldn’t work for me. But at the same time I don’t want Seung Hee to be alone forever. So Sun Hwa/Seung Hee it is. Plus they’re both kick ass and awesome and would be excellent together.
Episode 20
• Sa Woo’s death was pretty horrifying. I mean the sound of him choking on his own breath, and then it just went on and on. It wasn’t like the usual death scene where they seem in pain but bear it in order to give a final goodbye – this was him slowly and painfully dying and barely able to speak at all because his lungs were full of blood. D: It was hard to listen to.
• “I know your feelings. You don’t need to strain yourself to say it. I never once doubted your true feelings, Sa Woo, even till the end. I know all your feelings, Sa Woo. I know.” – Hyun Joon That was so sad. Also completely true, isn’t it? Even after Sa Woo tries to kill him multiple times Hyun Joon never actually gives up on him. The last sentence does imply that Hyun Joon knows and accept the anger/hate/jealousy Sa Woo felt as well as the love and friendship. Poor Hyun Joon – people keep dying on him. I don’t know if it’s better or worse for it to happen when it seems like he might just get Sa Woo back.
• I felt a lot more for Hyun Joon than Seung Hee over Sa Woo’s death. We just didn’t get enough about Seung Hee’s feelings for Sa Woo for me to buy her being completely destroyed like Hyun Joon was. I mean with Hyun Joon we got their bonding in the beginning and we’ve had a thread throughout the series of Hyun Joon thinking of Sa Woo and always wanting to believe in him. He never gave up on Sa Woo, nor was Sa Woo far from his thoughts. Plus this isn’t the first or second time we’ve seen him crying over Sa Woo. It’s been clear throughout that he loved Sa Woo and just wanted him back no matter what. So his grief was understandable and heartbreaking.
Compare that to Seung Hee and her relationship with Sa Woo – he was in love with her but she never loved him and unfortunately their friendship was never as strong as I hoped in the beginning it would be (this was never a viable love triangle). Compare Seung Hee telling him that she would never forgive him for trying to kill Hyun Joon to Hyun Joon forgiving him over and over. I found her reaction to him being a bad guy very cold instead of her being emotionally affected. So I buy her being sad but I don’t buy her being grief-stricken.
• Okay, wait – how the hell?! I get the terrorists forcing the hostages to dress like terrorists but how did they get them to shoot at Hyun Joon and Sa Woo? Or did they kill them themselves?
• I knew from the last episode that Seung Hee wasn’t as free from IRIS as she said. I was actually all prepared for this to end badly so I loved her sniping the other two snipers. I wonder if she would have done it if Hyun Joon hadn’t kept calling her? I did notice that she took out the snipers and then left instead of offering cover and helping to take out the other terrorists. Why was that?
• I would have thought it would make more sense for the North and South Korean agents to work together to get their charges to safety. By keeping the president and the comrade chief together it would have kept more people between them and those shooting at them, and it would have left it open for more of them to shoot back.
• It would have been nice if Seung Hee had been the one to save the president instead of Hyun Joon.
• I really liked the last Sun Hwa/Hyun Joon scene. Sun Hwa saving his life by taking a bullet for him is so something she would do but I wasn’t worried for her since I knew that she is in the second series. I loved Hyun Joon cradling her in his arms and pleading/demanding that she be alright and actually crying for her. Anyway, back to that last scene – I really wish we’d gotten a little more with them. It feels wrong that Hyun Joon/Cheol Young get a longer and more solid goodbye scene then them. I did love Cheul Young calling Sun Hwa “the Republic’s greatest warrior” (aw!) and admonishing for giving her only a bundle of flowers and saying thanks.
• I really love how accepting Hyun Joon is of Seung Hee. She almost killed the president and only changed her mind at the last moment and his response is a supportive ‘I know your gratitude towards him is strong and I will be here to help you get past your dark past’ – aww.
• Seung Hee and Hyun Joon were adorable at the end! I just smiled through the whole thing. I loved the bedroom scene so much. When Seung Hee is all ‘this is not nagging’ and he falls back down and goes “Oh My God.” in English I laughed. How are they so cute? And then Hyun Joon with wanting five kids and Seung Hee being all “that is not an acceptable proposal” = adorable x2.
- Also there was actual innuendo! He makes fun of her and calls her a ‘single celled organism’ because ‘she whines when she’s hungry but then goes all happy when he feeds her’ and Seung Hee shoots back that he’s not any different and pointedly says “Yesterday, you didn’t even let me sleep...” before he interrupts and grinning she takes his arm and says “Well, I’m satisfied.” I really wasn’t expecting that in a Korean drama but I love it. I guess if any couple could get away with innuendo it would be this one.
- As the scenes of them being happy together kept going on and on, I found myself suddenly getting tenser and tenser, especially once they ended up separated with Seung Hee at various places and Hyun Joon driving. It was a bit unexpected because I’d been all calm and happy with them getting a happy ending and then suddenly I found myself all tense and waiting for something horrible to happen to one or both of them. Maybe it was because there was still seven minutes of the episode left and it felt like the end already so I knew something had to happen? So, yeah, I was tense but when Hyun Joon was shot it was still kind of unexpected.
Hyun Joon lying there in his car staring at Seung Hee standing at the lighthouse, so close but so far, and then crying as he remembered all their time together and knowing that he, they, weren’t going to get their happy ending after all. D8 Sniff. Damn, TPTB. Especially since they kept intercutting it with Seung Mi standing there so happy and completely oblivious that Hyun Joon was dying right then and there... that was just so cruel. They didn’t even get to say goodbye! She didn’t get to hold him in her arms! He never got to give her the ring and propose properly. And now she’s going to wait for him to come and he never will and eventually she’s going to find his body and... sniff. It’s just so cruel and wrong. Thus far I have been very lucky with the dramas I’ve watched – they have all ended with the OTP together and happy – so even though I’ve certainly read a lot about how Korean dramas tend to end in pain, angst and death really often this is actually the first time I’ve really experienced it. I... don’t really like it. I want them to have a happy ending! This just really blindsided me.
I feel so horrible for Hyun Joon. How he died was so brutal. It’s like... here’s your happy ending, oops, nope you don’t get it after all. After all he’d been through he damn well deserved that happy ending!
I feel so horrible for Seung Mi. She's going to find his body. I don’t know how she is going to recover from this. I mean the last time she thought he was dead she was hospitalised and completely broke down.
There is just not enough D8 in the world. There were a lot of tears. To make it worse it was only after the series ended so tragically that I realised just how much I loved and shipped them.
- I want a grief-stricken and enraged Seung Hee to team up with a grief-stricken and enraged Sun Hwa and for them to go hunting for revenge and destroy IRIS (... or take it over and use it for their own ends.) I want them to become true partners the way that Sun Hwa and Hyun Joon had been, and I want them to trust each other as much as Seung Hee and Hyun Joon had. I want them kicking ass and killing people together, and I want Sun Hwa to help Seung Hee to grieve and to heal, and in the process to heal as well. And then I want them to fall in love and be happy.
I can’t imagine Seung Hee ending up with anyone except Sun Hwa after Hyun Joon’s death. Sun Hwa I can see because she knew and loved Hyun Joon just as much but anyone else... it just wouldn’t work for me. But at the same time I don’t want Seung Hee to be alone forever. So Sun Hwa/Seung Hee it is. Plus they’re both kick ass and awesome and would be excellent together.
IRIS Episode 20
Date: 2016-12-04 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-22 08:58 am (UTC)