Dramatic Friday Review: The King 2 Hearts ep 12

Dude.
Seriously?
Two pages of notes.  Two!  And a gazillion screen shots.
And it's really late.  And I have an early (albeit self-imposed) deadline.
This will be fun!
Actually it will be fun because this episode was GREAT and did not disappoint.

In case you haven't seen it yet, I can tend to be long-winded.  I will do my very best to keep this concise.  There's a lot of stuff to talk about though.

Good luck to us both.

I'm going to skip a long narrative.  If you're reading this, chances are you saw it for yourself and don't need a full recap.  If not and you're just looking for some K2H cliffnotes, well, then my apologies.

First we'll start off with our cast of nasty bad dudes who are plotting against King Jae Ha.  They are as creepy as they are evil sons-of-guns.  We have Black Eye Guy who I guess is some higher-level guard?  Don't know his name or exact job description, but he comes back later and therefore is one to keep a watch on.  Then there's Lee Yong Ja who is some higher up that Hang Ah's dad has a conversation with and it becomes apparent that he knows of the plot against the king and is in on it somehow.  We also have Ryul who is Deputy Director and the one who is in charge of the operation.  Well, at least he's John Mayer's puppet.  Obviously everyone's favorite psychopath, Mayer, is behind it all.

When Hang Ah's dad exposes the plot in his conversation with Yong Ja, the plan gets pushed forward and is executed earlier than planned, therefore throwing the good guys off.













Jae Ha is in North Korea going on all kinds of photo op field trips.  One of his last stops is the amusement park.  How fun was this scene?!  He's riding the pirate ship ride.  One half is filled with regular people out for a fun day at the amusement park, the other half is taken up with the king and his entourage of guards and officials.  They are all so somber and serious (well, except for that one guy in the middle there - he apparently missed the 'somber and serious' memo).






This is when Jae Ha's personality comes through and shines.He starts cheering.  Slowly but surely others start to join in, the regular Joes as well as the guards.  By the end, they're all screaming and having fun.
Hil-ar-ious!










It's then followed by this little gem - the wink!  He finds out from the cameraman filming that it is being broadcast live via the internet.  So he gives Head Secretary and the rest of the gang back home a little wink.  So cute!  I heart you Lee Seung Gi!  I heart you lots and lots.

Meanwhile, Hang Ah catches wind of the plot against Jae Ha.  She is worried.  She kind of goes back and forth on what she should do.  She tries to distract herself.  She's mad at him, remember?  She cares, but lets herself be (mostly) talked out of worrying.

That is, until the discovery of the box of handmade skin care items made for her by Jae Ha.  It's a '3 Step Skincare Project'.  You see her look at the bottles and on each is written a message - "I'm sorry", "Thank you" and "I love you".  We see a flash back to Jae Ha tirelessly working to create these custom skincare items.  At one point he makes a mistake and starts to question whether or not he, a king, should be bothering with this.  Then he pulls out his cellphone, sees the picture of her on his phone, calls himself a bad guy and jerk and says "of course I do".

The gift impresses Hang Ah.  She forgives him and jumps into action.

First things first, take care of the ladies-in-waiting.  Trained assassin style.  Oh yeah!

So good to see her back in action as the tough gal she really is!  No more moping around feeling sorry for herself.  The man she loves is in danger and by golly, she's going to do something about it!

Back at the park, things heat up and the plot to take down the king begins.

The guy in the Tom and Jerry costume?  Yeah, I'd keep my eye on him. Never trust a "dumb cat or sly mouse".

Isn't Jae Ha so cute on the merry-go-round?  He's having so much fun.  Until the lights go out...

 ...and we see our favorite psychopath get giddy.  Never a good sign.

Uh oh.

What'd I tell you about the guy in the cat suit?  It's Black Eye Guy - and he's got a bomb strapped to him.  And so do some other guys.  It's not looking good for our hero of the story.










Oh my goodness!  They (the bad dudes) seriously shoot and blow up one of their own guys just to prove their point.  Yikes!  Wouldn't want to be on their side.

And then we get the creepy message from John Mayer.  Remember the one that he made in the last episode?  Here it is.

But what does Jae Ha do?  Panic?  Start crying or pleading or bargaining?  Nope.  Not our man.  He stands up and turns the tables back on John Mayer.  He insults him.  Repeatedly.  Calls him an idiot.  Mayer FREAKS out!  Way to piss off the scary crazy dude there Jae Ha!

Then our favorite North Koreans show up!  With some major artillery.  Yay!  Welcome back friend, we've missed you!

Hang Ah and fellow WOC member who's name escapes me at the moment (it's nearly 1:30am and I've been awake since 5am).  You know, the guy that likes SNSD?  Anyways, they totally save the day.  Bad guys start dropping like flies.  The king is saved - hurrah!  Then without a word, Hang Ah walks away.  Jae Ha is just left standing there, safe and sound and I'd like to assume pretty darn impressed by his lady friend.

Of course he runs after her.  And she almost runs into him.  Thankfully she stops before running down the guy she just risked life and limb to save.

They have a little chat.  He officially proposes!  I wrote everything he said down.  It was so romantical!  I'll spare you though.  Lucky for you I'm literally starting to fall asleep in my chair, otherwise I'd totally be reciting it word for word, just so that we could all relive that wonderful moment over again.

They embrace.  It's very touching and moving and a beautiful scene overall with the headlights and falling cherry blossoms.  Ah, l'amore!

And then more plot happens.

Like Mayer threatening his really really annoying henchman.  Why?  Honestly, I was lost on what was being threatened here and why.  I know he was threatening to kill him by lethal injection like he did dear ol' dad, but why?  And for what purpose?  I almost cheered though.  I really don't like this character.  It is quite possibly the worst acting I have ever seen.  I think the director must really hate white guys because he seems to do his best to make them look like the biggest buffoons.  Either that or this guy really just can't act.


But forget that boring old plot stuff.
Back to the cute and sweet love story!

I loved when Jae Ha took the phone away from Hang Ah when she was talking to her father.  How adorable was that?!  He's dreamy.

I also liked the room filled with presents.  She was so worried about how the citizens of South Korea would react to her return and official engagement to the king.  She returns to the palace to a room filled with gifts from citizens.  Aww, some of them really do like and support her after all (granted we find out that it's not as many as we would hope, but still...).

We find out that Jae Ha and Hang Ah have a plot of their own to take down Club M.  But what?  Oooh!  So curious!  It involves this box which was sent to Mayer by Jae Ha.  It had one of those passcode locks on it.  He gives Mayer a hint on what the passcode is, warning him all along that he's not going to want to open it.  It is a single word and is something that Jae Ha has that Mayer does not.  What could it be?

 We see Mayer pretty much lose his mind trying to open it.  Messing with the psycho - gotta love it!

There's also some announcement going to be made.  It's obviously a big deal, but we don't know what it is.  We end the episode with Jae Ha and Hang Ah going to the memorial for the late king to make said announcement.

And Mayer finally opens the box.  Can't wait to see what's inside!

What a ride this one was!  An assassination plot set up to start a war between two, possibly more, countries.  A reconciliation between our love birds and an official proposal?!  And a lot of other great stuff along the way.  I am pleased to announce, however, that unlike the previous 4 episodes, this one did not illicit tears from my eyes.  It was captivating and wonderful and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but am relieved that emotionally it was a little easier on my sensibilities.  I absolutely can't wait until next week!

Unnie's 2 Cents:

Giggling, giggling & giggling.

All the giggles for that super cute wink & then telling Head Secretary, not to worry, you won't do anything stupid there.

I heart you so much Lee Seung Gi!!! 


The rest of the show indeed very tense.  And my favorite part {aside from the epic proposal} was when Kim Hang Ah kicked some major butt protecting her man!  And that everyone got to see her in action saving his life.  Those two are the absolute perfect combo.  They fight beautifully & make up beautifully.  They are also incredibly cute together when they are getting along. 

And that proposal.  Oh my.  Breathtaking is what that is called my friends.  Purely breathtaking.  Lee Seung Gi you will now have big shoes to fill in your real life romance.  Future girlfriend/fiance will expect nothing less than spectacular when you propose because she now knows you have it in you.  But hey, no pressure, right?

I really feel for Jae Shin.  The one person that makes her feel safe & protected wants her to face the one thing she makes her the most terrified.  But I felt worse for Eun Shi Kyung.  Poor guy.  Eun Shi Kyung you are not frustrating or boring.  Trust me.  Anything but. 

My two cents are this:

Perfect.

Romance.

Sigh.  And now the wait begins.  A whole week.  Good thing I have 4 kids & a husband to fill my drama free time.  ^^  Until next week friends. 

Sarang,