Dramatic Friday Review: Dr Jin ep 11

I must have been in a good mood last week.  And very forgiving.  Or else last week's episode 10 was just a fluke.  Sorry.  While it had some redeeming qualities, this one fell flat for me.  Oi.  I need a Time Slip of my own.  Go back in time to when I started this drama and maybe talk myself out of it.  Now, Dr Jin fans, do not despair...this will not turn into a Jin bashing session.  I will try to remain objective and keep my opinions to myself a minimum.

Alright, so where did we leave off again last time?  Ah yes.  The torture chamber where Young Rae was in the, shall we say, hot seat?  A burning piece of iron coming at her while her ex looks on and does nothing to stop it.  I thought he would do something to stop it, but no, he walks out.  Out of all that one might argue have been Kyung Tak's evil deeds, this one is the first where I was truly disappointed in his actions.  The others, well, I could see his logic and reasoning.  This though?  Why not try and stop it?  I know you're nursing a broken heart, but dude, c'mon.  How can you see the girl you have supposedly loved so intensely for 20 years be beaten and burned and you do nothing but walk away?  Say something.  Show a little compassion.  Prove your love.  Get over yourself and stop thinking that Daddy walks on water when he's never treated you with an ounce of love or respect.  Gah!  Kyung Tak goes a step further in destroying my respect in this episode, but we're not quite to that part yet, so we'll just have to wait to discuss that when we get there.  The Dirty Rotten 4 are trying to get Jin and Young Rae to admit that Prince Heung Seon was behind the poisoning of the Queen Dowager.  They of course won't sacrifice their friend, even under torture.  That's what the good guys do, you know.  Kyung Tak, you could learn a lesson or two from these guys.  Get out your paper and brush and take down a few notes.

The edict from the King comes in.  Prince Heung Seon, Dr Jin and Young Rae are all to be sentenced to death by hanging the next morning.  Duhn duhn duhn.  It doesn't look good for our ill-fated friends here.  But there is hope.  Word has reached a couple of people, including Kyung Tak, that a palace maid who handled the Queen Dowager's food has gone missing.  Suspicious?  Why, yes it is.  With a little "encouragement" from Young Hwi on behalf of his sister and her friends, Kyung Tak goes to investigate this new development.

The maid is found and it is discovered that, under Left State Minister, Byung Hee's, command, arsenic was placed on the plate that held the medicinal sugary treats for the QD.  The plate is produced, the maid promised that she would be cared for, and then WHACK!  Kyung Tak kills her right then and there. In order to protect his nasty-piece-of-work father. Enter the second instance in this episode that destroyed the respect I had for KT.  I'm through with defending him, at least for now.  He'll still redeem himself, but right now I'm pretty darn mad at him.  When is he going to wake up and see these people he calls family for what they are?  When will he stand as his own man and do what he knows is right?  I know he is good at heart.  But seriously?  Why'd you have to go and kill the girl?  GAH!

See the blood on his face?  That's from the poor maid.  Oh KT, wae?  Wae?!

At least he does one right thing in all of this - he tells the truth about the plate.  Well, at least enough of the truth to save the necks of Ha Eung, Jin and Young Rae as they dangle from the noose.  

Of course the fate of the maid is glossed over and the involvement of Byung Hee totally omitted.  Did we expect any different at this juncture?  No, I didn't think so.  After all, we still have 9 more episodes to go.

So, necks are saved and Ha Eung is exiled.  Byung Hee and PigDog McNasty are maa-aad at KT for spoiling their fun evil plot.  PigDog is beating his brother while Daddy watches.

KT gets a similar speech that PigDog got when his dirty "transaction" (pimping out the gisaeng and trading with a Westerner) came to light, all about how for 60 years the family has been in power and he (KT in this instance) almost undid it through his careless actions.  Then, in what I suppose is his best attempt at securing father-of-the-year (she said sarcastically), Byung Hee hands his son a gun and tells him to off himself.  Which KT obeys.  How filial of him (she again said sarcastically).  Lucky for us Jaejoong fans, the gun ended up not being loaded and so KT lives to see another day, and hopefully 9 more episodes.  Seriously.  Even though I'm currently mad at him, if he wasn't in these last 9 episodes there would be no way I could continue watching this drama.  

So good thing it was only a test of his loyalty and not for real.  He is however stripped of his position in the police department and sent off to the countryside.  Ooh, I know what this means!  Costume change!  I can't wait to see his new look!  I've seen pictures and dang, the boy is fi-INE!  Sorry, my fangirl snuck out a little there.  Give me a minute while I shove her back in the corner.... 



And I'm back.  I apologize for the interruption.  Shall I continue with the recap?  You sure?  Fangirling is a lot more fun then the rest of this episode I assure you.  No?  Well, okay then, but don't say that you weren't warned.  Where to pick it up?  How about Jin's conversation with Choon Hong?  You know, the one where she finally admits that she knows he is from the future?  

But she is frustratingly stubborn on revealing much else beyond the fact that in order to return back home, Jin has to put things back to the way they should be.  Where did it all go wrong?  When he saved Byung Hee's life.  Guess the dirty rat ***turd should have kicked it after all.  Did I or did I not say that before?  That they should just let him die?  Well, if I didn't, I should have.  The guy's icky and I hate him and I just wish that this drama was over and he was gone.  Sounds though like Jin now has license to rectify the sit'ation.  Not that he's going to go out and kill Byung Hee, but wouldn't it be fun if he did?  And take out the rest of the Dirty Rotten 4 while he's at it?  No, looks like in order to right the future, he has to save Prince Heung Seon.  Oh, all right.  But a nice assassination of a certain Left State Minister, his PigDog son, Royal Doctor of Death, and laughing Hyena guy would be a whole lot more gratifying.


After his conversation with Choon Hong, Jin "breaks up" with Young Rae.  Except it's not really a break up as they aren't technically seeing each other and neither has even confessed to the other.  But he tells her to go back to Kyung Tak because that's what would have happened if he hadn't shown up.  He tells her to give up on becoming a doctor, that she needs to be a typical Joseon woman living a typical Joseon woman's life.

The Dirty Rotten 4 aren't done with our future king's father, Heong Seon, quite yet.  Banishing him isn't enough - the order has come to poison him.  The poison bearers are dispatched and begin their journey.  Jin catches word (from the doctor spy who is finally caught) and he and Joo Pal race off to save him.  Did anyone else laugh at the fact that Jin and Joo Pal where on horseback while that other guy ran beside them?  For days?  Bwahahahaha!  I don't know why, but I found that absolutely hysterical.  And cheesy.  Sorry.  But you have to admit, I have kept my word and have kept the mocking to a minimum up until now.  I can't let this one go though.  Give me some credit - I didn't even say anything yet about the uber cheesy music that starts up whenever there is "love drama" happening.  Let me have this little itsy bitsy teeny tiny one, please?  Please, oh please oh please?  With a cherry on top?  I wish I was a cherry on.... *slap*  NO!  Fangirl, back!  Wrong bias anyway.  This is JaeJoong territory, no trespassers during the recap.  Focus and back to your corner.  You can come out later when we're all done here.  We'll watch some videos or something.  Just stay quiet for a little while longer - I'm almost done here.

{Sorry about that.  She's normally a lot better behaved.  It's getting late though and she hasn't been "fed" much today so I think she's a little cranky.  I'll just finish up here so that she doesn't bother us anymore.}

In a totally unnecessary plot tangent, while racing to save Prince Heung Seon, Jin and his crew are captured by bandits who try to sell them off to Chinese traders until one of those nice convenient medical emergencies once again intervenes on their behalf.  This one is good.  Sooo good.  I wish I could thank the writers for this one personally, it is just that "good".  A bug crawls into the head bandit dude's ear.  He starts screaming and thrashing about.  Dr Jin Medicine Man (I have waited 11 LONG episodes to finally bring that one out by the way) once again saves the day.  Oil is poured in the guy's ear and soon the pain stops because the bug has suffocated in the oil.  It is then extracted and Jin is sent on his way with a guide to help him find his way.  I guess this is the purpose of this tangent - to give them a guide that knows the shortcuts so that they can arrive before the poison.  I don't know.  Just a guess.  But seriously?  Is that the plot hole they're worried about covering?  In this sinking ship, they choose THAT hole to patch?  Oh-kay.  Whatever.  Maybe they just really really love the convenient medical emergencies.  I give up trying to figure out what these writers are smoking thinking.

Jin and his crew arrive just before the poison and warn Prince Heung Seon.

Best diguises EVER!

No wonder they weren't seen by the guards, I mean, look at how well camoflauged these guys are!  They blend right in with the foliage.

But it looks Heung Seon is consigned to his fate and has given up the fight.  He is determined to be a loyal subject to the king and if the king wants him to drink poison, then by golly, give him the cup.  Whaaa?  Such a break in this character.  Jin tries to give him a pep talk, but instead of going with the "hey, so I'm like from the future and stuff so I know what your fate should be and you're not supposed to die here" he goes with the "don't die 'cause you're my only friend here" approach.  Hmm, maybe should have tried option #1 Doctor because being your friend isn't good enough apparently.  As Heung Seon prepares to do the "honorable" thing and drink the poison, Jin sits in the room crying because he just managed to single-handedly screw up the future. 

Just going to drink my poison and die like the good loyal subject I am.

Uhm, maybe it's time to man up, wipe away those tears and, I don't know, do something?  Has everyone given up?  Who's going to save the day now?  Who, I ask, who?  Looks like we have to wait until ep 12 to find that out.

And there you have it.  Episode 11.  What else is there to say?  Have anything to add?  Go ahead, please.  Like it?  Hate it?  Share away!  And come back for episode 12, because if I have to, you do too.  ;)