DFR: Arang and the Magistrate ep 10

Well goodness!!  So much to talk about & I am low on time.  Got a hot date with my real life Oppa tonight.  And I have exactly 2 1/2 hours to finish this review & get dressed.  Yeah I'll probably be posting this Friday review on Saturday.  Mianhae AddiKts.  My excuse is that I was on a Psy Oppa high this morning & couldn't get myself to focus on anything other than Psy!  And then later when I did have the focus my laptop was acting up...again.  Which is a rant unto itself!!

BTW: How many of you could hear all my PSY OPPA squealing from the hundreds & thousands of miles away most of you are from me?!?!  I imagine a lot of you.  ;)  I was so excited about Psy performing on the Today Show here this morning, I even got my kids to school late because I refused to miss even a minute of him on National US TV.  Besides it was such an awesome thing to have happen that I had no problems letting them be late one day.  And bonus...I got to skip all the craziness that accompanies the morning drop off.  Win/win situation.

But you didn't come on here to hear about Psy being on National US TV, or hear about me lamenting my laptop's lack of cooperation, no you came here to read my review of Arang & the Magistrate ep 10.  So that is what we'll talk about.

When we left off in Thursday's episode Eun Oh was waging an internal battle with himself.  Do I go after the girl or do I help the little boy rescue his father from the bad guy?!?  Eventually, thankfully, he makes the wise decision to help the little boy.  He arrives at Lord Choi's house & demands entrance.  Then he demands the release of the man himself.  Lord Choi is apoplectic with outrage at the audacity of the son of a slave to come to him & demand the release of a prisoner!!  But Eun Oh is not one to be trifled with  & so he reminds Lord Choi that "son of a slave or not" he is still the Magistrate & that the King himself has given him the power over all prisoners, to be questioned & fairly tried.  Lord Choi wouldn't want to go against the King would he?!?!   I loved it when he threw Lord Choi's words from their meeting back in his face.  About how it is a Nobleman's Courtesy to follow the law of the land...Yeah, Lord Choi didn't like that too much.  You bet your sweet aunt Bippy that he didn't like it & because he knew he was cornered. Cornered like the rat he is, he told Geo Deol to release the man to the Magistrate.

Ahhhh did anybody else get serious satisfaction from this exchange?!?!

I was ALL you tell him Eun Oh!!!  You show that old tattle tale whiney baby scum bag who is in charge.  After they release the poor innocent man to his friends & his son, Eun Oh walks out past Geo Deol, who is less than happy to be letting go of the guy he was "questioning"  so thoroughly.  Because he is so ticked off Geo Deol calls Eun Oh just a slave.  At this point Eun Oh turns to Geo Deol & without even a warning punches square in the mouth, knocking him on his butt.  Again I was so turned on by proud of Eun Oh. ^_-


Dol Seo sees Eun Oh punch Geo Deol & runs up to him & starts threatening him, Eun Oh turns to Geo Deol & reminds him that he warned him, that his (Eun Oh's) father would take his revenge on Geo Deol, not on Lord Choi & to be sure what it was he was willing to suffer before he went down that road.  At this point he has had enough & they leave.  Lord Choi has come upon the scene just as Eun Oh is walking away, he too is ticked off to have lost this battle w/ Eun Oh, much like his henchman, & to show his anger he kicks his henchman in the back.  {{Personally, if I was Geo Deol I'd be trying to figure out why I was sticking by the side of a master who is constantly kicking/hitting/throwing wooden bricks at my head rather than teaming up with the good guys?  But hey maybe that's just me.}}

As they are leaving, Eun Oh listens as Dol Seo explains more fully the reason the man had been hanging around the magistrate's office to begin with.  It would seem Lord Choi has been taxing the townspeople so heavily & not giving back the interest like he's supposed to that they are all starving, the man had been hoping to talk to the Magistrate to helping the townspeople get some food back.  Eun Oh, in a fit of brilliance, & just after Lord Choi had told Geo Deol that he wanted him to go to their storage houses (where all the food taxes are held the next day & have it all brought to Lord Choi, you know just in case) decides that he & Dol Seo are going to spread a rumor through town (make that an announcement) that they are opening the food storage sheds that day & will be giving back food to those who come & get it.  Very Robin Hood of him.

While he was kicking some bad guy butt & hurting him where he lives (IE the food taxes) Ju Wal & Arang are ....  shopping?!?!  o_O  He takes her into town to a dressmaker & has her fitted for new clothes.  She feels awkward letting Lee Seo Rim's fiance buy clothes for her but she doesn't really fight it.  While she is there being measured though the seamstress asks her how much the man likes her & she tries to tell her that he doesn't like her, he just pities her & the seamstress points out to Arang that the only reason a man buys clothes or pities a woman enough to buy her clothes is because there are feelings of love there.  This should all be directed toward Ju Wal but this simple statement that he must like her has her remembering how Eun Oh was the first man to buy her clothes.  And how he did so because he felt sorry for her....hmmm...does this mean that Eun Oh likes me?  Which is accompanied by flashbacks of the night that Eun Oh helped the Shaman with her measurements.  {{Sexy stuff that}}  Especially when it came time for the seamstress to measure her neck, she looks back & instead of seeing the seamstress she sees...

After she's him she asks loudly what he's doing, only to have the scene change & we get to see it wasn't actually Eun Oh, doing the measuring, it was the seamstress.  Who looks startled & confused to be yelled at like that by Arang.

At this point she & Ju Wal leave & wander the town & the many, many food stalls.  Of course Arang being Arang, she gets more excited by the sight of the food than she does all the pretty things.  So she stops & Ju Wal buys her food & then she stops & he buys her some more food & then she stops & he buys her more food.   {{Atta girl Arang!  What that food looked yummy!}}  Ju Wal just keeps pulling coins out of his wallet & chuckling to himself.  And you can see he's thinking, "where is she putting it?!?" 

Back at the food storage sheds we see the town coming in excitedly a few at a time & grabbing bags of rice & food & quickly escaping before the sheds are closed back up.  And several recognize this is the work of the magistrate so they stop & drop to their knees to offer their gratitude to Eun Oh.

Shortly after this the Three Stooges show up, having been up drinking most of the night, they are hung over & still complaining about their lives & how could they have a magistrate that is the son of a slave & the grandson of a traitor!?!  Then they start to notice all the townspeople going by laden with sacks of food. 

They really do the best faces of shock.   

Now there is panic!  This is Lord Choi's food!  How could the magistrate let the people have their food back?  And the stooge in blue, the one I call Larry turns to Eun Oh & questions his decisions to Dol Seo, out of Eun Oh's hearing.  Telling him he has no respect for him as the son of a slave, all while the other two stooges, Curly & Moe, are trying to get him to shut the heck up!  Eventually Dol Seo loses his temper.  And he & Larry get into a grabbing shouting match.  And then we get a flashback to when Eun Oh was a very little boy & Dol Seo was a young teenager.  Dol Seo is being beaten in Eun Oh's place by the teacher of the town because Eun Oh didn't like being called the son of a slave & Dol Seo didn't like being called the slave of a slave.  Eventually Dol Seo stands up & starts fighting back & then says, "you can call that kid a slave all you want but you can't talk like that about me."  Really he was standing up for Eun Oh, though he didn't want anyone to know that.  Then he grabs up little Eun Oh & carries him back home to his father.  Eun Oh breaks up Dol Seo's angry fight with Larry & they leave.  

Back at the Magistrate's quarters Dol Seo demands to know why they are putting up with such insults from these people?!?!  But Eun Oh isn't talking. Once Eun Oh has changed back out of his magistrate clothes he has had enough & is determined to get out of there asap.  So he walks out while Dol Seo is questioning his choices & hops on his horse & rides off.  Just then Dol Seo sees that the Shaman who has also come looking for food is being chased out by Larry & he comes to her defense & protects her from the wrath of Larry.  He's even more angry at her for saddling them with a magistrate like Eun Oh now that he knows that Eun Oh is the son of a slave etc...

Eun Oh meanwhile is still off riding his horse through the countryside, trying to burn off some of his own anger & frustration at all the complications from his day.  A day that is passing quickly & we find Ju Wal & Arang walking & talking but she isn't asking him those questions she had intended to ask him about Lee Seo Rim.  I can't imagine they are easy questions to ask.  But Ju Wal has questions of his own.  He wants to know how close in her relationship with the Magistrate?  She tries to explain that she is the daughter of his teacher & that her father {{totally fake teacher & totally fake father}} has disappeared & that the Magistrate is just filling his debt to her father, his teacher.  Then he asks her, after buying her more food, how is it she can eat all that food? And without thinking she talks about her time as a ghost, explaining that she spent so much time starving that whenever she sees food now she eats as much as she can because she is never sure when her next meal will come.   She realizes her error in talking about life as a ghost. And tries to cover it up saying that when her father disappeared she was like that, never knowing when she'd eat again & that Eun Oh has a habit of skipping meals & when he does that means she doesn't get to eat either.  

Then she stops eating long enough to wonder/worry out loud whether he skipped meals all today as well, since she left his side.  Ju Wal looks interested by this little conversation she is having with herself.  I think he can see she likes the Magistrate & I think this makes him jealous.  Then while she is eating what looks to be grapes a man sits down next to her, begging for a bite of her food but she ignores him & instead holds out her hand, just past the man to an empty space next to him.  He looks confused & tries to take the food but she just gives him a dirty look & when the camera changes angles we see, next to the man, is a ghost.  She's offering the ghost food but not the man.  Neither Ju Wal nor the man see the ghost & both look uncomfortable & confused.  The ghost on the other hand looks pleased & takes her offered hand.  After he takes the offering, which leaves the real food in her hand, she offers it to the man.  Who takes it & runs away.  Ju Wal looks confused still but at this point I think he is becoming used to her strangeness & even admires her for it.  

They get up & continue walking & just as he is telling her that as soon as the clothes are finished he'll make sure & send them to her, they stop & we see that Eun Oh, astride his horse, is just opposite them at the crossroad they have reached.  He walks the horse up to them & Ju Wal explains he was just taking her back to the Magistrate's offices as it is getting late.  Eun Oh reaches out his hand to Arang who looks at Ju Wal & takes her leave, then Eun Oh grabs her hand & she is effortlessly lifted up to the horses back, behind Eun Oh.  

On the slow trip back Eun Oh asks her if she asked Ju Wal her questions, she explains to him that she couldn't get up the courage to ask him after he bought her clothes.  Eun Oh was less than pleased to hear Ju Wal had bought clothes for her.  Frustrated he gets off the horse.  She asks him why he is so upset?  And then asks him if he likes her, remembering the conversation with the seamstress about a man who shows care & worry is actually a man who likes you.  Especially when he tells her that he'll be the one to buy her clothes.  He looks shocked at her question about liking her & stutters out a "No way!".  But he is responsible for her.  

She believes him & explains he can't like her anyway, nobody can, she only has 2 full moons left.  He looks shocked.  Oh yeah didn't I tell you?  Oops my bad.  Yeah see Yeom Ra was goading me about how if I failed to find Lee Seo Rim's murderer in 2 full moons, I would go to hell.  It was supposed to be 3 full moons but he cheated me.  {{I thought it a rather raw deal myself that she got sent back the day of the full moon, that one shouldn't have counted, I think they cheated too.}}  But if I find the truth then I asked if I could go to heaven & they said yes.  So no matter what in 2 full moons I have to go back.  I don't get to stay here.   He just stares at her so she starts walking back to the magistrate's office & he stands there alone, in shock, & replays their conversation over in his head until finally it sinks in & you can see that he has realized that he is going to lose her.  That he doesn't get to keep her.  That no matter what happens, what they find out, she has to leave him.  Leave him alone.  Let him live alone without her.  

{{Are you guys getting where I am going with this?!?  *Eye brows wiggling*  He is realizing that he has feelings for her but he didn't get it until he was told that she doesn't get to be with him when it's all over.}} 

At this point he runs after her full force & my breath caught at the intensity in the scene when he catches up to her & grabs her arm & yanks her to face him, all up close & I thought YES, YES, YES!!!!  He's gonna, is he gonna, please? please? PLEASE?!?!?!?!  O.O is he gonna kiss her soon?!?!?!  Did anybody else get all breath catchy & excited?  I also love that they have started adding OST's to the show...love the romantic love songs that are now playing... 

{{or maybe they were already there & I just hadn't noticed till ep 9's rap fight song}}

But here are the still shots of him stopping her w/ the wrist grab ...  

But he didn't kiss her...sad face.  But they did they stare at each other for a few intense seconds before he asks her...

He has no answer for her question & instead just grabs her arm & starts walking back to the horse.

Ju Wal has nothing but Arang on his mind as well, although he isn't the only one thinking of her.  Creepy Mommy Dearest comes to visit Ju Wal in his room, and we get the impression this is a big deal as he looks shocked & uncomfortable to have her visit him.  She just wants to check his progress with Arang.  At his doubt about whether he has made any progress at all, she asks him if there is another man.  Now you know, & I know that he knows there is indeed another man.  But for some reason he tells CMD that nope there isn't anybody else on the scene.  She looks pleased & tells him to keep working on winning Arang's heart.  

And up in heaven General Dead Dude is very concerned with how is it that Eun Oh was able to fight the ghosts/minions with him, how was he able to kill the ghost with his fan.  His very special fan.  

Sorry about the captions.  

 Basically the fan has a very specific design & he recognizes it but we don't get to hear how he knows it yet.

Back on earth, the next day, Lord Choi is beyond ticked off to hear that his storage sheds of food/taxes had been raided by Eun Oh & the townspeople.  He makes sure that Geo Deol knows it's all his fault.  And demands that Geo Deol bring him the Magistrate's head.  On a platter.  

{{Okay he didn't add the "On the platter" part, that was all me, in fact he asked him to bring him that B's (and not the B that has an itch, but the other B, that is illegitimate) neck!  Which I am translating to mean head.  And then once someone says, "Bring me his head!"  Don't you want to add "...on a platter!" too.  Eh maybe that's just a me thing.  It's okay I'm used to being "different".  I have to be or I wouldn't have been willing to join my dongsaeng in this whole K everything blog idea, right?!?}}  

Dol Seo wants the magistrate the next day to open up the sheds again, he promised the Shaman that he would make sure she got some food too.  But Eun Oh is not interested.  He gets up & gets dressed early & goes & wakes up Arang.  They have somewhere to be, right now!  Leaving Dol Seo to figure out how to get the Shaman the promised food, which he does.  He brings her a bag of rice & some pork.  But she is angry at him for talking to Arang the night before, I skipped that part I know.  It was a small scene & interrupted my flow.  Basically, the night before, after Arang & Eun Oh got back, the Shaman overheard Dol Seo & Arang talking/arguing.  She misinterpreted it to be more than it was 'relationship wise'.  She also saw the Magistrate & while she recognized him as familiar, she couldn't place where she knew him from.  And while she did recognize Arang's voice, she couldn't place it either & left in a huff.  It would seem she is still in a huff this morning.  And yells at Dol Seo to stop talking to her with honorifics & just be gruff like he was before.  Which made him all...

*Giggling* at how happy he is that she likes it when he's informal & "gruff" with her. LOL

Back up in heaven we FINALLY get to hear a little bit of the back story to General Dead Dude (Moo Yeong) & Creepy Mommy Dearest (Moo Yeon).  They are brother & sister!!  Omo!!  I knew it!!!  Okay okay I am getting ahead of myself!  Mr Beautiful is arguing with a very pretty woman in heaven about how hot/high the fire should be.  I didn't really get the topic very much honestly, but he was so cute.  I think he was flirting with her or trying to impress her but it wasn't working.  But he really was so cute!

{{Flirt with me!!  Flirt with me!!  I LOVE to flirt!!  I'll flirt anytime, especially with you Mr Beautiful!}}

****hyu[;p'=[-0p543   87934*&()lk*&()  KJL%^7po[-ert4ynjiop0!****

{{*Banging head on laptop* He's WAY too young, Unnie!!  AGE LINE!!  MUST OBEY AGE LINE!!!!!}}

Ahem...okay.  After he finishes up with the very pretty heavenly maiden, Yeom Ra shows up.  And has questions....

YR: When are you going to tell it to Moo Yeong?  I'm sick of seeing his face all sad.  How hard is it to tell him, "The one who is on earth making all these troubles and disrupting orders is Moo Yeon.  Killing humans to keep herself a live, the one killing those souls is your younger sister, who was once a heaven's fairy, Moo Yeon!"  Can you just say it like that?  Moo Yeon if she keeps taking those guys bound for the Underworld...and making them into demons, what is she going to do about that?

He goes on telling Mr Beautiful that the most frustrating thing about being in heaven is that they know everything there but they can't do anything about it.  Mr Beautiful points out that while she is in a human body... they can't do anything.  Yeom Ra questions Mr Beautiful's plan.  And asks if Arang will, at this rate, ever find out what happened to her?  This makes Mr beautiful happy & he says...

Really I just wanted to include a picture of him....
she said as she shook her head & tried to remind herself of the self imposed AGE LINE!

And where did Eun Oh drag Arang off to that morning?  To go shopping, duh!  He really did not like that Ju Wal took her to get new clothes, so he takes her back to the seamstress, who is really confused as to how this girl got two Young Masters to purchase clothes for her.  I have this feeling that her reputation is being questioned.  ^.^  Not only that but as the seamstress is measuring Arang he explains that she is doing it wrong.  Telling her that Arang's waist is higher than that.  Which makes the seamstress wonder about their relationship if he knows where the young girl's waist is on her body?!?!  Then he tosses her money to get it done the next day, & more money to make sure it is done.  Then when Arang questions his dragging her off & he tells her that she needed new clothes & she says that Master Choi has ,bought her clothes already he explains to her that she won't be allowed to wear them!  She says, "It's up to me whether or not I wear them."   So he goes back into the seamstress & throws more money at her & tells her to destroy the clothes Ju Wal ordered.  Then he tells her not to go around ensnaring other guys, he's the only one that can send her to heaven. {{Giggling at his obvious jealousy}}

Then they go for a hike in the woods/mountain.  She wants to know where they are going & he tells her, "didn't I say I was going to send you to heaven?"  While they are walking she asks him, "Magistrate, are you going to abandon me, because you are angry with me?  He tells her, "even if I did, would you stay abandoned?  You'd just come looking for me anyway."  Then she explains that their journey reminds her of her journey to the River Styx & how peaceful it was in the beginning & how she kept thinking dying isn't bad.  But then it changed & was painful & scary & how she is positive that she can't do it that way again...she'll have to find a different route to heaven.  Then just as she is bugging him about where they are headed again he finds heaven for her.

Didn't you say you wanted to be a flower in your next life?  Oh wait no, it was a butterfly, wasn't it?!?  So here is heaven!  Very proud of himself for being a smarty pants.  

While sitting among the flowers they talk about the past.  She asks him how long he's been able to see ghosts.  He tells her when he was a kid he was very sick & then when he recovered he had been changed & could see ghosts & the rumors started abounding in his town because he was so scared of all the ghosts in the beginning that he would do whatever they wanted.  Then his father protected him & stopped the rumors.  She wonders is that what father's do?  Why didn't Lee Seo Rim's father protect her?  For which Eun Oh has no answer.  

Then she asks him when he finally finds his mother what is going to do?  He tells her that they are going to live together happily.  And ask her what kind of a son he meant to her.  A: That's it?  EO: Yes.  And then she asks him when he finds his mother will she already be in heaven? & he looks at her somberly & says, "Yes you probably will."  

And then he turns to her & she turns to him & smiles.  

I don't know about you guys but I thought it was a very sweet, moving, sad, romantic episode.  I love seeing him fall more & more in love with her & I love watching her start to notice that he has feelings for her.  I also love her innocence in the face of those feelings.  I love the comedy between Dol Seo & the Shaman & IF Ju Wal ends up being the good guy {{NO I STILL CANNOT TELL & IT'S FRUSTRATING ME!!}} then I think I will fall for him too & his sad back story & his sweetness & feel really bad that he ends up alone.  So I guess I'm kind of hoping he stays bad. {{I realize I make no sense whatsoever}}

I apologize for being so late getting this review out.  It was supposed to go out yesterday.  A conspiracy to stop me?!?!  Hmm.... maybe.  We'll never know will we?  That's how conspiracies work after all.  ;)P

Saranghamnida,