DFR: Faith episode 10

Before I start, I just have to ask you all one little question...

How awesome was Psy on the Today show this morning?!?!?!

Did you see it?  If you missed it, make sure to catch the performance.  I have been on a major 'Psy high' this morning and it has been hard to focus on my review.  G-Dragon's new album hasn't helped either in the whole focus arena.  So many exciting things happening in the Kpop world this fabulous Friday!  I've said it before and I'll say it again -- it's a good time to be an addicKt.

Now, let's chat about the real reason we are all here.  Faith episode 10.  Lee Min Ho Yeah.  And some other random people ;)  Just kidding.  It's a great cast and they all deserve props.  But c'mon.  It's Lee Min Ho -- obviously this ahjumma's eyes will naturally wander into, and stay, in that corner.  Am I right or am I right?  o.O

Do we all remember where we left off in episode 9?  Gi Cheol has just shown Eun Soo the second artifact of Hwata, a purple diary with a bunch of numbers and Eun Soo's name written in it.  She's visibly shaken and we wonder, is this her journal?  She starts to cry and have a proper freak out.  Wouldn't you?  A journal that is supposed to be 1000 years old with your name in it...and as we find out later, handwriting that looks like yours?  I'd say that the lady is owed at least one decent total meltdown.

So, it looks like her handwriting but she says that it is the first time she has ever seen it.  Hmmm.  She has a theory that the numbers could possibly be coordinates - as in GPS coordinates.  She hypothesizes that they could lead back home.  Gi Cheol, it should be stated, is right now trying to get her to spill whatever knowledge she has of the future.  He wants her to help him shape the future and history of Goryeo/Korea.  He's after power and control and sees her as the tool to get there.  So when she starts talking about how it could maybe be a map to get her home, he snatches it up right quick and says, "We're done here!".  He doesn't want her getting away after all.


I enjoyed the confrontation between Gi Cheol and Choi Young.  Gi Cheol is asking Choi Young what heaven was like when he went there and why he only bothered to bring back one doctor.  He is upset, claiming that it was a waste that "rice scum" like him would have been given that opportunity when it was just wasted.  CY's comeback was perfect.  He basically said, "what if a lord like you went there and Heaven's warehouses all suffered from theft?

Another funny scene was between Choi Young and his men.  He's walking around obviously deep in thought.

I'm going to assume that he is debating whether or not he should go check on Eun Soo.  One of his men asks him, "aren't you going to go?".

He pauses, thinks for a second, then calls on one of the Woodalchi to guard the Herbal House and High Doctor.

Cutie Pie with the Hair volunteers for the job, but is rebuffed by Choi Young who says, "you already lost her once".  Ouch.  Poor kid.  Deokman, the one assigned the job, is more than eager to guard the pretty doctor.

He gets all excited at the thought of carrying her to safety if there's trouble.  He gets all goofy and grinning says, "I get to carry her?  So I get to touch her like this..." which earns him a swift kick from his General.

Hahaha!  I'm sorry, but that was funny.  A wee little bit of jealousy from Choi Young perhaps?  I think so.  *eyebrow wiggle*  Ooh la la.


Back at the Herbal House/hospital/what have you, a young boy, son of an officer at Ssangseong Precinct, is brought in.

Dr Jang thinks that it is some intestinal something-or-other, but Eun Soo almost immediately recognizes it as appendicitis.  The young man needs surgery right away, only her surgical tools are back at Gi Cheol's.  She grabs guard Deokman and hauls him off so that she can go to Gi Cheol's and get them.  While there she tries to sweet talk him, offering him a chance to win her heart and work together with her to figure out the mysterious numbers in the diary.  She even has the brilliant idea that they can go together back to Heaven.  Remember how we mentioned before that Eun Soo is a little slow?  Something tells me that she's playing with fire here and will live to regret the promises and ideas she's so eagerly offering right now.  Dancing with the devil you are Eun Soo.

While all this is going on with Eun Soo, Choi Young is meeting with the king.

He has presented a list of names for possible allies/governmental positions.  Getting these men on their side though will be a difficult task as everyone is afraid of Gi Cheol, and supporting the king is the same as going against Gi Cheol.  We also learn that the chief of the Suribang is pledged uncle of Choi Young and an alumnus of his teacher, Moon Chi Hu, who was stabbed to death by King Icky Perv.  When the king questions whether or not they can get this chief of the Suribang on their side, Choi Young doesn't seem too sure.  Said chief calls him a dog working under a petty king and made sure to remind him of what happened to their teacher under the king's brother.  In other words, there's a bit of a trust issue there so winning the Suribang over to the king's team may prove to be difficult if not downright impossible.  The king marks names on the list of the men he'd like to offer government posts to and the list is handed off so that the head hunting can begin.

As he leaves his conference with the king, Choi Young is informed by Cutie Pie with the Hair that Eun Soo had gone to Gi Cheol's but was now back performing a surgery.  Worried and concerned, Young decides to go check on her, but not before tossing the list of names at CPwtH with directions of who it should go to and what they should do with it - find the names of those with a dot.  Simple, right?  Well, yes.  Unless the list gets stolen.  By Gi Cheol.  And then the names with a dot get slaughtered instead of recruited.  Uh oh.

But I'm jumping ahead.  I really shouldn't skip mentioning the part where Eun Soo apologizes to Choi Young.  She's sorry that she failed Prince Kyeong Chang and that Young had to take the Prince's life with his own hands.  Oh, and she's sorry for stabbing him with a sword.  "Oh yeah, by the way...remember when I ran you through with a sword?  Yeah, sorry about that."

She thanks him for living and for watching over her and apologizes for being so troublesome.  She then tells Young that she has a plan - she thinks she knows how to handle Gi Cheol.

He wants information, so she'll give him information.  Only, she's going to lie.  How will he know the difference anyways, right?  He tries to warn her that she doesn't know the kind of man she's dealing with, but she won't hear it.  She tells him that she's going to find her own way home and that she just wanted to say her farewells and thank him in case they never see each other again.  There's a moment between the two of them, he gets up, pulls her into his arms and kisses her passionately.


No.  He doesn't.  He should.  But he doesn't.  Instead, he stands up and walks out, throwing in a nice verbal warning to Deokman on guard duty that if he let's her go out again, he'll make him pay.

"I love this woman and if you let anything happen to her, you will pay."
o.O
Okay, not really what he said but it was totally inferred.  We were all thinking it anyway.

It's okay because we can see he cares, but a nice passionate kiss would show us that a lot better, don't you think?

So Eun Soo thinks that Gi Cheol wouldn't know that the information about the future/history was false?  Well, maybe that is true.  Unless of course he has a team member with super power hearing that heard the whole plan.  Oh, wait?  He does?  Yup.  Turns out Eum Ja of the killer flute has more tricks up his sleeves.  He can hear really good.  Something like 12x better than average.  Tell me, how do they figure that it is 12x?  Just curious.  It's not like they have machines to measure that kind of stuff.  Regardless, he has super hearing and hears everything.  Eun Soo is screwed.

Why is she screwed? We get a better sense of just what kind of man Gi Cheol is.  Lady Choi and Choi Young talk about him.

Lady Choi tells a disturbing story about a man named Geumseon.  Geumseon was a talented painter, known locally and even in Yuan.  Gi Cheol was enamored with him that he bought a house and ship for him.  Then one day, Gi Cheol asked Geumseon to paint a portrait of him.  Instead, Geumseon painted a snake or something else.  Gi Cheol was so upset that he cut off the painter's hands, dug out his eyes and threw him away by a stream, leaving him alive.  The painter dragged himself but none would help him for fear of incurring Gi Cheol's wrath upon themselves.  Young wants to know how a toy (that's what Lady Choi refers to Gi Cheol as - a child with a new toy) can survive?  It needs to heed, to please well.  Well, that's trouble, because as Young points out, Eun Soo isn't one to please others.

Have I mentioned how much I am loving the king these days?  Especially the teamwork between he and Choi Young?  I loved the surprise meeting they have with the king and the Manbo siblings of the Suribang.  That was a clever way of getting the Suribang leaders to meet with the king that they wouldn't normally agree to.  Awesome.  This king - I adore him now that he's relaxed a little and seen the light and recognizes who the real threats and true friends are.

Our spy with the supersonic hearing is back at work.  Eun Soo is talking with Dr Jang, trying to figure out just what she should tell Gi Cheol about. Technology, electricity, gunpowder, weapons, plumbing and sewage?  Which to start with.  Dr Jang warns her that Young is right - Gi Cheol is scary.  Her reply was funny, even if misguided, when she says, "Don't worry, I come from Gangnam - I pass people 3-4 times scarier in the street everyday.  People that smile on the outside but are scary on the inside."  Dr Jang is surprised by this idea of scary people in Heaven.  That's when she drops the bombshell that is overheard by Eum Ja - she's not from Heaven but is from the future.  The eavesdropping session ends early when Deokman walks up and claps loudly, mistaking Eum Ja for sleeping instead of using super hearing to spy on the doctors.  Ouch!

Word gets round that Eum Ja has this super hearing and has been seen lurking around the high doctor.  Choi Young goes to find her to warn her to watch what she says.  He finds her mid freak out.  She's been examining the queen's wound, which is healing nicely by the way, much to everyone's satisfaction.

She then realizes who the kid with appendicitis is that she saved earlier that day.  It's hitting her, the impact that her being there is having.  People that would have died had she not been there - people like the queen or this young man.  She's flustered and upset.  As Choi Young drags her outside, trying to silence her, she finally blurts out who this kid grows to be.  Ready for this?  He's the one that years from now kill Choi Young.  Imagine being Choi Young at that moment.  "This kid will someday kill you."  What do you do with that information, huh?

We don't get to find out quite yet just what someone would do with information like that. Gi Cheol and his people are once again causing trouble and some proverbial fires need to be put out first.  Like Fire Lady showing up and kidnapping Eun Soo, threatening the life of first the mute herbalist girl and then the young man recovering from surgery.

Eun Soo must go with her or the boy (who mind you will grow to one day kill Choi Young if he lives) will die.

Then there's Gi Cheol, who is meeting before the king with an ultimatum.  Become a puppet king that does nothing or his people, like those on the stolen roster, will die.  And die they do.  Fire Lady and Killer Flute start going around the neighborhood killing people on the list all while Eun Soo must watch.  These folks are twisted.  Seriously twisted.  The next person they kill is up to Eun Soo.  She must choose between the queen, Dr Jang or Choi Young.  The one she treasures most will be killed first.

And that's where the episode ends...on that high note.

Here, I'll do us all a favor -- the episode may have ended all tense and sad, but I can cheer us up a bit.

Better?
Happy Friday!
Enjoy your weekend!
See you next week Faithfuls!