DFR: Arang and the Magistrate ep 15

I don't know about you guys but I was really excited to get to this week's episodes of Arang!  When last week's episode ended, after he had just seen his mother for the first time, in CMD's evil lair below the shrine. I was thinking, "Aaaaagggghhhhhh  K Drama's why you so good at ending the eps that way?!?!"  It really isn't fair how good they are at keeping us coming back for more & more.  How many of you are feeling as exhausted as I am?  Seriously, the closer we get to the end, the more I'm all on the edge of my seat with the... "Well, Dang!"  Episode 15 was emotionally exhausting.  I spent the whole episode wanting to hug Lee Jun Ki's Kim Eun Oh.  {{And not just because I'm harboring a huge crush on said shmexy actor!}}  He just looked so despondent through most of the episode.  

And who could blame him?  Finding out that your moms is the big bad wolf trying to steal the body of the girl you have fallen completely head over heels for & on top of that how do you tell said head over for girl that your mom wants her body?  Yeah that has got to be a lot to handle for any guy.  I don't blame him for the little skinship in the pic below w/ Arang.  And if Arang has a problem with it, well then I am happy to step in & take her place any time she wants.  {{Shin Min Ah-ssi, you call me if that job becomes to much for you, okay? ;) I can be your Unnie too & help a girl out.  Just putting that out there.}}  

And with that offer of help out there I will start this week's review....  {{pssst...Shin Min Ah-ssi...really!!  Call me.  Anytime you want me to take over.  I got your back girl.}}

As I said before last week's ep ended w/ Eun Oh seeing his mother, in the form of Creepy Mommy Dearest, down in her evil lair, for the first time since she left him after he had given her the hairpin, that his master the Jade Emperor {{aka Mr beautiful}} had given him.   Oh I really hope you aren't just tuning in to this show here in the middle of the season, because the story line at this point would have the ability to cause brain aneurysms.

But he is not alone w/ CMD/his mother.  No the Grim Reaper {{aka Moo Yeong/  aka General Dead Dude/  aka CMD's older brother?!?!}} is there with him too.  {{Nope not confusing at all.}}  What is the purpose of this reconnaissance mission?  To capture & destroy CMD.  But oh wait Gen Dead Dude left out the part where the bad guy is wearing Eun Oh's mother like last year's hottest fashion trend.  Oh yeah & that he wants/is sent to kill her & take his l'il sis's soul back with him to hell.  {{Those aren't the important deets are they?!?!}}

Eun Oh at this point is very confused.  Gen Dead Dude, whom he had thought was on his side is trying to kill his mom, who doesn't really give off that mom vibe right now.  Oh yeah & she is calling her soul minions up to fight him & Gen Dead Dude?!?!  I'd be very confused right about now too.  You guys?  Yeah I thought so.


So when his back is turned trying to fend off Gen Dead Dude, CMD calls up her minions, there is a fight she almost gets away.  But Eun Oh manages to catch her before she leaves, calling out to her, "Mother?"   At this point CMD figures out that she is wearing his mom & says, "I guess that woman is your mother."  She gets all evil gleamy in her eyes & then the soul of Eun Oh's mom breaks free for a split second.  Long enough for Eun Oh to see her in there.

At this point Gen Dead Dude jumps back in with the knife that Mr Beautiful gave him to finish the job, only it doesn't work.  He really did try.  It wasn't him faking he couldn't do it because he couldn't bear to kill his sister again.  There was some sort of force field preventing the knife from penetrating into CMD's chest. 

So Eun Oh takes the opportunity once he gets his bearings back to jump back in to defend his mom, all while the General is screaming, "Kim Eun Oh, she is not your mother".  While they are fighting between the two of them she blasts them with her black magic & knocks them both to the ground.  

 And then she conjures more minions to keep them fighting so she can make her big getaway, up the stairs, into a passing by Ju Wal.  Who helps her to escape, to the derelict shack on the mountain, whatever the heck is going on down below.  After the big fight Eun Oh runs upstairs, too late, to catch up with his mother.  Leaving behind Gen Dead Dude who uses his mystical glow stick to suck up ALL the remaining souls from the clay soul pots & then he disappears.  Leaving Eun Oh alone & full of questions unanswered.  After Eun Oh leaves, Lord Choi who has also sensed a disturbance, has come to check out the shrine only to find the floor panel & all the doors open but nobody there.  And he is really shocked to find the underground lair below the shrine.  I'm guessing he's more than a little out of the loop.

Arang, who has been struggling to understand what Eun Oh's fan is, who his master is & a bunch of other unanswered questions, knows she has seen the symbol on his fan before.  Then she remembered it from the night the Shaman helped her summon Gen Dead Dude & she went across the River Styx.  The symbol on the fan matches the one on the doorway that almost sucked them into the underworld.  It's the sign of the Jade Emperor.  So she goes to his room to see the fan & discovers he isn't even there.  Undaunted, she starts to search his room & finds the hairpin & remembers that it too came from his "Master", just then Eun Oh arrives back, looking like he just battled demons from hell.  Oh wait!!  He did just battle demons from hell.  {{Sorry.  I couldn't help myself.}}   Immediately she looks concerned & asks him where he was but he is too tired, confused, unsure, full of questions himself & no answers for anyone.  He tells her he just wants to sleep for now.  That they'll talk in the morning.

Up on the mountain Ju Wal wants to know why the Magistrate called CMD, "mother"?  He then asks, "What are you?"  To which she replies...

Yeah because that facial expression screams Heaven's Fairy, right?  

Up in heaven General Dead Dude is reporting to Yeom Ra explaining that the knife that Mr Beautiful gave him didn't work.  At this point he finds out oh yeah it won't work on the human body while you are a reaper. You have to get your sis to vacate the premises, so to speak, before you can use the knife on her.  That knife will not allow itself to hurt a human soul, basically.

GDD:  Why would the Jade Emperor give me such a knife?

YR:  The Jade Emperor was testing you.  Do you not understand why he prepared Kim Eun Oh?  I trusted & believed in you why didn't you believe in yourself?

Back on earth everyone is finally asleep.  And then Arang hears a sound, a voice calling out "Lady" to her & she wakes up & follows the sound.  Part of me was all, "Are you kidding me?  It's the middle of the night & you're hearing voices calling to you & you follow without anyone aware?!?!"  But another part was all, "Go faster I want to see who is calling you too, I think it's your old nanny ahjumma lady".  And my 2nd half wins again.  It was her nanny calling her.  Okay it was her nanny's ghost calling to her.  Remember Geo Deol killed her on her way back home.  She tells Arang that it was Lord Choi that had her killed & where to find her body, along with evidence of the murderer.  But she also gives her a little info about her missing memories of Ju Wal.

Yes, she was in love w/ Ju Wal.  Yes they were engaged.  But that is not where the story ends.  The engagement was broken off.  And as a result Lee Seo Rim was broken hearted.  She wouldn't eat, sleep, talk to anyone for days.  Then she died.  Now of course we all know that the reason it was ended was because CMD threw a huge fit when she found out that Lord Choi had agreed to the marriage to begin with & he was forced to call it all off.  She didn't remember any of this.  After promising nanny she would get revenge for her death she told her not to worry, as good a person as she was in life she is sure to go to heaven to be at peace & promises to follow soon.  Then nanny disappears.  Leaving Arang with even more questions.

The next morning Dol Seo is making great headway training the soon to be patrolmen & the Three Stooges cannot stand him or all the noise & decide it is time they pick a side.  Lady Arang isn't the only one who has to choose.  So who will they pick?  Lord Choi OR the Magistrate?  Speaking of Arang she goes in to talk to Eun Oh about her conversation w/ Nanny & finds him still sitting in the same position just waking up & NOT looking rested at all.  She is definitely worried for him now.  But he is still not talking.  Again I'm not sure I would exactly know how to bring up that conversational topic either.

"Oh yeah sorry last night I went w/ Gen Dead Dude to try & keep you safe from the evil that is Lord Choi only it turns out that it isn't Lord Choi that wants your body.  No that would be my mom.  Yeah apparently she's sharing space with an evil beast from who knows where & it's the beast who wants your body.  And I totally froze & stopped Gen Dead Dude from killing her & making this all stop.  So....how was your night?  Have any good peaches?"

 Just a guess that would not be a fun conversation.

Meanwhile Lord Choi is taking that yellow mystical sticky note CMD gave him & is burning it & pouring water on the embers & then drinking as ordered & this is supposed to cure him, which makes him all giggly that he'll be able to finally end things with her.  Yeah because she is so believable, right?  And speak of the she devil...on the mountain in the ramshackle shed she figures out that she needs to speed things up.  That she really needs Arang's body.... like yesterday.  Now that the spirit in this body is getting stronger & sapping all her powers & strength.

Eun Oh has left the Magistrate's office & headed straight for the lair & found nothing.  No hints, traces nothing.  Until Lord Choi walks down there & then there is a nice face off.  Where it is revealed Lord Choi didn't know anything about the lair.  Or what exactly the "beast" is up to.  All Lord Choi did was give her a place to stay & in return she agreed to heal him from his disease.  Once Lord Choi leaves the lair in his room he's trying to figure out what Eun Oh was accusing him of, was she also summoning demons?!   This he did not know.  He knew she was evil but not this evil.  That can't be good.  When even the bad guy thinks the other bad guy is too bad?

Arang on the other hand has gone to visit the Shaman.  And finds that for the first time ever the Shaman can see a ghost!  And not just any ghost, her own mother.  However, she can't hear the ghost of her mother.  I found it very comical that she goes to the altar & complains & yells at her family that she is so frustrated she is ready to die because she can't see only hear the dead.  HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO HELP?!?!  She screams.  In the next instant she can see but not hear the ghost. And what is her mother's ghost telling her?  That when she does offerings she should make sure there is some pork being offered too. Duh.  Arang arrived just in time, as Band Ui Ri could see but not hear what her mother was saying, thankfully Arang arrived in time to pass on the VERy important message about how they'd "like some pork every once in a while too you know!" message.  Not surprisingly Bang Ui Ri was not happy that now she could see but not hear the dead.  Arang ever the optimist was all, "Cheer Up Shaman!  This is awesome!  You wanted to see them & now you can!"  LOL

But that is not all Arang is there for...no she wants to confirm her suspicions that Mr Beautiful is in fact Eun Oh's mysterious master.  After Bang Ui Ri confirms her suspicions, she looks even more confused.  Oh speaking of Mr Beautiful. Sigh...he's just so pretty.  In heaven he & Yeom Ra are again playing Baduk, what else would they do?  And again Baduk represents more than just a game to these two.  Yeom Ra wants to know whether he is right in guessing that MB is suing Kim Eun Oh to help spur Gen Dead Dude into fulfilling his duty.  And he wants to know if it was purposeful having Arang & Eun Oh meet too?  I loved it when all he did was smile that beautiful...sigh...smile of his.

Oh Yeah he's getting 2 pictures this week.  It's my post I can do what I want to, I know he's 18! Shhhh...don't disturb his smile.   

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....................................

Uh...where was I?  Oh yeah ......okay..... so now it's Eun Oh's turn to visit the Shaman.  His questions lead to disturbing answers though.  Basically it boils down to; is his mother, who is sharing her body with CMD, still alive?  Still his mother?  Is there any way to get her out?  After consulting w/ 9 generations ago grandma's journal we discover that she is still in there but it's like she is caught between both worlds.  Neither alive nor dead & she is trapped.  And it will most likely kill her for sure when the other soul is removed.  For the other soul to share she had to keep Eun Oh's mom alive.  There isn't much that anyone can do, that the Shaman can see anyway.

More revelations for Lord Choi....  Ju Wal asks him if he knew that CMD was heaven's fairy?  He laughs, I thought she was a serpent!  In other words, "Heaven's Fairy my butt!"   Then he tells him that she is the Magistrate's mother.  So that's why he was all up in my face screaming at me!  Did you notice if she is losing her strength because she didn't get her feed on during the last leap month?  Which has Ju Wal worried for her, getting weaker etc...since it's his fault she didn't get her kill.  At this point I'm wondering whose side he is on?  Especially when he calls his servant in & asks him to keep an eye on her & make sure she is safe & healthy.  But now it is time for the servant to reveal a few things.

Like that he knows all the secrets including the secrets about what he does for the lady every leap month.  He, we find out is also the one who let that woman in.  That he too had as sad a life as a child as Ju Wal did, leaving us to believe that she rescued him as well.  That the Magistrate's mother came to them, when she was still just human, asking for work & he felt sorry for her so he let her in & then she was caught poisoning Lord Choi's food.  Then the next thing he knew she was the Lady.  All of this is news to Ju Wal.

As Arang is wandering town on her way back to the Magistrate Office she runs into Ju Wal who is wandering town mulling over all the revelations.  They have tea together & she explains her accepting his heart is not an easy thing to do & that's why she can't do it.  He makes her promise to never give up on herself.  She tells him she won't & that she wants to give him something.  Back outside her room she comes out & gives him...

 She then explains that even though she couldn't give him her heart she thought it was important that he understand & know that someone liked him deeply, even though he had none of those same feelings for her, Lady Lee Seo Rim cared for you deeply.  Then she goes on to tell him....

 He looks surprised & deflated by her kindness & his feelings for her.

But he is not the only one looking deflated by all the revelations of the day.

Until he sees Ju Wal leaving & then he gets irritated & rushes to find Arang sitting on her porch in the moonlight.  He asks her what Ju Wal was doing there & looks calmer once she tells him she gave him Lee Seo Rim's diary.  Telling him that it was only right he should have it & know how Lee Seo Rim felt about him.  And now she feels like she completed everything she needed to do for Lee Seo Rim.

{{I would imagine that doesn't include finding her murderer because that hasn't been officially solved...yet.}}

Eventually Eun Oh, looking tired removes his hat & sits next to her on the porch.

Making her worried...again.  He really does look exhausted mentally, emotionally & physically.  So much drama to deal with.  I kept wanting her to just put her arms around him & give him comfort.  It's what I would do.  Poor guy.  Instead they watch the moon together & he tells her he thinks the moon is playing them.  Then he slowly leans over toward her and...

Ju Wal goes back to his room & reads the journal.  I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to hear more of the romantic & love filled words about Ju Wal from Lee Seo Rim.  He reads & keeps reading & looks interested but no other real reaction.  I would have liked to see more....I don't know what but more.

It's the next morning & Eun Oh garbed in his official magistrate clothes decides he's going back to the beginning & re-question that lady from the first episode about his mom.  Arang on the other hand is once again trying to riddle out the hairpin/fan thing from MB & why he would give them to Eun Oh & then she has a flashback of her life as Lee Seo Rim.  She's remembering after the engagement is broken off.  Lee Seo Rim would go back to that spot on the bridge where she first saw Ju Wal, according to Nanny.  It's night time & once again she is headed to the bridge alone.  And she spots a lady walking through the woods & follows her to the bridge as well.  Only the lady doesn't end up alone at the bridge...

 And then she is even more confused.  Once she figures out that the lady is Eun Oh's mom.

While she is having flashbacks, Eun Oh is going back to the beginning, as promised.  We find him with that woman & her husband.  Turns out there is more to the story but both are too afraid of Lord Choi to say anything.  Eun Oh promises them if you don't talk to me about what is going on then how am I supposed to help you?  Eventually the husband asks him if they tell will he guarantee their safety?  Of course he will, when you're ready come find me at the Magistrate office.  He gets back there & Dol Seo comes to meet him.  He tells Dol Seo he needs to send his father a message.  He needs more back story if he is going to go up against Lord Choi & find his mother & what happened to her & he believes his dad knows.  He also tells Dol Seo to go & find out all the evils that Lord Choi has committed against the town & it's people.

{{You tell him Eun Oh! Go get 'em tiger!  Rawr!! wink/wink}}

That night Arang is walking by the bridge still & she once again bumps into Ju Wal, who was looking for her.    He wants to return the diary.  He cannot accept Lee Seo Rim's feelings so he feels the book would be better where it was originally.  He explains because of his indifference to the Lady & her death he doesn't feel like he has any right to accept her feelings.  He tells her if I had known of her feelings at the time I should have found out more details.  Then Arang asks him point blank...

"Young Master, where were you the night of the full moon?"  And he tells her...

Then goes on to say that the light during a full moon is always best there at the bridge.  

Later alone again...she's trying to decide if he was telling her the truth.  "He didn't seem like he was lying or trying to hide anything." 

{{I agree with her & it made me think, did he kill Arang?  Does he not remember the kills afterwards?}}  

Just then she flashes again.

She sees her taking the hairpin from Eun Oh's mom's hair again & saying, 

"Don't go."  And then unlike the first time she saw this image now she also sees Ju Wal in the image as well, he even slightly turns his head & glances back as if in acknowledgement of her plea.   

And that is where this episode ended.  It was such a sad episode & full of so many revelations to the characters that we've been seeing all along.  Sigh.  I don't blame Eun Oh for looking so tired & sad.  And while I loved the head on the shoulders scenes I really don't like that they are splitting up our leading couple so much again.  I hope 16 has them together more.  I like the show better when they are together.  And I really hope Eun Oh gets a little more comfort from Arang.  

That's it for me today folks.  See when I'm done watching 16.  Until then....

Saranghamnida,