DFR: Arang and the Magistrate ep 16

So I have to apologize first AddiKts for my mistake in yesterday's post that has since been fixed.  It would seem I was overly excited about getting to watch what happened in episode 16 that when I labeled ep 15's post I numbered it as 16.  I'm sorry.  I fixed it & I hope it didn't cause too much confusion.  Thankfully, we're such a small little family type blog that I doubt that many people noticed & the ones who did were probably able to figure out that I'm just a big dork, which if you are regular readers, you should already know by now. ^^

Now that I have apologized officially let's get on to a really awesome, full of awesomeness, type of awesome episode.  And let me say that when 16 ended I was just ready to scream.... "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!  You can't end it there!!!!"  BTW this was done at 11:30 at night in bed under the covers so as not to awake CA. I didn't get screen shots at the time because I was afraid the constant flashing of my iPhone's bright screen might wake up a sleeping husband, who gets up at 4:30 every morning to bring home the bacon.  So this post is late because no screen shots last night meant I had to go in & re-watch the drama.  I had just gotten to where I was calmed down from watching it last night & just wasn't ready to go back to being all "AHHHH" again.  But I knew & was prompted & reminded by dongsaeng & a few other friends to get my butt in gear & get this here post going...in short?  To STOP stalling.  See how much I love you guys?  So here I go back into the craziness....

When we left Arang was standing on the bridge having had that flashback where she saw Ju Wal & CMD walking off together in the dark of the forest on the mountain by the abandoned house.  Needless to say she was very confused.  How could someone she liked & trusted so much be going off on the night of the full moon into the woods w/ the Magistrate's mother.  She just kept denying it would be possible that Ju Wal was Lee Seo Rim's murderer.

Meanwhile Eun Oh was at home wondering where Arang was & making up his mind that it was time to come clean about everything that he had experienced & learned about his mother, the beast, Lord Choi etc...  Once she arrived home it was time to sit down & have that talk.  After they've each had their chance to dish the deets, Arang points out that it's the Jade Emperor that has arranged everything.  He brought them together, did all that training for Eun Oh, arranged the hairpin exchange etc...all that finding out about her death & his mother?  It must all be his plan.  Both look perplexed & annoyed by being used which leads Arang to declare...

LOL Old Fart!  Love it!  

But in all the confessing of pertinent information Arang left out her flashbacks to Ju Wal & Eun Oh's mom in the woods.  She feels bad about it too but she decides she'll tell him more later when she has more memories to share.

The next morning Eun Oh has organized Dol Seo & the new Patrolmen, he is going to carry out Arang's request from last night to find her nanny's body & punish the one responsible for her death & she means not just the murderer but the one who ordered the murder, namely Lord Choi. After the patrolmen & Dol Soe head out into the woods the Three Stooges are left behind trying to decide what they should do.  Then they realize that they aren't actually three but two & that the 3rd person in their party has switched teams...

Yep that there would Larry heading off to help find the murdered nanny w/ Dol Soe & the rest of the Patrolmen.  Not only has he switched from Lord Choi to the Magistrate but he seems really happy about it.   

After just a couple of minutes they find Nanny.  Eun Oh arrives to see her body & shortly after he arrives Arang arrives.  But Eun Oh, like he did when her own body was found, tries to stop her from looking, which sends her into flashback mode to that moment, only this time instead of noticing her own corpse, she sees her wonderful nanny sobbing over her death.  

I love the intensity on his face.  Such a handsome face.  ~sigh~

He even grabs her shoulders to try & hold her...back.  To try & hold her back from seeing.  

Just as she is about to walk away Eun Oh reminds her to get the evidence of who murdered nanny.  Remember nanny's ghost showed her when she visited, she put it in her hanbok.  

Geo Deol's identity tag

How many of you were so happy to see Dol Soe walk up to Geo Deol & punch him in the face before he had the patrolmen arrest him?  I was so excited!  I was all, "Yeah!  Knock his block off Dol Soe!!"  Even the townspeople were excited to see Geo Deol walked through town under arrest.  They were all, "okay we finally have ourselves a magistrate!  Woot Woot!!"  AND "whatever the Magistrate decides I got his back dude!"  {{Okay that part may be paraphrased... a bit}}  However, Lord Choi was not the least bit pleased to find out his main man was caught by the police for the murder he ordered.  

That night after Arang & the Magistrate had a visit from the daughter of Nanny, Arang tells Eun Oh what she remembered from when she saw her own body.  How Nanny had been crying for her.  

Now they just need to figure out why Lord Choi wanted to know who she was from nanny & whether or not Ju Wal is in on it all as well.  

Speaking of Ju Wal...the next day he is alone & wondering why Arang asked him where he was that night on the bridge?  Why would she ask that question?  And why so suddenly?  Guess its time to visit CMD & ask some questions.  He kneels down in front of her & asks her if she remembers Lee Seo Rim, the former Magistrate's daughter?  The one he was engaged to?  She says yes.  He asks her if that Lady, that night...

"Was I...

She tells him, Yes.  Yes you did.  

He starts to shake & get upset & cry & I felt so bad for him.   

But when she rubbed in the fact that he killed his own destiny & you remember that he now knows how much Lee Seo Rim loved him & wanted him & was excited to be with him it broke my heart for him even more.  Poor guy.

 So he starts to ask her how...how could...And she finishes with....

Way to rub salt in the wound you old beast! 

And then we find out why he doesn't remember any of it...

{{Unnie gloating moment...  I called it yesterday in my review of 15!  He has no memory of his kills!!  Am I good or what?!?!  Okay I'll be good.}}

The truth is that he has no memory because after he kills for her, he has little panic attacks at the very idea of having killed a human being, an innocent human being.  He hates doing it & it freaks him out completely!  And he cannot deal with the truth or facts so she offers to wipe his memory... 

After he leaves CMD behind she postulates out loud that right now is not the time for him to know that Arang & Lee Seo Rim are the same chick.  No she'll save that info for later when it is far more useful.  

In heaven Mr Beautiful & Yeom Ra discuss how there are variables when dealing with humans.  That though Mr Beautiful had planned it all out he did not foresee how strong Eun Oh's mom would be or how much CMD would be weakened from not getting her feed on during the last leap month.  Which tickles Yeom Ra to no end that Mr Beautiful is not so perfect as he acts & gives Mr Beautiful the perfect opportunity to explain that it is the variables that he can plan for & its why he loves human beings so much.  They make things unpredictable no matter how well you plan.  

And Moo Yeong is on his best behavior wondering how he can help his sister?  Remembering back to when she was still Heaven's Fairy.  But even when she was she was batcrap crazy in my humble opinion...

Yep batcrap crazy even in heaven!!

Meanwhile back on earth Ju Wal is still in shock after finding out he was the one who killed the beautiful Lee Seo Rim, the same Lee Seo Rim who loved him so much.  So he wandering the forest & arrives at the former bone tomb area at the same time Arang shows up looking for a chance to grasp a hold of more memories.  She walks up to him & asks him what he's doing there.  He startles & looks at her all scared & and asks her the same thing.  She explains she's been there before, that there used to be an abandoned house there.  He explains he has to go in his terrified voice & she stops him after he walks past her in a hurry when she asks him....

But he has no answer for her...

Meanwhile back at the Magistrate Office Eun Oh's dad has arrived...

He thought about answering Eun Oh's questions via a letter but decided he needed to be there in person.  I will admit in the beginning of the show they made him sound like he was a bad guy or the very least a bad dad but you could see from the moment he arrived that he loves his son & worries for him.  He was a good daddy.  Awww...thank goodness.  Eun Oh deserves that.  You can also see as he is telling the story of Eun Oh's mom that he cared for her too but just could not reach through her anger & hatred toward Lord Choi.  

Her story is much as we have heard from various & sundry sources throughout the show.  She came from a well to do family, her father was a former Left State Minister.  And it was reported to him that Lord Choi was a bad guy w/ dirty dealings & he was just about to punish Lord Choi for his misdeeds but Lord Choi managed to turn the tables on her dad, & instead of punishing Lord Choi he ended up being framed by Lord Choi for treason.  Stripped of his titles & money, his daughter was the only member of the family spared.  The rest?  Brutally killed as punishment for his false treason.  From that moment on she was poisoned by her grudge of hatred for Lord Choi.  So she could never be a good mother which only added to her guilt & hatred.  That her leaving Eun Oh was her way of trying to be a good mom, so he would not be affected by her sickness.  He's basically telling Eun Oh be patient & forgiving.  She couldn't help herself.  

Of course as he is leaving he has to stop long enough to impart fatherly wisdom to his son.  Being a magistrate is no different than ruling a country.  Your job is to sincerely listen & help the people with their troubles.  That's all.  He then tells his son that if he has any other troubles or questions to let him know, he'll come & help.  See that is a good dad!  When your kids need you, you drop what you're doing & you help them.  Awww...heart all melty.  

That night Arang finally comes back after seeing Ju Wal on the mountain confused & hurt by his obvious guilt.  She now knows somehow he was involved in Lee Seo Rim's death.  She goes into Lee Seo Rim's old room & sits in the dark looking at mirror asking Lee Seo Rim what she should do?  What would Lee Seo Rim want of her?  Revenge?  Punish the guilty party?  And why is it that the closer she gets to finding the truth behind her death, the more her heart aches?  Then Eun Oh calls her name & opens the door & asks her what she's doing in there in the dark alone & whether she is crying?  He sits down opposite & tries to get her to talk but it's all so overwhelming for her & she just stares at him.  Having just been there himself he understands & reminds her that she isn't alone, he promised to send her to heaven together.  She can tell him anything, when she's ready.  

In the wee early hours of the morning we see him marching through town, w/ Dol Soe's voice in his ears.  He found someone who was a servant 3 years ago for Lord Choi.  He meets with the servant who remembers Eun Oh's mom coming to work for Lord Choi, which was weird because she didn't seem like the type to be a laborer, but she seemed so desperate.  So she was hired but within 3 days she was caught trying to poison Lord Choi & she was taken away & never seen or heard from again.  Then the servant asks Eun Oh to help him with his problem.  Which is the "Forced Labor" of Lord Choi.  It would seem even when you aren't supposed to be a part of the Forced Labor group in town that you get forced into forced labor anyway.  So back home Eun Oh tells Dol Soe to look into it all.  He isn't the only one to finally come forward & ask the magistrate for help.  All of them are finally spilling the evils of Lord Choi onto Eun Oh & begging for help.  From a man who lost his farm land & his parents, to a woman whose son's only crime was getting drunk & complaining about Lord Choi, who then had the boy beaten till he was insane to finally a woman who couldn't pay her debt & ended up having to sell her 12 year old daughter.  At that point I wanted to kill Lord Choi myself.  

Of course Lord Choi is getting to hear from Moe that the townspeople are now visiting the Magistrate regularly so he's aware that his deeds are being revealed.  He sends a messenger to the governor.  We don't get to see what it is in the letter but I'm betting he's going to try setting up Eun Oh like he did Eun Oh's grandfather.  And he sends a message via Moe & Curly to Geo Deol in the town jail....keep your mouth shut!  Wonder when or if Geo Deol, will finally break his silence about all the secrets he knows.  

Okay time for a little comic relief... goodness knows we could all use a little breathing room for a minute, right?

The Shaman is still getting ghostly visits from her mom, who has brought friends.  Yes, she can see them.  No, she cannot hear them.  But they seem to be enjoying the offerings of "Bossam" (pork) & other foods though.  She is beyond frustrated by the unfairness of not being able to hear.  She honestly doesn't know which is worse not being to hear or not being able to see.  But her mom is hysterical.  Telling her friends all about Dol Seo & how he visits he brings the pork so he can suck up to Bang Ui Ri...

BAHAHAHAHAHA.....  wait. o.O 

{{My mom passed away too!  OMO!!  What has she seen?!?!  THAT IS EMBARRASSING!!!  Don't think about it & don't panic!  Why did that never occur to me before?!?!  Omo Omo Omo!!!}}

Okay can't think about that now...must focus on review we're almost done.  

We rejoin Arang & Eun Oh at the Magistrate office.  He's filling her in on what the servant said about his mom trying to kill Lord Choi & never being heard from again.  And it occurs to Eun Oh that the beast was there before Lord Choi.  He remembers back to what the Three Stooges told him about how all the previous owners of the house were powerful & successful as well.  No doubt about it they need to follow Lord Choi's movements as surely he is the one who hid CMD away.  

It's time to call back in the ghosts that were originally supposed to be spying but disappeared.  It seems they didn't like all the evil ghosts coming & going so they ran away.  After Eun Oh convinces them that he has cleared out all the bad spirits they agree to follow the people coming & going from the house.  It's while following the servant that Ju Wal sent to keep an eye on CMD, that they discover the evil glow of the house she is staying in & they run back to Eun Oh to report.  Who then stands up when he realizes that they have found her new lair.  As he is getting ready to leave Arang starts to follow & he tells her to stay behind where it's safe.  She tells him...

I loved the look on his face when she said, "We don't have many left to be together."  It's not just me, right?  That is the same as a confession right?  

Once they step over the threshold CMD feels them & gets all excited.  

Ever the protective man.  You are so cool Eun Oh.

Arang recognizes her from that night outside Ju Wal's house when she intro'd herself as Ju Wal's Aunt.  Before Eun Oh can say "Ju Wal's Aunt?!?" CMD turns to him & says... 

Is it just me or does he look confused AND horrified at the same time?  

It's at this point Arang finally has that flashback to her death.  We finally see who actually killed Lee Seo Rim.

She remembers LSR hiding in the building watching as Eun Oh's mom, Ju Wal AND another lady all decked out meet in the woods.  She watches as the fancy lady begins to shake & tremble violently & she watches as a dark cloud of power swirls from her to the Eun Oh's mom & the fancy lady collapses & dies.  Then she watches as Eun Oh's mom fights that dark power & tries to regain control of her own body.  Which includes grabbing the knife in the belt of Ju Wal's robes.  And trying to stab herself.  Of course Ju Wal has no real idea what is going on so he tries to stop CMD from killing herself.  Which freaks out Eun Oh's mom who then turns the knife on him telling to take his hands off her.  LSR is watching all of this filled with fear from the house.  Then we see the two women in the one body battling it out.

And then Eun Oh's mom panics again when Ju Wal tries to help CMD & brings down the knife to stab him.  Only LSR, who loves Ju Wal, rushes out & in front of him & takes the knife in her back instead of allowing him to be hurt.   

Once she realizes she killed an innocent girl Eun Oh's mom gives up the fight.  Not that I blame her I think I'd be just about done at that point once I realized I murdered someone.  And we see for the first time the true Creepy Mommy Dearest emerge in her new body...

They take LSR's body into the house & lay her on the floor.  She asks Ju Wal who it is, he has no idea.  She asks him how she came to be there...again he's got nothing.  So she says... 

But that is not all the evil of CMD.  She decides LSR has seen too much so ... 

And now we know it wasn't Mr Beautiful who erased her memory.  It was CMD.   

Just like she did w/ Ju Wal.  

Ju Wal then disposes of the body as ordered.  But I must admit he really does not look happy about it.

And now Arang remembers everything. 

Time for the closing Screen Shots....

Just then CMD reaches out her hand to grasp Arang & Eun Oh's hand shoots out & stops her in mid grasp!

Eun Oh for the win!!

And that is where I was thinking...

NOOOOO!!!!!!  Don't end there!!!!  It's NOT fair!!!!!!!!!!  K Dramas I hate you!!!  I LOVE you but I hate you!!!!  And then I realized... JU WAL IS NOT THE KILLER OF LSR!!!  HUZZAHHH!!!  Okay so yeah he did kill other girls but he didn't kill LSR.  Then I realize that CMD lied to him, that B with an Itch!  Oooohhhh I wanted to kill her even more just then!  And now you see why I was just putting this off all day. this week's episodes had me all discombobbled!   

Now ~sigh~ a whole week to go for the next 2 episodes.  

OH THE HUMANITY!!!!!!  

And on that note it is time to hit post AddiKts.  I don't know about you but I'm exhausted.  Have a wonderful week.

Saranghamnida,