DFR: Faith ep 15

Welcome back Faithfuls to this week's first installment of Faith recaps.  I hope you all have been doing well since we last met.  Have you been enjoying some lovely dramas this week?  I know that I for one am a mix of super excitement and ultra sadness because one of my favorite dramas is ending this week.  Any other To the Beautiful You fans out there?  I watched episode 15 already and am just waiting for 16 to come up.  I'm going to try and be good and wait until it is fully subbed before watching it, but I can't make any promises.  However, we're not here to talk about that one, and the one we are here to talk about has A LOT to talk about, doesn't it?  I'd say!  Wow!  What an episode 15 was!  So I best be getting started then, shan't I?  (psst...that was really bad English on purpose.  No grammar police needed).

After I finished watching it I was 1) happy because it was a great episode 2) swooning over the yummiliciousness of Lee Min Ho (duh - I only mention it so that my list has 3 things and not just two) and 3) a little panicked at the thought of having to recap everything that happened.  There was just so much and some of it, while understood somewhere in my subconscious, wasn't understood enough to put into actual words of explanation.  Hopefully that makes sense, right?  *awkward glance around to see if anyone is nodding their head in agreement*

First of all, the political maneuvering in this one is complicated and involved.  There's a coup.  But that comes later.  It's hard to know where exactly to start with this one.  Sorry.  Give me a moment while I try to organize my thoughts.

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Okay, so I think I'll start at the beginning, where we left off.  Eun Soo has been poisoned by Prince Deok Heung.  Who has approached Lady Choi to tell her in an attempt to locate where Eun Soo and Choi Young are hiding out.  Thankfully it's not Prince Deok Heung who shows up at the hideout though.  Lady Choi has sent Dr Jang who comes rushing in and tells Choi Young what's going on - that she's been poisoned and who did it.  And Deok Heung wants to meet him.  So CY rushes off to visit with our wanna-be king usurper.

Whoa!  CY does NOT play nice when he gets there.

He immediately goes on the attack, grabbing and threatening Deok Heung.  Daring considering that, while a total tool and meanie, he's still a royal family member.  Obviously CY doesn't care about that - he only cares about his woman who is dying because of this man.  My favorite line was the one to the tune of "Look, I've killed so many people in my life that I can't even count, and I've always done it without inflicting pain by knife, however, today, you, I am thinking of dismembering your limbs one by one."  And he says this while shoving him against the wall and holding a knife to the back of his neck.  And then - omo!  He STABS him!!!  CY stabs Deok Heung!

He's not making idle threats here - he truly wants to kill this man.  Deok Heung tells him that he's a dead man no matter what (remember the whole I'm dead if I don't become king thing?) and that if CY kills him then his woman dies too without the antidote.  "She is your woman, isn't she?"  Uh, yeah...no comment from CY on that one.  *giggle*

*cough, cough*  Sorry, so not a giggle moment there.  ;)  We're in serious mode.  Ahem.   Eun Soo's life hangs in the balance and CY has to get the antidote from DH.  Which he (DH) is willing to do, under one condition.  There's something that he wants CY to get for him - the king's seal.  Now, remember, the seal is what gives the king a lot of his authority and power.  Without it, he is a mere figurehead.  Or something like that.

So CY goes to see the king.  At first, the king is shocked but excited to see CY - he figured he'd never see him again since he escaped from prison.

Everyone is a little confused as to what to do - he is a convicted and escaped criminal after all, but the king pushes everyone back saying, "Guys, this is Choi Young.  Chill."

Then CY asks the king nicely for his seal, explaining that he needs it in order to save the High Doctor.  There's a back and forth exchange that ends with the king being furious and refusing to hand over the seal and then ordering CY to be captured.

Now, CY has gone to see the king unarmed.  Yet he still manages to fight off all of the guards and Woodalchi that come at him.  Oh the drama of this entire scene!  The king having his friend (apparently) turn on him and the Woodalchi having to treat their beloved former general as a criminal.  Really it was all fabulously done and I wish I could spend more time on going over the finer details of it, but there's still so much story to cover, so I'll have to just leave it at that.  But, yeah...wow!

So there's all this running around and fighting to keep CY from getting the seal, only to come to find out that he had already taken it - before even asking for it.  Well played Choi Young, well played!  Take it, but still be honest and forthright about it, explaining why you need it.  And also why the king should turn it over.  We find out later, along with the king, that there was a hidden message in CY's request.  Of course, our king being the reactionary guy he is didn't catch it at first - only later on when recounting the story to the queen.  Then it hit him.  The seal.  "Who gave that seal to you?", asked Choi Young.  The answer?  Yuan.  The seal is from Yuan - which basically means that the authority that the king gets from it is in essence given by Yuan, not Goryeo or the citizens of Goryeo.  In other words - it's not as precious as the king thought.  Choi Young was trying to tell him that if he wants to be king of Goryeo and separate from Yuan, then the seal means nothing and should be handed over.  Once the king realizes this he feels awful.  He can't believe that he didn't trust Choi Young yet again.  Sheesh!  How many times does CY have to prove his loyalty/friendship to this guy before he'll finally trust him?  We have made progress though - at least the king does eventually figure it out and a whole lot faster than he would have in the past, but still.

So, Choi Young brings the seal to Prince Deok Heung who then turns over the antidote.  Only, of course there's another catch. Turns out that one dose isn't going to be enough. She's going to need one dose every four days, for a total of 7 doses.  Crap.  That's going to be 7 favors that CY has to do for DH, isn't it?  CY doesn't react well, but can't kill the man.  So he takes off with the first dose and runs back to Eun Soo.  Meanwhile, Deok Heung hands the seal over to Gi Cheol.  Yeah, this will get fun.

While unconscious, Eun Soo is having a dream.  She sees herself, back in some other time period, writing in the diary.

She also dreams of Choi Young.  Only he's dead.  She cradles his lifeless body in her arms and kisses his forehead.

Meanwhile, the antidote has been administered and CY is holding her hand talking to her, telling her how he's going to teach her to fish. The antidote has started to work and at this point she stirs, and then wakes up upset and crying, repeating, "don't die!".  Choi Young is right there to hold her and comfort her.  He calls her "imja" which, according to the wonderful subbers, means "you" but in a more intimate way.  Ooh!  Talk about heart melt!  One word that before this episode I never even knew and still every time I think about it and him using it (repeatedly) gives me happy chills.

Once Eun Soo calms down and rests a little, Choi Young and Lady Choi have a talk about what is going on back at the palace.

A lot of political stuff is happening - the most significant is that Jo Il Shin has been meeting with Prince Deok Heung.  Lady C assures CY that the king figured out what he meant with the seal. And he, the king, is all alone.  Lady C wants to know what CY is planning on doing.  He himself doesn't know.  He's toying with the idea of returning with Eun Soo to the heavens.

Look at that smile.  I think it's pretty obvious what he wants to do.

For now his focus is on getting her healthy and then he'll have to figure out the rest.  He feels horrible guilt for her poisoning since it was he who sent Deok Heung to ES to help solve the mystery of the notebook.  Poor CY - the weight of the entire world always on his shoulders.


He returns to Eun Soo's side and starts apologizing.  She asks him to help her sit up.  Then she asks him to sit behind her so that she can lean on him for support.  His face!

Seriously, this guy is master of the "holy moly I am so attracted to you" face I could just....  Agh!  When will they kiss?????!!!  She starts telling him about her dream and the fact that he was in it.  That also elicited quite the response from him.  By response I mean another intense facial expression and not the much-hoped-for kiss, but still...delectable moment.

She then tells him that she figured it out - when the heaven door will reopen.  It's in a month.  After that, it won't open for another 67 years, which means that if she wants to return in her lifetime, it's next month or bust.  Tick tock tick tock.  No pressure or anything.

Aaah!  So much is left unsaid but still so well communicated. Is it just me or is it getting HoTT in here?  o.O
KISS HER ALREADY!

Back to politics for a moment.  I will do my best to explain what is going on at court.  Gi Cheol calls an emergency meeting with all the officials.  He brings up the seal and asks to see it to insure that it is safe.  The king, who up until this point has made sure that word does not get out that the seal was stolen, so the only ones that know are the Woodalchi, Deok Heung and Gi Cheol, announces that he got rid of it.  He doesn't need or want the seal from Yuan, he wants to make his own to be the seal of Goryeo, not Yuan's brother-in-law.  Everyone freaks out, worried that this will be seen as an act of rebellion against Yuan and that it will cause war to break out.  Prince Deok Heung uses this opportunity to set Jo Il Shin in motion - to usurp the throne in the name of protecting the country from rebellion and war.  Jo Il Shin is in hyper mode preparing for the coup.  He's meeting with all kinds of people, including the palace guards to get them on his side.  The pressure is on to get this all complete before Gi Cheol's army returns in a few days.

I am going to interrupt this political talk and just mention this scene that was nestled sweetly in all the war talk.  Choi Young and his sworn aunt and uncle are preparing a medicine for Eun Soo.  Choi Young brings it to her and she starts complaining saying that she doesn't want it.  She takes a sip and chokes on the bitterness of it.  He goes up behind her and gently cajoles her into drinking it, while Uncle and Aunt give each other knowing looks.

The love in the air is so thick you could choke on it if you didn't have your handy-dandy Lee Min Ho City Hunter face mask.

It's time for dose two of the antidote, so back to Deok Heung goes Choi Young.  His condition this time?  Sit and talk to me and maybe play a little baduk.  All night, until dawn.  Huh?  Why?  Well, because the coup is starting that night.  And the timing of the antidote is critical - a little late and bam, she's dead.  In other words, Choi Young will be stuck hanging out with Deok Heung while the coup is going on.  Oh, and you know, placed in an impossible situation where he has to choose to save the king or his lady love.  Guess who else shows up to Deok Heung's party?  Gi Cheol.  He's a little, shall we say, put out?, that Deok Heung went around him and cut him out of the coup plans.  Not only that, but there are about 2000 troops currently attacking Gi Cheol's place while he's away.  Not so good for Gi Cheol's little brother who gets killed.

The king is facing his now former advisor Jo Il Shin who is informing him of what all is going on.  The king is royally ticked off that the royal guards were mobilized without his authorization.  He realizes that he has just been betrayed by Jo Il Shin, who's response is "I served you in Yuan for 10 years and you didn't recognize me enough".  He sounds like a whiny kid, "you love Choi Young more than me".  Somebody slap his whiny face please.

 

What will Choi Young do?  This episode closes with Eun Soo once again becoming paralyzed and collapsing.  It appears that Deok Heung was telling the truth about the antidote needing to be given repeatedly.  Before all this though, I should point out one thing she asked Choi Young (right? I'm pretty sure it was him she asked) to ask Deok Heung about the last page in the notebook.  She wants to know if what she saw was a dream or a memory.  She dreamt/saw a last page that is no longer there.  If it turns out that indeed a page is missing then she'll know it was a real memory she was having and not just a dream.  Aren't you so curious to know what her history is?  It sure looks like she was there before.  And knew and loved Choi Young before.  The medical tools, the notebook and everything.  I am so curious!  These silly time travelling shows and their mysteries!

Okay, so I'm going to leave it here for now because it is time for me to go watch the next episode.  I am dying to know what happens next but wanted to get this written first so that I wouldn't confuse events in the two.  I'll see you back here for this week's dramatic conclusion.  Well, not conclusion conclusion.  We're dealing with a 24 episoder here after all, I just meant the conclusion for this week.  I've heard rumor there's a crazy cliffhanger...gotta go check it out for myself!  Until next time, stay ever Faithful!