Nine: Nine Times Time Travel ep 2 [Dramatic Friday Review]

Well, hello there.  So, I have a confession to make.  I forgot to do a couple of things last week in my first reviews of this drama.  The obvious first one is that I neglected to, oh, I don't know, review the 2nd episode?  I suppose "forgot" isn't the best word.  I didn't forget.  I just didn't get to it.  But we don't need to focus on that little slip up.  The real thing that I forgot to take care of is something I like to do whenever I start reviewing a new drama.  I like to take a moment and welcome any first-time visitors to our site.  New dramas often bring new readers to us which is always so much fun.  If you are new here, let me extend to you our warmest and craziest ahjumma welcome.  We hope you like what you find here.  We hope we can fulfill your drama needs.  And of course we hope you stick with us and tell all your friends about us, but I would never stoop so low as to actually write something like that.  Seems a little self-serving, don't you think?  So instead, I'll just keep my mouth shut but secretly hope that you like us and stay with us and participate and share the love.  It's much classier that way.  I may be crazy, but I still try to keep it classy you know.

Okay, now that that's done, shall we continue on with the task at hand, drooling over Lee Jin Wook talking about episode two of this drama?  Yes?  Great!  Let's get started then!  On to Nine's Nine!

1.  HIPAA Schmipaa

Sensing something is up with Seon Woo, Min Yeong gives his best friend and doctor, Han Yeong Hoon, a ring and asks him what's going on.  Apparently, privacy laws and the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing is a little laxed here.  Yeong Hoon doesn't hold back and tells Min Yeong that Seon Woo has brain cancer and will be dead very soon if he doesn't receive treatment.  I guess he doesn't want to get treated because he's more focused right now on getting back at Dr Evil, Choi Jin Cheol.  Yeong Hoon hopes that Min Yeong might be able to convince Seon Woo to get treatment.  Obviously this news all comes as a huge shock to poor Min Yeong.  She's sobbing in the work van later and figuring out why he had put a time limit on their "marriage" when he "proposed".

2.  Ever Filial

We get a little peek at the kind of son Seon Woo is.  He goes to visit his mother and then returns home to his childhood home which he has held on to for when she recovers.  What a sweet son he is, taking such good care of his momma.  As a mom, I just want to give him a big old hug and smooch for being such a good boy.

3.  Take Backs and Not Backing Down

After visiting his mother, Seon Woo returns home to find his boss, Oh Cheol Min, waiting outside for him.  He informs Seon Woo that he doesn't care that he's dying or that he resigned, he wants him back at work.  The resignation letter has been torn up and better yet, Cheol Min is ready to trust Seon Woo in his accusations made about Dr Evil and go after him.  This is obviously great news for Seon Woo as he wants this doctor guy to pay for what he did to his family and others.  A bit later on, the dance with the devil begins when Dr Evil calls him up and tries to manipulate him.  When he doesn't get very far with Seon Woo, the doctor threatens to talk to big brother Jeong Woo as he is apparently the more reasonable and sane one in the family.  Seon Woo then gets to drop the bomb on Dr Evil and inform him that Jeong Woo is in fact deceased so he's out of luck there as well.  And thus begins our battle between these two.

4.  Something's Fishy

After throwing down the proverbial gauntlet with Dr Evil, Seon Woo is in his bedroom when he decides to light the incense stick once again.  The first sign we get that something is up is when he suddenly and inexplicably loses his internet/cell connection on his phone.  Well, why would that be?  We pan up and see that his room has transformed.  Instead of the sleek, modern manly room, we have transformed into the bedroom of a teenager.  New Kids on the Block, basketball (Chicago Bulls!  Woohoo!  I LIVED in Chicago in the 90's back in the Bull's and Michael Jordan's dynasty! Holla!) and fancy car posters grace the walls.  And there's a pager on the desk.  Suddenly he hears a familiar voice.  It's his mother.  And she's calling for her son to come downstairs.  Tears stream down his face as he sees his mother, healthy and well as she once was.  He begins to come down the stairs, probably assuming that she couldn't see him, when she spots him, a strange man, in her home.  She starts screaming for Jeong Woo who rushes in with a bat.  Neither one of them recognize Seon Woo and assume that he is some sort of intruder.  Jeong Woo goes on the attack and in the process, smashes to smitherines the giant fish tank in the living room.  Right after that, Seon Woo is back in his modern-day room, unaware that he is cut and bleeding and that there is a pager in his pocket.


5.  Dude, I'm Seeing Things

Eventually, Seon Woo realizes that he is bleeding and goes to see his buddy Yeong Hoon.  As he is getting stitched up (and chewed out by his friend), he talks of his supposed hallucination.  Seeing as how he has brain cancer and a giant tumor sitting up there, both write off the whole experience as some crazy cancer-induced hallucination and don't see it for what it really was, incense-induced time travel.  Because that would just be crazy.

6.  Cat's Out of the Bag

The two friends are out to eat.  And talking girls.  One girl in particular.  The girl.  Seon Woo is explaining that he can handle everyone else's reactions to his impending death but Min Yeong's, which is why he has no plans to tell her about the cancer.  Whoops.  Yeong Hoon has to then admit that the cat is out of the bag on that one already.  Oh yeah, that ship has sailed.  He tells Seon Woo how Min Yeong had been worried and had called him earlier in the day and he told her what was going on.  You can clearly see by his reaction that this is not welcome news to poor Seon Woo.

7.  Bird is the Word

Back at work, the guys in the control room think it would be a great idea to connect our two love birds up via the satellite feed they've got going between Nepal and the studio.  They patch her in, thinking that this is all great fun to tease these two.  Well, surprise is on them.  She starts by apologizing and making it clear that what she is about to say is meant only for Seon Woo.  They're all giggly and waiting for some sappy, lovey-dovey stuff I'm sure, when she shocks them all by using a certain gesture in order to communicate with her crush.  Oh yeah.  Girl is ma-ad.  She's hurt and upset that he's dying and that he didn't tell her.  They stand there staring at each other, not saying a word, yet saying so much.  Well, now we can't just leave it there, now can we?  After the bird exchange, they get on the phone together.  She's yelling and crying and then he confesses to her.  But what does he confess?  He tells her that when he found out he was dying, two things crossed his mind.  The first was about his mother and who would care for her when he was gone.  That's what had caused him to seek his brother out in the first place.  He wanted to make sure that Jeong Woo would take care of mom.  Well, there goes that idea out the window.  His second thought?  That he had not "shot a bed scene" with Min Yeong.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that "shoot a bed scene" is code for "has not slept with" her.  Just a wild guess.  Unless he is into filming pornography.  o.O
He goes on about how he has all these beautiful women flocking around him because he's a hotshot news anchor, yet she's still the one he regrets not having the chance to sleep with for some weird reason since she's so plain and all.  What a charmer, huh?  She's appalled by what she deems as sexual harassment, to which he replies that he's just being honest and that that's what all men think and if they say otherwise, they're con men.  But then he turns around and gives her a different story - one that he calls fantasy.  He tells her how they've worked together for 5 years and how in the moment he found out he was dying, he realized that he had loved her for all of those 5 years.  He talks about her smile and how much he needs it and that that's why he didn't want to tell her about his illness, for fear that it would cause her smile to disappear just when he needed it most.  By the end of this "fantasy", he's in tears.  Even she, hundreds of miles away, gets the sense that the "fantasy" was more reality than the supposed harsh "truth".  Smart girl.  And seriously like the most romantic drama phone call ever.  The butterflies were not just dancing in my belly, but singing too. 

8.  Beep Beep

At the studio, Seon Woo gets a phone call from his housekeeper who is telling him that the beeper in his pocket keeps going off.  He's got a ton of messages on there all from the same number.  At this point he's starting to really wonder about these "hallucinations".  He remembers putting the pager in his pocket.  So, out of curiosity, he decides to test it again and lights the incense stick.  He disappears from the modern world and is transported back to 1992.  Meanwhile, back in 2012, they're in a panic because their anchor has suddenly gone missing 5 minutes before he's supposed to be on air.

9.  Talking to Oneself

When the pager goes off again, Seon Woo picks up a telephone and dials the number.  Back in 2012 when he tried this, the number was out of service, but this time, lo and behold, it rings.  And a young man picks up.  The voice sounds familiar, yet he can't quite place it.  Then all the pieces come together.  Suddenly he realizes that this young man he is speaking to is none other than himself.  Whoa.  And he tells young Seon Woo this little tidbit of information.  As in, "I know who you are because I am you."  And that is our cliffhanger for this episode.  Not too shabby, ay?

So, what did we think of episode 2?  Are we happy so far?  Doing okay?  Hanging in there?  Curious and dying to see what happens next?  Me too!  For now though, I'm going to finish this up, post it, and head to bed because it's late and I'm tired.  Goodnight!  And may the ever-so handsome Lee Jin Wook visit us all in our dreams.  :)





p.s.  I should also have mentioned as I began that I am obviously several weeks behind.  I really don't like being behind.  Of course I'm glad to not have to wait for episodes to air yet since I'm not caught up, but if I'm going to be reviewing, I need to be more current.  I can't make any promises or anything, but I am going to attempt to fast forward some of these episodes a bit and put them out on other days other than just Friday.  You know, in a perfect world where nothing ever comes up to derail those intentions.  I'd love to get up to speed ASAP with these, so don't be surprised if they start flying at you faster than normal.  Of course, don't be surprised if they don't either.  We'll just have to see what happens as we commence.  The good news is that I managed to finish episode 2 and watch all of 3 today, so that's progress.  And I had to force myself to stop after that because I can't get too far ahead before getting the reviews done.  Ahjumma brain and all that you know.