Nine: Nine Times Times Travel ep 3 [Dramatic Review]

Episode 3.  Oh, episode 3.  You were a good episode.  You had a great ending.  I can't talk about it yet, but I can't wait to talk about it.  No really, I can't wait.  Want to know a secret?  I'm actually writing this before I even finish my review of episode 2.  Seriously.  That's how excited I am to talk about this episode.  Specifically the end of this episode.  As well as other parts of it too of course.  But mostly the end.  The steamy, steamy, naughty end.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's back this train up and get our Nine's Nine officially started because the sooner we start the sooner we can talk about the end.

Here we go, Nine's Nine for episode 3...

1.  Putting it All Together

When we last left him, our hero was having a little phone conversation...with himself.  In the past.  He was back in 1992 and talking to his high school self.  Yeah, that's trippy.  Mid-conversation, his time in 1992 runs out and he finds himself back in 2012, empty-handed where just a second before he had been holding a phone.  He then discovers from the panicky employee that he has been missing for 10 minutes.  His mounting suspicions are only confirmed when he gets back the information he had asked one of the employees to get for him.  The pager was manufactured in the early 90s and the phone number once belonged to the Duksan Library/study hall that he used to hang out at all the time.  Everything is starting to fall in place and click in his mind.  I wonder if he's the only one starting to stitch what's going on together?  Notice how interested Dr Evil seems when he finds out that Jeong Woo had died while hiking in the Himalayas?  I'm filing this away for later just in case it starts to look like he might know a little about this whole time traveling thing.


2.  Total Recall

As he is putting all these pieces together in his mind, memories start flooding back to Seon Woo.  He remembers talking to a mysterious man who had his pager and claimed to be him back in 1992.  He remembers telling his buddy, Han Yeong Hoon back then.  Funny thing is, Han Yeong Hoon remembers it still in 2012 as well.  Seon Woo also goes back and finds his old day planner from 1992 (remember how cool day planners were back in the 90s?) where he had written down this whole mysterious encounter.  Here he sits, in 2012, reading and remembering this strange thing that happened 20 years ago.  Strange things are afoot for sure.


3.  Remember for Later?

I am only including this one here because I didn't understand it or its significance, which means it could become significant later on.  Or it could just end up being a space filler to help me get to the end.  You decide.  We get a flashback to Jeong Woo writing a final letter to one Yoo Jin.  Who is this Yoo Jin, what is her part in all this, and why is this a final letter?


4.  Hyung Holds the Key

As all of this is coming together in Seon Woo's head, he goes back and reads his brother's journal found on his corpse with a whole new set of eyes.  And recalls their last conversation with a set of fresh ears as well.  He suspects his brother had found a way to travel back in time using these incense sticks.  And there are more hidden back in Nepal.  Road trip!


5.  Textual Tension

As Seon Woo dashes off to Nepal to seek out these 9 remaining incense sticks, Dr Yeong Hoon gives Min Young a heads up letting her know lover boy is on his way.  His friend is concerned about his mental stability and apparent hallucinations.  She's sitting in a restaurant or hotel lobby or something when she sees Seon Woo pull up and get out.  The two of them then start in a text-a-thon.  They joke and flirt, and he is left smiling, but they don't actually meet.  It's just her, watching him (he can't see her) while the two of them text flirt.  She's trying to put on a brave face and keep things light in order to help him since he's you know, dying and all that.  Can I just say how much I like her?  I think she's cool.


6.  Mission Improbable

As he begins his quest to find the truth and the time traveling incense, Seon Woo is dictating a record for his buddy Yeong Hoon and telling him all that he has discovered up to this point.  We get the introduction of a mysterious man who was the one to tell Jeong Woo about the 9 remaining sticks.  Seon Woo reveals his belief that Jeong Woo had indeed found these sticks, but died in a blizzard before even having the chance to light one.  So he's going back in search of the hidden sticks.


7.  Playing History Teacher
It's starting to seem as if certain dates are of importance, so I thought I'd play history teacher and record them here just in case.  And to help clear up and straighten them out in my mind before we continue much further since time travel shows tend to muddle my brain.
Dec 31, 1992 - Seon Woo's father dies
Jan 1992 - 9 sticks remain leftover
Jan 2012 - Jeong Woo, in search of the sticks, dies
Dec 2012 - Seon Woo starts his own time traveling

Got it?  These may show up on a pop quiz later.


8.  Getting Incensed in the Past

Seon Woo has been able to glean some information from his brother's journal, specifically the exact location of the 9 sticks as well as the timeframe he has to work in.  The longest time they give you back in the past is 10 minutes.  And this is subject to wind.  More wind, the faster it burns.  His stick is almost burn out, so this means, at most, he has 10 minutes to go back and find the 9.  He takes precautions and brings a lantern to shelter the incense from the wind, goes to where this lodge once stood, and jumps back 20 years.  He finds himself at the right place (yay!), finds the room, barges in when the lady inside says she needs 5 minutes to get dressed first.  Obviously he doesn't have time to wait, so yeah, he breaks down the door.  He finds the container holding the sticks and starts to leave.  Only there's a problem.  Undressed lady has a boyfriend/husband who's a little put out that this strange guy just busted his door down.  There's a fight and a struggle.  The container is lost in the struggle.  But of course, at the very last possible second, he falls, catches it and just in time as he lands back in the snow of 2012, container in hand.  He opens it up, counts 9 sticks and celebrates his success.

9.  Here it is.  Finally.  The End.

On his way out, he also grabbed a record - the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard.  He sits there in his hotel room in Nepal, relishing in his successful recovery of the incense and what this now means for him while listening to the romantic music.  Who should then walk in but Min Yeong?  She agrees to marry him for 3 months and declares that this is their honeymoon.  Wha???  Am I crazy?  I thought I was watching a Kdrama.  Things like this never happen in a Kdrama.  At least not in the 3rd episode.  He locks the door and well, you know what comes next.  Obviously there's conversation and some of it is probably worth mentioning.  Like how she's putting on a brave face but then crumbles when he questions her on it.  Oooh, he's just too mean.  He then teases her and tells her that if she's going to start something so bold, she better be ready to carry it through to the end.  He then comes back with "why just 3 months? We've already come this far for our honeymoon, might as well make it longer.  How about 3 years?  Or better yet, 30?  Let's just date as long as we can until we get tired of each other."  She takes this to mean that he's going to get treatment, but obviously he has other thoughts in mind.  Like thoughts of going back in time and somehow fixing everything.  One thing is for certain, he's not wasting any more time.  He's going to love the woman he wants.  And that's where we end.  It was a steamy and nice final scene.  So undrama-like, but so very nice.  You won't hear me complaining.

And there we end for today.  I'm really digging this show so far and can't wait to see what happens next!  Stay tuned for episode 4's review coming at you soon.  Until then, happy drama watching and thanks for stopping by!