Nine: Nine Times Time Travel ep 9 [Dramatic Review]

You know how if you repeat a word often enough, it starts to look weird.  For example, we will be talking about episode nine of the show called Nine: Nine Times Time Travel.  How many times can we use the word "nine" before it starts to look odd?  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine. Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.   Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine.  Nine. 

Are we there yet?  Yes?  Ready to stop the chit chat and talk about the episode?  Yes?  Good.  Me too.  Nine.

Nine's Nine of episode Nine  (that's a whole lotta nine right there)

1.  Funeral Faux Pas

I know I'm not quite up on my Korean funeral ettiquette, and correct me if I'm wrong, but does it seem appropriate for all three conspirators in the death of a man to be paying their respects to said man?  And then for whisperings of conspiracy to be held between the three as well?  I don't know if "awkward" quite covers it.  As Dr Evil is paying his respects though, he first "counsels"/"orders"/"threatens" ("potato/potato") Jeong Woo to calm down.  The kid looks like he is about to break from the overwhelming guilt after all.  Then Mom drops a bombshell and tells Dr Evil that there was a witness to the incident that night, some mysterious man saw them at the hospital.

2.  Hey, Haven 't We Met Before?

This revelation gets Dr Evil thinking as he is driving to his day in court so to speak.  Remember that Seon Woo has just given him the video footage from that fateful night.  Dr E is trying to put these pieces together.  He's remembering now this conversation that he and the grieving widow had had at the funeral those 20 years ago.  Back then, nothing ever came of this mystery man, so he was soon forgotten.  Mom admits that while she doesn't know him, she does recognize him from the theater (remember the broken glasses?).  Dr Evil figures that this mysterious man from the theater was the witness who 20 years later turned the evidence over to Seon Woo.  Ooh!  And the plot thickens!

3.  Catching On?

Dr Evil isn't the only one starting to wonder and piece things together.  Min Young knows that something is up with Seon Woo and asks Young Hoon about it.  He says that it is something that only afflicts men and that she wouldn't understand.  Viagra comes up again.  She calls Young Hoon a liar.  You can fool her, she knows something is up and that she is not being told the truth by either one of these guys.  Young Hoon explains that Seon Woo was recently dumped and that that is why he is acting so weird lately.  She asks if the girl's name happens to be the same as hers, only with a different family name.  She is trying to figure out just who this Joo Min Young lady is and what part she has in all of this.

4.  Meet the Parents

Having had his big 20 year secret discovered by his little brother, Jeong Woo is writing his resignation letter when his daughter contacts him and they go out to lunch.  After lunch, she bumps into her boyfriend who just so happens to be going out with his parents.  Ah!  Time to meet the parents!  And then, lo and behold, Min Young's dad shows up right at that moment as well, meaning that the ever important meeting of both families has just happened.  Apparently, as she finds out later, Min Young is a huge hit with boyfriend's parents, so much so that he proposes.  Over the phone.  In a very casual, almost accidental way.  So not romantic.  Min Young is obviously taken by surprise and doesn't answer his proposal and instead gets back to work reporting on the New Year's Eve festivities.

5.  Warning: Time Travel May Increase the Size of Brain Tumors in Some Patients

Young Hoon has carted Seon Woo off to the hospital where he learns that the tumor has grown in ways that the doctors deem impossible.  It's now huge, and has not only changed so dramatically in one month, but they can see changes in just one day.  The doctors don't even know if Seon Woo will last another day and determine that surgery is pointless at this juncture - he's as good as dead.  Looks like Seon Woo was right when he said that he could tell the tumor was getting worse from all his time traveling.  Whoops.  Talk about screwing yourself over.  All that time travel and what does he get?  A girlfriend turned into a niece, a dad that still dies, the knowledge that his own brother killed their father and may not be his brother after all, and an enlarged tumor that will kill him any second now instead of the 6 months to one year he originally had.  Way to go.  Hope it was worth it there.

6.  I Just Called to Say...

Seon Woo wakes up in the hospital and sees the writing on the wall, or I guess medical chart.  He is asked to sign an authorization for surgery.  He must realize that he may not live, because he takes this opportunity to call Jeong Woo up.  After telling him that he can never forgive him, Seon Woo continues to ask his brother to at least not turn to drug use and to be a good father, husband and son.  After what can only be called a last farewell, Seon Woo collapses on the floor.

7.  The Part Where Dongsaeng Admits She May Have Cried Just a Teeny Tiny Bit

Yes.  It's true.  This part brought me to tears.  Seeing Young Hoon in both 1992 and 2012 running to his best friend's side in the hospital choked me up.  What a good friend this guy is.  Don't you just love him?  Seriously, seriously love him and this whole bromance they've got going on. 

8.  Meet Me in the Park

In 1992, Young Hoon reaches the hospital bedside of Seon Woo as he recovers from injuries sustained in the fire.  He then gets to hear a very interesting revelation from his best friend about how his future self came to him.  He gets the run down, sees the evidence of the driver's license, and then is given an assignment.  Remember how young Seon Woo was supposed to meet old Seon Woo in the park in order to learn more information that would save another life?  Obviously Seon Woo can't keep this appointment as he is hospitalized, so he asks Young Hoon to go in his stead.  Being the good friend that he is, YH does just that.  He goes to the park and waits. And waits.  He waits there for hours, but no one shows up.  When he calls to tell this to Seon Woo, Seon Woo figures that this must mean that the "someone else" is him - that future him doesn't show up because he is dead.  Whoa.

9.  Death of an Anchorman

Sure enough, back in 2012, the surgery starts.  And it doesn't end up going well.  After a frantic fight to save his best friend's life, Young Hoon collapses as Seon Woo is pronounced dead.  Seriously.  They cover him with a sheet and everything.  The hero of our story is dead.  As a doornail.  Pfft!  Done.  Gone.  No more.  He's d-e-d dead.  Uhm...where do we go from here?  We still have 11 episodes to go you know.  Well, lucky for us and for Seon Woo, this is a show about time travel, is it not?  Sure enough, 1992 Young Hoon comes to the rescue.  He searches Seon Woo's room and finds a bag of pills from a hospital that doesn't even exist at that time.  He calls a doctor, reads off the name on one of the pills, learns that it is used in treating brain tumors.  So, just as 2012 Young Hoon is trying to deliver the bad news to Min Young over the phone, he gets one of those weird flashy memory changing thingys.  He runs to find his buddy's corpse, pulls back the sheet and BOOM!  Somebody else!  He then turns to a TV and who should appear on screen but a very much alive and well Seon Woo, reporting on the events of that New Year's Eve and talking about the future.  He's not quitting, which means he's obviously no longer dying.  Young Hoon is understandably over-the-moon excited because this means that he has managed to miraculously save his best friend's life.

So we get a death of our leading man as well as his against-all-odds resurrection.  I wonder what else has changed at this point....  Looks like it's time for episode 10 then, huh?  See you then my fellow Nine Timers!