Dramatic Friday Review: The King 2 Hearts ep 19

So, we begin this episode from where we left off in 18.  A birthday party for the chief lady-in-waiting/staff lady.

Oh, wait no.  That's not where we left off at all.

We left off here.
On a rock.
By the ocean.
Eun Shi Kyeong pointing a gun at King Jae Ha.

And a crazy man loving every minute of it.

 "Oh no!", we all said.
Did he really flip sides?
Has he truly turned against Jae Ha?

Are you new here?
Of course not.
He's Eun Shi Kyeong after all!
Of course he has a plan!
And is loyal.
To the end.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.

There is a rather tense, yet touching speech.

Bong Gu starts by telling Jae Ha not to be too angry with ESK - it took a lot of effort to flip him.  Then he accuses Jae Ha of not really trying to keep ESK, that he just came along with the title.  "Buying people with money like I do or using your title, what's the difference?" he asks of Jae Ha.





Eun Shi Kyeong admits there were moments when he doubted the king.

Moments like when he agreed to abdicate the throne.
Or when he refused to send him (ESK) to act as double agent and infiltrate Bong Gu's organization.
But only those two times.
Because he (JaeHa) never let himself wallow in grief.  And even when reality pointed to a 99% chance of failure, Jae Ha still looked to that remaining 1% and without fail always found a solution.  "I'm not loyal to him because he is the king, it's because even without hope, he doesn't give up."

He then (dramatically of course) turns the gun on Bong Gu!  Go Eun Shi Kyeong!  I knew you wouldn't fail us!!!!  You are THE MAN!

 Reinforcements come in and we have ourselves a good old fashioned standoff.  Guns are pointed everywhere and on everyone.  Tensions are high.

Hang Ah is positioned as a sniper up above it all.

And she has psycho-b!@#$* Bon Bon in her sites.

We get a flashback scene about the code that was decided on back before ESK left.  It revealed his location which is how the ICC and other reinforcements found them there on that rock.  Smart boys those two!  They make a great team!

ESK commands every one to lower their weapons, which they do.  Bon Bon though, as she is lowering hers, raises to shoot.

Bad choice, Bon Bon.

She is taken out by Hang Ah, and then is fired upon repeatedly for what I have to say is a death scene befitting of the character - overacted to the bitter end.

 But, good news is that she's dead.  As a doornail.  Buh bye psycho lady!

 Bong Gu is arrested by the ICC.

Things are looking great!
The bad guys are either dead or under arrest.
Every one is happy.

But then the unthinkable.
The twist I didn't see coming.
I know, I know...am I new here?
I should have known that as predictable as dramas can sometimes be, they can still pull a right good twist when they want to.
I didn't see it coming.
Not my ESK.
I truly thought him safe in the storyline.  He had a love interest in the crippled Princess for crying out loud!
Certainly they wouldn't kill him off.
Definitely not.

I hate being wrong.

Just as everything is looking nicely wrapped up and I think we're finally going to get to enjoy nearly two episodes of happy, Bong Gu, handcuffed, pulls out a gun and shoots Eun Shi Kyeong.  SHOOTS HIM!  Just like that - BANG!  NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He dies.
He dies a hero, but he still dies.
I'm in shock and utter disbelief.
I can't believe it.

Then there are the inevitable scenes that follow.

Breaking the news to Jae Shin.

Eun Gyu Tae facing his role in his son's death.

I loved the scene between him and Jae Ha as Jae Ha says that they both must be feeling similar feelings - guilt.  But that they can't think that way.  He even gives him a hug.  (Did anyone else notice by the way just how much taller Seung Gi is than Lee Soon Jae? - he towered over him)

 The funeral.

I still can't believe it, but I will leave it at that.  I have more reviewing to do, I can't afford to get emotional right now.  Let's have a moment of silence for the hero, Eun Shi Kyeong, who showed great courage and sacrifice right up to the end and died loyally serving a king, princess, and royal family that he loved.

.....<3 <3 .......


*sniff, sniff*  Wiping tears...and...
Okay, back to the story.  I don't want to, but the show must, and did, go on.

This scene was cute - Jae Ha on the phone with Hang Ah planning a "real person" date.

Granted, life and politics got in the way of that.

Oh wait, so does Mark Twain (get in the way, that is).  Sorry about these next two screen caps.  I just have to mention that while I was watching, something weird was going on.  Some sort of Mark Twain documentary was spliced in.  It would get all garbled and messed up.  Sometimes it would be both audio tracks going at once with the scenes bouncing back and forth.  Sometimes it would be one or the other. Sometimes the Mark Twain would have K2H subtitles.  It was all annoying and very frustrating, but I thought I'd share it anyway, because, well, I can.

Anyway, where was I?
Oh, yeah.  Plans for a date following a PR, but then life and politics got in the way and Jae Ha had to cancel.

But he made up for it.

They had a very cute and sweet date.  Laughing and loving, forgetting the cares of their world for a brief moment.

Very brief.  They pick up an argument from earlier.

Basically, from what I could gather between my interruptions from Mark Twain, Bong Gu is trying to post bail.  There is a lot of political pressure to allow him to do so.  Hang Ah wants to go to the hearing and defend why he should not be allowed bail and that he is a psychopath that will disappear and can't be trusted.  Jae Ha understandably is not too keen on this plan of hers.  He just got her back from being kidnapped/imprisoned after all.

He asks her what she would do if threatened by Bong Gu.

She shows him.
Hey, he asked for it!
She takes him down like the trained assassin that she is.  I laughed!

We also get a nice kiss scene out of it.  I'll make it extra big for Unnie cause she likes this sort of thing.

Hang Ah flies off to the bail hearing.

14 hours in the air, only to arrive and find out that the decision had already been made 20 minutes prior.  The decision to let him out on bail.  She's also told, in no uncertain terms, that the opinions of a North Korean pretty much hold no sway with them.  Ouch!  You would think that they would see her as the person she is (not her nationality) and look at what she personally has lived through at the hands of this man and give her some credibility.  But no.  Guess who has too much influence?  Bong Gu of course.  That's a lot of pull held by one man and he is using it.

 As she is leaving, who should drive up, but the man himself.

Oh, if only she had a gun!  Take him out right then and there.
Save us all a lot of grief.

And grief we get.
Politics.
Politics.
Politics.

Bong Gu is throwing his weight around, using his rotten influence to start a war.

Jae Ha meets with a U.S. official.  Can't remember his title, don't much care.  Eun Shi Kyeong is dead.  I'm still distracted by that and following the political rigmarole just isn't in the cards for me at the moment.  The important part is that Jae Ha learned his lesson from last time.

See?

He says the magic word to begin recording this conversation.

The conversation goes something like:
King- So Washington has already decided what they will do with North Korea?  Will they bomb them?
U.S. guy - It's a U.S. military strategy, we never tell foreigners and we won't tell Korea.  We have no obligation to do so.  But if we do, we do, and if we don't, well, we don't.  No decision has been made yet, but I'll be back.
King - If you attack North Korea, the U.S. will no longer be able to take even a single step into South Korea.

Things are tense.
Threats are flying all over the place.
Everyone is planning on bombing everyone else if anyone bombs anyone.  Follow?  Yeah, me neither.  Eun Shi Kyeong is dead.  DEAD!  Dead and buried.  *Sobbing*  I think it's good enough to just say that Bong Gu is trying to drive a wedge between North and South Korea as well as between both Koreas and their allies.  And I'll mention this now because I'm sure it will come up again in the last episode, but Bong Gu has mailed a "wedding gift" to Hang Ah and Jae Ha.  He tells her that they should look at it together.  Hmmm...guess we'll have to wait and see what it is.

In an attempt at diplomacy, Jae Ha and Hang Ah embark on an unprecedented tour of 22 countries, trying to  mend fences and strengthen relations.

Meanwhile, Jae Shin is presented with a gift of her own.  A safe that had belonged to ESK and which was meant to be given to her if he didn't return.  The passcode is her birthday (aww!  So sweet!).  Inside is a video recording.

 In it he finally tells her that he loves her.

So sad and sweet and touching and depressing all in one.  Oh, Eun Shi Kyeong!  Why did you have to leave us????  Why?!?!

There is a terrorist bombing in Michigan.  40 people are dead.  It is said that North Korea is responsible.  The U.S. threatens back.  Again, everyone is threatening to bomb everyone else.  South Korea goes into high alert "level three" meaning that operation authority of the military is transferred to the ROK-US Alliance.  Not sure what this means, but it doesn't sound good.

If America attacks North Korea in retaliation over the terror attacks in Michigan, North Korea will attack South Korea.  The trust between North and South Korea is now gone.

It is war.

Hang Ah and Jae Ha are separated.  The new commander guy is ordered to do so.

She is to meet her father.

He is taking her back to North Korea.

Jae Ha is left in shock.  Kind of like I still am, about Eun Shi Kyeong being dead.

 And that's where we leave off.  War.  Bong Gu gets his way.  Drat!

I can't believe we're already at the end. Only one more episode.  How will they wrap this one up?  Will we get a happily ever after?  It all hinges on the fledgling friendship between the North and South.  Somehow they have to work together to be victorious and bring peace once again to the peninsula.  Can they do it?  Come on Jae Ha - here's your 1%.  It all seems so hopeless, but you always manage to pull through, just as Eun Shi Kyeong said.  Just one more time, just pull off one of your miracle saves once more, then I'm sure you can live happily ever after....  How about we give it the ol' college try, huh?

Waiting on pins and needles to see what comes next and the exciting conclusion to this crazy ride!

Let's see what Unnie has to add to all of this...  Unnie?

 

 Unnie's 2 Cents:

What can I say? I watched this episode at 1am. I had finished my RTP review for ep 19 & couldn't handle the idea of going to sleep without knowing about Eun Shi Kyeong. As soon as I saw...I wished I'd never watched. At 1:30 in the morning, I was sitting on the couch in the family room, alone, w/ ear buds in so as not to wake my family & sobbing my eyes out. They did it to me again!

{SPOILER ALERT IF you haven't seen City Hunter don't read the next 2 sentences!!!  Hey!! You were warned!!} 

They City Hunter'd me!! It was just like the 2nd to the last episode of City Hunter when the DA was murdered by the bad guys! I sobbed then too. It was such a shock! I couldn't believe it. I am still just shattered by Eun Shi Kyeong's death. And just as I had started to get my emotions under control, they brought it all back out again when Princess Jae Shin watched the video message he left to her. Sobbing all over the place again. Seriously.

There was so much more to this episode but honestly all I can focus on is ESK. I had absolutely fallen in love w/ his character! And I adore the amazing, beautiful man, who played him to perfection, Jo Jeong Seok-ssi, you are an amazing actor. You played Eun Shi Kyeong w/ depth, talent & beauty. Thank you for sharing your talent w/ us all. I look forward to your next project w/ much anticipation.

Honestly, folks it's all I can think about today. These characters were so real to me, the writers, directors & especially the actors, have been absolutely spot on amazing & this drama may have just taken the top spot for me. I fell, even more, in love with Lee Seung Gi {& of course his dimple} while watching this drama. I came to respect & admire Ha Ji Won's tenacity & beauty as an actress & a strong female role model. And Jo Jeong Seok...sigh. Totally up there for me w/ Hyun Bin & Lee Seung Gi. The villain was stupendous, his psychotic pet Bon Bon was terrifying & all the cast at the palace awesome.

I am going to go slightly insane while I wait for the last episode to load & finish subbing. Looking forward to my review of the final episode of The King 2 Hearts.  Until then...

Sarang,