Dramatic Friday Review: The King 2 Hearts ep 16

Guess what I finally had the chance to sit down & watch this here show, which means I get to now try to form cohesive, cognizant, articulate sentences.  Yeah, I am going to need that good luck wish. 

At the end of episode 15 we were able to witness the beginning of the engagement ceremony, officiated by the former King, & Jae Ha's Hyung, Jae Kang.  Remember I had to actually reach for the Kleenex.  We also saw a quick phone call from Club M to Eun Kyu Tae, the Head Secretary.  He went off to answer the call while the ceremony went on without him. 

Well episode 16 jumps right into that phone call.  Club M is indeed calling, sadly it's that lame henchman of Bong Gu's.  sigh.  Seriously someone shoot him already!  He just gets under my skin & makes me nuts!  Bad actor!  Shame on you!  Please tell me I am not the only who cannot stand this guy?!?!  Okay, focus Unnie.  Have you guys noticed yet, that I talk to myself....a LOT!???  Yeah, so long as I don't get into an argument with myself you guys should feel safe. 

Anyway, Club M wants Jae Ha to abdicate.  Which means Kim Bong Gu will not back down till Jae Ha steps down.  This episode they sincerely stepped up the nastiness.  But I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I?  They even go so far as to threaten Eun Kyu Tae, again.  If you don't encourage Jae Ha to abdicate we'll tell your son about your sins...blah, blah, blah.  Only THIS TIME, Eun Kyu tae stands up to the idiot henchman & says....

Oh yes, he did!

Eun Kyu Tae finally acts like the man he is supposed to be & basically tells the henchman AND John Mayer {Kim Bong Gu} to shove it where the sun does NOT shine!  Yeah baby!!  Now that's what I'm talking about!  About flipping time!!  Man for the first time since he accidentally gave away the vacation house destination, I actually cheered for ahjussi!  He has finally decided to come clean about everything.  {Big sigh of relief}

But before we get into his confession there is a more important moment.  For the last 2 weeks the still shots, preview pictures have been all over the K world.  Driving us all to distraction. 

It's time for some engagement photos, including the "Kiss".  Awww....my beating heart be still. 

As Eun Kyu Tae is telling bad guys off, Jae Ha & Hang Ah are celebrating their engagement. 

{BIG breathy sigh}

FINALLY!!!
Pardon the FanGirl Scream issuing in my head!!!
Dang FanGirl is LOUD!!

Now that we've seen that incredible moment between our two leads as they are finally able to be engaged & share a beautiful kiss.  sigh a pretty good SWAK moment for Unnie when he grabbed her & pulled her in tight & close for a pretty nice public display of affection... oh my! 

{dreamy Seung Gi & his dimple, never have I been so jealous of a leading lady in a drama as I was of Ha Ji Won just then}

Ummm...ok.  Uh where were we? 

Oh yeah ok.  Back on track.  Focus! 

As per his standing up to the bad guys we next find Eun Kyu Tae typing up his resignation/confession of all his misdeeds, to hand in to Jae Ha.  And he really does tell everything, from the beginning.  Thank goodness.  However, Bong Gu beats Eun Kyu Tae to the punch.  His henchman sends Jae Ha an email complete with files, pictures, & audio of conversations between Kyu Tae & the bad guys via phone & one on ones.  Jae Ha reads it all & listens to it all...just as Kyu Tae walks into Jae Ha's office to hand it all over he gets to hear his conversation giving away the location of Anmyeondo as a good choice for a vacay.   Jae Ha, understandably, is in complete shock.  He trusted this guy, his family trusted him, he worked for them for 30 years.  Eun Kyu Tae hands over his resignation.  Jae Ha however is so angry, he refuses to accept a resignation & instead demands that Eun Kyu Tae accept termination & possibly even imprisonment as a traitor. 

Eun Kyu Tae, for his part, accepts this but then he gets down on his knees to beg for one thing, in regards to his son, Eun Shi Kyeong. Please do not tell him any of this, that Kyu Tae will tell him.  But to please not give it away till he can talk to his son himself. 

You can see Jae Ha struggling with any kind of pity for this man who is responsible for the death of his Hyung & for his sister's accident.  Not to mention he now knows, from Kyu Tae himself, that he had lied to Hang Ah about things the King had said, or rather hadn't said.  Seriously it's a lot of lying & tricky & manipulation from Kyu Tae to handle. 

Once Eun Shi Kyeong hears that his father was terminated he goes straight to Jae Ha who goes along with the request of Kyu Tae.  He tells Shi Kyeong that his father is old & out of date & that they disagreed too much, hence the firing.  But Eun Shi Kyeong had enough hints from the bad guys, before his dad decided to stand up to them, he knows all is not as it appears to be.  Jae Ha tells him, it's a lot to handle, that Shi Kyeong should take a vacation.  But Shi Kyeong refuses.  He says he is staying by Jae Ha's side till he hears the truth.  Yeah he knows something is up.  Smart Shi Kyeong. I knew my crush on him was not misplaced. 

Once Hang Ah gets to read Kyu Tae's resignation/confession letter she feels for him.  Obviously he suffered a lot while being a party to John Mayer's madness.  She tries to calm Jae Ha down but it's obviously still too soon to ask that of him. She tells him to rest but he has too much to do, so she does what she does best.  She offers herself as a safe place for him to be Jae Ha & not the king.  And once again we get a really sweet scene that makes our hearts go pitter pat. 

We haven't heard a lot from Jae Shin in this episode, at the beginning, during the engagement, we see her in physical therapy determined to stand at her brother's wedding ceremony.  And then we get a moment of bitter sweet between her & Shi Kyeong.  She calls him to her & he dutifully arrives, she tells him she's going for treatment, it's hard for her but she is trying.  but he tells her not to push herself, if it's too hard, she shouldn't do it.  He then reveals that it won't work between them, he's too boring, like she said & that she just likes him because she is feeling too scared on her own.  She cries as she explains to him that that has nothing to do with it.  She's liked him for a while now, she just didn't figure it out very quickly. 

She goes to her piano & is trying so hard to remember that time she sang to him.  But she can't seem to...  But Shi Kyeong remembers it all, because he has been in love with her the whole time.  He sings, she plays the piano.  She tries to get him to record a duet but he I think he feels ridiculous & that she is still just feeling sorry for herself & so he leaves her.  Poor Jae Shin, she is trying & you can see she truly has feelings for him, he's afraid that she doesn't really feel the way she says she does & she can't figure out how to get him to believe her. 

It's time.  it's time for Hang Ah to learn her role as the future queen.  She & the Queen Mother are planning a charity trip to a foreign country to visit & serve the impoverished children & their families.  Jae Ha obviously does not want to go.  He doesn't want any of them to go anywhere.  but they cannot hide from Bong Gu forever...they are still the Royal Family.  So Hang Ah & the Queen Mother board a plane.  Once in the country though they are sent to another place because apparently a civil war has broken out & now there is a real threat to their lives. 

They have no idea, do they.  Of course it is all orchestrated by our favorite psychopath.  John Mayer is definitely up to no good.  How do I know?

Because Bon Bon is back.

The Queen mother's assistant is ordering breakfast & Bon Bon is pretending to be a part of the hotel wait staff. 

While Hang Ah & the Queen mother are visiting & discussing Hang Ah's solitary growing up years without her mom who dies of tuberculosis Bon Bon is shooting her way through the security guards outside their hotel suite.

Bon Bon knocks on the Queen Mother's door as Room Service offering a gift basket.  but the Queen Mother is on to her & tries to call out via hotel phone.  Which of course has already been disconnected.  She then tries her cell but she is too slow.  And then one of the security guards last dying service to his Queen is to pull the fire alarm.  This sets all the chaos in motion.  It also alerts Hang Ah that something is not right & she runs to be with the Queen mother.  Unfortunately, Bon Bon has a gun to the Queen Mother & her associate has one on Hang Ah.  Were it just Hang Ah they would so get the butt kicking they deserve but obviously if she makes a move they'll kill the Queen.  So she has no choice but to cooperate with them.

Time to tell Jae Ha what's going on... 

Ottake?!?!?!

Right after Bon Bon pays off the local helpers she shoots them as they are congratulating themselves, right in the back. 

 Successfully succeeding in terrifying the Queen mother even more.

The men's bodies are found, & it seems so strange to everyone that the Queen Mother & Hang Ah were kidnapped but no ransom has been requested.  Secretary Bong reports seeing the strange woman in the elevator with the bar code tattoo on the back of her neck & they KNOW it's Bong Gu that is responsible for all of it.

Back at the kidnap hide out, Hang Ah is eating & telling the Queen Mother she needs to eat too, they'll need their strength if they are going to escape.  The Queen Mother, being the "shrinking violet" she is is adamantly against escape.  Once again Hang Ah is stuck between a rock & hard place.  She realizes this is what Bong Gu wants so that he has the leverage needed to get Jae Ha to abdicate.  That she & the Queen Mother are the bait.  But she can't do anything about it, or risk the Queen Mother being hurt or worse. 

Meanwhile Jae Ha has been trying to get a hold of Bong Gu, who has suddenly developed the inability to hear the phone ring.  Which is driving Jae Ha crazy.  He just wants his mom & Hang Ah Back.  Safe & sound.  he's willing to give it all up.  Shi Kyeong, explains that Jae Ha is playing right into Bong Gu's hands.  He's freaking out & ready to give it all up.  Jae Ha gives him 10 minutes to figure out how to fight Bong Gu or he is going to give up.  Entre Kyu Tae.  He gets a text from his son, updating him on the current situation & begs his father to answer his phone.    Which he does, when he sees Jae Ha has called.

At this point Jae Ha, still cannot bring himself to talk to Kyu Tae but he does listen as Kyu Tae gives him sound advice on what to do & how to handle Bong Gu & Club M.  His advice?  Get  the United Nations involved.  Have everyone putting pressure on Bong Gu to release his prisoners. 

This seems to work as Bong Gu ends his silence & agrees to meet with Jae Ha.  But first he talks to the Queen Mother.  Or he tries to.  He sits down with her over tea, so civilized of him, right?  he tells her how he was ignored by his parents, who were dismissive & vulgar & that is why he is the way he is.  But she isn't buying & for the first time ever we see the Queen Mother, is not so weak as we thought her to be...

Then she hits him repeatedly & calls him a piece of trash & a couple other words I don't want to repeat. 

At the meeting between Jae Ha & Bong Gu he plays innocent & unaware of what is going on at first but he does say let's pretend it is me that has your people, if it were me then I'd want..

And when he doesn't get a response right away from Jae Ha his henchman decides to approach Hang Ah.  Unaware that Shi Kyeong is trying to talk Jae Ha out of doing as requested but Jae Ha is tired.  he didn't even want to be King to begin with.  He just wants Hang Ah & his mom & his life to be peaceful.  In tears he tells Shi Kyeong...

What is Shi Kyeong supposed to say to that?!?! Nothing. 

But you can see that he is just as moved & scared as Jae Ha. 

And what did Hang Ah say to the Henchman??

Well, first he shows her Bon Bon alone in a room full of "instruments" w/ the Queen Mother. 

She watches for a while but she can see the madness in Bon Bon's eyes & the delight she is getting from the mental torment she is putting the Queen through.  She hasn't even gotten to the physical torture yet.  So Hang Ah, not wanting her mother in law to suffer, does what any daughter would do...

Anything the bad guys ask.

Including...

But you can see in her eyes...she is thinking up something when she ends the show with this question... 

And that fellow addiKts brings this review to a close.  This one was emotionally draining as well...  This ahjumma was on one heck of a roller coaster ride in episode 16.  Amazing highs in the form of engagements & kisses to depressing lows, watching our beautiful Seung Gi cry over the Queen & Hang Ah's kidnap & possible torture.  Painful to watch....that man can act! 

What words of comfort can Dongsaeng offer us to get us through a whole week of waiting to find out what happens next???

Dongsaeng?

Sarang,

Dongsaeng's 2 cents:

{Due to the intensity this episode had, Dongsaeng felt it necessary to break out a little K-DD cure early...she'll be putting her 2 cents on this here post later.  Can't say as I blame her, this one was intense.}

You beat me to it Unnie. :)  I came on to give my half cent for now. I made it as far as the kidnapping and just couldn't take it anymore.  I think it's been well established that for whatever weird reason, I am too emotionally involved in this drama.  I don't know why.  It's strange, but there you have it.  My poor weak heart has to take this one in pieces.  Thankfully I have my K-DD cure as prescribed by Unnie.  Thanks Unnie!  I'll get back to you all soon, I promise!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
Okay, I'm back.
Miss me?

Parts of my take on this episode will differ slightly from Unnie's, but that's good.  Who just wants to read two people's opinions that are exactly the same all the time anyway?

Of course I agree with her on the engagement ceremony and the kiss.  I loved how when the people were chanting "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!", Jae Ha didn't even hesitate.  He just grabbed his bride-to-be and without apology or embarrassment of any kind, planted a nice big one on her.  Swoon!  And yes, kind of hating on lucky duck Ha Ji Won right about now.  Love her to death, but she's killing me here with all her good fortune.  She's had the chance to kiss not one, but two of my all-time favorite male leads.  Now how's that fair Universe?!  How?!  ..........  But I digress....

My take on the whole Eun Kyu Tae situation is slightly different from my unnie's.  I've kind of always been in his camp, even when I thought him a dirty rat !@#$%^&.  He messed up, that's for sure.  But in his defense, most of his crimes were done in ignorance.  He didn't know that King Jae Kang would be killed.  He probably wasn't aware of the severity of the consequence to following Bong Gu's requests for entry of himself and his posse of crazies into the country.  He didn't know that changing the music would cause Jae Shin to have a panic attack.  I really think that in his heart he was doing what he thought was best in the given circumstances.  Was he wrong?  Yes.  Were some of his choices based on the desire to hide his crimes?  Yes.  But did he do them knowing fully what the results would be?  I don't think so.  I think that in his mind they were minor things whereas maintaining the cover-up and protecting his son were the most important.  Once he finally saw just what his misdeeds had caused, I think he finally wised up and stopped playing Bong Gu's game.  He was always a man of honor, he just had moments of weakness that were targeted and used by Bong Gu.  I always held out high hopes for him that he would see the errors of his ways and stand up and do the right thing.  I was happy to see him do just that in this episode.  Thank you Eun Kyu Tae for validating my ultimate trust in your honor.  He still has a roll to play here.  He's still vital to the resolution of the Bong Gu issue.  I can feel it in my bones.  Just you wait.  He'll atone for his sins one way or another.  He'll pull through in some heroic fashion.  It'll be dramatic and heartwarming and you'll all be able to look back and say, "wow, Dongsaeng sure called it!".  Yup.  Just you wait and see.

I also have a teeny tiny different take on the reaction of Eun Shi Kyung to the firing of his father.  He is obviously mad and angry at first, even admitting to Jae Ha that he wished he could punch him (hahaha!).  But then something happens.  Something clicks in him.  He knows Jae Ha.  He knows that he wouldn't have fired him for the lame reasons Jae Ha is stating.  He admires and has faith in his king.  He has from the beginning, remember?  Remember when Eun Shi Kyung was like the only person still on Team Jae Ha?  Remember how they planned and plotted together?  I think it is more than just the hints dropped by Bong Gu about dear old dad.  I really think that it boils down to the deep-seated trust in Jae Ha that Shi Kyung has.  Obviously this is my own personal interpretation, I could totally be wrong.  But I completely and totally agree with Unnie 100% on the fact that Eun Shi Kyung is just pure awesomeness.  I am in total love with his character.  He is a pillar of strength and wisdom and honor and loyalty.  He is the cool voice of reason to balance out Jae Ha's quick temper and rash thinking.

Which brings me to the last part of this episode and the part I really had difficulty sitting through.  Like I mentioned earlier, I don't know why I let these things get to me like this.  All reason departs and I'm left just a hot pile of stressed out mess.  Grr.  Wish I could just watch without the heart palpitations and all.  If my doctor only knew....  I wonder if anyone has ever been banned from watching K-dramas by their doctor before?  Good thing this drama only has two weeks left or I might just end up being the first to achieve that honor.  Back to the task at hand though -- I can't even begin to fathom the inner turmoil Jae Ha is facing as he tries to decide whether or not to give in and abdicate the throne he never even wanted in the first place in order to save Hang Ah and his mother.  He just wants to live in peace.  Thankfully he has one tough cookie as a fiance.  I too, like Unnie, think that Hang Ah's got a plan.  Girl's up to something.  He won't have to make the choice because his woman will find a way out.  She's no weak damsel-in-distress, oh no.  I can't wait until next week to see just what is hatching in her mind!

And with that, I'll sign off for today.  It has been a great week in the drama world.  Both of our shows have given us reason to cheer and cry and stress like good K-ds should.  So, until next week, I join with Unnie in bidding you a very fond adieu!