Nine: Nine Times Time Travel ep 15 [Dramatic Review]

Good part of the day that you're in fellow Nine Times Time Travelers!

As a general rule, I avoid setting lofty goals.  I try and make sure that they are attainable.  Otherwise you are just setting yourself up for failure.  That's why I know that as soon as I type this, something dramatic is going to happen in my life to make a liar and a failure out of me.  Yet, here I am, once again tempting fate.  Ooh, I like to live on the edge!

This is ridiculous.  No one knows this as much as I do.  It is driving me crazy how late these posts are.  I knew I was starting an uphill battle when I began the reviews several weeks into the broadcast, but me, in my foolishness, I thought I could easily catch up.  But no.  Not only did I never catch up, but it's like seriously over.  And has been.  And it's very frustrating for me personally because these suckers take a lot of work and I know so many have moved on.  Yet, I can't leave a job undone.  It's killing me.  I love this drama.  I want so badly to finish it.  I want so badly to talk about it.  It's soooo good!  And soooo worth talking about.  I can't just abandon it midstream like this.  I won't.  I won't give it up.  But it's incredibly frustrating to be so far behind, especially when there are some other AMAZING dramas out there that I would also love to be talking about.  This blog is meant to be as current as two full-time moms can make it, but unfortunately, this mom is failing and feels just awful about it and feels like she has let you all down.  I don't want to keep apologizing.  I don't want to keep listing excuses.  I have them, and they are valid - I truly am not intending to slack, but real life is seriously putting a damper on my drama life and that's just not cool.  So, because of all this, I am really going to push myself over the next few days and make an extra-human attempt to get these reviews written, these episodes their day in the sun, and this drama finished once and for all so that we can all move on and get current.  No more excuses.  No more floundering.  I will do my very best and hope that life cooperates and that my creative writing juices may have just a bit of juice left in them, enough to get me through these last 6 episodes.  So here it goes - my full-throttle attempt to burn through these.  *gulp*  Let's just hope fate isn't reading this and decides to get involved.

Nine's Nine of Episode 15

1.  Drunk as a Skunk

We are now into April 2013.  April 23rd to be exact if you're keeping track.  Seon Woo has been wallowing alone in his house for 5 days, just drinking.  With a stab wound.  When his bestie gets word that he hasn't been in for treatment as promised, he goes to find him.  The place is a mess.  Seon Woo is a mess.  Everything is just messy, the whole situation.

2.  Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Min Young and her mother are traveling in Japan, taking a break from all the mess back home.  They expect Jeong Woo to be joining them the next day for his and his wife's anniversary.  Yes, I'm pointing this out because yes, I suspect that with one incense stick left, the day of his brother's wedding will become important.  Forgive me later if I am proven wrong, but I'm putting it here now because I fully expect it to become important as we commence.  Anyway, they're in Japan.  Min Young's mom puts her on the phone with her uncle because she can't remember where it is that they're staying.  Can you say awkward?  They chit chat a bit, Min Young mentions her father's awaited arrival, and then they hang up.  But something is off.  Jeong Woo is thought to be back home for work while everyone back home thought he was on vacation with his family.  So, just where is Jeong Woo?

3.  Behind Closed Doors

Concerned, Seon Woo and Dr Han get on the phone trying to track down Jeong Woo.  His cell phone goes unanswered.  Dr Han gets someone at the hospital to check his office.  It is locked.  His phone is inside, ringing and not being answered.  Something is up.  Fearing for his brother, Seon Woo runs off to the hospital.  The staff breaks the outside lock only to realize it's been locked from the inside.  Uh oh.  This is not good.  Seon Woo stumbles towards his brother's office, bleeding from his wound, obviously suspecting the worst by now.  Sure enough, once they're into the office, they find an unresponsive Jeong Woo at his desk with bottles of drugs and a needle.

4.  Careful What You Say

Seon Woo flashes back to what would turn out to be his last meeting with his brother.  He's in the depths of despair as is Jeong Woo.  Things are really, really messed up.  Everything is broken and there aren't any good options.  It is obvious to Jeong Woo the pain that he has caused everyone.  He tries to get Seon Woo to run off with Min Young, promising that he and his wife would run away too so that they could all try to piece together something from the wreckage that has become their life, but Seon Woo refuses, claiming that there just aren't any options.  Probably not the best conversation to be having with someone you know is depressed and has shown suicidal tendencies in the alternate past.  At his desk, there are two suicide notes - one general one for everybody that just says that he is sorry, and an envelope for Seon Woo.

5.  Bad News

If there's any bit of good news in all of this, it's that Jeong Woo isn't actually dead.  He is, however, not expected to live through the night.  Time to call his wife and daughter and break the news to them.  Ouch.

6.  Caught

Remember how Seon Woo had plead with his now-former boss to not pursue his assailant?  Well, this is why.  They figured out who did it.  There was a fingernail embedded in Seon Woo's stab wound that linked the crime to the guy who did it.  Only, there is some confusion on the part of the accused as the stabbing he is being accused of happened 20 years ago.  As far as he is concerned, he has no idea who he is being accused of stabbing on April 11th, 2013.  April 11th, 1993, sure, but not anything lately.  So, not only has the culprit been found 20 years later, they have also tied Dr Evil in to the crime after discovering that he has, over the past 10 years, wired 10 billion won to the hit man and his family.  This might just get ugly.
 
7.  Putting the Puzzle Together

The now 64 year old hitman calls up Dr Evil looking for help.  He tells him about his arrest and the evidence.  He's completely confused, especially when he recognizes the knife as being his from the stabbing 20 years ago.  What's weirder is that the guy he supposedly stabbed 12 days ago looks like the same guy he stabbed 20 years ago.  Like exactly the same - hasn't aged a bit.  Jin Cheol is hearing all of this and everything starts to fall into place.  Seon Woo, once he knows the guy has been caught, realizes that it's only a matter of time before Dr Evil figures all of this out, so he starts flushing evidence in the form of the journal his past self has been writing to his future self.

8.  Who's Your Daddy?

So, are you wondering yet what was in Jeong Woo's final letter to his brother?  Talk about bombshells.  He reveals the truth that he's been carrying the burden of for 20 years, the truth of his parentage.  Jin Cheol is not only his biological father, but his mother told him how it came to be.  Jin Cheol had a thing for the boys' mother, only she was marrying someone else.  In a fit of rage and passion, Jin Cheol grabs her and forcibly takes her to a seedy motel, assumedly then raping her and thus producing Jeong Woo.  Okay, so honestly, I didn't see that one coming.  I mean, I knew the guy was bad news, but I didn't fully expect him to be this evil.  Dr Creep E Evil isn't a strong enough name for him.  To add insult to injury, Jin Cheol shows up at the hospital to visit his birth son, and as he comes out, starts insulting him to his brother.  I have a few choice words for the man right about now, but will have to leave them to your own imagination as this is a swear-free zone.  But yeah, he's nasty and I want him to go away, permanently.

9.  Why Yes, I Do Have a Time Machine and a Fat Lot of Good it Did Me

Dr Evil confronts Seon Woo about these mysterious happenings.  When he comes out and claims that Seon Woo has some sort of time machine, instead of arguing, Seon Woo admits to it.  This totally throws Dr Evil off and was quite humorous to watch.  They have a whole back and forth, each making threats to the other.  It is all out warfare between the two now.  And Seon Woo was smart to watch his back because sure enough, Jin Cheol plans on coming after him, looking to see what he was up to that fateful New Year's Eve. The episode then ends with Seon Woo staring torturously at his last remaining incense stick when Min Young rushes in to see her dying father.  We haven't had one of these in a long time, but it is fully fitting in this moment, so bear with me as I break it out once again...

DUHN DUHN DUHHHNNNN.

Now, on to 16!  Gotta go watch it first - seriously.  The suspense is killing me!