the great work begins...

The night before, Gwi-Ma had completely broken him - The freedom he thought he could finally attain after so long? Gone. The monster that Jinu saw himself for 400 long years? That's all he could see more so now than ever before.

But more importantly, he lost the one person that Jinu finally found solace in - the one person who truly understood him - Rumi.

Everything gone because Gwi-Ma had tormented him beyond repair - threatening a further eternal life with those intrusive thoughts louder than he could possibly handle.

He was already at wits end as it was.

Now Gwi-Ma had him. Clutched his fiery claws into him. Jinu was once again the good little solider that Gwi-Ma needed.

Not even Derpy, Jinu's most loyal companion and best friend, could get through to him. Jinu had always cuddled Derpy, but now, Jinu simply stared ahead, lost in depressive thoughts. Completely broken.

For context, this is Jinu and Derpy before Jinu was tormented:

Jinu's little smile after he finishes petting Derpy lives rent free in my head:

Anyway, so Jinu is doing everything he is supposed to do for the Demon King after Gwi-Ma had tormented him (The Idol Awards, Your Idol etc) and victory looks all but guaranteed.

One small detail you might already know as quite a few people have pointed this out already but after the Your Idol sequence, Jinu is the only Saja Boy with his eyes open (well with Mystery we assume his are closed behind his hair alongside the other Saja Boys but its very likely considering the symbolism).

Jinu looks absolutely terrified. He is scared. He doesn't want to do this, but given the circumstances, he feels he has no choice.

So anyway, a wild Rumi appears from the shadows after jamming to Your Idol (lets be real, she could have entered the arena at any point but she chose the end of the song because its a banger) and suddenly, a showdown between Huntrix, Gwi-Ma and his demons occurs. (I phrase it like this because the demons are slaves to Gwi-Ma, its basically a hivemind.)

One thing to note is patterns can be used for Gwi-Ma to control his demons like puppets - we literally see this at the start of the film.

The flight attendant demon is forcibly tugged up to Gwi-Ma against her will using her patterns. Beforehand she is apprehensive to go to the demon king - she is scared. But he forcibly pulls her up before yelling at her for her so called failings before incinerating her.

This is not the only time we see this.

Whenever Jinu is pulled down to the underworld, his patterns rise quickly before he's tugged down.

Gwi-Ma can control demons through their patterns.

This is very important information going forward.

So the battle rages on and Rumi is dead set on saving Jinu - Jinu who has not moved to fight her even though that is what he was meant to do.

But Gwi-Ma is also aware that Jinu is powerless - he's still broken - standing before Gwi-Ma as if protecting him. (You can vaguely see his shadow in this screenshot.)

Jinu is completely helpless.

Not only had Gwi-Ma threatened to make his life a living hell, worse than it already was for the rest of eternity if he didn't comply, but he can literally use Jinu like a puppet through his patterns - Jinu couldn't help Rumi even if he wanted to.

Plus, Gwi-Ma is at his most powerful. Even as it stood, there was no way the girls could defeat Gwi-Ma in this state.

Jinu is mostly powerless - broken - but he also couldn't stand and watch as the woman he loved got killed by the devil he despised.

So while he was powerless - while he couldn't fight alongside her like he wanted to - he helped her the one way he could:

"Dive in the fire and I'll be right here by your side."

He might have been broken - powerless - but he was always going to defend Rumi.

Gwi-Ma was defeated at his own game.

Maelle

Ava dons an uncharacteristic faux Chanel tweed frock trimmed in gold-chain that Deborah had insisted on buying for her on the road earlier in the season. These two women have moved so much closer together that they’ve even adopted their version of the other’s style of dress – before their inevitable split. — Vincent Boucher Basically, Ava is offering herself up to Deborah: I’m yours. I’m here, I want you to love me. Please love me, I’m going to give you the version that you want of me. And then when Deborah fires her, it just made it all the more sad that she’s in that little dress and she still thinks she was rejected. — Kathleen Felix-Hager

Not every white person dating a POC is fetishizing. White people can be respectful and responsible when it comes to culture and relationships and not everyone has bad intentions.

Asian people can date Black people without you saying shit like “your kids will be so pretty” they’re not dating for pretty kids. They’re dating bc they like each other.

Someone can dress their partner in clothing from their culture if they want. Someone can take their partner to cultural events if they want.

People in relationships can share cultures, experiences and love without it being toxic or skin deep.

Their partner isn’t culturally appropriating. Their partner is being shown the ultimate form of love, bc their partner trusts them and loves them enough to share their history and heritage.

Yeah, dating someone from your culture is nice bc you automatically have similar experiences. But you’re not limited to dating people with the same experiences. Loving someone is sharing and growing and being together.