#e5

Lee Dong Sik: Unlike someone else, I am not humiliatingly loose-lipped.

Thinking of this post and how Lee Dong Sik deliberately mentions he WOULDN’T say that name (and then later explicitly avoids the topic of Kang Jin Mook when Han Joo Woon asks if that’s why he “exploded” at the event) but Han Joo Woon doesn’t register it.

Some of it is Han Joo Woon simply getting caught up in everything else, but it also highlights how Kang Jin Mook simply isn’t considered an option where traditionally the police would immediately look at immediate family and in the official timeline, Kang Min Jeong made it home before disappearing. 

I have so many mixed feelings about what they did with his character and it ultimately leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as an ableist thing to do, even if I theoretically like idea that it only works because Kang Jin Mook lives in an ableist society and the show does comment on it.  

Journalist: Was he lying to you in defiance?

They were so real for making Lee Dong Sik witness this like fifty seconds after Han Joo Woon was shaking him. It’s fun to compare this confrontation to the one at the end of the episode and I like how the build up to that is having Lee Dong Sik repeatedly witness Han Joo Woon’s actual good intentions as well as how absolutely miserable he is.

Lee Chang Jin: Even if the messenger is your son.

It’s fun to watch this dinner knowing that Lee Chang Jin is the only one who knows absolutely everything that happened and also is somehow the one with the least broken compass because he is the one with the least illusions about himself - yes, yes, he also often calls them out to remind them they are not better than him, but also like. He knows that he’s a gangster and a murderer and that those things are bad. I really like here how he talks about Han Ki Hwan “borrowing his hands” to ruin Kang Min Jeong’s reputation only to then "kill" his own son.

Yoo Jae Yi: I went to find Mom, but I had a really hard time because I could not bring myself to go inside. [...] That’s my first experience in a motel.

I really like the implications of this scene, both in what they say about Yoo Jae Yi and how the show always pays attention to the role played by gender: there is the theme of innocence lost BUT ALSO of how this should have been a happy experience for Yoo Jae Yi and instead is being tainted by the disappearance of her mom (something she brings up too) AND we see the violence of the community that has decided that Yoo Jae Yi’s mother is a "loose" woman and that makes both her and Yoo Jae Yi “deserving” of cruelty.

Yoo Jae Yi: So you guys need to finish all the stuff in the refrigerator till then. Lee Dong Sik: Is that why you cut this expensive ribeye?

There are so many layers to what being a community means in this series, even more complicated by how “the avengers of Manyang” themselves are quite a different thing than “the people of Manyang” and how “the people of Manyang” turn on each other and only band against outsiders and I never know how to unravel all of it. Like this little scene - the local shops can only survive on the goodwill of the community and here we see the downside of it, but at the same time, as someone who also comes from a small town, the fact that these small shops can survive at all is a sign of how close the community is and the stand they take by going to their local shops instead of going somewhere else, which they could easily do. Also I love how in sync they both are here by immediately making jokes about it. You can’t dwell on the sadness forever. 

Lee Dong Sik: Someone somewhere is watching everything.

I love how Han Joo Woon during this whole scene keeps looking at Lee Dong Sik because like, this can’t be happening, you can’t also be part of this, I was literally in your basement last night, I expected you to be sensible about this, why are you doing this and Lee Dong Sik is just like “:D”. 

And I personally don’t even think they like planned planned this, they knew there was a journalist outside and just had this thing ready to go in their repertoire already, but the image of them having idk, a group chat where they discussed this is super funny. 

Lee Dong Sik: So, would you be okay, Lieutenant Han Joo Woon? Han Joo Woon: What should I be okay with?

It’s okay Han Joo Won, you’ll figure it out. 

Lee Dong Sik: No reason to roll around with me because you got some dirt on your life. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about this scene recently, of course there are multiple reasons to say this, but it is also fully sincere in the explicit meaning here - Lee Dong Sik is willing to use Han Joo Woon, but that doesn’t mean he wants to go too far, including in this. Also Lee Dong Sik’s genuine belief that he ruins those close to him is eternal and everlasting.

Woman from the Public: Apartments are being constructed right next to your town. How much longer do we have to live like this?

It’s not like the show is subtle about how this scene is about exposing Han Joo Woon to the whole of Manyang and Lee Dong Sik’s position in it and asking Han Joo Woon ultimately to already make a stand, but it still works so well. Also again an interesting contrast between “the people of Manyang” who sided with him this morning when his own father threw him under the bus and “the people of Manyang” who think that there not all people are equal, there are “levels”, and that the death of women from their own community is a “hassle” that should be forgotten and immediately turn on each other for personal gain. (And of course, we know that even in Lee Dong Sik’s own circle…)

Ah, the “Lee Dong Sik is going to be a lunatic” facepalm. You truly are one of the people of Manyang now. 

Woman from the Public: Hey, my daughter is not that kind of person. [...] Their levels are very different.

And of course Han Joo Woon is also being asked to prove his own beliefs.

This scene is heartbreaking but also, the way Lee Dong Sik’s eyes twitch when he hears that Park Jeong Je is now in the hands of the police. He’s just been in hell and now his best friend is being put there for siding with him (even if Park Jeong Je’s status of course protects him way better).

Also the absolute face of Do Hae Woon to immediately run into the Lee's family house like that. Of course she's having her own private breakdown (of many) about how she can move mountains for her son and he won't even look at them for the sake of Lee Dong Sik and she really doesn't have anyone to blame but herself, but damn.

Also fascinated by the implications she has already spent so much time trying to shake Lee Dong Sik off even before anything had happened.

I assume she didn't like him because Lee Dong Sik clearly didn't like her and maybe was making Park Jeong Je "rebel"? But it's interesting because we know that Lee Dong Sik and Oh Ji Hwa were the only ones protecting him from like, literally everything else.

Maybe she truly didn't love her son? I can never fucking tell and I'm starting to think she can't either. Mother of the year but woman of all time.

Lee Chang Jin: I saw some photos of you in the album that my Ji Hwa brought twenty years ago. [In Russian] This punk doesn’t even age.

…Game recognizes game? 

Also I have asked around my Russian speaking friends about Lee Chang Jin’s Russian here, consensus is that grammar and wording are perfectly fine but his pronunciation isn’t, so the interpretation that Lee Chang Jin DOES speak Russian and he’s not just throwing it in for flavour is correct. Like, he’s obviously throwing it in for dramatic effect, but he does know the language, he just doesn’t speak it regularly because. Well. Why would he. 

(Interesting implications all around for Lee Chang Jin's characterisation as someone who is raw and honest.)

Lee Dong Sik: Don’t you dare mention Ji Hwa. I’ll rip your mouth off.

And speaking of game recognizes game, I love every time they interact and how they are so annoying to each other, and while I am also glad that the Oh Ji Hwa/Lee Dong Sik thing didn’t happen, I love the implication that one of things Oh Ji Hwa really likes in men is that they are dramatic as hell. Also amazing how they managed to write Lee Chang Jin in such a charming way considering how he throws Oh Ji Hwa’s name around - like he’s annoying her, there is clearly some power dynamic involved in announcing/reminding everyone that Oh Jihwa is his ex wife, but. 

Also I like how aggressive Lee Dong Sik is here - he wasn’t around apparently at the time so he couldn’t stop Oh Ji Hwa from marrying this fucking guy (not that it would have worked even if he tried),  but now that they are divorced he can be the biggest fan of this divorce, Oh Ji Hwa’s greatest supporter, first time he meets the guy and he immediately recognizes him and calls him ugly. I know he and Oh Ji Hwa once got drunk and she showed him a picture and he memorised that face and promised himself he would insult him as soon as he had the chance.

Oh Ji Hwa: “When did you become besties and start getting in trouble together? [...] Here are two comedians. You guys should move in together.”

I love how Han Joo Woon insinuated there was something between her and Lee Dong Sik so she immediately went for “Why don’t you marry him” and then double down. See how you like people thinking you are in a relationship with this guy, Lieutenant Han.

Also her genuine smile when she sees them get along… she doesn’t know about the basement mindgames so she probably thinks they genuinely made up and she’s happy about it. Which makes sense, because Lee Dong Sik and Han Joo Woon clearly are on the same wavelength and Lee Dong Sik didn’t have the chance to interact with many people like this once back in Manyang after being kicked out of the RIU, stuck and stagnating in this small town. Who knows, if he befriends the son of Han Ki Hwan, he might even get his career back on track.

Han Joo Wooon: What you did today, it wasn’t because you lost it, right?

Unless I am seeing things, Lee Dong Sik briefly smiles when Han Joo Woon calls him out - not many people figure out his act and aside from what this means for the investigation, I assume this is just nice to see that he understands. 

Lee Dong Sik: How far do you think he can go?

I’m saving all my thoughts on the Han Joo Woo& Lee Sang Yeob parallels for the flashback, I just like the timing of this line considering how the things were standing between them. 

Oh Ji Hoon: Hyung, I’m not a stalker.

I have read some interpretations that think Oh Ji Hoon is genuinely a stalker, personally I feel like they would have made a bigger deal out of it in that case (he just decides to find Kang Min Jeong to walk her home, which isn’t…anything) and instead Oh Ji Hoon is panicking because he knows this is what people will say about him. He desperately repeats the same three things after all - it wasn’t Lee Dong Sik, it wasn’t Park Jeong Je and it wasn’t him - because he knows perfectly well because that’s exactly what everyone will think.

This is the thing he was actually trying to protect Lee Dong Sik from (which is one of my favourite Oh Ji Hoon's moments even if it backfires).

Lee Dong Sik: Don’t tell that to anyone. Oh Ji Hoon: Hyung. Lee Dong Sik: You’ll get hurt. 

How Many Traumas Can We Make Lee Dong Sik Revive In One Go And Make Them Worse Because They Happen To Someone He Loves Part 2342342

Lee Dong Sik: You killed someone like that.

Something I lost from the Netflix subtitles - Lee Dong Sik obviously doesn’t believe in levels, but he does think it is so much worse than Han Joo Woon took advantage of someone who already was struggling so much and had no one on their side. Despite what Han Joo Woon is supposed to stand for, he preyed on one of the less dead.

Han Joo Woon: Before someone like me kills someone again. Before he does that, I will definitely catch him. 

Also on Hokkaidô, the Suzuran express operated by a silver 785 series arrives at Shiraoi under a silver sky.

On a brighter day, the OG Kyushu Shinkansen, the 800 series (my fourth-favourite Shinkansen of all time), arrives at Kurume on an all-stop Tsubame service.