Shine or Go Crazy - Episode 22 (A SqueeCap)

I'd follow him too! Also into the bedroom, of course

Episode 22

Don't kill Jang Hyuk, you bastards!!! Well, nice try at that, cause Wang So may be without weapon but he is so not: he takes out one of his hairpins and uses it like a knife. Then, he flees. Those stupid guards stand no chance against him, and then, he is in the courtyard, where he grabs his sword. And here are his friends! They join the melee, soon, the yard is littered with the bodies of the useless guards.
One does not just 'kill' Wang So.
He Electric Shock-ed them all.
In an opportune moment, him and the Righteous Men retreat ... the pursuit is completely pointless, of course, because those black clad men and women hide far too well. (black in the dark?  Good camouflage!) Wang So realizes that his attempted murder must be related to some event that is planned here in in Seogyeong and they decide to infiltrate Consul Wang's home in this city to find out what it is.
I could make a joke about leaps of deduction but this one actually seems likely.
Sure, why not. f(x)'s Jet seems applicable because black clothes, dark night, and dark Uncle Hairline soul.
Back home, Yeo-won is sad. She is holding the fish god ornament she gave Se-won in her hands and remembers their last meeting. He came asking for tea. It's the first they ever shared, he said. (And it will likely be the last, judging from his grave composure. What is it with this Balhae family?!) He takes forever drinking it, cherishing it so, so much.
Se Won. *Heart dust crumbles into ever tinier particles*
He's just a Beautiful Stranger:
While that is going on, Yeo-won is just pissed he is no longer her person - he was AWOL all this time. He says it's because she's now with Wang So. Stupid, Se-won. Unfortunately, you were always that: stupid. While talking about always being her person, even in death, he rips the fish god from his sword and leaves her, without another word. She calls after him ... and he says "I'll always be next to you".
As if Se Won would ever stop being her person.
When yeo-won rejects Seowon, I think, Yeo-won, leave all this Queening business and "Let's Try, hmm?"
Okay, good riddance. I have no patience for fools.
Perhaps you should, sometimes.  For character-building, if nothing else. Not that your character especially needs building, Sensei. But, you know. Se Won. *dust assembles into tiny wailing copies of me*
He had no character to begin with and now he's a goner. I know a goodbye when I see one. Good riddance, as I said! 
I look forward to this actor's next job. This was a bit disappointing here, just being a Shadow.
And with that, we're back in Shin-yool's room, when Se-won attacks and is stopped by Wang Wook. They exchange blows and Shin-yool, now awake of course, looks at them with biiiiig eyes, sitting there complacently. Se-won retreats and they continue fighting outside in the courtyard, then outside the city. In the end, Se-won just stands there and lets himself be pierced by Wang Wook's sword. When thoroughly impaled, he unmasks.
Shin-yool's thinking 'Whoa! Cool dream! Clearly a sexual metaphor of some type!'
She's so ready to die with her Paper Heart, anyway. I'm surprised she didn't jump in front of the sword.
What a shock! How could Wang Wook have known who it was? (Like: from EVERYTHING, his looks, his sword technique, etc., but never mind, drama). And so, Se-won dies. Deliberately. Because he couldn't kill his sister and didn't want to hurt anybody else. And because he killed so many people in his life. So he'd rather die than to live with this burden. And he doesn't want Shin-yool to know he was her brother. (GAAAAAAAAAAAAH, RAGEFIT!!!)
*Crumples over* *wails* *nods head at stupidity of not wanting Shin Yool to know he's her brother*
I can't get over how dumb this all is.  All SeWon had to do switch sides. Anyway, even though it's not a Beautiful Goodbye, I'll give it that song anyway because Sewon was so handsome. 
We don't see what Wook does with the body, but he returns to Chunghae, bloody sword in hand. Inside, he tells the Chunghae Family that the assassin was sent by Consul Wang. And though the reasons for this attempt on Shin-yool's life are unclear, he knows that Wang Toad will keep sending assassins until they succeed. Therefore, she must be dead. Well, pretend to be dead that is! She resists at first, but Wook is persuasive: If she dies, she does not have to marry him.
Twist I did not see coming.
Nice noble idiot, this Elf, despite being so into her.
And so, Shin-yool dies.
Although this, I expected.  Just not this way, you know, fake. 
One day, she'll Kick it for real.
But before she does, Yeo-won hears of Se-won's death. In the end, her character is a toothless shell of her former self, but wow, Honey Lee did well with what she got. Her mourning scene got to me. *sniff*
*dies of dehydration from sobbing*
See, Yeo-won, you should've left with SeoWon, or killed everyone and married him. Goodbye, Summer (Seowon):
Uncle Hairline is getting nervous: where is Se won? Where is Wook?! He orders his weasel underling to go confirm Shin-yool's death. Uh-oh. They're all dressed for mourning and play their parts quite well. Wow, Wang's men even uncover the body and check for her pulse! There is none, because they drugged Shin-yool.
Sure they did. Because that's a really smart thing to do to someone with a weak heart.
Dangerous: .
Getting into Consul Wang's house is a challenge: there is an insane amount of security. The guards are also trying to catch Wang So but ... bye bye guards. As a result, Poong puts a price on Wang So's head.
I will pay it! I will pay double if you bring him to me alive! Triple!
So stupid. Just order people to kill him. Villains are so inefficient. 
They observe that there is a specific plaque that people need to pass the sentries and gain access to the Wang house. Cheong Ok's special skills are needed. I'm actually glad she's still part of this drama, I like her! She distracts one of the men who has such an entry ticket so that Wang So can steal it. Cheong Ok volunteers to be the scout to check the layout of the house. Wang So is uneasy about it, because it's so dangerous, but she insists.
So long, Cheong Ok. I liked you, too.
Back in the Capital, the King is still musing about the Thousand Years and the riddle it contains. Finally he takes the painting down ... and rips one layer off. Underneath it, his father wrote another phrase: To build a thousand years of Goryeo, abdicate the throne to Wang So. Ahahahaaaaa, awesome.
Oh damn. That is cold. But awesome. But damn, Pops. Wow. I wonder when, exactly, he was meant to find this? Five years ago? Now?
Argh, I'm not even going to try understanding this. Since the old king had so many secrets and lies, I'll deviate from f(x) and leave Wa$$up's Stupid Liar here: .
When Wook comes to ask for the cancellation of the royal marriage (and tells the King all that happened), the King wants to hear from his half-brother what he knows about Wang So. He will change the world, says the Elf. He wants to be King like nobody else, but doesn't know it himself.
Splitting hairs but it's not really that he wants to be king, but that he wants to improve his country and being king is the way that gets done. He has dreams for his people, but he hasn't made the connection yet. I do think both Wook and the King realize this is how it is in So's heart, though.
The only thing holding him back (back for good, though) is his brother, who is the King. No empty throne, no WangSo King.
Wang So could've been Prime Minister, though.  
Yikers, time for Cheong-ok's dangerous mission. She pretends to have missed her Poong so much and to have come all this way to see him. Unfortunately, that man she asked directions from so that Wang So could steal his plaque recognizes her! He manages to warn Poong - but he is also recognized by Wang So, who is now fully alert. When they apprehend her, he is right there to bust her free - right after he learns about the riot that is going to start soon.
The idea that this idiot Poong would ACTUALLY think he could take a glorified hooker into his life as his queen was so preposterous that I immediately knew he know what was going on.
Courtesan. It's a higher-level profession than hooker since it involves being educated. 
Hence my decision to use the qualifier 'glorified.'
Time to return back to Gaekyung to stop the evil Wang Toad plans! That's going to be tough, because Wang's men are doing all they can to keep the Righteous Men out of the Capital.
You look at that hotness up there. YOU LOOK AT IT. Now wave to your ovaries as they leave the building. Bye, Ovaries! Bye!

Wook informs Shin-yool that there will be no royal marriage (Seeing she is dead) and I feel for him at this moment ... he is so anxious, so earnest. All he wants is for her to be healthy and well and he'd do anything. He doesn't want her gratitude and he doesn't want her to feel sorry - all he wants is to be remembered as a man, a man who was moved by her. Awwwwww.
*sighs* He turned out to be a good man.
And he looked pretty all this time, too, so that was something. Totally My Style:
Shin-yool says her goodbyes - and asks everybody to keep it a secret from Wang So that she's still alive. Not nice, but understandable. I agree with her that she'd just be an interference in what's to come: war with Consul Wang. And so she leaves ... but not on horse and hidden underneath a veil, as Wang's men believe, but after the guards have ridden after that woman, dressed as Gaebong. And because Se-won told her what he told her (those words his mother said about living when one is alive), she now wants to live. Good thing Yeo-won's doctors are there to help her with that.
I wonder if she knew anyway.
Nope, I don't think so.
Oh.  So, she's still in the show. 
Elsewhere, Yeo-won is burning incense for her Se-won and cries again. She knows his real name (Ho Yool) and thanks him for being her shadow all these years. He is free now - free to shine from the sky.
Se Won. Ho Yool. *heavy sigh* Note: now convinced that all Yeo Won every really cared about from So is a political arrangement. No longer feeling like her romantical self was ever even slightly interested. Such is the power of a masterful mourning scene.
With SeWon it was Twu Wuv. And I feel sad for this love story that never got going, let alone into marriage and All Night: . 
From Shin-yool, she receives a ledger ... containing all the information on the buying patterns of the nobles and all their relationships. Ah, knowledge is power.
Could... could there be an actual friendship here, some day?
You mean in Season 2?
Please, no Season 2. 

Making their way into the city (uhm, or not? Where are they?) are the Righteous Men (at least half of the group), among a group of shackled men - facing charges for running away from the construction site. They ran because the labor is too hard and they didn't get anything to eat. All of what should be theirs has become Wang's secret army's. Where is the King in all this, the men ask themselves. Should he not protect them? Poong is announced - and because his men start to beat one of the men senseless, Wang So gets up and screams to stop.
Oh I think it is ON now.
What right do they have to do this to his Majesty's people? And when Poong screams to apprehend him, Wang So lets everybody know who he is - and that he will protect them. He will be their owner. And with that, and as the crowd chants his name, he takes his sword and and screams. *Goosebumps*
Oh yeah, right there goosebumping with you. Man, Jang Hyuk is good at this kind of thing.
Boom Bang Boom!


Ooooookay, thank you, drama. See, I had almost forgotten why I loved you so in the beginning, but after this episode, I know. It's Jang Hyuk and Jang Hyuk again who has a raw and electrifying power when acting and in that last scene, that power was let out and now I'm dead. FINALLY he is ready to be the King - and we're almost at the end of the drama. What a shame.
Can we have a Season 2 where he IS the king and rights all the wrongs of the nation?
Or not. 

What else? Se-won's death: I'm fine with it. Well, the reason was absolutely stupid and I refuse to accept that, but that Se-won had to die is acceptable. Since the drama really did not develop his character at all, they had not many other choices. Rest in peace, beautiful man.
Se Won-ah. We barely knew ye. Come back soon in a drama where you get to do actual stuff! SOON.
I'm sad and not sad because I hope to see this actor again soon. Maybe as a chaebol.  

I felt deeply sorry for Yeo-won and her terrible loneliness again in this episode. I do hope she finds a good companion in Wang So once he's back. She needs that and she deserves that.
I am in full agreement. I don't like everything she does, but I like her.
YeoWon's situation breaks my heart. 

As for Wook: Wow, I'm totally loving you now. You did everything that we expect from a 2nd Lead and got over your big ego. I hope you find happiness elsewhere.
You deserve it Wook-ah! I'm sorry I made fun of your hair!
His hair has been pretty awful, even if I've been envious of how thick and long it is. 

And Shin-yool? As mentioned, I understand and respect her decision to leave and pretend to be dead. It's better this way, not only for her own safety, but also for Wang So's. Their love has not been one of many pleasures, for both of them - in fact, they had more hardship than anything else. Pretend marriage or not, he broke the law in the eyes of certain people and she is a huge vulnerability for him because of that.
I agree with you here. He's got other stuff to do and so does she and I'm not sure they can do it together.
Somehow, I think they've said things like this before (it's been a long show) and it never lasted. So, I'll believe them being separated when I see it.