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Equator Man: Episode 19

The last of the secrets are out, and all that’s left is the fallout. Sun-woo is sharpening his claws for what promises to be an eventful finale as Jang-il comes face to face with what Sun-woo went through so long ago. If this show were a game, it’d be called Finding Human Decency, and no one would ever win.

Note: Since the finale has already aired, please remain spoiler-free in the comments section. We’ll get there soon enough.

 
EPISODE 19 RECAP

With all the new fatherly revelations to deal with, Sun-woo turns to kendo to unleash some pent-up frustration. Not Dad arrives to explain the situation to his Not Son – that he raised him because he was the child of the woman he loved. Sun-woo wants to know why Chairman Jin didn’t raise him if he was his son, and Not Dad explains how Jin threw his mother away, sure that she was pregnant with another man’s child.

He seems to want Sun-woo to forgive Jin on the basis of their shared blood, but Sun-woo doesn’t share the same ideals. Jin killed his father, threw away his mother, and took Ji-won’s father’s company. His revenge has already been set in motion, and there’s no going back now.

Chairman Jin and his wife come to a head about their relationship – or lack thereof, for that matter. She’s seen the pictures of him with Sun-woo and is incensed that he gives his usual reaction to her questioning: “You don’t need to know.” Done with being silent, she fights back by claiming that she’s jealous of his dead fiancée, because she didn’t get to marry him. Ouch.

Sun-woo, Min-yun, and Ji-won are in the final stages of a six-month plan to take over Chairman Jin’s prized resort in Thailand and oust him as CEO in the process. Ji-won is eager to help on the legal side of the revenge, though she wants Sun-woo to consider his revenge on Jin complete once it’s over. It’s with hesitancy that he agrees, though I wouldn’t hold him to his word on that one.

Chairman Jin’s camp goes into crisis control mode, and it’s with some surprise than Jin learns of Sun-woo’s plan to hold a stockholder’s meeting. Knowing that Sun-woo will try to dismiss him from his CEO position, Chairman Jin murmurs to himself: “I can’t lose that resort. That’s more important than my life. That’s how I got all the way here after all that bloodshed.”

Sun-woo’s camp stays focused on the meeting until Geum-jool interrupts with the news that Yong-bae hung himself and is in a coma. Sun-woo is hardly surprised, and wonders why he’s still alive if he tried to do the same thing his father did. With a sigh, Geum-jool asks his friend to just forgive them already.

“I can’t forgive alone,” Sun-woo says almost off-handedly. “No one is asking for forgiveness, so how can I forgive?” Ji-won tries to point out the logic fail in that statement (he doesn’t need to be asked for forgiveness to forgive), and Sun-woo just agrees to send flowers.

As for Chairman Jin’s wife, she’s had it with her husband and goes to Sun-woo with the pictures of him and her husband at Eun-hae’s gravesite. Sun-woo is able to make up an excuse which Hee-jun doesn’t totally buy, but she lets it slide for now… she has more important things to talk about. Like making a deal with Sun-woo to allow her to come out of the shareholder’s meeting unscathed. She could care less about how her husband fares.

In the hospital with his father, Jang-il tearfully admits that what he said before (that he’d give the okay for Yong-bae to kill himself) didn’t come from the heart. “If you go like this, I can’t live on,” he claims.

He’s interrupted by a phone call from Joon-ho, who wants him in for an interrogation on an attempted murder charge. Uh oh.

Interrogation room. Jang-il sits across a table from his colleague, Joon-ho, who asks him point blank if he ever hit Sun-woo over the head and threw him off a cliff. To every question about the crime Jang-il denies his involvement, though he admits that he and Sun-woo were once friends.

So Joon-ho decides to bring in Sun-woo to ask him if he was struck in the head by Jang-il. He and his frenemy share a glance, and Sun-woo seems to hesitate before answering no. We flashback to the drinking conversation Sun-woo had with Jang-il where he claimed that he wrote that he didn’t remember anything on the petition, but he remembered everything. The exact conversation Joon-ho listened in on through the phone.

I don’t know what Sun-woo’s aim is in denying Jang-il’s involvement, or if he’s in cahoots with Joon-ho. The prosecutor knows they’re both lying and decides to bring in Soo-mi for group questioning.

With a smile on her face, Soo-mi assures Joon-ho that she wasn’t necessarily lying before – she was just confused. (Right.) When presented with her paintings she claims that she asked Sun-woo and Jang-il to be her models, a question which Sun-woo flatly denies. Sun-woo: “It’s not true. I was never her model. Choi Soo-mi is lying.”

Meanwhile, Ji-won goes to work on convincing fellow shareholders of Chairman Jin’s fishiness and encourages them to attend the upcoming meeting.

In the interrogation room, Sun-woo continues his odd habit of locking eyes with Jang-il each time a question is posed to him that he has to lie about. It’s almost as if he’s challenging Jang-il to tell the truth, the real story, even though he could just do the same now and get this all over with.

But he goes on with his mind games, claiming that Jang-il wasn’t the one to attack him. He even pats his old friend on the back as if to say, It’s okay. Instead, when asked who struck him from behind, Sun-woo answers: “Lee Jang-il’s father.” Because Yong-bae was complacent in the murder of his father with Jin, Sun-woo claims that he clubbed him to stop him from turning in the petition.

Joon-ho, confused, asks the million dollar question: why didn’t Sun-woo say anything before? Looking to Soo-mi and Jang-il, who’s maintained a stone cold poker face this whole time, Sun-woo replies, “I wanted them to apologize. I also enjoyed watching them struggle to live by lying.”

This is the final straw for Jang-il, who grabs Sun-woo by the collar. Who does he think he is? “If you don’t like it,” Sun-woo says with a near smirk, “you can change it.” Ahh. I see the angle here.

Once the trio is outside, Soo-mi notes that while Sun-woo got them into this mess, he got them out in the end. Why? Jang-il has the same question on his mind, but Sun-woo fires back, “Why didn’t you speak truthfully then? I put everything on your father? How do you feel selling out your father?” He gets inches away from his face and practically croons the inner thought process going on in Jang-il’s head – that everything was for the best as long as he gets to live, even selling out his father.

Jang-il’s hand goes to Sun-woo’s shoulder, though Sun-woo immediately pulls it off with a fierce warning: “I told you not to touch me.” But if Jang-il doesn’t like it, he invites him to go tell the prosecutor the truth. That, or he can go strangle his father to prevent him from testifying against him when he wakes. “Strangle him like he strangled my father,” Sun-woo orders.

But Jang-il, looking quite dead inside, smiles ruefully. “Fine. Give me hell for the rest of my life.” It’s said with an air of resignation, as if he’s given up.

Then, he turns on Soo-mi. How could she have stayed silent, when Yong-bae tried to kill her father? Does she want Jang-il that badly?

Soo-mi: “You’ve become a true devil.” (O rly?) Sun-woo fires right back, “I still have a long way to go to catch up to you guys.” I’d say that’s true.

When Jang-il begins to leave, Sun-woo asks him if he doesn’t even have a ‘thank you’ to give for him not putting him in prison. Jang-il doesn’t, and he walks on without a word, leaving Sun-woo standing alone.

As Sun-woo drives later, he’s forced to stop in the middle of the road because his vision goes blurry. Eek.

The press mob the outside of Yong-bae’s hospital room, with Geum-jool keeping them at bay. Inside, Jang-il promises his father that it will all be over soon. Sun-woo watches the TV coverage from his room with a bored expression, and I’m guessing that the news from the interrogation room has leaked.

Next up for a press mobbing is Chairman Jin. He assures himself that Sun-woo won’t succeed in the shareholder’s meeting, and that he’ll never go down.

Back with Team Sun-woo, we overhear the reporter on the TV claiming that Jin is denying everything related to the crime – and besides, the statute of limitations has passed. Even though he should be happy, Sun-woo’s expression is serious and troubled.

It’s already time for the shareholders meeting, and the officiator calls for a show of hands of those in support of dismissing Chairman Jin as CEO. Two-thirds must agree in order for it to be passed. Slowly, hands start popping up around the room, including Sun-woo’s. It comes down to Hee-jun, who smiles to herself.

We flash back to her meeting with Sun-woo, asking how she can help his cause against her husband. As for what she would get in return, Sun-woo promised that he would help to place a new CEO from her family. I wonder if she’s looking out for Yoon-joo.

Back at the shareholder’s meeting, all eyes are on Hee-jun, as her vote would seal the deal. She raises her hand, to the shock of Chairman Jin, and the motion is passed. Chairman Jin is no longer CEO.

The room empties, leaving Sun-woo and Chairman Jin alone. Sun-woo tells him that he’s still trying to figure out what’s most precious to him and leaves him alone to fume. It’s never a good idea to leave a dangerous man like that alone to plan revenge, is it?

Team Sun-woo celebrates their victory against Chairman Jin. Sun-woo isn’t completely happy – he knows that it won’t bring his father back. Geum-jool urges him to go visit Yong-bae/Jang-il in the hospital, and Sun-woo offers a drink to the memory of his dead father. “It’s a good day,” he tells the picture.

Next we see him, he’s in Yong-bae’s hospital room. Jang-il arrives at the same time and confronts him. Is he here to strangle his father? Sun-woo is like, Do you think I’m like you? He came to wish his father a speedy recovery so that he can stand tall to be stoned for his crime. “If he just dies like this, it’s too easy,” Sun-woo says.

Things heat up when Sun-woo reminds Jang-il that his father is a murderer, which causes Jang-il to throw Sun-woo’s Get Better gift on the ground. Challenging him, Sun-woo asks when exactly it was that Jang-il found out that his father killed his father… and when Jang-il attempts to get physical, Sun-woo just plucks him from the ground like a paper doll and throws him on top of his father’s comatose body.

Outside the hospital, Sun-woo seems to be having some more eye problems. Ji-won calls him from a sidewalk as a mysterious van screeches to a halt next to her and suited men pour out, abducting her and leaving her phone on the sidewalk. Sun-woo, on the other end, has no idea what happened.

Ji-won is thrown into a locked room and rails against the doors ineffectually. Sun-woo grows suspicious when he can’t reach her by phone.

Chairman Jin is in a rage over his wife’s betrayal, and Yoon-joo is there to bear the brunt. He uses force to throw his stepdaughter onto a chair. “If I can’t keep the resort,” he tells her menacingly, “you and your mom won’t live through the day.” Yikes. I believe him.

With tears in his eyes, he recites his creed for that resort. It means everything to him. A home for his dead parents, who worked themselves to death. For what it’s worth, Yoon-joo seems to be on his side, and not her mother’s.

The next day, Min-yun and Sun-woo come to the realization that Ji-won might have been abducted by Jin, wanting revenge over the resort. Tae-joo comes just in time to overhear the news.

Their suspicions were correct, as Chairman Jin confronts Ji-won in the warehouse he’s locked her in. She’s not even surprised – she knew it was him. He wants her to call Sun-woo and tell him to set things right about the resort, only then will he let her go. When he throws her the phone she calls the police instead, so he wrestles it out of her grasp.

However, he returns to his office to find Sun-woo already waiting for him. He demands to know where Ji-won is. Chairman Jin assures him she’s safe, and he’ll tell him if he sets everything right. Sun-woo grabs him by the collar and claims he’ll call the police, and Jin is not afraid.

Sun-woo hesitates, remembering that this is his father he’s threatening. Tears spring to his eyes and Chairman Jin actually makes fun of him, like, Is the wittle baby crying wittle tears? He tells Sun-woo to think carefully – Ji-won’s time is running out.

“Did you do this to my mother?” Sun-woo asks. “Were you like this to your fiancée?” And Jin, unfazed, simply tells him to return the resort to him.

Sun-woo starts tearing through Chairman Jin’s house, breaking everything he can take a stick to. He calls for Ji-won and receives no answer. Ji-won tries taking a chair to a huge metal door… and A for effort, I guess?

And just like that, we find Sun-woo beating the tar out of Secretary Cha, who claims he doesn’t know where Ji-won is. Geum-jool and Min-yun are standing by, and he orders them to throw Cha off the roof. They hold him over the edge as he screams bloody murder and finally breaks, telling them Ji-won’s location.

As he peels out to find her, Jang-il calls Chairman Jin to tell him to come beg his father for forgiveness. Jin tells him to come to his home instead, and soon enough his office door opens…

…Only it isn’t Jang-il, it’s Tae-joo. Yeah! Dad fight!

He’s come to ask for Ji-won and to tell the truth: that Sun-woo is Chairman Jin’s son. He explains that he loved Jin’s fiancée but never slept with her, and she never betrayed Chairman Jin even once. She only loved him.

This news hits Chairman Jin enough for the self-assured smile to fade from his face. Jang-il arrives outside in time to overhear Tae-joo telling Jin to stop hurting his son, Sun-woo. So Jang-il knows now.

Chairman Jin doesn’t seem to believe it, and wonders how Tae-joo used his own son against him for revenge. Not Dad tells him to do a paternity test if he’s so uncertain and leaves, running into Jang-il on his way out.

Jang-il confronts Chairman Jin, victorious. “I came here to give you hell, but look what I found out?” he gloats over the information, even though he claims it isn’t such a big surprise – both father and son are persistent and ignorant. Chairman Jin tries to punch him for that, but he stops the blow easily.

Looking him dead in the eyes, Jang-il tells him that his father is dying right now because of him – and if he does die, he won’t let Chairman Jin get away with it.

And Chairman Jin, left alone, lets the whole “Sun-woo is my son” realization sink in.

Sun-woo takes a sledgehammer to the door locking Ji-won in and saves her. She makes sure to let him know that this was all the evil Chairman Jin’s doing, a statement that makes Sun-woo uneasy. That’s his evil father, after all.

They have a heart to heart in the car, with Sun-woo telling her he can’t live without her. She says likewise, etc. You know the drill.

Meanwhile, Chairman Jin talks over a translator that’s supposed to help him appeal to foreign moneylenders.

Sun-woo pays a visit to Soo-mi as she packs up all the Wall of Crazy paintings and asks her about a commission he requested earlier – a painting of Yong-bae hitting him in the back of the head. She claims she’s working on it, but judging by her face, she isn’t.

He wants to take the paintings off her hands and asks the price. When his back is turned she throws gasoline on the box of paintings and sets it on fire. Sun-woo actually laughs at her nerve, but is otherwise unconcerned.

Claiming that he wants some water, he returns to her gallery whistling happily… and casually takes a knife to all of her paintings. HA. Okay, it’s not so much the action, but the way he’s going about it that’s just awesome. It’s just a walk in the park for him.

And the best part? He keeps going back and forth, back and forth, cutting into each painting three or four times. Soo-mi comes running in to stop him and he pushes her to the ground roughly. Damn. No one can accuse him of messing around.

In the hospital, Yong-bae passes away. Jang-il sits next to him dejectedly. “Father… where are you going? Did you get to see Kyung-pil? When you see him, beg for his forgiveness. If he beats you up, take it. I will pay for the rest of the sins. Had I only not been smart… had I been less ambitious… Father… you wouldn’t have walked that path. It’s all my fault. Father… it’s all my fault.” He breaks down, sobbing over his father’s body.

Cut to: Jang-il bursting into Chairman Jin’s office, calling him out for killing his father. “Your father’s greed killed him,” Jin replies, completely unfazed. Jang-il accuses him of being inhumane. (Er? Since when were tree branches humane?)

Chairman Jin wants Jang-il to help him out with a resort issue and travel with him to Taiwan. After all, “Life goes on for those who live.” He claims that time (a few days) will heal all wounds, but Jang-il is like a rabid animal who must be held back from attacking him.

 
COMMENTS

A bit anticlimactic for a finale lead-in, but what’cha gonna do. There were some great moments this episode, which is something that can be said of the whole series – there are some phenomenal, mind-blowing moments, but one begins to wonder if we could have condensed the proceedings a bit with a shorter episode count. As it was, today’s episode ran ten minutes short due to a broadcasting accident, with the last scene being unceremoniously cut off before the title sequence was displayed. It was pretty impossible to miss, and an official apology was given on behalf of the production crew for the mishap.

The beauty of the shorter episode format in kdramaland is the ability to showcase stories that don’t need to be concerned over stretching out multiple seasons, and revenge is just one of those things that doesn’t work over a gazillion hours because all we’d be seeing are obstacles put between our protagonist and his end goal. To see whether Equator Man has been spinning its wheels a bit is something we’ll discuss in the finale, since I’m curious as to how this is all going to end. Obviously Sun-woo has given Jang-il more than enough chances to repent, though the outcome seems bleak. He might have changed due to his father’s death (which came as a surprise to me, since they’d bothered to keep him alive for no discernible purpose), especially when he asked his father to go beg for Kyung-pil’s forgiveness in the afterlife. Hopefully that’s a precursor to Jang-il changing his ways. Better late than never, right?

The greatest moment of the episode was one of the simplest, when Sun-woo sliced Soo-mi’s paintings. I love that it’s petty and how he’s just washed his hands of her – she’s incorrigible, and there’s nothing to be done. If her father being almost-murdered by Yong-bae didn’t stop her from taking Jang-il’s side, then she’s truly hopeless. (Speaking of, where was Kwang-choon this episode?)

Ji-won’s abduction scene(s) didn’t really hold water for me, mostly because she didn’t seem to be in any real danger and because I’ve just never connected with her as a character. There’s the argument that she’s so dependable that you’d want her around in real life despite her milquetoast presence, but the chief job of a television show is to entertain – so if she is failing to entertain, then she’s simply failing to do her job as a character.

I have a feeling we’ll be in for quite the ride for the finale. Here’s hoping that it’ll be a satisfying one, inasmuch as revenge can be satisfying, that is.

 
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Eeeeep, I wasn't expecting the recap just yet! Yes!

Thank you, HeadsNo2! :)

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i laughed so much when sun woo picked jang il up and tossed him around the hospital room, i replayed it several times just laughing. i have no idea if i should have found it so funny.

also sunwoo slicing up the bitch's paintings was fantastic!

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i though I'm the only one who find it funny. Hahhaa.

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maybe it was the way he picked him up...like a wrestling move. it was hilarious.

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Oh no, you were not the only one! I was laughing like it was a comedy! Between that and ripping up of the paintings, who could not!

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The best part was that he was whistling his and Ji Won's song the ENTIRE time...so meta LOL

He straight up mush her though...like I'm done with you. Be happy all I did was cut up these paintings.

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i dont really blame chairman jin for wanting to lock Ji-won in a warehouse somewhere and forget all about her.

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True that, haha!

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she is the WORST female lead for a Kdrama that I have EVER seen.

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lol. True.

Honestly, that scene didn't do much for me either. Why didn't she try hitting the glass window instead of the door anyway?

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In the scene when Jang-il bursts into Chairman Jin's office, I couldn't help but notice the little drawer thing he had on his desk had one drawer upside down.

I loved Sunwoo slicing up Soomi's paintings. It was perfect.

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The other ep when SW man handled SM some people were like thats not acceptable blah blah and seeing the same thing again this ep am guessing they gonna be moaning again. Here's my take if the woman in question is Han Ji Won in Secret Garden being pushed arnd by Hyun Bin then of cuz its unacceptable cuz he was just being an ass! But the subject being SM, all i can say is harder pls!
Already anticipating UTW next project!

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WOW! Soomi puts new to meaning to the word "obsess". She's unbelievable and extremely denial. She annoys me and her thick lipstick. I don't understand why she's not telling the truth about what exactly happened in that bridge. I wonder what it takes for her to turn her back on Jang-Il.

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"She annoys me and her thick lipstick."

YES!! crazy thick lipsticks! how often and how many times must she apply it?

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I loved how SunWoo sliced her paintings like its annoying to his eyes and brushed Soomi off the ground like she's some kind of bug messing up his hair.

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The continuing hatred for Ji Won from some people has gotten ridiculous. She's Sun Woo's pillar of moral support (and conscience of sort) in addition to being his one ray of hope in the dark world of betrayal and revenge he's in. To see some people decry her more than the reprehensible Soo Mi is simply mind-boggling to me.

Anyways...

Yeah, that scene wherein Sun Woo destroyed Soo Mi's paintings was delicious. If you noticed, he was whistling the song that he and Ji Won played/sang so many episodes ago. I saw it brought up elsewhere, but it's like Ji Won is his grasp on sanity and clarity. Without her, Sun Woo would be in a much, much, much darker place. I'm glad she's there for his sake (and that's also why I like her...for HIS sake).

Sun Woo gave his friends so many chances to repent and just ADMIT to their crimes, but they've made their choice. That's what this drama has been about all along - the power of choice. We'll see what they choose to do in the finale (I've already seen it, but I'm cooperating and not discussing it).

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I agree, Ji Won's role has always been Sun Woo's conscience. My only complaint has always been that she never really comforted Sun Woo in time of need like I know most of us would have (when Sun Woo was crying his heart out, how could she stay emotionless!)

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Hey Msb...

I've been wondering if anyone else noticed how Ji Won failed to truly comfort Sun Woo during his breakdown(s). Once he had to lean waaaay over and fall onto her lap instead of her reaching over and gently pulling him into her arms or lap like Hang Ah did with Jae Ha in K2H.

And after Sun Woo's finding out that Jin = Dad, he fell into a deep cry and crumpled into a heap on the floor and it took a few moments before Jin Won decided to go and hold him.

I realize this isn't a rom-com and their relationship isn't always warm & fuzzy (affectionate), but if ever there was a guy who needs reassurance of a girlfriend's love and care and his importance in her life - it's Sun Woo. Yes, she's his conscience; yes, she's his link to the real world outside of his revenge.... but a lot of times I was thinking why doesn't she just give him a hug (or back-hug!) not to come on to him but out of warmth, comfort and support.

IMHO it's a flaw of the writers and anyone else who had a hand in developing her character so out of touch with how most of us would have responded - as you pointed out in your comment.

Anyways.... I saw the finale and am looking forward to discussing it (and our main characters!) with the DB community.

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Thanks, fangirl98. This was my only complaint about her character portrayal. When he was blind, she showed more emotion than when he was not. Each time he had an emotional breakdown, I would seriously get angry because she was a stick! Not there! No support! And here I was bawling my eyes out with him! Did not understand it at all. I hope it was a flaw of the writers and not Lee Bo Young.

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maybe it is the female lead genuine feeling towards the male lead..she doesn't find it comfortable to be hugged or k by him, and is rather indifferent to scenes like these ...:)

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After all this time, I still feel no sympathy or even pity for any of the characters except Sun Woo.
I hope that he exacts his revenge to the fullest, even against Chairman Jin.

Young-Bae's death was literally too easy of an escape for him. And who is Jang il exactly for him to go around screaming like he was wronged just because his father died?
I don't care if Sun Woo personally kills everyone in the end since none of them have redeeming qualities. In fact, they blame their crimes on other people rather than just accepting the truth.

It's like what Sun Woo said about him not being able to forgive alone. All they had to do was sincerely apologize and he probably would've forgiven him. Instead, they all still go around with their heads held high as though everyone is beneath them.
I hope this isn't a drama where in the end, he decides to forgive all of them. They all have to pay and I want to see them beg for mercy from Sun Woo.

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*sighs* Well, of course he's going to go blind: one can't exact revenge without being punished for it, after all (and thanks for that little life lesson, True Grit).

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Why is Ji Won so useless? What DID happen to the girl who smashed a rock?

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This episode confirmed me that Jang Il still has conscience... His passive behaviour it has something to do with his guilt and it's a sign he has redeeming quality (though the guy never admit it. Because he always knows how to makes people around him pissed off... it seems He never knew how to talk sweetly due to his pride) ... --> really, I have never seen an antagonist as passive as he is... He can take advantage from SUn Woo and Soo Mi easily but he never took it..

His point of view is always questionable... Like he always feels Sun Woo is not the only victim (but this point of view is also it's confirmed, he has been suffered due to his wrong doing). but throughtout the drama, we have witness his struggle to overcome his guilt. It's not because he is afraid to get caught, because the guy never give a BIG effort to covered up his wrong doing. What he has done so far is to covered up His father's crime. It's Soo mi and Sun WO him self that always trying to covered up his crime...

That's my point of view so far... What i think of is, Jang Il sucked at relationship towards people around him, because he doesn't knows how to...

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Ceire,

This recap is actually late, not early. The recapped was expected to have it finished on Saturday, but didn't.

I'm not complaining, just saying.

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......sounds a little complain-y....

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Ji Won is so badly written. What's the point of making her to be this vengeful teenager who hides behind doors and smashes windshields? She has to have some avenging to do when she grows up?

Teen Ji Won = crazy angry assertive revenge-plotter; Adult Ji Won = standard issue damsel-in-distress

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But is she even a damsel in distress. Do you really buy any distress in her when she is kidnapped in this epsiode. She barely has time to be surprised at the sneak attack. She is nto surprised to find out Chairman Jin is behind this; who else would it be? She has not done anything to anyone else . . .ever.

Do-ra-ma is surprised that so many people hate her and not Soomi, but I do not think hatred is the correct word. People do hate Soo-mi. No one seems bothered at all that Sun woo pushed her around and cut up her paintings. However, I think we are all dissapointed at the waste that is Jo Won's character.

Sun woo needs a conscience, and Ji Won plays his Jiminy Cricket. But even Disney gave Jiminy Cricket a song to sing, aome pluck, and some funny scenes. I blame the writers for not following through on what they had set up in the beginning. Teen Ji Won had fire, but it seems like they do not know how to develop someone who is clearly good who has fire. All she does is sit around with the quote of the day. Her character (and Sun Woo's) deserved better.

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An example of a female lead who is consistently "good" but who has fire? Lee Kang San (played by Park Jin Hee) in Fermentation/Kimchi family.

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Excellent example!! When he cried, she cried! That is my point! Lack of emotion bothered me but I never hated the character of Ji Won, she is needed to keep Sun Woo from the dark side.

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I worry for Sun-woo. Obviously I've never been in his position, so I have no idea what it would feel like to be betrayed like that, but there are definitely repercussions to this whole revenge thing, and he can't seem to stop. At this point, I wonder if we're supposed to think of his character as damaged beyond repair in how he can't seem to stop himself IF he wants to. Which, yeah, he doesn't. But still. Jang-il is wonderfully written. Soo-mi is crazy, and Ji-won is boring. I really feel that the one-dimensionality of her character detracts from the overall quality of the drama. Blegh.

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I agree Heads. Coolest scene ever was watching him whistle while he ripped up her paintings. Just a walk in the park for him. lol.

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Jiwon, as expected = nothing more than a damsel in distress

I didnt expect embattled, hardy Chairman Jin who has probably gone through worse to get to where he is to fall as CEO so easily. It should have been written better

And for Jang-il, at the risk of sounding darn random, have you seen an actor with a better poker face throughout a whole series? I will give Lee Joon-hyuk that award hands down

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Ah~ Sun-Woo going all Elle Driver on the paintings made me smile.

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YES!! this is who i was reminded of. and i wondered why i have had her whistling tune in my head ever since this episode.

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Why do i have a feeling that character jangil shines over the other characters? I see more struggles, conflicts, unrest, emotions in jangil than the main lead...

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thanx for recaping.

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Thanks a million, Heads#2, for your wonderful recaps which I know are a ton of work. I hope you (at least mostly) enjoy producing them because you are a gifted recapper. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have undertaken the Equator Man journey if you weren't recapping it because I didn't want to go through another Story of a Man experience alone. However, as it turns out, once we got past the teenage years portion of the drama, it wasn't really an emotionally grueling experience for me. That's because unfortunately,
it's been hard for me to feel emotionally connected to any of the adult characters.

The bad guys are all so twisted, no sane person could identify with them. At first I thought Yong Bae was just a spineless coward who panicked, did a terrible thing, then tried to cover up his tracks. I didn't think he was capable of premeditated murder, but obviously I was wrong. It turns out that all the villains are basically "certifiable". (And I would argue that too many kooks spoil the plot.)

The problem with the good guys, as you commented on previously, is that they rarely express any emotion. We have Mr. Facade, Ms. Long-Suffering Milquetoast, Mr. Zen Master-- at least Min Yun is expressive sometimes, but the poor guy doesn't even have a name nor a backstory, which makes him pretty hard to connect with. I was really looking forward to seeing Geum Jool's reaction when he learned the truth about what his "friends" had done to Sun Woo-- I needed to see someone go all nuclear on their asses-- but alas, we seem to have skipped that part and now even Geum Jool is saying it's time for forgiveness.

Since the adult cast took over, the most satisfying moments of the drama for me have been those rare moments when authentic emotions were being expressed. Ep. 17 was awesome and was definitely the highlight so far-- we finally got to see Sun Woo expressing his rage at Soo Mi and Jang Il. I give the drama a lot of props for serving that comeuppance in a most delicious way. I agree that the drama could have packed more of a punch with fewer episodes-- it's too bad that the revenge mission didn't get underway until so late in the game. Looking forward to the big finale part of the ride.

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I agree. This drama could have been more satisfying if we were given more glimpses of raw emotion. But instead of seeing more emotion from the good guys, I wanted to see more emotion from Jang Il. It was a bit difficult at times to swallow that someone could be as cold-hearted and remorseless as Jang Il. As Headsno2 stated, it would have been more satisfying if we could see Jang Il wracked with guilt, stewing in his own sweat or trembling in fear. But no, he was pretty much a cool cucumber most of the time. It would also have been nice if we could see more remnants of his fondness for Sunwoo. All in all, I wonder how AMAZING kdramas would be if they were pre-produced, instead of being shot and edited on an almost live system. I also think it wouldn't be a bad idea if kdrama scriptwriters had a group of people test-read their scripts and give feedback, like they do with movie scripts~~

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I'm pretty much Agree with you, honestly, it will be more satisfying if Jang Il can show more emotion and not remain in denial and keep playing like a jerk... the drama failed to explore that complexity

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I guess the big question is, will Jang Il shoot Chairman Jin or not? And then what will happen to Jang Il afterwards? It won't be satisfying if Jang Il never pays for his crimes, yet it seems like the script writers are going to give him an easy way out. Or maybe the scriptwriters will go all out and have Jang Il shoot Chairman Jin and then himself. On the whole, this drama was pretty exciting, but it would have been even MORE thrilling if it were condensed to 16 episodes, which is how I feel about RTP. And TK2H should have been shortened to 10 or 12 episodes, imho.

And I know you must be worn out after recapping Equator Man, but have you seen The Chaser yet?? Damn, it's good. The opening sequence starts off with a bang... literally. It's another revenge story, but I like the whole chasing concept of it. The lead is both the one chasing and the one being chased (I hope). I'm a huge sucker for fugitive-from-the-law story lines. I really hope The Chaser takes that route~~

Link to the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWn_XveAwNM

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