K-Drama Review: Faith, Episodes 15-16

 

Read Episode reviews for:

Faith--Episodes 1-2
Faith--Episodes 3-4
Faith--Episodes 5-6
Faith--Episodes 7-8
Faith--Episodes 9-10
Faith--Episodes 11-12
Faith--Episodes 13-14
Faith--Episodes 15-16
Faith--Episodes 17-18


Contains Spoilers for Episodes 15-16

Eunsoo falls sick from poison, and Choi Young flips out. Doctor Jangbin arrives to take care of Eunsoo, but tells Choi Young that he doesn't even know what poison Deok-heung used on Eunsoo.

 

Our Girl Is In a Bad Way.

 

 Choi Young runs out to meet Deok-heung (known from here on out as D), and I'm fully expecting a murder in the next few eps, because if Choi Young is the type of nutso who would cut a person's jugular just to see if it can be repaired (see episode 1), he's going to go fully bananas when someone willfully harms the woman he cares for.  

 

He runs and runs, thinking of Eunsoo, who he might not be able to save, and of Tiny King, the boy he has already lost for good. A sense of panic dogs his steps. And then he reaches D, who is all cool logic and trying to negotiate with Choi Young over the antidote.

 

You Can't Negotiate With This.

 

With pure crazy shining in his eyes, Choi Young overturns D's fancy table, then beats the man until his face is bloody before delivering this beautiful thought: "I have killed many people. Before now, I already tried to make their deaths painless. But you, I plan to tear to pieces." As D explains that his ploys are all done because he has no choice--he must become a king or die--Choi Young begins to slice the back of D's neck!

 

It's only the reminder that if D dies, Eunsoo dies as well that makes Choi Young stop. D demands that Choi Young steal the King's seal for him, or he won't get Eunsoo's antidote.

 

Okay, Now I See Him As a Villain.

 

Choi Young goes to the King and asks him for his seal, reminding him when he balks that Eunsoo is dying and she was dragged into this world on the King's orders. King asks if he's being asked to give up his seal to his conniving uncle just to save one woman's life? (Well, King, can't you be responsible for somebody's life this one time? We all gotta grow up.) The King says, giving away the seal means giving away the throne. Choi Young replies, who gave him the seal? The King looks stricken.

 

It's Awful That You're Hurting, But You Might've Had That Coming.

 

 Then Choi Young tells King Gongmin to give him the seal, or he'll take it from him. Sweet night, that's a terrible thing to say to your liege lord/BFF, but when it's a choice between distressing him and letting the woman you love die....ugh, this hurts to watch. Choi Young's warriors are ordered to attack him, and even though he is unarmed, he easily defeats and disarms his own warriors.

 

What follows is a lengthy epic battle where the 50 warriors who love Choi Young do their best to stop him with swords and arrows, and fail miserably. He manages not to seriously injure any of them. Then it's revealed that Choi Young stole the seal ALREADY, and was just distracting everyone's attention from that fact.

 

Marry Me, Choi Young.

 

He gets the antidote, then sits helplessly by Eunsoo's unconscious body after Doctor Jangbin administers it. Even if she gets better in the short term, D says that she'll need several more doses to get truly better.

 

At home in the palace, King Gongmin gradually comes to the realization that he neither understands Choi Young, nor his own people. He doesn't care about them as he should, and doesn't know what they want or need.

 

Choi Young sits by Eunsoo's bedside, holding her hand and trying to talk her back to the land of the living. Mister psycho warrior speaks gently about how he taught her to ride a horse and use a dagger, and in the future he'll teach her how to fish. Or if she doesn't like fishing, he'll teach her something else. At the same time, Eunsoo is having a prophetic dream about the future, about finding Choi Young apparently dead.

 

No! Neither of You Are Allowed to Die.

 

When Eunsoo wakes up, Choi Young apologizes. He says D only poisoned her because Choi Young sent D to her with the diary in the first place. She points out that he got her the antidote, so all's even. Eunsoo directs Choi Young to help her sit up, so she can lean back on him. As they sit close together, she tells him that the heaven's gate will open in about a month and...if she doesn't go home then, she'll be stuck in Goryeo for another 67 years. He responds by holding her tighter. I refuse to cry. I will not cry, you hear me, drama?

 

In order to get Eunsoo's next dose of antidote, D says Choi Young must stay with him for several hours, talking. It sounds simple until you realize that D has invited villain Gicheol over and is implying that Choi Young is now in D's own camp, supporting him as king.

 

Clever and Cleverer.

 

 Lots more schemery goes down in a few scant minutes, and it ends with Choi Young having to choose between running to his King to save his life or getting the antidote from D to save Eunsoo's life. It's like Batman with Rachel and Harvey Dent all over again.

 

Choi Young gives orders to one of his men to get the Wodalchi warriors and escape from the palace with the King and Queen, since Gicheol is about to attack. It sounds like he's going to take care of his girl, but then he says that instead he'll follow along to the palace to help the King, and D must now give the antidote to another of Choi Young's men to take to Eunsoo. See, Choi Young has figured out that D can't kill Eunsoo--both Choi Young and Gicheol want her alive and both of them will kill D if Eunsoo dies.

 

Choi Young's Got Your Number!

Battle ensues. The Wodalchi and Choi Young slaughter a few dozen enemy soldiers, some of whom used to be on the King's side. The King escapes the palace, and so does the Queen, albeit in separate directions. D goes to the palace and manages to plant doubt in the minds of King Gongmin's scholars as to why their king ran away in a crisis situation.

Eunsoo gets her next dose of antidote and wakes up. I kind of love the sickness cycle, how she has to keep bouncing back and forth between near-health and near-death, due to the nature of the poison. She starts tending to the wounds of the Wodalchi, though Choi Young wants her to rest. She also wants to get one last look at that diary, as she thinks it contains a note from her future self to her current self.

A Note She Hopes Will Save Choi Young's Life in the Future.

Gicheol makes D the interim ruler until the fled Gongmin returns, and they're both working to stop his return.

Choi Young meets with the King, and the two BFFs make up. Yay! The King is transported to a safe place, where he rejoins his beloved Queen.

Doctor Jangbin finds out what poisoned Eunsoo, and gives some of this same poison to Choi Young to keep with him. What'll he do with it, I wonder? Eunsoo and Choi Young sit down to talk strategy, and she has to hint around that she's very cold before he'll sit by her and put his arm around her.

Stubborn Man Must Be Coerced to Show Affection.

The two of them go to see Gicheol and he agrees to help them get the final diary page back from D. So it's Villains and Heroes, united against Other Villains! So grand. They all walk to the palace to confront D together and to get the diary pages. Gicheol fumes and threatens guards with his sword while Choi Young punches out some guards to get to D, who sits on Gongmin's throne.

Then Choi Young slams the false king down on a table and pours the same poison D gave to Eunsoo down D's throat. HOLY MOLY.

Just When You Think He Can't Do Anything More Audacious.

In reaction to being poisoned himself, D says if he can be alone with Eunsoo, they'll both get the antidote, but only if Choi Young stays behind. Eunsoo gets her cure without a hitch, but alliances may be shifting once more--D and Gicheol note that they'll never have Eunsoo's loyalty while Choi Young is around her.

Eunsoo finally does get that diary note from her future self. It looks like she's telling herself to stay with Choi Young, but her future self is just vague enough that she can't be sure. She also pieces together the fact that she's supposed to save him from some sort of trap. And it currently looks like he's walking into said trap...

Episode end.

Things I Loved:

1. Gicheol Being Angry/Frustrated Confused. It happens so often, and it's funny every single time.

Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

Complaints:

1. None. This week was better than last!

Watch Faith on DramaFever.

Episode Evaluations: The politics are interesting again! All it took was the entrance of a third party, plus kicking the King out of the palace to jumpstart all kinds of plotty awesomeness. When you add in a desperate Choi Young kicking butt left and right, then a delirious Eunsoo getting messages from her future self, you've got a newly riveting drama. Eee!