Sherayith

The first three episodes are definitely high on the blood and violence scale, though the story turns more towards espionage and investigation after that. Still enjoyable, but the violence is definitely toned down in later episodes. Hopefully the last two episodes ramp it up a notch, since we're in the last stretch and everything needs to be resolved.

The writers acknowledged that they didn't give her enough substance in the main story, which they said was due to the constraints of having only 12 episodes. That is why she's getting her own two hour spin-off backstory, which is set to be released after The Veil ends. I know it's not enough to satisfy a lot of people who are unhappy with how short her role was, but I find it satisfying enough.

This a translation of her latest post:

"I am sorry that my writing has caused unintentional damage to many people.
There was a time when both me and him truly loved each other.
I also feel bad for him to see him collapse in an instant due to some of my radical writing.
I got an apology from him, and it seems that we misunderstood each other.
I hope that no more false information will be revealed or that my or his story will not be reproduced.
My heart is heavy because it seems that this incident has caused a lot of damage to many people.
This article will be down soon."

Just saying, maybe next time you get hurt, before causing damage you find a different way to redress your grievances?

If I understood her post correctly, they continued dating for several months after she got the abortion, but their relationship went downhill due to how busy he was. They only broke up four months ago, which was during the time he was still filming HCC, which probably explains his over-the-phone breakup.
My position on this whole mess is that yes, Seon Ho caused a lot of emotional distress to this woman and for that he should show her genuine remorse and apologize, and do whatever he can to reconcile with her. However, what I don't agree with is that she aired her grievances to the public. Everyone is quick to blame the person that is first accused, and act as if they know the whole story after hearing one side of the conflict. The woman knew full well the effect this story would have on Seon Ho's life, and released it anyway. Obviously we can't know whether she'd already tried to redress her grievances another way and felt she had no other option but to use the internet as a medium, or whether she just wanted to destroy the man who had hurt her. We can't know. We just assume. And I am going to assume that neither side is blameless in this.

I definitely forgot/missed a lot of details that make more sense now. I had initially had some confusion as to the significance of the Chinese drug cartel that was the main antagonist of the first three episodes –especially since the boss was killed off by episode 4–, but now as I'm rewatching I think I'm finally beginning to understand.

Here's what we know:
1) Ji Hyuk met with agent code named Brown Bear, who mentioned that Huayang Gang was just a branch of a larger conspiracy.
2) Huayang Gang transported drugs from North Korea to China
3) Baek Mo Sa is a former SK agent who was sold to the North.
4) The boss of Huayang Gang knew and feared Baek Mo Sa.
5) Baek Mo Sa is known as a notorious criminal who controls the border between North Korea and China.
6) Director Lee Im Hwan had dealings with Baek Mo Sa, and gave him Ji Hyuk's personnel file per his request.

My theory is that Baek Mo Sa used Huayang Gang to eliminate the South Korean NIS agents, either as part of his larger plan to create a national incident to topple the NIS, or because Brown Bear was getting too close to discovering him. He also was likely the one who tipped off the gang about the location of the safe-house Ji Hyuk and his team were using, though how he knew is unclear. Baek Mo Sa is probably the reason why Jang Gwang Cheol and the boss of Huayang Gang knew Ji Hyuk's name and face, and that he was the one responsible for the death of the boss's son.

If the drama is going in the direction I think it's going, Baek Mo Sa's entire life's purpose now seems to be avenging himself on the agency that used and betrayed him. He doesn't care about national politics, as he's killing people on both sides of the conflict. I wonder if they'll show us more of his past, because if he really is Je Yi's father, I want to know how her loving dad turned into a monster.

The one thing we will never know for sure, is what exactly was said between them in that private moment. We only have her side of the story (almost a year after the fact), and it is unlikely Kim Seon Ho will share more details. I know I wouldn't in his position. Even if he tried to explain his side of the story, a lot of people have already decided he is entirely in the wrong and will pick apart his words. Emotions cloud memories and twist them, and how she remembers what happened between them will not be the same as how he remembers it.
I am trying to remain impartial as much as possible, but it is difficult when there is no way to prove what really happened, and it's not like a legal crime was committed that would have to be investigated. Which makes me even more frustrated that it was made public, because that just means that the faceless masses of the internet are going to be the ones making the judgements, and doing so with barely any information.

Actually according to her statement, she wanted the baby, but KSH persuaded her to get an abortion by promising to marry her. If that is true, she could've sued him for a breach of promise to marry after he broke up with her, as his promise and her acceptance would've been legally binding, just like a written contract.
The fact remains that the only thing we know for sure is that they were in a relationship and that it ended very badly. I am disinclined to completely trust the unverified words of an emotionally compromised person on the internet, especially when she waited until he was at the peak of success to tear him down.

The first thing that Korean idols and actors do whenever they're involved in controversy is apologize, even if they're not in the wrong. They apologize for disappointing fans, they apologize for causing trouble. It's not always an admission of guilt, it's just that they're expected to apologize no matter what, because if they don't they'll likely encounter more problems with their career because they're "unrepentant".

I'm not saying KSH is innocent of hurting his gf, or that he shouldn't apologize to (A). He did admit to hurting her in his letter, though he was understandably vague on details. I'm just saying that I'm not ashamed of myself for not jumping on the blame bandwagon and calling KSH a SOB, when we don't have all the facts. We only have her unverified statement, and we have his apology letter. That may be enough for the majority of the internet, but I'd rather hold off on passing judgement.

For some reason, people find it so easy to believe the worst of people. Words have so much power on the internet, because they spread so fast and millions of people take unverified words as truth. I have realized how dangerous this is, which is why I never judge anyone before the full truth is revealed.

This is why i stay off of social media for the most part, especially twitter, and only post innocuous things on Facebook and Instagram. I don't like how the internet has created a medium for a mob mentality that can destroy lives.

While this has been a nasty piece of business altogether, I can't help but feel that KSH isn't the only one to blame in the situation. And I don't at all like that this anonymous ex-gf made it a public matter when it is something she should have dealt with privately, either by suing him (if he really did short her on compensation), or by settling the matter through his agency. I don't like that in Korea, it's second nature for people to post slander online in order to get revenge for past wrongs - real or imagined.
I hope that this doesn't destroy KSH career that he's worked so hard to build. I also hope that that woman, whoever she is, is satisfied with her revenge and can move on with her life.

Maybe mark your post as spoiler for viewers who haven't seen ep 9 yet?

Also, to clarify, Ji Hyuk is not the traitor. Without his memory, Ji Hyuk understandably assumed that his team (Dong Wook and Kyung Seok) were victims of the same wave of agent murders that happened right around the time he disappeared. However, the truth was that Kyung Seok was a double-agent working for Sangmuhoe, and Dong Wook was the first to realize that Kyung Seok was working under separate orders, which led to him pointing his gun at Dong Wook after the death of the North Korean government officer at the hotel.

Before that disastrous mission in Shenyang, Ji Hyuk was in the dark about the political movements within the NIS organization. The only information he had was that someone on his team had leaked intel revealing their safe-house to the enemy. He had no choice but to suspect both Dong Wook and Kyung Seok, and he ended up making split-second decision that resulted in the death of innocent Dong Wook.

I agree with you there. I hope there will be some fantastic action at the end, because I don't want a quiet resolution after all that dramatic buildup and so many people dying because of the villain(s).

I've started rewatching from episode 1, so I can catch all the details I've forgotten over the last five weeks, in preparation for the finale this Friday/Saturday.

If you're talking about the events of episode 2, I'd have to rewatch it to get all the details right, but essentially the gangsters didn't break into the police station to save the guy in the white suit, they went in to get the "driver" –who was actually the boss of the gang. They killed the guy in the white suit because he got cocky and by trying to taunt Ji Hyuk, actually gave him a subtle hint about why their boss came to Korea. The guy in the white suit accepted his death because he was absolutely loyal to the gang boss and knew what he'd done would not be forgiven.
As for why the gangsters allowed themselves to be arrested in the first place, I think 1) they knew the NIS would be called in and 2) they knew it was likely that Ji Hyuk would be included in the investigation. The gang boss wanted to see his son's killer with his own eyes. Plus the gang boss is a drug addict and very crazy, so a dramatic exit is very much par the course.

I just want any explanation at this point, even if it is that Ji Hyuk was doing it to himself. The writers/director made us wonder about it, and have been teasing us with tiny bits of details about his missing year, so I really hope that there's more to be revealed. We've really only seen maybe a couple weeks out of that whole time - the original mission to take out the gangsters who murdered that one operative, then the mission that came right after that which ultimately led to disaster, and the final scene we see is from many months after that, when Ji Hyuk's become deranged and fueled with rage. There's still a huge chunk of time that's missing. My theory at this point, and it probably is wrong, is he went after Baek Mo Sa and got caught.

Right, the mission in Shenyang wasn't his only mission, but in episode 1 when Ji Hyuk's looking at himself in the mirror, he doesn't recognize the scars on his body, which means they're from the year he couldn't remember. And the doctors wouldn't comment on the scars if he'd had them before he went missing. The ONLY scars that have been explained at this point are the ones on his face. The scars on his shoulder, chest, abdomen, and the burn tissue on the back of his right right leg have not been explained.

After the revelations of episode 10, my biggest question is where did Ji Hyuk get all those scars? His memories have partially returned, but there’s still no explanation for why he’s got those scars all over his body. Presumably it wasn’t self harm (the doctors said he had been tortured), so SOMEBODY did that to him during his missing year. I’m going to be disappointed if they don’t clear up that last mystery in episode 11 or 12.

Oh nice! First Jang Hyuk plays Bang Won in "My Country", now Sang Wook will play him in his own drama.

I do like this drama. The romance wasn't the most compelling part of the story, to be sure, but the plot was solid and the characters were engaging. My favorite character was Prince Jin Yang, the older brother. He was a compelling character, whose weakness was that he desired what others had, be it power or love, but only knew how to take it rather than earn it. He was both victim and perpetrator, and the writer(s) did a good job of making you hate and sympathize with him.

I rewatched this drama recently and liked it much better the second time around. I made the mistake of watching it as it was airing, and since I tend to forget things from week to week, I lost track of a lot of the plot threads. Rewatching it made me appreciate it a lot more, and I bumped up my initial rating.