Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 13
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This episode starts off with the writers threatening to use the ever-annoying 'drama-preserving handicap' trope. It's been ages already since we've had a fully healthy Hu Fei (way WAY back in episode 7 !!!!! And now, just when there is a pathway to him finally getting fully healed (and maybe able to start pulling his weight in their relationship) ... the writers yank that away so we think we will have to endure watching handicapped Hu Fei for a bit longer ... and then just when they provide a solution to that ... they threaten us with the freaking Noble Idiocy plot trope as we see Ziyi promising to her master to go back to the temple and seclusion once his leg is healed in order to 'pay back karma'???? This is SO STUPID I want to throw something. The All-Knowing Nun accusing Ziyi of being 'greedy' is such broken logic. She's not 'greedy' for wanting to help people. Feng Tianman was a villain and didn't become one just because Ziyi went down the mountain. Hu Fei was headed to Foshan independent of Ziyi and almost certainly would have clashed with Feng anyway and probably would be dead if not for Ziyi. So to make her feel like all the tough things that happened are her fault for 'going down the mountain' is just stupid. And it makes me very suspicious of the Nun that maybe she has some ulterior motive. Now, even if they don't actually follow through with the noble idiocy trope, it's very annoying that they are yanking us around with the threat of these tropes.
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Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 12
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and I cannot blame Nan Lan for choosing to give up on their marriage. He was never faithful to her - he loved his promise to dead people more than his promise to her. He was an absentee husband and absentee father. He very clearly pushed her right into the arms of his 'best friend' - who is secretly his worst enemy! Lots of commenters blaming Nan Lan for being unfaithful but WTF is she supposed to do? Her husband is more faithful to a promise made to dead people 18 years ago than to her! And then, in an ultimate act of cruelty to her, he takes her child from her!!!!! I will not blame Nan Lan if she hates Miao Renfeng from now on for what he has done to her. I can't blame Renfeng for not wanting his daughter to call another man, 'Daddy". But it's just as cruel to take her away from her mother. And it's just going to get worse when Nan Lan eventually realizes that the man he pushed her to is a murderer who is the very poisoner that her husband has been hunting for all this time! What an awful, horrible mess this plot is. Tian Guinong is such a slime ball. He saw a crack in their marriage and wedged himself right in there. But it was Miao Renfeng who left that crack open. Now that their marriage is broken and he's ripped his ex-wife's heart open by taking her child, I hope he's learned a lesson and will prioritize his daughter above all other things like he's supposed to. God this plot has been so painful to watch unfold. On the other plot, I hope Hu Fei understands just how much he owes Yuan Ziyi. That girl has done SO much to save him it's not funny. He needs to get healthy and start to carry his weight. She has carried him up 10,000 steps Nursed him back to health. Fought numerous battles just to get medicine to save him. Slept on the edge of his bed. And fed him hot porridge, blowing on the spoon to cool it. So many romance tropes checked off on her list! He has a lot of catching up to do!
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Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 11
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Yuan Ziyi battling to become sect leader of Weitao Sect is just pure fun awesomeness. Great fight scenes. Fun dialog. A very fun episode (except, of course, for the tragedy happening in the Miao Renfeng plot).
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Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 7
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Ugh. I really hope this burns in a lesson to Hu Fei's head so he can stop being so stupid. Ever since the end of the prequel and the start of his 'grown up' storyline he's become an idiot. Please, please script writers. Make it stop.
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Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 6
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I've seen this again and again in wuxia dramas but it's so frustrating at just how stupid and naive the two male leads, Hu Fei and Miao Renfeng are suddenly made out to be. It's absurdly out of character based on their prior life experiences. But the writers have chosen to make them stupid in order to create plot dramas. Love so much about the series but have really not liked what they've done to both characters now that the prequel is over and they are in the 'current' storyline. Hopefully this plot-induced idiocy will only last a short time once they have setup the drama crisis that their stupidity is leading up to.
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Side Story of Fox Volant Episode 5
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with our main character, clever young Hu Fei, finally grown up (~18 years old) having lived a tough life by himself, training constantly and preparing to get his revenge. So he arrives in the story and .... immediately turns into a naive country-bumpkin idiot who quickly loses all his stuff and his horse and is reduced to begging in the streets? I guess this was done for plot humor purposes but it was not done particularly well.
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and I gotta say it's still annoying at how slow and sluggish the writers made Vincenzo for this scene. I guess they could explain it as, "His love for Cha Young made him incapable of acting like the quick decisive mafioso that he was before" .... but that's lame. It's clear they applied some plot-induced stupidity to make him slow and stupid so that Han Seuk would get away from this particular scene. Oh well. Things get better after that. I particularly love that Cha Young doesn't do the usual FL thing of, "Don't risk yourself. Stay here safe!" She totally understands both the situation and her man and tells him to finish the job. She knows that Han Seuk needs to be killed or he will inevitably hurt and kill others. And that Vincenzo has to be the one to take care of this. It's a refreshingly honest understanding by a FL character. Oh and THANK GOD MR> LEE SURVIVED! Jeezus I was upset when it looked like he was done for! Also loved the message from Jeok Ha (the senior monk) to Vincenzo that attaining the perfection of Buddha was not the only worthy role in life. That being a soldier for the righteous was something that the Buddha would smile upon. Loved how this show layered in elements of the original Godfather films as well as Buddhism into the philosophical 'messages' of the story. Would have like to have had a closing scene of Cha Hung arriving in Malta though.
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I just don't understand why the good guys wouldn't have had somebody constantly monitoring Jiang Han Seuk's status in prison. It's interesting to note that the psycho has returned to the same hairstyle (bangs down to his eyebrows) as he wore as intern 'Jun Woo' - it always made him look creepy then and continues to now. Gotta give Ok Taec Yeon credit - this actor really knows how to play as a psycho. One thing I don't understand about how people deal with such a psycho. When it comes to the characters trying to trigger him by insulting him (hoping he will make an impulsive mistake), instead of just calling him names, why aren't they simply poking at his gigantic ego by pointing out the obvious cowardice of his actions? And like others, I don't understand why Vincenzo didn't immediately go to help Han Seo to subdue the psycho. Wasting time trying to untie her hands? If you want to get her out first, just get her out and worry about the ropes later! But really it seems way out of character for Vincenzo to not first take care of business with the psycho. Next, she was shot in the upper right shoulder - probably going to have a broken AC joint, which will require surgery and about a year of recuperation. But it's not likely to be fatal unless it hit a major artery and she bled out.. Lots of slow-motion pausing and staring and being non-reactive. Again, way out of character for Vincenzo. Basically, while this wasn't a 'bad' episode, it had a lot of weak points. Hopefully the finale is a little tighter.
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Okay - so this episode explains why Han Seo 'betrayed' Vincenzo at the end of the prior episode and makes that scene make more sense. The timing of the sudden need by his Italian Cassano Family for him to return to Italy was extremely suspicious. You just could tell that the moment he got on a plane that bad things were going to happen. It can't be coincidence. So I was confident that VC was not gong to be tricked into leaving his Korea 'Cassano Family' undefended so easily. Interesting close-up when VC and Cha Young say goodbye at the airport, shaking hands. Despite VC's almost pretty-boy handsome face, his hands look rough and worn. Probably from beating on so many people. Poor guy will suffer from bad arthritis in his hands when older.
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This episode starts with anger, moves to grief and then it's all about revenge. And this gets real fun, watching the "Cassano Family" in action. It's also interesting that of all the cast of 'Babel' characters, it is only little brother Jiang Han Seo who is not underestimating Vincenzo. All the rest consistently keep underestimating him and digging deeper and deeper holes. Han Seo is the only one smart enough to realize that VC is actually too smart and too capable. And that's why he puts his chips on Vincenzo as his one chance to finally be free of his psychopathic brother. But then, stupidly, he still goes along with Han Seung Hyeuk's move to have Interpol arrest Vincenzo. That's stupid on his part because VC hasn't yet taken out his brother completely. Oh, and no, I don't believe for a second that VC is dead because Han Seo is far too lousy of a shot to have actually hit him.
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And just got more intense with their conversation in the park. Having a mother-to-son conversation without really revealing that they are mother & son. SJK (Vincenzo) with the silent sobbing behind her .... that was powerful, physical acting. And then when she hugged him in the hospital! At that point it is clear she knows who he is. Now, all this is foreshadowing for the horrific loss that we can see coming. The show has been warning us all along. But even though it isn't a surprise, it's still absolutely horrifying when the psychopath shows and starts talking to her. This episode (the loss of Mrs. Oh) is, of course, evocative of the loss of Don Vito Corleone in the Godfather. We even get a scene of Vincenzo basically in the role of 'godfather', blessing the coming of the child of Mr. Lee and Hee Soo. The question now is whether the loss of his mother will push Vincenzo to become the same isolated, ruthless, bitter and lonely person that Michael Corleone became? Or will Cha Young and the rest of his 'family' be able to save him from that fate? Hard to say. Cha Young herself is so angry. Things are about to get dark as VC goes into John Wick mode.. And it really begs the question of just WTF the bad guys think is going to happen after doing this? Did they really think this would make Vincenzo LESS of a threat to them? I guess psychopaths don't always think about consequences. Overall, this was a perfect episode. Tragic, but perfect.
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Each episode seems to feature one or two of the many side characters stepping up to help the good-guys' mission. In this one, of all the characters ... Inzaghi steps rises to the occasion to save his pet human, Vincenzo! Unfortunately, the good guys are totally betrayed by prosecutor Jung In-kuk - a surprise they did not see coming. However Vincenzo soon after makes a Mafia-style friendly visit to Jung's family in order to make things right. Later, how Vincenzo keeps a straight face when revealed as the new Shaman to the newspaper owner is a miracle. I have to believe that scene took more than one take to record because it was absurdly funny. How VC kept from having a ridiculous smirk or giggle is beyond me! And once again Jeon Yeo Been just slays me as Cha Young! So perfect as the shaman's disciple, drawing ominous figures with ink & paper, and then dancing silly and cute in the office later! She clearly loved dressing up in the traditional white hanbok!
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This episode was a bit aggravating to watch as both Vincenzo and Cho seem to become barely competent and keep doing things either incredibly slowly, with no sense of urgency or else with frantic carelessness. Given how methodical and competent their characters have been up to now, this kind of put me off. Didn't completely spoil the episode, but it kinda made things flat. Hopefully this is a one-off deviation. I understand that this was done in part to shift the focus from the gold over to the Guillotine file. But it wasn't done with the same level of quality that the show has previously established.
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and even former gangster (now travel agent) Park knows about it. I wonder if an actual balloon ride will come into play in the story at some point? At one point in this episode, Cha Young asks, "To kill that many people, they need to keep hiring and getting rid of hitmen. How do they keep finding criminal after criminal?" This is such a great 4th-wall question because it's something a lot of us viewers of various dramas always wonder! Later, Han Seo is so completely terrified of his brother, he has him point-blank at his mercy and just locks up in fear, hesitating until it's too late. So he fails to finish the job.
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My goodness that whole sequence leading up to and the start of the Mafia Game was hilarious!. And then later Mr. An chanting, "Director Tae!" along with the window cleaning lady!!!!!!! And then when he shows up to pull service rank and get Vincenzo out!! THE HUG!!!!!!!!!!! Then the Welcome Back Corn Salad party!!! I'm dying! One of the funniest episodes so far. The later scene of Jiang Jiang Han Seo and Han Seung Hyouk practicing shooting kept triggering me because they both kept casually pointing the gun barrel towards the other, including when handing it to the other person! Folks. NEVER POINT THE BARREL AT SOMEONE. Always handle it pointed away from people. As for the last scene - gotta agree it's way stupid and out of character for Vincenzo to risk getting that close to his mark. Hopefully that will make more sense next episode.
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