Progress = tears it seems – at least more than a few of mine. Sunny and Reaper weren’t the only ones gripping their hearts. But at least we have photo booths. Spoilers after the jump.

I feel emotionally wrung out after this episode! First you’ve got the creepy, nail-biting tension caused by the malevolent spirit of the eunuch Park Joong Heon and the mystery of how he can’t actually be handled by Kim Shin and his “sword of water” and all of my nerves he gets on edge every time he shows up. I kept hollering at Eun-tak to tell Shin and/or Reaper about him now, and hurry up about it! Finally she did, but it just set the showdown into motion. Will I be clutching my heart for the next 4 episodes?

I was tremendously moved by the scenes involving the death of the chairman, from the exchange between the Reaper and Shin, to listening, along with Eun-tak, to the heart-wrenching sobs of Shin as he grieved the loss of someone so dear to him, to her attempts to console him – “I now understand that this is what immortal means…”

It’s the constant, never-ending loss of those you love, over and over, and over again. It’s no wonder to me why Shin has never let himself have a first love until Eun-tak appeared, and we all can see how much her potential loss will mean to him, if she can’t escape death if she doesn’t cause his.

The emotions just kept piling on for Shin, with the discovery of his former military right-hand man in this new incarnation, and how it touched him to be able to reward his dear friend in this life. (And btw, new chairman Kim is so nice as a nice man that his creepy eunuch role is all the more creepy.) He is so afraid of reaching out to Sunny because (I think) he can’t bear for her to see him and not see him as her brother, logic notwithstanding, and to have her now have those memories was just a lovely moment for both of them.

But, those memories come at a price because he knows she’s still protecting the man she loves – and from him.

And poor Reaper! He kisses her, something he longs for, even though it is so painful, will provide her with memories he fears, and he doesn’t even get his memories fully back either! That closing showdown on the temple steps with Shin were fully of power; Gong Yoo has just so much more emotional weight as an actor, I think, thanks to his having taken on some really dark and physically strong characters in his movie roles, but Lee Dong-wook’s emotional and physical frailty in comparison (he may be taller but he feels more slim/wiry than Gong Yoo) really works as a great counterpoint/character differentiator.

But what a little plot twist they threw in there for us too in this episode! That ‘god’ was hanging out in Duk-hwa’s body from time to time, and prodding each of the players to remember a little more, do a little more. He’s not exactly a benevolent, loving god I think, as Samshin is a little frustrated that he’s playing with the lives of the ‘children’ she looks after.

Phew! It’s not just the slightly longer episodes that have me parceling out episodes in ones; there is just so much emotion to take in!

#goblin, #gong-yoo, #kim-go-eun, #lee-dong-wook, #yoo-in-na, #yook-sung-jae