Heartless City (Moojung Doshi) - Episode 9 (A SqueeCap)

JoAnne: Apparently I just REALLY like pissed-off men in hallways, fighting off crowds. Guess I came to the right drama, huh? Also: WHERE THE HELL IS HALIBUT?
kakashi: He seems to have been turned into fish oil capsules by some Swiss company? o_o

JoAnne: Thank God Min called in the troops to save Baksa's tiny little perfect ass because he was a goner. Did anyone else get a very Godfather-like feel from the filming of that with all the slow motion regret and inevitability? Anyway... cops come rushing in and Eun Soo and Safari scurry out the back way, safe to be bad guys for yet another day.
Shuk: I was on pins and needles the entire week wondering about this. My convoluted thought was "Did Min tell Jin-sook, who told Safari, who set the whole thing up?" He seemed a little too quick to run away from ostensibly his seat of power. Plus, wasn't Hyung-min off the taskforce? Who cares, the boys are alive! #WhenAWomanIsConfusedButHappy
kakashi: Man, he really got his tiny little perfect ass kicked, uri Baksa ... thank you show, for the very, very, VERY good ending of episode 8, which was so painful to watch. Of course we all knew he wasn't going to die that early into the drama, but I am still very relieved to see Neanderthal beat up guys in a corridor. I didn't even mind the hair much. Or am I getting used to it?  
JoAnne:  We're seeing a lot of Safari hair, so Thighs' head pales in comparison.

JoAnne: Baksa's arm is miraculously unbroken but Cutie-Soo is really out of it, and JUST as I was about to chant THIS: Mouth to Mouth! Mouth to Mouth! ...he woke up. Sigh. He was very cool about playing it off, though. Meanwhile, Thighs is still out in the hallway looking very delicious and angry and flinging pretty flower boy gangsters all over the place. By the way: he wears tighty whiteys and I am strangely ok with that. I think a bikini would just look ridiculously too small for all that Family-Sized stuff. Boxer-briefs, though. They would work.
Shuk: Had to watch the hallway fight scene again to spot the undies. Okay, maybe it was three times [shifty eyes]. On a side rant: the only way to identify the cops is how poorly they are dressed when compared to the criminals. And still no safety gear. 
kakashi: And they always have cables dangling from their ear. Whatever they do. I'm sure they also wear them under the shower. On the toilet. And in bed.
JoAnne: Bluetooth? eh...no cable. Oh well, nice try.

JoAnne: For something like the 19th time, Thighs and his minions practice entering a room full of passed out people and pausing to wonder what is the actual meaning of their useless existences. Thighs, of course, smells a car and has to chase. He's really very spry for a big dude and overtakes it at the turn, blocking the car in the road by positioning himself dead center and pulling his gun. I sort of remember that he lost to a car the last time he went one on one, but perhaps he doesn't. I love Baksa's face here. He's moving slow and thinking 'Do not spook the bear. Do not spook the bear.' and then just flips on the high beams. Brains over brawn, baby. Every time.
Shuk: And I jumped back from my chair and cheered. YES!!
kakashi: To show us that he is not utterly and completely useless as a cop, he gets to break a car window with one of his bullets. Yay ... I guess. 

JoAnne: Cutie nags Baksa about Hyung Min and it's interesting - he thinks Baksa killed Kyung Mi and Baksa doesn't correct him. I suppose it's useful for his cover, but it could also just be how he doesn't ever really answer questions.
Shuk: I think he not only feels guilt for the death of a fellow officer and his childhood buddy, but believes it was his fault directly, much like Oppa for the actions of Crazy Eyes in WAML.
kakashi: As long as he doesn't get the noble idiocy virus in the latter part of this drama I don't give a rat's ass about his guilt. I think I even like it. It makes him scowl so deliciously ... 

JoAnne: It's time for backstory bromance! YES. Home at the Bak Cave, Baksa watches his bleeding friend mutter that if he'd only had more guys with him he would have gotten Safari. Just as I'm thinking I've heard him say that before, he says that before: in Baksa's memory, in prison. I giggle uncontrollably at the way Baksa comes rushing from behind and hops into the air to whale on the dude threatening Cutie Soo. He takes out most of the rest of the room and I notice that Cutie's fighting skills have gotten a LOT better in the intervening years. Cutie repays this favor - which he'd actually refused - by taking a knife to the gut for Baksa. And so a bromance is born, folks.
Shuk: Baksa was definitely the Suzy when it came to fighting, but the loyalty to take a hit for the other just makes my sigh and squee at the same time. Squeesigh? Who cares. I love how long they've been each other's backup. And, if we believe the subs, Halibut was at the prison too, and hadn't been earmarked for the "Where's Wally" list.
kakashi: So, here's a question for you, ladies. If you had to choose a future of KDrama without any shower scenes and abs or a future of KDrama without any bromance, which one would you go for?!
JoAnne: This must be what Sophie felt like.
Shuk: Are there any incense sticks left? No? Then bromance FTW. We can still frolic and play at the beach and the ski resort, and play sardines in the dark and touch the abs even if you don't see the abs, and end up in a man sandwich in a hot tub.....what were we talking about? 

JoAnne: There's also a bit with Cutie's mom- and I think I sort of remember that Cutie took the fall for something Do Hoon did, right?
Shuk: I need to check that out, but that would mean that perhaps Cutie-soo was also looking to be a police officer? Ack, the enigmas wrapped within the mysteries within the riddles and circled by a bit WTF ring, that is our character relationship chart. You gotta help us, here, JoAnne chingu!!
kakashi: My dear friends and fellow SqueeCappers. Your age is showing, methinks? Of course we know that Cutie-Soo went to prison for that potentially evil cop (who, btw, is also evil in TEN2 right now, so I'm massively confused). And of course Cutie-Soo isn't a bad guy. Look at him. Just LOOK. 

JoAnne: Cutie-Mom is saying he was in prison because he was framed and so it must have been the same for Baksa. She gave Baksa money to get his life right, and he bought drugs with it... so if Baksa actually encouraged Cutie further down the path of disreputability, no wonder he won't leave him behind now.
Shuk: Cutie-Soo looked surprised at the revelation that his mother believed in his innocence; it looked like he thought his mom had tried to push Baksa out of his life. I wonder if there is a big misunderstanding with his mom. So many sidestories!! 
kakashi: Sigh. This is so sad. Because you know what? Baksa seems to have corrupted Cutie-Soo. And it's all a lie ... That's the most tragic of all tragedies so far ...

JoAnne: Hyung Min and Min meet up and Min wants to know how Hyung Min knew to go the other night - that's right, I'd forgotten all about his dismissal until a moment ago. Min wants him back because the team is floundering. From Hyung Min, Min goes on to meet with Baksa - at this point, he just wants Baksa to do whatever it takes to get to Pusan and find out who killed Kyung Mi. Oh and he should totally kill Safari, while he's at it. He says it's because Safari tried to kill Baksa, but in the back of my mind a skinny woman named Jin Sook is jumping up and down in a really short dress.
Shuk: I think to safe to say that Superintendent Min definitely has his own agenda in all of this.
kakashi: All I notice are weird muscles on Neanderthal's gigantic arms. And Superintendant Min's gigantic nose. And I wonder what other parts might be gigantic.

JoAnne: It's not my birthday and I didn't save the country in another lifetime, but we get a nice little bit here with Hyung Min and Soo Min handcuffing each other so she can practice uncuffing herself. I spend time thinking about how fortunate it is that I know how much a properly applied cuff HURTS, so that I don't go too far down that very slippery slope. (Daughter of a cop. Get your mind out of the gutter. However: When I go to sleep tonight, Hyung Min will be saying 'put the cuffs on me' in my ear.)
Shuk: It was laughably easy for her to defeat the lock [sigh].
kakashi: I find the gutter a comfortable place, really. And I must admit to finding their interactions ... hum, quite shmeksy. There is so much unspoken tension there ... and did you notice the camera move to the dead almost-wife-sister? Remember, remember ... when did Nam Gyu-ri get so good? This PDnim must be a wizard. 

JoAnne: I may have watched this raw yesterday, but I laugh again, really hard, when I see Hyung Min's drawing of Baksa.
kakashi: This show knows how to do humor, too!

JoAnne: Back at the Bak Cave - I like that, so I'm going to use it - Cutie is dressed in a shirt from the US Bicentennial Celebration of 1976. I don't know why - but at least Baksa's looking trim and cool in a lovely blue suit. They're all dressed up to meet with Jin Sook and discuss their drug supply issues and everyone looks pretty sad, staring at the measly pile on the table. Wait. So... we have cops that can't solve anything, and drug dealers who can't get drugs. Remind me again how come I think this show is so awesomely cool? Because on paper...
Shuk: Baksa tries to get him to get out the business again, and I know it's gotta be killing him that the bromance is doomed. But, yes, both sides are looking a bit...sad when it comes to abilities. 
kakashi: Why are they just standing in front of the shower fully dressed?!

JoAnne: At Scale's old meeting room we can contrast this with the rather more plentiful supply at Safari's disposal, courtesy of Arthur the Aardvark. This guy is a real downer: Safari's got 5 days to set up a new network and kill Baksa. He ends his pep talk with a really enthusiastic 'Safari-ssi, hwaiting' and I nearly pass out I laugh so hard. Safari looks like a man who would rather be ANYWHERE but where he is. Did anyone notice that Robert Palmer's back up band is no longer in evidence? Did they leave with Halibut?

JoAnne: It's been so long since we had anything even remotely related to the whole drug business, I welcome this next reminder: Safari is supposed to make a deal with Jin Sook so Pusan can get back their wholesaler network, which was stolen by Baksa when he toppled Scale. He's also supposed to kill Baksa. Meanwhile, Baksa is trying to find alternate sources AND somehow get to Pusan so he can turn that operation over to the police, PLUS protect Jin Sook and Cutie Soo. Jin Sook is ...working both ends against the middle, somehow? She's working with Baksa, meeting with Safari...she keeps telling Safari to hook her up with Pusan and she'll get him distributors, but I can't tell if that's for herself, or for Baksa.
Shuk: Didn't the Chairman strangle Baksa's network after the coup attempt? Distributors only get paid when the product gets to the consumer. So if Scale is gone, Baksa is tied, and Arthur doesn't have the wholesalers, where the hell are they? I think I'll just tiptoe around the plot hole and head off for Bromance Mountain... It does appear that Safari will use the deal as a way to trap Baksa. The neurons firing in these two brains could probably light up Seoul for a week; it's too bad they are on a collision course.
kakashi: They can come over here and light my fire if they want to. Apart from that, everybody is using everybody else to their own advantage. There really is no pure love in Cruel City. Only selfish love.

JoAnne: Baksa runs into Soo Min outside Jin Sook's club, and in a moment of great personal pride I realize I really DID understand the entire next conversation without subs. Ok, it was pretty obvious what was happening, but it's even funnier when I am sure that I know what they're saying, this time. She's trying to play it off like she's not a hooker now and he's not buying it. Aww, but she likes him, that's no fun.
Shuk: What is her status? She hasn't seduced her target, but Jin-sook seems content for her to just walk around looking pretty. She's not a waitress, a valet, or noraebang fluff. But their encounter was cute; she was just so happy to see him, and I think he was a bit nonplussed as well, which was the reason for the robotic response. She-is-happy-to-see-me. Does-not-compute.
kakashi: 알겠습니다? Epic response. Epic ...

JoAnne: Hyung Min meets up with Scale, mostly to remind us that he's actually very smart, but also so Scale can give him some perspective: there's no loyalty in his world; they all just obey the guy with the most power because they're all trying to survive. He can promise Hyung Min one thing: if he digs any deeper, people he cares about are going to start to die. I would argue that this already started with his fiancee and his baby.
Shuk: Please don't go after his poor brother. That will totally make him mental.
kakashi: He already is, Shuk. Maybe it would make him sane? Because mental and mental cancels each other out? No? And ... patience is sweet. 

JoAnne: Min takes a trip down Memory Lane, and then shows up up at Jin Sook's in a suit lookin' mighty fresh. He brought her fruit as a hostess gift, which makes me laugh. Even though they're having a peaceful conversation, her bruiser bodyguard gets aggressive. Min takes him down in a way that's very reminiscent of Baksa but Jin Sook ain't having it. And then Mi does the best version of a wrist grab I have ever seen: no wrists were involved - he just hooks his arm through her elbow and pulls her right up to him. I like it. Ahjussi's got moves. Their conversation is kind of sad, though. Seems Mi had been trying to get her out of that life for years, only she's too clear-eyed to pretend that there's any way out, just like Safari.
Shuk: I think she was amused by the cheesiness of the fruit basket. He said the fruits were special - did he put drugs in the basket? Man, I'm starting to get paranoid over everything and everyone. Well done, Show! So two men in her life want her out, but she's sticking to the one who's keeping her in. I think she is still hoping to be top dog when all the fallout is complete; the power becomes more important.
kakashi: I have never really connected to Min. Could be his nose. Could be my awesome bad-guy instincts. 
JoAnne: Really, you think he's a bad guy?  He doesn't set off any bells for me. I think he can/would do some crappy STUFF...but I don't think he's a bad guy.

JoAnne: Hyung Min visits Prosecutor Ahn because he's a dog with a bone over that whole Jin Sook getting released business. Ahn opens his mouth and lies just fall out one after the other, but Hyung Min does get a petty schoolboy revenge at the end. I love his little smile, there. On the way out he runs into his old classmate who's been doing some digging for him, with no luck. She suggests they enlist the help of the media and oh, by the way, her buddy Reporter Cha is very interested in him. We learn that Cha's dad is a Congressman, but Hyung Min doesn't think much of him. She really is cute, though, and wants to go drinking.
Shuk: So the reporter finally makes a real appearance. No indirect kiss, but still, drinking from the cup of someone you just met? Weird.
kakashi: I'm all for women power but she comes on a liiiiittle bit strongly. I understand the fascination for thighs/Thighs and all that, but ...
JoAnne: She reminds me of what's her face from Nine.

JoAnne: Which of course will be at the one bar in Seoul, because they run into Soo Min. She was there with her friend the hostess, who is now someone's mistress, apparently. Soo Min is livid that Hyung Min is there with a woman, assuming it's a date. In fairness, the woman thinks it's a date, too, and by the end of the evening when she's passed out drunk, Hyung Min is throwing her some looks I interpret as fond amusement. College friend who exists to move plot forward calls again and tells Hyung Min to go easy, because there's a reason Cha drinks. I'm psychic, and so are you: Childhood Trauma. We're left wondering what, though. He tucks her in, she blurts out an invitation, they both freeze and pretend it didn't happen, he leaves.
Shuk: Childhood Trauma With Daddy Issues And A Lust For Meaty Thighs.
kakashi: Not another one after this one .... *sigh* .... And am I mistaken to think that Soo-min's friend the hostess is the same girl that's doing the pillow talk with slime-bag Ahn? Or do I see connections now where there are none? 
JoAnne: Not the same. The Ahn girl is MUCH more cute.
Shuk;  See?!  You're starting to see things too.

JoAnne: Hyung Min and Soo Min meet up at Kyung Mi's house that Baksa gave her and she has a tantrum and he has a tantrum back and then she storms out to go for a long walk in very high heels and really short shorts on her skinny, skinny legs. Everyone she passes is making out. She screams in the middle of the park, startling lovers out of the bushes, and I laugh like a maniac.
Shuk: She is already rethinking working with this doughnut, but what a great way to let out some frustration!
kakashi: One of her legs is about the size of my middle finger. And her waist is about the size of my foot. Only her breasts compare. 
JoAnne: She and I both have ovaries. I assume. That's about the only thing that I can compare.

JoAnne: Back at the hostess bar, both Jin Sook and Soo Min are feeling restless. They get together for a drink and some girl talk, and I suddenly realize that when she refers to Baksa as her lover, it's not just an affectation. The jury is out on whether she's actually taken him to bed, but she damn sure wants that man for herself. Eww. I mean, I get it, Jin Sook-ah. MAN, do I get it. But eww.
kakashi: Is that ageism I detect there, JoAnne?! She is beautiful. Why shouldn't she taste the sweetness of the Doctor's Son?
JoAnne: Because she RAISED HIM?
Shuk:  [squick]

JoAnne: It's so disturbing that I almost miss the ACTUAL revelation, which is that we were right, several weeks ago: Soo Min DOES have a thing for Hyung Min. Wow, that's got to make everything going on just about 7 levels more twisted and painful for her. Poor little freaky-eyed thing.
kakashi: How do you know she's talking about him, huh? Have you peeked at episode 10 already?
JoAnne: Well yes but that's not why. Come on, you knew too.

JoAnne: Next day Hyung Min goes to visit his brother at the rehab facility. He's surprised to see his father there, and they trade some jabs. We come away feeling like Hyung Min is young and short-sighted, and Dad is doing the best he can. He shares a few home truths with Hyung Min about himself, and then leaves Hyung Min to insist to his brother that Gyung Mi is totally doing great, probably, and then both of the Lees are off to make plans in various quarters.
kakashi: Isn't he the father from I Summon You, Gold?

JoAnne: Daddy wants the special unit controlled. Hyung Min and Min are speculating about a possible Baksa/Ahn connection, rather than the Scale/Ahn connection they had first considered. Poor Soo Min is bored and lonely and calls Thighs, but he's with Min so he blows her off. Her old friend from the orphanage can't come out to play and - OMG. She has Baksa listed in her phone under Pororo. I'm going to die. I love this girl.
kakashi: Wow. The similarities!!! 
JoAnne: Are you being facetious? Because I see it.

JoAnne: The cute is immediately overwhelmed by the hormones as we are treated to Baksa working out. Not shirtless, but still. And overhanded pull ups require a lot of body strength, no matter how slight the body you're pulling up.
kakashi: *gulp*
Shuk:  I want to wipe the sweat from his neck.  With my tongue.

JoAnne: Soo Min is calling, but he doesn't recognize her name and doesn't pick up at first. He does remember in a moment, though, and calls her back. I love how I can't tell by his face if HE is the alien who doesn't understand human ways, or if he just thinks SHE'S the alien with her oblivious cute in the face of his cool and deadly persona. She asks his name, but of course he doesn't answer. They do agree to meet, though.
kakashi: She is adorably crazy and stupid, this woman. 

JoAnne: He zooms in pretty fast, like he might be kind of eager to get there and spend some time with her. I'm so ready for the squee. SO READY. She's sitting on the deck looking lovely and graceful and virginal and he stares at her back like he thinks she might be something deadly in disguise. He definitely doesn't know what to make of her. It's not like he doesn't trust her, specifically - it's more like he doesn't know how to be a human, anymore. Or that he doesn't know how normal people behave. Which makes sense.
Shuk: [eyes glued to the screen, absentmindedly eating popcorn and spilling it everywhere.]
kakashi: It is like he doesn't trust anybody ... least himself. 

JoAnne: She breaks through his ice pretty fast with her cute, and then acknowledges the elephant in the room by saying how much she's changed. Meaning - she was a scruffy student, and now she's working as a hostess. He looks at her intently and then says very definitively that no, she has not changed at all. She's still exactly as she was. She perks right up at that and asks his name again, but he just teases her.
kakashi: Woah. That, right there. AWESOME. He looks at her ... and sees her vulnerability. And it is THAT which gets to him. And it is THAT which gets to her: him seeing her, as she is.

JoAnne: To get back at him, she changes his name from Pororo to Mister Gangster in her phone and then literally pokes at him about his earlier advice to never approach a man from his side, uninvited. His face changes, and I'm not sure how to interpret the look, but I will not hesitate to tell you that all panties have left the building at this point. Which is a good thing, because he takes about 30 seconds more of her teasing and then pulls her in for a nice long kiss.
Shuk: SSSQQQUUUEEEEEEEE! And both set of eyes are closed!!! 
kakashi: SSSSQUUUUEEEEEEEEEE! (Let's just pretend I didn't think this kiss was rather lame when I first saw it - before seeing what follows in episode 10).
JoAnne: You saw it before me and I saw your tweet to someone that it was a bit weak but it didn't feel weak to me.
kakashi: You and your hormones, JoAnne. Jeeeeeeeeez...

Final Thoughts:

JoAnne: Bring me episode 10 now.
Shuk: [fanning down to a cooler perspective]. "Stay by my side" almost always means "be my companion" in KDramas. So what I'm thinking is: despite his normally guarded nature, from his tiny smile at the Pororo bandaid in their first encounter to now, she has been worming into his thoughts. And her open, bubbly actions when they fully met on the street are a far far cry from the constant panther stalking by Jin-sook. I agree that she makes him feel more human, but I worry that those very feelings will make him lose focus in a way that will cause him to make a mistake.
kakashi: Oh my goodness, of course! DOOOOOOM! Love is ALWAYS DOOOOOOOM in dramas such as these ... "Your side is wide open", oh dear, that is exactly what she is doing to him. Go away, evil alien, go away!!!!