Nine: Episode 11, The Word I Hate the Most

Nine: Episode 11

We start up with the kiss and the montage from April 7, then Sun-woo tells Min-young not to ruin her life and goes to talk to Dr. Boyfriend, who is banging on the gate. He fobs him off; says the record is his, those initials are his ex-girlfriend's, and generally tries not to mess up the engagement. He calls a taxi; she sits in the back watching his reflection in the outside mirror. He lets her out a block from her house, tells her that girls often get nervous right before their wedding, and leaves watching her in the mirror. The next day she recalls that he said his girlfriend had amnesia and turned out to be family. [15:45] She calls him again but he sticks with his story: it's not real and it's disgusting.

Jump to Dr. Choi on April 9, 1993 at 2 pm. He calls hyung to his office and tries to get him to go to America. Hyung asks if Dr. Choi loved his mother when he was young. The answer: we all liked her. Hyung goes to see his fiance, Yoo-jin, at her record shop. She tries to get him to go and he tells her also that he won't.

Jump again to Dr. Choi on April 9, 2013 at 2 pm, getting out of his court hearing. He will likely get ten years. Chief Oh comes to congratulate Sun-woo and invite him out to celebrate their win. He tells him again to get his headaches treated. Yoo-jin comes to meet him in the foyer, saying hyung is taking depression meds and can't sleep. She wants them to make up but he refuses, saying they both are having a hard time.

A dark city-scape shows us it is night. Dr. Choi's lawyers advise him to stall and counter-sue and delay the verdict. Trials are all about time, they say. Nice thing to say in a time-travel show. He yells at them it won't shorten the verdict and to just end it. They hang their heads lol and he pulls the kdrama tantrum of knocking everything on his desk onto the floor.

Back in 1993 Evil Minion [32:00] brings Dr. Choi the CCTV footage of Sun-woo paying for his mother's glasses at the optical shop, and they get a look at Sun-woo's face. Present-day Choi gets the new memory while dozing in his chair reflected in a small desk mirror. Ha. He doesn't realize it is a new event, he thinks he just suddenly remembered it. His 1993 self remembers bumping into that man outside the hospital and driving away looking at him in the rear-view mirror. His 2013 self puts those memories together and recognizes the man as looking like Sun-woo.

Sun-woo tries to be friendly with the lady anchor, but as they walk out together at the end of work he gets a call from Dr. Boyfriend saying he and Min-young had a fight and she is missing. The wedding is in three days, and he's worried. Actually she called it off. Sun-woo goes back into the office, sets his assistant to trying to contact her, and runs around town in the rain looking for her. He probably thinks she is doing something rash.

He goes home and finally at 3 am she calls. She explains how frustrated she is with this memory becoming clearer; that she even called the hotel in Nepal but they had no record of them being there. He asks where she is and she answers, “Where Joo Min-young first kissed her love of five years.” A flashback shows her drunk at a playground with some co-workers. She called him and when he arrived she tumbled down a slide, landed on him, and kissed him.

After we get a look at a red Dr.-Who-Queen-Inhyun telephone booth, he shows up at the playground. It is still raining and they are both drenched. She asks how he knew where she was. He replies, “You said it was our first kiss.” Now she knows he knows, and he knows she knows he knows. And we know he knows she knows he knows. He goes on, “You know the word I hate the most in the world? Uncle.” I love that line. It's eminently quotable. He pulls her in and kisses her and they wrap their arms around each other.

Up until now everyone except Sun-woo and Dr. Han have been oblivious to the timeline shifts. Hyung doesn't remember that he had been lost in the Himalayas. Because he married Yoo-jin he didn't ever go there. Chief Oh doesn't know Sun-woo had cancer once upon a time, because Young-hoon found the pills and they treated the tumor immediately.

Everyone had been dropped into a new life and gone on blissfully as though it had always existed. (Does anyone wonder what happened to Min-young's original stepfather?) But now two new people can perceive the shifts. Min-young remembers things she knows are different from the present but she doesn't know why; and Dr. Choi thinks he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten. The new memory didn't conflict with his present, so he doesn't know there are different timelines. However there is now a new one. Timeline Past5 started because Young-hoon found the pills, which caused him to change his actions. Timeline Past6 has now started because Dr. Choi knows something that will change his actions.

Running count – time travels: 11; remaining incense sticks: 2; Timelines: Past6, Present4.

Nine, Episode 10, The Memory Stays

 Nine, Episode 10

Three months have passed, it is April 7, 1993, and teen Sun-woo has just come home from the hospital. His mother sits in a wheelchair staring into space and only paying attention when someone touches her. The maid impresses me as being very gentle. Hyung has gotten engaged and turned the hospital over to Dr. Choi. Sun-woo wonders into his journal if his older self is reading it, or will ever visit him again, or is even alive.

Older self reads the journal while pouring boiling water. He suddenly gets a searing headache, spills, and burns himself. No more tumor but still has headaches? And how about that journal? It must be a real kick reading that thing every so often, watching the entries change.

In the tv station dressing room Sun-woo stands before the mirror taking pills. His hand is bandaged, but he doesn't favor it. His boss, Chief Oh, comes in saying it is his first night on air and he is the youngest anchor at CBM. [8:30] We know he has been on air already in this timeline so he must be moving up from late night anchor to prime time.

Chief Oh asks why the headache pills? He should get checked, maybe he has a brain tumor, haha. Sun-woo snaps back he's already had that; doesn't Chief Oh remember? The Chief doesn't get it but we do. And at least by that remark we know that he remembers the old timelines. Lady anchor Lee Joo-hee flirts with him annoyingly which sets off the technical staff making snide remarks. (How does she know his injury is bad if it's under the bandage and she can't see it?)

Hyung watches Sun-woo's anchor debut at the hospital, looking pensive. He seems fond of his brother, but unhappy.

Dr. Han picks up Sun-woo in the rain and they talk about the headaches and that they had just done a scan. Dr. Han had started him on regular checks in 2007 and two years ago there had been a small blot, but it's clear now. Pain is a residual in the same way that memories are, and objects brought from the past. So he is going to keep the headaches. But he can't remember what he was thinking in 1992. He has to read the journal every day to find out. This is weird because it's himself, and Dr. Han can remember just fine. But then his life hasn't changed. [19:30]

He makes an excuse to not attend Min-young's wedding but gives her a present of a hi-fi with a turntable. Dr. Boyfriend puts it together and finds the Record from the Past. It looks like her house is the green one of that row of cute colorful townhouses. Boyfriend finds a note written on the record sleeve: I will always love you, JMY and the date when she was in Nepal. He accuses her of cheating on him, and when she copies the note she starts to remember writing it. She was sitting at a table and Sun-woo was in a bed behind her. She recalls him saying he had made Joo Min-young into Park Min-young. Ah! It's coming back.

Sun-woo suddenly starts seeing messages appearing, [38:18] on his guitar, over the door, on the metal railing. Split-screen shows teen self carving it and adult self following along reading.

Min-young shows up at his house to say she remembers being with him in Nepal and asks how that could be. He keeps up the false front and tells her she's drunk. He walks away but she follows, grabs him, and kisses him. A montage of previous kiss scenes follows. “It's you,” she says. He thinks to himself, “The memory stays, the pain stays. It's the consequence of trying to play God.”

Min-young is starting to remember the original timeline, but she isn't getting a flood of memories the way the two others did. Perhaps that is because their brains were adjusted by knowing about the time travel. She is breaking the barrier herself and it comes slowly. 

Running count – time travels: 11; remaining incense sticks: 2; Timelines: Past5, Present4.

Nine: Episode Nine, Mirrors and Mirroring

 Nine: Episode Nine

December 31, 1992. Min-young's mother brings her to the 10 am funeral for Sun-woo's father. Dr. Choi comes and tries to calm a very nervous hyung. Mom admits that there was a witness that night. She had seen him before, when he had broken and replaced her glasses. This actress does an amazing job of going from looking healthy and pretty to being tired and wan.

December 31 (labeled 2013, but that can't be right) 10 am as well. Dr. Choi goes to the DA's office to testify. He wonders to himself if the witness could have been the person who gave Sun-woo that thumb drive. Meanwhile, Dr. Han sends Min-young away. She drives off watching him in her rear-view mirror, and then he calls an ambulance.

Back in 1992, Sun-woo is laid up in the hospital with burns. [10:20] When hyung comes to see him he blames himself for the death of his father and hyung can't bring himself to say anything. The scene shifts to 2012 hyung reflected in a mirror in his office, remembering that day and printing out a resignation letter.

Min-young shows up to tease him to go out for lunch. She supplies him with an excuse for the fight that might appease her mother: money. When they get back to the hospital they meet young Dr. Boyfriend and his parents. We see him first in the side mirror of his car. He has such nice teeth. His parents seem a little in awe of her father being chief of surgery.

Meanwhile, Sun-woo wakes up in the hospital after having a procedure to lower his intercranial pressure. Dr. Han discusses his case with the specialist, who is appalled at the swift tumor growth. Yes, we are all appalled. We can easily see a difference in the scans. Hyung returns to his office and signs his resignation form in a perfect, slightly sloppy English scrawl: Park. Out of an otherwise empty drawer (how can it be that empty – aren't drawers always chock full?) he takes a medicine bottle and syringe and pulls the cap off, reflected again in his mirror. But he is interrupted by Sun-woo on the phone. He tells hyung to be a good husband and father, visit Mom, and not take drugs. Otherwise his life is a waste. Then he drops the phone and collapses onto the floor.

Skip to 1992, December 31 at 8 pm; young Dr. Han shows up at Sun-woo's house to find it full of relatives and is told that his dad had died and he was in the hospital. Split-screen to 8 pm 2013, Dr. Han is waiting in a hallway, crossing himself. The nurse comes out to report severe swelling and the necessity of immediate surgery. More split screens of both Dr. Hans running up halls and down streets to different hospital doors. We have touching parallel scenes of Sun-woos opening their eyes to look up at distraught Dr. Hans. Young Dr. Han breaks down in tears to hear Sun-woo's story. Aww, he's such a sweetie. Adult Sun-woo tells his Dr. Han that he signed the papers because he knew Han would just forge his signature if he didn't. “Just kill me in peace,” he says. Hehe, cheeky to the end. Dr. Han claims passionately that he will save Sun-woo.

Young Sun-woo sends his aunt out for ice-water (since he calls her “imo” she is his mom's sister) so he can talk to young Dr. Han (his name is Young-hoon, so let's just call him that). How would you react if your friend told you that his future self had visited him? Even with an identity card from 20 years out? [27:40]

2012 Sun-woo is prepped for surgery. The bandage must be from that procedure they did.

1992 Sun-woo tells Young-hoon that he was warned that his father would die and it really happened. He is supposed to meet future self to find out about another person who will die but is hospitalized, so he asks Young-hoon to go.

Adult Dr. Han tries to call Min-young but she is covering a New Year's celebration and doesn't hear the phone. It reads 2012 on the banners, just sayin'. Young Dr. Boyfriend calls her, and I am glad to see that Sun-woo isn't the only clueless tactless guy in this story. He tells her his parents want them to get married. She tells him it's too noisy and hangs up. And may I say that I really don't like her hair.

Young-hoon waits, freezing, at the school grounds for two hours, poor kid, while young Sun-woo goes over and over the things his adult self had said: there is another life you must save; we need to have a long conversation for you to have a normal life. [36:40] He realizes that the person to die is himself. Young-hoon returns to Sun-woo's house to check the pager. Nothing. He doesn't want to accept that there is nothing he can do.

The surgery in 2012 takes too long, things start to go wrong, and the doctor decides to close. Dr. Han can't give up and takes over but Sun-woo's heart stops. They did a good job simulating surgery, even including a red patch on the skin where the defibrillator was. They pull the sheet over the body and turn off the operating room lights as Young-hoon turns off the light in Sun-woo's 1992 bedroom. Dr. Han sits, defeated, in the 2012 breakroom. And he looks really different without his glasses. Min-young calls and he tries to tell her what happened when he is suddenly flooded by new memories.

That night in 1992 he had found a packet of pills on the floor. Adult Sun-woo had dropped it during the scuffle with teen Sun-woo at the start of episode 7. It was labeled with the name of a hospital that didn't exist yet. Young-hoon called Sun-woo in his hospital room and described the pills to a doctor who said they were for brain tumor.

Dr. Han high-tails it to the OR, where they are cleaning up. They tell him the patient was taken to the ICU. He chases down a gurney with a patient covered in a sheet. Fearfully he uncovers the face – it's someone else. Why would they take a deceased patient to the ICU? The subtitles must be wrong. A door swishes open and he looks up to see a television in an office. On the screen is Sun-woo reading the news, a little wooden and wide-eyed. Dr. Han exults that he saved Sun-woo's life.

I am not sure why we keep seeing people caught in a mirror; perhaps because these people have been caught up in time-line changes. Perhaps just to point out that there are several scenes in this episode in which events are mirrored from 1992 to 2012. It emphasizes that time is moving in parallel. We do not have any time-travel in this episode, but we have change caused by it. Finding the pills in 1992 changed things, but no one remembers it and nothing changes, until the parallel moment exactly 20 years later. Because they found out about the brain tumor they now watch for it and treat it early. We have moved to a new timeline and  Sun-woo is alive again. Or did he ever die? He got treated and didn't die of a brain tumor at all. The old time-line dissolved and is gone, leaving only the new one. Dr. Han remembers it though, so I assume Sun-woo does.

Running count – time travels: 11; remaining incense sticks: 2; Timelines: Past5, Present4.

Nine: Episode 8, Proof

Nine: Episode 8

Sun-woo appears in his 2012 car, hyperventilating. 1992 hyung looks up, amazed that the madman has disappeared. Sun-woo drives straight to the restaurant where hyung is and procedes to beat the crap out of him, and then collapses again.

Min-young reads the news. They say again that it's the 31^st and the last show of the year. That doesn't really fit with being the night of Dad's death, which was the 30^th. Usually. She gets permission to read Sun-woo's prewritten closing because it was his last show. It says, “History of mankind proves that the arrogance of a man, of believing he is the only one who could change the world, has led many heroes to their doom.” If that's not a comment on the drama I don't know what is. And I loved it when the two staffers complained that Park Sun-woo was their boss' favorite and could get away with anything. Hahaha!

They take Sun-woo away in an ambulance but he pulls the drama trick of ripping out the IV and running off. He calls hyung and yells at him for lying for 20 years. Hyung says that Mom would not let him take the blame. Tears.

Sun-woo retrieves his car and drives to the hospital again to light an incense stick for the third time that night. [eleventh time travel - 15:45] At 1:30 he walks into the office, empty except for Dad lying on the floor in a pool of blood. More tears. He retreats to the break room to review the recordings, and watches Dad accuse Choi of being hyung's father. Mom slaps Dad, Dad slaps Mom, Dad strangles Mom, Mom shouts. Sun-woo can't look, and we don't see it either.

Choi comes in to start the cover-up. Hyung goes back to his girlfriend's house, lets himself in, and crawls under the blanket with her and her daughter as they sleep. 2012 Hyung staggers into his office for more propofol. 1992 Evil Henchman comes in with gasoline and starts the fire as Sun-woo watches on his screen. He suddenly recollects his teen self should be showing up soon and is outside by the time the kid arrives. We see him blown back by the blast again.

Back in 2012, Sun-woo visits Dr. Choi to apologize for suspecting him of murder and accuse him of arson and blackmail. He gives Choi a thumbdrive and warns that he hasn't hit the bottom of the sea yet. We view that remark through a panel of glass with a wavy mark cut in it. Nice. Choi watches the video, the one of himself threatening hyung, incredulous.

December 31, 1992. Teen Dr. Han tries to call Sun-woo but can't get him. He suggests to the girls they cancel the train trip, and one of them leaves, but Future Mrs. H. won't let him off. She totally makes the two-fingered curse gesture she makes in 2012 and drags him off with a grin on her face. Ha. She's already got him around her little finger.

Presumably the same day, 2012. A distracted Dr. Han drops his kids off at school. He gets a message purporting to be “the last message” from Sun-woo, acknowledging the incense is a curse and refusing to tell what happened. We are shown the cops in the burned-out room and then the scene from the end of episode 7 as Sun-woo walked into the office to see his dad on the floor. The message cuts off and Dr. Han leaves his wife on the sidewalk and races off to Sun-woo's house. No one answers at the gate, so he totally scales the wall. Go Dr. Han! And then he can't bring himself to jump down so he walks the wall to a better spot up the hill, lol. Inside, he finds Sun-woo passed out on the floor again, with pieces of his phone around him. Why? Despair? Dr. Han puts him to bed and gets the news that the incense sticks have been left in the past. Aww...

Min-young shows up and Dr. Han lets her go upstairs. That white sculpture looks like it was made hastily of mat-board. He calls Dr. Yoon's office, who I assume is a brain cancer specialist, while she goes in and puts the room to rights (because Dr. Han had made a mess looking for the incense). Sun-woo wakes up and we get another famous conversation.

“Can I ask you a question? Will you answer me?”

“I will do my best.”

“Why did you desert the news?”

“That's a secret.”

“Why did you beat up Dad?”

“That's a secret too.”

“Are you sick?”

“That's a secret.”

“You said that you would try your best.”

“Don't you have an easier question?”

I love that. It strikes me as hilarious.

There is a last shot of the incense case in the fire. Everything around it is burning but it isn't because guess what? It's made of metal. And it's fireproof. There was a new time travel but it caused no changes, although Dr. Choi is getting some ideas. But no decisions have been made yet, so it's still the same time stream.

Running count – time travels: 11; remaining incense sticks: 2; Timelines: Past4, Present3

Nine Episode 7, The disappearing man

Nine Episode 7

December 30, 1992, 10:30 pm. After a quick view of Dad at his hospital office saying goodnight to the nurse, we pick up where we left off at Sun-woo appearing in his younger self's room. He pulls out his ID for proof of who he is, and asks teen self to call Dad and get him to come home. Originally Dad had been killed in a fire in his office and he wants him to get out of there. Here we get a new time line, because the intervention changes something. Teen self yells to Dad for help but gets knocked out (and a cut) in the resulting scuffle, and Dad heads for home. I would have called the cops. I guess it's not far though, because adult Sun-woo takes the family car and they pass each other on the road.

Sun-woo sets up the cameras in Dad's office and calls teen self to get him to keep Dad at home. They need to meet the next day and he'll explain how to save someone's life. Then he watches on his computer as hyung walks into the office. He's completely shocked.

Dr. Han in 2012 waits impatiently, looking at an article on his computer about Dr. Dad dying in the fire. It dissolves in smoke and reappears unchanged except with a time four hours later. Now we have Present3. Sun-woo reappears in his own time in his bedroom again. Interesting. He doesn't reappear in the place he was at, but in the place he left from. Min-young had gotten a lock-smith to get the door open. Sun-woo is curt with them and heads to work.

Teen Sun-woo remembers suddenly that he was supposed to keep Dad home but Dad has gone back. He rides his bike over to the hospital, opens the office door, and is blown back by the flames.

2012 Sun-woo at work walks past a clock showing 11:30. He calls hyung to ask what he was doing the night Dad died but hyung doesn't admit anything. In 1992 we see medics bringing Dad's body out of the hospital in the daylight the next morning. Back in 2012 Sun-woo broadcasts the news for December 31. Dr. Choi texts that when he got to the hospital on that fateful night at 12:30, Dad was already dead. The fire was at 2 am.

This is bad news for Sun-woo because if Dad died before 12:30 he doesn't have much time to fix it. He deserts the anchor desk and beats it over to the hospital. At 12:20 Dad of 1992 walks into his office and argues with hyung and then with Mom when she arrives. He drops the bombshell that hyung is someone else's son.

Sun-woo arrives in front of the hospital, lights incense, and disappears into 1992. [tenth time travel: 41:09] It's 12:28. He hears Mom scream and runs into the office to see Dad dead on the floor with hyung kneeling next to him. Mom claims it's an accident as hyung hightails it out of there. He nearly gets run down by Dr. Choi, who sees the blood on him. Sun-woo chases hyung down, and catching up to him in an alley, grabs him by the shirt, ready to do mayhem, but disappears into 2012 as his time runs out.

Running count – time travels: 10; remaining incense sticks: 3; Timeline: Past4, Present3.

Two Years of Kdrama

Happy Ides of March! It was two years ago today that Nampyeon and I started watching Korean Dramas. At the one-year mark I reviewed everything I had seen that year. Mostly they were older classic dramas that had finished airing. I looked on lists of people's favorite shows, and chose the ones with more fans and that seemed to have happy endings. Sometimes we agreed with the popular lists, sometimes not. Not until the end of the year did we branch out into some that were new and still airing. And then it was one that was heavily publicized. It really didn't make the grade, but by then we had discovered discussion groups. Bashing a bad show and sympathizing with everyones' remarks was almost as fun as watching a good show. Almost.

We saw an amazing lot of shows that year. Maybe because we hadn't been watching tv for a long time and were surprised that there was a long list of shows that actually interested us. We inhaled two or three episodes a night, more on weekends. Until we decided we were spending way-y-y too much time on this and cut down to one episode a day.

That first year we watched about 40 dramas. That is 40 mini-series, not episodes. This year we watched about half that. We also started a lot that we didn't finish. Some we only gave time for one episode before dropping, some we gave 10. But we learned not to watch something thinking it would get better, if we just didn't like it. There are too many out there for you to give your evening to one that bores or annoys you.

We have been clued in to which dramas and actors were popular, which got buzz, which tanked. Yes, we discovered that we weren't the only people that thought dramas tended to go downhill half way through. We started getting favorite actors and even remembering the names of some of them. Which is something when you consider how alien they seemed to us at first, just a collection of odd syllables recycled and interchanged randomly. We have kept an eye on new dramas coming out and had some catch our interest before they even aired. Some of these were because of an actor, some because of storyline. Some justified our interest and some were disappointing but we definitely had our own opinions.

It's time to post reviews of the last year's dramas. Luckily Nampyon kept a list of them all.

1. Scent of a Woman - A woman with a diagnosis of terminal cancer decides to go ahead and do all the things she had always wanted to do but was too hesitant to do. It is quite entertaining to watch, and not too depressing considering that diagnosis. ***

2. Dalja's Spring -  A career woman passes a younger guy off as her boyfriend and then begins to get fond of him. Full of silly escapades. It's well done, and I especially liked the way some of our first impressions of a major rival and an antagonistic boss get turned on their heads. Don't miss the wonderful solo at the ending party. ***

3. Secret Love Affair - A 40-year-old married woman falls in love with a 20-year-old piano prodigy. His sincerity causes her to reassess her messy life of power plays and unethical behavior. I was originally put off by the topic and the steamy promotional pictures, but was pulled in by the wonderful classical music and Yoo Ah In's believable piano playing. This drama was really well done and artistically shot, and is one of my favorites. *****

4. Lovers in Prague - A diplomat in Prague who happens to be the president's daughter meets a middle class detective. The love story is a bumpy ride due to ex-boy- and girlfriends and to their very different social classes, but both the main leads are endearing. An enjoyable watch. ***

5. Three Days - The Korean secret service has three days to find their missing president. It takes a lot longer than that but they don't point it out. Yoochun is good as a rookie agent and it's quite watchable despite a lot of plot holes. ***

6. Doctor Stranger - In what must be the worst hospital in the world they had a contest for best doctor; involving all kinds of shenanigans and coverups, including refusing surgery to patients. This is the most awful mess of a drama ever. It was however entertaining to watch the catfight between fans of the two female leads. Kang Sora's acting was so much better and her scenes with Lee Jong Suk were so cute, that people wanted them to end up together. *

7. Sly and Single Again - This was one of a rash of stories about exes getting together again. A woman divorces her nerd husband and then gets a job at his company when he strikes it big. His business partner likes him and the partner's brother likes the ex-wife. ***

8. King of High School - A high school hockey star stands in for his brother as an executive in a big company. There are lots of great secondary characters like the high school pals and the grandpa; and Seo In Guk is hilarious. My only problem is the idea of an adult dating a high school kid. It's a very cute show anyway and my 10-year-old granddaughter loved it. *****

9. Reply 1997 - Watched this partly for its reputation and partly for In Guk. It's a high schooler show where he and his older brother both like the same girl. She is crazy for kpop idols and pretty annoying. I was not won over. **

10. Marriage Not Dating - A salesgirl and a surgeon fake an engagement to keep his mother from pestering him to get married. It's pretty cute with a lot of great slapstick, but falls prey to the second-half slowdown. ***

11. Pasta - The new head chef in a posh restaurant turns the place upside down, changing things and yelling at everyone. A kitchen helper tries to make perfect spaghetti and get promoted to chef.  Lee Sun Gyun has a wonderful, resonant voice. ***

12. My Secret Hotel - Started watching this because of Yoo In Ah (not to be confused with Yoo Ah In) and the storyline of a body falling through the ceiling onto a wedding. It tanked pretty fast and became a very dull story of indecision. The only ray of light was the detective. *

13. Surplus Princess - A mermaid falls in love with a tv chef and kisses him when he falls overboard. She gets a potion from the sea witch to turn her tail into legs and has 100 days to get the chef to love her. This was a cute show, especially the sea witch, who was played by the same guy as the detective in Secret Hotel. Unfortunately it was not liked in Korea and got cut to 10 episodes when they had 9 already filmed. The storyline was supposed to have the mermaid chase after the chef only to fall in love with another man. Consequently the last episode is a hurried up affair. ***

14. The Three Musketeers - A cross between the famous novel and Korean history during the time of King Injo, written and produced by the people who gave us Nine Time Travels. The crown prince (Lee Jin wook, also from Nine) with his two pals tries to improve Korea's relations with foreign powers while his father the king continually messes things up. Into this walks Jung Yong Hwa as D'Artagnan, the newbie but excellent swordfighter, impressing everyone by his improved acting skills. This was intended to be the first of three parts, but the other two got cancelled. The drama was good except for some big plot holes in the latter third. ****

15. Blade Man - Promoted as the story of a superhero who sprouts knife blades when angry, this morphed into a melodrama where the female lead helps him control his anger, and then the whole thing was hijacked by The-Return-of-the-Not-Dead-Wife like The Prime Minister and I. It was cute until then. ***

16. When a Man Loves - A melodrama about a man who rises from a gangster background to become a successful businessman. He and his protege both fall for the same girl, who strings them both along. I don't actually know why either of them would like her. **

17. Misaeng - Interns in a large trading company struggle for success and acceptance in a hostile business culture and against their bosses' prejudices. I picked the show up because of Kang Sora and the opening scenes in Jordan. It was taken from a popular webtoon and really struck a chord with Koreans for being so true to life. One of the best shows ever! *****

18. IRIS - Two friends are recruited together as secret agents. They work sometimes together and sometimes at odds, falling in love with (you guessed it) the same woman. One of them is injured on a mission to Hungary. He is betrayed and pursued, and finds help where he least expects it. Suspenseful and enthralling with a tragic ending. *****

19. Bride of the Century - A woman becomes engaged to the oldest son of a wealthy family and then finds out about a curse that the first wife of the oldest son will die young. Her brother finds a girl who looks just like her, and they plot to substitute this girl to beat the curse. The best part of the drama is the ghost who shows up from time to time to help or scare people or otherwise move things along. Engaging leads, very cute. *****

20. Pinocchio - A fireman is killed in a factory explosion and a female reporter pins the blame on him and ruins his family. Later, her daughter becomes a reporter and helps the son of the fireman to uncover the secrets behind the fire and restore the fireman's good name. ***

21. Ghost - A genius computer hacker and his policeman friend, both investigating a murder, are injured in an explosion. The policeman dies, but a policewoman helps the hacker get reconstructive plastic surgery to look like the dead man. Together they track down a web of murders and bribes. Extremely well done and engrossing. *****

22. The King's Face - Set during the time of King Seonjo, face reading is like astrology and the king has been told his face is not propitious. Maneuvering for power, he kills the family of the girl Prince Gwanghae loves, and she spends the rest of the show with a sour face.  It gets interesting during the Japanese invasion of 1592 and we get to enjoy all the beautiful sets of armor. After that, more jockeying for power. ***

23. Healer - A night courier who does any job short of  murder for a price, steals DNA samples from young women until he locates the target. He rescues her a couple of times and then fall for her. They find that their lives are linked in a tragic past which his manager, Ahjumma, helps them discover and overcome. She is the coolest female geek ever. This show has heart and was SO FUN to watch. *****

24. Kill Me, Heal Me - A man with a split personality meets a psychiatry resident whose brother writes mystery novels. They both have childhood amnesia. The brother has researched their secret pasts, which seem connected, and arranges a meeting. They unravel things together as they regain their memories. This drama seemed like it would be a real bomb at first, since two other lead actors turned it down. But Ji Sung did an absolutely wonderful job of bringing the personalities to life, and captivated the audience. Fascinating! *****

Nine: Episode 6, The most common disease

Nine: Episode 6

While Sun-woo and Min-young are eating, young Dr. Boyfriend shows up with a fruit basket. He is so cheerful and cute I can't hate him. He just isn't Sun-woo, and he makes Sun-woo jealous. Ah well, I guess we have to have a love triangle. Sun-woo sends them out to dinner and when Min-young returns we get the famous conversation where she gives him the innocent kitten look and he admits that he had a girlfriend but she has amnesia and can't remember him. She objects and he says it's in dramas all the time and is the most common disease in the world. Hahaha.

December 30, 2012. Dr. and Mrs. Han sit outside and argue about whether he is acting weird or not. (He is.) He asks about the girlfriend Sun-woo had as a teenager. She says that girl has been married three times and the second divorce was because of alcoholism. She doesn't say who was doing the drinking, but maybe Old Girlfriend was not such a bargain.

December 30, 1992. Teen Sun-woo plans a train trip with said Old Girlfriend. He drags Dr. Han along and she talks her friend, the future Mrs. Han into coming, even though she thinks Dr. Han is smart but dull. Teen Dr. Han queries Sun-woo about the mysterious Christmas card, but he can't explain it. He can't explain his mother thinking he gave her a necklace either. She had asked him about his injured friend (which was his excuse for standing her up to see a movie with Old Girlfriend) and thanked him for the necklace. It was adult Sun-woo who had done those things.

Dec 30. 2012. The family visits Mom at the care center and she still wears that necklace. Sun-woo feels strange because it's his first time to see his brother alive again. When hyung pulls up a sleeve to wipe a spill he exposes needle marks. He claims they are vitamin shots but Sun-woo is suspicious, especially when he finds a drug bottle in the car. They visit Dad at the charnel house and we see the urn labeled with the death date, December 30, 1992. Sun-woo gets his sister-in-law to admit that hyung has a drug problem; she tells him that he's bipolar and has insomnia. She also tells him that Dad had not liked her and told her to break up.

Still December 30, 2012. Dr. Choi holds a press conference to refute the allegations against his research facility. Then he calls Sun-woo and out of nowhere says that he is not the person who killed his father; it was someone else. He admits he had misused funds and forged documents and was suspected of the murder, but was found innocent. Sun-woo floors Choi by saying his father died at 11pm on that day twenty years ago, and there are two hours to go. He will find out for himself and call Choi back. He borrows some camcorders from the studio.

10:00 pm, December 30, 1992. Dr. Choi argues with some investors over the phone and then with Dad to try to get him to invest in his research. Dad is as harsh with Choi as with his son.

10:10 pm, December 30, 2012. Dr. Han going over paperwork recalls Sun-woo saying he couldn't resist time travel. We see Sun-woo throwing up and then calling Dr. Han. “You told me I had three months,” he says, “but it's gotten a lot worse over the last week.” He feels like the incense shortens his life. 10:20 pm. Dr. Han pacing his office recalls Sun-woo telling him that Hyung is addicted to Propofol and is still unhappy because their father died. He wants to go save their father. Young Dr. Boyfriend walks in with something for him to sign and scares him half to death. He asks Y. Dr. B. who his girlfriend is and when he affirms, “Min-young,” Dr. Han says, “It hasn't changed yet.” Hahaha. Poor guy.

10:40 pm. Secret agent Park Sun-woo, in his black trench coat with the collar turned up, interfaces the mini-cams with his laptop and packs them up. He sets the timer on his watch for thirty minutes and lights the incense. Then he hears the doorbell. It's Min-young. She sees the light on in his room and lets herself in, but his door is locked. [ninth time travel: 46:25] He's still in his room, but he's shifted twenty years back. He turns on the light and looks calculatingly at his younger self sleeping peacefully. Not for long. He taps him gently on the cheek. Young Self wakes with a start and tries to shout. Old Self sits down on the bed beside him and claps his hand on his mouth. He says, “It's been a long time,” and lowers his hand as he registers a friendly look and decides not to yell. You getting all these pronouns? “Nice to meet you,” he says with a smile, “my name is Park Sun-woo.”

Running count – time travels: 9; remaining incense sticks: 4; Timeline: Past4, Present2