YONG PAL | Episodes 11-18 (finale) | Discussion

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

Cast: Joo Won, Kim Tae Hee, Jo Hyun Jae, Chae Jung Ahn, Jeong Wung In

Plot: Kim Tae Hyeon (Joo Won) is a talented surgeon. Desperate for money to pay his sister's medical bills, he adopts the code name Yong Pal and offers his medical skills to those in need of medical attention but who cannot do so publicly, dealing with gangsters and corrupt plutocrats. It is while making such a house call that Tae Hyeon rescues "sleeping beauty" Han Yeo Jin (Kim Tae Hee), a chaebol heiress, from a medically-induced coma, leading to unintended consequences.

Other: 18 episodes / Medical, Action, Romance, Revenge, Chaebol / Wed. & Thurs. / SBS / 2015

Where to watch: Drama.net / DramaBay / DramaFever / GoodDrama / MyAsianTV / Viki

Teasers/trailers: 1 / 2 / 3

OST: The One - "To My Love" / JunHyung(BEAST)&GaYoon(4Minute) - "Nightmare" / Jung In - "Actually I'm Scared"

Resources: Drama.net, Youtube/SBSNow, Youtube/DramaSBS, AsianWiki

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I fucking loved it. Actually, I loved it so much I couldn't make the weekly discussions post here anymore (well, until now) because all everybody did was nitpicked and complained lol :3

Far from tight and seamless, but so unpredicted and fun. Best female character in K-drama (tied with HEALER's Chae Young Shin) and an OTP with interesting dialogue. It took a few cliched K-drama tropes (chaebol power struggle, CANCER) and made them refreshing and exciting. It deserved its ratings in my eyes.

Comments

[hurtmybones.livejournal.com]

Kim Tae Hee slayed! get that recognition queen! and I love that Yeo Jin exists as a character
I'm watching the last 2 episodes rn so the only thing I'll say is that I HATE how they handled Chae Young in the latest episodes. all that crying over her horrible husband? no ty! otherwise ida with a lot of the nitpicking the show got

[http://users.livejournal.com/psychedelico_/]

I HATE how they handled Chae Young in the latest episodes. all that crying over her horrible husband?

srsly i can't understand it. i thought she didn't love her husband? didn't he force her to marry him? why was she so bent on revenge after he died then?

[hurtmybones.livejournal.com]

she had more than enough reasons to want revenge against Yeo Jin w/o her rapist husband being forced to become one of them meh

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

true true. cy's insidious and somewhat sinister characterization was definitely established earlier on. if only they had more time, they could've built up on it more rather than count on the viewers to remember everything. for ffs those types of scenes would be better than the flashbacks (even tho i love this otp and their romantic moments)

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

i don't think she loved him as much as she loved the authority and entitlement she got being his wife. plus yj pretty much dismissed her and her father after she got her throne back so there's resentment there. chae young was never any ally tho... she admitted she'd locked up yj too she always had it in her

[hurtmybones.livejournal.com]

if they would have played it like that I would have loved it, I never expected them to be bffs or w/e but the writer clearly attempted to insert some ~feelings~ in there which was so unnecessary bc as you said Chae Young had enough reasons to turn into an antagonist

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

The CY revenge arch is sooooooo fucking ridiculous. It's obvious the writer just need a new bad guy to make YJ look good (which is unnecessary since YJ's bad-ass-ness is what makes her a great character).

Every time she cries~ about DJ I just remember the scene where he's chocking her while trying to rape her and she's laughing in his face while asking for a divorce.

CY wanting to steal the company would have made sense if it was driven by greed and her wanting power, but nooo the writer decided she was in love~

[hurtmybones.livejournal.com]

she should have run him over herself as soon as he got out of the prosecutor's office and then gone on to plot against Yeo Jin

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

This would have been AMAZING! And would have actually fit her character. Even if the writer's decided they didn't want her to be evil they could have written off the hit-and-run as PTSD from he shock of being poor lol

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

i actually like that cy got revenge... i was afraid her character would be wasted. i love all of the female characters tbh

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

ITA but I hate the motivate they gave for her revenge. She was already a power player who was aiming to dethrone DJ, the writer's didn't have to make her a loved crazed bitch. It cheapened an amazing character.

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

i wish the original extension (20 eps) did happen and i wish korea's broadcast system would be reformed.

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

OP, would you recommend this drama for people that don't usually watch kdramas?

I saw it on Viki and recognised the title but I wasn't sure whether I should watch it or not since Viki also has titles such as the Heirs that are very popular and I tried watching that and it was godawful. I really want to get into some good kdramas but don't know where to start. I'm currently watching Misaeng and it's incredible but unsure where to go from here.

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

yes i would recommend this along with gaksital/bridal mask and HEALER <333. those are my must-watches.

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

Those two seemed interesting to me as well but I wasn't sure. Ty for the recs!! I'll surely watch them now

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

Try cable dramas. They have more variety and Misaeng aired on cable because public channel rejected it (reason: lack of love line, smh).

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

Oh wow I never considered that there would be a difference between the two but now that you point it out that makes sense. Ty for the tip! (And tbh one of the best things about Misaeng is the lack of a love line..)

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

oooh yesss for cable dramas,
i should've recommended NINE: NINE TIME TRAVEL, QUEEN IN HYUN'S MAN, THE LIAR GAME, MARRIAGE NOT DATING

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

LMAO Heirs is fucking ridiculous. It's basically a satire of kdramas without realizing it.

If your looking for something dark you should try Cruel City!!

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

It was so fucking dumb and the acting was so bad I have no idea how people willingly sit through that.

And I def. like the grittier stuff! The darker, the better imo. Ty for the rec!

[dirrtypony.livejournal.com]

god this drama was fucking horrible. to start off so strong and then to just nosedive into shitsville so fast.

where the fuck did yongpal go? tae hyeon turned into a little bitch.

wtf with chae young all of a sudden wanting to seek revenge for a husband she didnt love and was ready to take down herself in the beginning of the show?

and wtf a yeo jin believing anything from any doctor at hanshin.

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

ida with tae hyun being a bitch. he was always a good guy through and through and imo became less of a bitch. actually, what i love about him was he never had that much pride in the first place.

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

tae hyeon turned into a little bitch
lol this truth. Went from the guy willing to double cross the CEO of Hanshin to the guy giving the CEO of Hanshin a backhug while planning a trip to some quiet country village.

I still don't understand why YJ didn't fired the secretary after the DJ-spy mess.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

Kim Tae Hee DESTROYED AND I LOVED IT

At least until the cancer hit and Yeo Jin lost her paranoid attitude and actually let Hanshin diagnose her...I was like WTF? Also Chaeyong's character completely changed and suddenly loved Doojoon and that was RIDICULOUS *clicked tv off*

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

sorry this is a c&p response!!

i don't think she loved him as much as she loved the authority and entitlement she got being his wife. plus yj pretty much dismissed her and her father after she got her throne back so there's resentment there. chae young was never any ally tho... she admitted she'd locked up yj too she always had it in her

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

It's weird because YJ was actually super paranoid in ep 17 (her mini freak out when she saw the IV drip). It was the first time she truly showed her fear of the hospital.

So inconsistent.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

RIGHT!!

[kjc48.livejournal.com]

OMG YASSS OP!! (I was going to make a post on the weekend so everyone could fangirl pre-finale (can't trust k-drams to have good finales) but I was lazy).

Yeo Jin was EVERYTHING!!! #KTHPREZ2016
I'm so happy with the show, because everything I disliked abut it eventually went away. I wanted it to be a YJ focused revenge drama and I got a YJ focused revenge drama.
She's seriously THE BEST. I loved everything the writer did with her (the cancer was a lame redemption arch (i haven't watched ep 18 yet) but Idc). She's tide with the lead from Angry Mom for me. I loved that she was always assertive and knew what she wants (even when she couldn't move). My queens are never Candies!

YP was as lame as he was in the beginning but then they made him a hypocrite with his holier than thou sermons (some og them were really good tbh). His only good point in the second half is that he stayed loving her. But I could NOT at how forgiving~ he was. I guess you can't have both the lead be evil~ and powerful~ at the same time.

edit: I watched the finale. It was good, but not great. I think it needs an ep 19. But the last scene was a good way to connect the 2nd half of the show to the first half. lol @ how they dealt with the enemies. I loved when she fired the secretary because it really was that simple.

[revertigo.livejournal.com]

yj was everything. ppl have been saying she turned weak in the end but imo it just show that despite being able to best all the other crocodiles, she still has a conscience and rly isn't one of them. i love that they still show what a good, successful leader she was (not that her minions cared) and that's why her employees tried to help her.


idk if it's just the way joo won played him but th didn't come off sanctimonious to me at all. he was almost too understanding to the point of flaw. i love the dialogue between them because it was always mature and i always got where they were both coming from.

and yeah the drama ended up being a love letter to yeo jin. thank god it wasn't some basic gangster/patient-of-the-week like basic stans wanted. i dont' even mind that yeo jin got her comeuppance because it just made her arc that much more interesting.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Yeo Jin as a character, it is pretty wear to have such a revenge driven female lead who isn't totally weakened or dead by the end of the drama.