[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Legend of the Blue Sea" Episode 13

Joon-jae and Cheong grow closer, flirting like mad and coping with Cheong's attempt to learn about love via the internet. As they are sealed in their blissful bubble of romantic happiness, Dae-yeong and Ji-hyeon's mother continue their nefarious ways and are sadly joined by another.

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Ji-hyeon has been vying for his adoptive father's attention all of his life and finally realizes that he will never be loved like Joon-jae is loved. The background music and the burning of the happy father/son photos tell of the exact moment that Ji-hyeon turns to the dark side. His story would be more compelling if we actually saw more of him and got to know him better. As it is, it just feels like the creation of yet another bad guy. He is already a criminal like his mother because he has not reported her poisoning of his father. What's even sadder than this is the fact that his mother believes that she and her son can live happily with murderer Dae-yeong. The man is a psychopath who is incapable of affection and takes pleasure in killing - two things that really don't make for a happy marriage.

The heart of the episode came near the end as the show glimpsed into Joon-jae's past life and told the ending of Dam-ryeong's and Se-hwa's tale. It is a sad one as foreshadowed and it was Dae-yeong's past incarnation who created it. Again, this bad guy doesn't feel as dangerous as he should in the present. Dae-yeong's past life was menacing, a real threat. His present just keeps having dreams and doing little else. Give me something real to grasp, drama.

The past also shows the younger Dam-ryeong and Se-hwa promising to be born together again with their memories, which is coming to Joon-jae in dreams and flashes. Si-ah is not present in the past, but she does meddle a lot in the present as she blocks discovers that her ahjumma (maid) is Joon-jae's mother. She subsequently prevents them from meeting, which is ridiculous. There is only so long the show can ridiculously prevent mother and son from meeting. However, the cops are drawing closer to Ji-hyeon's mother as the past girlfriend of Dae-yeong and nailing her for the poisoning of her past husbands. They circle their suspect as Joon-jae circle's his mother unknowingly.

Episode 14 for this week has been canceled. A special episode will air instead. May it tide us over into next week!

Written by: Lisa Espinosa AKA Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"The Legend of the Blue Sea" is directed by Jin Hyeok, written by Park Ji-eun, and features Lee Min-ho, Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Hee-jun, and Shin Hye-sun.

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