TRIANGLE EPISODE 16

Recap:
Young Dal meets his new employers at Daejung Group. Yang Ha attempts to discredit him in front of the group, but Young Dal handles it with grace, admits to his past life as a thug, promises to do better, and is bolstered by an ovation. His appointment as director is all the buzz at the casino among the dealers and the leaders. Investor Chang Bong introduces Young Dal to Peter Moon, a casino expert who provides the young director with an evaluation of Daejung casino to help him seem intelligent enough to combat Yang Ha's objections. At a strategy meeting for Daejung Group, Young Dal outshines Yang Ha with his suggestions for increasing revenue. He also visits his mother and finds out she is not living well.

A gang trashes Madame Jang's casino, and each of them are dispatched Bruce Lee-style by Man Bong. Young Dal tells Jung Hee to forget him, and she refuses. Boss Min meets with a number of other bosses and enlists them to take down Chairman Go. Dong Soo regains consciousness, and he and Young Dal embrace as brothers and weep with joy.


Young Dal and Yang Ha threaten one another.

My take:
Young Dal is now a director at Daejung. That was a turn of events I hadn't anticipated and wasn't sure exactly how it would work out -- but he has some pretty serious help. And the great thing is that he has the power and resources to go after Go in a big way. And he even has Man Bong apparently on his side. I'm not sure Man Bong is so much after his money anymore as maybe some serious connections. If you can get anything you want just by asking the right people, do you really need money?

I was confused a bit by the scene with Young Dal and his mother at first. I know he told Shin Hye he was headed there, and then he ended up in essentially a bar & grill with a flirty ahjumma proprietor. So that was his mom. And he essentially cut ties with her even though he took steps to make her life in the short-term a bit better. Somehow he imagined his parents as amazing people, and that was what gave him the strength to hold on during the beatings and the prison time when he was very young. It was kind of sad to see how the reality fell short of expectations. It was even sadder to not even tell her who he was. And I teared up when he told a still unconscious Dong Soo not to go see her lest he be disappointed also.


Boss Min gathers the other bosses and declares war on Chairman Go

Chairman Go now thinks he has nothing to lose and dares to harass Boss Min. I don't know who Min's husband is, but apparently he has lots of influence even while in jail. That takes some serious stones to harass his wife. I think he should consider his life forfeit and flee the country. He's got something up his sleeve, and Boss Min admits that he's crazier than before. He's pitting Yang Ha against Young Dal, threatening to take down Yang Ha's father and who knows what else? What worries me is that he's keeping tabs on Dong Soo's status and he'll go after him again now that the former detective is in no condition to defend himself.

I now know why Young Dal didn't simply take down Man Bong. Find him sitting alone and beat him within an inch of his life - problem solved. I saw figures like the pawnshop owner and Chairman Go and believed that the bosses themselves were fairly weak. Apparently not. Actually, in spite of myself, I find myself liking Man Bong. He's a showman, and I think he has a thing for Madame Jang. Those two together would be cute.


Man Bong tells the unruly gang members to "stick" it.

I am deducting a point for cinematography. There were opportunities for great shots that didn't happen. When Dong Soo was being resuscitated, I could see that being played in slo-mo with silence all around and a booming, echoing charge from the defibrillator paddles. There are some other shots, too, like the martial arts sequence with Man Bong that could have been more skillfully handled, as well.

The thing about this show is that you never quite know where it's going. The characters manage to surprise me, and the players do a great job of playing their roles -- they manage to annoy, enrage, and touch your heart. Despite my trepidation of placing idols in key roles, Siwan and Jaejoong do a great job here. In some ways I hope they go and grab a soju and laugh together after a grueling shoot. :)  Here's to more gripping episodes!