TRIANGLE EPISODE 23

Recap:
Both Young Dal and Yang Ha receive news (separately) that Elder Chang Mook is in the hospital. Boss Min is told by Young Dal's friends and is concerned for our young hero. Yang Ha threatens to fire Young Dal at a shareholder meeting, blood be damned. He also attempts to stop the talks between Min Soo and Young Dal, but to no avail. Jung Hee shows Young Dal a picture of her and him together as children; they were each others' first loves. As his client's fate hangs in the balance, Elder Chang Mook's attorney reveals that the elder's stock in Daejung will go to Young Dal, giving him enough shares so that he can't be fired. Chairman Go engineers having everyone close to Young Dal investigated, their papers confiscated.

Young Dal talks to the detective in charge, who assures that he had to do this, but he'll simply gloss over the investigation and release everyone. Shin Hye informs Dong Soo that she is going to America for FBI training. Dong Soo decides he will not accompany her until the "Yang Ha as brother issue" is resolved. He also receives news that Manager Hyun is responsible for Elder Ahn's injuries. After finding this out, Young Dal attacks Hyun and proceeds to kick the stuffing out of him. Later, Young Dal and Jung Hee are on their way to meet each other, but Yang Ha pulls Jung Hee aside to talk. Then, silently, out of the night, a car speeds toward our young hero...  




My take:
I've talked about it before, but in the wake of Elder Ahn's "accident," Boss Min really appears to have almost motherly concern for Young Dal. You can hear it in her voice. I know she's basically an ahjumma, but it's still something I don't quite expect from crime families. Upon reflection, I suppose it's not that unusual. There is talk of brotherhood in the street gangs, there are "crime families" all over the world, and I've seen K-dramas involving criminals that call their superiors Hyung-nim. But still, "family" is not a term I usually think of when I think of crooks.

Chairman Yoon thinks it would be easy for Yang Ha to turn on him. When I hear him talk, it sounds like he knows this (can you say foreshadowing, kids? I know you can). Has he reflected, then, on his treatment of Yang Ha? That he basically raised a businessman instead of a son? Or is that merely business as usual for the old man? He's positioned himself as a particularly rotten individual and, in many cases, it seems like Yang Ha wants to make his father proud and overlook his faults. But when your father treats you like a tool rather than a human being, where does duty to family end and duty to self begin?


Young Dal, ensuring that Manager Hyun has a smashing day.

So Shin Hye is going to America, that shining land across the pond used as a monkey wrench thrown into the drama to make it hard for people, particularly lovers, to be happy. If you think about it, a lot of dramas use the United States (and to a lesser extent, Canada) to separate people. In "Heirs," the leading man was exiled in the U.S.; In "Angel Eyes," the leading man had to accompany his sister to America; and the list goes on and on. It looks like there's a ray of hope, and Dong Soo has talked of a new life there. Maybe, instead of a monkey wrench, it's a sign of a hopeful future once the dust from the conflict to come settles.

Young Dal is very angry at the fact that Chang Mook is close to death. I think in some ways, Elder Ahn represents more than just a chance to take down Daejung; I think they've developed a good friendship. Certainly Young Dal goes to the old man for advice and he reflects on the times they spent together when he is waiting for news outside the O.R. I don't want to cast Elder Ahn in a grandfatherly light because somehow that does not seem appropriate. But they were cellmates, and Young Dal helped him at a time when there was no way of knowing that the old man could pay him back, or even how.


Young Dal, unaware of the danger that lurks behind him.

So where does that leave us? Is Yang Ha likely to turn on his father the way Director Yoon turned on him? Is there more kinship with Young Dal than we see; therefore, Yang Ha attempts to have him fired rather than bumped off? With 3 episodes to go, I'm guessing these questions will be answered soon.

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