[drama 2003] Damo 다모

[tieuyeunu]

Ok leads them to the mountain camp, Lee is waiting for them with his small group.

Ok is ordered to go in first, Lee tells her he could not get in contact with Thief.

Ok heads in and finds the whole camp empty. She goes straight for Beak's room, he is there waiting for her.

He ask her for a drink, she tells him the guards are coming, he ask her if she is able to speak normally again, she tells him she's a Damo. He talks about wine instead, Ok realizes he knows who she is, he reminds her he had told her to forget her past, he ask her to come with him.

She takes her sword and points it at him, she ask him who he is, he ask her if their relationship was one where they would point swords at each other.

She tries to convince him to surrender, he reminds her of all the people he had killed, including framing the Training General and causing Commander Park and Yoon to be imprisoned, he tells her to kill him, she cries but doesn't strike.

He says her first word to him was thank you, he tells her he really wanted to save her. Both are crying now, he fights back and easily disarms Ok, but is also unable to strike, he tells her he enjoyed their time together, he ask her if to her he is a criminal who deserves to be beheaded. He tells her he is the cries of the people and there is a new movement upon them. He says for next time they meet to not be when they are pointing swords at each other. Ok realizes he is rebelling against the king.

Sister complaining...stopping now.

[pegster]

Oh sad part is coming up soon.  It makes me so sad seeing CO in so much pain...

[pegster]

Hmmm...is it just me, or do these two episodes seem shorter than the other ones...
Oh...next week is another two painful episodes.

[tieuyeunu]

I know what you mean...but then remember DAMO only gets sadder and sadder as we go...until it rips out our heart then stomps on it till there is nothing left.

[pegster]

Oh right...I remember having to tape my heart back together after watching it the first time. 
I think I still have some of that tape around if anyone needs it.

[Guest hola1978]

Hi, Sorry girls could not take it and I saw the whole series. It was my first time seeing it and it's very sad but has a fair end. From these chapters there will only pain and more pain, but that piece of actress is Ha Ji Won, what I like is how she acts with her eyes, you can see the emotions through them. I just love it.

[Guest larabn]

Some Gifs

[ben1090]

thank you @pegster‌, @larabn‌ and @tieuyeunu‌ for your recaps. I did feel both episodes were quite short.

@pegster‌ I am patiently waiting for your updates about HJW's men in her dramas. I agree HJW had a very strong chemistry with KMJ and of course with LSJ as well in this drama. I really hope they will be reunited in any project soon ;.

[Libera]

ep. 4

[tieuyeunu]

hola1978 said: Hi, Sorry girls could not take it and I saw the whole series. It was my first time seeing it and it's very sad but has a fair end. From these chapters there will only pain and more pain, but that piece of actress is Ha Ji Won, what I like is how she acts with her eyes, you can see the emotions through them. I just love it.

[tieuyeunu]

I remember watching this scene the first time round, not knowing for sure if they were siblings or not, but still thinking they were and wondering if I should be worried or not since it's a bit odd to have two of them pressing together that closely. Usually this type of hug-roll happens between our OTP.

It's a pretty scene none the less.

This was something else I wanted to point out, the fact that Beak killed an officer, someone we have to assume was simply doing his job to protect the country and all, and Ok looking on after stopping the guy from sneak attacking Beak. So the officer died by the hands of Beak but with the help of ok.

Since I'm use to our good guys being more clear cut good then looking on as a good man gets killed for the sake of their mission.

So in this sense, if Ok was to kill an officer while she was undercover, does that make it ok? It's something I've always wondered about undercover cops, how far can you go to prove your alliance to the 'evil' crowd before it makes you truly one of them?

Ok feels some guilt over the matter, but the mission was more important so she basically shrugged it off and kept going, while people like Thief, are left to wonder over the deah and the 'right' to kill someone on their team for the sake of the mission.

I think Thief in this regards, represents the layman who can't understand the 'sacrifices' that needs to be made for the 'bigger' picture that so many of our heroes and villians seem to sprout. If both our heroes and Villians act alike, then how do we the layman tell who is the good and who is the bad?

First Time I watched this scene, I thought Officer Lee was going to die, it's something one usually say to someone who is going to die.

What it also shows, is Yoon's relationship with Officer Lee, why his subordinents follow him like they do. Yoon is a good man and a good leader.

On the other side of the coin, Beak is also the same, he treasures his followers more than his own life.

His belief in himself, the brotherhood and their mission is what makes such a charismatic leader.

It's interesting that they had placed both Yoon's and Beak's scene one after the other, they've been building up both guys to by the exact replica of each other, working towards a 'better' future but on differing paths. Had they been on the same team, they would have been the best of friends.

[tieuyeunu]

The scene of decisions.

Ok is asked to remove her mask, she doesn't know Beak knows her face but Beak recognises her instantly. The fact that he has seen her 3 times before and each time she had:
1. Intrigue him - Pretending to be a guy and trying to defend the right of the slave or commoner agaisnt the nobleman
2. Evoke his admiration - Her previous attempt to help the sick child then her giving the ginseng to the old lady and her son.
3. Arouse his sympathy - Her lonely tears in the Police Bearue court yard

Her affects on him brings us to this moment when he makes the first decision to either hide her identity or kill her for her treachery.

He choose to pretend not to know, even though we have been shown that he has no quamls in killing those in oposition to his cause, like the constable earlier. This shows even at this point, before spending time with her, he had already regarded her in a different light. This was also before he felt the similarity between her and his sister.

I don't thik its the fact that she is a girl that is hampering him, since he treats the Bandit Girl normally and he knows Ok is a capable person, even though she is a bit hot headed.

I've always wondered how old Ok was but according to those in the film she is quiet young.

She was taken from her family at 7, was with Yoon for 13 years (?) so that would make her 21? But the time between her going from her family to Yoon is unknown so she should be at least between 21-22 years old. Can't figure out if my calculations are correct. When I first watched this show I thought she's a teen but now knowing how old HJW was when she was starring in this I'm unsure.

And thank god for a film that addresses her obvious feminie feature...

But Thief's explanation is even more hilarious. He's basically calling her a male prostitute because of her looks. Lol.

For some reason that sounds more convincing then she's just a pretty guy. I think the only other film I saw when they had an even better explanation was that the girl was an eunuch so she looked like a girl, acted like a girl, and had a girly voice.

This is another interesting scene, the evil man wants to prove Ok is deaf by firing a gun at her eye, which would make her really deaf.

Ok ofcourse is determined to ride it out knowing full well she'll be permanently deaf, but her sacrificial attitude is something we are already aware off.

What was interesting was how long it took for Beak to interfere, like he was waiting to see what she would do, when he realised she was really going to allow herself to be harm, only then did he stop it.

[tieuyeunu]

At this point, their fates would have been so different had they remained separated, but then it really is fate that brought them back together.

In the meantime, Yoon is always in the background, worrying.

This is so pretty. As oppose to a mystical grand type of feeling, it feels more organic and timeless. Nature is just beautiful as it is. The simplicity of some of these scenes, using just the natural colour alone is enough.

Pretty sure this was a swimming pool but it's still pretty.

And this...is just so funny...this looks like Ok is trying to drown him instead.

2nd decision scene between Beak and Ok. I think its important that Beak didn't allow Ok to follow them the first time round, he knows who she is, even though he may not want to harm her but he isn't stu-pid enough to allow a tiger into the den. If he did it would have made him one very incompetent leader and out of character.

Whats changed is that now, with the pestering of his sidekick, and look back on a very lonely looking Ok, he wants to take that chance. Was it his course that he believed in? Believing she would be someone who would understand what he was trying to achieve? or was it his connection with her that he wanted to sustain? 

Regardless, this was a choice he had made, the choice that allowed her into his life.

Directly after this scene, when Beak ask Ok to follow him, we are given a scene of Yoon, remembering his conversation with Ok and asking her to return no matter what.

It's a nice juxtaposition of their current relationship, while one lets go, the other takes in, I don't remember if this continues in future but I suspect we can expect a lot more of these types of scenes. The director, editor, writers, take great pains in protraying the relationship between each character, and an obvious and convincing explanation as to how our characters get from point A to point B.

[tieuyeunu]

One of the best things about DAMO, was while we were not expecting much from our side characters, being fully invested in our main trio, (with the exception of Officer Lee whom I admit to being ready to throw my remote at my TV if he was to be killed off), we are still given a chance to see them beyond their Side Character A tag. It humanizes the character and ask us to care, though we are never given the full blown chance to really truly care, it allows the viewers to know what's at stake for them when they are placed in danger or what motivates them to choose the path they did.

Like the the gruff Man, whose scary exterior belies his loving relationship with his daughter.




Earlier, Beak had berated Man for breaking out of prison and putting his own brothers at risk, his reply was simply, he wanted to see his daughter. Though we understand, we are unable to take in his emotions of the time. Looking at him now, with his daughter, we can understand where he is coming from. It also shows us the future he is trying to fight for.

It also allows Ok and Thief to see Man as someone who is more then just a target. Though I think this father-daughter scene hits Thief more then it does O, because Ok has closed off her heart, refusing to think about it, though she does display a glimmer of emotions.

Beak takes Ok and Thief to the mountain camp, he allows them full view of his army, knowing how much he is giving away, he still chooses to do it. Interestingly, he keeps tabs on Ok, not her actions but her reactions, he is firmly sitting in the 'I want to bring her to my side' mindset.

Meanwhile, we are shown again, how devoted Yoon is to Ok. Though I don't think anyone was asking for proof but they want to lay it out to us. His scene's with Lady are of particular interest since it comes in handy to see how they have changed from now till episode 13.

While Yoon is cold to Lady, who is a nice girl and someone whom he could be happy with if he allowed himself, his attachment to Ok is too strong for him to see anyone else.

I read a review online not to long ago, when the reviewer commented that Ok and Yoon are so much a part of each other that one cannot outlive the other unless they were living to taking revenge or would just slowly waste away. How true those words turned out to be.

Something that has been bugging a lot about this drama, we are shown Yoon missing Ok but never the other way around. I'm not sure if this is the directors intention to show how Yoon's attachment to Ok is more profound then hers to him? or was it because her leaving was her choice and not his? or was if it's simply an oversight?

Directly after showing Yoon sitting lonely in Ok's room, missing her, we are show Ok being in company of the Rebel crew being able to enjoy herself unknowingly. I think this is to show that while Yoon can't be happy without Ok, she is able to be happy without him.

It also sets the stage for Ok's relationship with Beak to grow, starting from the point of 'faith' and 'trust', something that should be impossible for Ok and Beak at this moment.

Beak proves himself to be a gentleman, being able to say 'thank you', I think this is something that Ok would feel foreign since no one thanks a slave girl, everything she does, would be simply because she is a slave to them.

And the first sign of Ok being swayed...feeling guilt and gratitude towards Beak, when she has not shown these emotions to anyone else besides Yoon before.

Yoon's speech to her is important here, though Ok doesn't really understand, we do. It shows us the reason he had 'accepted' her, what he hopes to achieve by it.

Its a nice little scene where we are show Ok's very rare smile, being charmed by the charismatic leader whom is probably the first person outside of Yoon whom has affected her as Chae Ok the person instead of the slave girl.




Before she catches herself is confused over her own reactions.



Well, that was episode 5...our first introduction to Beak and what he has to offer.

[pegster]

About whether it would have been ok if Chae Ok had killed one of officers, my thoughts are, if this was a modern drama, it would not be ok, and I don't think it would happen.  Chae Ok would not do it, not only because she values the life of her fellow colleagues, but also because she would know the consequences of killing a person.
However, considering this is a historical dramas, the standards are completely different.  The value of life is much lower than compared to now, it would have been ok.  It's not as hard to kill someone and get away with it at that time as it would be during modern times.
I also think that viewers in general are able to distinguish the time periods of the drama and will naturally adjust their tolerance level for things like this.  
About the translations from HJW's book that I promised, I want to apologize for not getting to it yet.  The last few days I've been in a bit of a comatose mode.  All I've done is follow with the HJW Taiwan visit news and haven't been able to get myself to do anything else.  I promised I'll post that translation before we finish with Damo.

[tieuyeunu]

@pegster I guess your right, because it is ancient times so we are more lax with the killing but I can't help but think if in our time, right now, if an undercover cop was standing in the same position, but instead of standing on the side, is the one with the gun in their hands, would they shoot? and would the court deem them liable for the death? Reminds me of one of the episodes of Criminal Intent I watched with the same dilemma. It came down to motivation in the killing.

[pegster]

I'm here!!  Is everyone else starting with this week's episodes?
The one of the most heart wrenching scenes is about to happen! 

[tieuyeunu]

Episode 9.

We pick up where we left off, Ok is in her room thinking back on her conversation with Officer Lee about meeting the King, who told her unless she's a ghost she won't be able to cross the boundaries to get an audience.

Of course this being Ok, who has no sense of self preservation, is racked with guilt from her failure and feels remorseful to Yoon, writes him a letter then makes her way in unarmed.

Her letter is very sad, she narrates her side of their story, her thoughts and feelings at the age of 7. Her appreciation to Yoon, her fear of his death and the guilt she has from falling for a man she knew was impossible. That even though she faced him, knowing Yoon's life was on the line, she could not bring herself to kill him. So she choose to lay down her life to repay his kindness, and the destiny that they had shared till this time.

Ok does find the king and makes her way to see him, she is of course cut down by his men before she gets close...it's not a nice scene to watch...how she is still able to live after that is a mystery.

When I first watched her being attacked, I thought she was going to die for real and then we'll get a lookalike to come in.

[pegster]

I didn't realize it the first time I was watching, but now that I'm watching it again, the letter she wrote to HBY before going to the palace was so touching, and it really hinted a lot about her feelings at that time.  
To me now, that was a pretty clear indication of what she felt toward HBY.
I also didn't realize that she was actually on a real death mission and didn't expect to come out alive.  She had planned to use her life to repay HBY for all that he did for her.
Anyhoo, I'm going to miss the next episode, I have an appointment to get to.  Sorry all!

[Guest larabn]

Oh god that first scene is really uncomfortable to watch specially when she can't even breath and the king's men are shouting at her to speak quickly and giving her a smack on the back