Legend Episode 24 (finale), recap

OMG. This is it. Last episode. My nails, they are getting chewed on. If everyone dies, I am going to throw something. (I’m writing enough endings that this may become a permanent sort of thing – finish drama, write fic so I can be happy.)

Episode 24, finale

So, er, Damduk comes upon Sujini repairing her wagon. It’s sunset (or sunrise), so everything’s nice and fuzzy but still lit. (I guess the only reason he could catch up to her was because of the broken wagon. Thank you, wheel.)

No sparks sizzling, but plenty of eyepathy. Probably of the ILU/You idiot type. (Lee Jia is soooo pretty.)

Damduk is all friendly like nothing happened, and since I’m a sucker for Damini, three cheers for dialogue!

Damduk: Are all your belongings in that wagon? [He walks up to her cart and inspects it.] You know, if we repaired this part, we could get it going in no time.
Sujini: Could you please pretend you never saw us? Just pretend you saw someone who resembled a girl you once knew and let me go. I’m leaving now.
Damduk: Do what you want. If you won’t come with me, then I’ll follow you. All I need is to be with you. (Aren’t there like 500 songs with that somewhere in the lyrics/title?)
Sujini: But you’re the king! You should be at your palace!
Damduk: From this moment on, my palace is where you are.

Dude! Anger management! He wrecks the wagon wheel and … oh.

Damduk: Now you can’t go anywhere. I’ll bring my palace and soldiers here.

Aww. Crying and sniffling and general happy misery. He strides off, then changes his mind, coming back to grab Sujini in a tight hug.

Damduk: Don’t be like this. If you’re afraid you will become the Black Phoenix, then at least be by my side. I’ll be your shield. So please don’t be like this.

(He’s getting lots of one-liners in this episode. Also, someone just drove a car into a house. Um, what? Could the universe not conspire to distract me when I am watching last episodes of series?!)

They get comfy and huggy and teary. (Um. What about the kid?)

Back at camp, Damduk is getting briefed on the war situation (it’s like every neighbouring country has brought over an army to fight them. I’ll say this for the Hwachun – they’re thorough.) Jumuchi interrupts because he’s like, “GAWD WHERE ARE YOU HIDING SUJINI??”

Ajik runs to Sujini with Hyungo’s stick in hand (err, safely guarded symbol it is not). The master and student have an understated but emotional reunion. Sujini teases him for being so careful with a sacred symbol.

Hyungo says: This one is fake. I cannot fight or ride well. I dare not presume to guard the holy symbol. I cannot even keep my own disciple safe. The real one is being kept at Guh Mool village. (Oh. That’s not such a hot idea, Hyungo. Really.)
Sujini: Is everyone doing well?
Hyungo: Of course!
Sujini: I was hoping you wouldn’t be too happy without me.
Hyungo: I had hoped you would remain hidden. (OH WAY TO REKINDLE THE BOND.) That was the only way you could have a long life.
Sujini: I know.
Hyungo: I can’t stand it, I need to know – who is that child?
Sujini: He is my sister’s son.
Hyung: Sister?
Sujini: Sister.

Jumuchi rushes up like an over-exuberant puppy (albeit a very large one) and tries to hug Sujini, who totally shoves him over. I guess she’s offended that he calls her girly. (Wow, either he was completely off guard or she hasn’t lost her touch.) Cheoro just watches happily. And is that a slight smile I detect?

Militarily, enemy troops are moving in strange directions. Damduk knows it’s a trap of some sort, so he’s not following, but it’s not like he can ignore armies standing on his territory. So some forces march on to their initial targets and he summons the rest.

Damduk’s most trusted undersecretary wanders out, for no feasible reason than… constipation or indigestion, only to meet Sonix Warhead haircut (aka creepy Hwachun guy). He’s been marked by Hwachun and since he saw Sujini and Ajik, Sonix figures out that this is probably Damduk’s son. (Uh, yes, and they didn’t use this ace in their sleeve until now because…?)

Oh great. More plans of cunning.

Awww. Damduk is spending quality time with Ajik (name meaning ‘not yet’, because he can’t be named yet), who is really smart. Well, with his parents… anyway, he’s really fond of the kid.

Sujini sends Ajik to bed. Damduk shows her the suit of armour Ba Son made for her, and they exchange more words. He wants to reassure her that he is totally, 100% sure that he wants her here, while she wants to know that he’ll kill her when she turns into a black phoenix. (Yes, but when have you known Damduk to go by the rules? He’ll probably invent some random way of stopping the Black Phoenix.) He tells her that he’ll do it his way, one that doesn’t rely on Heaven’s rules.

Jumuchi comes with news that Goguryo people are being attacked and killed and worse, that their bodies are being used as road markers.

There is a moment of mental preparation, then they move.

Meanwhile, the Hwachun make a killing ground out of Guh Mool village. The problem is that Hyungo took all their fighters and so basically the symbols are defenseless. The other elders barricade themselves in and camouflage the door.

Creepy Sonix dude has black shadows evaporating out of his hand. Um. That is so wrong. Oh, now he goes all samurai. Wtf. More death and killing, and now only the oldest elder is left, since Mr. Black Smoke breached the defenses. He has the symbols now, whoop-de-doo. (It occurs to me that they made the Hwachun a bit too powerful in this second version, or was that intentional…)

The massacre is discovered only the next morning, when bowlcut guy comes back home to get something. He doesn’t even know where to mourn, there are so many bodies.

Ho Gae demonstrates more of his compassion by capturing Goguryo civilians and using them to lay a path to his own forces. He’s also angsting that after 8 years, Kiha still doesn’t love him.

As Damduk and his people are looking at the carnage, Hyungo gets bad news from home. Oooh. Damduk is more concerned about the people in the village than the symbols. (But like, who would do that kind of mass killing, except the Hwachun, you know?)

Well, to thwart the wishes of the Hwachun, it’s decided that Damduk cannot go to Abullansa, but then again, it’s not like he has to. Not yet.

Khitan reinforcements arrive, rounding out the army to 34,000 (against Ho Gae’s 100,000). Damduk spends most of the day thinking. Hyungo tells him what he knows already – that if he goes, the Hwachun will have his blood and activate the symbols. But the guy hates staying behind.

Sujini gets dressed for battle and leaves, patting Ajik on his cheek while he’s sleeping. Cheoro follows her around. Sujini’s sixth sense tells her that something’s wrong, she keeps getting worried about Ajik, and even her men’s happy greetings can’t dispel her sense of something wrong.

The marked undersecretary comes and kidnaps Ajik, leaving a ransom letter behind. Sujini rushes off after him upon discovering this, but Cheoro restrains her. Damduk comes up to her and asks what’s so important about Ajik that the Hwachun would take him… and Sujini can’t tell him? Just say it already.

Damduk reads the ransom note. Um. He’s like, ‘but it says the daddy is the Joo Shin king?’

So Sujini takes about five years and a few spare seconds to explain who Ajik really is. Damduk is rather shocked. (First that his second girlfriend is related to his first, and second that he’s got a son.)

Huh. It’s a day for revelations all around.

Interestingly, Damduk is super grateful that she protected Ajik all these years (taking into account the complicated relationships in this thing). And when the news comes that Ajik is nowhere to be found, things go haywire.

Damduk’s generals hear the horn for battle, and Damduk comes to tell them that they’re moving out to Abullansa. No one blinks when he mentions a son that’s been kidnapped. (Righto. I would have asked something, but okay.)

Things start moving in their final direction, doom and angst, oh noooo.

Poor Ho Gae. He has the worst luck in women. Kiha just wants him to have the power of Heaven so he can defeat wossface. Well, Ho Gae’s not dumb, you know. He figures out that Kiha’s plan is to kill herself along with Damduk. (Omg and are there phallic objects stuck in the giant gold calla lily in her hair? So wrong.) However, shippers, do not be discouraged, she does promise to meet him the second time around (since he’ll live forever with the power) and actually treat him nicely this time.

Ehh. The writers like abusing the audience too much.

Damduk’s army are ready and amassed. So are Ho Gae’s and the Hwachun.

(Hey, Ho Gae has always struck me as a bit better-looking than Yonsama -sorry to the fans-, and this new haircut, despite all the Professor Snape grease, looks pretty good.)

Even knowing what will happen, Damduk gives a pep talk to his soldiers. (When he told Hyungo earlier that he planned to wait until the Hwachun got impatient, it probably just means he wanted some more time with Sujini before he set his Grand Plan in motion.)

All the old guard go into this super pumped and ready. Don’t anyone dare to die.

(Writing out the battle scene would take too long, so I’ll just summarize.)

Damduk’s people ride forward, Ho Gae meets them halfway through. Fighting, blood, dust pounding under horse hooves, the usual. (And the colours are nicely constrasted so I can usually tell who’s who.)

Both Ho Gae and Damduk are just cutting through the enemy soldiers. The four guardians are doing their share of the plowing (well, not Hyungo as much) and Sujini looks really cool leading the archers.

Kiha assembles all four symbols on the stone table (coughaslancough) and waits. We rewind our way through the Kiha-Damduk angst MV.

Back to battle, where Ho Gae is just watching Damduk fight. Oh no, he’s riding off now. More fighting. (Sujini’s arrows just never run out, dude. It’s a magical quiver, yo.) Cheoro keeps an eye on Sujini and runs after her every now and then.

Heuk Gae dies from multiple people attacking him. But he dies proud of his king.

Kiha’s doing some random thing to make the symbols glow. Sujini sneaks by all the Hwachun guards and make it in to Abdullansa. Creepy Sonix guy sets a ring of guards around Kiha, while Sujini fights her way in, to save her son (I could consider him so – parentage is about more than genes).

Here Creepy dude makes a tactical error, because he brings out Ajik – making Kiha waver. She’s overcome, because it totally is her kid, and she doesn’t want to kill him at all. (He’s a bit small to be around 8/9, but that’s okay. They had a steroid teen Ho Gae.)

Oh. Creepy dude brought Ajik out because he can’t actually hurt the descendant of Heaven. Well, Kiha’s not going to take out his heart. During his pep talk, Sujini shoots a few arrows at him.

Sujini: That child is yours, unni! Do not kill him!

This would work, but then Creepy dude possesses Kiha. (Does Ajik not have the marginal sense to run away??) She doesn’t seem to be able to combat him.

Battle goes on. OMFG. Ho Gae kills General Go. OMG. OMG. NO. Damduk gets there in time to hold him dying. Uh oh. Damduk goes battle-mad. He and Ho Gae have their long-awaited faceoff (on the other side, S and K seem to have solved their differences in the face of danger to Ajik.) And… oh wow. I mean, Ho Gae just stood there and took his own spear in his stomach. No dodging, nothing. Just a long, meaningful look and then a dramatic fall to the ground. (Make that a really long meaningful look.) Damduk looks pained at killing his own cousin.

Damduk stares at Ho Gae’s body, then the battle around him, with his awesome generals kicking the stuffing out of the other soldiers – but he only sees chaos and death, I would assume.

Kiha sets an unconscious Ajik on the stone table (Sujini’s been knocked away). She fights Creepy Hwachun dude, holding the knife in her hand (the switching back and forth shows who’s in control, which I think is rather corny). Sujini wakes up and tries to stop Kiha, but I’m guessing the only person who can stop him is Damduk.

Oi. Now Possessed!Kiha has Sujini by the neck. Dammit, poor Sujini is getting so confused and injured.

Kiha tries to stop creepy dude, but Ajik’s fingers get sliced (just a little, not enough to leave scars, even). Enraged Kiha throws creepy dude out of her head and turns into the Black Phoenix. Oh man, what a twist.

Sujini wakes up and holds Ajik away from Kiha’s destructive fire waves. (Well, she’s probably one of two people able to shield him.) Damduk arrives in time to see the blood flow to each symbol, activating his sword/bow thing.

Creepy dude chooses now to wake up. Full activation of Damduk’s magical powerz coincide with Hwachun dude’s flying leap, and he gets vapourized by Damduk.

However, there’s still the matter of Kiha, whose manifestation of Black Phoenix power is really dangerous.

Damduk asks her, in his own head, to stop, and that if she cannot, then he will have to. (Do what?) She looks at him, and it looks like the Phoenix powers can’t stop themselves.

It’s like all three people agree on Kiha being killed by the bow – but then Damduk lowers it. Hmm.

(And may I just say that it has occured to me that Sujini spent all her life in fear for nothing? Curse you, writers.)

Sujini, still holding Ajik, asks Damduk to do it before it’s too late. He replies that he knows what he has to do now…

Damduk, to Kiha: I didn’t believe in you. I should have. I’m sorry.

He breaks the bow in two.

On the battlefield, the three guardians are experiencing some intense pain. It looks like they live, however, which is good. The symbols evaporate. Kiha’s still in fiery limbo. Damn.

Damduk: Anyone can make mistakes. I will tell Heaven: this is the nature of man. He makes his mistakes, corrects them, and moves on. This is what Heaven is asking us now – do we stand independent, or does it have to lead us? The Joo Shin King was chosen to answer that question. That was his responsibility. This is my answer: I believe in man. I believe that the Joo Shin nation will succeed, and whatever I do not accomplish, my descendant will. I return Heaven’s power, and all will be right again.

Sujini just holds Ajik close and cries. Damduk turns back to look at her one last time, and steps forward into the light that has mysteriously appeared. (Will resist urge to eyeroll.) Kiha’s still doing her fiery thing. Okay, I get it, fire is dangerous.

Damduk disappears into the glowy portal while Sujini watches.

(So they reversed everything. Ex: last time the women died, this time the king does.)

Shot of the super awesome stone that has history carved all over it.

Narrator: King Jumong founded Goguryo. HIs father was the son of Heaven, and his mother the daughter of the river. And there existed the 17th king of Goguryo. He expanded the kingdom and reiged in peace. He was well-loved of his people. Therefore, he was named Gwanggaeto, the great king of peace. His grace extended to the Heavens and his supporters to the end of the world. His people lived in peace, and as his kingdom grew wealthy, his people grew in comfort. His kingdom was truly a content one. Some said that the king cut off the power of Heaven. But others said that he cut off the ties and made man free. The truth cannot be known. But these are his words, which have been passed down through the centuries. Now the one who waits is not man, but Heaven. If you look back, Heaven will be there.

Err. Then some history, which seems to indicate that Damduk survived this battle.

End.

Commentary/Rambling:

– What. The. Fuck. AGH. WHAT DOES A GIRL HAVE TO DO TO GET A HAPPY ENDING HERE?? Further reactions in another post, I guess. On second thought, maybe it’s not that bad. But I would have preferred something more concrete, again.

– You know what, from my own experiences dealing with writing and correlation with happy ends – let’s all send the writers huge tubs of Nutella. It has to work.

– I don’t care what they say and how many kids Kiha has by Damduk, he loves Sujini. End of story.

Sevenses