Back on the soapbox again, as I am wont to do when I find that I have a lot to rail about.
As much as I like the idea of Teddy and Novick (especially Novick) kicking some ass, and imagine that they probably will defeat Pandit and Grobin here, I remain convinced that their plan is ultimately doomed to failure. It just removes all the tension from the rest of the arc if they succeed in liberating Viole this early on. I mean, we've had not even a hint of what several key players (most notably Androssi) are going to be doing in this, and so I can't imagine that we've quite yet reached the climax. Baam will have to remain in mortal peril until the very moment for him to get free and unleash Hell on someone. I still think Yuto is leading Horyang and Novick into a trap, and Reflejo and co. will be waiting to greet them on the other side of that door. In the end, I would much rather Baam break out of captivity on his own somehow anyway.
As for Novick, I was a bit surprised that Koon was his primary motivation for helping Viole. I had thought that he'd already basically fallen under Baam's 'spell' and become yet another of his fanatical devotees, particularly in light of his little exchange with Xia Xia during the Plug round. I suppose not, now.
Rak continues to be awesome, but I hope next week is the last of his major focus. I'd rather not have another Ran vs Anak scenario, and there seems to be so much ground to cover still.
Beta's naivete amused me, and ended up making me like him a lot more than I had previously. His falling for Rak and Yihwa's obvious lies and his complete lack of understanding of the scope of his own powers really drives home the sense of him being a broken child who doesn't truly know better than to do what he's doing right now, and heightens the possibility of him being redeemed somehow. In a way, he reminds me of what Prince was during the 20F episode.
I loathed the entire Wangnan and Quaetro bit. Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive about this, but I was very bothered by Koon's acknowledgement of him as being the same type of magnetic hero character that Baam is. To me, what has made Baam so 'special' has not been his Irregular status or his ridiculous rate of growth or his unique shinsoo flow replication abilities, but rather his ability to bring people together in a world designed to drive them apart. Having Wangnan be gifted with this exact same attribute, to me, compromises Baam's uniqueness and diminishes his importance. I would much rather SIU had not chosen to go this route, but it is what it is now.
I hope to see some Androssi soon. I'm accepting of the fact that Baam needs to remain on the sideline for a time yet, but I want to see what the Princess is doing. I have a feeling that they're going to have to summon either her or Chang to deal with Beta when the Rescue Viole gambit fails for whatever reason.
Edited by Lester, 02 December 2013 - 03:19 AM.