Review: "Shine or Go Crazy" Episodes 9-10

Synopsis

Hwang Bo Yeo Won (Lee Ha Nui) is able to read more into Shin Yool (Oh Yeon Seo)’s relationship with Wang So (Jang Hyuk) and flat out tells her to stop seeing him since he isn’t someone she should get close to. Of course, Shin Yool doesn’t know what she’s talking about since she has yet to find out he’s a prince and Icy Princess’s husband. Wang Sik Ryeom (Lee Deok Hwa)’s plan to dethrone the sitting king (Ryu Seong Soo), expose that Wang So is moonlighting as a leader of a ninja assassin group, and put in another puppet king goes into motion. His plan includes poisoning the king with something that causes him to become delusional, act irrational, and hard of hearing. This why the subjects of the capital will see him as a crazy and he’ll be forced to step down, making room for a new king. Wang Sik Ryeom seems confident in his plan since his assassin, Se Won, injured Wang So in a fight thus making the competition in favor of Wang Wook (Lim Ju Hwan) and he’s successfully deceived the Queen Mother – again. The prince’s competition leaves Sik Ryeom satisfied until Wang So comes in and announces he still wants to participate. Wang Wook doesn’t mind and ends up losing to his older brother – which leaves Sik Ryeom fuming.

With the king being disillusioned into thinking The Chunghae Trading Company is supporting the competition and his replacement by making the embellishments each prince wore, it causes him to attempt to kill Shin Yool. To his surprise, she cleverly answers all of his questions. At this point, Shin Yool is aware that So So hyungnim is Prince Wang So, but he is still unaware of her true identity. She goes back home and tells her family about who he really is. Baek Myo is especially surprised and when he shows up, she’s unsure of how to address him and begins to use honorifics. The last to know about Wang So is Da Pyul (Heo Jeong Min), who begins to panic as he cursed and mocked Prince Wang So in front of So So. We also see a different side of Hwang Bo Yeo Won, who nurses her husband back to health and is often seen looking at him with a warm expression. He asks her if she regrets it and she offers her hand, but Wang So declines stating it’s hard for him to take someone’s hand easily.

During Wang So’s visit to Chunghae Trading Company, the King shows up and he is seen by his brother. The King is visibly jittery while he is questioning Shin Yool (who is wearing a veil) about her company’s alliances, she answers him truthfully and manages to cover up for Wang So. However, her answers are only things Gaebong would know so Wang So sneaks back into the company to see if his suspicions are correct. At this point, he is finally able to see that Gaebong is actually a woman and is having trouble processing this information. Wang Wook isn’t happy with his loss and goes back to visit Shin Yool to answer her question about why he’s been so nice to her, when he gets there, he sees hi younger brother Prince Wang Won behaving belligerently and threatening Shin Yool’s life. Wang Wook gets cut while trying to subdue his brother and threatens him to never come back. While Shin Yool is fixing him up, Wang Wook answers her question and says he became jealous seeing how close she was to his brother and didn’t want him to know her true identity.

Reaction

LavelyShai: Another great week, but the plot has really moved and secrets have been revealed…well sorta. What did you think of our OTP learning each other’s biggest secrets?

 akinahana89: I love how that was handled, to be honest. Shin Yool found out Wang So was really a prince, but she kept silent about it and even protected him from the King and his suspicions. On the other hand, Wang So was intelligent enough to piece the puzzle together and reconfirm Gaebong’s gender. I loved his quick back and forth between sheer happiness, disbelief, and anger after realizing the truth. It was great!

 LavelyShai: Yes, I loved how they handled both of them realizing what the other was hiding. It shows how much Shin Yool cares that she kept silent about knowing he’s a prince and sugarcoating his actions. She wasn’t exactly lying about anything she said, but she took herself out of the equation while successfully helping Wang So. When it came time to for him to know her gender, I was thankful they showed his ability to piece things together. He knew only Gaebong would have known what Shin Yool told the King, glad he acted upon his suspicions & actually saw Shin Yool and not Gyeong. I think Shin Yool was also good for telling everyone not to say anything, I know her brother wanted to spill lol.

 akinahana89: But the fact that Gyu Dal knows can’t be a good thing. He, just like Baek Myo and Kang Myung, seem to have problems with keeping their mouth shut, although their antics after finding out Wang So’s real identity was downright hysterical. We finally got to see Baek Myo falling all over herself with respect and uncertainty for our prince. Haha. I also adored how happy Shin Yool was at the realization that, while Yeo Won is Wang So’s wife, she was the one who married him first. Ha!

LavelyShai: I was waiting for the day that Baek Myo would eat her words once she learned who So So really was, it was very satisfying seeing her be respectful and using honorifics with him. Although he was slightly confused at first haha. Shin Yool was adorable when she said she married him first. I wonder what will happen once he discovers she’s his first wife. Speaking of wives, Yeo Won gets more incredible with each episode. I don’t know whether to hate her or love her.

akinahana89: As a woman, I love Yeo Won. She’s smart and ambitious, yet so cunning. As Wang So’s wife, can she please just pave the way for Shin Yool and Wang So’s happily ever after? lol. But honestly, I’m enjoying her conflict with Wang Wook. It’ll be so interesting to see how they plan on trying to get the upper hand over one another. In the end, it looks like Shin Yool’s prediction, based on his brushstrokes for the “light” character, was right – he will be alone. 

LavelyShai: Yeo Won’s ability to remain calm and calculating is something I admire. She’s no dummy and her passive aggressiveness when dealing with people is nice to see. She’s not straight up evil, but she has her reasons for doing what she does. The way she looks at Wang So now is far different than the way she did before; she appears to have feelings when she looked at him in episode 10. I am also enjoying the Hwang sibling rivalry going on. Each wants the same thing, but for a different reason and they both know those exact reasons. I can see him being alone in the end; it’s almost as if his heart isn’t set in whatever he’s doing and he’s using manipulation tactics to get what he wants – namely Shin Yool. Do you think that Yeo Won’s relationship/feelings for Se Won (I know his name now!) will be the key to her undoing? 

akinahana89: Haha! You know, as I was watching this week’s episode and hearing how often Wang Shik Ryeom was calling his assassin by name, I thought to myself, “LavelyShai is going to be happy to finally know his name!” But back to the question at hand, I have to wonder if Yeo Won has any real feelings for Se Won or if she’s simply manipulating him because she knows he loves her. To date, I still can’t figure out what she feels for him and I suspect that even her sudden shift in feelings for Wang So is only because he won the prince’s competition. By revealing himself as strong and capable, Yeo Won is now interested in her husband when before, she could care less about Wang So. After all, her goal is to become Queen and if she can get Wang So wrapped around her finger, since he’ll be the next prince to ascend the throne, then wouldn’t she get exactly what she wanted? 

LavelyShai: Haha I should stop giving characters nicknames, but it’s fun. Back to the topic: I personally feel that Yeo Won has some feelings for Se Won, but not deep enough (yet) that she’s bound to act upon them. She has a goal and that’s to be queen so personal feelings for ninja assassins would have no place in her life. It does seem she’s started looking at her hubby differently once she knew he was competent enough to be a trained fighter, but it seems she still underestimates his intelligence by asking him to take her hand. She’s going to have to come up with something better to get him on her side. When he becomes king, she’ll finally get what she’s always wanted – so what would she do by then? Speaking of queens, am I the only one who wonders just how naive the Queen Mother really is? 

akinahana89: Incredibly naive. It seems like she doesn’t use her brains much, unlike Yeo Won and Shin Yool. I still don’t like her for how poorly she treated Wang So, even more now that she gets fooled repeatedly by Wang Shik Ryeom. Hopefully, after his most recent deceit with the prince’s competition, she won’t take his words so seriously anymore. Although, I will admit… it seemed like she was proud of Wang So for winning, but is it because he’s her son and somewhere deep down inside, she has some love for him… or is it because him winning means the throne is taken away from Wang Shik Ryeom’s intended winner, Wang Wook? 

LavelyShai: I should have known how little the Queen Mother knows about politics or any of the possible corruption within the noble families since she actually believed her son was cursed while her husband knew differently. It really does bother me how easy it is for Wang Shik Ryeom to deceive her, she really has no clue. Does she sit in her room all day? I’m not sure if she was truly proud of Wang So for winning the prince’s competition or what his winning meant for their family. I’m going with the latter since she’s shown no sign of loving her son so far. With Wang So winning the competition, the throne stays on her side of the family for at least another generation or king – whichever ends up being longer. Wait – does anyone actually like Wookie? He’s been on a creeper side. 

akinahana89: Ugh, freaky, obsessive, and rather useless Wang Wook who actually looks really awkward with a sword? No, I’m not a fan at all and I definitely didn’t like how he manhandled Shin Yool by randomly pulling her into such a rough hug like that. If possible, I actually find him more annoying than Wang Shik Ryeom! lol. Don’t tell me you’re a fan? It’s okay if you are though. Haha. 

LavelyShai: *Awkward* Uhh no..I am actually not fond of Wookie (despite the nickname), he annoys me the moment he pops up on screen. I think it really has more to do with his lack in sincerity than anything, he doesn’t seem like he’s all in. He’s lukewarm and sometimes looks as if he’d rather be somewhere else. I won’t complain about the hair since that really can’t be helped. I was initially wondering if anyone in his family actually liked him. Hey, at least Wang Sik Ryeom has some use right now haha.

akinahana89: Oh, his family? Hm… Actually, I can’t even say for sure. It doesn’t seem like his brothers were much of a fan, but then, I wouldn’t be either if I had a brother who walked around with such misplaced arrogance. After all, he could have simply accepted the late King’s sword and been named the victor, but he wanted to show off some more by trying to defeat Wang So. That cost Wang Wook a very different future since he underestimated Wang So and left him nursing his wounded pride in private. 

LavelyShai: First rule of any kind of competition: NEVER underestimate your opponent regardless of how incompetent you think they are. Wang Wook made that major mistake and it really did give him a different future than what he had wanted. He licked his wounds then came to stalk Shin Yool again. Oh! I can’t forget to mention the ending to episode 10. What was up with the younger prince (Wang Won, right?)? 

akinahana89: He was really angry at Shin Yool for her rather negative reading of his brushstrokes, but at the same time, at least he was smart enough not to cross Wang Wook. He looked murderous enough to cut his younger brother down if needed. Still, wreaking havoc at Chunghae Trading Company isn’t going to change his fate or give him a different reading… In any case, I didn’t need more reasons to love Shin Yool, but she was just so clever this week! Even more so than before, which is saying a lot. She was so witty in answering the King’s questions in a way that would not endanger herself or accidentally insult him. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a deep fondness for such an intelligent female lead. 

LavelyShai: Shame on me for not remembering that part lol. Even then, he seems like he’s far too young to really hear these types of things. I hope he doesn’t become significant later on because since Shin Yool is the “light” for Wang So, her reading could be seen as bias. Shin Yool is easily climbing upon my top favorite female leads. She really does think on her feet and I did enjoy how she spoke to the king without being disrespectful. 

akinahana89: On top of the extremely likable leads, “Shine or Go Crazy” is proving to be a great drama with episodes that gets better and better with each passing week. The plot has continued to be fast paced and consistent. The conflict and tension keeps increasing and I find myself falling deeper and deeper into their lives. I’m totally hooked on all the action, the humor, and, of course, our OTP. I can’t wait to see what happens next week and now that we know how the drama got its name, I’m eager to find out who will shine… and who will go crazy.

This week had some great reveals and character development, what were some of your favorite moments?

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