The Fiery Priest Episode 20 Review

*Let’s get it!*

Not gonna lie, I wasn’t a fan of the first episode because everything was just over the top – lots of fighting with repeated choreography, and Kyung Seon’s constant dropping of “…*stressed*…” was too much for me. But I stuck around because I liked the narrative they adopted in exploring the religion and the hypocrisies of the people practising it. And I’m quite glad I did!

A quick rundown of what went down in Episode 20:

I guess the highlight of the episode, story-wise, was seeing how Hae Il stopped himself from killing Lee Joong Kwan, because he was surrounded by the people he loved and who loved him.

Together, they prevented him from walking down a path of no return, and proved that he was unlike Lee Joong Kwan. Interestingly, it was Dae Young who later shot Lee Joong Hwan dead, which is kinda the story making a parallel between the old Dae Young who regretted not being able to protect his colleague, and the present Dae Young who’s no longer afraid to step up.

Thereafter, we had some nice tying of loose ends, but the summary is that basically, every baddie is caught and thrown into jail.

I also liked that that there was some form of closure by having the detective team take Cheol Bum out (without Hae Il and without Seung Ah), as poetic justice would have it for Cheol Bum having indirectly killed one of their men before. Shows you what true team work can do eh? I got so tickled by the head butt, especially when they made the *dong* sound effect in the background. Anyone else was amused by that??

Meanwhile, an unlikely friendship blossoms between Jang Ryong and Song Sac, who promises to be Jang Ryong’s friend when he’s released. It’s just nice to see how in this show, everyone’s kindness melts someone else’s heart. No one’s really a lost cause, unless you are Lee Joong Hwan.

Yo Han hilariously develops an ability to sense the gravitational pull of stars after he was attacked in the previous episodes, and NASA approaches him to do a presentation. HAHA.

Kyung Seon wants to serve time for her evil deeds (which I totally appreciate) but one of the head prosecutors ropes her in instead to dig into the Rising Moon scandal. I’m glad they kept the story-line romance free in the end. While I’m not adverse to the idea of Kyung Seon + Hae Il, I do find that them having just a solid friendship where they are both drinking and ass-kicking buddies a lot more heartwarming.

At the end, Team Tsunami (ver 2.0) faces other baddies, and runs away when there are more baddies than expected. So funny!! Like what on earth is Dae Young doing in that monk outfit?? And Seung Ah’s bob is just….I’m speechless.

I must confess that I’m not as sad as you guys in seeing the end of season 1, mostly because I caught up with 18 episodes within a few days and shortly thereafter, there were talks of season 2. But it was a fun ride for sure, and the show successfully created for itself a unique flavour that will be hard to replicate by other dramas. Kim Nam Gil/Hae Il never fails to entertain me as a fiery, whacky priest with the funniest expressions that catch me off guard all the time. I give you this alright, the show is as random as heck and totally owns it, like when the Pope randomly turns up and Hae Il just keeps squealing “Papa!”

I wouldn’t say that this show is special for throwing in a bunch of baddies who all turned out good (as some people might argue), but I do like that two of the leads – Kyung Seon and Dae Young – were slowly and convincingly pulled into Team Tsunami because of Father Lee’s kindness. The discourse about religion, while not as intriguing as Save Me, was also very insightful and undertaken with some sense of peacefulness. It’s interesting because the first two episodes made it seem like Father Lee’s unwavering faith in humans was misplaced, but in the end, it was his love which brought all of them back into the light again. The ending touches were sophisticated without being preachy, and appropriate for a secular audience.

What the show did perfectly is building its side characters to be leads in their own right. It’s yet another example of a cast which is not that popular (by mainstream standards) yet totally rocked the show. The (main) side characters weren’t there just to make some noise or to provide fluff; they were all given back stories which were relevant and also beefed up the personalities. Each back story was also in some way helpful to the main plot, exhibiting a well thought-out progression. I don’t know which is my favourite, but Priest Han’s episode of him being a child actor and everyone crying bucket loads over his “When I was eight years old” sob story might just take the cake for me.

It’s really smart of them to have thought about a season 2 before the show ended. Even though I wasn’t in for the ride for as long as the most of you guys, I too felt excitement when “We Will Be Back” flashes on the screen. It’s kinda like a Marvel movie with its mid-credit scenes that dangle a bait/a promise for something more to come. And this made sense, since we were not told who is the true puppeteers of Rising Sun.

I don’t think I would miss the crew very much, but only because I know we possibly have more good stuff to look forward to. So for now, let us just remember this hilarious legacy they have left behind and await eagerly for Team Tsunami to strike us again!