Summary
A slower-paced episode loses its way a little, with a big midpoint action sequence feeling a little pointless and delaying the more exciting heist plot.
I haven’t mentioned this thus far, but Lee Yoon is at least partially driven by a lost love. We’ve only received very vague snippets of this until now, in both brief flashbacks and dialogue, and we get another teaser here in the cold open of episode 3 of Song of the Bandits (which, for what it’s worth, is much shorter than the one in Episode 2.)
The flashback takes place 16 years ago, in 1904, at some kind of ball where Lee Yoon, clean-shave and in full Japanese military regalia, enjoys a brief dance with Hee-shin.
In the present day, Gwang-il has learned from the informer captured in the previous episode that his own uncle is working towards Korean independence. The older man cautions him that history does not make mistakes, that all empires eventually crumble, and that one day he will be forced to reflect on the choices he has made and the side he chose.
How does Gwang-il’s uncle die?
Gwang-il chooses his side rather emphatically. When his uncle leaves, he’s arrested. “Long live the emperor,” Gwang-il mutters to himself.
The episode spends a good amount of time on Gwang-il being an absolute lunatic, torturing his uncle while simultaneously composing a love letter to Hee-shin. Gwang-il’s uncle gives little away, though he does reveal that the railway funds are going to be stolen. Under the guise of confessing more, he manages to steal the gun of one of Gwang-il’s men and commit suicide. Gwang-il beats his subordinate viciously and reflects on what he has learned.
Why are Yoon and Eon-nyeoni arrested?
Meanwhile, Hee-shin and Eon-nyeoni arrive in Gando to finalize the details of the armored truck heist. News of the truck is spreading everywhere, which means every bandit in the area fancies a shot at the loot, so things are already more complicated, and that’s before personal relationships threaten to upend things even further.
For one thing, Yoon spots Hee-shin in the crowd and is immediately taken back to his conversation with Choong-soo in the previous episode about how she was his “first” in many respects. But shortly after he loses sight of her, Eon-nyeoni greets him with a gun to his back. Remember, she warned him in Episode 1 that if she ever saw him again he’d be in trouble.
Well, Eon-nyeoni lives up to that promise and immediately tries to kill Yoon, chasing him around town until eventually they reach a stalemate and the authorities arrive. Yoon promises to stay alive until Eon-nyeoni gets the chance to kill him, and then both are taken into custody along with Seon-bok, who tried to intervene.
Eon-nyeoni explains that in her guild the punishment for failure to execute a mark is death, so Yoon making a name for himself is a death sentence for her. This explains why she acted so rashly in trying to kill him, jeopardizing her current mission (Hee-shin was horrified to see her being arrested.)
Song of the Bandits Season 1 Episode 3 Ending Explained
At the end of the episode, the prisoners are released to preserve Japanese political strength in the region and not cause any unnecessary unrest, though the decision isn’t exactly popular within the leadership.
Newly free to go about their business, which as they’ve both discovered is the same business, Yoon and Eon-nyeoni agree to do what they do best — although the latter quips that she doesn’t quite know what he does best just yet.
With the battle lines drawn and the immediate objective established, this slightly time-killing episode comes to an end.
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