Summary
Lots of great practical action and conflicting agendas get Song of the Bandits going again after a slower instalment.
There’s little reason to empathize with Gwang-il. He has been displayed thus far as a psychotic, especially as evidenced in Episode 3, where he penned a love letter while torturing his own uncle. However, episode 4 of Song of the Bandits has a cold opening that goes some way towards explaining why he is the way he is.
Historically, he’s a coward, switching sides on a whim. He has Korean heritage but is fighting for Japan. He wants to earn the name of Miura, but the only way he can do that is, in the words of General Katayama, by bringing his own people to heel and convincing the world that they’re sub-human scum.
In other words, Gwang-il is going to Gando to ensure that the bandits attempting to steal the railway funds are all soundly defeated.
With news of the railway money spreading far and wide, Yoon splits his group into two teams.
Yoon, Choong-soo, and Geumsu go to ambush the armored truck while trying to deal with the Mounted Bandits and potentially Eon-nyeoni, though Yoon remains undecided on whether or not to kill her. At the same time, Kang San-gun and Choraeng-yi attempt to assassinate Hee-shin by throwing a grenade into the consulate, though the plan is threatened by San-gun’s worsening opium addiction.
These things happen at the same time, but I’ll recount them separately for ease.
Why does Yoon hand over the money?
So, Yoon keeps his men back while the Mounted Bandits antagonize the armored truck and agitate its defenders into firing the mounted gun until it breaks. At this point, Yoon’s group makes their move, though with explicit instructions not to shoot Eon-Nyeoni if they see her.
Yoon’s group is successful in a lengthy and practical-looking chase sequence that is lots of fun and very obviously evokes the show’s Western inspirations. Before they can steal the loot, though, they’re ambushed by Jang Ki-ryong and some of his men, who warns Yoon about a brutish Japanese officer coming to take over the 19th Division.
Yoon hands the box containing the money over to Ki-ryong. When Choong-soo later asks him why, he reveals that the box contained nothing but dirt. And since Ki-ryong didn’t know about this — we see him opening the box and going crazy — he speculates that it was someone else who managed to dupe them all.
Needless to say, this was Eun-nyeoni.
Song of the Bandits Season 1, Episode 4 Ending Explained
San-gun interrupts the assassination attempt to save a kid, so he and Choraeng-yi later pitch up to snipe Hee-shin when she’s making a speech at the railway event.
In the speech, she tearfully implores the Joseon people to embrace Japanese leadership, though it’s clear she doesn’t believe what she says. Nevertheless, before San-gun has the chance to fire at her, someone else in the crowd tries to take her life in Joseon’s honor.
Hee-shin survives. She later meets Eon-nyeoni at the train station, who delivers the money to her.
