Summary
Song of the Bandits delivers some of the best TV craftsmanship of the year with an incredibly satisfying battle sequence that takes up most of the episode.
Episode 7 of Song of the Bandits starts by reminding us that Ooka is back in Myeongjeong, running things with an iron fist — and a glass bottle or two.
This is a helpful reminder that Gwang-il is really just the face of a much larger problem. He might be the immediate villain, but there are many Japanese officers and officials behind him who are arguably even worse.
Speaking of Gwang-il, he comes up in conversation when Yoon takes Hee-shin to Seon-bok’s hotel.
Remember, Yoon still doesn’t know that Hee-shin is engaged to Seon-bok, and we can only imagine how he’s going to take the news when he finds out, but Hee-shin remains tight-lipped on the matter for now. Instead, they talk a little about Yoon’s backstory and how he knows Gwang-il, not realizing that Eon-Nyeoni is hiding outside, waiting to make her move and assassinate them both.
Why is Eon-nyeoni arrested?
However, Eon-nyeoni overhears Yoon’s moving backstory, which is very similar to hers, and she can’t pull the trigger. She realizes they have too much in common, and that simply serving oneself, or money, when there are much greater causes is far from a meaningful life.
After failing to complete her mission, Eon-nyeoni is promptly arrested by Ooka for being in Myeongjeong.
After what we saw of Ooka earlier, it’s worrying to find Eon-nyeoni in his custody. She instructs him to call Major Miura to confirm she is in town on his orders to assassinate the carrier of the stolen railway funds, but Gwang-il, cunningly, gets her to confirm that Yoon is in Myeongjeong and then completely disavows her.
Ooka schedules Eon-nyeoni’s execution for the next day.
How does Yoon escape with Hee-shin?
While Eon-nyeoni is dragged outside to be publicly executed by the consulate authorities, the Japanese 19th Division led by Gwang-il shows up to search Seon-bok’s hotel. She meets them outside with a rifle while Yoon and Hee-shin hide upstairs, but she’s visibly rattled to see her former master Gwang-il.
Gwang-il is able to disarm and knock out Seon-bok and send his men inside. Yoon deals with the first wave rather easily. When Gwang-il is about to send in another group, though, Ooka arrives and confronts him, holding him at gunpoint.
At the same time, Eon-nyeoni is able to escape her cell by agitating one of the guards, and, determined to kill Gwang-il, she takes aim at him during the disagreement. She misses her shot, though, causing a ruckus between the opposing forces.
Eon-nyeoni misses another chance to kill Gwang-il as she escapes inside Seon-bok’s hotel, where Yoon is hiding out. With no other exits, their only option is to work together to kill Gwang-il’s entire division.
This is the biggest action sequence of the season thus far, and it’s more than worth the wait given how much payoff is to be found in Yoon and Eon-nyeoni finally working together after so many previous encounters.
And it keeps building on top of itself to a frankly absurd degree. When Gwang-il realizes someone is hiding upstairs, he sends his men through the windows, so Yoon fights his way up and manages to save Hee-shin by diving through a window with the final soldier. Outside, though, he’s surrounded by soldiers, until Choong-soo and the bandits turn up to buy Yoon time to escape with Hee-shin.
It’s almost hard to imagine how all this carnage came together so well, but it’s an incredible sequence — easily the season’s best until this point.
How does Song of the Bandits season 1, episode 7 end?
Yoon and Hee-shin escape in a horse-drawn carriage, and while Gwang-il and some of his men give chase, they’re able to get away.
However, they’re forced to part ways when Yoon successfully delivers Hee-shin to her transport to the Independence Army. She won’t leave without making Yoon swear that they’ll meet again, though, and that when they do he’ll tell her his name.
Unwilling to wait, they kiss, and Lee Yoon tells her his name, which she immediately recalls from their previous encounter. The penny finally drops and she breaks down in tears as the episode ends.
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