The Heavenly Idol: Episodes 9-10
by Unit
Scandals, confusion (and more confusion), noble idiocy, and self-sacrifice characterize this week in the life of our heavenly idol. And as he will come to learn, sometimes his divine power is not all he needs to save the world.
EPISODES 9-10
As usual, Rembrary is flustered by Dal’s confession (up to the point of tumbling down the stairs, lol), and this time, Dal’s is pretty embarrassed too. To make sure that neither of them forgets this moment, their forehead kiss is secretly captured by a reporter, and it’s breaking news: Yeon-woo out on a date with a non-celebrity. Oops! Right in the middle of filming of a dating reality show where Rembrary is a cast member. Double oops!
As fallout, Dal quits being Wild Animal’s manger and working at the agency, too — but not before making herself out to be a stalker and Yeon-woo the victim of the scandal she claimed to have faked. No thanks to Dal’s self-sacrifice, the tides turn in favor of Wild Animal. Their song climbs the charts, and they get love calls from variety and music shows. Rembrary even gets to co-star in a candy CF with Woo-shin — after he saved the latter from getting killed during a stunt scene on their drama set.
Of course, the whole on set accident was engineered by the evilest member of Evil Boys. And as to how the evil boys became goblins (with the superpowers of invisibility), the most remorseful Evil Boy member explains to Rembrary that they also used to be a washed-up group until they were approached by people from a certain religion with the offer for stardom. They signed a contract with an old brush (the Afterlife’s stolen relic?) and they didn’t think too much of it until everything about them changed.
All Remorseful signed up for was popularity, not to be a bloodsucking goblin, and he begs Rembrary to help him get out of the contract. Rembrary promises to help — as he should, really, because Evil Boys were promised the Artist of the Year win, and we all know what that win means for Rembrary. Heh.
Or maybe not, because Rembrary is no longer interested in returning to The Other World thanks to his feelings for Dal. “Even if I save the whole world, if I cannot save you, I feel everything will be in vain,” he says to her, on a “Come back as our manager” visit to her house. Cute. But how does he expect a girl with feelings for him to interpret such a heart fluttering statement if he doesn’t open his mouth to actually confess? Stop confusing her, Mr. Pontifex!
Speaking of pontifices and powers, we finally get a mini Evil vs Evil showdown between The Evil One and the earthly Master of the religious group. “How dare you show up in front of me disguised as Redrin?” Evil One barks, and the Master apologizes after she’s issued a warning not to cross the line again.
In summary, we learn a few things here: the religious group are indeed Lord Redrin’s devotees. Rembrary’s divine powers were not bestowed upon him by the deity (who’s probably different from Redrin? Honestly, the whole thing is so confusing because they keep saying Redrin, and then deity, that it’s hard to tell whether they’re referring to the same being or not). And finally, Lord Redrin and Evil One made a pledge a thousand years ago, and it is his duty to kill the pontifex. Uh… what?
Back to our pontifex, the candy CF turns out to be a hit, and sales spike through the roof! Unfortunately, The Evil One goes on a rampage and uses his black magic to poison everyone who purchased the candy. With over 150 confirmed cases on life support, the CEO shuts down the company and flees, leaving Rembrary to shoulder the responsibility — alone, of course, because red-eyed Woo-shin throws him under the bus after calling him out to be in cahoots with the CEO.
Things get to a head when Rembrary tries — and fails — to heal the candy victims, and he discovers that he has lost his divine powers. “Do you know why you lost your powers? It’s because you let someone other than the deity (Dal) into your heart,” The Evil One mocks, and then urges him to take his own life in a cruel and creative way if he wants to save the candy victims. Rembrary then becomes overcome with a panic attack as it dawns on him that since he can no longer save people, he doesn’t deserve the title of a pontifex.
“What’s the cruelest and most miserable suicide you’ve ever witnessed?” Rembrary asks Gam-jae, seriously contemplating taking The Evil One’s advice. Thankfully, Dal arrives to snap him out of his morbid thoughts. Scared that The Evil One will make good on his threat to kill the people dearest to him if they get involved, Rembrary goes all noble idiot and warns Dal to stay out of it. Pfft. As if she’d stay put.
Dal ignores Rembrary’s warning and turns to her next best ally: Gam-jae. Since he’s a grim reaper, he can help her find the CEO, she reasons. “How did you know? But I seem like the average human being,” Gam-jae sputters. No, you don’t. Hehe. But really, I’m curious too. How did Dal know?
The fearless girl is neither scared of The Evil One nor the grim reaper — even though said reaper’s solution for Rembrary to regain his divine powers is for him to drink from the Afterlife’s Well of Oblivion and forget all about Dal. Oh! And for Dal to die, too, because erasing Rembrary’s memories won’t take away his feelings for her, and those feelings will be reignited the moment they cross paths again. What!?
But Rembrary absolutely refuses to sacrifice the love of his life to regain his powers — as he should, because what kind of “calling” involves sacrificing one person to save others? Anyway, the candy victims begin to die, as well as the entire staff of the candy company. Still, Rembrary cannot bring himself to drink the unholy Water of Oblivion.
In the end, Dal beats Rembrary to the Altar of Self-sacrifice. Her plan: to take the fall for the candy incident, and — in shifting the spotlight to herself — buy time for Rembrary and Gam-jae to look into the matter and clear her name once they find out the truth.
And no, it’s not just because of her feelings for Rembrary. She’s happy to do this because Rembrary fixed her — and not with his divine powers, either. It wasn’t the power that stayed beside her when she hit rock bottom, neither was it the power that taught her not to hate herself. It was all Rembrary. “Even without your powers, you can heal people,” Dal says. Rembrary is moved to tears by her belief in him, and voila! His powers return! Hurray!!
Based on everything that has happened, Gam-jae comes to a conclusion: Rembrary’s divine powers don’t come from the deity — as we already learned — but from the trust that people show him. According to Gam-jae, only a deity can possess such powers, and Rembrary seems to have the gift of a deity. *Scratches head* So, Rembrary himself is a deity? At this point, I can’t even.
Rembrary realizes that maybe The Evil One already knew the source of his divine powers, and that’s why he wanted to push away those who believed in Rembrary by spreading lies about him. This realization is a powerful, yet humbling moment — until it gets broken by Gam-jae’s deadpan “It’s a relief since we believed that killing Dal was the only way to restore your divine powers.” Who is “we”? LMAO! Gam-jae is so my favorite person on this show right now! I can’t believe how sleek he was with his escape, leaving Rembrary alone to deal with Dal’s hilarious feeling of betrayal. Heh.
But with a smooth wrist-grab, Rembrary clears the air with Dal. “I thought I had lost my powers because I was in love with you… but even if [killing you] was the only way, I would have chosen you.” And as to any doubts she might still have about his feelings for her, he silences them all with a kiss. And another. And another. And with his divine powers returned, Rembrary heals all the candy victims. Yaay!
Dal eventually locates the candy CEO, but the CEO refuses to turn himself in because he’s scared that The Evil One — or rather, his earthly host, Vice Chairman Shin — will kill him. Dal then persuades Gam-jae to appear in his reaper form to the CEO because, “I don’t know how influential the vice chairman is, but this guy is the one who decides who will die… so you better join hands with us.” Well, that’s a good sales pitch. And it works, too, because the CEO admits to the media that the vice chairman and Woo-shin were behind the whole thing.
Woo-shin is arrested. Unfortunately, The Evil One is already in the wind after escaping from the Master of the religious group — who sets out to “send him back to where he belongs” as a punishment from the deity, because due to The Evil One’s actions, Rembrary is now aware of his deity powers. Sigh. I refuse to be confused by all the deities floating around in this drama’s universe.
In happier news, Rembrary and Dal continue to bask in the glow of new love. And with the candy scandal over, it’s time for Wild Animal to make their comeback on a music show. On stage, Rembrary stops short — not for a “I do not know how to dance!” declaration — but to apologize to the fans, affirm that none of the rumors about him are true, and promise that Woo Yeon-woo will remain a wild animal to the end. Phew! The members are visibly relieved, Dal is happy, and we conclude our penultimate week.
I cannot be the only one who’s happy that the show is coming to an end next week, because this drama has long strayed from my expectations for it. Hopefully, the finale clarifies the confusion surrounding the deities, and vanquishes all the evil once and for all.
By the way, Rembrary’s unwillingness to return to The Other World aside, we’ve got Evil Boys vs Wild Animal in the running for Artist of the Year. And even if Wild Animal wins, Rembrary already promised to remain in the group till the end. Meaning no more acting? Meaning no more Best Rookie Actor award? Haha. Looks like the real Yeon-woo will have to make do with a permanent residence in The Other World.
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Tags: Go Bo-kyul, Kim Min-kyu, Lee Jang-woo, The Heavenly Idol, Yeh Ji-won
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1 jerrykuvira
March 17, 2023 at 5:38 PM
This is a mess. But I'm loving it without any doubt. Tune off your head and enjoy the ride is my cue for this one and it is still helping.
Gam-jae seems to be a better criminal investigator than any other. Perhaps we need him to talk to those criminals we want gone but can only be held down for 48 hours. Taxi Driver could use his services for their hardened buddies.
The source of pontifex's power is he himself...that was really powerful by the way, and very encouraging as well. He trusts people without question. I quite remember the scene in the opening episode where he healed that young boy of his injuries(did he also infuse power into the boy) and the other older priest cautioned him for doing so but he replied that he caters to all people, privileged free borns, slaves, and the less privileged free borns alike. This is one point where it all came full circle for him. I'll lookout in the finale for another time when his strength of character comes full circle again.
I still don't like Yeon-woo. And last week's reveal about the fan letters just helped stamp it a bit more. Even though I do not like it, here's to Yeon-woo remaining stuck in the Other World for a very long uneventful time🍷. Better still, him losing his spot in Wild Animals after the switch is done and other members can't for the life of them coexist with him after having a taste of Rembrary.
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2 ar_arguably romantic
March 17, 2023 at 7:15 PM
Thank you for the recap! You capture the incredulity of the viewer and you help confirm that the writing itself is confusing. So many mysteries! So was Redrin evil? misunderstood? What was Dal's role with the fall of Rizzle?! How did she know Gam-jae's a reaper rather than let's say, a vampire or a goblin? Gong Yoo has proven that goblins can be handsome men too.
Gam-jae's sort of a mystery to me, along with Wild Animal CEO. They really don't do anything and come up with terrible ideas. Dal's ideas are only slightly less terrible. After she offered to sacrifice herself a 2nd time (to buy time for naive Rembrary and lazy Gam-jae to get to the bottom of the frame-job! LOL!), I started wondering if Rembrary told her that Gam-jae said she needed to die, if she would kill herself.
As much as I rag on Gam-jae, I did like how he contributes to the humor. Especially when he tried to comfort Rembrary with the idea of killing Dal by saying that she'll just die a little early in this life, but she'll come back after she's reincarnated! And would Dal like a job as a Reaper after she dies?
Also another mystery - Rembrary appears to be very good at kissing despite being pretty much a priest.
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3 emsel
March 17, 2023 at 8:24 PM
These episodes were so boring with the focus on romance that I spent only a maximum of 30 minutes on both episodes together. On reading the weecaps looks like I did not miss out much on the story.
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4 Gikata
March 17, 2023 at 11:28 PM
*clears throat * You've been a bad, BAD boy, father! *clears throat again*
No, for reals! I've joked before about Rembrary being a retired playboy prior to his century long celibacy - and if that kiss and passing make up sex suggestion was any indication, I wasn't that far off the mark. Bless your unholy soul, grandpa, because all these awkward panicking virgin MLs lately kinda started to grate on my nerves... Nice to have a man who knows what's up and makes no fuss about it once in a while, right? Not sure how they're gonna work it out tho with him deciding to keep idol career going - isn't it ironic how ANY job Rembrary takes includes some kind of no dating policy - but I'm here for all the hijinks, romcom or kpop. As long as writer doesn't suddenly force him back in his world against his will... oh right, it's almost set in stone to happen. Just hope he'll find his way back - or takes Dal with him.
So he is a deity himself now, huh? That kinda explains a lot - his on and off powers, snack's magic (it wasn't sugar - it was fan love in them!) plus Redrin's role in the whole thing. Did she arrange for Devil to kill Rembrary to get rid of potential competition? Hell, sorry, heavens - she might've also create ALL the evil forces in that world just to appear as a savior deity and make people worship her. I'm very curious about chronology of events - was Rembrary born with divine powers and just wasn't aware? Did he gain them during his hometown's massacre? Oh no, it's possible they were attacked BECAUSE he was there... Hope it's not the case, he already has enough of heartbreak coming with the realization of Redrin's true nature. Now he has Dal and new resolve in life so it won't crush him fully as I've feared previously... but still, that level of betrayal sucks. Time for Devil - who seems so done with his role in Redrin's plans - to step up and do something actually useful, like getting rid of her so Rembrary won't have to dirty his precious hands. Healers SHOULDN'T kill as one of my favorite written scenes ever says.
Gam Jae is a riot, it's good to have him around, even if he's just a comic relief (and looks equally non-human both in his reaper's garb and "human" disguise lol). Too bad we're back to square one with WA members - or worse, since the cult approached Jungseo... Preview made my blood boil. How dare you, show!
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sunnysaturdays
March 18, 2023 at 12:22 AM
I am really curious. Which " awkward panicking virgin MLs" are you talking about? Most kdramas I've watched had male leads that were very forward in that department. I really want to see what that's like.
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Gikata
March 18, 2023 at 12:44 AM
I was talking about the current crop of dramas - namely Our Blooming Youth, Kkokdu and recently completed Island - that feature 3 VERY shy and dunno-what-to-do-with-a-woman-help-me male leads. Kkokdu is the least offensive one actually despite having a lot of awkward moments (he's more eccentric and confused than scared), but other two would rather willingly jump into volcano than hold their crush's hand.
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Britney
March 18, 2023 at 4:00 AM
Oh my god, I OFTEN see those types of leads but of course I can't name any shows. It actually kinda takes me out of the show when I see people behaving like that.
I've seen that and then there's the extreme of not just liking someone but professing their love for someone. They just skip over that whole part.
Both of these situations make me roll my eyes and takes me out.
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Gikata
March 18, 2023 at 6:00 AM
I'm actually ok with the shy male archetype overall, it can be really cute... But not when I watch 4 shows a week and 3 of them are such extreme versions of that! Instead of cheering for FL to get the matter into her hands - literally - I start to get annoyed and frustrated and lowkey wanting to stimulate ML to finally do something with a good kick.
Island ended up being a HUGE disappointment and Kkokdu is a hot trash of a drama. No verdict on OBY yet - I'll give the maine coon prince a few more episodes to get his royal sh** together and drop the self-restrained proprieties like he dropped that hat last week.
sunnysaturdays
March 18, 2023 at 9:06 AM
Okay. I agree. That was very annoying in Island. I am not watching Kokdu so I can't say anything about that. In Our Blooming Youth, it's cute for now but if we get to episode 16 and Hwan/Jae yi still haven't done anything, I am going to throw something.
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5 sunnysaturdays
March 18, 2023 at 12:16 AM
This show is so dumb. I say that every single time I watch an episode. But I am enjoying it way too much to stop. I thought this show would have 16 episodes, but this week's episodes proved me wrong. Sigh, I will miss our Blueberry and Grim reaper.
Highlights:
1) Rembrary falling down the stairs. I choked on my Pringles.
2) Every single time Rembrary imagined Dal after she quit her job. Awwww.
3) When he tried to convince her to come back with his non-confession.
4) When the grim reaper tells Rembrary to drink the water of oblivion and let him kill Dal. Is he crazy?! "Her life will only end a little early." ??????!!!! If he wanted her dead, he should have told Dal. That girl will do ANYTHING if she thinks it would help Rembrary. *sigh
5) The way Gam jae just threw Rembrary under the bus like he didn't come up with that STUPID idea by himself.
6) "Should I surrender my body to you to make you believe it?" I was too stunned to speak. I thought I read the subtitles wrong. Can someone tell me if that's what he really said? Such UNHOLY words.....
P.S.: Does anyone remember when Rembrary started calling her "Dal-a" instead of " Dal manager"? I noticed about four episodes ago. It's so cute.
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Gikata
March 18, 2023 at 12:56 AM
6 - I think subtitles weren't wrong, because he clearly said "(my) body" and phrase was structured as a question. Literal translation is probably something like "Should (I) use (my) body to convince (you)?".
Drat, I don't remember when he switched to banmal with her either... Maybe when she found out he's Rembrary and not Yeon Woo? No need to act all polite when he's like 90+ years older)))
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6 Britney
March 18, 2023 at 4:24 AM
Hmm, I don't know where to start. Well, for one thing, I did think Rembrary was going to lose his powers once he decided to stay in this realm but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. It was a switch got flipped. I don't know if I connected Rembrary's feelings for Dal as what made him lose his powers but I definitely thought his decision to stay would.
I thought the Evil One's candy plan was actually a good one. Of all the scandals, this one actually made sense to me. It was still ridiculous because they made a idol member the diabolical mastermind ("he was writing texts, he was looking at formulas", etc) but this made sense people there was an actual correlation between him and victims actually being hurt. Plus Rembrary's guilt on top of everything else made it seem like a good plan.
And then it had to add on the ridiculousness 🫠
I get people are supposed to be emotional but was there really no pockets of the internet (aside from Dal) who was like this makes no sense?! For what POSSIBLE reason would Rembrary/Yeon Woo have pushed some random guy down stairs? Why would the sponsor lady have his second phone? When would he have had any time to stalk anyone when he is ALWAYS around people?
I think I might need to do some mental gymnastics to understand the deity situation. I think it was said Rembrary was unlike other high priests and that's why he was considered a threat. So were none of the other priests believed in or trusted? Was Rembrary the only priest who had true, genuine believers due to his compassion?
I get the part about believers make the deity which also works with the idol world because fans make the idol but I'm confused about why only Rembrary has reached this point.
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7 Miss_elly
March 18, 2023 at 4:35 AM
Outside of the self sacrifice, Dal is my favourite fl. she just get sh*t done, using everything available to her wether the internet or a grim reaper. My favourite science is where gam-jae asked if she wants to be a reaper after she dies.. and she was like no.. as he was so impressed with her. Be the woman the after life wants on the pay role to get the job done lol. It’s a mess over all but I’m
Still enjoying the drama.
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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️
March 18, 2023 at 5:02 AM
‘ Be the woman the after life wants on the pay role to get the job done’ 👈This is the slogan on the merchandise😊
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8 Britney
March 18, 2023 at 4:36 AM
Gam Jae was the mvp of comic relief this week haha
It made me wish the show had done more with the Rembrary, Dal, & Gam Jae trio. Sigh, if there had been more of them instead of the CEO & and her ex haha
Dal calling Rembrary an ungrateful blueberry made me chuckle.
Gae Jae's revealing the plan (or idea) and then making a quick exit also made me laugh. Same with him clapping after Dal deduced how the information was fabricated and when he tried to recruit her to be a reaper.
Seriously, there is a universe where that is the show haha
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9 kdramapedia
March 18, 2023 at 7:03 AM
The show definitely lost it's steam this week. I love it when it's campy, nonsensical fun but not when it's confusing, self-sacrifice.
The Evil One has always been a lame villain, but I thought the drama was making fun of itself with him because early on a minion asked, why don't you just get rid of Rembrary now? And he's just like, well that's not fun! lol
As confusing as it was (I still don't get it), I figured the Evil One and the Red Battalion would come together because it was eluded to that the Evil One and Redrin may have been a couple before he went full evil. But that still didn't help these episodes make sense...
Finally, are we done with the noble idiot merry-go-round now? Enough is enough, really.
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ZoomZoomBap
March 22, 2023 at 7:16 PM
I agree. I was really quite let down this week. I felt zero chemistry between our new couple as well. No humour, no great romance… I’ll watch the last two episodes but I’m not expecting much anymore (and all I wanted was a goofy romp!).
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10 Anna Nguyen
March 19, 2023 at 6:15 PM
This is a good show to watch with skips lol. I feel like this could have been a way shorter series. It's almost nonsensical, especially the magic portion. But it makes sense it was a web comic. But I can watch Rembrary fall down stairs/offer his body all day haha. And we love a FL who get shit done!
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Anna Nguyen
March 19, 2023 at 6:35 PM
Also homeboy gave up celibacy real quick lol. That plot point never to be mentioned again...😂
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