by: Raine

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This show is crack. OMG, I loves it. And it loves me. I also loves Soo-ha, but he most definitely loves Hye-sun. Such is the way the cookie crumbles. *sigh*

Feeling #1 Still getting over watching mom’s death…*sob*

Feeling #2 Min Joon-gook gets scarier because he goes for the psychological plays, messing with people and generally making me want to pee my pants. Like how he hooked Kwan-woo with the attempted suicide and false regret and all his BS.

Feeling #3 Luckily, this is the stretch of the series where Do-yeon steps up and proves she’s a fantastic enemy/frenemy/whatever. She’s a smart, smart, cookie. I still don’t see her as and Hye-sung as friends, but as two people on the same page and want the same things and who fight because of it.

Feeling #4 I love how Kwan-woo is awesome, but he and Hye-sung don’t have the connection that she and Soo-ha do. In front of Soo-ha, she can cry for her mother. She’s not a crier, so that makes the tie even more significant. The whole crying at the funeral was one of the best crying scenes ever. Props to Lee Bo-young for the tears and for Lee Jong-seok quietly supporting her. His Soo-ha knows what it feels like to have no one. Ultimate empathizing.

Feeling #5 In this first half of the drama, Soo-ha is so reckless. He only cares about her and not for himself nor his future. He handles that knife much too casually. He feels tied to nothing and like he doesn’t need anything because he’s hoisted her off on Kwan-woo.

Feeling #6 The mains strike me as such versatile actors. All of their reactions are so great. It’s amazing face acting and body acting and just wow.

Feeling #7 I love/hate Kwan-woo for standing by his principles. But because he lives in society, it needs to be done that way. Find loopholes and they’ll loop YOU. Especially when you need them. At the same time, I hate him going free. At the same time, these laws will save Soo-ha. Catch-22.

Feeling #8 Soo-ha is really grown up despite the fact that they call him a kid. He’s 20. Of course he’s a kid. But he’s mature where it counts. First, he let Hye-sung rail on him when her mom died because he knew she needed to yell. He understands her, and not because he reads minds. The second reason I find him mature is that he allows Hye-sung, Kwan-woo, and Do-yeon to teach him and he learns.

Feeling #9 I love watching Hye-sung fall into a dark place like Soo-ha did when Min Joon-guk’s trial happens. Lawyer Shin advises her in a similar manner as when she advised Soo-ha: don’t do this against the law and become a bad person against the law. She does this mini-mimicry of Soo-ha’s need for revenge. Instead of wielding a knife like Soo-ha, she admits to the firework incident when she never did it. Intense.

Feeling #10 Love hearing about mom and that Hye-sung has all these good memories to go on. Yay for good k-drama parents!

Feeling #11 SO scary when she wakes up in the hospital even though I knew it was going to happen.

Feeling #12 I love how Sung-bin and Choong-gi’s friend is always asking “Can you see that?” throughout the series, like when Sung-bin was reading Soo-ha’s journal from two stories up or when she spotted Soo-ha across the field. Those may be love fueled eyes.

Feeling #13 It’s great when Hye-sung realizes she wanted to really listen to Soo-ha like he listened to her. Nothing to do with mind reading, but tuning in, person-to-person.

Feeling #14 The scary music sounds all midi. FAIL. FAIL. Why show? Why?

Feeling #15 Hwang Dal-joong was the best sleeper agent a show has had in a while. While his storyline may not be all that novel, he was still established early on enough where he didn’t just seem like a random addition to further plot stuffs.

Feeling #16 Soo-ha is terrifying in his determination to fix things because the only way he can think to do it is to throw himself away. He doesn’t realize his life is important to him and others. Not yet. That’s what the second half of the drama is for.

Feeling #17 When Soo-ha stabs her, that whimper just kills me. I watched it several times and each time I frowned along with him. And then you have to think, even when stabbed, she worries about him. If that doesn’t get him to value himself, I don’t know what will.

Feeling #18 Full reversal: once Soo-ha disappears, she keeps seeing him in the streets and when he shows up not knowing who she is, in the words of Dokko Jin, we all feel “heart breeeeeeeaaaaak!”

Feeling #19 I love the full reversal that comes with Soo-ha showing up with amnesia and in need. Hye-sung, who had sunk back into her apathetic ways suddenly is motivated from within. Before, her hard work came because Soo-ha was by her side and was effectively motivated by him. Now it comes from her and that makes the motivation something she’ll be able to keep. It proves her to be made of strong stuffs and as she proves her mettle, we see she is swift, diligent and all of the things he believed her to be before they were reunited in episode 1. It shows that we need our people in our life. Hye-sung had her mother cheering her on, and later Soo-ha. Now he has Hye-sun, Sung-bin, Kwan-woo, Do-yeon. He kept himself isolated….but not anymore!

Feeling #20 Best thing about Soo-ha with amnesia. He’s so very much himself, except scared and timid because he’s regaining his memory in scary circumstances. But he gets to see himself from the outside, without rage and anger and hurt, and discover, slowly, that he is worth loving himself and receiving love from others, despite how scary everything may be. He sees her fiercely protecting him. We know its just a reciprocation of what he did for her, so gorgeous. Reciprocity is beautiful because she’s not trying to repay him. It’s because she wants to do it.

Feeling #20 I don’t care who you are, I think Lee Bo-young and Lee Jong-seok have this cute, cute chemistry that can be steamy if it wants. *meeeerong!*

Feeling #21 It is in episode 10 that Hye-sung finally UNDERSTANDS what it is to be a public defender. She knew the definition of her job, but it was the vulnerable explanation of amnesia Soo-ha that drove the message home:  A public defender sides with someone when no one else will. Sure, she’s only doing it for him at this moment, but that’s her jumping off point. She can become that defender for all of her clients.

Feeling #22 Too much courtroom shit. OMG. I wanted to die. I just watched for Soo-ha’s reactions to things.

Feeling #23 Best part of amnesia besides amazing character growth: watching Soo-ha fall in love with her again. She takes his hand often to reassure him, which is novel and new and special to him. I don’t think of it as fate that he loves her, but that she is good, and strong and really wants to do what’s right. That got him the first time around, it gets him this time, too.

Feeling #24 Kwan-woo returns from his self-imposed hiatus from the law ready to earn back Hye-sung’s faith and regain his faith in the law. I love that the biggest believe in the law goes through that crisis of faith. Awesome. And he’ll teach her while he re-learns for himself.

Feeling #25 YAY for Choong-gi reading Soo-ha’s diary to him. Some of the best moments for the character because helping Soo-ha makes the bully grow up himself.

Feeling #26 Soo-ha’s trial is her real test of her newfound mettle: can she win without Soo-ha’s inner eye of her own strength and will? It’s what she’ll need to really be a good defender not just for him, but everyone: faith in herself.

Feeling #27 There is a lot about faith in this show. (Like her believing him because of his whispered promise to her in the hospital.) Faith in each other. Faith in the law. Faith in oneself. It’s not even that Soo-ha can’t catch Hye-sung in her lies, but that he has faith in her. People lie, they make mistakes, but his faith in her, despite the lies, is what makes him fit for her and she for him. They believe that, in the end, the other will pull through for them, no matter if they have amnesia, or they’re lying, or they can read minds.

Feeling #28 Can’t forget the kiss. No, so sweet. I don’t think of it as imposing but as a goodbye. He’s all sweetness. And then scary as he walks off into the darkness. Hye-sung will bring him back to the light!

Mini-reaction: I Hear Your Voice Episodes 1-3

Mini-reaction: I Hear Your Voice Episodes 4-7

Mini-reaction: I Hear Your Voice Episodes 11-13