Hm it's a difficult call, but I actually…

Hm it's a difficult call, but I actually kind of understand why Jae Ha did what he did. His brother said that Jae Ha wasn't acting befitting his royal blood, but I think the fact that he wanted to make sure he wasn't used as a prop by the north (in the case that war really did break out) and was willing to sacrifice himself instead is admirable in its own right. Even if it's not the choice his brother would have made, he was thinking of the country in his own way. Though, that being said, him shooting to kill Hang Ah at her perceived betrayal was shameful. If she really wanted to capture him, she could have easily knocked him out and used the other soldiers to drag him to prison or their leader. Instead, she went out of her way to send the other guards out, have him walk on his own two feet, and even handing over her gun in order to get him to leave with her. Someone who was capturing him as a war trophy or bargaining chip wouldn't have gone that far. They'd built up a shaky rapport to that point, but from the south's point of view, I think they view the north's agents as these kind of cold, robotic agents with no free will. If the supreme leader commands something, they follow without a thought. So it probably wasn't a huge leap to think that they had received orders from the top to deceive or capture the South Koreans and had followed them mindlessly. I can kind of see it from all angles, and I appreciate that this show finally shows us a little more nuance for once.

But during the run, why would Jae Ha expect Hang Ah to come run with him? And why did she?? He attempted to kill her! He didn't know the gun only had blanks in it, and neither did she. Just because he decided to run to take responsibility for his actions? That's not enough to mend the shattered trust between them. Or at least it shouldn't be. She shouldn't take her own life so lightly, and he shouldn't take his decision to shoot her so lightly. And he didn't even apologize to her before she joined him on the run! Later he kind of sort of started to apologize but didn't even say it, and she just let him off! Even if she knows what he means, some things really need to be said. Aghh I'm honestly pretty disappointed in both of them. And the rest of the team seems just fine with how things went down too, like they've already forgiven him!

But also, they REALLY don't have time to just be standing around idly chatting. Same with when Hang Ah arrived. 60 km in 8 hours! There is NO time to spare! There's NO WAY they would have made 60 km in the time given, especially given how out of shape Jae Ha was, his injury, and the pace they were going at. Before this whole ordeal, the other people on the team were complaining about how difficult it would be. No way would an injured, out of shape, South Korean royal be able to make the distance in that time. I know they wanted a heartwarming conclusion, but it's a little too unbelievable, which makes it lose its emotional impact.

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