"Entertainers" Episode 17 recap

The penultimate episode of "Entertainers" rounded out a persistent conflict of Seok-ho's, focused on the neglected romances, and revealed a few juicy morsels about the boys of Entertainer Band. Like the rest of the drama, this episode trudged along at a leisurely pace that highlighted the lack of material left to fill the two episode extension.

Guilt is a heavy and pervasive emotion that weighed down Seok-ho and, in its incongruous way, spurred him to do right by his band. His change in behavior was spurred on by his 20/20 hindsight vision of the havoc he wreaked on the lives of his idols, the people he manipulated, and the singer/songwriter he stole from. Guilt chased him forward, made him do right by Entertainer Band. Yes, he's a caring guy, but the guilt always niggled at the back of his mind. In this episode it drove his need for self-punishment. He wanted to assuage his guilt by going to jail for stealing the dead singer/songwriter's song. But the family wouldn't let him and he had to overcome those emotions himself. We didn't get to see the resolution of those emotions as much as we got to see the band overwhelm him with love and acceptance. The aftermath of the guilt has still not played out.

Jinu also let guilt weigh on him, as did all the wrongdoers in this drama. He came clean a second time and it was exceedingly dull. Everyone comes around in the exact same fashion! They are pressured by their consciences to do the right thing. Then they do the right thing and thank Seok-ho for changing their life. It's a bit like a cartoon with a fable ending.

Romance is another major component of the episode and it seemed forced. Yeon-soo and Min-joo have an attraction that hasn't been fanned very much throughout the show's run. Min-joo cries over a crush she barely expressed. Seok-ho and Green still don't do much more than make mooney eyes at each other. The romance only has one episode left to truly blossom, or be left in the earlier stages at the feet of the bigger picture: the formation of the band family. There was a hint that Seok-ho might defer to Ha-neul's feelings for Green, which would be incredibly backhanded of the writer.

The last episode comes out tomorrow, and the collapse of KTOP is nigh. It's CEO is drowning in the repercussions of his bad decisions and a standoff between he and Seok-ho is certainly in our future. The romance will probably be the focus, however it turns out.
Written by: Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"Entertainers" is directed by Hong Seong-chang and Lee Gwang-yeong, written by Yoo Yeong-ah, and features Ji Seong, Hyeri, Kang Min-hyuk, Chae Jeong-an, Jeon No-min, and Jeong Man-sik.

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