Damn you Sakamoto Yuji!! Why are you so good? Lol. There are a lot of elements in this episode which echo some points he made from his interview from Abiko. I still haven't gotten around to cleaning up the 2nd half of the first part of the interview. Will probably be up by Sunday night. The first half is a beautiful story about Nozomi knowing that her mother is sick and tying it back to the Uggikuku story.
Still don't see the point the welfare department father and Tanimura Mitsuki story. Will it turn out to be a genius sub story like Kaneda from KDO? Suzuki Rio who plays Nozomi is awesome and the script and directing really allow the scenes the breathe. She's the anti-Ashida Mana for me. Not trying too hard to be cute.
From ep 9 eye-opening (for me at least) realisation that Shiori was been trying to escape her guilt this whole time and doesn't know how to atone, we see her come face to face with the guy who pushed Oguri Shun. I was thinking if this is why Oguri Shun wasn't a chikan and something crazy happens, I'll take back everything I said.
Nothing crazy happens but it was more of a Shiori staring into a mirror scene. Its as if her asking the guy to come with her to see Koharu is Shiori telling herself she needs to be honest in her apology and that her previous apology was more of her being wrecked by guilt rather than a desire to atone. The mirror looks back at her and says 'it wasn't my fault'.
The biggest WTF this episode was how did Shiori's mom even knew where she was? From trying to run away from the problem, Shiro's mom has moved to 'you'll never be forgiven' and 'you need to think your life is over'. Big pendulum swing for me. Namakemono's answer is to face it head on while the mother's response went from denial to total surrender. Maybe it was her way of saying Shiori's life is no longer her own and she should go for the test to ensure that Koharu and kids have a chance to be happy.
The second half is a long and great family scene with Koharu coming clean to her kids about her illness. Its when Woman has simple scenes with great dialogue that I forget I'm watching a dorama. The end teaser looks like Shiori's bone marrow is not going to match. Maybe they want us to think that but I don't really care either way. Still not a fan of the leukemia angle and Oguri Shun having such a big role.
I still have my problems with this show but the execution in ep 10 is just beautiful. Whatever happens, I'll be watching for the acting and directing.