While many people are spazzing on reactivating kisses, I’d like to take the time to commend the very sensitive manner that the Hong sisters handled the theme of suicide in Episodes 9 and 10.

Did you see it?

I think they could have been a bit TOO subtle that it escaped the notice of many viewers. So let me backtrack here and explain.

The bookseller didn’t have a specific name just a job description. She sold books. The books in these two episodes, especially the children’s books represented escapism from reality, and death, in the form of suicide, is the ultimate form of escape from reality.

The bookseller is a demon because she lured the young and the most vulnerable among us, the children, to commit suicide as a means of escape from their hellish lives. Although the bookseller thought she was doing a good thing, to suggest suicide to children who are incapable of discerning right from wrong, and making a mature decision is truly a demonic act. As OhGong said, “Saving the children is protecting them so they can live. You’re just a monster who stole away their to chance to live.”

There were four books mentioned in the Episode 9 and, I think, each one of them presented a reason or probable cause for suicide.

For example, the first one, The Sun and the Moon talked about abuse. You can read the entire folktale here: http://asianfolktales.unescoapceiu.org/folktales/read/korea_2.htm.

It’s a story about two siblings being menaced by a tiger. The tiger symbolized abuse. The children then prayed to God, “If you want us to live, please hand down a rope.” God did and the children went up to the sky. The tiger also prayed to God, “If you want me to catch them, please hand down a rope.” Again, God did, but this time the rope broke and the tiger fell down. The children were then transformed into the sun and moon.

In our story Hwayugi, the little sister was lured to jump off their balcony to her death with the glowing rope. To escape the abuse, she jumped out.

The second story, Hansel and Gretel, dealt with abandonment. The two siblings were taken to the woods by their parents and abandoned there to thrive on their own. Starving, they feasted on a gingerbread house which happened to belong to a witch. The witch punished them by threatening to eat the brother first but due to the sister’s quick thinking, she pushed the witch in the oven and burned her to death.

In our story Hwayugi, I believe the boy ended up dying of hypothermia inside the curly slide. (That’s his foot wearing the shoe that we can see through the clear panel of the slide.)

The third story, The Little Match Girl, is perhaps the most tragic. It represented the loss of a loved one and despair. The girl wanted to rejoin, in heaven, the only person who loved her all her life, her grandmother. To prolong the vision of her grandmother, she lit all her matches. She was found frozen the next day with a smile on her face.

In our story Hwayugi, the young brother saw a vision of his dead sister and wanted to follow after her.

The fourth story, Peter Pan, depicted loneliness. Wendy and her brothers were lonely and dreamt of high adventures with Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. In Neverland, they played with the Lost Boys, or the outsiders. The reason SunMi chose this book is obvious. In her young life, she was always lonely.

In our story Hwayugi, the young SunMi stayed in the library where she had friends. The grown-up SunMi reassured her younger self that in the current world, she wouldn’t be alone.

Abuse, abandonment, depression, desolation, and loneliness are all possible reasons for a young child to believe that a separate peace and relief can only be available to him in death. SunMi came in the nick of time to save the boy who was playing with matches. She hugged him saying that he couldn’t kill himself.

Same with her assistant Hanjoo. He also hugged the same boy in comfort, and told him that his sister would feel terribly sad if he were to join her (that is, commit suicide). Hanjoo also told the boy that although he couldn’t promise to do everything for him like a mom and dad, he and the other adults would guide him to grow up courageously. His sister’s soul appeared right there with him.

That is how I think the Hong sisters delved into the issue of suicide.

While these two episodes definitely gave us the opportunity to go gaga over the budding the romance of our OTP, let’s not overlook the seriousness and gravity of the metaphor of the bookseller. She was suicide.

It’s the grown-ups’ fault that the children feel like suicide is the only solution available to them. The grown-ups “created” this monster. However, suicide is the real evil because it offers a false and empty illusion of escape from the harsh reality of life.

That’s why OhGong showed no remorse in beating up the bookseller and couldn’t wait to leave the bookshop.

credit: tvnsatsundrama

My 2 cents.

What do you think?