This is long so I’ll get down to business without further ado.

***********************************

Bar Scene

SM: Earlier, I saw the thing I’ve seen when the ill omen jar broke. To be honest, I can see the future, once in a while.
OG: I guess you really are becoming stronger.
SM: It feels like something that’s meant to happen is about to happen.
OG: There’s something I didn’t tell you. That doctor we met with, she was the guardian of another SJ in the past. Like you and me.
SM: Really? So what happened?
OG: The two of them, performed their jobs too well that they were greatly rewarded and became deity and are living happily ever after.
SM: Wow. That’s great! Then will I become deity too?
OG: Is becoming a deity a problem? Make sure you ask for what you want when the chance comes. In the past, they told me they’d give me an official position but they locked me up in the peach field. (Points up) The heavens are very petty, you see.
SM: Peach field? Oh, the place where your popularity soared with the fairies? The group fight?
OG: Let’s forget about that. Anyway, that’s how we’ll become.
SM: Ok. Let’s become like that… But if one disappears and one ends up alone, then I think, the one left behind will be sadder and suffer longer as the time stretches on for the remainder of his life.

(Flashback: SM glances back to see the sad face of the doctor.)

OG: You don’t want to live happily forever with me?
SM: Welll… I don’t know. Aren’t you unemployed and loafing around?
OG: Should I ask for OJ to give a position to me?
SM: No. I have a lot of money. You just have fun.
OG: Ok. I’ll keep on playing. But for now, there’s something we have to do. We need a bit of “hwaiting” (or fighting spirit, or morale booster. He bows his head on her hand and prays.) When I’m scared, having difficulty and in danger, I’ll call on Jin SunMi.

*************************************

Three things: 

A. I like their bantering. The idea of  SM being a sugar mommy to the lazy bum OG is funny. This reminded me of the bantering earlier when SM broke the wine bottles.

SM: Okay. Definitely don’t die because of me.
OG: Right now, I feel like I’m going to die because of you. Ending my first night (aren’t they supposed to be on their honeymoon if they were married the day before? lol) with me just sleeping, it’s so unfair I could die. You’re smiling like that, you’re too adorable I could die. (SM smiles again.) Huh? Stop smiling. It’s really killing me. This won’t do. If I stay here with you, I’ll die from frustration. I’ll take you home. Come.

I like bantering couples (over arguing and bickering couples) for two reasons. One, it demonstrates that a couple have a tight relationship that they enjoy their own exclusive jokes which nobody outside their circle of two will get. OG and SM know each other. Take for instance, SM telling OG that he can just have fun all day.  Mawang once berated and shamed OG, in front of her, that he was the useless one of the bunch because he didn’t work. SM was now defending OG’s non-work habits and she was indulging him. HE could do nothing and it was fine with her because she had enough money for them both. lol.

Two, bantering is an effective way for a couple to temporarily resolve or distract from an emotional situation. It’s like the couple are BOTH agreeing to step back before unhappy situation escalate. For instance, during the wine bottle banter, SM and OG didn’t have time to fully INTERNALIZE the Coffin Death so OG relieved the tension by deflecting to jokes about her beauty. Bantering like that brings the focus to the PRESENT moment instead of some worrisome FUTURE that they haven’t quite grasped yet.

For me bantering is a sign that their relationship is alive and well.

B. Re. SM’s flashback.

Part of me doubts that SM had figured out that OG was lying — but I blame OYS’ unconvincing acting here. OYS didn’t look sufficiently aggrieved or tortured that one of them (she or OG) could be spending the rest of the life in solitude. She was more …hmm… reassuring?? LSG than worried that they were going to be suffer.

lol. MAYBE that was the whole point? She was reassuring LSG that HER death would mean nothing to HER emotionally but to him it would be painful. I don’t know. I’ll have to rewatch this later. 

However, mentally, it should have dawned on SM that the doc looked especially forlorn for somebody who was living “happily ever after” with her SJ, a deity and immortal like her. OG painted a happy story for the couple which didn’t jive with her last image of the doc standing alone, looking wistfully at them.

Also SM is particularly perceptive about loneliness being a lonely child herself. Remember: she felt sad for him when she found out that OG had been in solitary confinement for 500 years before she rescued him. I assumed that it was a no-brainer for her to calculate that if she or OG were to die before the other, OG would suffer the longest merely because he was the immortal one.

However, am I the only one curious about the sequence of events? When did they take leave of the doctor and get into the car? Before or after she and OG strolled on the bridge?

Which came first? I’m guessing they walked on the bridge first and the surrounding neighborhood then came back round to say goodbye to the doctor.

 

C. He clearly lied here.

Shoutout to winterrose96. I’m not going to expound on the Western viewpoint on lying (Kant and the Nazi analogy) because none of us here sign up for a philosophy class.

However, I’m going to bring up Buddha’s five keys to Right Speech: “It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will.” (source: https://www.accesstoinsight.org /tipitaka/ an/an05/an05.198.than.html)

Out of the five precepts there, only one mentioned truth. The four focused on the necessity to preserve good relationship. Even if it’s the truth, if it’s not helpful or if it increases suffering, then it’s advisable to look for a better time to speak the truth.

In other words, telling a harsh, unvarnished, injurious truth has NO greater merit than telling a HUMANE lie for the greater good.

I understand perfectly why OG would make things up about the happily-ever-after of the doc and her SJ.  He was doing this out of love and compassion for SM.

I think he wanted her to continue believing in two things the Doctor told her earlier.

First, he wanted her to believe that she wasn’t cursed.

She didn’t understand the vision she had when she crossed path with the Kang Daesung. But OG had already discovered SM’s true fate from the doctor. To wit: the evil spirit would take on her body and possess her. In fact, she’s meant become to the “sacrificial” receptacle of all that is wicked, like a human trash bin of evil.

Thus, for me, OG’s purpose in lying was to COUNTERACT SM’s fear of her prescribed fate and to REITERATE (keep on drilling in it, OG!) that she WASN’T cursed.

She and OG were merely taking on a job or a task (like what they did to earn Mawang’s deity points) and she’d save the world again like she had done when she was a newborn, and when she changed Mawang’s wife’s fate. Similar to how a few drops of blood in the censer altered the stars (or the course of fate) for Mawang and Princess Iron Fan, the spilling of her blood would end the destruction of the world.

OG didn’t want SM to fear that the Great Evil would consume her and to think that she was a cursed human being. He knew after hearing the Doc tell him the truth, that the secret about “fates” would greatly distress SM’s gentle soul.  She wouldn’t want to be the “curse” child after all.

Doc: You came back.
OG: Since I didn’t get to hear anything you wanted to tell me.

Remember SHE only conversed with SM the whole time. She said nothing to OG although she sent HIM a dream telling him, “This baby’s blood will save people. What you’re seeing right now is the birth of SamJang. So you’re the guardian who will protect SJ this time. I wanted to show you the beginning of a new SJ. Since I want you to protect this child until the end. Don’t ever let go.”

Doc: You’re right. I have something to tell you since you’re SJ’s guardian.
OG: Who the hell are you?
Doc: I was just like you. I was also the guardian who protected the last SJ.
OG: Before the chaos in the world happens, they said a SJ would appear. I’m sure Jin SunMi wasn’t the first. Annnddd???
Doc: Soon, a sword will appear. With that sword, you’ll end up stabbing SJ. (OG stunned) Just like how I did a long time ago.

(Much publicity about the announcement of Kang DaeSang’s presidential candidacy.)

Doc: A tremendous evil spirit, spawned by the all wickedness in the world, will appear and overcome SJ’s body. That’s the SJ’s divine summons.
OG: Then what happens after that?
Doc: Your job is to stab SJ with the sword bequeathed to you and kill her together with the evil spirit and stop the chaos.
OG: So that’s how it was preordained, and why the death bell rang. What’s your motive to call me and tell me things like this?
Doc: I’ve something to request of you. When the sword is given to you, help me so that I can die. Without him, it’s too painful for me to endure this long life alone.

Note: this is NOT what she said in his dreams. In his dream, she specifically said to protect the new baby SJ until the end, and never to let go. But in their follow-up meeting, she outlined OG’s role (or divine summon) in SM’s fate BASED on her actual experience. Later on, after OG stole the sword and met up with her again on the bridge, she showed him the personal impact of obediently following heaven’s rule.

Doc: You found it. Then, as promised, please lend me that sword so that I can die. You’re wearing a GGG. Then, even if you’re left behind like I was in this world alone, you will escape my suffering.
OG: Because I’m wearing GGG, I can’t fathom what pain is like, how big it is, after the GGG disappears. I’m more fearful of that.

To me, there are at least three ways to interpret this.

1. Because he’s wearing the GGG (and his love will disappear once the GGG disappears), he has no clue whether he’ll feel a slight pain or a big pain. He’s afraid.
2. Because he’s wearing the GGG (and so in love with her because of the GGG), he cannot EVEN begin to grasp how much pain he’d bear afterwards. He’s frightened.
3. Because he’s wearing the GGG (and so in love with her DESPITE the GGG), he won’t be able to endure the pain after the GGG is gone. He’s terrified.

Doc: Don’t…end up like me.

There! In OG’s dreams, she was exhorting him not to let go of the child SJ …like she had done to her SJ. The Doc/guardian followed what was preordained and fated for her. She followed her “job.” And as consequence, she was doomed to unhappiness for the rest of her immortal life.

OG: I’ll never be like that.
Doc: Now, I want to end this already.

OG meant that a) he wasn’t going to kill SM, like the doc/previous guardian had done — even when the GGG is removed, and b) there was no way in hell that he’d allow the evil spirit to latch onto SM.

Second, OG wanted SunMi to keep on believing that she wasn’t going to harm him.

Based on her reaction after their “first night” together, I was disappointed.

OG: What are you doing?
SM: I’m going to remove the Geumganggo.
OG: You know I don’t want it removed.
SM: I’m giving you a chance to run away from me.
OG: I don’t want to!

First, after all he’s done, she’s still hung up on the stupid GGG. (Facepalm!) She had no problems instantly believing the Love/Death Bell (although she was told that the RED bell = love and the BLACK bell = do not touch. Does she have a poor memory or color-blindness?). But she had major trust-issues even when time and time again, he went AGAINST THE GGG itself, to prove his love for her. (What more does she freaking want?)

(A stork perches on the bridge railing at Seuramdong.)

OG: Don’t do it.
SM: I’ll do it.
OG: Why? Are you afraid you’ll kill me?
SM: Yes, I can’t protect you any other way.
OG: So you laid inside the coffin with the lid closed? (hahahaha. I think like a guy.) Are you an idiot?
SM: Yes, that’s right. I’m an idiot. You jerk. (Wine bottles shattering.)
OG: I didn’t do that.
SM: Did I?
OG: You’re saying that I did this?
OG: No matter how angry I was, do you think I would have broken these? When only the valuable ones were broken? (laconically)

Second, I was disappointed that she didn’t regret making a UNILATERAL decision. She still was scared that SHE was going to hurt OG and now she’s letting her fear get the better of her. Really! This chick has more issues than People’s Magazine. lol.

OG knew she had issues still. It was obvious when she stated her reluctance to visit her local health center. To me, it was obvious when she didn’t carry the baby, and OG did. It was obvious too when she glanced at him when the doc told her that she wasn’t the cause of injury to others. It was sweet that she looked at OG.

SM: Thank you for telling me. I was a cursed child, so I was worried everyone around me would be harmed. But since you’re telling me that’s not true, it’s comforting.

Doc: Whatever you go through in the future it’ll probably result in saving, not harming. Thank you for bringing her here

That exchange of looks indicated that OG was in her mind. However, there’s something that bugged me about this. I only figured it out after watching the bridge scene.

SM: I’ve never walked this road feeling happy. I was always alone. If not, the kids used to throw rocks at me.
OG: Are you happy now?
SM: First of all, my fate isn’t your fault. (She knew then that it had been wrong to blame their first meeting in the mountains for her SJ-ness.) Then, no matter what happens to me it’s not your fault, so I’m happy. (Meaning, she was happy that she wasn’t a burden to him anymore.)
OG: You’re not scared now?
SM: No. I feel like I’m a little bit more important, and I’m less scared because it gives me strength. When I become stronger, I won’t be scared. Like you.

That’s a big misconception here – and very interesting. It hasn’t registered with her that the more she loves, the more she becomes a scaredy-cat because there’s another person she cares for. Before she only has to worry about ONE heart. Hers. The one that’s inside her. But when she loves OG, now she worries about TWO hearts. Hers and OG’s. You cannot separate the two because they coexist and depend on each other now.

I guess, in the same way, it hasn’t FULLY registered on her yet that OG truly loved her, with or without the GGG.

lol. I’m going to turn the tables now and say I wonder whether SHE really loves OG. We’re always zooming in on OG’s love, wondering whether he loved her or not. But he passes the “love test” with flying colors. Meanwhile, SM barely makes it because her concept of love is tied up with her fixation on protection and fairy tales. Is she truly seeing OG for who he is? 

OG: When did I say I wasn’t scared? I feel like I’m going to die because I’m so scared over you.
SM: You said that I was your only weakness, right? I don’t like that. I’m going to become stronger and I will take this (GGG) off for you. After removing this, if you don’t find me pretty at all, then run away. But if you find me the slightest bit pretty, then I’m going to hold onto you tight.
OG: Let’s go.
SM: But I guess my grandma knew you’d come. Whenever I talked about the fair, she always told me that he’d come back.
OG: That doctor said your grandma was close to her, right?
SM: Yes.

Just like her dependence on superstitions and this fear of harming another, I find her love to be very passive. And THIN. I love Hanjoo for giving it to her straight.

Come on, girl!!! Grow a spine already. Fight for your love. Fight against stupid fate.  

And no, I don’t buy that “packmule3 is bashing SM again” accusation.

I’m a bitch remember? I can’t stand BS. I’m going to call SM out every time she does something weak and lily-livered (or lotus-hearted?). As a matter of fact, I’m wondering whether SM’s characterization is the reason OYS seems off in her acting in this romcom.

OYS is a naturally strong actress. She can portray quick-tempered and bratty personalities in a way that makes you empathize with her, not kill her. Not only that, as an actress, she’s mentally tough. That’s why I like her. I remember that scandal of hers and how she survived well despite everybody’s opprobrium. I had to shut up her WGM haters back then. She wouldn’t be the type to go down without a fight; she would fight back.

But here in this romcom, despite the story being on the 16th episode already, and her character SM is still learning how to be feisty.

For me, there’s a disconnect here between the actress’ potential and the scripted role, and I can’t shake it off.  Watching OYS act for the last 5 episodes, I compare her to a lioness being asked to sheathe her claws and play a kitten.  I know she can tear and shred this role apart but she’s … sigh… meow. 

I’ll wait for the big catfight between her and Buja this weekend.

(will edit later when I unpack)