Here are the highlights of the Monday’s show for me.

1. The obligatory cheesy railroad date.

Personally, I’ve always connected train stations with farewells and departures rather than hellos and homecomings.  In the reality show, Global We Got Married, I watched Guigui’s and Taecyeon’s teary goodbye at this train station (it’s the same one, isn’t it?) so I didn’t find this train date romantic at all. I thought it spelled doom for couple.

I also don’t think they had sex. In the novel, Valmont and Madame de Tourvel consummated their relationship, but here I’m not so sure.

You see, when TH was venting at SH after that lonely ramen dinner of hers, she only mentioned his hug and the breakfast. “Why did he hug me and make me breakfast?”  If she gave up her virginity for him, then she’d be MAD about that. Having sex for the first time is way bigger than giving hugs and making breakfast. She would feel used and discarded – not just confused – and she’d avoid him afterwards.

2. The difference between the original Valmont and SH is clear now.

In the original novel, Valmont’s letters didn’t explicitly say that he had fallen in love with the girl. To his dying breath, he could have been manipulating to get sympathy or trying to save his pride. In the movie version, the director added more nuance, and Valmont was arguably in love with the girl. He loved the girl but had to hurt her because “It’s beyond his control.”

In this kdrama, if I had any doubt of SH’s love for TH, his conversation with his dead mother is enough proof to convince me. Gravesite confessions, like deathbed confessions, are rarely faked.

He said, “If you’re watching over me that means you know how much pain I’m in, right? I have so many questions for you. How can you leave me without telling me anything? I’ve never blamed you for anything. I really haven’t. Why did you do that? She’s the first person I really liked in my life. Why did you do that to her? Why didn’t you stop me if you saw that I was dating TaeHee? You should’ve stopped me. Don’t be sorry for me, Mom. You must have had the hardest time. And TaeHee. I’ll take care of her before we have to feel even sorrier for her.”

SH wanted to break up with TH, not because of the bet with SJ, not because he was pressured by his SJoo to return to their fold, not because TH read the paper airplane, and definitely not because he wanted to get back at his dad.

His reason was to protect the two women that he loved, namely

his mother: because her good memory and reputation would be sullied when people learned that she caused hit-and-run accident where TH almost died, and

his girlfriend: because she would be traumatized all over again and burdened by the truth once she discovered that he was the son of the woman who ran over her and left her for dead.

Of course, there’s always that 1% possibility that his mom wasn’t the one involved in the car accident and everything was a cover-up. And of course, there’s always that 1% possibility that the DNA report was faked and SH was truly his father’s biological son.

But given the facts as they stand right now, SH was beginning to see that his mother was NOT altogether the good person that he thought she was.

He’d been judging his father through his mother’s eyes.

To be fair, I must say that on record, the mother didn’t diss her husband. But SH saw up-close that his father was an absentee husband and dad and was emotionally distant to his mom. Considering that his father also said intemperate words when provoked, the reasonable conclusion he got (and we got, too, as audience) was his father’s middle name was Asshole.

He didn’t expect at all that his mother could have been at fault, too. He didn’t know that the mom cheated on her husband, that the dad had requested for divorce but SHE didn’t want one, and that she passed him off as her husband’s son and heir.

For me, that’s the impact of the paper airplane on him. He didn’t want to admit it, but that paper airplane made him reassess how he viewed his mother, not his dad. He accepted that his father’s a bad guy, but it never dawned on him that his mom, whom he had put on a pedestal, had clay feet, too.

Moreover, he discovered that his mother was also involved in a hit-and-run felony and TaeHee was the injured party.

Thus, when I analyze his conversation with mom at the grave, I see it as having two parts.

The first half alluded to her adulterous relationship that resulted in his birth. He wasn’t blaming her for having given birth to him, of course.

“If you’re watching over me that means you know how much pain I’m in, right? I have so many questions for you. How can you leave me without telling me anything? I’ve never blamed you for anything. I really haven’t.”

But the second half referred to the hit-and-run.

“Why did you do that? She’s the first person I really liked in my life. Why did you do that to her? Why didn’t you stop me if you saw that I was dating TaeHee? You should’ve stopped me. Don’t be sorry for me, Mom. You must have had the hardest time. And TaeHee. I’ll take care of her before we have to feel even sorrier for her.”

The Valmont in the novel wouldn’t have felt this way for the girl. He was unable to feel pity for an injury he caused, and he wouldn’t take responsibility for somebody’s else fault. The Valmont in the novel was a psychopath while SH was a confused kid trying to make sense of his changing priorities in life.

3. The Dad. I stood by what I wrote earlier. 🙂  He’s not THE bad guy, and the way I see it, the writers of the kdrama are trying hard to paint him as the misunderstood character who had no choice in a lot of things.

As I tried to explain, if a spouse wants a divorce IN A FAKE AND LOVELESS MARRIAGE, it’s unrealistic and unfair to demand that he/she stay married and delay his/her happiness until one of them dies, all for the sake of appearances. Certainly most people don’t see illness as an acceptable ground for divorce (i.e., I’m divorcing you because you’re ill) but adultery is.

We don’t know when he discovered the adultery, what finally pushed him to ask for the divorce, and what the terms of divorce were.

We only know these:

a. TH’s mom and SH’s dad were dating in college.
b. SH’s dad married and TH’s mom found out about it from people at SH’s company.
c. TH’s mom met TH’s dad, a law professor at the college. They married and had TH.
d. SH’s mom committed adultery.
e. Fake marriage continued. Foundation was created.
f. SH’s mom bought the pottery from TH’s mom. I’m copying what I wrote before about this pot.

Young SH: Grandma said she didn’t like this piece.
Mom: I know. I told her I wanted to place it here. (Note: her wishes were followed despite being only the daughter-in-law.)
Young SH: Mom, why do you like this piece? It’s untitled and done by an anonymous artist.
Mom: When I look at this piece, I feel like I’m the owner of this place. (What great power did she wield over that chaebol family that her wish would supersede the Chairman’s preference?)

See? Her words always struck me as odd.

I also recall the father stopping in front of that vase. (Or am I imagining this? lol).

To me there’s a new way of interpreting her words now. If SH’s mom knew that the potter was the ex-girlfriend YET insisted on displaying the vase out in the lobby, then her intention was to taunt or to guilt-trip SH’s dad. What other reason could there be?? She felt like “the owner of this place” because SHE had power to torment her husband.  She was telling him that she knew HIS secret love and that he couldn’t do anything about it while she was married to him.

g. Divorce and sickness or sickness and divorce. We don’t know when he found out about the adultery and if that was his reason for asking for divorce while his wife was sick.

h. SH’s mom had accident. SH’s dad/family tried to cover it up.

i. SH’s mom died. SH missed the funeral. We don’t know for certain upon who ordered him not to go, and if there was a medical reason for not telling him about the funeral.

j. The father released the report of the DNA testing to SH AFTER his graduation. He was prepared to send him abroad (I thought I saw a passport??) to pursue further studies but SH chose to go against him. Although he’s not the biological father, he didn’t end his financial responsibility and he’s prepared to keep SH’s birth identity secret.

*It could be argued that his move was self-serving. He had to keep SH’s birth secret because he wanted the leadership of the company. But I don’t think so. The impression I got from him is that he was willing for his mother to run the company. He wasn’t a greedy corporate shark. He hadn’t done anything to wrest power from his mother or to undermine his mother’s leadership. His mother exerted control over the company and he was willing to be a placeholder even for his son. He didn’t even PROTEST when his mom said that or began backroom dealings.

At times like that, he reminded of Valmont. Everything “was beyond his control.”

k. In Episode 19-20, he declared his intention to give up JK to SJ’s mom.

I based this timeline loosely on the dialogue between SH’s dad and TH’s mom.

Mom: You’re getting married. I told you you’re a big name. It would’ve been better if you told me this time. You can’t do this to me again. Why are you getting married? Do you like her?
Dad: No. I need her.
Mom: Then be good to her. You should be more faithful if you need her. You didn’t choose me even when you were a freer man. Before it was just me who would’ve gotten hurt. But we have our kids, people of this world, and your mom who’s probably still the same. We can’t be freed from them. And you and I…have failed once before. You shouldn’t do that again.
Dad: I know I’m a jerk, and this sounds crazy. Can you just let me come by and see you…from time to time? Even if it’s only just for a few months.

**Note: This sure sounds like a jerk moment alright. 🙂  But the reason he’s asking for time, even a few months, is that he’s going to lose his eyesight – or if this makjang really goes whole hog, he’s going to die. 🙂  How did his brother die, anyway? Is there some family disease that we don’t know yet? What’s that stem cell cure they’ve been looking for anyway?

Mom: No. That belittles me too much. I waited for you three times. First, people at your company told me about your wedding. Second, I waited for you like a crazy woman after you divorced. Please, just go. I always tell you to go, knowing that you won’t listen. Goodbye.

As he’s driving away, he speaks to himself.
Dad: We missed out on dating each other many times.
Then, he replays her words, “We aren’t meant to be” to which he replied, “(but) we met again.” Mom says, “Yes, but this is it.”
Dad: I should’ve listened to you. Before you found out, I should’ve ended it then.

As I told nearsea, this animosity between SH and his dad was partly the mom’s fault, too.

She was the one who didn’t clear up SH’s perception that his father abandoned them. She allowed SH’s anger fester. Sure, she couldn’t explain her infidelity without tarnishing her martyr image, but knowing that she was dying, she could have vaguely warned SH, “Son, not everything is as it seems. Whatever happens in the future, remember that mistakes were done on both sides. Be forgiving.”

That would have been better advice than telling her son to fly stupid paper airplanes. The lesson she imparted then was that troubles would go away if one ignored them to face them. Nice one! /sarcasm

4. What’s the point of discussing the parents’ relationships?

All four teens are products of divorces (or marital estrangements in SH’s case). For me, I like to see how history repeats itself. The kids try so hard to avoid copying their parents’ perceived weaknesses/evils that I find it ironic that they TOO are undone by these same weaknesses that they scorn.

For instance, SJ is like her mom. Her mom’s going crazy trying to control SH’s dad and making him love her. She ignores the secretary who loves her and looks after her welfare. But SJ is like that. She’s going crazy with jealousy because she’s realized that SH loves TH and she ignores SJoo who’s right there beside her.

Same with SH. He hates his dad for cruelly abandoning his mom but he’s done the same thing with TH. Not only that, he’s like his mother, keeping secrets and playing games. Let’s see what his next move will be with TH’s mom.

As for SJoo, I haven’t changed my mind about him either. He’s biding his time. Now that he’s been rejected by SJ and he’s fed up cleaning up his friends’ shit, it would be interesting to see what big shit he can do as payback.

But for me, TH’s the interesting case. She’s like her mom, trying to show a cold exterior when needed. But she’s very much her father’s daughter. So far, only her parents have demonstrated the healthy perspective on divorce and its effects on their children.

Gotta run.