This is how my anti-Makjang bitch is feeling right now:
I’m asking the drama gods, “Are we there yet?? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” because it’s been a long and tiring journey. I’m tortured by these crazy volatile passengers.
- SooJi and her multi-layered, multi-colored, deodorized shit. (It’s still fecal, hon.)
- Her mom’s schemes (lol. If she conducts her experiments, the way she conducts her personal life, I’m not surprised that experimental drug is on hold.)
- SeJoo’s blandness (Will you turn evil already? I know you’re capable of great seething anger.)
- TaeHee (Stop making AUDIBLE birthday wishes, girl! You do realize that you said your wish for SH aloud, didn’t you?)
- Dad and Mom affair. (lol. I know. I know. I know. You two are being set up as the star-crossed Romeo and Juliet for senior citizens but … have you even had sex together yet? If after all these years of waiting, he hadn’t once tried to get her in bed, then what makes HER so sure that her patience is all worth it? What if he’s impotent or a bad lover? Then what’s she gonna do about THAT? She’s stuck with a useless dick, literally and metaphorically.)
- SH and his tears. (I don’t mind if he cries a river but I’m just worried that he’s going to keel over one of these days because of dehydration.)
- The director. Will you please get your act together? Sloppiness with small details makes me doubt that you’re capable of creating a satisfactory big ending.
However my pro-Makjang bitch is excited about the plot twists.
First, I like that TaeHee (ohhh. I see. That’s where the actress’ stage name “Joy” comes in. lol) resolved her differences with SH that quickly. Go girl! I like it that TH approaches the upsets with her head. I know people find her wishy-washy because she keeps on going back to SH after every crap he’s thrown in. But they miss the point. She goes back to him only AFTER she’s made her choice. She isn’t going after him willy-nilly. She THINKS first whether or not SH is “worth it.” IT = pain, trouble, time, tears, her love. And she thinks, yes! He is worth it and that’s why she goes after him.
She’s not calculating like SJ is but she’s deliberative. Meaning, she considers carefully before she acts. Like when SH asked her what should he do if he wanted to be forgiven next time he made a mistake. She responded that he should tell her what’s in his heart (meaning be honest) and to give her enough time and space to think and forgive.
This deliberative quality of hers is also revealed in how she handled her breakups.
During their first breakup, she was upfront about her reason. She said that she wanted to be her girlfriend but since there wasn’t space in his life for her because of his tight-knit group of three, she wanted minimum contact with him. That was a fair call.
But at the hospital, SH said that he never regarded SJ as a girlfriend but he would like HER to be his girlfriend. But he wanted his friends not to know of their relationship.
For the second breakup, TaeHee knew that SH was only pretending to be mean when he broke up with her in full view of his friends. She knew he was lying. Here’s their dialogue again. SJ was egging him on to tell TH that she was LOVELY.
SH: Yes, she’s pretty. (I don’t speak Korean. But the impression I got here was he insulted her. He “downgraded” her level of beauty from being “lovely” to just so-so “pretty.”) I didn’t know you were so pretty. But… you look uncomfortable. Don’t you feel out of place? With us. In this bar. Your clothes, shoes, my friends, everything.
He implied that she looked out of place in the classy surrounding and his classy friends. She wasn’t one of them “rich” people/
SJ: SiHyun. What’s wrong with you? (fake concern).
SH: I feel uncomfortable. I’m sitting here looking at you and I feel uncomfortable. When I told you to come over, I thought you’d refuse or at least ask what the occasion was. You rushed over without so much as a question.
He implied here that SHE was TOO much into him and that her “slavish” devotion is one-sided and bothersome to him.
TH: Because you invited me. (Meaning, she came because HE asked. She was also letting him know that although she had no clue what was going on and what game he was playing right there with him, SHE would trust him because HE invited her.) I’m here because you, of all people, invited me. I don’t feel uncomfortable. (Meaning, his friends and their class surroundings don’t matter one inch to her as long as HE wanted her there.
SH: Seriously, you and I are different. Where should I start describing our differences?
TH: SiHyun, don’t pretend to be mean. What are you trying to do to me?
SH: I’m not pretending to be mean. I am mean. I’m sick of pretending to be nice. Let’s stop it now.
KJ: Why are you al keeping quiet? (Even she sensed that there was a set-up.)
TH: SiHyun, I know what you’re doing. (Who wouldn’t? He was breaking up with her in front of his friends?? That meant that he was being pressured to do so, and the friends wanted to be sure it happened in front of their very eyes for confirmation.) Stop. Let’s talk in private.
SH: You know what I’m doing? What’s that?
Then, in a flashback, TH remembered him saying, “I don’t know who my real father is. I don’t want to know either. Even SeJoo and SooJi don’t know. I hoped that no one would find out if that was ever possible.
TH: No. That’s between you and me. I can’t mention it here. (She believed that his behavior was connected to keeping his birth secret HIDDEN from his friends. And she wasn’t going to blurt it out there even to protect herself and to get him to stop embarrassing her in front of his friends.)
SH: That’s fine. Say it.
TH: (standing up to leave) Do you not like me anymore?
SH: No (Meaning, no he doesn’t like her anymore.)
TH: You don’t like me?
SH: No. (Meaning, no he doesn’t like her now.)
When she heard no, she walked away.
But seeing the new bandage on her hand, she deduced that he was lying about not liking her. Because when he had put on the bandage on her hand, he was almost about to cry.
If seeing HER hurt over a small booboo like that would pain HIM so much, then hurting HER like he did during the public breakup would hurt him even MORE SO.
That was TH’s logic. Comparative pain. lol.
It’s THAT context I understood their next dialogue.
TH: Get out! (hahaha. Like a boss. I’m telling you, she wears the pants around here.)
SH: Go away.
TH: I need to talk to you so get out. Get out. (she opens the door.)
SH: What do you want?
TH: That’s what I want to ask. What is this? (Meaning, she doesn’t understand what HE wants with their relationship. If he wants it ended, then why is he still showing concern for her.)
SH: (seeing the bandage) What about that? (See? he doesn’t know that he gave his feelings away when he did that.)
TH: Explain it to me. Why did you do this if you hated me.
SH: I did it out of pity. Happy?
TH: Out of pity? Why would you pity me if you hated me. (True, you don’t pity something that you hate. you’re going to be pitiless and relish if the other person is in pain.)
SH: Then what’s this? (his couple necklace. he didn’t tell her that he wore one.)
SH: I give these things to just anybody.
TH: Am I just anybody? Then throw it away. You’re rich. This is nothing to you. Throw it away in front of me. (Of course, he can’t do that. that pendant is half of his mother’s pendant. This means that he DID give her something precious to wear.)
TH: (she continues) Say it again. Did our time mean nothing to you? Was I the only one who had feelings?
SH: Stop it already, okay? Things are already tough enough for me. (lol. He’s waving a white flag because all her questions are making HIM confused. He can’t keep his lies straight.)
TH: Yes, so tell me what they are. (Tell her the problems. She wants to share them with him.) Why do you always go through things by yourself? This is your mom’s. Isn’t it precious to you? You’re so awful. If you can’t throw it away, why did you give it to me? If you give me something… even I can’t throw it away.
Meaning, the necklace was burdensome. Usually after a breakup, you delete/throw away reminders of your ex. But she can’t even do that because SHE knows that the necklace belonged to his mom. He gave her something so precious to him (that he couldn’t throw it) and expected her to TREASURE it even after their breakup. Where’s her closure then?
TH: (continues) what do you want me to do with it?
SH: The owner of this necklace hit you.
TH: What?
SH: It’s the shameless person who almost killed you in the hit and run accident. I knew it was her when you told me that story when we went on the trip. So please let me go. I’m sorry.
TH: It’s not your fault. (I thought that it was funny that one pinch on the sleeve of his leather jacket could have stopped him like that.) You didn’t do it. You didn’t know that when we first me. Why do we have to break up?
Brava!!! That stupid SH.
SH: You… you went through a lot after that. You’ll be reminded of that incident whenever you see me. (Who says??)
TH: No. I’m fine so it’s okay. Please believe me. I’m okay because I’ve met you. Okay? (huggggsssss) It must have been so hard for you. At least I had someone else to blame. You must have been in so much pain by yourself. (See? Very caring. Her thoughts are about him being alone.) I’m fine. I hope you’ll be okay like how I’m fine right now. Don’t break up with me.
Okay! There you go. My take on their reunion. It made sense. She wasn’t being wishy-washy, indecisive, whatever. It made sense to her – and to me. She didn’t say that she was willing to take crap from him. She said that what HE THOUGHT was crap was just a small speck of dust.
And he overreacted as usual. hahaha
I’ll have to continue later. lol. I didn’t know I wrote so much just on TaeHee alone.
Nice Post as usual, @packmule3. Regarding Episodes 21-24:
The pacing of this drama is still bothering me. Everything feels too fast-including Tae hee’s make up with Shi Hyun in ep. 21. It’s like I can’t really get emotionally invested in their relationship because it’s happening too quickly for me to feel any real resonance. That being said, I like that the truth about the night of the accident is finally being revealed. I can’t wait until Shi Hyun (and Soo Ji) know the truth that it was actually Soo ji’s Mom who caused both TH hit and run and SH Mom’s death.
I’m also loving Hye Jung & boyfriend Joo An- they are too cute. It’s interesting that their roles are greatly diminished to comic relief here in this drama since their characters (Cecile and Danceny) are very importan in the source novel. When he sang the quadratic equasions formula to her while TH looked on trying to keep a straight face-hilarious! Also loved that the turtle got some revenge on Ki Young! Haha! Also loved their first “date” where they both showed pictures of their pets to each other-and of course they are both reptiles! Hahaha! Turly a match made in heaven.
This week was a roller coaster ride as we got more information about what happened the night of the accident. I don’t understand what Mi Ri was trying to do when she told SH Mom about SW meeting Young Won? Was she just trying to rub it in her face? Was the plan to use SH Mom to stop them meeting up? SH Dad had already filed the divorce papers before he was due to meet TH Mom that fateful night. Interesting that the Grandmother knew about mi Ri’s little chat with SH Mom. The breakup of TH and SH- didn’t TH just say in the last episode that they shouldn’t be bound by the parents mistakes? Now she is in exact position that SH was in before, so why is she feeling guilty and leaving? It’s a bit strange for me. Soo Ji continues to wow me with how she turns everything away from herself to others since the bet against TH was in fact HER idea which SH turned down at first and then agreed to when SHE insisted on it as proof of his devotion in the marriage scheme. She was too calm when SH broke off the friendship, so I think her mental state is fully going off the rails now.
I’m waaaay behind on The Great Seducer. I haven’t catched last Tuesday show yet. So I’m behind two now.
But fill me in please. SJ’s mom told SH’s mom that TH’s mom (pwahahaha. All the moms after one dad? Unbelievable!) was meeting up with the dad? Deliberately?
I guess I shouldn’t be 😱 surprised because of the shoes. Lol. I’m a shoe 👠 lady. And that pair of patent black shoes with straps and buckles suggested a … let’s say a dominating personality. She’s the boss. I thought at first that she had been expecting the dad to show up so she wore those pair of shoes. We know how she liked to dress up whenever she thought she’d see the dad. Lol. In comparison, the mom was wearing fuzzy slippers. Non-glamorous, homey pair of slippers.
But is the writer really planning on making SJ’s mom the fall guy in all of this?
Yes I saw HyeJung and her boyfriend. It would be funny if she found out that the BF is like a gigolo on his spare time. Didn’t her mom go to the karaoke room with him?? 😂
Yes, it was revealed in Ep. 21-24 that SJ Mom Mi Ri deliberately told SH Mom about SH Dad & TH Mom’s relationship in the past. That they were college sweethearts who had gotten unofficially engaged while in school. She then told SH Mom that she “accidentally” overheard from Secretary that the 2 were going to meet again at TH Mom home in Jeongup that night. SH Mom was visibly upset at this news. As a result, SH Mom left the hospital and drove to Jeongup to confront TH Mom & her husband. On the way to there, SH Mom had an attack in her car. Meanwhile, TH and her Mom had a fight and TH left the house. She found SH Mom in her car, sick, and went to get help. MR discovered SH Mom had left the hospital and went to look for her. As TH was walking to get help, MR hit her with her car. TH was knocked down into a ditch. MR investigate and find TH. TH tell her to call 911 for a sick lady further down the road. MR realize this is SH Mom, leaves TH, and doesn’t return. She drives and hits SH Mom’s car. She gets out and knocks on SH Mom’s window. We don’t see anything else. However, it’s impled that MR didn’t call 911 for SH Mom or TH. Instead she call Secretary Yoon and SH Dad to tell them SH Mom had hit & run accident and died of attack.
Grandmother knows about MR conversation with SH Mom and what was said.