Poem a Day: On “Going Home”

Oli said this:

I’m missing the point with the name of the episode btw, “back home” or something

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The title of the Episode 13 is “Going Home” and here’s the poem or lyrics of the song as said in the episode.

Going Home
by Kim Yoon Ah

On the way back home
I leave my heart to the setting sun.
And I think about the work that you do
And feel sad due to countless thoughts.
Since there is no way of knowing
What will happen tomorrow
I can only embrace your back
And tell you that everything will be okay.
I feel like there is more that I can do for you
As I grow impatient.
I feel sad for your heavy shoulders and long days.
I hope something good
Happens to you tomorrow
Because you deserve it.
I hope you unload your burdens and become happy again.
I earnestly pray for it.

Here’s the video.

There are many meanings of “going home” in this episode.

For Chief Yang’s son, going home meant going home in shame. We don’t see him go home. 
For Dr. Park, going home meant being a good father, husband and son. We don’t see him go home. 
For JooYoon’s patient, going home meant being grateful to those who helped her get well. We don’t see her go home. 
For NamWon, going home meant facing a sad reality. That’s why he drinks before going home. We don’t see him go home.
For the ill doctor, going home meant loneliness. He made the hospital his virtual family, and he has none of the real family at home. We don’t see him go home. 
For Ye, going home now meant having a girl run to his arms and finding rest in her. We don’t see him go home. 
For Boyoung, going home meant not inconveniencing Dr. Ye who must be feeling tired. She tells him, “You can head home now, Doctor (hahaha!) We’re pretty much at my door. You must be tired. Please get some rest.” She’s almost home. 
For MinHo, going home means discovering the truth. We see him arriving home. 

If I were a YeLiner, the meaning of Going Home is so obvious. Ye – and presumably Boyoung – have found a “home” in each other. That’s what the hug would mean. A coming home.

But if you’re a MinHo supporter, and you look at the lyrics AGAIN, you’ll realize that the words are actually meant for MinHo. It has greater IMPACT when applied to consoling MinHo…because HE was the one who ACTUALLY arrived home and witnessed that earth-shattering scene with Boyoung and Ye.

I hope something good
Happens to you tomorrow
Because you deserve it.
I hope you unload your burdens and become happy again.
I earnestly pray for it.

You see, for days, NamWon had been warning him that life is cruel and vicious, but MinHo’s been the stubbornly optimistic one.

MH: Who says you can’t lie like that again if you work hard? Hey, even if life is vicious and cruel, you can’t just give up like this. You should work harder.
NW: You’re right. I’ll face life head-on.
MW/NW: Let’s try our best. Yeah, let’s do that.
NW: (getting a phone call) Hold on.
MH: Okay.
NW: Hey, Joo Yong, My t-shirt…Really? Oh, okay. Bye. (starts to laugh)
MH: What is it? What’s the matter?
NW: Yoo Yong said he went to the roof to take down the laundry but my crocodile shirt has disappeared.
MH: What?
NW: I don’t know if it flew away or if a robber stole it. I surrender.
MH: What are you doing?
NW: I surrender. I’m completely surrendering to life. Cheer up? What’s the use?
MH: Hey, Nam Woo. Hey, let’s go. Let’s go and drink.
NW: Drink? What’s the use? I want to take a walk alone. Go on without me.
MH: Hey. Hey, Nam Woo.

And if you look up the rest of the lyrics of the songs, you’ll see how IRONIC the song is for Minho.

To you and me
this world is a cruel and a scary place
so come back to this place any time
you have a home, you have me.
I really hope tomorrow
something good is waiting for us
that a new sun will rise
that the thing we want the most will happen
I pray.

Do you see it? According to the lyrics, the world is a “cruel and scary” place just like Namwon had been telling Minho. But HOME was the one place where he could be safe from this vicious world.  He’ll have a home; he’ll have “someone.”

You have a home, you have me.

As it turns out, the song is lying. He has neither…at least at THAT moment in time. And that “thing” he most wanted to happen had just disappeared into the night. What new sun is this song talking about? lol.

Which brings me to this point. Why is it that if Ye Jae Wook is the Main Lead, there’s more PLOT DEVELOPMENT for Shin MinHo? He’s the second lead, right?

3 Comments On “Poem a Day: On “Going Home””

  1. Im here just reading updates. I dont want to be too invested in the drama only to feel soooo pissed off at the outcome😂 so i rely on your updates and analysis. Been saying early on that minho’s character is evolving while Jae Wook looks like a stagnant water. And by the way you describe the episodes viewers see.Minho’s true character whether annoying, sad, pitiful, mad, jerk, concerned friend, a good friend, and childish. All these and still his charm is undeniable.

    I stopped watching but has Ye’s character showed more? Or are viewers still stuck at the surface? It was like tkl for me the difference I was so into it that i let the writer troll me to the very end. This time I can’t.😂😂😂

  2. “Which brings me to this point. Why is it that if Ye Jae Wook is the Main Lead, there’s more PLOT DEVELOPMENT for Shin MinHo”
    I thought about this too but then I thought we’re only having a problem with this because we’re thinking in the frame of a kdrama in which the mains are a couple. Can’t it be that this show is about BoYoung and MinHo (obviously since more time is spend on them & their emotions, Dr Ye is an extra) even if they don’t end up together and BoYoung ends up with Dr. Ye? Dr Ye is just who BoYoung fantasized about and she got him in the end because the writers cheated. Or maybe because their purpose is to show us how MinHo reacts. This show can’t be about the couple of BoYoung & DrYe even if they end up together because they are boring and average and Dr. Ye is mostly just props.

    I liked episode 14 (watched it last night without subs, will rewatch tonight, but it was nice even without subs). Even with MinHo being a jerk and taking his anger on BoYoung. All his reactions shown in contrast with NamWoo who was just lethargic. The way NamWoo was would have been another way for MinHo to react I guess.
    Anyway, MinHo’s reactions are wrong but human and I liked that in the end, as NamWoo cheered up a bit, MinHo ended up walking dejected & crying.

  3. I haven’t watched Episode 14 yet. Got distracted by BoYoung’s Heart and the poems. lol.

    hahaha. “Dr Ye is mostly just props” – so agree there. It’s all about the props usually.

    Did MH cry? I’ve got to see THIS. I want to see if he cries ugly. Do you know who cries very well? The actor who played SH in The Great Seducer. Also Gong Yoo in Goblin.

    I’m wondering when he’s going to go back to Anseong. He seemed to have a hair change in the preview of Episode 15.

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