He’s Psychometric: On the Use of Props

As Gertrude Stein wrote, “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” To me, this line means that a word may APPEAR to be simple and common enough to be understood by all when in fact, it brings to mind many possible and different meanings, imageries and associations. Thus, it’s best to examine the presumptions and agree (or “agree to disagree”) on what that word means before proceeding to use it extensively in a discussion.

Now, in this kdrama I can point out that a prop is a prop is a prop is a prop. Not because I’m a genius poet (ha! I’m neither a genius by design nor a poet by profession), but because I’m a bitch and I detest it when the camera director trolls me with so many interesting props, I can’t danged focus on the plot.

So I’m going to do my famous bitch moves (i.e., analyze and obsess) and get all these props out of my system.

1. Virgin Mother Mary statue

Okay, I’m Catholic and you don’t bloody my favorite icon without reason, director!

See that? Three different angles.

But I get it. This story is NOT about mothers, virgins or otherwise. lol.

As the unnie/detective Jisoo pointed out, the fires were to cover up the murders of women.

I assumed the stabbed apartment ladies had no children because they were having an elegant tea at that time when most mothers would have been home attending to their children, like Lee Ahn’s mom who was at that time sewing him a puppy stuffed toy. Remember?

Sidenote: That’s why I was skeptical when Jisoo said (in Ep 4) that SungMo’s mother was one of the stabbed victims. It didn’t look right to me because SungMo was calmly leaving the building the night of the fire. If he lived with his mother, shouldn’t he be frantic or at least concerned about her whereabouts?

And this is creepy moment when you realize that he’d been chained as a kid. Somebody suddenly grabbing his ankle = exactly where he was chained = I’d faint if that had been me.

ANYWAY…

Jisoo also mentioned the three women in the Nursing Home couldn’t be moved because they had no family members. Then in the Luggage Case murders, one of the dead suitcase women couldn’t be identified because the victim didn’t have a family member, too.

No family members = no spouse and no children.

The women were easy to target since they had no families. However, if later on, it’s discovered that all the murdered women were indeed middle-aged women without families EXCEPT for SungMo’s “mother,” then Sungmo’s lie will be exposed.

It was convenient for him to identify the unclaimed victim as his mother, but it won’t be convenient to explain why his “mother” was the only EXCEPTION in the group of murdered women. Those women were targeted precisely because they had no family members.

2. The chalk art

I explained this, right?

link: He’s Psychometric: Eps 1 and 2 First Impressions

It’s an adaptation of Michelangelo’s work. The two people who were going to touch hands were Lee Ahn (or the god representative) and Jaein (or the Adam figure). The jarring difference between this chalk art at the rooftop of a high school building and the real fresco up in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is that there was a puppeteer (or technical term, marionettist) drawn in the chalk art. The blue girl and the red soldiers are marionettes or puppets tied to a string. Two disembodied hands were making them move toward each other.

However, I say that if viewers really want that Michelangelo spark-of-life optics, then they should look at that fist-bump between the Big Brother SungMo and the Little Brother Lee Ahn.

That’s THE spark of life right there! SungMo saved Ahn from death but Ahn gave SungMo new life. But the distinction between creator and creation is still up in the air. Who really is the creator here and who’s his creation? To me, Sungmo and Lee Ahn are both creators and creations.

By the way, even their body positions here suggest the Michelangelo imagery. God and Adam finally met on top of a car and died = An Existentialist’s Crisis. OMG!

3. The Mask

I explained this already. It’s to contrast the two brothers who stood before the posters. One actually has a mask or a deep secret he’s masking from others. That’s the Hyung, in case people didn’t read my other post.

While the other guy is a … well, a clown. He’s wearing a clown-face, but actually he’s smart, too. Ditto what Jaein says here.

4. The bus poster

Children helping each other.

I already explained this, too.

5. The tarot card

I don’t believe in horoscopes, fortune-telling, tea leaves, and tarot cards. To be point-blank, I can never be friends with someone who believes in divination, fortune-tellers, occult and witchcraft.

Thankfully, I’m friends with google. And I googled “ten sticks” and this is what the search came up with:

“The Ten of Wands is a card highly associated with feeling an intense pressure and being over-burdened in some area of your life. Other possible things suggested by this card are feelings of being trapped, oppressed, or having no control over your circumstances. With an overall negative tone, the answer is no.”

https://www.trustedtarot.com/cards/ten-of-wands/

I interpreted the card as foretelling how that these two people would feel burdened by their connection with each other. Sure, Jaein was grateful for his financial assistance and wanted to repay him as soon as she could. But if if she truly knew how he’s embroiled in her life, would she consider him a “Daddy-long-legs”  or a real poisonous spider.

On the other hand, (if my hunch is correct that he’s covering up his mother’s existence), he must be feeling guilty for what he was making her endure.

But the trouble with this tarot card is it’s all open to interpretation. I’m sure if another obsessive viewer like me google the same card, she’ll come up with another name for it, and another interpretation. Go figure.

6. The delivery menu

Really! If Jisoo was a real detective, she could have called up that restaurant to find out when that poster was put up, and if that apartment had ever called in for delivery.

Right now, I don’t know yet the profound significance of the flyer (because I like everything profound) so I’ll settle for the flyer as indication that Jisoo finally had her way with SungMo. lol. She got the elusive Sungmo to go out and eat with her for breakfast.

Did I tell you that I love that gal? I’m rooting for her to snag Sungmo in the end.

7. The butterfly

This was from Ep 2. She wanted to meet with her sponsor.

Jaein: Someone sent us monthly allowances for the pat three years. And then you helped us find a house and school. How can I repay you? Can’t you ask that person one more time? I really want to meet that person.
Priest: You always get rejected but you’re asking again. I’ll pass along that message that Ms Yoon Jaein would like to meet you.

I think the incomplete butterfly symbolizes her. She’s an incomplete work of art. Kang Sungmo had a hand in creating her by making sure that she’s provided for but she’s still a work in progress.

8. Rock-paper-scissors, lol.

I know this isn’t a prop.

Image result for shrug gif

I want to give props to the director for this detail.

Whenever Lee Ahn thinks of shaking hands with Jaein, he holds himself back with a hand from the rock-paper-scissors game. Did you notice?

First, in Episode 2, he closed his fist. Like a rock.

Then, in Episode 4, when he was practicing how to greet her after two years, he threw a scissors.

lol.

I’ll laugh if, in the future, he’ll choose paper to shake hands with her, which is an open palm which is like the divine touch in Michelangelo’s painting which is the first contact we’re all waiting for so he can finally read her.

See that? As Gertrude Stein said a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. Many of the imageries in this kdrama are fun to discuss and, obviously, there are other ways to interpret them. Go share with me what yours are if you want.

I’ve to clear my brain of all these props so I can tackle the next episode.

Onward, brain cells!

Image result for onward little soldiers gif

12 Comments On “He’s Psychometric: On the Use of Props”

  1. oh oh oh, I googled “tarrot 10 of” and let google suggest what comes next. It suggested swords.
    Looks like the exact card there: https://www.trustedtarot.com/cards/ten-of-swords/
    “The X of Swords is a cause for fear in any who believe in the power of the cards, and you should prepare yourself for whatever it portends. It is one of many cards which can represent disaster, but, alone among them, it is a disaster which cannot be avoided. It foretells not only a complete failure but an unavoidable one. What is more, the failure will not be small or easily overcome. This is not a fortune to be changed or avoided, only endured: If you stay strong, new dreams can be built from the ashes.”

    I’m watching this too, yep. And this I missed to see, creepy indeed: “And this is creepy moment when you realize that he’d been chained as a kid. Somebody suddenly grabbing his ankle = exactly where he was chained = I’d faint if that had been me.”

  2. Awesome, @oli! 😍 I’ll do the edits when I get home.

    Thanks! 👍

  3. Not to be that person, but the RPS game could be the lead actor adlibs because he and his bandmates, which is GOT7 not Got Milk? 😂, basically playing RPS whenever they can just to have fun or even to decide something, they even do RPS game during one of their stage performance 😆

    Anyway, glad you like this drama, Jinyoung (Lee Ahn) is a really good idol-actor, me as fans, and a picky drama watcher (i didnt even watch his other drama if i dont like the pair and/or the storyline eventho i LOVE him so much (i usually only watched his parts 🙈)), thats why im so glad that He is Psychometric is added to his filmography bcs the story is really interesting, also the casts chemistry and relationships in real life are also cuuttee, esp Lee Ahn and Jaein 😍

  4. Ahhh… so he often does “rock-paper-scissors” with his bandmates?

    Too funny. Maybe it was his adlib then.

    Please tell me. What was that song he was singing in the car in Ep 4 when he picked up his hyung from the chicken place? Was that his band’s song, too?

  5. Hi,
    This drama sounds very interesting to me. I like science fiction stories, especially when they have an eye for detail.
    I just realized that the director of the drama is Kim Byung-Soo!
    So, one of the best drama directors in Korea, who had already definitively won my attention in the past.

  6. I guess now that we know the killer drives the food (?) delivery can, it explains the flyer? It seemed to be also plastered in the lift in the new apartment building that the boys have moved into. Killer delivered something to the boys’ new apartment too (room 614? 604?). Not sure what it was/is?

    Masks – faces. There’s a prominent painting/print in SungMo’s room of the faces of 3 men under which are 3 animals? It probably alludes to something. 3 men with 3 different animal representations?

    The other thing that stood out for me in the chalk painting was that the woman was dressed in a particular shade of blue…and Jisoo (Detective Eun) when decked out for her ‘blind date’ and when she appeared for the house warming was in a similar shade of blue. Not sure if it was a coincidence but I only noticed it because it was a very odd color for a coat. 😂

  7. The RPS thing probably not a prop, but bcs the lead male habit himself. He is so used to play RPS with his band members, like literally GOT7 plays RPS whenever wherever they want, even in their stage performance 😂

    Anyway, glad you like this drama! =^^=

  8. @packmule3

    Sorry just read your reply 🙈 He sang “TT” by Twice, its not GOT7 (his group) song, but they are under same company which is JYP Entertainment. He actually has a very good voice, haha, check him as Hollywood Rabbit in King of Mask Singer, or his first OST – Hold Me for Top Management (web drama), or his solo song The Day & My Youth (aah sorry for promoting him, jajaja, but he really deserves the love ❤️❤️)

  9. Hi Wenchanteur! I like science fiction, too.

    Yes, the director here is Kim Byung Soo. I watched his Hwayugi. Although I dislike the open-ended finale, I blame the Hong sisters for the script, not him. Hwayugi was intellectually stimulating but the romance aspect was a disappointment.

    I find that to appreciate Kim ByungSoo’s works, some degree of visual literacy is required of the viewers. He does make it a point to focus the viewers’ eyes on images to convey an idea or an emotion. lol. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s training us to do some “cold readings” too to mirror and duplicate Ahn’s “cold readings” in the story. Like, life imitating art. 😀

    Let’s see how this story goes.

  10. Thanks for the info. I’ve never heard of Twice either so just ignore me and my kpop ignorance, and let me die in limbo. lol.

  11. Weird. I thought I typed a long response to you before falling asleep but I couldn’t find it here.

    The mask you asked about — I posted it on the main blog. It’s Titan’s “Allegory of Prudence.” 🙂 Just a little bit of artsy-fartsy trivia: in classical paintings, if you see three of something, like three men in various stage of life, or three fruits in different stages of decomposition, the painter was most likely expressing the passage of time. Same, if you see a timepiece with a skull, or a wilted flower…. Consider them the equivalent of our “memes”.

    Oh! The killer’s a delivery guy?! lol. That’s too funny; I did say that Jisoo should have called up the delivery place and asked whether they had delivered food to her place. That’s standard for crime investigations because everybody orders food nowadays. (If you live in an affluent area, you call up the lawn-mowing or the maid services, lol, because those people will know.)

    Will wait till it’s fully subbed before watching. But I don’t mind spoilers…. 🙂

  12. “Oh! The killer’s a delivery guy?! lol. That’s too funny; I did say that Jisoo should have called up the delivery place and asked whether they had delivered food to her place. That’s standard for crime investigations because everybody orders food nowadays. (If you live in an affluent area, you call up the lawn-mowing or the maid services, lol, because those people will know.)”

    He drove a delivery van but it was more like a parcel delivery (FedExpress) type van. So not your usual food delivery van so I guess the food delivery flyer is still a mystery?

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