This is long so pace yourself. I’ll have to edit later because I was rambling last night.

1. Resurrecting the Dead Girl

As it turns out, reincarnation isn’t necessary to resurrect the Dead Girl. KangWoo found an easier way to fill that big void his lover left. He found a stand-in, a proxy in YeonSeo.

The irony can’t be more insulting. YeonSeo has never been an understudy in her whole life. She’d always been the shining star. (That’s why her dresses and accessories have stars on them.) She even humiliated her cousin, the current principal dancer, at the gala by comparing her to a mere “shadow” and the moon that only rises when the sun goes down. But now, unknown to her, she’s to fill in for the Dead Girl. Ouch!

As she’s dancing, KangWoo sees his Dead Girl.

He envisions hugging his Dead Girl first.

But he realizes that it’s YeonSeo so he pats her back hesitantly.

And he cries — not like Angel Dan cried when he saw young YeonSeo dance for the first time.

To me, Kangwoo cries because he misses his Dead Girl. That’s why he can’t look Yeonseo straight in the eyes. Did you notice that? He’s “seeing” the Dead Girl in YeonSeo, and he must NOT let YeonSee discover that. Watch that brief moment again when he recounts how long and hard he struggled.

He blinks his eyes rapidly (sign of lying) and avoids her eyes (another sign of lying).

He looks at her directly only at the end of his speech, when he says the final word, “Finally.”

KangWoo plays the adoring fanboy so well that it’s so easy to fall for his homage.

KangWoo tells YS: “(You did a) great job. Really. It took me a long time. I was… lost in a dark and long tunnel for a long time. It was so long without an end. I thought I would never be able to get out. I finally found…the exit. Finally. (he kneels) Lee Yeon Seo. Be my Giselle.”

“Be my Giselle.”  Even YeonSeo is confused. She repeats the name questioningly.

He means that metaphorically, not just literally. He isn’t simply asking her to dance the role of Giselle. He’s asking her to be his outlet.

I don’t think he wants her like the Giselle of the First Act but the Giselle of the Second Act. The Giselle of the First Act is the weak one who went crazy because she had her heart broken. Kangwoo has, on several occasions, expressed admiration for strong-willed people. Remember his dialogue with Nina in Episode 5?

KW: People aren’t something that can be trusted willy-nilly.
Nina: Why not?
KW: Because they’re weak. Worthy people end up passing away much too early, while only the selfish, lying people live long lives betraying people and committing evil deeds.

Here, his cynicism is obvious. He’s referring to the “survival of the fittest.”

According to him, the “worthy” or the decent and honorable people end up dying early. Note: his Dead Girl had a frail constitution which required him to fuss over during the cold weather. Nina, too, is delicate; he tended to her ankle during practice and he scolded her for vomiting after eating. Nina is emotionally unstable too like the Dead Girl is a “hot mess.”

Meanwhile, the selfish people are tenacious about living and do whatever it takes, even betraying people and committing misdeeds, to continue to live. The director of Fantasia immediately comes to mind. She fits Kangwoo’s description. And so does the Big Sister, Luna.

But by Kangwoo’s standards, YeonSeo can also be considered selfish and tenacious. In contrast to his Dead Girl and Nina, YeonSeo never got sick prior to the accident and she’s used to being targeted by her enemies. But does KangWoo have a hidden claim of YeonSeo’s betrayal and misdemeanors to maintain her status? Hmmm…

Then, later in Episode 7, he describes YeonSeo’s tenacity to live when he found her at the accident site.  “You were on the brink of death, but you survived. I believe you will have a new life. How strongly you held onto my hand that night, I remember it well.”

Therefore to me, KangWoo needs her to be a strong Giselle to execute his plan…whatever that plan may be. To play the role of the romantic, emotional, fragile and tender Giselle in the ballet, he’s choosing the antithesis of the character. He wants Yeonseo, not Nina, because, in his eyes, Yeonseo is realistic, cold, strong and tough enough to play Giselle.

For all his schemes to bring back to life the spirit of his Dead Girl, Yeonseo is the most unlikely substitute for her.

2. The Accomplices

Finally, we’re beginning to see the alliances a bit more clearly now. We still don’t know who KangSoo’s mysterious accomplice is whom he keeps calling on the phone. Lol. I hope it isn’t YeonSeo’s Butler.

But I’m glad to see the minions of the other evil characters.

The aunt has Gwang Il, or Mr. Glasses.

The Unnie hired the Man with the Black Cap.

BTW, I discovered that the Unnie’s name is Luna. That’s intriguing. Her name means moon. So when Yeonseo mentions at the gala that the moon is only subordinate to the sun, she’s also insulting Luna. To me, Luna is the real usurper to her throne. Nina is ready to play her shadow since she knows she isn’t as good as YeonSeo, and the Aunt is silly greedy. But Luna and her hired goon will stop at nothing to claim Fantasia. I expect Luna to be true to her name when she commits lunatic things.

Nina will probably get Ms. Elena, her former ballet instructor. lol. How convenient that she would pop up now! In the earlier episode Nina credited her for teaching her and YeonSeo to dance properly “so that all those who want or ever wanted the role they played aren’t shamed.”

3. On fallen angels

@FlyingTool asked:

What does it mean to save a fallen angel? Return him to the deity’s good graces, I suppose, but what does that mean in our drama? What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church say about that (I have no idea)?

🙂 I can’t presume to understand where this writer is going with the story. However, as I told my  children when they were little, an injured bird longs to fly again in the sky and a fish out of water flops around to get back to the sea. So, too, angels and God’s creatures all seek to return home to heaven. That’s always the ultimate goal.

Thus, it isn’t merely about returning to God’s good graces, but going home where we belong, in heaven. Moreover, this concept of heaven, for Christians, is linked to perfection (i.e., we attain perfection of our beings in the presence of God), and fulfillment (i.e., final destiny) and paradise (i.e., eternal happiness).

For Kangwoo, although he is considered a “fallen angel” like Lucifer, I think there’s still hope for him. If he’s entirely ruined and doomed, then he should have disappeared into thin air already, like the Head Angel threatened Angel Dan. lol. But he can’t die in his own hand, no matter how hard he tried, because God is still waiting patiently for him to return home like the prodigal son.

Remember also what Dan said in Episode 3 when he learned that his final mission was to find love. He eagerly added, “I’ll find it for you, including trust and hope, as a full package.” I don’t think those were meant to be empty words. lol. He’ll probably help Kangwoo attain salvation, too, although Kangwoo is his arch-nemesis here.

@GrowingBeautifully said:

LOL. Thinking about this, it’s true that God is the real ‘lover’ who got rejected. By leaving his handkerchief on the altar, KW was essentially returning the ‘engagement ring’.

Like that idea. The handkerchief can be another form of engagement ring. Angel Dan gave his to YS. The interesting thing to note here is the color of the feather embroidery darkened when they kissed. KW’s handkerchief turned black when he tried to commit suicide, but NOT when he renounced God to live with the Girl. We don’t know exactly what sets off the colors.

@GrowingBeautifully also said:

There is a debate about whether the shot was meant for him alone or for Seol Hee (wrongly named Matilde/Matilda in subs). If it was meant for Seol Hee, the conjecture is that his retribution was to live forever in the world without her. But it was of course very remiss of this writer’s flawed god, to leave a loose canon like KW on earth to start messing with other people’s lives.

I agree. Those hit-men (I refuse to call them angels when they they act like the Mafiosos.) told Kangwoo, “Everything that has been given you by the deity will be taken away.”

They’re like the Mafia. They want to torture him, not kill him, for betraying their Mafia Don. That silver bullet was meant for the Dead Girl.

That whole scene could be interpreted in several ways. From the religious perspective, it’s a divine punishment. The Dead Girl ran to KangWoo. She didn’t see the invisible Mafia thugs with the gun so she ran to him and “accidentally” got shot instead of KW.

But in real life, this scene set up her death. Naturally, since KangWoo was an angel, he would understand and rationalize her death as retribution for his estrangement from his god. He was being punished. But if we were to remove god from the equation, I think the cause of her death would have been suicide. It was a self-inflicted wound because she was emotionally fragile, like Giselle in the ballet was physically frail.

However, philosophically speaking, our wrong choices cause our sufferings. When my children were in their late teens, I told them to read Dostoyevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” to understand what it means to have a free will. Catholic orthodoxy emphasizes this freedom to choose. We’re not robots. As God’s children, we are given free will to pursue either to do good or evil.

However, this concept of freedom is misunderstood and misused. People ignore that this freedom to decide one’s actions, comes at the cost of making EVIL choices. They err in thinking that their freedom to make a BAD choice actually LEGITIMIZES their bad choice.

No.

Take for instance, killing. It’s true that a person has a choice to kill or not to kill. But to EXERCISE this freedom to kill does NOT justify, validate or exculpate the bad choice. Morally bad choices remain morally bad choices. And all choices, whether good or bad, have consequences.

For me, Kangwoo’s accusation that God is cruel for giving him a heart is like arguing that God is unfair for giving us free will. In both cases, the burden of possessing a heart that bleeds for love and a free will that can’t resist temptation, can only be lightened when shared with God. He’s quick to blame God for His gifts.

lol. I doubt that Kangwoo would have been any happier with the alternative. If he had no heart and no free will, he’d still rail against God for doing the devil’s work.

4. On “Giselle”

Not all the elements of the ballet (e.g., YS dying, Dan dying, Albrecht surviving, etc.) will be strictly adhered to in the kdrama. The line-up that I made of the characters was meant as a guide to understand how the ballet would be relevant to the story. It’s an analogy, not a directive. lol.

It would be difficult for this kdrama writer to come up with a one-to-one correspondence anyway but here, I found more connections for the last remaining characters.

Queen of the Willis: the aunt who commands the whole ballet foundation to turn against Giselle…errr…YeonSeo
Willis: the ballet world targeting YeonSeo

But I also like @GrowingBeautifully’s suggestion that KangWoo is Myrtha, the Queen of the Willis. That works fine, too.

To me, KangWoo acts like Myrtha when he forces the reluctant YeonSeo to join the ballet as his center. That’s similar to Myrtha’s objective. Myrtha wants Giselle to join the Willis but she demands that she kills Albrecht first. In effect, she’s using Giselle to continue the vendetta of the femmes fatales against their lovers.

In this sense, I can imagine KangWoo using YeonSeo as an instrument of his hatred and revenge against the God. After all, YeonSeo is most blessed by God. Nina describes her gushingly, “I would think to myself that she’s the living proof that God exists. God made her with so much detail. He gave her tons of talent. My heart would fill with joy watching her.”

What better way then to strike back at God for taking his Mathilde, his lover, than to take one of God’s most sparkling creation?

That’s how I see the link between Myrtha and Kangwoo. They’ve become monsters bent on avenging a lost love.

On the other hand, in this episode, we also see that Kangwoo isn’t thinking of YeonSeo’s happiness, as he promised Dan.

KW: (talking to himself) This time, I think it will work out.
Head Angel (appeared in disguise) You must have lost a loved one. I can still see the waves of yearning in your eyes. As you loved the person with all your heart, I’m sure your loved one will be in paradise. She must be resting in peace.
KW: Is peace really attainable? Living is already a suffering. Wishing to be reincarnated is funny. Wishing for peace in the other world is also ridiculous.
Head Angel: Then, what do you want to attain, Sir?

KW smirked and turned away.

This smirk reminds me of Episode 2 when he heard YeonSeo insult her cousin and understudy, Nina. She said, “…while I was living in darkness for the past three years, Nina has shone brightly as Fantasia’s prima ballerina. What a dramatic story this is. As funny as this story may seem, please give much support to the Fantasia ballet company.”

lol. Lee Donggun and his smirks…

In moments like this, I think Kangwoo most resembles Albrecht who seduces Giselle. Like Albrecht, he has dubious intentions and that to me, is his link with the original ballet.

See that?

There are many ways to interpret the ballet “Giselle.” My interpretation was probably unusual and original but readers of this blog should use my ideas as a springboard to their own variations and enhance their own understanding of the characters.

Anyway, that’s why ballet aficionados watch “Giselle” over and over again, like Jane Austenites watch different versions of “Pride and Prejudice.” Each performance brings something new. It’s not one of those shows you see once to cross it off your checklist.

Albrecht can be considered a proper cad or a poor guy who fell in love after his arranged marriage. Hilarion can vacillate between jealous guy or a real romantic. Giselle can be portrayed as a foolish martyr or the forgiving heroine. The ambiguity is there.

5. Nina

KangWoo stoked that jealousy. He knew that Nina was looking at him and he chose that moment to whisper to YeonSeo. He made it appear as if he and YeonSeo had something going on.

She glanced at him for a sign of his approval.

He noticed her look at him, and he turned to YeonSeo. He contrived that conversation with YeonSeo.

At the end of her performance, she looked at him for applause and validation.

He deliberately snubbed her. See? Everybody else was clapping except her rival, YeonSeo and her crush, Kangwoo. I don’t know what mindgames Kangwoo was playing at but he was despicable.

6. Their childhood connection

Yeonseo can always sense Dan hovering around her because they were childhood affinity.

I’m still trying to order their meeting.

From Episode 2:

At the scene of the car crash: The clock strikes midnight. Angel Dan hears YeonSeo saying, “I want to live. I’ve been wanting to die every day, but now I want to live.” Then he hears a child’s voice echoing the same thing. “I want to live! I’ve been wanting to die every day, but now I want to live.” And there’s an image of boy clinging to the rocks before he plunges into water. A young girl walks in light drizzle while holding an umbrella. She turns to look back.

From Episode 4:

At the scene of the chandelier accident, Angel Dan shields her from broken glass. Flashback to the scene of a young boy flailing his arms as he falls backward. Girl drops her umbrella as she runs to him. She hugs him to shield him from waves.

From Episode 10:

At the beach. Angel Dan watches her dance. Flashback to a scene when he was young watching her dance in 2005. His face is bruised up. She finishes dancing and a rainbow appears. He cries, “That was so pretty. That was the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” She hugs him.

From Ep 11:

After the beach outing, Angel Dan has a dream. A young boy is running in the rain down an empty street as if he’s being chased. He climbs the rocks and slips. He grips the rocks.

From Episode 12:

After YeonSeo made a spectacle at the party, Angel Dan sits at her bedside. She hallucinates and sees him as a young boy meeting a girl crouching in the middle of a grassy field. Then a young girl walks in light rain while holding an umbrella. She turns to look back. The young boy is running through a field with rapeseed flowers; he turns around and waves.

They met each other when they were young. But I like to think that they both saved each other. In my fantasy, she was probably seeking refuge in the middle of the field because she didn’t want to dance anymore. But she got her groove back when she started dancing for him and moved him to tears.

However, it’s also apparent that he was a battered child himself. There must have been a reason he said, ““I want to live! I’ve been wanting to die every day, but now I want to live.”  I’d like to imagine that the time when the child YeonSeo shielded from the wave was his first experience of being protected.

I’m morbidly obsessed with death so I wouldn’t mind if young Dan died when he plunged into the water. It was raining back then. When Yeonseo danced for him and the rainbow appeared in the sky, he was already dead. She was the first one to see him as an angel. But when she grew up and lost her childlike innocence and became hardened in spirit, she lost her ability to see him (even before she lost her eyesight) but she still could sense him.

See that? Yes. I’m morbid.

7. On forbidden love

YS: Why do you always save me?

Not to burst her romantic bubble, but he’ll always save her because angels are created in the image of God (how many times will I have to write that?) who saves us. It’s part of that “Love one another” command. Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” So yes, her guardian angel saves her.

YS: (continuing) You save me and help me out. But, why don’t you like me? Figures. No one in this world likes me. I don’t care about. But it’s not okay for you not to like me.

She meant she’ll forsake everything else but his love.

YS: I hate it. It’s frustrating. You said I’m good. You said I’m pretty. But why don’t you like me? How can you not like me? Hmm? Kim Dan.

Later, after he put her in bed, he says, “I… cannot like you. And I can’t stay by your side forever. That really breaks my heart. Leo YeonSeo. How can I not like you?”

Forbidden love.

To me, Dan’s restraint appears antiquated. He’s trying NOT to love her because, as an angel, it’s forbidden to consort with a mortal. But when we think about his dilemma, there’s really no longer such thing as “forbidden love” nowadays, is there?

many people create their own morality and social order to suit their wants and needs. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Morality has mostly subjective and “fluid.” It’s dependent on how an individual FEELS at the moment.

So sorry, Show!

My worldly self is not convinced that Dan’s suffering from a terrible thing. He should be “woke” and realize that his feeling of forbidden love is only a concept institutionalized by an oppressive patriarchal society which seeks to control women’s bodies and bowel movements. Angels should declare war against that judgmental god so they can be free to love mortals, monkeys and manatees.

Hahaha.

Sarcasm aside, I find it cute that this drama agonizes about love between angels and humans when there are bigger problems around like love between humans and robots (cough…Absolute Boyfriend) and humans and aliens.

7. Fighting angels

Yes. Lucifer and St Michael the Archangel fought. I think it’s interesting that KangWoo and Angel Dan are at each other’s throats.

About the name Dan…

@FlyingTool asked,

Sicarius on DB mentioned that the meaning of Dan in Hebrew is “he who judges.” Do you think the name is a deliberate choice? Does it have a different meaning in the Catholic religion?

Yes, Dan would be short for Daniel and it would have the same meaning. Christianity has Jewish roots. Jesus was a Jew.

I don’t know what Dan means in Korean. I’ve heard of the word “dan” used in Taekwondo, however. Like I’m a second “dan” or second degree black belter. lol.

I also don’t know how the name relates to the story. But give me a week or two, and I’ll invent something.

See y’all.