I don’t do recaps because that’s beyond my expertise level and my pay grade. I do madcaps. This is part 1 of 4. I have to break the episode down into four so it’s easier to discuss.
Let’s connect the final scene in Episode 7 with the beginning of Episode 8.
From Episode 7
CS: Feeling something’s been stolen from you when it isn’t yours is just for thieves. (Remember now, his father was also a thief.)
MW: I AM a thief! You didn’t see it in the dreams?
CS: Your people were thieves? The person who married you seemed to be of a high class.
MW: Married? Me?
CS: I saw you in a red wedding dress. It was luxurious so I thought you married someone from the higher class.
MW: It was someone else’s dress.
lol. Now do you understand why I called attention to her gaudy clothes in a previous post? The clothes weren’t her style but hey were her idea of “high class.” The wedding dress wasn’t hers either. But her fashion sense has been improving ever since the tree bloomed and she found herself.
MW: Gu Chansung. I was a bad person. Of course, I’m still bad. But I was originally much worse. Since you’re looking into me (meaning, he’s seeing into her past through her dreams), you’ll gradually understand how bad I was.
I like that she took the lead in confessing about her history. Before, it was a taboo to pry into her past. And I like how she tried to put herself in a better light and soften her bad image, “I was originally much worse.” She wouldn’t have cared about anybody’s opinion of her before.
Chansung gets a phone call that Mira’s coming. At the same time, Manwol sees her smiling and waving from afar. And she begins to remember the bride.
Note: All the images that flashed before her eyes, have been explained by Episode 8 except for this one. What do you think? A piece of jewelry?
In Episode 8
Note her designer scarf here has replaced her bloodstained scarf.
I thought this was a good visual image to connect us to the very first episode when we saw her walking in the noonday sun. No matter how chic her scarf has become, she’s still stained by blood.
A bird flew in the sky that time, too, when the cavalry was chasing her. It was probably one of the Ma Go #1 keeping an eye on her.
MR: Chansung-ah!
CS: Oh! Mira-ya.
Manwol looks at him in anger but Chansung turns to look at her looking apologetic for Mira’s unexpected visit. He tries to explain.
CS: She’s my friend. Somehow she found out that I’m here and came.
MW: Gu Chansung! You brought her here.
Although he’s telling the truth, Manwol is filled with distrust. That feeling is natural considering her mind-blowing revelation that Chansung’s girlfriend is the Captain’s wife and her nemesis.
Remember: I said the King Ghost in Episode 7 was a harbinger of her future problem. I said Manwol would recognize the strong overlap between her memories and her current situation. Now, she thinks that she’s been set up and betrayed. She thinks that Chansung was sent into her life by Ma Go to make her confront her ill-fated enemy, the Princess.
Five things to note here:
One, refer to my explanation of Ma Go’s words in Episode 6, when she mused aloud, “Their fates from a distant past have met. He would have to take care of her so that she suffers less.” I said that Ma Go was referring only Mira and Manwol’s fates being tied to Chansung. This encounter of the ladies fulfills Ma Go’s prediction.
Two, Manwol THINKS that she found Ma Go’s real motive for sending Chansung to her. To me, she must not really be convinced that her crimes are forgivable if, after 1000 years of labor at Hotel del Luna, she still suspects Ma Go of deceiving her.
But she’s wrong. As Ma Go says later, “For a flower to blossom, she needs to feel the wind and face the rain, too.”
Three, it didn’t enter Manwol’s head to wonder whether Chansung is the reincarnated Captain. Sooo…people! Let’s stop beating the dead horse on Changsung = Captain. Their names do sound alike when I’m not wearing hearing aids. lol.
Goo Chan Sung
Go Chung Myung
Four, the three Ma Go sisters must have been referring to this encounter between Chansung’s ex-GF and Manwol when they said that Chansung was both a remedy and poison. Remember?
Herbalist Ma Go: You sent him there because you thought he was the remedy. But he might turn out to be poison.
Scissors Ma Go: Love can be one’s remedy and poison. But it’s so hard to weave them together. Darn it. It’s tangled again.
In a Hong sisters’ drama, you have to assume that almost everything’s interconnected. It’s good to recall details like this so you’ll understand the plot movement and put the events into context.
Five, this is important.
Please note that although Manwol is filled with hatred for the Princess, she doesn’t feel the same intensity of hatred for the Captain.
I said in my Flash Review of Episode 7 that the best way to interpret that scene where she was reminiscing about the Captain meeting her at night and confiscating her bottle outside the palace walls, was to see the moment as a healing process for her.
She was remembering the time she smiled shyly as the Captain walked away…AND she did NOT feel the same fury like she always did. That was a good sign that she was slowly letting her grudge go.
She was aware of the change in her and she looked up at the tree blossom and said, “Am I really going to get prettier and colorful? Gu ChanSung is probably going to brag if he sees this.”
The point of that scene in Episode 7 was to show that she’s changed. Slowly but surely, she’s letting go. Likewise, the point of this Episode 8 is to show that she’s letting go of her grudge for the princess, too. Now, remember the Wannabe Bride with the red string? The Scissors Ma Go told her that “Letting go is more difficult than holding on.”
Manwol is letting go.
CS: (mumbling yes) Mmm. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.
Note: This is one of the gazillion reasons Chansung doesn’t “feel” like the reincarnated Captain. Although Chansung scolded and nagged Manwol, he showed her respect.
In contrast, the Captain liked to make Manwol uncomfortable, like drinking from her bottle. He was way too casual with her. I expected him to treat a girl that he liked with more respect even if she was a wanted person, an outlaw. He didn’t treat her like a lady, like the Princess.
MW: (addressing Chansung) So this is why you came. They had no intentions of letting me go in the first place.
The Viki subs were harder to understand. Their translation: “You came to do this. You were never going to give me a beautiful send-off.” She thinks that the Ma Go sisters are lying and conniving to get her to commit a great sin so they can make her disappear like the Escapee Ghost. But Ma Go #1 is solidly in her court. Perhaps Ma Go #4 doesn’t want to let her off. But the top boss, Ma Go #1, wants to help her out of this world from the beginning.
But remember when they first met? Ma Go #1 stopped her from killing herself.
Manwol: If only dead people can find the Inn of the Moon, then I can kill myself this instant. (puts sword to her own neck)
OW: What a poor soul. You think you can compensate for everything by sacrificing your life. But that’s a futile desire.
MW: My own life is the only thing I have to throw away now.
She didn’t care before. Now, she’s resentful and angry that she can die and disappear without the beautiful send-off. Ha! She’s actually looking forward to that send-off.
CS: Ms. Jang. Is there something wrong?
Chansung doesn’t understand her. Manwol ignores him. She has tunnel vision; she can only see Mira sauntering toward Chansung and her heart hardens again.
MW: She’s smiling again right in front of me.
She glares at Mira and sends the wind to knock her off the pier and into the water. Beside her, Chansung shouts.
Seriously?
That should have been a giveaway. If he felt something for Mira, he should have dropped everything and jumped in the water or thrown a ring buoy at her. Instead, he stays by Manwol’s side and waits for her signal to leave her side.
Also, a note on the wind. I remember something vaguely about “wind” in another Hong sisters’ drama, “Warm and Cozy.” The wind was used a metaphor for cheating or having an affair. I think it has something to do with the words being homonyms. (I dunno. I’m not Korean.) So, to me, when Manwol made the wind blow hard and then ordered Chansung to attend to Mira, she was thinking that Chansung “cheated” on her.
MW: Go look after her. That is your job.
Again, the Viki version is more complicated. Their translation: “Go take care of that woman! That’s what you have to do.”
It seems like Manwol is conflating her memories with the present. As her guard, the Captain would have immediately gone to assist the Princess. That was “his job.” But in the present, Manwol is Chansung’s responsibility, not Mira.
However, on her orders, he runs to get some rope. He still looks back at Manwol to check on her and he finds her gone.
My reaction to his inattention: Hey, dude!!! There’s a girl in the water. Rescuing her should be your priority.
MR: (calling his attention) Chansung!
My reaction if I were Mira: Ya, Chansung? I’m in the water. Should I phone a friend?
CS: Oh oh. Hold my hand.
My reaction: Why the heck did you throw the rope when you could have stretched out a hand?
My interpretation: He really isn’t into Mira. And if Manwol hadn’t been unhinged, she would have known that Chansung remained loyal to her. So, I understand: she’s in shock and in emotional pain. She’s enraged with Mira and jealous of Chansung.
She pushes Mira into the water then pushes Chansung to save Mira. Then, she leaves the two of them alone.
This is self-sabotage.
***************
Part 2 will come tomorrow. Working on my “Go Go Squid!” reviews and checking out “When the Devil Calls Your Name.”
Ooh I like this @packmule3. You’ve got a phenomenal memory. I like that all the different parts which are likely to be inter-related across the episodes are brought together like this.
The multiple long shots of the scarf in the wind had me wondering what that was supposed to signify. It was the only splash of colour on her white outfit.
Self sabotage always irritates me. It’s great for dramas but such a waste of time in RL. In RL, she should talk about it and get a 3rd person’s point of view, and be reasonable. As for MW… at the 1st mention of girlfriend she was already all jealous and upset. She never once clarified with CS whether he had feeling for that gf or whether she was an ex-gf.
Gotta run!
That item in the bloody fist looks like the head of the hair stick she used on the Roman evil spirit.
Yes, on 바람, a homonym for wind and affair, though used slightly differently.
GB: the bit I dislike the most in dramas is where adults don’t sit down and talk to each other like adults, and instead go off on tangents based on misinformation that could be easily cleared up.
Try this one on for size…a bit early, but… Manwol’s final “grudge” is with herself, not the captain.
In defense of Manwol’s paranoia
1. Mago #4, a goddess, wants her spirit extinguished
2. Mago #3, a goddess, knitted her life into a tangled mess
3. Mago #2, a goddess, is stirring the pot by supercharging CS’s ability to see into MW’s past
4. Mago #1, a goddess, is scamming her into moving on
If 3 out of 4 known goddesses, if not all four, are plotting “against” you, you have reason to be paranoid? PO’ed?…
Hahaha. Well-played, @flying_tool!! Well-played.
@Flying Tool, Yes! The last and biggest grudge is against herself. I’m imagining that she made a whole lot of mistakes, the same way she’s mistaken about CS and ex-gf. We see from her disappearance that she jumped the gun and I believe has taken action which was uncalled for and will lead to greater conflict, misunderstanding, unhappiness and problems all round.
She has probably been blaming herself for being weak in falling for the suave Captain, and now she’s afraid of the repeat with CS. She’s running away bringing her ‘coffin’, the hotel, with her.
Ma Go had already told her that her staying buried there was her own doing and her choice. She’s her own worst enemy.
He feels nothing for Mira for sure. There was already zero emotions in his voice when he picked up her call.
But he’s really nice and thoughtful and attractive, so Mira will still try to find a way to wedge herself into his life.”I’m pretty and you liked me before and therefore you’ll forgive me for anything/everything right?”
She doesn’t seem to hide her intentions either – I watched from Viu and she just directly told CS that “I was there to obstruct”.
I hope Mira will not be used frequently as the 3rd party to generate misunderstandings.
@Kaxx I’m thinking Mi Ra may be hopefully a changed person without her bracelet and after her experience in the hotel so that she will stop bugging CS and Sanchez. If not, I’m going to be so irritated with her.
@Growing Beautifully IKR! As i mentioned in Soompi, any more of her antics and she should be invited to Rm 404.
I hope she has some sort of a redemption arc too.
Perfect!
given her history with CM, suspecting a betrayal is no surprise… but I don’t think, even in that moment, that CS was the one she resented. I took her words to mean ‘so MG did not send you here for me to love you after all – it was all a cruel trick to get me to re-live the worst days of my life; the gods had no intention of letting me move on in the first place’…
She was feeling happy and felt that she did not deserve it, so deep down she was looking for the catch. and now it’s there. She resents the gods for orchestrating the whole thing… she sees CS as a pawn caught in a game he had no idea was playing, but that does not change who he is as a person, if that makes any sense. and yes, she has little reason to think that the gods intentions towards her are positive…
but there is no fate in this universe… only paths than are open and choices you make with regard to which to walk on… MW is having none of this one. To her, it is not an opportunity for redemption (and ‘moving on’, in more ways than one) but a cruel reminder of a past she has no desire to revisit. That knee-jerk reaction is just that – i’m having none of this! She heads straight in search for MG to tell her so.
I felt bad for CS in this instant… because he is left completely clueless to her reasons… he knows that something happened -not the trivial new gf getting jealous for the poorly timed appearance of an ex – but something else entirely. but has no clue what’s going on. and is left scrambling
I think important that MW does not want MR dead — the thing that she is offended by is her being happy. MW feels that MR doesn’t have the right to smile while she is still in so much pain… I think she realized that death is not that big a punishment in this universe. Living in torment is (and she knows that better than anyone) .
We had the same thoughts when MiRa fell into the water. I was like CS wasn’t moving and he was just looking at her. LOL! His care factor was almost zero hehehe
And yes why the rope? Does her touch revolt him? hehehe MiRa is really just an ex girlfriend. That’s all.
With MW not killing MiRa Like the Princess but instead giving her a lifetime of loneliness, it means she’s not as hateful as before. She let MiRa go when she said goodbye to CS.
True, she let MiRa go.
It was Chansung who saved both Mira and the Manwol. In the process of Manwol saving Chansung, Manwol learned to let go of her hatred for MiRa. The tree must have bloomed again.
She also learned unselfish love from Chansung because Chansung taught her by example.
I’ll talk about this in my Madcap Part 4 I’m prepping. 🙂
Yes, a grudge is always more about you than the other person. Because you’re the one who couldn’t let go, there’s also a failure on your part which stems from anger and victimhood. Take for instance, the Escapee Ghost.
Yes, she had every reason to be angry. And yes, she was a victim. She carried a huuuge grudge. In fact, she made the grudge define herself that, eventually, the grudge consumed her whole identity. She became toxic, too.
But the Escapee Ghost didn’t have to turn inward. She didn’t have to hide in the wardrobe. She didn’t have to feel helpless. And she didn’t have to commit suicide. Those were her own choices. The alternatives were equally there: She could have come out of the closet (metaphorically and literally speaking). She could have sought out help for depression. She could have found a worthwhile cause to engage herself in (like expose the culprits) instead of killing herself. Life trumps death.
She could and SHOULD be angry with herself for NOT making the right choice, the better choice while she was alive.
So yeah…the grudge, ultimately, is with herself.
@Charlie I’m more in tune with how you describe MW’s reaction to the gf turning up. She felt betrayed not by CS, but by Ma Go. She felt that Ma Go had led her up the garden path talking about her being colourful with flowers and that she could get herself out of the hotel if she wished,and she thought that CS was going to be the special one with that dream connection, who would heal her. But she felt that actually she’d been tricked into complacency while Ma Go was using CS to bring back her nemesis, so that she’d commit more of the sins that got her into trouble in the first place. She was doomed to never leave the hotel.
This was part of the reason why she left CS out and disappeared. She did not want him to get wounded again trying to protect the people she wanted to hurt, but more than this, she could not trust that Ma Go was not going to use him again to get at her.
Dear… ¿¿¿Bitches???. Sorry, don’t know how to refer to people belonging to this site.
Yes, Chang-Sung hate the guts out of Mi-Ra for being an irresponsible and for taking his money. He wants nothing to do with her. That is why he tries to get rid of her asking his money back with interests. Do you remember when he went to see her in the café?, he started using this formula: 5,000×1,05×1,05 in the calculator. That formula is used to calculate how much money generates due to interests:
(Initial Capital)*(1+interests)^number of years
So for example, if Mi-Ra took 5,000 US$ five years ago, and banks gives 5% (5/100=0,05) of interests, then she must pay him 5,000*(1+0.05)^5=6381.40 US$ . He is so keen in keeping her at bay by asking her his money with interests. Now, as Mi-Ra is a money-grabber, he is attacking her in her greed.
And Chang-Sung trusts Man-Wol so much he can go and get cursed since he knows she will com to save him. He really knows how to unravel Man-Wol by doing so, remember that a big part of her pain is to have given her men an order (for them to wait her while having a tryst with Captain) that ended up in them being killed, so for her to be with someone that confident in her is also a big responsibility not to fail him. He is also redeeming her by having her use her most beautiful virtues.
Can Chang-Sung help to redeem Man-Wol by making her retelling her story to herself in a better light?.