@Papai noticed the constant mention of the Baekdu painting and asked this question:
why from the earlier episode up till latest ep,the Baekdu mountain painting keeps circulating here and there everywhere in many dialogue..??even appear in many scene..
is it just candidly add to sweeten the scene metaphorically or it will play important role in the latter episode?lol🤣🤣..
Good job, my friend.
From Ep 2
To Ep 10, the Baekdu painting was made much of. She wanted to sell it high, then half, then a quarter, then she gave it away to Chansung as a “severance pay” because it was in the way. Now, she’s begging for a share. I’ll let you interpret the significance of the dwindling price tag of the painting AFTER you read this post. lol.
I should have responded earlier but I had caseloads waiting for me at work. Here’s MY answer.
The Baekdu painting is VERY important because it represents the Captain’s betrayal.
The Captain discovered the lake through Manwol. He discovered it during that firefly scene.
For the record, this is what he said:
Captain: You’re here, nooie?
Manwol: How did you find me here?
Captain: Yeonwoo told me. (pause) Ahhhh. You should have told me first if you found a good place like this. Don’t keep it to yourself.
We were focused on the firefly romance that we forgot that the lake is important. To this day, the mountain area and that lake on the mountain are under border dispute. When Korea was unified, that whole land was considered Korean territory. But now China, greedy China, is claiming almost half, with North Korea claiming a little bit over 50% of it.
South Korea protests Chinese claims.
To explain the competing claims, I’ll give you a rough analogy.
Just imagine that you and your brother inherited a property from your parents. You and your brother decided to split the house (i.e., you take the South side and he takes the North side) and agreed to share the driveway. But your brother who’s strapped for money was approached by his neighbor. “Hey, rent out part of your driveway to me so I can park my cars there at night, and I’ll pay you $400 a month.” Your brother bit.
Nowadays, then, when you come home after work, that driveway – which was meant for you and your brother’s use – is filled with strangers’ cars. Parking has become inconvenient for you and odd scratches and dents appear on your cars overnight. Of course, you’ll be royally pissed off with your brother for allowing his neighbor in… behind your back.
In a nutshell, the dispute over the Baekdu Mountains involves two brothers, one ancestral land and one stranger.
Going back to the kdrama now.
We’ve misinterpreted what Captain said when he told Manwol, “Thanks to you, I was able to achieve something big. Leading me to that place, too, and gaining some time, it’s all thanks to you. I’ll spare your life.”
The significant part here is “THAT PLACE.” He meant THAT LAKE.
This is my take:
Those times when he was visiting her at the lakeshore and she thought he was seeking out her company, he was actually monitoring his men’s deployment around the lake to secure it. That’s why he was thanking her for achieving something big.
Literally, she led him to that place and she gave him time to take over that land. He was able to gain something BIG. Geographically big. Historically big.
And he didn’t mean the wedding at all. He didn’t trade Manwol for the Princess. He traded her for the land.
And that’s the inside joke when Manwol was unable to sell the Baekdu painting for an exorbitant price, actual price, half the price, quarter of the price. Chansung didn’t want to sell it because he knew it would have a higher value once the CEO passed away. He said so.
And that’s also the double meaning when Manwol repeatedly called Chansung a scammer.
hahaha. Of course, Chansung isn’t a scammer. He’s UNLIKE the Captain who betrayed her for the price of the land. Chansung has honest intentions.
do you like to dissect and connecting the ost of the drama according to the characters & scene?
i had noticed when Chanseong’s brooding after been abandon and while hugging Manwol,So Long (OST by Paul Kim) is respectively playing and i search for translation; it is roughly describe Chanseong’s..
then there was Manwol when she’s being pensive and remembering someone from her past or feeling, A Poem Tittled You (OST by Taeyeon) is playing especially when she is looking out to the darkness like waiting for someone..
I’m like @growing_beautifully on music.
I know the director/producer/music director *plan* the OST to match and dovetail with the scenes. But I don’t trust them. They could be deliberately using the OST and the lyrics to make us think in one direction, when the plot and dialogue are going another direction.
I do like the OSTs. I’ve been listening to Taeyeon’s music in particular.
For instance, —just like what you said. Taeyeon’s music is played when Manwol is looking lonely in the dark or by herself. The impression here is that she’s waiting for SOMEONE. However, according to the Housekeeper and Bartender, she was actually waiting to GET OUT of the place because it was her prison and her fence. She was waiting for the TIME when she’s freed from the place. She wasn’t waiting for a person like the Captain — although the music certainly pushed that idea and feeling on us. 🙂
@Pkm3 The dispute over the land by two brothers and a stranger sounds very similar to Silla and Gogoryeo fighting over Korea, and Silla invites Tang China in to help. Which I’m told is the background for Man Wol’s past. Thanks for providing that real life factoid. Also for explaining the That Place reference, which I thought just meant the place where the bandits and rebels met up, so he had time to get his men into position.
So Silla won the whole peninsula with Tang China’s help! How funny is that? Even after a thousand years, everything’s still the same.
I’ve seen the Hong sisters cover thorny political issues (like, political and social leaders who are Japanese sympathizers) in their vignettes before so I was steeling myself for the Baekdu dispute since Episode 2. I wasn’t sure where the sisters were going with it.
The writers often inject their own political commentary on current affairs into the script but they do it so inconspicuously that it doesn’t cause a stir with international (and local) viewers. They make everything a joke so it goes down easily.
i hope they gonna stop mentioning Baekdu Mountain or else i keep thinking it is essential to move the plot..instead,isn’t it better having the icon of betrayal appearing himself right before our ManChan couple?i’m excited to see how both of them gonna handle his reincarnation because Manwol herself said she’s not gonna let him past unscathed?
i think the biggest theme of this drama is regrets ( also maybe revenge?) and to heal from the fear, how to forgive and forget, then finally move on to next cycle of life (LOL)..because people tend to question themselves of ‘what if’..like the ghosts from the ep 2, they would eat and read to their heart’s content maybe they hadn’t had the chance to do it while they were alive..same goes as the ghost hiker that die alone in cold, he just need a person to keep giving him a fire and hot choco; some warm to be on his way..
also isn’t the biggest representative of regretment(?) here is none other than our Manwol?she’s been spending a millennium full of regret..she must’ve been blaming herself for Captain’s betrayal then regret killing people in her rage thinking it’s relevant to kill so many for her own greed..maybe she just need someone else to blame for all of her done..she just need one chance of ‘what if’..what if she see Mira and not being mad about it..what if she see Yeonwoo and not feel guilty?and lastly,what if she see the betrayer of her love but feel anything but a passing, an almost, love..??
i feel pity for Chanseong’s mom because her issue resolved within 2nd half of episode without knowing why she abandon him in the 1st place and want to hide his existence at all..
i hope their psychopath murderer friend will be caught, the plot will move and settle within next episode cause he’s beginning to take a long time to introduce his character and description..while the other takes about 1/2 episode and sometimes only half of it..
it’s buzzing and annoyed me when Chanseong grab Manwol arm’s to prove his point..cuz i like a gentleman..i feel his ‘vanilla’ charm..no need to put the typical trope of man abusing his woman to show his masculinity..but isn’t it cute when he mentioned how his father named him as an ‘approval’ of his born but due to spelling error(?) he become the ‘brightest star’..Manwol as a full moon and Chanseong as the star..it must be beautiful and calm night for stargazing 🙂..
About Chang-Sung grabbing Man-Wol’s arm, I take it as a desperate way not only to cling to her, but also to be heard. It was not an abusive man showing off his physical power, because as we know Man-Wol is just in another and uncharted different level of power. In fact, it means closeness since if they were not close he would be risking his life (even existence) in doing so.
In episode 10 we have several reverse roles, one of which was Man-Wol clinging to him (out of guilt for sending him her retroactive curse) so hard that she took a button out of his jacket. Personally I thought it was beautiful: she cared so deeply for him that his pain was hers.
I love Hong Sisters reversing roles. The searcher becomes the searched, the consoler the consolee.
Hope this Drama keeps the tight and clever writing.
i read somewhere “Kdrama Hotel del Luna suspected of plagiarizing Cdrama Goodbye My Princess.” has been circulating..is it true?
anyone can confirm this?
“i read somewhere “Kdrama Hotel del Luna suspected of plagiarizing Cdrama Goodbye My Princess.” has been circulating..is it true?
anyone can confirm this?”
Yeah apparently it’s Weibo netizens accusing Hong Sisters of copying GMP. Gotta admit when I went to read the synopsis on Wiki there are lots of elements that seem similar. Don’t know, haven’t watched GMP so I can’t be sure.
hahaha. Trust our resident spy-researcher-wiki to check these things out.
Thanks, @nrllee. Have to run.
On hey guys, I saw Goodbye My Princess – loved the first half – and any similarities (like fireflies, scarves and quicksand) are completely superficial. There is one very similar plot point but only if it turns out to be true. It happens at the beginning of GMP, and is included in some summaries, so don’t think I’m giving anything away but Spoiler!for the purists don’t read on.
The main lead is a scheming prince. He purposefully strikes up a friendship with the main female lead to discover where her nomadic tribe is. They both fall madly in love. Nevertheless he leads his men in a massacre of her grandfather and maternal tribe. She can never forgive him though amnesia plays a role for both of them the next 30 episodes after this.
As you can see, if the Captain did what he said he did, it’s very similar. I even pointed it out on soompi when the episode aired. But it was not copied or plagiarized. I’ve seen this plot a number of times before, and the Hong Sisters in any case wrote most of this drama years ago, and the Captains role is intrinsic. It also beggers belief they would have scooped up this plot point from a very popular drama that just ended a month or two ago.
The people spreading this around are trolls and I very publicly told the one on soompi to stop with the hate talk without evidence.
Hmm…Ms Koala’s recent post has scenes side by side and I would say they do have a case. It’s remarkably similar. 🤔.
When Hong Sisters say they wrote this drama years ago I doubt very much they would’ve had details down pat. They would’ve had a skeletal framework. I thought they had the tendency to pen their stories around a chosen female. They would’ve fleshed the character (and others around her) and scenes out only at a later date. That’s why I think their drama endings (and sometimes mid drama) are a bit hit and miss. The scripts aren’t complete from the get go or undergone multiple edits to iron out plot holes. I guess one could argue that there really is nothing new under the sun and all period dramas tend to overlap to some extent anyway… but the similarities are there.
Thanks, @barbrey, for the update. I’ll take your word for it since you’ve seen both dramas. 🙂