Hurray! We survived 8 weeks of bitching over Hotel del Luna!!! No matter what happens, this finale calls for a celebration!
A happy ending for me would have entailed a wedding, honeymoon, sailing on Sanchez’s yacht, family life, and three children. But I think the writers have a different notion of happy endings. 🙂
Haven’t we always wished for a wedding, a honeymoon and babies in the dramas we watched? 😂 Have we ever been given those three? 🤔😄
Whatever the ending, I agree wholeheartedly that Hotel del Luna was a gem to watch. It’s been a great learning curve for me especially with the discussions that entailed it. Thanks in advance to everyone! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@pm3, I love the fireworks! It feels like new year! 🎆🎉😍
Let’s celebrate! Let’s meet on Sanchez’ Pizza House. LOL 😂
@agdr03, I love how you phrase it, sounds like a softie yet bitchy! 😉
“Haven’t we always wished for a wedding, a honeymoon and babies in the dramas we watched? 😂 Have we ever been given those three?” 🤔😄
in the past, it’s Chanseong & his father who saved Manwoel when she was a child before she met with Yeonwoo..hmmm
@Storm Moon , ☺️ I hope it’s not too bitchy for my favourite teacher because I don’t want to go to detention 😆
@agdr03, don’t worry, that teacher won’t mind. Who knows, maybe he/she is also that bitchy! 😅😜
@papai, just saw it now on IG and I got the chills with the picture of young MW holding young CS’s hand as if using her point finger to write something on his palm. I wonder if it’s the moon symbol she’s drawing. If so, then the “I’m yours” thing had started way back then. What a delight! I’m so enthralled! 👩❤️👨
The roles were played by that young CS again and young Ji An (IU’s role in My Mister). Cuties! 😍😍
Finished watching. Most onions cut ever.😭😭😭
After sending off all the staffs, Man Wol left on her own, but foot, with a lily. Chan Sung is left to live life with fantasies of their future lives. I’m torn. I knew it will be a bittersweet ending. I’m not complaining. It was beautifully executed.
i had little voice in my head saying “is that receptionist/bellhop’s sister is a special kid?say maybe an autistic child?”..throughout the drama,she potrayed as someone who need special attention & care..only respond to familiar person & environment..is this why Hyunjoong cannot move on to the afterlife?worrying continuously about his sister in stranger’s care?is this possible?
@stormmoon, i saw it too..so Chanseong’s is Manweol’s from way back right..?she’s been branding him as hers from earlier..wow…
however,still don’t understand the ending..is everyone been reincarnated already?or is it Chanseong’s imagination?does Hong sister just ruined the finale?i was too distracted by the new hotel’s owner appearance (he look so fine,man!🤤)so now i’m a bit dizzy..
So a second season about The Blue Moon Hotel? I already like the owner.
It’s Chan Sung’s imagination. I don’t think they ruined the ending. Man Wol made a promise to meet him in the future. She left a weightless soul. He’s keeping his third-eye as a secret. It is sad in his prospective, but I feel that a happy ending is inappropriate for this drama. Brit-Queen Mago implied they are still connected by red thread. He will probably meet her later in this life, or their next.
Hugs!
After the ending of Episode 15, when she poured out the water from the bottle and she let go of the bottle, I knew it was going to be farewell, *fare-thee-well* type of ending. lol. That’s why I woke up in the middle of the night and started writing my Quick Takes. lol. I was prepping y’all in case it’s going to going to be a sad ending.
That’s why I wrote that he understood what it meant to be “wait” after going back 200 years in the past to see Manwol. Compared to her 1300 year wait, his life expectancy is only 80 years.
And then, you can tie this to what he said that he chose to “complicate his life”.
Also, this ending fulfilled what MG said in Episode 12. While looking at the beautiful tree, MaGo and the Grim Reaper had that conversation about the terrible price CS had to bear.
GR: CEO Jang Manwol wants to try to reduce the price that Gu Chansung would bear for making the tree bloom so she gave me a task. (capturing Jinwoo)
MG1: It seems that Manwol sitll doesn’t know exactly the price that GCS will have to pay. If she knew…she would be sad and terrified.
But somebody needs to remind the Hong sisters that a HAPPILY-ever-after ending would IDEALLY have a wedding, honeymoon, married life, family life and babies. I don’t know about other viewers, but I cannot survive on a steady diet of melancholic and lachrymose kdramas.
I need ice cream. I need a Colin Firth episode and my Pride and Prejudice.
Who’s the owner? The “moon embracing the sun” actor?
@pckmule,yep yep that actor from “moon embracing the sun” is the new owner..he looks dashing & more masculine after release from the army..
lol. I was hoping he’d come as the wedding planner.
What happened to the student intern?
She sent Hyun Jung off with a huge bouquet of lilies. Chan Sung gave her the ferrero so she doesn’t see ghosts anymore (she didn’t know there was only one and thought he took one too). Now she can finally concentrate on studying and will follow Chan Sung’s path into hotel management.
It was definitely not a happy ending. However it wasn’t the kind of unacceptable forced breakup to give the finale a last twist. Nor did they show a school girl meeting an old man to continue their romance. I’m cool with this semi-open ending.
We find out that Chan Sung was actually the child that saved Man Wol at the brink of death, even before she met Yeo Woo. The tone is that they will meet no matter what. How is up to our imagination.
I still think they wrote the 404 honeymoon story as a part of Man Wol’s reincarnation. It was the only plot line (I could think of) that never tied back to the OTP. It was probably last minute that they decided not to go there.
I’m happy that they showed Chan Sung being Man Wol’s arm pillow and patting her to sleep. It’s just what I expected, sensual not sexual. I need subs to confirm, but that’s when he saw his past life.
I watched the episode without subs. So it is chan sungs imagination. I already cried so much seeing MW go to the afterlife. Now knowing chan sung is all alone i feel terrible 😞😞😞
Oh wow, just watched with subs and did I ever cry. Prepare yourselves!
But all in all a very satisfying ending if not the outright happy one I wanted.
And while it might not be a happy ending, it is very much a happy beginning.
If you think about it, CS has been reincarnated likely myriad times in 1300 years and never had a chance to meet his soul mate in all that time. Man Wol finally going to the afterlife begins not just one lifetime of a happy ending, but many lifetimes.
So that’s what the HS gave us in the end, and I think I prefer it: a happy beginning.
Can someone explain Yuna to me and what her deal with Ma Go was? I didn’t get it.
And maybe Packmule3 and I can continue our discussion re Heidigger and the Existence and Time book because I think what I said it was saying last time is exactly why they used it again in the last scene (and also the landscape scene as connected).
… Whew the last episode brought tears to my eyes mostly when the workers left. the hong sisters really finished it well. It truly was bittersweet. The new hotel owner seems interesting and if there is a second season with him, i’ll definitely check it out. also im quite surprise that the drama only had one kiss, definitely different than your average drama.
@Barbrey ahh when i noticed the title i went . o . anyways im curious about it’s full meaning.
Hello beautiful souls, here I am – laten reader since like, episode 10 of HDL? I think so.
First of all – I’m thankful for all of your posts, comments and theories. I was able to enjoy this wonderful story even more. This drama somehow feels special to me, I’ve watched bunch of them, but in this case I feel like a ton of rocks is lying on my chest after seeing spoilers, watching ep 16 in parts live and then consuming it with subtitles. Wish I could cry after all of that, but sadly, I’m not programmed well to do so, instead of that, a few tears escaped from my eyes, which only happened with this show. Now I don’t know what to do with overwhelming emotions.
I almost don’t have a single thing to be mad at HS, but I just need to talk over the scene with Kim SooHyun’s cameo (alien, to be short) It’s odd, but somehow I have been angry with that move with “Hotel Blue Moon”, and I don’t get why at all, it’s not something I can easily describe. Before that, I had been thinking that MW was special, one of a kind, with “story that heaven was crying over”, etc. How this move with drinking a wine from MG annoyed me! But another side of me still thinks that everything with her was a “deity’s plan”, “a story written by fate long ago” It’s hard to express and explain what I feel about it, as I said just now. Everything was easier before episode 15, when I thought that the former proprietor of Guest House of The Moon was MG, and that she will after MW left. It makes me curious about people who performed such a duty before MW, and even more about the new owner – sadly I didn’t remembered one part from the synopsis of the drama! “[She cannot] find a soul who has committed a greater sin than herself”. See what is one of my concerns? Greater sin than MW… I won’t complain about finding it out by herself, but people started talking about season 2, which I found hilarious mainly because of: if the guy MG decided to give a drink really has committed bigger sin than MW, how many years his grudge will last? 1500 years? 2000 years? Maybe my train of thought and ability to create scenarios are too shallow, but how somebody can imagine his story? And if so, I guess it would be, after all, distinctly similar to MW’s.
To sum up, I have a lot of small, logical intricacies mainly detected by my lacking in knowledge of the religion, which was used as a main here and some of philosophical concerns. It would take forever to me write everything here, and I don’t even know if I want to blockade my brain completely. It’s just me and my tendency to overthinking and overinterpretation.
Moving on from my biggest and messy problems, I really loved the small detail: after episode 1 I was pretty sure that scarf or something that MW wore (all dirty and in blood) will have its appearance once again. Imagine my happiness when CS gave her that in his previous life. I was fulfilled. 🙂
The fact that she didn’t recognize CS and his father in their next lives was quite far-fetched for me, I’ve always thought that her memory is extremely good.
The ending (our alien’s scene not included here) was painful, but it felt right. Everything was going into this direction since begining, even when I was fooled by HS and resigned from my theories a few times. The marriage, honeymoon and babies would be beautiful too, and I’d love to see it, but after a short thought, it’s just not suitable with the drama’s theme, morals and about what it really was.
For sure, I will write more after considering this episode once again, it’s too fresh right now.
A wonderful journey, wasn’t it?
I’m waiting for it to be fully subbed at Viki before watching it. It’s current at 54%.
How much is a “few” tears? 3 tissues? 4 tissues?
It isn’t fully subbed yet on Viki so I’m waiting. I’ve gotten used to watching it on both Viki and Kissasian so if there’s confusion on translation, I go on the other site to check. The Hong sisters’ dramas are “high-context” dramas and the words will have implied meaning which can vary depending on situation and context.
I think that’s what the fangirls/boys missed out on when they take only the literal meaning of the spoken word.
Ahhh! Is that the synopsis? “[She cannot] find a soul who has committed a greater sin than herself”. Where did you get that? I want to see it please.
😂😂😂
It wasn’t talking about a new hotel owner. Wellllll…you may interpret it THAT WAY.
But what it means in context of the story is that she cannot find Captain Firefly who actually COMMITTED the GREATER sin than she did.
Lol.
Haven’t you been reading my posts on Captain Firefly?? Try reading them again. 😂
That’s what the synopsis was talking about. It wasn’t referring to a search for a new hotel owner. It was talking about her inability to find the Captain for 1300 years Once she found this soul (note: the synopsis said soul bec the Capt was a soul trapped as a Firefly), she could leave. You were misled to believe that she was waiting for Kim Soohyun when the writers actually meant the Captain.
Lol! There! We got vindication here that the Captain was a bad one. 😂👍
Thanks.
So don’t worry too much about the gravity of the sins of this new hotelier. That wasn’t the point of the synopsis.
PS. Welcome to Bitchesoverdramas. Bitches ‘R Us!
But somebody needs to remind the Hong sisters that a HAPPILY-ever-after ending would IDEALLY have a wedding, honeymoon, married life, family life and babies. I don’t know about other viewers, but I cannot survive on a steady diet of melancholic and lachrymose kdramas.
I need ice cream. I need a Colin Firth episode and my Pride and Prejudice.
Good evening! 🙂 How are you? Yes, I know you always remind the writers about our happily ever after. I too do not like sad endings and really the main reason I got into kdramas is because I want the romance and trimmings that goes with it. 🙂
I haven’t watched the last episode but I already had a tear or two when I saw some vids in instagram. 🙁 Thanks for the heads up about bringing tissues.
Have you had ice cream yet? LOL. I see Colin Firth and P&P is up already. 🙂
I had a sundae earlier. Because it’s Sunday today. I have the ingredients to make a banana split but three scoops of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) sounds decadent so I settled for one scoop of vanilla ice cream, with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and three maraschino cherries. Do you like those cherries? I love them.
Yes, bring tissues. The ending scene of Ep 15 warned me to come prepared with tissues for this finale episode. But it makes sense really. I was hoping they’d be given a reprieve but when she smiled at him after she threw the bottle meant that she was happy and relieved, in a way, that he didn’t uncoolly hang on to her.
When you think about it, it is “cool” that they can be at peace with her departure.
But I tell you, I’m glad I don’t believe in reincarnation. lol. I only want heaven. We Christians have the best world. After death, we join our loved ones in heaven and live happily-ever-after. Or we don’t.
You only have one chance to live your life to the fullest. No slacking. No do-overs. No nonsense. No excuses. And none of this never-ending cycle of rebirth and death, meeting and forgetting. lol. Can you imagine after several reincarnations, Mother Theresa could marry Hitler?
lol. That’s why Manwol was appalled at Mira dating Yeonwoo. In her mind, it’s like Mother Theresa (Yeonwoo) getting it on with Hitler (Mira) after 1300 years of regeneration. hahaha.
That’s why nope. I reject reincarnation. It’s not for me. That would be real hell.
I settled for one scoop of vanilla ice cream, with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and three maraschino cherries. Do you like those cherries? I love them.
Sounds delicious, yeah the 3 scoops sound heavy. Actually I only love fresh cherries and not those ones that you put on ice cream. I love my ice cream with nuts, like rocky road style. hehehe With my gelato I always go with pistachio. 🙂
CS stayed true to himself and MW right at the end. He was very cool and for MW to totally understand their path then she’s cool too.
I was lol-ing at the reincarnation of Mother Theresa and Hitler. hahahah No thanks too. 🙂
I can’t agree enough with the reincarnation bit. I would like to live a life where I know at the end of it I will be with my loved ones and yes definitely heaven and not hell.
What I like, off the top of my head …
– Everyone left with a smile (except maybe Hyun Joong?)
– Ending was true to the whole journey. Since the Hong Sisters had not written in any loophole for an alternative solution, then this was the right resolution.
– LOL that CS in his past life was responsible for putting the idea of the Inn of the Moon in little MW’s mind. She held on to it so fast that she ended up becoming its owner. Poor CS ended up its last Manager. Poetic but painful. Just as past CS was the one the first to comfort MW with the tale of the inn, he is the first and the last to comfort her in the leaving of it.
– The pair of scissors re-appeared and CS didn’t even need to use it in the literal sense. It was really in the peaceful letting go that both CS and MW continued their firm connection. Their thread continues to stretch across lifetimes.
– Scholar/Bartender Kim’s resolution with a new book was great because it resolved the grudge of the writer ghost, and brought Kim out from the humiliation and nonentity in which he had died.
– I’m pleased to see that there was indeed a walk around the tree to a time that could be Winter in the past or future with MW and CS together. That was so sentimental and sweet.
– Since CS can still see ghosts, it remains open whether he can also visit MG or see the GR if he wishes. He can even return to Korea and work for the Blue Moon Hotel if he likes. And he still has that job opening with Moon Sook.
Uncertain Bits
– Seo Hee’s resolution was a indeterminate in that I’d have thought CS or someone modern would have told her long before, that the child need not bear the husband’s family name, but at the same time, many families do bring in illegitimate heirs to continue the family name … so I don’t know what to think. However I’m glad she let it go.
– Yu Na begs MG for a whole bunch of lilies for Hyun Joong, but the significance escapes me. She is however the right person to receive the medicine to stop seeing ghosts, since she was bothered by them before.
Anyway, to end off with what I liked … despite the grand start to the hotel and what seems a lame ending, I like it that life was simply normal at the end for Mi Ra and Park, Sanchez and CS. While the supernatural world did its own thing, the living could continue as normal, living and remembering, as it should be.
@sph_7, I was also thinking of ferrero for all those times I saw that medicine. Now I’m laughing that you actually called it that way. 😂
Just done watching. I think I’d say I’m satisfied. At least, they made the phasing of the ending scenes gradually smooth. Now the other scenes that I wish to see, I guess I’ll just need to play them in my head. 😄
@GB, lovely ending to your post!
And yeah, that’s what I don’t get either, the deal with the lilies.
The winter – did you talk about this in a prior post? For me, this hearkens to the Persephone myth, which the HS nodded to a few times, not least when CS was told not to eat anything in the past or he would be bound to the past world. Pomegranates. Persephone ate a few pomegranate seeds so she could never spend her whole life again in the living world, meaning she would never see winter again – she spends the winter in the afterlife and the summer on earth. CS is our Persephone figure – existence and time are the same thing so the past is just another world or afterlife – but he resisted the food, so Ma Go can grant his wish. I like that he walked widdershins, she’s an old witch after all.
We survived!
I did like the idea of Yuna sending Hyun-joong off with a big bouquet of lilies and the deal she’s made with Mago – in a way this fulfils MW telling her to live a good life as Yuna.
Sending off MW was beautifully done – it really brings out how much more humane and in touch with her feelings MW has gotten since the beginning of the show. She has learnt to let go of her past (which in turn has freed her from her life!) and is ready for a new start in life where she will meet CS again.
The reappearance of the Existence and Time book did make me curious, although I don’t think I’ll be able to understand its significance… Philosophy sometimes makes my head hurt.
@packmule3, I have to agree that Heaven sounds much better than reincarnation!
I seem to have missed seeing notifications for the new posts. It’s only now that I’m seeing them.
@packmule3 – yes reincarnation is more hell than anything. Heaven and Parousia is the only way that makes sense for me.
@agdr03 – I prefer fresh cherries too and I spend a bomb on buying them since I can only get them imported. CS was the truest of the true, keeping his word to the last and always, always, putting the good of the other party first. A living saint, our Chan Sung.
@Barbrey – Thanks! And as usual what you say about the tie in to the myths interests me. I do wonder why eating things of another realm will bind a creature to that world. Why is it ok to breathe the air or pick the flowers but not to eat/drink. Probably has something to do with food being metabolised into parts of us so we are no longer fully belonging to just 1 realm?
@kei – Existence and time – referring not to the book but just the words … I’d like to imagine that CS understood, or believed, that he and his ghost friends were all existing in the same time, and possibly right next to each other, in parallel planes. Although they were not tangible to each other, they were not exactly apart. That could account for the ‘imaginary?’ images of those friends looking happy and interacting with others in a space where Chan Sung also sat reading. While show has made the Afterlife to be a ‘place’ located elsewhere, another way of understanding it is, that it is another state of being, that can be in the here and now, although we cannot sense it.
As I’ve mentioned before a few times, I don’t have much direct experience with Kdramas, so thank you all for helping walk me through the first full, normal Kdrama I’ve finished – and not to mention a story which has so many elements I normally would not like. If you’d told me a month ago I’d binge watch Exorcist the Kdrama about a girl with terminal illness (that’s what MW basically was, let’s be real) with heavy helpings of philosophical questions on morality and mortality as well as bittersweet feelings, after getting buzzed one night, I wouldn’t have believed you. Thankfully this was a good one. As a writer I was really impressed with the tight and skillful writing and command of the plot, as well as good characterization and, above all, a romance story that was really enjoyable, relatable, and wasn’t cliche in some ways. For all its flaws, it is not a common thing in any genre or medium, so I will cherish it.
The ending is bittersweet but I’m sure someone will write a fanfic about MW and CS meeting again.(Realistically speaking though if we went by a less romantic POV, MW and CS could be reborn as anything – siblings, MW as dad and CS as daughter, coworkers, who knows.)
The concept of impermanence is either way a prevalent theme in not only HDL, but in general East Asian culture and media, Buddhist or not. The Japanese version is probably most famous – encapsulated in the phrase “mono no aware,” which translates to something like “the pathos of things,” “an empathy toward things”, or “a sensitivity to ephemera” per Wikipedia. It reminds me of the dialogue in HDL about how things that are beautiful are also sad. Life passes by quickly; we must enjoy it as things pass on.
Next, for those of you who are more history inclined, scholar Kim’s story bears similarities to a lot of great writers from East Asia who, like him, had lack of success in the exams or their professional lives, and turned to writing – particularly about everyday lives and emotions – as an outlet: Li Bai, greatest of the Chinese poets; Nguyen Du, who penned Vietnam’s national epic the Tale of Kieu, about a woman’s loves and tragedies; and Pu Songling, who wrote the most renowned collection of Chinese ghost stories called Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (which I highly recommend if you want to get a HDL-esque kick, 17th century Chinese style – there’s a few English translations). These scholars earned fame and praise after their deaths or at the ends of their lives, and are something of a romanticized trope when discussing East Asian cultural and literary history – after all, nothing is more romantic than the image of the handsome and brilliant scholar, who suffers from a corrupt society that doesn’t appreciate their creativity and talents, nor the joys and sorrows of the common folk said scholar wishes to show…. Color me impressed that Scholar Kim was all about that. We may laugh at how petty his grudge was, but one’s honor, reputation, and status was a big thing to many societies in the past (and even today).
Overall, structurally, I think the last episode felt rushed. For example, the storylines of the three hotel staff members were tied up too quickly and neatly. However, unlike the screw up in the first half of episode 14, it didn’t bother me – I was able to maintain suspension of disbelief because *emotionally* it felt right. In a way, the ending was anticlimactic as it was more or less the most obvious route the story would take with few crazy twists, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Still, it is probably the second best love story I’ve come across in the last decade or so.
Other random thoughts:
– My half joking prediction that CS was the merchant who saved MW turned out to be correct. I’m glad it was short enough to be cute but not too long it felt like a plot device. It’s also funny she wrote her sign on his hand – CS has been hers for the last 1300 years!
– Grim Reaper’s straight faced personality is underrated humor. Unlike the MGs who are just plain weird and unpredictable, he seems to be on friendlier terms with the staff.
– I thought it was funny that in CS imagination, scholar Kim was exercising. Unlike the other characters this seemed to be different a little out of character, but in a good and funny way.
– When MW looked back behind the bridge for a moment… what a tease lol.
– Good that the special medicine was actually used and not just a symbolic thing. At the end of episode 3 if I remember correctly, Yuna was told to make the most of and live a good life – looks like she’ll do that.
– Funniest part of the episode for me was probably when MW couldn’t remember CS properly and thought of Kim Joon Hyun. This is probably the closest we’ve seen to CS being jealous, but he handles it maturely
To conclude, again, thanks all for being a source of good discussion I couldn’t find in a lot of places. A drama like this one really needed a thoughtful approach and you guys delivered. I don’t know if I’ll ever come back here for another drama, but who knows. Fate is a strange thing.
“ You were mislead to believe that she was waiting for Kim Soohyun when the writers actually meant the Captain.”
Sorry chingu.. soo hyun waiting for me ❤️
“Funniest part of the episode for me was probably when MW couldn’t remember CS properly and thought of Kim Joon Hyun. This is probably the closest we’ve seen to CS being jealous, but he handles it maturely”
That was funny and unexpected. When Mago said the people at that time won’t remember him, I thought they won’t remember the entire encounter completely.
I don’t think he’s jealous. More like his show-off ego takes pride in helping her (from gambling addiction) and he’s upset someone else got credit for what he did. At the same time he’s happy what he said did make a difference and wasn’t forgotten.
Lilies are a blessing from Mago to get a better reincarnation. It seems she awards it to ghosts who had a hard time in the current life and deserves better in the next.
Ms Choi’s resolution is her sudden awareness of how hypocritical she had been for 200years. She’s been waiting for the last male of the family to die off and thought if the newborn is a girl she’s not their descendant. Then she realized she herself never thought of her daughter being a descendant of that family or even of her own family. She was part of the problem that got her daughter killed.
I think both of you are correct. 🙂
@scholar-gentry thought that CS is jealous of the chubby comedian, Kim Joon Hyun, because Manwol thinks highly of KJH. She fangirls him. She thinks that KJH can never do wrong. He’s a god in her eyes.
lol. She even showed an undignified side of her when she ran for a chance fan-encounter with KJH.
It’s natural for Chansung to feel jealous of this guy.
He IS jealous of KJH. He shows it, albeit subtly, when he tries to emulate everything KJH. He checks up on the restaurants that KJH goes to; he learns to load up food in his mouth like KJH; he knows the closing times of the restaurants KJH patronizes so he can bring her there without rushing through meals; he gets KJH’s signature and he “steals” KJH’s “I love you” confession as his own.
— You did get that, didn’t you? He couldn’t tell Manwol directly, “I love you,” so he used KJH’s autograph as a stand-in for his own confession.
And when he knows that he can’t beat KJH (i.e., KJH is a complete foodie), he at least endeavored to be THE premier “food connoisseur” of Manwol’s tastes. He specializes is on Manwol’s food preferences. He’s the Michelin guide for Manwol’s food. hahaha.
So, yes, his ego and pride were pricked that he didn’t get credit for what he did, like you said, for changing her life a long time ago. And he is happy that he made a difference and wasn’t forgotten, like you said.
But he’s also amused that he’d been jealous of himself all along.
He realized that MaGo didn’t erase the memory of that encounter with him. MaGo only made him the MIRROR IMAGE of what he was. Instead of a handsome, lean guy like him who SCOLDED and nagged Manwol for her own good, MaGo turned him into a chubby man who was all gracious and kind and tolerant of Manwol — the exact opposite of what he was during their encounter.
Chansung’s the exact opposite of Kim Joon Hyun. But the mirror image is one constant them in this drama, right? We’re seeing the exact mirror images of the characters.
So, there you go. He’s amused of his own jealousy and realizes that, throughout time, even in their past encounters together, she always fell for him in whatever form and shape that he’d be in. . 🙂 I think I mentioned this in my Ep 15 Quick Takes. I said that he learned this important truth when he went back to 200 years ago, met Manwol for a brief time and she confessed to liking him. She’ll always like him and him alone.
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Now that I’ve had a few hours of sleep to mull things over (thank goodness for Labor Day weekend here in the US), I wanted to expand on my point earlier about the “mono no aware” sentiment that pervades HDL (and a lot of Asian culture and media).
Goodbyes are the focus of this episode, and goodbyes – whether said or unsaid, whether in death or while we still live – are a part of letting go. I’m someone who takes goodbyes seriously, and treated them in almost this comically ritualistic, ceremonial way. Like I literally wrote handwritten farewell letters to all my friends when I graduated high school (including a 20 page letter to my best friend/crush).
The characters are lucky in that they know when the goodbyes are so they can have proper closure – most people know they must pass on, but not when. Even everyday passing ons not as dramatic as death, like finding a new job, ending a relationship, and so on, can come out of nowhere if you’re not prepared, and even if you are aware of it, you might not be able to find a way to properly close things.
The flowers the characters receive, the hugs, the carefully or uncarefully chosen words, they’re all, in a sense, little rituals to help process the ending of things and have proper closure. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always been fascinated by people who met deaths with calm resolve and dignity, especially in situations where many wouldn’t have (like execution for a crime you didn’t commit, or during war, etc): they cannot choose when they pass on, but they can choose how to accept it.
MW’s story is, in a sense, really just the terminal ill character trope. Yet MW and CS know their final moments together. So, in a way, they even chose the final moments – not just the when, but the how. If CS did not have proper closure, he would not be able to look back on his time at HDL positively, as I think the ending implies. Despite the bittersweet nature of goodbyes, by the end of the story, he and MW understood “mono no aware,” the sad beauty of the impermanence of things, and can move on to the next phase of their lives/afterlives.
The more angelic it makes him if he lets her indulge in fanning a guy he’s jealous of. XD
😂 I think a lot of the married women here have angelic husbands who indulge them their kdrama “oppas” right @agdr03?
I sped read all this here and will re read slowly again but I loved all the parallels in the story, it’s like finding a match in the memory game.
It took me a while to figure out that the ending is his imagination, and that the ending is a bittersweet one. I really wanted the happily after ending but I also recognize that saying goodbye is a necessary one too. I think the ending was satisfying for me because the incidents that happen before leads to the right ending
– everything that leads up to prepare our hearts that the last episode is about letting go, letting the one we love go
– that CS will to suffer heartache all his life for saying bye to the one he loved (doesn’t that remind you of Sanchez?)
– that whenever MW & CS meet in their other reincarnated lives they will be drawn to one another (it’s like Pink Mago has given them the knitted heart long long ago like 2000 years ago)
I didn’t quite catch the part when he asked Pink Mago if there was anymore ties to cut when she offered him a favour to use the scissors. Did she give him an opportunity to cut ties with MW so that he doesn’t have to suffer the pain of losing a loved one, an ache for the rest of his life. But doing so also means that he will not meet her and fall in love in the next lives.
I particularly loved the part where Mago said about the significance of the red string (my memory fails me now but I will search it tomorrow), but something about having more courage to let go than hold on.
Welcome to Bitches! Glad you delurked.
I’ve to finish the Episode when I get home. Unlike our lazy bones, @scholar-Gentry, I’ve been up and about since 5am. AND on my third glass of peach sangria now.
Feel free to write more about the the red string.
Well the ending is more like what you can make of it.
Most are saying its CS imagination, while few believe its his next life. I dont think there is a clear 100% answer. Its mostly upto you.
@sph_7 It is indeed angelic of him and shows the maturity of their relationship. Jealousy is natural; what matters is how we deal with it, and, if necessary, how we communicate about it to one another. Even MW should get credit too, when she’s jealous she doesn’t go *as* crazy as other jealous characters in other stories.
@Skye For the scissors scene, it’s emphasizes a point of the episode, and the series as a whole, that they’ve been connected – fated to be connected – throughout the eons. CS refuses to cut that tie symbolically, so if I’m understanding that scene correctly, it’s hope that MW and CS will meet again in another lifetime, and that next time they meet, sparks will fly. And perhaps next time, they’ll have more time for their relationship and live a long life together.
But until then, as you say, he will suffer heartbreak. He may be able to life a happy and fulfilling life, but he will feel that void if his love is that deep. I suppose that’s partly why MW talked to Sanchez about supporting CS – he, like CS, would understand it the best.
@packmule3 Speaking as one of the few guys here it seems, I’ve always had the luck (bad luck?) of dating girls who were into Japanese or Korean pop culture. Letting them indulge in their hot brooding men sometimes requires patience lol.
Anyways, a sangria sounds great. I was supposed to go out this weekend to get smashed with my cousins, but due to scheduling conflicts ended up staying home to binge watch a Kdrama and stay up until 4 AM last night looking up HDL online.
I think Mago getting the scissors was an excuse to come to offer Chan Sung a choice. After his final dream, Chan Sung knows he and Man Wol were connected in his past life. Mago wanted to remind him the red thread still exists. If he wishes to end their soulmate relationship, she will cut it and spare him the years of waiting for her return. Of course, he sees this as hope, rather than a chance to be freed.
Dear B****es , thanks for being my companions in this Journey. I don’t think I have liked a K-Drama this much since probably Master’s Sun (I didn’t see My Ajusshi). Goblin comes near, but this one was a treat because it made me think, and I had you to discuss it.
@Barbrey and @GrowingBeautifully , thanks for you discussions on mythology, but also to link those ancient stories to human endeavours. I have this idea that I would really like you both in real life.
@packmule3 , you have an excellent site. Thanks for showing me alternative narratives for what was in front of me in my screen. A problem of the generational isolation I am experiencing is that since my youth friends are gone (abroad) I don’t have usually the pleasure of alternative narratives, and that makes for some very deterministic points of view.
@sph_7 , Chang-Sung’s Happy Ending is (for now) in his imagination. But what if Imagination is just another realm? =) . Anyway, jokes aside this Drama has been one of the best ones from the Hong Sisters, and is hard to find ak-Drama that makes you think this hard on so many levels.
@TheSholarGentry , “Mono No Aware”, a very Heian way to see the world 😉 . Right now I am seeing my copy of Wu Jingzi’s “The Mandarins” (“Los Mandarines” in my native Spanish language). It is a great book written by a non-conformist scholar as you say, and it is great (the narrative follows different characters, with their virtues and defects – a very modern and naturalistic approach work written in early to mid 18th century China). The outcast scholar was a thing back then. I guess that they could even defenestrate Confucius if he reincarnated and tried to curb some of his writig’s unexpected side-effects (or collaterals???).
I would loved to have you onboard sooner.
Kudos for this community, this is a puzzle we have made together. Hong Sisters created a hell of a story, but we made it significant thanks to each one’s contributions.
From now on (until something interesting comes along in Dramaland), I will post way more scarcely.
I hope a good Drama comes along soon to make all of us reunited again, it has been my pleasure and my joy to find you.
¡Muchísimas gracias! =D
FGH4877, that was a sweet goodbye and thank you too for your unique insights, often coming from a direction I had not anticipated and which made me think. Stay safe in Venezuela, my thoughts are with you.
To all the rest of our chingus here, a huge thank you! I really had fun, learned stuff, and will continue to check in here in the future (if not so much – there aren’t many kdramas riffing on major texts of anthropology (The Golden Bough), Philosophy (Existence and Time) and gothic literature (a myriad of ghost types from different stories and conventions). I doubt I’ll have as much to talk about!
Anyway, thanks again and goodbye to anyone stopping here. I’ve moved on to Packmule3’s latest HDL thread now.
You’re right.
I believe she’s alive. Manwol is alive at the end.
And I can explain why. It’s in the script.
Hello!!! 🙂
Yes, my husband is the best because he indulges me in my kdrama ‘oppas’, not that I’ve shown him what they look like. 😄
I used 10 tissues after watching the finale. 😢 You know me. It really was a fitting ending for all of them especially MW. I loved that CS stayed in the tunnel watching from when she left until the morning. That’s his way of really letting go of that chapter.
I can imagine that that scene where everyone was back is in a different timeline.
It was a very satisfying ending and though I loved it, I don’t want another sad/crying kdrama. I want what you said, a wedding, honeymoon and babies in my next drama. I think I cried enough last night. 😀
Thank you all for the insights and discussions that flowed while we were looking at the Moon Tree together while staying in Hotel del Luna. 🥂
You better stop at 10 tissues….because she came back. The ending is NOT a figment of imagination. I’ll explain later.
Hahaha. Just for tolerating the amount of time we spend on our kdramas, our better halves deserve our admiration. Other less indulgent husbands would suspect us of having an affair already or something.
And did you notice how CS covered his mouth while he watched MW walking away from him? He was trying to stop himself from calling her back. 😣
I couldn’t cry, to be honest. I’ve distanced myself mentally because I was thinking that the sadness only existed because of this whole reincarnation belief. 😂 If I were MW, I would have switched religions right away and believed in a heaven. 👍😂 Reincarnation makes death sad because lovers and loved ones are NOT going to meet again. Or if they meet again, they might not remember.
But in religions where eternal paradise after death is promised, then death isn’t that tragic. Like Christians look forward to death because we’re reunited with our loved ones, so saying goodbye is less “dramatic” and less “emotional.”
Yes, we’re dying but we’ll see each other again.
That’s why I wasn’t as moved by the departures as I thought I would be.
Okie doks! 🙂 I’ll wait for your explanation. It would be nice if it was real. I imagined it as a different timeline just like how they met the first time when they were kids. They must have met a few times before that but yeah all because of reincarnation.
I did stop at 10 tissues because if I didn’t, hubby would have woken up already hehehe Oh yes, I’d call it an affair alright. 🤣 But I am really lucky for having an understanding husband.
Yes! I noticed that, putting his hand on his mouth 🙁
I thought you might not cry because of the warnings hahaha
@FGB4877 I think “mono no aware” encapsulates my personal philosophy. That’s probably why though I’m Asian but born in the US, my parents always said I was way more Asian in my cultural outlook than may Asian kids born here lol.
Many of these scholars, despite strong critiques, still considered themselves true (Neo-)Confucians – as they saw it, the society and culture purporting to uphold (Neo-)Confucian virtues and ideals was hypocritical. (I think Confucius would’ve just been confused if he saw all this, he had no idea his philosophy would evolve and grow into a rather diverse and vigorous tradition.) If you’re enjoying the Mandarins, I would recommend Pu Songling then for a more HDL-esque take on these issues. Yuan Mei’s Censored by Confucius and Chi Yun’s Shadows of a Chinese Landscape would be good after that, as they’re a more cynical and wistful take on Pu Songling’s genre of supernatural whimsy respectively.
It is a pity I didn’t come on board earlier. The last two episodes were much, if I’d known I’d’ve jumped on board sooner.
Good luck with you!
@packmule3 If you can somehow convince me that the ending sequence wasn’t CS’ imagination, I’ll give you an imaginary internet cookie.
I’ll second scholar-gentry with an imaginary apple, cause imaginary packmules like those best!
“Hahaha. Just for tolerating the amount of time we spend on our kdramas, our better halves deserve our admiration. Other less indulgent husbands would suspect us of having an affair already or something.”
Living breathing ChanSungs ❤️😍. Nothing like the real thing. Here’s to our better halves.
Ooh. A cookie? How did you know about my weakness? 😂 This bitch can be bribed with cookies.
Challenge accepted.
I’ll post later. Have a busy morning then a luncheon that runs long. 😂
In Reply 1997, the male lead had to indulge the girl’s crush on Tony, the idol from the HOT boygroup. I thought she was nutty before I had this grand epiphany that hey! I was no different from her. Pot, meet kettle.
Ooohhh she loves her cookies. 😂
You know I watched Reply 1994 because of Yoo Yeon Seok. Should I watch Reply 1988 because I like PBG. ☺️
I’m about to continue on GGS. ☺️
Enjoy the luncheon! Laters! 👋🏻
Speaking as a guy, CS is closer to an ideal man than MW is to an ideal woman, personality wise, that’s for sure (physically, I guess that’s a different debate). But IU’s acting definitely made MW a sympathetic, likeable, interesting character despite (or because of) her big flaws especially in the earlier episodes when we didn’t see much of the playful nicer side of her.
@packmule3 I’m known as the candy man at my office since my cubicle always has offerings of chocolates and cookies. Anyways, I look forward to it. Even if I’m not convinced I’m sure it will at least be a very thoughtful and good argument!
@packmule, I couldn’t help but to delurk 😛 I have gotten more and more involved in the deeper meanings of the story. Do most kdramas have so many levels of meanings? Or just the Hong sisters. I can’t wait to hear what you say about the ending not being an imagination.
@sph_7 ahh yes the scissors to cut the ties he has with her. It is unimaginable for me if he ever would do that…totally not in line with his character. It’s hard nonetheless, love can be so painful at times isn’t it? But in the line of what @thescholar-gentry said, hopefully the pain he experiences will be in hope for better future lives he will have with her.
@agdr_03 I cried buckets too! I couldn’t watch as soon as the subs are out cos I had to wait to watch with my husband, thankfully it’s a weekend!
And and yes managed to find the quote…CS said to pink Mago in ep16 that she once said that “Letting go requires a greater love”. He really has a greater love for MW.
Good played @TheScholarGentry!!!, I’ve been looking for Pu Songli’s book on the Internet for several years with no avail. Since at this moment here we are as poor as rats – cross that, a rat still has a fur coat!!! O_O – at this moment I can’t go to a bookstore and buy it (but to be honest we are disconnected to the world so even if I had the money I wouldn’t find it in the store). I have here a Tale of Genji copy (regrettably Xavier Roca-Ferrer -the translator- didn’t respect the original material enough and he described it as a “culebrón”, a soap opera). I also have the Arthur Waley’s take on Journey to the West, “Monkey” and an abridged version of Dream of the Red Chamber adapted by Chi-Chen Wang.
All of that is to say that yes, I am into East Asian literature, and that I hope to heed your recommendations.
Personally I downloaded Hotel del Luna episodes from DramaCool, it was a tedious anf frustrating endeavour but it payed at the end.
Dear @PackMule3 , please also accept an Arepa Reina Pepiada (cornflour bread filled with avocado and grilled chicken with mayonnaise) and a good Majarete (cornflour dessert with coconut and raw sugar) as an offer for this ending explanation: I saw it as the pure joy of being able to met in this life even if they had to part ways… for a while.
Since imaginary things are hard to appreciate, let me give you a beautiful rendition of one of my favourite Venezuelan Waltzses, “Conticinio”, the hour before dawn when everything is at peace that is said is also the hour of love:
@FGB4877 Hopefully the situation over there gets better 🙁 If you feel comfortable with English, there are several translations of Pu Songling’s work available in paper and kindle format. John Minford’s translation is the best, but Herbert Giles’ translation from 1880 is workable too (the only problem is it’s sanitized to fit with Victorian sensibilities).
I LOVED the waltz, FGB4877. I’ve never heard it before. I will be listening to it again!
I think it’s so interesting how music crosses cultures in one way because of our shared experiences with the Suzuki method, royal conservatory and beginners piano music. My Grandfather’s Clock, for instance, was immediately recognizable to me because it was in an early piano book! This actually happens time after time when I watch kdramas. I almost always recognize piano or violin music because it’s either conservatory (for me, just a couple of years) or Suzuki (for my daughter on the violin). Fur Elise gets played a lot in kdrama, and of course it’s one of those pieces we all remember because it was our first relatively complicated piece in piano – I think it’s grade 3 of the conservatory.I
Anyway thanks for the recommendation. I’ve been watching dance groups myself recently and stumbled on this one though I’m not a kpop fan normally. The energy makes me smile! And it’s sexy in a good humoured way. If I’d watched these guys when I was a youth I’d for sure have taken dance lessons. Check out Assall Crew doing Bruno at 1 Million Studio: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o22lOnMY2wM
@barbrey For all the success it’s OST tracks is having, the music of HDL is something I feel is underestimated as a storytelling tool and a kind of Pavlovian trick to inject a specific mood (for a lot of shows and movies and what not, people may like the music but not realise how it contributed). Like, everytime I heard Done for Me I was thinking “oh shit something bad is coming.” My favorites meta-wise was when they used that song (name I forgot) when everyone thought CS died in Ep 12 (even those of us knew better had our doubts, and the song’s sweeping emotions helped feed that doubt), as well as At the End in that early part of Ep 15 when CS is reminiscing about MW (then again that’s probably one of my favorite scenes in the whole show).
The use of Moonlight Sonata made me chuckle a bit as someone with classical music training (14 years of piano). Its cliche and obvious as an audio cue and symbol for HDL, yet it still works great. I’m sure if you do a proper analysis there are a bunch of classical songs used as standard emotion injectors in Kdramas, the way certain ones are often used in Western media.