Where did we leave off?
1. “I’m her husband.”
So, like a fool, he rushed in to that room, thinking that Gaedong was kidnapped by bandits. He failed to see the signs that Gaedong was under no threat. lol. What happened to the rule that he lived by, “Seeing is believing”? He saw alright, but he made the wrong conclusion.
That was cute, though, how he claimed, “I’m her husband. What are you doing here, my bride? Let’s go home.”
2. Shyness
The floral theme for this episode is “Shyness: Peonies.”
GD: Are you mad that I’m promoting Flower Crew without your permission? (he’s ignoring her so she stops him) I’m sorry about that. But how can you say you’re my husband all of a sudden? (thumping his chest)
To me, she was giddy.
I was talking about this in Episode 2 when Lee Soo claimed that she was his wife. The sure sign that she friend-zoned Lee Soo was her lack of enthusiasm, giddiness, embarrassment, nervousness or shyness. She just brushed off that whole incident when they were walking home. Then, she fell asleep asleep after talking about being family.
Here, she wasn’t shy to bring it up. She was teasing him about it. But when Hoon didn’t return her smile, she began complaining.
GD: You’re a grown man. How long will you pout?
Hoon: (sighing) How did you draw those? You didn’t have any references about their appearance.
Here, he changed topic because he didn’t want to talk about his embarrassing mistake earlier.
GD: It’s written on those books. Once I read it, I can figure out what they look like.
Hoon: Even a worm has a talent for drawing, huh?
GD: Are you just going to say your piece and leave like usual? I’m going now.
Hoon: (holding her wrist.) Where are you going now? What if something happens?
Her wide-eyed, shocked reaction.
He was shouting again. He was cool earlier when she was chatting beside him but once she indicated that she was leaving him, he became agitated.
GD: So what do you want me to do? Soo, whom I was going to marry, suddenly disappeared. I’ve no idea if my orabeoni whom I’ve been waiting for is alive or dead. So I no longer have anywhere to go…
Her wide-eyed protesting face:
Hoon: Stay by my side.
There he went again! Similar to when he told her that he has a proposal for her, he shocked her with his imprecise language. His “stay by my side” could be interpreted in two ways.
GD: Are you worrying about me now?
Hoon: I’ve to take care of you so you can pay me back many times over.
Mentally, he was running through his checklist of mannerism that could give him away his eyes, shifting pupils, lip biting.
GD: (studying him) That’s not so. I think you’re worried about me.
He couldn’t deny her teasing so he walked away. She followed him home.
Ten minutes into the show, Hoon already demonstrated the theme of this episode: shyness. By the end of the episode, he’d overcome it. He wasn’t shy to call her her out at bedtime to give her a hair ribbon.
I like this scene. It reminds me of Darcy and Elizabeth in that “Pride and Prejudice” MacFayden version.
He told her to turn around and he untied her hair. She squirmed because she was shocked. He said, “Stay still. Why is it so hard for you to stay still?”
Gong Seung Yeon’s signature wide-eyed look.
I don’t know why she wasn’t purring when he was tucking her hair behind her ears. Just looking at him fix her hair made me feel drowsy. lol.
Hoon: You should wear this on your hair so others can distinguish if you’re a man or a woman at the very least.
Gaedong: Don’t tell me you picked that up on the street? (honestly though, it was Gigolo Crew #3, Dojoon, who picked that one for her)
Hoon: I paid the most expensive price for this. (then handing a key) Take this, too. You’re one of the authorized personnel now.
Gaedong: May I go into the room now?
Hoon: You’re one impatient lady.
Excitedly, she ran off to the library. He mused, “This isn’t bad.”
Sigh. I think this romcom would have been much better off had they cast a different actress for Gaedong. Gong Seung Yeon simply isn’t working for me.
3. Foot-stomping
Gaedong said that she was born unlucky. She listed her litany of woes. She doesn’t have a state ID; her mother abandoned her when she and her brother were young; her brother went missing, too; she was scammed by the man she hired to look for her brother; and, Soo disappeared.
But each time bad luck came, she stomped her foot and declared, “I stepped on pooped”. She never let bad luck get her down.
To show Hoon how to get the blues away, she stomped harder on laundry. He copied her without complaints. In her enthusiasm, however, she slipped and Hoon had to catch her from falling and petals started falling just like in Episode 1 when she fell down from the wall and he caught her, too.
This sweet scene was ruined by Gong Seung Yeon’s lack of varying facial expression.
A perpetual wide-eyed expression fits all occasion.
Ugh!
She needs eye drops.
4. Hoon’s backstory
I’m glad we didn’t have to wait long to hear the story about Joon, the big brother of Hoon.
Hoon’s three lessons from hyung’s death:
One, his hyung said that he was okay if the lovers are okay. Seeing the happiness of the lovers was enough for his hyung. His brother was willing to sacrifice himself for the happiness of others. Hmmm…I wonder if Hoon is cast in the same mold as his brother. Time will tell.
But his hyung didn’t see the short-lived happiness of the couple. The happiness ended with betrayal.
Well, “seeing is believing.” So even though Hoon has followed in his hyung’s footsteps, he only matches people. He doesn’t seek love for them.
Two, one of the red bracelets which his hyung gave to the eloping couple came off when the man betrayed his lover. His brother’s belief in the power of the Dong-shim-gyeol knot to tie two hearts is false. “Seeing is believing.”
That’s why Hoon believed that a person’s heart is cunning. It cannot be truly tied down just because it’s tied by a lover’s knot.
Three, Hoon saw that love changed easily when one’s personal life is at stake.
When his father threatened the two slaves to their deaths on the same day and time, the man betrayed his lover and offered up her life in exchange for his. Again, “Seeing is believing.” And what Hoon saw that day forever changed his belief on love. He no longer believes in love.
5. Pillow talk
I want more pillow talk. That’s how they’ll get to know each other.
It’s weird however how they knock on the wall to start and end a conversation when they can easily say, “Hey! Are you still awake?” or “Hush. I’m about to sleep now.”
Yes to the pillow talk (connecting on deeper level). No to the falling into embrace (again), hugging with careless abandon, accidental kissing (connecting on superficialities). Because connecting at a deeper level will more likely prevent the situation the runaway slaves encountered where “love” was flimsy and the covenant broken in a crisis.
Since we’re going with the P&P comparisons, I need for GD to start showing me that she’s not just sassy but intelligent? I liked that she picked out that Hoon needed an emotional outlet release hence the stomping on blankets…but I didn’t like that she had to be told in the end, “err…if all the blankets are wet now, what will we sleep in?” (I blame the writer for putting this in…it just makes her good intention “thoughtless”?). I need her to start thinking smart and not just bulldoze her way through life with abandon. Lizzie was sassy but she was highly intelligent. She was witty and she matched Darcy with her verbal prowess. I have yet to see that in GD. Frankly I was more impressed with Scholar Lee’s wife-to-be and her stoicism (she who gave her all to a man and expected nothing in return bar his happiness). Despite having so few scenes, if I had to put money on a relationship going the distance and having a happy ever after, theirs would be it (when Scholar Lee finally told his mother he wanted to wed the lowly laundromat lady). See you don’t need sass to be classy and brave. I think some writers (and some audiences) tend to confuse the 2. There’s nothing wrong in being ordinary. I get annoyed with writers who are hellbent on making the female lead “stand out” by breaking all conventions but leave her wanting in the brains department 🙁.
And yes to the scene where he tied her hair. So sensual…as he moves his fingers to tuck her hair behind her ears…taking his time (I loved this)…relishing the moment. 😍. Can’t say I was impressed with her facial expressions here though 🙄.
Btw, since you have the pics above. The floral references run right through the drama. The wooden cut outs in the lanterns have the Chinese word “flower” 花 in it. Also in the Episode wording. Instead of saying “Episode 4”, they have reworded it and it reads “Number 4 Flower (Chinese) – Shyness (Korean)”. That was clever. I like it.
****Spoilers****. I am going to write this down or I may lose my train of thought. I am nearly up to Ep8.
I have been trying to work out what the differences are between Soo’s declarations and Hoon’s because obviously the writer is trying to get us to compare the pair. On the surface they seem very similar but I am starting to see a difference. Granted with Soo we only have his one declaration of sharing her burdens and with Hoon there are more one on one encounters which highlights his approach to their relationship better…still…
Soo’s intention is to take the weight off her shoulders. To halve it. It is well intentioned but it has the effect of making her dependent on him? Also he rushes in with the umbrella to “rescue” her from her fear.
As opposed to Hoon’s first words to her when she is hunched down in the rain is a harsh “get up”.
Whenever she is in a crisis (bar the one where he thought she was in danger with the 3 men), he sits patiently WITH her, hears her out, gives her options (sometimes enlightenment and guidance) BUT he leaves her to figure it on her own (not because he doesn’t care, but he strengthens her so she can shoulder the weight on her own). Subtle difference in approach but I like this better. This way builds resilience. Soo’s fix it now approach doesn’t (instead it feeds reliance). It’s like parenting. If you rush in to solve it for them straight away, you leave the child with few defenses to solve it for themselves next time. You want to empower them with tools so they can safely navigate the world on their own without you, not come running back to you every time they hit an obstacle.
“Stay by my side” and then Hoon’s face…my interpretation of that look was – his brain caught up with his mouth and asked it “What did you just say? What did you mean? O, god.”
I thought it was a wonderful scene.
Good point!
Yes, I noticed that, too, during the pillow talk in Ep 4 but I was in a hurry to post it before I start on “Camellia”. I’ll have to edit that post later….
When GD asked him what to do about the Scholar’s marriage-match, Hoon didn’t give her a straight answer. He answered with a “rhetorical question” and GD complained.
I thought that was to let her find the solution herself. He only offered guidance (i.e., he recounted his personal experience then told GD to think of the feelings of the Scholar who had to run away) and he allowed her to think the problem through.
His hands-off approach to her problems tells me that he has confidence in her ability to figure things out by herself, despite his nicknames for her.
He’s teaching her how to fish instead of offering her half a fish (as Lee Soo would).
I have a different take on GD as compared to Elizabeth Bennett. EB has the benefit of education and a life experience based on a reasonably well to do family. GD is a run away slave making a living interesting lower rungs of society. Given the huge gap between GD and Hoon in education, social and life experience, I think she is doing a good job of unsettling him, of getting him out of his rut.
Having said that, the laundry mistake was just silly on the part of the writer, and did GD the character a disservice.The GD character would not have made that mistake.
And oh by the way, those blankets don’t get washed that way. There is an outer cover that is taken off and washed. The main part of the blanket is a cotton pad that gets re-combed once in a long while, and has a inner cover that is washed less often than the outer. And these blankets could be used without the outer cover if necessary. The writer is young enough to never have seen/dealt with old fashioned Korean blankets.
😂 How did you know about washing blankets? 😂
Honestly, the first time I saw blankets washed the “Korean way,” I laughed! It was like stomping grapes.
And how do you know which blanket is for sleeping on and which one is for body covering? I stayed in a hanok before and slept on the floor. I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat because of the heated floor, and because I was sandwiched between two blankets.
“His hands-off approach to her problems tells me that he has confidence in her ability to figure things out by herself, despite his nicknames for her.”
You will see this more in future episodes. He’s very consistent like that. He doesn’t rush in to comfort her straightaway. He gives her space to reflect and then proffers advice later after she’s had time to mull. Even so, his advice is very cryptic, he doesn’t “tell” her to do ABC, he reaches down to her where she’s at and then drops a few hints here and there. It’s very encouraging. Just like the rain instance where he wipes her hand with his sleeve. He doesn’t belittle her predicament, he just offers a different perspective on her existing situation and leaves her with the thought and trusts her to work it out on her own. I really like it.
I was born in Korea, and used to help my mother with some of the chores. So I remember the blankets, how they were put together, how they were washed. The sheets were starched and when dry, folded on a large flat stone and beaten till flat and smooth. Then they were sewn back on.
@FlyingTool that’s fascinating that even then they had duvet/quilt covers/blankets. Clever. And how they (and sheets) were washed. Learn something new. Love it.