I think all dramas have a bit of Hyangmi in them. They want to end knowing that they’ve created an impact on the viewers and that they won’t be forgotten.
Please post your spoilers, raves, rants, and cheers here.
gif credit: without-ado’s tumblr.
44 Comments On “When the Camellia Blooms: Eps 19 – 20 Open Thread”
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Awww DB’s Mom and Yongsik had a talk back in episode 18 but only showed now. She told him firstly about her insurance, secondly, get Dongbaek to do a yearly check up (the kidney problem is hereditary) and lastly to not break up with Dongbaek even if she asks him. She said Pilgu and his family will be an obstacle but it will pass.
Hongsik’s Dad confessed to the crimes because he said they looked down on him, they were joking with him as if they were a big deal. For example, one victim always sends her stuff delivered to their store and she’ll pay for it but she wouldn’t take the change from him. But they showed his hands dirty and the disgusted look she gave him. So he hears that noise before he kills the people.
He said the scratch came from dropping Hyangmi on the lake. Dongbaek keeps getting on his nerves that’s why he wants to kill her.
Dongbaek’s Mom passed away and she left her a letter which made me cry again. 😭😭😭
I had a few thoughts that cropped up as I hurriedly watched Ep 19. But first, @agdr03, I’m dying to know if ultimately Yongshik and Dongbaek do get together or not. Now that we’ve seen the grown up Pilgu, I’m hoping for the last episode with family stuff. Also I want more of those buddy-buddy times where DB hangs out with the ahjummas and Ja Young.
I’m wondering about Heungsik’s dad. He sounds like a someone with misophonia (hatred for sounds) and is somewhat psychopathic, unreasonably entitled, without empathy and lacking in remorse. If @packmule3 is right, then he’s covering very effectively for the real killer (ie Heungsik). He sounds so convincingly like the killer himself, however.
I don’t understand what noise he refers to when he says noise of the victim who wouldn’t take change … was it the sound of her footsteps or her voice when she disdained taking his money?
The scratch on his arm puzzles me. Is there a discrepancy? I thought they found skin under Hyangmi’s nails and that the scratch on the dad’s arm, and his DNA matched what they found on Hyangmi. Did I see/hear the wrong thing in Ep 18, I think it was? If so, then dad is lying and he is not the killer or even if he is the killer, he is not the one who disposed of the body.
He was not very detailed in explaining in what way DB got on his nerves. Was it because she was happy despite being ‘pitiful’?
My other thoughts as I watched:
So the penultimate episode is veered fully back into Asian-Korean attitude of parent-child relationships territory. Just as parents are restricted/trapped because they have children and cannot get out of the rut of poverty, children, even if they hate their parents who bring about ruin and harm, cannot entirely disown them.
In the end, DB just really wants to be a child with her mum. I too was in tears over that letter, and seeing mum’s backstory.
This episode also suggested that the marriage bond may not be as loose and easy to discard as one thinks. Jong Ryul, after much rumination on how he never had to work for anything, finally realises his selfishness and steps up for Jessica, albeit maybe only briefly. Her mother may not have done her daughter much good by saving her over and over again, but instead of Jessica learning to weather the storm, now Jong Ryul seems to have taken over her mum’s role.
Jessica’s secret does not seem like a big deal to us, but she lied, and I guess that people in the public eye are not supposed to commit a sin (or at least must not be found out). I’d prefer if Jessica is shown to really take on mothering responsibilities properly and love that baby daughter, and to grow up herself.
Other relationship in flux – Ja Young with Lord No. They are divorced but not exactly separated. Confusing.
Show does a bit too much of the hiding of facts from us viewers and then giving us the inside scoop much later. I’d prefer to have been privy to some of the info on DB’s mum, on Jessica, on Hyangmi etc. Perhaps it wants us to judge the characters and draw the ‘wrong’ conclusions based on insufficient data, only for us to have to take back our judgement and feel that we were rash or too arrogant (or something!).
Maybe we are supposed to realise that we can be like the Ahjummas and the Joker, who judged unfairly and meted out ‘punishment’ (in our case, by uncharitable comments). We, of course, think we are better than the Joker, because if we’d known, we’d have empathised and not been so harsh.
I hope the last episode gives us much more on the grown up Pilgu and proper closure on the Joker.
See? If the dad is misophonic, then why did he turn up the volume of the radio when he was killing DB’s friend? 🤪 That’s what bugged me first about his being a Joker.
I haven’t watched Ep 19 but the police made an error in their investigation. I said they should have checked for outward body signs of scratches on HS since there were epithelial tissues found under her nails. But I didn’t think they had a proper warrant so… 🤷♀️
Not sure if I remembered correctly but didn’t the dad gave scratch marks on his chest?? Lol. But I could be confused now and recalling something I watched in another drama.
Thanks @agdr03! Will try to watch it today.
Hi @GB . The last episode is not uploaded yet on our Netflix so I can’t tell you about the ending for DB and YS.
I think the sound is a trigger for him to kill. Maybe it’s more when he couldn’t handle it anymore then he hears it. But yes, I think it’s really HS that’s the Joker. The Dad did sound very convincing. YS did say something was off while looking at the board of evidence before going to see HS because his leaving town. I’m not sure about the DNA stuff.
I felt it too, that JR was trying to protect Jessica and for her to give her phone to him to be turned off, then that’s saying something. I agree, she needs to show motherly love to Rebecca.
I actually liked the scene with Ja Young and Lord No and DB. I think if anything they might have another chance.
It’s a wonder all the things a mother will do to get back the daughter she abandoned.
For the ending, I want YS to finally have his happiness because he did thought he was going to marry DB.
True that, the police were in a hurry to get to HS’s home but it was still YS who beat them to arresting Dad.
Even their search was rushed so yes it wasn’t properly done.
PS. Are you sure your not a thingy? 😂😜
I love JaYoung, the attorney! 😁 She was spot on! She’s the character I most identify with. Did you notice that she crushed the mint candy she was holding in her hand, while she was listening to her husband’s lie detector answers? She loved that fool of a guy.
And I liked how she realized how her reaction to her mother-in-law contributed to their marriage breakdown. Instead of pushing back and telling the MIL to get lost, she took her anger out on her husband.
Really, one of the funniest advices my father told me when I was growing up was never to marry somebody dumber than I was. 😂 I could marry somebody poor but smart, but I shouldn’t marry somebody dumb and rich. Because I’d lose respect for him after the first month of marriage. 😈
Hahaha. I’m a thingamajig and a thingamabob. 😈 I was told by another friend that posters were making a big fuss about my gender in a drama forum and I said to ignore it because it always happens when I post something “unheard” of. So sexist…😂😂
It’s not as if vaginas and penises have brain cells. 🤣
Yes! I did see her crush the mint candy and that’s when I realised that she loves him. ☺️
It was upsetting to hear about her taking it out on her husband because of his Mother though. 🙅🏻♀️
So true what your Dad said. 😊
I know I’m a thingamajig 🤣
But when I saw @nrllee’s post, I was like ‘really? 😁 why do we need to know if it’s a man or a woman that said those things?’
I read too that someone said it has to be a guy? I’m like- 🙄🤦🏻♀️ . I think their jealous because they can’t go to your thinking level. 😂😜🤞🏻
Yes. I felt sad too for her husband. He was caught in the crossfire of two women fighting over him. His mom and his wife.
That’s why the YT link I posted on Extraordinary You: Rowoon fangirling made an impression on me. I checked that video because I wanted to know how he would handle a power struggle between Mom and Wife.
I already told my sons…if there came a time when they had to choose between driving me to the hairstylist for my hair appointments or picking up the dry cleaning for their wives, they should put their WIVES first. They don’t live with me and I can get over my hurt feelings because I’m their mom. (Their inheritance will be safe. Lol)
But they’re married to their wives and their wives’ resentment could fester. 😂 I’d hate to be cause of my sons’ marital hardship.
That’s why watching this kdrama is an eye opener. As parents, we all love our kids but how that love is manifested and demonstrated can be sooo different.
Bingo. My sons prioritising their wife over me is what I’m taking from this drama. Like you said every drama wants to leave a Hyangmi in them.
I’ve heard so many MIL issues that I don’t ever want to go through them as well. 😁
I haven’t had a chance to watch those Rowoon videos. ☺️
😂 I don’t think it’s the “thinking level” per se because they think well on their own. It’s more that they have stereotypes that they aren’t aware of (and I’m NOT going to be the one to break the news to them. Not my problem).
Women feel, men discuss. Women are emotional, men are rational. Women ramble, men … I don’t know… ask for directions? 😂😂
Women ramble, men … have a man’s look! 🤷🏻♀️😂
Rainbows and unicorns …
Oh, and yes, it was the son, not the father,
I meant to say men…. does a man look. 😂
My eyes swollen bcs ugly crying for final week camellia -.-
I think the script really well written. I dont even want to skip any scene! 😀
Ive Been through hard times lately. I dont even want to cry, but watching this show, really makes me crying so hard 😭😭😫😫😂🤣
The script was really fun and heartwarming in the same level of REPLY series. 😀
The writer past work was “fight for my way”. I really love that drama.
I think camellia is another masterpiece from him. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Oh DB’s Mom didn’t die. Sorry, it looked like that because no one was saying anything. My bad for assuming. 😩
I’ll probably cry too like @Lovebangwon but all good as long as it’s a happy ending.
So spoil me already…did the OTP have to wait till PilGu grew up? Or did they get their act together before adult PilGu came around to the idea of mom marrying someone else? From spoilers in the other thread it looked like they didn’t wait? They bore a daughter? It looks like they will have 2 special eps next week as fan service… what of? I thought they wrapped the story up already?
Hi @nrllee, I haven’t watched the ending episode. I don’t know about the special episode either but maybe because it was a hit in the ratings. I’m not tuning in on those though. 😊
We were trolled. They got back together, YS’s mother gave in and accepted DB, PG accepted YS, DB’s gene’s were ok, so she gave a kidney to her mother, they had a daughter (off screen) named her after HM’s true name, PG became a ML star… like I said, rainbows and unicorns…
Never mind all that, what was the yellow thing? Lol. I’m just about to watch it and had no doubt about the relationship happy ending – my curiosity is all about Heung Sik and whether he was working with dad, what was the yellow thing, what was the container and what’s up with the smell of laquer? I will return once I’ve watched!
@Flying_Tool, dude! You’re such a grump. 😂
As much as I love rainbows 🌈 and unicorns, 🦄 (the fantastical, magical things)
I love butterflies 🦋 and daisies 🌸 too (the simple things in life).
Give me a well-ended, simple story anytime.
I can sit and watch artsy-fartsy movies, but I prefer homespun tales. I detest it especially when sad endings are shoved into stories to make the plot seem deeper, cleverer, and more profound than they actually are.
I’m glad Dongbaek had her happy ending. The message? You get the life you deserve. Despite DB thinking that she was born unlucky, she treated everybody nicely and worked hard to support her kid. So she ended up with a happy family life. Hyangmi, who was in the same boat, didn’t. That’s a nice touch giving their daughter Hyangmi’s real name so Hyangmi’s dying wish came true. She wouldn’t be forgotten.
We have our priorities straight. So it was HS after all? 😂😂
Wait…unicorns aren’t real? 🦄🌈🤔
Yeah I want to know what the yellow “thing” was too. 😂. Just because.
Highlights for me:
‘You have to be happy for your kid to be happy. He has no idea now because he’s only a kid, but if you put together your own life and sacrifice everything for his sake, it’ll damage his life greatly as well. You need to live your life.’
‘If you and HS end up coming to me, I will embrace you fondly. Very fondly.’
‘The best thing an eight year old can do for his Grandma is eat.’
‘Now that you became my grandson, I will protect you forever.’
‘Thinking back in everything that happened in my life, it was nothing but a miracle’.
I was crying heaps when DB and YS’s Mom had that talk, when she talked to Pilgu, when DB opened up her arms to YS at the hospital and that dream of DB’s Mom where she didn’t leave her. 😭😭😭
How cute was Ja-young and No’s backstory? She pretty much went after him. 😄 and they even had a baby. 😍 Good fresh start with her MIL.
So true that kindness goes a long long way and it does come back to you. ☺️ I heard the Noel Christmas song and I wasn’t sure if it fitted with the scene but all good. I believe in miracles. I was smiling after the episode was finished. 😊
The yellow thing was an ear plug, the container held it when not in use, and no mention of the laquer that I heard. I like my fishing buoy marker guess better.
I’m glad my early suspicion proved true, and as Pkm3 detailed. Then I thought the twist was the dad but Pkm3 and lollyminx made me look at HS again. So that revived my interest which had been flagging.
I liked the ending, it was everything that could be asked for, and didn’t feel dragged out like the prior two episodes.
One to add to the list, when YS tells HS: You’re only one in a hundred, there’s 99 good people to one of you.
Miracles are the little heroes in everyone: that was a nice line too.I
I will close by saying I never want to see Kang Haneul in a role like this one again. He did too good a job of the sweet, simple yokel; he needs to remind me of his smart, sexy side next role. I do hope he’s nominated for an award.
So we see how they made use of the extra 4 episodes. It was not bad, as had been feared, in fact it was very good. Show could take it’s time to flesh out details, but didn’t just spin its wheels, and it did give us so many great relationship scenes, warm feels and enough indication for how all those family relationships likely played out. Show bothered to give us all the resolutions we could possibly want, even the ahjummas-DB-Deok Soon arc.
I just loved that unbeknownst to them, the ahjummas saved DB by sending her many messages, which scared HS off killing her in her restaurant. The best part was that DB didn’t just sit still trembling, but conked HS on the street and brought the wrath of the neighbourhood down on him. I was in stitches that the one who needed to be saved by the police was HS, from the ahjummas, and not DB.
And a great plus in this final episode is the peek into the future with grown up Pilgu. I feel no one was forgotten. It was a really good wrap up! Well done show!
Reading all your glowing reviews and happy endings, I guess an A+ is in the offing. 😂
I’ll try to watch the last episodes tonight and do a wrap-up of the series with highlights/lowlights of the show this weekend.
I think the stealth ahjummas worked just like the Secret Service protecting the president. I guess JR’s instincts were correct; he told DB that he liked the community because the neighbors took care of each other and protected one another like nobody’s business. No wonder they’re in the Crab District. 🦀They’re like crabs… crabby in personality, but clingy. That is, when you pull one crab from the crab cage or bushel, there’s always one or two crabs hanging on to it. 😂 Crabs live and die together.
The holiday parties and banquets have started for me already. I had two this week, one plus Thanksgiving (and family) next week, then two to three engagements per week in December. 😭 That means less time for me to watch and review kdramas.
“ The holiday parties and banquets have started for me already. I had two this week, one plus Thanksgiving (and family) next week, then two to three engagements per week in December.”
NOOO…don’t remind me…it’s the crazy season…far from peace on earth…and I really have to work hard on the good will to men during this time… Keep calm and watch KDrama.
Wow! Your so busy 😄 Enjoy! It’s good these dramas are finished then. Only Tale of NokDu for us next Monday.
I’ll give this drama an A. ☺️
@packmule3 An A+ at least for a good wrap up. As far as finales with resolution go, this is really one of the best. Some may have liked a more open ending, and found this one too pat, but I like being assured that after we’ve given our hearts to some of these characters, they lived on well. And I like seeing family reunions and marriages that (can) work out!
Oh, and the reveal about Yeong Shim was really too cute!!! And the police were wearing ahjumma bonnets LOLOL!
Who’s Yeong Shim? lol. I”m getting confused with names so I only know people by their functions.
Hahaha. Ignore @ Flying_Tool, our resident grumpy curmudgeon “Bah! Humbug!” grouch. I like the rainbows and unicorns.
A few of the galas are my husband’s events that I’ve to attend. 🙂 Then some are joint affairs. When we add his, hers and ours, we have about a dozen “official” holiday functions to go to. But I shouldn’t complain because dressing up is at least fun for me. Hubby dislikes these black tie events. I guess that’s why he didn’t mind going to a kpop concert? No black tie needed. lol.
Yes. we only have Tale of Nokdu for Wednesday.
BTW, thanks for writing up all those lovely quotes for the ending. I’ll post them on the blog. too. And I’ll look for gifs from tumblr.
An ear plug? That’s it? lol.
Why couldn’t the medical examiner identify it as an ear plug?? I wear ear plugs on planes.
I’ll try to watch this tonight.
@packmule3 … there was something of a running joke about Chief trying but failing to get Yongshik to visit Yeongshim about her dog being (I think) impregnated by the neighbour’s dog. Because he had refused to go see her, she threatened to withhold some CCTV footage, taken from her farm, where Hyangmi’s accident took place.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why one of the other 2 cops couldn’t have gone to see to Yeongshim. Don’t understand why it had to be Yongshik. The joke turns on the reason why Chief was trying so hard to ‘investigate’ the dog saga. Cute!
@GB, thanks for clearing up Yeongshim. I got most of it but I’m bad with names so every time they referred to her I was like, who’s that?, so think I missed stuff.
@pkm3, it looks like no ear plug I’ve ever seen. It’s for reasons like this the show doesn’t get an A but an A-. You’ll see. There was potential to make this a tight murder mystery as well as love/family story but we spent too many episodes in angst rather than on the mystery. I did live the show, but as with EY, it didn’t quite live up to its pitential.
I love that there was a Yeongsim character- someone who keeps on popping up in conversations in so many episodes. It’s fascinating to me. However, I found the reveal anticlimactic because I wasn’t expecting her to be an ordinary ahjumma. I thought Yeongsim would be this eccentric and hilarious character. But still, it was fun having a character that only appears briefly but is mentioned so much. It’s funny. Also, I love that she gets to have a happy ending too. 🤭
“Perhaps it wants us to judge the characters and draw the ‘wrong’ conclusions based on insufficient data, only for us to have to take back our judgement and feel that we were rash or too arrogant (or something!).” – @GB
GB, it seems that way. The writer is criticizing Korean society through that I think and she did a good job.
Yes @Packmule3 I’m also giving this drama A+. I’m also glad I watched this series because I feel satisfied and inspired as a viewer, I can manage to not watch dramas not until the new dramas come out next year. I can sleep and work better hahahahaha
@lollyminx
Hah! I was thinking more along the lines of how hiding info is an easier way to create a plot twist (something Missvictrix on DB said in her article), than dropping clues that point one way and then suddenly revealing how it was totally different from how it looked. Still some plot twists rather than only boring, obvious stuff is better than none!
LOL, does that mean that if Camellia had given you a crappy ending you’d have hunted down loads of dramas to assuage your disappointment and been unable to sleep or work well? 😁
@GB Hahaha yes! But I wasn’t deliberately watching kdramas just to satisfy myself as a viewer. I watch dramas to see if they’re worth the time, sometimes I play them in the background while I’m working. I tried one drama after the other mainly because I like the actor or the plot seems interesting. After Camellia ended, I felt… at peace? Hahaha satisfied. I noticed I don’t have the urge to check out new kdramas anymore. I’m like, “that’s it for me this year.” 😂
You’re right. Hiding info just so there’s a twist is still manipulative, but yes, that’s better than having nothing interesting to offer viewers 🤭
okay. I watched Ep 20 last night and will backtrack and watch Ep 19 tomorrow. Have to run.
Have guests to pick up then a musical to watch with the guests. lol. No kdrama for me tonight. 🙂
@Barbrey , that’s a great achievement by your daughter and you as her parent. 👍🏻Congratulations to her. 💐 I believe teachers are truly second parents to children. I wish her all the best. ☺️
Thanks agdr03, nrllee and packmule3 re the nice words about my daughter!