Do you know why this was such a tricky question?
Because the correct answer was “none of the above.” She was messing with him, big time. There was actually a FOURTH option but she wanted him to figure it out himself.
Let me explain.
SR: Now, we have three options. Number one. Pretend nothing happened last night and act like before. Number two. Act as if nothing happened last night and never talk about it.
JH: Aren’t they the same?
SR: They’re slightly different.
JH: What’s Number three?
SR: Honestly, it’s not like we’re teenagers. Don’t pressure each other over such a trivial thing.
JH: Is that also slightly different?
SR: Of course it is.
JH: Let’s go with number three.
See this frozen face. This smile is pasted on.
And this look is the “basilisk stare.” I do this a lot so I recognized it in a heartbeat. It’s my Bitch Face #5, my “Are you kidding me?” look.
SR: You want to go with number three?
Note to any male readers here: If you wife or your girlfriend asks this “So…do you really want that?” sort of question, she’s being generous with you. She wants you to REALLY reconsider your answer. FAST.
#really.not.really
JH: Yes.
Seri looks down and snorts. She smiles mockingly. The actor Son Ye Jin was definitely in fine form here. She expressed her scorn perfectly.
SR: It looks like what happened last night is pressuring you a lot.
JH: You told me to choose one, so…
SR: Right. I did say that. You made a good choice.
This is FAKE grinning. Of course, she isn’t really commending his choice.
Then, her face hardens.
SR: But anyway, it means you did feel pressure, right?
You see, the correct response was D. None of the above. He should have told her something like, “What’s this nonsense? Why are you talking about this? I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you. Why do you want me to pretend or behave as if nothing happened between us? That kiss happened. It’s real.”
In order for her to feel like their romance is about to happen,
JungHyuk had to come out strong, and say, “We kissed. So? Deal with it!”
She wants him to take responsibility for the kiss, NOT to backpedal away from it. Ha! You and I know that “Taking Responsibility” is such a big trope in kdrama. The guys always “take responsibility” for their actions.
Thus, Seri’s expecting him to man up to the kiss, just like she’s “womaning” up.
But to be fair, JungHyuk is a newbie at this. He’s actually trying to please her and give her the answer that he thought SHE wanted. He couldn’t read her well yet.
SR: (continuing) I understand though. Yesterday, you got shot, you got surgery, you were still under anesthesia, it was pouring rain, and I was crying. So you probably did it on impulse. I understand.
Then she continues sewing.
Here, she’s saying that JungHyuk is probably having “buyer’s remorse” and regretting their kiss already. She thinks that last night, he was just “moved” by the moment and/or was temporarily insane.
JH: (realizing his mistake) But…
SR: I’m not giving you any pressure. I hate that.
Meaning, she’s not pressuring him to declare himself. 🙂 You and I know that she IS in fact pressuring him to reconsider and change his answer.
Now, he’s really befuddled. Look at that frown.
SR: (continuing) Such a minor physical contact is not that big a deal to me. Let’s both be cool about it.
Then, she bites off the thread of the patch she just sewed on his jacket.
If I were JungHyuk, I would have been scared by her action. She’s taking her aggression out on the poor thread. She snaps it. Meaning, if she could have snapped off JungHyuk’s head or chomped on his arm in frustration, she would have done so.
And he’s understandably shocked. He gets what her “bite” means and knows that she’s displeased with him.
SR: I will return the sewing box.
She leaves the room in a huff. JungHyuk still doesn’t get what just happened between them. Then, he spots the heart patch on his jacket.
And that’s when he realizes the real answer she wanted him to give.
She wouldn’t have sewn an OBVIOUS heart patch…a sign of love…onto his army jacket had she wanted him to choose #1, #2, or #3. All those options served to deny, conceal and mask their feelings for each other. What she really wanted from him was a confirmation that they didn’t regret kissing and that they were a couple, moving forward.
Good job, writer!
Well, good job packmule3! I was actually as clueless as Jung Hyuk until reading this.
🙂 Glad you liked it.
Seri can be confusing. Jung Hyuk was confused, wasn’t he? But with Seri, we have to read between the lines because what she says can be double-speak. She can be ironic, mocking, sarcastic and satirical all the while she’s smiling nicely.
She’s also a CEO of a company so I’m assuming that she’s sly… If this screenwriter is writing a credible character, then Seri has to have more tricks up her sleeves.
thanks for this post ! I was confused by seri’s 3 options too and was hoping that someone wld explain it 🙂
My pleasure. I’m glad it made sense.
At first, I was going to write about the differences of her 3 options….but I thought it was tedious. It was like explaining the shades of pink: coral pink, flamingo pink, hot pink, blush pink, pink champagne, and so on. There were differences in pinkness as there were differences in the level of denial, but that wasn’t the point of Seri. Her point was ownership. He had to own that kiss.
Seri was sneaky, though.
I love this scene and you absolutely nailed it
I was like .. aw Jun Hyuk you are so dead, pick none of them!
She’s cute! I like it that she was just a little angry but knew his act of taking the bullet for her beats everything since he’s a wood head and could have never gotten it right in a million years haha
Right? Kdrama writers like to use this trope: the clueless boyfriend trope. We just know that whatever the poor guy says, it’s not going to end well for him.
And yes, she’s really not THAT angry angry with him. She finished sewing the heart patch, didn’t she? She didn’t undo her stitches or leave a pin stuck in there somewhere, did she? 🙂
I love this scene and all the confusion on JH’s face 😀 I had to go back and re-read what the options were when I was watching, because the options she gave him were so similar. Your detailed breakdown is quite helpful and fun to read.
Obviously he has to declare his love for her in words, be the first to say he likes her. She has dropped a lot of hints and I’m sure she knows he likes her but he has gotta say it in her face! She’s a smart gal
There were subtle differences. Okay, I’ll explain my take if you don’t mind me being too teach-y. 😂
Option 1 is total amnesia. What kiss?
Option 2 is secrecy. “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Neither one of you will ever bring it up again.
Option 3 is downplaying the whole incident. Like, “lol. Didn’t we kiss?” “Can you believe that?” “What a doozy!”
JH probably thought she wanted #3 because she tends to pooh-pooh everything as trivial, and act flippant and unconcerned, like after their kiss on the boat. The fake bravado is actually another one of her defense mechanisms.
Son Ye Jin is really good here. Her facial expressions and tone are a match to what she’s trying to say. Most of the time I feel bad for JH. 😂
On this scene I was like, work it! Work it! Think about the answer before you respond or you’ll be dead. 😂
I thought it was cute that she patched a heart on his uniform. She’s already telling him something.
Ot, how overkill is the 2 truckloads of military men just to arrest him? 😆
I haven’t seen episode 8.
Same here! I feel sorry for JH because he looks like he’s needing an instruction manual on how to deal with a woman. But I’m enjoying it because our heroine isn’t a helpless naive chit.
I like Park Bo-Young (the actress in Strong Girl Bong Soon) but she couldn’t do “smart chic” like Son Ye Jin. Her character in “Abyss” came out annoying and whiny. Son Ye Jin exudes just the right “attitude” I expect of a driven female CEO. She can push and shove like the best of them.
The “heart” patch is ridiculous. He’ll never be able to wear that jacket again…but oh well. As a fashion statement, it screams “I’m taken!!”
The two trucks of military men had me thinking of “Vagabond” and Lee Seung Gi. pwahahaha. I like Hyun Bin’s action scenes more than LSG. LSG looks wild and uncontrolled while Hyun Bin looks more James Bond-ish. But maybe it’s the way the director films the scenes, too. Hmmm… I’ll have to think about that.
No, haven’t seen Ep 8 entirely. I’m skipping scenes here and there.
😂 She’s being “COY” not so much “CLOYing”. Poor JH. He’s putty in her hands. She’s already bewildering enough with her “capitalist” ways, throw in her “pretend” diffidence and he’s toast. He can pick out gunfire and their variations just by sound but she may as well be speaking a different language with her options. It’s like when I ask hubby after he’s attended a friend’s wedding that I couldn’t go to,
Me : what was the bride wearing?
Him : Err…a white dress?
Me : white white? Or ivory? Or cream?
Him : is there a difference?
Me : Of course there is! Was it off shoulder? A Line? Empire line? Ball gown?
Him : I wasn’t looking that hard. She did have a long veil on though (trying to be helpful).
Me : what about the bridesmaids? What colour were they wearing?
Him : I think it was green.
Me : emerald green? Olive green? Lime green?
Him : Err…like traffic light green? 😂
I am trying to catch up. Up to Ep2. Real life is getting in the way of me bingeing. I must say though I was cringing a bit in the scenes at the North Korean village in Ep1. I can’t help but wonder if their well meaning depiction of austere village life would be offensive to a North Korean citizen. Much like how I rolled my eyes at their depiction of Christian “piety”. Missing the mark. 🤔 Propagating falsities to an audience none too bothered about the truth.
Hahaha. “Traffic light green.” I hope you didn’t tell your friend that your hubby described the bridesmaids dress as “traffic light green.” You won’t be invited to their baby shower then. lol.
I hate to be sexist but yes, I agree with you. There are some things our husbands, brothers, and sons just won’t get.
There’s this scene in Episode 5, Seri just found that he had a fiancee. And she called him a two-timer and asked him what would have if the real fiancee just showed up. She would create problems for them. She pointed to her head, and asked him, exasperatedly, “Can’t you do any calculations??” He replied that she was in Russia and wouldn’t be back soon. He said, “Do you think I haven’t thought this through? I’m not stupid.”
Famous last words. When he turned around a corner, the fiancee was there.
Seri realized it and whispered to him, *menacingly* “So you are stupid, Mr. Ri. What are you going to do about it now?”
hahaha. This sounds just so like me and my husband. in our early days of marriage. I’d assess the risks but my husband would think I was being overly cautious.
I agree about the North Korean depiction. Barbrey mentioned it, too.
But just think, nrllee, this kdrama is most likely being watched in North Korea even as we speak. Isn’t that surreal? They’re watching how the South Koreans see them. I wonder which of the kdrama scenes they think are accurate and which ones are gross misrepresentations of their lives. That should be an interesting topic of conversation.
Even my oblivious self had visions of the robot from Lost in Space waving his arms and crying Warning! Warning! Warning! At the beginning of this sequence.
Oh there you, are, flying_tool. I was hoping you’d join us and defend JH.
Believe or not, I was looking at that “Danger Will Robinson” gif earlier. But I decided not to use it because many of the lurkers might not know who on earth this robot was.
I remember a similar trick question in Reply 1994. The girl asked what should she do if her newly painted room was giving her headaches because of the paint fumes. Should she open the door (but she’d catch a cold) or should she close the door (get a headache)?
The answer was neither. What she was really looking for was sympathy and commiseration. lol. The boyfriend should just listen to her and empathize.
That was a facepalm moment for me, if I were a guy. It reminded me of that book that was popular during the time. “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” (1992). The major thesis of that book was men are problem-solvers. That paint fume? Open the door and get herself a blanket. Meanwhile, the women are more about seeking counsel and getting a unified answer. For women, it wasn’t really about getting the problem solved, but making sure everybody’s on board the next course of action.
🙂
“…problem solvers…” as a guy born to be an engineer, and having spent a life time as an engineer, I really know what it means to have everything in life look like a problem statement requiring a solution. Having spent a lot of time with military personnel, I also know what it’s like when everything looks like a op order…they’re similar mind sets. But I’m much better now, I think, partly due to watching kdramas, and may be a bit of maturity settling in. And having good friends who pointed out moments when I was being especially oblivious.
As for the scene, I think someone like JH, with is family background, education, profession, and most importantly experience living in a police state as part of the upper crust, would recognize a loaded question when one is pointed at him. Otherwise, one doesn’t survive long in that environment, I suspect. I see JH with a small smile taking option D as the more natural path for his character.
I knew he can’t wear his uniform anymore. LOL. It’s just another way to tell a guy that you like him. heheheh
I agree that Binnie looks better in fight scenes than LSG. But both have cute dimples. We have to give them that! 😍
We should carve the tropes in stone too. I was laughing hard at some of them. 😂 Good one!
You’re good at picking up on moments of truth, pkm3. Let’s face it, kdramas are not the most realistic portrayers of love and courtship, but once in a while they hit the mark, and that happened here. This scene rang true to me too, in just the way you’ve explained, because I’ve been there. Not always fully consciously either – those little tests we throw out to see if our partner is feeling the same way, the happiness if he comes up with the right answer, the depression if he doesn’t. What I like about the scene is his confusion. It should teach us something. A multiple choice test has finite choices. You have to choose the ‘closest’, not write in your own extra answer. So of course he doesn’t choose ‘D’ if there is no ‘D’. My husband, by the way, became very adept at figuring out a) if a D was required; b) what D might be; and c) doing this quickly so there was no area of doubt left in my mind because of any hesitation on his part!
I would have thought JH understood there always is a trap when Seri is speaking… She doesn’t say what she thinks but assesses he should know what she’s thinking :p
“ My husband, c) doing this quickly so there was no area of doubt left in my mind because of any hesitation on his part!”
@Barbrey that moment’s hesitation is critical… I remember how one of my friend recounted how her daughter was out shopping for her prom dress…and she came out of the fitting room twirling in front of the mirror. She eyed her reflection with the hypercritical eyes of a teenager and asked the dreaded question to her dad, “does this make me look fat?” He hesitated… and of course she then burst into tears and wailed, “you think it does don’t you? I look horrendous in it.” His defensive protests made no difference. “You didn’t give me a chance to reply? I was thinking about what to say.” 😂. Too late. Damage was done.
@nrllee – yep, there should NEVER be a moment’s hesitation in times like that! Bet her dad never did that again! We’ve got to train our guys. There really is a double standard though. If my daughter asked ME that, she was looking for an honest answer. If she asked her dad that, she was looking for unconditional admiration!
Hi all, first time on this site. I love this scene, it was super adorable. With respect to JH being clueless and unable to man up about the kiss, I find it a bit strange considering how firm he was admitting his feelings to his actual fiancé later, no talking around anything there. But for some reason he seems to want to hold back directly telling the woman he really cares about. Maybe he is still trying to protect her, she has to leave in his mind, that’s his goal. It’s like keeping her picture while denying her a picture of his as keepsake, he wants to her move on. I guess declaring himself to her would not help her in that.
@Barbrey and @nrllee that is so funny! Poor dad couldn’t even draw breath to speak and he’s maligned his little girl!
@Flying Tool glad to see you here! Getting great tips on Communication 101.
@agdr03 In kdramas, it’s weirdly remiss of the authorities that the Bad Guy (Cho Cheol Gang) never gets caught for misusing army vehicles and staff especially with such an over-kill, but the good guys have to sign out for weapons and get into trouble.
I’m ignoring this guy, Cho Cheol Gang. 🙂 He doesn’t really make sense to me but I’m giving the writer leeway here.
When I think about it: if he had that much clout, and connection, and dirt!! on all these officers, then why is he still in that division? Shouldn’t he be in Pyongyang, too? Or some upper echelon of the military? Why is he still working there? So he could have his little truck brigade? lol.
But oh wellll…. I’m ignoring him. I keep telling myself he’s just an archetypal villain. All stories have to have villains. And better him than SungJoon.
Oh noooo! That dreaded “Does this make me look fat” question.
I’ve decided that there are only two acceptable answers to this one…. Are you taking down notes, @Flying_tool?
Option A: No, it makes you look SEXY.
Option B: No, it FLATTERS your figure. (remember that verb: FLATTER)
With Option A, you can play around with it depending on who’s asking. If it’s your daughter, namedrop a person she likes. Like a kpop idol, a princess, a movie star. But for most women, you can’t go wrong with “sexy.”
I just stumbled upon your blog today, and boy was I missing on a lot of great writing. Thank you for this post. I’m not well-versed on kdramas, especially since I’ve seen so few and so far in between, so I appreciate the insight you provided about this scene. Admittedly, I kept repeating this part of the episode because I couldn’t tell what the difference was between the three options. I had no clue there was so much subtext in this dialogue, and I’m glad you wrote about it with such clarity. I initially thought Se-Ri was just trying to convince herself that the kiss was nothing and thus, throwing the burden of that incident on RJH by explaining that he must have just felt pity. Now this scene makes more sense lol.
I’ve watched too many kdramas.
The reason that JH gets in trouble is because he doesn’t know that there’s a difference between taking her words LITERALLY and
taking her words SERIOUSLY. Yes, it’s good to listen to her seriously but he doesn’t have to take her literally all the time.
@flying_tool gets it because he’s been with us in this blog for months now. I’m hoping that he’s learned by now to know when I write something seriously (even when I sound facetious) and when I’m not.
Welcome to the blog!
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Coming in a little late here but still wanted to say thanks.
One of the best writing/acting scenes in the show. I was having a hard time telling the difference between option A & B. C was a little better but still left a lot to be desired.
Your explanation was spot on and appreciated.
This was not the first time I had to search what was meant by an action or words in this show. Example – two crossed fingers (heart symbol), when she used the word wistful (eyes and look), and lastly this example. Maybe my confusion occurred from the translation although this show seems to be translated extremely well. For individuals that speak both languages (Korean and English) would like to hear your comments about how close the translation is.