This post is not a tearjerker. 🙂
After I read that my post last night left some of you reaching for tissues, I feel obligated to give my write-ups a warning label now.
I guess I don’t need to mention the plain band on his ring finger since you all noticed the it by now.
It must have been a recent purchase because he wasn’t wearing it when he talked about marriage. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d bought it when he and his squad went out to get the items for her surprise birthday party.
There were so many surprises that day and it started when her mother dropped by at her office and they had the mother-and-daughter talk.
Seri: Ever since that day, there’s a chilling night sea in my heart. And the sun never shines on that sea. No matter how many times I counted, the sun never showed up. And you never came back.
Seri: Ever since then, one thought lingered in my mind. “Why did I come to this world and turn my mom’s life into a living hell? It would’ve been better had I not been born. I feel sorry for breathing.”
Mom: (forcing a smile) Okay. You don’t have to believe everything that I say.
She’d accused her mom of abandoning her at the beach. If this was true, her mom would be guilty of child abuse. She recklessly disregarded and endangered her child’s safety. Her mom should have been guilt stricken by her words. Yet her mom (who, remember now, was visibly distraught when she disappeared during paragliding accident) smiled as if to downplay Seri’s dramatic revelation. To me, she was putting on a brave face.
“You don’t have to believe everything I say,” meant that she was resigned to the fact that Seri regarded her as a bad one. She wasn’t even going to try to convince Seri to hear her out and understand her side.
Seri: Don’t you visit me on my birthday ever again. It’s the worst.
Only after she left did her mom cry. What’s wrong with this woman that she couldn’t show her pain in front of Seri?
It’s almost a foregone conclusion that Seri’s her father’s biological child but I’m the last holdout. For these reasons:
1. He wasn’t emotionally connected here and elsewhere.
2. The rhetorical/literal question
Insurance guy: Let’s visit her mother. She gave birth to her. She’ll definitely recognize her daughter’s voice.
Hong: She’s not the birth mother. I found out not too long ago.
Insurance guy: Then how about the chairman? He’s her biological father, right?
Hong: You’ve finally gone insane. How could we possible meet him?
If you noticed, the insurance guy’s question literal question whether Seri was the biological daughter of the Chairman wasn’t answered. Secretary Hong assumed the insurance guy was asking a rhetorical question.
3. For a brief moment, he hesitated to write down that he was the father here. He had to think about it.
4. And I say that Seri was wrong in her belief that her mom didn’t show up at the beach. But as I pointed out to you before, her mom was the only one who had the memory of her counting in the beach. If her mom didn’t return, then why is it that she knew that Seri was counting that night?
From Episode 4, 45:09
I believe that she’d been watching her from the distance. She’d been there all along. It’s important for the resolution of the story that her mom was there at the beach, in secret.
Seri’s feeling of abandonment, of the sun never shining on the “chilling night sea in her heart,” explains why she teared up when she saw JungHyuk in the marketplace. She had a flashback of being abandoned again.
But this time, the sun did show up in the form of JungHyuk holding up a candle – a scented candle as she requested –
and tears welled up in her eyes.
This feeling of abandonment also explains why she cried when JungHyuk and the gang surprised her for her birthday. She thought JungHyuk had already left without saying goodbye because when she entered her apartment, all the lights in the living room were turned off.
For her, this dark place would suddenly feel like déjà vu. It would feel eerily like that dark marketplace, and that dark beach.
Talking in the dark, she asked, “JungHyuk. Did you leave? Did you? This soon?” And she started to weep and she sank to the floor.
Ugh! I told you that stone couch is useless! Useless! She preferred to sit on the rug on the floor when the couch must be just as hard and cold.
Then the lights turned on and JungHyuk and his squad came out to surprise her.
I like it. Instead of a candle held up in darkness, her whole place was brightly illuminated by ceiling light with a flick of the switch. Back then in the marketplace, she teared up when JungHyuk found her. But now, when she realized that she hadn’t been abandoned, that the gang was all there and had planned a surprise birthday party for her, she started to cry inconsolably.
And that’s why I say that THEMATICALLY the mom needs to be present at the beach with her. In all the dark places she’d been, there was always an unexpected light: the electric lights, the candle, and the moon.
To me, one of the key lessons that Seri must learn by the end of this kdrama is that, she’s never abandoned.
Whether or not she sees the physical presence of someone she loves, she’s always loved. She doesn’t need to see JungHyuk, the squad, and the North Korean women, to be assured of her rightful place in their hearts and minds.
But her insecurity about being abandoned started when her mom left her at the beach. She’d compared her mother, poetically I must say, to the sun who didn’t shine on that “chilling night sea.” And she never forgave her mom.
However, she failed to realize that the sun had been there too that night. Although she didn’t physically see it, and only saw the moon in the sky that night, she failed to realize that the sun was there reflected in the moon’s glow.
Do you see what I mean?
I doubt that she was truly alone that night. Her mom isn’t psychic; she heard Seri counting while waiting for her to return.
For me, a good endgame to Seri’s emotional journey entails a resolution of her issues with her past, especially with her mother. Only then can she move forward with a relationship with JungHyuk, be it a forever-apart connection, a long-distance relationship, or a real marriage.
Frankly though, I don’t see a forever-apart ending or a long-distance relationship (with occasional visits) working out for them since she’ll require constant physical reassurance of his love. Given her abandonment issues, she’ll eventually grow insecure when she can’t see him, and she won’t truly be happy until he’s with her by her side.
When I think about it, their happily-ever-after has been preordained when she ordered JungHyuk to recite 10 nice things to his tomato plant daily. She’s very much like that tomato plant. In life and love, she’ll need to hear from him every day to survive.
lol. She isn’t the type to be cultivated without diligent care and attention.
She’s the tomato and he’s the tomato cultivator. lol.
I was heartbroken for a child that was abandoned at the beach on her birthday. 😢We can’t blame Seri for her resentment, the pain is very deep. But I see it (she is her Mom’s biological daughter), you’re right that there has to be an explanation why her Mom couldn’t come back to her or that she can’t be seen by Seri.
I love that connection that she will need her 10 booster words a day just to reaffirm to her that she is loved and not abandoned. 😊
That couch was definitely attention grabbing.
Have a good day! 😊
Hi agdr03, the couch!!! I shouldn’t call it a couch. It’s more like a park bench with throw pillows.
I’m not sure who’s Seri’s parent. Both are iffy looking. At least Dan is lucky. Although her mom hovers a lot, she knows that her mom loves her no matter what.
I saw “Find Yourself” on netflix. 🙂 I can guess what attracted you to it!! You found the younger guy handsome, didn’t you?
I don’t know if I’m going to like it. I’m not wild about noona romances. Especially when their age difference is going to be the main theme of the story. Isn’t this going to be a love triangle with the older man/her boss added to the mix?
But doesn’t this actor have another drama? Maybe I can watch that one instead. 🙂
Too many unanswered questions still.. too little time! I really appreciate all your insights on this drama. Thank you for your wonderful writings. Certainly gives one food for thought apart from the expected swooning over the male lead.
What is interesting is the contrast of intent of the words “born” & “breathing” in the 2 different scenes. In the conversation b/n SR & her mom, they were used w/ such contempt from SR (I wish I was never born. I’m sorry I am breathing). At the end of ep12, JH used those words in a loving way (“I’ll be grateful that you were born into this world … I’ll be be grateful that the person I love is still breathing.”). He flipped what SR perceived as negative words into a positive. Essentially, he is the one to fill that void that she desperately needed.
Totally agree w/ you regarding the abandonment issue w/ SR. I’ve noticed that SR uses “by my side” pretty often. The scene where JH & SR are walking to the DMZ so she can go back to SK (“You won’t be by my side”). When JH arrives in SK in SR’s apartment, JH tells her to keep the people she loves in her heart (“even if they are not by my side.”)
Haha, JH video game name should of been Se-ri Cultivator. I think that would of made SR’s heart flutter when she discovered he was playing video games.
Seriously, I can’t wait to see what unfolds w/ her “father” and “mother.” What is her mother holding back and not saying. Mad props for you noticing that her mother remembers SR counting and her dad pausing when he signed father. Your Kdrama senses are unreal.
Very insightful post … her mother was there all along at the beach. The only thing missing is the explanation of what happened that night … have a bad feeling that her father may be involved.
I totally agree that CLoY will have a happy ending, given that this writer has given happy endings to an alien + human & a mermaid + human … surely the DMZ is an easy obstacle compared to these previous love stories. Have not seen You from Another Star, although my friends raved about it. Have seen The Legend of the Blue Sea but apart from the gorgeous images, the drama was just alright. But CLoY, the pairing of HB & SYJ elevates this drama – their work, for me, is a throwback to classic Hollywood i.e. Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper … even Hollywood can’t even create this kind of magic anymore.
P.S. Speaking of Hollywood, the actress & actor who played Seo Dan’s mother & uncle respectively, will be in attendance for the Oscars on Sunday night. They will be representing the movie “Parasite” – 🤞 that this movie makes history & be the first foreign movie to win the Academy’s Best Picture.
Yes the breathing thing, that suffocating feeling we get even when we are surrounded by actual comfort. I loved how JH mother charged out to tell her son to breathe. His father’s reaction seems more in line with Asian parent stereotype, “have you thought about your future?” Mom reacts, “breath! Why can’t you breath?” So simple. She just points out it’s ridiculous her son should feel he can’t breathe when air is abundant.
Speaking of futures, had the father thought about the son’s future. He seems to have understanding enough of JH to know how to manipulate him, to use his better nature to make him return to NK. But if he does “get” him to that extent, wouldn’t his plan to cultivate him in NK to rise through the ranks in a tyrannical regime, getting his hands dirty to wield power seems terribly risky? His two sons, which must seem ironic to someone in his position, are terribly inept for the role he presumably wants for them. Both sons are so much like the mom, forms deep bonds, seeks justice, full of noble heroics…not the best sons as heirs to succeed him. Powerful/wealthy Asians seems to put considerable energy in plotting exit strategies, not only for themselves but especially for the next generation. Why is JH stationed in the outpost seven years after his brother’s death? To investigate his brother’s murder on his own or according to the father. Why didn’t his father cared enough to find out what happened to his older son, with all his power he could have done it. The military director seems to think JH dad as someone who is highly aware of what’s going on. Yet somehow the younger son goes back to the same spot and gets into all kinds of trouble, even without Seri. JH’s bookshelf is full of foreign books, he was sent or at least allowed to go abroad for his education, was all that negotiated with his dad? But isn’t it terribly obvious JH has a riskier future staying in NK than being sent off somehow, just for being what he is?
I can see why so many Asians feel the need for exit strategies, even with wealth and power. Sigh.
Howdy!
I think I prefer the park bench than that stone/cement of a couch. 😄 I’ll watch episode 13 when I get the chance. Awww JH is wearing a ring? 😍 I didn’t notice that.
Don’t worry about the noona cdrama. I’m not familiar with both leads but the young actor did caught my attention. 😉 It was a total shocker that he scored a home run when their not even officially together. 😱😂 I’m on episode 10. 🤦🏻♀️ Oh got to say that the 3 dogs in the drama are so cute. I don’t know yet of his other dramas. 😊