An average kdrama takes me about 30 minutes to understand where it’s going, and a good kdrama takes me half the time. With this kdrama, it took me less than 5 minutes.
The second Ha Won walks in his small apartment (can’t he afford a bigger pad?), the window blinds begin to roll up to expose the city scene outside. His lights turn on by one by one as he walks by, and piano music begins to play. He removes his coat and tie, and throws them on the bed (eww. germs.) As he turns around, the nightscape outside his window suddenly changes into a bird’s eye of a wintry forest. He has a “smart” window.
Nice try, director. To me, the window was the first significant insight into his character. The remote-controlled shades, the motion-sensored lights, and the music player (there’s an app for that! lol) didn’t impress me because anybody can add those features to his home. But the smart window told me that he was high-tech and more, importantly, an introvert. He wished to be reminded of another place very much different from the city. That view of the primeval forest isolated him from the outside world.
Then, a minute into the story, he plops his AI gadget and key fob on the kitchen counter, and gets water from the fridge. He talks to his AI (let’s call it AH for now, because that’s name of his AI lab).
Won: Do you remember this music?
AH: This is “Je Te Veux” composed by Erik Satie in 1881.
Won: That’s enough. Stop the music.
He leans against the fridge. He looks defeated.
And I think I know why…
In another place, and another time, his colleague is asking that AI gadget, AH.
Colleague: What’s your name?
AH: I am Ha Won.
Colleague: (frustrated) This won’t do. If I ask Ha Won, “Who are you?” then how and what are you supposed to answer to me? Are you sick? Is that supposed to be Ha Won? What do you mean “Ha Won”?
He, too, is frustrated with the AH because it isn’t responding in the manner that Won would have if Won was asked, “What’s your name?”
Colleague: (still lecturing the gadget) Listen carefully. You are Ha Won’s personality and emotional conversation device. Then you have to meet the conversation standards of Ha Won. You’re worse than SIRI. Your self-esteem hurts, huh? Mine hurts too. Why aren’t you coming out? How many days has it been?
AH: Please just ask one question at a time.
Colleague: Oh, stop it.
He turns around and sees an employee staring at him.
Colleague: You scared me. What are you doing?
Employee: I heard Ha Won’s voice.
Colleague: (lying to hide his interaction with the gadget) Ha Won is over there.
Employee: (wasn’t fooled anyway) It’s a device that I’ve never seen before. You are inventing something again, aren’t you? When are you going to show it to us?
Colleague: It’s not done yet. Go and do your meeting.
There! In less than 3 minutes, we get *one* major theme of this drama, and *one* explanation of the title, “A Piece of Your Mind.” Of course, I don’t know how many themes there are, but the first theme introduced here is human communication.
The reason Won looked defeated earlier is because AI didn’t respond like a human. Despite all the work and hours he’d inputted to transfer his memories and other data into it, the gadget sounded mechanical.
If it were a human person, AH should have responded like this:
Won: Do you remember this music?
AH: Yes. I remember this music. This is the music you and JiSoo played during…. (and so on)
Instead of spitting out facts like an encyclopedia, AH should have accessed its database and replied with — oh, I don’t know — something like Won’s memory of a special occasion with the girl when the music played in the background or like his memory of an special event when he played the music for the girl.
Instead of giving a general factoid, Won wanted AH to PERSONALIZE its response for him.
Same with the test question his colleague asked of AH, “What’s your name?” AH could have replied, “Are you serious? How come you don’t know my name so early in the morning?” or some sort of banter. The Colleague was looking for a response that replicated human interaction. But the AI only gave a cookie-cutter response.
To me, that’s the key point of this drama. Won is looking to humanize his AI. But he’s hitting a wall. He’s frustrating because his prototype isn’t reacting communicating to him in the way he expected and built it to be. He’d poured out all his memories into it, but it still couldn’t connect his memories to churn out a response Won wanted. So he’s looking for the “trigger” moment or that “start” button that would activate HA.
Colleague: (returning the AI gadget) What? Your personality and emotions? There’s no chance. Listen carefully. Up to now, computers have determined the average pattern of emotions and applied it to individuals. You put the feelings of an individual here as the pattern.
Meaning, Won used his feelings as the “model” for his artificial intelligence.
Colleague: (continuing) That’s amazing. Really. But it’s not coming out.
Won: There’s no way but to communicate with it. It didn’t work with me so I thought maybe it would work with you.
Ugh! I think the subs could be better. He was saying that they didn’t have choice. There was no other option but to continue talking to AH in order to awaken it.
Colleague: (insisting) It’s not coming out. It’s not coming out. I’ve been carrying it around with me everywhere for 3 nights and 4 days and been communicating with it.
Won: It’s because the response feature hasn’t come out yet.
And his colleague bugged him what this “response feature” is. He wanted to know when the gadget would take on Won’s personality. “What makes this machine you?”
Won: The machine finds it itself.
Colleague: If perhaps if Ha Won has no response feature, then it’s a fail. (he leaves and adds an encouragement) Fighting.
In other words, they have to give the gadget time to figure it out himself. That gadget would have to become self-aware on its own time.
See the genius of God for creating humans like us? All he had to do was touch Adam’s finger, and the spark of divine inspiration was lit in humans. lol.
credit: Michelangelo’s God
For me, the reason this episode can be frustrating to watch is because we, the viewers, are imitating the show. Life imitates art.
In many ways, we mirror this artificial intelligence that Won is creating.
Like AH, we’ve been fed pieces of Won’s memories in the form of flashbacks, and we’re watching his actions.
Like AH, we’re slowly awakening to the story and characters as plot unfolds.
Like AH, we’re trying to piece together Won’s past memories and connect them to his present actions.
Like AH, we’re being asked to extract meaning from his past, then deduce or extrapolate his next move.
And like AH, I’m still searching for my “trigger” or my “start” button to make this kdrama actually click for me. It’s thought-provoking enough, but it isn’t electrifying me.
Maybe in the next 15 minutes. Let me continue watching and I’ll get back to you.
🙂 Let me know how you feel at the end. I find the concept quite novel. Especially when AH awakens (trigger point) – becomes “aware”. It awakens at roughly the same time HW does. I like it so far but like I said I am not sure the whole concept will carry me through the rest of the drama. It’s got this very nostalgic feel to it. The music, the props, the people.
The other theme I have picked up is “letting go”. His pining for JiSoo is obsessive to the point of being “stalkerish”? It’s kinda creepy. He can’t let go of her. She haunts him and he is fettered to the memory of her. If this device is to be programmed with the personality of a loved one who has already deceased or left you in real life, does it really help you in the grieving process? You won’t ever have to “move on”? And if it’s to be a soulmate whom you really obsess/love, then it robs you of the opportunities to be with a “real” living person had you moved on?
I really like the imagery in the dialogues. It’s well written. Not sure if the story will keep me invested enough to keep going though. 😂. I feel like I will probably stay for some of it but I may get bored mid way.
I’m at the thunder moment now. So….he doesn’t have a “smart” window? lol. It was just a painting of a forest.
Sigh. Is this guy rich? I thought his character is supposed to be like a Korean version of Zuckerberg or something.
Will try to finish the whole episode by tonight. I keep getting interrupted.
I’d say yes in regard to Ha Won being rich if he’s got liquid assets to purchase a building in Seoul the moment he wants it. Granny must also be loaded, considering her gorgeous home and farm.
I found ep. 1 to be cryptic, but that now makes sense if we’re shadowing AH’s development as you propose, PM3. Thanks for that insight.
I am hoping I will come to like Ha Won as a character, but from what I saw in ep. 1 he’s manipulative, thoughtless (the mess he repeatedly leaves behind in the studio!), and self-absorbed to the point of becoming a stalker. This is not to say I don’t like the actor or how he’s exercising his craft. I do hope this is a meaty role for Jung Hae In that allows him to show a wide range of emotions.
I haven’t seen Jung Hae In in anything but prison playbook. I find it hard to get into rom-com for quite some years now. I did finally watch a sageuk one last year because it has fun premise and Kim Min Jae in it. I saw him in Teacher Kim S1 and I think he has potential. I didn’t know the lead actress in this drama either. I believe reading your review 🤭🤭 is sufficient to feed my curiosity.😉
Been waiting for this @packmule3 😊 thanks for taking the time. Withiot delving deeo into the story i find the episode as a whole kind of melancholic and yet beautiful. Maybe its the feel of the episode. But seeing how the ML is pining for an unrequited love (or was it really) for 10years is kind of obssessive behavior. Is that the right word? The AI is supposed to heal or used as a theraphy but then using the voice of a loved one might not be a good idea. How can someone move forward from grief? But maybe it’s different with every person.
I already finished ep 4. Truth to tell..i was confused and did not really understand what’s going on😜 in ep 1 and 2. But there is something about the drathethat pulls me to watch more😂 so i really want to read your insights.😊
Will be waiting for more of your post on this.
I think I’m getting Ep 1. 😂 As I said, I think of ourselves (us, viewers) as the AH, the artificial intelligence.
We’re intelligent and we’re pretending to know what’s going on with the characters’ lives. As it is, we’re forming impressions. We’re interpreting the “jumps and leaps” in the story and if a theory doesn’t work out, we formulate another one. 🙂 The AI is doing the same thing. It’s adjusting to Won’s needs.
But I’m slower though than an AI because I keep getting interrupted. I fell asleep last night before I could reached midway of the show.
We don’t know what’s going on, like the AI, but we’re going along with the flow, and accepting the input of data.
And SW is like us, too.
We don’t know why and how Won knew that she and Jisoo would click, but both girls did. He was right.
But she doesn’t know that he’s inputting the “algorithm” into his artificial intelligence. She’s just following his design, his model, his plan.
She’s told to buy dishes, she does.
She’s told to schedule artists, she does.
Like me.
I’m told to review this, and here I am. 😂
Okay, have to go continue watching….
“I’m told to review this, and here I am.”
For this, I pronounce you an Angel ~ 😉
lolzz.. PM3, the only reason I am watching this drama, let me tell you is because I saw the writer’s previous work, ‘tune in for love’ (which had kim go eun and jung hae in) and also her previous drama ‘on the way to the airport was kind of thought provoking and melancholic too.. like this one.
Here the dialogues are so beautiful and it’s a bit unusual, I was actually kinda impressed that Jung Hae In is doing this slice of life, moody drama and and it’s kinda ambiguous too. ..
For example the dialogues are long and they have a meaning, and like you said, the subs are not doing them justice. Like how Ji Soo says go ga gi gyu, (as in the syllables of music alphabet I think?) to learn Korean. I have watched all 4 of the episodes and to my understanding the writer wants to unfold the drama slowly, but I feel like she is a good writer. She is not scared to take this extra time. It also reminds me of Japanese dramas in that respect.
Although yes, like Nrlleee I found it little bit annoying that he is not letting ji soo go, but I am curious to see what the writer is gonna do with the story. Just the unusual storyline, unlike the happy go lucky Korean dramas is making me stay. 😀
O @Nearsea is this the same writer for Tune In For Love? I really liked that movie. It wasn’t flashy or “epic” but it was beautifully made and the characters were interesting. The story telling was great there. Ah no wonder this drama feels like it suits a movie more. I can see the fingerprints of that writer in this drama too. Thanks for that bit of information.
I have not seen any works of the female lead, and only One Spring Night of the male lead(which I liked), but I am enjoying their work together in this drama. As @Nearsea, I appreciate the deep, emotional dialogues, and the fact that depression is an underlying subject. All four episodes, to me, have been thought provoking. I want to know how will he overcome his past love, if at all; what made the two girls find that instant connection; and why she may be falling for him despite knowing of his love for another. Beyond that, and even though I am not a fan of fiction, I also like the idea of an AI being used for psychological treatment, and I want to see where this goes with it. I’ll patiently wait for your review, specially on the issues with the subs/translation. I know zero Korean, but I am multilingual, so I know quite a bit can get lost in translation, particularly when describing emotions.
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