This thread is now open for comments, spoilers, theories, analyses, rants and raves of this week’s episodes.
Let’s enjoy the show!
127 Comments On “Psycho But It’s Okay: Eps 3 & 4 Open Thread”
Comments are closed.
This thread is now open for comments, spoilers, theories, analyses, rants and raves of this week’s episodes.
Let’s enjoy the show!
Comments are closed.
Saturday, come already!
Thanks @packmule3 ❤️
I really can’t wait. The still shots have got me anxious for whats to come.
I’m interested in where Nam Joo-Ri fits in all of this since she seems interested in MKT. Will she get in the way of KMY? Will KMY stab NJR? Never separate a woman from her red bottoms.
I hope you’re good @packmule3! Sending you hugs 🤗! Thanks for this thread. I am addicted to GT and MY already after 2 episodes. I’m surprised. ☺️ But it’s true what @John L said, there’s something about them together on screen just captivates you. Maybe only us? 😄
Those endings for the two episodes really worked for me. I’m like I want to know how this two people will heal each other. ☺️
These two episodes will determine whether I will continue to watch live or will just wait until the end. Sadly, the show didn’t capture my attention as much as I would have liked.
@agdr03 @JohnL yes there’s something very magnetic and electrifying when they lock gazes. Still a part of me can’t help but feel like it’s not a particularly healthy relationship? It’s almost “toxic” and additive? But then again if they are to progress to a romantic relationship (it seems inevitable), their relationship dynamic would be atypical? I can see how he fits into her world but how does she fit into his? He already has a lot on his plate with caring for his brother. She’s high needs/maintenance as well? 🤔. I look forward to seeing how they attempt to make it work.
Thanks @pkml3 hope you’re fine!
I was thinking over the question of what triggers people to react/over-react or in GT’s case to clamp down on his reactions so that he is all too calm.
Anyway, just considering MY now. To a question on what triggered MY to target GT as her Red Shoes, my first response was that she was bored and lonely, and that the both of them had a mutual fascination for each other. It might have not been a positive fascination to begin with since GT accosted MY for smoking in the hospital grounds. But even at that first staring contest between them, there was a frisson of something. MY looked away first. There were pretty cherry blossom (I think) petals falling around them, and she looked up at them before speaking to GT. (We [barely] recall that in the animation, there were petals falling at one point upon the Boy and Girl, and butterfly wings that were blown like fallen petals. Not sure if this is a repeated motif)
(I think at this stage, she means he’s being there with a cup was a coincidence, but the word she used was “destiny. It was an apt word where the result was due to decisions they made.)
He was perhaps already finding that her eyes looked familiar, and she regarded him as an inconvenience who might as well be converted into someone/something convenient, ie the receptacle of her cigarette.
Then when he stopped her from killing the crazy father of Go Eun, she notes that ‘It wasn’t destiny after all’, (not coincidence?).
To MY, GT was unlike the other people she interacted with, he was not afraid of her, did not capitulate to her wishes. He neither ran away from her nor avoided her. He behaved like a care-giver towards her, even when holding on to the knife. When she challenged him to identify her as either a clueless civilian or a thoughtful freak, he made her laugh by calling her a clueless freak.
They complement each other. On the surface we have one who likes sharp implements and the other who has scars on his body. A care giver and the one who wants to be cared for. And actually she was right, since they had known each other in the past, met again, and were still fascinated with each other in the present, it was destiny.
Now we come to the episodes in which she has stalked him to OK Psychiatric Hospital, from which, I guess, we get the name of this series. LOL. I’m eager to see how they continue to deal with their ‘destiny’.
@GB yes that was fascinating. Do you just wait for things to happen? As say it’s Destiny/fated? Or do you create those opportunities by making choices (he chose to intervene)? And thereby create your own destiny/fate?
@nrllee
Yeah, it’s a pretty unhealthy relationship right now. ^^
That’s probably what’s going to make it fun. I guess it will evolve into an explosive mix between real feelings and all these psychic disorders.
I doubt it, but maybe it will end up like Kimi Wa Petto, who begins with a crazy relationship: a cold and rigid woman agrees to adopt a handsome homeless young man if he agrees to become her dog. In the end, both are very happy like that, END. This kind of thing can happen in Japanese dramas. 😀
I couldn’t rewatch the first two episodes. I don’t know if I go on like that, or if I binge watch all after the end of the broadcast.
So excited @packmule3 😀 I can’t wait to hear more fairytales new and old! I also want to understand the side characters better.
For a change, I decided to check out the teasers. This is Teaser #2.
There may be story clues here. We mentioned things about petals falling being a repeated motif, and petals/flowers are mentioned here. And the teaser chooses to lump together certain images. There were so many…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHZefhy9iro
(In the dark, MY from the other side, opens up the stained glass doors and we see her silhouette facing us. Her voice narrates.)
“I hate flowers that fall petal by petal.” (Her hand in black lace sleeve throws away a petal. Petals being plucked. Shot of butterfly wings flapping overlapping the scene of corpse of GT’s mother.)
[Once again teaser suggests link between butterflies and GT’s mother’s murder.]
“I like magnolias.” (Head view of MY looking off and smiling. GT lands on red petals – his imaginary way to cope with the lady who threw up on him)
“The whole flower falls at once without hesitation.” (MY drinking from a brandy glass. Shot of MY pulling someone’s (Ju Ri’s??) head backwards by the hair)
(MY’s fingers with black nails tapping GT’s chest.)
“I like that about them.” (MY looks at bare-bodied GT and is maybe about to touch a scar and he stops her and turns her around. MY makes the V sign with a wink next to ST while a camera clicks.)
“Mom, I’m going to be a pretty witch.” (Red shoes stepping out of the car and of MY under the umbrella in the rain. Back of the child MY walking in a wintry field. Shot of adult MY in blue dress walking across the ground amidst fallen leaves.)
(MY’s hand is seen picking up a red book.)
“This fairy tale tells you that…” (She is in the house in a room like a conservatory? among potted plants, table, chairs and with a book in hand. Statue in that room )
“…you can never escape your destiny.” (GT reads one of MY’s books while her reflection is on the glass pane in front of him, MY looks at him from above.)
(Words on screen: WHO CARES ABOUT DESTINY? GT holds on to MY’s wrist to stop her from walking off. View of many steps up the side of a building and MY’s feet coming down opposite stairs.)
(Words on screen: WE ARE DESTINY. MY and GT staring at each other and MY pulls GT towards her by holding on to the back of his neck.)
Episode 3 – Quite a fun and funny episode with thought provoking moments. GT seems to envy the freedom of the mentally unsound? Now to wait for it to be subbed. 😀
Yeah, didn’t like this episode much. Again, nothing much happened or was it just me? No plot development except both character returned to the town where they grew up and the love triangle bit was established.
I’m not comfortable with any sort of mental illness being treated comedically, so the entire side plot about the assemblyman’s son was off to me.
Sleeping beauty ends up being called Sleeping witch in this episode and I was right it was connected to her trauma with her mother. I guess the show may be hinting that she let her mother or someone die by drowning. And she fees haunted by their ghost. That’s probably why she said her mother’s soul was alive but she was physically dead. This episode also linked sleeping to a lot of negative things, sleep paralysis, sleeping as curse, waking up from dreams, insomnia which is lack of sleep and nightmares etc. That’s also interesting.
Also There’s been hints pointing to Gang Tae also dealing with abuse? Maybe the mother of the brothers wasn’t actually as nice as we’re led to believe. Maybe she used to abuse Sang Tae on the back of the head?
There’s also many hints linking murder to Gang Tae, was his face changing because he was involved in a murder? Or is it just because he remembered his own family member was murdered.
The castle did give me rapunzel, beauty and the beast and sleeping beauty vibes which to me suggested the theme of being trapped and being captured. This hints to again the idea that the characters feel trapped with their situations? But they all desperately crave freedom and self acceptance.
There was so much more but these are my first thoughts so far.
Agreed with the statement that this episode didn’t really provide much development for our characters. I don’t know why the story of the assemblyman’s son needed to be made comedic, however, it seemed like it triggered something inside Gangtae. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint his emotions. Might be something from his shared childhood with his older brother? The last scene with the assemblyman’s son’s repeated narration on the Morning Sun club incident could possibly correlate with Gangtae’s reality, the fact that he kept on running away but he ended up there again (his hometown). I’m not sure on whether Munyeong kidnapped the assemblyman’s son as a bait to provoke Gangtae while remaining emotionless in the end or she actually understood what he was going through. Despite looking entertained I reckon Munyeong might actually see the son’s pent-up frustration.
That bit when Sangtae explained his reason for saving up made me tear up a little bit, to be honest. 😥 That was his effort on being understanding towards his younger brother.
p.s that “Morning Sun” sounds like a wordplay on the South Korea’s hot scandal. Pure speculation on my part, but if you know, you know. Hahaha.
Will just share some funny scene. Moon young hella funny 🤣
https://twitter.com/lovebangwon/status/1276892637740453888?s=21
https://twitter.com/lovebangwon/status/1276911331015159809?s=21
And sad on kangtae side. 🙁
https://twitter.com/lovebangwon/status/1276904100177707009?s=21
But i totally in love with this couple today ❤️
What I got from Episode 3 is that KMY is trying to save MKT in order to save herself. In KMY’s dream, her mother wants to kill the Prince which is suppose to giver her a kiss. I guess KMY’s psychotic “therapy” is suppose to un-suppress him (KMY imagining himself to be the assemblyman’s son). At the end of the episode, MKT says he is ready to have some fun w/ her.
The Harry Met Sally-esque scene where she mimics the butterfly hug w/ moans. “I admit I’m horny …” “Do you want to sleep with me?!!” This scene had me dying.
However, I do agree this episode did not provide much more information.
I like the head of the hospital. He totally gets Sang Tae and it looks like it’s such a load off GT’s shoulders. He recognises Sang Tae’s talent and has encouraged it. It looks like GT is perhaps trading sessions for Sang Tae for some of his employment? I hope that it continues to work well for Sang Tae.
As to the politician’s son, I think part of his purpose is also to show that the hospital may be destroyed. The politician proposed closing the hospital as a campaign promise. The head nurse told GT that people opposed building it on the site of a graveyard. It sounds like the hospital is not seen as a positive thing in the community. The son running amok might result in the politician being able to point a finger at the hospital and say that it poses a danger to the community.
Yes, @John L, that Harry met Sally scene was so funny. MY is so manipulative and tenacious.
For the case of the sleeping witch, who wants to kill the prince, please refer to one of my previous comments. A social phenomenon whose source is not deep psychology, but a fashionable superficial current of thought. If the drama does well, it will succeed in showing the truth of the psychological phenomenon, let’s hope.
For the rest, this episode 3 was horrible.
Boring, or grotesque in other cases.
I’m sincerely surprised that it turned out this way.
To make matters worse, I smell a semi-procedural scenario: one episode = one case of mental illness. It serves to feed the progression of the main characters. A bit like Hotel Del Luna.
But I won’t bother anyone with all that, I plan to drop the drama.
I hesitate to see episode 4 or do it immediately.
Still need to read some of the previous and present thread comments but for now will just give my first reactions 🙂
– I enjoyed it. I guess, I am not looking for any information and am just treating it as a story which is unfolding just fine for me. I thought it was entertaining 🙂
– the FL is such an interesting character and she is what keeps me glued. Well played, beautiful and intriguing. Who wanted to be saved from drowning and whose face we don’t see?
– the transitions were nice. Her trying to scare the huge deer away and then the deer milk cartons (I wonder would the milk be tasty? Is it a trendy thing in Korea?)
– the elder brother is 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾 And I was touched by him. First his bit about how family members are Close strangers (can’t remember the exact phrase) and then him being so kind hearted: he shared his secret and was doing his bit to be an elder brother. Aww
– the politician’s son and parts of wild ride — very Tim Burton-inque again. The best part was his imagination and then the reality that we saw at the end.
I was glad that I didn’t see the episode at night as it did have some scary elements. All in all, I enjoyed it. I don’t think it will go into one patient, one episode but am ok if it does that too. I guess, I am not looking for “something to happen” but I think it will because we already know that a Murder mystery is there, then the ghostly presence. is it all in the dreams or is there an element of reality too?
I am ready for episode 4.
I believe @Packmule3 already mentioned the slang meaning in Korean of chili peppers, but here’s an article. This relates to the chili peppers that ended up on the windshield of MY’s car during the chase.
http://hanmadikorean.com/gochu/
Thanks @Welmaris. That’s cute.
I like Episode 3 as a welcome lift after the disturbing first 2 episodes. I found it heartily entertaining, even watching the second time around.
We see that being mentally ill is not all gloom and doom, that patients can live reasonably happy lives where they are accepted and understood. We come up against perception and reality and get to see through the eyes of those whom we judge.
MY continues to challenge GT to self-reflection while he, even in her thoughts, is already acting like a butterfly hug, safety pin.
The theme of parent and child continues. To what extent are the choices the parents make in their children’s growing years, responsible for how their children turn out, and what should their relationship be when those children are themselves adults.
I notice that the interesting gadget of the introductory images of Episode 2, ie the wind up clock with separate dials that counts 60 (minutes) and 24 (hours) is in the Hospital Director Oh’s Office, together with many other mechanical gadgets that click and spin. In the introductory images, it looked like it belonged in MY’s castle.
On the night that MY came to OK Hospital, the standing clock also wound and chimed midnight. Then the music changed to something upbeat.
That is the place where people are just as they are unwinding from being wound up like mechanical gadgets. Where they can live more happily.
The doctor himself is a very interesting character, as he looks for the sleep inducing toy that MY stole, and so is the Head Nurse Park who is unconcerned that patients are running amok. Like I was saying elsewhere, everyone is on a spectrum of normal to not normal, and it’s OK. 😀
Please, show, do not become episodic/procedural/mental illness of the week kind of show. Pretty please!!!
@Snow Flower – Ugh, it looks like it’s heading that way. The politician’s son seems like a one-off appearance only.
hi..i think when the assemblyman son got his manic episode with his storytelling in the club & said along the line “now, i’m here again..” GT eyes move right?like..that manic person not only about himself but also GT right?the male lead,GT also busy running away all his life with his autistic brother everytime any problem ( namely Butterfly) arise only to come back to their home??like running in circle..?
i can get GT is a coward..not wanting to face hotheadedly like MY when encountered any bully..but why a hypocrite?how?GT is so shock someone calling him that..like it id somewhat true..when he hug his brother saying he needs him..only him..denying he’s a hypocrite?he also imagining himself having fun at a stage like the assemblyman’s son is..why?
he always smiling and be a yes man to everyone but he always mad n cold towards MY..is antisocial same as sociopath?
however,MY takes on every fairy tale is really an eye opener to me..i never considered that kind of POV before and its interesting..really…although..it a bit…errr…realistic?female lead is a realist i suppose..but isn’t she a children book writer?hmmm
and her saying that we shouldn’t look up seeing sky and pretty star..but we should hold our eyes down to our feet that sinking in the dirty sewer..accept the harsh reality instead coping with fantasy so we all can life happily?it is a good quote?huhu
it is still a mystery to what is relationship between that Joori nurse to MY..how they come to know each other?same school?but how come GT didn’t know about MY?my guess is Joori’s mom is MY’s maid and MY is homeschooling..
Helloo everyone!
It was a visual and sensory overload for me. i feel like I need to check in too, into that Ok hospital on the hill by the sea. Ahh it looks so relaxing. And I can prance around and be free like what Moon Kang Tae wishes secretly to be like that congressman’s son.
It feels like the show is showing too many elements all at once and confuses me somewhat so I don’t know how to feel about it. It’s like when you are in a dream and its quite vivid but its just capturing picture shots of certain feelings and moments. So I have to come here for explanations again :)) ( Thank you @Packmule3 btw I hope you are well and am hoping to read your thoughts when you are not too busy with real life!)
@Welmaris thanks for that link about hot peppers I didn’t know about that “juicy hot nib”! That whole car scene reminded me of one psychedelic glorious food splattering exhilarating joyride! I almost got high on it hehe. Talking of getting high ahem…can I say how many lovely scenes we had of beautiful torsos there were in episode 3!!! I am a shallow islander girl and @GB I can just feel Ko Moon Young’s absolute delight in getting her fingers onto Kim Soo Hyun’s beautiful ABS and CHEST. I had to do a replay of course ;))
I know this drama talks about mental illnesses and there is a dark thread accompanying it but I am going to just gush about how visually beautiful the two leads look together and how stunning Writer’s Ko wandrobe is! I love all the costumes she’s dressed in especially the one she wore for her first lecture. Reminds me of a forest nymph on a hunting expedition!
And it helps that there is an excellent cast of supporting seasoned actors on board that I like too. I was happy to see Park Jin Soo again playing the role of assistant to CEO of book publisher. And Oh Jung Se who’s playing the role of hyung with autism is so heart touching. But again I feel here the show is trying too hard. Moon Sang Tae’s character seems to be a compounded version of different autism aspects all rolled into one. I help out with an association that has autistic people but I honestly haven’t seen all these character behaviours in one person like Hyung Sang Tae. For one he can emphatise like when he was trying to save up to help his little brother. I may have gone off the wrong track here since I am definitely not an expert in this area. but it was just a thought.
No matter I am going in for this scary joyride because fairy tales are not all sweet and nice but something to be fearful about because you have to wake up and face the facts like how Writer Ko lectured her first class. Woah.
I liked this episode. I found that it gave us a lot of background. I have a feeling that there is more to the dialog than I’m getting through the subtitles.
The publisher learned a lot about MY’s past so he’s worried about her at the family ‘castle’. His warning to his assistant, ‘Don’t pry or you’ll get into trouble’ seems a classic horror story trope, like ‘Don’t go into the woods at night.’ 💀👻
I’m wondering about the link between MY and Ju-ri. It almost seems like MY has something threatening over Ju-ri. Ju-ri tries to be careful not to let MY see a reaction. I wonder what will happen if/when MY shows up at Ju-ri’s house.
We got to see much more of MY’s philosophy in this episode. Her alternate take on the moral in fairy tales is very interesting. Rather than giving hopes and dreams, they are stimulants to make the reader face reality. In other words, ‘It’s okay not to be okay.’
My also says to GT, ‘You’ll get sick if you suppress yourself’ and she calls him a hypocrite. He is thinking of this, even as he’s reassuring his ST that their relationship is all he needs in this world. GT has acted as his mother wished all of this time but MY is making him question his dedication. She is bored with his idea that society wants the mentally ill to fit in – won’t even let him finish his explanation.
So, I usually give myself four episodes to decide whether to continue watching a show or just wait to binge, and after tonight’s episode, I’ve decided to drop the show for now.
It’s just not the type of show I want to watch right now. Yes, it’s too heavy. I also feel it’s moving too slow for my liking. It may be deliberate given the theme of the show, which is why I’d rather binge watch.
Will catch up when it’s near the end.
I just finished Ep4 and I liked it.
My theory is that KMY was MKT & MST’s protector when they were children. I believe KMY kills the butterflies on purpose so it doesn’t affect MST so it makes it easier for MKT. She must know how difficult it is for MKT for being the younger brother and caring for an older brother w/ a mental illness. This could be why MST is obsessed w/ her and her stories b/c he knows what she did for them when they were younger and the stories are about them.
Since MKT & MST left their town suddenly as youths, I am thinking maybe that’s why KMY became a children’s book writer in the first place as an adult. It was her only way to reconnect w/ the brothers again (mainly MKT). After MKT read Zombie Boy, which she urged him to do, he ran out searching for her in the rain. Loved the rain and lighthouse scene.
@Melone,
I was about to drop the drama after the very disappointing episode 3.
But now I’ve just watched episode four…
I can’t think of a plausible way to drop this!
I hope this drama won’t make me psycho with series of enthusiasm/disappointment, but episode 4 was just…Wooo!!!!
Of course, the pace is still too slow for my taste, but the main thing was there.
And no grotesque scenes this time. For now, no semi-procedural scenario like I clumsily planned. I hope it will continue.
Quickly: I observe that many of the phenomena I had envisioned are happening. Difficult love confrontation, phases of misunderstandings, internal evolution, then reunion. In a very nice way! The sentimental story that emerges is intense.
The ML turns out to be someone with deep psychological flaws (on a par with those of FL). Yet he is a very strong character, capable of reacting. Again a good discovery, because I feared that the character was too placid, like the one in Hotel Del Luna. As I expected, LF also pushes him in this direction. (refer to the scene where she gives him a confession). She wants him to become more alive and explosive. It happens. In the other direction, it works too, the ML starts to push FL into her corners, abandoning her cold and slack attitude.
I particularly liked his chivalrous attitude during the first scene of the episode. He stops a bad move intended for FL. They give the impression of a couple directly united. Good, isn’t it?
First bonus, a very good punchline from the hospital director.
“This may have gotten you into trouble, but your son’s condition has improved considerably as a result of this incident.”
The rest of the dialogue is just as funny, and true.
A character who at first glance looks like the king of the lunatics. In truth, someone who’s very alert, humorous, and has a deep understanding of the problems of his residents, or FL.
Otherwise, you learn a frightening thing, how a psychic transference took place from mother to daughter. Now I’m dumped. I have no idea about this kind of phenomenon. The only thing I know is that children often inherit their parents’ legacy of psychological problems, sometimes in a roundabout but inevitable way.
Observe one thing: when FL walks alone, she stops and sits on a low wall. She takes off her shoes (already an important symbol, compared to the famous red shoes that make her dance against her will).
Then she no longer has black nails, but white nails. Symbol of a change in her. This is confirmed when she stops an insect.
Ask yourself: how many times have you run over an insect that bothered you? I just did. It was a mosquito. When it’s a ladybug, I try to grab it without damage and put it outside. As for the other insects, I’m not responsible for their survival. They’re a nuisance. I seize them and put them out without delicacy. If they survived so much the better, if not, it’s not my problem.
Here the FL could have crushed the insect, like she broke the wings of a butterfly. And yet no, she prefers to put her shoe in front of its path, to prevent it from approaching (note the previous scene where she faces a butterfly, but doesn’t have the time or desire to act).
All these details tell us a lot about her progress.
Finally, the last scene of the episode. Truly moving.
I must also mention the tale of the zombie child. Banned from publication. However, here again the meaning is very strong, and rather healthy. The ML is deeply touched by the tale. It is his own story. Beyond that, it is again a reminder of the deep complementarity between the two characters. On paper, it brings them all together.
I appreciate these children’s stories, it’s the purest form of literature that exists. To make it simple but accurate is the most difficult thing.
Im totally in love with its okay to not be okay! First two episode kinda slow pace, but its getting more and more addicting after four eps 💕
Esp the last scene on episode 4
https://twitter.com/lovebangwon/status/1277279298563399680?s=21
I cant describe how much i love that rainy scene, 😭❤️
Moonyoung so funny yet sometimes i feel she is so lonely. While kangtae want to feel loved 😭
I think this drama made me more and more obsessed with soohyun🤣❤️
And im so happy seo yea ji finally getting more recognition because she choose commercials type drama, sometimes i feel sad when there is great actors/actresses always stuck in typical unpopular drama.
@Lovebangwon,
The last scene of the episode is intense because it is very well prepared beforehand.
ML and FL have a difficult confrontation: the FL’s confession scene, in which the ML does not believe.
After this, FL undergoes a traumatic scene. Strangulation scene.
Then another confrontation, where the ML explicitly tells the FL that she is empty inside. He sees FL walking down the road, but does nothing. I’m sure that the majority of the spectators expected him to ask the driver to stop the bus, but that doesn’t happen.
Then, the ML experiences a traumatic scene as well, the reading of the tale. And the FL story has a direct link to his past. As if the two characters were already connected before they met.
For further questioning of FL, please refer to my previous comment.
Then, FL wanders on the road. This passage is important, to show that she is completely lost. Not just physically, but mentally. Both characters are lost in fact, as a result of their confrontations.
And in the end, they reunite. This moment is intense because it is there that sincerity is finally perceived, after the questioning (FL leave the void, ML accept her sincerity). And this is also when the characters need to comfort each other because they are lost, and need each other. It’s beautiful.
Since I’m not a fortune-teller, what about the truth?
I guess it won’t be a straight line, and there will be a back and forth between moments of sincerity and moments of psychological wall-to-wall.
Have watched all episodes to date and I am enjoying the show. My POV is that everyone at one point in time, experiences a psychological event during childhood (good or bad) that will definitely mould him/her as an adult. In PIBO, I see it clearly in GT when at times he resents his Hyung simply because his late Mom told him time and again that he must look after ST when she’s gone. It’s almost like a love hate relationship, which he also experiences with MY. And MY herself.. how can you not be traumatized when your own father wants you dead.. and showing it in such a horrific manner. Perhaps the dad blames her for the mom’s death? Have to say I found the ending in Episode 4 to be beautiful.
Oh, the ending of Episode 4. The whole episode was a long buildup leading to the last scene. Now I want to write a music piece and call it Lighthouse in the Rain…
@SnowFlower,
I’m trying to find out why I liked this scene, and why other people liked it too. How do you build up the emotional impact of a scene like that? While having other strong scenes in the process. I would like to know.
So far, I have several stages, but I’m sure I’ve missed some. Or various meanings hidden in the previous scenes that help.
On the scene itself, there are elements I had forgotten:
– the two characters are like lost children. (refer to a previous dialogue). Idea to have the simplicity and emotional authenticity of a child. It’s a bit of where the characters have to start their lives over.
– The scene is striking because it is the first time that both characters feel something. At least, that’s the impression it gives and makes it moving.
– It is raining. I would have difficulty imagining it without the rain. But also, it’s night (I have no explanation why night helps during this scene, but this choice has been made).
– For the rain, without an umbrella, it evokes nudity because the rain seeps into the clothes. Idea of being figuratively naked. The rain also reminds us of tears, of the idea of cleaning our soul, or at least of letting our emotions flow.
Lighthouse in the rain is nice.
Or Two lighthouse in the rain.
Would you start the song during the scene, or with previous step too ?
@wenchanteur: yes so beautiful, cant imagine how these ppl actually needed some affection and love that they dont get when they were young 😭
I actually there is time in our life that we felt so empty. But we cant do anything about it, just move on😢 And this drama explain the feeling very well.
The actors really good speaking with their eyes when it was pouring with rain😢
Here is a haiku I just wrote:
Be my Safety Pin
Be my Lighthouse in the Rain
I will play with you
@Show flower,
An idea for a melody, but very simple.
And I have no harmony with it. You can take it as a challenge for doing something surprizing with that, or enhance my poor melody, or change all, or even put it in the garbage can LOL. I still spendt some time to choose the notes, volontary ommited to think about harmony.
It doesn’t look like a score, which is difficult to do here.
So “>”, the note is higher in the scale.
”
Eb
F< // B<
A
Ab
G
Eb< // C ///
– The beginning makes a progression by small steps, round trip. Painful (but maybe not enough).
– Towards the middle, there are some high/low gaps, to make you think of rain.
– And the end tries to be a little optimistic with a note of hope.
There’s a problem with HTML.
I’m redoing the symbols.
So “+”, the note is higher in the scale.
“-“, the note is lower.
“_” means a beat with nothing (or the previous note is longer).
Be careful not to confuse “-” with flat or “+” with sharp.
Here flat is indicated by “b”.
Otherwise I would write E- instead of Eb.
Here “-” or “+” don’t mean that.
Db _ _ E+
Eb- _ _ Gb+
F- _ _ B-
A- _ _ Gb+
Ab- _ _ E+
G- _ _ Gb+
Eb- _ _ C-
E+ _ _ _
Of course, the melody can continue in a different way after that.
A lyrical surge.
Starting from the last note, for example:
E+ _ _ Gb+
Ab+ _ _ etc…
i just watched 4th episode and its fascinating how we able to see what’s on their mind.. errr…slightly?
i think its the male lead GT that has sociopath tendency..lol
GT is so mad when MY calling him a product..cute..he clearly affected by MY loud & hysterical confession of love..
what’s with the butterfly that’s so scary?isn’t butterfly supposed to beautiful..?its a symbol of hope or love or something like that,no?how come butterfly can be soo eerie and murderous and making the brothers run for their life everytime butterfly come to ST dream and also making young GT run from young MY(the autistic brother claimed that butterfly kills their mother and will kill him if he’s telling somebody)..
ahhh..Juri…nurse Juri..i’m hoping she’s not gonna be some petty 2nd female lead..she’s a cutie and look so innocent..
MY can be easily misunderstood..its scary how her mother still ghosting her and haunted her life..she the other half of her mother..meaning her monstrous side?is her mother having a mental illness too..?sometimes writer can having problem with their writings and books right?
Hello everyone! It’s the first time I commented here for It’s Okay To Not Be Okay, I am currently gushing over it on Twitter bc my feelings are just all over the place!
As someone who wants to promote mental health awareness, this show filled me with so much enthusiasm to promote this drama. I also like that they have recurring support characters. Perhaps the disorders that would be depicted will be revolved around them and connect them to our main characters own process of healing.
Episode 3 had us in a rollercoaster, visual overload, to let us see and feel how these people with psychological disorders feel esp the one with the manic syndrome.
Ep. 4 was a stark contrast to episode 3. and maybe that’s the theme of the he entire show? To let us feel the different wave of of emotions felt in people with psychological issues?
GT has always been there for ST, acting as the adult in the family. Growing up fast, left him a child inside. A child needing love, as what MY Mentioned. He denied himself of truly being happy because he thought he doesn’t deserve it.
Mun-yeong on the other hand, behind her personality disorder, we’ve seen her trauma manifesting into a sleep paralysis and perhaps hallucinations of her mother now that she’s living in the cursed castle. People cannot understand her because they don’t know she has ASPD. She is just seen as a w(b)itch. But, she feels dead inside. This was seen after her father choked her. She just lied there on the ground, limbs in different positions as if she is a victim of a murder scene. Ironically, she wasn’t even asked if she was okay, all of the caregivers, stayed with her father: the patient butnalso the abuser.
While their chemistry is on fire, their dynamics now is toxic for a romantic relationship. Both of them have deep wounds that never healed, just concealed. It’s never good to be dependent on another person to heal but maybe, they are part of each other’s healing process. That last scene with them hugging in the rain— it’s definitely them starting to be each other’s butterfly hug. Maybe they may not be each other’s happy ending, but a meaningful chapter of healing and growth.
Parents from Hell?
The theme of parents and what they do with and to their children continues with a vengeance especially in Episode 4. Neglect and favouritism, the placing of unfair burdens on their children, emotional and physical abuse and attempted murder. This show really packs in the extremes of bad parenting while it illustrates the resilience of the grown children who survived, although traumatised.
It may not be as simple as the nature versus nurture debate, but each feeds into the other, and what might have been mild becomes worse because of cycles of repeated abuse.
MY and Kwon Ki Do were different from other children to begin with, but they might have been more well adjusted, less attention seeking, less manic or psychotic, if their parents had treated them better. If the children were born idiots or monsters (as they had bee called by their parents), then the parents who engendered them have to take a big share of the blame and the responsibility for it. Passing on the responsibility as GT’s mother did, to another child or victim blaming as in the case of Kwon Ki Do, justifying murder because a child is ‘special’ in the case of MY, are some the worst examples of bad parenting. In GT’s case, not only was he, as a younger child, to bear the brunt of the responsibility for his older brother, he was treated as valueless in himself and remained unappreciated.
My heart broke for Kwon Ki Do who was wheeled into a padded cell, where he gingerly touched his face, still remembering his mother’s slap – looking as if he cherished it – perhaps the only motherly touch he’d known in a long time.
In the end, those parents were the ones who needed the therapy that they never got for themselves, or accorded their own children.
Despite the dismal elements of this show, it succeeds in interjecting an upbeat note and warm moments that assures us that healing is still possible amidst such brokenness.
Zombie Kid
MY’s stories are gruesome, ugly and carthartic. I can’t personally say I’d read them with enjoyment, but I can understand her pouring herself out in those lines of text and giving her grim message unmitigated and unadorned.
(Flashback to young ST and his mother sharing an umbrella while GT is left to walk in the rain behind them.)
(GT weeps at the end of the story. MY walks barefoot along the road after suffering another attempted murder by her father, who had asked her why she was still alive.)
I felt equally repelled and sorry for the silent Zombie Kid whose hunger was never satiated, until his mother was about to die from feeding him everything else except what he had needed and wanted most. Was he unable to speak, because he’d never received his mother’s warmth. Would his hunger have been assuaged if his mother had not labeled him as having no feelings and as a zombie? Did she not make him a zombie by treating him according to the label?
The Kid is a boy and the hints of the kid being GT was given last episode, however, when MY is described by CEO Lee as wanting to eat up GT (a man-eater), and when the Zombie Kid is described as having no feelings, the Kid could refer to MY as well.
Applause! 👏 @Snow Flower. I really like haikus. I dabbled in writing some myself.
The Lighthouse and the Rain
That last scenes with GT riding on the motorbike with the street lamps arrayed like guiding posts to MY was something that tickled my fancy. And yes, I was also quite taken with that image of the lone red lighthouse shining it’s beacon of ‘hope’ upon our main protagonists.
I also applaud the show for getting the absolute right weather for all those scenes, plus I’m sure they added more water when needed for the close-ups.
I like that when they are re-defining their relationship, it rains. There was a need to clean the slate and start again. It happened on the night MY arrived at the hospital to claim GT as her Safety Pin, it happened at the convenience store where they had ramyeon when MY made GT feel like a child with her as a mother figure, and in the final scene when the tables turned and GT came as the caregiver to the barefoot child in MY who’d been told to die by her father. (I guess it was no coincidence that we often see child MY in white and barefoot.) 😉
It will be interesting to see how many iterations of a changing relationship this couple will go through until they settle on something that might stick.
Left to himself, with his brother as his anchor and reason for being, GT would have avoided MY and continued to live a barren, unhappy life, hypocritically pretending that all’s well. But now that she has awakened in him the awareness of his real hunger for love and a lost childhood, that he had not acknowledged for many years, it will be impossible for him to go back to not knowing what he’d like to have.
He has to acknowledge that he’s not OK, and in the philosophy of MY, accept that this is OK, in order to find his happiness.
@GB, you are right about the rain marking milestones in their relationship. A woman who has never loved and a man who has never been loved finding each other in the rain, illumined by the lighthouse. Such a poetic and moving image…
It occurs to me that MY may not be her father’s child. The sleazy critic in Episode 2 hinted at the mother’s promiscuity. MY’s own take on The Ugly Duckling is also suggestive. The father’s resentment is another hint.
Another thing that makes me curious is the relationship between JR and MY. I don’think KT is aware of it. Also, JR does not seem to know that KT and MY met as childre. The childhood dynamic between the three of them is worth exploring.
@WEnchanteur, I like your idea about starting the musical piece with two notes close together and then gradually opening up/expanding. I spent some time at the piano trying out different ideas. Nothing yet to work with, but I am thinking of rewatching the episode for inspiration.
@yzabella
My taken on this was that GT was annoyed by it because she was using the words she knew he wanted to hear spoken sincerely, as a means to manipulate him to turn around and return to her side. On top of that, she was shouting them at him like a threat or a warning. She was not sincere. So he ignored her and left. But to an extent, we cannot really blame her since her mother used those words without them meaning what they should.
About the butterfly – we are waiting to find out more. We only know that MY destroys them and ST associates them with the murderer of his mother.
We don’t know much about her mother. She might have been a sociopath or schizophrenic. We do not know.
28:57
Her mother put a terrible burden upon her, to meet up to the standards to be her mother’s creation and worse, to be her mother’s other self. What that even means is not clear. Oftentimes, parents want to live or succeed vicariously through their children’s lives and successes. Maybe her mother took that a step too far and was recreating MY in her own image.
Linking that kind of treatment with the words “I love you” sets up a totally different understanding of what love is. MY understands getting what she wants and using it, treating people like objects. She may not have an accurate understanding of love.
@Snow Flower
About the youth of the protagonists.
I gathered that GT and JR went to another school from MY. GT is shown waiting outside her school and following her home, never meeting her inside the school grounds. It would not occur to him that JR also knew MY.
JR’s mum looks to be a generous, kindly soul who would feed any child. One guess is that in the same way that she’s working as a cook or caterer for the hospital, she might have done the worked at MY’s school or in MY’s home. JR’s mum may have befriended MY and brought her to her home to feed her and to meet JR.
Not surprisingly, the warm-hearted JR could not get on with MY.
I have an affinity for confident, straight-talking women who feel no need to be nice at all times. Society tends to be uncomfortable with women who can’t be safely boxed into the nice, kind, warm types. There isn’t enough appreciation for people who make others uncomfortable. When people are uncomfortable, it brings to light their core values and how they approach situations. Let’s just say my ENTP side loves MY :).
@GB “Not surprisingly, the warm-hearted JR could not get on with MY”
Can we discuss whether JR truly is warm-hearted? I find her to be incredibly passive-aggressive. To me she’s one of those who everyone thinks is nice but under the surface is selfish.
@Growing Beautifully (GB) – “Linking that kind of treatment with the words ‘I love you’ sets up a totally different understanding of what love is. MY understands getting what she wants and using it, treating people like objects. She may not have an accurate understanding of love.”
I agree. This is what angered GT in the first place and forced her to pull over–treating people like objects. She almost got him on the first I love you, but he came back to his senses lol. I do think she understands love in some degree (dreaming of her and GT on the bed), but it’s the applying it in the real world that she struggles w/. The irony is MY’s lecture at OK Hospital (Fairytales vs In Real Life). This maybe more addressed in 5 since there is a preview of GT tell her “You don’t own me.”
So many good comments here. @WEnchanteur, I adore your summary: “I guess it won’t be a straight line, and there will be a back and forth between moments of sincerity and moments of psychological wall-to-wall.
Yes, @WEnchanteur, I think drama purposely played with expectations of viewers to give us more insight into characters’ minds, surprising us. I was expecting GT to reach for the buzzer and stop the bus after he saw MY walking, but he didn’t. My interpretation: he’s trying to put distance between himself and MY; he’s trying to not care. I also expected MY to smash the ant with the sole of her shoe, but she redirected it. Her face, with an expression softer than we usually see on her, seemed to show some curiosity and empathy. At least at that moment, she did not resort to killing something simply because it inconvenienced her or its existence held no value to her.
I want to vent a bit here:
1) What’s wrong, subtitlers, with leaving the word “hyung” untranslated? Why always change it to the person’s name? Doing so misses out on the family/friendship dynamic.
2) Parents aren’t always the cause of mental illness. Some people with mental illness come from wonderful families. Some people who come from dysfunctional families are able to function well in society despite the circumstances from which they came. I do agree with @Growing Beautifully (GB) that “It may not be as simple as the nature versus nurture debate, but each feeds into the other, and what might have been mild becomes worse because of cycles of repeated abuse.” I will add to that thought: Parents who see a child struggling and get help are more likely to provide the conditions for a hopeful outcome than parents who bury their heads in the sand and hope that problems will go away on their own. Parents who are physically/emotionally abusive of children with tendencies toward mental illness will likely compound unhealthy thought and behavior.
We saw more of MY’s point of view in episodes 3 and 4, especially moments when she was alone and not having to maintain a facade. She exhibited fear when she saw an apparition in the back seat of her car, then almost struck the deer. (I thought it funny that she composed herself by engaging in a yelling match with the deer.) MY is terrified and crying when she has the waking dream of her mother haunting her in her bed, followed by another of herself as a child watching while a woman, who appears to be drowning, first pleads then demands (with head rising out of the water), “Save me!” When she wakes from these nightmares she consoles herself by imagining GT comforting her. There’s softness and vulnerability in her face during that scene, which carries over to when she comforts herself using the Butterfly Hug GT taught her.
MY has been labeled a monster and psychopath, but over and over we see her speaking truth which is rejected because she’s either too direct, does it in a way not acceptable to polite society, someone doesn’t want to hear it, etc. Just because she doesn’t prettify or soften them doesn’t make the truths she speaks less truthful. She may seem to lack empathy, but she must be good at reading people to see through all the smoke and mirrors and get to the heart of the matter.
I’ve got to do some more thinking, and maybe some rewatching, before commenting further.
I still haven’t watched Ep3 and 4 and have just read comments here. Bravo everyone for dissecting the scenes. I just had a thought. PD mentioned in Press Con that Blue Beard (the fairy tale) would be used as well in the drama. We’ve seen Red Shoes. How will BB be incorporated?
https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault03.html
BB is a rather disturbing fairytale about a girl who marries BB lulled by his displays of wealth and society. Only to discover that he murdered his past wives. And she escaped death from BB saved by her sister Anne and her brothers in the end. So if MY’s mother is the girl in the fairytale and married BB (MY’s father) then MY is sister Anne (?). It would sort of fit with the narrative about her father trying to murder her (or was it her mother that he tried to murder?). I need to find some time this week to binge watch Ep 3 and 4.
Who is the woman watching MY from the hospital window? If it is her mother, she has not crossed paths with the father, who is in the same hospital. It is still unclear if the mother is dead, although MY’ s nightmares strongly suggest that she is. We don’t know if MY has other living relative besides her father. The person behind the window saw MY’s father attempting to strangle MY, and also MY’s confrontation with GT earlier.
@John L
What emotions MY has, I believe she is not able to define. She heartily admits that she’s horny LOL … I won’t actually equate that with love, but as a sign of an attraction. (There’s horny-ness and it can have nothing to do with love. 😉 )
What are you referring to when you say ‘irony’? Do you mean that it’s ironic because she’s trying to live her life like a fairytale?
I feel that to MY, the fairy tales are the summaries of what she has experienced in her real life and her perception of those experiences. Sometimes I feel she sees herself as the witch, sometimes as the princess and even as the child/kid, and those characters are relatable to people who have faced deep hurts. Although she may know at one level that ‘treating/owning’ a person like an object is not a right relationship, she may have not experienced a true mutually giving and loving relationship before. Her character is described as a woman who does not know love. It will be nice to see if her fairy tales change to be more positive, once she has gained a wider perspective of relationships and love.
@Growing Beautifully (GB) – Do you mean that it’s ironic because she’s trying to live her life like a fairytale?
I think you read my thoughts better than I did, but I was trying to say what your eloquent response was. Imagining/reading what a apple taste is no substitute for tasting an apple; same w/ love.
But I think we are starting to see baby steps for MY for her understanding of love. The old cliche “Action speak louder than words.” As we saw saying I love you 8x did not cut it. In an attempt to show she is capable of change & for GT to not be angry w/ her, she takes action to walk her father. We know how she feels about her father and the trauma that was inflicted on her by him. This was a pretty big sacrifice for her considering how well it went.
@nrllee, thank you for the link to Blue Beard. I was only vaguely aware of the story. The moral at the end reminds me of Sang-in’s words to his assistant Sung-jae, ‘Don’t pry or you’ll get into trouble.’ 👿💀👻
@Snow Flower, that MY may not be her father’s child, yes! There is a further hint when other people in the ward said there wasn’t a good resemblance between them and that she must look like her mother.
@John L, it’s a good catch that MY’s loud love declaration didn’t work. It reminded me of the deer in the road 🦌 (and their calls when in rut, ha!). MY looked confused that her overtures didn’t succeed, so she steeled herself and went to take her father for a walk. I suppose she has been avoiding this in the same way she accuses GT of avoiding his situation. It was so sad that her life repeats itself once again. GT told her how different she is and that she is noise without emotion (harsh); her father tried to kill her again; people reached out to care for and comfort her father but she is ignored; no one sympathised with her on her walk to the sea. I think that she tries hard not to be a victim of her illness but it must be overwhelming at times like this.
@Growing Beautifully, MY’s ‘treating a person like an object’ seems to be her usual mode. If Sang-in’s phone call to GT is any indication, it sounds as though she has used the same ‘pick-up’ lines before. GT is put on his guard from that call as well, which sets him up for his harsh reaction to her. Ironically, MY seems to really appreciate ST in her conversation with him. Is GT’s reaction both protection and jealousy?
Gosh, I had the idea that GT recognised her back in ep. 1 in the conference room, but I realise now it’s the other way around. She is very clear about him, but he still hasn’t realised her part in his life. He must know that she lived nearby if her father is at OK hospital. She wouldn’t tell him how old she is; I think she likes the feeling that she knows more about him. Also MY and Ju-ri have both hidden their past relationship from him, although Director Oh figured it out, perhaps from Ju-ri’s mother? Perhaps next episode. He will have to bring her somewhere to dry out, right?
Did anyone notice the shaman bells in someone’s (Nurse Park?) hand at the end of MY’s interview with Director Oh in ep. 3?
I am enjoying this drama. Tried to re-watch ep. 4 last night, but couldn’t log on.
@Oanh Kim Heh… character analysis of Ju Ri.
What have we seen of her that we might draw conclusions from?
– She has her sights set on GT and is trying through offering opportunities and a place to rent to get him spatially closer.
– GT shows no interest in her other than as a friend, but her hopes are not yet dashed.
– As young people growing up, she had known MY who had gone to her home to have meals. As she dislikes MY even from that time, we assume that their interactions were not warm and friendly. She dislikes MY’s jokes, which to be fair, are disturbing. MY provokes her and she has to tolerate it to be polite. MY had considered that she looked like a country bumpkin (a hick?)
– JR had also known of MY’s parents (maybe even knew them) and had believed MY’s mother was alive. She ended up as one of the nurses caring for MY’s father
– She obviously does not like that MY has targeted GT. She admits to being petty in how she told the hospital staff that MY should be fired because she did not belong there. Concession given: she is self-aware, admits it to herself, does not really like herself being that way.
– Compared to MY, she has the look of a sweet, wholesome individual and has drawn the attention of both Jae Su and CEO Lee. But we have only seen her actions with regards to her work or where she is trying to get GT’s attention. She is sufficiently professional in her work, except, perhaps, when she comes up against MY who pushes all her buttons.
– Note on a negative indication – ie what she is not shown doing. Unlike Jae Su, her mother, even MY, we do not see JR interacting much with ST.
So can we come to any conclusions yet? She is not a paragon of virtue but we do not know just how selfish she might be. As for being warm-hearted… anyone next to MY would look that way LOL.
@Snow Flower, you wonder whether the woman watching MY from the window is her mother. It would be strange if both MY’s parents were patients in the same facility. I re-watched ep. 4, and the part where ST was about to take the very pretty lady’s photo when ST was interrupted by a butterfly, hmmm. Could she be MY’s mother? She wasn’t dressed as a patient and any photos and flashbacks haven’t shown her face clearly. If it is her, and her death has been registered, she must be using another alias.
@GB and @Oanh Kim, ref Ju-ri: it also made Ju-ri very uncomfortable back in ep. 1 in the scene where she goes to MY’s room to get the consent forms signed. MY asked Ju-ri something about swapping parents along the lines of ‘you are acting like my father’s daughter; may I have your mother? I will sign if you agree.’ Note Ju-ri’s reaction when she gets alone in the lift with the signed papers. It makes me wonder how Ju-ri has been manipulated in the past.
@Fern,
Thank you for mentioning the shaman bells. I was wondering what those were. Speaking of bells, I noticed that the music often played during scenes of MY (for example, when we first see her eating rare steak in the restaurant)is a a cool stylized version of La Campanella (The Little Bell). The original is the last movement of Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2. The same piece has achieved even greater popularity as a virtuoso piano etude by Lizst. I am too intimidated by its technical demands to even think about playing it.
In the drama, the theme is played by the violin, which gives it a rather edgy and capricious character, a perfect fit for our heroine.
I wanted to mention how much I like the supporting characters. Director Oh is more like a magician, inventor, and explorer, judging by the way his office is furnished. I enjoy the sweet interaction between two of the patients. Also, I want to see more of Jae Soo.
I also think that there is more to Nurse Ju Ri, and it is probably far from pretty. I mentioned before that I was very curious about the childhood dynamic between her and MY. I hope that the character will experience growth by facing her own problems, whatever they are.
@Snow Flower, I have to wait to see if Ju-ri is good or not. She reminds me of a normal person raised to be a ‘good girl’: polite, professional, not making waves, restraining herself, etc. She is conscious of this because she calls herself for acting ‘petty’, as though it’s not normal for her. If MY (the threat) is fired, Ju-ri won’t have to confront her and her life would be easier. I think this is why she hides her intentions and emotions, and hopes that her plans for GT will come to natural fruition.
When confronted by or under the influence of someone like MY, Ju-ri would be constantly out-maneuvered, frustrated and have difficulty coping using her normal methods. Her solutions to her problems may therefore be desperate and extreme.
@GB and @Snow Flower, thank you for your thoughts on JR. I’m keen to see how they progress with this character. Based on how nuanced the lead characters have been to date, I’m hopeful the PD and screenwriter will veer away from the competitive FL/2FL trope.
Extra scene from Episode 4:
@Fern,
You cost me a few hours of sleep because I was suddenly fascinated by the tale of my compatriot Charles Perrault. In France (at least in my day), any child reads several of his tales, as well as those of La Fontaine. I wondered what meaning I would give to it, if it had been one of my dreams.
I found some concordance with other explanations, but it is a bottomless pit. Here is an example of a web site which approaches this (in French), with explanations of all kinds like those relating to the time (the blue color is rare because it comes from lapis lazuli), psychoanalytical interpretations coming from different currents of psychoanalysis (and thus different) :
https://journals.openedition.org/feeries/1449
I would now have tons of things to say about it, but I absolutely abstain! I will restrict myself to what the drama shows, and the meaning the drama wants to give. Like all other tales for that matter. Otherwise, this blog will explode, the vertical elevator will stop working, and the mouse wheel will become so worn that you’ll have to change it before you get halfway through.
@Welmaris,
You were right about the meaning of the ML on the bus.
One point you raise, not so obvious: the reason why the script plays with our exceptions, to better raise and point out the state of mind of the characters. It’s damn good.
As I focus mainly on the strength of the last scene, I also have these elements to add:
– When FL suffers an assault by her father, no one cares for her, even though she’s the victim. And the hospital staff denigrate her on other occasions. Can anything be done more cruelly to make an already lonely person even more lonely? There’s only one person who could understand her and help her… the ML, of course.
– I made a mistake in my choice of words for the ML. He’s not experiencing a trauma, he’s experiencing a catartic moment. Thanks to a commentator on MDL, I was able to get a little more insight into the meaning of the zombie child tale. Hopefully it’s the right interpretation.
– The child zombie would be the brother of the ML. His mother gave birth to the ML to use as a tool to take care of his brother. Refer to the scene of the politician who sees his children as tools and explains why the ML reacts during this scene. My hunch: it also means that the ML is the only thing left of the mother’s warmth.
– The mother was eaten by the brother, and never paid any attention to the ML. I admit that this is not very understandable in the drama. Luckily, the scene of the ML reading the story can do without comprehension. We know that he cries because he sees that only FL has been able to understand him. No one else has understood, the story has been banned from publication, either because of the recent problems of FL, or because the story is too morbid and cannot be understood by the audience.
– This is reinforced by the confession scene (and in the car before), where FL reminds once again that ML lacks maternal affection. The confession scene is a reversal of trope (thanks again to the MDL commentator). I don’t know if there was any little bit of truth in this confession, or if it was entirely a technical way for FL to play with the ML.
– During the ML’s flashback, with his mother and brother, it happens in the rain. The ML is pulled away from the umbrella, isolated from his brother and mother. This makes a link with the final scene, also in the rain.
– And why does it have to happen at night? It’s hard to answer. I’m risking a hypothesis: because they’re still a long way from getting out of all their troubles. They are two beings lost in the night. This brings further oppression, and they will have to reach the sunlight one day, another long way.
– Maybe the last tale of the drama will no longer be a witch’s tale but a princess’ tale 😉
Oppps, it was nrlle, not fern, sorry!
@WEnchanteur, Nice! I’m also proposing that the fairy tales will change from very grotesque to less grotesque LOL.
Of the many reasons to love BOD, one stands out-the creativity and interests of its commenters/regulars. From poetry, to music, to science, literature-you name it, this place has it. Thank you all for being a temple of knowledge, without being snobby.
One note on mental illness-we’ve learned over time, that some forms of mental illness, for example, panic disorder, bipolar disorders, have their basis in biological/chemical imbalances and require treatment with medicines to address these imbalances as well as talking, In some instances when looking at some people, there is a reluctance to take medication because they feel that they are losing their identities. This is problematic and is one of the strange paradoxes of psychological treatment. In this drama, would our female lead lose her literary mojo if treatment is “successful”.
I enjoyed reading all your comments.. I learned a lot. Thank you!
I’ll just add what i’ve noticed on MY’s sleep paralysis scene, where her younger version was on a lake looking at the water and there’s a woman underwater pleading to save her “save me! Please, save me!”.. It turns out the woman is MY herself.
Also, both MY and GT&ST’s mom died with the presence of water?
I love all of your comments which really help me understand this drama more.
About the zombie child, here are many amazing observations that I enjoyed them very much, but as an Asian(Taiwan), my theory is a zombie child is the metaphor of a mental disorder child.
The reasons are
1.parents try to hide them from neighbors( that is what parents would do in my community)
2.parents REALIZE the fact (instead of medical treatments or diagnosis)
2. Zombie kid can’t speak(who is not allowed to speak for himself )
3. Parents take care of their basic needs on a daily basis.
4. parents take care of them till the day they die(because our community has very poor social resources for mental disorders.)
5,Zombie kid is emotionless(in some way, mental disorders do look like )
So, my theory is Zombie kid is MST who has autism spectrum,
and his brother MTK now plays the mother’s role.
What actually makes me sad is Zombie Kid doesn’t magically transform form a hug. For the family, it is a very long way to go.
I understand mental disorder is a very delicate subject to discuss. English is not my mother tongue and I hope I had not said anything offensive.
Don’t worry, Kuroshio. 🙂 We all understand the seriousness of mental issues and disabilities and I believe the writer of the kdrama does too. Hence, the original title “Psycho But It’s Okay.”
@kuroshio What you wrote was fine, no problem!
The great thing about stories (and songs, poems etc art) is that they are open to interpretation. It’s fine to see different characters as the Zombie Kid.
– I agree that Sang Tae has the attributes of the Zombie Kid, who on the autism spectrum, needed more attention from both mother and brother. The mother’s role in his case, could be interpreted to have been taken up by GT, who has to give ST’s welfare priority, in many decisions. GT probably feels like the ‘mother-figure’ ie ‘eaten up’ by ST’s needs/fears/dependence on him. However, he is a warm ‘mother-figure’ towards ST.
– The Show teased us by animating the drawing of the Zombie Kid on the bus that GT was sitting in, so that it pointed at GT, indicating him as the Zombie Kid. So let’s see…
In certain ways, GT might be like the Zombie Kid. His mother was like the mother in the book in that she disregarded his feelings ie she behaved as if he ‘had no feelings’ because he did not tell his mother what he needed. Maybe he should have said more to his mother. She just fed him to keep him alive.
He was fed by his mother, so that he could stay alive to care for his brother, but what he wanted was his mother’s warmth which she did not give him, even until she died. As a reverse of the Kid in the book, GT was invisible to his mother instead of being invisible (ie hidden in the book) to other people.
The reason why GT is a candidate for the Zombie Kid is also because he did not react even outside his home, ie he did not get upset when badly treated. He was treated as if he had no feelings and he was often silent, choosing not to speak (as if he could not talk).
Now that he’s being made aware by MY that he too has needs to be free and to have fun, (even Jae Su said that he should not keep his feelings hidden all the time), GT may be less ‘zombie-like’. We see that he has reacted strongly with feelings already with MY and ST.
– MY as the Zombie Kid is possible too. I don’t know how much of GT’s life she knew – heck … she didn’t even know his name! So it’s more likely she wrote with her own experiences in mind and was not really writing about GT.
Like the Zombie Kid, MY had been mainly silent with her mother. Definitely like the Zombie Kid, MY had problems with feelings ie being on the ASPD spectrum made it hard for her to know her feelings. MY had been told that she was/is a monster and she had no friends, isolated in a ‘castle’ as if hidden from everyone. She likely wanted warmth from her parents but was denied that.
Her mother had been cold and calculating with her, eerily saying/making MY another part of herself.
Now that’s another way of thinking of how the mother gave the Kid her arms and legs… MY’s mother is denying MY her own identity. Instead of the child eating up the mother though, it’s the mother, coldly swallowing her child.
Glad you’re back @pkml3. Hope all’s well with you and that you can rest and relax now. 🙂
😂 I’m not reading YOUR comments, @Growing Beautifully till I finish watching Eps 3 and 4 and (writing my First/second/third Impressions).
I. MUST. RESIST.
LOL. Will power woman!! You can do it.
Didn’t realise how tantalising my thoughts are! Or how preposterous that they get you going!! 😂 🤣
And thanks for keeping the discussion flowing, @GB. I really should make you and nrllee editor roles here so you can start threads while I’m gone. 😂
I’m off till next week so I can catch up on kdramas. I must self-isolate and work from home till I get my Covid test result. It’s a bummer since 4th of July 🇺🇸 is here. But 👍
Heh @pkml3, we did miss you like crazy 🤪… had to fill the emptiness 😬. Just ‘busy-bodied’ myself as and when. When I posted stuff I was thinking to myself, ‘I wonder what @pkml3 will say when she sees this load of stuff’ LOL. 😇
I left my personal phone, laptop, and iPad at home. As you probably know, I don’t access this blog, and any site pertaining to kdramas (including my gmail linked to this blog) on my work devices. It’s prudent to maintain the wall between leisure and professional time.
Plus, just imagine what would happen should my WORK laptop be subpoenaed and the discussions on Lee MinHo, Hyun Bin, and HICKEYS become scrutinized. 🤪🤦♀️ 😈
But your posts are most cogent and entertaining to boot, @GB. You raise good points. And you state them in a calm way — which is important to me because I usually open the blog and read comments BEFORE coffee.
Note to lurkers: if you want to join the club, don’t stress me out. 😂
Aww shucks! Thanks @pkml3. Sweet of you to say so. I’m glad if you can get some calm entertainment from my nonsense first thing in the mornings. 😆 😃
I don’t want to stress you out @packmule3, so I decided to introduce myself. I don’t have any SM accounts, so I’m good. 🙂 I’ve been lurking through HP (FG all the way!) and TKEM, but I’ve been too intimidated to join the club. I’m dipping my toe in today.
The tale of the Zombie Kid reminded me somewhat of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, minus a zombie. The tree loves a boy and sacrifices everything for the boy’s happiness; her apples, her leaves, her branches and finally her trunk. The tree’s unconditional love enables the boy to be selfish and greedy. He uses the tree’s trunk to build a boat and sail away to seek his fortune, abandoning the tree. At the end the boy returns, now an old man without ambition. The tree offers the man a place to sit and they seem to find peace together.
Also, I think that GT is both the zombie boy and the mother depending on how you look at it.
GT has repressed his feelings, while wanting the love he never received as a child. He also is the self-sacrificing mother. The way his arms dropped when he realized he was just a place holder and not the recipient of his mother’s love and affection, made me visualize his arms being chopped off. I loved the way KSH conveyed how much GT enjoyed the motherly attention from Joo-ri’s mother. He started shoveling the rice in his mouth, with just the slightest expression of light in his eyes. I almost think he would tolerate a relationship with Joo-ri, just to get the mother-in-law.
Thank you for reading.
Hi @packmule3, Am so glad that you’re back. And also happy that you don’t use your work computer for BOD. When I worked, our IT department would aufit evety computer for activity, mostly tomdetermine whether staff was infecting their computers with viruses, malwsre and all things bad. And also to see what personal stuff was being done. In our workplace, whivh was a New York City criminal justice agency, security, especially after 9/11 was paramount. I never commited any offense, but I was cited gor playing a lot of solitaire. I used to play when I was on work phone calls to relieve stress. Anyway, thatvwas in the stone age. Here’s hoping that in all things, from work to perdonal life, you have a stress-free time and have yime to smell the roses and ruminate on the variety of LMH (fill inthe blanks) kisses.
Welcome to the blog, @Dlia. Your post didn’t stress me out so you’re in. 😂
Thanks for sharing your opinion on Zombie Kid. I’m not there yet but I don’t mind spoilers.
Hello, @packmule3. I hope that you are all right and that you have no problems with the test. It’s good to hear from you and as you see, your top posters are amazing. Take care and enjoy ‘Psycho’. I’m looking forward to your take on it.
You were cited for playing too much solitaire? 🙂
I removed all games from my work phone. That’s why I missed the Angry Birds craze. I didn’t download the app. 🙂 I can’t use Samsung phone either.
But I like to play Sudoku and crossword puzzle on long flights so I still use the paper version. I would tear off 10 pages and stash them in my purse. I don’t like to play solitaire because it frustrates me when I can’t finish the game when a card is “blocked.” With Sudoku and crossword puzzles, the puzzles are solvable.
When I travel overseas, I look like a sales associate for electronics since I usually bring two laptops, two iPads, THREE iphones, and one kindle (lol. Yes, my kindle books are separate). It’s a hassle schlepping everything but really, work matters, especially when there are classified or sensitive info, should be protected and handled separately from personal stuff.
I’m upgrading my personal iPad to get more memory/storage space. I want to download more kdramas to watch in countries where Netflix is unavailable. I’m calling it my Kdrama iPad or “K-pad.” 😂
Welcome back, @Packmule. I’m glad to hear it was work and travel that kept you silent here for a spell, not illness. I hope your COVID-19 test comes back negative.
I learned the hard way that downloading episodes before travel is key. I only downloaded enough to keep me entertained on my way to South Korea, but found when I got there I couldn’t get English subtitles, no matter how I tried to ask for them in settings. As soon as I got back to the USA, my English subtitles returned.
@packmule3, You’re my device hero. I love the K-Pad. @Welmaris and @packmule 3, I am in awe of anyone who watches dramas on remote devices. For you both, I hope that you have soeedy download speeds. As a retiree, who is quaranteening at home, I have a go tomroom eqipped withna Roku and I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Viki/kokowa and watch YouTube. I just have to wait for subtitles on Viki-bug I’m so behind in dramas and movies that I have,enough to keep me occupied for the forseeable future. For example, Injust completedvEmpress Kiand becausebof that partucular drama, also did a mini-Ji Chang-Wook festival With Healer and Suspicious Partner along with some of his musical theater oerformances on YouTube. Also searched for Jeon Mi-Do musicals on YouTube-whar a voice and what a stage presence. One of the fun things aboutbwatching these actirs in stage is the difference in acting techniques. I have so much respect for them. They are so talented and versatile. And all of the HP leads have musical theater backgrounds. What fun! (Finally, true to my BOD name, my other go-to gamebwas tetris. But K Dramas, Movies are far more fun and the variety show also have me hooked-Home Alone and The Return of Superman have also hooked me.)
Finished composing and typesetting my new piece inspired by this drama. Recording coming soon.
🙂 Same here, Welmaris. I didn’t really pay attention to how much storage my iphone or ipad had. I thought 32GB was doable and 64GB was very generous. But after I realized that some of my Netflix movies were only available in certain regions, I began downloading like there was no tomorrow.
Travel tip: A couple of days before I leave, I sign up for a free month of Youtube channel. That’s where I download my Korean variety shows.
Hello @packmule3, hope your test came back negative and the self-quarantine period can be a nice short break for you:))
Btw, thank you everyone, especially @GB, for all the great thoughts. Now, for me watching K-drama feels more than just a pastime eh. All the discussions here got me thinking and learning. Everyone has been kindly bouncing new ideas and even providing some reference links, I end up researching things here and there, which is fun and totally up my alley.
More importantly, thank you for keeping this blog such a safe and positive place. I steer away from most forums or comment sections because I cannot stand all the negativity going on. And, with me having yet completed my thesis and secured a job, I can spare no room for negativity😂😂😂
Bait
I appreciate the show’s allowing both the main and the side characters to breathe and to have something of a life of their own. Thinking of how MY operates and why GT walked away. I like that MY is shown to be astute in her penetration of what is most needed by individuals although she cannot comprehend their emotions. The first is a great help to her and to others, the second is a hindrance to everyone.
MY gets what she wants by grabbing and baiting. I noticed that bait was a subtle, but repeated idea. Most times, unsuccessful.
Episode 4 had MY had sized the needs of Kwon Ki Do up (LOL as Teeny Weeny) by his self exposure and offered him the bait of a cathartic release in expressing himself before his family, the public and the media. He had gone for it hook, line and sinker and that had practically cured him.
MY then continued to offer GT the bait of putting away his caregiver role to have a carefree time for once. He was tempted. By their meal in the café, she’d already cottoned on that GT’s need was for love.
GT : “I’m too old for fairy tales.”
MY : “Oh, come on. I think you’re just the right age for it.”
GT : “How old are you?”
MY : “Me? I’m just a little kid. But you’re more like a kid than I am.”
GT : “Why am I a kid? (MY strokes his fringe, a motherly kind of touch.)
MY : “Because I can see that you want to be loved.”
(They stare at each other. GT looks transfixed by this ‘revelation’.)
Before this too, the idea that she was out for prey had been fed to GT by CEO Lee:
CEO Lee warns GT : “When she says she wants something, she practically means she’s hungry for it. So in other words, she’s saying she’s going to eat you alive” (And most appropriately in the convenience store she’s motioning to GT that he should come in to eat [or be eaten?] LOL. So apt.)
Against this backdrop, MY provokes GT unknowingly by her direct honesty, showing that she regards him as an object, without understanding that it is hurtful and offensive.
So when GT gets angry with her for regarding him like an item to be purchased, just as Kwon’s parents did Kwon Ki Do, just as his mother had done to him… her bait was to call out “I love you” more and more aggressively. (I laughed when we hear a clock chime and the tick-tock start of the light and upbeat song OST that mocks MY’s attempt to lure him back with her screeches of “I love you”s. She was on the wrong beat, out of rhythm with GT.)
After this to bring it home further, GT observes Sang Tae appropriating the box of dinosaur figures and blocks.
ST stares at the box : “So pretty.” (Meaning so desirable.)
(GT remembers MY saying: “Because you’re so pretty/desirable. Moon Gang Tae, what I want is you. Because I can’t stop wanting you. When I see something pretty, I want it. And I need to have what I want” [Her entitlement complex in full swing.] In the same way that ST appropriates the toy dinosaurs because they’re desirable, so too MY wishes to appropriate GT as her toy, and GT is repulsed.
To make matters worse, Kwon’s father comes to the hospital to be as offensive as possible and to show that he has absolutely no care for Ki Do. And MY has turned up at the hospital to try to bait GT again, this time by keeping her promise to walk with her father. She fails again.
By the time GT on the bus, sees MY walking alone along the road, he has lumped her with Kwon’s parents, his parents and even ST. The people on the opposite side who use persons as objects.
But in the evening, he reads and relates to Zombie Kid. He starts to realise that MY was right that the story was just right for his age, and that she understood more than he thought she did.
When he hears that MY had been strangled by her own father, he realises he had seen her after that event, and she had been walking without bag or coat after having been physically and mentally abused in public. He considered that she and he were not on opposite sides after all, that she too had been a Zombie Kid with a parent who had thrown her away, and went off in full caregiver mode to care for her. That was so satisfying!!
Side note on Bait
CEO Lee at Jae Su’s café is aggrieved that he cannot get the free caricature after ordering a pizza.
CEO Lee : “Gosh, I’ve been baited. I’ve been totally baited. What kind of bait can I use to persuade MY to go back to Seoul with me?” (This leads him to worry about luring MY back to Seoul).
When Ju Ri comes in, he’s very attracted to her wholesome freshness, although she had come to drink away her self-disapproval. Jae Su tries to join her but she refuses.
CEO Lee tries to bait her with pizza, but fails.
The Unexpected Couple
Continuing the scene at Jae Su’s café …
Ju Ri thinks back on what Dir Oh says:
(Flashback: “What do you think we should do about her, Ms Nam?”
“I think we should fire her.”) (She shakes her head at herself.)
[I feel Dir Oh did that on purpose, he offered her the option to be generous or to be petty … not exactly a trap to do anything bad, but it was a form of bait. An opportunity to rid herself of her rival. She chose the alternative that shamed her, and Dir Oh seemed to know. He refused to act on her suggestion.]
In the café, JR speaks aloud to herself : “Gosh. You’re so petty, Nam Ju Ri.”
CEO Lee speaks to himself: “What can you do though? I have no choice but to suck up to her to earn a living.”
JR speaks to herself : “Still, she shouldn’t be here. She absolutely shouldn’t.” (Because MY upsets her, because she is a rival for GT, because MY’s father wants her dead, because here means she has to stay in her her home which is associated with things weird, ghostly or macabre [like Blue Beard’s secret room]).
CEO Lee speaks to himself: “She shouldn’t be there. Never. I’ll take her back to Seoul with me no matter what.”
(They don’t seem to be listening to each other but they are in agreement and even drink up at the same time. The joke is that the sound of their drinking is actually the sound of gargling ending with a satisfied sigh! Was something spat out or swallowed? LOL. [the joke means, I guess, that they are both going to be stymied].)
Jae Su notices that these 2 could be speaking about the same person but they do not know that they are, and that they are in perfect harmony. These 2 characters are made out to be totally the couple who’d be great allies since they have a common goal to get MY away from that town. Show has put into place the possibility that with Lee’s liking for JR and with JR’s common sense, maybe these two could get together. (Poor Jae Su.)
I was so relieved when I saw your posts @packmule3! It was a pretty long period without the main owner of this site presiding with her Queenly presence and I thought something happened to you 😥 because you suddenly stopped writing!
Am glad it was just work and you are in quarantine. Hope you get the all clear and get rest and catch up on all the k dramas!
I have been silently reading and pondering on all the intelligent and insightful posts here and I have to agree with @Old American Lady wholeheartedly. I am learning so much here. I love reading about the poetry bits and literature and history and music too thrown in and in TKEM it was mathematics and sequencing and graph charts 😅 and in PBIO it’s about information on mental illnesses and how script writers think n plan a story. I love that PBIO has animation and a scary storybook which in my opinion is more for adults than kids becos I was brought up on Enid Blyton and Famous five and Secret 7 era. We never had such scary pictures and ominous words so I can’t imagine how a child would enjoy these books. But an adult would.
@GB your last post really opened my eyes again! When you said MY’s mother denied MY her own identity and it’s the mother coldly swallowing up her child! No wonder @pachmuke3 can’t resist your catnip!
Gosh just one storybook and it can already hold two lost souls in it. GT and MY.Tragic. And if you count the poor (or bad mother) that’s three.
Btw I read on soompi that there is an actual writer and animator who did the books based on this script and they will be releasing the books! I am so hoping to get them. But at this point the site is in korean and its ships locally only 😢
@Dlia what you wrote struck me too. Yes GT can be both zombie and self sacrificing mother in the book too. That scene when his little young self arms dropped and hung down was so visually memorable for me.
So MY is definitely hitting on all his trigger buttons. He really needs validation and love on his side.
Thank you for the tips on storing videos! And I do hope to read your post with gifs @packmule3.
@GB Thank you for your comment, I enjoy it very much, especially the part of how GT react when he was treated badly. Now I see the other aspect of emotionless and I like your interpretation of GT being a zombie kid, which is beautiful.
I agree that GT is a “good mother” to his bother ST. He literally isn’t(can’t)going anywhere as if his limbs have been chopped off.
But does ST know his sacrifice?
Does ST appreciate his sacrifice?
Does ST expect ST sacrifice for him?
I think that ST has no idea what GT has done for him, and this made him zombie-like to me.
Is anyone here is familiar with Korean Culture?
I started to watch K-drama since last April. I literally do not know any Korean,but I have a question hoping anyone can give me a hint.
I found that butterflies and rain scenes are quite often seen in K-drama. For example, in “Goblin” white butterfly is the incarnation of a deity; we can also see a butterfly on “Ode to my father”, ” Rooftop Prince”, “Secret garden….etc.
Accrodind to “Google”, butterfly means good marriage at a wedding, does it have others symbolically meaning in Korean culture?
Also according “Google” , Korea doesn’t rain that often as it shows on K-drama. Does “rain” has a significant meaning than other cultures usually have?
For example, rain may mean sad, tear, or unexpected accidents in my culture.We do rain a lot here, but still there is not that much rain scenes in our drama or movies.
I will really appreciate it if anyone who is familiar with Korean Culture can give me a hint.
Woo!
I’m not here two days and already so many new comments.
@GB,
I read your comments!
I can no longer tell who’s who in the zombie fable. I’m gonna take it as something of a mixed bag, like character roles. A mix of the different facets of the ML story.
@Packmule3, assuming you’re OK with the theme, that’s the kind of drama you should like in the way the story is constructed, with a lot of detail and enrichment.
Some script ideas, a little makjang:
– The mother of the FL is alive, and that’s gonna cause complications. I don’t remember well what happened (my memory is bad), but she might have killed the mother of the ML in the past?
– The ML is assaulted, left for dead (choice of assailant from a politician, LF mother, a violent patient). Eventually, he becomes amnesic, even though the love affair with the FL had progressed.
– FL is locked up in psychiatry, in solitary confinement. This could be a cowardly move by the second female lead, who tries to get rid of her. She could have been wrongly accused of an assault, for example. Or she went crazy after she lost the ML.
– The idea of the locked FL is credible, but she’d have to be locked up in a different hospital than the one with the nice director. Otherwise it would be too easy and he’d help her out.
– The ML could also be locked up in a mental hospital at the same time. Having both leads locked up at the same time would be pretty funny.
Mum and Dad
[Yup I’m still bothered by the parent thing.]
What a loaded word ‘mother’ is. It doesn’t matter if one is a mum, had a mum, still has one (or more), was disowned by one or disowned one, can’t be a mum, was a mum. That word comes with a lot of emotions and baggage, both positive and negative. I wonder if ‘father’ can be given the same weight. I guess our experiences and relationships will largely determine how we feel about ‘mother’, but I know that where one has a mum, the tone used for asking one: “Were you that sick? Did your ‘mother‘ know?” has so much more emphasis than if the question was did the father, brother, sister, grandparent, friend etc know. The one who should care the most, be the most likely of caregivers and be the most lovingly invested in us, (and therefore the one who should have been informed) is mum.
In this show, we have the toxic, possibly narcissistic mother of Mun Yeong (MYmum), the ego-destroying mother of Gang Tae (GTmum), the self-seeking, mercenary Kwons. In this show, the only saving grace mum is Ju Ri’s mother (JRmum) who offers to mother (as in the verb) other kids as well.
To MY, her parents are both dead… but neither are gone. Show has cast doubt on whether she experienced much in the way of love from either one of them. Both alive or dead, they haunt her unlovingly.
The interlude of MY before the mirror in her castle – was that a memory or a dream, or a memory of a dream that was a delusion? First we see in the mirror that the illusion of MYmum encircles Child MY in a half hug while whispering poisonous words of ‘distorted love’.
We see Child MY standing before a door with a key, for the lock on the door latch. We do not know if MY just locked the door or whether she is aware of what lies on the other side, and is deciding whether to open the door or not. She is expressionless – resigned? With key in hand, she seems to have some control. She chooses to continue her usual standing motionless ritual.
On the other side, her controlling mother lies dead on her back, and sopping wet as if drowned.
From MY’s side of the door, we see water eerily, repulsively flowing from the dead woman, under the door towards MY, reaching her bare feet. There’s too much of it flowing without stopping, as if the corpse itself is emitting a constant stream of water to encircle and claim MY. Even in death, the legacy of MYmum, her attempt to drown MY’s identity continues. As MYmum had encircled her with her arm before the mirror, so too the illusory water moves to encircle MY in her mind. So horrifying. It is no wonder that while the family photo had dad folded away as irrelevant, mum had been entirely torn away. Unfortunately, MY still carried her dead mother in her mind.
As for her dad, MY begins by provoking him.
MY : “Are you sure all your memories got wiped out? You’re not just pretending?”
Ju Ri: “Stop provoking him.”
MY : (Whispers in her father’s ear) “Did you really forget what kind of person I am? Dad?”
(She squats beside her father, looking up pleasantly into his face with a slight smile. She might have been testing the ground, checking if it was safe for her to be with her father yet. She had said that his soul was dead, perhaps she needed to make sure.
She is however a trigger to dad. His forgetfulness seems to abate when MY is nearby or when she is mentioned. Previously, he had been frightened of her. This time he turns lucid and dangerous.)
Father : “Why are you still alive?” (Her smile fades.)
(He puts his foot on the ground. Touches her face then goes for her neck, choking her.)
Father : “Die. Die, you monster! Die, you monster.”
(MY remains lying on the ground with a tear flowing from an eye. She laughs silently. As she leaves a voice says; “It serves you right. You shouldn’t have come here.” We hear a mirthless laugh.) And so we raise the questions: why should being nearly killed be what’s right for MY? And would the hospital staff reactions of fighting shy to help MY have been different if she had been someone else.
It’s hard to say if dad was trying to do anyone a favour by killing MY, even when she was a child. It looked more like he just wanted the monster to be dead. Maybe she had upset his life too much. Possibly it would have been more convenient with her gone.
Any child on the more normal range of a spectrum would have been adversely affected, but this was the experience of an ASPD person. One wonders if she ever had the chance to get therapy for PTSD. Or, might being on the spectrum have saved her in any way from even more damage? On the whole, she turned out pretty much okay, except for her penchant of giving as good as she gets with nasty characters, without remorse. 😬 😁
@WEnchanteur,
Heh! reading your makjang script ideas is what’s terribly funny.
@Kuroshio,
I tend to think that being on the autistic spectrum does not make a person unaware of activities around him, although it does make it hard for him to communicate. ST may well be very aware of what GT is doing for him, but he knows he needs that help, and all he can do is offer to be the older brother who can be depended upon. Part of that is the reason ST is earning money.
@Carolstar, while I’m curious to read the books, I don’t think I want to own them. Too disturbing and ‘not pretty’. LOL. So another Enid Blyton fan. Shows our age?
@Shinca, that’s good that this place has got you looking up information which you enjoy doing. Maybe @pkml3 will assign you research sometime LOL.
@Snow Flower, we await your new musical piece! Hmmm, I should get down to writing at least a haiku. 🤪
@Old American Lady, like you I try to watch only on large screens and not mobile devices. I am a Healer fan myself and Ji Chang Wook just had his birthday. LOL. I’m also watching him in Backstreet Rookie, which is currently airing.
@Dlia, that’s an interesting idea that GT really appreciated Ju Ri’s mum. I can’t imagine him actually wanting to accept JR as part of the mum package though LOL. What a reverse, we normally choose to marry the spouse and get the in-law, not marry in order to get them!
@Welmaris, Re: subtitles, when you were away, did you try to use a vpn from an English speaking country? I heard thatvwas a goodvwork around.
More music notes:
In a previous comment I mentioned that MY is associated with La Campanella. When heard in the show, the tune is recognizable, yet changed. The phrases are disjointed (broken) and the rhythm is altered. The violin phrases are interrupted by the mournful sighs of the clarinet. Hearing the high-strung violin and the quiet clarinet reminded of the dynamic between MY and GT.
I hope the instrumental soundtracks become available soon.
@Carolstar, You gave us a great example of all of the depth of BOD-so much information about so many subjects here and done in a way that is accessible to all. There are no show-offs here-just a nice group of people who share their knowledge and insights and do it in all kinds ofvways-throughy prose, poetry, music, art,audio-visualmtreats like gifs. And it’s a group that is not afraid to be silly, funny, a little bawdy(but done tadtefully). What I also am loving is how caring it is-from the comments supporting posters who are going through all that life brings-health isdues, family events, work/study stresses, etc.. And from enjoying the sight of LMH to reality checking the Winter Gardeners, BOD does so with so much respect and compassion. Thank you all again and again…
@Growing Beautifully, I’m still not sure she’s on the spectrum and I’m not even certain she’s got anti-sicial personality disorder, but given her sleep patterns, her other defense mechanisms, I do see PTSD. The incident in the hospital with her Dad just said so much.
And your discussion motherhood and our thoughts and feelings about it are spot on. For so many mother- fhildvrelationships are fraught. The expectations for childvrearing are much higher for mothers than fathers across so many cultures are so diminished. But for our heroine, it seems like she loses inboth fronts. So am interested to see how her pain and our hero’s pain gets handled. So far, I am not disappointed in this drama. I do think that the writer misdiagnosed her.
From a personal point of view, I’m familiar with having experience with a wide variety of mothers. My birth mother died when I was two, because an aunt neglectedvme, I was sent to a children’s home, and a short time later had foster parents. I left foster care when my father remarried when I was a little over 4 and then had a stepmother and stepbrother. My stepmother could care less about me and my Dad and by the time I was 5, I was living with my grandmother who died when I was 9. My Dad had a lot of girlfriend, was engaged and not engaged. After my grandmother died, my great aunt took care of me. My Dad remarried when I was 13 but by then, I didn’t live with him andbmy stepmother(he was marriedvto her for 13 years).My stepmoyher and I became closevwhen I was an adult-she gave me my wedding and shevwas my son’s doting grandmother. And saying that, I became a mother. I know the good, the bad, the ugly, the boring, the joy of motherhood in so many ways. I despise child abuse and domestic abuse in all its forms. I am glad that when I could afford it I got good psychological treatment to be able to sort out my life. Ican also say that I wad incredibly lucky to meet my husband who as a parent is the mother of fathers. He’s phenomenalky nurturing. And my true belief is the cryx if parenting has to do with the quality of nurturing. WhenI didn’t get it from family, I was lucky to have found some of it from teachers and social workers. I am gladvthat I turned out to be a good mom. Given what I went through, it could have been ugly (with so many people who’ve had my type of experience, they turn outbto be horriblebparents).
For those of you who are single who wantbto be parents, look for a partner who is nurturing and honest. They’re very sexy qualities.
@Carolstar,
Gosh: Enid Blyton. What a contrast, eh? I haven’t thought of her books for a decade. The Famous Five books were still popular when my daughters were small. Was the world ever that safe and idyllic? 🌅⛵🏕️ Midnight feasts and kids let out alone on the sea in boats and to go camping. The best dog ever, too. When we moved near the south coast, we thought the island offshore might be Kirrin Island, ha! As a child I was given a large but rather edited selection of books by my aunt. Stories of bravery, goodness and perseverance rewarded; nothing really dark, ambiguous or blackly tragic or even set in the current decade. I think it gave me a romantic, but out-of-touch outlook.
The closest things to MY’s books I remember were Grimm’s fairy tales in various editions and Struwwelpeter, found and appreciated gleefully at the local library. I’m struggling to remember anything else strange or twisted.
Here is my new piano piece, Lighthouse in the Rain
https://soundcloud.com/user-858010722/lighthouse-in-the-rain
Wow, @Old American Lady, you endured a lot. That you survived at all is a miracle, but that you’re a lovely person is a testament to your character. I am in awe of your resilience. And sounds like if your life were made into a Kdrama, your husband would end up being voted into the Best Boyfriend Hall of Fame.
As for your earlier suggestion to me, @Old American Lady, I suppose using a VPN would have helped me regain my English subtitles if I’d had any idea what a VPN was or how to access one. You and Google taught me something today, and I will keep it in mind next time I’m in South Korea (and I dearly hope there will be a next time).
About the scene where MY’s father strangled her at the hospital: it is another example of people thinking MY is wrong or cruel, but she is correct. I do wonder what, besides a brain tumor, her father has suffered from to keep him so long at the psychiatric hospital. Viewers were informed that he is the patient of longest residence, and he hadn’t had a visitor the whole time. Who admitted him, and for what reason? I doubt it is Alzheimer’s: someone in an advanced stage of that dread disease would not recognize anyone referenced in conversation or by sight. MY’s dad reacted when Joo Ri said his daughter would come visit, and he knew exactly who MY was when she knelt in front of his wheelchair (and this after he hadn’t seen her for many years). He could have a form of dementia such as Pick’s Disease, which would explain his speech difficulty (aphasia), his trying to kill MY (disinhibition, lack of empathy), and being all messed up per Director Oh (delusions and paranoia).
https://www.alzheimers.net/what-is-picks-disease/
@Old American Lady, I am quite affected by your post. I had to take time to do other things and come back here to write you. Thank you so much for sharing from your experiences and giving us the positive continuation of your story. We need so much to know that there really is hope, no matter how difficult lives may be.
I applaud you for your resilience and thank God that there were good people and the right opportunities that came your way. And though it may sound strange or facile from an unknown person who does not know you personally, I congratulate you for surmounting the many hurdles to become despite them all, a good mum. In fact I rejoice that there is you, who can give us your experience, (and I trust there are many others) who have weathered the storms and have come through. There are also, I know, many who have floundered and we can see in real life, the poor children, evidence of the brokenness and the abuse that our fictional characters in this show touch on.
LOL I loved this, the father who is the mother of all fathers. And once again the word used is ‘mother’. The engenderer from whom we hope good will come, however one who does not work alone, but with the father. We look to them both to bring forth life and renewal. We look forward to this show being able to give us, our characters being both father and mother to the children in themselves…the children who were left unacknowledged in the troubled adults of MY and GT.
I tend towards this view as well. So much more than just the genes determine our attitudes and how happy and fulfilled we are.
Your advice is good.
Regardless of how we like to be silly and swoon over all things shallow as we ‘dream’, the deeper qualities of a good life partner must be the focus for our real lives. When the abs, broad shoulders and chiselled jaws have become slack, the stalwart character of the person remains.
On your first point – what you say is possible … MY could be misdiagnosed (LOL) by so many untrained persons who just observe her from our armchairs. Even her creator may not have got a thorough grip on the complicated condition. We wait to see more with more open minds.
@Snow Flower, BRAVA! I heard rain, and I heard waves. The melody was sometimes melancholy, sometimes sweet, sometimes victorious, and sometimes surprising.
@Welmaris, most of the harmonies don’t really belong to the home key, and yet they lead to it.
@Welmaris
Your post brings to mind something that passed through my mind. When MY was being strangled, the mood was strange. It was as if the community stood in judgement against her. They looked on without much concern, as if she deserved what she got. This was highlighted by the voice we hear as MY walks away from the hospital. At first I mistakenly thought it was MY’s own voice, but went back to re-listen and realised it was someone else passing judgement on her.
Poor MY. I am no longer surprised that she never went to visit her father. As for that home of hers, CEO Lee said it was unsaleable due to all the negative events befalling her family there, plus its isolation and size, plus the neglect, and I understand if she never would want to live there.
Yes, once again, MY has penetrated to the truth despite indications to the contrary. The people around judged on the surface that her father, having dementia, would have forgotten her. However we see time and again that this is far from the case.
Thanks for the link on Pick’s Disease. Now we have to consider that not only is there room to reconsider the diagnosis for the father, but also if that is a misconception on our part on dementia for the father, how about our assumptions for the daughter. We might be wrong!!
One thing that popped into my mind when Dir Oh met with MY, was that he was suggesting the group therapy not only for the patients, but also for MY. The suggestion that she should walk with her father, was the key point in the therapy. I felt that Dir Oh was aware of that there were depths of wrongness in that father-daughter relationship and had been watching carefully and putting things into place that could bring about another cathartic release or some reaction or other, for MY, the way that MY had done for Kwon Ki Do.
In fact, I’m looking at the Ep 3 Ki Do incident as the possible ‘model’ of the therapy this show is espousing. Keeping the pain hidden drives us crazy … it is good to let go of it, preferably in a safe environment, with caring help nearby and without others who might become inadvertent victims.
The ‘experiment’ if I may call it that, of MY being with her father, could have been very ill advised, but it could possibly have been set up to demonstrate several things at once. 1) What MY might or might not do with regards to her father 2) The reasons MY would decide to acknowledge her father or not 3) The principal concern and focus of the father with regards to MY 4) How sick either of them really was 5) The qualities MY could exhibit and if she could be helped. Maybe a 6th point … 6) Who would step up to support MY.
When the community let her walk away alone, what did it say about them and for MY. If we put ourselves in the shoes of any there, what would we do? We see that in many scenes, it is mostly MY who moves, who goes towards what she wants or where she is supposed to be. The people who go to her want something from her. If there was no reason to get anything from her, they would avoid her like the plague.
Amidst this backdrop we rejoice that at least one individual, himself also partially broken, rose above his own needs and seeing MY’s greater need, reached out to MY to give.
@Packmule, in the scene where MY enters her home, the interior covered in cobwebs, goes up to her bedroom and flops onto the dust sheet on her bed, I imagine you saying a big “Ick!” Later other people are also shown sitting on dust sheets covering chairs. Ick, again. Good thing that they’re set design and probably right out of packaging, so clean.
Speaking of set design, the book shelves with books tossed on top of books look convincingly authentic.
@Snow Flower, thank you for this beautiful piano piece. I love how the moods change. I can’t say it better than Welmaris, but I am envious of your talent for expressing a scene in music.
About lighthouses: they have two main and distinct functions in navigation. They may be an aid to indicate dangerous areas, like a reef or rocks. Or they may show the way to a safe harbor. Alone, the lighthouse may have been MY’s dangerous destination, but with the arrival of GT, the lighthouse becomes an image of welcome and shelter.
Lovely @Snow Flower. I am listening to your Lighthouse in the Rain again now. When I closed my eyes, I saw the rain and the light’s reflections on the water and in the falling drops. There is such a sense of hope and delight even in the midst of the rain and in the dark. And the lighthouse continues to beam it’s light throughout.
@Welmaris and @Growing Beautifully, not often, but sometimes stroke will result in delusions. Perhaps his condition will be identified later. Yes, the reaction of the staff to MY was odd, but outwardly her reaction, lying still and smiling, seemed unusual as well. The male aid was looking at her and seemed to be noting that. Only the male patient recognised that she was upset, but by then she didn’t want interaction. I thought back to her reaction to being strangled by the little girl’s father earlier – she said something along the lines of ‘try harder, fool’ which seemed like a death wish or a completion of what her father tried before.
I think that MY wasn’t provoking her father as much as ‘testing the water’ in her questions to him about his memory. She wanted to know if it was safe to interact with him and I think it was quite brave of her, and revealing, that she would risk this to change GT’s opinion of her. MY’s father’s reaction showed that his memory was largely unimpaired and his point of view unchanged. @GB, I like what you wrote about Dir Oh’s therapy and experiment, plus that only MY reached out to her afterwards.
This is a tangent off Zombie Boy.
When watching TKEM, I was struck by Jo Yeong’s existence from childhood being ‘part of a plan’ and that was to protect his king and to be the closest thing to a friend. I had a similar feeling when hearing GT’s mother saying that she gave birth to him to care for her favourite elder son, ST. It seemed to me that due to these assigned roles, they aren’t allowed to develop as people naturally.
There are similar roles to this in some K-dramas. In ‘Moonlight drawn by Clouds’ Kwak Dong-yeon is Kim Byung-yeon, the King’s bodyguard and conflicted friend; in ‘Moon embracing the Sun’ Song Jae-rim is Kim Jae-woon, again the King’s bodyguard servant but also a friend. Visually, the latter 3 all are dressed (rather fetchingly) in black. I wonder if this protector role is a trope and does it have historical or literary background?
You’re right, Welmaris!! When MY flopped onto the dust sheet, I had an internal Edvard Munch “Scream” moment. Nooooooo!
https://kinderart.com/wp-content/uploads/munchscream.jpg
If I did that, the dust cloud would have sent me into a paroxysm of coughing.
To be honest, watching this kdrama has been hard for me. I find myself pausing Netflix after many of MY’s scenes, like when she cut herself or stole the Good Doctor’s sleep talisman.
The child actress who plays the young MY is good. (Can’t remember where I’ve seen her before.) I hope she has a counselor or child psychologist to work with her during the scenes when she’s acting out MY’s anti-social behavior. She needs to “process” the scenes internally and she IS still at that vulnerable age when make-believe can get distorted with reality.
@packmule3, Google says the child actress is Kim Soo-In. She has been in many dramas these are the most recent:
A Piece of Your Mind | – Kim Ji-Soo (child)
Tell Me What You Saw | – Cha Soo-Young (young)
He is Psychometric | – Yoon Jae-In (child)
My Only One | – Kim Do-Ran (child)
The Player | – orphanage kid
About Time | – candy girl
Dal-Soon’s Spring
Yes @GB I am of that age group 😂. It was chalkboard and long hand during school days. I can’t imagine how young kids have to study online during this pandemic now🤕
I do find this drama disturbing but having read through the intelligent posts written here by you and the other good commentators here. I feel the books hold something so meaningful because of how many interpretations one can deduce from one line or verse!
@Fern if I could go back to my Enid Blyton years. I would be a happy camper. It sure was idyllic and a cosy setting to be in. My favorite was The magic Faraway Tree!
You brought back fond memories with the names I had quite forgotten! And I had to google them ..Kirrin Island and Timmy the dog! Thanks 😊
@OldAmericanlady I just want to say that you are one strong and big hearted lady from all the trials you went through. Big hugs to you 🤗 and ❤
Hi @carolstar, Thanks for the affirmation. Here’s what I think about when I look at my life. I am one of the fortunate ones. There are billions of people in this world who don’t have their basic needs met. They go hungry, their mothers still die in childvpbirth. They don’t have clean water to drink. Covid 19 is nothing to them compared to hunger, dysentery, malaria-just name the plague. So I’ve learned to count my blessings which are too many and just hope I can share them. One of those blessing is this blog where I’m virtually meeting a lot of thoughtful, wonderful people over such fun and informative conversations over a favorite topic-my goto Covid time coping method-Yay K Dramas(which in their way mirror the human condition). And I’m loving It’s Okay To Be Not Okay. And prior to this I could take or leave Kim Soo-Hyun, but have a new respect for him here as an actor-he’s showing that he has a range-so I’m now a fan. Also love, love ,love Seo Ye Ji and Oh Jung Se. Gamsamnidha….
I stumbled upon an interesting video that sheds some light on MY’s posture when she was teaching her first lit class at the hospital. I’d thought her tightly crossed arms and legs indicated a defensive posture. The person in this video, an FBI agent for 25 years who specializes in body language, says crossed arms means self comfort. I did get the sense that MY didn’t want to be there and was uncomfortable.
https://youtu.be/4jwUXV4QaTw
@pkml3
I thought of you when Ep 6 had both GT and ST lying happily on dust sheets that had not been moved in 20 years!!! ST made clouds of dust rise visibly. I can’t imagine how the actors managed to sit through those scenes (especially if repeatedly with re-takes) and not cough. I guess props must have used talcum powder or something to make the dust, but there was so much of it and surely, that can’t be good for one’s lungs.
Yes, disturbing show, isn’t it? Watching someone with a different moral compass, who is manipulating or who is unable to empathise gets to me. It was stronger in the first episodes but MY became less confronting for me as she revealed different aspects of herself. I believe I was and am still more bothered by bad or misguided parents.
I hope though, that you are still able to enjoy the show. Thanks for giving us the space here to deconstruct the show and its characters. These are some of the most interesting characters I’ve ever come across, and for the first time, in such great numbers in 1 show. I feel that show is really aiming to give us many different kinds of disorders, some of which reside in ‘normal’ looking people as well as those in the hospital. So it’s sticking to its premise that everyone is at least a little crazy, and that’s fine. We just need to come to terms with that and accept it.
Hope your COVID test results turn out negative and that you can get back, out and about next week.
Yes!! 🙂 It came back negative so I’m eating a mango mousse at 10:30am to celebrate.
You’re right. (You know me well, don’t you?) I’m having a hard time liking the heroine. I *understand* where she’s coming from, but my sympathies and understanding don’t make me like the endgame (i.e., MY and GT as a married couple? 🤨) any better.
That relationship is dysfunctional. It will need long-term (perhaps forever?) therapy and counseling. But as of Episode 6, I don’t see either MY or GT acknowledging that they have problems.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hyung, the one with autism, was actually the sanest one of all three — at least, he’s being seen for his developmental disability. GT pretends to be okay when he’s obviously not. (I wrote about this in my First Impressions WHICH I never got to post… 🤣) And I don’t like the way this writer is taking the moral high ground with MY’s character.
And yes, that’s the reason I stuck with the original Korean title, “Psycho But It’s Okay.” I believe Netflix tried to play it safe but altering the title and calling it “It’s Okay NOT TO BE OKAY.” To me, they missed the point. The whole point of the story is to humanize these very people whom society has been quick to label as psycho and portray them as okay.
Thank God you’re fine @packmule3. ❤️ And I concur with you and @GB. I can’t see how their relationship would work in long term? At the moment they “get” each other because of their entwined past and shared experiences (of being trapped). But what happens after? Their relationship is dysfunctional. Are we to believe that the 3 of them can functionally live together in that castle and relate to the outside world when necessary? I am trying to picture a plausible scenario for a future. She writes remotely (from the castle), ST illustrates for her books, her CEO manages all the publicity, GT is relegated to full time carer of both of them? And he becomes her “safety pin” when she needs to do book signings and relate to members of the public etc? 🤔. And she allows him his freedoms to get respite as he needs it (what the Assembly Man’s son’s story was alluding to)? And they live happily ever after? All carers for disabled or the mentally challenged require a support NETWORK to stay sane. JaeSu was GT’s support for a long time. JuRi’s mother seems open to looking after them. Actually in reality JuRi and GT would be ideal (but that’s the mom in me speaking). At least she’s stable and her family situation is stable. She already gets ST and so does her mom. They would be able to share the burden of caring for ST and provide the support network that GT so desperately needs to manage ST. And I found ST’s assent to just go to MY’s castle improbable for someone with autism. Any break in routine or going to strange unknown places usually results in melt downs? So I find the writing a bit uneven. There are aspects which are done well and then others which I would say look sugarcoated.
Yey! 🎉 Covid free! 🙏
Yeah, I get shocked by MY’s actions and hurt for GT. But can’t they get healed apart then get together when they’re both better?
Does it really feel like a lifetime of counselling and therapy? ☹️ Sigh.
@nrllee, As always your posts are thought-provoking and reality based. You are so right about how changes in routine are difficult for people on the speftrum to process and the move to MY’-s castle would be fraught for ST. But the story already has poor ST being uprooted very frequently. So in that way, it is not very reality based. I also see your point about our leads’ seemingly dysfunctional relationship. However, one of the subtexts of this drama is that it can be construed as a fairy tale. So will the denoument be fantastic or real. To me that’s the paradox. It is a fiction afterall. So my way of watfhing is to think about this as a fairy tale, with frogs, warts and all. I think I’ve already suspended disbelief. And I derive joy in watching the principal and supporting players seemlessly play their parts, while mareling at all ofvthe creative touches and visual beauty.
Congratulations @pkml3! Here! 🍨 🍏 🍓 🥝 have more goodies. I took care to balance out cold and sweet with Vitamins and fibre.
Heh! Sweet of you to say so, although I’m not certain I do. Heck even people we meet daily are mysteries to us!!! LOL. I’m guessing that you’ll be firmly on the side of what is right and just and fair and healthy. And yes, that’s one unhealthy relationship we’ve got there.
You know, Jae Su in ‘mother’ mode had a point. He said: “I can’t believe you packed up and moved in with her. Have you lost your mind? Are you insane? You’d better get back here before it’s too late.” I don’t like that he behaved towards GT like he was entitled to lecture him in that way, but he did have a point that many of us ‘shippers’ will gloss over and forget… it’s horribly unwise for this particular couple to hook up. It is wiser to break the connection earlier rather than later. Let’s see if show is going to propose, the unlikely in real life situation, that their being together is enough therapy to help them both. At the moment I worry that GT will be the giver in an unbalanced relationship.
The biggest hurdle indeed, which if not surmounted, leaves them forever wounded and unhealed.
You don’t have to embellish your post with gifs, etc. We’ll be happy to just read you in plain text LOL.
By moral high ground, do you mean that the show is making MY look like what she is doing is justifiable, when actually she is in the wrong? I feel that way.
What troubled me in several kdramas, is how easily they label people with differences as ‘monsters’. It was a word bandied about and accepted. Both the labeling and the general acceptance of the labeling is wrong, but this is portrayed as normal.
Yes, the line, I feel, should be drawn between the person being accepted as human although he is not ‘normal’ on some spectrum or other, and saying that he’s okay when actually he isn’t.
We are seeing that show is going the latter way with MY, which is troubling.
@nrllee and @Old America Lady
I agree that in reality, our GT and JR together is the better (even the best under the circumstances) endgame.
I also agree that we’ve been thrown into a cauldron of fairy tales, stories and other show references (Chucky, Joker) and that the pot keeps being stirred. We are waiting now to see what comes out of the pot. A reality based story or an improbable fairy tale.
I’ve taken on and off (vacillating fence sitter that I am LOL!) to watching in the same way as @Old American Lady. I believe the sh*t will hit the fan but that the fairy tale will persevere, and I’m just enjoying the watch while eye rolling and shaking my head. 🙄 😬 😣 😀
@Growing Beautifully, I want to thank you for commrnt awhilw back re my life and also the comment about my husband being a best boyfriend. Here’s a fun coincidence that would make my life like aK Drama. My mother-in-law was my birth mother’s junior high and high school friend. They grew up as neighbors. Ine of my mother-in-law’s oresents to me is a junior high class picture showing the two of them as girls. So that gave me goosebumps. I also am my husband’s noona (5year age dufference). And we met at work and were lunch buddies for years before we dated -we were friends first. Just thought you’d have fun with this. I think there is something to say for karma…
Dear @Packmule3 am happy you got the all clear and can move about freely now!👍👍
I agree with what you last wrote that the main leads have a pretty dysfunctional relationship together and I don’t know how the show will be able to show them as a stable and strong couple because a lot of counselling is needed and not just love and affection and steamy chemistry between these two ( though I really don’t mind seeing KSH naked bod again 😜)
@Nrllee what you wrote spoke to me too! I couldn’t quite pinpoint why I felt quite uneasy with this show and it was your ‘happy together’ scenario that jolted me up. Its just not possible.
I agree breaking of routines is a Big No No for people with autism. Therefore when it was mentioned before, the brothers shifted every year I was quite puzzled because then it means ST doesn’t have severe autism but maybe more a savant syndrome complex.
Likewise with @GB hear hear to all you said 👏👏 I agree too! I think its about time though for Show to show us the backstory of Jae Su the ‘mother’.
Anyways I am sitting together with @Old American Lady (if she doesn’t mind 😊) just watching this PBIO as a fairy tale with frogs warts and all! I like that sentence @old American lady! Hopefully there will be a beautiful dance in the castle as wished for by @snowflower and myself for that part of Beauty and the Beast tale to come true.
Oh @old american lady! Your background story would totally be a makjang k drama tale success if you sell it to the drama scriptwriters!
@Carolstar, I just finished the new piece. It is a waltz and I can imagine our main characters dancing in the Cursed Castle under the chandelier in the great hall (or engaging in long staring contests).
@Old America Lady Thank you for pointing us to more information on ASD in the other thread, and for the note on fun real life coincidences. Your getting together with your husband is the childhood trope in all its glory LOLOL. In actual fact, while I do roll my eyes at kdrama’s frequent use of this trope to rationalise or justify a couples’ coming together, I also feel that it’s a pretty normal and better way to ‘find’ one’s life partner. Who more likely to be someone we’d meet and have connection with, than someone we got to know in our youth? When families stay put, our childhood acquaintances will still be in the same neighbourhood and opportunities to connect will be far more possible, after all.
I do heartily approve making friends first before letting the attraction (and hormones) take over, as in to be friends with one who might possibly become spouse, for a few years even. Our spouses are one of our best friends (or should be!) after all, for the long term (preferably for life 😄.)
@Carolstar I remain an inveterate fence sitter or rather, a cynical romantic. I’d like our couple to get together but only if they heal each other. At the same time, I cynically and realistically don’t think that they can actually heal each other. If show goes into making the OTP magically Okay together, I’ll roll 🙄 my eyes and not be pleased but just accept it as a fairy tale. If show magically changes characters so that they are no longer in need of healing I’ll be upset and 😖 confounded. If show dares to do the ‘unthinkable for kdrama romantics’ and have couple not end up together at all, for reasons of their current unhealthy states,… I’ll sigh with a tear in my eye 😥 but applaud it for being real.
If they don’t get together because one of them turned out to be evil or the past parent-gets-in-the-way trope plays out, I’ll have my gut wrenched, but be dissatisfied. 😞 (Why? Because it should not need those reasons for this couple to be separated.)
If there was one show where the separation of OTP trope should be used, it’s this one. Let them be apart for a few years and come back when they are a bit more whole, so that they don’t end up sucking each other dry.
@Snow Flower I look forward to hearing your waltz. That Cursed Castle needs exactly that dance around it’s big hall to lift the curse for us! I’d like to imagine that joining in that dance will be Jae Su and Seung Jae (the Art Director), CEO Lee and Ju Ri, Sang Tae with JR’s Mum and the unorthodox Dir Oh and disapproving Nurse Park. May the applauding audience be made up of our OK Psychiatric Hospital patients and staff. LOL.