The thread is now open for comments, spoilers, and analyses.

Grace was our bingo winner last week.

I don’t know if you still want to continue doing bingo, but here’s the card for this week. Good luck!

It’s Week #3 and usually in kdramas, the romance extends outside the circle of two. Hyejun’s manager is bound to suspect something’s going on between him and Jeongha, but his family should soon get to know her. His grandpa saw JeongHa in Episode 3, perhaps his mother will meet her this week.

I’m one of those viewers who find the pacing of this kdrama rather uneven. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched a weekend drama. Weekend kdramas are different from the typical kdramas that I review here in Bitchesoverdramas.

I don’t do them because —

1) They’re a saga with the main plot stretched over 25, 32, 50 or more episodes.
2) The episodes focus primarily on family relationships, with some contemporary social issues thrown in for relevance (e.g., single motherhood and divorce).
3) The relationships between family members are mostly dysfunctional (i.e., abusive spouse, sibling rivalry, overbearing father, etc.) and I just can’t relate to the melodrama.
4) The romance takes a back seat to the family drama.

The weekend kdramas that I watched are “1% of Anything” (the 2003 Original Version), “Smile, You,” and “Creating Destiny.”

The first two episodes of Record of Youth reminded me of everything I dislike about a weekend drama: It started very slowly. It presented a sob story with all sort of miserable luck thrown at the hero HyeJun. And it gave the members of families a lot of airtime.

Of course, it could be argued that the family structure had to be explained because we’re watching a 26-year-old man transition from youth to adulthood. His family still played a large role in his life.

But by Episodes 3 and 4, I realized that not one, but TWO families are given playing time. That’s when the thought struck me that the writer was going for a “Parasite” homage here. lol.

There’s HyeJun continually being overshadowed by his rich friend HaeHyo. Then there’s poor HyeJun’s mom working as a housekeeper for the snooty mom of HaeHyo. It’s the haves versus the have nots.

Both HyeJun and his mom feel the weight of their diminished financial wealth and social status. However, both try very hard to rise above jealousy and competition. We could see this in their inner monologues. .

Here’s one example of HJ’s mom (I’ll call her “Poor Mom”) expressing her thoughts as she spoke with HH’s mom (I’ll call her “Snobby Man”). I don’t have the inclination to learn their names.

Snobby Mom: This is the script for the movie that HaeHyo will be shooting. I think it’ll be a huge hit. It’s so engaging.
Poor Mom: I see. (inwardly) I never asked.

She clearly wasn’t interested in listening. She knew Snobby Mom was going to brag about their sons so she was steeling herself. She probably wished that Snobby Mom was more considerate of her feelings given that both their sons vied for the same role, and her son lost. I think Poor Mom could have handled this better, too. Her envy, resentment, and (secret) competitiveness are also preventing her from rejoicing in the good fortune of her son’s best friend.

Snobby Mom: The wardrobe for the character… I also need to help him practice his lines. Gosh I have so much to do.
Poor Mom: You know, kids these days can take care of things on their own.
Snobby Mom: Do you think HH got this role solely on his own? These days, parents need to help their children all their lives.

This is so wrong in many respects. For one, she was claiming the glory all for herself. It was HER skills that got his son the role. For another, Snobby Mom was affirming that her son didn’t possess the skills to do well on his own. I’m sure he would have appreciated hearing his mother’s lack of confidence in him as well as her interference.

Poor Mom: Then, there’s no hope for this world. How can parents possibly help their kids with everything?
Snobby Mom: Are you saying that I’m wrong?
Poor Mom: (inwardly) I shouldn’t even live if I can’t speak out when someone says that my child will turn out like me.

My take here is that she would be embarrassed to call herself a mom if she couldn’t even defend her son from being verbally attacked. She wanted to find fight fire with fire, but she’d have to get back at Snobby Mom unobtrusively.

Poor Mom: (aloud) I’m just saying that some might think differently.
Snobby Mom: Wrong opinions must be corrected. Let me put in simple terms. Had HyeJun been my son, he would’ve gotten this role.

The Snobby Mom believed that that success of their sons reflected their abilities as mothers. She was claiming that she was a better parent than Poor Mom because she could steer her son’s career to success.

Poor Mom: Like is like a race. You never know who’s going to win until it’s over. We don’t know whether that role will do him good or harm. I guess time will tell.
Snobby Mom: Are you putting a curse on him? Are you saying it may do him harm?
Poor Mom: No. You said my opinion was incorrect, and I’m just telling you that is not the case.
Snobby Mom: Look at you getting all smart with me.
Poor Mom: (inwardly again) I’ve just been keeping things to myself. Because you wouldn’t understand even if I told you.

It’s sad that Snobby Mom regarded her son as an extension of herself instead of a person in his own right.

As for HyeJun, the internal monologue that I found interesting was the last one in Episode 4.

HyeJun said, “There’s a class theory that’s popular among my generation. Depending on how much financial support you can get from your parents, you’re categorized as either a gold or dirt spoon. According to that standard, I’m a dirt spoon. I’ve always loathed that theory. The theory is about money.”

lol. I thought this was a nod towards the “Parasite.”

All the characters have different experiences of a “gold spoon.” The Snobby Mom believed in this theory of gold spoon. She touted her children’s success as her personal success. She crowed that she succeeded in giving her children the financial and social support they needed. The Poor Mom wanted this gold spoon, too, for her children but she knew she couldn’t.

For his part, the Poor Dad already knew he couldn’t provide a gold spoon to HyeJun so he wanted to teach HJ a trade (i.e., carpentry) so HJ could at least support himself. For Grandpa, HyeJun’s face was his “gold spoon.” As for HJ’s brother, he behaved as if he was born with a gold spoon. Since he studied hard, graduated from a select university, and worked at a prestigious bank, he believed himself to be a gold spoon… until reality bit him in the backside. For all his hard work, he was still a lowly loan officer…and a rude and supercilious one at that. He was no gold spoon either.

HyeJun continued, “The emotional stability I inherited from my parents. Honest and sincerity. It completely overlooks such values as well as my motivation for success which I cultivated while watching my parents’ struggle. Becoming like [his rival top actor] has been my dream up until now and I’ve changed. Today, I finally realized why I was so eager to become an actor. To an actor, a spoon is just a utensil.”

To me, HyeJun was saying that his peers have been conditioned to see the world as a big divide between the gold spoon and dirt spoon. But he didn’t believe in that. Although it is admittedly better to have been born as a “gold spoon,” he did NOT see himself as a VICTIM of his socioeconomic circumstances. He knew that he was regarded as a “dirt spoon” but his manager, the fashion designer, even the manager of HH. Nonetheless, he intended to use his values, his integrity, his struggles, his parents’ struggles — as a dirt spoon — as motivation and tools for his future success. As the metaphor implied, a spoon is meant to feed, sustain and nourish oneself physically and mentally. It was up to him to make something out of his limitations.

Gotta sleep now. I’ll be very busy with real-life drama in the next few days so I may not post and comment as often as I want.

Let’s enjoy the show!