What did he mean by the fireworks?
He and the guys were discussing how he was going to appease his father.
Youngsan: What will you tell him?
Chulsan: You should rehearse what you’re going to say. We’ll help you.
Dosan: Okay. (starts rehearsing) I’m sorry I lied to you, Dad. I’m not good enough to be a CEO, yet I acted like I was and fooled you for too long.
Chulsan: “I bet she lured you into handing over the CEO position to her.” What if he says that?
So astute of Chulsan. This was the first accusation that came out of Dosan’s dad’s mouth.
Dosan: No, Dad. I was always a good-for-nothing and bluffing about starting a business. I was wrong. I’m sorry I’m such a loser.
No, that’s not true. He was bluffing about starting a business. Remember, he’d been emailing his business plans to JP’s company for months.
So he applied to Sand Box directly to become one of the sponsored start-ups. The fact is it’s hard to launch a start-up, and it’s even harder still for a start-up to succeed. For every single successful startup like Airbnb, there are nine unsuccessful startups like Theranos (its CEO Elizabeth Holmes is indicted of fraud), pets.com, shoes.com, flooz.com, govworks.com, etoys.com, Netscape, Solyndra (yup, those solar panel endorsed by a president) and Blackberry (my first love).
Youngsan: You’re being ridiculous. If you’re a loser, what are we? Shitheads?
Chulsan: My point exactly. You won a coding competition for god’s sake.
Dosan: But you know Dad, because I was wrong, I stumbled upon fireworks. I stumbled upon fireworks.
He was talking to an empty chair.
Chulsan: Fireworks? That’s so random.
Dosan: (repeating himself) I made a wrong turn and stumbled upon fireworks, but it looked so cool.
Then, his imagination conjured up a vision of Dalmi crying.
Dalmi: Why did you do it?
Dosan: I wonder why, too. Why did I do it?
Dalmi: Why did you lie?
Dosan: At first, I did it because I liked seeing you smile.
Dalmi: Then what about now?
Dosan: I didn’t want you to cry. I didn’t want you to cry like you’re doing now. This is crazy. What do I do? (crying)
The fireworks he was talking about was this:
That night, he’d taken a wrong turn. He didn’t know her address so he asked. But she was so upset after her encounter with her mom and sister that she told him to just drive. He asked once more for her address, and saw her crying face. She said, “Just drive. Please.”
And so he drove off. Later when she calmed down, she told him that her house was in the opposite direction. He couldn’t make a u-turn because they were on a bridge.
And that’s when the fireworks happened. She said that it was pretty, and he agreed, saying “How pretty.” Since this is kdrama, he was of course referring to her, not the skies.
This was the first time he made her wish come true, that is, her wish to “sail off without a map.” She wrote about in her letters.
When Dosan first read this passage, he didn’t understand what she was getting at.
He asked JP, “Why wander when you know where you’re going? You have an umbrella, so why get soaked?” For him a rainbow was just light reflecting and refracting, so he didn’t understand why young Dalmi wanted to make a wish on double rainbow.
He only understood her meaning on that night of the fireworks.
He was about to leave her and get in the car when he was reminded of the music box. The music box was a metaphor for him. When he asked her how she found the music box, she said, “it was unbelievably wonderful.”
That’s when he realized what the “keyword” was: to “sail off without a map” with her.
A keyword isn’t a password. It’s an idea or topic that tells readers and lurkers what your blog content is. When you type a keyword onto that Google search box (or any search engine), Google will search for articles, screenshots or videos with the same topic.
In this kdrama, however, keyword refers to the purpose or objective the main leads.
He said, “It was very unlike me, but I thought the exact same thing at that moment. That it wouldn’t be bad to sail off without a map even if were to get lost. If it’s with you, that is.”
And that’s what he meant about the fireworks. He was magically lost from the moment of the fireworks. He didn’t mind that he lost the map to his dreary world, with his dad scolding him and JP ordering him about. He might seem crazy to them but he was throwing caution to the winds. He wanted to go on adventure with her.
This whole startup business was exactly this great adventure. Same with the date at the beach with her Grandma.
SanTech Team noticed that the feedback on NoonGil easily ruffled Dalmi’s feeling. Both JP and Dosan decided to take action but in different ways.
As to be expected, JP took a swipe at her amateur response to the VoC (Voice of Customers). He said, “Amateurs react to VoC emotionally while pros respond to it based on data.” Dalmi was offended by this remark.
To me, it was rather unfortunate Dalmi didn’t notice his thoughtful gesture. He noticed Dalmi fanning herself and, without a word, he lowered the air conditioning thermostat for her. Ordinarily, Dalmi would have been observant and thanked him. But his criticism negated his display of kindness.
Really, now, would it have hurt him to be less abrasive? Instead of calling her amateur, he could have accentuate the positive (i.e., she was responsive) and then advised her on how to improve.
Tsk. tsk. tsk.
When he wrote down that she needed to make a revenue model and a business model, she stared at his handwriting.
To me, she must have been reminded of the letters of old Dosan. There was enough evidence in front of her to prove that JP was the letter writer. But she didn’t want to believe in it because JP’s communication skills were so unlike the old Dosan she knew. She was in denial.
Now, while she was meeting with JP, Dosan fixed NoonGil. He located the customer’s feedback that made Dalmi upset, and he corrected the issue. Unlike JP, he didn’t lecture her. He knew it was a technical problem with the app so only he could fix it. He told her afterwards, “If there are any other comments that make you angry, just tell me. It’ll care of them.”
To me, while JP’s advice was a good one, it didn’t take into account Dalmi’s character. For one, it wasn’t possible for her to react dispassionately to the feedbacks because she was the type to personalize attacks. For another, Dalmi was an avid letter writer. How could JP forget that?
In comparison, Dosan knew right away that she was reading the comments when he saw her in front of her laptop late at night. It didn’t come as a surprise to him that she was crying over the poster’s comment.
The poster wished that she could have brought her visually-impaired daughter to see flowers on the field before her vision was totally lost. That way, she wrote, the daughter could understand what NoonGil meant by the word, “beautiful.”
So Dalmi wrote back, “You wrote that it’s pointless. But to me, it’s more valuable than anything. You want her to see and remember more beauty. I can totally relate to it. I’d also like to gift the person I love with the most beautiful scenery so that I don’t regret not doing so in the future.”
And that’s why Dosan brought her and her Grandma to the beach. The beach date, like the night of the firework, was a time to sail off without a map.
It’s easy to see the parallelism. Back then, they marveled at the fireworks display. This time, they were amazed by seascape. Back then, Dalmi said the sight was beautiful and Dosan agreed. This time, Dosan called her attention to the beautiful scene. Dalmi agreed, saying it was really pretty. Back then, Dosan meant that the girl beside him was beautiful, not the fireworks.
This time, we know too that she wasn’t merely referring to the beautiful horizon, but this very moment when they were contently, embracing each other. It was beautiful.
Now, on the way home, they got lost again.
Dalmi: It looks like we made a wrong turn.
He got down to get his bearing. Dalmi followed.
Dosan: The road ends here. We should go back.
Foreshadowing!! I guess we all know this, right? Their relationship couldn’t move forward while the lies weren’t cleared up.
Dosan: (continuing) What are you looking at?
Dalmi: Wow, I’ve never seen so many stars in the sky.
Dosan: Me, too. It’s good that we got lost. Dalmi. Shall we wander around more?
Dalmi: I guess you don’t want to go home.
Dosan: No, it’s not that.
Dalmi: Did you fight with your parents?
Dosan: No. How could I fight with them? It’s just… you know.
Dalmi: Just what?
Dosan: It’s just that I’m not a good son. I feel bad because I’m always letting them down.
Ahhhh. Is that how he felt too when he said that the two of them weren’t going to disagree? He wanted to be good to her. He never wanted to let her down so he wasn’t going to fight with her?
Dalmi: I think I get it. You want to be as bright as the moon but feel as you’re just a star as tiny as a dust particle. Is that it?
Dosan: (nodding) Mm… Dalmi.
Dalmi: Yes?
Dosan: Strictly speaking, that wasn’t a good analogy. Those are fixed stars, whereas the moon is a natural satellite. The stars may look like tiny dust particles, but most of them are much larger than the moon. Both mass and energy-wise.
When he said that the moon is a satellite, he meant that it orbits the earth. It revolves around a planet, whereas a star doesn’t revolve around anything. From this perspective, the moon sounds less significant, despite it’s prominence in the night sky.
I take it then he’s a star while JP is a moon.
But is it just me? Talking nerdy is sexier than talking dirty.
Dalmi: Pffft.
Dosan: (he thought Dalmi found his explanation boring) This is why people talk shit about engineering majors.
He thought Dalmi found his explanation boring, so he became defensive and borrowed Chulsan’s comment.
Dalmi: I think it’s a good analogy. You’re the star over there, the one that looks like a tiny dust particle. A fixed star that is much bigger than the moon. Therefore, don’t run away. I’m sure your parents will realize it eventually, like I did.
Dosan: Dalmi.
Dalmi: Mmm.
Dosan: I’m sorry.
Dalmi: For what?
Dosan: Just for…for making a wrong turn. Seriously, there are so many stars. They’re huge.
There you have my lengthy explanation on fireworks and wrong turns. You might ask, what’s their connection with the title of this episode? The title is “Risk: Can be good or bad depending on risk factors that come with an investment.”
Playing with fireworks, sailing off without a map, taking a wrong turn, confessing to a lie — these are all about taking risks. Director Yoon stressed the possibility of losing when taking a risk.
Dosan was putting himself on the line. He knew that he was upsetting both JP’s and his father’s plan for him. JP wanted him to stick to the script he gave him. His father wanted him to be the CEO of the company he gave him.
But he decided to take the risk and follow his own heart. It would have been easier for him to follow science and logic. After all, that’s what he’s been doing all his life. But once he met Dalmi, he chose to take the risk and follow his own heart. After meeting her, all his instincts told him to ignore the maps, to ignore the odds, and just go for it.
*******
More tomorrow. I’m already half-asleep as I type this.
Again you took the words right out of my mouth and you just helo make it make sense. Thank you packmule seriously. This is a great analysis.
This is what I wrote about it:
ut then we come back to this metaphor/symbolism that makes me change my mind and decide that no Dosan is the endgame. The fixed star, Dalmi calls Dosan as they look up at the stars. First of all the star metaphor points to all I’ve already been saying, Dosan feels insignificant to the moon (Jipyeong), feels smaller, not noticed, not as appreciated I guess. Still, then Dalmi tells him that no he’s a fixed star, and he’s bigger than the moon even if it seems brighter and bigger on the surface/visually, the star is bigger to her and its more important that its fixed. It matters more to her if he sticks around and that those stars do have meaning and importance. The fixed star though foreshadows he won’t be going anywhere in her heart; he’ll stay fixed, he’ll stick around no matter if they separate
It’s the same with Dosan; it might seem like choosing with the possibility of losing can lead to him losing everything if this girl finds out who he is, but in business terms sometimes risks lead to reward/success, risks lead to something finally happening, and sometimes risks can be hurtful and can lead to a loss. Thing is Dosan thinks he’s the one who will lose everything, but honestly the storm is the Risk that leads him to his success. Another sad point for Jipyeong who seems like he’s not really at Risk because he’s the original Nam do san, but he’s ironically the Most at Risk of losing everything he wants; Dalmi and the grandmother by his side. Because you could see it when Dosan took them on that date that he’d been replaced and he’d been cast aside. Jipyeong believed that by telling Dalmi how he felt; he’d have her open to finally choosing him and liking him the way she already did before. In fact it’s probably done the opposite it’s made Dalmi realise her fantasy with that letter and its made her compare it to the actual relationship and person Dosan has been to her. It might not seem like a risk for him for Dalmi to know about him but it ended up being one.
You’ll probably notice it in a different way but here’s how I viewed the wind vs storm:
It’s a fascinating symbolism. In this episode it’s linked to Dosan. But I can’t help but remember it was also mentioned to Jipyeong by Yeongsil as his fortune in episode 1; Dalmi was the gust of wind that was entering his life again. I think this symbolism is another painful ironic metaphor for both Dosan and Jipyeong. Also I want to mention that it wasn’t just a metaphor we also saw a physical image of this happening, its the rain towards the end of episode 9 (rain symbolises an impending storm /disaster is coming). Dosan was not hit by the rain, Jipyeong was. Let me explain further:
Dosan says that the wind is actually a storm to him, its causing harm and its always pushing him away and always leaving him with just devastation, but actually its Jipyeong who the wind is cruel to. Hear me out, the wind represents Fate, so we already know the wind is on Dosan’s side, it provides him with the answers, it gives him Dalmi, it provides him all he wants but he thinks its by deceit. He is apprehensive and is always guilty waiting for the storm to hit because he believes its a punishment when he receives these rewards, but he doesn’t see that the storm is not a problem to him.
It may seem like it because he’s losing his family’s love and respect (once they find out the truth,) Dalmi’s love and respect (once she finds out the truth), he feels used by the wind but discarded in the storm because he doesn’t deserve anything. But the storm is there to actually to push him to get and keep all that he has been given: The storm leads him to finally opening up to his dad, but really his dad is going to realise he’s still a genius, he’s still going to have Samsan Tech be successful because of Dosans hard work and Noongil. Dosan is going to be forced to prove that he can be a genius; the storm moves him to achieve those rewards for real finally. It’s on his side.
For Dalmi; the storm finally eliminates that bug (remember that tiny issue that can ruin all they have, that he mentioned he wanted to eliminate) He’s been wanting to remove that bug. So Fate did it for him, it may seem like its caused him to lose Dalmi but we all know it hasn’t instead now she sees him, and she now realises who she likes, Dosan is closer to actually being with Dalmi because of this stupid storm. The storm is not there to hurt or discard Dosan; it’s there to push him forcefully to the end goal of his desires, it’s giving him what he wants forcefully he just doesn’t realise it.
It’s Jipyeong who that gust of wind is actually hurting, it’s Jipyeong who is being discarded in the storm, he’s the one who’s even left behind, it’s like great that Dalmi returns into his life, it leads him to back to wanting to fulfil his debt to the grandmother, that’s his wants before Dalmi came about in his life, the wind provided him with a way to do so with Dosan, but then he crossed the line, he started to become an obstacle to Fates plans, and so it seems like the wind is pushing Dalmi to him. Still, it’s not, its a storm, it’s going to hurt, he’s going to lose everything just like he was the one who was hit the rain, he’s actually in the one in the storm, left behind and discarded. Dalmi had left to give Dosan the umbrella remember? Dalmi was already on her way to protect Dosan from the storm, Jipyeong only had the grandmother, and she had just told him that he was going to have to be left behind. Cruel right?
sorry for the long spam haha
@Being Written, I like your wind v storm metaphors. @packmule3, I was also thinking of stars v moon: if you throw the map away and try to follow the moon you will surely get lost. But you can navigate using the fixed star (North Star) as a guide.
In considering potential, both for the team and Dalmi, I think Jipyeong can nudge the team into different directions or away from some dangers, but I feel that Dosan and Dalmi have the potential to leapfrog each other in the sense of each inspiring the other to new and greater things.
Apart from that, how cool was it that Grandma used NoonGil to confirm that Dosan and Dalmi were a loving couple? 🥰
Totally random, but I thought that the fireworks car drive dialogue (isn’t it pretty? yes, it is) was a call back to a similar conversation that NJH’s character had had with his FL in Weightlifting Fairy. I forget which episode.
And nerd talk is way cooler than anything else. But is it just me or do others also feel that the humour quotient has dropped considerably. Eps 3 and 4 remain to be bested yet. I’m watching in hope.
@pickleddragon, I agree that the humour level dropped, but I hope it returns. I laughed at Grandma seeing off Mr Won and his son with only her umbrella; her righteous spear to pierce their self-important shield. Do you suppose the mother will move in with Grandma and Dalmi? That would be interesting.
Thanks, @beingwritten!
Two things:
1. I’m skipping your posts for now because I’m still forming own thoughts. I don’t want to be influenced. Or be accused of “cheating” like young Dosan by glancing at your work. So if I don’t reply, that doesn’t mean I’m not snubbing you.
BTW, I’m giving you the “@Growing_Beautifully treatment.” hahaha. There are times when I close my eyes, figuratively speaking, whenever GB’s name crops up on my notification because I don’t want to read her posts. It’s NOT because she’s posting something nonsensical but because she’s posting something that’s hard for me to resist commenting on.
She knows about this….
2. Here’s a post from @Diane. I thought I should share it with you because it was addressed to you, too.
“packmule3 and BeingWritten 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Always so refreshing to read intelligent analysis and not the stupid rants and toxic comments I see on social media. I also have the same analysis. If you remember when Yeongsil mentioned about the wind it also showed Injae and Alex in the airport. Both are playing or will play a big role in all of this. Can’t wait for the next episode!”
🙂
Same Packumule sometimes I have to not look at your analysis before I write mine because I also will get influenced. Thank you so much for your comment though I really appreciate it, I’m really enjoying picking up on things and learning how to write better and more succint from reading your analysis. So thank you a lot.
Thank you @Fern
Yes I agree with Diane, that they are very important. Obviously Alex is going to be the next storm in Dosans and Dalmi relationship since he’s separating them for a while but again its helping them reach their goals and dreams. And Injae was also a storm for Dalmi forcefully berating her and making her realise that she was not living up to her potential yet, and she was lagging on her goals to prove she made the right choice. So Yeh they’re both very important ‘storms’ that showed up this episode to push our characters to where they need to go next. Might seem hurtful but actually is pushing them to improve and prove to the world that they’re worth it.
Working on my next post. This time on JP. 🙂
The nerd talk is refreshing 🙂 Linking fact with metaphor brings us another level of nerdiness, like when they talked about the moon and stars.
I loved the references to –
Weather (rain, wind, storm);
Body parts (hands, eyes, shoes/feet)
Celestial bodies (moon, stars, sun(?) )
I am also following this youtuber who predicts and analyzes StartUp episodes (she talks about Hospital Playlist too fyi) I find she picks up some things we as a a non-Korean speaker/reader don’t see. She also talked about the different characters being each other’s sandbox which I find enlightening.
I can’t seem to paste the link here but you can search in YouTube: Drama Addiction