or not to be fair, that’s the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
Halmeoni’s outrageous demand
Or to take arms against Dosan
And by opposing, win Dalmi’s love.
With my apologies to Shakespeare and Sir Kenneth Branagh. lol.
This is the first of two parts. The second part will have to be written later.
JP couldn’t concentrate on his work because he was rehashing the moments with Dalmi. This was his inner struggle.
First, he remembered observing Dalmi’s awkward body language at the networking party. He wondered, “Is she ashamed of something? Why is she hiding?”
He was about to take a step to her when Dosan came striding across the room and spoke to Dosan. This was a different Dosan from what he’d seen before. He walked with confidence and charisma.
Second, he remembered his dinner with Grandma. She said in disbelief, “Are you being like this because you have feelings for Dalmi?” He vigorously shook his head then said no.
Remembering that moment, he now closed his eyes; his body language suggested that he was either frustration or impatience with himself. He was blocking off that memory and he continued working.
Third, he remembered going to the rooftop and spotting Dosan and Dalmi laughing and talking. He then turned around and walked back inside.
Fourth, he remembered Dalmi asking him, “Why did you go to great lengths to help us even if it meant you had to lie?” He was going, “Well that…Ms. Seo, I’m –” when Dosan came bounding in and calling out Dalmi’s name.
And last, he remembered the previous day, when Dosan showed up with his electric car for a date with Dalmi and Grandma.
Ha! In case you didn’t notice the writer’s virtue-signaling here, Dosan had already chided JP for riding his luxury car when he could have biked to work every day. And now, Dosan rented an electric version of his Mercedes for his date. It’s being implied that Dosan is an environmentalist while JP isn’t.
When he asked Dosan where they were going, Dosan retorted, “Why? Will you follow us again? This is our date.”
And the memory of Dosan’s smart-alecky reply got under JP’s skin. He stood up and left his work to go pay Grandma a visit.
Does this scene sounds familiar?
Well it should. He had the same reaction when Dosan told him, “We’ll see about that.” He couldn’t forget the remark. It rankled so much that he chased after Dosan at Grandma’s house.
At that time, I said that he didn’t care for Dalmi herself as much as he cared about Dosan challenging his position as “old love.” Dosan’s words triggered his competitive side. Here’s the conversation as a refresher:
JP: (bewildered) The truth? (then he was shocked) About the letters?
Dosan: Yes.
JP: Why, all of a sudden?
Dosan: I want to remove a bug that’s bound to occur someday.
JP: Don’t tell her.
Dosan: I want to.
JP: Everything will be ruined, the company and your relationship with her.
Dosan: No, it’ll be alright.
JP: Why so confident?
Dosan: That’s what I want to ask you. What can 15-year-old letters do? What makes you so sure it’ll be the end?
JP: I think they can do a lot more than you can now.
Dosan: Ah. We’ll see about that.
See that? JP didn’t want Dosan to reveal the truth. You would think that if he truly loved her (like Dosan already did), then he would want this whole burden of being an impartial mentor be removed from his shoulder. It would have made his life easier if Dosan revealed that he was the real letter-writer so he could take credit for those letters, and win Dalmi’s love.
But what triggered him to react to Dosan wa his “Ah. We’ll see about that.”
And now, Dosan was doing the same thing. Observe that of five memories that flashed in his head, four of them had Dosan figuring in them.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Dalmi was never alone in his *cherished* memories of her.
And that’s NOT love.
I don’t know what this writer is up, too, but that’s not LOVE. When you love somebody, the memories that you would associate with that person would be those times when she was the most beautiful in your eyes. Not the times when she was with somebody else.
Just compare JP’s memories to Dosan’s. All Dosan could remember of Dalmi when he was drunk was the “fireworks.”
His friends thought he was being random, but he was referring to his first date with Dalmi and how smitten he was Dalmi.
Do you get me?
Also, look at the Grandma’s NoonGil. It’s AI. It’s machine-learning or “Tarzan” learning.
NoonGil first described Dalmi as a “A girl in her 20s smiling.” It was factual.
Then, it read the passage from the Bible. I said it was from the “Song of Solomon,” the most romantic book in the bible. It talks about the love of a married couple which reflects God’s for His own beloved, chosen people.
“The fig tree ripens her green figs. And the blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Arise, my love, and come. My beautiful one, come with me. My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
And here, when Grandma asked NoonGil, what it could see in the distance, it replied, “A man and a woman who seem to be a couple are standing on a beautiful beach.”
NoonGil was machine-learning. 🙂
It was already INTERPRETING what it saw. It should only have described the scene factually like this: “A man and a woman with arms around each other, standing on a beach.”
To me, NoonGil is learning faster than JP about what it means to love.
Look: If JP truly loves Dalmi, then the memories that should push him to win Dalmi’s heart should be his memories of HER being beautiful — just like in the biblical quote. lol. You didn’t think that the writer chose that passage for no reason, did you?
When was she the most beautiful in his eyes?
When did she look lovely?
When did she look unforgettable?
When did he love her the most?
When did she make his heart hurt?
When did he discover that how pretty her eyes were when she smiled?
JP should be looking at her with love. He shouldn’t be seeing Dosan at all.
The fact that he’s FOCUSED on Dosan tells me that his fight for Dalmi’s love is a PROXY competition with Dosan. He wants her because he believes Dosan can’t have her.
But the good news is he’ll learn better in Episode 10….
*****************
To be continued because I have to prepare for my Zoom meeting.
Yep yep yep: Nothing else to say apart from yeah that’s it. Didn’t notice the not seeing her alone but I do agree with you on that. What I will say about his memories of her, is that every single timee Dosan showed up and prevented things from going further with him and Dalmi. Fate has been really cruel to Jipyeong, it sends Dosans friends to prevent him from telling her about Plan B, it send Dosan to disrupt him each time he wants to take a step forward, it sends Dosan to replace the thing he’s already done for Dalmi (for example he was the one who went to get her from that far away place I can’t remember the name to help her with the investors right? But then Dosan was already doing something else which led to Dalmi figuring out a way to get investors because she was triggered by Dosan being hurt, he in episode 10 tries to do Plan B but Dosan has Alex as back up so he’s not needed, he tries to make her confident by giving her questions but Dosan is the one who shows up in episode 10 and tells her what she really needs to hear to trust her self again, he pays his debt to grandma and he’s doing a lot for her, but I think Dosan even won this one because he created an app for her blindness and he took to somewhere to fulfil both her and Dalmi’s wants before she turns blind, like that’s why grandmother was to Jipyeong its too late, because she also was won over by Dosan being Dosan.) JP is just always too late no matter how much he tries because Dosan is his replacement, or should I say Dosan is taking back his name sake from him, because he was meant to be the Dosan in Dalmi and her grandmother’s life, he was meant to help them both feel at peace and joyful because of the letters and his presence, but the real Dosan is here, and he does it better, quicker and just more efficient. He gets things done. JP couldn’t because Fate always blocked him from crossing that line. Fate doesn’t want him to cross the line between mentor and lover, its so obvious and I feel bad for the guy because he’s slowly learning about his feelings, but he’s already placed in a different role and he needs to now learn to move on or grow and catch up to Dosan in a different way. Right now he’s nowhere near getting Dalmi’s heart, nope I don’t believe it but then again I don’t know this writer or how she views love. So I’ll keep waiting to see what happens.
That’s the beauty about being a Bitch.
The writer and director are showing us THEIR perspectives on certain aspects of life, like what it means to love, or what a lie is. But it’s really up to critical viewers to accept or reject their worldviews based on our experience, knowledge and understanding of the world.
We don’t have to swallow hook, line and sinker what they’re selling to us through pretty pictures and absorbing plots. We can say no to their philosophy, without discounting the entertainment value of the drama.
For instance, “Matrix” with Keanu Reeves was highly entertaining. But I don’t subscribe to the theory of a dualist world, i.e. that there’s a real world and hyper-world or simulated world. I don’t like conspiracy theories, either. 😂
So yes, if the underlying premise is faulty, then it’s faulty. 🤷♀️ But I can still laugh, cry, and “feel” with the drama.
@packmule3 and@Being Written, It’s the difference of being emotional or not. JYP runs towards the shall I say rational while Dosan, nerf that he is, goes against type and wears his heart on his sleeve. Who is more romantic? For me it’s Dosan. JYP just makes it all seem like a business deal (my take). If we go back to Cyrano-those words of 15 years ago were inspiring and romantic to a young girl who was so influenced by her also emotional, romantic Dad. And Grandma, being Dad’s Mom, knew where Dalmi’s heart was. JYP was only for following Grandma. He seemed to be almost writing the letters as a debt to Grandma and an academic exercise. He didn’t remember their content when he met Dalmi 15 years later.
And another clue-who is the most like Dad? Dalmi is Dad’s girl-she stuck with him while her sister followed mom and the money. Dad made eating chicken a treat. He was idealistic. The dichotomy is clear to me. Dosan is much more Dad like. JYP is more like stepdad but more ethical. And even Mom seems to be coming around from the dark side-willing to work in a convenience store and grandma’s food truck(albeit while schlepping around her Louis V suitcase-while sleeping in saunas) and rejecting hubby two.
And of course, Dad lives on in the Sandbox name, logo and inspiration.
We don’t get JP’s POV like we do Do San’s in his romance scenes. He doesn’t actually have romance scenes, does he?
How do people often realize they romantically like someone? With my now-husband, it was when I saw them with someone else. It inspired petty feelings before it inspired butterflies. Deep down I wondered – why can’t it be me? The reactions prompted by these feelings didn’t always make sense.
This is JiPyeong from Eps. 7 through 9, IMO.
But even before that, Do San himself realizes Ji Pyeong’s feelings quicker than anyone. He machine learned that the two men are similar – they don’t want to disappoint Dal Mi – in Ep. 3.
Then there’s Dal Mi herself. Like Dal Mi, our evidence for Ji Pyeong’s affection is actions, not words. She’s the one who first lists out (for the audience too) why she misunderstood whether he saw her as a woman:
• Because he helped her at the party
• Because he scrambled to keep her dream going (set up the fake office)
• Because he helped at the Hackathon
I feel like we have to credit the main characters’ interpretations of Ji Pyeong, and how it plays against JiPyeong’s denial through Ep. 7.
Dal Mi again, in Ep. 7 – why would he answer 461 questions? Yes, he puffed up this accomplishment in front of Do San. But was he snickering competitively the entire time he typed it out? Nah, he was smiling. He was happy to be in touch with her again.
Things Ji Pyeong does that Dal Mi doesn’t see – take care of her plant. It’s simple, banal even, but it shows that she’s in his mind. When he’s wrestling with his feelings of jealousy, he looks at the plant and discards it.
She likes his nosiness, and he likes hers. If against all odds they get together, they’ll be the nosy couple. But probably they’ll just be nosy friends.
Hence why he decides not to give up his feelings, IMO. It’s not about how pretty she looked on a given day. It’s about the care that she showed him, the warmth her presence brings into his life. And it’s about her strength, too.
The only time we get JP’s POV on Dal Mi full stop is at the Hackaton. We cut to his eyes trained on her constantly.
Meanwhile, recall how Do San sees that moment. He’s nervous, shifting his sight around the room. He pointedly cannot look at Dal Mi. What he thinks about as she talks is how *he* is inadequate as a CEO, he thinks about every time Ji Pyeong brought him down. Everyone else is cheering.
Ji Pyeong is proud. He saw how nervous she was before, and how she gathered her strength.
Is JP’s love epic? Absolutely not. Was it at first sight? No. Is it lesser? That’s up to Dal Mi. I think both guys love her and are good guys.
Grandma and Do San’s worldviews are paralleled, but they are also challenged in Eps. 9-10, right? They want to see Dal Mi smile, they want to avoid her tears. But Saha points out that smiles built on lies aren’t the same.
i’m nine episodes in and i still want DM to end up with neither of them. i just want that each of them be successful/happy in the decisions they are making:
for DM to prove that choosing to stay with her father fifteen years ago wasn’t a wrong decision, and despite having disadvantages (high school grad, no money, no connections), she will succeed in having an office on the 32nd floor
for DS to prove that he isn’t a good for nothing, “cheating” math olympiad, that there’s more to him beyond coding (which he is good at), living up to his expectations of himself and not from others
for JP to be in a state where he doesn’t need to trade his han river apartment and expensive watch, to something he doesn’t have, to really realize and embody that he is a good boy, not just because halmoni told him he was one
for IJ (she still has to redeem herself, for me)
the reason why i don’t want DM to end up with either of them (although she’s bound to) is because no one has the balls to man up and admit her the truth. it took DM to connect the dots to figure out, forcing the two men to come clean. i get it why they were hesitant to tell DM, because they don’t want to shatter the fifteen year old dream that has become DM’s comfort and safety zone. but their motivations for telling her now has changed (and missed the chance because she figured everything out): for DS, he has to come clean to start fresh with DM; for JP, to have the advantage that he was DM’s first love. both men operating on their selfish reason to be with DM. none of them took in consideration DM, it’s as if DM was still the same girl fifteen years ago, and this is what makes me frustrated.
oh well, still have tons of eps to catch up on before the finale.
@msSing Telling the truth affects DM’s relationship with the other accomplices, it’s not as simple & clear cut what’s best for her in terms of timing. These 3 are her rocks. Who would she turn to for comfort when the truth comes out & changes her relationship with all 3? We shee that when the truth did finally came out. Her response to DS’s apology wasn’t why did he lie for so long but rather why does he not lie longer. She didn’t want to wake up. It turned her whole world upside down at a crucial moment in her career too.
At the very least too, it should be told with all guilty parties’ knowledge / consent as well. Else it’ll make the ones not present look worse.