The thread is now open for spoilers, theories, and discussion.
Gifs from deokmis’ tumblr
Let’s enjoy the show!
89 Comments On “Doom at Your Service: Eps 7 & 8 Open Thread, Part 1”
Comments are closed.
The thread is now open for spoilers, theories, and discussion.
Gifs from deokmis’ tumblr
Let’s enjoy the show!
Comments are closed.
Thanks @pkml3. Thread came up right on schedule!
Good morning all and thank you, @packmule3.
The gifs from deokmi are especially gorgeous. They look better than the show to me – perhaps because of the site I’m using?
Kalimera from my part of the world!
I have to say that Viki Subbers translated: “I love you. I’ll die for you. Sleep well.” —> For me that was more swoonworthy.
Let us find out what that reset is anyway!
Fresh New: Viu’s Exclusive Interview with Seo In Guk & Park Bo Young!
https://youtu.be/mekV4rh9MTk
Enjoy!
Good morning and thank you for that video, @Cleopatra. I think what SIG says in the first questions about the literary and philosophical content is important. It goes back to what you wrote about the importance of precise language in this drama. Ah, I wish I had a Korean friend like you who could tell me about the subs. This makes me appreciate so much what a difficult time subbers have to translate meaning and not simply words.
I had the impression that Park Bo Young may have prepared for the scripted questions but Seo In Guk perhaps didn’t. I empathise with his inability to keep details in mind. Or PBY is simply more experienced with this sort of thing.
Thanks for the video @Cleo. That was a fun video to watch. Our actors have to work extra hard with all these additional interviews and appearances, but they really do a good job in selling the show. I find it interesting that to me, PBY looks older than SIG, but in age she’s 3 years younger. She seems so more poised.
Hey @Fern and @GB,
I am glad you enjoyed the video!
@Fern, I am glad SIG told exactly about the literary and philosophical content of the drama and how we should ponder on those issues about how us -the viewers- are living our lives.
@GB you know what they say, girls are more mature than boys.
I think that PBY has thought about those issues for “Strong Woman Do Bong Soo” as well, that’s why she was more relaxed to talk about them.
I really liked the vibes we got!
Also, the line the PBY said as her most memorable is really really interesting!
“I only thought that darkness could be scary.
But I learned some acts of kindness can be scary too.”
I wonder if that is said to MM…
@Cleo, yes, that’s an interesting bit of script that she recalls. We will look out for it and make notes!
For some reason, I thought she was the same age or older than SIG. Poised is the correct word, @GrowingBeautifully. I looked up their respective filmographies which shows things like TV, film, reality/variety, documentaries, hosting, modeling, etc. She has been VERY busy for a long time compared to him — Wikipedia had to put in a separate page for her activities!
Hello again,
Just spotted: Brand new lyric video: BAEKHYUN – U
I love his voice. Thank you @Cleopatra.
Here are the Eng. subs from the Waofam website:
BAEKHYUN U ENGLISH LYRICS
I still with you, I’m still here
Do you remember the day we first met
I still with you, like this again today
When I look at you, all of time stops
When I close my eyes, I feel like I am walking in a dream
Don’t forget you
Leave only the memories that were enough with just one
I’ll tell you now Love you love you
I only need you
I still with you, the dark past
Everything has changed as if it was destiny
I still with you I hope I can be forever
I can’t stop anymore, but I can’t say anything
Will I be able to hold your hand at the еnd of this road
Don’t forget you
Leave only thе memories that were enough with just one
I’ll tell you now Love you love you
I only need you
In a world that is about to explode
I’ll protect you so that you don’t collapse
You don’t be anxious
Leave only the memories that were enough with just one
I’ll tell you now Love you love you
I only need you
You You
Wherever Whenever
Because you are one
It’s good to see that Baek Hyun got a number of projects completed before his draft started.
Oops. @packmule3, please could you delete the first posting which didn’t have the credit?
Dear @Fern,
You are welcome! I am listening to it on repeat. It’s my second favorite after Ailee’s Breaking Down!
Thank you for the lyrics! If the song is an indication of where our lovely OTP is going then…LOVE is indeed in the air! *smiles*
@GB,
Yeah, on taking notes! *anxious lil girl* LMAO!
@cleo thanks for the video
It’d be nice if it was ‘I’m still with you’ instead of ‘I still with you’ because then it would make sense > <
Wonderful song though!
@TY,
I thought the same thing with you. It doesn’t make sense… O.o
Done. 🙂
Remind me please to add this to the OST thread.
It’s a bit awkward to read the song as “I still with you” vs “I’m still with you” but the first one connotes a different meaning just like Psalm verse “be still and know that I am God” (there’s a beautiful Hillsong version of it in YT). “Still” means stopping whatever you are doing and surrender, trust, believe in the love (in this case). There will be challenges on their journey but being “still” will make love triumph in the end. I hope…
@Janey, good point about still. That has been a significant word for DK in this drama.
@TY, there may be another translation coming up. This was the first one I came to on the internet, so it may have been done with an autotranslator. If you find another that makes more sense, please could you post it to the OST thread?
@packmule, thank you for the deletion.
@Fern – DK’s current “still” is more on the stagnant, defeatist and stuck in the mud kind. She has to get out of that mire and perspective. Doom actually shared a different perspective of being caught in the rain without an umbrella – get wet, run, and even kiss. Too bad he disappeared. Doom didn’t stay still. Both of them have to be “still” for each other. Sigh…
@fern He sings those words in English, so no translation involved 🙂 for that phrase anyway.
@janey it’s a grammar thing, but we can still get the gist of it, all good 👍🏻 The grammatically correct version would probably be ‘I am still with you’ or ‘I will be still with you’ but those are longer and don’t fit with the music? I’ll get used to it after I listen to it for a few times 🙂
Watched Ep 7 raw. So the advantage of a reset is that some things can be ‘changed’ and the hope can be restored. It was a good episode, with more metaphors to enjoy. I hope Ep 8 continues on the trajectory.
I have to refrain myself posting, while I am watching Episode 7…
Current mood: 🧐🙄😒😤
I really enjoyed episode 7, I wonder if Deity Girl may be trying to help MM grow into a human – and that’s what the plant pot represents? This can’t happen while the contract is in place so she’s been trying her hardest to interfere.
DG made MM realise that his plan to get DK to love him for his own gain is selfish and cruel – so he’s now given up on this plan. Of course he’ll soon learn DK loves him already.
Similarly, DK’s now nullified the no pain clause in the contract by ripping off the bracelet. It all means there’s more space for real love to grow – with no conditions attached to it. The only thing that now binds him to her is the wish he’s granted her – he has no reason anymore to be with her physically all the the time. DK bringing up the wish at the end shows she’s aware of this. Obviously, MM’s only reason for showing up at the hospital is because he wanted to be with her and he knows it as is clear from the way he hugged her.
So i think DG did them a favour (she knew he would go see DK if she forbade it) – even though MM does not look at it this way yet. Selfless, unconditional love now stands a chance at growing – both knowing they want to be together for no reason other than that they want to be (just because).
One more thing;
In one of the earlier episodes DG was holding a book with Pinocchio on the cover. In episode 7, just before DG entered her boss’ office (thinking she’d find MM) there’s a frame of a bookshelf. It has a book called Woodworking Basics by Peter Korn it. Pinocchio was a marionette (like MM is to DG) and constantly lies like MM (MM lies about not having a heart / feelings).
I’ll leave it here for now 🙂
I just finished watching Episode 7 for the second time.
There are several pieces to transcribe tomorrow in order to analyze my thoughts.
Still, I saw three times the scenes the deity girl was talking to Myul Mang.
The only thing I will write down tonight is that the deity girl was manipulating MM in order to rebel. Not my cup of tea!
I will write more tomorrow…
Kalinixta!
I look forward to hearing your thoughts @cleo
I will watch again too – the ending was so sad, DK smiling at all the people she loved when internally she was crying. It’s what MM observed at her parents’ funeral. She smiled in MM’s arms unable to show him how devastated she was by him leaving her.
@rh, when DK was reviewing her difficulties and failures, I noticed that each time someone was there for her unconditionally – her brother, her aunt, Ji-an – and met her with a big smile. I think she had forgotten about that and only remembered the bad luck. Each time they called out her name, just as MM did when he came to her at the hospital. This is in contrast to the dying author, whose husband left her at her most vulnerable time because he didn’t want to take care of her.
At times misery and luck come with the same face, she thinks. The GD told MM that he was responsible for all of DK’s misery, but that everything happens for a reason.
In the episode she finally said out loud that she was dying, but at that moment, she became really scared and MM wasn’t there. The words she used to reassure him when he appeared were all things she had previously said in anger and consternation.
-I knew you would come.
-It was inevitable.
-Did you think I wouldn’t be able to find you if you hide?
-I told you I could see right through you.
-That you’re a good guy. I know that.
-You can’t run away before you grant me my wish. You said you would go after you grant me my wish. Don’t you remember?
-I will kill…
I think her smile was because she realised that for her, MM was luck as well as misery – and devastation as @rh wrote. I may be missing the point, but I felt that this was a positive ending.
Gosh, midnight has struck. I’m looking forward to everyone’s thoughts tomorrow.
@Fern thank you so much, your interpretation makes much more sense than mine and is also way more positive. I clearly misinterpreted the scene – I’d love for her to have a good cry though, she was on the verge of it a number of times throughout this episode but could not let go.
I am starting to notice that the majority of the time – before or after MM appears, DK either wakes up or dozes off and / or is lost in deep thought (eg riding the metro in the earlier eps, while waiting for the bus, falling asleep on her desk at work, being lost in deep thought and her colleague trying to get her attention etc etc).
There are a lot of references to dreams and nightmares in the show (especially episode 1). I wonder if it could all turn out to be a figment of DK’s imagination – or a story creation by Na Ji Na or DK herself. The series has made a reference to Inception too, so perhaps all the dreams we are watching are actually dreams within a story / dream?
The book The Pygmalion Effect was also shown a couple of times in the first episode. Pygmalion was a king who created a statue of a woman and fell in love with it. Could it be the case that DK’s created MM in her head just like Pygmalion created a woman and Giuseppe created Pinocchio (the book DG is reading in the hospital is Pinocchio and there are also 2 Pinocchio dolls sat on the table in the cafe where DK’s brother works + there is a book in DK’s office called Woodcarving Basics).
Next to the poster with the Le Petit Prince quote hangs another poster with a famous Shakespeare quote: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”. This could just simply be a reference to the type of work they do at Life Story but I thought it’d be interesting to mention / food for thought. Is everything we’re seeing just a fictional story – at some point one of DK’s colleagues also casually remarks they’ll all die if DK’s were to quit Life Story and that made me wonder as well.
I watched ep7 raw and the end gave me a good feeling. Rewatched it again when the subs came out and it was even better!!! I am viewing ep7 with a positive light – DK is starting to live (and love) as she wants it to be.
I like the last part of the episode. She was confident that Doom was going to look for her (although she termed it as she was the one who found him) and that he is a good person (and implied, a person worth loving). That despite Doom being part of the bad luck she experienced in life, she was able to see it now as “glass half full” – she has people who love her and care for her and they were there in the low points of her life. This is what she overlooked when she wished doom to the world – that she was alone and had nobody. The part where NJN, her brother and aunt and then MM were calling her name in different montages and then she return MM’s hug and smiled was nicely done. Finally the “Love Sight” OST was cherry on top!!! It’s my favorite scene so far, even better than the kiss.
The lady writer with cancer was also a catalyst to stop taking BS from anybody. Take care of yourself (complement yourself more) and live your life in your own terms. This prompted her to blurt out her sickness to her office mates in defense of the lady writer from that odious male writer misogynistic remarks.
We get more background on the second leads love triangle. I wonder how it will wind up.
Lastly, thoughts on GD… it seems like she kicked out MM that’s why he disappeared after the kiss. That made him think that GD is against DK, coupled with GD showing all the low points of DK’s life and underlining MM has something to do with it. But it’s actually reverse psychology. That’s kinda manipulative and the tactic was cruel. I still need to understand why GD thought this was the best strategy.
@rh – I just read your comment re: what if this is all in DK’s head, part of her GBM. There was a conversation with Mr Cha and DK when he thought she was talking about a plot. They are after all in the business of making stories so it’s possible. But I do hope this is not the twist to this drama. No pls… that will break my heart.
Okay I couldn’t resist and watched. I am in the same mind as @Fern. GD is not “evil” and vindictive. She is trying to cultivate the right “kind” of love/plant if there’s such a thing. She may seem “callous” but her quote about how a child must rebel against the parent to grow? I think it alludes to children finding their own voice. Choosing their own path. She’s thrown these “trials” in the face of MM to “test” his love for DK. Would he still choose her in spite of knowing that he caused her pain/bad luck in the past (jury is out on that one but okay 😂)? Same with DK. With absence make her heart grow fonder? She’s starting to show some level of self care? She couldn’t bring herself to jump off that roof anymore? Without MM being around, she’s now learnt to stand up for herself and be honest with those around her (about her diagnosis). Their time apart gave them space to breath and figure out what life would be like without the other. Only to cement in their mind that they wanted to be together in the end. It’s no longer a decision forced upon them. It was their choice. What little time they have left together, will they live it to the max together? No regrets. Go all out. Squeeze every ounce out of the moments. A moment well lived is worth far more than many living “just because”. 🙂
Pinocchio is definitely a metaphor. He appears in the cafe. Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy. I am unsure as to how the writer will end this – to make MM human or to grant DK immortality?
https://i.ibb.co/SP8DQpY/7-F9-B2515-AF89-4-CD6-B053-DB770-E609-B74.jpg
The second couple has similarities to the main couple. Kiss in the rain for both couples. It’s also their “Life Story” 😂. I just haven’t tried very hard to link the 2.
Ep7 title is “And then he was gone”
Are the subs out, nrllee? That was fast.
Thanks for the title. I’ve to remember this: “And then he was gone.”
@packmule3 it was on VIU. I don’t know why Bossam subs are so slow (not that I am watching but that’s what I have been hearing). Everyone is complaining about it. You would think that if people like to watch that it would be subbed fast…but no. 🙄
I’ve not had a chance to read posts here yet, and will do so after I’ve done my proper viewing of the Episode and put down my thoughts.
In the meantime, here’s Soompi on the romantic date that we are about to see. Should this be considered a SPOILER? It was in the preview as well. 😉
Kalimera everyone from my part of the world! I wish to all to have a happy month!
Here are my thoughts about Episode 7.
It is getting bigger than I expected, so I am going to post it in Parts.
Part 1
What exactly was the Reset?
The reset was an educational program by the deity girl. She took Myul Mang back in time in specific periods from DK’s life. MM saw exactly what happened those days, with the deity girl trying to make him remember who he was. This whole educational by the deity girl made me mad and I will explain below why.
Here is the transcription of a very long scene.
MM: Where am I?
2014: DK’s job interview was a disaster because she was late and couldn’t attend it, due to several incidents that happened that day (the bus’s tire blew out, she couldn’t find a taxi).
TDK: She can’t see you.
This isn’t real. It’s fragments of the past that have been prepared for your education.
It’s not real, but it is reality.
How is it? It’s realistic, right?
(MM wanted to talk to DK, but while listening to TDG, he is looking at DK that entered the bus.)
…
(MM is going to her after DK’s dismissal, but she cannot see him and he stops to look at her.)
TDG: How pitiful…because of you.
What were you doing on this day?
That’s right. The tire would have popped eventually as long as you existed.
It’s just that it had to pop right at that moment.
2012: DK was giving exams. It was lunch time, but her lunchbox got opened somehow inside her bag, so some of the food was outside the box. She had to eat what was saved.
Voiceover: “2012 math aptitude test. Third period, foreign language. We will begin the lunch break. Students, please return back to the seats ten minutes before the exams starts. One more time, I’m making an announcement….”
TDG: What were you doing on this day? Well, I guess that isn’t important.
The end of everything is connected to your existence.
No matter what you were doing, do you think it was just her lunchbox?
Because of you, many things must’ve occurred at every minute, every second.
But you know, right? That there is a reason why that must occur to every end.
It’s not your fault. Your existence is essential to this world.
After the exam, DK goes to that beach and Doom remembered what she told him.
He is conflicted and worried about her.
DK’s Voiceover: Whenever I wanted to cry, I always sat here like this every day. Since I was young.
He was taking a step towards her, but he was landing instead at the day DK found out that her parents had an accident and died.
MM witnesses how DK found out about it.
TDG: You are responsible for everything that disappears. As you know.
TDG caresses DK’s little brother. The boy smiles at her.
MM had enough and he yells:
MM: Stop!
We are not back to the deity girl’s hospital room.
TDG: It seemed like you were lost and wandering about.
MM is outraged and as a result, breaks her bedside table and the windows. She snickers, while he is still mad. The Deity Girl is fixing everything back into place. They look each other intensely.
TDG: Are you done being angry>
MM: You…
TDG: Do you get a feel for it now? What you did to that child?
You want to disappear after receiving her love?
So you want to receive love.. from her, right?
You have big dreams.
(MM is becoming emotionally stressed, by the deity girl’s accusations and he stutters.)
MML I… I-
TDG: That day the tumor started to grow inside her brain, you must’ve been doing something. If you’re done, leave. I’m done saying everything I wanted to say.
My analysis of the scene
The reason I can’t warm up to the deity girl is: that she used emotional manipulation to another being.
She was cruel to Myul Mang.
It is not your fault she said, while she knew that MM would have regrets and blame himself solely for what DK and all the people around him are suffering because of his existence.
MM thoughts: “It’s all my fault. I am terrible. I don’t deserve to be loved. How did I think that was possible? I destroyed DK’s life by simply existing. I am awful.”
Myul Mang aka Doom took the decision to become emotionally numb, because he felt too much, his emotional intelligence is beyond high, that’s why he was unbearable to function. To see everything, he loved vanished by his attention / touch for eternity took a tool.
His mother simply stabbed him where he was hurting.
As I have said before, I don’t believe in callous gods, whenever her “ulterior” motives, the deity girl inflicted emotional pain to another being.
In my book, she did something I cannot accept, because it is not ethical.
*To be continued…
@rh, those are really interesting theories. Even if it’s not a dream, I think that MM or GD could make it seem as though it were, if one of them wanted a reset.
Good catch on the Pinocchio theme. Joo-Ik was also reading a book called “The Perspective of the Forest” in the flashback scene of Episode 7. I couldn’t find that title online, but Forest/trees/wood, perhaps? The title may not be translated correctly or the book may not be available.
@Cleopatra, Kalimera. I agree that scene was so difficult to watch. It was mental torture, right? But GD also says that it’s not his fault; things happen for a reason. Could she be controlling or modifying the outcome of some of the events which she has described as inevitable, just as she modified his tantrum in the hospital room?
@nrllee, you said it better than I did. I think the scene with the dying author was important and a big catalyst for DK. Combining that with MM’s absence showed her a new path.
The scene with the Prince author (trying to be an innocent boy who doesn’t know how to use the internet – ha!) showed her that MM was still around at some level supporting her invisibly.
Here are the subs from Dramacool of what the author said about her regrets about how she lived her life:
“I should have been more honest about the stuff I like and hate.
I should have cared more about what I wanted rather than what others wanted.
I should have complimented myself rather than wasting time complimenting others.”
Then she turned around an complimented DK’s outfit and said ‘You were always pretty. I figured I might regret it if I didn’t tell you.’
DK was already part way to the honesty part. She said as much to Young Prince when she spoke about how she must act when something goes wrong at work and I think that Joo-ik has perceived a change in her as well. I liked her responses to Jijo King and the CEO. Her dream: “To live however I want to.”
@Janey, I should learn to read my emails in order of posting! 🤦♀️ You wrote about the dying author yesterday and I agree with you.
I will be disappointed if this story is a dream. Like you wrote, heart-breaking even if it’s one of the online stories. Not good if it’s Ji-an’s; worse if it’s Young Prince’s; absolutely unforgiveable if it’s one of Jijo King’s. I would be very cross if it were that creep’s work.
Episode 7 – Part 2
After Myul Mang leaves the hospital, he goes to find MM that is at the train station. MM all this time is wondering where he has gone. As it seems, MM is missing for a whole day.
DK’s Voiceover: People who are nice to me always disappear.
That was always the case. My life was always like that.
As if everyone was warm to me for the sole purpose of disappearing.
(She is looking at the red bracelet)
Why did you? Where did you go?
What am I supposed to do? What should I do?
Nothing. In the end, there’s nothing I can do.
I now understand your lonesome face, looking over the things that will disappear.
You had that kind of face because you knew you couldn’t do anything.
The train leaves and reveals that MM is at the other platform, they are looking at each other and DK is running to him. She is trying to climb the stairs, but she suddenly has severe head pain and blurry vision. As it seems she will collapse, only for MM to grab her hand. The pain subsides and she can see MM clearly. They look at each other several seconds.
The conversation after the Reset
It is also a very long scene that it has significance. Yes, their broke up was needed, plotwise, in order both DK and MM to understand some things.
DK: Where were you? Did you run away?
MM: I was chased out.
DK: Chased? By who? Where were you chased out to?
MM: From your life to your life.
DK: Explain so I understand.
MM: I can’t explain for you to understand. You wouldn’t understand anyway.
DK: Hey! I should be the one who is angry, but why are you angry instead?
MM: I’m not angry at you.
DK: Then why? Why are you mad at yourself? (Bingo!)
MM: Because I forgot everything. I’m angry about that.
DK: I seriously can’t understand you. You have no intention of telling me, right?
I got it. I got it, so go to your house for now.
MM: I’m going right now.
DK: No. Not through my house’s front door, but through you house’s front door. Your house must have a front door. When you disappeared, I didn’t even have a place I could go to find you. Tell me. Your house. That way, even if you’re chased out again, I have somewhere to go find you.
MM is turning over and does what she told him.
In front of MM’s house.
DK: So this was a real place?
MM (who is really sad): This is the front of my house.
They are looking outside the night sky that has no moon. Around them the trees are witnesses of their exchange.
DK: You house is located in a more accessible place than I thought. I think I can find it next time.
MM: You won’t be able to find it.
(DK alarmed turns to look at him)
MM: If I am chased out again, even if you come here, you won’t be able to see me.
DK (is really worried): What happened? You need to tell me so I-
MM: I made a misjudgment. It was a wrong conclusion.
DK: What do you mean by that?
MM: What you said was right. You shouldn’t love me. You can’t love me. So, your wish…I can’t fulfill it.
DK (is heartbroken, glassy eyes again. She is trying to understand why he is telling her all those things): It’s cold. Let’s go inside. Let’s talk inside.
(She turns and the distance between them is growing.)
MM: Asking me to love you, that’s not possible.
(DK stops and turns to face him.)
MM: Let’s stop. I am saying let’s stop. Living together.
DK is getting emotional, grasping what MM is saying. She takes a step and she is at her home.
IMHO, obviously, what happened on reset time strained tremendously MM, but also DK. MM decided to end their living arrangements that started back in Episode 2.
Although, he decided to leave DK. He was there for her daily recharge. Something that made DK angry, because she thought that he pitied her. That’s why she broke her red bracelet.
While they were apart, MM realized some things about himself and he took some decisions. In Part 3, I will analyze it more.
At the same time, DK finally came into terms with her illness. The writer who had ovarian cancer stage 3, gave her insight and solution to her detached problem.
It was not pity, from a healthy person or a special being like Doom. It was a projection of thoughts and regrets from a dying person to another.
That’s why her walls started melting down.
That’s why in that work dinner, she finally let herself loose and answered back to that rude remark, that awful writer did.
That’s why she also revealed to everyone that she has cancer and that she will die in three months. Then, she got really scared and asked for Myul Mang, because she finally acknowledged the big fat elephant in the room.
Her biggest fear became real. Her impending death it was a de facto incident. It was not just something she was pushing away. It became her reality.
From Episode 8 and on, I am waiting for the time that she will indeed cry, that will liberate her even more.
*To be continued…
Kalimera @Fern,
Yes, it was mental torture. I had difficulty watching the deity girl with that trace of a smile on her face, whenever she was saying those things to Myul Mang.
The problem is Myul Mang’s psyche.
The deity girl knows pretty well that MM is / was suffering for a very long time. If she really did what you proposed that’s even worse in my book.
She was torturing him to control him / his feelings.
Her reason for all that, was that a child should rebel against the parents in order to grow, but I cannot accept the way she did it.
An alarm is ringing in my head whispering: “this is so wrong!”
If she was a mere human, what would we be saying about her behaviour?
I am just leaving this question here for pondering…
I want to congratulate @Welmaris for her thought about the second love triangle, that the breakup text could be a misunderstanding!
I don’t know when I am going to analyze this part, but it is also important.
How Lee Hyun-Kyu broke up with Na Ji Na and how Cha Joo-Ik was involved on that too.
As it seems, Cha Joo Ik has “the deity girl”‘s vibes.
Here’s a lovely VIU video of our OTP playing the Interview game together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67zaKzI0uM
LOL it’s not only us viewers but in this VIU video they say that they too have problems with the script!!! (Timestamp 6:31 onwards)
The script is written in a literary style and not colloquial so they have problems trying to remember their lines or they make errors in translating the meaning in their minds into the words of the script.
So this script writer is making us ALL struggle together LOL.
I’ll post my thoughts piecemeal to reduce the chunk of text. Anyway, I’ve no time to organise them well yet.
Here’s one bit that hit me and that I’ll post first.
The Broken Bridge
We see MM in a gloomy, barren place sitting on the edge of a broken bridge. The rest of the bridge continued on the other side but he didn’t make an effort to cross. The side he sat on had no lights on, but on the other side, the lights shone. Here’s a screenshot
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14cEHOtZCsfE2ej9CJrynffsdZNYENQDi/view?usp=sharing
He was tiny and insignificant where he sat in the dark, not able or willing to bridge the gap.
I feel it was a metaphor for him hiding where he could not be found, ie where the connection was broken so that he could not hear DK when she called. It was also a metaphor of him not connecting the dots. Caring for DK should not result in wanting to make her choose to doom the world so that he could die, but in him wanting to live for as long as possible, and as well as possible with her.
Loving her was supposed to get him to want to live more fully rather than to merely exist. That was GD’s purpose (my guess), but he never made that connection. So he remained on the broken bridge passively until GD turned up and mocked him into activity.
In the end it was the ladies who were the ones to take action first. DK broke the red thread bracelet and GD went about to ‘educate’ MM and mock him out of his funk. Even NJN came running to look for DK. MM was more reactive. He went to DK just before midnight after a whole day of ‘nothing’. LOL. Yes, what a waste of time.
( ᐛ )و I shake my fist at him LOL.
These are my notes for the couple as mirrors – @Cleo initially I thought JI had GD vibes but he fits in better with MM?
1. Both women met the male leads in the past before – during a time of heartache. MM when DK was young (at the death of her parents). JI when JiNa was crying at the steps of the apartment block
2. Both met the male leads again. And in between this second meeting, both women lived suspended lives. Neither could move on. DK couldn’t move on from the death of her parents (she remained emotional detached and distanced). JN couldn’t move on from her first love (the male leads in her books were always based off her first love).
3. This second meeting (with the male leads) for each woman is the key to helping them facing up with the hurts of the past and moving on with the business of living.
4. Both male leads seem to be distant and removed but both care deeply for the women and protect them. MM held DK still to stop her from seeing the gory sight of a man taking his own life. JI held JiNa still so she wouldn’t see her first love (which would cause her hurt).
5. Both men showed up when the rain came down. Rain is often a metaphor for bad things that happen in life. So showing up meant that they were willing to shield the women from the storms of life. One gave him her umbrella. The other showed his woman how to brave the rain and run together.
6. Both men kissed their women unexpectedly in the rain.
7. Both tease their respective women with the hand on the cheek.
I forgot to mention in my post above on the Broken Bridge, that MM literally remained in the dark, about what he was to do.
Ep 8 Preview and Mirror Reflections
@nrllee, speaking of mirrors, I noticed literal mirror reflections in the preview. There’s a distorted one with regards to Lee HK’s meeting with NJN. Screenshot here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QSyLA-BHc21e8iQ2E5UAcSsAY7WsjVQ4/view?usp=sharing
It might mean nothing, but it could also auger ill because they are seeing a distorted image of each other and their relationship (or lack thereof). LHK’s lack of communication paints him as the crooked jerk
and makes of NJN a clingy fool. These images are partially true. They need to see each other and their relationship for what it really is, before they can move on or move towards each other. If this writer goes in for first love must triumph over all idea, then Cha will have no chance with NJN. I’m not sure if Cha is a genuine good guy, but so far he’s been mature when dealing with LHK and NJN.
The Preview has DK’s voice saying :”I want everyone to forget about me.” This sounds like DK’s wish. We recall that in Goblin, the deity removed the memories of Eun Tak, and she forgot Goblin – and it was disastrous. She could not be happy all her years without him, but couldn’t remember why. It’s a bad wish because it not only prevents the pain but it also takes away the joyful memories and negates good relationships.
I just noticed that there’s another set of reflected images in the preview. This one has the subs: “to forget about me” ie what I guess is DK’s wish. It is interesting that the upside down reflections are sharper images than the actual people.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19aaUtV46JnLSYZOoZH-3tDEoN3pjtOpo/view?usp=sharing
This time there is no bridge, but there is a great gulf between DK and MM, with obstacles in the form of GD and a wall of sorts between them. DK is far away from GD and MM, who are closer in space to each other. GD takes a few steps towards MM as well, making them one team as opposed to DK who is alone, bereft.
If the wish to be forgotten comes to pass, will at least MM remember her? Will her real self fade away while the memories become inverted like the reflections and no longer be true images of her.
We hear only in the preview that she finally says that she wants to live. And MM’s response: “I’ll let you live. I’m going to let her live.” Something she should have been desperate for from the beginning. It’s rather late, (goodness knows how many days have passed already) but better late than never?
Episode 7 – Part 3
Myul Mang’s realization that he was simply existing and not living, hit him hard.
The director didn’t choose that broken bridge by chance. It speaks volumes, subconsciously, about how MM perceived himself vs the world. In that scene, the spectators watched how detached Myul Mang was from the world. It was night, it had mist and except two lights on the other part of the bridge, it was totally dark.
Dark like his soul, like his heart. He was obviously in deep pain and sorrow.
MM: The person who gets hit by the rock I throw…is me in the end.
We knew that millions of thoughts and decisions had crossed his mind. The deity girl validated it for us. While, DK had a crisis and was moved to the hospital, MM just stayed there doing nothing, for a whole day. The next night the deity girl came to his hide out.
TDG: You have been here the whole day. What are you thinking about?
MM: Nothing.
TDG: That’s right. Don’t go. You decided not to see her.
You did well. Like that, don’t ever see her.
Whether she dies or lives. Don’t ever see her. Live like that.
Can you…live like that?
(MM seems impassive at first, then he walked away from the deity girl.)
A child must rebel against the parent to grow.
Love must suffer from a broken heart to blaze up. ( –> I strong dislike this sentiment.)
The deity girl looks at her flowerpot again.
The Hospital Embrace
DK wakes up at the hospital and looks at the clock. It is ten minutes to midnight.
Their meeting happens to a corridor, which is now a mirror scene, to the one at MM’s house in the beginning of the Episode, where the distance was growing between them.
This time, DK stays still and talks, while MM is the one who is moving towards her, closing the distance between them.
DK is doing the talking here, not only to ease MM, but also herself. DK is telling him all the things; MM didn’t let her say back at his house.
DK: I knew you would come.
You endured without coming to see me?
(MM starts moving towards her.)
DK is getting emotional: If you hide like that, did you think I wouldn’t be able to find you?
I told you that I found out everything. That you are kind person.
You can’t run away. Before you grand my wish.
I told you that I will release you if you grand my wish.
Do you not remember?
MM: Tak Dong Kyeong.
DK: You, seriously, I’m going to kill you-
THE EMBRACE (It reminded me how Lee Gon embrace Tae Eul that first time!)
DK’s Voiceover: My life always consisted of hovering between the misfortune front page and the back page that cannot be flipped to, waiting for the answer.
Flashback to all those “Reset” moments.
We see the faces of Na Ji Na, DK’s brother and Aunt to call out her name.
Lastly, Myung Mang. He is added to her most favorite persons in the world.
DK’s Voiceover: At the end, the person who will call me.
Flashback : DK is smiling back to all those people.
DK’s Voiceover: That kind of answer.
She hugs back MM and smiles at him. The embrace is getting stronger, like their bond.
DK’s Voiceover: Sometimes, the faces of misfortune and luck are the same.
I still can’t differentiate between those two faces.
They have come full circle.
*This is the end of the transcriptions. I will post more later; I have to read what others have written so far!
@Fern – no worries! I use my phone a lot for comments and it takes a while to type that I find out more comments are posted while I was finishing up. I love the exchanges here!!! So thank you all!
@Cleo – same with you, I find GD to be cruel and I don’t agree with her methods. Though Machiavellian, the reset ended with both DK and MM in the same footing finally, a full circle as you said. Not only that, it was also a full circle for DK who now recognizes that she is loved. The hospital embrace was my favorite scene so far!
Thoughts on Episode 7 in sequence of action and without reading the other comments. My apologies for overlapping and repeating what may have been said.
Searching / Waiting
DK runs home to look for MM in the only place she can think to look for him. She faces instead the wall of her home and not the cavernous space of MM’s house. She’s walled in just like she has walled her emotions away, so that she couldn’t even figure out how to fall in love.
In the same way, the young NJN waits for LHK (I’ll call him Lee, it’s easier!) on the steps to his home, because she does not know where else to wait. [Of course I’d pragmatically and most unromantically refuse to do what she does ie sit there forlornly in sun and rain. But whatever.]
When DK finally has MM beside her again, she takes steps to know where he lives so that she can have a place to go to look for him. Although MM knows this won’t be the solution, he still cooperatively brings her to his home, but does not let her inside.
There’s a repeated motif of NJN sitting tearfully on steps. She does so again when she comes to Life Story to look for DK. Both times Cha is with her and he takes some kind of action to help her. I feel that this is significant in that it points the way that these 2 may go in their relationship.
What is noteworthy is that NJN didn’t stay home but took action to wait outside. DK also takes action to try to get MM to come to her by calling him and finally breaking the red thread. And unlike Lee, Cha took action to have compassion on NJN and to help her.
This is in opposition to the apathy that we noted in the early episodes. MM needed to step up and be less passive as well!
False Impressions and Sincerity
There is another repeated motif on the putting on of false appearances.
1) Cha is rich and lives in the penthouse but he wants to give the impression that he has to work to earn a living. He hides where he lives from his colleagues.
2) Lee borrowed Cha’s car to make an impression during his school reunion, and to use so as to give NJN a ride to her home. He deliberately parked the car outside the restaurant so that it would be admired. But he could not muster up the sincere words that NJN needed to hear, so he lost his chance to even get her to enter the car.
3) Writer Young Prince is an irresponsible entitled brat who lies, but he wants to retain his false image as an innocent who does not even know how to use the Internet (*scoff scoff*)
4) Sun Kyung bluffs that he’s an expert in dating but we know he only hangs out with guys and he can’t give any useful dating advice.
By comparison, MM is not too bad. It’s true he pretended not to remember DK as a child, but other than that, he did not give a false impression of himself. He shows her his worst, tells the truth in every other respect, answers all her questions that he can (unlike Lee) and he even tells her that he sincerely cares about her in Ep 6 (Around 16:20?) when she tries to find a jerk to fall in love with.
And we see that he does bring her flowers.
The main secret now is where both MM and GD do not reveal to DK that GD’s also a deity, and in charge of life. I believe that the secrecy was because GD said she’d do everything she could to reverse MM’s desire to destroy the whole world, and MM didn’t want DK to be collateral damage, or to live in fear of/or in partnership with the deity who was opposed to his wishes. Also, deities do not reveal themselves in the normal course of people’s lives, it would open them up to in-your-face endless demands from humans, on top of the usual stuff they hear.
The Comment on Being on One’s Guard and the Contract Broken
It’s noteworthy that this idea has been raised again. This time it’s Sun Kyung of all people who warns his boss to not reveals all his private, serious info to someone who’s almost a stranger to him.
Cha agrees that SK has made a good point. By being totally open about his mistakes, Lee makes his weaknesses evident and can be taken advantage of. However, he can also hopefully receive the right kind of help.
Before NJN, both Cha and Lee were on their guard, and hid information from her that she needed to know. Until they reveal their true motivations or in Lee’s case, his weaknesses, NJN should not free of them.
MM had warned DK to be on her guard with regard to the red thread bracelet. It was a source of weakness for her personally, but it was also a source of weakness and a bad beginning for the relationship between MM and DK. As long as they were on opposite sides of the contract, they could not be united. It was like they were on opposite ends of the broken bridge, and would not be able to meet in the middle.
However, DK chose not to continue in relationship with MM as the other party in the contract. By breaking the string, she broke the contract to live the full 100 days, she rejected pain relief from MM, and she was no longer obliged to wish doom on the world. I guess as long as she died, no one else had to die in her place, so she also saved her most loved person.
The only thing left of the so called contract was whether MM wanted to still grant her a free wish. DK was choosing freedom to live as she liked, unfettered by unnecessary obligations, so not being on her guard, ie not hiding her weakness was a positive move for her.
The ‘Normal’ Reactions of a Seriously Sick Person
Writer Dalgona demonstrates all the ‘normal’ reactions of a person preparing for death, in sharp contrast to DK who has failed to do the same on every score. MM’s intervention has kept DK from feeling the effects of her illness. Without him, she’d still be having dizzy spells, vomiting (this is what she had told Dr Jung) and excruciating pain, and might have decided to take action.
– Dalgona stops work.
– Recognises her regrets.
– Takes steps to do what she wants to do and says what she wants to say, so she complimented DK.
DK realises that she too should take a leaf from Dalgona’s book and avoid regrets.
Hence we have a more forceful DK who tells off putrid Writer Jijo.
Then she decides since she cannot get MM to meet her, she might as well break the contract and live the way she wants. We’ll see a somewhat different DK in Ep 8.
Thoughts on Episode 7 continued.
Being Hit by a Stone
I was commenting on the metaphor of the broken bridge above. He sat on his miserably dark side of the bridge and realised that he’d thrown a stone and hit himself when he embarked on the contract with DK. He was trapped by the contract to let her die, while he could no longer hear her thoughts, which were the opposite of what he wanted.
GD finally came the next day to goad him into action. When he finally gets up to go to DK, GD speaks to herself : “A child must rebel against his or her parent to grow. A love must suffer hardship to burn hotter.”
(We presume that she was using reverse psychology on MM. She had to hit him with a stone of her own.)
(Another child was Sun Kyung, who had become spoilt and entitled, until the fear of losing DK changed his attitude from being a recipient to becoming a giver. However ‘child’ Lee Hyun Kyu still had not moved on or improved even after suffering heartbreak.)
The next stone was thrown by DK who begins nagging when she sees MM.
(She was saying that he had run away prematurely. Because he was a good guy, he would keep his end of the deal and grant her a wish. She had, had foresight when she promised to release him once he fulfilled her wish.)
However when MM called DK by name, it was her turn to be hit by a stone, but it was a good stone. (More below)
Being Called by Name
This is another repeated motif.
We know that MM as Kim Sa Ram had been hankering to be called by a name, and had allowed DK to name him. There is significance in being named. The one who names the other has established a special relationship with him. Being called by name is also a sign of intimacy and belonging. (Biblically a change in name means a new calling and purpose among other things.)
This Episode 7, MM calls her by her name and envelopes her in a hug which finally ends her nagging LOL. Because he has come to her warmly and intimately, she recalls that her unfortunate experiences did not all end badly. There had always been someone who called her by name and came to her. Even in times when things looked bleak, she was not alone.
Her voiceover thoughts : “I have been struggling to turn my life around for better luck (good fortune as opposed to misery) and waiting for my answer all these years. … In the end they (I guess they refers to both good and bad luck) will call for me. That’s my answer.” She returns MM’s hug, and accepts that in every circumstance, there is good and bad, and it’s impossible to distinguish the two, but she can embrace everything and make the best of it. That’s a good stone of insight to hit her.
I liked how MM held her closer and how she smiled.
@Growing Beautifully, can I add to your theories and observations? I love your ‘good stone’ idea. In addition to DK recognising that she is loves and is loved (@Cleo noted she has added MM to the beloved list), I think that she has begun to love herself.
Also, from the look on his face, I think MM was listening to her thoughts about misery and luck still coming together and he gets joy that she can see the good side of his presence in her life.
Although I’ve watched Ep 8 raw, I’ll just read and post from the comments here.
@rh @nrllee Thanks for the Pinocchio catch and references.
Yes, Pinocchio keeps coming up. I did the same thing as you @nrllee and screenshot the Pinocchios in the café scene. Well there is more than 1 person who lies and real boys or not, a couple of them have to grow up to become men. So might the fairy (DG) be able to change MM into a real human or DK into a supernatural being?
@rh Yes you offer us much food for thought. So many possible hints that all’s not what they seem. At any time, we may find that we are also in the stories that are being written for Life Story. Or in a dream or that everything is a pale reflection of someone’s thoughts. There was a hint in Ep 8, that we are replaceable and that when we disappear, it can be as if we never existed. That is the sad ending that most of us would like to avoid. Death in itself is not all bad, but being forgotten and unknown, as if one never left a mark in one’s life is much more tragic. I hope we do not end off with yet another reset and that it was just a dream or a tale.
@Fern I feel you’re right that DK tended to focus on her bad experiences, and may have forgotten that there were good times mixed together with them. I liked how she accepted that there’s both in everything, even in MM and embraced it all when she hugged him back with a smile. This smile was different from her smile at the funeral. This one was genuine.
I too liked how MM was quietly working through nightmares to get Young Prince to be responsible in his story writing role.
@Janey There’s a strange state of affairs with MM. He is supposed to be responsible for all death, destruction and disappearances, but he also seems pretty helpless. DK says she saw that in his sadness, that it was because he was helpless in the face of the destruction his existence caused. So it’s pretty unfair that GD guilt-trips MM over the unfortunate events in DK’s life.
I agree with the reverse psychology and that DG is manipulative. She’s the callous, hard-headed deity who’s determined to do everything she can to get her way and get her plant to germinate. At the same time she’s the ‘parent’ figure who is ‘training’ her child, but possibly being cruel to be kind as well. I’m not sure she’s demonstrated any more motherly sentiments, except what I imputed to her LOL.
@Cleo I agree that MM became emotionally numb to save himself from constant regret at the destruction that came from his mere existence. He was again trying to isolate himself when he took her to his home.
The scene when MM was separating himself from DK and telling her that they need no longer live together, was made more poignant by the distance that had grown between them. Just in the short distance between the railing and the house front, they were separated by many obstacles symbolised by the rail posts between them.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VR0XqEcAKiY26ve54nmQTuF_o8uLGGvq/view?usp=sharing
Although by the end of the episode, some of those obstacles may have been pushed aside, there are more in Ep 8 (and we have 8 more episodes after that as well!!)
Yes I like the reversal of the distancing scene in the hospital embrace. She could stand still and he approached her and his steps quickened when he was near her, as if he couldn’t wait another second to hold her.
I like that MM is added to her most fave persons, because now he calls her like they do.
@nrllee Finally got down to reading your couple as mirrors. Yes, so many parallels between them. So it’s like the HP husband game … who will end up with NJN? The first love who was not even mature enough to take responsibility for his words or the one who waited in the wings and stepped in to help?
My dear @Fern, you may most certainly add many more points to my list. Yes, DK has started to love herself.
Another point that just hit me … as the stone lands in the water, it’s ripples spread. I hope the love that starts at one point continues in ripple effect to affect others in a good way.
You have a point about MM hearing to her thoughts. I did wonder, if when she broke the red thread, whether then he’d be able to hear her thoughts again. It is a possibility.
I most certainly want MM to be a ‘child’ who also gets the healing that he needs. DG’s parenting style leaves much to be desired LOL.
Hello everyone,
I am reading and answering to everyone who posted!
Just give me some time! Thanks!
@rh Great points over here! About the no pain clause in the contract!
I am anxious to see what is DK going to wish…
Thank you and @nrllee also about the Pinocchio references! We need to discuss this matter further up!
I don’t want this to be DK’s figment of imagination. It would be awful it it turned out to be just a story. I agree with @Janey and @Fern over here.
I would prefer someone like the deity girl to write DK and MM’s story. Or if we follow Detective Black’s pattern, their love story would be used as a reminder…(I cannot say much over here, cause spoilers)
@Fern you are right! DK focused only in her bad times that she forgot that those three people always were there for her. She was loved.
About the words DK told MM at the hospital corridor, it was a reassurance for both of them, not only MM. DK realized that MM was there for her, not because there was pity, but because he wanted it.
DK was worthy of love as well, as MM was worthy of her love!
I also agree with you that she learned from Young Prince that Doom had her back, aka he CARED for her!
@Janey, I agree with you that hug is one of the most memorable scenes of the series. We have two beings that are in tune with each other and their heart’s desires.
@Nrllee, you have a point. Let me think about it and return to this, okay?
I just feel that both the second leads are immature in a different way.
Lee Hyun-Kyu is a good person but a coward. He prefered to lose his first love than talk to her.
Cha Joo-Ik, on the other hand, is more mysterious, but at the same time I cannot understand why he didn’t persue Na Ji Na earlier, when Lee was in Japan.nI also, cannot understand why he kissed her so many years ago. He crossed a line, especially, since he knew how Lee felt and things were complicated between the couple.
@GB,
You have written a lot and there were some ideas of yours that made me smile. I have to reread them again in order to comment, okay?
Too much information we processed in a day. I need some distance.
As for that Viu video, I am glad that even SIG told again about the difficulty of remembering their lines, because of the literary style and PBY agreed. Not colloquial much for anyone!
I feel that we are all trying to decipher Linear A ! LMAO!
I will only answer to your last comment for now:
As for the regrets, I would like to add also guilt. I wanted to add it to my analysis too, but I forgot it. I agree with the isolation part.
It was MM vs DK back then in the joint house.
I have also noticed that scene with the railing. I described it as well, but I haven’t pipoint the obstacles.
For me, it is one of the best examples of distance used in a scene.
This director knows his craft!
I am pretty sure that there will be obstacles and heartbreak as well. I am aware that we are in the middle of the series!
Aren’t you ansxious about the Doom and Gloom couple?
Yes, the thing that MM called DK is huge! It is one things you analyzed pretty good and I agree with you! Names have power!
That’s all for now! I need to get ready for Episode 8! LOL
@Nrllee, I messed the code in your name! I am sorry 🙁
I just watched Episode 8!
I enjoyed it very much!
Unfortunately, the seed of doubt was planted as well…
More tomorrow!
I’m wondering what the marble from GD symbolises. It looks like a galaxy so does it symbolise the universe? “The fate of everything inside depends on your love. Isn’t that scary?”
Yes, @Cleopatra, a seed of doubt or uncertainty. –Or a seed of possibility that feeds off of DK’s misery. So that if she isn’t miserable, and instead she is happy or content, possibility dies? Wha?
GD says that DK helped the seedling to grow. ‘It’s the first time he pitied someone more than himself.’
My brain isn’t taking this in tonight. Either that or the translation or script isn’t clear.
GD also tells DK that DK will be heartbroken no matter how she chooses – whether to end the world or live and someone she loves dies. This sounds like she’s back at the early episodes when taking her own life seemed like the only way out of that puzzle.
Ep8 is titled “I knew you would come”. Not sure when I will get the time to watch.
Just some thoughts I have been ruminating on regarding the potential ending for this drama. I am leaning towards GD granting DK eternal life so she lives on with MM as his helpmeet.
I think for GD to grant DK immortality, she wants to make sure the “love” shared between MM and DK is eternal as well? They can’t be just having a honeymoon period and then sort of stop loving each other somewhere down the track. Eternity is a long time. Hence why GD keeps trying to foster the “right conditions” for their love to bloom into one that will last (the pot plant). That’s why she keeps interfering. 😂 Momma knows best? 😂
As for Pinocchio. We need to go back to the original novel(?), not the Disney version. It’s got metaphors of Life, Death and Metamorphosis. Which sort of sums up the Drama. And there are also lies entangled there – second lead throuple most apparently.
A Little Aside
Hi Everyone, before I embark on watching Ep 8, I just wanted to put a thought or two out here. I was reflecting on the Holy Bible passage of Mark’s gospel 12:18-27 and was amused by how the Sadducees were applying human logic to heavenly things. It occurred to me that in shows like these, where there are supernatural beings, we are attempting to do the same, ie applying our human logic to understand the Writer’s supernatural world. However of course we know Writer’s supernatural beings are man-made, hence we have a better chance of penetrating their motives with our human logic than those Sadducees ever had. LOL.
So as we continue with a script that both reveals, even as it obscures the logic of a Kdrama Deity, and apply our international viewers’ logic to suss it out, I wonder to myself if the Writer wants us to be able to penetrate her logic or not. In her only 1 other show, The Beauty Inside, I do not recall that the logic of a person changing entirely into a different being was ever explained. The aim of that show was to flesh out a love that could withstand face blindness together with an ever changing face and body!
The other truth that the gospel reflection raised is that the bonds of love ‘do not unravel with death’. This brings the image of the red thread to mind. In the kdrama world, it persists until cut and death is not the end of love. In fact, kdramas show us that people pray/speak with their dead family and with unseen others whom they believe can hear them. This show’s logic surprised me, therefore, when in a culture that widely believes in reincarnation, MM tells the Doomsday lady that this life is all we have.
Kdramas make a point of ‘love’ being manifested in trying every which way to protect a loved one from hurt and death, many times using lies as a means to ‘save’ the loved one. These dramas also show that this action is counter-productive, a cause of great pain and a purveyor of mistrust. Letting the beloved die (or face the logical consequences of his/her actions) can actually be a great mercy and sign of love.
Vaguely putting these thoughts together, I do not suppose that half way through a series, this would yet be an option, however the thought occurred that a happy ending for this drama need not necessarily mean the characters we are attached to must both live (forever), or both die, but that together or apart, they can let go peacefully either way, with GD’s blessing, and the love continues regardless.
Having said that, I’m aware that MM says several times that he’s going to let DK live. The happiest option, of course, for my drama romance loving heart.
@GB @Cleo @rh I think we need to accept the Deity as an absolute. If we begin with that premise, then what she says goes. If she determines love should be a certain way, then it is the absolute. Humans get no input or say into how she defines it. Even if we don’t think it “makes sense” by human logic. She’s portrayed as transcendent. Timeless. Omniscient (?). So she gets to call the shots. In a way, this has Christian roots. God is the great “I am”. The absolute. He isn’t just loving. He IS love. The very definition of what it is. Everything else is measured up against the absolute. Somehow I think GD is aiming for a “better world”. Whatever that means in this DramaVerse. So she is trying to direct our OTP to attain the greater good of the world at large. I think that’s why she batted away DK’s suggestion that she (GD) just leave them alone to be “happy” on their own. A complete love does more than look inward (our own happiness). It looks outward. It looks to bless others. GD is trying to teach them that.
Case in point. I remember us discussing how we didn’t think MM’s first kiss was out of pity. Which was the case in the mirror second couple. But from Ep8, GD pretty much defined their initial love as such. MM pitied DK more than himself. It wasn’t the “right” kind of love. Hence the reset. Yet we see the faint shoot of new growth. GD acknowledges that even “false love” is a sort of love. I don’t see this new shoot surviving. At the moment, the love is one sided. The yellow flowers. From MM to DK. DK refuses to acknowledge that MM had any part to play in the miseries of her life. So much for seeing him for who he is. She needs to acknowledge that he had a part to play in those miserable moments. Not just the good times she’s having now. It’s a mirage. That’s why the moments played out in Ep8 are so transient. She’s only seeing one side of him. It needs to be a balanced approach to love. Accepting the good AND the bad. The Ferris wheel was a good metaphor. They sat on opposite ends to maintain balance in the car (?). When MM crossed over to kiss her a second time (he’s moving towards her), he tipped the balance off. It’s still very one sided. Him to her. He is willing to die for her. I am not entirely sure she is willing quite yet to do the same?
The second couple is experiencing the same movement with regards to their relationship. JI is moving. JN is still. JI was also in the process of telling her everything. Just like MM was to DK. And then the interruption. JN from her first love. DK from her aunt (who is the spitting image of her mom).
Kalimera from my part of the world,
I read what @GB and @nrllee wrote about God and other issues in this drama universe.
Since Doom at your Service definitely has a philosophical aspect asking questions on life and death, on birth and destruction, on love and “pity” – not hate, black and white, yin and yang, I would like to add my philosophical explanation about the deity girl as a Deity.
The first Greek Philosophers back in 7th century B.C. tried to give solutions / answers to two things: Cosmogony and Ontology.
They wanted to find out how the world was created and what was the Supreme Being. I won’t write more about this, but that takes to the following:
Aristotle several centuries later described God as: «το πρώτο κινούν ακίνητον» aka “the unmoved mover”.
In DAYS dramaverse, the deity girl was not existing before humanity.
With her own words, “she opened her eyes, when people asked for her.”
So, technically speaking. Humanity was created first, and then the deity girl.
In Genesis is said that “Humankind is made in God’s image and likeness. The Holy Fathers on the Orthodox Church have commented a lot about this.
If we take all the above into consideration, then:
The deity girl may be a deity, but she is not a perfect being (τέλειο όν).
Therefore, if we add Aristotle’s remark that “the life of God, must be like the very best of human lives.” Then, the deity girl must be the very best of human beings.
But, human beings are complicated and some specimen are the very best of humankind, while others are lacking.
Hence, the deity girl’s ambiguity and the reason we cannot understand her motives completely. She has the best and worst traits of human beings in her essence.
In that aspect we can associate her attitude with what we know about the Olympians.
Consequently, the deity girl cannot be seen as how we perceive God in the Christian Dogma.
On Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover : https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristotle/The-unmoved-mover
P.S. Later on, I will proceed with the most important scene on Episode 8…
Thanks for your take on what was going on @nrllee (I finally figured out what you were saying when I could watch with subs) and for your philosophy on the GD @Cleo. I’ve got 2 meetings therefore I’m very briefly putting in my thoughts on what the episodes up to Ep 8 have been teasing out. Words of wisdom from the Writer? These seem to be clear but the details are cryptic! LOL.
Good Advice
*Everything in life is transient, but one thing gives way to another as Winter gives way to Spring, and there is beauty in everything.
*We need to accept that there’s good and bad in everything/everyone and embrace them knowing this.
*We need to focus more on important, ‘nice’ and right things and stop wasting time on useless things.
*We need to live so that we regret nothing.
*We should do what needs to be done now without procrastinating.
*We all have the capacity to grow, to become beautiful flowers and to give joy to others. (@pkml3 reminded me that growing beautifully was a theme of this show LOL.)
There are more, but this is it for now until way, after my meetings!!!
@Cleopatra, Kalimera. I have thought for some time that the GD might be like the Olympian gods – with human goodness and failings, too. She said herself that she plants seeds sort of randomly, not perfectly, so that some experiments need to be weeded out.
Personally, I’m not sure that we can fit this deity into any organised religion. She may be a composite from the writers made to fit the desired storyline. She certainly has given a single human a lot of responsibility in telling DK that her choices in love will determine the fate of everything inside the marble.
I wonder if DK has told MM about the marble yet?
I liked how MM’s thoughts were revealed at the beginning of Ep. 8 as he approached DK in the hospital. It was as though he was drawn to her by a force.
@Cleo your description of Greek Philosophy makes sense. I am open to the deity in this DramaVerse being imperfect as you surmise. And therefore capable of doing as she pleases with her power which may or may not be beneficial for humankind as a whole. Which also means we cannot predict with any level of certainty how she will want this whole experiment of hers to end. Yet GD claims to “love” MM so I am hoping that means she’s not just toying with him for fun but rather she’s putting trials into his life for his good (or what she perceives to be his good). On the one hand, the GD claims to fade and come to life according to the requirements of Humanity. On the other, when DK asked her who she is, the subs have her reply,
“I’m the order of this world that has been around many years. A loner that’s been around for a very long time. I have watched over this world longer than he has.”
I think we are losing a lot in translations. Her ambiguity doesn’t help. Another translation has
“I am a very old order. A very old loner. I am an old friend of yours”
See? Clear as mud 😂😂.
Did she only start to fade because she created MM? Without MM and presumably no misfortune or suffering or destruction, why would humanity need her? Or is that the very reason why she created him in the first place? So that Humanity would run to her when MM loomed too large in their lives? 🤔
Also I realized that after Ep8, the pot plant looks to be MM? Not their love as I thought initially? GD referred to the pot as “he”. And said that it fed off her (DK) misery. So similar to Pinocchio, she’s attempting to make him into a “real” human. To qualify, he needs to be nice (try to be a good kid all the time). Only then can he become a real human being.
So yes like @GB surmised, the happy ending could have a few iterations. Depending on how the writer views it. It could be the actualised self? And DK is just the vehicle for MM to attain his “human” (fully grown) status. And therefore she may or may not still exist in the end.
@nrllee, I noted the pronoun ‘he’ for the pot plant, too, but not knowing Korean, I had thought it might either be a general pronoun or that plant is masculine? As an example seedling in French is le jeune plant – you could use the pronoun il (he) because the gender of the noun plant is masculine.
But GD probably does mean that the seedling is MM. So will MM have the possibility to grow (become adult/human) only if DK is >50% miserable and if he continues to pity her? If she isn’t miserable, the seedling will die. If she is half-miserable/half happy, the seedling will stagnate or not grow.
GD has already told DK that she would be miserable in the future regardless of her choice. MM said that GD is always right, but is he correct? You pointed out that GD may have made MM so that GD could exist, so GD would want DK to be miserable in order for MM to grow. But I think that if DK is mainly miserable, MM will be miserable as well even if he does ‘grow’? Where does the misery/happiness balance come in?
If GD is indeed absolute, I’m starting to feel pessimistic about a solution with a happy ending here.
The thread is so active! But a good read over my morning coffee. I watched the episode last night.
Everything I could have said has been said already. I’ll just add that DK must be a special (as in chosen) being, in that her crossing paths with MM is not accidental. The deity has been following her a long time so DK was always part of a plan. So far I see the deity as a benevolent being but bound by certain rules still. MM is the recalcitrant child experiencing some tough love as a last resort to grow up once and for all.
I do enjoy how DK can always surprise MM and absorb everything happening around her. Watching him come out from under his permanent cloud is so gratifying.
@Sandi, in the ferris wheel, I had the feeling that MM kissed DK so that she couldn’t complete her wish to be forgotten after her death. The GD gave MM a taste of DK not existing, which was interesting but I don’t think it was a preview as it wouldn’t make sense for his development. Like you said, the GD has followed DK for a long time, so her existence as a human must be important.
Hello again. I will write down the most important scene for Episode 8, that reveals a lot about the dynamics in the first triangle and what we should expect next.
I have to inform you that there are differences at the English subtitles on Viki and Kissasian. I found it out because, last night I was watching the Episode 8 along with two friends from the Greek forum and we discussed later on about a specific phrase that @Nrllee already mentioned above.
DK’s disappearance from the world and her meeting with the Deity Girl at her Garden.
DK: Where…?
TDG: Hi, again. Come here.
DK: Where am I? I was at the hospital. Is this a dream?
TDG: It’s not a dream. I just stole you for a bit from this.
(The Deity Girl holds the flowerpot)
TDG: You were curious about what I planted here.
DK: What is that?
TDG: A possibility. It grew up feeding on your misfortunes.
(We now see that the seed had sprout and a tiny green leaf is in the flowerpot.
My Note: Keep this image in mind! )
TDG: I wanted to show you. Since it’s thanks to you.
DK: Thanks to me?
TDK: This is the first time he felt pity for someone more than himself.
Be extremely cautious to what is happening simultaneously. As above so below.
At the same time, Myul Mang is at the hospital, on his way to the deity girl’s room. He will find out that the deity girl is missing, instead he will find an open copy of Pinocchio. The book is open at the scene where Pinocchio voices his wish to the Fairy. He wants to become a human being. (Sa Ram)
We get the exchange between Pinocchio / Doom and Fairy / the Deity Girl by their voiceovers.
Pinocchio: But how did you become a grownup so fast?
Fairy: That’s a secret.
P: Please tell me. I want to be an adult, too. I’m still a kid like this.
F: But you can’t become an adult.
P: Why not?
F: Because you don’t deserve to be an adult.
P: No. Living as a puppet is so boring.
The camera is zooming at Pinocchio’s drawing more closely and what we get to see is that in his wooden nose there is a tiny green leaf!
My note: This is a mirror image of what is happening to the deity’s Garden and how it affects not only DK, but Myul Mang as well.
It is happening real time for both of them and it has meaning!
P: I want to become an adult soon.
F: You can become an adult. But then you need to be qualified.
P: What can I do?
F: It’s very simple. You just have to try to be a good kid all the time.
Myul Mang is thinking what he just read. We got back to the transcendent Garden.
DK: It’s you.
You’re the one who made him like that.
You’re the one who drove him away.
You’re the one who told him all my misfortunes are his fault.
TDG: You’re right. That was me.
DK: Why did you do that?
TDG: For you.
DK: What do you mean?
TDG: You’ll be miserable either way. Whether you doom the world or survive after killing your loved one.
But I love him quite a bit. That’s why I stepped in.
DK: What…are you exactly?
TDG: Me? I’m a very old order. A very old loner. I’m an old friend of yours.
I looked at the world more than he did. And I always wishes you to be happy in that world.
DK: Then you can just make me happy. Him and I.
TDG: How is that meaningful? If you can get your way easily, as you wish, for a very long time, you would find out that those doesn’t mean anything.
DK: So what is it that you want from me?
The TDG takes out from DK’s pocket that glass marble. I agree with @Fern that this is cosmos as the deity girl knows it, since she is its order.
DK: Why is that here?
TDG: What do I want? How about you?
The TGD places the glass marble to DK’s hand. Ominous music starts.
TDG: The fate of all things in here depends on your love. Isn’t that scary? Don’t be miserable because of him anymore. That’s what I wanted to tell you.
DK looks at the glass marble and she is in deep thoughts. The Deity Girl smiles…
Dk closes her hand.
DK: No. I won’t be miserable because of him.
Don’t speak like that to him or me.
I was never miserable because of him.
The Deity Girl is surprised. She was not expecting this answer.
TDG: I always like your answers. Although they’re a little too straightforward.
The threat to him should be enough for now. Go. He’s at the end of the road. Ah. Knock gently before you open. You know, right?
DK is perplexed. The end of this long scene is after DK’s return to Doom’s place. MM thinks that she is sleeping, while she is awake and thinking of deity’s words. Doom is going outside the house to meet the deity girl, who is holding the rotten yellow tulips. There is distance between them.
TDG: It’s a good night.
MM: Are you having fun?
TDG: It’s not too bad.
MM: Don’t ever put your hand on her ever again.
TDG: I never put my hands on her. I just put them on you.
MM: What is it that you want exactly?
(It echoes DK’s question back in the garden)
TDG: I was wrong.
You are loved by her. I got scolded by her.
She said she was never miserable because of you. I always hope I’m wrong.
I hope you guys are right.
MM: But we’re always wrong and you’re right.
TDG brings the tulips back to life and walks towards MM to close their distance. (Mirroring the distance between DK and MM in the beginning of Episode 7)
TDG gives the flowers to MM and says:
TDG: A vain hope is still hope.
A vain love is still love.
MM is worried.
My analysis of this very long and important scene for our Doom and Gloom Couple.
The reason I can’t warm up to the deity girl is: that she used emotional manipulation to another being. – Part 2.
In last episode, the deity girl manipulated in a Machiavellian way Myul Mang.
In this episode, the deity girl manipulated DK.
As I have mentioned before, beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
Do you remember @GB? I told you that it was not a mere exchange, but it had significance because the deity girl is more powerful than DK.
What happened in the garden exactly?
The Deity Girl manipulated DK to chose the right thing for the cosmos.
She inflicted a seed of fear to DK that will make DK to abandon Doom for the world.
I agree with @nrllee’s thought, that also @Fern mentioned last night, we return back to the notion: DK should love herself the most in the world, in order to self-sacrifice herself for the world. As a result, Doom as her most beloved person in the world and the world itself will continue existing.
What the deity girl is telling to both of them via Pinocchio’s book?
You need to be a good kid all the time.
You need to be obedient.
You need to follow my instructions, because I know what is the best for you.
I would like to also analyze the phrase:
Viki Subbers : A vain love is still love.
Vs.
Kissasian: A false love is still love.
Last night, we had a long analysis about the difference of this translation and how it is changing what is being implied over here.
A false love is not the same as a vain love.
One of my friends perceived false love as an impossible love.
Then, I found out what the Viki subbers translated for the scene, and I told her that a vain love is not impossible.
It became a philosophical debate but it ended well. 😊
That’s all for now…
@Fern and @nrllee,
I am glad we are at the same page! I just saw that you have already spotted some things I wrote on my analysis.
The philosophical implications on the series is tremendous.
Where is @rh to discuss about the intextuality with Pinocchio?
@GB yes the advise is valid and we need to pay attention.
Life is precious but sometimes some of us waste it away.
I will return after I re-read all your comments. Too much information in a short time!
@Fern Yes, we are learning that DK has a strong self sacrificing streak and unsentimental too about it. But MM has had a taste of her disappearance and so yes, he probably did silence her words with that kiss. He cannot contemplate her future disappearance physically and in the minds of those who love her. I am hanging my hopes on to the story of Pinocchio for now. That DK isn’t just a device to bring about a desired change and then disappear.
Hello Everyone!! It’s good to be back. I was feeling a lil bit unwell in the past few days. And as expected this thread has already filled with a loooong comment, thoughts, and insights, which made me happy, and fluttered while reading this.
I thank you all because it’s like I am in the middle of online philosphy class while join this thread. Which have been confirmed by the leads themselves that the script is written in a literary style. I’m not the type who can easily watch and make a note because it could ruin my “absorption process” to understand the films. But you know what, while reading all of your comments here I make a note (for the first time ever, haha). Especially when they resonate with my thoughts too. And you all gave me a biig smile. Oh I am so happy to enjoy this with you all.
Ok, since my default thinking process is so scattered I will try to make it more systematic, but I’m sorry if it is still so scattered. 😅
1. As much as I am uncomfortable and can not understand how GD “works” actually, I do hope that she is aiming for a better world just like @nrllee said. I did highlighted the translation when she refer the pot as “he” as in MM. She also said to DK:
I just stole you for a moment. From this guy [she look at the pot, as if this guy = the plant inside the pot].
I could understand @Cleo notes that it is not ethical to inflicted emotional pain to another being. Because I was feeling the same way too.. why did she do that? 🥺🥺
However.. yeah. Maybe it is one of the many points that the writer want to educate us.. about the way how GD are doing her works and the outcome of them all. We’ll have to see what she’ll become later..
2. The conversation between GD and DK in deity’s garden might be hinted us about the reasons why she is doing what she’s been doing.
“What kind of meaning would it have?
What if you could easily have everything you want forever?
You’ll find out that kind of life is meaningless”
I note here the word of “easily” and “forever”. So if it’s easy and forever then it would be meaningless. (?)
Therefore GD had to make it tough for both DK and MM to make the outcome meaningful.
Also when GD give the marble to DK
“What do I want? What about you? What do you want?” — I guess it is a rethorical questions afterall for DK.
GD also said that the fate of everything that’s inside depends on DK’s love. I guess that GD has a certain objective of what would kind of love that DK has to give in order to MM qualified to be whatever GD wanted him to be.
And when GD said:
“You should not be miserable because of him.” I take him here not only as MM as a being. But also the accidents, or the unfortunate events that DK has been facing for whole this time.
Not everyone could embrace their bad days or misfortune that they had wholeheartedly. Even more, love them in a certain way.
3. Then yeah, if the objective of GD is to transform MM into the certain possibility (the plant). I assume that DK is like a “fertilizer” for this plant. The thing about fertilizer and the plant. Fertilizer will be absorbed hence disappeared so that the plant will grow.
4. Back to the keyword of GD “forever”, it seems that DK would not get forever for her endgame. Because it would be meaningless. So I guess, going forward we will see how her love could make the best days for herself. Although MM said that he will save DK. I don’t know whether it means to prolong her life or simply making her rest of the days meaningful for her.
5. As we know DK’s brother seems to just bluffing about being LHK coach for his love life, in the end LHK follow his suggestion to do it now. Not later. We don’t know what kind of excuses / explanations that he will have for NJN. But going to her house itself is a such a big progress for him.
I was laughing in the scene where DK, CJI and NJN sit together and having conversation about how CJI could be there though..
6. I agree with @Fern that DK has begun to love herself. Only from that point she could love other people in a proper form. If we talk about what kind of love from DK that is the best for MM’s growth. And taking from @nrllee note as the eternal love. I think it would be the type of love that will keep MM to be able to love himself too. Eventhough they would be separated in the end, MM will let DK go but he will treasure her love forever in his heart. With no regrets or anger or sad because they can’t be together. The kind of love that he could be proud of and finally accepting himself as the Doom. In another way, if we take Pinocchio story for MM. There is a possibility too that MM will transformed into a human being. But again, if I try to make an analogy from that, it is Geppetto who carved Pinocchio and wished him to be a human because he is lonely. And Gepetto himself is a human. If GD is Gepetto here, then I don’t think she wanted MM as Pinocchio to be a human, rather, she wanted him to live forever as the Doom and to accompany her until the end. She said she was a loner that’s been around for a long time, right? Doesn’t she want a company, does she?
7. I really like @GB notes on ‘a little aside’. Especially on this “letting the beloved die (or faced the logical consequences of his/her actions) can actually be a great mercy and sign of love. In line with my point 6, I agree that Happy Ending for this drama not necessarily mean the OTP must both live or die. I agree that be it together or not. They can let go peacefully. (Thank you for this note @GB, I am smiling when reading thiis!!)
Ok, I think it is enough for now.. I will read of the rest of your comments in the other post.
Have a good day you all
🍀🍀🍀🍀
Correction: We are on the same page.
Dear @Fern,
You are right about the translation. I don’t know when my friend is going to watch DAYS. If she ever does, I will keep you posted!
Thank you for writing down what Writer Dalgona told DK yesterday.
I was touched by her words too!
Viki subbers translate DK’s dream: “I want to live recklessly”
As for your thoughts late last night, I tried to answer them on Episode 8’s analysis.
Still, there are so many things to discuss and the time is running.
@nrllee,
I simply used Aristotelian Logic.
As I have already said I am still a sceptic, since I cannot fathom her motives.
So, I am trying to explain it, based what I know.
I think today using Philosophy made me ease a bit.
I was thinking your words and an idea came into me.
If the deity girl is the old order, maybe there is going to be a new order?
If the Writernim has the Olympians in mind, we should remember the myth with Zeus and Hades that fought against their Father the Titan Kronos?
If that is the case, then:
Are we witnessing the succesion of Cosmos’ Order?
Does DK along with MM represent something entirely new?
I am just leaving this theory for pondering…
Dear @Pakcmule3,
Can you open a Part 2 ? There are a lot to talk about and this thread is getting longer. 🙂
@Cleo and now maybe I can’t sleep to think between the possibility of a vain love vs a false love. haahaha..
really.. the script..
but I love it tho..
I watch this drama through VIU and the translation said it was false love.
and yess.. both of them has a different meaning.
so is it vain love or false love, which one is most suitable to the statement of GD?
Dear @moonstar512,
I can totally related. I wrote above that I had a conversation with another two friends about it. We even debated a bit, lol!
I cannot tell since I am not talking korean yet. The only thing I can do, is to record the phrase and play it on Naver Dictionary.
Damn those typos: Relate*
Pingback: Doom at Your Service: Eps 7 & 8 Open Thread, Part 2 – Bitches Over Dramas
@pkml3 You asked for a reminder to add the Baekhyun U OST lyrics to the OST thread. Here it is.
@Cleo my theory on why DK broke the bracelet was that she’d desperately wanted MM to come to her, after that horrible team dinner. But no matter how she called for him, he didn’t come and she was alone. She wanted to speak with him, to not be alone … Then when he did come, he did so without letting her see him. She realised that he had actually come to her because of the cushion under her head but she had not gotten to speak with him. So she was enraged. To force him to come, she broke the contract.
I agree that she has yet to love enough, (as it was mentioned before … to be vulnerable) so that she can let herself go and cry. Her tears would bring her healing that she probably does not realise she needs.
It is interesting to think of GD as flawed, but I did also mention this in my post of Part 2. She is not really all knowing or always right.
Good catch about the Pinocchio drawing having a green leaf for his nose. I need to look at it again.
@Fern The plant of Possibility in GD’s pot. I do an exercise with little children where we plant seeds. We dig up a seedling to look again for the seed and we find that the seed has died, but in it’s place, is something more beautiful and full of life… the new plant. The seed had to die in order for the transformation to take place (The Mystery of Life and Death).
I was playing around with the idea in Part 2 of Ep 7 & 8 OT, that MM was a human who died. For a long time he remained in that pot, full of self-pity and not germinating properly. He retained all the possibilities of what the seed could grow to become. He could become a happier, more compassionate person, or remain self-absorbed and just never germinate at all.
Forced to contend with DK in his life, MM found himself opening up reserves of compassion, that finally got him to come out of himself to give unconditionally. We see it start when he ran with DK in the rain, and continue when he put a pillow under her head. And the seedling appeared when he took responsibility for DK’s misfortunes.
Yes, I too believe that the Ferris Wheel kiss was to prevent DK from completing the wish, which was for the benefit of others instead of for herself.
@Moonstar512 You’re very welcome. I’m so chuffed that my thoughts aside put a smile on your face and resonated with you. 😉
❀.(*´◡`*)❀.
There’s definitely a parallel between DK wanting to learn the location of MM’s front door so she has somewhere to go to look for him if/when he disappears again, and younger NJN sitting on the steps in front of LHK’s apartment building despite knowing he’d gone to Japan.
When DK and MM are riding in his car…
DK: When you disappeared, I didn’t even have a place I could go to find you. Tell me. Your house. That way even if you’re chased out again, I have somewhere to go to find you.
Flashback to when Joo Ik and Ji Na had their umbrella + kiss episode…
JI: The whole neighborhood knows that you’re waiting for the guy living on the 8th floor.
JN: So everyone knows but Lee Hyeon Kyu? That I’m waiting?
JI: I heard he went to study in Japan. Why are you waiting for him here when he’s not even here? (He assumes she knows of LHK’s current whereabouts.)
JN: Then where would I wait for him? This is the only place. This is the only place I know. So where should I wait for him?
Here’s the contrast between the main and second couples:
– DK and MM confess to each other in a convoluted way. MM tells DK that it is okay if she loves him; he concludes that would be a good method (to cause his death). DK tells MM her wish is that MM love her; MM answers no. MM kisses DK, then disappears. MM and DK want to be together, but their reasoning is faulty.
– NJN and LKH are a school-age couple, but don’t do typical couple things. NJN regrets after their breakup that they never drank by the Han River, went to Itaewon at Halloween, or even kissed. LKH leaves NJN, going to Japan without talking it out with her first. NJN and LKH were instantly attracted to each other, but their relationship didn’t advance and deepen in a healthy way. LKH ran away from NJN because of his pride. NJN harbored resentment toward LKH for years because of her pride (having been dumped by text). NJN and LKH remain connected emotionally because their relationship didn’t have proper closure.
– IJ and NJN are not a couple, but IJ kisses NJN–her first kiss ever–out of pity, then walks away. NJN keeps the umbrella he gave her as a memento, I assume because feelings toward IJ were stirred by the kiss and his concern about her getting drenched. IJ comes back into NJN’s life through their editor and writer relationship. IJ appears to harbor latent feelings for NJN which he tries to hide/repress as hate/professional concern. IJ shields NJN from knowing LKH is his former tutee, his current roommate, and that he played a role in LKH’s breakup with NJN.
In my notes above, I overlooked mentioning in regard to IJ the phrase “Can’t go.” NJN associates that phrase with him. He said those words to her as she sat on the steps of LKH’s apartment building. He meant it to mean that people couldn’t physically pass her, but it also be him judging her for not moving on after her relationship with LKH ended. IJ used the phrase “Can’t go” when texting NJN as LKH, turning down her request to meet LKH. It could also refer to IJ harboring feelings for NJN himself, but not acting on them because she was LKH’s girl. When NJN texted IJ, writer to editor, asking him to come and help her, he also responded “Can’t go” because he felt guilty secretly communicating with her in LKH’s presence. Cha Joo Ik is one emotionally constipated guy!
Yup @Welmaris. I picked that up too. The second couple is meant to be a mirror of our less conventional supernatural couple. 😂. So when I am unsure as to where the writer is heading with the supernatural couple (because of the vagaries of GD and the whole metaphysical dimension), I use the second couple as a template to follow. Because it’s easier to understand their trajectory. 😂
@Welmaris and @nrllee, I thought is was so off that LKH had JI answer the texts Ji-an sent him. I thought JI did his best to be neutral and finally had enough playing Cyrano and handed the phone back to LKH to finish the conversation. Later LKH criticised JI for his good grammar in the replies. To me, if you ask someone to participate in deceit on your behalf, you shouldn’t criticise them for how they have done it. It was off-putting, ungrateful and even disloyal.
Although the texts were sent before the encounter on the stair outside LKH’s home, if Ji-an associates the phrase ‘can’t go with JI, she may come to realise that it was he and not LKH who sent those texts.
@Fern. 🙄 coward. But it does look like he will be the blast from the past. And JiNa needs to confront those feelings. Dammed up within her. She hasn’t been able to move on. Her trauma is mirrored with DK. Who is also emotionally stunted by her parents’ death. That’s why she still seems so strangely distant when she’s relating with MM. She can’t love him fully without addressing the trauma from her past. Her aunt reappearing in her life is also her blast from the past. Especially since MM took her back to her past life at the amusement park and she bumped into her mom. We’ll see how that throws a spanner in the works for both couples.
Yes, a confrontation is needed all around, but it will be a spanner, I agree. Damn LKH’s timing, though and the aunt’s – just when DK has had a glimpse of her mother, too.
Geepers, I have to get off these threads and back to real life. Have a good night!
NJN noticed right away that the texts supposedly coming from LKH were stylistically different than usual. Had she met CJI through LKH, or was LKH so embarrassed about his academic failings that he hid that he was being tutored? I’m thinking she hadn’t met him before the umbrella + kiss incident. CJI intentionally misled NJN with his choice of words, claiming to have heard the rumor that LKH went to study in Japan; one would expect a tutor to know such an important matter regarding his tutee (which CJI did). CJI covered the facts that he knew who she was and why she was sitting there by saying all the neighbors knew about NJN and her vigil.
NJN may have been a fool in love, but with a writer’s instincts, she’s no fool when it comes to word usage. She demonstrated that she can quickly discern patterns when it comes to language. The tersely phrased “Can’t go” was used at two key moments in her life. Two could be coincidental, from two different people. But now NJN knows two times CJI directed those words at her, so her first encounter with that exact phrase–burned into her memory–ought to become suspect as to their source, especially since she already questioned the change in style of the breakup texts. A key word here is “ought.” Since she has maintained a particular story in her head for many years, letting it define her, she may resist letting it go.
@welmaris, I also believe that Ji-an didn’t know Joo-ik before the kiss. Might he have been trying to distance himself with his choice of words? He may have dreaded her questioning him on details about LKH if he revealed that they were close. He may have started the conversation thinking just to move her on and that he would never see her again.
One thing I didn’t understand was Joo-ik’s lack of surprise that Ji-an was a long time best friend of DK, not just an author acquaintance. Probably their close friendship was mentioned in an early episode, but I didn’t catch it.
I agree with @Welmaris in this one.
It was my thoughts exactly! Na Ji Na should make the connection.