Sigh. As I expected, this drama is a healing drama…
for the fangirls of the leading actor Kim SeonHo who were crushed that he didn’t get the girl in “Start-Up.” Instead of Hong Doo Shik, the screenwriter should have named his character Jjang Dae Bak since he can do nothing wrong in this drama.
Jjang = amazing
Daebak = awesome
The fan service began 0:01 mark with the staging of a houseboat in a most incongruous spot on top of a hill. This is obviously his houseboat.
Hong Doo Shik, or Chief Hong as the locals call him, is the Prince Charming in fairy tales, living in his castle of a boat, and guarding his sea village from Barbarians from Seoul. His kingdom stretches into the vast expanse as far as the eye can see.
…or cannot see.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he owns this building, too. He surely has business and connections in the city.
Why do I assume that?
For one, only someone who does NOT have to survive on minimum wage would be happy to live on 8,720 won/per hour. The wetsuit he wore would have set him back anywhere between $140 to $300 here in the US. The canister that he picked up at the hardware store cost him 90,000 won or roughly 11 hours of work. He has expensive hobbies for someone who earns minimum wage.
For another, he’s more cosmopolitan than he pretends. He must have traveled abroad – or to Russia, at least, given his language fluency. He’s familiar with Audi cars, the brand of car that the female lead was driving. He knew there was no spare tire in the boot.
It seemed to me that the screenwriter shrouded Chief Hong’s identity in mystery, but he/she made sure that Chief Hong’s noble attributes were established through “binary opposition.”
I told you what “binary opposition” was, right? Here’s a refresher:
I didn’t coin this term “binary opposition.” The French anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss, did. He observed that in many stories told in books and films, the plot is driven by characters, values and/or concepts that are directly polar opposites.
Think of Batman vs. Joker, hero vs. villain, rich vs. poor, religious vs. secular, engineering vs. feng shui, war vs. peace, crime vs. punishment, individual vs. society, science vs. superstition, objective vs. subjective, good vs. evil.
Binary opposition is the theory that we can understand one character, value, or concept better when we juxtapose it with another character, value, or concept. We can see details better when there’s contrast.
source: On Binary Opposition
Chief Hong’s binary opposite is the female lead, Yoon HyeJin. Unlike Chief Hong whose real motives and end goals are obscured from the viewers, HyeJin is an easy read. It’s by studying her character that we get to know Chief Hong’s personality.
Let me list what we can observe about her.
1. She’s competitive.
Her competitiveness was displayed during her morning run.
While she was jogging, a track team overtook her. Without breaking stride, she decided to sprint past the team. She easily left them in the dust.
Her behavior struck me as odd because the run wasn’t a race until she turned it into one. It was apparent that she liked the thrill of competing. She wasn’t complacently jogging behind the pack. She wanted to be in the lead. She’s driven and ambitious.
In a way, her sudden retirement didn’t come as a surprise. It’s one thing to quit because of her boss’ unethical practice, but it’s another thing to quit because, in her mind, she brings in more clients than her boss. Her reason for quitting the job was a reasonable one until she turned it into a pissing contest on who was bringing in more business for the dental office.
In contrast to HyeJin’s competitive streak, Chief Hong sees other people, not as his rivals, but as his circle of friends. He builds a sense of community by offering his service, fixing their problems, and keeping in touch with everybody. For instance, when the fire at the telecom company halted communication service in the village, he took it upon himself to visit and reassure the senior residents.
He naturally watches over them.
2. She’s black-and-white.
Her black-and white track outfit is a visual shorthand to her personality. The color scheme tells us that she’s a minimalist. With the classic black-and-white outfit, it’s impossible to go wrong.
But black-and-white can also indicate a rigid, unyielding mindset. There’s no gray area or tolerance for human errors. Her black-and-white morality was in full display during the Seniors Outdoor Bash in Ep 2. It didn’t dawn on her that her blunt criticisms of her new neighbors would gain her zero clients and new friends. All she cared about was expressing her opinions which she deemed unassailable.
In contrast, Chief Hong wears monochromatic Henley shirts under his flannels (like Nam DoSan in “Start-Up,” hahaha). His style is easy to analyze. It tells us that he’s easy-going, down-to-earth, and approachable.
3. She’s reserved.
Although HyeJin wasn’t antisocial in her work setting, she was visibly uncomfortable talking with the Ahjumma in the elevator. She found the old woman’s curiosity about her marital state, job, and take-out orders quite intrusive. Yes, she smiled through the Ahjumma’s inquisition because good manners dictated that she showed respect to an elderly person. But she couldn’t make her getaway quick enough.
Another interesting point: she lived across from the Ahjumma’s daughter, but knew nothing about her neighbor. This could be interpreted as the screenwriter’s social commentary on city life — that is, city people are notoriously private and more guarded with their interactions with virtual strangers. However, HyeJin’s motto for the last 20 years was “Don’t be nosy and focus on myself.” To me, this signified that HyeJin’s aloofness and remoteness were more of a personal choice than a habit acquired from city living.
Again, she’s being set up by the screenwriter to be the polar opposite of Chief Hong. He’s a people-person. Not only did he greet everybody at the pier by name, but he also inquired about their families. He knows everybody’s business because he’s genuinely interested in their welfare.
Noteworthy: whenever HyeJin and Chief Hong interact with each other, their personalities switch. Despite being a reserved person, she’s full of aegyo like when she asked for his help to find her shoe and to pay for the coffee. Conversely, he magically becomes ornery and unhelpful whenever she approaches him for help.
4. She thinks she’s angelic.
That’s why both her passwords, CheonsaHyejin and LovelyHyejin1004, included the word, “Cheonsa” or angel. (1004 in Korean sounds like cheonsa.)
Although the villagers don’t see her as an angel at the moment because of her contretemps during the Senior Citizens’ Bash, I’m sure she’ll be regarded like a messiah at the end of this kdrama.
Meanwhile, Chief Hong only has one password, his date of birth, 870724.
Note: I think the reason she freaked out when she learned that his birthday was the passcode is because in Korea, a dating couple would use a lover’s birthday as a passcode. She thought he was being presumptuous to use his birthdate as her passcode.
Chief Hong got even, though.
HJ: Are you 35, then?
Hong: Yes.
HJ: You’re a year older than me then.
Hong: Was that a hint of affection I heard? Don’t you dare show me any.
HJ: Are you nuts? I just got goose bumps.
To be fair, HyeJin’s remark that he was a year older than her was just small talk. She was merely chitchatting. She didn’t mean anything by it.
But in the same way that she misunderstood his intention when he used his birthday as her passcode, he pretended to misunderstand her comment as a sign of interest in him. He was paying her back.
It wouldn’t surprise me though if, secretly, he did want her to show some affection. He looked too nonchalant as he said that.
5. She lost her mom.
To celebrate her mother’s birthday, HyeJin returned to the beach where she had a happy childhood memory of their family outing. Although she didn’t verbalize it, she must have resented that her father forgot the special occasion. He’d already moved on and remarried.
To me, the screenwriter was being too obvious in his/her message when Gongjin Harbor was described as a “mother’s embrace.” HyeJin needed her mother’s solace during her time of distress so what better place to find it than in that seaside village? Her arrival at that place was like a homecoming that she didn’t envisage.
In comparison, Chief Hong never left the place. He stayed at the seaside village because he wanted to repay the kindness that was given him after he lost his grandpa. He calls himself a “wish-granting genie” that can be summoned whenever help was needed.
Although both HyeJin and Chief Hong experienced the loss of somebody they loved at a young age, they responded differently to the childhood trauma.
HyeJin learned to be independent and self-sufficient. Her move to Gongjin, for instance, was a decision she made entirely on her own. In fact, her good friend was upset because she didn’t consult her before her decision to up-and-leave.
Meanwhile, Chief Hong learned exactly the opposite from the death of his grandpa. He learned to value interdependence and reciprocity.
By the way, that quote from Thoreau
is here in full:
I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our intercourse. His goodness must not be a partial and transitory act, but a constant superfluity, which costs him nothing and of which he is unconscious. This is a charity that hides a multitude of sins.
—from Thoreau’s essay on “Economy” in “Walden”
This quote applies to this scene because in this very charitable instant, Chief Hong was giving a portion of himself to the Grandma. His goodness was neither half-hearted or short-lived. He was truly generous with his time and concern for her.
6. Lastly, she’s channeling French chic.
Oldtimers here on this blog know that I’ve a thing for shoes, so I recognized HyeJin’s shoes right away. They’re Roger Vivier pumps.
HyeJin likes to wear Roger Vivier’s Pilgrim buckle pumps. Vivier was famous for making the sandals Queen Elizabeth II wore to her coronation. But the Pilgrim pumps with the big buckle were his iconic shoes. The shoes were popularized by the French actress Catherine Deneuve in the 1967 movie “Belle de Jour.” In fact if you go to Roger Vivier website now and you’ll see the leather shoes immortalized as “Belle Vivier” after the title of the movie.
When HyeJin wears these shoes, the impression she wants to project is the Parisian chic: demure but feminine, classic but sophisticated. That said, I doubt that she’s aware of the duplicitous character that Catherine Deneuve played in the film. You see, in the film, Deneuve played a very prim-and-proper but sexually repressed housewife at night, and a kinky (hahaha) prostitute during the day when her husband is at work.
Anyway…to get back on topic here,
HyeJin’s designer shoes are a far cry from Chief Hong’s plastic slippers labeled “Toilet Use, HwaJeong Raw Fish Restaurant.” Again, the screenwriter and director weren’t very subtle about their messaging, were they? Their shoes are meant to show their binary opposition.
There are many other examples of binary oppositions in these two episodes but for me, the shoes sealed the deal.
You see, in the beginning, I was prepared to like HyeJin as a push-back against the screenwriter’s blatant attempt to portray Kim SeonHo’s character as Mr. Perfect. However, my contempt for HyeJin grew exponentially when I saw her walk in the sand in her heels.
“Are you dumb, girl?”
I don’t even wear my Vivier shoes when it’s raining outside because I want to minimize damage to them, and here is HyeJin walking on sand with them.
Ugh! What HyeJin did to her shoes in this episode, and in Episode 2, when she climbed over the rocks, was sacrilegious to a shoe-lover like me. 😡😱😠
Without a doubt, Chief Hong is hands-down the better person in this relationship. He’s going to be the Sherpa to guide HyeJin become the Chieftess Yoon the community deserves.
Sherpa. lol.
I miss your blog. Need to catch-up on a lot of your other posts.
I think this drama is promising. I actually enjoyed the first two episodes. The two leads and their dimples. Ahhh so cute! However I can’t help but think of Start-Up while watching. Chief Hong is the REAL Good Boy! So funny because there are memes going around that he is really HJP who moved to Gongjin because he was so heartbroken. LOL!
😂 I couldn’t understand why she walked onto the sand in her expensive heels either. Any rational person would stop at the sand line, remove the shoes and walk barefoot? Instead she walks onto the sand in her heels. 😂😂 and only removes them when she wants to sit down?
As for the boat on top of the mountain? It would’ve probably required a helicopter to drop it up there? I didn’t see any roads. But okay. 😂
I get the feeling he did have a spate of city living in his past? So he left paradise and headed to the big smoke but returned after being disillusioned (?). 🤔
@Packmule3, thank you. I’m no longer a shoe person, but I am practical and I cringed at her using any sort of nice street shoe near salt water. I get that the shoes are symbolic as others said in last week’s comments, so why is she still wearing them at the waterside, even if she has changed from heels to flats?
It’s good to see your comments. I hope that you are well altogether.
@Diane, that’s so funny about HJP moving to Gongjin. If so, he had a personality upgrade, too.
@nrllee, someone in our neighbourhood had a little fishing boat like that in their back garden. I say garden, but it was more like a thicket with a drive leading in. My dad used to call that type a “Pocketa-pocketa” after the noise that the low HP engine would make. -Really quite small for a ‘house boat’ unless there was no gear or fish in the hold.
Thanks @pkml3. Hi Diane, No, really!!! HJP in Do San’s getup, and frolicking with grannies in Gongjin!!! LOL.
Interesting first impressions @pkml3. I too thought the boat was Du Sik’s home, but it looked kind of small to house that room with all the books. Or maybe it’s where he lives but his granddad’s place is the one with the books.
Speaking of first impressions, I realised I was wrong about what I thought I saw. It’s the expectant mum, Yoon Kyung, who is the mother of Bo Ra. In the beginning of the episode, we have a collage of individuals being regretful.
Landlady Hwa Jung regretted her divorce.
And the lady who wept in a child’s room (room with princess toys?) was Jo Nam Sook (not Yoon Kyung). She appears with no children, so she may have lost her young daughter.
Oh Yoon (born Oh Chun Jae) obviously regretted losing his singer’s dream and we are kept in the dark over what Du Sik regretted with that black jacket. Perhaps it was a sign of his corporate life – it might have been the kind of jacket one wears for job interviews?
On one level, it’s a simple and entertaining tale of ‘educating’ the well educated city girl in how to thrive in the country. Where in the city, minding one’s own business is the norm, in the country being neighbourly, and communal is essential. Du Sik pointed out more than once, I believe, that the people were neighbours and seemed to indicate that alone meant that something was due to them. In his intrusive helpfulness, and even in his over-reaching to make things better for Hye Jin with her neighbours, he was being neighbourly.
I admire the great economy of this drama where in one fell swoop, in a brief series of conversations, Hye Jin managed to alienate every one of her friendly neighbours. It is fortunate that Du Sik was on her side. Getting back their good will must have taken several days and it was only possible with Du Sik’s unsolicited help.
I like this point. He’s full on smiles and sweetness with everyone else but Hye Jin. I’ve been thinking it’s his defence mechanism because he knows he’s attracted to her. He made such a big deal about her not leaning on him when she reached out her hand to keep him from leaving her at the Neighbour’s Meeting. And again he makes a deal as you say above, when she called him ‘a year older Oppa,’as if calling him Oppa meant she’d be sweet on him. She cringed LOL. Me thinks the man doth protest too much.
I find it amusing that Hye Jin looks at the portrait photo of Du Sik as a child and says to herself that she knows a mischievous face when she sees one, but
she cannot recognise that in adult Du Sik’s straight face, he’s still being mischievous when he appears to help her, only to charge her for services rendered.
I felt that the song from Oh Yoon’s ‘album’ ‘The End and the Beginning‘ was very aptly played as Hye Jin spoilt another expensive pair of shoes over the rocky ground. It reflected the end of a phase for Hye Jin, and a new beginning for her (and perhaps for Du Sik as well), once she figured out for herself, that she owed him a debt of gratitude. Going out of her way to thank him was a good start.
And while I too abhor the ruin of good, expensive shoes on the most unsuitable of surfaces, I applaud Show for continuing with the shoe motif (LOL Du Sik’s sigh that ‘Her shoes always cause trouble’) that brings the OTP together and that now throws her into Du Sik’s arms.
May the whitewashing of KSH continue apace!
Following this drama.. such feel good two episodes.
There are so many eyebrow raising and cringeworthy scenes of the FL though – surfing (or at least posing) in calm water, high heels in the sand, the way FL scrunch up her nose during interactions in the elderly party. Makes you hate her snobbish character at some point.
I agree, she will have major character development and looking forward to how it unfolds. I hope the writer make it sincere, realistic and not forced. I find the ML too good to be true and can’t help but wonder what his flaws are! 😅
Also, am I the only one not finding the ML physically THAT attractive? His character personality so far in the drama, yes!
I see all the hype for him (and his dimples!) and the fangirls doing their best fangirling (is this even a word?! Haha) in twitter. I didn’t finish start up either so not sure I understand all the clamour for him! 🤣
🤪 I’m not attracted to men with moon faces. 🤷♀️ Moon faces scream “Babyish!” instead of “Hot Babe!” to me.
I like rugged guys with chiseled features.
I never understood the appeal of this actor. He smiles too much.
You should watch him on 2D1N. He’s the weakest link.
He isn’t the brightest in the group (don’t test him on general knowledge 😂).
He isn’t the wittiest in the group. That would be DinDin.
He isn’t the strongest in the group. That would be Moon SeYoon. It annoys me that he loses in contests requiring stamina. In team games, he sponges off on the strength of his teammates.
He isn’t even the funniest in the group! That would be Kim JongMin.
He’s there for “visuals.”
The Grandma appeared on 2D1N five weekend ago during their episode about spending summers with grandmas.
I think the fact that he’s like that in 2D1N makes it hard for me to believe that he’s Mr Jack of all trades. 😂. I tolerate him here but like @packmule3 and @pingpongpang I don’t get his allure.
Right, @nrllee? Viewers who watch him on 2D1N know that he isn’t all that.
Mr. Jack of all trades?? Okay…if you say so.
I suspend my disbelief to enjoy the drama. 🙂
😂 Yes. Start-Up’s JP is being rehabilitated and transformed into an authentic “Good Boy” in this drama.
Dear @packmule3, I hope you weathered the storm. Thank you for this wonderful post. You always make me smile with your keen observations and ability to see what I would overlook. Chief Hong is the mystery here. He seems simple and earthy but you point out his sophistication and unbeknownst to the villagers probable wealth. And now that you mentioned it, with your love of shoes, we would think that he knows a Virtual shoe 👠. I now am convinced that he took the pair and that we’ll have to wait for the other shoe to drop. I just love this plot device. Thanks to you ,@packmule3,I get to have more fun watching this drama.
I have a question about the Korean custom of sharing food. I’m episode 2 we saw our heroine’s revulsion on eating the food offered at the senior festival and there was a particular clip of a grand licking her fingers to reinforce our heroine’s in distaste. Of course this tenders our heroine impolite. However as a medical professional she is absolutely right, especially in our world if Covid. But even after the onset of Covid we see good sharing, using the same set of chopsticks among several people almost universally in k Dramas. Does the custom outweigh standards of cleanliness and good health cokn sense. I have been wondering about this for some time. Any thoughts? Thank you.
Looking forward to this new ride thanks to the great insights here.
Thank @PM3 on your first impressions and your references to Start Up. How ironic that JP character rehab in HC3 to a “real good boy” dressed him up like Dosan. *snicker snicker 🤭
I’m not into KSH either but to each his own. So far he’s been a bit awkward and self-conscious playing this role in the first 2 eps. Let’s see how it progresses.
Welcome back home, @pm3, and thanks for your post! 🙂
I had the same thoughts about Hye Jin when she wore inappropriate shoes… twice! My thought balloon was — this girl honestly isn’t as stylish as she thinks she is if she’s stupid enough to wear shoes inappropriate for the place. 😛 But that said, I like Hye Jin and the honesty x reservedness combination of her personality. We can predict of course that she will eventually be softened and shaped by the Gongjin crew.
On KSH — yup, he’s not my type, too. (Like it matters. LOL.) But so far the show is fun. 🙂 (Just in passing, I was folding the laundry last night, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was on TV, so I watched it as my background noise as I folded the laundry. Matthew McConaughey is not my type, too. But his banter with Kate Hudson was entertaining enough. I guess KSH is like that, for me. Far from my type, but entertaining enough to watch for the purpose of the show. 🙂 )
@OAL, I am not Korean, but I’m Asian and I live in Asia. At least pre-pandemic, I have some friends that have no — as we call it in the local language — “saliva issues”. Meaning, if among friends, they don’t mind drinking off the same straw, or eating off the other’s fork to taste the other’s food, etc. Personally, I have never been like that LOL!!! (That’s why I related to Hye Jin when she declined the offered food lol.) But I also know many others who are not like that. So I don’t know, I’m guessing that while we see it often in KDrama, it’s not necessarily a general/cultural trait. (???) I mean, it happens, but maybe not as common as we see in shows.
Thanks @PM3 for your first impressions 🙂 Outstanding, as usual. learned something new ~ “binary opposition” theory ~ and i like your list that proves this theory. never heard of Roger vivier either. tells ya i’m not french chic haha. but good to know.
@OAL, i’m asian and well, i don’t mind sharing food with people i am very familiar with esp. if you want to eat what they’re having and vice versa haha. i won’t do it with strangers, for sure. and now that we’re in covid-era, well, we must be extra careful now and maybe exercise more self control as far as sharing is caring attitude haha.