The thread is now open for spoilers, and discussions.
Thanks to all of you who have contributed with additional research to help us understand the drama better!!! Keep it coming!
credit: locallove.ca
Gifs from devildrusje’s tumblr:
Let’s enjoy the show!
Oh great! It’s a Dali night tonight. Thanks @pkml3!! Have a good sleep.
Episode 11. The title really says it all for this episode, and we get to think about the father-child relationship. What an unfair, cruel irony that Dali has to pay inheritance tax on the one hand, and yet gets denied the rights of a daughter on the other.
Moo Hak was wonderful. The tableau that was almost at last scene was a piece of art!
I don’t get why just because she was adopted would be an issue about the inheritance. Doesn’t mean getting adopted means you are now a family of the person who adopted you?
I was so mad at TJ when it was finally revealed what he told her during the break up. That was really low, to tell the woman you love to be reborn as the real daughter of Cheongsong. Then that meant he never really loved her. He wanted her because he thought she was an heiress. What bs. No wonder she would never go back to him.
About the uncle, I felt it was unfair for him to accuse of not caring for her dad. She was trying to heal herself by going abroad. She was dumped by her fiancee a week before the wedding. Imagine the humiliation she felt of course she had to leave far away. The accusations about the money was so unfair. If I’m not mistaken maybe the uncle is behind the reason why everything just suddenly stacked up financially against Dali.
Also being in adopted in Korea, is it really taken that way? I mean MH’s dad said he didn’t want Dali as his daughter in law? Is it so bad to be found out as adopted?
I love the scene at the end where he makes her laugh and a tear falls from her eye at the exact same time as her laugh and how she puts her arms out to hug him – so well edited and acted.
I am still interested in TJ and Dali’s backstory. So TJ rejected her because she was adopted -but was it family pressure? Since he is now the heir to the Segi (sp) fortune does that mean the parents who pressured him not to marry Dali (I am assuming this is what occurred) are now dead? We know that he is divorced – who did he marry and why does it now no longer matter to him that Dali is adopted? Did he mature? Something else happened? After a bad marriage, did he realize that his relationship with Dali wasn’t replaceable? Is TJ involved in Mr Kim’s death or just the aftermath?
Will Dali cry through the next 6 episodes? I hope not. I hope we see her save herself with MH as a partner by her side.
Episode 12 – Title “What’s the Colour of Love?” It seems to change with circumstances, temptations, emotions … but then if it’s so changeable, it can’t be love, can it?
Rooting for our couple who are full of integrity, who need to stand firm in the face of much that tries to force their hand or make them compromise. From the previews, I can guess that Dali is forced to take steps to protect MH, etc,… but after the angst of Ep 13 and 14 we should get a satisfying conclusion.
Just finished Ep 11. I love this drama that both of the leads are not wasting their time on misunderstandings etc but just being themselves. And being themselves makes them become a consolation of each other. Not only be there for Dali, MH furthermore opened Dali’s mind telling her what she’s been concerned about all this time is nothing at all. This makes them a perfect couple.
@GB looks like a couple of grim episodes ahead. Dali, here’s a dating tip: if all the scandal goes away if you get together with TJ (why is he so obsessed with her after so long?) then perhaps consider that TJ’s behind the scandal! The Gallery Assistant will be the key to unraveling the conspiracy along with MH’s brother who witnessed the death of Mr. Kim. I am wondering when MH’s watch will make an appearance – perhaps she will need to sell it to save him or the gallery. Is there enough plot left to fill 4 episodes? We will see.
I think the interactions between the couple are cute, but going by the trailer in ep 12, it seems that the open communication and rational decision-making so far will evaporate in the next couple of eps, with the series reverting to standard K-drama makjang noble idiocy forced separation territory. Sigh… Why can’t they have put their heads together to solve their problems. Bugger!
Yes, @L, this drama has gone the makjang route. How many more ways can Dali’s life fall apart? I do like that as things get worse for her, she’s gotten feistier.
TJ is such a slimeball. He claims he loves Dali and wants to protect her, then unleashes the hounds on her when he discovers she and Moo Hak like each other. TJ doesn’t love Dali as a person, but as a goal. He’s all about his precious ego.
I don’t understand why after a blind date and a couple of casual get-togethers, Chak Hee claims Moo Hak is her oppa. She thinks they’re dating, but he doesn’t. CH’s ridicule of MH’s lack of education, such as nicknaming him Idiot in her phone contacts, doesn’t sit well with me. In contrast, Dali recognizes that Moo Hak has, and uses, natural wisdom. Chak Hee’s difficult situation at home with her abusive father does make me pity her. I’m touched that even though Moo Hak isn’t romantically drawn to Chak Hee, he lets her know he is concerned about her and offers her practical help.
I’m disappointed that the two curators at Cheongsong Art Museum have been influenced by money to join the Dark Side…or so it appears, at present. We know generous offers were made to them by Assemblyman Ahn. We’ll see what ultimately prevails in them, their principles or their financial needs.
I expect that Dali and Moo Hak will get their happy ending, as this is publicized as a romantic comedy, but I hope the take-down of the antagonists will make sense within the plot. We all love to hate TJ, Assemblyman Ahn, and Dali’s cousin Si-Hyung, and look forward to cheering when they get served justice, but I’m hoping Writernim makes it feel organic rather than forced for the sake of a twist. And if any of these three get a redemption arc, that also needs to be done believably, not just to wrap up everything with pretty little bows.
I am rooting for Na Gong Joo to have a redemption arc, reconciling with the other two who came from the same orphanage as she. And I see hints that Moo Hak’s father may also have a redemption arc. When Moo Hak spoke bluntly with his father about no longer following his deceased mother’s wish he not hate his father, a new softness and vulnerability was seen on his father’s face. That was some excellent acting by Ahn Kil Kang. But it sounds like he has a long way to go to win back Moo Hak’s love. My impression from Moo Hak’s words is that his father abandoned both his wife and son while his wife suffered through a terminal illness. It may even be that his relationship with the woman who is Moo Hak’s stepmother began before Moo Hak’s mother passed away.
This drama highlights differences in how families form and function. We saw how Dali and her father loved each other deeply, and Dali adopted her father’s principles as her own. Dali’s uncle turned his son out of the family because of drug use and criminal behavior, yet still has the hypocritical belief that Dali is fundamentally inferior as a person and not a real family member because she’s adopted. Moo Hak’s father legally adopted his second wife’s son, yet treats that adoption like a temporary arrangement, easily terminated if his stepson displeases him. He also threatens to toss Moo Hak out of his family and business if Moo Hak loses money. Dali’s father became Won Tak’s benefactor when Won Tak was a child, thinking of him as a son and unshakable in his affection despite Won Tak causing a lot of trouble in his youth. Dali also cherishes Won Tak as a brother. Na Gong Joo might have become another informal, but beloved, member of Director Kim Nak Cheon’s family if she’d known he was her benefactor as well, and if she let go of her resentment that Dali was the orphan he’d adopted, not her. Ahn Chak Hee is clever and sincere enough to see that the principles by which her father, Assemblyman Ahn, operates his life are not ones she should emulate. When she tries to openly question her father’s ethics, she’s berated and beaten by him. Yet despite disapproving of her father’s corrupt ways, Chak Hee cannot accept the sacrifices she’d have to make to break away from him. The episode title asks, “What’s thicker than blood?”…
–For Assemblyman Ahn and his daughter, Chak Hee, money is thicker than blood.
–For Uncle Hong Chun and his son, Si Hyun, reputation is thicker than blood.
–For Moo Hak’s father in regard to his son and stepson, profit is thicker than blood.
–For Dali and her father, love and respect are thicker than blood.
@Welmaris,
Thanks for the clear breakdown of that episode, it was a delight to read.
Like @L I didn’t think I liked the noble idiocy part but I wished she would have it done in a ploy with MooHak instead of leaving him in a lurch but it may also be a natural reaction she can get out of him, he isn’t quite a good actor. I hope Dali has a comeback plan.
NaGongJoo will be the wild card, when she is ready to spill the beans, things will come to light. Also…that golden pig USB called No.1 garbage would come useful in time to come.
ugh…these translation decisions. I’ve been watching on Kocowa, and they’ve been translating MT’s famous line as “what a load of garbage” rather than “what a load of crap,” as we know bc of Mgr. Song’s upset.
I do think Gong-Joo can be the key to the whole cousin reveal (he’s a stand-alone in all this right? He’s acting on his own, given his dad’s reaction to his publicity.) But I also think the MT’s “brother” is also key bc he witnessed Dali’s dad dying, so he knows who is behind it. I think he’ll crack and see the light, esp. in light of MT’s dad’s rejection. I also see him going back and accepting his real father insteead. Chak-Hee might also be a variable in the whole conclusion, albeit a smaller one.