Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is much beloved by many of us here at Bitches that I toyed with the idea of letting you determine for yourselves what the parallelisms are between the book and this episode.

But then I’ll miss out on the fun.

I’m breaking my critique again in two parts because I’ve work.

1. “His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped he would never come there again.”

When Mr. Darcy joined Mr. Bingley’s entourage at a ball, society was eager to befriend him because his annual income was “Ten thousand pounds!” and he owned a large estate in Derbyshire. But it went downhill pretty fast. Everyone decided that he was the most unfriendly, condescending, and conceited man they had the misfortune to meet. Their collective pride was hurt by his haughty demeanor, so they were instantly prejudiced against him. They assumed that he was looking down on them because he had ten thousand pounds and the large estate in Derbyshire.

They didn’t consider that perhaps he was a socially awkward man. He was an introvert and was uncomfortable with people fawning over him in public.

In our drama, Mr. Darcy’s equivalent is Yeonsu. Although they can’t be any more different in terms of financial status, their cold personality made them generally disliked by the general public.

To me, the flashback to November 2008 established their parallelism.

Back in high school, Yeonsu was invited to go – not to the dancefloor – but to the cafeteria. Like Darcy, she declined. She wasn’t hungry. Though friendly classmate offered to buy her banana milk, she still refused. Then, as the classmate joined others, she heard them gossiping about her.

“She said no again, right? Why bother?” “Hey, you should stop caring about her. She doesn’t care about us.” “She’s so self-centered.” “She’s right. Yeonsu never treated us to anything.” “We always bought her stuff.”

Her friend defended her saying that she never asked them to buy those things for her. But the others overruled her, saying, “Still, she was shameless for accepting them every single time.”

Yeonsu’s voiceover: I hate being poor because I can’t be generous to others. Our family’s been poor since I was born. It made hanging out with my friends more and more uncomfortable. As a young girl, I was quite hurt. But it was okay. It was okay because I had something precious to protect. That’s why I decided to act nonchalantly and be self-centered. That made things much easier.

Like Darcy, Yeonsu hurt the collective pride of her classmates. They felt that they were looked down upon by Yeonsu since she refused to hang out with them. They grew to dislike her as their prejudices developed. However, the truth of matter was Yeonsu felt awkward hanging with them precisely because she felt she couldn’t be a good friend to them. She couldn’t offer to buy them treats like they did with her because she had no money to do so. She thought she couldn’t reciprocate their generosity, so she declined their overtures of friendship.

So she decided to withdraw from them and keep to herself.

Like Mr. Darcy.

2. “From the very beginning— from the first moment, I may almost say— of my acquaintance with you, your manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.”

This was Elizabeth Bennet’s blunt response to Mr Darcy’s first marriage proposal. To say that she was disgusted is understatement.

This parallels the invitation to Ung to do the documentary with Yeonsu back in high school. He soundly rejected the idea because he thought she was “weird.”

When asked about the things he hated, his immediate response was Kook Yeonsu. He backpedaled, then said that he hated selfish people, as well as harsh people. He was prejudiced against her after his unpleasant encounter with her at the Freshman Orientation, and their meeting at the library in 10th grade.

In the present time, he told her in no uncertain terms that she was always the one who ruined him; she caused havoc in his life. Because of their bad break-up, he continued to nurse this negative preconception that Yeonsu was self-centered and stone hearted.

Ung: I’m always the first thing you abandon when things get tough. Am I easiest thing you have that you can throw away?
Yeonsu: No. You’re the only thing that I can throw away.

In his mind, she discarded him because a) things were becoming difficult for her, b) he was a burden to her, slowing her down, and c) she had to look after her own interest first.

It didn’t enter his head that Yeonsu could have been pushing him away because she didn’t think she could offer him anything in exchange for all the blessings he’d shown to her.

But just like Elizabeth Bennet realized how mistaken she was about Darcy’s character when the truth about Wickham was disclosed to her, Ung saw Yeonsu in a different light after she spent the night over.

He entered his green room and surprised her dozing on the couch. Since her staff was looking for her outside, he deduced that she’d temporarily escaped from them to take a nap. He let her sleep in peace, then sat down to watch her.

He said, “She always looked mad in front of me. I think I finally appreciate Yeonsu for who she is.”

His comment would be comparable to Elizabeth Bennet saying that Darcy always looked cold and haughty in front of her, but she could finally appreciate his essential goodness after her prejudices were corrected.

I think, watching Yeonsu sleep, Ung could see that her fierceness or toughness was just an act. She looked defenseless as a baby while she slept. He must have also remembered the reason for her unusual fatigue that day. He’d asked her to spend the night with him, and she did so without questions. She saw how dead-tired he was, and decided to stay the night to attend to him. She sacrificed her own sleep so he could get a good night’s rest.

She wasn’t at all self-centered and stone hearted as he pictured her to be. She didn’t wish to cause him ruin as he accused her of doing.

3. “She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was a union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.”

Yes, this was true of Ung and Yeonsu, too. Let’s just reverse the qualities, like this:

Yeonsu began to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was a union that must have been to the advantage of both. With Ung’s serenity and levity, her bad temper would have softened, and her social skills improved. And from her judgment, organization, ambition, and knowledge of the world, he would receive benefit of greater importance while living the life of serenity he so desired.

Lol.

In her interview for the document, she unknowingly revealed how much she had misjudged Ung and disparaged the time they spent together.

Yeonsu: You can never judge a book by its cover. Who knew I’d be working side by side with the kid who had the lowest grade?
JiUng: (giving a new question prompt)
Yeonsu: Of course, everything was a nuisance. As you know he and I are very different people. He’s kind of slow. He should have shared his progress during the project to make things more efficient. But he’d never talk about it. He always keeps his thoughts to himself. He was always like that. I’d ask what was on his mind. “I don’t know. I’m not sure. Nothing.” It was one of those three. I’m getting annoyed just thing about it.

She was griping about their recent collaboration on the Soen project. Working with him stressed her out because their temperaments and work habits couldn’t be any more different from each other.

JiUng: (giving another question prompt)
Yeonsu: No. Well… Seeing him draw like that for the first time made me discover a new side of him. He used to draw back then too, but he never looked serious. I don’t know what’s gotten into him but he’s completely focused. He seems different. (smiling at a memory) But you know what? He was always serious about drawing. I think it was in Episode 5. I ruined his drawing once, and he threw a huge fit. (chuckling) Honestly, I felt bad about that. But seeing him all worked up was entertaining. He rarely gets upset. I admit that I teased him a few more times for fun. (smiling) He was so different.

JiUng gave her free rein to ramble. And as she did, it became obvious, even to JiUng, that she had fond memories of working with Ung. Despite her earlier protests about their clash of personality and work habits, she couldn’t suppress her joy at being with Ung.

Yeonsu: I’ve never seen him like that before. It feels as if he has changed. I thought he’d never change.

Here, I sensed a little bit of trepidation setting in. Watching Ung at the drawing exhibition, she was impressed by how much he had changed from the foolish teenager she once knew and had always pictured him to be, to this quiet man with a purposeful air. As she became keenly aware of his growth, she began wondering whether in his eyes, she too displayed such growth.

4. “I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.”

source: pinterest

I laughed when I realized that this kdrama writer was making a parallelism between Darcy’s meditation on Elizabeth Bennet’s “fine eyes” and Yeonsu’s reflection on Ung’s “soulful” eyes. Honestly, this talk about Ung’s eyes was the first inkling I had of the “Pride and Prejudice” vibes in this episode.

Yeonsu: Remember what you said? You said my eyes looked empty and soulless.
Bestie: Yes and still is. The fish I have back there has livelier eyes than you do.
Yeonsu: I saw Ung’s eyes as he was drawing today. They seem so soulful.

Bestie: He did?
Yeonsu: Yes. He was so focused on his drawing.

She meant these:

She had been observing him from the corner.

Yeonsu: (admitting) To be honest, I was jealous.
Bestie: Why would you be jealous of someone like him?
Yeonsu: Aren’t I pathetic? I hated pathetic people the most. While he was changing, I was busy making ends meet and haven’t changed at all. Even I think I’m pathetic.

There, she was suddenly discontented with her life. She didn’t think she could measure up to Ung now that he’d grown in stature.

Bestie: Geez. You’re ridiculous. You weren’t stagnant. Think of the debt you paid off. I know how hard you worked. You’ve succeeded by coming this far, you wench.

I think this is where the seeds of insecurity may start to grow again. Back in high school, her “prejudices” about being poor caused her to lose out on friends. She thought poverty hindered her from having friends because “poor people can’t be generous,” and “poor people can’t become good friends.”

This time, her prejudices come in a different form. She worried that her poverty stunted her personal growth and development, and made her a dull person. She could easily imagine herself to be “unworthy” of Ung because she had nothing to bring to their relationship while he had all the bounty to share with her.

5. Pemberley

This is Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley.

source: simplycharly.com

This is Ung’s symbolic Pemberley.

In “Pride and Prejudice,” Elizabeth was awestruck by the magnificence of Darcy’s residence. She couldn’t believe that Darcy had offered her the chance to become mistress of Pemberley. But more importantly, she couldn’t believe that she had rejected his marital proposal because of her misjudgment of his character…aka prejudice.

“And of this place,” thought she, “I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. — But no,” — recollecting herself, — “that could never be: my uncle and aunt would have been lost to me: I should not have been allowed to invite them.” This was a lucky recollection — it saved her from something like regret.

— Elizabeth Bennet

Similarly, in this episode, Yeonsu was filled with wonder and awe when she saw Ung hard at work.

I hope though that she realized that Ung’s work highlights his character. There’s nothing artificial or flamboyant about it, like Nua’s work. The minimalist lines match Ung’s basic simplicity.

Each pen stroke was purposeful. He didn’t hurry. He didn’t make a mistake. He was calm and methodical. To me, his process attests to his unwavering and steadfast nature. It reminded me of that apology scene in Episode 5. Yeonsu said that she had a hard time saying sorry because she didn’t like to be a pushover. Ung chided her that she had nothing to worry about. She wasn’t the pushover; he was.

Ung: You idiot. It’s okay to say that (i.e., “sorry”) to me. I’ll keep coming back to you. All you have to do is apologize. I’m the one who gives in in the end anyway.

Meaning, there’s nothing for her to worry about because he’d see it through; he’d work it out.

But interestingly enough, his parents couldn’t bear to watch Ung at work.

Mom: Goodness. Is that you, Yeonsu?
Yeonsu: Hello.
Dad: Gosh, it’s been ages.
Mom: I heard you were filming the documentary with Ung.
Yeonsu: I am. How have you been?
Mom: Well, it’s always the same for us. Goodness. You haven’t changed at all.

This comment was meant as a compliment. For old people, it’s flattering to be told that they look “unchanged” because it means that they aren’t at death’s door yet. But it isn’t okay for young people to appear “unchanged.” If Yeonsu wanted to impress Ung’s parents with her maturity and growth – in the same way that Ung impressed her – then to be told that she hadn’t changed at all meant that she was stagnating.

Yeonsu: The same goes for you both.
Dad: It’s because of our outfits.
Yeonsu: Are you here to see Ung today?
Dad: Yes.
Yeonsu: Then why are you leaving already? It’s dragging on, isn’t it?
Dad. No.
Mom: Not at all. Seeing him draw all alone makes us feel sad. It reminds me of when he was young. To think that he’s been doing that since he was little—
Dad: (interrupting) That’s enough. Let’s go.

Ung’s mom spoke from a mother’s heart, with a mother’s eyes. While others were mesmerized by Ung’s performance art, his concentration, and artistry, Ung’s mother saw beyond all that and understood that his world was essentially a lonely one.

No wonder she looked like this.

While it was impressive that he could focus for 100 hours doing painstaking work, it was also depressing that he lost 100 hours to be in the company of people he loved.

Remember: his dream was to bask in the sun during the day and to lie underneath a lamp at night. He wanted a life next to her and his family.

So yes, Darcy’s Pemberley was impressive. But he was rattling around in that huge mansion all by himself. And yes, Ung’s art was impressive. But he was spending a whole lot of time in solitary confinement.

Will continue this later.